New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1882-10-11
Young MEN IN POLITICS.

Any party, in order TO be ut TO live, must
move on. Old leaders and managers become
rooted in their ideas and habits, and if the party
is not entirely free, so that young men always
| have opportunity to come forward as rep
resentatves of changing thought, it will in
evitaby begin to decay. This is especially the
case with the Republican party, because it is
an embodiment OF the progressive thought OF
the country. Democracy, being at its best
merely q brake the car, chronic resist
ance to everything in the nature of real i'm
prOvement, dead weight to be dragged along,
useful only as ballast, can exist after fashion
without changes of working force and leader
ship. But Republican progress absolutely de-
| mands everywhere Republican freedom in the
| expression of opinion, and in the selection of
| men who best represent its latest thought. 1t
| came into being as the work of young men who
then embodied and grandly set forth the best
thought of twenty-five years ago. Its first
| Speaker Mr.. Banks, was thirty-eight when
elected with him sat in the House Trumbull
then forty -one Lovejoy, forty -four; Colfax, only
thirty three; Burlingame, thirtyfour; Bing-
ham, forty; Campbell, forty-four; Sherman.
thirty two Grow, thirty-two; Covode, forty
seven; Morrill,, of Vermont, forty-ive Wash
o
consiu thirty seven and Washburne of Illinois,
thirty mine. Two years later others were
elected-Farnsworth, thirty years of age ;
Dawes, fOrty-one Thayer, thirty-eight F.
p. Blair, thirty-six; Fenton, thirty-eight.
Then came the memorable Congress elected
when Mr.. Lincoln, then forty-eight years of
age, opened the path to the Presidency by his
struggle with Douglas. In that Congress, Ferry,
of Connecticut, then thirty five; Porter, of
Indiana then thirty four Window, then thirty
one COnking, then Twenty-Five and
Mcpherson, twenty-eight, were new members.
And with the election of Lincoln. in 1850,
there came into the House Garfield, of Ohio,
then twenty nine Blaine, Of Maine, then
thirty; Wilson, of Iowa, thirty-two Conway,
Of Kansas, thirty Rollins, of Hampshire,
then thirty six; Wheeler, OF New-YOrk, then
forty -one and Kelley, of Pennsylvania, then
forty These were among the men whose
activity then raised them to leadership, but in
every district the great part of the work in the
creation of the Republican party was done by
men still younger.
Nearly a quarter of a century has passed.
Men are now voters who were born the year
Garfield and Blaine first took seats in Congress
whole generation has arisen, since the Re-
publican party came into power, with new
IDEAS new aims, new beliefs They can be
fifty represented, in the active work of party,
only by young men like themselves. OF the
old leaders many are dead or physically dis
abled some have lost public confidence many
others still remain to aid the party by wis
dom tempered by long experience. But the
party would simply commit suicide, if it should
shut out young and active men from q full
share in its leadership and management. They
best know the temper of those younger voters
who now form large majority of the Repub-
lican voters. What the younger voters want,
if they have fresh ideas and aims which the
older leaders do not share, will nevertheless
get done before many years. The Republican
party, If it is still to embody the progressive
thought of the Nation, must everywhere open
its active work, its places of trust, and its re-
sponsible leadership to the men who have
grown up with the majority of to-day.
There have been, of late, some cheering evil
dences that the steady forward movement of
the party is going on. Perhaps the boys"
sometimes make mistakes, as is natural. But
they will learn what ought to be done and how