St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1893-04-24
VALUE OF THE MUGWUMP.


There is a type of mind which is so
constituted that it cannot get into that
focus which will present to it clear,
distinct concept of certain other type
of mind whose actions have earned II
the appellatiJn of mugwump. AS re-
suit, the former unavoidably sees the
latter as an abnormal, irregular and er-
ratio person, a comet among the stald
and fixed planets OF the political firma-
ment, upon whose course nothing can
be safely predicated under any known
conditions. The former cannot help this
defect of mental vision, no more than
can one born with strabismuS be charge
able with that; he is simply born so.
The mugwump comes in for that
treatment which this type of mind
usually accords to anything which it
cannot comprehend. He is sneered at
and reviled; he is hated and avoided.
Noopprobrium is too severe. no abuse too
vile for his devoted head. He is dubbed
a traitor, renegade, crank. Pnar-
iSee. Chadband, PeckSnif by the
types of mind with which he is at the
moment in opposition. while similar
types of mind with which he is tenn
porarily acting look on him with an
aversion which is concealed only until
after election. These types in both
parties unite in regarding the mug
wump as assumedly superior indiVid-,
ual and usually characterize him as " a,
holier-than-thou" fellow who imaginesi
that he us better than his party"
And vet the sober truth is, as all know
whose powers of mental adjustment arel
in working and normal order, the mug
wump is not only very estimable per-
son. but he is one whose ext stence is
absolutely essential to the preservation
of truly representative government
1t is he who removes the clogs which
stop the wheels of progress S; who prizes
them ont of tine ruts and starts them on
new roads. Without him there would
be no government by parties, because
there would be but the one party which
had first obtained control of the gov
eminent. The mugwump is the maker
and destroyer of political organizations.
When he is evolved it is an infallible
sign of decay in the dominant OrganiZa-
ton; it is the hectic flush on the con-
sumptive'S cheek, the sure indication Of
approaching dissolution.
The mugWump is not to be confused
with the kicker" 1t is possible that
much of the obloquy which he receives
from the type of mind" is due to the
fact that the latter is able to adjust its
focus Just far enough to distinguish the
kicker, for whom all types have just
contempt, but not far enough to reveal
the mugWump. The kicker is bipedaI
mule who kicks without rhyme or rea
son, and is never so certain to plant his
heels In your face as when there is an
absolute lack of provocation for it.
The mugwump Is really and at all
times what every citizen is theoretically
all the time, but is in fact very rarely,
sovereign. lie regards his citizenship
seriously. 1t is matter of grave duty
with MN. He does not admit for mo-
ment that he ''belongs" to a party; he
is rather of the opinion that in sense
all parties belong to him-to the extent
at least that he has the right to use
them to effect any purpose of govern
ment that he approves of. He regards
himself as juror, with the parties as
advocates presenting him reasons and
arguments to influence his Judgment.
He gives his support to the party whose
better reasons command him. He has
no more compunction in disearding one
party with which he has acted and using
another which he has opposed than an
artisan would have in throwing away
an unserviceable tool for better one.
1t is really to the mugwump to whom
minority parties always appeal. 1t is
to him to whom it must look for success,
and 1t must win him by appealing to his
reason, his sense of right, his love of
country-fOr it is only to these that he
responds. He can't be driven nor ca
jOled. He is not numerous. but he is
powerful. No party in this country, or
in any state in it, is SO entrenched in
power but that the detection of five
votes IN each hundred would make it a
minority party; usually the fate of the
party is held by two or three in each
hundred voters. When party goes
down it is because another party has
found the two or three mugwumps in
the hundreds of the dominant party and
has converted them.
The moral of this, which the Clio BE
tenders those contemporaries of its faith
which evince a disposition to sneer at
| the mugwump, is that their SlurS are
wasted. for the mGgwump is Indifferent
to them. and that it is poor way to win
men to your side to make faces at them.