Mexico weekly ledger., 1889-07-11

world and solved a problem that
has been bothering politicians,
statesmen, editors and other people,
more or less, for one hundred years
namely, "What shall zoe do NTH
our E9-Presidentss Many solutions
had been offered to make them
Senators-at- large for life, to pension
them at the public crib, ,etc. ,etc. But
Cleveland, by that hard, common
sense, that has ever distinguished
him, cut the Gordian knot and
forever put a quietus on the ques-
ton by resolutely and bravely
rolling up his sleeves and going to
work to make an honest living in
the sweat of his face. First and
last there has been a great deal of
idiotic talk and gush about the
"divinity that doth hedge king"
and, by some sort of unaccounta-
BILE hallucination, great many
good people had gotten it into their
silly pates somehow that an ex-
president was too dignified or too
good or too proud to pursue the
ordinary voeations of an American
citizen and should be provided for
by the public as sort of sacred
stall-fed calf. Now comes sturdy
Mr.. Cleveland and by his actions,
speaking louder than any words,
SAYS: "That's all bosh and TOM
foolery. The world owes no man
a living. Every American citizen
is a possible president, just as ia
Napoleon's army every soldier car
ried marshal's baton. In the re-
public the general of to-day must
be willing, if needs be, to fight
as private, in the ranks
tomorrow. The man who,
by the peoples suffrages, has
been elevated to the most exalted
station forever owes it to them to
set good example. Ex-presidents
are no better than other people.
Let them go to work." And to
work he went, to the utter amaze
ment of mobiles and nabobs and to
the inexpressible delight of the
vast body of the people.
! When the events of to-day shall
have become ancient history; when
MacauIay's pessinistic picture of
the New Zealander, sitting on a
broken pier of London bridge, con-
ttemplatIng the RUNS of St. Pauls,
shall have been realized, the schol-
ar and antiquarian may amuse them-
selves by drawing parallels between
Cincinnatus at his plow. Diecletian
in his cabbage patch, Charles the
Fifth in his monastery and Grover
Cleveland, busy with the drudgery
of his briefs. In this day of hurry
and rush, of ambition and feverish
unrest, of the increasing tendency
to make a living by other means
than honest toll, his example must
be of incalculable benefit to the
rising generation. He stands forth
in the front ranks of American la
boring men. There are these five
the sheriff, the mayor, the COVER
nor, the president and the private
citizen, but the private citizen is
is greatest of them all.
DANGER SIGNALS.
Quite recently that great journal
of Civilization the st. Louis Rep,tb-
Tic, held a sort of symposium as to the
proper way to celebrate the 4th of July.
Many persons of emfnence formulated
!. many different plans of schemes in
honor Of the day.
Among others, my distinguished
friend, Mrs. Elizabeth Avery Merri-
wether, of st. Louis, expressed her
opinions pretty freely She is always
entertaining and generally instructive.
In her letter to the Republic, she takes
most advanced grounds against 4th of
July oratory and comes down on such
speeches as 1 have just been making
like thousand of brick. She evident
ly takes no stock in spread-eagle ora
tory. She says that instead of point
ing out the faults of our system and
dangers of our condition, that 4th OF
July orators soft soap the Father of the
Republic, and the country generally
, to such an extent that it gives all the
people the big head and puffs them up
so that they do not know how to be
have themselves-or words to that eff.
feet. | have the greatest consideration
for this brilliant lady and her words
set me to thinking and I finally con.
, cluded to put in few minutes of this
speech according to her ideas. If YOU
,, don't like it, charge it up to her and
not to me. So here goes.
Measured solely by the standard OF
81 dollars and cents, the men of 1889 are
lagreat improvement on the heroes OF
1776. Nevertheless, it may be peril
nently, seriously and patriotically
asked, on the anniversaryof the ma
tion's birth, If, i'll the hot pursuit of the
} good things of this life, we are not for.
, getting the grand thought of our sires
in founding the Republic. Is there
not tendency in America to-day to
wards moneyed aristocracy? Is there
not dangerous aggregating of fwealth
4 in the hands of few railroad kings
J and mining princes at the expense O
= pauperizing the masses: Is it not pos
. sible that certain men are becoming toe
! powerful for Republican citizens anG
l are revolving in their minds scheme.
= which bode no good to the freedom O
4 the people? While an honest effort tt
make a dollar is altogether laudable, i:
it not true that people too frequently
, seem to act on the old mans advice tt
l his boy, when starting out in the worlt
t on his own hook-'My son, get money
r Get money! Get it honestly if you can
but, at all events, get moneyv Has
not the corrupt use OF money i'll elec
tions, the wholesale buyingan selling
of votes in this country, assumed pro
portions which shame our institution:
: and endanger their very existence? /:
not the influence of the plutocrat il
politics become our great reproach
Was there questioning or contradie
tory voice raised between the tive
oceans, when year or two ago, Col
: Robert G. Ingersoll publicly declared
that the Senate of the United State.
had fallen from its high estate ant
largely degenerated into set of ami
7 mated money bags? Is not the fact &
) little startling that there is at the pres
ent day twenty odd members of tina
body whose only qualification is tina
they are millionaires? Is it not sigr
infallible of q widespread disease of ths
) body polite and certain to be fatal un
less checked, that. in many portions 0
the country, more particularly in thu
larger towns and cities, almost thu
= first question asked concerning a can
didate for office, is, not-"Is he capa
4 ble"'-not-''Is he ehonest?n-not-"I
= he faithful to the CONSTITUTIONS but
: 'Is he rich?'' or, in the slang of tn,