The Jackson standard. [volume] (Jackson C.H., Ohio) 1847-1888, 1873-04-17
from the New York ohserver.l
Virtue in Public Men.

-t1Ees, has been requested by a public
meeting in Ohio, from which State he1s
sent, to resign his seat. The Hon. James
w. Patterson, Senator from New Hamp-
shire, has published card protesting his
entire innocence of any intentional
wrong in the matters for which he has
been arraigned before the country. The
reception of Mr.. Colfax by his neighbors
and friends has been widely mentioned
with various degrees of appreciation and
censure. ~
Public opinion is divided, and well it
may be, on the question of the culpability
of these and other public men We
think Judge ePoland's committee went
too far, or not far enough, in its report.
The public had a right to expect a COM
plete Investigation with a clear verdict,
IN the case of every man whose conduct
the committee attempted to investigate.
To stop short of this, after opening the
subject, was to bring the character of
public men into suspicion and to leave
them there without the possibility of a
future exculpation. 1t thus becomes a
question for the newspapers to discuss,
and no decision is accessible Party is
apt to govern the judgment Men viii
see that political opponent has done a
great wrong, when member of his own
party might have done the same thing
without censure. But the country ought
to have representatives, Legislators,
rulers, of whom it is impossible even for
malice to speak evil. We are of those
who do not believe that the members of
Congress who took the bait on Oakes
Ames' hook supposed they were doing
wrong at the time of nibbling or biting.
They did not fully realize the nature of
the transaction, and were frightened
when they saw that their ownership of
the tainted stock would subject them to
the charge of being influenced by selfish
interests in their acts as legislators
They did not meet the charge as they
should, and being involved in the bad
business after a worse attempt at deliver
ance, they have not succeeded in re-estab-
fishing themselves in public confidence
1t is painful that men whose integrity is
such that no one who knows them would
doubt their word for an instant, are yet
under such a cloud of popular disfavor
that they cannot hope to regain public
confidence They will find friends at
home who know and trust them ;iwhile
the public, who judge them only by the
results of the estigation, will believe
that they have not been exonerated.
Is this judgment of the public severe or
unjust? In the popular verdict that has
with wonderful unanimity condemned
the action of the late Congress in voting
to themselves, and actually taking, "back
pay we find cause for hope and gratula-
.tion It was for his vote on this affair
that Mr.. Garfield was requested to re-
sign his seat. And if this spasm of pub
/ lie virtue which asserts its consciousn ess
in the case of the suspicious stock and
back pay, would become chronic affec-
ton Of the whole body polite, so that
| Legislators would not be tolerated in
stealing, directly or otherwise, we would
expect to behold return to the better
days of the republic. If now their con-
stituents would challenge members who
vote for bills that put money into their
own pockets by way of subsidies or grants
of any description, which benefit individ-
| uals and not all the people alike, then
would we see purer and better state of
things in Congress and in the country at
| large.
It has been common for Christian men,
! preachers and writer's, when bewailing
| the degeneracy of party politics, and the
corruption of the times, to disclaim the
| desire of seeing new party formed, as
the reform of existing parties is more
| hopeful than the organization of another
that shall have elements in it of success
But the time has fully come for good
men and true, the honest men of all par
ties, to ask themselves if there is not q
common ground on which they may at
l
country. Look at the Senate of the
/ United States Look at the House of
/ Representatives. Look at the Legisla-
tdre at Albany. In this city a party of
reform, or union of good men out of all
parties, rescued the public treasury and
offices from the hands of thieves, and the
same union is necessary to preserve the
/ city from being again seized by the ban
i ditti who have been driven from power.
/ ~
every Congressional district, in every
State When bad men conspire- good
men must combine. And there was new
er more favorable .iuncture for the com
bination of all the virtuous forces of the
community into solid phalanx of re-
i form, than at this moment, when corrup-
ton in high places has startled the ma
ton ~
Tits but a week or two ago we had every
reason to fear that all we had accom-
plished by the revolution of last fall in
this city, was about to be lost, by the
subtle machinations of few stealthy pol
iticians who were preparing to fasten up
on the city charter that would enable
/ them to perpetuate the reign of the
Ring The o1tery that we raised might,
to the citizens of other States, have
seemed needlessly fierce and loud. But
/ the danger was Imminent and no time
was to be lost We believe the city was
saved by those earnest remonstrances
against the threatened outrage. This is
the salutary power in the concentrated
efforts of good citizens Bad men are the
noisiest, and the most numerous. But
the good are the most intelligent and in
fluential and carry with them multitudes
who (not being wise or good) prefer to
i follow the lead of those whom they can
trust. De ~
We are not thereforelof those who take
desponding view of public affairs, even
in the dark days of this winter. Things
have looked very badly. The founda-
.tions seemed out of place. Those in
whom we trusted did not stand fast to
their integrity. But the great heart OF
| the people is sound 1t will respond
] when the note of alarm is sounded.
Good men, full of faith and prayer, min
! listers. of God, the teachers of the people
in the press of the land, will still believe
that free government like ours cannot
survive the decay of public virtue. And
now, that things have become nearly SO
bad that toleration has ceased to be a
virtue, let us hope that the reaction
which has set in, will increase in volume
and force till it makes the nation regen-
crate and safe.
/ Let us have virtue enough to hang
murderers, and put honest men into
Office. So shall the God of our fathers
be ours, and the land shall be his delight
Pittsburg lawyer and doctor who
have rooms in the same building fre
quently indulge in q game of euchre in
/ ~