The commonwealth. (Scotland Neck, N.C.) 1896-1929, 1906-11-29

One of the most dramatic scenes !
that ever transpired in court OF |
Justice was that wherein the Roman |
governor PLATE yielded tn the de- |
! mands Of the mob seeking the life |
of Christ The siee!y aid siipperJ
politician, goaded to decision by an &.
attack upon his political ambition,
called for a basin OF water, and bath
ing his hands in the presence OF the
human wolves crying out for blood,
he washed away all personal COM
plicity in the crime, and then signed
the death warrant.
The ACT OF Filate was calm, clear
| headed, deliberate, calculating bru-
tality. All men eXecrate Judas, who
betrayed his Master, for the price OF
a slave, but he acted as he did be-
cause he was incapable OF acting
from any higher level. plate was
man Of clear conception, OF large
education, CT higher organization.
He had come to great prominence
through natural and acquired abn-
1T. re vas not q fanatic, he WIS
not Blinded nor infuriatHd. He knew
that he had before him an innocent
man. He knew that the enemies CT
Christ were infamous. But he was
politician first, last and all the time,
and the moment the mob lanced him
With the threat 'If thou let this
man go, thou art rot Caesars
friend" he sold Christ rather than
to lose his own political prestige
His reputation at Rome was mere t0
him than conscience or character.
He knew that damaging complaints
against him had already gone Up u
Caesar, and the threat that they
would accuse him If taking the part
Of Il man who claimed 10 he a rival
Of Caesar. was tie fatal stab. Ana
the coward, hypocritiCal venai gov
ernor bribod, not in his hand Eor II
his head, but in his political ambL-
ton dramatically washed his haaQ'
Of the whole matter.
There is your politician, full
| length portrait. Do not conio"nl
politics. and statemar5hip. There i;
nothing a politician VIII not 90 ID
hold his job. He is usually a Fe-
neered expert who has 40 conscience
to be disturbed or warped, al moral
qualities he looks up0n as q Ganbler
looks upon cards, to be Shuf-ed, ana
PLAYED according to the eXeSenc1Gs
of the game, who can play II any
way because the cards are marked.
To win in the political struggle ne
will cut the throat Of his best friend,
and smile while he is doing II.
Among his office furniture PLATE :
wash basin holds prominent place,
and whenever he has, by the HANDS
Of others, done a particularly dirty
lob he washes his fingers with inVls.-
BILE soap in invisible water, winks his
eve, and says, well, | am not re-
sponsible. 1t was the committee, or
the caucus, or the convention
How mean Plate looks when you
get him under the microscope. And
how large other men look by con
| trast Politics is the science OF gov
ernment, and it need not be cess
pool. It ought to be true that the
voice of the people is the voice ol
God, but it is not except occasion
ally. The voice of the people IL
Christ's day was "Crucify Him
Cruelty Him. That was the yolci
Of the pit, of anarchy, OF lynch law
of assassination. And he who should
have stood as bulwark Of good gov
ernment against it, bent like
reed before the storm, and to saw
his own political head, and hold hi
place at the public trough, allowed
the blood of an innocent victim T.
bespatter the judicial ermine. Was
his hands, indeed. There was no
water enough in the multitudinou
seas to cleanse the stain.
This theme is of practical import
ance to the times in which we live
What this age demands is men c
nerve; men of unfinching loyalty
men who cannot be bribed or brC
ken: men who can be defeated, bu
who can not be compromised; me
who cannot be frightened by threat:
nor wear the collar of boss; me
who will not crook the hinges {
the knees, that thrift may folio
fawning; men whom the newspaper
cannot lombard out of their rugge
independence; men who can see tn
interests of the whole country, 6
we'll as the little section they repre-
sent: men who will not keep silene
in the presence of great iniquitie
though countenanced by their coz
Gtituents.
Statemanship, in all countries, ca
point to such men. When the angl
rassicns OF the multitude have rise
about them, they have held the
Cod-giyen position, though lii
ocean billows, gnawing at the ba'
ana rolling over the tops OF e
lighthouse, the steady light Shin
on. before, during and after Il
storm. These are the beacon igh
"a that conduct the world to libe"t
To dodge responsibility, that w
the aim of PLATE. How much OF tn
spirit there is in the world. Tain
CT are done by committees, by trusted
OF by boards of directors, by organic
ch lions, that no man would dare to
-, alone, and each man washes I
hands and says, MY resDonslDill
az Is so small it is practically nothing
he But he deceives himself. When G.
ad Is done, every man is bound to pr
ho- test against it, and if he does not
it. and allows it to go on, he is gull
7iy of the whole transaction. Come
hg think of it, there are a good ma
people nowadays who use P1lat