The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1895-03-24
MUZZARELLI ON POLITICS.
LIGHT CAME ONCE FROM THE
SOUTH-HER GREAT STATES
MEN.

NANAcN enouiu lie an Essential
Feature of American Education.
The Methods Of Modern Socialists
Condemned - Physical Force n
Crime aS a Factor Ia Procuring PO-
IiticaI Changes-NioraI suasiOn n
Duty.
At the birth OF this great republic the
greatest men Of the nation were at the
head of the government and the south
may well be proud in having furnished
more than her share Of those statesmen
who have been an honor TO their country.
In these blessed days. indeed. the light
came from the South. but since then. in
proportion as the nation becomes strong
her statesmen seem to degenerate. They
were giants in those days: now pigmies
rule the land. To the Washingtons and
Jemersons have succeeded the Hayes and
the Harrisons. Is it that democracy likes
to indulge in mediocrity, or is it that
Americans themselves have degenerated?
Seeing that there are still plenty of splen-
did men OF superior intelligence. we think
that their indifference in politics. nay
their utter contempt for public life, has
a great deal to do in the question.
To be Indifferent to political questions.
one must be and feel oneself above or
beneath these questions. unless one vol
unfairly holds aloof from them alto
gether Let us examine each Of these
three positions, commencing with the
most humble one.
Children are beneath political problems.
whose sense and bearing are incapable OF
comprehending. Nevertheless, the great
er number of them do not admit this in
feriority. As they have been in the habit
of hearing their parents or other persons
with whom these associate, express them
selves most decidedly in one sense or an
other, they do not think that there is any
room for them to have doubts on the
same subject. and they learn 10 repeat, as
soon as they are able to talk, what they
have heard said. Should they be in
France, they proclaim themselves royal
lists, imperialists, republicans or social
lists, without really being aware of what
is implied by these terms. II they be In
America, they declare themselves to be
republicans, democrats or even populists
without having the least idea what these
names signify. This is great misfor-
tune. The parents who make use of their
authority to impose upon their children
an opinion before they are able to under
stand II, convert them into stupid little
parrots or blind instruments of a party
instead Of bringing them up as rational
beings. Their duty is TO respect the natu-
raj impartiality and artless sense of JUS
tice. which characterize childhood, at the
same time preparing these innocent minds
for the intelligent comprehension OF So
cial organization. 50 long as the child
understands nothing Of this organiZatio
he should abstain from passing judg-
ment upon and remain indifferent to all
political questions, just as he is to alge-
braical or physiological theorems.
But childhood has limit, beyond which
Indifference becomes as ridiculous and as
absurd as II is proper In early years. We
do not mean that these youths should be
! allowed to set themselves up as statesmen
and to decide the gravest questions as II
they were intuitively in possession of the
occult sciences Their role is not to pro-
nounce judgment. but to listen. to study
and to instruct themselves. Politics are
carefully excluded from education In
countries subject to monarchical despot-
ism; It should be an essential feature
among free people, and youth, which is
not yet admitted to the debates Of public
| life cannot better prepare itself than by
| discussing those subjects which are &C.
! cupying the attention OF the national gov
| eminent. What the mature generation
! should teach the one which will succeed
| il and what il should exact. Is much less
attachment to this or that party, than
| the determination to watch over the
maintenance of its rights, the interests of
| justice and the honor and integrity OF the
| country.
Those who accomplish such a pro-
| gramme will be almost certain to belong
! to the best party, and every one should
! adopt it. From the moment that a man
| wishes to appropriate II exclusively from
| the moment that he seeks to persuade the
nation to abandon TO him the care of its
| affairs and interests and to lull itself to
! sleep in political Indifference, he is the
! greatest enemy of all greatness and dig
| nifty, as France unfortunately expert
enced to her bitter sorrow when under the
| imperial regime"
The second position which we under
took to examine is that of those men
! who without considering themselves in
| ferior to the politics of a country, take
no apparent interest In them and think
/ that It suits them better to hold them
| selves aloof from all such questions.
! This line of conduct is perhaps the most
! prudent for foreigners who live in Rus
| STA or Germany. We can even under
stand IT, in the case of England, where
/ public affairs have little attraction for
| men of the Latin race. But II Is not so
/ with the great American republic, whose
! destiny interests the whole human fam
ry. When she was threatened with de-
| struction during the horrors Of her civil
/ war, what nation did not anxiously fol-
! low all the phases of this terrible strug-
| gle? Where are the friends Of progress
! who did not joyfully salute the re-es-
Enlistment Of peace, who did not rejoice
| at the noble historical words, Let US
| have peace?" Very well. then. the
| questions which are still discussed here
! are indissoluably connected with those
| which were then agitated and which date
! from the last century. II is ever ques-
! ton TO know whether the greatest ex-
! perience of modern times. an experience
| for which France has also shed her blood
! and layished her treasures, will obtain
! the success so eagerly looked for by the
/ civilized world, or end in a miserable
/ failure Therefore. Il seems to us irnpossi-
BILE that the men OF any nation should not
/ take part, more or less in the debates
| whose issue must be fraught with such
! important consequences.
We have now but a few words
/ to say on the subject OF those who con-
/ slider themselves superior TO politics, and
| who, for this reason. refuse to take any
4 part in it, How can we be superior to
/ politics? BY science, by philosophy or