Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1917-09-29
SATURDAY. SEPTEMBER %, 1917.
THE PASSING or FERGUSON-A
TRAGEDY.
~tlIonsfon Chronicle.

Texas has written q new chapter into
the history of democratic polIticS-a bitter.
tragic chapter. Of which We probably have
not seen the end.
Underneath the idealistic struggle be-
tween right and wrong. which we have
tired TO keep nppermoSt in our minds. there
ha~. and there will continue. 10 run an ele-
ment OF factionalism that can hardly fail
10 defract from the commences of things.
Not that this makes the offenSe~ of
which Mr.. Ferguson was found guilty any
less repfehensible. but that some of the
weaknesses of the political system under
which we live are revealed with startling
di~siinctnes-.
1T l. made apparent. for instance. that
people are inclined 10 tolerate a certain
amount 81 crookednesS and manipulation in
political life unle>~ aroused by some irri-
latino Issue
Such federation arises. perhaps. from q
conscious realization that. a. at present
provided for. the S~alarieS. expenses and
p%ersfmsites attaching 10 public office are
totally inadequate To maintain nm efficient
political organization such a. j. necessary
in q partisan form of government.
Most everyone recognizes that few Of
tIcials of the state and nation. but more
particularly those who arc elected. make 4
sufficient amount of money To recommends
them. and that outside of this there are
always henchmen and fences To keep up.
Preceding every elective office there j.
n more or less expensive campaign with
is aftermath OF haneers-on. favor-seckers
and parasites. which develop a. = natural
by product.
IL takes either a very rich man or Il very
strong one To withstand the network 1T
irickery, palaverlng and left handed ~ubor
nation into which the high office holder i
inevitably plunged.
A. . general thing allowance j. made for
ihis feature 81 the proposition. and the
people. - a maS@. are prone 10 pni up with
2 good deal from an official. provided he
str1kcs a fair average ~ matters which III
ierest them.
II ~ almost . f0regone conclusion that
William Sulzer would never have been i'm
peached had b. not -antagonized Tammanv
Hall, though he was no more guilty because
Of this.
II IS also almost . f~orcgonc conclusion
that james T.. Ferguson would not have
been impeached had he refrained from as
sariiing the University II Texas. though
This does not make those financial manipn-
lations because It which a. was ousted
from office any the less inexcuSable.
The man j. punished IN order that The
system may be- purified temporarily. but
The system still remains. The same nm
thinking element who were lured into sun
porting Ferguson nv the glamour Of his
campaigning, and by the m unsuitable
ISLANDERS that were set d foot against Tom
Ball, are still 10 be reckoned with, and
he must he blind indeed who does not per
ceive that ont of this regrettable affair
another political machine is forming.
This is the tragedy Of the thing. We
have shipped a leaf, but nave failed to
strike at the diseased root.
As 10 Mr.. Ferguson he NAV we'll avail
himself Of that lad stoicism 10 which Vic
Tor Hugc's priest fled when he wrote the
word Fatality" upon the walls Of No,rc
Dame.
He found himself in the grip of forces.
temptations 3nd problems which he was
unable TO estimate or resist. And vet he