The Llano colonist. [volume] (Llano, Calif.) 191?-1937, 1922-12-09
THE DEYAsTAl ON OF POLITICS
fRY "a Fsdsrated Pcs

TotltlcIanS picked MN TOR tnat posi-
ton years before the public knew any.
thing about their program. He, wa.
no more leader then than he is now
Il would have been ruinous to thei
plan to have brought him out as a can
didate, to Be weighed and measured:
he was not an outstanding candidate
even in the convention that nominated
him. But end-inaitself politics was il
control and. after using the candidate;
to whom the people had been intro.
duced to kill off each other, the Pen.
rose band nominated Harding. MOI
in thousand years, among thou
sand citizens taken at random from
the streets and country roads, would
he have been the popular choice. y
had the people considered his quali-
fications.
Politicians likewise dominated the
other old party convention. The re-
suit was that the people were given no
more than heads-I-win-tails-you-lose
chance to choose between Harding
and Cox. They had no opportunity
whatever to control, even to influence,
the nominations. Therefore politics
was sure Of its reward in the election.
And what rewardl 1t is said that
almost every Southern delegate who
voted for Harding in the Republican
convention is now on the Federal pay
roll.
What does it matter whether or not
an appointee may be equipped for the
public position he is to occupy! The
determining factor in his appointment
is the political service he has or will
perform.
Talk about a campaign fund of a
million. or few millions! That is
nothing! An administration, poIiti-
cally actuated and controlled, has COM
mand Of all the billions that the peo-
pie put into the national treasury.
Every position that carries a salary.
every appropriation containing an ell
ement Of pork, can be used to buy
and pay for political loyalty and
support almost as directly as though
money were used.
Did you ever stop to think where
The money comes from through which
a political organization gets control of
the governmental The politicians
SELL offices and favors paid for by
the people. That corruption, or RAJ
Their prostitution. is justified by poll
tics on the ground that TO the victors
belong the spoils." The rest of the
campaign fund comes from what. sour
ces?-the public, as it should, every
cent of it, because it is to elect public
officials to do all important public bu-
siness? No; the public pays no more
than the pennies such little things
as the printing of ballots. election judi
ges, etc. The real campaign fund,
aside from spoils, comes from individ-
uals who know thereby that they are
buying tariff advantages, natural re-
source concessions, immunities. and
privileges of one kind and another
every purchase adding to the decay of
government and the burdens Of the
people.
Today the bargains politics has
made and is making with predatory
interests are almost beyond belief.
Every congress creates new offices.
Did it ever occur to you why each new
commission is by law made bi-parti-
sanp It is to give the two major par
ties a joint interest in it, to insure
that the plumber shall be permanent
If a commission were created by Re
pubIicans, then, with a charge Of par
ty control, having no selfish partisan
in its personnel as a political asset
the Democrats might abolish it. And
vice versa. Accordingly, whichever
party does the creating, it safeguards
the political system which is common
TO both, by making the new offices
bipartisan and therefore eternal. All
of which is highly amusing, in view
of what the politicians tell the people,
viz. that new commission is made
bipartisan in order that it may be kept
out Of politics.
when its offices are for sale, the
Republic is for sale''-which means
that the common welfare is to be bar
tered away, banded about by profess
siona politicians and their supporters,
with our sacred institutions prostituted,
and liberty and justice, forever reced-
ing.
NJ -. 4L:.I- IL. ,,.o