The Democratic press. [volume] (Ravenna, O. [Ohio]) 1868-1901, 1883-10-04
POLITICS AND ou,TuBr
The Coming American Statesman and Pol
itician to be Educated.

Z. The close observer of American l;fo
and manners cannot fail to mari a
very important change now takin~
place in the aspirations and hobits ~
thought of the people. 1t is within the
memory OF even the rising generation,
that the ambitious American proposed
to himself no goal without the domain
of politics. In the days when CLAW.
Calhoun and Webster led the giants of
the Senate, the political caste was pre-
dominant. 1t was not without reason
that the very finest minds of the nation
turned to the study of political affairs.
The men who founded the republic nos
sessed. political genius of the first order.
and they bequeathed to their successors
grand traditions and prestige that
outweighed all the annoyances of pHb
lie life. Moreover, the nation was en-
gagged in discussing questions so vital
and fundamental, that war proved to be
the only solution. During the four
years of mortal combat, which ended
with the downfall of the Confederacy,
new forces were brought into action,
and new direction given to national en-
deavor. Both at the North and at the
South the very flower of the population
was to be found on the battlefield In
those terrible years it was amply prov
en- that the American people possess
in abundance the stuff of which heroes
are made. The civil wardestroyed two
things which had been the great poll
ticians' only valid reason of being
the institution of slavery and the as
serted rights of secession. The recon-
struction period was a period of passion,
in which craftsmanship could not hope
to find place. Meanwhile, although
the South resources were at the lowest
ebb, the North was full of great and
growing fortunes. Politics, as career,
had fallen into extreme disfavor in con-
sequence of the general corruption of
public life. The extension of the rail-
way system, and the manipulation of
the vast mass of securities which arose
therefrom, offered wild field of action
to ambitious men. The average Amer
ican's horizon did not extend beyond
the confines of business life; and both
in our foreign and in our domestic pol
icy the shop-keeping element FREEDOM
mated.
From period of storm we have
passed into a period of calm. 1t is also
period of transition. The growth OF
great private fortunes has given rise to
leisurcd class which has no taste for
trade. In the near future the tariff is
destined to be burning question; we
need hardly say that the average poll.
tician is very poorly prepared to handle
it Meanwhile, numerous great insti
tutions of learning. with munificent en-.
! Il, hax fOnnAaI a,,,1
annually sending forth II host of young
men whose education has incapacitateC
them for taking the baSeiv materia
view of lite. Great art collections art
being removed from the ancestral hall!
of European mobiles to the palaces 0
American millionaires. American paint
hers, sculptors, singers, and writer's art
fast achieving 4 high position i'll th'
world of art and letters. In fact, there
/ are innumerable signs that we have out
grown the mere dollars-and-cents yier
of eXistence-that we are tendin:
toward the higher phase of civilization
which. without wealth and leisure, is i'm
possible.
/ What, then. is to be the destiny o
these thousands of young men who
each year, leave the college gates t
face the world? Even after the rank
of artists and professional men hav
been recruited, there will always re
main contingent of graduates who's
: natural inclination is toward politica
life. Hitherto such men have been de
TERED from entering upon politica
career, by the loss of caste which it
supposed to involve. But we have see
the first fruits of the agitation for civi
service reform, and there is every rea
son to suppose that within the next fey
years the American statesmen will b
freed from the opportunities and eXac
tions of the office seeker. Under thes
circumstances, it is not unreasonable {
expect that henccforth Il large numb'
of young men will turn their attcnti"
to politics. 1t will be u happy day ft
our country when we shall have ft
established the olden relations betwee
politics and culture. = NcW Oriea,l
Times Democrat.