Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1910-08-11
A LESSON FROM THE PAST.

good friend of Messrs. Cummins, Bris.
tow, Dolliver and Murdoch ought to
take these gentlemen aside and tell
them that in this hour of victory it
might be well for them to be on the
lookout for breakers ahead. The de-
scent to Avernus is easy, but trouble
Usually strikes those who get there.
Men who talk with the airy reckless
ness of these individuals may say or
do something which will take them
out of the pale of sane politics. Pre-
tending to be republicans, they de-
nounce the leaders of the republican
party and condemn the record on
which the party is appealing for the
support of the people. If they are
sincere in their belief that they are
right and that the great majority OF
the party which elected them, and to
which they still say that they belong,
is wrong, they can not be blamed
for rejoicing over their triumph. Their
triumph was not quite as sweeping as
they predicted it would be, but it
was sufficient to show that, on the
face of figures. they are masters of the
situation in their respective states for
Che moment, at least. But let them
no careful not to burn the bridges
behind them. Men as able and worthy
as they have found themselves drop
ped outside of the breastworks and
never were able to get back.
At one time and another some queer
politics has tlourished in Kansas and
Iowa, and during the times that it was
rampant these states suffered in
prestige. The list of the one-time
republicans who dropped into Green
backism and Populism in those states
is long, and in their submergence they
carried down their communities for
brief periods. And when those COM
munities were extricated they had
new leaders. Where is the Kansan
today who feels any pride in the
round of follies into which his state
was plunged during the Farmers ALI
ance and Populist fanaticism from
1890 to and including 1896? That
states capers in those years repealed
settlers and capital, reduced the value
of it's property, dealt severe blow
to it's credit, and hit it hard in the
census returns of 1900. Its rally to
the cause of political sanity in 1900,
when it gave majority to the repub-
lican presidential ticket for the first
time since 1883, started the work for
the states rehabilitation, and for
few years it made creditable record.
In 1904 it gave lead of 10000 to
Roosevelt, as against Parker. And
now, just as the country was about
to forget it's vagaries of a dozen
years earlier, a new eruption of radi.
calism and frenzy from that quarter
strikes the country's ear.
At the outset in their political life,
Gen. James B. Weaver and Horace
Boies were as good republicans as
Messrs. Cummins and Deliver were
in their saner days. But in an evil
hour for themselves they began to
imagine vain things. Then the in.
evitable happened. Through the half
way house of Greenbackism in
Weaver's case and by the way station
of Farmers Allianceism in the case
of Boies, they landed in the demo
cratic party. Gen. Weaver was the
presidential candidate, successfully, Of
the Greenback and of the Po3ulist
parties. and thus remained promi-
nent figure. Boies carried his state
twice for governor on the democratic
ticket. Each had ability, honesty and
personal popularity. But their ad-
vent in their new role did not reflect
any particular credit on their state.
Unlike Kansas. Iowa did not break
away from the republican party in
any presidential year. but the defeat
of the republicans in two elections for
governor, when they had worthy can.
didates, aroused some distrust thru.
out the country regarding the states
business poise. Outsiders who had
investments in the state found their
property drop to lower levels on the
social exchange. The Iowa idea"
disported itself in almost as fantastic
shapes as did the ohio idea" third
of a century earlier, with Gentleman
George" Pendleton and "Old Bill"
Allen for its leading opponents. The
little episodes in political history here
cited ought to be called to the atten-
ton of the persouages who, for the
hour, are uppermost in Kansas and
Iowa politics. They are out Of line
9Th +ho;r no rtv in tho country at