Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1885-09-08
PERSONAL FITNESS THE STAND
ARD TEST


I PERSONAL FITNESS THE ,STAND-
ARD TEST.
Even in old arlstocratlc South Carolina
the feeling is taking hold of men that the
"wah-hoss" period is nearing its close.
South Carolina, like many of the older
Southern states, has been a blinded de-
yotee at the shrine of the "blue-blood
aristocracy," and the ancient and honor
able names of the commonwealth were
held to impart flavor to their happy pos.
SCISSORS that elevated them above the com
mon herd. The man who could show an
exalted ancestry, the man whose father
or grandfather had done great service to
the state and been rewarded by high civic
or military honors, was, therefore, priv
LEGGED character, who had but to ask
and receive anything in the gift
of the people. Common clodhoppers, who
had the i'll luck to be born with brains
but without "bloodcd" pedigree,
were taken little account of. Such
was the predominant sentiment
of the old South, but, like
other customs more honored in the breach
than in the observance, it is giving away
to the utilitarian spirit of enterprise and
progress being introduced in the South.
The man is more thought of now than his
name. His own worth makes him and
not the excellence of his dead and gone
progenitors. He is honorcd for what he
can do and is doing in the living present,
and not for what he has done in the dead
and forgotten past. The genesis of new
era in the South is marked when paper
OF such conservative manners as the
Charleston News and Courier can give
expression to and uphold the new spirit
in such unorthodoX language as this:
There is silly notion that because man
was brave soldier he Will necessarily excel in
civil life. There Is likewise, a notion that par.
ticuar individuals should be charge upon the
state, and that places should be made for them
at the expense of the people. These are the
grievances that we would strike at. We would
not for moment, az we have said before. re.
ject candidate for an Office because he bears
an honored name. ON the contrary, we would
like him the better for 1t. But the habit is to
fancy that public Office should be given because
the applicant bears a particular name and not
because he has proved himself to be CAPABLE
and worthy, The rule that we desire to see
applied In South Carolina Is that personal
worth, personal service, personal illness, shall
constitute the claim TO public confidence and
public office, and that offices shall not be given
to any one who is not proved to be fit, whether
he have or have not grandfather and a grand
mother, and some family pictures and n shelf
full OF cracked china.
The Charleston paper is on the same
ground as that occupied byTHE GAZETTE.
and we are glad to welcome it. We have
young blood in Texas, full of yigor and
life, and we have clear heads and active
bodies, but in spite of all, the old SUPER
stition fingers in remote corners, and we
are not strangers to the demand that the
choice places of honor and profit in gov
ernmcnt shall be saved for those who
were ''gallant commanders in the lost
cause" But the superstition is waning.
Proof OF efficiency in civil station is now
the requisite for all who ask for popular
support. Military rcnown, while it is
looked upon with admiration and respect.
and supplements well-won fame in civil
administration, is not regarded as sutIl-
Client, In Itself, to cntitlc the posscssor to
precedence in all things. In word, the
man VINO is "wah-hoSs," and nothing
else, has had his days but the man who
Is a "wah-hoSs" and a statesman as well.
Is honored with public confidence. But
1t is his present craftsmanship. not his
past ''wah-hossness," that gives him no.
sition. The rule that we are applylno IN
Texas is the rule that the News and
Courier would like to see applied in Soutb
Carolina--that personal worth, personal
service, personal fitness, shall constitute
the claim to public confidence and public
oiilce.n