Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1881-02-19
GREAT AND LITTLE MEN In
CONGRESS.

CONGRESS.
The Nation has an article on the dis
appearance Of great men from public life.
The drift is that the altered conditions
of public life must account for this dis
appearance. We have now the Bosses
and the machine in place Of statesmen.
While there is a grain of truth in this,
il is not quite all the truth. The "great
men . in Congress forty years ago obtained
much Of their prominence through popu-
lar oratory. The art Of public speaking
is not lost. But mere oratory in parlia-
mentary proceedings never was at such
a large discount as now. Webster, Clay,
Choate, Douglas and a large number OF
statesmen of hat time depended upon
their oratory both before the people in a
general canvass, and in Congress. They
certainly did have the ability to win over
a large following. The succession OF great
men never fails. Oratory in the British
Parliament is very much a thing OF the
past. John Bright, Gladstone and halt
a dozen others, are popular speakers.
They can be eloquent on occasions. But
most Of the speaking in Parliament is
directed to business matters. The Brit
ish parliamentarian is c%olloquial; he makes
a business talk, and if he expects to be
heard with attention he drives right at
the point, and stops when he has said
just enough. The Congressional orator
is disappearing. Clay, Choate, Prentiss,
Douglas, Webster, and men of that class
NAV have no successors. Probably the
machine and the m~anipulators associated
with it have had too much to do with
substituting Bosses" for the old-fash-
toned leaders. Yet som of the former
are not little men. Conkling, though he
rarely originates a measure OF any great
Importance, still has a wonderful power
in influencing political bodies.
Secretary Chase had no man in the
management of national finances, alto
gether his equal, since the days of Ham
ilton. Yet John Sherman was a greater
man in the same position than was Chase.
Sherman goes back to the Senate. He is
no orator, and never made any reputation
in that way. 1t is clear that the men
who make national regulations hereafter
in Congress must make them in some
other way than by harangues. He must
do something. The machine brings in
the "Bosses." But their reign is tempo
rary. The disappearance OF great men
from public life is always going on-part-
ly from natural causes, and partly from
the intrigues of men who either run the
machine or run after it. Another cause
for this disappearance is that politics,
with an inferior class, has become a pro-
fession. Now, when one becomes a pro-
f~essional politician, he has made up his
mind to live by the business. He will
naturally have in that line much more
influence than larger men who refuse to
make the business a profession. The
"scrub politician is often a very power
full man at the primaries and conventions.
He appears in the Legislature or on the
outside, where his power is manifest in
pushing measures. But with all this adj
verse influence, while he is potent in
producing "Bosses," or in doing the work
which they have mapped out, it is not at
all likely that great men will disappear
from public life. All great men need the
advantage Of perspective. The strong
men of to-day are too near to us. Lin
coin was seldom called a great man while
living. There was the lack of distance.
He is greater now in the public Judgment.
To suppose that great men will disappear
from public life is to adopt the theory
that the profession of politics, while it
brings a great many second-rate men into
prominence, will inevitably work for the
extinction Of better men. The same
force, energy and capacity for public af-
fairs will be constantly triumphing over
the forces which only produce Bosses"
in public life.