The Cordova daily times., 1921-01-24
MONDAY, JANUARY 24, 1921
THE NEED OF COMMON HONESTY
 IN POLITICS

The difference between a politician and a statesman is that statesman's course is based upon principle, and a mere politicians upon expediency.
 IA statesman thinks In terms of a nation, a people, and a period; a mere politician in forms of locality, class and a moment.
 A statesman steers by the com pass and the fixed stars; a mere poli- tictan steers by the weathervane and follows off after comets.
 A statesman studies the past and thinks of the future; he looks both backward and forward; mere poli- tician is careless both of causes and consequences; he thinks of public problems only in terms of votes at the particular moment when he is called upon to make decisions.
 Statesmen build and mere politi- clans destroy. Statesmen serve the people; the mere politician flatters and swindles them.
 Statesmanship is the noblest of call ings; politics which represents only selfish personal ambition is the most contemptible of occupations.
 Ability does not itself make a pub lie leader a statesman; if his motives do not rise above the level of self, ability only makes him the more dan gerous politician.
 The test of statesmanship Is char acter and motive. Some men of emi- nent intellectual ability have never reached the status of statesmanship because their motive has been exploi- tation of the public for their own per ice; and some men of mediocre tal- ents have rendered notable public service through the power of pure mo- tives and an honest purpose.
 The fundamentals of statesmanship are common honesty and common sense. No man who lacks either can ever be a statesman, no matter how we'll he may write or speak, or what he may profess.
 The inquiry to make about every man who aspires to public place is, first of all, Is he intellectually honest; does he have convictions and will he stand by them; will he risk some thing, If need be, for a cause worth while?
 The great need .of the world at this grave crisis in world affairs Is men in public place who will face facts; who will tell the truth; who will be hon. est; who stand ready to risk reproba- ton or defeat for that they believe to be right and just.
 Ordinary hcCesty and simple truth telling will do more for the worlds relief at this time than all the patent processes of so-called statesmanship. The world is the victim today of or ganized lying, of intellectual dishon- esty, and of vainglorious personal am- bition by men whom chance has p2aced in the seats of the mighty.
 We have been living in an era of big talk and little deeds; of high pro- fession and of mean performance; of rhetoric used to conceal rather than to reveal thought The result is that there is more misery and anxiety in the world today than 1t has know be- fore in modern times.
 A good resolution for statesmanship the world over as we enter a year that in it's developments may be de- oisive as to the very stability of civil 1zation, is to drop the pose of pro- fessional officialism and just be plain. honest, sincere human beings.
 an this country we have just, wit messed the repudiation of an adminis- tration which has tragicallv failed in an era of vast opportunity because it has dealt with the shadow rather than the substance of things; has moved in the realm of rhetoric rather than real tiles; but which has demonstrated that no engine of power can be ere. ated in this republic strong enough to cajoie or coerce a peon1e onca con.