, 1879-10-23
The Critics.

Who are the best men in politicsl
Mr.. Francis D. Parkman, speaking for
the so-called scholarly class, says in the
North American, that the best men are
not in that special attitude. Are the
best men found only among the literary
men-those, for instance, who are count
ed as men of letters because they can
attach two symbolic initials to their
names, as II result Of owning a piece of
sheepskin, printed in academic Latinl
Is it necessary to purity or superiority
of political character and action that the
candidate for political action or reward
should have written history, composed
thesis, corrugated Greek Verb, or
declined Latin noun2 1t looks very
much as if some specimens of the 'schol-
ar in politics, considered these things
as an indispensable prerequisite to pos
sessing q vote, expressing a political
opinion, or holding an office Are there
otherwise no best men at the polls; no
honorable men before the people, no
character in party organization, no pat
riotism at conventions, and no integrity
in office9 Are all these qualities con-
fined to the business men who stay away
from primaries and polls, because there
is no profit in them or do the men of
the study, the closet and the classroom,
alone possess the characteristics which
best betit the "best men" in or out of
politics. aF.a 'a aya|"a
In 1876 the popular vote aggregated
nearly eight and halt million ballots.
The population could not have exceeded
40,000,000, which would then have Civ
en- about 100000 qualified voters. Do
the doctrinaire critics who are always
complaining when the men of their
choice are not before the people, that the
best men are not in politics, mean to
suggest that the one man in twelve or
thirteen who stayed away from the
polls was or is, in reality, one of the only
best men in the nation} Probably they
do not. But pushed to logical COM
pleteness, this is practically the sum
ming up of the critics outcry OF
course it does happen, and happen con-
tinually in popular government, that
the "best men" are not always chosen
for the fitting place. But we opine that
current as well as precedent history will
establish conclusively that the chest
mem for the work in hand get into
power quite as much, in a popular gov
ernment, by the untrammeed choice Of
the people, as they are in the habit of
doing in other systems by the will or
appointment of the ruling class or per
son.
The egotistic growl that the best men
are not in politics is either caused by the
muttering of mental dyspepsia, or the
outcry of disappointed vanity, Or proceeds
from a want of faith in popular institu-
tions. We do not pretend to say that
the latter is the native in all cases, but
we assert it is so in a large majority.
There is an Italian proverb, born Of the
Napoleonic spoliation of palace and pic,
ture gallery, that asserts "that not all
Frenchmen are thieves, but most of
them are. So we say that large
proportion of the scholarly critics
who complain continuously that the
best of men are not in politics are
themselves intellectual unbelievers in
popular government, supporters in
some shape or another Of the idea of
limiting the suffrage, advocates of ap-
pointed, not elected, officials, and too
often are opposed even to q generous
public educational system. We are not
overstating the fact that our literary as
sailants OF American politics and politi-
clans themselves are more or less con-
sciously antagonistic to both the ideas
and forms that constitute the vital force
and expression of genuine republic.
They are, in fact, the enemies of repre-
sentative institutions perhaps both un-
consciously and unwittingly so. This
can be seen by an examination of the
books, journals and periodicals in which
fer ten years past, their opinions and
criticisms have been set forth, Mail.
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