The morning call., 1892-10-28
NOW AND THIRTY YEARS AGO.

San Francisco honored itself on Wednes-
day By inaugurating the statue of the i'm
mortal patriot, Starr King. OF him it may
be said that there is not a speck or flaw or
his record In the whole course OF his life
he never did a thing which requires expla-
nation or excuse; IN every situation of life
he was pure and wise and judicious and in
trepid. His conceptions of duty united the
loftiest sense of principle with the shrewd-
est eXpediency. He did and said what was
rightwith the most practical commOn-sense
1t Is opportune that his example should
be recalled to memory to-day, for the polti-
cal situation bears some analogy 10 the crisis
which called forth his power. At the time
he came here the great heart of the North
was boiling over with evaporation at the
monstrous ASSUMPTIONS of the slaye-owners.
But between slavery and the people stood
the two great political parties-Democrats
and Whigs-as a bulwark for the hated in
stitutioD. Neither party dared break ground
against slavery for fear of losing the votes
of the Southern States. In each party were
men Of principle who abhorred slavery and
yearued TO restrict IL not to abolish it alto
gelher. But they were bound hand and foot
by party obligations When one of them
spoke up for freedom he was sileneed by the
cry that be was Imperiling the supremacy Of
his party in Congress. Pure aud good men
ike Edward Everett. Daniel Webster and
John Bell, who in their hearts were sound,
were cOwed into silence by the crack of the
party lash. Truth and justice were bottled
and sealed I'D Tor fear that if the cork were
drawn one Of the two parties or both would
20 to wreck in the cataelysm.
Il was then that Starr King struck the
keynote OF the caml align by declaring that
whatever OF party in this great hour may
have to pass away. il is the will of the
American people that the inheritance of
their fathers shall not pass away"
Times have changed, slavery is gone. but
a new danger is upon US almost as formlda,
ole as it was, in the shape of political cor
ruption; and now, as in the days of Starr
King, the good and true men who are try
ing to save the commonwealth from inevita-
BILE wreck on the rock on which all the
republics Of history went TO pieces are conf
manded to halt for fear Of endangering
Republican supremacy in the Senate. SEN
aior Stanford. who came here a poor lad,
and is now a multi-milliOnaiTe, who has
been the recipient Of every honor which
| the State could bestOw. announces that be
will not exert his intellect TO secure for Cal
itornia fit representation at Washington,
but will acquiesce meekly in the dictatiOn
Of the bosses OF his party, and viii vote
their entire ticket without scrutiny. With
him principle is nothing, honesty is moth
ing, pure politics is nothing, corruption is
nothing, venality in Office is nothing, whole
sale political Generalization is nothing;
party is everything. Better that the repub-
lie went down in an avalanche Of putres-
eence than that Republican supremacy in
the Senate should be endangered. Would
Starr King have so spOken9
Careless observers of public affairs make
light OF the peril in which city. State and
nation are alike involved. And yet it is i'm
miuent and awful. No community can Ell
dure after public morals are generally de-
bauched. Sooner or later the long slow
csnker eats into the vital organs, and col
lapse follows. History is full Of examples,
and their COURSE is uniform. At first, it is
minor ufficials who win office by corrupt
methods. and use their official power cor
| rupty Then the fashion spreads. higher
posts are captured by the use of coin, and
national legislation is swayed by money.
Then the very highest positions become m at
ter Of bargain aud sale, and the whole
| policy of the nation is shaped for purposes
Of personal gain. Then the reaction comes
| in the shape Of popular outbreak, and
chaos ensues, with possible eventuaiities in
| the shape of anarchy and military despOt-
| ism. We are witnessing the early stages
| Of the evolution in this State. Our Super
Yisors have long been corrupt, our Legisla-
| lures have been corrupt, our municipal off,
| GERS have been corrupt; we have not yet
arrived at the point where the governorshir
and the Presidential vote Of the State are
sold at auction. but at the rate we are pro-
crossing that will come. And in the course
Of the evolution it is the wOrkingmen who
will suffer. The rich man, the banker and
the merchant will adapt themselves TO the
crisis apd make money out of it. But as in
every such CONFUSION in the past, the
poor man, the mechanic, the worker vii
have to pay the piper Work will be scarce
and itful; wages will be low; food viii be
dear. During the revolutionary period In
France thousands Of workmen's wives and
children starved to death in Paris.
But, according to Mr.. Stanford and his
friends, we must court this danger for feaI
Of endangering Republican supremacy in
the Senate. Oh, for an hour of Starr King