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The day book. [volume] (Chicago, Ill.) 1911-1917, October 11, 1916, LAST EDITION, Image 30

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Persistent link: https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83045487/1916-10-11/ed-1/seq-30/

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SHALL THIS NATION DISCREDIT PRESIDENT
WHO KEPT IT OUT OF WAR?
ASKS FORMER GOV. JUDSON HARMON.
Europe the people are standing solid-
Bv Harrv R. Hunt
Cincinnati, 0., Oct 11. A danger
more menacing to the peace and
well-being of the United States than
any that has yet confronted it would
result from the defeat of Pres. Wil
son for re-election is the opinion of
former Gov. Judson Harmon of Ohio.
Harmon, twice governor, former
attorney general of the TJ- S. under
Pres. Cleveland, railroad executive
and student of world politics, told to
day for the first time what, in the
present campaign, he considered the
issue that should determine the
course of American voters Nov. 11.
"The biggest question in this cam
paign," Harmon declared, "is wheth
er an administration which, in the
midst of a world war, with tremen
dous forces at work to drag us into
the conflict, has kept us at peace
and prosperous, is to be upheld or
discredited.
"Between the election Nov. 11 and
the inauguration March 4 four
months will elapse. Should Pres.
Wilson bte defeated those would be
four months in which his hands
would be absolutely tied in handling
the delicate diplomatic negotiations
that alone have kept us from becom
ing tangled in war.
"For to other nations Pres. Wil
son's defeat would mean simply that
his foreign policy had been discred
ited that the people of the U. S. re
fused to back him up in his efforts
to keep this country at peace.
"Four months between his defeat
and the inauguration of the new ad
ministration would be a period of ab
solute chaos so far as our foreign re
lations were concerned. And out of
this condition might and under
present conditions very likely would
arise complications of the greatest
danger to the future of this country.
"In times like these a nation's
greatest safeguard is its solidity. In
ly behind their governments are
Backing them up with their lives.
"Petty differences, minor domestic
issues and disagreements are laid
aside until the big danger has passed.
Nothing is permittel to weaken the
solid support they are giving their
governments in a time of crisis.
"But this is a time of crisis for the
United States as well as for the na
tions of Europe. We, too, must back
up our administration. Not because
we are in war, but because it has
kept us out of war. By supporting
the course of the Wilson administra
tion with our votes we will lessen
the likelihood of having to support
the course of some other administra
tion withour lives.
"I can think of nothing so lament
able as for this nation, in a time of
peace and plenty, which has been se
cured to us onljf by the tireless ef
forts of Pres. Wilson, to invite dan
ger and disaster by a change of ad
ministration. "
"Every issue Hughes has raised or
has sought to raise Is insignificant
beside the issue of whether Pres.
Wilson's handling of our foreign re
lations is to be upheld or discredited.
"Hughes has been a great disap
pointment. He has not measured up
to presidential standards.
"His campaign reveals himself and
his party managers simply as job
seekers. "They offer nothing constructive;
they are simply seeking to becloud
and obscure the real issue, which is
whether we wish to overthrow an
administration which, in time of war,
has kept us at peace; whether we
wish to jeoparize our peace by turn
ing over our government, at a time of
crisis, to an inexperienced, untried
administration."
Harmon, an astute politician, with
many sources from which to draw.

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