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The Commoner
'VOL. 21, NO. 9
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wage for women. It seeks to improve the con
ditions under which labor is performed; to
secure tho use of safety appliances in factories
and on the railroads as a safeguard to human
life and Ijmb; it seeks also to secure just com
pensation for those who sustain bodily injuries
in tho trades, distributing the cost of inevitable
accidents among the consumers of the products
of industry, rather then allowing it to fall most
heavily on the wives and childern of injured
workmen who are least able to bear the burden.
Is not all this tho worthy task of Christianity?
If so, how can the Christian neglect his govern
ment which is tho most powerful agency in at
taining these good ends? ,
The troublo all along has been that Christian
men do not think of politics as a means of ser
vice to their fellow men. Christianity has con
cerned itself with charity,--with looking aftor
wrecks caused by the injuries, sustained on ac
count of the failure of government to perform
its proper function. Christ'ahlty must now con
cern itself not only with rescuing the victims
that fall along the way, but must also see to it
that the government is so conducted as to reduce
the number of victims to the minimum. We must
work at tho task at both ends. As someone has
strikingly put it, "All through the ages Chris
tianity has been pluok'ng brands from the burn
, ing. She must now turn the hose on the fire."
PERFORMANCE? OF DUTIES OF CITIZEN
SHIP ESSENTIAL TO WELL ROUNDED
CHRISTIAN CHARACTER
Thus I have shown what an all important
factor the government is in obtaining those re
sults in which every Christian must be inter
ested if ho be true to the teachings of his re
ligion. In short, the purposes of Christianity
and the purposes of good government are so
much tho same that the Christian can not ren
der acceptable service to his God if he neglects
his government. -
All these good ends to be accomplished
through our government, and yet we think of
politics as a "dirty business," and we actually
And men seeking to give evidence of theJr pity
by claiming to have nothing to With politics.
I venture the assertion that there is no such
think as a well rounded Christian character
which loaves out of the account the sacred du
ties of citizenship. Politics, you say, s a "dirty
business" and this Is yoUr excuse for taking no
part in public affairs, but Mr." Good Citizen, did
you ever stop to think that politics is d'rty be
cause you fail to make it clean. The fact that poli
tics is dirty so far from excusing you from partici
pation therein, is an all. controlling reason why
you should go in and help to clean things up.
You do not excuse yourself from house-cleaning
because your house is dirty. No, you clean
it because it is dirty. But you say, what is the
use in trying to clean politics, just as soon as
the cleaning process is completed some corrupt
politician befouls, it again. True, but do you
refrain from washing your hands today because
they will get dirty tomorrow? No, my friend,
such an excuse can not absolve you from 'the
sacred duty of citizenship r.nd there is little dif-,
ference in the degree of guilt between him who
helps to make politics dirty and him who fails
to help make politics clean. "
What we need is a political "house-cleaning"
and the coming of women into politics with their
well-known antipathy for dirt, moral and ma
terial, justices the hope that from now ' on
"clean up" days will be more frequent and thor
ough. You ask how you can help to purify politics?
My. answer unhesitatingly is,- by electing good
men to office. Surely we can never have clean
politics unless politics is administered by clean
men, and how can we get and keep clean men
in office unless we take the trouble to inform
ourselves as to the record of ' the candidates?
RIGHT tO VOTE NOT A PERSONAL PRIVIL
EGE BUT A PUBLIC DUTY
The trouble .with us is that we think of our
politics as a personal scramble for office-, as a
mere test of the popularity of the candidates or
the strength of the organizations behind them
We pick our cand'dates just as a sportsman
picks his winner m a horse race and when we
go to the polls we seldom think of the sacred
ness of the duty we are performing. We do not
think of our votes as instruments of-service to
our follow man. Cleveland said "A public of
fice is a public trust." ' We must go further
and say that our vote is a public trust, not to
be used for personal and private ends but to ho
exercised in the fear of God and for the public
good. Pubic office is not a private snap, no?
is the right to vote a personal privilege but a
sacred .obligation to be iispH fm. ,.i,:L.i? -
our fellow man.' If we have such a concentinn
of the right of franchise we will not IiX ?XSE
ise' our votes and support to a candidate simply
because he is, in common parlance, a good fel
low" or simply because he belongs to this fac
tion ,or that.
