Ottumwa weekly courier. (Ottumwa, Wapello County, Iowa) 1872-1899, 1875-08-25
WHAT A PUBLIC OFFICIAL
SHOULD BE.

SHOULD BE.
l. He should be an honest man
The man who deals fairly with his
ncighbors will not prove false to the
people whom he serves.
2. He should have ability, and suf-
ficient sense to know how to use it.
The most brilliant attainments cannot
compensate for lack of good judg.
ment.
3. He should be industrious. "La-
ziness travels SO slowly that poverty
soon ovcrtakes him." said Ben Frank
lin. The man, who, through idleness
allows poverty to ovcrtake him, is
not tit for public Office. 1t is a safe
rule to go by, that the man who neg
lects his own affairs, cannot well care
for those of the people.
d. He should be mcthodical man.
Honesty, ability, and industry, lose
half their force, without method to
direct them. Order is natures great
law. 1t should be the law governing
all public officials,
5. He should be a Republican. Re-
publicanism without the qualities
named, should be distrusted. 1t is a
sham, and unworthy the name il
bears; but Rcpublicanism in its tru-
est sense, based upon personal homes
ty, ability, industry, and method, will
do TO build upon. IT is sure foun-
dation, as sure as the granite rock
that undcrlies the mountains Of New
England.
We have thousands Of such men in
our party. They are not found beg
ging for office; they are found at
home, tending to their own business,
improving themselves, their families
and the community in which they
live. They must be sought out, and
invited to accept Office for the public
good. Bring them to the front; in
vest them with authority, and sup
port them with the fullest share of
public confidence"
The above from the Republic, is
well said. In connection with this,
we desire to call attention in these
times Of such hue and cry against
public officials, TO the character of the
officials of every description that the
Republican party has placed in Office
within the personal knowledge Of the
reader. Look about, examine and
scrntinize officials generally, and see
if they are not to a wonderful extent
found to be sound, reliable. honest,
and safe men to trust with official
duties. If there are those who prove
false (and that there is, time is con-
stantly developing), yet are not these
failures on the part of public officers,
far less, in comparison, than is seen
in the same number Of men in pri-
yate trusts, all over the country. If
the hepuDllcan party shall be as sue
cessful in entrusting the Offices of the
country to men who prove as uni
vcrsafiy trustworthy as do those VINO
are by the most careful business men
entrusted with their affairs, does the
party not do well? The government
of this country with its more than
forty millions Of people, requires the
labor of hundreds of thousands of
officers, and hence when we hear, as
we do time and again, Of malfeasance
in office, should we not remember
that among those, other hundreds of
thousands, employed in the banks
and in the counting rooms or sales
rooms of our business men, by indi-
viduals and companies, hear daily
Of peculation also. If the party shall
be as careful in the selection of its
agents rs the shrewdest man in taking
care of his individual funds, does il
not do well?