The Guthrie Daily Leader

A BRILLIANT DASH NECESSARY.

There is nothing truer than that the Republican administration has awakened to the fact that the war in the Philippines must be brought to a speedy and successful close if McKinley is to be his own successor. Even the New York Tribune, which usually sees nothing but Republican success through optimistic eyes, sounds the alarm and broadly hints that something must be done and done speedily to relieve the situation. Whitelaw Reid is undoubtedly in a situation to know something of the drift of public sentiment, and he confesses a good deal when he says the war must be brought to a successful conclusion before the November election to insure a Republican victory, even in Ohio.

The Tribune takes the view that only a brilliant and complete victory over the Filipino army will restore confidence and enthuse the people and cause them to forget for the time the cost to their country of a departure of the administration from the early teachings of the fathers and the dangers that beset it from such a departure.

A great victory by a sudden and brilliant dash, he thinks, will produce such an outburst of patriotic enthusiasm as will completely cover up for a time the mistakes of the administration and enable it to pull through in the November election. Unless something of this kind is done the outlook for Republican success is far from flattering, and if these elections go against the Republicans the storm gathering in the distance will burst in all its fury and overwhelm the party in 1900.