Page:Famous Living Americans, with Portraits.djvu/572

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.

WOODEOW WILSON 549 ods they were in the habit of using. And so the nomination was made and accepted, and his resignation was handed to the board of trustees of Princeton and accepted. The campaign was conducted in the open. Mr. Wilson espoused every progressive cause proposed, and openly stated that if elected he would be absolutely independent of any sort of influence from any quarter, although he would gladly hear advice from anybody. The election was an overwhelming en- dorsement of him. He received 49,150 majority in a state that had long been a Republican stronghold. But the real test came a few days after election. James Smith, Jr., the man who had organized his campaign, secured his nomination, and stood as the head of the Democratic or- ganization, now came forward with a claim on the United States senatorship. James E. Martine had been elected by the Democratic primary as the party candidate. Mr. Smith claimed precedence over Mr. Martine on the ground that the primary was a joke. Mr. Wilson lacked sufficient sense of humor to see the joke. On the other hand he flatly refused to be a party to the breaking of the party pledge in its vote for Mr. Martine. And later, when Smith, refusing to accept Governor Wilson *s view of the case, went before the legisla- ture as an avowed candidate, the governor took the field against him and secured his defeat and Martine 's election. It was no use to charge ingratitude. There were his state- ments of independence before election, even before his nom- ination; and there was the vote of the party in the primary. After the election of the United States senator the program laid down in the party platform demanded attention. The platform was a most progressive one. It stood for direct primaries, a corrupt practices act, a public utility commission with power to fix rates, employers' liability, and workmen's compensation. Would the legislature pass these measures? It was evident that it would not unless there was some pretty vigorous pressure. The story of how the battle for direct primaries was won differs not greatly from an account of sim- ilar battles in other states. There was the entrenched power of the machine, and the realization that direct primaries