The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1906-04-17

4
from the mouth of the lamented Lin.
Icoln. as a basis for some remarks ap:
|propriate as ] believe to the present
time:
Let the reverence OF law be breath
ed by every mother to the lisping babe
that prattles in her lap; let it be taught
in the schools, seminaries and colleges
let it be written in primers. spelling
books and almanacs; let it be preached
from pulpits and proclaimed in legis-
lative halls and enforced in courts OF
Justice; in short, let it become the
political religion of the nation
When Lincoln was a boy, and lay in
front of the wood fire blazing on the
hearth. he read stories of patriotism
and of the heroes of the revolutionary
war. Even fifty years ago our school
libraries (and in Ohio, where I spent
my school days, every district had its
school library the favorite works were
stories of revolutionary war heroes.
Even the cheap literature of those days,
the dime novels, were of that class.
The great papers were patriotic and
leaders of thought. There was the
question of state rights, it is true, and
of African slavery, but, there was line
fof patriotism running through every
channel of thought expression. And
it was the boys born in those days who
were the heroes of the civil war, and
who have become the real statesmen
of the country. is .~.
\. The policies of men were attacked,
but generally they received credit for
integrity of motive. There were no
anarchists with blatant mouth preach
ing treason The editors and public
speakers were. generally men of char
,acter who believed in their government
and in the integrity of men. There
were few nillionaires and few paupers,
and the few of the lattersclass. were pro-
:vided for by the local government.
There was bitter partisanship. and if
a man changed his party allegiance then
he went from honest motives, convinc-
ed that the party policy was wrong,
and like the men of the revolution he
was ready to stake his fortune and his
sacred honor in support of the cause
with which he had become allied
Almost without exception the men
chosen to represent the people nova
days represent the better thought. The
great heart of the people beats in uni
son with TIE high and holy aspirations
of men, and is seeking by lawful means
to bring about better conditions, and
to correct errors which may have crept
into public administration of the laws.
or into the laws. But ignorance, an
archy, and avarice have invaded this
country and these are joined in a cru
-sade. against almost everything that is
decent, and those in official position, or
those who by reason of. their superior
power of organization have prospered,
are shining marks, and every little cur
OF anarchistlc tendencies who happens
to be running an alleged newspaper goes
shipping at their heels. This has gone
on to such an extent that almost every
man in office who has any spirit within
him begins to show his mettle and to
strike back as the whelps deserve. ID.
On Memorial day President Roose-
welt will have some things to say of the
scarlet journals, as they are now prop
erly classed, and are as disreputable as
the scarlet creatures in the slums, which
are seeking to create the impression
that practically all public men are cor
rupt. It is not true that dishonesty is
rampant in public places. A small per-
centage Of men are bad a small per-
csntage Of women are vile, but that is
not the rule, and the man who seeks
to convey the impression that his rep
Tesentatlves in congress-, his state aiI-
thorities are rascals is himself, most
likely, just what he claims to think
Others are. The villain sizes up prac-
tically all Others as being in his class,
only he thinks he is the smarter.
h Representative LongWorth recently
gave some red hot remarks on this
line. and insisted that one would think
from reading the kind Of newspapers
herein referred to. that politics means
graft and graft politics. He repud-
lated the idea that men like Knox,
Spooner. and Foraker are traitors, Just
because they disagree with him on the
rate bill, or others because they see
things iii a different light. He said
It seems to me that the fashion Of
assailing public men is amounting to
almost hysteria IF the government Of
our cities, Of our states, is shameful /;
If our judges are corrupt; if tile
United States senators are traitors,
what hope is there for this country
How Is it to continue to grow and
prosper? &
81 arm one of those who believe that
instead Of everything getting worse
things are getting better. am one
of those who believe that the standards
|of our public men are getting higher
instead OF lower that the standard Of