The Denison review. [volume] (Denison, Iowa) 1867-current, 1898-12-27
from man the incentive of personal
ambition is unhealthy.


:.
F On the question of expansion both
parties are divided. To illustrate,
Reed, Cleveland and Bryan stand to-
gether in opposition, while Mckinley,
Wheeler, and many democrats stand
for it. 1t is not then question upon
which any political alignment as be-
tween democrat and republican can be
made.
The four questions therefore. which
are to decide ones political affiliations
are then these, the currency, the tariff,
industrial and commercial questions,
and the question of suffrage. Both
parties are made up of millions of peo~
pie in every walk of life, poor and rich,
employer and employee, honest men
and scoundrels, so that the plea that
one party is vastly superior to the other
either in personnel or in tender solicit
tude for the people is but the special
pleading of the partisan and should
have no weight with that great jury
the people. The solution of these four
problems IS then what should be the de-
Gliding point as to which party YOU
should belong. We ask our readers,
especially the young men who have not
as yet become bound down by party
letters and personal obligations, if they
U ill NOT uivo Soma <;.,oo o,<3 %ho,,rh4
and study to these great questions of
government?
We were greatly surprised the other
day to hear a sturdy German farmer
say that he was still democrat but on
account OF prohibition only. He said
he had been back to Scott county and
had found that nearly all of his old
time friends and neighbors were back
in the old republican fold. We asked
him if it was because they had all turn
ed prohibitionists. He said no they had
not, but that they were fairly satisfied
with the present liquor law and had be-
come republicans on the question of
sound money. We then asked him
what he thought of the money question
and he said he did not exactly know,
but that he had made up his mind to
study the question and if he became
satisfied that free silver was not best
he would throw aside his lingering
| prohibition prejudices and become a
republican. We believe he will do as
he says, he is the kind of man whose
word counts for a great deal and. We
are confident that if he studies the sill
yer question he will become republi.
can. In fact there is no better way to
become a republican than to thorough.
| ly study the free silver proposition.
| 1t is not the knowledge of what free
silver means that is harmful to republi
canism, but that sort of half knowledge
that hazy grasping after something fret
that attracts to democracy. One mar
suggested that if European countrie.
used gold and if the silver dollar was
worth but fifty cents that when the
Il
European merchant came to this coun
try to buy he would pay, say $l.Oo il
gold for his bushel of wheat which
would be two dollars in silver the
American could then buy two bushels
of wheat with his silver money and sci
to the European for the gold and repeal
the operation until the American grew
rich and the foreigner bankrupt. OF
course the greatest fault with thi.
argument is that the people living be
yond the Atlantic are not natural bor1
fools. We quote this argument simpl,
in support of our proposition that it Ii
the misunderstanding Of the silvel
question and not the understanding Of
il which does the harm.