Delaware gazette. [volume] (Delaware, Ohio) 1855-1886, 1869-04-02


The Chicago Rep6bEjcdn, under this
heading, has sensible article, in which
it notes tbs present tendency TO deery
our public men. Popular opinion, the
Rep5t8E5case says, oscillates to extremes
like the pendulum of a clock. At one
time. We regard our public men, or.
may of them, with a kind of hero
worship. and exalt their characters and
exaggerate their virtues. Now, the
tendency is in tho other direction, and
the common occupation Of writers for
t the press is to attack The characters and
sneer at the honesty and virtue Of men
in public life. The joarnaI referred to
puts in timely word, thus:
To many of our public men the peo-
pie owe debt of enduring gratitude
for their noble efforts to contribute to
the general welfare. Every pioneer snd
frontier settler has fonnd a benefactor
in Julian, of Indiana, who has stood
guard over the homestead and pre-emp-
ton laws with faithful and effectual
watchfuIness. Every citizen should
shrine the name of Jenckes, of Rhode
Island, as one whose time, talent and
energies have been devoted, in the face
of incredible obstacles, to the regenera-
ton of the civil service. Every tax
payer EnOu1Q 61llDain Wlk4lu his uearE
the sixteen years of effort which Il. b,
Washburne, of Illinois, has exhibited
in pi otecting the treasury vaults from
the rapacious hands of piunderers, and
from the waste of unnecessary aDpro-
priation. So signal have been his SER
vices looking to such ends, that he has
received, in Congressional circles tbe
nickname of cold Economv's
Thus we might go through the list of
such presentatIVes as Boutwell,, OF
IL
Of Ohio Blaine, of Maine f; Maynard,
of Tennessee Covode. of Pennsy1va-
MIA; Wilson, of Iowa and so on
through a list too numerous to be re-
counted. Extending our researches to
the Senate, we would there find a num-
Der of noble men, who are not only
above suspicion, but whose services
have been so signal that their names
have become household words.
The fault of the times has been that
charges against public men have been
too sweeping-there has been too little
discrimination between the good and
bad Paragraphists and letter-writers
msy cheaply and readily bioviate about
''the politicians and 'tparty hacks, az
pests of the Republic and nuisances of
its governmental functions; but COM
mon sense people are beginning to see
that the nature of a Senator's or a Re
presentative's official duties forces him
to be politician, while the division of
the country Into parties, equally forces
hint to be, within proper and reason
able meaning, a partisan
There is, We are glad to know,
growing inclination among the voting
masses, to froW down indiscriminate
clamor and abuse of our public men,
and to distinguish between these who
make a trade and those who make
science of politics. All honor, we say,
to the men who have stood the test of
three to eight successive elections to
| Representative honors, or who, at the
close of a second Senatorial term, have
found the Endorsement Of a further re-
turn to official duty. These are the
| ones whose heightened and repeated
experience has trsined them to that
skill in the performance of their func-
tions which is one ofthe best safeguards
of the peoples interests. The public
are beginning to understand that the de-
nunciation Of such men, without addu-
E-cing proof of the charges made, is
| merely a proceeding in the interests of
a pIundering lobby, or in resentment
| for Illustration of scme ax-grind1ng
| scheme.