The Mason County journal. [volume] (Shelton, W.T.) 1886-1927, 1890-03-28
OLD MEN In POLITICS.
Prof. Max Muller Finds Their Presence 3
Bad Precedent.


Bad Precedent.
1t has often been said that knowing
when to retire is the true test of great
statesman. But if there is any Office
which it seems almost impossible to sur
render it is political Office. Nearly all
Ministers nowadays are over fifty or
sixty, and they often cling to Office till
they are seventy or eighty. 1t is in
their case, more than any other, that
the necessity of experience and wisdom
is pleaded as an excuse for their un-
natural pretensions. But experience
and wisdom are not the exclusive prop
erty of old age, while too much expert
ence may even unfit man for that
quick insight which is constantly re-
quired for political action. That old
men should be consulted is perfectly
natural, but that they should have the
decision of the fate of the next genera
ton entirely in their hands admits of no
justification. The Germans had an old
proverb which went much further and
denied to those who could no longer
fight the right of giving advice:
Die NIGHT NIT thaten,
Die NIGHT nit rather.
Nor can it be denied that even in
council the presence of old men is dan
gerous. The authority claimed by old
age and the respect naturally paid to it
by the younger generation must inter-
fere with the easy and natural trans
action of business. If it is difficult for
an old man to bear opposition and to
brook rebuke from younger man. it is
equally difficult for young politician
to bow to authority or to believe in the
infallibility of old age. What is the re-
suit? The old statesman gradually finds
himself deserted by his honest and in
dependent friends, while opportunists
and f1attererS surround the old chief and
help to extinguish in him the last rem
nant of humility and of mistrust in his
own Judgment. Members of the Cabin
ct, it has often been said, ought to be
on terms of perfect equality, and in dis
cussions concerning the welfare of the
country argument ought always to be
stronger than any amount of authority.
Men of about the same age can afford to
give and take, but man of thirty can
not well give to man of eighty and
man of eighty can not we'll take from
man of thirty.
And yet if we look at the history of
the world. political wisdom has certain
ly not been the exclusive property of
old age. A mere STRIPPING, such as Pitt,
was better man at the helm than even
the great Duke of Wellington when, in
his old age, he acted as steersman to the
vessel of state. In our days it seems
difficult to imagine that man of twen-
ty or thirty could possibly be an Under
Secretary of State, to say nothing of his
being Prime Minister. And yet, take it
all in all, for practical work
man of thirty is a better man
than man of eighty, and the
sooner men of eighty learn that les
son the better for themselves and for
the country they profess to serve There
are exceptions, there are brilliant ex-
ceptiOns at the present moment, both in
England and Germany. But exceptions
In such cases are apt hereafter to be-
come presidents, and to prove extreme
ly dangerous in less exceptional cases.
Outside the fight of parties the voice of
the old statesman will always be list
ened to and carry conviction to many
a wavering mind. But if he remains in
the turmoil of political warfare he will
meet with harsh usage, his best motives
will be suspected, and the good fame of
his youth and manhood will often be
furnished by the mistakes, however well
intentioned, of his old age.-New Re-