The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1873-09-18

VI ais figures IS the ran WIFI Tue tHuckrdhe.
grovelhug with bent form aud down turned
eyes in the unsayory things of the earth and
never turning his eyes upward toward the
heavenly beauties ard delights around and
above him. The character is not an attract
i've one. but certain class of our politicians
delight to emulate him. Instead of looking
upon the prosperity, success and progress
which the country presents in every direc-
ton instead of considering and commencing
with lust need of praise the general good mar
agement of our government, its wisdom and
discretion in the conduct Of foreign affairs and
its efficiency, prudence and frugality in the
administration Of domestic interests, these
people look only at defects, errors and weak
nesses, which may always be detected in hui
man affairs: they belitte the good and exag-
gerate the bad in ali things; they state, re-
state, illustrate, adofn, and roll as a sweet
morse under their tongues all things of evil
report without giving the coinpensating vir-
tues which rarely fail to accompany vices ;they
are in fact. akin to those foul birds who pre-
fer carton to pure and wholesome food, and
they delight to believe that human society is
in such condition as to justify the unlimited
qualification of their Initiated taste for scan
dial.
Now we are by no means living in the mil
lennium indeed there are very many changes
to be made before we are prepared to enter
upon that beatiic period. Bat there is, on
the who'll, great deal more Of good than of
evil on the earth, and il is not a healthy in
stinct which leads one to see only the latter
and utterly ignore the former. The man
who breaches dolefully tina, we are living in
times of unparalleled public wckedness, and
that no such exhibition Of fraudulent and cor
rupt government was ever seen on earth has
either studied history to little purpose or is
hopeless dyspeptic or, worse than ALL is
reckless and malicious slanderer. England in
the times of Pitt and Walpoe, France under
the Bourbons or the Empire, Germany under
the Hapsburgs, Italy under the Roman En-
pre, and Spain always, present examples of
squander and waste of public revenues COM
pared to which our government is a miracle
ofpurity. Our reighbors just over the Dor
der are now presenting spectacle of corrup-
ton, which should make these blatant rail-
els blush in the very utterance of their sweep
ing assertions ofour comparatge-or rather
uperlative-infamy.
The fact, demonstrated so abundantly with
in the past year, that no public man in Amer
lea can err without prompt punishment, is
sufficient answer co these slashing attacks on
public good character No man, however
high in station or standing, has been able to
survive the conviction of any malfeasance in
ofice-he has been relentlessly and invariably
hunted down and effeclually disabled from
power of future harm. So healthy and vigor
Gus is the public conscience that place and
power avail nothing against It in favor of
wrongdoers. And yet thsse muckrake philos-
ophers turn their eyes steadily in search of
evidences OF hnman fatty and error, entire
ly oblivious of the proofs Of strength, vignr
and general rectitude which are so conspicu-
Gus around them. ---''-aaa-zss
We are led into this train of reflection by
the late speech OF Senator Thurman. who.
though good deal of man, seems to have
demeaned himself by taking his muckral,e
and grovelling in all the filth of public lite.-
He is a Senator of the United States, prom
inent and holored member of the opposition,
an he stands up to state his objections to the
administration He talks about Union Pa
.ciic Railroa-, Credit Mobilier, salary grab,
corruption in the Attorney Generals Office
and the dedication of Paymaster Hodge -
WHAT pitiful confession Of weakness! In his
set arraignment of the government, he finds
not peg upon which to hang an objection
to the foreign or domestic policy of the gov
eminent in any particular and, in dire neces-
sity for something TO say, rakes up series of
past scandals for which the administration
was never responsible, and in which punish
ment has already been melted out to the Of
Tenders. The seathing review ex-senator Nor
ton was not needed TO point out the frvo-
lousness of all this-it is apparent prinaa tdcie
The fact that set of men, determined to OBJ
ject, are reduced to such straits for arguments
that they find nothing but petty scandals in
vented or exaggerated to show against the
management of our public affairs is demon
stration conclusive that our Government is
in general thoroughly satisfactory to the ma
ton.
THE failure Of the Eclectic Lite Insurance
Comp shy will have a serious effect upon the
business of lite insurance ON account of the
general distrust of the companies which will
be thus created. This distrust will, undouhl-
edly, be g; eater than the circumstances war;
rant. 1t should be remembered that there is
wide distinction to be made between the
old, rich and well established companies,
strengthened by the accumulations and ex-
perieDce of years and new companies like
the Eclectic who seek to enter field already
full, pay unproftably large commissions to
excite special effort on the part of agents and,
in greed for business, fail to scrutinze with
sufficient care the character of the risks TAX
en-. The case of the Eclectic is a very bad
one. The official report to the N. Y. Insur-
ance Commissioner on Jan. gave the COM
pany over $4,000 of available cash assets
aud the gross liabilities, including a sufficient
amount to reinsare all risks, was stated at
$2S0,000, showing net surplus of over $780,
900. Now the liabilities are about $500, 900,
and the assets about $4,000, showing a
mysterious disappearance OF a large mass of
assets since January. The officers say that
the failure is caused by frauds practiced on
them by their agents in the west. The bust
ness needs the searching investigation, which
it will probably receive at the hands OF Mr..
Ruggles the receiver.
GENERAL principles and history are invok-
ed by a learned divine, who argues that
literary women ought not to marry. He
says that their tastes. habits and occupations
are not suited to domesticity. Mrs. HemaDs,
Mrs. Sgoumey, Mrs. Norton and Mrs. Fam
ny Aembe Butler are examples of domestic
inteiicity, while Hannah Moore, Miss Edge
worth, Miss Sedgwick, Alice and Phoebe Carv.
Louise Acctt and E izabeth Phelps, whose
books left the world better than they found
it, did well to remain single. The average
literary woman, however, will probably be
controlled by the circumstances of her iudi-
vidual case and marry ii she like and if 'Bar-
ks is willin." despite the gloomy geueraliza-