The Dallas weekly herald. [volume] (Dallas, Tex.) 1873-1885, 1875-09-04
DALLAs, August %, l7N5.

pared for this issue, we to-day give III
article entire. .---l9D. HERALD.
DALLAS, August 2s, l7S5.
10 the Editor OF Tho Dallas Herald:
We read this morning with NOR
than ordinary pleasure your short r,
view of the letter of "\n In the Gal
weston News of the 10Th Instant, head
cd "Low Salaries and Honest an,
Capable Officials"
We would most respectfully ask yOl
to publish this letter In iull, and ,sl
every other paper IN the State to do so
Let every man in Texas have chance
to read this letter. 1t has the ring o
the true metal. y. X. y.
EDs NEws-I infer from the favol
with which you have received an,
commended to attention the severa
communications of Publius, on til,
subject OF judicial salaries, that yol
endorse his sentiments. | believe
indeed, that you have said as mucf
edtolally, and have thus given t.
these articles their chief importance
Your statement that Publus was a
lawyer was scarcely necessary. His
articles contain internal evidence OF
that fact. There is no other class OF
men nowadays who always prefer
old ideas and antiquated opinions and
who generally regard opinions not
sanctioned by time as heterodox.
The stereotype common places and
platitudes of Publius, about surround
ing public station with dignity and re-
spectability, by high salaries to public
officers, have been the fnvorite dogmas
of certain class of men in all ages.
times, of II splendid and paternal gov
ernment, ofliciously and selfishly as.
suming mischievous functions. Wher-
ever these ideas have been reduced to
practice they have accomplished the
ruin of the people. They had their
birth in the remote East, where the
pomp and splendor of royalty and its
progeny of parasites are maintained at
the cost of ruin and degradation to all
beneath them. They passed through
Persia and Turkey into Greece and
Italy, and along the Mediterranean in
to Spain, reducing, wherever they
were accepted, the masses of the peo-
pie into deplorable condition of pov.
erty and vice, that must always exist
where industry is subject to heavy eX-
actions. These ideas, SO old and so
trite, are of recent acceptance among
us. They constitute the greast curse
brought upon us by the advent of the
carpet-bagger.
Simplicity of taste, of manners, of
habits, of life, were the worthy charac-
teristic of the Southern gentleman-in
fact, of the gentleman the world over.
The man who has sprung from mean
condition is always the advocate of
large pecuniary compensation to the
ollice-holder, when he has acquired in
tluence, and hopes for preferment. He
thinks that a large retinue of servants,
luxurious living and a costly equipage
constitute the gentleman. The carpet
bagger brought this sentiment among
us, and, unfortunately, has planted it
outside his own despictable class. 1t
has been too readily accepted ly the
once sturdy and self.reliant people of
the South, who disdained the base
thought of profit from public service.
AS part of the system of thought i'll
tr0duced among us by the carpet-bag-
gers, we have revival of ideas COM
mon among the Chinese and Hindoos
four thousand of years. They believe
that government must take n special
guardianship over the people-must
plan and build for the public, and,
especially, must exert all the resources
of possible taxation in public i'm
provements. With surprising au-
dacty in self-assertion, these men
style themselves progressive, and de-
n0unce as FOSSILS, Bourb0ns, and redc-
H0na1y, all who oppose them. Neces-
sarily including in their intemperate
denunciation every eminent thinker
of the last hundred years. and espec-
tally suah men as Adam Smith,
Buckle, Stuart Mill, and Jefferson
Publius, Paschal (G. W., and men of
like views, fondly cherish as some
thing new opinions rs old as the organ
izati0u of society, and as pernicious
and destructive as they are old.
Publius says that high salaries are
necessary to draw into public service
men the most eminent for virtue and
ability. Can this be so? Is money the
oaly or the highest motive for public
service, or has honor, love of country,
or the appreciation of society, no power
to stimulate the conduct and action of
generous men, highly endowed? Is the
frigid aud selfish PHILOSOPHY, that APP
preciates only material advantages,
possession of those whose faculties are
great, and whose attainments are large?
had thought that very nearly In pro-
portion to the gifts and the culture OF
a man was his readiness to make sac
riiices for friends, for country or for
society. But Publius instructs me that
am In error on this subject.
l am well advanced in years, and
have all my life been curious, If not
n wise or acute observer. My Observa-
tion has taught me that In regard to
office, as In business and speculation,
the prospect OF large gain stimulates
and arouses the selfish to action.
Where the salaries of office are large,
the artful and INSCRIPTIONS dema-
gogue will supersede the quiet patriot.
Since the large increase in the compen-
sation of officials that has taken place
in the last forty years, but especially
since the reign of adventurers among
MS commenced, there has been a con-
slant deterioration both in the tone and
character of public men. The means
of getting office are now totally differ
ent to what they were forty years ago.
Then. to a considerable extent, the
office sought the man, fitted by con-
duct and character for place and posi-
tion. Then, for a judge, or even a man
of approved qualities for the bench, to
have mingled i'm the caucus or conven-
ton, would have revolted the public
sense of decency and propriety.
Now judges and asplrants for judge
ships boast of being jockeys and whip
pers.in at the polls and at conventions.
am told that lawyers now frequently
"buzr the Judge, that Is, discuss with
him the merits of the cases, In the tri-
al of which he must preside. II any
lawyer had so approached the "cheap"
Judges, those who were "passing rich"
on twelve hundred dollars a year. as
they were forty years ago, IL he had
escaped being kicked from the pres
ence of such judge, he would have
received such look as would have
brought silence IL not shame. Then
judges were selected on account of their
probity, their dignity and their learn
ing, not because they had been useful
as party managers, or because by evil
or questionable means they had sc-
aujTed such fortune as would enable
them to contribute largely to an cleo
tioneering fund.
While / believe that If such offices
as President, members of Congress, Of
Legislatures, but especially judges, and
many others, were purely honorary,
they would be filed by far purer and
abler men than they are now, would
not Withhold from them a respectable
maintenance. Further from this, /
.,,r,,ld MT go Gociafv owas M rnora