The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1881-08-13
Tie People Angry.

MIR. Albert Stickney has begun, in Scribner,
a short series Of three papers on The Peoples
Problem" In the opening article, which, il
is said, is a remarkably able paper, Mr.. Stick.
ncy says:
I'VE have just seen most singular specta
Gle, The people of the largest and richest city
in the country have made most earnest effort
to be allowed to clean their own streets with
their own money, and to secure their own lives
against the dangers OF pestilence, and the Ell
fort has failed The reason why it has failed
is that the peoples own officials, the very men
who should have done the work, have made a
powerful combination to hinder the work from
being done. 1t has been u battle between the
people on the one side, and the men who
should be their honest servants on the other
side and the servants have won the battle.
Singulary, too, in this matter, which has been
on the part of the citizens nothing but an ef
fort to save life, we have seen our public Of
iicias of the national, state, and city govern.
ments all combined together 10 resist this OF.
fort of the people of one city.
ave have substantially the same state of
things IN nearly every larger center of wealth
and population In the country,-public Off.
cials are banded together TO draw money from
the public treasury instead Of dong well the
public work. We have the same condition of
things in our state legislatures. The peoples
work is not well done. The peoples offices
are not used for the peoples purposes. And
at the national capital where we ought to have
a body of public servants watching over the
nations welfare, the peoples representatives
are wasting their time in mere struggle for
place. Great national questions need to be
wisely handled by the men who control our
national affairs. But the men who are highest
in the nations service have brought the busl-
ness of the people of the United States to a
stand still, while they wraDgle over the ap-
pOintment Of doorkcepers and revenue Off.
Gals
THE people are angry. They do we'll to be
angry; but they are angry at the wrong thing.
They are angry at certain men they should
be angry at the system which has made the
men what they are.
"Our political machinery has radical, fun.
damental fault. The material which we use
IN our public service IL the same that we use
in all private industrial enterprises, -men--
human nature. In private life the material
serves its uses most noby. Yet in our public
affairs we have become so accustomed to down
right robbery ut the hands of men holding
public place that the whole community gives
a sigh of a reliei, when Congress or state leg
is!ature adJOurns, ut the thought That their
power for evil is for a time ended. Yet most
of these men who fill our public offices are, in
private life, honest men.
But to say that there Is some fault in our
political machinery avails nothing. We must
go further than that, and find precisely and
accurately what the fault is To find out what
the precise fault is, if we stop there, will avail
little We must find what is the remedy
And even TO find the precise remedy is not
enough. We must so further, and convince
men that the remedy can he appied-must
show loo it can be applied"