New Britain herald., 1923-11-03

The Herald today publishes the
 seventh of series of extracts from | speeches and addresses by Calvin
 Coolidge which fefiect his opinions on
 labor. capital, politics, law and order, | peace, business and government. They
 were made while he was president of l the senate of Massachusetts and gov ernor of the commonwealth of Massa- | chusetts. They were compiled with | his permission and published under | his personal copyright.
 < By CALVIN COOLIDGE
 Copyright by Calvin Coolidge. Pub | lished by arrangement with John F. Dille Co.
 Most Public Men Honest The inexperienced are prone to 1 hold an erroneous idea of public life and its methods Not long ago I 1 listened to a joint debate in a prom inent preparatory school. Each side | took it for granted that public men
 were influence only by improper motives and that officials of the gov ernment were seeking only their own gain>- and advantage without regard to the welfare of the people. Such a presumption has no foundation in fact. They are dishonest mon in public office. There are quacks, shystors, and charlatans among doc
 tors. lawyers and clergy, but they are not representative of their pro- fessions nor indicative of their meth ods. Our public men, as a. class, are inspired by honorable and pa triotic motives. desirous only of a faithful execution of their trust from the executive and legislative branches of the states and nation down to the executives of our towns who bear the dignified and significant title of seleCtmen. Public men must cx- pect criticism and be prepared to, en- dure false charges from their op- ponents. It is matter Of no great concert to them. But public confi- dence in government is matter of great concern. It cannot be main tained in the face of such opinions as have mentioned. It is necessary to differentiatc between partisan as- sertions and actual conditions. 1t is necessary to recognize worth as well as to condemn graft. No sys- tenn Of government can stand that lacks public confidence and no prog ress can be made on the assumption of false promise. Public admins tration is honest and sound, and public business is transacted an a higher plane than private business
 
 What I have said relates to the somewhat narrow field Of office- holding, This is really small part of the American system or Of any system. James Bryce tells us that we have a government of public opinion. That is growing to be more and more true Of the governments Of the entire world. The first care of despotism seems to be to control the school and the press. Where the mind is free if turns not 10 force but 10 reason for the source Of authority.
 This leads to the larger and all im- portant field of politics Here we soon sec that offico-holding is the incidental. but tho the standard of citizenship is the essential. Gov crnmcnt does rest upon the opinions of men. It's results rest on their &C., tions. This makes every man a poli- tician whether he will or no. This lays the burden on us all. Men who have had the advantages of liberal culture ought to be the leaders in maintaining the standards of citizen ship. Unless they can and do ac- compish this result education is q failure. Greatly have they been taught, greatly must they teach. The power to think is the most practical thing in the world. It is not and cannot be cloistered from politics.