New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1908-09-18
nn- 0LNEf-S kETTER.

The Hon Richard Olncy. Attorney Generai
and SECRETARY Of State under President Cleve-
Land has written n letter to 1.-The New York
World" which seems TO have cheered our val
ued neighbor considerably. The Norlu Is
irving 70 elect Mr.. Bryan But it wants to
elect him not as The heir of the policies OF
Roosevelt. but as the heir of the policies OF
TiIden and Cleveland. Mr.. Bryan is asking the
people to elect him as the heir OF Roosevelts
nolicies and SHES at being described as Tfldens
or Cleveland's political legatee. In his opinion
he might as we'll be called the heir OF Alton
B. Parker. But to ex-Secretary Olney all thes"
questions of heirship areas Senator vest OF
Missouri. used to say-'1eather and prunella.
He demonstrates 10 1.-The World that MIR.
BRYAN ought to be elected general princl-
pies no matter whether he is the heir OF Roose-
velt as be claims to be- the heir OF cleveland
as THE World urges him to be- or the heir
of Parker which no one has yet Dare1aceoly
accused him of being. Mr.. Olney does not
care whose heir he Is or ought to be, or rightly
or wrongly considers himself. He is for Bryan
in any of these legatary capacities or all CT
them, since he says that the sole deslderatum
in this campaign is to defeat the Republican
party.
The ex-Secretary of States letter bristles with
ingenious paradoxes. He agrees with Inc
World" that Mr. Bryan ought to be elected as
rebuke to Rooseveltism. But he is not wor-
ried. as 1.-THE World" is, because Mr.. Bryan
claims TO be more Rooseveltian than MI. 1a1I
and promises to carry out the Roosevelt poll
cies more effectively even than their author
There is merit in this apparent madness, says
Mr.. Olney For in his opinion, Mr. Bryan Is
"open and square in telling the people VINO
dislike Rooseveltism that the worst is yet TO
come and not keeping them In doubt as 10 theif
fate if he is elected. 1t may seem llloglcal 10
some to denounce the Roosevelt programme Oh
railroad regula ton and then advocate the cleo
ton of a man who has publicly committed HIM
self to government ownership and operation Oh
the railroads. But Mr.. Olney says that the
nrogramme of reguation-which he himself
opposes-wiII, if carried far enough, lead TO
government ownership. SO why should not
those who oppose both regulation and owner
shin. as well as those who favor regulation ana
oppose ownership, gladly throw their votes to
the statesman who says that ownership Is the
only logical solution of the problem
Mr. OIney also discovers that MIR. Iafts attl-
tude toward the injunction issue IS more op-
iectionable than Mr.. Bryan's. de is not I'M
willing to admit that Mr.. Bryan Is more radlcal
on this point and that has certainly been the
view of Mr.. Gompers and the antl-lnJunctloh
agitators who are now supporting Mr.. Bryan
For himself, he thinks Mr.. Taft and Mr.. Bryan
candidate in the wrong he prefers MI Bryan
even If he is the more wrong, because his oppo-
nent is better lawyer and ought not to have
been even half way wrong. Total depraVity'
according to Mr.. Olney's standards, is more
pardonable than mediate depravity
Finally the ex-Secretary of State REEVES
sonbisticaI argument, made by Carl Schurz In
1000 in favor of Mr.. Bryan's election. Mr..
schurz said then, in a letter which caused much
surprise that although he opposed the deDase-
ment of the money standard he was stllI Will
ing to vote for a Democratic Presidential can
didate pledged to the coinage of 5O-cent dol
lars because Republican Senate would inter
vene and prevent the redemption of that pledge.
He was willing to intrust the executive power
IN q man who would misuse it to destroy the
national credit because he believed the RepuD-
lican opposition in Congress would keep Tue
Executive from doing too much mlSchle1. MT.
OIney says now that the country ought 10 De
willing to elect Mr.. Bryan because it can de-
pend on a Republican Senate to neutranze MS
ATTEMPTS TO execute his policies. This is how
he argues:
Democrats It is said should vote for MT
Taft instead of Mr. Bryan because MI r, ar
election means good business and Mr., Bryans
the reverse But it is the Roosevelt policies en-
forced by the Roosevelt methods whlch nave
brought bad business, and if Mr. Taft Is elected
and does what he is leading the Roosevelt "ins
of his party to expect he will continue both the
Roosevelt policies and the Roosevelt methoQs
IF II be granted on the other hand. that Mr.
Rrvan's election would mean the pursuance or
Roosevelt policies, it would also mean decent
and sane methods of executing them, not mere
Iv because they may fairly be expected 10 pc
his choice, but because any other methods
would be beyond his power. With one branch
of Congress against him and perhaps poth
branches any measures proposed by the ma
tionaI Executive would be doomed to failure
unless commended by their own intrinsic merits
What is this but plea for the election of
man on the ground that he cannot accomplish
the purposes which the voters approve when
tbey elect him? 1t is q small compliment to
candidate TO support him after serving notice
on him that his principles are all wrong and
that he is eligible TO office only because he Will
have 10 resign himself to being q fgurehead
after election We do not think that a self
respecting candidate can relish such support.
If Mr.. OIney does not believe in either the
Taft policies or the Bryan policies, why does
he not hunt up candidate whom he can be-
Iieve in?