The Montgomery advertiser. [volume] (Montgomery, Ala.) 1885-1982, 1904-06-09
ARE WE BETTER OR vonsrt

To talk about morality In politics
this day of political grating and spell
binding. The paramount object with
politicians and political parties, to the
ordinary observer. is success and moth
ing else. Certainly methods are
adopted by otherwise good men to fur
Their political aspirations that would
not be countenanced for an instant In
business transactions, and no one
seems to see anything wrong In II.
Probably so many are guilty of like
methods. or would be guilty II occa-
sion demanded. that there are none to.
cast stones at others.
Is the country growing worse in this
respect? Probably most people would
answer that question in the Affirmative.
and probably they would be wrong. II
we go back to the days of Adams and
Clay. Of Jefferson and Monroe--even to
the time OF Washington, and read what
was written and printed of the states
men and methods of those days we
shall find as much bitterness and re-
elimination, as much suspicion. and as
many charges of bargain and sale and
corruption as we can in the present
day. There were giants in those days,
but their political methods were far
from sanity, or else history has
strangely misrepresented them.
II we will go back one-third of
century and little more and study
the history of the reconstruction era
we will be ready to admit that there
has been a decided change for the bet
ter. We cannot put 1t better than by
adopting the language of the vener-
able Senator Hoar. who says. speaking
of his entrance into public life in 1869:
When think of the conditions which
prevailed then and for the few years
following-Tweed intrenched in power
in New York; fve Judges of the Uni
ted States courts fleeing from Office I'M
der threats of impeachment for COR
ruption; the Credit Mobilier scandals:
ae the oShyns the ths bo
civil service treated as patronage by
powerful political leaders; the report
of the Committee on Military Affairs
in the House recommending the expul-
sion of four of it's members for MAX
ing sale of their privilege of selecting
youths to be educated at our great
military school: the Impeachment for
corruption of four Judges in New
York; the whiskey frauds. in which
the private secretary of the President
was compromised the Belknap i'm
Senate SAYING to another, when he had
declared he could find no steal in a
pending measure. that II the Senator
could find no steal in 1t. it was not
l. al - hA EerI,A % q.
lican leaders in Massachusetts, detected
In State prison offenses, three convict
ed, two escaping on technicaiities, two
others fleeing from the Commonwealth
not only In another age. but in anoth-
er planet. We are wont to consider
the first sixteen years under the con-
John Adams and Jefferson's first ad-
ministration~-as a simple and honest
age. But some sad stories can be told
of those days.
When we remember that the vener-
able Senator is a staunch Republican,
and that all this black page of our
history was written during the Grant
administration when the Republican
party was in absolute control of the
government, we will be prepared to
admit that Mr.. Hoar has not over
stated the case against his own party.
Those were probably the foulest days
in the political and off1cial history of
the Union. and we think it is safe to
say that our politics as well as our Of
fetal life is better now than then. In
short. while there is much to be de-
plored in our present methods the
times are not really worse than at
some periods in the past. If we are
not as good as we might be we are
better than we have been at some 9TH
err times. There is still such a thing
as political morality to be found
among us.