that without incurring danger of being misunderstood. The circumstance which impelled the resignation, moreover, according to the politicians of the Administration, really afforded their chief great pleasure and satisfaction,-and maybe it did; we do not know. That the President felt" constrained to yield " to Mr. Justice Hughes's "desire" does not mean to us any questioning of his right under the Constitution, but rather the unconscious effect of habit on the part of one accustomed to confer favors as from on high. They are excellent letters, well judged, admirably constructed and, as we remarked, illuminatingly characteristic.

Simultaneously with the answer to Question No. 1 was dispatched the response to No. 2, which we publish herewith for re-reading and future reference, as follows:

MR. CHAIRMAN AND DELEGATES: I have not desired the nomination. I have wished to remain on the bench, but in this critical period of our national history I recognize that it is your right to summon and that it is my paramount duty to respond.

You speak at a time of national exigency transcending merely partisan consideration. You voice the demand for a dominant, thoroughgoing Americanism with firm protective upbuilding policies essential to your peace and security; and to that call in this crisis I cannot fail to answer with the pledge of all that is in me to the service of our country. Therefore I accept the nomination.

I stand for the firm and unflinching maintenance of all the rights of American citizens on land and sea. I neither impugn motives nor underestimate difficulties. But it is most regrettably true that in our foreign relations we have suffered incalculably from the weak and vacillating course which has been taken with regard to Mexico, a course lamentably wrong with regard to both our rights and our duties.

We interfered without consistency, and while seeking to dictate when we were not concerned we utterly failed to appreciate and discharge our plain duty to our own citizens. At the outset of the Administration the high responsibilities of our diplomatic intercourse with foreign nations were subordinated to a conception of partisan requirements and we presented to the world a humiliating spectacle of ineptitude. Belated efforts have not availed to recover the influence and prestige so unfortunately sacrificed, and brave words have been stripped of their force by indecision.

I desire to see our diplomacy restored to its best standards and to have these advanced; to have no sacrifices of national interests to partisan expediency; to have the first ability of the country always at its command, here and abroad, in diplomatic intercourse; to maintain firmly our rights under international law, insisting steadfastly

upon all our rights as neutrals, and fully performing our international obligations; and by the clear correctness and justice of our position and our manifest ability and disposition to sustain them to dignify our place among the nations.

I stand for an Americanism which knows no ulterior purpose; for a patriotism which is single and complete. Whether native or naturalized, of whatever race or creed, we have but one country and we do not for an instant tolerate any division of allegiance.

I believe in making prompt provision to assure absolutely our national security. I believe in preparedness, not only entirely adequate for our defence with respect to numbers and equipment, in both army and navy, but with all thoroughness to the end that in each branch of the service there may be the utmost efficiency under the most competent administrative heads. We are devoted to the ideals of honorable peace. We wish to promote all wise and practical measures for the just settlement of international peace. In view of our abiding ideals, there is no danger of militarism in this country. We have no policies of aggression; no lust for territory; no zeal for strife. It is in this spirit that we demand adequate provision for national defense, and we condemn the inexcusable neglect that has been shown in this matter of first national importance. We must have the strength which self-respect demands, the strength of an efficient nation ready for every emergency.

Our preparation must be industrial and economic as well as military. Our severest test will come after the war is over. We must make a fair and wise readjustment of the tariff, in accordance with sound protective principle, to insure our economic importance and to maintain American standards of living. We must conserve the best interests of labor realizing that in democracy, patriotism and national strength must be rooted in even handed justice. In preventing, as we must, unjust discrimination and monopolistic practices we must still be zealous to assure the foundations of honest business. Particularly should we seek the expansion of foreign trade.

We must not throttle enterprise here or abroad, but rather promote it and take pride in honorable achievement. We must take up the serious problems of transportation, of interstate and foreign commerce in a sensible and candid manner and provide an enduring basis for prosperity by the intelligent use of the constitutional powers of Congress so as adequately to protect the public on the one hand and on the other to conserve the essential instrumentalities of progress.

I stand for the principles of our civil service laws. In every department of government the highest efficiency must be insisted upon. For all laws and programmes are vain without efficient and impartial administration.

I cannot within the limits of this statement speak upon all the

subjects that will require attention. I can only say that I fully indorse the platform you have adopted.

I deeply appreciate the responsibility you impose. I should have been glad to have that responsibility placed upon another. But I shall undertake to meet it, grateful for the confidence you express. I sincerely trust that all former differences may be forgotten and that we may have united effort in a patriotic realization of our national need and opportunity.

I have resigned my judicial office and I am ready to devote myself unreservedly to the campaign.

WASHINGTON, June 10.

CHARLES E. HUGHES.

This was more than an acceptance of a nomination and more than a statement of accepted issues. It was a crisp and definite notification to all concerned that Mr. Hughes is an out-and-out Republican as well as an out-and-out American and that his response to a unanimous call from his party was in no degree dependent upon the favor or disfavor of any other organization or of any individual, whatever might be the consequences to himself. Then he doffed his gown, donned a sack coat, talked to the reporters, took the first train for his native State and began a campaign which promises to be vigorous and sustained, while his uncomfortably restless adversaries were still rubbing their sleepy eyes,appearing for all the world as one just released from prison whose pent-up energies had suddenly been loosed for the service of his fellow men.

