Evening star., 1901-10-18

| The trienniaI pastoral letter of the bishops
| of the Episcopal Church. which was read
at San Francisco yesterday, contained this
striking reference to the Buffalo tragedy:
I'VE must recognize that this awful
crime, thrice repeated within forty years,
Is the offspring of the spirit Of lawlessness
full grown to maturity and of malevolence,
and that other children of this same evil
spirit are close about US on either hand.
themselves the strength Of the family of
lawleSsneSs, who make possible and GER
tain these giant monsters whose deeds Of
violence have shocked our souls. The fail
ure of the citizen of a republican form Of
government to do his duty in the endeavor
to elect honest and true men to offices of
that government is the earliest political
manifestation of this pernicious life.
THE citizen who first selhshly refuses
his civic duty, and then in natural descent
along the easy path becomes the giver Of
bribeS and the corruptor of his fellows, is
himself degraded more and more in the
process. and the bottom is found wnen
civic rights and civic righteousness al
alike forgotten, when duty to his neigh
Dor demands performance, when protection
to weakness, the equality of free men, the
conservation of honesty are no longer the
ends of the government, but only the Sc
curing of peculiar. privileges for GLASS;
the comfortable enjoyment of a protected
license; when duty to man is forgotten be-
cause duty to God is denied.''
This call to the discharge of the duties Of
good citizenship is worthy of heed gener-
ally, but especially at this time in New
York and Philadelphia. In both of those
cities rottenness prevails In municipal con-
troll In the one case men calling them
selves democrats, in the other men calling
themselves republicans, are responsible.
The people are aroused, and in both cities
non-partisan movement Is in progress to
turn the rascals out" The issue is sharp
ly drawn. On the one side is crime eX-
posed and brazen, and seeking new lease
of opportunity. On the other side is char
acter, demanding good government and
showing plainly how it may be obtain ID
1t is but question of uniting and bringing
out at the polls in either city the men wEo
are its bulwarks. They are in the major
ity, and by acting together they may con-
troll it's affairs Divisions and neglect on
their part explain the municipal debauch
that has been going on at their expense
VIII they come together and take posses
sion of their own? Or will they remain di.
vided or Indifferent and let the Iooiers
hold on?
1t is an astounding revelation that so
many men, after achieving material pros
perity, neglect the duties Of good citizen
ship in the matter of elections. They ap-
pcdl " Dt FuOily luuiH6EeHC dS 10 flle con-
troll Of public affairs. They are never seen
at the primaries. They are unfamiliar with
the simplest processes of the caucus. If
suddenly called upon to preside over a po-
litical meeting they would feel lost in the
chair. They sometimes vote when it is en-
tirely convenient, but when it is not they
do not tax themselves with any delin-
quency. They wish for the best, and glance
at the election returns in next days paper
to see how the thing WENT
This spirit on the part of men of SUBJ
stance and intelligence is the inspiration of
the bosses, who make trade of politics.
1t smooths their pathway to control, and
opens the door for plunder. All they ask
is that the men with private interests shall
neglect public interests. The bosses with
their machines then proceed to make the
public interests their private interests, and
corruption Is established.