The independent., 1907-03-07


flcfal or treasurer than of a governor,
although the former may get several
times as much out Of his Office as the
latter. and the same amounts are ex-
: pected Of senators, though one may be
worth many millions and the other
have practically no financial resources.
! repeat that the lifting Of the scale
Of prices in Washington is directly
traceable to the extremely wealthy
men who are crowding into public life
and the perfectly natural desire of
their families to live on a scale justi-
fed by their means. This desire is by
no means reprehensible. But the re-
suit of IL is very serious matter to
all Of u.s.
This result is that the time Is COM
Ing If indeed it has not already ar
rived. when that great body Of gov
erning ability which is to be found
among the plain people will be as
completely excluded from any part of
the conduct Of the peoples govern
ment as If there were d law forbidding
them to hold any Office within the gift
OF the nation. Yet the fact is so well
known that it Is trite, that now, as
during all the past in this and every
other country, men endowed with ma
tufal gifts Of craftsmanship are, as q
rule, unsuccessful in accommodating
wealth, Even if these natural lcgis-
lators and administrators were also
talented as business men, 1t would
take their exclusive attention fer The
best OF their lives to amass a modern
fortune honestly
And yet the golden years Of these
mems lives ought TO be given to the
service Of the nation. No man has
any right to spend his best energies
and highest abilities on his own affairs
and then round out his career w
giving the driblets and fag ends Of his
strength to his country. And SO it is
quite clear that the Daniel Websters
and Henry Clays and Abraham Lin
coins who are developing this very
minute among the young men who
have sprung from the soil, must live
lives or uncei tain success In private
effort instead of giving their ahso-
lutely priceless talents and conse-
Grating their peculiar public gifts to
making and administering laws for
the people from whom they come and
whom nature has so signally fitted
them To serve.
Even Charles Sumner, who was a
man Of considerable wsalth for the
time in which he lived, could not exist
in Washington today except under
conditions which would humiiate his
spirit or the spirit of any other manly
man, unless he gave large portion of
the time and ability which ought to
be given exclusively to the country to
the making of extra money, which
even the humblest living would cost
him over and above his senatorial sal
airy. Men such as the three examples
with which this paper opened, living
cheaply as they do, spend much more
than their salaries, and must earn this
additional amount either by-lecturing, |
by writing, or by a fragmentary prac-
tice of the law.
Senator Hoar wrote many magazine |
articles but so conscientious was he
that he would sometimes spend half of
the price he received for an article in
buying books and searching out orig
inal information to verify the state
ments he made. I know one public
man who makes his extra money by
writing articles; and this labor has to
be done after long hours of public
work are over and when the more for
tunate have gone to rest
As to the practice of the law to earn |
additional money necessary TO live III /
Washington that has practically be- I
come impossible because of the in
creasing amount of time necessary to
be given to public duties. And besides |
such practifa Is now exceedingly |
hazardous, If indeed it is not inn
proper; because fees which amount to
must come from corporation
practice. And corporation practice in
some form or another touches national
legislation eitier directly OF indirectly
in q vsiety OF ways
So we are face To face with this
grave situation: There Is no possibil-
ity for the strong young men. now ma
turing among the masses of the Amer
lean people, OF entering the service OF
the repubic and remaining there. IL
the present tendency goes on II will
not be quarter of a century until
this government OF. by. and for the
people will he conducted exclusively
by enormously wealthy men.
1t will not da very much good to
raise sstlnrles ~ senator's and con-