The Washington herald., 1914-06-18
Adve. + ! Baddins ST. ssaaA

3f ~ JOfHrh ED4Ah CHA - u - netS
X Is rather ; pity that the man o. twenty-one
who writes the appended letter fosbids the pubca-
ton Of his name in connection with H. because the
letter does him nothing but honor and his signature
If published here, might in after years. be referred
to as the starting point of worthy public career.
The letter. which is written in handwriting of grace
and refinement is as follows: =
To the Editor:
Sr--I have been unable to get satisfactory answers
Ito the questions stated below and if your paper can
give me the desired information, suggest some
books wherein can get the same, it win be very
helpful to and will be very greatly appreciated
I. Can a man who has neither wealth, social posi-
ton. college education influential friends either
social or financial but who is fred with a high pur
cessfu as a politician running for elective Office
mayor and governor included?
?. If SO, how should young man twenty-one years
of age start to prepare for such vocation, and what
|litical life?
3. How can he manage it financially?
4. Must he be lawyer to be qualified as an
elective public servant or will reading and studying
s. Can he get to the top honestly?
Thanking you in advance and hoping you will
be able to advise me concerning the above, am
The last question should be answered FIRST, be-
cause il is fundamental in the Of young man,
such as our correspondent surely is. He would not
wish to go into politics at all if he could not
ceed honestly. And it may comfort him to know
that he cannot get to the top'-he cannot become
President of the United States-unless he is hon.
est man. No corrupt man, dishonest man, has
ever been President of the United States.
No doubt Presidents have sanctioned political
dishonesty, party trickery and have risen by
means of it. But never to the rank of the really
great Presidents and though they may have been
willing gain Office by political tricks, they have al
ways been above the reach of personal corruption Let
us hope they always will be.
Senators, Representatives, governors few judges,
many members of State legislatures, there have been
who personally corrupt But in the long run
their sins have found them out. Their names are a
part of the nations disgrace, not of its fame.
The greatest names in American history have
been those of who poor boys, Lincoln, Clay,
Chase Mckinley did not trouble to consider how they
were going to manage it financially" If they OBJ
tanned Office they lived upon their salaries They had
the backing of hnanciers, but of their brains,
their own ideals their own consciences.
The young man who looks for financial backing
in politics had better keep out OF public life. Let
him think, work. speak, if he can, maintaining him
self by his honest toll meanwhile and labor to serve
the people If he is honest and capable, the people
will find him out. influential friends should be
1t is certainly not necessary, and it is doubtful
whether i, is even desirable, for young enter
ing politics to be lawyer. Nineteen of the twenty
seven, men who have been Presidents of the United
States were lawyers indeed, but the tradition of
the lawyer is departing from politics, and that
of the careful student of public affairs and social and
economic questions is arriving
As to the making of the start, the young man
should qualify himself by reading and study. 1t is
not at all necessary that he should have a college
| education. "All that we do in a college" said
President Charles w. Eliot of Harvard 's to teach
a man to read" If he knows how to rcad-realy
to read with application thoroughness zeal and dis
crmination-he can do perfectly well without the
college education
This inquirer does we'll to ask what books he
should read. 1t is possible to recommend TO him an
excellent list of books, but these book will be vain
unless he clears up by special inquiry every point
of difficulty that rises in his mind he goes along
Let him read about the great men of the republic
and enter into their struggles and aspirations. Let
him put figure like Lincoln before his eyes and live
up to the picture that the great life leaves on his
soul
If possible, he should read all the lives in the
American Statesmen series, but particularly those
of Alexander Hamilton, by Lodge; of Thomas JEFF
Roosevelt; of Henry Clay, by Carl Schurz; of An
drew Jackson, by W. G. Sumner: of James G. Blaine
by Edward Stanwood; of John Sherman, by Theodore
E. Burton. By all means let him read John T. Morses
full life of Charles Sumner: here is the ideal of the
pure statesman in all its nobility. Let him also read
| u S. Grants Personal Memoirs
| For constructive American political history, he
should read Henry Adams History of the United
States" Though it covers but sixteen years, it is
the best brief account of the formative period OF
the republic. He should read McMaster's History
of the American People" and James Bryce's Amer
lean Commonwealth" in the revised two-voume
edition He should read Judson S. Landon's Con
stitutional History and Government of the United
States" and Alexander Johnston's American Po-
tical History If he desires to stimulate his patriotic
ideals, he should by all read Charles w. Eots
American Contributions to Civilization Woodrow
Wilson's "The American People will be found help
| full. 7a'...
For information and for stimulus in connection
with the political and social life of the present day
the inquirer should read Theodore Roosevelts "Amer.
ican Ideasp and "The New Nationalism;' he should
read Jesse Macys Party Organization and Machin.
cry for the particular information which its title