THREE THINGS TO BE DEMANDED OF
CANDIDATES
There are three things that we must demand
of our candidates for public office: They must
have a definite program for the public good.
They must have character and ability. They
must have courage.
A DEFINITE PROGRAM FOR THE PUBLIC
GOOD
We must demand of our candidates that they
have some higher ambition than the mere hold
ing of office. We must demand to know what
they propose to do after they get into office.
Those who have to do with fixing the policies of
the government, should be required to formul
late and announce their platforms, to the vot
ers. The business of the government is the
people's business and they have a right to know
the principles and -purposes of those who ask
for leadership. When they say to you, "follow
me," you have a right to ask "Where are you
going?" When I was a boy the windows of my
home looked out over the grounds of that fam
ous old church wneie Patrick Henry kiiviied
the fires of the Revolution and delivered his
famous speech "Give me liberty, or give me
dea'h." In those grounds are many ancient
tombstones bearing quaint inscriptions. One is
said to have been written by the deceased dur
ing his life time and ordered by him to be
carved on his tomb. It reads:
"Stop my friends as you pass by,
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now, you soon will be;
Prepare yourself to follow me."
An Irish plumber passing that way one day,
put down his kit and began to study those cur'i
' ous lines' and then taking out a piece of char
coal, he wrote on the marble under the inscrip
tion "To follow you I am not content
Until I know which way you went" .
L commend to you, Mr. Voter, the wisdom of
this cautious Irishman. v-
CHARACTER AND ABILITY '
. pur" candidates must be men of emtracter
and ability to perform "the duties of the office
to which they aspire. If we are contemplating
the employment of a man in our business, we
inquire into his fitness. We ask, Is he sober7
Is he competent? Is he honest? Does he pay
his debts? But when the public is about to hire
a man, by electing him to office, any reference to
his shortcomings is strangely considered mud
slinging and .usually redounds to his benefit
Slander should always be condemned. But
the man or the newspaper which publishes
facts as to the fitness of candidates for office
ought to-be considered a public benefactor We
should draw a distinction between campaign
slander and a fair , discussion of the character
and record of the candidates.
There seems to be a strange and widespread
confusion m the public mind on this question.
The public seems to resent any exposure of the
weakness of candidates, when as a matter of
fact the only issue in many contests is the abil
ity and character of the candidates. Let us
remember too that a man who can not be trusted
In private life, can not be trusted in public life.
COURAGE IN PUBLIC LIFE
We should demand of our public men that
they have courage. Our political situation is
full of problems of the greatest importance with
which our public men fear to grapple bScSle
of the antagonisms which they might thus
create. . But we have a right to demand of all
whom we entrust with leadership and all who -ask
us thus to honor them, that they aid in the
solution of every important question related tn
the office they hold or to which they aspire
For hem to fail to take a stand when Ji-h
questions are at issue, is a display of mLl
which the people should not tolerate The oat
ties of peace can not be won under cowardly
leadeship; anymore than wars can be won un
der cowardly military officers. The nublio
whose chief concern is getting elected "is L ni?
less to his country as the soldier whose cMef
th?e5 J hi?nWn Per80nal 8afet Bew
then of the public man who is afraid to ad
cate measures concerning which there is dttf-"
ence of opinion! The wrong in government will
never be righted by such men ' On thL u J1
hand their presence In polX JnuVr2S
all processes of improvement. And yet let it Hn
sadly . admitted that he- attitude of the averaeo
voter encourages such" timidity. The Zralvn?
