The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1900-06-07
even in our land, and note the pro

even in our land, and note the pro
! gress.
We talk sometimes as If everything
were going to ruin, as II chaos had
come, and the times were without form
and void. We are discouraged at the
discomfort, the strife and violence OF
today. We cry out as if we had lost
an Eden or an Atlantis, "The former
times were better than these" But a
little more than year after the bat
ties of Lexington and Concord, Thomas
Paine wrote: "These are the times that
try mems souls.'' The world went no
better in the days of Washington and
the fathers than now; no, nor SO we'll.
1t is not alone that we wear broad
cloth instead of homespun, ride in
sseam-cars instead of stage coaches,
and read the news of yesterdy this
morning instead of month latter;
but there has been moral, Intellectual,
political and religious progress; and
"all things have not continued as they
were from the beginning of the crea-
tion, or since the fathers fell asleep"
The progress has not only been rel
alive but absolute. We think some
times that political corruption was
never so rife and wide spread as it is
today. And there is much in politics
and among political men to lend color
to the superstition. But the fact is
that, in proportion to the size of the
country and the interests represented,
there was more rottenness in politics
in the days of our fathers than is to
be found among their sons. Bad as
things are today, they were worse in
the time of Washington. Emerson
has somewhere expressed his satisfac-
tion that Washington was folded away
in his shroud, safe and sweet, with
his faith in human nature mistaken
by the subsequent depravity of his
coun.rymen. But if Washington's
faith in human nature survived the
strain that his own generation put
upon it, it is not at all likely that it
would break to-day, even under the
terrific weight of Minnesot legis-
lature or a national Congress.
McMaster, the historian, tie Is U.S.:
ga very little study of long-forg often
politics will suffice to show that In
filibustering and gerrymandering, in
stealing governorships and legisla-
lures, in using force at the polls, in
colonizing and in distributing patron
age to whom patronage is due, in all
the frauds and tricks that go to make
up the worst form Impractical politics,
the men who founded our State and
National governments were always
our equals, and often our masters.
Yet they lived in times when univer-
sal suffrage did not exist, and when
the franchise was everywhere guarded
by property and religious qualifica-
tions of the strictest kind" No
atheists, no free-thinkers, no Jews, no
Roman Catholics, no one, in short,
but believer in some form of Protes
tantism, could be governor in most of
the states. Elsewhere he must be
Trinitarian and a believer in Plenary
Inspiration. In other states, as Mary
land, to be governor one must be rich
as we'll as pious. All of these limita-
tions have disappeared. We not only
have governors who are not rich,
but who are not uncomfortably and
aggressively pious. The suffrage
had it's restrictions. In some states
a man could not vote unless he
owned donkey Or it's equivalent in
property; and if the donkey died the
night before election, the man found
himself disfranchised on the morrow.
But, in spite of all, McMaster insists
that political corruption was greater
than to-day. And he gives instance
after instance to prove his assertions.
instances there is no time to rehearse,
but which may be found In his histor
les. Trne, our politicians even today,
as already suggested, are not exactly
putting forth wings; there is no danger
that we shall wake some fine morning
and find that they have all flown up
ward; but if they should, they would
be discovered round or two higher
on Jacobs ladder than the politicians
of more than century ago.
A word as to our relative progress:
When we compare our condition with
that of other nations, we have all the
more abundant reason for gratitude to
the really great men and pure patriots
who shaped our destinies. Russia
and Germany are today asking for
what we have enjoyed for scores of
years. The Social Democrats of Ger
many, among other things for which
they agitate, are today demanding an
extension of tine suffrage; a system of
education by the State, free and COM
pulsory; relief from the burden OF
standing armies; freedom of the press
and divorce of religion from the |