Mexico weekly ledger., 1898-06-16
CHAMP ClARk'S LETTER
Incompetency of the Ad-
ministration Exposed.
POLITICAL ATAVISM REIGNS
Army at the Mercy of Inexperi-
enced Civilians.
POLITICAL ATAvISM REIGN
VETERANS IN THE ARMY IGNORED.

sAiAaIshND AN lid Ann luNUh1.
d John J. ingalls, scathtng Criticism Of Il
appointment Of SONS of Great Me
Wealth and Social Position the Pathw.
, to Distinction Under Mckinley Rri
History Of the Greenbsck - When Il
/ Goldbugs Were Happy.
!, Especial Washington letter.
Fun many q gem Of pprest roy serene
!, The dark, unfathomed caves Of ocean bear
u many o flower is born to blush unseen
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.
So sang the poet Gray In that immol
tai elegy which General James Wolf
declared he would rather be the authc
Of than to win that famous victory O
tho plains Of Abraham which witnesse
what Thackeray felicitoUsly denomi
mates Wolfe's euthanasia, which CAV
this continent to English speaking pee
Pic and which wrote his own name 1
characters Of blood high up on tn
scanty list of the worlds really grea
captains.
What Gray said of natural gems AM
flowers Is equally truc of literary gem
and flowers. The newspapers TEEN will
them. People read, admire, lose the pa
per and forget or remember only to re
greet tho loss. Ipropose to call the at
tention of my readers to one Of tn,
brightest Of these newspaper gems
Of oil tho mon who have figured i,
the public life Of America in this gen
Grafton John James Ingalls, Of Kansas
easily bears tho palm as the most skill
full artist in the use of language bizarre
picturesque, vitriolic, forceful and cpl
grammatic.
He has the scalps Of divers and sun,
dry statesmen dangling at his belt. Hi
is tho heroic remedy always. He boasts
that he is q Now England Brahman,
whatever that may be. For IS years he
was O Republican senator of the United
States from Kansas and is still a Repub.
lican- Since his retirement from that
august body he has written many,
many highly interesting articles for the
public press, and whatever John James
pens Is eagerly read by millions, for he
Is equal to Horace Walpole as q letter
writer, superior to old Thad Stevens in
sarcasm and on q par with William
Makepoace Thackoray as an exposer of
shams. Here is the pungent, scintillat-
ing manner In which this Republican
statesman comments on certain things
recently dono by this Republican ad-
ministration:
Tho Criterion For Preferment.
"Up to April "a, 1893, it was one of
tho favorite arguments for Democracy
that genius is not hereditary; that
statesmen do not transmit their quail
ties to posterity. It has passed into a
proverb that great men seldom have
great sons. The apparent exceptions
neither provo nor disprove the rule. The
highest types T not persistent. Men,
families, nations eliminate and then
decay.
$50 our boast has been that we have
abolished the artificial distinction Of
birth and rank and made merit rather
than pedigree tho criterion of prefer
ment.
IAN honorable ancestry is never more
than a good symptom Renowned pa
ternity is not discreditabIe, but in q re-
public it only establishes a favorable
presumption
"In selections for places Of honor,
trust profit and responsibility the
search hitherto has been not for con-
sanguinity, but for capacity. We have
reyolutionized the civil service by pro-
viding that no ambitious citizen shall
open a dead letter or paste stamps on q
beer keg without first obtained a certif-
cato Of character and qualifications that
would equip the principal Of a rural
seminary. We have neither asked if the
candidate raj born with q silver spoon
In his mouth nor If he wore an evening
coat after G O'Clock, ate with his fork,
dined in courses or had rich and cele-
brated forbears
"Wo must have been wrong. for in
tho last month we have seen the health,
well being, comfort and fighting capac-
fty of 100, 600 men, their food, cloth
ing, shoes, tents medicine, arms, am
munition, equipage and pay, involving
the expenditure Of hundreds Of millions
of dollars and tho protection Of the gov
ernment against corrupt and incompe-
tent contractors, intrustcd to youthful
and inexperienced civilians for no ap-
parent reason except the shameless i'm
portunity Of influential kinsfolk and
politicians with o pull.
Sons Of Somebody.
Grants sol and his grandson, Lo-
CAMS son, Blaine's son, Harrison's son,
son, Gray's son, Foraker's son,
McMillan's son, Murphy's son, Mitch
ell's son, Brice's two sons Hull's son,
son. Strong's son, Sewell's son,
son, Allison's nephew and scores
less conspicuous heroes illustrate the
of political atavism or in
heredity, which is one Of the
most extraordinary features Of the past
30 days.
ut is said that when the picturesque
assemblago, not surpassed since Fail
conscripts marched through Cow
antry, came up for confirmation the
other day In the senate Pettigrew, who
apparently got no pork, ventured to ask
f the military committee were satisfied
hat the captains and majors and colo
lels were qualified for their important
1uties and responsibilities. The bluff
Did veteran, Hawley, testify put the
question by and said ne knew that ev-
cry n was recommended by some sem |