Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1873-05-16

or engineer ought TO be man cool, OF
quick decision. of Judgment in emergencies,
| At once prompt and sound, courageous, tenn
perate. honest; and yet all these traits that
| the Lord is seldom lavish of to any one man,
are expected to be secured and kept unfair
nished for starvation wages, if you would
have him support what best assures his
fidelity TO his employers, viz, wife and
children. No wonder that n few conduc-
tors, an occasional express messenger. and
more frequently in great cities, ill-pa.d
clerks of great responsibilities and large,
free temptation are reported as stealing
The marvel Is, the thankless way they are
treated, that more Of them don't steal and
steal more. Their positions lack the lew
helping influences that surrounda Congress
man. A position of great public dignity
that Is ill-paid has in this dignity some
stimulus to high toned behavior, and per-
sonal sacrifice There Is much to lose where
the place has nobility enough to catch and
hold the public eye, but it Is tine man whose
labors are ar0uous, whose temptations anu
vicious opportunities are omnlpresent,
whose personal, private responsibility Is
very great, whose public honor and dignity
Is very small, that is most severely tired;
Rich men, secured against temptation, Will
not accept such positions, and the tendency
Of your grossly inadequate compensation Is
TO eventually make nccessitous incumbent
thief, embezzler, defaulter by whatever
name you call ii the offence smells Just as
sweet That veteran of the l. ). Treasury,
Gen. Spinner. who. before coming here, had
been all his life associated with great bank
Ing institutions and the like. in New York,
in his last report gives as the teaching OF
his life. experience and observation, that
when Won pay man intelligent and capa-
bic enough to correctly perform the duties
Of a position Of large direct or indirect
monetary trust, wages sufficient to enable
him to decently maintain a wife and chill
dren. You have surrounded him with the
most impenetrable hedge Of his integrity
that outside the refining moral influence OF
the society Oft good woman there Is the |
growth of the ties Of affection, and the APP |
peal Of clinging loving children that always |
reminds him that he i not - foot loose TO !
easily and speedily run away from the scene |
of his crime that his disgrace brings dis |
grace, pain, misery, very likely personal |
want and poverty, upon those whose happl- |
ness l. inevitably yet inn0eently involved in
his infdelity.
OF course it Is very easy to cry and howl |
over the contrast which the present pay of |
Congress makes with that Of the last gener- |
alton and this Is about as sensible as the n. |
I 3 :
Inauguration, when it drew a sensational |
comparison between that pageant 3" and |
Thomas Jeiferson's horseback entry into |
Washington when inaugurated. OF course |
every ignorant or preludIced person rose |
from reading this article with the solemn |
conviction that Grant was a pOmpOus. |
aristocratic tyrant. unfit To rule the Repub- |
lie. because he didn't do what probably |
would have pleased him best, viz. ride a |
horse quietly to the Capitol on Inaugural
ton Day. Intelligent people probably |
think that jefferson rode horseback into |
Washington because at that time all private |
gentlemen in Virginia travelled in that way |
he did a. well and a. comfortably a. he |
could. and undoubtedly would have been /
only too glad to have had the superior COM
forts and privileges Of our time at his dis
pOsal Well. Is il worth while to consider |
whether n Congressman has a right to do a |
right thing because the people with the |
fleeing feeling Of the hour may not like it. |
- Nox pOpuli vOx Del" Hardly, if we /
mean BY the - voice Of the people" that 4
very common kind of " blab mouth YER
dict that CT pGrfe argument can always Oh
tain from those who through natural inca
pacity or intellectual Incidence or moral in
difference never think their way INTO and
through anything. This kind Of hasty, in
considerate judgment, though usually quite /
a Seli-assertlye IN manner and bOlSterOuSI IN |
speech a. the dogmatic conclusions of Mr..
Josiah Bounderby, l. never the voice of
God, but Is usually vox asini, and not
infreQuently d" vOx diabOli.
A serio-comic illustration of how much Of
q " voice of God " verdict there is in the
quick, impulsive, prejudiced popular judy
ments. Is the fact that while the - Credit
M.hfI itsr &c COMMITTEE. xVara rtrorypfr Ar
Colfax guilty, associations and communities
that ought to have known better We're
roting him innocent. South Bend ostenta-
tiously extended 4 hand of welcome to Col
fax. and assured him Of its increased con
fidence in his integrity. next North Easton,
in Old Massachusetts. greets Ames, whom
Coliax has Just branded as very Satan Of
scoundrel-, with the same complimentary
assurance given by the South Blenders TO
their " smiling citizen; North Easton
sees an Ithuriel where the South Blenders
saw Satan. | recall the language of the
village orator in d" Pickwick Papers" who
screamed d" Gentlemen, if | could not be
Damkins | would be Fodder if | could not
be Lufey | would be Struggles - and 50 if
| wanted to get this soothing, healing,
beautiful balm Of popular praise put on
thick by those who think that if a man
doesn' drink or swear he can't possibly lie
or steal. if could not be Patterson | would
be COlfax; if | could not be Ames | would
be Brooks. The committee convicted, the
House censurei, and the people - locally
condoned. 50 that the so-called " fall "
Of these men began to look like '' reduction
ascending" A dear people that j 50
wildly prompt TO take very liberal views Of
such e irregularities. Is evidently quite as
likely TO 60 wrong a. right in its IN
pulsive. th0ughtless criticism of the con-
duct Of Congress. and no member need feel
very downcast at being rebuked by those
who make their iriShes the fathers to their
moral judgments, finding a verdict in ac-
cordance with their feelings, careless
whether it be in accordance with the facts.
OF course the real people in the mass, when
they give themselves time 10 cool and TO
think, reverse their hasty, unjust iudg-
ments. and give Us a true Nox Del"
which Is always the voice Of thought. the
honest. intelligent speech of the soul and not
the blatherskite ofpassion and unreason. The
majority in numbers usually applaud Us for
the very things that We take, in our secret
hearts, the least pride of conscience in hav-
ing done; the seeming, the pretenee, the
superficial responsibility satisfies the world |
but 1t i far harder to satisfy yourself, Your
better self. and the Congressman that will |
do this will probably be oftener cursed than
blessed by the crowd. for il takes n long
cooling time for the crowd to understand
that it pays to do the right thing in the
long run, although the chances are that to
do intiexibly always the right thing is usu-
ally to do the unpopular thing. If by the
people we mean not numerical power, but
moral weight and power which may reside
in and be welded by the few, then Is that
voice - the voice Of God, - for this is not
the animal but the manly, moral blood,
- whose single drop Is Emerson nobly
said, - outweighs the surging sea.
Yours,