New-York tribune., 1900-05-30
REFORMERS.
GOVERNOR ROOSEVELT DISCUSSES THEIR
LATITUDE AND LONGITUDE"
From The Century Magazine.

From The Century Magazine.
II there IS one tendency of the day which more
than any other is unhealthy and undesirable
IL IS the tendency % defy mere snartness, IN
We shan never make our Republic what it should
and nut in practice. the doctrine that success is
abhorrent # attained by the sacrifice OF the funda-
Nv eoTzcia7tnieet syfr3air or his nerbIors bv
deceit and cilicanery. by uuscrupulous boldness
and unscrupuious cunning. stands toward society
ing admiration Which sach a caTeeT Commands
among those who think crookedly or not at all
makes this kind Of SUCCESS perhaps The most dan
erous Of all the influences thar threaten our Ma
make the scoundreI who succeeds feel the
strongly than the scoundrel who fails.
On the other hand, mere beating the air. mere
highly undesirable IDEAL is utterly worthless. The
clustered virtue which timidly shrnks from al!
the uneasy, seIf-conscious vanity which misuanies
whatever does adopt Its own fantastic stand
TEND 10 roh me forces of good of elements on
which they ought to be able to count in the cease
the impractica Bile idealist differs from the hard
working sincere man who in practical fashion, and
actually 70 realize his IDEAL but the difference lies
his @ having s @ high T Gea G for the idea Of the other
may be even higher. At times man must cut
great cause, but the necessity for such action is
Of seasoa, IS the sign Of an unheat thy nature II Is
II is SIN Of Ibe highest staresn1aDsbin 10 tenn
porize ana when il is merely proof Of weakness
Now and then one can stand uncompromisingly
This is always attractive course but in certain
great crises i may be very wrong course. Com
ment; in the proper opportunism should
. -. M eten toyr.ra Evil is a wrong INST
the opporjun!st who saves himself for the mo-
fJfre disaster is ali wrong but no less Wrong is
agreement through which. or VIII not follow the
practical results for good.
Peopie m are apt & 10 81 SPEAK % as IN o s1s ne
upward-strtving toward high peak. The simile
public work is travelling along a ridge crest, with
the gulf Of failure each sde-the gulf Of inefti
on the other All kinds Of forces are continually
playing & on mn nm tbe @ o3BeT and even wise ana
good man, unless ne braces himself with uncom-
way and that. viii find that his course becomes
pronounced zgzag instead OF stralght me, ana ana
70 which side the zigzag may take him Nor is he
more serious MS power o. los usil siIi - 81 y FCe e ~
the public Is at an enc; [1f may sun ia s
pc % ysir leeds But in either case his usefulness
No man is justified in doing evil or the ground
of expediency. He is bound to do all the good
possible Yet ne must consider the question OF
M n 2eqSF ehft he S vii % DO n0ns @ m As
as a politician gets TO the point OF thinking mat
In
he has become a noxious member Of the body poll
tic That species Of practicabity eats into the
moral sense Of the people like a cancer, and he
VIM nrarfises il can no De excused than
editor whc debauches public decency in order TO
Above owe ali, the political rerormer must not per
min himself 10 driven from his duty or sup
porting what is right by any irritation at the men
who. while nonlinally supporting the same objects
md even ridiculing him as backslider or an "op-
portunist yet BY their levity or fanaticism dc
damage 10 the cause which ne really serves, and
which they profess TO serve Let him disregard
them for though they are accordns 10 their @ anll-
itv he foes politics, yet, after all, they
are but weakIings, and the real and dangerous
enemies o@ the cause he holds dear those sin
!ster beings fatten on the evil OF cur political
system. and both profit by its existence and by
their own existence tend 70 perpetuate and In
crease il We must be diverted from our war
fare with these powerful and efficient corruption
ists by irritation the vain prdttlers who think
they a the head of the reform forces whereas
they are really wandering IN bypaths IL the rear.