The Dominion THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1916. A NATION AT A LOSS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2962, 28 December 1916, Page 4

The Dominion THURSDAY, DECEMBER 28, 1916. A NATION AT A LOSS

Cabled reports dealing with the American Presidential election last month conveyed an, impression that its results were essentially inconclusive and almost negative in character. This impression is in no way altered now that fuller information on the subject has been received by mail. Srom the first it has been evident that the election failed to produce anything in the shape of a popular mandate, calculated to positively influence the policy of the Administration.' Me. Wilson's reelection as President appears to have been quietly received, but there is no reason to suppose that the return of . his opponent would have been unpopular. On the morning of November 8 it was thought that Me. Hughes had been elected, and New York newspapers of all political shades commented with so much equanimity upon the supposed Republican victory as to suggest, that not a little v indifference, mingled witn the feelings with which tho outcome of the Presidential contest was awaited. Such a stato of mind folindeed, quite naturally upon the failure of tho candidates to divide the electors on major issues. The inconclusive outcome of the Presidential election is paralleled in the lesults of tho simultaneous elections to the Senate and the House of Representatives. As regards the Senate, the Democratic majority of twelve cither stands unaltered or has been increased by one, but in the House of Representatives, subject to uncertainty regarding one or two seats which had not been definitely cleared up when, the mail now in hand was dispatched, the position is that of a tie between the two main parties, with the balance of power in the hands of fife Independent, or, as some of the American. papers call them, "Minor Party," members. Tho Congress of 1917 will be the first Bince 1855 in, which one party or the other has not had votes enough to "organise the] House." Nothing better demonstrates the inconclusive character of j the, flection than the . efforts of American newspapers to explain its inner meaning and significance. These explanations 1 are much more remarkable for their divergence than for the presentation of ideas held in common. After glancing at tho views expressed by a dozen or more . of the leading American papers, it is possible to hold that the average American is probably no bettor able to discern any positive impulse or mandate! in the voicing returns than is the average foreigner. It is true that quito a number of the American'journals are of opinion that a great, perhaps a controlling, factor, was approval of Mr. Wilson's apparent' determina-! tion to keep the United States out of tho war. No doubt it is true I enough'that a majority of the'pcople of America aro glad to have been kept out of the war, but this .stops considerably short of accounting for tho election result. It would account for ,it only if it could bo assumed that Mr. Hughes was suspected of a belligerent tendency, and regarded ai likely, should he attain the Presidency, to lead the nation into war. Such an assumption is certainly not warranted. Mr. Hughes was at particular pai,ns to disclaim any bellicose intention, and on ono occasion stated, in effect, that only incredibly blundering would mako it necessary for America to go to war. In this 'connection also the attitude of the Ger-man-Americans is instructive. When it was thought that Mr. Hughes had been returned, the German Yorwarts (of Wisconsin) hailed Mn. Wilson's supposed defeat as proving "that no other Amorican statesman will over dare alienate the hyphen vote." When tho actual result became known, tho Now York E'erold, another German-American found no better resource than to intimate to the President that his, re-election by a small majority, did 1

not mean thai; his policy had been endorsed. On tho face of it, Ger-man-Americans arc more afraid of i tho United States going to war with J Germany unchsr Presidemt Wilson's leadership than if Mr. Hughes had been returned,- and the matter is one in which tho hyphenated citizens have every interest in forming a correct judgment. It seems clear that while a great proportion of tho people of America aro anxious to .avoid entanglement in tho war, this ruling tendency might as easily_ have found expression in a majority vote for Mu. Hughkp as in the re-election of his opponent. Olio other point ■upon which a number of American commentators aro agreed is that Mb. huGUES signally failed to inspire popular enthusiasm, and somo of his critics assert that ho materially lost ground by_ pandering to tho Gcr-inan-Ameriean group. These matters apart, there is little enough in tho rnarKedly conflicting explanations of tho American newspapers which tends to show that the election had any posifcivo significance or what; that significance was. Mr. Wilson's return has been variously ascribed to tho inilucnco of the Pro-, gressives (whose party was officially slain before tho election), the farmers, the women voters of tho suffrage States, labour,- and othep real or supposed groups. In somo cases tho detail evidence tendered is impressive, as for instance the statement that in the twelve suffrage States Mn. Wilson received twice aa many votes last month as in tho 'preceding Presidential contest four years ago. But as notable an authority as the New York Outlook maintains that the returns produced convincing . evidence that "the women's vote," "the hyphen vote,'- 1 and tho "labour wte," which figured so largely in the Section prophecies, were in great measure figments of the imagination. This view of the matter gains support from tho fact that commentators who attribute controlling influence to this or that group vote show a wide freedom of individual choicc in deciding which group ' was responsible. Details apart, the really striking feature of too election was the complete failure to elicit any positive expression of tho national will. The criticism that has been directed at Mr. Hughes crystallises into an accusation that he failed to arouse tho nation. As one critic puts it:

• A world was on fire: abroad the whole fabric of human society was in .the throes of a tremendous struggle; at home t'he very" foundations of our unity and our existence were threatened, and in the face of all.this the man to whom we had turned for deliverance could find ■ no braver .word and no loftier sentiment than those which have fallen from the lips of cart-tail orators sinco political campaigns began.

From Me. Hughes, before lie had betrayed his limitations, higher and nobler standards of feadorsnip were expected Mr. Wilson_ had shown himself capable of attaining, but the truth seems to be that in the sWte of development which America has reached no one man is capable of bringing the dissonant elements of the nation to anything remotely resembling national unity and expression. "America," as an American writer has said, "iB as yet only a nation in the making. It is not a nation as France is a' nation. Its greatest peril is that from the crevasses due pai-tly to geographical- conditions, partly to sectional prejudices, partly to class interests, partly to racial temperaments and inherited beliefs." Manifestly, these conditions, far moro than any detail factor or personal failure, must be held responsible for the fact that the American people so completely failed to achieve national expression in a period which may yet prove to bo tho most critical in their history.