The New Orleans bulletin. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1874-1876, 1875-08-28
OUR GREAT MEN.

There is class Of men, unless thew are too
few to form class, or unless they object t.
being classified, because unique and superior
to all classes, who think that society, corpor
atoms, cities, States and nations, could no
get along without their assistance. In the
estimation of few or many admirers, but
always in their own estimation, they are great
men, leading men, representative men, and
in all respects indispensable. They sail the
ship, they own and insure it. the cargo is
theirs, the waves and winds obey their orders,
and their will is the law. If an Office is to be
filled they are ready to step forward, however
great may be the sacrifice. They think that
everything depends upon the candidate, and
that there can be no other candidates save
themselves.
The consequence is that these remarkable
people are in state of perpetual anxiety.
They know that nothing can 60 right until
they are put in position. They know that
their party must fail unless they are candi-
dates. They know that the country can be
saved through no other means than faith in
them.
We merely wish to whisper word of con-
ISOLATION to these too anxious patriots. We
would remind them that they could retire to
the genial shade of their civic halls or rural
oaks and there enjoy the quietude and dignity
OF repose without any special inconvenience to
the State, to the Union or to political parties.
When man is wanted for an office of any
grade, hundred good candidates can be
found for it easier than any one of them can
be elected.
The great law Of demand and supply holds |
good in the matter Of filling public positions.
The good men of any good party need have
no trouble in selecting as a candidate good
nan who, If elected, will most certainly be.
'ome true, faithful and efficient officer.
Looking beyond political parties we must
'ften see that men have attained historical
enown mainly from the accident of having
'een alive at given time and place, and pre-
jared to fill certain civil or military oficas.
t is not easy to find a character conspicuous
q the chronicles of the world whose place
'ight not have been creditably supplied by
ONE other member of his race. In our re-
emit war what was actually done by the fifty
lost prominent men on either side might
ave been done with equal efficiency by the {
ame number of other men. Even those
no acted their parts with most energy and
isdom can only boast that they did well t
hat would have been done as well by others {
the chance had been theirs.
II we take all the Congresses of our Ameri-
m States for the past ninety years we can 9
't ind dozen men whose places might not
I'VE been as we'll filed by other men. Those
hcers of our successive armies who have &C
Tired distinction owe it chiefly to the fact a
at they happened to hold commissions when
ID where there Was use for them. If all the n
en- in America who are prom nent before =
public were to be swept away or returned s,
the obscurity and privacy of their own
mes, their places could be supplied with j
difficulty and without delay by others "
ually capable, and probably more worthy. :
e fly on the cart wheel made a mistake in
uming that he moved the vehicle. The
rid rolled on before this generation of poll.
lans appeared, and it is a safe prediction
It the rotation will not cease when the great lie
n of the nineteenth century have all died Pc
resigned. No
Occupants of high positions and incumbents =
important offices, instead of being inflated
a sense of personal importance, would
" more wisdom by considering how much a
'er their places might be filed if they were
y to get out of the way. Many of them =