The Wichita daily eagle., 1893-12-21
GREED AND GLORY.
To the Editor of the Eagle.

To the Editor of the Eagle.
There is one trait In man that favors
the Darwinian theory: his unlimited
greed for office. A monkey will grab
everything in sight: SO will the next
edition, il it resembles an Office. When
little boys these same men were taugh,
that when in company they must not
act greedy, and when they see the
cookies coming they must take quick
inventory, and if there are not enough
TO go around. they must say "Nn,
tiianks;' and, above all, if there is but
one cookie and two boys: "Here, John.
you take this cookie; don't want it. y
But when these same little boys grow
up they train their olfactories to scent
an Office miles away, and their motto is:
sect it, even though you wade neck
deep through the hopes of the same
little boy that politeness gave the cookie
to-" The cookie was as dear to the boy
as is the Office to the man, only that In
boyhood he obeyed his mothers within
manhood his own.
Oil your imagination and place it over
a glcve-stretcheS while you fancy the
following conversation:
Here. Hal. you take this fat Office; l
have held so many that l do not
need it"
"No, thank you, colonel; you keep it.
l believe most of your offices were cre-
ated to order, and probably wouldn't tit
anyone else-at least, notice they don't
set well on the people as a majority"
l sometimes wonder if the man lives
who could resist an Office. Though he
has meyer dreamed of one, let four or five
friends "wait upon him." See him smile.
He accepts, all the time knowing that
after he has paid for getting in land ouD
he may be thankful If he don't turn out
moral as well as financial wreck; /;
unfit for business. Occasionally genuine
man is put forward by good men for an
office, but he seldom gets it. Shove a
child into hornets nest and expect it
sto come out victor. An honest man can
not cope with nest Of politicians. He
knows there is a set of strings to manipu-
late; he knows that by learning to play
them he will win. He starts to grappie
with the Shiny wires upon which hangs
the filth Of many successfully brlbed
campaign. But he throws them from
him; sort of fierce pride cries out from
within: 'I'll none of it The hand that
must be heart tutored through these vile
practices is unworthy the sacred trust Of
rulership," and the man that pulls the
wires gets the office. Hence the deform-
ed administration, and my sisters say:
Deformed it will remain until they are
at the helm, And howe.they are wedg-
ing their way to the front, elbowing
aside husband and son, seemingly for
getful that the morals at home in the
cradle may have some bearing up
on 'reform" twenty years hence.
AT the present rate we will soon
all be in political boats sailing down the
stream of life together, and the cry of
"man overheard" will not be heard, for
the political swirl admits of neither de-
lay nor humanity, and the political
woman would like to see the political
man dressed iii his best suit OF clothes,
ETC., etc.," and she will eye her neighbor
askance to determine her politics, and as
woman is trifiing bit narrower than
man "a sad truth) she will be a trfilng
bit more partisan and will frown or smile
as the case may be. Her entrance in.o
this seething arena will have little effect
upon the general bearing, except that
when she comes to mans equal-or level
in this absorbing strife the wellspring
of pure inspiration and unbiased in
fiuence which has hitherto sent up sert
of vaporous halo twixt politics ana
hades will run dry. What this means to
humanity time, better than prophecy can
tell. BETH.