The Louisiana populist., 1897-10-08

him, would probably murder the
miscreant if caught in the act.
For reasons that will appear later
on | would visit the greater penal
ty upon the woods burner. not that
| believe i'll punishment for its
own sake, hnt because there must
be a sudden and enduring restraint
put upon such people.
That such restraint has not
already been inaugnratcd is not
creditable to our government. 1t
shows that the buffoon has been
nearer to and more favored of the
people than the philosopher. Ger
tainly there has been no matter of
equal Importance to our country
within its councils since the civil
war.
And if it has not been made the
duty Of the United States Weather
Bureau to learn the philosophy of
all terrestrial and climatic changes,
as we'll as to note them, somebody
has blundcred. If this is a part
Of that bureaus duty it IS disgrac-
cd when its officials confess that
they cannot explain the cause of
the rapid decline of the rainfall in
the United States. This is a prob
lem whose solution is within the
reach of the observer and thinker,
such as ought to people the bureau
without an exception. But it would
seem that such are mot in it,"
Tomorrow would begin the
reign Of security and prosperity if
this evenings sun could set upon
the last day of that nepotism and
favoritism that selects places for
men instead of men for places. 1t
has been the rule to consider less
the fitness Of the applicant for the
duties of the Office than the desir
ableness of the emoluments of tho
place to the appointec and his
friends. When a man asks for an
Office he should be able to show
special talent for that Office Or
stand aside. In important cases,
like that of the weather bureau es-
pecially, the trend of the appli-
cant's thought line should be known
to be in the direction Of the meta
physics of the duties that he is eX-
pected to perform. Education is
necessary, but by no means suf-
ticicnt of itself in such cases. In
a perceptiye sense a man might
eat up all the text books and yet in
a reflective sense be unable to di-
gest one of them. Nevertheless he
needs only to prove by his diplo,
mas the extent of his gorge to make
him a "scientist' in the common
eye, and to secure for himself au.
thority over the destinies of his
fellows. There may be brains
enough in the United States Wealth
er Bureau, but the right kind il
evidently misplaced somewhere.
Carlyle made the ridiculous blum
der of asserting that genius wa:
absolute and not relative. Accord
ing to his theory Bonapart coult
have written as good poetry as BY
ron, while the latter could have
planned and fought upon the bat
tleield as successfully as he mar
shallod the stanzas of ''Childe Har
old" The condact of our appoint
i've las well rs the elective) power
seem to be based upon a like theo
ry and l fear that the civil ser
vice regulations are open to tn
same objection.
! A man may be "dunce syntax
but dab at taw," or vice versa
t He might be a good sailor, dodg
, the -bergs, reach the north pole
t and climb it us he would the mas
: of his ship, but at the head Of tn
weather bureau he would probabl
. allow the country to burn up fo
+ want of the special tact necessar
. to understand whence the iue came
1 Genius is a preponderance upo
I. one side; /; the trend Of intellectus
D momentum in a certain direction
t There is no Office in. the Unite
Q States where appropriate genius
4 so much needed as in the weathe
d bureau f.; and there is no questio
: so urgently demanding cabint
2 meeting in Washington as th
J, threatened dissication of our cour
: try, and its causes. Will the GOV
b ernment do its duty in this matter
! Not until compelled. So long q
}, the people pay the officials salarie
d that will buy plenty of wine, the
/ will care little whether the peopI
) have water twenty years hence.
n :, IN IN ho,,o1 that tho innrooc;p