Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1902-10-17
CHAMP CLARK STORIES
Interesting Discussion on
Heredity In Politics.

bayards and SauIsburys Of Della
warc-FIghts Among Brothers For
Political Preferment.
Copyright. 1901. by Champ clark.l
One day in the cloakroom the vexed
question OF the transmission OF certain
qualities from parent to offspring. both
In the human race and among the low
er animals. was the theme OF conversa-
ton 1t ranged all the way from the
lad or the eccentric Frenchman. who
had left large fortune I'm trust for the
purpose or propagating a race Of giants.
to the breeding of bobtail pups. Rumi-
mating upon what l heard. | coIlated
certain facts which may be OF interest.
What jefferson Meant.
lis there any such thing as heredity
In American pOlitlcsf" Is a question
which affords food for reflection to
sociOiogists, philosophers and states
men. Evidently Thomas jefferson did
not intend there should be, for the en-
tire theory OF our Institutions is bot
toned OH this famous dictum. IAN mon
are created equal" He never meant.
as some hypercritical persons who
were either stupid or decidedly un-
candid have tried to make IL appear.
that all men have the same endow-
ments Of mind, soul and body.
Such an assumption would have been
preposterous, and most assuredly JEFF
ferson did not deal In the preposterous.
With his exquisite intellect he could
not have thought that the chances of
all men for political preferment are
equal. He understood too well the NH.
iosophy Of environment and how great
part luck or accident plays In the az
fairs OF men.
What he meant and all he meant was
that all men are endowed by nature
with equal political rights, and am IN
clined to think he used "men" as a ge-
neric term, like the Latin homo" I'm.
Guiding the women also. His immortal
saying contains the entire motive pow
er OF that leveling process which has
been abroad In the world for more than
u century.
The Adams Family.
When the constitution was adopted.
so thoroughly did the idea of heredi-
tary political honors appear to be ex-
ploded In this country that the prophet
would have been hooted at who pre-
dicted that In the first century OF con-
stitutional government a father and n
son OF one family and a grandfather
and grandson OF another would all be
presidents OF the republic. while the
sons OF two other presidents would be
mentioned as a possible presidential
team.
1t Is true that John Quincy Adams
was an ADLER man than old John and
that General Benjamin Harrison easily
outciasSed General William Henry
Harrison. But no man who regards
truth and who takes cognizance OF the
doctrine OF cause and effect will for
one moment believe that the younger
Adams and the younger Harrison
would ever have been president had
not their illustrious ancestors held that
exalted station. "Grandfather's hat
was great thing for photographers
and cartoOnists and furnished the
world with lots OF fun, but u stirred
the heart OF many an old Wing who
could remember the log cabin cam
paign and the rhyming battle Of
Tippecanoe
And Tyler too.
Perhaps knows?-it was the
straw that turned the scale against
the New Yorker and in favor OF the
Hoosier.
John Adams and Abigail. his wife.
transmitted their talents, tastes and
ambitions farther than any other pair
In American history. They must have
been an ideally mated couple. Two
Adamses, old John and John Quincy.
were presidents. These two and Charles
Francis. son OF John Quincy, were
ministers TO the court of st. James.
Charles Francis was the Free Soil
candidate for president. with Martin
Van Buren,. in 1S4S. and came near cap
turing the Liberal Republican nomina-
ZION for the presidency which Horace
Greeley received in 1872. A great many
wise men believe to this day that had
he been nominated instead OF THE Sage
OF Chappaqua" he would have been
elected.
His son. John Quincy, has been the
Democratic nominee for governor OF
Massachusetts.
Four 5ayards In the Senate.
Besides those already mentioned.
there are many other instances In our
annals where the tendency toward Do
litical life and the ability to succeed
therein have descended from father TO
son. In all fairness IT should be stated
that In many cases the sons are OF
greater ability than their fathers.
In antebellum days 1t was common
enough for sons to ultimately succeed
their fathers as representatives OF
southern constituencies.
The two Dodges the father from
Wisconsin and the son from Iowa. sat
side by side in the senate of the United
States before the war.
For years-indeed. as the Romans
would have said. alb urbe condita-the
senatorial office in Delaware was he
reditary In the Bayard and Salisbury
families
-Four Bayards have sat In the senate
James A his two some nicl,o.,{ ID