Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1892-05-20

han 80 patents for improved steam en-
gines and so forth has tended in that
direction? The assumption is preposter-
Gus. The notion has nevertheless wide
currency that the chief qualification of
man for statecraft is business success.
Yet the theory wont hold water.
Business success comes from intense
effort in a certain narrow line. The
achievement of it does not prove that the
man who is successful is a great man;
quite as likely as not he is small in his
conceptions of things, contracted in his
sympathies and interests and wofully
Ignorant of subjects unconnected with
hi, particular line of business. This is
not always the case, to be sure, but the
probabilities are all that way. Special
learning and special effort in a specific
direction tend to narrowness, and, unless
the man thus equipped and engaged has
been broadened by education and by for
tunate associations and surroundings,
the inevitable consequence of his sue
cess is an increasing lack of capacity for
anything outside his speciality.
business men have been eminent in
other lines, but it was not the purely
business side of them that brought them
eminence. Senator Proctor was not a
tirst-class governor and the best secre
tary of war in recent years SIMPLY be-
cause of the success he had made of the
marble business; it was because he was
endowed with exceptional all-around
brain power, augmented by a liberal cd
ucation, supplemented by study, read
ing and wide and intimate acquain-
tance with men and things. He would
have been big man, no matter what
occupation he had followed, provided
only it gave scope to his powers. He
was successful as the head of the State
and of the war department in spite of his
business success, not by reason of it.
There was too much of him to be spoiled
for other pursuits by hard and steady
application to one. The same conditions
will be found to exist to a greater or less
come prominent outside the range of his
business.
1t wont 40, then, to assume that as
some business men have succeeded when
transplanted into executive positions all
business men will do so. On the contra
ry, the chances are against them, unless
ha
ton of enthroning Col. Fuller as COVER
nor on account of his greatness as bus
mess man-allowing for the sake of ar
gument that he possesses that greatness
whether he is an exceptionally capable
person generally. If he isn't, then he is
totally unfit for governing State.
Col. Fuller's friends have been apollo
giZing for him ever since he entered the
field. They can point to nothing eXcep-
tional in his personality or his achieve
ments. He is, according to their ver-
sions of him, only a man of rather COM
ly side"
The Fuller batteries will need to find
other ammunition than the business ar
gument for continuing the campaign, or
else they must show to the satisfaction
of the public that the successful build
ing of organs is conclusive evidence of
grasp of problems of craftsmanship and
of ability to deal with public affairs.
When they have accomplished that. per-
haps they will kindly show their fellow
citizens why a clock tinker isn't good
timber for Il senator, or an able ditcher
for a college president, or IA mighty base
ball captain for bishop.