Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1881-10-08
MAcH1NE-MapE GREAT MEN.

nave Oeen maue In IL, ana ne Will HlQ tne
task exceedingly difficult unless he has
thoroughly saturated himself with the
party literature and spirit of the age he is
to describe. For it is one of the most re-
markable instances of the prevalence and
force of popular illusions that in ou- gen.
Grafton many men have obtained national
regulations for which, when the methods
of scientific analysis are pursued, no foun'
dation in merit or achievement can be dis
covered. We have in fact a class of men
called "great :" who are sincerely believed
to be great by large proportion of the
public yet who have in the whole course
OF their lives done nothing which can ac-
count for this popular fallacy in any ra-
tional way. The truth is that the great
ness achieved by these men is altogether
different from anything called or ac-
counted greatness before. There was
time when before man could be called
"great" he must have accomplished some
large deed must have devised or secured
the enactment of some wise and
benefcent measure; must have advanced
some important proposition must have
shown himself great orator; must have
identified himself with some profound
principle; must have earned his reputation
by distinguished deeds of some kind, either
in research, invention, illustration, or ad-
vocacy. 1t has, however, been left for the
United States to produce an entirely new
class of "great" men. These owe their
elevation to no supremacy of brain, to no
personal superiority of any kind. Their
excellence, such as it is, depends al
together upon an aptness for political and
especially factional intrigue. Once given
the vantage ground of public patronage,
and they are able to traffic away all the
offices so skillfully as to secure the alieg-
lance of those to whom they sell them.
In this way they obtain the control of the
venal clements in politics. They are
looked to for orders and instructions by the
more vulgar adventures who are content
with the small rewards of ward maneuvers.
They are regarded as {" bosses" by these
small persons, who take care to trumpet
their praises, and who indorse them as
&c workers and organizers"
1t is to be observed that the only intel
lectual requirement demanded for the
manufacture of greatness of this kind
is sort of low cunning which our modern
Statesmen of the machine" school
share with the common fry of ward poll
ticians. No capacity for the initiation
of measures, for the appreciation of great
principles, for the pursuit of high purposes,
is required. All that is needed is the
ability to keep well in hand the wires
which are to pull the various puppets of
factional strategy, and a constant readiness
to make whatever bargains and compro-
misses are called for. The main influence
of the new class Of great men is derived
from belief in what is called their 10y
atty" They deal habitually with the
property OF other people. All the rewards
they distribute are filched from the
national treasury. They pay their recruits
and supporters out of the public funds.
And since it is SO easy for them to keep
their promises, seeing that fidelity costs
them nothing, they take pride in being
considered loyal" and base special
claim to being considered honorable " on
this. The plain fact is they have sense
enough to know that the men they use
must be paid for their services, and that if
they are not kept faith with they will
desert. 1t is a matter of bargain and sale
all round, but our "great" men contrive
to make out of this venal business fresh
evidence of their transcendent deserts.
But though it is easy enough to under.
stand why the mere instruments of these
men are bound to them, it is far more diff
cult to account for the prevalence of
popular belief in their greatness. And
it is only by dispassionate analysis of
their real achievements that the extent of
the public error in this regard can be per-
ceived. The means OF analysing this has
just been furnished by +. ". Whitridge,
who, in the current number of the Inter
national Reoiee0, has carefully dissected
Mr.. Conkling's claims to greatness"
This inquiry is thoroughly impartial and
philosophical one. The writer has labori-
ously examined Mr. Conkling's public
record from the beginning until now. He
has traced out all his votes, all his speeches,
all his work in committees, all his party
actions, all his public life, in fact. And
he has ascertained that Mr.. Conkling has
really done almost literally nothing deserv-
ing to be recorded, much less to be ap-
plauded. He has been the author of no
measures. He has never made
a single speech of consequence or value
upon any large question. On the contrary,
he has held aloof from all the most i'm
portant questions of the times. On
tariff, taxation, commerce, Chinese i'm
foreign relations, finance, he has
been uniformly aud strangely silent. On
Southern politics, indeed, he has talked
more than enough. but never exhibiting
even there any more than the ordinary
+" stalwart " ability, or the ordinary " stall
wart ideas. When financial questions
were absorbing public attention, they had
no interest for him. He has no position
on any of the great issues which have been
agitated during the past ten years. In
the whole OF his public life he has pro-
cured the passage of only three laws and
of these, the first, which he drafted him
self, was declared unconstitutional as soon
as it came before the Courts, while the