The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1907-04-22
CHAPTER XxxIil.
A "Spasn Of Virtue,D

CHAPTER xxxIif.
A "Spasm Of Virtue"
i forced upon Goodrich my place as
chairman of the national committee
and went abroad with my daughters,
We stayed there until Scarborough
was inauzurated. He had got his
nomination from q con vention OF men
who hated and feared him. but who
dared not Aout the people and ding
away victory; he had got his election
because the defecesons from our ranks
In the doubtful states far outbai-
anced Goodrich's extensive purchases
there with the huge campaign-fund OF
the interests. The wheeIhorse. Parti-
sanship, had broken down, and the
leader, Piutocracy, could not draw the
chariot to victory alone.
AS soon as the election was over.
our people began to cable me to come
home and take charge. But / waited
until Woodruff and my other faithful
lieutenants had thoroughly convinced
all the officers of the machine how
desperate its plight was, and that
alone could repair and restore, and
that / could do it only il absolute
control were given me. When the
ship reached quarantine Woodruff
came aboard; and, not having seen
him in many months, l was able to
see. and was startled by. the contrast
between the Doc Woodruff / had met
on the train more years before than l
cared to cast up. and the United
States Senator Woodruff. high in the
councils of the party and high in the
esteem of its partisans among the
people. He was saying: You can
have anything you want. senator"
and so on. But I was thinking OF
him. of the vicissitudes of politics,
of the unending struggle of the foul
stream to purify itself. to sink OF to
saturate IT'S mud. For We ought not
to forget that IL the clear water is
saturated with mud, also the mud II
saturated with clear water.
A week or so after I resumed the
craftsmanship. Scarborough invited
me to lunch alone with him at the
White House. When / had seen him,
four years before, just after his de-
feat, he was in high spirits and looked
youth. Now it depressed me, but
gave me no surprise. to find him worn,
and overcast by that tragic sadness
which canopies every one of the seats
Of the mighty. 81 fear, Mr.. President"
said I, you are finding the men who
will help you to carry out your ideas
as rare as 1 once warned you they
were"
mot rare" was his answer, "but
hard to get at through the throngs Of
BaaI-worshipers that have descended
upon me and are trying to hedge me
i'm
Fortunately, you are free from
political and social entanglements,"
said I. with ironfc intent.
He laughed with only slightly con-
cealed bitterness. From political en-
tanglements-yes," said he. But not
from social tolls. Ever since I have
been in national life, my wife and
have held ourselves socially aloof, be-
cause those with whom we would
naturally and even inevitably asso-
ciate would be precisely those who
would some day beset me for immun-
tiles and favors. And how can one
hold to a course of any sort of justice.
IL doing 50 means assailing all ones
friends and their friends and rela-
tives? For who are the offenders?
They are of the rich. Of the successful.
of the clever, of the socially agreeable
and charming. And how can one en-
force justice against ones dinner COM
panions-and in favor of whom? OF
the people, vofceless, distant, I'M
~ Get oh
the one side; on the other, an abb
straction."
Il should not class you among those
likely to yield many inches to the so
cial BRIDE" said 1.
THAT is pleasant, but not candid"
replied he with his simple directness.
mo man OF your experience could fail
arch-corrupter, the one briber whom it
Il not in human nature to resist. But,
as was saying. to my amazement, in
spite OF my wife's precautions and
mine, I find myself beset-and with
what devilish insidiousness! When I
refuse, simply to save myself from
fragrant treachery to my obligations OF
duty, l find myself seeming, even to
my wife and to myself, churlish and
priggish: Pharisaical. in the loath- |
some attitude Of . moral poseur. Com |
mon honesty. in presence of this So |
cial brioe, takes on the sneaking |
seeming of rottenest hypocrisy. 1t is
indeed hard TO get through and to get |
at the men 1 want and need. and must |
and will have
Impossible" said I. And if you !
could get at them. and if the senate |
would let you put them where they |
seem to you to belong. the temptation |
would be too much for them. They |