New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1906-09-01
UNWILLING TO STAY PUT.

To orderly mind nothing is more annoy
ing than the failure Of a fact, q person or
conclusion to stay put Once we have straight
ened out a tangle or reduced a proposition to
its plainest and simplest terms, 1t is more than
eIasperating to find our results questioned and
our logic set at naught- We must confess TO
some disappointment at the outcome Of the
latest attempt at unfcation and simplifcatiOu
in the Democratic party. The Tribune cord
tally approved that effort. There had come to
be many species and varieties of Democrats
that memory was burdened tabulating them
and distinguishing them apart We have had
Cleveland Democrats, Hill Democrats, Hearst
Democrats, Belmont and Ryan Democrats and
Murphy and McCarren Democrats. We have
had free trade Democrats. tariff for revenue
only Democrats and tariff with incidental pro-
lection Democrats There have been silver
Democrats, gold Democrats and greenback
Democrats, spOils Democrats and Civil Service
reform Democrats corporation Democrats and
public ownership Democrats, socialistic Demo
Gratis and Jeffersonian Democrats. Last but
not least has come the independent, boss-buster
type of Democrat. Variety pushed so far has
proved not spice. but a distraction, and we
have been disposed to welcome for both logic's
and economy's sake the project OF blending and
unifcation recently launched with Mr.. Bryan
as chief bender and unifier If all Democrats
could only become Bryan Democrats. how much
confusing and useless cataloguing OF sects, FAC
tons and persuasions would be avoided!
In the name OF logic and order. therefore, we
feel ike protesting at the fickleness and capri
ciOusness of those neo-Bryan Democrats who
are unwilling to stay put. We can recall with
what genial and kindly appreciation our friend
and former neighbor, The New York Times.
pictured the ripening effect of political expe-
rience and foreign travel on the once radical
leader TO whom all eyes were turning as the
reorganizer and unifier of the Democratic party.
Had not Mr.. Bryan published an article in The
Century Magazine" on "Individualism Versus
Socialism," which The Times" had found
without blemish-safe, sane and JeffersOnian
enough almost TO have appeared in its own
editorial columns? Had not the conservative
element In the party discovered in that article
sufficient warrant for hailing the traveller
statesman as a convert to conservatism? Had
not all factions in the Democracy agreed to sink
their differences. drop their tags and welcome
Mr. Bryan back as the true head Of the faith,
the accepted leader of the organization and its
uncontested choice In 1908 for the Presidency?
|. II Is true that when Mr.. Bryan plumply an
nounced a few weeks ago in Norway that he
was no more conservative to-day than he had
been In 1896 enthusiasm for uniicatiOn chilled
q little Professor Henry Loomis Nelson coldly
chided the other trustees OF conservatism for
pool venture, and The World" began TO think
and hint that one short essay in THE Century
Magazine mildly tinged with conservatism was
hardly to be accepted as a set-off to continu-
GUS ten years output Of undiluted radicalism.
But we still had hopes that the desire for unity
would triumph over small divergences OF Opin-
ion over municipal ownership Of public utli-
ties or government ownership and operation Of
the railroads, and were only half prepared for
the notice of withdrawal served yesterday by
THE Times" and other organs OF conservative
opinion on the newly engaged and newly landed
merger manager.
THE Times" refuses to be classified as be
longing TO the new oneand-only variety of
Democrats. 1t even denies that Mr.. Bryan. the
propa gator of the new variety, is a Democrat.
But. If Mr.. Bryan Is not Democrat and the
reunited party he leads Is not reunited party,
then chaos has come again. We cannot sym
pathize with the grumblers who want 10 bring
back chaos and upset order. They have an
easier remedy. Why not combine as the partys
new platform the essay in 1.-THE Century Maya
zine" and the Madison Square Garden speechf
Then Democrats Of all sorts could live at peace
with each other; and the rest of us could also
have q little peace