The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-06-25
HONEST MEN NEEDED.
OFFICIALS WE HAVE AND THOSE WE
SHOULD HAVE.

SHOULD HAVE.
Rev. Sam Jones Writes a Strong Ar
ticle on the Subject of Honesty in
PoIitics.-Important Questions to
Be Settled by The Christian Voters
of America.
America is a great country for Offices
and officers. Every other fellow you
meet is an official in something. He
is national, State, county, city,
church, lodge, convention, board oi
trade, club or some other official, and
every fourth woman is an officer in
something. She is president, secre-
tary, or the proud holder ofsome office
in club, society, league, card party or
something. Most of those who have
no Office are hunting one, and many
of them playing bootlick to those who
have Offices to distribute. When fel-
low begins to show you extra cordiality,
you may know that he wants to sell
your real estate or stocks, negotiate a
loan, write you for insurance, or get
you to beg for him in securing some
Office: One of our secular papers no.
ted the fact that when Ex-Governor
Taylor made his first lecture in Mem
phis no one called on him. When he
came to Memphis few days since his
room was crowded. On the first visit
it was generally believed that this pop
ular platform man would never again
quit the lecture platform to distribute
Offices, but on the second it was clear
that he would again be Governor. See?
This bootlicking, Office seeking, Office
trading and honor-swapping business
is cutting the grit from under our
craftsmanship and our manhood.
Offices depend on Doodle. wire work
and swapping honors, and the pander.
ing to the powers so much that it is no
longer question of who is fit, but who
can win. The question with the officer
is no longer what is duty, but what is
popular or what will secure this or
that other Office for me when my pres
ent term expires. The people, dis
couraged and hopeless, have turned
the politics ofthe country over to the
professional bosses and government
pap-suckers, and are looking on in
amazement to see the end--"vox pop
uli, vox Debut the voice of the
politician is the voice Of the devil.
THE HOPE OF THE COUNTRY.
The hope of the country lies in the
purity of her officials, and the only
reason that we have not gone to utter
rot is in the fact that we have a few
honest, true, unpurchasable officials.
Some of the best men of our country
have filled our offices, and these great
good men have been our salvation;
but the work of these good men has
been largely checkmated by the viii
lainy Of the corrupt professional poll
ticians in office. The moral and flnan-
cial condition Of this country for the
next halt century is now going on.
The catastrophe is now on, and in
this political upheaval the great con-
tinental mountains will be found whose
awful caverns of magnificent heights
will destroy or delight for years to
come. No surer did the great catas-
trophe centuries ago form the Appal-
achian and Rocky mountain systems
than that the agitation now going on
will form great fundamental systems
in our country that will last one hun
dred years. The advance of scientific
discoveries, the advance of machinery,
and the conse quent change of labor,
the settlement of our whole country
and the occupation of all our western
lands, the discovery ofthe resources OF
our whole country, and the adjustment
of our manufacturing interests and
labor problem, the settlement of our
foreign relations, the settlement of our
monetary basis, and the settlement OF
the saloon question-all these and
more are in the present upheaval, to
say nothing of the new woman and
tights md bloomers. The next ten
years are to be stormy years-full OF
earthquakes in the civil, social and
religious world. l am hopeful of the
outcome, but everything depends upon
our intelligent leaders. And, first OF
all, we need intelligence and indepen-
dencein the rank and file Of our clti-
zenship, for the people first lead for
leader, and then he leads the people.
The leader is the product Of the ballot
in the hands of the common people.
Give US a pure, patriotic, honest Presl-
dent, the balance of Senatorial power
lying in his veto or signature-and the
proper manning of many Offices being
in his hands, we may be hopeful of ou1
chief official.
PyRE HONEST LEADERS NEEDED.
Let US have wise and good men fol
| our United States Senators, and we
may hope for much in national legisla
ton; but in drunken carousals, ink
stand battles, Doodle hunting lobbyists
self-seeking politicians to quarrel ano
fight and kill time in Washington
things look dark. The most hopefu
signs of the times is in the judiciary o
our country. This has been the grea'
bulwark between US and anarchy
What we need above everything is fo
the voice of the people to be heard ane
the yoke of political bossism to b'
broken. Our officers are supported b.
our taxes, and when the citizen fails t
pay his tax the officer takes his property
but when the officer fails TO do hi
duty the citizen meekly suffers. VIII.
not demand of our officers the execu
ton Of the law or the surrender of tn
Office? If the policeman, sheriff ant