National Republican., 1883-09-28
The spo,,s OF onicc.

The spoiIs Of Office.
Our colorcd fellow citizens in convention
assembled at Louisville entertain the samc
exaggerated idea of the importance of hold
ing Office that appears TO possess the palcr Gle.
ment of tho body polite. Even as calm q
philosopher as Mr Douglass warns up to tho
theme, and fcols obliged to declare that since
political prcferment is made the token Of pub
lie respect the negro cannot afford TO be
left out of tho lists. We regret tho
promise while we concur in the conclusion.
The scramble for spois is tho curse of our
time, and the evil, so far from being rocog.
nizod one, has been made the basis of a great
political movement. How to get into office
has become a theme of hot dispute between
the politicians who call themselves reformors
and those who do not. Whether the key 10
clcrkships shall be held by executive officers
who may sometimes yield to the influence of
political friends, or be intrusted to the new
school of politicians who are bittor partisans
Of the non-partisan party, that they may
favor their friends, this is with too many tho
all-absorbing theme, whilo enterprises of
great pith and moment go awry and lose tho
namo of action.
Civilized society is system in which order
must be preserved by an organized govern
ment consented to by all, while industry,
science, and art minister to the wants and
elevate the social and domestic condition of
the whole body. Why higher place should
be given to the policeman who maintains
order than TO the actors who play the various
parts in the drama is u marvel. Yet, so it is.
Government is but policeman in the thoatcr.
The play is performed by members of all the
learned professions, by capitalists, laborers
and artists, and by all who plant, sow
reap, manipulate, barter, or transport. Yet
n few men contrve to fill the air with theii
din about places under the government. The
high sounding name of reform " is prosti
tuted and used as q veneering to conceal the
inferior material of greed for place. The
swine trough is moved into the paJors of the
party, and whereo old statesmen contended
for tho leadership on great economic ques'
tions bearing upon tho welfare of tn {
nation We now have n miserable wran.
gle between jostling place hunters who
swear they do not want Office, and
others who choose to admit that they do. The
opinions of men on questions of revenue, for
eign relations, commercial regulations, and
the administration of justice are deemed Of
little moment save as professions concerning
them may serve as q make-wcight in hoist
ing into Office the one or the other of these
two herds of political swine. This classifca-
tion does not include the men of honorable
ambition who dccently aspire to political
honors. Ambition is virtue when it seeks
to deserve, and despises the success which can
only come by the use of hypocrisy, slander,
and dishonesty,
The speech of Frederick Douglass in the
colored convention is to bc printed as the ad.
dress of that body to congress and the coun.
try. We shall not attempt to discuss it from
the brief synopsis already published. We
! have chosen to aludc to the demand for moro
pronounced political recognition for the col
ored clement not for the purpose of antago-
nizing it, but rather to recognize the justice OF
the demand, ifoflice is to be the be.all and end
all of the republic, as the most pretentious OF
our political doctors now declare. If the dis
/ tribution Of clerkships is the handspring OF
| political action, by all means let there be {
fair recognition of every element, and thC
negroes arc an element. Those of the civi
service reformers who never take their eye
off of the swill tub never tax,
their noses away from the odor
of the kitchen, and never think o
anything save tho patronage and the spoils,
are lowering the tone of politics in the
country more than all the socalled politica
machine men put together. If we can have
some other political theme than tho division
of the party crumbs and offal, we shall prob
ably find Mr.. Douglass as ready as of yore t.
discuss ideas and mems rights rather than tn,
claims of his race to any particular share o
the public offices.