Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1920-10-13
Presidential Campaigns
XIII. Tho FofIfes of 1917.
pyrroisric J. Haskin.

y
THE presidential show Of 1908 was Just /
u,ch n fizzlc from the dramatic and spec
taclllar standpoint as the present. one
see,ne IN be. but how nobly did 1917 re- (.
deem the reputation Of the Amencan |
noliticians for staging first-class snow.
Several salient characteristics OF our
national political game were illustrated "a
the 1912 campaign. One Of them rs tnae
a hot campaI gn is not made not Dy burning
issues, but rather by burning peISoilaI
anirnosities. Burning issues are no longer
introduced into presidential campaigns
a fact Of which the present one should al
| ford all the proof that anyone requires;
| Tho really calorific questions are dueked
| hy both narties by mutual consent, ana,
| e thew arc brought forward at oil, it - by
so,oe tb,rd party which is ia no danger oi
elertinp its ticket and having. to meet
| them The somewhat meretnclous gov
which is given by the politicians 10 the dis
cussion Of current problems might De
compared TO the foz-hre whlch you see
| in the woods on summer nights mat rs
- 10 : faint illumination given off by dead
and rotten matter and is capable OF de-
eeiving none but the unlnitiate.
PLATFORMS ALIKE.
So IL was in 1912 IL is true that mr.
Roosevelt ran on "soclal IuSuSs pm
[ WnfFn
radical stulnd IL somewhat vague meaning
n is also true that many N the men VINO
voted for him were sincere liberals VINO
believed in that platform. But the thhg
which made the campaign interesting,
which gpljt the Republican party Wioe,
or,on elected Woodrow Wilson, and stirreo
the country 70 its depths, was ternpera,,
mental difference between Mr.. Tart aho
Mr. Roosevelt r.,
! pediencv, Roosevelt was undouooe1ly
! right. The temper Of the country was reia-
tiyeIv radical in 1912 II had had four
t,o,r9 ~ conservative government and II
! wanted change The way 70 elect a FTe,s'
ident was 70 Be at least ostensibly radl'
caI And Roosevelt was as radical Dy
, ,enpe~arnent as Taft was conservative
II the specific measures which they Wer'
/ Drepared to advocate they did not dT1e1
ss,,hetaptiaIIv A current Democrati'
3 cartoon shows them as a couple Of stree
brawlers hauled up before justice q IN
Y Dcaee. who is trying in vain 10 md on
what they arc fighting about
' Nobody could answer that ques'lo'
Y with any clarity, but how they old serap
> Mr. Roosevelt. Ieaped into the ring witt
10Th 6sts going. His talent for persona
invecfive was never displayed 70 bette
advantage. Mr.. Taft, distressed an'
outraged bv such unmanneriy tactics, a
fret sttlck IN a dirnifed manner 20 ~
favorite subject Of the Constitution p
the United States. But finally reaiizln
that one cannot be q perfect gentlerlal
= ard a competent politician AZ the sam
y ,;rne he turned ponderousiv upon NJ
) onrnnent with the inspiring remark ina
: even a rat Will fight when cornered- n
4 gave q good account Of himself, TOO an
y The result would not have been 50 CERTAIN
!, had not an excited mental detective pump
2 ed a bullet through the colonefs shoulde
o - he crucial point in the campaign
e Thai togerher with ArmageddOn an,
/ The singing Of Onward Christian 2oI
\ diars'' insured sufficient split 10 the kf
y publican vote to make Democratic VIC
tory q dead certainty
: DRAMATIC CONVENTIONS.
= The dramatic quality Of the 1912 event
:. began with the conventions ana enoe
at only with the announcement OF lhe Hhi
result. The Republican Convention "lt
It's fight over contested delegates "as On
al the bitterest IN the history Of the couI
= -, one excited leader declared that
sc a personal collision should occur on y
r 4oor 4 hundred men would 0e liie'
IN before order could be restored. he was
" confident Of this carnage that ne refuse
- ia allow his wife TO attend the convenIlc
tha fr-t dav. The event. was much ie
exciting than that. In fact, nobody.
al much 4 slapped ~ ybody else lace o.
~ fha contests were aotly contest ed al
" Taft won over two hundred OF them "ni
~ Roosevelt won about nineteen nen u
| Roosevelt bOlted. with the announcene
he that the { ght was on between the peepi
. and the corrupt politicians. lame IN
the Bull Moose meeting IN Chlcago VI
It's Marathon cheers, rs complete u
mony, and It's crusAding spirit mari
only bv the question IN some minds A.
insf how and why Mr.. La Toilette D
been ditched.
The Democratic convention IN Bal
unore was hardly less exciting, ana ~
araiu the reason was that intense a
conflicting personal interests we're invo
ed Everyone saw that DemocrS
nomination Was very likely 70 amount
an election. Both Mr. Wilson and \
Clark had supp ortcrs who were ready
veil and vote 10 the last Tor their nero
The situation bee sne truly dramatic
Clark forced his way slowly 70 "lthi
few votes Of the coveted goal ana q
slowly fell away agal n unll the charge
,be Ilbnoi, aelecstion. under Roger S,l
van. settled the battle in fav or OF the y
The three-cornered vote OF 1912 sh
some interesting light on the pohtl'
completion of various sections OF
country. It showed that the widest Gle.
,,sa in America is that between the W
and the northeast II was the west q
voted for Roosevelt, that marched
A Arrnsgcddon singing hymns that N
~ word, took seriously t. itself the nope
on a reiuvenation Of American politics. a
Of an effective program Of liberal refoI
~ Il was the northeast which stood last
IT hind Mr.. Taft, unaffected by the winds
= chance and change. Ii Was the SC
tt south that elected Moodrow Wis
++ solely because he was Democrat
i was no more carried away BY the mo
+ fervor OF the occasion than was the nor
* east. In a word this vote demonstra
+ what has become vastly more appar
tt since then, that the west Is the true nc
X AZ liberalism and radlcahsm IN Amer
t The west believes in change. The
r has natural resources and It wants Il
It conserved. The east wants the sta