New Orleans Republican. [volume] (New Orleans, La) 1867-1878, 1872-08-15

anu INDUSTRY. Inc same Inlng IN PUBIC
life is called ambition. We applaud the
former, and weakly condemn the latter.
Mr.. Greeley says it is well to be ambi-
tious So it is. A citizen sees that the
community, of which he is a part, is not
well directed. 1t spends too much in the
wrong way, and not enough in the right
direction. To take New Orleans for ex-
ample, she pays too much for law expenses
and too little for public improvements.
There are men who are constantly irri-
tated at this improvidence, and they pro-
pose remedies and suggest reforms. Their
aspiration is to correct an evil, Just as q
sensible man feels disposed to put a
wheel in the right groove when he sees
that it has got out of it. But their sug-
gestions are badly administered and this
induces desire to take the matter in their
own hands. Every man thinks he can
carry out his own ideas better than any
body else can carry them out for him.
This is considered ambition Well, let it
be so accepted SO long as it is an effort to
do something better than it is being done
Aspiration always looks upward ambition
leads to;something higher. lit were not
for this quality in our nature that makes
us seek to improve what we have, human
society would have stagnated at the be-
ginning Of the centuries Genghis Khan
had some virtue, which was to elevate his
own kingdom into something superior to
what it was Every conqueror has
wreathed his ambition with the legend that
it existed for the benefit of mankind.
We are in the midst of great agitation at
the present time. Ambition fills the State
with men who aspire to do something for
themselves or their kind. They disturb
US with reasons why we should support
them. They point to the evils that sur
round both themselves and US, and profess
to be able to cure the trouble. Are these
men aware that they are liable to the very
charge which they have probably brought
against Mr. Greeley at some time in the
past? Did they never call him an agita-
tor and a disturber? Now see how he re-
sents their thoughtlessness. He only dis
cussed the great evils that existed in the
country, and proposed ways by which
they might be ameliorated. And he in
dorses them in their present demand for
reform. We can have no cIearness inpo-
litical life without agitation. The ocean
purifes itself by its constant upheaval
Human society must do the same
thing. 1t must throb and labor
to throw off the unhealthy secretions
and to maintain its activity. Stagnation
is death A strong man who goes to bed
and refuses to move his limbs will soon
lose the power to do so. A State must
keep the thoughts and activities of her
people constantly in operation if she
desires to advance. Aspiration is the in
centive and ambition the motor in driving
society along. All the people have to do
in the premises is to watch these agencies
that they do not proceed in the wrong di-
rection. Intelligence and courage are the |
watch dogs of the land. We need never
be afraid of human aspiration so long as
we have the sense to discover when it is
rightly directed nor need we ever appre-
bend ambition SO long as we have the
courage to keep it in proper check. We,
therefore, indorse the text that Mr.. Gree
ley delivers to the people, that aspiration
is well and ambition is not an evil.