The record-union. [volume] (Sacramento, Calif.) 1891-1903, 1898-10-26
PRESENT DAY THOUGHTS.
BY G. Grosvenor Dave.


er in politics, who spins beautiful, I'M
practical yarns of things as they may
some day be, is bearable. He imparts
color to the drab life that too many of
US see. Dreams may, indeed, be made
of stuff that has neither texture nor
warmth nor weight, but, like clouds,
they often speak of a light hidden, yet
some day bound to be revealed God
bles the dreamers who walk abstract
eddy among us of more practical cali
Der and see visions and foretell
changes! They have their place. and
they bring things to pass that are i'm
possible to men of little faith.
But the lazy man in politics is a diff
ferent creature. He neither sees the
future nor cares for the present, except
that lin his time there shall be peace"
and be undisturbed. Like one man l
have known with tainted we'll who had
never known of typhoid fever in the
family, yet cannot arouse him nor
shake into him an understanding Of
the awakened spirit of the day that de-
mands a service in some form from
every man as requital to society for
the care and attention it permits to
surround him. He would silence the
drums and flies of those who do battle,
for his eyes are closed in self-fostered
laziness so that he sees no hosts to
combat. He vacuouSly asks to be let
alone, for he does not believe in the
power of one solitary man, forgetting
that enthusiasm and purpose have a
self multiplying element, SO that when
one man is aroused he may find fol-
lowers enough to combat an army Of
intrenched wrong.
The lazy man in politics is ever ready
to say in one breath, This is Gods
world" and in the next The political
world lieth altogether in the wicked
one: and between these two contra
dictory assertions, like the man in the
narrow lane with a hostile bull before
him and another behind he will take
to the woods and there rest. To dispose
of argument, we will grant that God
made the country and all the physical
manifestations of life around US: but
social and political organization is
made by man, and by man is it to be
maintained, and by man is it to be i'm
proved and purified, and by none other
There is no evasion of this thought
possible to an honorable thinker Do
we create a beautiful city, and then
utterly neglect its constantly recurring
needs because of our faith in the AL
mighty to keep the stars in their
courses? Do we work out an intricate
machine, and then leave it to run it
self because other, higher law main
tains the majestic movements Of the
planets? Then neither ought heroic,
ahead-of-the-age men to be permitted
to work out in blood and agony a sys-
tenn for giving every man political
influence, and their successors oeglect
the sacred task and let it fall to the
ground. 1T would so fall if all were
lazy and willing to let chance take the
helm Of affairs and steer to mischance.
The lazy man in politics is like the
ungrateful son who forgets the breasts
that nourished him, and would heart
lessly leave his mother to starvation
and to fate outside a comfortable home
inherited from her.
The, lazy, man in politics is like the
traveller by rail, who will admire the
solid roadbed and entrust himself to
the splendid safety devices of the block
system and the inter-locking switches
wildering freight yards, and then try
to evade the payment of his fare.
The lazy man in politics is the kid
glove voter, who, having heard that
practical politics form a filthy pool, be-
cause of his gloves and his own per-
sonal appearance, will leave the pool
untouched, no matter how vile it's in
fiuence on the day that now IS, and no
matter how sinister its possible results
in the day that is to come.
The lazy man in politics is the wood
en- dummy upon which the opposing
officeholders can perform in safety their
great see-saw act of ''ins' and "outs"
He is the rich man who finds it too
much trouble to vote, and then goes to
much more trouble in order to play
golf; or the poor man who does not
think it worth while-and is blind, since
political conditions affect the very air
he breathes and the quality of the food
he can put before the hungry mouths
Of his children.
The lazy man in politics, like the
laissez-f aire nobility Of France a hun
dred years ago. is the real source Of
anarchistic murmurings. He it is who
permits the stream Of ill-timed, ILL.,
digested laws to pour in contradictory
terms in succeeding sessions from our
legislative halls; for he, the lazy man,
lets the vote of freemen be unanswered
in order to send to the last place they
are suited for, lawmakers whose ac-
quaintance with law in some cases has
been only in the breach thereof 1t is
the neglect by lazy men in politics that
makes the great honest working classes
grumble at the antics Of legal acrobats,
because they often feel that legislation
is bought and sold, and the real inter-
ests Of the people ruthlessly neglected
in order that the, empty pocket of a
worthless law-maker may go home full.
There Is an excuse for lazy men in the
politics Of China or Russia or some
other semi -somnolent State, but there
is no excuse for 1t here. This is that
blessed home of dear-bought freedom,
where the voice and power of the indi-
vidual cannot be suppressed-a country
where the rewards Of political effort
come to the active ones, whether they
be good men or bad. In so vast coun-
try 1t Is not well nor necessary that we
should all agree as to methods, but we
must agree as to means in conducting
its affairs-those means include at the
very outset to every man a vote, and
back Of every vote a conscience.
TO CURE A COLD IN ONE DAY
rake Laxative Bromo Quinine Tablets. All drug.
cists refn nd The money If it fails to Csc The