New York, July 31.—Charles E. Hughes tonight pledged himself to “a policy of firmness and consistency” in dealing with Mexico if elected to the presidency.
Accepting the formally tendered Republican nomination Hughes charged the sinking of the Lusitania, with all loss of American lives in that and subsequent U-boat disasters, together with the loss of national prestige abroad, to the weakness and vacillation of the Wilson administration.
He unequivocally endorsed the extension of suffrage to women.
He denounced “all plots and conspiracies in the interest of any foreign nation.”
Declaring the nation to be “shockingly unprepared,” he declared “for adequate protection on both our western and eastern coasts.”
In this he included both adequate army and greatly reinforced navy.
The present national prosperity Hughes characterized as a “fool’s paradise” brought about by the “abnormal conditions of war,” and he advocates as a needful safeguard against an “energized Europe” which will follow the close of the war “protective upbuilding policies” which shall be applied “fairly, without abuses, in as scientific manner as possible.”