Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1906-07-06


tain Perry ran forward and lifted the |
ialien colors. and he almost instantly
was corpse. Then another soldier.
captain Murray. rushed forward and
grasped the flag. and he was shot dead.
Then Captain Moore entered that hail
storm OF bullets for the precious flag.
and he. too. dropped dead. Then four
or i've private soldiers met a like fate
and bit the blood soaked earth. Then
Lieutenant Nettleton. just as brave as
the rest. made dash for the precious
flag and bore IL to the rear.
Do you mean 20 tell me that those
men financially were adequately paid
for shedding their life's blood? Why.
some OF those men could have been
making their thousands of dollars Mt
home IL they had not enlisted In the
Union army. Yet some of those sol
diers for n mere pittance of SIC q
month. were ready to lay down their
lives for their country's defense. Now,
want to ask you this question, Are all
the heroes OF this nation dead? Nay.
believe men and women are Just as
ready to make sacrifices Hr their coun-
try now In these times OF peace as
they were In 1851 and 1912 and i77G.
And Z furthermore believe that the
most prominent citizens of our large
cities will serve Us In municipal Offices
IL we only go after them and call them.
In these civic problems which we have
to solve let us divorce municipal poll
tics from national politics. Then, in
the next place, let us nominate for our
city officers not the professional Office
seekers, but let us go TO our best mer-
chants and lawye rs and physicians and
say: Men, come and serve us. Come
and make our cities names honorable
In the sight OF men," And as Ameri-
cans. north. east. south and west, will
quickly volunteer their services In
times of war. so believe these promi-
nent merchants and lawyers and doc
tors-aye. and ministers-will come to
the rescue of our cities in times of
peace.
Look to the Conventions.
But we must not simply look at our
municipal candidates when we attempt
to rescue our cities from their present
political corruption. We must also
weigh carefully in the balance the men
by whom these candidates are being
selected. There is not one municipal
candidate In ten thousand who will an
nounce himself as candidate for a
city or county office, as did William
Travers Jerome for the district attor-
neyship of New York city. A man as
candidate for public office is in
evitably the candidate OF certain men
and belongs to the same class. IT'S
true that certain men. like Governor
Folk OF Missouri, may be better than
the men who nominated them, yet, as a
rule, in the political world the water
never rises higher than It's source.
When n man is nominated by a con-
vention for city office he is. as n
rule, 20 better and no worse than the
men who want TO elect him TO that
Office Therefore IL you would find out
the kind OF municipal candidates who
are running, all you have to do Is TO GO
among the men and find out what kind
OF men they are who want that can
didate elected. In other words, you
can nearly always judge man polit-
ically by the company he keeps.
During my ministerial manhood
have been citizen OF three OF the
greatest cities OF the country Phila-
delphia, Pittsburg and Chicago have
each been my home. have always
adhered to this custom to the letter:
When municipal election was taking
place / used TO walk through the lower
parts of the city. There I would care
fully scan the faces OF the different
candidates which the saloon keepers
put up In their windows. You will be
surprised to find that in nineteen cases
out or twenty these faces are always
the same In those saloon windows.
Then would always scratch the names
OF the men whose pictures I saw the
saloon keepers wanted. Birds OF n
leather nearly always dock together. IL
candidate for a civic office trims
with the saloon keepers and the dive
owners and the gamblers and the rep
rebates you ought 70 fight him. No
matter what ticket he may be on.
light him 10 nIs political DEATH
stand by Your -omcer..
This statement naturally brings me
to the last and perhaps the most i'm.
portant heading OF all the discussion.
IL you refuse to vote for man who
Is a candidate for municipal Office and |
whom the bad men want. then comes
the practical question: Are you and |.
as Christian men and church members.
ready 10 do our part in city politics and |
lend our personal aid TO the good men |
OK our cities who are trying to nomi. |
nate and elect good city attorneys and
good school boards and good poiice
commissioners. and good political heads
or our fire departments and honest men
who viii purge our municipalities OF |
corrupt;onf 1t is nonsense for minis. |
tiers 10 sit back In their ecclesia sticai |
robes and say, 1T Is not our business
10 touch city politics" When moral |
issue is at stake II Is the business OF |
the churches and the business OF all
church members to go 10 the prima r;es
and help nominate the men who ought
10 oe nominated and help elect those
honest men after they have been placed /
IN nomination 1t the members OF the
churches would only stand side by side
az tne ballot box and In the primaries |
as the saloon Keepers and the owners
or the places of evil resort stand side
by side. the day would not be far dis
tant when all cities would be redeemed
and purged OF politicaf corruption. even
as our United States courtrooms and
our national legislative halls havej
ceased TO be stencil in the nostrils OF
all decent people.
senator Hear's Testimony.
Thank God. 1 believe CIVIC nnrfeca-t
ton Is not far distant. 1t is almost mi
racuious to catalogue the rapid changes
winch nave come within the life of the
present generation in the publication
OK our national life. Senator George II
Hoar died in 1906. A short time before
he passed away he was asked this