The Portland daily press., 1881-12-13
TUESDAY MORNING, DECEMBER ls.

These things he has NV for the hrst time SO
cared He is more talked about at this mo-
msnt than any other man in the United States,
aad he is eagerly listened to on his tavorlte
topic-his own career and his mental conditloh
At various times But the craving for fame is
not a sign of insanity. In fact, the really IN
sane. If their minds run on this point at al,
helieve thew have secured fame already, while
intense desire for it and readiness 10 resort W
almost any means TO obtain II, is characteriS-
tic OF hundreds of thousands, OF whose capacl-
ty to bear the ordinary responsibilities OF soci-
ETY. no one doubts. Guiteau's conce1ts ana love
of talking about himself are In fact phenome-
m with which we are all familiar not only
among the sane but among the eminent ana
highly placed sane We see every uay aoie nnu
distinguished men who think their own person.
alitv as attractive and deserving suplecs rs
can engage the human understanding.
wonld never do, therefore to allow murderer
to escape the gallows by the display OF an inor
dinate self-esteem. Ii IS tlme ehIusi. W .;oaS
the sanity of such man when he is satisned
that the world shares his own estimate OF him
self. .a,.u 80 coll.
ing a man as a witness-not as panent-to
prove his own insanity, the thing IN Gulteau .
testimony which is most worthy OF attention ID
the light il throws on the lives OF that large
class 10 which he belongs, and which 1t IS now
the fashion to call "cranks. Now tnat ms
case has called unusual attention to them, IL Is
found that everybody occupying position IN
anv sense prominent or public, and particular
lv newspat,er editors, has had much expert
ence of them They are not absolutely crack
ed hut they are too unsteady and TOO wanting
in persstency to and in capacity Ior nxeu q;
tention TO follow any regular calling successi
". They are generally much given TO specuia-
ton on social and religious topics, and to the
concoction of schemes of social reform. Amer
lean society produces them in higher numbers
than European society because 1t runs less III
class grooves, and presents wider held Oh pos
sibility to the philosophical as well as CONNER,
oial adyepturer The rigidity of custom, and
the strength of official etiquette in Europe,
steadies many brain which here would 20
clean daft It would, for instance, never nave
entered the head of an English or French Gui-
teau that he could get the AUSTRIAN really
was not such Iild dyeaOm stt5eJg PERSONS whose
: eonipment of all kinds was not indisputably
better than his own.
great stimulus was given to the production
of sscranks'' by the reform movement OF nifty
years ago But then it furnished them with narm
less mental occupation. The people who pro
tested against the tyranny of custom by sltting
naked on their own stoops in Boston, OF VINO
asserted the moral quality of all spoken
words BY swearing profusely IN the CONCORD
stage, were not whit saner than Gulteau: Du'
the general expectation of the social mliien-
mimi of which Transcendtaism forms part,
and which spread over the world after the
French revolution of 1880, may be said to nave
furnished them with a wide field for their ac-
tivity. They hung onto the skirts OF the anti
slavery agitatstion in great numbers Iney
busted themselves with Theodore Parker's the
ology. They joined in the temperance move
ment, and made stand against boted flour,
against raw oysters, tobacco, and perpetual
marriage. They started small newspapers Oh
their own for the promotion of their favorite
ism" or published pamphlets or established
little churches, which lasted until something
new caught their eye. But as rule they cared
little about politics and paid small attention to
the strife of parties. The gradual decline OF
the trandescendental state of mind; the triumph
of most of the struggling reforms; the growing
indifference of the public to dogmatic discus
sion; the failure of most of the commuplstlc
enterprises, and indeed of nearly all the efforts
after queer living, have now deprived them Of
perhaps as healthful an occupation as then
brains could have had Guiteau's histo ~
shows that The country no longer offers them
the old opportunities OF innocent business lie
took politics up, because all other delusions
and follies had failed him, and here ne
saw what he had never lighted on in any Of
his other ventures, the opportunity Tor grea'
stroke.