New-York tribune., 1908-06-09
THE TWO-THIRDS AND UNIT RULES.

THE TWO-THIRDS AND UNIT hCLhe'
The Washington correspondent OF Ihe Ne"
York Times makes the announcement that the
two-thrds rule is TO be annulled at Denver after
Mr. Bryan has been safely renomnated- SAID
The Times's' Washington dispatch of Sunday ::
Should the effort to get 337 delegates hostile to
BRYAN succeed and these delegates insist upon
standing out against the demand OF OIL the con-
vention may yet abrogate the two thirds RUE.
MANY of Bryan's friends want to do TINS, but
others insist il would be politically unwlse, as II
would give those in the party opposed 10 TN,
Nebra sizan an opportunity to bolt on the ground
that his nomination was irregular But IL IS
agreed that the two-thirds rule shall bind no
more Democratic conventions After the nomina-
tion resolution will be introduced declaring IL
TO be the sense of the convention that a majority
should nominate the candidates for President
and Vice President in Democratic national con-
ventions.
This dispatch was written under the impress
sion that the Democratic convention call mao
included the Philippines and that the convention
would consist of COS delegates. No invitation
TO elect delegates was issued to the Filipinos ny
the Democratic National Committee: the conven-
ton will have only 1.Oo2 members under the
terms of the call and $50 votes will be enough
to prevent nomination. This miscalcuatlon
apart. The Times's' statement is entitled TO the
most serious consideration. 1t might be asking
too much of a Democratic National Convention
to expect it TO adopt so logical and natural
reform as the restoration of rule by the ma
iorfty. Yet since Mr.. Bryan has laid down the
principle that. whatever other hereSles or oph-
ion may be tolerated in a Democrat, he must
subscribe to the Fundamental Jeffersonian pr1n-
cpe of majority control, it may be that after
sixty four years of abrogatiOn the right OF the
majority to name candidates for President and
NiCe-Presdent will be re-eStabltshed AS orthodo&
Democratic practice
fprI- vfin hpi
the two-thirds rule. Representative John Sharp
williams said all that could be said for it when
he declared the other day against its abolition
on the ground that it was framed by the South
and for the benefit of the South Mr.. Williams
is still frankly sectioralist in politics. and
Judges every measure and policy from the point
of view Of its effect on his own section. But
there are not many Southerners left in public
life who are so ffmly tied TO the past and hold
as sacred as he does the tactics adopted by the
South to defend and perpetuate its peculiar
institution" There are many who are modern
lied enough TO wonder why the majority rule
principle which they apply in all their home
affairs should not be good enough for national
conventions. In theory there can be no defence
of the two-thirds rule, and now that the South
is getting ready to compete again in national
conventions for the Presidential nomination
there are not a few Southern politicians shrewd
enough to see tnaC Will ma IL easier Ju W Ill
bv a 5OO1 per cent margin than by one Of $685.
per cent
With the abolition of the two-thrds rule the
unit rule would lose all justification. 1t is
illogical even now, for if the theory Of state
unity is to be preserved, ii should be preserved
in it's integrity. and state delegation should be
elected as such by state convention or a state
wide primary. 1t is not at all necessary under
the state theory TO recognize the Congress dis
tricts as units Alabama denied the districts any
voice when 1t was decided this year to throw the
vote of the state as whole for the Presidential
candidate getting a majority In the state pri-
mary But in most states the Republican prac
tice has been more and more generally followed
by the Democrats, and Congress districts have
named delegates independently of and untram-
meed by state action. 1t is clear that If the
voters in Congress district are to be required
by law to choose delegates, they should not have
their verdict reversed by some outside agency.
If the district is legal unit its action should
he final. If the state is to be the only legal
unit. district elections are superf1uous. At pres
ent Democratic practice is confused and incon-
sstent. The Denver convention can do the party
a great service in undermining and simplifying
the methods by which it makes its nominations
for President and Vice-President.