San Marcos free press. [volume] (San Marcos, Tex.) 1877-1892, 1880-02-21

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We have got to stage in tho new
period Of national po litics in which
ono party or tho other must take a
forward step, and everybody to whom
politics is serious business. and not
merely machine for the redistribution
of Offices at stated intervals. is inter.
csted in the highest degree both in
compelling that step and in which d.
rection it shall DO taken. The duty
Of taking it rests as much on ono side as
on the other, 1t is true that the party
in power only can take the initiative in
matters Of legislation, but the duty Of
the opposition is something more than
criticism. lis bound. whenever it
objects, to say what it would iii could,
do instead of the thing it objects to.
1t is bound to give the country some
better reason for putting it in posses.
sion of the government, than the
bad management Of those who actually
hold the government. A capacity
for Judging by no means
argues a capacity for doing and polit-
ical criticism differs from literary or
artistic criticism, in that the critic is
bound to describe the kind of work
he would produce in place of what he
condemns, if the opportunity were af-,
forded him; and not only this, but
offer to produce it. 1t is only by tax
ing this position that any opposition
can make;itself respectable, or play
any useful part in politics, or earn
any title to public confidence. 1t can
not rely simply on the failures and
short. comings of the other side. It
must have a programme, and submit
it frequently for popular approval. q
The same thingis true, n,utatts mu-
tandis, of the party in power. 1t can.
not rely on the. assertion that it is
more patriotic. or moro moral, or
more religious, or more upright
in any way than those who seek to
supplaut it. tits only a very small
part Of the duty of men in Office to set
an example of virtue in handling
money or dispensing justice. Nor
is a party, like a church, depos-
tory of settled doctrines or
cultivator of private morals. 1t is an
organization for the transaction of
business. Its function, when in pow
or, is not simply to prevent murder
and robbery, and collect the revenue
honestly, but to make incessant i'm
proponents, both in legislation and
administration, so as not only to in
crease their efficiency, but to adapt
them to the ever changing needs and
conditions OF a progressive society.
No party can in our time, therefore,
Justify its retention of power by the
simple plea that something very un-
pleasant would happen if it went out
of Office, owing to the moral inferlori-
ty of those who would probably take
its place. The Turkish government
is now the only one in the Western
world which gives this as its raison
d'etre. =,
Democrats and Republicans have
successfully protected themselves for
ten years or more against the demand
that they shoald move on, by the
plea that they were either getting rid
of 1.-THE results of the war;" or saving
"the results of the war;" or in some
manner dealing with the results of
the war. In whatever shape the plea
was produced, it furnis he'd reason
for looking back and not forward,
for standing still and not marching on
ward. Whatever justification it may
have been heretofore possible to find
for this attitude, it is quite certain
that all dealing with the results Of the
war which is possible through legisla'
ton has been exhausted. There re-
mains not single problem arising
out of the war, except the dis
position of the legal tender notes Of
the government, which is not now
largely or wholly economical in its
character. and is certain to be solved,
if soluble, by the ordinary movements
of trade and population, aud by the
ordinary social agencies Of a CONNER
cial civilization. t'.--',