Waterbury evening Democrat., 1903-10-30

national, state and mun1c1paf, the c0un- try over, and that every one of these is by necessity defender of the present system. You will notice that the prin- ciple of this question is exactly the principle at the bottom of civil service reform. The mayor of a city has a right to say, How absurd it is for you people to say that the clerk in the postoffice shall be chosen on his mer- it's without regard to his political be- liefs, while you yourselves put me in office, and all of my colleagues, for no reason whatever except our political beliefs. A clerk in the pOstofflce has just as much to do with party princi- ples as have" The principle that removes from party politics the ap- pointment of the clerk must eventually remove the election of mayor as we'll But to resume We thus find tremen- dous official influence in favor of push ing partisanship into fields where it does not belong. This is not all. Ev- cry corporation that wishes to get something for nothing, every bank that stands behind a corrupt and cor; rhpting trolley company or railroad will be found resisting non-Dartisan effort for good government. The sad dest part about the noble and trium- phant struggle that has been made in Chicago for purifying the city council there is the opposition on the part of many of the leading financial magnates of the city to the patriotic movement, and their sullen discontent under en- forced honesty. Finally, in fight of this kind, we are deprived of most of our natural leaders. This is consid- eration which retards, perhaps as much as anything else. the good time com ing. For every man with brains and ambition. with taste for public life. and a hope for fame and profit in that line feels, consciously or unconscious ly. that he must stand by his party. He knows that man may be pardoned by party leaders for any sin except the want of regularity. Then there are the thousands of able men in the erl- ploy of great corporations who cannot help feeling that conspicuous opDosi- tion to the powers that be- will be drowned upon by corporations that have much to hope and much to fear from these same powers. The system has it's power over the press; for edi- tors and proprietors may have Doliti-
 
 great corporations or may feel that public advertising depends on the sup port of party
 l Thus wn see that there are solid req sons for the power and tenacity Of. the present system. But when we seek 1 for arguments iu favor of it from req son and the public interest the search is not well rewarded.
 yTTt~.o 46o4 n proposes to change 1t is a crank and a I theorist and that the system never can he changed: it is imDracticafble. This, of course. simply dooms popular gov ernment 10 failure. It is an argu- ment of despair. We are next told that. a biz republican o, democratic vote@in Graftnp is necessary to encour- age the republicans or demoerats in the next national contest. This Is q proposition. you will see to sacrifice the vital interests of Grafton in order to indulge in 2 kind of a straw vote in national nolities. It Is the main argument of Tammany Hall in the des- perate life struggle it is now carrying on. It ignores a few facts taught by -exnerience such as that though Low was elected by thirty thousand votes in the municipal campaign of 1901. in tho following year in a straight party fight the democrats won by more than a hundred thousand votes. The com mon senso answer would be that if na- tionnl politics did not enter into Inc Grafton election neither republicans l nor democrats wonld be encol1ra ged or discou"aged Finally. you will some times 'oarD in confidential talk w'th 2 candid nnlitician. that sin his belief +hes" offices are. necessary to keep un the interest of the neopla in politics I have heard the. same argument for the sDoils system. which name in fart nav he taken +o covar fha party system in local nolitics. When man tells me that the hone for office is necessary to stimulate the natriotien of American citi7ars. why. 1T would that my tongue couid utter the thounh+s that arise in me" Nv toncue could cnrtainly not lrtter them hefore this audience. know of notbinR which has so stimu- lated the interest of The wrong kind of pecple and so killed the interest Of the right kind of people in politics as our present system. There is, plenty of patriotism. It is kept under by this misplaced partisanship. Put into local nolitics questions that have real lifc. Let the people consider. as they never have considered. questions of city gov ernment, and drop the consideration of national politics, and then sec whether the right kind of patriotic interest is dead or not. At an election here in Waterbury recently a question of ,eal local importance was forced into the contest You remember. perhaps. how it killed all interest in the struggle. We're the men who crowded to the polls that dav anxious to record their votes for tariff and exnansion. or were they there for law and order. for .Jotn Elt0n and all that he stood for i'll. Wa ta''bnrv? Was anybody deceived into thinking that Waterbury Is republican in national politics?