The Wichita daily eagle., 1896-04-22
FUr1LrrY OF WARNING POLITICIANS

| have become very common.
The first part of the sentence, Ihe
people are for him. is statement Oh
fact; the latter part, "But the polIi-
clans are against him. is a conclusion.
When uttered by a sensible, non-polit-
jcaI man it implies a surrender to the
politicians, carrying with it a certain
amount of despairing resentment ana
defiant Indifference.
The professional agitatOr has been
telling US the same thing for number
Of wears with the additional contribu-
lion Of a passionate threat that tine
people will rise in their might and do
something terrible. The which they
have not done up TO date.
Some day when the professional agl-
tator is tired of harping on the string
which has gained him votes against
| noliticians than who he is no better,
the people will do something OF the
very sort he so long threatened with
out believing.
| Just at present the expression, The
| neople are for him; but the politicians
are against him" is used in this vicinity
| of two personages, William Mckinley
and John J. ingalls,.
| Mckinley is not out of the woods,
Nearly every king-politician in the
country is against him. With the true
political energy which characterlzes
champion politicians, the fight will not
be over until the nominee is announced
in St. Louis. If it is not Mckinley, the
man who said: ''The people are for
him; but the politicians are against
| him" will say further Il told you so"
and 60 about his business, satisfied
with himself as prophet, but disSatls-
fed with the politicians. The ingalls,
campaign has not begun, but it may
be said. here, that he viii find strong
er opposition among the politicians in
his sphere than Mckinley has yet met.
There is only one hope that the peo-
pie will some day take a hand against
the politicians-and that hope will be
measured when the notwithstanding
part of the population take up politics
as a fad, with the end Of good gov
ernment and good nominees in view.
When a ward caucus is called for z
O'Clock in the evening, and fifteen min
utes before finds the caucus room
crowded with the business men, the
! laborers, the capitalists of the ward,
the politician will begin to shake in his
! boots. However, when that delightful
moment does come, if it ever does III
any party, (and it will come in all If 1t
comes in one) the politician will not
despair He will gain enough converts
on the other side among the capitalists,
laborerS and business men who are
present to carry out his pre-arranged
slate. But If against him there arises
a Richmond, who is not seeking Of
fee, who has no intimate friend seek
ing office, and who has no fear nor
favor for the politician, the politician,
who now has so little respect for the
popular will, will go down in a heap
with his arrogance and ward tyranny
on top of him.
While such a thing may be some dis
| tance away, it must surely come.
Whether they are running a govern
ment for the people and by the people
and of the people or not, the ''dear peo-
pie" as they are often called by the
politician, have a great, general, but
ununited impression that they are rum
ming this government When their
wishes and expressed sentiments and
preferences are thwarted and set aside
defiantly by the politicians, that great
general and now ununited impression
( may come together with a crash and
| the politician is sure to be caught in
! between.
One lesson will be enough for the
! political craft. The politician who goes
! down in that fashion will not live po-
litically again. But other politicians
will arise to take his place, but not his
methods.
The politicians certainly 'run
things" There has never been any
serious objection to their acute and
| lively interest in politics. and there is
not now. But emboldened by the nom
interference of the people, they have
assumed an arrogant, tyrannical posi-
ton towards the public, which the pub
lie sooner or later will resent, not by
any buncombe reform movement. not
| by the organization Of new party, but
by general and sweeping attendance
+ at the caucus the night before the pri-
marieS and at the caucus the night be-
fore the convention, and by united ac-
ton against office seekers and manipu-
lating politicians after they get there.
1t should be said here that it does no
good to warn a politician. They have
reached the point where ali warnings
are regarded good naturedly as "bun-
cOmbe.", So reform in the direction of
conformity to popular wishes. can be
| expected in only rare instances. from
the politician Despite warnings. sug-
gestionS and threats, he will keep along
the even tenor OF his way. supremely
content until he is crushed. as he will
surely be If he persists in his present
| course.
SHOULD BE KNOCKED OUT.
With the single exception of Topeka.