Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-08-05


school house in the woods of Arkansas.
What wonder then that the scholar, the
thinker, the phIlanthropist is either
crushed to death in the bloody jaws of
the dragon or prudently stands out of the
wind of his uostrils. hiding in his own
place and hoping against hops that the
day will come when the beast will perish
under the lance of some benifcent giant
rising in his pathway!
How Is it possible that the life of
learning, of scholarship, of honest merit
can flourish, or even survive under the
political system that has supervened in
our oountry2 How is it possible for
an honest man even to cast an honest
vote, when the antecedent conditions
of every election have been so coutrived
that man must virtually stultifY him.
self before he can vote at all? The
modern political party has learned how
TO prepare Il condition in which the voter
has the alternative when IL comes to the
election, of voting for something bad
or something worse. he is adroitly
driven into a strait between the devil
and the deep sea. While he stands
there embarrassed with the situation,
strongly desiring to DO his duty, loving
his country and her institutions, vexed
and harrassed by the force behind him
aud the conscience within him, mortified
to death in the presence of the boosted
ballot box two emIssarIes stand, one on
one side of the window and the other
on the other, glancing furtively at his
ticket to see whether. they can discover
some evidence about it on which dis
charge of mud and filth can be made
from that catapult of indecency, the
partisan newspaper.
Glance back to the time of the great
upheaval of 1856. That was q revolu-
ton in which, for Il short season, the
people rose and stood. The young Re-
publicans made their own banners and
put thereon the glorious ALTERATION of
free speech, free press, free schools,
free Kansas and Fremont. Nobody
could misunderstood it. 1t meant
something. The Democratic party
meanwhile entrenched itself in conserv-
atism. 1t stood by the past. Slavery
was a part of the existing system OF
labor and society in q large part of the
Union, and the Democracy defended it.
To do so was n true conservatism, but it
was also q false humanity. The issue
was made up. A terrible war was
fought. The Union was reconstructed,
parties found them selves face to face,
ind apparently the vocation of each was
gone. But the machine was now in
full force. Tie question was how each
should use the other as foil TO keep
itself in power and continue to monopo-
lie the spois OF the battlefield. The
last presidential campaign was weighed
most largely on the question of free
trade and protection. In thst cam
paign the Republicans of the United
States were forced into alignment under
the protective banner, and the Demo-
Gratis were, by corresponding compnl-
sion, obliged to align themselves under
the banner of free trade. Now, in the
name of all that is sacred, what kind
of logic is that which says to thes' peo-
pie, vote this particular way or you
shall be taken up by your mortal body,
lifted out OF your place in society by a
hand more powerful than yours and be
dashed down in u spot of solitary barren
ness and desoIation, to wall among the
klokers, where the worm dieth not and
the fire is not quenched! Who says
this? Party says it and does it.
of course, slaves are slaves. AS q
general rule, slaves are not very dis
contented with their condition. 1t does
not follow that the majority of seryile
race or of servile society demand or de-
sire emancipation. For emancipation,
mark you well, brings with it the most
serious lsbors and responsibilities. 1t is
glorious to be free, but free men have
heavier loads than slaves. The differ
ence Ia that the free man may at his
pleasure lay down his load and rest. But
we must bear in mind that IN every pros
tituted society there is large number OF
aspiring spirits who long for release and
freedom. This number is made up of
the very best material of the given So
ciety. It is composed of those who carry
about with them everywhere the visions
of prophecy, the dreams Of the future IN
their brains, the tw!tter of the songbirds
in their hearts and spirits.
Now it is precisely this kind of an ele-
ment which the American alumni con-
stitute in the political and general soci-
ETY. of our times. They have in tn N,
as q rule, the fires of enthusiasm and the |
aspirations of greater and better things.
During the formative period of their |
lives they have been placed, or have |
placed themselves under conditions pc
culiarly favorable to a high develop |
ment. They ought, In virtue of their |
10 Dc INC OcsL tbiicsL
men and women of the times. AS a |
matter of fact the alumni of our Ameri- |
can colleges do occupy, as they ought to |
higher intellectual and moral |
plane than the great majority to whom |
like advantages and blessings have been |
denied. 1t is the hard condition of our |
times that the very merits and virtues |
with which the American alumni are so |
richly endowed are, in the present con-
ditions of society and under the forces |
by which the public, and even the pri- |
vate life of the people of the United |
States are controlled. as much of a dis
advantage and an impeachment to the |
possessors as they are an advantage and |
inspiring impulse.
Behold what the spirit of party, the |
domination of party, has accomplished |
IN the United States. 1t has made the |
political life every thing, aud all other |
life virtually nothing In the esteem Of the |
American people. IL has degraded pub
lie opinion to this sbject level, that there |
is no greatness in our country, no re-
nown, except the doubtful greatness OF
holding office and the ambiguous renown
Of being elected or appointed to some
thing. 1t has succeeded IN thrusting |
down into obscurity, il not into con-
tempt and Ignoniny, every form of en-
ieayor aud every species OF accomplish
nent except the endeavor of politics and
the struggle for place. It ia impossible