Middletown transcript., 1910-05-21
HrDDIETOwH, DEI., NAY q. 1910
RPsT MEN AT THE PRIMARIES

u6 61NOS ~ 4A VAAAO - "S~@
the first is often the more i'm.
portant duty Of the patriot); as q
sacred trust to be honestly used
for the public good, it is gener-
ally looked upon as mere party
loot-one of the perquisites OF
partisan success which entities
the victor to despoil the people
at large in a way truly at times
not unlike the spoliation that
follows in the wake of real war.
The results, indeed, in either case
are often scarcely distinguish
able.
That miserable m axim of
Marcy's 'to the victors belong
the spoils of Office" to whose
practice Jackson has given such
q malign Immortality that it is
cherished as the foremost article
of faith in the Democratic creed,
smacks too brutally of rufian
soldiery with sword and pillage,
to have so long dominated Amer
ican politics-so long been made
the .rallying cry of intelligent
freemen exercising the lofty
privileges of self.government.
Consequent upon this low esti-
mate of Office, there has grown
up the whole land overs class Of
professional Office hunters and
holders-mere placemen who
have contrived to erect them
selves into a sort Of privileged
class answering somewhat to the
parasitical nobility under the
rotten monarchies of Europe; q
cunning tribe of wire-pullers who
like the lilies of Solomon "tOil
not, neither do they spin; they
don't have to toll, this lazy
gentry, for both of them, lords
and placemen, ''live by their
Wits" and the people foot the
bills.
But everybody is at last awake
to the scandalous pitch which
this abuse has attained in the
Boss system, where q depraved
politician, with his standing army
Of criminals, bribers, repeaters,
thugs and ballot box suffers,
hirelings compliant to any vii
lainy, are actually in possession
of the rule of cities and states,
diverting to graft millions of
public taxes, and debating poll
cies not only to municipalities and
states, but even at tim es
to the Nation itself-usurping
the whole function of government
as though they only were in
deed the People.
So it has come to pass, that
patriotism, any thought even Of
serving the people, of conscien-
tiously administering an office
solely for public profit and not
for private gain, never family
enters the head of the candidate
only questions of "How much
can I make out cf it?" lawfully
or boodlewise. In this age Of
money.thirst and grab, to get
an Office is simply esteemed a
chance to get something for
nothing, an official "soft snap"
where the pay is big, and the
labor little or naught; where,
often, the incumbent farms out
his function to a subordinate who
does the work, leaving him abun-
dant leisure to look after the
party "fences" or mind some
business of his own. Who has
not here in Delaware seen illus.
trations of all this by both
partiesP
But to apply these truths to
our State affairs, the plain and
ever accommodating portents of
danger, shown in the elections of
six different states, warn US Pc.
publicans to have extreme eau
ton in the kind of candidates we
shall elect at our primaries to
tender the independent voters
who to-day are wearing the old
time party liveries very lightly.
We must at our peril, see to it
that for every Office, there shall
be nominated q man of unques.
toned ability and integrity. AL.
ready a number of men III both
parties absurdly incompetent
are announcing themselves for
the various ofices-some of them
about as fit to fill the important
official station they aspire to as q
Digger Indian; so totally wanting
in business ability and expert
ence, that without deputy the
Office could not be executed. Let
us surrender this folly wholly to
our Democratic foes, who may
now chance to find the practice
costly.
Gone is the day when pOliti-
clans, no matter how big, can
pay their henchmen debts at the
public cost, by willy nilly thrust
ing incapables into Office. The
day is far down the horizon, too,
when the chief if not the sole
qualification of a candidate for q
position of public trust in Della
ware, is that he did much work
clean or unclean-for the party.
The people eare awakened and will
no longer tolerate this ignoble
conception of Office whose swinish
and appropriate phrase, is "It's
my turn at the public crib"
SOME real friend of the Presi.