Jasper County Democrat, Volume 19, Number 63, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 4 November 1916 — AUTHOR OF THE HUGHES SLUMP IS ONE HUGHES [ARTICLE]

AUTHOR OF THE HUGHES SLUMP IS ONE HUGHES

T ( . » ,j _rf (• / Fifty-Three Big Newspapers of the Country Desert Hughes in Wilson Landslide. WILSON STRONGER EACH DAY • Geeat Independent Vote of Country Has Made Known That It Is Going to Indorse the Record of Woodrow_ Wilson.

BY WILLIS S. THOMPSON

Indianapolis, Oct. 28.—1 n the closing days of the campaign, coming with the rush of voters to the Wilson banner, fifty-three of the large newspapers of the country that have been trying to sustain Hughes have given up the job. They find him absolutely impossible and have stated good and sufficient reasons for changing to the Wilson cause.

On the subject of the landslide which is apparent in all states of the Union and which the Republicans are spending millions to try and head off the New York Times says:

“The Republican slump has ended and the pendulum is now on the hack swing.” To hear some of the politleal outgivings one would suppose that the American people spent their time between conventions and elections cuperiug once a week from one candidate to the other, with no particular excuse gayety of heart and love of frolic. A slump this week, a boom next week, a pendulum dancing backward and forward over the map without rhyme or reason; more slumps, more booms, more “trends,” the pendulum becomes delirious, and on the day after election the politicians announce that there never was any doubt how the election would go, and that the silent vote did it.

The truth that underlies this sort of thing is not in the least mysterious and Is quite simple. In June the Republicans believed that they were surely going to win. The Democrats were afraid it might prove to be true. The Progressives bad been brought back into the Republican party by superhuman efforts on Colonel Roosevelt’s part, a strong candidate-had been named, and the Democratic party was to he put on the run and kept there; these were the beliefs that accounted for the Republican expectation. This expectation they Confidently entertained throughout September, In October evidences from all over the country indicated that the expectation had insufficient basis. There jvas everywhere a growing indication of lukewarmness toward the ticket, which soon became coldness, and this was manifested first among the Progressive rank and file and then among the Republican. This was called, on both sides, “the Republican slump.” It still exists, and the coldness Is increasing to such an extent os to cast* doubt, in the official Republican mind, on the possibility "of electing the ticket. The slump is due chiefly to one thing—the speeches of Mr. Hughes. The strong candidate has been ns weak as water on everything the voters wanted to hear about. He was over-estimated at the beginning, and the disappointment was greater than it would have been in tlie case of a man from whom less had been expected. The Democrats over-rated him, and planned a Wimpnign of a different character from the one .they have actually carried on. The Progressives over-rated him, and their disappointment manifests itself in a manner which reveals as much anger and contempt as coldness. The Republicans overrated him, and their disappointment shows Itself in the discouragement and dishearten inent which is nicknamed "the slump.” Nowhere else can the blame be placed. There is no “apathy” in tlie campaign. The voters are alive with interest, and the registration is large. The Republicans weie eager to rally round an Inspiring leader. In the summer it was generally assumed that they had the better chance. The inspiration did not come, the leader did not lead, he only talked, and talked in a way to chill Ills admirers. Paralysis fell on the enthusiasm tnat was waiting and eager to be ignited. Meanwhile the Progressives, never any too much delighted witli the situation, ate not content to be merely cold and disheartened, like the Republicans. They become openly rebellious. “We have sold our party for a mess of Americanism, and We are not getting the Americanism.” we read in The Rocky Mountain News. William Allen White announced the other day that he had “one keen cutter knife, one tomahawk, one rapid-fire gun, one mountain howitzer, and one-tractor land battleship,” and that his artillery “was landed and planted ready to begin operation Nov. 8,” the day after election. Victor Murdock, waiting until late in October for the slightest glimmer of reason for supporting Hughes, which he would have been glad to seize upon, now sadly comes out for Wilson-and the state Republican ticket. This is the history of the great slump In October from the aggressive and dashing hopes of June. It is not a case of the pendulum swinging backward and forward. It is a case of the moving finger, wliicb, having writ, move's on. The finger which wrote the slump into the Republican campaign was the finger of Charles E Hughes.