Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-07-19
A DEMoRAL1z1Ne BUSINESS.
Ffom the Kansas Chief.

Fforn the Kansas Chief
Last week we spoke of the grab gam
OF politics. This week we have kin
dred subject to discourse upon-the de
moralizing effect of office-hoiding.
has been our observation that the hold
ing of big office for series of terms
or even for one or two terms, utterly
units man for any useful business
We may go farther, and say that the
holding of small offices often spoils {
man for active business pursuits.
man once in office never loses the craze
He Is eternally hanging on, waiting fol
something to turn up, until he become:
ioafer and vagabond; or, if he doe:
| try something else, it is in the way Of
! speculation, where wit takes the place Of
useful industry.
! Take our governors. What one Of
them has engaged in anything useful, OIL
attempted to do much except hold Office
since the expiration of their terms: Gov
Robinson has come nearest to it; but
even he, with his magnificent farm, ha;
PAID more attention to office than farm
ing. Gov. Anthony has managed te
keep at work, but always with one eye
peeled for Office. Gov. Carney was the
best business man ever elected governor
but after that his business gradually
dwindled away and his grip was gone
Being governor seems to have tendency
70 make a man banker after the senate
and a large proportion OF our governors
have endeavored to make the office a
stepplng-stone to the senate. Gov. Har,
vey did manage to get to the senate.
where he became a nonentlsy, and has
since sunk into oblivion down among
the Virginia oyster beds. Gov. Craw-
ford, almost ever since he was governor,
has held an office by means of which he
has sucked lots of rich blood from the
veins of Kansas. He receives pay away
out of proportion to the work performed,
but he holds on to it with a
death grip. Gov. St. John has be-
come public nuisance. He has lost
his cud and is utterly worthless. He
spends his time wandering around try
ing to get revenge on somebody, because
God Almighty, for his own inscrutable
purpose, made him a squirt, and people
have found it out. Click went from
governor into the pension office. Since
that has been taken away from him, it is
SAID he has engaged in Oklahoma town
site speculations. And there is Governor
Martin. Since leaving the governors
office, instead of contentedly settling
down to his newspaper work, it is said
he is in hot chase after a government
appointment.
Then, take the senator's. Lane killed
himself because he discovered that his
popularity was gone, and that the end Of
his term would end his political power.
Pomeroy, since his defeat has become a
genteel loafer about Washington. We
have spoken of Harvey above. Ross is
an exception to the rule, but he became
senator by accident. He never amount
ed to as much as wax teat, and he has
held his own. When a straw comes
along he grabs it; when the straw gets
away he sinks to the bottom.
Next, look at the congressman. Marc.
Parrott, the first free state delegate,
spent his life trying for the senate and
for congress, became sour misanthrope
and died in an asylum. Martin F. Con-
way, the first member from the state,
became hanger-on at Washington, went
crazy and died in an asylum. s. A.
Cobb, after his defeat for second term,
pinned away and died. ID. 2. Lowe lost
the little energy he had. Sid Clarke
grabbed and grabbed for office, became a
lobbyist, then hanger-on and gatherer-
up of crumbs, and has degenerated into
political vagabond. Tom Ryan, as a
matter of charity, was sent out of the
country. to Mexico, before he lost his
grip, which was surely departing.
You may go through the list and you
will find the outcome the same, with
rare exceptions, So OF state offices, and
in many cases still smaller offices. Is it
really any favor to a man for his friends
to put him into office? What will be the
fate of the men now in office? 1t is a
blessed thing that it is not expected of a
president that he will engage in active
affairs after he retires from office; other
wise the country would witness some
failures.