New-York tribune., 1875-10-18

THE FRIEND Or JHE L4DOHIN6 DIN.
There seems to be something III the profess
sion of politics which strangely blunts the
scrsc of humor of the average voter and COM
miltceman. There is 10 country i'll the world
IN which the popular appreciation of the
ludicrous is ordinarily so quick as it is in the
United States. Here fortune awaits the man
who teaches his fellow men to laugh, and
Artcmus Ward aud his Successors are dcarer
to the American heart than amy hero, patriot
or phianhr0piSt of the age The humOr which
lies in extravaganza and incOngluity, the wit
which exposes the ludicrOuS element III serious
affairs and the humbug of empty professions
"A wit which is at once keen satire and good
naturcd burleSque, like the genial shOWman's
narrative of the war meeting in Badwinsyille,
or his offer 10 sacrifice the last of his wifc's
relations 10 put down the rcbellion-findS no
such lively market in any quarter of the globe
"a in this fm-lovng Republic. No such mar
kct, it should BE- said, for about ten months
of the year. For it is a curious fact
that with the approach of election day the
American citizen becomes changed creature.
He pcpctrates absuriitics in October that he
would laugh over in January, and he listens
with the most serious dcmcanOr to speeches
and proclamations and leading articles quite
ms prcpostcrous as anything i'll the pages of
his favoritc humorstS. If it were not for the
wickcdnCss of personal abuse and slander,
there would he something intensely comic i'll
tbe treatment of Mr.. John Bigclow by the
Ncw-Yolk Rcpublicans,-libcled by their hate
because he would not submit to their en-
braces
Mr.. John MorIisSey appealed to the Ameri-
can love of humor when he disguised himself
in the costume OF gentleman, and putting
French dictionary under lis arm. started for
the Mayors Office to beg for what he thought
hi, share Of the city patronage. But Mr. John
MoIrsscy in politics, whatever his garb, was
an incongruity so absurd that his little Joke
missed fire, and respectable citizens took upon
the whole rather a serious view of the per-
formance. 1t was not until he formally an
uouncca himself as the honest worklngman's
candidate and asked for the sullragcs of the
community as representative son of
toll. in opposition 10 the luxurious aris-
tocrits who fattcn upon the earnings of other
pcoplc. that Mr.. MOrTiSscy really succeeded in
becoming idlculous. He is the only conspic-
nous american politician in existence, so far as
our memory and information 60 who has never
been known to do an honest days work OF
any Kind since he first came into public notice.
His pursuits isolate him from all sympathy
with The class for which he assumes to speak.
What has Il pugiSt and gambler to do with
respectable industry! He grows rich by the
cultivation of vice: He thriycS on the rcck-
lcssnc>s of fools. He makes his living by
tempting men to squander their earnings III
forbidden pleasures, which the experience of
ages tells us are the prolific sources
of crime i'm thousand hidcOus shapes
of theft embczzlement intcmperance, and vio-
lcncc. of moral and mental ruin, of bcggary
and Il miserable death. John MorrisScy. who
earns every day the penalty of State Prison,
who stands at the door of hell and bcckons
men to come in, he the representative of "the
honest and industrious working classes of
New YORK." 1t is a sOTy sort of bmlc>quc.
Nevertheless, the independent Democratic
voters of the Fourth Senatorial District have
so little appreciation of ahsurdity that they
call upon Mr. MO,1isSey To represent them i'll
the Senate. as "thc man who above all others,
"las come to the front in behalf of the work
ingman-thC man who, above all Others Is the
" representative and exponent of the principles
" mt stake, the friend of the wOrkingman, and
. the champion of the peoples rights against
" the one-man power" And if this horny
handed son of toll, who spends his
nights winning peoples money at cards, accepts
the invitation, it is understood that the Gus
tom-housc Republicans, constituting, as every
body knows, the only genuine party of mo-
ality and reform, will make no nomination
against him, but tacitly request its followers