The Lexington intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1901-1949, 1903-10-31

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file Of the Democratic party are honest
and want good government There IS
however. a vicious minority which is
aver active. No good Democrat can
afford not to take an active interest
in public Affairs at this critical period
in the history Of the state. Every man
in A republic such as urs should De
a politician in the ems that he par
ticipate in the election Of the repre-
sentauves of the people. The trouble
has been there have been too few IN
politics for the public good, and too
many for revenue only. The nfst
duty Of every Democrat is to secure
the nomination of good men to once
The first action to this end is to at
tend all primaries and to select dele
gates that will fully represent the
will OF the people, That this may be
accomplished it is necessary that there
should be an organization forming
committees to determine the time,
place and manner Of slecting dele
gates. and which, when nominations
have been made, will direct the can
vass of the people that the voters
may express their sentiments fairly by
the ballot they cast. 1t is, therefore
of great Importance to select good
committeeman, honest men DESTROYS OF
their party's success-not seeking
their " aggrandizement or appoint
ment to office, but the welfare of the
people.
Organizations d~eteriorate into ma
chimes when they are controlled by
men who desire to use the party for
personal ends, regardless of the party's
welfare. Every party should have an
organization, but the best machine any
individual can have is the heart and
conscience of the people.
Elect Honest Representatives.
Thomas Jefferson once said, THE
time to guard against corruption is be-
fore it gets hold of us. 1t is better
to keep the wolf from the fold than
to trust to drawing his teeth and
claws after he gets in" One way to
guard against the wolf of corruption is
TO elect to the General Assembly only
men of known integrity; men not pas
sively honest, but actively honest.
Many men can be honest inactively,
but what we need in public affairs
Is men who can be honest in action.
Evil always comes out sooner DR. later.
If a mans character or life shows
him to be susceptible to corrupt lobby
influences, he should not be trusted,
no matter how capable he may be.
No capacity in a public official
attones for dishonesty. We need in
our legislative halls more aggressive
honesty. Brilliancy and wit in a leg
lslator are we'll enough, but common
rugged honesty is better. Select Dem.
ocrats as Senators and Representa-,
tives who will not tolerate a corrupt
lobby; men who will not allow the
touch Of an unclean dollar to con
taminate legislative halls; men who
will speak out and denounce corrup
ton when they find it; men who will
expose venality, not conceal 1t. Sc.
lect Democrats who will use their Of
fetal functions solely for the public
good. officials are trustees of an ex
pressed trust to be administered for
the public good, not for private gain
An official has no right to use the
powers given him for his W ends
He a embezzle the peoples power
as well as the peoples money. One
in public Office has no more right to
use his official functions for personal
ends than he would have to put his
hands into the public treasury to pay
a private debt.
C-ommendable to Punish Crime.
So long as the Democratic party
serves the public better than any
other party, it is entitled to credit fol
selecting faithful public servants, ant
it cannot escape responsibility fol
the unfaithful. No party has a mo
nopoly on the %virtuous; neither are
the vicious confined to one party. Tht
wedding out of public corruption
should be the mission of the Demo
cratic party. A Democratic law
breaker is no better than a Republican
law-breaker. l do not agree with tn
Republican statesman who, when toll
that both candidates for a certain
Office were r~ascals, said: well, VIII
is our damn rascal?" A rascal is n
less so by calling himself a Democrat
| believe in exposing and punishinI
Democratic rascals the same as Re
publican rascals; Democrats just
little bit more than Republicans, be
cause they should know better. o.
icials are not elected to prescott
only political opponents, but to enforc
the law %impaetially against all o.
tenders. The cloak of Democrat
should be torn from him who tries t
use 1t to hide his corruption.
wrong-doing exists, the sooner it
discovered and stopped, the better fc
the party and state. ! do not believ
in closing our eyes to corruption, fc
fear that by making a fuss about
the party might be injured. The onl
way to stamp out corruption is to h
II and hit 1t hard whenever and wher,
hRar Il shows itsalf Lot tho nnnnl