The Grenada sentinel. [volume] (Grenada, Miss.) 1868-1955, 1915-05-28

Any man entering pubic hfe IN any country Where n govern
ment is Influenced by the thought and wants of the people will in
variably declare himself "a friend of the people. This is not always
demaeogery, hut it is politics. We will say that this. rule applies in
such democratic countries IS England, France, Canada, etc, and
measurably in Germany and Autria. but not in Russia.
Wherever the power of the individual is derived from the power
of the people it will be invariably found that the individual pro.
claims himself the friend of the people. Sometimes it happens that
this is true; he is, for it is very natural for human nature to make a
man have a friendly, sefserving goodwill for the hand that feeds
him. He loves the gold laying goose. 1t sometimes happens that
his loudly proclaimed benevoence towards the popuace is a var
nsh more or less opaque beneath which lies the most relentless
~selhshness. Such a man uses his claim without conjunction to fur
Their his own purposes. If his ends and the good of the people hr-
monte, then he will serve the people. If his purposes and the good
of the people are diverse he will serve himself and attempt to con-
fuse the popular mind with the impression that its interests are
being conserved.
But to the general statement. the claim of a man seeking pre-
ferment that he is the friend of the peoPle'is as old as government,
and also IS old as the demagogue whereof Ar~istophanes wrote some.
1000 years ago.
Then we will concede that every candidate now out browsing
around for votes is a friend of the people. We ar all of US friendly
and fair spoken towards a man of whom we are about to ask a favor.
We have no quarrel with the use OF this venerable and harmless
phrase. One trouble is that while the phrase is old some of the
people who hear it are new and may be deceived by it. 1t is an an
Gent sinner, that phrase, just hanging around that some needy one
may use it.
But there is another phrase being in,erjected in the current
campaign; Glasses against the Masses" Ladies and Gentlemen,
and Fellow Citizens. there is no such thing a Glasses in Misss-
sippi, or in the United States. A class in the sense in which it is
being used is a separation of a segment of people into ASSOCIATION
only with themselves, claiming peculiar privileges and peculiar ex-
emptions. The privilege OF power from wealth or other accidental
cause. They stand aloof in their purposes and il the results of their
endeavors. Aristocrats. Now there are no such people in Missis-
sippi. There are a few people IN the state who by superior thrift
and industry have accomplished a little more than less thrifty peo-
pie. Then again there are some more people who have accumulated
competence in pursuits other than agriculture, or than by manual
labor. These peoplt are merchants, doctors, lawyers, and some
politicians, and we have noticed on our lonely journey through life a
few newspaper men-but they don't count.
Now it has been brought to our attention that when We are
poor, and our judgment has been faulty, and We have nothing except
a family to feed, we are very content if we can get a merchant to
advance us enough to make a crop on. He is OR friend then
When we are i'll we are greatly pleased to receive the skilled aten-
ton OF a doctor, and have him wait On Is for the money. Some of
ne ven have found LAWYERS valuable when W. are about II lose mr.
property, or to be sent to the penitentiay by due process of law for
stealing, perjury, bribery or bribetaking. or some such harmless
peccadillo which the law unreasonably objects to. And yet we are
asked to believe that these men who serve us in their several differ
ent ways have formed themselves into a class" who threaten our
peace of mind and security of per son. And who charges them viii
being a "class?" Why, the professional politicians, of course, who do
themselves constitute a "class," and a very sorry class, too, Just as
convicts in Jail are a class, and its a class utterly useless on the face
of the earth. 1t is the only class we object 10. Bear in mind we
said professional" politicians; men who do nothing but seek office.
We do not refer to those worthy men who turn aside from useful
business or professional pursuits Tor a time to seek the honor, not
the emolument, of office, from their fellow men. We respect such
men and we need them, but we are forced into contempt for the