The Opelousas courier., 1905-07-15
Duties of the Good Citizen.

lueut hOOSeVelC. 1ne laLLef loses
no opportunity to remind the citi-
zens of the whole country of some
of their neglected duties, and has
frequently since his election given
them some excellent advice along
that line, which we are sure must
ultimately be productive of good
results. Others of lesser note
throughout the country, such as
Folk of Missouri, Weaver of Phil
adelphia, ETC., have both by pre-
cept and example recently incul-
Gated some very striking and for
chile lessons in good citizenship.
They were very much needed. Mr.
Bonaparte, who is nearly related
to the great Napoleon, and is an
intensely patriotic American be-
sides, evidently thinks so too. At
recent large gathering of Chris
tian Endeavorers at Baltimore he
spoke in part as follows:
1.-The underlying evil in the ad-
ministration of our public affairs
is simply dishonesty. Our public
Offices are too often held by dis
honest men, too often gained by
dishonest means, too often used
for dishonest ends. Of course, I
do not mean that all or major
lty, or even any large number of
our officials, take public moneys
or fraudulently waste public prop
erty. The great bulk of Ameri-
cans in public employ wish and
intend to. do their duty, but a
grave and mischievous, though
very common, confusion of ideas
as to what is their duty makes the
best of them sometimes fail to do
it, and permits the worst often to
neglect it with impunity.
"The error is rooted in the mis-
taken and immoral theory as to
the nature of the position they
hold. In law and morals alike a
public Office belongs toethe peo-
pile; its duties are fixed by the
peoples laws; its salaries are paid
with the peoples money.
Therefore every Office. created
either by the constitution Or by
the laws authorized by that in
strument is public trust created
for the public benefit. While,
however, few deny f1atly and open
" the truth of the doctrine thus
laid down, it is practically con-
tradicted every day and in all
parts of the Union for seventy
five years we have permitted our
public Offices to be treated as
mere loot in a political warfare,
not rs trusts belonging to the
people, but as 'spoils' belonging
|. to tho 'victors.'
'Civil service reform, in fact,
applies caustic to the very ulcer
in our politics in the application
of morality and common sense in
the choice of public servants. The
typical American politician de-
veloped by the spoils system OF
politics earns his living by hold
| ing, if he can get it, public
| Office in return for past or ex-
pected party work; to get rid of
him and his work we must thor
oughly eradicate from our own
minds and those of our fellow.
citizens the absurd and wicked
notion that offices are 'spoils.
This must be our first step if we
would purify our politics.
Nevertheless every man who
interests himself actively in the
good government of his city, who
tries to secure for it sufficient
police force and fire department
/ well-paved streets, judicious reg
ulatlons for the public health
public buildings in good repair
public schools in good working
1 order, and with all, low taxes anc
a dwindling debt; who does what
he can to enforce the law, punish
crime and safeguard the order
good morals and prosperity of ths
community, so far as these arr
entrusted to public officers, ever,
such man is engaged in politics !;
| is, in the Greek sense Of the word
a politician
1 'sBut if we mean by politics tht
trade of living ON the taxpayer
and getting rich at their cost, i
| is useless to consider how this oc
cupation can be purified.
/ "BetWeen the good and ba.
man in politics there is and shoul'
be a warfare without truce o
quarter; for whoever would nov
do good in any form to his fellow
!. men finds the degradation of on
political life a hindrance in hi
task. If he would protect th,
public health, wisely relieve want
| train youth, shelter the unfortu
nate, suppress vice or punisl
crime, you must deal with sth
4 boss and ring, and to do thi
allotted work we'll, must soone
or later sweep them from hi
path. He cannot, however, muc
as he would, let them alone, fo
they will not, indeed they canno
let him aleae= Could he and thos