Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1903-10-22
CLEVELAND'S SPEECH.

mere Is no man IN the world TO
! day whose speeches are looked fol
Or listened to with greater or more
| general interest than are those O.
Grover Cleveland. For coupled
with the gift of eloquence he has the
| rare gift of silence. And as the one
mOlds and gives direction to his
thoughts, so the other is the watch
guard upon them and tells him what
not to say.
Perhaps the curiosity as to whether
he is going to talk politics or not as
sures him part of his attention, but
the major portion of his audience is
always attracted by the certainty
that no matter what his subject may
be Cleveland will have some mes
sage well worth the listening to. His
position in the world to-day is uni
que. His experience, his position
and his personality give q weight to
his utterances and an importance,
even when he speaks on general top
les, which even the official manifes-
toes of presidents and premiers are
often lacking in. And he should be
happy statesman, though retired
one, who has won to the altitude
where he may deal in glittering gen
eralities or not just as the fancy
strikes him.
Cleveland spoke in Chicago last
week on the topic of 'Good Citizen
ship" 1t was vivid and charac-
teristic setting forth of the truth that
it is not only the privilege, but the
duty of every citizen to become a
politician. He said:
''It is time that there should be an
end of self-eatIsfied qualification, or
pretense of virtue, in the phrase L
am not a Politician and it is time
to forbid the prostitution of the word
to sinister use. Every citizen
should be politician enough to bring
within the true meaning of
the term, as one who concerns him.
self with 'the regulation or govern
ment of a nation or State for the
preservation of its safety, peace and
This is politics in it's
best sense, and this is good citizen
ship"
There is nothing new in the
thought. But it is one which can
not be too often enunciated.
The safety Of the nation-a some
what shopworn phrase, but good
one-lies in keeping politics from
falling to the level of a struggle be-
tween crafty and cynical spoilsmen
for the opportunity of looting the
people. The men in every plane of
life must become politicians; practi-
cal politicians in the highest sense
of the word. It is only by graphing
with the grafters in actual hand to-
hand conflict that victories may be
won for civic purity. Theories fired
from the batteries of political eco
at long distance may ap-
pear like bOmb-shells to those who
throw them, but they explode with
the harmlessneos of puff balls.
1t is the element of personal sell
fishneos that keeps many good men
out of politics. 1t is much easier to
stand by and say that all is wrong
than 1t is to pull off ones coat and
help to make it right. 1t is also the
element of personal selfishness that
makes for something of laxity in
the moral fibre of many a man who
politics with the highest mo-
tives and aspirations.
Politics will be absolutely pure
when human nature changes. Never
theless, it can be made much clean
eT; and that only in the way which
Grover Cleveland outlines. 1t is
good idea to keep agitated, and
9 eveland makes it the keynote Of
his speech. When we use the term
''agitated" in connection with Mr..
it is to be understood that
we consider him an 'sagitator' as We
consider him a 'politIcian"--in the
highest and best sense.
Louisville, KY, Oct. 15.-George
Duncan. a LAWYER of New York CITY.