Thomas County cat., 1890-08-28
POLITICS AND POLITICS.


and the word politics is one Of these.
In its highest sense it means tho science
Of human government, the protection
of human rights and the improvement
of the people. In its other sense it
means party finesse, management, Of
flee hunting, scheming. trickery. The
latter, we are sorry to say is to many
the only meaning attached to the word.
As elections are coming on as, the an
nual nuisance e-the candidate-is abroad
in the land, we may as we'll philosophize
on that subject as any other this morn
ing-for, as a rule, people think more
about their ticket than they do about
their creeds this time in tie year.
Everybody will tell you that the
''science of government" or politics in
it's higher sesnce, is the good of the
people-or humanity. But in prac-
tical politics, as practiced every
day. you find that the public good means
the election of our party men and the
patronage of Office in the hands of our
side. The science Of government, on the
other hand, means the machinery by
which a select few control the laws of
social forces to their own aggrandize-
ment. In Europe to-day the people are
mere pawns in the game OF dynasties, by
which the products OF industry and the
progress of intelligence are made sub
ordinate to individual aggrandize-
ment and power. In this free republic
of ours the larger liberty we enjoy is
diverted to putting in and keeping in
power the individuals who run party.
In both cases, the laws that govern
property, that create money, are all di-
rected to making that element imperial
in power and in possession-the masses
getting their daily stipend and the f.
nancial baron owning the rest. That
is what the world calls practical politics.
What is it, really, but another form of
the law of the strongest law of the
big fish and the little ones?
Now, in the better sense, that is not
politics. The constant struggle has
been for all the ages to bring the man,
the human being, into the condition of
the stronger-or to make all strong.
We are not quarreling with the past,
only criticising the present, that we
may get more light for the future. But
is the general ideal the right one-that
this overgrown wealth is the possible or
even the desirable condition for all?
We cannot expect equality of condition
in this world. It does not exist with
animals or plants-but the equality of
relation is the law of life. Society, or
the law, has no business to lend its
power to one man to get the advantage
of another, even in the struggle of
natural competition. 1t assumes that
it has not done so, or that it has dis
charged it's duty when it protects prop
erty. But it has made the mistake Of
allowing unlimited accumulation of
property, and as long as that fact re-
mains, the basic care and force of gov
ernmen., the emancipation of the
masses, is impossible.
Now, to extend this power, which
once resided in the sword, society has
created an artificial persona corpora
ton which is a power within power.
This has been the cause of the anomaly
of perfectly free government as to
person and personal or civil rights, but
economically and industrially just the
reverse But is this condition to be
remedied by return to the natural re-
lations of individual competition or
emulation? We have been there, and
we found feudalism the result. Why?
Simply because we followed the same
law as to property, or acquisition
rather, that we do now-our corpora
tions are only modern form of the
feudaT baron.
But in philosophic sense or in the
sense Of high politics-this is only one
form of the progressive development of
society up to the ideal, or correctly, the
natural condition. We have found that
individual freedom is the necessary con-
dition of progress, but that freedom
must be turned in the right directions
Or it finally grows into oppressive con-
ditions. The corporation, or in other
words, association and combination, has
worked marvels in bettering the condi-
tions OF mankind and advancing civili-
zation, but it must not be allowed to
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