The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1897-04-18
HUNTING THE BAUBLE OFFICE

Now and then an office actually seeks
the man, just as our simple forefathers
thought all offices always should, but
the occasions are so rare as to attract
an attention that proves the incident
to- be an exception to the prevailing
rule In fact, many Of these cases are
not exceptions, and the movement of
the office towards the man is the re-
suit of a modestIy concealed initiative
given it discreetly by the incipient. an
intimatiOn. strictly between ourselves,
you know, that a tender Of such or
such place would be agreeable, made
to some equally discreet FREUD, starts
a suggestion from the latter to others
that SO-and-So is eminan.ly qualified
for such-and-such position, the
papers are tipped to say that So-and- 50
has been mentioned" the hidden
strings are adroitly pulled, and by-and-
by SOand-SO receives an appoint
ment which is a great surprise to him
because it was entirely unexpected.
hunted as prairie chickens in their
open season by the, g per cent of adults
to whom the 81 per cent surrender the
direction of the governing business.
All the remaining 81 per cent do not
attract the public attention that is
given to these.tS per cent. They fill
more space in the papers than all the
rest. From the initiative of any cam
paign, local, state or national, until
the last appointment in the gift of the
elected dispensaters, they are in every
mouth, and their merits, dement's,
chances, schemes successes and fail-
ures fill more space In the prints than
do the doings, comings and goings,
chances and mischances of the 81 who
are content to struggle for bread and
butter in obscurity. And it is here
that we find one Of the attractions of
this hunt for public station. Tor many
people notoriety has an irresistible
charm. They like to find themselves
the subjects of talk, the center of com
ment, preferring that it be favorable.
but better the reverse than none. Rob-
ert Louis Stevenson's mother scrapped
all the newspaper articles relating to
her gifted son and prefaced the scrap
book with the legend: Speak good O.
my BARN, speak i'll o my BARN, but
aye be speaking O. him" With most
there is a mixture Of love for notoriety
and love of or need for the emoluments
Of office that forms the incentive for
the hunting, and now and then, but
rarely, desire to accomplish some
thing for the common welfare incites
the pursuit; but mainly it is the hun
ger for the distinction, the apparent
superiority indicated by notoriety, that
sends men into politics and keeps them
there until expelled, and haunting the
purlieus of politics ever afterward.
But of all the}vocations men engage
in, or the avocations they indulge in,
office hunting, getting and keeping is
the most unsatisfactory and unprofit-
able. In no pursuit arc the compen-
sations so inadequate or the certainty
Of failure so sure Men can engage
in any other vocation confident that,
if they bring to it the requisite abil-
tiles, they can establish business that
will insure support and the accretion
of a competence against old age. Poll
tics offers remuneration never excess
sive, often inadequate, and subject to
constant drafts to maintain the hold
on place. 1t permits no savings and it
offers no security of tenure. Always
there is the coming contest with other
aspirants, with the present possibility