Twice-a-week plain dealer. (Cresco, Howard County, Iowa) 1895-1913, 1898-06-21
W. r. MEAD, EDITOR.
Official Paper of County.
OUR CANDIDATE IN 1900
The Criterion for Preferment.

UuR CANDIDATE IN l9UU
The Criterion for Preferment.
"Up to April "a, 1898, it was one of
the favorite arguments for Democra-
cy that genius is not hereditary; that
statesmen do not transmit their quail
tiles to posterity. 1t has passed into
proverb that great men seldom
have great sons. The apparent ex-
captions neither prove or disprove
the rule. The highest types are not
persistent. Men, families, nations
eliminate and then decay.
$50 our boast has been that we
have abolished the artificial distinc-
ton of birth and rank and made
merit rather than pedigree the cri-
terion of preferment.
AN honorable ancestry is never
more than a good symptom. Re-
nowned paternity is not discreditable
but in republic it only establishes a
favorable presumption.
SIN selections for places of honor,
trust, profit, and responsibility, the
search hitherto has been not for con-
sanguinity, but for capacity. We
have revofutionized the civil service
by providing that no ambitious citi-
zen shall open dead letter or paste
stamps on a beer keg without first OBJ
tanning certificate of charactef-and
qualifications that would equip the
principal Of u rural seminary. We
have neither asked if the candidate
was born with a silver spoon in his
mouth, nor if he wore an evening
coat after o'clock, ate with his fork,
dined in courses, or had rich and cele-
DRAFTED forfathers.
1--WE must have been wrong, for in
the last month we have seen the
health, we'll being comfort and fight
ing capacity of 100000 men, their
food, clothing, shoes, tents, medicine,
arms, ammunition, equipage and pay
involving the expenditure of hum
dreds of millions of dollars and the
protection of the government against
corrupt and incompetent contractors,
intrusted to youthful and inexperi-
enced civilians for no apparent rea-
son except the shameless Importantly
of influential kinsfolk and greedy
politicians with pull.
'sGrant's son and his grandson,
Logan's son, .Blaine's son, Hal rison's
son, Alger's son, Gray's son, Foraker's
son, McMillan's son, Murphy's son,
Mitchell's son, Brices two sons, Hulps
son, Lees son, Strong's SOD, Sewell's
son, Astor's son and Allison's nephew
and scores of less CONSPICUOUS heroes
illustrate the development of political
atavism or intermittent heredity,
which ls one of the most extraordi-
nary features of the past thirty days.
1T is said that when the pictur-
esque assemblage, not surpassed
since Falstaff's conscripts marched
through Coventry, came up for con-
firmation the other day in the senate,
Pettigrew, who apparently got no
pork, ventured to ask if the military
committee were satisfied that the
captains and majors and colonies
were qualified for their important du-
ties and responsibilities, the bluff old
veteran, Hawley. testify put the ques-
ton by and said he knew that Ievery
one was recommended by some sena-
tor or member of congress, whereup-
on Hale, with polished sheer, inter
polated that they would gain expert
ence in the field, remark whose ap-
parent cynicism is diminished by the
fact that Hale's son had already been
provided for in the diplomatic SER
vice as secretary of legation at Rome.
'These examples will stimulate the
patriotic young farmers of the west,
who are urged to enlist as privates
for $16 month, to migrate to the
seaboard as rapidly as possible, be-
come the sons of great men and mem
bers of Mammon clubs as the path
way to distinction. They will inspire
the veterans of the service whose
lives have been spent in loyal dis
charge of duty amid the hardship s
and privations of the frontier, with
renewed devotion to the flag as they
see the just rewards of fidel-
itY bestowed upon the incompetent.
II Timothy v, 8. But if any pro-
I vide not for his own, and especially
for those of his own house, he hath
denied the faith and is worse than in
fidel.' Infidelity has not been preva-
lent since April "a, 1898. John j !.
Ingalls,, life long republican.
Abner Mckinley, brother of the
president is making the acquaintance
of all kinds of army contractors. He
is the agent and attorney for Bierman
Heidelberg s. Co., of New York, who