Audubon Republican. [volume] (Audubon, Iowa) 1894-1925, 1906-05-03
DANGER OF RADICALiSM
History About to Repeat itself il
Following After False Gods

Radicalism is in many ways good
thing. Its Office is to stir up the
elements and prevent fossilization; to
furnish an outlet TO the waters of
activity and avoid stagnation. But
too much of it becomes dangerous.
Once in about SO often political parties
have an attack. Some men go wild
over new idea. They get a notion
that unless their idea is adopted, the
sun will cease to shine and the moon
turn to blood. The Democratic party
has had its attack-some of them so
bad that it has not yet recovered. The
The Republican party has had some
bad spells and is in danger of an
other that may eclipse all the rest.
Along this line the Abel News has an
article which gives some history that
that is well worth the reading. After
referring to conditions in the Demo.
cratic party the editor says" But
the danger from radicalism is not
alone in the Democratic party. The
Republican party is badly saturated
with it. This is nothing new, for in
every instance where radicalism has
sought To assert itself some of it's
strongest advocates have been found
in its ranks. In this matter history
repeats itself veryrapidly. When the
greenback issue arose in 1874, calling
for the abolition of money based upon
its redeemability in coin and resting
solely upon the fiat of the govern
ment, many Republicans advocated 1t
and some Republican papers were a.
mong its ardent supporters. Such
hold did the idea get upon the minds
of Republicans that thousands ofthem
left the party when it declared for
honest money. Whole states, former
ly Republicans, were carried away
with the imitation idea, and almost
wholly because radical Republican
leaders led the people that way. Iowa
had hard fight to save herself from
following Kansas and Nebraska in the
imitation whirlpool.
In 1890 very progressive Republi
cans began to preach the need of
more liberal tariff, To condemn pro.
lection and to- clamor for something
very near to free trade. The country,
in the midst of unbounded and unpre-
cedented prosperity, went wild in its
| adoption of Mr.. Cleveland's demands
for tariff reform, urged on by thou
| sands of Republicans who had
| progressed" beyond the party lines
and beliefs. Not many of us have for
| gotten what followed. In 1896 the
money question again became one of
the dominating issues. The question
| - psI Ia "A
ard. For year or more prior TO the
election of 1896 this question was
argued. Many Republican leaders
advocated free silver. Republican
papers argued for it, and thousands
| of Republicans became free silver
men, and again whole states, led by
publican standard, to follow Bryan
and free silver.
Now the conditions of 1892 are
again being approached. The coun-
try was never as prosperous as it
now is, labor was never so greatly in
| demand and wages were never so
good. But discomfort is again evil
dent; things need readjusting; reform
| is demanded; old things and old ideas
are worn out; "progressiveness" is
again demanded and radical ideas
endorsed and urged. When the day
of division between the same conser-
vatism of the Republican party and
the radicalism of the leadership OF
Hearst or Bryan comes, thousands OF
Republicans are being put in training
for the adoption of those ideas and
the condemnation of conservatism.
The standpatter is in derision, pro-
gressives hold the whip. The men
who stood pat for honest money in
1876, against free trade in 1892 and
against the free coinage of silver in
1896 saved or redeemed the country
from dire disaster. Will they do it
in 1902"