The Calumet news. [volume] (Calumet, Mich.) 1907-1938, 1911-09-11
Speaker Declares, In Optimistic
Address, All Citizens Should
Take Interest in Pub
lie Affairs
MOST PUBLIC men ARE HONEST
Duty Of Every Voter, He Says, to At
tend Primaries and Elections So
Capable Men Can Be Sc
iected For Office

Louisiana. Mo-. Sept. 11.--Speaker
Champ Clark is being entertained to-
day by his home folks at great bas-
ket picnic. all of Pike county and the
greater part of the population OF the
ninth Missouri congressional district,
regardless of party affiliation. joining
TO make his homecoming from Wash
ington an epoch In Missouri history.
Representatives Pepper OF Iowa and
Rainey OF Illinois also are I'm attend
ance.
Prefacing an address dealing with vi
tai problems facing the American peo-
pie, Speaker Champ Clark told his
friends and nelghbors, something OF the
struggles of his early days and the
ties which bound him to Missouri soil
He told OF starting his Missouri ex-
perience by teaching school thirty-six
years ago, and said:
Il came to Louisiana, Mo-, on $40.
borrowed the first time | ever saw
him, from Judge II. III. Priest. now an
eminent lawyer OF ST. Louis, and then
struggling along as city attorney Of
have borrowed from Missourians."
Warming to his subject, the speaker
made plea for more politics and more
politicians, and forcefully asserted that
upright and honest politicians are the
rule, and not the exception in Ameri-
ca.
Tho More Politics, the Better.
1T IL constantly asserted by the un-
thinking that we have too much poll
tics and too many politicians" said
the Speaker. when we reflect that
the word politics In its higher and
nobler sense, means The science OF
government. we must concede that the
more politics we have. the better, for
government, affects the happiness and
prosperity OF every resident between
the two oceans. and. therefore, we
should all strive To make our govern
ments, national, state and municipal,
as nearly perfect as any human insti-
tuition can be-"
Instead of there being too many
politicians. there are not enough. In
country whose institutions are based
upon popular suffrage, every man
should be n politician. and every man
owes n portion of his time. energy and
talents to the service of the state.
do not mean by that that every man
should run for office. That is a poor
business at best-poor when you sue
ceed-inexpressibly poor when you fail.
l have been tried by both extremes OF
fortune and speak by the card on that
subject.
All Should Take Interest.
what | do mean 10 that every citi-
zen so far as In him lies. study the
problems which confront u.s. and help
so far as we can. to solve them for the
betterment of government the I'M
provement OF society. and the perpet-
uity of the republic II needs be, he
should become candidate for Office
az duty to his country and his kind.
Truth to TELL 1t requires but little
coaxing To induce the average citizen
TO run for office.
ut Is the duty of every citizen to
attend both the primaries and the gen
eral election To the end that good and
capable men may be selected. The
man who fails to do that except FOR
valid reasons, falls short of living up
To his privileges and OF assuming his
fair proportion of the governmental
burden. Neglecting that. he isl
tsopped from setting up lugubrious
howl about the unfitness OF officials
and the corruption of politics
mo victory for purity In politics has
ever yet been won by failing to attend
the elections and then growing and
kicking about the character of the men
selected. The only way TO reform pol
itics is to be active before and Mt the
elections. for Jefferson uttered an i'm