The times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1897-1901, 1900-10-29

publican boss once consulted through III
correspondence department OF TIL
Ladies Home Journal" The idea Of ;
romantic and sentimental friendship be
tween Mckinley and Hanna. with the de
votion all on Hanna's side. is certainl!
peculiar. There is proverb in tn,
French language that in-affairs CT tn,
heart, 1.-The one must kiss. while the othel
offers the cheek" but nobody ever sus.
| pected that it applied in just that va!
to the Mckinley Hanna syndicate.
The writer proceeds:
"No better evidence may be found today tina
| the United States has representative government
| than is found in the dominance Of Hanna in tn
majority political party in this nation Hanna
| representative American Mr.. Bryan
emotional, fanatic, raw. represents America
moments when mob spirit RACES
This is funny: Mr.. Bryan. the calmest
most self-controlled of men. never TOT
worried to be courteous. never too busy t.
answer question, is contrasted will
Hanna, VINO has just been described a!
storming and roaring with the mob, ant
whose conduct on the speakers stand IL
this campaign has been marked by any
thing but the nimble-witted sense o
| humor, and the calm self-command which
| Mr.. White ascribes to him.
| Mr.. White is rather tiresome toward the
last. but If one will pick out the consistent
parts of his article, and piece them to.
gether. the admissions and statements
made therein are found to be worth serious
consideration. The general view of MT
White is that Hanna Is the business man
in politics. the man who makes theory
subserve practical ends, who considers
that business is not only business. but
politics as well. and that philosophy is
disconnected with the latter as a chicken
should be disconnected from a horse-rake
when it is taken out. OF the barn. The
chicken may do the rake no harm by
perching en- it when 1t is not in use, but
neither chicken nor rake should be sl-
lowed to interfere with the moving
This view is undeniably held, whether
thoughtlessly or otherwise. by a great
many people in this day and genera ton.
and the time has come to discuss the
question whether 1t Is really or only
specifically practical one. Should
commercial interests dominate the policy
of the nation? Should men whose educa-
ton has been received in the factory and
the counting house. who have amassed
great fortunes by strict and uncompro
missing devotion to their own interests,
be entrusted with the destinies of the
people? In short, is self Interest, and
that alone, a safe motive principle for the
American statesman?
There is radical and -irreconciiable diff
ference between the statesman by profess
sion and the statesman of business. and it
is a difference which affects the country.
The former parsonage knew that his sue
cess depended upon his ability to command
large following, and these constituents
must be attracted to him not through fear
or the constraint of financial interest, but
through confidence In his wisdom and char
acter. There was thus a check placed. at
the very outset, upon his ambition. He
could not safely cross the will OF the men
who elected and supported him. He might
do so in a case OF conscience, and in the
end lose nothing. but 1t was unsafe for
him to make use Of them merely to serve
his own ends Upon the statesman of busi-
ness there is no such check. He Is man
Of great wealth, and that alone gives him
power, whether he dabbles in politics or
not. His position is secure. and it may be
to his advantage to coerce the people rather
than to obey their wishes. II he can do
this, or deceive them, through the free
use OF his money or his business oppor-
tunities, and thus obtain control of the
State Legislature or of Congress, it is not
possible to check him. The people must
ride on his car line. or use his flour. or
his coal. or iron. or steamships. in order
to live their own lives. II, then. such
man has no ideals beyond the making of
none, if he regards theories about the
rights of man and the principles of good
is to prevent him from becoming huge
demoralzing and corrupting influence?
There is absolutely no hirdrance in his
way, except the possibility of a rival in
his own lire. and such rivals rarely spring
up when business is a well-established
This is ccmmercialism in poll
tics. and Hanna, as described by Mr.. White.
it. Has the time come when we are ready
to shut out of American life all civic ideals
except those directly affecting the pocket
book? Are we prepared to endorse with
the accents of fifteen millions of voters
Walpole's cynical maxim that every man
has his price? Was jefferson a dreamer
and Lincoln a fanatic? True. Lincoln was
a man of the people, and not naughty. but
he had breathed the air of politics ill his
life, and had from boyhood studied and
thought over the principles Of statesman
ship. Hanna. by his own account, took no
active interest in politics until late middle
life, and then only because il affected his !
private concerns. He went into the bust !
less of making a President, as an amateur
levoting all his energies TO that one end, |
because he believed 1t would help his bust |
ness Which is to be tho example of the !
'oung men OF America, the man who places |
business first and citizenship second. or |
he man who. when he exercises the rights |
If a voter, is willing to subserve his pri- |
'ate interests 10 the welfare of the COM |
nunity9 Which is the ideal American, the
.yerage man of this country apotheosized-
lincoln, or Hanna?
1t is perhaps lucky for Mr.. Mckinley
hat the Paris Exposition scandals have
'een SO we'll suppressed until now that the
public will not know enough before the
Presidential election to be affected polt-
cally by them. The accounts of erpcndi-
ures which are coming In from Peck the