The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-01-03

- ~ liz PGSStk4LS1ti- RE HAS dfTtNSt
at that advanced stage of civil servfcs
rcfo.ni when il seems inevitable to his
riaa that every public oficial must
give way sooner or later to corrupt o.
anpatriotlc motives. Reduced. after this
occasional method Of the late NJ. Bal.
zac, to ~axioEas. the theories of life and
human nature inspiring thai remark
able letter, which The News publish
ed yesterday. might be stated about
thus
However shrewdly a man may conceal
his motives for four-ifths of a lifetime,
they are sure to reveal themselves soon
er or later,
Only a shrewd man can thrive on bad
motives, but If he is shrewd enough
they win make him President and a
historic figure.
Sometimes, bad motives evolve good
results. but this is the mere perversity
Of things.
The first of these formula would
meet with the approval of Mr.. Godkin.
The second would be endorsed by Mr..
Godkin and Nj. Pulitzer.
In the third, Mr.. Miller stands lonely
and sad between .tirat section of the
people who uphold Mr.. Cleveland, mo-
tives and all. and those who condemn
hin.
Mr.. MIXERS Letter is most able and
entertaining in its way. and yet we are
sorry he ever wrote it. 1t is a most
ingenious effort to put a pessimistic
and cynical construction upon an cpl
sode in our history which should be used
by public teachers for the cultivation of
aggressive patriotic sentiment.
There are worse things in the world
than war. One of these is reluctance
to so to war for sufficient cause. An.
other is general cynicism in respect to
public men and public events. Mr.. Mil
Ter. u~nhappily, appears to be afflicted
with beth of these diseases. and we re-
gard him. therefore,, as far more I'M.
happy than if hi were lying on the
bloody deck of a battleship with a bull
let through his heart.
The words of the great balladist are
not altogether wrong-no they are alto
gether right. when he asks
For when can men die better than in
facing fearful odds.
For the ashes of. their fathers and the
temples of their gods?
A little blood-letting is often a good
thing. and perhaps a little of ours split
now in the cause of thai tradition which
has been left US by Adams and Monroe,
might relieve US OF thai ~plethoric habit
of body which is our greatest national
danger.
Out of war grow courage. fidelity, pa
triotism. In war are found the highest
developments of the noplest human emo
tiors. The evils of war are for a day
and for the few; but its glor.es are for
all time and for all the people. Indeed,
war itself is not altogether a bad thing,
and when it is for a sacred cause it may
become the greatest good to a nation
as we found out by experience only
thirty years ago.
The lamentable misdireetfon of Mr.. MIL
ler's own mind is the best sort of proof
how urgently the cal to arms was needed
IN the United States. Ten years more of
rldisturbed tranquility and the general
body Of the people might have drifted
into just that state of incidence and
super-sensitiveness of spirit when the
notion Of var in any cause might have
become ~repugnant to them. and they
would be willing to endure any aggres-
sion rather h a take up arms.
When we read expressions like those
Of Mr.. Godkin. Mr.. Pulitzer and Mr.. Mil
Ter. we are tempted TO hope that the over
bearing insolenee for which Lord Sails
bury is justly famed may ~precipstate an
actual conflict.