Life — June 15, 1916 — page 22: what you’re looking at

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JUNE 15, 1916 “While there is Life there's Hope" Published by LIFE PUBLISHING COMPANY J. A. Mivemete, Pres't. HETHER he is nom- inated or not (at this writing the Chicago nom- inators have not yet met), how wonderfully Our Col- onel has kept up! If ever a man was entitled to be dead—politically, physically, emotion- ally—it is Our Colonel. Physically— how could he survive the River of Doubt in 1913? Politically—how could he survive the River of Salt in 1912? Emotionally—Oh, think of that cam- paign! Think of Jane Addams, On- ward Christian Soldiers, Votes for Women, Armageddon, William Barnes, Mr. Root on the bridge, holding back the ranks of Tuscany all by himself! From the third cup of coffee in the early spring through the series of rounds between two candidates, both groggy, to everybody's victory by the election of Wilson, was there ever a campaign better adapted to exhaust emotion and eliminate the unelected candidate from politics! But Our Colonel is not dead yet! Nor even eliminated from politics. Wonderful man! Still his eye sweeps the horizon, watching for the distant funnel of a Duty steaming his way. Afar, far off, he spies the smoke. “I am here!” his wireless patters. Im- mediately a dinghy puts out, propelled by a singie, burly form, and he has clasped that Duty to his bosom before the Custom House people suspect there is one aboard. Trebly deceased is Colonel Roose- velt. Yet, as we write, half the Re- publicans are all a-tremble for fear he A. Mitten, Sec’y and Treas. 17 West Thirty-first Street, New York English Offices, Rolls House, Breams Bldgs., London, E. C. is going to be their candidate again, and the other half are a-flutter for fear he won't. As to that, the Lord’s will be done! But whether the Colonel is a candidate or not, he is, and will con- tinue to be, a great factor in our po- litical life. Any Republican that he supports this year, if set upon a proper platform, should give Mr. Wilson a fairly hard race. The Colonel wants Mr. Wilson to have a hard race; there- fore it seems likely that he will sup- port the Republican candidate, even if it is not himself. HAT the Republicans owe the country is a sound candidate on a platform that will define the points wherein President Wilson seems to Republicans and other dissenters not to have done well. A thorough dis- cussion of the rights and wrongs of the conduct of the present administra- tion will do all of us good. Many per- sons who are quite deeply persuaded that President Wilson has not kept the country on the right track are still a good deal foggy as to the point where our national vehicle left the road. They will want the Republicans to walk back with them, if possible, and show them the place, or at least to show it to them on a reliable map. The world just now is full of sins and horrible misfortunes. If the Repub- lican platform-carpenters cannot bring a fair proportion of them home to Mr. Wilson they are not good at their job. And yet there is a danger about doing it thoroughly—a danger that people will laugh. What became ‘of Mr. Herrick, our war-hero of 1914? Nobody has talked lately of making him the Republican candidate, yet he represents very much something that very many voters would like to vote for. He stands for France, and when it comes to issues France is hard to beat. If the Republicans put enough France in their platform the Democrats may have to draft Brand Whitlock to run for Vice-President. S for Judge Hughes, he has done, so far, just what any reasonable person would have expected—held his peace and pursued his employment. Some of the papers say that if he is nominated he will not resign from the court unless and until he is actually sworn in as President, thereby avoid- ing to create a vacancy for Mr. Wilson to fill, Unless the Republicans put it into their platform that we ought to get into the war, the chance of our getting in under the guidance of Judge Hughes does not look good. If he should run and be elected, we should have a new cabinet. Mr. Daniels would relinquish the Navy, Mr. McAdoo the Treasury, Mr. Burleson the Post Office. No doubt Mr. Daniels would make votes for anyone who could guarantee to separate him from our sea-power ; the bankers would subscribe, no doubt, to lose Mr. McAdoo, and the railroads to lose Mr. Burleson. And yet it is not likely that a new President will be elected merely to get a new Cabinet. There are at least five excellent men in Mr. Wilson's present Cabinet, not counting any of the gentlemen named, and that is a good many, and a new Cabinet would not be likely, as a whole, to be better. The most feasible and reasonable chance of our becoming actively and directly concerned in the affairs of Europe lies at present in the direction comicbooks.com