The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1892-02-09
THE GROWTH OF PARTYISM IN
THE UNITED STATES.

on parties" l have quit it. Attack
ing men, whether individually or col
lectively, is a poor way to do them
good. 1t generally drives them deeper
into error, "sets the hair" on them
They become personal too, and AN
swer railing with railing" Elections
become campaigns" The opposite
party becomes the enemy" The
| emoluments captured" become the
"spOlls The offices bestowed be
come the rewards to the faithful. "
The parties are called "armies."
Successful preachers lose sight Of
persons-are mo respeCtors of per
sons" Stat aIesnen never attack class
| of men-as farmers, merchants. law
| yer5. They attack evil in any class.
Arraying men Of opposite political
| faiths against each other is as bad as
arraying men Of different occupations.
! or religious. If the men of opposite
faiths SO arrayed are in different SEC
tiOns, the estraUGement becomes hope
Ieas-the enmlty everlasting. There Is
! then nothing TO soften the rarcOr Of
! allie nation
This is why know that mere parti-
| san agitation can never accomplish the
relief the people now demand. Abuse
Of parties, of persons, of classes and of
| sections can never really aid any
! righteous cause.
If you will track the party worship
| per home to his den, you will find that
at heart he is hero worshipper. He
| as a s. respecter of persons" His JUS
tice is not blind. but keeps one eye On
the main chance. he ever PIRATES and
prattles Of men-of persons. Cleve-
| land or Hill, Blaine or Harrison. Whole
! 0r nf nA
! every day in discussing the most
! trulmg acts of these and few similar
men. Their slightest words are tele-
graphed all over the country to furnish
texts for abuse or praise according to
the editors political affiliations. There
| Is nothing very remarkable about
! either Of the four men. One Of them.
! Cleveland, appears to be a good busi-
ness man and honest, which cOmbina-
| ton IS considered rare among poll
ticIans. But there are ten thousand
men IN North Carolina, who if not his
equals, are at least fully competent, if
as we'll advised as he was, to discharge
satisfactorily the duties of his Office.
| Any of the ten thousand would
represent the views OF our people better
than he could ever hope to do, would
veto more pension bills, surrender
more battle flags, ask for lower re
ductiOu of the tariff, and write tariff
! messages in shorter and more INTEL
, ylbie seAtences. HIil and z3iaine 5sl-
pear 10 be both smart and corrupt,
! but there are ten thousand other ma
chine politicians in the country who,
If these two should die, could take
their places, and if not exactly as
/ smart and corrupt as these, would at
least be praised and blamed by the
the same newspapers as being 90.
! Harrison appears to be q conservative
lICtIe lawyer from Indiana, who still
remains true to the interests of his
clients. the rich men who bought his
office for him. lis equal Is so COM
mon that I cannot afford to waste any
breath upon him. Now these are the
four whom party booming makes
heroes of. These are the four whom
the idOlCry Of hero worship makes
occupy more space in the newspapers
than the religion of the Lord Jesus.
Meanwhile the people are spiritually
starving for q fair, candid, truthful,
non partisan discussion of q hundred
questions of public interest. If the
color line" breaks this year, or as
soon as it does break, the people by
thousands will be swayed hither and
tGither by every wind of doctrine
Some will be for Paul" and others
for ApDOllOs," but multituda8 will
be fer every superstition Of hero
worship that can raise money enough
10 pay its pri6sts-the newspapers who
advocate 1t.
If You want to see personal politics
"at home" go to the average political
convention. IF you are a student OF
men and things, you will there learn
what is aapping the foundations of our
institutions. The average delegate is
there to get some advantage for him
self. Farmer, lawyer and merchant
elbow each other in the mad effort for
personal gain. Dark hOsses" are
| secuted mainly because there Is not
time TO have an understanding -"
with them. A dominates B from his
| town or "his county" When B
gets IL he gets A a place. This is
| good business, conducted on ordinary
business principles, for the j?1GjUid4Gls
engaged, but the business Of the people
| suffers always in such hands. The
real issues must be neglected because
the main issue Is personal gain. Out
of q convention, in which the average
delegate is seeking something for him
self. is necessarily evolved q candidate
who is seeking something for himself
He is the legitimate offspring of such a
convention, and he will continue to
look out for himself throughout his
official career. A Liiliput begotten of
Liuiputians-a seif-seeker begottep Of
self-s9ekers. And yet we complain that
the public business is neglected in the
primaries, we begun our neglect in the
primaries, and our candidates have con-
finued it in Congress. They have been
true to the principles upon which they
were elected. In the primaries and
conventions you heard little but the
interests and claims Of persons, of
towns, of counties. of sections and of
Do-t;-o O. ~ NoD.~ross Won hesT Iittla