Memphis daily appeal. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1847-1886, 1875-07-24
ENPMES APPEAL
SATURpAE, 3: JULY i.ls75.
,,,r.,ToT POLITICAL Duty.

plblic discussions. During these times
I.yor was abandoned for party excite
mept. and the minds and aspirations of
0ur Young men trained more for Eartici-
nation in the management Of public az
fairs and less for the mechanical arts
and the great material industries
Of life. But the telegraph, the
railroad facilities and the progress
Of the press have changed all these
things. That good old time has gone.
It passed into the past with the storm OF
war that swept away SO many Of the
old usages and habits and traditional
customs Of our people. And now we
have an almost opposite extreme.
There is too little attention bestowed
upon politics-toO little care for the great
public interests; an indisposition to see
that none tut good men are nominated
and elected to office. The APPEAL has
endeavored TO arouse the drones and the
slugsar to q sense Of their duty in this
respect. We are gratified to know that
It's course is cordially Endorsed by those
uDod citizens who see and act upon the
belief that without honest men in Office,
the taxpayers hard earnings will be
confscated by thieves and plunderers.
The following com municatiOn emanates
from a prominent and useful citizen:
EDITORS APPEAL-YOUr editorial on
Personalities in Politics" is so true and
so forcibIy and admirably written, that
] cannot fOTbeaT expressing the pleasure
/ felt in reading it; and l only hope that
YOU may continue till you make ali those
who are too nice TO soil their hands with
pOIitics come out and perform their
whole duty as citizens Of a free govern
ment. 1t is the best thing you have
written for q long time. only wish
YOU were right upon our new charter
aud the HlGRddUUS question. Our peO-
pie feel that that is question Of life and
death, and for that reason, while cher
ishing always the kindliest feelings and
regard for you personally, am Obliged
to use every legitimate means TO battle
against the powerful influence OF the
APPEAL. II we had you for an ally, in
stead an opponent, the people would be
safe.
WecBn assure cur correspondent whose
good opinion we highly appreciate, that
the APPEAL will never weary in its eff
forts to arouse the people to sense OF
their duty in politics. There is no lesson
more urgently needed than this through
ought the country. Men who care moth
ING about politics-or, caringimuch, are
too dainty, spotIess and immaculate-are
To- 20 fol MT "A
hands OF knavish demagOgues. The
APPEAL advocates a rigid party disci-
pline, and if good citizens will partici-
pate ia politics, none but honest men
will be nominated. Especially in the
southern States is there pressing need OF
an earnest interest in the election ofsucA
officials, from the lowest to the highest;
The southern States have been Tacked
and tortured for years by the cOntending
factions Of kDaves who have worked
them for their own benefit. II the south
ern people at large, OF both parties and
ali coloTs, could be only made to take
tho lesson to heart which we have
been preaching to them, it would be the
only thing necessary to begin the healing
OF their wounds. Let them take as
much interest in politics as ever-more,
in some cases. But let their Chief care
be that no man shall be nominated or
voted for unless he is known to be
honest. Nearly all the corruptions in
Office, from which the people suffer
abuses Of power, abuses OF trust, abuses
Of privileges-sre, in reality, not so
much the fault Of our system Of govern
ment as Of the citizens who are entust-
ed with its administration. The diff
culties that beset Us as a body polite,
the errors of legislation, the corruptions
Of official life, the incompetency, thrift
lessness, improvidenee, short-sighted-
ness and want of integrity that every
where prevail in the management or
mismansgement OF public affairs, are
attributable in the main to the neglect
Of duty on the part Of good and honest
men ia the selection of those to whom the
honOrs and responsibilities of office
are awarded. And it is an evil that |
feeds and grows upon itself; but it |
Is not the politics OF the people, it is |
the people themselves that are TO be
blamed for it. We shrink from political
associations, for the reason that their
atmosphere and surroundings have be-
come degenerated, but we make no |
effort for their publication. We COM |
plain Of Ills that exist without attempt |
ing to apply the means of cure. We |
despair OF reforms that none others but |
ourselves have the capacity to accom-
plish, and waste in idle ohjurgations Of |
the folly and turpitude Of the age the |
time and the energies that, rightly used, |
would restore all branches of the public |
service to their proper and heslthful con- |
ditiOn. Il is the great mistake Of many |
otherwise unexceptiOnable citizens that |
they abjDre all active interest in politics. |
This is the real curse of the country, that |
the intelligent and reputable masses have |
il in their own hands to avert, and |
thus preserve the civil Institutions, the |
common prosperity, the moral tone Of |
the AdLlol EIlLll AiaiICus Jul COIIts- /
pondeut, in his high commentator Of
the APPEAL, eXaggerates its influence |
as much as it exaggerates lis opposition
. the Peoples protective union. The |
impecunious dead-beats who have been
prominent in this organization origl-
mated much OF the opposition. TO it.
There IS much IN the Peoples protect
i've union that is to be commended.
For nearly thirty-fve years the APPEAL
has been literally patronized by the
sturdy taxpayers Of Memphis, What
ipjues them is an injury to the
paper. The same reasons that prompt
Us 70 urge good men to combine for tine
purpose Of securing honest men in office
applies with equal force TO those who
have united for the purpose OF exposing
fraud and preventing q ccnfiscaticn Of
their property. 1t is in the interest OF
the taX-paying people to have all good
men engage in politics. and we can GER
tainly have no objections to taxpayers
going still further by uniting for a still
greater protection. People have right