The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1919-11-21
MEN, WOMEN
AND THINGS


last night at the Tutwiler, brings UP the
question of politics
Time was and not so long ago that
politics was locked down upon by the
cultured as being only fit for those who
made business of it, and were willing
to get down in the mud To them it was
no occupation for a gentleman. 1t was
a matter Of 5ar-rooms, ballot box -stuffjug
and buying votes.
Those of you familiar with the story
of Benjamin Antler the friend of the poet
Beranger, will recall his advice to a
friend who intended to write his memoirs.
He said: You have never been engaged
in politics, therefore you won't speak
of them in your souvenirs, an obvious
reason why your book should be "a sue
cess" This was French view of the
matter a century ago.
But not satisfied, he went on to remark
that like a Proteum, changing his fancy,
his color and his form, this pretentious
| fend, pedabtic, tiresome and hollow,
which we cali politics, pursues us poor
Frenchmen everywhere, and especially
as poor Parisians into the drawing room,
the shop, the street. the theatre and into
even the servants hall" 1t fit into the
authors mood. who admitted that he
had alwas found politics the vainest
and dullest thing in the world
| Now, according to the brilliant and
biting Kansas statesman, who in his life
time enlivened the Senate with his sa tire,
John j. ingalls, in a bitter mood declared
that "the publication of politics was an
irridescent dream" I may be held to ac-
count for it, but I hope he was a prophet,
if it meant that the day would arrive
when it could be sprinkled with rose
water and redeemed by being turned over
to mollycoddles and mugwumps."
| In these days Of cheap internationalism
give me a rugged love for nationalism
which will be kept in fighting trim
through the party system, for be it
known I am one of the regulars and
have never yet been an Independent"
but have voted a straight ticket at every
/ i IL
tegrity. however. who says that when he
dies he wants it inscribed on his tomb
stone: Here Lies Man Who Scratched
Tickets" I have consistently stood by
the men elected in the primaries. though
at times it was a bitter pill to swallow
| | am saying all this in spite of the
fact that / have read and heard much
about independent parties" and the need
to educate men to become independent
voters" I go about with my head In
the air, but try to keep my feet on the
earth, and when l feel myself being
caught by specious illusions I try the
spirits to see whether they are real or
merely the offsprings of the visionary
brains of those who live in the academic
groves and are unwilling to get down in
the arena and battle for better condi-
tons within the party.
| / said this on purpose for there is
nothing which so excites the reformers
who are ready to cut loose from their DO
iitical moorings and drift with the dead
wood of some new cult, which sooner or
later finds itself in some quiet eddy far
from the current which is bearing the
ship of state than to plead for reform
within the party" It's like a red rag to
a bull, and sets them to paving the air,
for their ideal of true citizen is one
given over to mugmumpery.
| Their stock in trade is to talk of democ-
t-ap,
stitions, and that the sooner they are
rid OF them the healthier will be the
body polite; for in their minds they
are nothing but the skeletons of bogus
political saints, and to bow down and
worship them Is to be guilty of being
guiled by the high priests of partyisms.
Such daring platitudes may pass among
the novitiatesYas the essense of boldness.
but any old-timer knows that the re-
volt is born of timidty.
II they fail to catch the unwary off
guard with such bait then they will fish
with another favorite Of theirs. It is
this: "Why daub yourself with a party
nameY' This brings us back to Shake
speare's query, but gives us different
answer. lndnk Goa tnaC there is still
power in names, Robert Louis Stevenson
was right when he spoke a great truth
of the Master and added to it, saying:
Man shall not live by bread alone but
principally by catch phrases
mo taxation without representation"
goes to the heart of true democracy
The stirring words, Liberty, equality,
fraternity" sent the revolution through
out Europe, overthrowing thrones, Just
as the American one quoted above was
the foundation stone of this republic
There is a whole lot in a name, and the
phrase maker is full partner of the writer
of songs when it comes to having the
power to set people in motion to do things
for themselves.
I'll not go deep into the rise and fall
OF parties, for all standard histories of
the United States supply the new or the
|old voter with an abundance of informa-
ton relative to the origin, policies and
aims of our political parties, the dura-
ton of their activities and influence and
the cause of their rise and fall. 1t has
been shrewdly remarked by a student of
our system OF government that Gin an
appreciable degree American political his
tory is party history.
It's common knowledge that as early
as Washington's first administration the
lines of, party became plainly visipie,
for there were delegates to the consti-
tutional convention who favored a strong
central government, and delegates who
wanted full power left to the states. This
was the beginning of party Arguments,