New Britain herald., 1923-10-20

Politics is not an end. but a means it Is not a product, but a process, I
 is the art of government. iAas
 other values 1t has it's eeuntsrfeits
 So much emphasis has been pul
 upon the false that the significance
 of the true has been obseured and
 politics has eems 10 convey the mean.
 inG Of crafty and cunning selnshness
 instead of candid and sincere sers,
 ice. The Greek derivation shows the
 nobler purpose. Politikos means
 city.rearing. stateeraft. And when
 we remember that city also means
 fertilization. the spurious resentment.
 mean and serdid. drops away and the
 real figure Of the politician. dignified
 and honorable. q minister 10 eiyiliEa-
 ton. author and fnisher Of govern
 nent. is revealed In its true and dig.
 nifed proportions,
 There is always something about
 genius that Is indehnable. mysteri.
 ous. perhaps 10 its possessor most
 of all. It has been the product of
 rude surroundings no less than of the most cultured environment. want
 and neglect have sometimes nour- ished it. abundance and care have failed to produce it. Why some sue
 ceed in public life md others fall
 would be as difficult to tell as why some succeed or fall in other activi- ties.
 Few Plan For Public IAfc Very few men In America have started out with any fixed Idea of entering public life. fewer still would admit having such an idea. It was said of Chief Justice Hhite, of the United States supreme court. being asked when a youth what he pro- posed to do when a man. he re- piled, he had not yet decided whether to be president or chief justice. This may be in part due to n general pro- fession of holding to the principle of Benjamin Franklin that office should neither be sought nor refused and in part to the American idea that the people choose their own officers so that public service is not optional. In other countries this Is not so. For centuries some seats in the British Parliament were controlled and prob- ably sold as were commissions in the army, but that has never been the case here. A certain congressman, however, on arriving at Washington was asked by an old friend how he happened to be elected. He replied that, he was not elected, but appoint ed. It is worth while noting that the boss who was then supposed to hold the power of appointment in that dis trict has since been driven from pow | CT. but the congressman, though he was defeated when his party was | lately divided, has been reelected. | All of which suggests that the boss | did not appoint in the first instance, but was merely well enough informed to see that the people wanted before they had formulated their own opin- ions and desires. It was said of Nc Kinley that he could tell what con gress would do on certain measure before the men in congress them selves knew what their decision was to be. Cannon has said of Mckinley that his ear was so closely to the ground that it was full of grasshop- pers. But the fact remains that of- flee brokerage is here held in repre- hensive scorn and professional office seeking in contempt. Every native porn American, however, is potential y president, and 1t must always be that the obligation to serve the state is forever binding ipon all, although office is the gift If the people.
 Political Life Does Not Fay
 Of course these considerations re- ate not to appointive places like the ommissionerships, clerical positions and like places, but to the :. nore important elective offices. An { ther reason why political life of this ,ature Is not chosen as career is hat it does not pay. Nearly all of .t