The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1895-05-12
OUR FoREFATHERs AS PoLITI-

OUR FOREFATHERS AS POLITI-
CLANS.
1t is the habit of a certain class OF
political critics to insist that the men ano
methods of the past represented tbs
highest order of excellence. while thoss
of the present stand for low aims and
loose views of duty and propriety. There
is a general belief, in fact, that the
fathers were thoroughly scrupulous in all
| of their proceedings, and that marked
degeneration had ensued with the Won
! derful development of the country. The
good old times are constantly cited by
way of reproach and admonition to the
present generation. We are assured ir
solemn and reverential terms that the
public men of the early days OF the re-
public were guided entirely by that hne
sense of honor which feels a stain like
a wound, and were never found stopping
to any sort of trickery. But the fact IS
that distance lends enchantment in this
respect Those former statesmen have
been TRANSPORTED by excessive praise ana
patriotic superstition. They are remenn-
bered for their virtues in such degree
as to hide their faults and were human
like other men. When history is closely
ISdQ, II SHOWS liidl llcg NCAC
by the same motives and addicted to the
same practices that characterize the pub
lie men of our period; and it is well
now and then to recall some of the lead
ing incidents which justify this state
ment, and dsprove the familiar assertion
that political laXity is a thing of COM
paratively recent growth.
There is abundant testimony to the eff
feet that the standard of political recti-
ton. when the land was afiame with the
spirit of liberty, were at least no higher
than they are at the present time. The
boss existed then, and intrigue was COM
mon, and there was plenty of corruption.
Washington said that the forestallers and
spectators who gathered about Congress
ought to be hanged for their schemes of
fraud and bribery; and a member of that
Illustrious body was fiercely denounced
by Hamilton for having used his secret
official knowledge to buy up the -four
which the government intended to pur-
chase for its hungry soldiers. Jealousies
and discussions prevailed to an extent
that crippled the army and impaired the
efficiency of every branch Of the public
service. Party feuds and the antagonists
of leaders caused infinite trouble and in
vited grave dangers. Some of the most
capable members of Congress absented
themselves for various personal reasons,
and frequently entire states were unrep-
resented because of violent disputes
Washington declared that each state
should absolutely compel its ablest men
to attend Congress for the purpose OF
correcting public abuses and averting the
general wreck that would surely follow
the policy that was being pursued.
We are taught that the public men of
that momentous time were unselhshly
devoted to the cause of independence,
and bound heart to heart as with hooks
of steel in the one supreme and absorb
ing desire to establish new nation; but
the records demonstrate that they were
not above the business of looking out
for individual advantages. They had
their ambitions, their egotisms, their call
culations of profit and power. All of the
resources of strategy, conspiracy and
malevolence were employed to promote
their personal fortunes. They were prac-
teal politicians in the full meaning of
the words. The intensity Of party spirit,
the factional hostility, was even greater
then than it is now. There was the
same clamor for offices that we hear In
our day. Men were just as anxious then
to exercise public authority as they have
been at any later time The newspapers
were more virulent in their attacks upon
candidates than those that are now
printed, and the criticisms of prominent
officials far exceeded in severity any
that are now made. There was unceasing
political turmoil throughout the revolu-
ton, and every device for catching votes
and carrying elections were as well
known to the people of that time as they
are to us. 1t is true that there were
giants in those days; but it is equally
true that they resorted to, ordinary
means of success, and did not stop to
consider the question of strict morality
and proprietv.