Clinch Valley news. [volume] (Jeffersonville, Va.) 18??-2019, 1902-12-05
CHAMP CLARK STORIES
Interesting Discussion on
Heredity In Politics.

intellectual Capacity Not EQUAL I'm
Men = Sons Often Greater Than
Their Fathers-Instances Of the De-
scent Of AbiIity-The Two Adamses.
sayards and sauIsburys of Della
ware-Fiahts Among Brothers For
Political Preferment.
Copyright. 1902. by Champ Clark
One day in the cloakroom the yexed
question OF the transmission of certain
qualities from parent to offspring. both
IN the human race and among the low
or animals. was the theme Of converse
ton. 1t ranged all the way from the
Tad OF the eccentric Frenchman. who
had left large fortune i'm trust for the
purpose OF pr1pagating a race of giants.
to the breeding OF bobtail pups. Rumi-
nating upon what / heard, l collated
certain facts which may be of interest.
What jefferson Meant.
lis there any such thing as heredity
In American politicsT is question
which affords food for reflection TO
sociologists. philosophers and states
men. Evidently Thomas jefferson did
not intend there should be, for the en-
tire theory of our institutions is bot
toned on this famous dictum, Gan men
are created equal" He never meant.
as some hypercritical persons who
were either stupid or decidedly I'M
candid have tried TO make il apDear.
that all men have the same endow-
ments of mind, soul and body.
Such an assumption would have been
: prcpostcrOus. and most assuredly JEFF
ferSon did not deal i'm the prcposterous.
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 phi
loSOphy OF environment and how great
part luck or accident plays in the af-
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" in
! Guiding the women also. His immortal
saying contains the entire motive DOW
or OF that leveling process which has
been abroad in the world for more than
n century.
Z 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 a
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 n possible presidential
team.
1t Is true that John Quincy Adams
was an ADLER man than old John and
that General Benjamin Harrison easily
! outclassed 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 Sartoonists and furnished the
world with lots Of fun, but Il stirred
the heart o. many an old Wing who
could remember the log cabin cam
paisn and the rliyming battle Of
Tippecanoe
And Tyler too
Perhaps 49, who knows?-it was the
straw that turned the scale against
TIE 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 1913. and came near cap
turing the Liberal Republican nominal
ton 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 1.-The Sage
OF Chappaqua" he would have been
elected
His son. John Quincy, has been the
Democratic nominee for governor of
Massachusetts.
Four eayards In the Senate
Besides those already mentioned.
there are many other instances in our
annals where the tendency toward po
ltical 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 it 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 10y side in the senate of the United
States before the war.
For years-indeed. as the Romans
would have said, alb urbe condita-the