New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1907-04-10
RADICALS AND CONSERVATIVES.

Mr.. Bryan IS to visit this city in a few days
to attend a Jefferson dinner and make a speech,
and the occasion is heralded as the launching of
the NebraskanS boom for the Presidency. His
coming contrasts with his arrival of last sum
mer when the whole Democratic party waited
open armed to receive its hero. Conservatives
and radicals We'd with each other to do him
honor, conservatives welcoming the party's
greatest conservative force" mellowed by years
and sobered by travel, and radicals awaiting
leader more radical than ever before" as the
times demanded; for liz radicalsm 1t does not
do to stand still or you will find yourself behind
the times.
Now there are TO be two Jeffersonlan dinners
in Manhattan, but Mr.. Bryan comes not to
either One Of them is Mr.. Hearst's Jeffersonian
dinner, and 1t represents the radicalsm that
never gets minute behind the times. The other
is the National Democratic Clubs Jeffersonian
dinner. and II will gather at its board the kind
of Jenersonlanism that Mr.. Hearst's Democrats
like TO point ct as the enemy OF its country, the
oppressor Of the downtrodden, and to cartoon In
a way that makes the mighty heart Of the peepul
surge with wrath. Mr.. Bryan IS not going to
dine among these radlcals-or are they con
servatives I've hardly know In these confusing
days. Let us call them conservatives, the kind
Of conservatives who thought Mr.. Bryan, ever
consistent with himself, the bulwark OF his
party's conservatism. Mr.. Bryan Is not going to
dine with either, and we suspect neither the
cartooning wing of the Democratic party nor
the cartooned wishes 10 tie itself up TO the Presl
dental boom Of the Nebraskan. One of them.
perhaps has its mind fixed upon a better rad
ical, and the other perhaps is canvasSing for
better conservative than Mr.. Bryan. So Mr..
Bryan will dine in Brooklyn among the Brook
Ign Jeffersonians and thus launch his boom
neutral ground, among neutral diners, neither
the cRrtOoners nor the CartoOned. n sort Of
tertiHm Qutd men who VIII not be compro-
missed by the launching OF a boom and before
whom he may present himself the great har-
monizer of his party's strife the most radical
conservative and the most conservative radical.
We hope that Mr.. Bryan Will take occasion TO
explain at the dinner IN the clearest terms the
demarcatiOn between radical and conservative.
For our part we can see plainly the hostile
camps Of cartooned and cartoOners and see that
Mr.. Bryan occupies middle ground between them
that he IS an olive branch which just at pres
ent neither side appears To notice. But when It
comes 10 laying out the dividing line that some
where traverses these three parties. apportion-
ing them into radicals and conservatives. we
need light We need to have It explained how
MIR. Henry NJ. Whitney IS the chosen spokesman
and sponsor for Mr. Bryan and yet, IN Mr..
Bryan's words IF there IS n conservative wing
in the Democratic party 1t will not manage the
campaign" Is Mr.. Whitney radical? Clearly,
to our mind, he belongs among the cartooned
but is he a radical! Let the most conservative
radical and the most radical conservative give
us light on these confusing and shifting words
II has panied us TO see the chill with which
the cartOoned section OF the Democratic party
regards the great harmonizer since the famous ut
terance relative to government ownership OF rail
roads, an utterance that was only a mOmentary
dvagation. an expression Of ultimate proba-
blities, Of about as much sublunary consequence
as a declaration in favor of government owner
ship Of the canals on Mars 1t is equally painful
To observe the cold shoulder OF the cartooners
The peerless orator from Nebraska observed the
New York campaign last fall from an uncom-
promising distance. His offer of assistance in
the more recent Chicago campaign was more
over, rejected with almost frgid politeness And
now cartOoned and cartooners dine In distant
excluslveness, and the boom must be announced
on neutral ground amid cordial but undlstIn-
guiShed ncutrals