earlier had a much more difficult situation to face. Its task was to choose a candidate who would be acceptable to the Progressive party and thus prevent that party Plans of from again placing Roosevelt in the field. In Republicans February Elihu Root made what was intended and Progressives to be a "keynote" speech before a Republican convention in New York, denouncing the president's foreign policy as "weak, vacillating, and stultifying." The Republicans dared not openly criticize Wilson's legislative measures for fear of antagonizing the Progressives, so they were forced to make the foreign policy the paramount issue. Colonel Roosevelt had, however, been even severer than Root in his criticism of the administration, and his friends claimed that he was the logical candidate to place in the field against Wilson. The Progressives made it clear at any rate that they would not support Root. Republican hopes were then centered in Justice Charles E. Hughes of the Supreme Court, who had been out of politics for six years, and whose views on the issues which had split the party were not known. While there was little enthusiasm for Hughes, it was thought that he would be acceptable to both Republicans and Progressives. His position on the Supreme Court gave him an excuse for maintaining a Sphinxlike silence on all the vital issues before the country. With the hope of agreeing on the same candidate the Republican and Progressive conventions met in Chicago on the same day, June 7. It was soon evident that Nomination the Republican convention was controlled by the of Hughes "Old Guard," as the conservatives and reactionaries were called, while the members of the Progressive convention were eager to nominate Roosevelt without waiting to see whom the Republicans would choose. Their leaders held them back, however, and proposed a conference between committees of the two conventions. The Republican conferees proposed Hughes as a compromise candidate, while the Progressives insisted on Roosevelt, and no agreement was reached. On the fourth day the Republican convention began balloting, and it was soon evident that Hughes would be nominated. On learning this the Progressives nominated Roosevelt by acclamation a few seconds before the Republicans finished balloting for Hughes. Eventually Roosevelt declined the Progressive nomination and urged his followers to support Hughes, but many of them refused to be led back into the Republican party and cast their votes for Wilson. Hughes conducted an active campaign, traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and later making a second tour through the Middle West. He violently assailed Wilson's Mexican policy, but on the vital issues raised by the European War he was noncommittal. He was apparently trying to hold the GermanAmerican vote, which was normally Republican, while Roosevelt created widespread enthusiasm among native Americans by denouncing in emphatic terms the misdeeds of Germany and the failure of Wilson to protect American lives and property. The threat road strike About the middle of August a new turn was given to the campaign by the threat of a general strike of railroad men for an eight-hour day and extra pay for overtime. ened rail- In order to avert the threatened calamity to business and industry, President Wilson invited the labor leaders and the railroad managers to a conference at the White House, and proposed that the demands of the men be provisionally conceded and that in the meantime Congress should authorize him to appoint a commission to observe and report the results. This proposal was accepted by the labor leaders but rejected by the railroad presidents. The strike was ordered for September 4, and on August The Adam- 29 the president went before Congress and urged immediate legislation along the line of his proposals. He suggested, in addition, the enlargement of the son law Interstate Commerce Commission, increased freight rates, and provision for a public investigation before a strike or lockout might be lawfully attempted. Congress promptly passed the Adamson law embodying the eight-hour day, extra pay for overtime, and the commission to observe and report, but postponed action on the other proposals. The act was signed September 3 and the strike averted. The president's course was widely assailed as a surrender under pressure to the labor leaders, who, it was claimed, had taken advantage of the political situation at home and the delicate state of foreign relations to gain their ends. The Adamson law was eagerly seized by Hughes as a campaign issue and became the main target of his attack during the rest of the canvass. returns Throughout the greater part of the campaign President Wilson remained at his summer residence, "Shadow Lawn," where he received delegations and delivered a The election number of carefully prepared addresses. He appealed to his record and paid little attention to the criticisms of his opponents. Up to the last many voters were undecided as to how they would cast their ballots. The election turned out to be one of the closest in the history of the country, and for several days after the votes were cast the result was in doubt. By nine o'clock of election night it was evident that Hughes had carried New York, Indiana, and Illinois, and many of the Democratic papers, including the New York Times, conceded his election. The next day, however, when the country districts and the smaller States of the West were heard from, the returns were more favorable for Wilson. Hughes carried West Virginia, Delaware, and all of the northern States east of the Mississippi except New Hampshire and Ohio; west of the Mississippi he carried only Iowa, Minnesota, South Dakota, and Oregon. The remaining thirty-one States were carried by Wilson. The election probably turned on the Progressive vote of the West more than on any other one factor. This was The vote in particularly true of the vote in California, where California conditions were peculiar. Governor Hiram Johnson, who had been the Progressive candidate for vicepresident four years before, was elected to the United States Senate on the Republican ticket by nearly 300,000 votes over his Democratic opponent, while Wilson carried the State by a majority of 3800 over Hughes. The latter lost the State by identifying himself during his visit to California with the leaders of the reactionary faction of the Republican party, thus alienating the former Progressives. In this campaign the women's vote figured conspicuously for the first time in a presidential contest, and the first woman representative was elected to Congress, Miss Jeannette Rankin of Montana, but the women's vote does not appear anywhere to have had a decisive effect on the outcome. The same was true of the German vote and of the labor vote, both of which were divided. President During the summer and fall of 1916 the European armies were at a deadlock on the western front. In the East the Germans made a successful drive into Rumania and on December 6 occupied the capital city, peace move Bucharest. Six days later Germany, acting for herself and her allies, announced to the Entente Powers her willingness "to enter forthwith upon negotiations for peace." No terms were proposed and she let it be known that none would be announced until the offer to negotiate was accepted. President Wilson transmitted the German note to England and France without comment. On the 18th, however, he addressed an identic note to the governments of all the nations at war requesting them to state definitely the terms on which they would deem it possible to make peace. This note was for a time regarded in England and France as unwarranted meddling and as an indorsement, in a way, of the German proposal, but when the replies of the warring nations were made public, the first impressions of the president's move were modified. The Central Powers merely replied that they were ready to enter into negotiations and tried to fasten on their enemies the responsibility for continuing the war. The Entente Powers, on the other hand, stated fairly definitely the measure of reparation and restitution and the guarantees which they considered indispensable conditions of a permanent peace. Meanwhile it was rumored that Germany was constructing ocean-going submarines of a new and larger type and that she intended to resume unrestricted sub of unre- warfare marine warfare on a more extensive scale than The anever. On January 22, 1917, President Wilson nouncement delivered a notable address to the Senate, in which he outlined the principles on which the submarine United States would be willing to enter into a after FebruLeague for Peace, hoping that if a satisfactory ary 1, 1917 basis for the future peace of the world could be established, the war might be brought to a close. On January 31, however, the German ambassador handed Secretary Lansing a formal note announcing a new zone around Great Britain and France and warning him that all ships, those of neutrals included, found within the zone after February 1 would be sunk. The eyes of the country were again focused on the president with an intensity of interest which had not been felt since the sinking of the Lusitania. On February 3, he appeared before Congress and in calm and measured tones announced that Count Bernstorff had that day been given his passports and that all diplomatic intercourse with Germany was at an end. This announcement was enthusiastically received by the great majority of the American people, who were soon in a state of hourly expectation of |