Idaho semi-weekly world. [volume] (Idaho City, Idaho Territory) 1875-1908, 1889-01-29

POT-HousE POLITICS
The Character Of the Thtnu
Exponndins n.

- fhr iHlnxs EnYagod In.
Exponnding Its Merits. :"
As general thing the bar.roon
poiitician Is not attractive personalIy
lie rarely pays much attention "a bis
cioihing or his general malxe-nn h.
cause his time is completely abaorhed
with matters OF great political imnort
re IS Kept SO busy saving the co,Intrv
.hat he has no time or energy 10 waste
IN removing grease spots on his raj.
hent or In manipulating a clotbo.
brush. The blush on his cheek i not
caused by his glowing with heaven
porn enthusiasm for the Just cause If
1he people, nor by the rudy hue ~
ROBUST heaith, but may safely no a.
lrlnuted to an inferior brand of whisky
us average pot-house mogul of small
callper IS the victim Of many stranoe
laiiuclnations. One of his pet delu.
sions Is that he is Indispensable Ha
uarpors an underlined sort of suspieiou
That the continuance Of the planetary
system, somehow or other, rests on
MN. AS for the political party tn
winch ne claims to belong, or rather
winch he imagines belongs to him. he
Is perfectly sure that but for his sage
counsel it would fall to pieces and re-
solve itself into chaos. 1t il almost
impossible for the small-bore dema-
gogue to believe that his party could
survive single campaign in case he
should pay the debt of nature-tbe
| only debt, by the way, which he ever
does pay.
Instead Of being modern Atlas with
the whole world on his shoulders. he
himself is burden grievous to be
borne. He wanders around. never al
lowing himself to stray far away from
the saloons, like an evil spirit seeking
rest and finding none, and allowing no
body else to find any, either. He will
halt gentlemen on the public highways,
and unless they seek safety in fight,
he will infict on such victims, in a
whisky-laden whisper, whole libraries
OF stale political lore and decayed cam
paign rubbish.
In regard to the actual services he
renders his party there will always be
anhonest difference of opinion. There
| is good reason to believe that this DOS
tulant for pap does more to cause the
respectable element of his party to go
over to the opposition than all the other
causes put together. The shrewder
politicians and office-seekers perceive
that the unsayory but enthusiastic dem
agogue is in reality a dangerous Jonah,
who should be promptly inserted into
the raging main if the ship is to be
saved, and they often do throw him
overheard; but he always hobs serenely
up and swims to shore, or is picked up
by the rival craft.
Occasionally the small bore politician
gets into power and sticks with the
pertinacity of postage stamp in a
pocket-book on damp day. The tax
| payers discover that they are being
robbed by set Of famished cormorants.
Then it is that the man whose property
is being sold for taxes lifts his voice
and rebellious hoof and rails at the
small-bore demagogue. An independ-
emit tidal wave sweeps over the neigh
borhood, and the small bore demagogue
and his friends are left high and dry
when the waters recede.
This style of politician prevails, in
more or less malignant type, from
Maine to the Rio Grande. and infests
every political party.-IeraS Syltngs.