The Sidney herald., 1957-09-19

1871 <AOld lldill LII
coin National Republican club
a Montana unit of which wa:
recently organized in Butte
should not be confused with the
Abraham Lincoln brigade, COM
prised Of American lefties who
fought in the Spanish civil war
The Abraham Lincoln National
Republican club Is neither leftist
% radical. 1t heralded itself as
conservative and distainful OF
modern Republicanism."
There is a bit of intriguing
mystery so far as the Montana
unit is concerned. The newspa-
per report on the launching in
Butte mentioned the name OF
not even one individual, but we
did learn that Park, Yellowstone,
Cascade, Lewis and Clark and
Silver Bow counties were repre-
scented.
We learned too, that the group
describes itself as IAN organiza-
ton of Taft Republicans" Infer
ence that the Montana organizers
included any Of the real state
leaders of the Taft presidential
nomination campaign in 1852 ap-
pears unjustified. At this writing,
such inquiry as 1 have made
here in Helena has disclosed no
one who admitted knowing any
thing about the Butte gathering
or who would confess member
ship in the organization. 1t was
about like asking a man whether
he belongs to the Ku Klux Khan.
In general, the Abraham Lin
coin National Republican club
seems to be a COP 1--WE don't
like Ike and not maybe" fellow
ship. The Butte story said that
party members wer urged to
repudiate Eisenhower New Deal
ism" and to return to the phil
osophy of what was termed real
Republicanism."
In addition to declaring "mod-
ern Republicanism" anathema, the
Montana unit pronounced one of
its detectives to be to work for
Republican control of congress
and to elect a Taft Republican
to the presidency in 1860.
Surely the ragings of these i'm
placable devotees of the great de-
parted Bob Taft are not condu-
Give to Republican harmony. Per-
haps it is a reasonable SUPPOSE
ton that what really gripes some
of these anti-Eisenhower Gophers
is disappointment in patronage
expectations. Whatever the cause,
one encounters occasional out
bursts of almost fanatical bitter
ness. l know several Republicans
who cuss Ike with all the vehem-
ence they had once reserved ex-
clusively for Franklin D. Roos-
evelt.
The asserted purpose of the
Montana unit is to rally the rank
and file of the party to the sup
port of conservative Republican
principles" But what are con-
sentative Republican principles?
And what is modern Republican,
ism? Also, along that line, what
is a liberal and what is a reac-
tionary?
Political Technology is so loose
that it means just about what we
want it to mean. l feel, however,
that it is going too far to imply
that by the yardstick of his day or
of our day Abraham Lincoln was
a conservative in the sense in
which that word now is usually
employed.
If the sponsors of conservative
Republican principles mean going
back to the pre-Theodore Roose-
welt era, they are indeed not
realists, any more than Demo-
Gratis are realists if they be-
lieve that in the implementation
of its doctrines their party is go
ing back to the 10Th century.
President Eisenhower's critics
within the Republican party are
about as vitrolic as d~ecorously
they can be when they flay what
they call his New Dealism. They
are saying that he has been in
fected with the philosophy OF
Franklin D. Roosevelt, which to
them, is an objectionable political
sin. This is coupled with denun-
citation of the presidents new
Republicanism." / am far from
certain, as l suspect you are, just
what modern Republicanism
means. But divesting the phrase
of nebulous verbage, / surmise 1t
adapting the founding
principles of the party to the
needs of today. 1t is plausible,
too, that in general the Demo-
Gratis, as to their party, adhere to
substantially the same concept.
But in each instance dispute is
generated when precise definition
of the fundamental credo is I'M
.ertaken.
Call it progressivism or liberal
ism, the historic fact is that the s
trend of this nations major po-
parties long has been to-