Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1875-12-02

lawlessness. Men are wanted to
preach the gospel of Christ with an
inspiration of heavenly wisdom and
sanity love. Men are wanted as
artisans, to give US honest articles
skillfn''y wrought Men are wanted
as merchants, of enterprise, sagacity
and distinguished integrity. Men are
wanted for the farm who are true
lords of the soil
Give me men of the right sort, and
you shall have in return whatever
you will | will build cities and
towns, and furnish the land with
the means Of rapid intercommunics-
ton. | will found colleges and man
them. | will establish schools and
teach them. | will construct all the
Institutions of society. Men, men
true and good, are the source and
foundation of national greatness.
Secondly, 1t is essential, if we
would achieve greatness, that we
should have good government. And
good government is administered only
by good men. The maxim, "princi-
Piles, not men," is rank political
heresy. Good principles are never
steadily and faithfully adhered to in
the administration of government ex-
cept by good men. The platform
may be sound, but what guarantee
have we that it will not be deserted
by those whose fidelity is not assured
by conscientious conviction? You
can not invent a system of checks
which will hold and bind the unscru
pulous The paper obstruct'ons in
terposed to their wicked schemes will
be broken through and pushed aside
readily enough. The fine words
which they uttered as candidates,
they will straightway nnsay by their
acts when once they have gained the
seat of power. A Louis Napoleon
will not scruple to crush to death
republic which he is sworn to main
tain. He will not hesitate to announce
that, "the Empire is peace" when, in
his heart, he means war.
In Washington and Lincoln we
had rulers so good and true that they
were never found to be greatly wrong
even IN exigencies which were not
provided for by previously announced
principles and established precedents.
The Just deceased and much lamented
Vice President of the United Stated
was a man of ability, sagacity, in
tegrity and christian faith. a state
ment of the views of political party
may well enough be made, and will
serve somewhat to guide men of in
tegrity in administering their trust,
but they will not prove an effectnal
barrier to the accomplishment of the
ends of selfihness and corruption
Men of principle are our need in the
State. Principles IN the heart OF
man are better than any statement on
paper which he may carry about and
read. The groans OF misgoverned
millions come TO US from out the past.
The cry of oppression has ever gone
up to heaven, pleading, so Lord, how
long ?"
In this country apprehension does
not yet take that direction Let US
not, however, be too confident that
we shall not, by the loss of sterling
manliness and christian integrity and
religious sentiment, become ripe for
the tyrant The election to office of
bad men tends in every instance to
that dread contamination.
Our immediate peril is the loss of
truth and honesty, and OF social NOR
atty. And with the loss of these all
will ultimately be lost. The reckless
assertion of what is known to be
false, or is not known to be true, dur
ing our political campaigns. is bad
symptom. In the frequent instances of
the misrepresentation of funds, and
the shameless ostentation of such
stolen wealth, we have another. In
the sundering of family ties and IN
fidelity to marriage VOWS we have
another.
The fact that brands affixed to
American manufactures are generally
falsehoods, that "superfine" Is not a
guarantee that the article is even
good, is another. The fact that min
ing stocks and railroad stocks are
manipulated so often for the purpose
of robbery is another. The fact that
individuals, and even men high in
position as representatives of the
American nation, desire to pay with
paper what was promised in gold, is
another. The fact that even churches
are not always prompt and scrnpu-
lous in meeting their obligations, Is
another
1t will tend greatly TO check
these evils if the men whom
we place in the conspicuous places OF
power are unstained. They establish
fashions which great numbers make
haste to adopt. George the WITH,
called the first gentleman of his time,
was as depraved in morals as he was
accomplished in manners. Having
no heart, no conscience, no honor be
meath his fine clothes, the whole in
fueuce which his high position gave
him, was debasing; while on the 9th
err hand, the pure life of the present
reigniug Queen of England has had
powerful purifying effect on En-
glish society.
In this country Office is not heredi
tary, but elective. We, the people
choose, and no candidate for Presi
dent, or constable or coroner should
have our SURFACES if have ha the tain
of dishonesty or immortality on him
We are bound to do all in our powe
to prevent the nomination OF sucl
men; and failing in this, our mex
duty is to refuse to vote for then
when nominated. 1t is great wron!
to vote for unworthy men because tn
party of which we are members hav
put them before us by nomination
Such a nomination is but an Invitation
to endorse and sanction wrong wit
which we are by no means at libert