Burlington weekly free press. [volume] (Burlington, Vt.) 1866-1928, 1894-03-29
UARTIIR SPEAKS
ON POLITICAL MACHINERY AND MA
CHINE POLITICS.
Organization Necessary, but Bossisn De
nounced--The Views of an Experienced
and Practical Politician.
lcoprigh,od by the IRVING Syndicate

W hen RUskln was at ms best ana MS
whole mind turned to reforms which em-
braccd not only arJ and morals but politics
as we'll he wrote that linen only associate
in parties by sacrificing their opinions on
by having mono worth sacrificing. and the
effect of party government is always to de-
velop hostilities and hypocrcies and eX-
tinguish ideas" sentiment far too sweep
ing, it viii appear to most men, a doctrine
not without some foIndation hut surely not
u conclusion justified 10y the facts Ancient
us well as mondern government has been
always one of party. History gives us no..ac-
count of any despotism so severe Gs to abso-
lutely destroy hostility kept alive by
party. Tho rise and fail of nations the po-
ltical commissions of all ages have simply
been the markers of party aScendancy and
the registrars Of fractional decay. For
reason which the student OF biology or the
professor Of psychology could doubtless pre-
sent very clearly. mankind never moves for
ward in political affairs except in bodies;
and no idea connected with human govern
ment has ever made substantial, effective
headway until there was crystaljled behind
it the support of numbers, united with the
energy of the party
POLITICAL MACHINERY NECESSARY.
As no complicated business in life, wheth-
er it be that of commerce, trade, manuiac
turc or religion, has ever been independent
and successful without the aid OF machinery,
we cal hardly expect to see practical gov
erumeG1 conducted without the same helps;
tor organization is the very first requisite to
successful acsion We must accept there
fore, tbeaNiom thatiD all human government
worthy the name political machinery is
necessarr anteccdont not even to he written
down as u consequence. Government may
properly be sal, TO be a result and party
machinery a cause. This does not how
evet, dr., us to any such hopeless conclu
Bot ~ that what We know a. machine pol
itics' is n necessary thing. On the contrary
party machinery, properly managed should
be and will be the enemy of machine poll
ticg. Only by political machnery-the
caucns, the convention and the platform
can great principles he presented, supported
and rnudo eternal. An army Of millions,
without a nag, devoid OF discipline, barren
of leaders if it remained in this chaotic
state would be powerleSs, even in great
and true cause. DisorganiZed public opin-
ion, no matter how clearly individuals
might comprehend vital public questions,
would never establish civil truth OF break
q iottor while the same number of men
gathered into a party and controlled by
wholesome machinery would become irwin
chile, might emancipato millions and found
q state Does any one suppose the truth
which Golden proclaimed in England could
have triumphod but for the formation of the
Cora Laws leaTue Would American in
dependence have been secured vithouo the
political machinery which kept patriotism
e., motion, in Tho ,.CIO,ia.
ed. then, the need for party machinery, the
rational question is: How much Of it,
what kind shall We have and how shall il be
worked These questions properly de-
cidcd will furnish us with parties and par
tie, with powers which may, yes, always
will be beneficial to the State. Party ma
chine.y, like all other, should be simple. so
that all may understand its operation and so
that any one of ordinary sense can direct its
movements. Publicity is therefore one of
the essentials for party machinery. and it
should never be hidden OF placed in a cor
ner. Secret societies in politics are there
fore tie bane o. party and sooner or later
political organizations succumb to them, as
did the wing party in the United States when
know-notnirg lodges gained control in its
councils.
FOCAL, STATE AND NATIONAL POLITICS
SHOULD BE SEPARATE.
Simplicity, next to publicity. is tine es-
sentiai element il political machinery, and
therefore in the United States local, State
and national politics should be separated.
1t is true that one party banner, one gen
eral set Of principles, should and must con
troll great party; yet its operations in the
county should he largely independent Of
State control, and State campaigns should
be divorced as much as possible from ma
tional committee influences The people, as
wholo, are too Jealous OF liberty, too prone
to criticism and too fond Of publicity TO- for
any great length OF time, consent to the
rule of 1.-The machine The independent
and mugwunp, the most useful elements in
political life, are too strong, too vigiaut to
mako government by the boss perman-
snt institution. The man who cannot read
this truth in the light of recent political
events in local and State politics in the en-
pirc State Of the Union, ought TO buy him
self new pair of political spectacles The
fact is that there is leaven which goes
with the proper use OF political machinery
which is certainly working among tho peo-
pie, for and in favor OF sound principles
aud good government, while the seeds of its
own death, the elements oiIcariy dissolution
always accompany machine politics and
=.
the narrowness Of its rewards, the monopoly
of Office, the concentration of power, the
growth of ilgotten wealth, become so APP
parent that the very exercise Of it sows enc
mics by the score and thoy multiply until
they reach hundreds and grow until, becom-
lug resistless thousands, they fall upon the
machine ard crush it
MACHINE POLITICS DENOUNCED
That alongside wholesome, useful political
machinery We will always have more or
less machine politics ID as certain as that we
shall always have fleas if we have elephants,
worms il we have fruit; but he is a pes
simist indeed who fears that the flea will
run OF with the element on that the worm
will destroy all the orchards. Machine poll
tics in It's methods and results, is so opposed
TO public interest 50 injurious to real party
success, So repugnant 10 the intelligent self
interest Of the voter, that its enemies spring
up almost rs rapidly as mosquitoes do in