New-York tribune., 1906-11-21
SorARING THE CIRCLE.

we are now permitted to know why the Dem
ocrats failed to elect majority of the House of
Representatives. The secretary of the Democratic
Congressional Campaign Committee Charles
Edwards vouchsafes an explanation in one
word, Hearst We knew that Hearst was one
reason why the Democrats failed to carry New
York State but we had supposed he was too
busy upsetting his own apple cart in New York
TO trouble himself to upset the Democratic apple
cart all over the country. Mr.. Edwards takes a
less cheerful view of the result than Mr.. Bryan,
who could see the triumph of ideas" and
Democratic trends" and "signal victories" amid
results which kept the champions of the Peepul
in private life. Mr.. Edwards, in his regular
political letter to Democratic weeklies through
out the country, explains that the Independent
voters cast Republican ballots, and that conse-
quently the efforts of his committee TO elect
Democratic House went for naught- He says:
The man principally responsible for this con-
dition, not only IN New York but in Illinois and
California is one William Randolph Hearst.
His defeat in New York and the election of
every other Democratic candidate on the ticket
on which he ran is proof positive that the peo-
pie do not want that kind of independence
which throws down" the nominees of the party
calculated to do what he advocates.
1t is the great misfortune of the Democratic
party that the man who is Its most conspicuous
figure always is responsible for It's defeat.
Bryan has twice been responsible for the public
rejection of his party. Parker has once been the
occasion Of Its receiving tremendous adverse
majority. Now IT is Hearst who, running only in
one state invited according to Mr.. Edwards, the
rebuke of the voters all over the country. Isn't
there something wrong with party which only
succeeds in offering to the public candidates
whom 1t delights to dishonor?
Mr.. Edwards is not without hope, however.
The recent election points a moral, and that Is
for the Democrats ito nominate In 1908 a man
like Charles 4. Culberson, of Texas, or John
SHARP Williams of Mississippi, for the Presi-
"dency." Then will they win victory that
twill 'reverberate from Tadmor In the wilder
mess to Yubadam.'"
We think it was Mr.. Bryan himself who Of
fered a handsome prize once to any one who
could draw up in the form Of a platform a set
of Democratic doctrines on which the leaders Of
his party would agree No one ever attempted.
so far we have learned, to win this handsome
prize. The problem has passed among the
posers" Of the ages, the classic problems with
which the human intellect has wrestled in vain
and abandoned In despair. We should give some
words Of encouragement to the hopeful person
who is trying to hit upon perpetual motion If
such an endeavor were an alternative to his
wrecking his mind IN effort to win Mr.. Bryan's
prize. We have known of men OF intellect who
spent their leisure trying to square the circle
They were aware of the mathematical demon
stration that It could not be done. but they
kept pegging away at it just for luck. Nobody
has sufficient faith IN luck TO seek for doctrinal
unaniInity in the Democratic party. The pur-
suit of the impossible is ever an engaging occu-
patton, but the human mind recoils from certain
insurmountabilities, and so Mr.. Bryans old puz-
zle has never attained the favor of perpetual
motion or squaring the circle intellectual
gymnastfc.
Now every Democratic candidate is an i'm
personatioD of this intellectual inrpdsSe. He is
mechanism desperately offered to the public
as solution Of the perpetual motion problem.
In him you see the circle squared. or that
graver problem, that puzzle which Mr.. Bryan
in one of his moments of airy gayety tossed
down TO the ages. the doctrinal unanimity Of the
Democracy, worked out to universal satisfac-
ton Doubtless Mr. Bryan would like to solve
his own problem and win his own prize and
the greater prize which awaits its solver. After
trip around the world it looked easier to him,
but Babel was a convention Of unanimity and a
nomination by acclamation compared to what
his suggestions evoked Only he who squares
tl.e circle may "reverberate from TadmOr in
the wilderness to Yubadam."