The Dawson news. (Dawson, Ga.) 1889-current, 1913-07-08

You can get accommodations in
Washington hotels now without any
difficulty. Disappointed and dis
heartened, the army of office-seekers
that poured into the capital immedl-
ateIy after the inauguration of a
democratic president has retreated
whence it came. only a cOrporaHs
guard. who have still some surplus
cash at command, and in whom nope
triumphs over experience, remain TO
haunt the corridors of cabineteers
and congressman.
1t isn't easy for the North to under
stand why so many Southern demo-
Gratis, excellent men and citizens, de-
sired governmental jobs-positlons
in most instances less remuneratlye
than those which the applicants held
in private life. | think the eXplana-
ton is the South's exaggerated estl-
mate of the honor conferred by pub
lie station upon the private citizen
Exaggerated, that is, in comparison
with the Northern conception of such
honors. In the North, | believe, men
are more practical minded, and set
more store on the material rewards
of public office than on the honor 1T
confers.
The North hitherto has held many
more opportunities for able men to
achieve conspicuous leadership in
commercial, professional and artistic
endeavor than the South. The North,
| in word, is and has been unbelieVa-
| bly, rich in the goods of this world as
compared with the South, and with
| the other nations of the Northern
| hemisphere. Thus, where man OF
ability can with reasonable certainty
win power and prominence in any Of
! the fields of prominent endeavor he
! is much less likely to turn for ca
reer to the always improbable and
| often unsatisfactory field of the pub
lie service. 1t is because in the South
this field of public service has been
not only the chief sphere of action Of
the ablest men for generations, but
is today the best preparatory school
and stepping stone for material sue
cess in the law that Southern men Of
ability turn naturally to politics.
became a politician at IS, and
have been playing the game for a
quarter of a century. Not as a can
didate for office-some men are tenn
peramentally untitled to hold office
but as a student of the game and
a participant, sometimes as part of
an organization, oftener playing a
lone hand, to achieve a given result
representing what I conceived to be
to the best interests of my city OF
state.
Like scores of thousands of other
democrats hava looked forward ga.
gerly to the time when my party
should control the government and
afford an opportunity to put into
practice some of the principles for
which we fought in many cam
paigns Unlike most of the others
it never occurred to me to seek al
office by appointment should ouI
party capture the government. Until
the capture took place. Then rose
up old Adam and said: why not
claim one of the good jobs under the
democratic administration as re
ward for your part in making the
triumph possible? 1t would be a
new adventure; it might prove very
interesting; it would certainly afford
new opportunities for studying the
political organization of human so
ciety Go to it
So, like thousands of others who
really knew better. I sent in my APP
plication for the post l wanted. Like
all the others. very likely, I felt
while a long way from Washington
that | was offering Uncle Sam the
services of a mighty superior work
man-that the obligation, if any
was on him and not on me. Friends