Perrysburg journal. (Perrysburg, Wood Co., O. [Ohio]) 186?-1965, 1897-07-31
WAYS OF POLITICIANS.
eel1shness Controls Them in Every
Public Action.
To Keep Themselves in PrOminenc'
They Sell Out Their Best Friends
~ - Some Historical In
stances.
[speeIal waahIngton Letter.l ]


All politicians are selfish; and ma
jority of them are cruelty selfish. Very
many of them are brutally selfish.
One of the most eminent senator's,
who is primarily warm hearted, hon
orable man, recently said to me: Il
went to church this morning, because /
felt it to be my duty to go to some place
where the doctrine of love is taught,
for that is the doctrine of unseltish
ness. / did a mean thing, but nobody
knew anything about it excepting my
self alone, and yet it was so mean that
/ felt that / ought not to remain in the
same house with such a man as myself,
so [ went out for a walk in the open
air, and finally went to church"
What mean thing had you done?"
"Well, I'll tell you, but you mustn't
think that there are strealIs of pork or
of yellow dog running through my
hide. / was just decent and human
enough to repent in time. There are
three candidates for one important
office. | sat in my room wondering
how to dispose of those three men. l
knew that could satisfy one of them
by appealing to his personal friend
ship. Well, that took him out of my
mind. But how to dispose of the other
two fellows. One of them | can't get
along without when 1 come up for re-
election to the senate. The other fell
low l need also, but he is not so strong
man politically; so L concluded to
drop him, and let him get mad if he
should choose to do so. Having set
., I, I ;rht q, irrnr r,1
proceeded to write my recommends
ton of the man whom / had decided to
appoint, but 1 didn't finish the letter.
Somehow, all of us politicians are
cold-blooded enough to cut n man 5
throat, but this time my conscience
scorched me. 1 could not get out of
my mind that young man whom | had
decided to turn dcwn. l could not
erase from my memory the fact that at
critical period in my career he secured
five votes for me in the Legislature, and
! needed that many votes to elect me to
the senate. If he had not helped me
there would be some other man here in
the senate who might treat him with
more consideration. l could not forget
that after | was elected when he called
l. y
dear boy, owe everything to you. II
can ever serve you in any way you will
find me as loyal to you as you have beer
TO me in this contest
That is what l said to him. 1 re
member the very words. And yet, wher
he needs an office which he seeks,
found myself sitting down in cold blood
and selfish political determination tt
cut his throat and break his heart, fol
the blow would have been terrible one
to him. He has perfect confidence il
my friendship for him. And yet that
is what was doing this morning. wher
my conscience called me back. So fal
as my intellectual processes were con
cerned, the contemplate thing was ac
complished. l had thought it all ovel
and concluded to take that course. i
was a mean thing, mighty mean thing
to do, and L was disgusted with mysel
and went out for walk, and ended W
by going to church"
That is true story, and illustrate!
the assertion that all politicians arr
selfish. OF course, it is human 10 b,
selfish, but in no walk of life is selfish
ness so apparent us among the politi
clans. Moreover, they necessaril!
evade the truth very often. In orde
to keep themselves popularity before tn,
public, they smile and shake hands will