New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1896-10-17
CONFUSING FUSION.

Confusion is making progress. Naturally
misery loves company. and the rats which leave
the sinking ship do not s,iffer false pride To
prevent use of the same stick of driftwood.
But the practical result II not encouraging 10
Bryans managers. They labored for weeks.
lost time sadly needed for other work. took
many OF their most active and effective men
out of the fight. got a formal fusion effected.
and then sat down to spend the rest of the cam
paign in wondering how far fusion would fuse.
Never has there been more cold and accurate
truth told than by The Tribune months ago,
when ii stated that any conceivable fusion be-
tween Populists and Democrats must cause
cOnsiderab e losses from both forces. The hope
that both could De brought together without
serious diminutlon was from the first so weak
that only amateurs In politics regarded II
seriously. After some months OF experiment
and trial, Democratic managers begin 10 dis
cover that they are paying something for moth
ing whenever they sacrifice the claim OF Demo
cratic candidates 10 regularity 10y any barter
with an organization hostile TO the Democratic.
1t may be admitted that the two factions
seem as like as two peas from the sound
money point Of view. bIrds-eye view so to
speak, discloses little difference between the
creatures in the swamp far below. Yet the
differences look large 10 the creatures them
selves and they are making fearful fuss about
IT, Mr.. Sewall. IT must be- admitted. Is the very
embodiment OF all that the Popusts detest.
There never has been principle or professed
purpose Of that party 10 which he II not the
concentrated essence OF antagonsm. 1t re-
Quircd no especial gift OF vaticina'ion 10
predict that some Populists would spurn Sew
all. and that some Democrats would spurn any
P0pulist. Mr.. Watson helped for time 10
keep alive the notion that work for Bryan was
really work for POpulist ideas. But his latest
uterances show that he knows he has
been the worse fooled man on this continent.
lie has listened 10 Democratic promises and
professions long that ii Is really TOO late for
him TO save his ideas or his party from igno-
mny His sole function is to serve as the soft
spot for Bryan TO fall on. and Bryan is coming
down hard. Inside Of three weeks he will be
bawling that he would have been President
If the POpulists had supported him In good faith.
lie will then be telling exactly as much truth
as he told In saying that doubling the number
Of dollars must make them cheaper, and yet
worth exactly as much as they now are.
The Bryan party is sure to lose great many
votes because of It's fusion and It's division Of
electors with the Populists. Waite, of the Bloody
Brides. Lewellng. Of Kansas. and the rest OF
the queer objects lifted 10 the surface by The
Populist upheaval have sickened so many Demo
cratic stomachs that voting with them will not
be considered preferable to days fishing. On
the Populist side the case Is no better. Men
who have for years been passiOnaey denOunc-
Ing Democratic methods, especially In elections
at the South, are not Just now in The humor to
see their party entirely swallowed by the old
Democratic machine. and left with the posi-
blity OF choosing one or two electors for an
impossible candidate. and with the old machine
more strongly ntrcnched than ever TO bar them
ont of all local and State offices. The men
who imagine that "A complete union Of the entire
vote Of both factions can De secured under such
conditions do not know much about politics,
and for that reason presumably have been
selected to manage the campaign for the silver
cOnspiratOrs.