Daily capital journal. (Salem, Or.) 1896-1899, 1898-05-04
REPUBLICAN NO. .,

Gets a Scientific Roast at the Hands o.
ravid Burr Chase.
1t is hardly worth while To say
much to you, but 1 will at least pay
my respects to you in passing.
You stand on a much higher in
tellectual plane than number one,
whom addressed in THE JOURNAL
Of April 2S. For that reason, your
power is much greater for good OF
for evil; and 1 regret the necessity OF
reminding you that it is generally
used for he latter. You are the
man behind the scenes. who pulls the
string that moves such puppets as
Number one. You do not make your
self conspicuous on the corner. You
sit in your Office and scheme with
Others Of your kind, You put up the
jobs that are executed by your dupes.
many of whom fondly imagine that
they are free moral agents in the
transaction. You lay the wires, and
you lay them right well, too, some
times. (witness the last electon)
You care little for principle, though
you realize that it is sometimes nee
essary TO assume virtue if you have
it not For You understand that
the majority of men are honest,
though you think but little more Of
them on that account. You are in
clined TO be cynical. You believe in
''the survival of the tittest." and your
idea of the "fttest" is the man in
whose makeup the ability and de-
termination to look out for himself
dwarfs everything else into insig-
nj ficance. So, when you dabble in
politics, it is not for your health, nor
yet for the good of politics. but
strictly for what there is in it.
Well, you undoubte dly make some
money out OF it; you have little
taste of power occasionally; and you
often have the doubtful satisfaction
of seeing some free-born American
citizen groYeling at your feet while
he implores your kind permission to
take his place at the pie counter.
But do you really think that it pays
Is honor, about which your gold .
gamblers prate so much, worth
nothing ? Is the genuine commenda-
tion of good men worth nothing Is
your self respect worth nothing You
are an American. Is patriotism but
an empty sound? Do you not know
that such as you are making of popu-
lar government farce and by-word,
and sapping the foundations Of our
free institutions z? Do you not know
that government 10y bosses. great or
small, is not government Of the
people by the people for the people,
is not a good government, and is not
government that can endure ?
Do you think that the future his
torian will be allowed to write that
the American Republic found its
Nemesis, not in foreign foe, but
in its own Mark Hannas, great and
small ? Do you not see that the
American people are obliged to find a
remedy for bossism, and that your oc.
cupation Will then be gone? Would ii
not be best to turn your talents
Into legitimate channels while you
can claim the virtue of doing so OF
your own volition? If you will expend
In some honest business the tiLIe the
energy and the brain work Wnlcn you
now devote to political scheming, you
will reap as great returns in money,
you will reap greater returns IN honor,
and you will feel infinitely more
worthy Of your own self-respect. II
you must exercise your talent for or
ganization, why not use it for the pro-
motion of right and justice and "the
greatest good to the greatest num-
ber?" You have the training and
many Of the instincts Of gentle
man. Believe me, you would find a
more genuine and lasting satisfaction
in espousing the cause of the plum
dered people than in eXerting the art
of the tin-horD gambler for their fur
ther spoilation.
Why do / address you specially as a
SsssSsssssssssesSesssssa
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