The Monitor. [volume] (Woodstown, N.J.) 1884-1892, 1892-01-29

lear. vi USSH u may Dc ADO oftfu Asa Nctf
proper, not TO say necessary adjanct 20 the
work of practical legislation. By re-
sorting 10 it. no doubt. much unDece ssary
delay. much wssteful discussion. is in many
instances avoided, A useful part Of cnr
poi tieal machinery, therefore, shich has
grown into great fsyos because of its nse-
fglpess, it nevertheless threatens to nndo
the work of more than a century of legis-
latiye progress. 1t is rapidly becoming
the bulsara of corrnptionists and the
potent weapon, by means Of which the
virtue Of the we'll intentioned may, with the
utmost ease. be overcome. irresponsible
itself, it seeks to free the individuals who
participate in it from all responsibility. No
one is accountable for the beginning of its
labors and it is boldly claimed that no ore
shall be held TO account for carrying the re-
suits oftbose labors into effect. BY its oper-
atioos, it is made possibletothrust measures
upon the public for the origin of which no
one is to blame, but which. whether good or
bad, every oae must support or oe subject
ed to the seyerest blame and censure. Its
more radical degotees seek to make of it
a legislative jaggernaut, and remerselessly
to crush beneath its wheels the independ-
ence aud manhood OF legislators. As a
result of lis workings We are repeatedly
confronted with the pitiable spectacle Of
some dozen men apolcgiziug for their own
disregard OF their sense of duty, on the
ground that some thirteen oil their asso-
ciates had 10 conscientious scru9les to dis
regard: aud We see The whole voting as a
unit for some peInici0us measure, because
the major portion had no moral sense and
the smaller number no moral backbone.
To secure obedience to its decrees in all
cases and at all hazards, its uncompromis-
ing advocates unbiushingly appeal to that
sense of honor which calls for the fulfil
ment Of an obligation once entered into, for
the keeping of a promise " neither expressly
or implicitly made. The obligation of SUBJ
mission to the majority of The cancus, is plac-
ed above the obligation of the oath Of office,
and thus that which is in itself . virtue is
made subservient to that which is in itselfa
vice. Though a legislative body may be
composed OF = clear majority of honorable
men, unless that majority be so distributed
as to control the dominant party, the pub
lie is as helplessly and hopelessly at the
mercy OF unprincipled schemers as if an
absolute majority were corrupt. Almost
any scheme may be declared a party meas
ere, and the united support of the party's
members demanded on pain Of being de-
nounced and politically ostraeized as
traitors to the party cause. That the men,
bers thus obeying the command to vote
c%orruptly, do no wrong, seems to be tacitly
admitted, for by some mysterious process
the caucus edict acquires the two fold
character of an absolution for sins past
and an indulgence for sins to come. Os-
tensibly based on the principle OF majority
rule, it has become = device whereby a
corrupt minority may dictate the legisla.
ton of the State.
If then. the caucus may be in itself a
useful instrument in the work of legisla-
ton, but in its development is so danger
GUS to the State, what is the secret of the
perversion of its proper functions? Whence
comes the power of those who w~ropgfully
use it to impose on the public as they do?
When the people endure for long a per-
fectly apparent abuse, it is generally be-
cause of some real or fancied obstacle to
its removal. That obstacle may be physic-
q c mood nf constitution ofonnac ar
mental, as belief that the reform of the
abuse involves a course Of action contrary
to the accepted notions of what is just. This
object. it is repeated. may be real or fanci-
full, and in the case before us it is wholly
f~anciful, though it possesses SO strong a
hold on the mind of the average man.
The true source of the evil is the fallacious
assumption that there is binding force in
the edict of a caucus considered simply as
such. 1t il. the doctrine that a reasona-
Bile man mast submissively acqniesce in
the resolve of a caucus, however distaste.
full to himself, just as a good citizen must
unresisting. y otey a law when finally en-
acted, no matter how INV Use it may seem
10 iliiu W ob. All the authority OF 8 mai
act of the law making power il, so to say,
superposed on the act of a voluntary as
sembly unknown to the law and the begin
ming of the coercion of the individual will
which the organization Of onr govern
ment place at the point where, by the
completed act of legislation, public opinion
"organically passes into public willis
transferred to a point where a body of cit
liens acting in a private capacity decide
upon a certain course to be pursued in the
steps that lead up to declara ion of that
public will. 1t is thus sought to stamp the
incident with the character and attributes
of the principal. Where the law has left
perfect freedom OF action, the caucus die
tnm would impose the most rigorous
restraint. uncouseionsly almost, men have
CONF to aoquiesce in the npwarrahted
claims Of the advocates OF this system, and
its sway is becoming more and more des-
potic. II is easy TO see what line Of arRu.
ment has led to this general acquisence. 1t
is insi sted that when men 60 intoa caucus
there is an implied agreement honorably