The Madisonian. [volume] (Washington City [i.e. Washington, D.C.]) 1837-1845, 1841-03-16

/ 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 lei public
empoyments 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 a 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
INTERCHANGEABLE 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 a "Backsmith'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-a love of ease and luxury-a
desire to get bread without the sweat of the brow,
contrary to the divine intention-a mandy pam
by education-a false pretension of superiority
over the mass-and a growing restitution of
sympathy for democratic institutions. But is a
clerk or an office-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 holder 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. II 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 condition rise;
| Act well your par-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, il 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 it 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 solicilants.
Whatever endeavors made by rulers such people
can never be contented and il is always be appre-
hended that they will ultimately 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 fl upon
themselves alone all those novel desires which are
aroused by equality and TO satisfy them will repent
the end, if | am not mistaken, that they ever EN-
barked in this policy they will day discover that
they have hazarded their own power, by making it
necessary and that the safe and honest course
would have been to teach their fellow citizens the art
of providing for themselves"