er seems-to delight voting for a Sd fel"
low" who never offends anybody by disae i
with them, but believe me, no wrone , ng
righted without giving offense to somebody?!
the number of people offended is often in
portion to the magnitude of the wrone tn'if"
corrected. I have sometimes heard good Id
justify politicians in their evasive policies Th
say we can not blame candidates for gettini 2
the votes they can. But if I am nmv?iu an
dollars by deception, how can I justify Kettfn
votes by the same method. And if it is w2
to get rich by fraud and concealment, how 2
getting office by the same method be justified
"INCREASE MY COURAGE, LORD"
Some time ago I was seated at a banquet next
. to that famous old statesman, "Uncle Joe" Can
non, who has been, in congress "whereof the
memory of man runneth not to the contrary"
Responding to a call for a speech the old man
rose and in the most impressive way began to
deplore the timidity of his colleagues in con
gress. He pictured' them as sneaking into the
cloak rooms and corridors when a vote was
about to be taken on a question concerning
which their continents wera divided. He then
raised hislong and bony arms and with great
feeling and emphasis said: "If I had my way
i would abolish the office of chaplain of con
gress and instead of having afn, opening prayer,
I would require all the congressmen to join
their hands and sing together the good old gospel
hymn 'Increase my courage, Lord.' "
One of the greatest tasks of the day is to en
courage the disposition on the part of the peo-
. pie to appreciate and honor those public men,
who fight for principle, and to' despise those
who dodge great issues just as they would de-
, spise a man who flees when his country calls
to arms. We have often heard it said that
peace hath its victories no less renowned than
. war; that the country's, greatest good has been
. accomplished by the effort's of noble men and
wpmen in times ' of peace. And yet while we
make heroes of men who face death in time of
battle, we have little to say in praise of those
heroes of peace who sacrifice their personal in
terests in the advocacy of measures they believe
to be conducive to the public good. On the
other hand, we find ourselves honoring men who
' hold their public .positions, by reason of their
failure to take a decided stand on public ques
. tions and the man who is really willing to fight
for the public good is usually considered a stub
born disturber of the party's peace and unavail
able for all party honors.
SPOILSMEN WHO LIVE ON THE PLUNDER
OF PATRONAGE
We look with toleration and often with admir
ation upon the slickness of the politician who
cleverly avoids every issue; who never leads
public sentiment but who always follows; who
has no convictions, who entertains no worthy
aspiration; but whose only desire is to remain
In power for selfish purposes. Such men in
variably change as their personal interests dic
tate, they do not belong to those brave spirits
who fight and win the battles of right. They
are mere camp followers who live on the spoils
of war. They fill their greedy hands with tlft
plunder of patronage, a" by-product of the hard
fought battles of peace in which brave men risk
and often lose their political lives.
The. attitude of -most : our candidates for
office is very much, the same as that of the ap
plicant for the position of school teacher when
she was asked the shape of the earth. She ans
wered, '"Some say its flat; some say it's round.
Give me the job and I'll teach it any way the
school board wants" me' to." -t
"Winding in and winding out
Leaving the matter still in doubt
Whether the snajce that made the track
Was going in or coming, back."
We smile at this and -yet if you will study
your election returns you will find that it cor
rectly describes the type of politician most pop
ular with the voters. "
THE BLAME PLACED
And whose fault is it? '
It is the fault of the so-called good citizen.
For the experienced politician knows that only
about once in a decade do the people have
spasms of political activity, while special inter
ests with which he is secretly allied, are work
ing day and night, while you and I are sleep
ing. I would not excuse a candidate for his
unholy alliances but those are not Innocent who
by indifference make sucli .an alliance profit
able, thus putting temptation -in their brothers
way. - . ' .
. In the days ofuluellng men wee required by
, public sentiniehtWo settle their disputes on the
so-callQd fleia;of'hoh,Qr. -John .Hampden Pleas
. ants; a. Virgin editor- waiTotfe , of the great
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