The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1897-08-21
What Mr.. Low Has to Think About

What Mr.. Low Has to Think About.
1t is not discreditable to Mr.. Low that he
has the ambition to be the first Mayor OF
the Greater New York 1t is altogether
honorable In him. That Office will be Of com
manding political Importance, and all able
man, true, sound, sincere, n reasonable.
can render in it inestimable service to the
people OF New York, and incidentally to this
whole republic. The Initiation Of a new
scheme Of government for a city, which will
be the second in magnitude In the world, and
eventually will be greatest in the world,
the financial and commercial capital, may
we'll stimulate the ambition OF any man, no
matter how vaulting his ambitions may
be. The first Mayor Of the consolidated
| New York will be one Of the most con-
s~picuous men Of this time.
Mr.. Low, therefore, Is wise In stopping
yet longer to reflect on the advisability OF
risking his ambition in the Citizens Union
| enterprise. The trouble with his original
letter to that clique Of plotters and ia.
natics was that IL exhibited no due appre-
| citation of the momentous Importance of the
election at which they sought to induce
| him to thrust himself forward as a pre-.
mature candidate. Their clap.trap and
harum-scarum collection of principles and
purposes ought to lave been enough Of
itself to prevent any sensible man from
committing his reputation to their keep
ing. Mr.. Low should have been able at
once to discover the true relative value Of
their movement. He should have seen at
a glance that their view Of the political
situation was superficial and provincial
and narrow.minded, and that unless the
enterprise was changed radically in form
and spirit 1t would bring only humiliation
to any man of consequence entrapped into
it's leadership. The haste in which It was
started. with the puerile purpose Of preGmpt-
ing and holding the field, was enough to
warn a judicious man against having any
thing to do with 1t. It's bigoted and spiteful
animus degraded 1t to a level to which he
should nave been unwilling to go down.
1t is true that Mr.. Low checked its
springtime bumptiousness and held it off
from carrying out it's scheme of a precipi-
tate nomination. He was too jealous of his
reputation to indulge In such child's play,
and he had no notion of allowing the Citi-
zens' Union fanatics and soreheads to make
him a laughing stock. His nomination
announced for June, was put off to July ;
then the time was extended to August, and
now it Is thrust forward indefinitely to
September, provided he is willing to accept
1t. The impatient souls Of the Citizens
Union, accordingly, are losing patience;
threats begin to be heard that Mr..
Low will be set aside for a candidate in
famed with their own spirit of deviltry.
From the first. the more ardent and
-u-.f .-::4. l. ..uo l.o 80 tla
movement have distrlsted him as apathetic.
They want n leader crazy to smash things
simply for the sake of the smashing, not
a man who is temperate in the considera-
tion Of the risks Of his candidacy, as Mr..
Low is 80 manifestly.
Very naturally he does not wan to run
unless there is some chance of his cleo
tion, for he is a prudent man. He knows
very we'll that there Is no vital and
terminating principle in the Citizens
Union movement, and, moreover, he is
without the spite and malice which give
impulse to the more ardent spirits of the
concern. He is a man accustomed to act
in accordance with reason and Judgment.
His mistake, as we have said, was in the
beginning, and it seems to have been ire
parable. He should have foreseen that
the fabricated issues of the Citizens Union
would be buried by the real issue of the
campaign. 1t was as plain last June as it
is now that the contest will not be over the
political rag dolls of the fantastic Univer.
sity Settlement, but over fundamental
questions of government and the organiza.
ton of society. interesting to men and not
babes. The second city of the world is not
going to begin it's existence with a kinder
garten squabble. Two social and political
theories, the one represented through Tam
many by Organism, and the other by the
Republican party, are to be in conflict, and
it will be a contest for men and not chill
{ dren in politics. The battle is to be over
J something worth fighting about.
Mr.. Lows meditations, accordingly, must
lead a man so sensible as he is to the con
clusion that by carelessly permitting his
name to be associated with the Citizens
i, Union diversion he excluded himself from
that conflict.