Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1906-04-27
Secretary ofthe Navy Bonaparte
Tells Why Good Men
Shun Office
THEY ARE GROSSLY uNpERpA'D
Then Too They Take Much RESPONSE
biIity for Which They Receive No
Adequate Return, With the Chances
Favorins Attack by Unprincip'ed
Persons.

Atlantic City, N. j., April 27.-Sec-
rotary of the Navy Charles J. Bona
parte, who is president Of the National
Municipal League, was the principal
speaker last night at the annual corr
vention of the league o being held In
this city. The number of delegates
present was the largest that has thus
far attended the present convention
Secretary Bonaparte took for his sub
ject;
why We Have Unsatisfactory Pub
lie Servants and How We Can Get
Good Ones" He said in part:
During the past ten months ! have
been led by my surroundings and my
duties to consider seriously and fire.
quently why our best men so often
shun political life and especially pub
Tic service, and the subject appears to
ME of such grave and urgent import
to the people that l venture to ask for
it or this occasion the mature con-
sideration of the league.
why do really first class men, as
a rule, shun public employment in its
higher grades? First, because public
offices Of great responsibility are gems
orally and grossly underpaid. A very
little thought should serve to show
that the trusts and the multi million
aires get what they pay for and we
get what We pay for likewisei the only
difference is that they are sufficiently
sensible to know that they must pay
for what they want in order to get 1t,
and we are sufficiently silly to think
we can get what we want without
paying its fair value.
"The American people cannot be just
ly called 'stingy.' For manual or
merely routine public work, we pay
as literally as any nation in the world;
at all events I know of none more gen.
erous. Why are we unable or unwill-
ing to act on the same principles of
common sense when we deal with those
of our servants who are also our ul-
ers? I believe this anomaly to be the
resultant of two popular prejudices.
A ViruIent Poison.
OF these the first is a diluted and
partially sterilized form of a virulent
and deadly social and political poison;
namely. the doctrine that all men Of
right ought to be, and should be so
made and kept equal. In its original
and salutary form as it found echo in
our declaration of independence, the
cry for equality was coupled with the
one for liberty" but it was quickly
seen that to make men more free
would make them less nearly equal.
that the fairer their start the more
quickly and surely some would come
to the front and others fall behind.
The second popular prejudice is the
fruit of a theory of government. Ac-
cording to this school of thought, but
one question need be asked about a
candidate for public office or an as
pirant for political power, namely: Is
he the man best fitted to govern in the
public interest? In this view, it is
quite irrelevant whether he will rule;
the matter in question is whether he
will rule we'll; the underlying assump-
ton of theory being that the strong.
brave and wise have a divine right"
to govern the weak, timid or foolish
without any regard to the relative
numbers of the two classes.
I'm accordance with the theory I
have mentioned, it has been the aim Of
constitutional legislation in many
states to exclude poor men from public |
office.
IF we are honest to ourselves and
not afraid to think the truth, then let
us own frankly that the first step to-
ward the needed reform will be to
recognize the laborer as worthy of his
hire, much or little.
Nov we can as readily get good
civil servants a W. can get good mill
itary servants; we can obtain legisla-
tive and executive officers of as high
grade as are our judicial officers or
even as these ought to be. A free peo-
pie has always as good a government
as it deserves. If it's rulers are UNI
worthy, it has shirked the duties and
burdens of free men"
BUYS FiNERY; WEEDS IN TATTERs