The Saline County journal. [volume] (Salina, Kan.) 1871-1893, 1871-04-27
POLITICS THEN ASD NoW.

Of culture, refinement and scholarship
men known in the world If letters, and
men noted for their great attainments.
We are not of that class of persons that
would look ut the founders of our gov.
eminent rs an immaculate set of men,
free from the common vices of life, nor
attribute to them the utmost purity and
integrity Of character, denOuncing, at the
same time, our polictical characters Of
the present day us in every way unprin-
cipled and without an atom Of good in
their hearts. Viewed in the soft colOring
given by the historians pen, we are apt
to overlook the faults of these characters
of the past. When you behold the bluffs
that are about us from distance, they
present forms of beauty, of waving and
graceful lines; when you approach them
symmetry md grace Of outline has given
| place to craggy sides, rocks, canyons and
fearfully rugged surfaces. So, the illumi-
mated pages Of history pass over the de-
fects of their hero's characters, and cx-
tol, simply, their virtues. But We are
free to admit that politics has become
more cOmmOnplace-contaminate by
disreputable ..practices-and lowered in
many respects when compared with that
of yore. We have never learned of in
stances in the oldcn time where men
were about to go to Congress for the
purpose of accommodating fortunes, meas
uring their favor or disfavOr Of any pub
lie measure by the amount of money
staked towards its passage, or boldly pro-
claiming themselves in market to await
the pleasure Of the highest bidder. Nor
has it come to our knowledge that they
were accustomed to pledge vast sums Of
money in congressional or senatorial
campaign for the election ofcandidates.
No chartered hotels, railroads, steam
boats, or bought presses, were in vogue for
the furtherance ofthc desires of ambitious
men; nor do We hear Of hungry crowds
Of political sycophants reckoning, nod
ding, winking, pulling, hauling, fight
ing, jostling, damning and staggering
around. Z,
In latter years We have seen men sit
ting in the seats hallowcd by the most
sacred associations, from which, in the
olden time, came the choicest strains of
elOqucncc that wero ever uttered by
mortals. Men without qualification, and
devoid of even mediocre abilities dwarfs
intellectually and often without the COM
monest knowledge of the design, theory
and history of government, or its rela-
tons. Learned statesmen diplomats
and men of gigantic intellectually have
been supplanted under the new regime,
and the commonest men exalted to their
positions. Money is gaining tho same
power over the political machinery that
Archimedcs attributed to his lever in
the boast that he could move the world.
Money is voting away the peoples land
to monopolies; boosting up capitalists;
savage Indians in the g. |
est masacrcs and the most Destructive
depredations, and making itself quail
fication as to whom official isition
should DO given. -
Such is the corrupted conditii 6fpo-
itical morals that. whosra candidate for.
the Legislative lalsch Of the national
government is sought for, he must be
man either of large capital, or hacked by |
capitalists. The ability and integrity of
the candidates are secondary qnaliiica-
tons. Poverty is a disgrace. Under
the order of things, and as result that
follows, u r;.bble of knavcs and
shysters gather around, coming and go
ing at the beck and nod of the mOncyed
candidate. These leaders succeed in get .
ting into State legislatures and place
in a position for sale for mon I
ey or official position. They crowd about
and force their brazen coun-
tcnances into public notice, and by shift .
and turns that are incomprchcnsiblc,
and, in every way rcprchcnsible, succeed
in creating obi gations that "must he re-
The mania tor office has /
almost destroyed whatever purity there /
once was in politics, and, men in the
pursuit Of official position, do not stop
to think whether they are doing right or
wrong while en,lcavoringto satisfy their
greedy desires. When such men as we
have spoken of are filling the highest Of
fees under our form Of government, is .
il wonder, when we think of the
amount Of government patronage they I
that the appoin,ccs to subaltcrn ,
positions lack integrity and qualifica-
lion. Everything is..conductcd on the ,
obligation principle, and everything is t
FOR money or official station.
Kansas has bccn mis-rcprcscntcd to a I
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