The Evansville journal. [volume] (Evansville, Ind.) 1866-1870, 1867-09-12
[From the Chicago JournaLl
Who is Resp0R>i lie for Drunken
Public Men?

by the death of ex-senator MeDaa-
gall The newspapers all give when
and where he was born, lived and
died, and what he died OF: adding
simply, =. Poor Ne Dougall aud So
forth. One leading public journal
closes it's very brief mention under
the heading of : Minor Topics, with
these cautious words:
Mr.. McDougalls brilliant talents.
great energy andipersuasive eloqueDce
gave. hig h promise of long; a useful
and tanvhonorable career. That un-
happily the result has not satisfied the
pations which once might have
been. INDUCED in is we'll known, and
the causes are also too we'll known 10
need mention here. fhe-5
We might smile at the dainty brew
ity with which this able journal
touches this matter, but we are in no
mood to. Its too grave an affair TO
be dismissed so summarily. 1t Is not
Minor Topic" II is a topic that
such. a journal as the metropolitan
one to which we have alluded should
lift out Of its solid matterp and put
into a loaded leader.
We are downrightly ashamed Of
these influential Journals that treat SO
gingerly matter which. goes to the
root iof the public peace. What is
another proclamation" of Andrew
johnson, which is one of the major
topics of the journal in question,
and 1.-THE management of the Allan
tic Telegraph, which is another. and
the Brooklyn Ferries" which is
another-what are all these matters
hot he HI
drunkenness of our public men?
McDOugall was man OF personal
influence commensurate with his in
tellectual parts. Until recently. and
through the worst of his days OF in
ebrity, he occupied seat which, for
dignity and influence, is second only
Mag strate. He used to sit for days
at his desk in the Senate, dead drunk.
Even that high and august body.
whose forbearance toward the notori-
ously immoral of their number is I
scandal to the nation, came very near,
or was reported to have been at one
honorable gentleman from Cali
fornia that his room would be better
than his company-would smell letter
allude to this circumstance to show
how very low the late Mr.. McDougall
must have sunk during the time when
he was Senator of the United States
His immortality attained almost john
sonian proportions; though we have
the word of the Chicago Times for the
assertion that he did not enter into
rivalry with His Excellency in the
practice of the vices in which but few
members of Congress pretend to com
pete with 1.-THE man at the other end
of the avenue"
When we consider, then, the emf
nence of the station in which the late
Mr.. McDougall prosecuted his runk-
en- indecencies, and when we consider
the prevalence of his manner OF life
among our public men, we. are deter
mined that the occasion shall not pass
without word in point and to the
point.
1t is high time that the people of
these United States rose 10 their mai
esty and commanded that an end
should be put TO the audacious eff
frontery with which some of our pub
lie men persist In their public de-
bauchery. We hear it said every day,
and in every newspaper, that the peo-
pie .of this country rule this country.
and that public officials are II heir /
most obedient, humble servants.
And we hear it as frequentlyand posC
itively affirmed that the most ,yiEtu-
Gus ruler on the face of the earth is
the people of this country. Very. welh'I
But we would like to see this vrtu4
Gus and mighty ruler show his might
and virtue by refusing tet tolerate
drunkenness in his servants at Wash
ington or elsewhere
We would like to see the day when
the Senators Of the United States will
no more tolerate drunken man in
their Chamber than they would a
viper in their beds; and that body
will behave in that stern and noble
fashion when the body of the people
have a behavior Of similar nobility.
and sternness. When the people who
hold the votes shall refuse them to.
the drunkards who ask for them,
then, and not till then, will this fla
grant and enormous public scandal
cease in the land. When the party
convention or the State Legislature
shall say, plumply, No, to the name of
the inebriate candidate before it. then
we shall see the breaking of day of
better odor in the cause OF public
morals. And not until such stand
shall be taken can such day dawn.
1t is useiess~tOr newspapers to repri-
mand. and religious bodies to re
solve, and temperance gentlemen to
lament 1t is all to no purpose so
long as, with every recurring nomina-
ton, there is public sentiment which