The Waxahachie daily light. [volume] (Waxahachie, Tex.) 1894-current, 1904-03-19
RANDOM THOUGHTS
NJ
WILL II. MAYEs

Will II. MlYEs

NAL office seeking fever is on the
! people 20 earnest. - stTss that
office holding has such fascination
for so many people. Every two
years people from every walk OF life
start out IN quest of some public
position. Farmers, good farmers
too, leave their plows, neglect their
crops, and spend month after mouth
going up and down the country So
Letting votes. Business men turn
over their stores to the clerks and
take to the woods to beg for support;
! lawyers lock their office doors 20
seek the voter in the fields; doctors
desert their patients to drive out
among the dear people,; teachers
turn from their school rooms to
button hole men with poll tax re-
ceipts; and even preachers called of
God to minister in holy things quit
their pulpits in the mad rush for Of
/ fee
At best about one man in six can
be elected. The other five are sure
to meet defeat. AS a game OF
chance there is nothing else, unless
it be the lottery, where returns are
so uncertain. Every day spent in
complaining and every dollar spent
in a race is spent at a risk Of loss.
1t matters not how popular man
may be be has no certainty of his
election. He may count his staunch
friends by the thousand, but he
can't place much confidence in how
~ - vi, 79e5. ssioy may 10 iifvuus
of the other fellow, too. They may
think that he is not peculiarly fitted
for the office. They may also think
and often correctly too, that to elect
him would be the worst thing that
could happen to him. The least
little thing will decide, or will
change the vote OF the average man.
An election to office is not test of
the popularity or OF the comparative
ability of the candidates. There is
no certain way in which any man
can figure on the results of any cam
pal yn. 1t is game of chance,
which is likely TO turn almost any
way.
This desire for office, once fasten-
ed on man, il hard to shake loose.
Ii il a great deal like the mania for
money making. Once deeply i'm
planted ia a man, it seems to stay
with him as long as he has enough
life left to get out among the people.
1t is mental disease with some
people, craving for position Of
souae kind. Very few men, except
professional politicians, are Actual
ed by the money to be made from
the office, for most men who can
holds out but scant financial induce
meuts. Look about you and see
how many men have made and
saved money out ofthe offices which
they have held. They are almost as
scarce as birds teeth. Occasionally
you find "a man in Office who has
made money, but il you Will iuvesti-
gate you will find that the money
was not made from the Office, but
from outside trading or from other
business interests. 70 be success
ful in keeping an office, il is ueces-
sary that a man spend about as
much as he makes, and If he can
keen expenses within his income be
usually considers himself pretty
lucky.
Now and then a man wants an Of
fee for the spoils In it, but iu our
state this is the rarest exception.
Very few Texans comparatively
have ever abused the trust placed In
them by the people. When they
have done so, it has in most cases
been discovered, the office holder
exposed and bis political life ended.
The opportunities for official abuses
ia Texas have not become So plenti-
ful as iu many states, and If the
t'FtEh A'tAt ktt ~ ttt So pa al tAfFt as
they have been ia their selection OF
officers and ln their punishment of
official wFoug-doers, there will
never be that corruption that has
iisgraced few states, There las
been "a great deal of publicity lately
given the domgs of some Of our of
ticials, ana regardless OF The weight
of the charges, they will, help In
purifying the political atmosphere,
No officer should be above criticism,
and that which can be met aud re-
rated does no harm.
The man who has never been able
Ga break into office, will IL De ever
succeeds, find that be has not wan
dered into pathways Of flowers al
together. There is about As much
hard work, worry aud disAppoiut-
msnt IA q public position as iu any
other place ia life, and unless his
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