Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 183, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 August 1916 — Some Telling Points From Hughes’s Acceptance Speech [ARTICLE]

Some Telling Points From Hughes’s Acceptance Speech

Foreign Relations. If we would have the esteem of foreign nations we mus(t deserve it. I propose that we shall make , the agencies of our diplomatic intercourse, in every nation, worthy of the American name. Mexican Problem. The dealings of the administration with Mexico constitute a confused chapter of blunders. We have not even kept out of actual conflict and the soil of Mexico is stained with the blood of our soldiers. It is a record which can not be examined without a profound sense of humiliation. Hyphenated Americans. We countenance no covert policies, no intrigues, no secret schemes. We are unreservedly, devotedly, wholeheartedly, for the United States. That is the rallying point for all Americans. That is my position. I stand for the unflinching maintenance of all American rights on land and sea. Had this government left no douat that when wc said “strict accountability” we meant precisely what we said, and that we would unhesitatingly vindicate that position, I am oonfident that there -would have been no destruction of American lives by the sinking of the Lusitania. In our proposals there is, I repeat, no militarism. There is simple insistence on common sense in providing reasonable measures of security and avoiding the perils of neglect. We must have the strength of self-re-spect; a strength which contains no threat, but assures our defense, safeguards our rights and conserves our peace.

\yeakness. • ■ —r —i —• — We shall never promote peace by being stronger in words than in deeds. During this critical period, the only danger of war has lain •in the weak course of the administration. Weakness and indecision in the maintenance of known rights are always sources of grave danger; they forfeit respect and invite - serious wrong®, which in turn create an uncontrolable popular resentment. Guardsmen. It is apparent that we are shockingly unprepared. In view of the warnings of the past three years it is inexcusable that we should find ourselves in this plight. For our faithful guardsmen who with a fine patriotism responded to the call and are bearing the burden, I have nothing but praise. But I think it little short of absurd that we should be compelled to call men froim their shops, their factories, their offices and their professions for such a purpose. Labor. Our opponents promised to reduce the cost of living. This they have failed to do; but they did reduce the opportunity of making a living. We propose that in the competitive Struggle that is about to come the American workingman shall not suffer. Incompetency. _ Confronting every effort to improve conditions, is the menace of incompetent administration. Our opponents ■promised economy, but they have shown a reckless extravagance. They have been wasbful and profligate.