The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1916. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

New Zealand Tablet, 17 August 1916, Page 29

The New Zealand Tablet THURSDAY, AUGUST 17, 1916. THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN

T IS already abundantly evident, from the st II state of feeling reflected in American Qita papers, that the presidential contest which S to be decided on November 7, will be one flTfi-ffis- °f the liveliest political campaigns in the ~£&a|k history of the United States. For once !<?&&)*», the old question which patriotic Americans * were fond of asking at election time ' What have we to do with abroad —has gone completely by the board. The war; the Mexican trouble; the foreign relations of the United States—with Germany, Great Britain, Mexico, and Japan; and the naval and military ability of America to meet whatever situations may come out of these in the near futurethese are likely to be the dominant issues in the coming campaign. And of all these, the war, and America's present and future relation to it, are likely to emerge as the paramount issue. So far as paper programmes go, there is little to choose between the two parties. With the exception of the tariff, there - is no genuine partisan issue between the Democrats and the Republicans; and the coming President will be chosen in relation to his supposed capacity to handle the existing situation. So far as the personal qualifications of the candidates are concerned, American papers are unanimous in the view that both Wilson and Hughes measure up to the intellectual, political, and patriotic stature required of an American President. With Wilson certain to be the Democratic candidate,

observed the Albany Press some short time ago, if Mr. Hughes is nominated by the Republican party at Chicago, the campaign will be an intellectual feast.' These two men as campaigners ' are easily the peers of any the country has produced.' * The first struggle of the campaign has been to determine who shall wear the label as candidate for the hyphenates, as the German-American element in the United States population is called; and the entertaining and significant feature of the situation is that both sides are equally anxious to escape being found in possession of the label. However, whether he likes it or not, it is now settled that German support is to go to Mr. Hughes, not because German-Americans regard him as being really pro-German, but because they have old scores to settle with Mr. Wilson. Hardly had the nomination of Mr. Hughes been announced, when a German newspaper in Illinoisthe Illinois StaaisZeitung —published three pages of German-American comment, nearly all of it exultant, explaining at the same time how the nomination of Hughes and the defeat of Roosevelt was a double victory for the Ger-man-Americans. The Teutonic sons of America held a meeting of their National Council in Chicago and passed a resolution calling upon ' all American citizens of Teutonic extraction or sympathy ' to give their support to the Republican ticket, that is, to- Hughes. The German-American' Alliance held a mass-meeting to celebrate the nomination of Hughes and the defeat of Roosevelt. The Illinois secretary of that alliance, Louis E. Brandt, rushed into print with undisguised triumph, saying that ' the campaign for Hughes was planned six months ago.' The most outspoken Democratic paper in the country published in German—the Wdchter und Anzeiger, of Clevelandflung out a banner for Hughes, saying: We are not enamored of Republican doctrines, but we welcome the fact that the American people has been spared the necessity of choosing between Wilson and Roosevelt. The voters have an opportunity to reject the candidate who has shown by his deeds that he stands for England and that his policies are shaped in England's interest.' The Cincinnati Volksblatt, the Cincinnati Freie Presse, the St. Louis Westliche Post, the New Yorker Tlerold, the Fatherland, and a host of other papers published in German sounded the same note of joy until the Her old cried out in warning against 'overdoing our business.' ... * As we have said, neither side appears to have any love for the hyphenate, and neither side desires the embarrassment of Teutonic support. The followers of Mr. Hughes are palpably disturbed at the prospect. The N.Y. Tribune calls upon him for ' a prompt, frank, and specific statement upon the hyphen question ' and warns him that ' continued silence will be fatal.' It does not think his note of acceptance or his subsequent statement about being ' an out-and-out American' answers the need, for they are statements that even those who cheered the sinking of the Lusitania profess to endorse. .'lf,' says the Tribune, 'the German-American interests are identified with any candidate, that candidate will be defeated by Americans, without regard to party. Only Mr. Hughes can decide whether his candidacy shall have this label, and only he can prevent it.' The Chicago Evening Post sees in German-American support ' the most dangerous boomerang that any presidential candidate can have offered him,' and while it thinks that Mr. Hughes's statement about his undiluted Americanism will be conclusive for those who know his character, he will have to go further soon and add ' a denunciation of separatism, disunion, and disloyalty,' the application of which to the German-American Alliance will not be uncertain. ' On this matter,' says the N.Y. Evening Sun, ' he should speak out at once. He cannot speak too explicitly or too emphatically.' The Philadelphia North American —a Progressive paper —has a long editorial on The Embarrassment of Mr. Hughes.' 'Unless Mr. Hughes,' it remarks, 'can in some con-

vincing manner dissociate himself from the characterisation fastened upon him, he will be in danger of losing the support of vast numbers of patriotic Americans.’ Except for the satisfaction of scoring off Mr. Wilson it is difficult to see what German-Americans have to hope for from the election of Mr. Hughes, for he is a strong tariff man, and they are likely to get scant comfort from his foreign policy. ‘ I stand,’ he has said, ‘ for the firm and unflinching maintenance of all rights of American citizens on land or sea ’; and he has denounced in the strongest terms the * indecision ’ and 1 ineptitude ’of President Wilson’s policy. His supporters are confident that at the proper time he will deal vigorously and effectively with the attempt to put upon him the stigma of pro-Germanism. The N.Y. Press refers to the World anti-Hughes editorials as ‘ that blatant nonsense, that brazen perjury, that dishonesty unashamed,’ and predicts that it will ‘be glad enough to drop this slanderous and fradulent (German) issue’ as soon as Mr. Hughes gets on his campaign clothes. The Cleveland Plain-Dealer is also looking to Mr. Hughes to put a speedy quietus on this issue. However that may be, it is clear that there are in the present situation all the elements of a thoroughly exciting election. As the paper last quoted drily puts it: ‘ Europe may get together at any time, but there is no chance of peace in the United States before November 7th.’ .