The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1922-05-22
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY E. HOUSE
(From PhiIadelphIa Public Ledger.l
Politics and Politicians.

'fWhy are you always sticking up
for the politicians" writes J. A. c.
Well, chiefly, we presume, because
there is nobody else to do it. We
have a sort of flair for working the
other side of the street. 1t always
interests US to learn that it is better
paved than generally is believed; we
get some pleasure in the subsequent
revelation. The man who thinks he
knows something loves to tell it. If
by any chance his information is ex-
elusive, he gets an added pleasure
dispensing it. It is considered a smart
and sophisticated thing to sheer at
the politician and his works Every
that pretty nearly makes it unanl-
nous. In the popular mind men VINO
are active in politics are a low-down
lot. ''Slicker" is the mildest term or
dinarily applied to them, 'tcrook" the
most common. Probably our bias for
them grows out of the fact that this
very general estimate outrages our
sense of fairness and justice.
Politicians themselves largely are
responsible for the low esteem in
which they are held. Nearly all po-
litical activity is predicated on ambi-
ton for distinction and power. Where
there is strong competition there is
an excess of language and emotions.
Men in politics talk about their OPP
ponents. They abuse and vilify them
The newspapers print their remarks
about each other and add a few of
their own. In that way the concep-
ton that every man who becomes
active in politics is a crook is lodged
in the public mind. There is, of
course, another side to the question.
Men active in politics have learned
that it is only by wholesale and flam-
boyant vilification of an opponent that
the voters can be stirred to any sort
of action. In every political ,contro-
versy both sides indulge in this sort
of loose talk to a greater or lesser
extent Politicians do not take it per-
sonally or very seriously. Much often
er than otherwise there is no personal
feeling between men who oppose each
other in politics. Not infrequently
they are bosom friends. To them it
is all part of the game. They know.
too. that in the next succeeding cam
paign they may be marching arm in
Narm under the same banner. But the
public takes the fluff and effluvia of
political campaign seriously. be-
lieves it implicitly and forms its con-
illusions accordingly.
What may be here or hereinafter set
down is not intended as an alibi. We
never were a politician. We never
had a vote other than our own which
we could deliver. We never were a
precinct boss or worker. We never
fixed a caucus or stuffed a ballot-box
What may be described by the gen
eral term of political work is so dis
tasteful to US, so entirely foreign to
our personal predictions, that even
when our own fortunes were staked
at the ballot-box we declined to en-
gage in it. So much, or so little. as
We know about politics and politicians
we got from intimate association with
the latter as working newspa perman.
For years we sat around and talked
to politicians for the purpose of CLEAN
ing such news of their activities as
might be interesting to the public
Probably we impressed them as de-
pendable and unlikely to go off at
half-cock. They learned we didn't tell
everything we knew. And so in time
they came to discuss with US all of
their affairs and relations. We knew
the inside of the politics of the state
with which we are. most familiar and
most of its political secrets. We knew
too, pretty nearly every man above the
rank of county chairman in the two
factions of our own party and in the
five or six factions of the opposition.
We knew many of those of lower
rank, and we knew a great many of
all the various grades intimately and
well. Some of them we fought bit
terIy, but they were all pretty good
fellows. On the whole, they graded
higher than the average of their COM
munities. Seven out of every ten of
them were high-class citizens. They
had a code which impressed us.
Briefly, it was that a man must keep
his word and stand by his friends
They were deeply intolerant of two
things: One of them was the breaking
of a pledge, however lightly given,
the other was ingratitude A ward
leader once introduced us to a bunch
of his precinct workers. He was a
man of few words and his speech
was brief. All he said was, HE plays
the game" It was a great compIi-
ment. He meant we could be relied
upon to keep any promise we made
and that we stuck to our friends.
AS bearing upon that phase of
politics. we recall the year Tom Mar