The Leon reporter. (Leon, Iowa) 1887-1930, 1909-12-02
SHOULD BE CONSISTENT.

1t has been repeatedly stated tnaI
the insurgents who kicked out
from the republican traces when the
special session of congress was held,
would when the time come, turn
back to the old party the same as
grandstander Cummins has done.
This may be true and it may be pos
sible, but it is hardly to be expected,
and less to be condoned should it
ultimately prove true.
The republican insurgents II
they are men and not cattle or mice,
should act with those several mil
lion other insurgents" who make
up the great bulk of the democratic
party. There is every reason why
they should; none, that we know OF,
why they should not. The principal
difference between those two masses
of voters is that the one body is
made up of republicans who constl-
tute flouted minority in their own
party, and the other is made up OF
democrats who are distinct major
ity in that party, both writing It's
platforms and nominating its candl'
dates. If these two bodies OF pro-
gressive citizens were to join forces
their strength would become ire
SlSCIUl6 anu IuCy WOulu SWIM w AZ
control of the federal government.
Why should not the insurgents
who have been read out OF the re
publican party by the president anc
the speaker of the house find thell
logical home in the democratic
party? Why are they in rebellion
against the orthodox principle:
and policies of the republican party
Why are they in rebellion? Because
they have become permeated will
democratic doctrine, first appropri
ated to temporary republican use
by Theodore Roosevelt, but repudi
ated by the republican party as sool
as it was rid of Roosevelt. The trutl
is, that there is much less difference
as to the principal issues of the da.
between the democratic majorit.
and the republican minority thai
there is between the republican ma
jority and the republican minority
The democratic element of the dem
ocratic party and the submerged ele
ment of the republican party ar
headed in the same direction. Why
then, should not the insurgent
leave the party that is hostile t
their principles, and where they fin
cold welcome, and cast their lot Will
the party that is fighting for tn
same thing they are, and which
would warmly welcome them:
When the average man decides tina
merely because whipped-in-senato
Cummins decided after his castiga
ton that he would stand by the re
publican party powers right o
wrong, that all the insurgents sa
likewise, he is guilty of pronounc
ing a verdict without having con
sidered the evidence If he will sea
the returns from the election in Ne
braska this year, as we'll as the re
turns from Massachusetts, he will
find that in both of these great an,
safely republican states republi
can newspapers of the highest stand
ing, papers like the Chicago Tribun
and Providence Journal, frankly de
claring that the election in thes
states disclosed prominent re
publican drift to the democrat
camp, caused by standpat dominanc
of the party in power.
And while comparisons are obi
GUS, we might remark in passing
that insurgents and other voters a
well appear to have been more mum
erously attracted to the democrati
party, in the states of Nebraska ant
Massachusetts, under such condi
tions than are democrats called from
the faith by the alluring promises
and the standpatters.-St. Joe Oh
server.