Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 265, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1916 — Voters Have Duty To Perform Tuesday [ARTICLE]

Voters Have Duty To Perform Tuesday

Voters should not lose sight of the fact that.they have a solemn duty to perform next Tuesday. There is more than the presidency at stake; the political complexion of the next congress, both house and senate, is to be determined, and no half-way measures should be employed. i If the voter casts his ballot for Mr. Wilson then he should also give him senatorial and congressional upport. Likewise, if the voter is casting his ballot for* Hughes and Fairbanks, he should support the republican candidates for United States senator and congressman. Without congress behind him 10 president can accomplish anything worth while, and the administration would be compelled to mark time for two or four years until another ele> tion should have brought a sympathetic president and congress together. . »

There is too much at issue, the world is changing too rapidly, new problems are springing up almost over night, and it would be almost suicidal to place ourselves in a position where the utmost harmony and unity of purpose did not obtain in dealing with the questions which will confront the next administration. If Mr. Hughes is worthy of your support he is worthy of all the support you can give him, and he has a ’ right to expect that if you are going to elect him you are also going to elect a senate and a congress that will be. in harmony with him and assist him 'n* putting into effect the policies which will characterize his administration,,= —■ - - -—; —l No farmer would hire a man to husk com and fail to provide him with the equipment that would enable him to perform his duties. And no man ( should vote for a presidential candidate and then rope and hog-tie him and render his efforts ineffectual by‘hampering him with an opposition

congress. The plea of the self-styled independent voter who proudly proclaims that he votes for the man is merely a note of discord in this election for the simple reason that priricipies are at stake that cannot be made effective by inharmonious elements.. Not for a good many years has the question of principles been so much at stake, nor the differenc'e between the two parties so marked, and for this reason the voter is not merely voting for a preferred presidential candidate, he is voting for the principles which that candidate represents, and to make them effective the successful candidate must have the necessary 7 law-making support, otherwise his administration must be sterile of achievement.

Confronted then with a situation of that nature, we urge that Mr. Hughes be given the support of the Indiana delegation in congress. Give him the assistance of Harry S. New and James E. Watson in the senate; give him the assistance of Will R. Wood in the lower house. These men are republicans, they believe in the ’principles for which- Mr. Hughes stands. They are ready to help him fight the battles for American honor, Americhrt prosperity, for the prote :- tion of American labor. They are in harmony with his purposes. There may be other excellent men in the field, but they are candidates on the democratic ticket. Their aims and ambitions and associations and party allegiance are at variance from those of the republican party. The ; r purposes and hopes and ideals of government are different. Briefly, .they are-oLthe-opposition.— They have, their own presidential candidate w’ith whom they 7 have cast their political fortunes, they 7 are putting forth their effort to elect' him, they condemn everything for which the republican party stands. • /