The Iola register. [volume] (Iola, Allen County, Kansas) 1875-1902, 1893-04-21

go, though their possession would have
been of vast advantage. We have nc
colonial dependencies, nor outlying
territory, nor need of any. What man
ifest destiny requires is the extension
of our frontier north to the Polar sea
and south to the Isthmian canal, wher-
ever that may be. To take the Sand
witch Islands because they are cheap,
and might some time be useful, is like
the purchase of Thompson's doorplate
| by Toodles in the comedy, because he
might have a daughter, and she might
marry a man of that name, and then il
would be so handy to have it in the
| house.
! We have lepers and Chinese and con.
taminated blood enough already and to
spare. The acquisition of these remote
and vulnerable volcanic reefs would re-
quire vast sums for Notifications and
munitions of war for their defense. and
additions to the navy for the patrol OF
the Pacific We should gain no ele-
ment of strength that we do not possess
already. and establish most pernicious
precedent in international polity.
6iOilsS AND >BOiLShEN.
Amid the agitation and tumult, the
din and uproar. and uncertainty con-
corning the trivial and unimportant
topics of taxation, pensions, immigra-
ton, tariff, annexation and social dis
content, comes the affronting assur-
ance. like the sweet south wind over a
bank of violets. that the country is safe
from, tbo ,la,,,-ad o +;o,, ,,f 4Ia c,,oilcYupn
and there is to be an epoch of genuine
reform in the civil service.
The age is not entirely free from a
suspicion of cant; of whining and hypo-
critical pretensions in morals, educa-
ton, art, religion and politics; and of
all forms of this tiresome disorder there
is none so senseleSs and fatiguing as
the cant of civil-seryice reform. The
oretically, Mr.. Cleveland is right. The
president of the United States should
be the best and strongest and purest
citizen of the republic. But sometimes
he is not. His subordinates should be
specially qualified above ali others by
nature and training for the duties they
are appointed to perform. But they
are not. Legislators should all be the
wisest and most experienced political
economists of incorruptible integrity.
But they are not. Judges should be so
learned in the law that their decisions
would never be contested or reversed.
But they are not. All citizens should
be tranquil and prosperous, contented
to remain in their several conditions in
life till promoted for merit, after COM
petitive examination, on the occurrence
of some vacancy in wealth or rank by
death or resignation. But they are
not.
In the ideal scientific state there
would be no defalcations in Office. no
offensive partisanship, no incorrigible
spoilsmen filling the air with the din of
their tumultuous discomfort. The court
esy of the senate would disappear. Ex-
ecutive sessions would be abolished.
Nominating conventions would yield to
boards of commissioners, before whom
all candidates for the presidency and
for congress would appear for eXamina-
ton into their attachments in state
craft. Stump oratory would be lost
art. Political campaigns would be con-
Quoted like Chautauqua circles or Con-
cord school of philosophy.
The torch-light procession, the null
titudinous rally, the haring bonfire. the
voluntary contribution and the cam
paign lie would be seen and heard no
more. Government would become
strictly inpersonal. The office would
seek the man. The Sermon on the
Mount would be a platform and the
Golden Rule the policy of every admin
istration, and the government would
be kept pure, as the streets of Jerusa-
lem were kept clean by every man
sweeping before his own door.
Meanwhile it would be interesting to
know what principle of civil-service re-
form that rendered Mr.. Cleveland eligi-
BILE for reelection renders those who
held office under him in his first reign
Ineligible for reappointment; and why
it is any more degrading to want post
office than to want the presidency; and
how it happens that even after conn
petitive examinations and certificates
of merit, under republican admins
tration the majority of successful appli-
cants are republicans, and under dem
ocratic administration democrats
The resemblance between Lincoln
and Cleveland are not so marked posi-
bly, as the contrasts, but it is not I'M
likely that the latter is quite as well
qualified to deal with the emergencies
of to-day as was the former with the
issues of 1861. When Cleveland wrote
that paternalism had no place in the
creed of democracy he pronounced the
epitaph of Jack Cade, but his exasper-
ated following in 1896 may avenge his
death. The future of parties cannot be
predicted, for politics is not an exact
science. Its promblems are compli-
Gated, its forces obscure, its statistics
not tabulated. The unexpected contin-
ually happens. An alliterative phrase
may turn victory to defeat, and the
most trivial incident may change disas-
ter to triumph.
Political soothsayers prophecy only
what they hope will come to pass, and
their representations cannot be disin-
terested. No partisan can disclose to
his adversaries the weakness of his own
party, and his conclusions, therefore,
however apparently sincere, are dis
trusted because, if unfavorable, they
must be suppressed.
JOHN J. INGALLS,.
ENGLISH FIELD SIP ORTS.
Hunting Ia Now Almost Altogether Arti-