Sentence:  A leading Republican paper also had, on the eve of the convention, focused attention on this issue by remarking that Hughes was “designated by the <WSD>Hyphens</WSD> as their agent to punish Mr. Wilson for his partial refusal to comply with Potsdam orders. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Someone who belongs to a marginalized subgroup, and can therefore described by a hyphenated term, such as "German-American", "female-academic", etc.