The daily morning journal and courier., 1894-11-26
THE AMERICAN STATESMAN.
ADDRESS AT DWIGHT PLACE
 CHURCH BY SENATOR PLATT.

Opportunttioa-The Tremendous Inmu-
 encs of Economies aud Magazine Writers
 and tho Press-Ability, sagsclty, Force
 and Integrity-1he Christian Element
 and tho Republics sAfcty.
 United States Senator orville H. Platt gave . most interesting address on "statesmanship" before the Mems asso- clation at Dwight Place church last evening. In his address he said:
 We have no national policy formu- lated for us in this country. as is done for the people of England by their min- istry. Our state department come about as near It as anything, but with this exception-our policy is formulated by the people itself. In the proposing of measures they are also supreme. The writers on political economy and the press have tremendous power. Pub lie men, such as senators and repre- sentatives. are limited in their oppor- tunity of managing the affairs of the country. The attitude of his party linn Its him, and have thought in looking the matter over that there Is no oppor- tunity in this country for what the dic- tionary calls statesmanship. The the ory of our government puts 1t entirely in your hands. When our fathers did away with the idea of king they put the power in the hands of the people a fact much overlooked of late, which Is dangerous menace to the republic.
 There Is one sense in which man may be said to be statesman, how ever. If he can impress his ideas on the party so that his views will be adopted by the people-this, I think, is the only opportunity for statesmanship. Such man does not differ much from the editor of great metropolitan daily. a country weekly or magazine. They all exercise @ certain amount of influ- ence. The political leader or iegisla- tor differs from these only in virtue of his position. ....,',,.
 T T do not think that there is much dignity attached to the name states man among the people at large in this country. suppose that a large major ity of the people in this congregation believe in Christian statesmanship, but very recently have seen editorials in influential papers which rather sheer at the statesman. One of them I re- member was headed "A Statesman Out of g Job .t..
 "Yetif we are to preserve the repub- lie there Is great need of statesmen in the limited sense of which I have spok- en. They should have ability to impress wise Christian, patriotic views on the people. It is hard to get mon who are qualified by education, position and thought to do this. And they are much more likely to be successful by the arts of political manipulation than on &C., count of their ability. In fact, mans capacity oftentimes seems to make him less likely to win political precedence. But 1t is the fault of the voter.
 Now, let us see what qualities a statesman should have. First, would mention knowledge and ability. Knowl- edge of a vast number of facts is nec- essary. We have great country, how great Is beyond ones comprehension, especially in It's management and direc- tion. Draw line from Portland, Me, to San Diego, Cal, and tell me how much you know of the country beyond Ohio. What do you know of its charac- ter, its peoples, its wants, its needs? Draw another from Florida to the state of Washington and answer me the same questions. One must have accurate in- formation as to the growth and cus- toms of all sections of the country. And this doesn't come by cursory reading. How could a legislative body act intel- ligently on the Hawaiian question with out an the accurate information that could possibly be obtained? People who talk about politicians out of job have no idea of the immense amount of conscientious study which must be done by the statesman, I would name, as the second element, sagacity, for knowledge alone isn't sufficient, espe- cially if he aspires to be a leader of public sentiment and be in touch with the popular thought, heart and desire.
 lHe SICAlVu( ID IlOICC, LAC lAoSI indefinable of any word in our language A little schoolboy once defined 1t as that which makes things go. Some times force has to be applied to make things stand still.
 And, lastly, would name integrity, and this is the greatest of them all. It means that a man must always act from a sense of right and wrong in all which he. does in political affairs. don't know as 1t follows that man should be a church member-a Chris tian in the theological sense. But he must love and fear God. I was much struck with the language of the Psalm- ist in the lesson this ,morning-'Let in- tegrity and uprightness preserve thee, for I wait on the. Lord You have no right to expect the legislators will be better than the majority of the peo- pie. ij5%Sg
 "When people really arise to sense of wrong that Is being done in the leg islation of the country they make change. And in this fact lies my hope of the republic. If I could see that same earnestness exercised all the time which I now see exercised spasmodi- carly I should have no doubt at all. Every citizen should not only write, vote, study and think, but also vote for good politics. a
 T hear, that there has been some talk of the United States being called in as an arbitrator in the present trouble in Armenia. And this suggests to me the time when the United States will be