Virginian-pilot. (Norfolk, Va.) 1898-1911, 1900-09-07
WHEN THE SHOEMAKER QUIT.
HIS LAST.

President ingalls,, of the Chesapeake
and Ohio Railway, has written an ar
ticle for the current number of the
North American Review. The paper
deals with politics, and is a pertinent
instance of the singular fact that when
men who are not intimately engaged
in politics or particularly we'll versed
in issues undertake to discuss political
questions the dominant note of the
discussion is sure to be intolerance. A
priori, one would be inclined to say.
here is n man not engaged in politics:
we shall get from him calm, tolerant,
dispassionate utterance." And then
we read only to find that IL we want
conservatism of statement, fairness to
opponents and cathoicity of Judgment
we shall have to so to the men we
call po]iticans-not the petty two-by-
four article. but the men whose van
tage ground in national affairs affords
opportunity for a birds eye view.
They have learned that turbulence and
epithet have neither place nor weight
in the supposedly grave pages of a re-
view.
when the issue forced men of CONNER
cial training and instincts into the
field of political dialectics and are.
therefore, not surprised to hear that
President ingalls, is still infatuated of
the talk about degrading the dollar
and all the rest of it; given the grth
and calling and we could forecast to n
nicely just what the average man
would say. What was true in 1896
seems TO be true this year also There
is the same cheap sophistry, the same
construction of view, the same stock
of epithets held in common by entire
classes. the same intolerance, the
same amusing assumption of superior
ity of judgment.
AS sample OF the argument that
appeals to President ingalls, as con-
vincng we reproduce the following:
1.-THE business man who does not in
quire into the politics of his book
keeper is asked by the supporters OF
Mr.. Bryan to allow partisan politics
to be injected into the circulating me-
dunn through which he carries on his
business. He refused in 1896, as he
will refuse. believe. in 19O0 to inn
pute either Democracy or Republican,
ism to the dollar. He will say that il
Is not a political question. and that 1t
should not be made such.
'The safety of the American Re
public is not menaced by Il DOGGY,
crowned with an imperial dadem of
straw. The cry of Imperialism is sim
ply preteXt of the Democratic lead
ers to save themselves from the fatal
blunder they made in 1896, the hunder
of dragging the dollar to the polls and
Gnden NOl'inrr N Ilnnru1n ii.,,
is not the paramount issue, despite all
efforts to make it So"
Taking facts as we find them, who
Is trying to make Imperialism para
mount? The Democrats Who is en-
deavorng to drag the dollar to the
polls?" The Republicans. President
ingalls, protests against making the
money question an issue in politics
and in the next paragraph insists that
it is the paramount issue. and that the
Democrats shall not be allowed to
make anything else the issue At the
top of his voice he 'imputes Republi-
canism to the dollar"
How does President ingalls, happen
to know that Imperialism is a "bogey
crowned with an imperial diaden of
straw Why should a DOGGY" have
a "dadem?" Why not second hand
straw hat like the regulation scare
crow? Why say the bogey is 10 be
"crowned?" Did President ingalls,
suppose readers of the Review would
think even q DOGGY" wears diadems on
its feet? Serious men will hardly con-
tend that President ingalls, has given
us argument. or that he has added
anything of weight or value to the
discussion If he had paused for n
second thought he would have under
stood that no political party would
undertake to make DOGGY" the para
mount issue in campaign; he would
also have understood that calling an
issue DOGGY does it no sort OF harm.
particularly when It's merits are so
simple that men of the most ordinary
Intelligence can readily grasp them.
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