The morning call., 1894-10-19
WHAT is THE TRUE ISSUE ?

A daily contemporary which is trying 10
unde rstand politics states that the selec-
ton of candidates for municipal Office on
The ground of their opinion of the tariff is
"a device growing out ofbe sentiments
and impulses of mankinH There is
some truth in this, though it is not true in
the sense which our contemporary means.
The sentiments and impulses" of that
portion of mankind which makes its living
out of politics induce them to resort to any
trick or dodge which promises to result in
the attainment of office; thus man who
wants to be Sheriff or Supervisor appeals
to the members of the political party to
which he belongs for votes on the ground
of old fellowship. comradeship aud kim
dred feeling on matters not municipal.
But III S is perversion of the right of
suffrage. The sentiments and impulses
To which our contemporary refers are not
normal, but artificial, and are often as
sumed for fraudulent ends.
We will try to make this plain to our
contemporary comprehension. Let US
say that a community is called upon to
resist an invasion, to repel the attack of a
hostile fleet, to suppress a dangerous in
surrectiOn, and to provide means t. sup
port an army for defense. 1t will
naturally choose the best soldier il has to
resist the invader, put its feet under the
command of the smartest sailor, and call
upon its most expert financier to provide
ways and means for its defense. In each
case it will choose the man who seems
most fit for the particular work to he done.
Our esteemed neighbor says that this
won1d ha ba n 1aal with fha
case; that the command of the army
might be given to the man who knows all
about finance and that the sailor might be
entrusted with the duty of raising money
for the war, provided they belonged to
the right party. The Chronicle knows of
no better way t. administer municipal
affairs than to entrust the Office TO persons
who have no especial fitness for tue task.
but who are sound on other and wholly
different questions.
In its very creditable endeavor to master
political science it says that wherever pop
ular government is established people nat
urally divide into parties. So they do.
And the parties are distinguished one
from the other by their divergent views on
the issues of the day. When political con-
troversies arise the parties do not divide
on questions of theology and medicine or
social ethics; they take opposite views on
the existing political issues, and appeal to
voters TO sustain or reject these views. liz
like manner, when controversies arise on
municipal issues the true division of par
ties is between those who take one view
of municipal affairs and those who take
another view, and political issues affecting
national concerns cut no figure. Thus, at
the present time, there are two parties 10
municipal politics in this city-one which
seeks reform, pure. honest and economical
government and the selection of persons
for Office on the ground of their personal
fitness, while the other seeks TO maintain
the existing system, with all its frauds and
corruptions and imbecility, and to choose
no officials but those who are sound on the
question of the tariff. That strikes the
Non-Partisans as illogical, and our contem-
porary, if it devotes further study to the
81 biect, will find that it is so.
No free government is possible without
recourse to party. But parties must divide
on the questions of the day and of the
place, not on questions which are TO be
settled by other constituencies in anOth er
place. Our contemporary has forgotten
that it is published in San Francisco.