The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-03-20

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profit to the honor than could be obtained by the
exercise Of similar abilities in private employ
ments. When the question of salaries to fede.
raj officers first came up in the Convention thai
formed the Constitution, Benjamin Franklin,
foresaw and foretold the strife, the rivalry, and
the discussions that would ultimately ensue, il
the posts of honor were at the same time made
posts Of profit. Experience has proven the truth
of the prophecy. Limited as is the number of
appointments, the number of aspirants has be-
come unlimited, and is constantly increasing.
The universal and inordinate desire for place
exhibited in the ranks of every party, without
distinction, has become great social evil, call
ing loudly for correction. We need not say that
IT destroys the spirit Of independence; that it
diffuses Venal and servile humor; that il stiles
the manlier virtues; that it wastes time and
spends money for naught that it gives rise to
secret intrigues and various arts of corruption !;
that il "creates an unproductiye activity, which
agitates the country without adding TO its re-
sources" Multitudes know these things are
obvious.
If commerce and industry are checked in their
growth. and all the ordinary means Of making
fortune are closed up--if the different lines Of
business are few and ill-paid-and if public en-
Payments are numerous, lucrative and perma-
nent, we may see the causes of the evils, and
the remedy readily suggests itself Let COM
merce and industry be revived-let enterprise
again enter the lines of business, and let public
employments be reduced in numbers and in pay,
and LET every body know how precariols is the
breath Of party favor, and we are quite sure that
various members of the community who, des-
pairing of their condition, rush to the head of
Government for assistance, will see that their
enduring welfare lies afar from government
office. Let young men possessed of character
and ambition, be taught that the task of copy
list, or Of book-keeper, which constitute the
principal employments of public clerks, is no fit
place to immune their youthful energies. In
nine cases out Of ten, perhaps, he will never
after be heard of beyond the walls of his office,
and the record of his life will be but folio of
figures. How much sweeter is the air Of free
dom-how much more savory is the bread of
independence-how much dearer that fame
which is wrought out by our own honest unas-
sisted efforts.
1t was but short time since we heard that an
advertisement of "Blacksmith's apprentice
wanted" was UNDECIDED, while the place for a
clerk, advertised at the same time, was applied
for by more than twenty. What does this
prove? An aristocratic spirit--a contempt of
labor--that clerks are more highly estimated
than mechanics love of ease and Injury
desire to get bread without the sweat ofthe brow,
contrary to the divine intention-a namby pam
by education-a false pretension of superiority
over the mass-and growing restitution of
sympathy for democratic institutions. But is a
clerk or an of6ce-holder more respectable than
an honest manly blacksmith Not he. Is not
the carpenter, the printer, the painter, the manu-
facturer, the farmer, just as respectable as an
office holder2 And is the merchant, the law
yer, the banker, the editor, from the nature of
his calling merely, entitled to any more respect
than any other member of any other profession ?
No. 1t is not the profession which distinguish
es the man--it is the heart, the department, the
daily life, the character, the wisdom, which de-
termines mans rank in the estimation of the
sensible portion of the world
Honor and shame from no condition RISE
Act we'll your part-there all the honor lies.
The spirit to which we have above alluded is
the result of false principles, false education, and
exhibits itself in place-hunting SO extensively
as to demand correction. If the evil can be
corrected by any aid of the Government, we
have no doubt, it will be accomplished
The following extract from De Tocqueville
may not be Inappropriate at this time:
When public employments afford the only outlet
for ambition, the Government necessarily meets with
permanent opposition last for is tasked to satisfy
with limited means, unlimited desires II is very certain
that of all people in the world the most difficult to
restrain and to manage people of solicitants.-
Whatever endeavors are made by rulers such people
never be contented and it is always be appre
hended that they viii ultimately overturn the consti
tuition of the country and change the aspect of the
state, for the sole purpose of making clearance Of
places.
The rulers of the present age who strive to fix upon
themselves alone all those novel desires which are
aroused by equality and satisfy Them will repent in
the end, if | am not Mistaken that they ever en-
barked in this policy they will one day discover that
they have hazarded their own power, by making it
necessary; and that the safe and honest course
would have been teach their ellow-ctizens the art
of providing for themselves"