The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1916. A NEW MAN AND A. NEW POLICY

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2830, 22 July 1916, Page 8

The Dominion. SATURDAY, JULY 22, 1916. A NEW MAN AND A. NEW POLICY

The story of the nomination of Justice Chakles Evans Hughes as the Republican candidate for the Presidency of the United States will make an inspiring chapter, in the political history of the Great American Republic.- Tho accounts of the doings of the Republican Convention,; which were, cabled' to this part, of the world . early' in June, gave a very inadequate idea of the remarkable course of events ! which culminated at the Convention held at Chicago on June 10. All the world knows that this. year's Presidential ..election will -probably •prove to be of historic importance. A great nation realises that it is standing at one of the turning points in.its history, and is,looking for a, loader strong enough-and wise enough to guide it rightly in the critical juncture at which it npw arrived. By one of those political inspirations which at times enable a nation to find the man for the emergency, tho feeling that Judge Hughes would make the ideal President began to spread abroad about a year ago. It became'more and more pronounced. It eventually got such a strong hold on tho public mind that no obstacle could resist it, and when the ballot was taken Judge Hughes was nominated almost unanimously.- It was a magnificent tribute to the , personal power of the man, and it was also a very significant' indication that the people of the United States are alarmed at the serious loss of prestige which the country has suffered owing to the weak-kneed and vacillating foreign policy, of President Wilson. What .happened at Chicago was .equivalent to a . breaking out of the'old political grooves. It was a new departure of deep significance. : The' New York ' Post, a journal which takes an independent line in politics, declares that Judge Hughes's nomination is "perhaps the most remarkable happening in the history of Presidential nominations—certainly _ in modern times— and -a,, great triumph of American .democracy, .for it means the selection of a. man who has been for six years in practical retirement from active political life on the Supreme Court bench—a man who ..has authorised no agent to speak for ■ him, who has lifted no finger for his own advantage, -who--has refused thousands of invitations to appear in public lest his actions be construed as being instigated by a desire to 'sound a keynote' or put himself in the public eye." The political machine in America is- extremely strong—so (strong, indeed, that the choice of the Prcsi"dential candidate is, as a rule,.. made .by tho men who hold tho levers. The people themselves, have, practically speaking, no voice in the' matter. But on the present occasion the people have asserted themselves, and have mado their own choice. The average American politician is never backward in advertising his own merits or pressing his claims upon the public's gratitude; but on this occasion the people have I turned a deaf ear. to these blandishments and ha;ve chosen a ra.a-n who has taken no na'rt. in noliti'cal life

for six years," and who has made no effort to secure their nominatiou or support. Ho has not come to them; they have gone to him. For months past Judge Hughes has been receiving hundreds of letters from citizens living in various parts of the country begging him to come out from his retirement in order to help the nation in the existing crisis. - These letters show a most touching confidence in his'integrity and statesmanship. The politicians 'did hot '.stiirt this' movement-, but when th'ev saw its power they fell in with.- It. They directed it and made use of it, but they did not originate 'it and were unable to re-, sist it. The fine work which Judge Hughes had done as Governor of the State -of New York would seem to have left a lasting impression on the public mind, and it is no doubt largely due to this that attention turned to him voluntarily and ■spontaneously at this specialy critical time 'iu- the -country's history. One who knew him in public and private during the four years of his Governorship, bears enthusiastic testimony to his straightforwardness, his intellectual honesty, his transparent sincerity, and his thorough humannpss. He fought many big battles-in .those'days-in the cause, of good government, and he fought them with great ability and absolute fearlessness. Like the ancient Romans'who took Cincinnatus from the plough and made him their dictator, the American people are now_ looking' for' .a great leader, and they seem' to have found one on their Supreme Court bench, The instinctive and spontaneous popular choice which resulted in the nomination of Judge Hughes, preferring sound and strong to showy, but unstable qualities, as regarded by some American writers as showing that - the' people are able and willing in.times of national stress to shake themselves free from the influence of the demagogue and the professional politician; and to break away from the trammels of the party machine. The nomination of Judge Hughes proves, says the New York Post, that the de■mocracy likes a man/who shows that he is captain, of his own soul,- and knows how to admire one who maps out a course for himself which he believes right and then cleaves to' it with an inflexibility which nothing can . shake. Americans have been watching their -country drift-, ing into "difficulties and dangers through weakness in high . places, and many of them plainly feel that nothing but a- radical change can avert disaster. Presidential election is of course of. more than ordinary interest on the present occasion to the nations of the world outside, the'great Republic, and the presence- of 'Judge Hughe's .in'the field as a' candidate for. the office is a matter of almost as great importance to them as it is to the American nation itself.