The Prescott daily news., 1916-01-28
THE CAUSE IS EVERYTHING;
 INDIVIDUALS NOTHING"

When Thos. c. McRae made his final announcement on Saturday of last week. declining to yield to the importunities of his friends who were insisting he reconsider his decision not to become candidate for gover- nor, he stated, among other things, that the time had come for the voters of Arkansas to redeem the state from the thraldom of machine politics and machine politicians and that the for ces of good government must not be divided in the present contest, thus permitting the machine to win by q plurality vote. Continuing MT. Me Rae sad
 "The cause is everything; individ- uals nothing"
 It would be difficult to reduce to fewer words a sentiment so expre5- sive of the elements of good citizen ship. In eliminating himself from lthe contest, over the protest of hun ldreds and perhaps thousands of loyal friends and supporters who believed he was the best equipped man in the race for governor, Mir. McRae was certain | ly not moved by selfish considera tions, neither was he seeking personal aggrandizement in originally an nouncing his candidacy for the office. In both acts he was thinking of the cause, not the individual.
 The voters of Arkansas ought to ponder we'll the sentiment embodied in this parting thought left by the retiring candidate. Elections in this state have heretofore been contests between individuals and the people have voted for men for public posi- tions not because they showed capa- lefty for the demands of the office but because they succeeded in making themselves personally popular or be- cause they had formed certain align ments with individuals who exercised influence in controlling elections. Placing the ballot upon the low plane of the. individual logically leads to contest for personal popularity and when a man seeks to be popular upon any basis other than that of his merits and intrinsic worth he be- comes demagogue, and if elevated to office he shapes his official acts with a view to winning favor in order that he may hold and strengthen his posi- tion with the masses.
 The abuses that have grown up and become so shamefully fragrant in our government are largely due to the mistake on the part of the voters In favoring candidates who, with flat tery, cajolery, pretended devotion to the so-called common people, and other forms of rank demagoguery, have appealed to the superficial side of the electorate. The good hand shaker, the splendid mixer, the glib tongued artist, the smooth story-teller the stumper who amuses and enter tains and dishes out oratorlcal studs instead of the substance of states manship, has been in the hey-dey of his glory in Poor Old Arkansas, and the voters are now reaping the whirl- wind of their folly in considering the individual instead of the cause.
 Business and professional men. home loving laboring men, substantial farmers, the better element in all the classes that compose our citizenship have turned the affairs of the state over to political brigands who waste and loot public funds, abuse public Iconfidence and trade and traffic in pub lie rights and prerogatives. And in the face of this neglect upon the part of the voters to consider the cause and not the individual" they wonder why conditions in Arkansas have be- come so degraded.
 The solution is simple. When the leverage voter places higher estimate upon the value of the elective fran chise and chooses a public servant