The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1900-01-05

house, and he threw his influence in
favor Of Adams, who was elected.
There was at once an cutlery from the
Jackson partisans, who insisted that o
corrupt coalition had been formed and
the purposes and wishes Of the people
had been ciTcumVented. Benton de-
clared that Demos krateO'' principle,
the principle that the people had a
right to govern, had been disregarded
When Clay became Adams secretary
Of state the denunciatiOn Of corruption
and Of interference with popular de-
sires became louder, while the air was
full of the clamOr Of those who pro-
claimed Jackson "a man Of the peO-
pie" and maligned Adams as an in
triguing aristOcTat.
In 1923 Jackson was chosen president
and his victory was hailed as the be-
ginning Of a new era. Although Adams
was one Of the best officers that ever
served a people-an honest, pure, cap
able, patriotic, high-minded statesman
people seemed actually to believe, as
Webster said, that the country had
been rescued from some dreadful dan
ger. But the election Of Jackson, in
part the result of an appeal to the
prejudiees of the masses Of the people
against what was termed aristOcracy,
came as a natural occurrence in the
development Of the democratic spirit.
The people Of 1928, glOrying in Ameri-
can achievement and vain Of American
success in self government, turned in
stinctively to a man from the great
west, d self-made man whose forceful-
ness and native vigOT appealed TO their
Imagination.
The careful student Of American So
cial character will see that some of its
distinguishing features are to be I'M
derstood only when judged from the
standpoint Of the frontier. Each pOr-
ton Of the country has at some time
been a frontier, and the characteri5-
tics of the west appealed to the from
tier temperament which is still remain
ing in the east, though part CLOSED
over or covered Up BY the results and
products Of later developments. Jack
son appealed, therefore, to the true
American sentiment, which admires the
self-made man, the man who has sur
mounted obstacles and risen by ddnt
of his own efforts and not because Of
inherited wealth or position, a sent1-
ment which is distinctly a product OF
the frontier, and which lis, in large
measure, sensible, sound and whole
some, but which may, on occasion,
wrongly manifest itself The true dem
man is, not of his ancestry or his Op-
portunities, and declares that each man
must be given a chance to make the
most of himself and be judged by what
he has accomplished, and what he has
come to be; but it does not glOriIy de-
.ficiencies in ability or culture.
The inauguration of Jackson ushered
in the spells system. This came be
cause Of the personal peculiarities OF
Jackson, who believed that all who were
not for him were against him. and who
had been bred in a school where men
rewarded their friends and did no good
to those that despitefully used them 1t
came also because the adherents Of
Adams and CLAY were looked upon as
supporters Of a corrupt coalition. be-
cause there was a demand that the
arfstOcracy of officeholders be over
thrown; because the spells system had
for years prevailed in some Of the
states. and this election gave the sDOils
politician his chance; because the PEG
ple resented the idea that training and
experience, or that expert knowledge
were needed for the performance Of Of
fetal duty; because at the time there
was 2 clamorous and strident declara-
ton that one man was just as good as
another and just as much entitled to
Office. The causes and slgnlhcance OF
the beginnings Of the spells system can
| be seen by anybody who reads and I'M
! derstands the descriptions of Jackson
| Inauguration where a crowd Of people
pushed into the drawing rooms, elbow
| ing ambassadors and other foreign rep
resentatives, standing with muddy
shoes. on the danlask-cOvered furniture
China and glass" said an eyewitness
"fo the amount of several thousands
of dollars were broken IN the struggle
/ to get at the ices and cakes, though
punch and other drinkables had beer
/ carried out in tubs and buckets To tho
I people.p No one VIII deny that there
was something amiss IN this scramble
I for punch. and if he places important
offices in the place of ices and drinks
/ he will see the beginnings Of the sppil'