Delaware gazette and state journal. (Wilmington, Del.) 1883-1902, 1896-05-28

the streets, read the partisan news
papers, and how many you lind who
are always lauding their party and de-
crying the other. And yet were judg-
ment and reason on their thrones the
wrong in all parties would be con-
demned; tho good In each would be
But the partisan spirit
binding, debasing, pre- |
vents men from seeing any evil In their
own party, or any good in the one to
which thny are opposed. The same
thing also 'characterizes the public
work Of our legislative bodies. Too
often the great question IN Congress
and our Legislatures Ia not what
measures are for the good OF the whole
people, but what will help the party.
The righteousness or unrighteousness
of proposed leigalation is not seldom
regarded as being Of less consequence
than It's bearing on The next election.
The governing principle in much of
our noitics aud craftsmanship is
seliiahness In its lowest form. Par-
sosal and party ambition have usurped
tho place OF patriotism and religion.
Man shall mol live by bread alone,
says Christ Man shall live by bread
alone, Says the party Caesar, and so
questions Of taxation and currency are
given precedence over ethical conBidera-
lions which are for the real welfare OF
the people. Money is OF more cunse-
quence than manhood, and immediate
success outranks righteousness in the
estimation of the average politician.
This degradation Of the national life is
too often promoted and furthered by
Christian men who lend themselves to
these party contests, and refuse to raise
the higher questions Of temperance, the
Sabbath, public education, marriage
and divorce, pure elections and free
ballot, and that which is fundamental
to them all. the authority Of the Lord
Jesus Christ as the actual sovereign of
the nation. The need for Christian
politics was never greater than it is to-
day, and all good men should strive to
make the term familiar to American
ears.
$50. A second evil imposed upon US
by the party Caesar Is official incom-
petence and dishonesty. Party in
terests being supreme, the man who
best serves tho party is supposed to be
the best qualified for Office. There
' uhlb always Dttu tkllltJh huu Iibtuhuulo
and self-seekers, as we'll as patriots and
statesmen, in American public life.
But the great majority of the fathers
were sages and men OF highest prin-
ciple Most Of the members OF the
first Continental Congress were worthy
Of unstinted praise. The men who
framed the Constitution were, with
very few exceptions, the peers in in
tellect and unselfish devotion Of the
lest statesmen of the greatest nations,
in their most exalted periods There
arc noble minded and pure hearted men
in places of authority now, Cabinet,
Congress- and Legislature have in them
to-day men Of Christian character,
whose hands never hold bride, whose
cheeks are never flushed with intoxiea.
tion, whose lips never burn with BIAS
phemies or blacken with lies; men
whose voices arc always raised against
the wrong and for the right. But it
must be admitted that the majority of
those who now fill places Of influence
and authority are anything but states
men in the breadth of their concep-
tions. in the dignity of their personal
conduct, or in the purity OF their
motives They are politicians, place
seekers; policy. not principle, the
manipulation of men, caucussee aud
the polls is their chief thought and
aim. Not what is right and permanent,
but what is expedient, and likely Il
succeed, is their concern. We produce
great inventors; we have financial and
industrial leaders in abundance; we
have political managers in oyeTabund'
ance, but there seems to be pause in
the production Of leaders in statesman
ships There are still some statesmen
"a very few-in the United States
Senate, and some, perhaps, in the
House, and here and there in the States
are men who in the elevation of theil
aims, methods and personal power,
tower above the intriguers by whom
they are surrounded. But there nevel
has been time when men of breadth
and purity shrank from political lift
as they do to-day; never time wheI
the friends Of man of worth and in
telligence found it so hard to secur,
the recognition of his merits. This il
because fitness for Office is not tn
primary question, but How much ha
the man done for the party? How
much Of pull has heY' How mucl
', money can he give?' Few mon 0
moderate circumstances can be nomi
!, mated for high position. The Uniter
| States Senate is rapidly becoming
. club of millionaires. Money is the con
Z trolling factor in elections. Forty year
: ago Abraham Lincoln said: 'Thi
', country cannot continue part slave an
I, part free 1t is perfectly clear to-da
I that our nation cannot long endure
= our representatives are to be men who's
. highest qualification is the possessio
l of wealth, secured by fair means or b
= foul. American liberty cannot liz
!. where money is supreme. If ma
: has no other merit than money it in
. shame for him to seek position. an
. men disgrace themselves who folio
', him. 1t is no sin for man TO |
z ignorant OF pharmacy, but il, heir
. ignorant, he presumes TO eomp0uf
> prescriptions, and thus trifles wit
u human life, his sciolism becomes hig
!, handed knavery. 1t is no crime for
70 man to be ignorant of machinery, or
J. the rules which govern the running
's railroad trains, but il, being ignora
: of engines and schedules, he attemr
u to pilot passenger train. then t
~ blood of those who are killed al
70 mangled in the inevitable wreck is
y his skirts. There arc men-there
y one man in MISUNDERSTANDING
engineer our State and National affaI
70 without having the first element of I
"a ness; and when such men seek
u place and win it, whether by the v
y means they usually employ, or witho
~ them, they commit a crime against G
~ and against man.
~ But there is that which is wol
~ than partisanism and Incompetence.
~ 80. Bribery bribery, with all
8 attendant decentralization, is becomj
: more and more popular method wi