Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1902-07-17
The Hog Argument.

NSSHS Abi AHSb5 ASSN AZ WV
Tilden Club Of New York City gave to
a ~"Joseph's coat" collection OF poll
t~icians, the other day, was not alto
gether the success the founders OF the
feast expected. The great body of
Democrats throughout the country
look upon it as a ''hark from the
tombs" a~ssemblage, where they know
anything about it.
Grover Cleveland was there in full
dress and full voice, scarcely so orna-
mental as the stuffed pussie that used
to be seen upon the parlor mantle
pieces of tidy housewives a dozen
years ago, and not nearly so useful.
His speech abounded in the usual
platitudes for which he has become
celebrated. No one a tell what Mr..
Cleveland believes from what he says.
We defy any human being to gather
from his public utterances any clear
idea Of the principles he processes.
1t is our belief that he has none him
self. He can string together yards OF
platitudes; he can furnish you with a
large assortment Of vocabulary, but 10
enunciate a fixed policy or outline
definite legislation is wholly beyond
him. The one definite avowal; the
one clear cut proposition that his
speech contained-and the only one
will meet with the enthusiastic APP
prevail of every politician who has
been so long away from the public crib
that the different parts of his aliment-
airy canal are playing tag for lack Of
other employment. In substance it is
this: ''that the first essential of sue
cess and harmony in the party is not
principles, but victory"-that the first
thing to do is to get to the trough.
1t is superduous to add that this is
the old Hog Argument that peeps
through the cracks of every Republic
can speech made in the last ten years.
1t is the logic Of the full dinner pail
addressed to the Office seeker anxious
to break into the cornfield of Federal
patronage. Mr.. Cleveland judges men
from his own standpoint, and his is
the standpoint of the Republican party.
He does not believe there lives the
man who can resist a mess of we'll
seasoned pottage if he is hungry and
the odor is savory. He can no more
understand the man who is willing to
sacrifice his personal welfare or per-
sonal comfort for the public good, than
the mole can understand the IN
dulatery theory light. The man who
would refuse a million dollars be-
cause of conscientious scruples alone,
to him would be as great a curiosity as
the pig that would refuse to take an
ear of corn from a neighbours field be-
cause of the commandment Thou
shalt not steal"
The rank and file of the Democratic
party have come to understand Mr..
Cleveland. They know him to be
coarse, selfish and dull, without a
patriotic heartbeat, without a thrill
of sympathy for the great mass OF
common people whom his plutocratic
friends make 1t the business of their
lives to grind. They know that he
must be a dull, vain man or he would
understand the detestation with which
he is regarded by the great mass of
the party he betrayed, and remain in
his place of Punishment.
There can be no harmony between
such men as Cleveland, Hill and Cor
man and the great body Of Democrats.
They have nothing in common. They
are not Of the same way OF thinking.
They do not wish to accomplish the
same objects. How then can they
harmonizep They will not accept the
Hog Argument. There is something
nobler in genuine Democracy than
something TO eat and drink. 1t stands
for the principles of human liberty as
set forth In the Declaration OF Inde-
pendence. 1t stands for the equality
OF all men before the law; it stands
for opposition to monopoly Of every
sort. How then can it a~filiste with
Cleveland and the men behind him
With such men 1t has no part nor lot.
The organization will not endure for a
single campaign under their manage
ment.
From Annapolis.