The home journal. (Winchester, Tenn.) 1858-188?, 1871-09-28
A NEW DrpAnrunr WAsTrp.-Not

A New DEPARTURE WANTED.-Not Il
departure IN politics, for we are having
| quite enough Of departure in this respect
I'll little too much for the good of oln
common country. And there Is enough
of incompetcncy and brass left to insure
many departures in the future. The good
people, will still he cajoled by cunning
and arrogance. The superficial, loud.
mOnthed politician will still be able to
command the popular voice and turn its
echoes into passports for himself. True
merit, genuine craftsmanship, will contin-
ue to seek the quiet shades of obscurity,
and "chew their cuds in silence, while the
open fields ring with the importuuate
chink Of gr%asshoppers." The people them
selves are alone TO blame for this. They
have bolstered up every arrogant fool in
his maudlin ambition for Office until the
office is degraded to the man. and instead
of our better men seeking Office, we find
them shrinking from it. A Demosthenes
or CicerO-a Scion or a Socratcs-would
DC defeated in a contest with the shall
fellow-well-met" man who knows the
power Of whisky and idle can over the
minds Ola largely-increased ignorance in
the voting population. The noisy loqlac-
ity of the self-satisfied demaSogue drives
into quicsccncc the man Of real worth. in
whose merit is a modesty that forbids him
from being his own trumpcter. Such a
man shrinks from a contest which reduces
him to the level of the dcmagoguc who
wins by al ~captaRdum appeals and drunken
astutcncss. Hence our miserable laws
Our Legislature has been degraded. The
vcricst fool, if called upon to announce
himself 4 candidate. forthwith does so,
and. ten to one. will he elected. Brains
are not taken into consideration, and as
we SOW so we reap. We have the result
in the shape of all sorts of ridiculous leg
iSlation. And we can hope for no depart
urc from thus state Of things Immediately.
But may we not hope for Il departure up
on matters more directly connected with
our prosperity as individuals and as a
community? Really, the situation is
quite unencOuraging. WINCHESTER and
Franklin county are dead, and funerals
would seem in perfect order. Solitary
and alone we remain in the undisturbed
tranquility of our desolation-we might
say, our self-destructi0n. Lincoln county.
adjoining US, has just gotten through with
her Fair, and it was a brilliant success.
Bedford county, adjoining us, has her
Fairs and Farmers Clubs. Warren county.
Rutherford all the counties around rs are
to be the hub which hardly turns, except
to go backward. And we learn that many
of our immigrants are going away. No
wonder. And yet we have surplus lands
all over the county. But where are our
working men. to take the initial step in
the way of Fairs for the encouragement Of
agriculture and mechanics? Are all the
great men dead, OIL do they but sleep?
Who will get up a new departure? What
has become of the Tennessee Immigration
and Real Estate Association? Maj. Mof-
fatt has used every effort to raise us from
the dead, but "IchabOd" seems to be writ
ten everywhere. Our lands remain idle,
our resources undeveloped. our people SUI
pine, and there is no help for us. Whether
the Association here is alive or not, we
cannot tell. Surely. two or three dollars
have not sto'd in the way of an announce
ment that it still lived! And yet, we
know that we are continually suffering
from a cnny-wisc-and'pound-fo &C
ton. We are willing to do our part with
the Home COMMUNICATING to spend our
money in keeping up a papcrand furnish
ing Il medium for IA fair expression of views
pro and con, but we must have some help.
And we must have support in the way of
patronage. We don't int nd to beg it, for
we can 20 elsewhere and live--thank
God! But we love our native town and
c~ounty-wc love our State. And our
heart is sad when we think how very dead
we are. .HH-,.
,.rnY nj, Il, DnyN, W. .