The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1904-08-12
POLITICAL
ambition

lIVIBI l IUIV
ssf Is der, a Pittsburs Dispatch.)
one Of the strange things Of this.
fgS VI IS the way political ambftion
I'M arps "a man S finer sensibilities and
the nv ay 1T makes him disregard du-
ties which startleS him when he
Sesnerges from the political fog. He
seems to be utterly foreign to reason,
and he finds himself often and al
most always IL, that state where he is
helpless, althongh he knows that
those surrounding him are disloyal-
And yet, somehow or another, politi-
zeal ambition prevents him from sever
connection With the disloya1 ones,
who become more than ever faithless
To their task THAT'S one reason
why sensible friends of successful
Cuisines men strive to prevent those
Ssuccessful business men from becom-
ing Tins: of that incurable disease
called political ambition.
Theresare now, and have been,
man m en#in Pittsbnrg who have
been victims Of the dread scourge.
any Of them have acquired wealth,
but III that wealth there appears to be
sonnet hing entirely lacking. They find
at they are being consumed with
desfre to become great politicians.
They realize their own Importance in
the n ercantile world. There are few
business men who do not.
They figure ott5th they would cas-
sassil be able to stampede the political
lights of hercommunities if once
Ithey entered the arena. OF course,
ssaH who have been successful in bust
ness and who banker after politics
#say III they loathe the worker
seek rather the mpanionship of
statesmen. They figure that inasmuch
AS they are captains of industry they
are surely captains of craftsmanship.
us an easy stretch of the magma
sstion#when exceptional success in bus
mess makes plenty Of room within
ones head for a play of that imagi-
natio
ss#.$I is the desire to become statesmen
that leads successful captains of in
St1ustry into the political ambition to
zwears5th toga. 1t is more refined,
YOU know, to step into the Senate
from the business mountain top than
30 limb the long ladder, the lower
srungs (Which are imbedded in the
Ssmire- The last Senatorial fight was
IAN interesting struggle to those be-
hind the scenes in the newspaper Of
fee: Political ambition appeared to
blunt the supposed finer feeling Of
some There We're innumerable can
lidates. The newspapers know con-
of more political ambitions
u m the direction of the Senatorship
than ever the public sdid. The reason
& was the booms of some failed to
$ripen
twas natural that the candidates.
hoWeYer.s should first seek the support
s9of the newspa pers. That is what
some Of them did. 1t was a peculiar
81 thing too, that political ambition had
4 such an effect on some of the candi-
dates that.they could not be told that
sSSt heir chances Of success were slim.
Each felt that he was the chosen of
sPenTose. AT least that is what some
ss8of them said behind the scenes.
There were some who were SO borne
5saHay#by their political ambitions that
they forgot, for the moment, the times
when tley&sought to ruin the proper
y Ties of those whom they We're now ap-
preaching for favors. But that was
political ambition.
Some sought the Senatorship in a
di gnified way. Some rested entirely
supon5their abilities. There were 9TH
III ers who based all upon their business
success. There were more who build
ed all upon what they thought they
had done for their party, and then Il
fews who thought they should possess
81 the toga for what those whom they
ere employing had done for the
& sder@W who had laid down the toga
with his death. 1t was strange how
s8l5bsIsiness5 was forgotten in the mad
plunge OF political ambition.
There We're some with whom the
"a stockholders of large corporations
sss had placed the duty of managing. their
interests who bent every energy to
satisfy their political ambitions at a