The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1897-06-03

! BENTON. The conduct of our foreign rela-
| tons. so as to preserve untarnished the
| honor and moderation of the country
| and to assert with vigor every right OF
the country, is more difficult and dan
gerous question than it was for Polk and
Webster.
! The dividing lines between Federal and
State sovereignty has been swinging
back and forth ever since the close of the
civil war. The still more important ques-
ton of the proper sphere of government
nj activity and of individual freedom,
with its subordinate question whether we
are to seek prosperity from laws of Con
gress or individual effort, is raised MS it
never was raised before in our political
discussions, in our party platforms. and
in numbcrlcss schemes of legislation.
And besides these issues, which come
out Of the past clothed with greater and
more threatening import, we must deal
with new issues, born of our trtumphnl
progress for whose solution past eSpc-
riencc may furnish principle and warning
TO statesmen, but no familiar precedent
to the people. The marvellous develop
ment and consolidation of railroads. the
protentous Industrial combinations; the
growth OF trusts and other would-be mo-
nopolies: the relation OF races what Il
lengthening catalogue Of novel forces AMI
factors, which invite and may require
the moderating hand of law to adjust
their relations to Il system OF free govern
ment
How shall we deal with such bewider-
ing succession OF old and new questions
by universal suffrage? How shall we pre-
serve unframed our historic freedom,
amid the din and contention and angry
they raise about our path
way? Will the people turn for leadership
to the intelligent. the patriotic, the virtu
Gus and the deserving, who have earned
the reward of liberty and can preserve
it. or he led off by the ignorant. the self
ish the crafty and undeserving, who
never could have earned that reward, and
never can preserve il?
No little danger turks in the fact that
in the presence of such issues as these the
real stateman is often modest and per-
picked. knowing that it is safer TO trust
to time and the natural vigor Of freedom.
than to any political remedies he can de-
wise, while the demagogue and the char
latan deludcd himself. or seeing his OPP
portunity to reap personal profit and tenn
porary advancement out of the delusion
of others. is ready and boastful with his
and schemes. regardless of their
effect on the public welfare. If while
ponders in his tent.
And Kings of modern thought are dumb
the people follow such leaders to their un-
4
perity driven into longer Punishment.
We see it, said Lord Bacon, ''ac
counted an error to commit the natural
body to empiric physicians, who common
ly have a few pleasant receipts, whereof
they are confident and adventurous. but
know neither The causes of diseases. nor
the constitution of patients. the perils Of
accident, nor the true methods of cures"
Yet we are. especially in times IF dis
tress, called upon to commit the body pO-
lite in like empires who know neither its
nor laws of hear, nor tho
causes of disease. nor The true methods OF
cure, and. least of ali, the perils of acci-
dent.
Fortunately, so far as State legislation
is concerned, we have forty-hve com
munities in which experiments may be
separately tried. so that it is not neces-
sary for all to learn wisdom and safety
by their own suffering and error. But
the truth comes home to us none the less
that the chief duty of Il free State is to
produce statesmen and to commit its des-
tiny to them when produced.
The alleged decadence of public men,
of which we have heard much in recent
~
to this generation. Sixty years ago De
in his Democracy in Ameri-
ca said, 1T is a well authenticated fact
that, at the present day. the most talent
ed men are very rarely placed ut the head
of affairs. Yet Andrew Jackson was then
President, and Calhoun. Webster. Clay
and Benton were in the Capitol. We need
not be greatly alarmed when n tory like
Mr.. Lecky writes q book to prove that
democracy has permanently and percep-
tibly degraded representative govern
ment but there is Il call for serious self
examination when a thorough liberal like
Professor Bryce, the most appreciativc
and friendly student of our institutions,
devotes chapter in his American Com
to the question why the best
men do not go into politics"
Whether Jefferson and Madison would
hold Il commanding and lifelong intiu
ence in Virginia today, or the Adamses in
Massachusetts, or Calhoun in South Car
DINA. or Nathaniel Macon in North Caro-
lima. are questions we may not find it
easy to answer. These were men who sat
urated politics with thought, who under
stood that it was the highest field of hui
man effort, and therefore the noblest field
of human study. The people turned to
them for guidance and instruction be-
cause the people knew them to be capa-
BILE, virtuous and patriotic leaders.
If leadership too often comes in one
day, as it sometimes came even i'll theirs,
to men who know little and think little
of public policies, but know mucn and
think much of party management, the
penalty falls upon all, but the RESPONSE
bility may rest with II few.