Taking into thoughtful consideration the effect of the weather and other somewhat depressing conditions, we consider that the Democratic convention should be pronounced a success. The power of habit proved to be nearly, if not quite, as strong in St. Louis as the power of silence had shown itself in Chicago. Although to the casual observer there seemed to be little call for discussion, the leaders conferred mysteriously in carefully guarded rooms quite conformably to usage and tradition and the minor satellites appeared no less burdened with responsibilities than usual. Poverty-stricken Tammany made a brave showing and the cohorts of Mr. Roger Sullivan were everywhere in evidence. All, as we anticipated, were united and all rejoicing, some for one reason and some, alas we fear, for another. Senator William Joel Stone alone was troubled in his sleep by a spectre clad in soiled judicial ermine and voiced his right

eous indignation volubly until he was informed by Mr. Charles F. Murphy that the Democrats of New York contemplated nominating a Supreme Court Justice for Governor. Then he subsided into unwonted calm. As we foresaw, Speaker Clark was prevented from attending by pressure of official duties, but he wrote philosophically to Mr. Hearst's newspapers that "if any gentleman doubts that luck is a great factor in human affairs, let him stroll over to the White House, commune with Woodrow, and be undeceived." It was a somewhat cryptic utterance but was generally accepted as a favorable omen.

We think we said last month that the two militant Secretaries, Messrs. Daniels and Baker, would have general charge of the proceedings by unanimous consent of the President, and so it proved. The Head of the Navy was more in evidence than his colleague but was no more conspicuous, because of the excessive heat which rendered the wearing of his naval cap impracticable. Mr. Baker's advent was awaited with ill-concealed anxiety by those who hoped he would fetch an answer to the query contained in his famous telegram of February 24th, 1916, to wit:

HON. ATLEE POMERENE, UNITED STATES SENATE, WASHINGTON, D. C.: Opinion here (Cleveland) is wholly with the President. He will doubtless save the honor of the country, but cannot something be done to save the party which at present is a dismal failure? NEWTON D. BAKER.

Bulletins announcing that the War Secretary was "rushing West" with a platform for the Committee on Resolutions to draft were issued at stated intervals, but he was a long time coming because of the difficulty of framing a plank that might win Rooseveltians without shooing away the voters of the Middle West. But he finally arrived in good condition with the platform in his suit-case and the names of Temporary Chairman, Permanent Chairman, Chairman of the National Committee and Chairman of the Finance Committee in his head. A slight difficulty arose from the refusal of the doorkeepers to admit the delegates, but this was quickly resolved and in due time Disappearing Chairman William F. McCombs called the band to order and made an excellent speech whose chief distinction was an inadvertent omission, due doubtless to an oversight, of mention of the Administration or the President.

Temporary Chairman Martin H. Glynn also made a capital address far superior in both substance and form to that of Senator Harding, and Senator James was at his best. Mr. Bryan talked, too, and received an ovation from the office-holders who comprised four-fifths of the convention. But Judge Woodchuck was the prize winner. We knew he would be. He had been four years composing his speech and it showed it. But for lack of space no power could prevent us from printing this remarkable panegyric in full. As it is, our readers must content themselves with the following excerpt from the peroration:

Sons of America, keep unsullied the sacred shrine of peace, through whose portals will yet pass arm in arm the crowned head and the humble peasant in silent worship of God.

Out of the ruins and sufferings of the present conflict will arise a temple of justice whose dome will be the blue vault of heaven; its illuminants the eternal stars; its pillars the everlasting hills; its crnaments the woods and bountiful fields; its music the rippling rills, the song of birds, the laughter of happy childhood; its diapason the roar of mills and the hum of industry; its votaries the peoples of the earth; its creed, on which hangs all the law and the prophets," Love thy neighbor as thyself." Above its altars in ineffaceable color will live eternally the vision of its artificer.

Therefore, my fellow-countrymen, not I, but his deeds and achievements; not I, but the spirit and purpose of America; not I, but the prayers of just men; not I, but civilization itself, nominates to succeed himself to the Presidency of the United States, to the Presidency of a hundred million free people, bound in impregnable union, the scholar, the statesman, the financier, the emancipator, the pacificator, the moral leader of democracy, Woodrow Wilson.

If even the Honorable James E. Martine does not meet his match in Judge Woodchuck at the forthcoming primaries in New Jersey, we wholly miss our guess.

We need not recount the further proceedings. The newspapers have performed their full duty. But the simple and to our mind quite remarkable fact is that a convention, personally conducted from Washington, which opened listlessly, became thoroughly enlivened and the great body of delegates who first entered the hall dispirited and dejected finally left it full of enthusiasm and, if not of confidence, at least of as firm a determination to hold the offices as that of the Republicans to get them.

The only disquieting feature of the gathering was the