Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-06-30
THE GAZETTE: FORT WORTH TEXAS. MONDAY, JUNE 80.

will say, no throne to be bought or sold
and no Pretorian guard to claim I'll
prize or deliver the scepter. But we ma
not forget that the evidences OF our re
cent struggle for national existence hav
left behind them condition of thing
which makes possible a situation oul,
less scandalous, because less open AM
notorious.
"The honorable provision for thos'
who suffered and we're disabled in thei
country s defense threatens, under thu
selfish and INSCRIPTIONS manipulation Of
those who see in the degradation of theil
feliow-citizens a short and easy road Il
political supremacy, to become q pau
perizing system whose least and most in
Docent consequences is the ruinous burden
which it is destined, sooner or fater, to
saddle upon tire public treasury. a Never
was there pharisaism of philanthropy
in which personal ACKNOWLEDGEMENT sGore
! imDrudently masqueraded in the garneat
of grateful patriotism than our halls q
congress have lately presented, and the
humanity silence with which schemes so
grotesque that they should have long ago
been laughed out of any intelligent
public assembly have been received, is
Oho Va NV tLiOSL hludZiES lbClS VI our pO-
litical experience. Indeed, faT apart IN
time as are Rome and America, we s8dst
need own that the resemblances Of history
are at once tragic and significant. 1t
was huge military organization, re-
member, which once put the Roman
empire up at auction and proposed to
knock 1t down to the highest bidder.
To-day it is in the air that it is the party
hIphn.$ 70 aEr,, ;1o,-
constituency that is TO be rewarded with
the symbols of national supremacy and
authority. And out of this 1t has come
to pass that, not alone some SCARED and
honorable veteran; not alone some brave
and medaled survivor of an heroic
charge; that not alone the widow and
orphan whom death on the field of battle
or in the hospital has left Der i and PEN
niless, but every skulking camp follower
and deserter, every fraudulent and
tainted claimant who has the etIrontery
to demand his bride can have it, if only
his vote shall thus become a commodity
within the contract of partisan dictation,
and he himself lackey to do his politi-
cal masters bidding. | have nothing to
say of those who have devised this in
fanny and baptized It with the name ,afeI
civic gratitude; but for the manhood
which it is destined 10 corrupt and de-
grade no honorable man can feel, |
think, any other than the most profound |
sympathy and sorrow. This, surely, is a
system of government that deliberately |
oonspires to degrade men, and no deli |
cacy ought to consent to excuse or con-
done Z.
"Happlly, q situation so grave has in |
1t elements of alarm which cannot |
easily be barren of spms good result
We are not at the eXtrsme, wise men tell
us, of a drift which became well nigh in
evitable as a result of the vicious forces
generated in connection with our great
civil war. And if the nation Is strong y
enough to survive that innermost dsteri.z
Dration which has threatened and Mfifcd
is threatening, the foundations of char
acter among us, it will be stronger still,
because of the victory which itFhas won
over its unworthier self. Fors8ne, re-
ioice to believe IT; but If it is ta,be, 1 am
40 less persuaded that it will ID because
hose who are the best gifts among US,
he stewardship of the highest truths -
md the ability to translate those truths
nto language-in the old English phrase
understanded of the people have re- i,
,ognized their great trust and thetf
obligation to discharge it. "
"The community of the Phi Beta
Kappa is supposed to represent the flower
Il our American colleges. For now more IA
han a century it has enrolled among its r
associates those whose gifts and attain
nents have earned for them, during
heir college life, the highest rscogni- .
ion. Surely such distinction ought to
Illustrate itself in unseltish service for
he state. From this no preoccupation
nth other cares can wholly excuse any
ne of us, and it is impossible not to own Z
hat in such trained force, if once it
hould arouse itself to its opportunity,
he highest interests of the nation might
lightly look to find their best defsnd--4sei
rs. r. 4