Wood County reporter. [volume] (Grand Rapids [i.e. Wisconsin Rapids], Wis.) 1857-1923, 1890-09-25

the large-minded, progressive spirit that
mods and vitalizes our political and social
institutions.
The candidate nominated by the demo
Gratis, George W. Peck, presents but little
In bis life and character recommending
him to the favorable consideration of Wis
consin voters. In his general intellectual
makeup he has none Of those large proper
lions that mark Governor Hoard as the most
conspicuous figure in the northwest. If
Mr.. Peck is not great man IN any sense
of the word it is not wholly his fault
While he has not perhaps dreamed when
ne should have worked" he has trihed
when the busy, practical world around him
| has toied to find out new and better ways
of securing the minimum of misery and
the maximum of comfort. He is no m or
wit than he is statesman or a philoso
pher. For many years Mr. Peck has print
ed and sold a funny paper. ." From this
undertaking it is reported that he has re-
allied considerable wealth Some lime
ago, when
CHATTING IN A SOFT MOOD
with his patrons concerning his success il,
this direction, he said that he did not
understand why people should buy and
read his SILLY things. This, too, has
been a great mystery to many others be-
sides Mr.. Peck. A life thus spent gains
nothing in dignity and power, and will
1t ordinarily fit a person to perform with
satisfaction the difficult and responsible
duties belonging to the highest Office with
in the gift Of state Mr. Peck was put
in nomination for tho reason that he is
supposed to have qualities that will give
him tr9ngth with the lowdown and friv-
oi0us elements of society. the boys" and
hOOdIums. who find in the grimace Of a
monkey and the grotesqueness of a mount
ebank something to amuse and laugh at
10 the writer he appears the fit representa-
tive of the mongrel and discordant ele-
ments that are brought temporarily to-
gether III this atrocious crusade against
popular education In Wisconsin.
Governor Hoard has worked hard from
boyhoOd; he has been industriously en-
gagged In gathering up the material and
Welding them into d. stalwart manhood
He has lived to be useful to his fellows.
From the struggles he has made and the
duties faithfully performed he now comes
forth crowned with power and has the
satisfaction of knowing that through his
efforts life has to others larger measure
OF comfort, a deeper significance and
higher nobility. Mr.. Peck has enjoyed
the same opportunities as Governor Hoard
for work and growth, but they have not
been improved. He was not made that
way. There was wanting inclination, de-
sign, and appreciation. With the seri-
Gus purposes that affected other lives he
had no part-he was born to Jest and for
almost lifetime has heen so engaged
weakening the energies that belong to
good impulses by reducing to a common
plane the grave and the gay. virtue and
vice, degrading the good to the level of the
bad, making merry of all. Mr.. Gladstone
said last year that religion. honor and
truth are the wings of the soul. When
these are taken away the individual is
without a sustaining and guiding con-
science and society suffers an irreparable
wrong"
This fact has not been appreciated by
Mr.. Peck. While. perhaps, not so intend
ed, his Bad Boy" has probably done more
to pervert the morals Of children and to
confuse and distort their sentiments of re-
ligion, honor, and truth that any other
book of the age that has found its wav to
respectable home circles His lest has
been in season and out OF season. on all oc-
casions and in the respect to every subject
until 'moralities shrek aloud " In all
that contributes to make useful patriot
or statesman Mr.. Peck compares no bet
ter with Governor Hoard than did Brick
Pomeroy with President Lincoln The
democratic party of Wisconsin could easily
have found plenty of men for their candi-
date who have unblemished characters and
a high order of talent, and in putting aside
the claims of such men proves the indif-
ference of the Wisconsin democracy to the
respect Of mankind, and that its hope of
success at the November election is in win
ming the riff-raff vote.