MR HUGHES.

Sun (Christchurch), Volume III, Issue 858, 9 November 1916, Page 8

MR HUGHES.

"A ROYAL GOOD FELLOW" THE HUMAN SIDE OF THE MAN. According to his friends, Charles E. Hughes, the Republican representative in the Presidential election is a really good fellow as well as a scholar and thinker. John Temple Graves writes in the "Cosmopolitan" magazine for October, of this human side of Mr Hughes. This is what Mr Graves says:— "If Mr Hughes is nominated ;it Chicago and Wilson at St. Louis, then, for the next four years," said the Cynic of the Conventions, "the edelweiss should he the national (lower." "And why the edelweiss?" "Because il nourishes only in frigid altitudes!" Each of (he great Possibilities, personally and through his friends, keenly resents the imputation. "It is because Wilson is a smoothshaven Presbyterian and a scholar that men forejudge him cold. But he is a man of sentiment and emotion," declare his friends. "It is because Hughes is whiskered, intellectual, and religious that he is misinterpreted to be austere. Know

him, and you know a royal good fellow," is the insistent statement of his adherents.

It is known that the Republican candidate, even more than the Democratic President, is personally desirous of being known as human, heartful, and sympathetic. It cuts him to the quick to be counted a human icicle, a thinking machine, an austere intellect. And his friends in this campaign are devoting extraordinary energy to dissipating this delusion. "The net impression," declares his former private secretary, "which remains with me after four years of intimate association with Hughes at Albany is that of the most straightforward, intellectually honest, transparently sincere person I have ever known, and, at the same time, one of the most companionable, most human men it has been my fortune to be thrown with."

One night, goes the story, Hughes came down to Buffalo from some strenuous campaign work in western :Xew York. Through some failure of j arrangements no reservation had [been made for an east-bound sleeper. ! There were three men present—■ ! Hughes, Colonel Treadwell, his miliitary secretary, and John P. Gavill. I No argument could induce the governor to take the one berth left in the | car. Yes; he was the governor; his : rest was of public importance, and ail that he knew; but it made no ! difference. He was travelling with Ibis crowd and would share the inconveniences. So they rode all night ! in the smoking car, together with the | labourers and the smokers, the governor's silk hat looking more and [more like a fur muff as the night i went on; but his fund of good stories [and good fellowship was apparently inexhaustible, and his laugh rang 'out hearty and clear to the end of ! the journey. On another day, the governor, with I the inseparable silk hat, was walking I with his glittering staff through the 1 exhibits of the Syracuse fair. It was a dignified, serious occasion. As the j stalely procession passed the poultry show, a big buff Cochin roooster ! suddenly flapped his wings, raised his head, and let out a mighty crow. None of the escort dared to smile. But the governor dolled his tile, made an elaborate bow to the rooster, and said: "I can't pass by without acknowledging such a salute as that." I The incident made the whole day j easier for the party. ! Most men are "human" —even in 1 high station—and it may as well be 'conceded that the two central figures lof American politics are no exception to the general rule. As a matter of fact, if is only in cities that j the people will really care whether a man is cold or not. In the great realm of country, a man may be as serious and austere as he pleases and I never lose a vote. ! Charles Evans Hughes, .">"> years old, New York Slate horn, son of a Welsh Baptist preacher, an infant prodigy, a precocious child, a remarkable student, Colgate and Brown educated, self-supporting from the jday of graduation, a successful teacher, a Sunday School teacher, who [laid the foundation for John 1). Rockefeller, jun.'s class, New York, a lawyer winning swift and substantial recognition at the bar as counsel, [prosecutor, and reformer, a politician j never defeated, a governor of marked .independence and individuality—[even if fallible and sometimes mistaken—a campaigner possessing a J gift greater than oratory, and the I rare capacity to create the impresjsion of absolute sincerity upon his j hearers, and with a record of public land private honesty unsmirched in [l2 years of publicity—Charles Evans [Hughes fronts the climax of his life land touches the zenith of his opportunities with a remarkable equip-

ment, partly inherited and largely achieved, which inspires his party with hope and himself with resolute confidence.

The greatest antagonist Mr Hughes ever met in his public life was in his campaign for governor of NewYork, In 1900. William Randolph Hearst, the Democratic candidate against him. polled the largest Democratic vote ever cast in the State. But, in spite of that, the defection of McCarren in Brooklyn and of Murphy and Tammany Hall in New York turned the scale in favour of the Republican candidate, and Hughes was elected.

To the prosecution of the campaign, Mr Hughes will bring some extraordinary energy, industry, and devotion which have characterised his whole public career. Mr Hughes is a great campaigner, but he is well aware that President Wilson is also a great campaigner. In simplicity and earnestness of speech the two men are rather evenly matched. They are both scholars and thinkers and men of dignity.