The Labor enquirer., 1883-04-28
INSfNUATIONS.

INsINUATIONs.
There is a ruling idea with the press
of this country that poor man is not
capable or worthy of holding office, be
It high or low. Whether the expression
is honest or not, they are continually at
tempting, in one way or another to
make the public believe that money IS
the only standard of excellence, and he
who has the most of it is best fitted to
hold positions ofresponsibility and trust.
The News of last Monday says: "WhlIe
the candidacy Of poor man to the Of
fee ofalderman raises a suspicion OF the
honesty of his desire, it does not pre-,
vent him from showing that the suspi-
cion was, like most generahzations, rath-
er defective on account Of the number of
exceptions"
Now, why should the candidacy of a
poor man for alderman be looked upon
with suspicion? Has not poor man a
right to be ambitious, as well as a rich
one? And what is there in an alder
NANCY, if man be honest, but the graf
ification that Ill men feel in being ChO-
sen to lead or represent a constituency.
The salary of the alderman is not so
enormous that a man will incur the eX.
Dense and trouble ola campaign to Sc
cure it. Then the only inducement if
it be not a laudable ambition, is the op-
portunity that Is offered for thieyery. Are
poor men, who have been Kept poor
principally because they are honest, less
to be trusted than rich men, nine-tenths
of whom became rich through rascaity,
and who have so many opportunities to
further enhance their property through
legislation In word, if the News man
were to start out to find the biggest
rogueS in this community, would he 60
among the rich class or the poor?
And, honesty being equal, why is it
held that the rich man IS more eligible
than the poor for alderman ? Because
be paws the taxes, lis the falIacy brought
forward as answer. There never was a
more brazen-faced lie uttered than that;
and the man who utters it, knows it.
The thought that the consumer, the
poor man, pays all the taxes is as old as
the mountains, and is as apparent. The
man who owns scores Of horses in this
city pays not one penny Of tax. His
tenants pay it tenfoId. What fool does
not know this? And it is so with every
thing else. If the argument that the
taxpayers should compose the city
council is good one then none but
poor men should be considered eligible.
The act of rich man calling upon the
poor to support him for office strikes us
as being very much like, an execuHoner
calling upon his intended victims to
whet his ak.
The greatest good to the greatest
number" is admitted by all honest men
to be the true principle of wise govern
ment. Which is the greatest number,
the rich or the poor? Then if each
member of the council or any legislative
body represent his class, poor men
should certainly predominant in those
bodies.
The News does not say the poor men
who are of the present Denver council
will prove dishonest, but magnanimou8-
ly remarks that they may prove excep-
tions; the rule being that poor men
VINO aspire to office have dishonest mo-
tiyes. The entire sentence quOtedis an
insinuation upon the poor men of the
council and an insult to their Constitu-
ency and class. Whether the objectof our
morning contemporary is to crack the
lash over the poor mems representatives
and warn them that if they act contrary
to its dittations they will be branded by
it as dishonest men, or whether it is to
throw cold water upon the future aSpi-