The Prince George's enquirer and southern Maryland advertiser. (Upper Marlborough, Md.) 1882-1925, 1903-12-25
FITNESS AND CALIBHE.

shown especial fitness and skill tor any
particular line of work (vocation or avo
cation), on a small scale. that other things
being equal, he will rise to the occasion
when the scale increases. 1t also stands
to reason that a man who has not done SO
we'll in his smaller sphere, cannot be ex-
pected to develop any symptoms of great
ness when he gets to the larger field Of
action, if, indeed, by any injustice on for
tunes part, he ever gets to such a larger
field.
This is merely to suggest, in spite OF
the eternal fitness of things which was
made the theme of a recent editorial in a
Baltimore paper, in which Governor Smith
was belittled at the expense of the Hon.
Isidor Rayner, that perhaps the Governor,
having proven himself about dozen times
a better statesman here in Maryland than
Mr.. Rayner, it will not be safe, in spite Of
this Baltimore paper, to imagine that Mr..
Rayner will develop any alarming symp-
toms of "fitness" in Washington.
Diplomacy has been referred to as one
of the Honorable MI. Rayner's superlative
qualifications! Has any Marylander seen
signs of any sort of this being one of his
traits? Has this campaign, on which he
is now engaged, shown him to be a past
grand master at the art of diplomacy?
Has he not rather ~antagonized, with prod
igal recklessness, every man in this State
1ph~ orn1I hovo hoop of tho c1irhtacf cor
vice to him? Is it not a fact that Poe and
Smith and Jackson and Miles, and as
many more candidates as there are, want
first to defeat Rayner, then to elect some
one else? Has Mr.. Rayner one single
solitary chance of gaining strength
through the withdrawal or the friendship
of any of these men?
Jackson wants to be elected, and is
wants to beat Rayner, however, and will
do everything in his power to elect Smith
if he finds thai he cannot be the Senator
himself. Smith feels the same way, favor
ing Jackson instead of preference to Ray
ner. Miles is in precisely the same condi-
ton. Talbot cannot say enough uncom-
plimentary things about Mr.. Rayner. Poe
withered him with as beautiful a specimen
of sarcasm as one often sees; and if he
develops any strength it will 60 to Smith
in preference to Rayner, his fellow Balti-
morean. Rasin favors Jackson, but he
infinitely prefers Governor Smith to Ray
ner. If Senator German has any prefer
ence or feeling for Rayner, it has not
been made manifest. The city delegates,
even the ones Who are going to stick t"
Rayner until after the first ballot, are not
friendly to him, and sheer at him openly
on all occasions. 1t is doubtful if there
has ever been more open hostility to any
democratic candidate. He hasn't a single
sincere friend who can be Of any service
to him. And yet this fitness" editorial
lauds Rayner on his skill as a diplomat!
1t speaks of other qualifications: if Mr..
Rayner's intellect is we'll trained-this
Baltimore paper infers that it is-it has,
nevertheless, shown signs of being un-
balanced during the past two months. If
he has a thorough knowledge of political
history, he has shown a lamentable igno-
rance of the rules for applying it. If his
knowledge Of international law and his
ability to comprehend and discuss abtruse
problems are great, they have never helped
him to any great extent as a statesman
or as a lawyer, since his great cases have
gone against him more often than in his
favor. But, and here justice must be
done, his knowledge of economics ought
to be great. He has parted with SIS, 900
here of late and expects to be paid a Sen
atorship for it, while the other candidates
have been so ignorant of these economi-
cal laws as to spend ten times as much
each, in their efforts for the same thing.
Yes, Mr.. Rayner's economics are first
class, and on this ground, at least, he is a
fit candidate, if this is a test of fitness.
The editorial goes further and wakes
eloquent on "Mr. Rayner of Maryland"
on committees of national Importance,
and speaks of how all eyes will rivct them
selves on this illustrious M%arylander"
when he rises to speak. Even this paper
in its three column puff of Rayner (sent
from Washington praising his Congress
sional career remained as silent as a tomb
with regard to his committee work while
in Congress. How does this paper know
that he will be such a light on Senatorial
committees? If he succeeded in all his
Congressional service in getting on any
committees, why was his organ SO quiet
about it? Was his work there not worthy
of notice, even in this, his own paper?
How does this great Baltimore journal
know that he will even be put on Sena-
torial committees? Does this paper know
of a certainty that it will hear of "Mr.
Rayner of Maryland" in conference with
foreign "big-wigs' on national questions?
All this keenness of perception which
induces such an editorial is marvellous,
just as is the perception which points out
with ~unwavering hand that "all the people
favor Rayner." The county papers,
twenty-five in number, favor Governor
Smith and only ten of them favor Mr..
Rayner. These papers, in that they
represent with almost unerring accuracy
the sentiment of the people in whose in
terests they are published, are like feath-
ers in the wind. And the State press
chronicles anything but an overwhelming