E S87 • T58 Copy 1 Hollinger Corp. pH8.5 i E litieal Ethics," that one of three pro))ositions must be true. 1. "Eitlier the State anil all the institutions and laws which have eniinated from it, exist for the satis- faction of an ambitious and interested or privileged few/' 2. " Or politics is the eftect of mere chance." 3. "Or the State is an institution for a distinct moral end." [What Lieber meant by a moral end for a nation's ex- istence, differs from a moral end for an individual life. It can be better expressed as an end of continuous an. of the states and of the natiori for the beneiit of a few. no matter what their professions may be; and they are as surely mere devotees of fortune, who sell their influ- ence or their suffrages for money or for offices, no matter what noble principles they advocate. The politicians who preach the benefit of caucus rule. S THE IDEA OF GARFIELD. and the paramount duty of sustaining the party, right or wrong, would undoubtedly scorn the imputation that thej'^ are oligarchs; hut their practice tends directly to that end. Principles are secondary with them. They justify any breach of political morals on the part of their partisans. With them efficient party service condones crime; bribery is excusable, and even a matter of con- gratulation, if it succeeds in canning an election. The greatest rogue is a ])roper candidate and a suitable office liolder if he has a sufficient control over voters. Professions, however loftv, cannot be weij^hed asfainst such practices. These are the practices of demagogues whose sole aim is to establish their own power. Their chief object is to establish the rule of the privileged few. It should never be forgotten that this government is based upon a moral principle,— that is,upon the well-being of all the governed. The founders of tlie government be- lieved that the true end of government would be attained by the common sense of the majority. It is a govern- ment of the people, for the people, and by the people, in theory. The mass of the voters still believe this. And until this theory is destroyed, the efforts of the privileged few to turn the government to their own benefit, cannot succeed if properly understood. The popular movement which nominated and elected Garfield was the assertion of this theory, and there is danger that the moral force of his election will be lost Till-: I in: A artics were eager to adopt an irredeemable currency. During this trying time his voice never uttered a false note, but sounded above the shameful clamor in Con- gress, keeping constantly at the nation^s ear the full pitch of honor and honesty. THE IDEA or (IMHIEI.D. l.', Next to Secretary SlioniKiii, and pcrhajis cijually with liim, for in tlicir respective essential positions both were superlatively wise anl ])atriotic, GarKeld is entitled U^ the nation's gratitude tor our comtnercial prosperity and unexampled credit. And yet three years agro, after all this service had been rendered, General Garfield miirht have walked the whole length of Broadway with- out being recognized or named by the passing crowd. His portrait, now so well known in every CDrncrof the land, would then have been unfamiliar to the great ma- jority of the American ])eople. I remember hearing of his sitting during a whole even- ing, about three years since, in the public hall of the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York, and seeing but one acquaintance among the politicians and men of business who there congregate. But it was in the opinions of the quiet and thought- ful patriots that Garfield's strength existed. 01)scure, industrious and thoughtful men in all parts of the land had caught the ring of his words in congressional speeches and cherished them in their hearts. It was wonderful that this admiration should have become so powerful, when the knowledge of his personality was so slight. It seems to have been a ma:;netic patriotism in him which led patriotic instincts from all sides to point towards him — these patriotic instincts which professional jioli- ticiaiis cannot comprehend or attract. For all these considerations, General Garfield would never have received from the mere machine politicians the nomination to the presidency, and when that nomi- nation did come to him, the expressions of rage and dis- f the National Republican Committee at the critical election in 1870. Old Zach undoubtedly secured the election of Hayes at that time by his vigorous measures. A patriot would have been satisfied with the result, but the true oligarch clamored for more power. Hepublics are rightfully ungrateful in this sense; and the sooner this maxim is made a part of our political creed the better. Political work entitles no man to the reward of office. They are oligarchical governments which give such rewards. A quotation from one of Garfield's speeches shows his opinion: "The best and noblest reforms and revolutions in the public sentiment of this country, have been achieved by the people, with patronage, power and the spoils of of- fice against them, and where not one in a hundred of the successful, expected any other reward than the triumph of the principle they advocated. In such conflicts our noblest conquests have been achieved." 22 THE IDEA OF GARFIELD. Proletaire is not a democratic word, and there should be no proletarian class in a democratic republic. The ori^^inal application of the word in ancient Rome, was to those who contributed nothing but children to the public wealth, but it came to mean those who were vile and low, improvident and not self-sustaining, disgrace- ful burdens upon the State and society, without shame or disposition to improve. So in its derived meaning it answers well to designate those anomalous citizens, whose political privileges are purchasable, who look upon the government as the effect of mere chance, and who see nothing more than the power to procure a din- ner, or the meaus of a debauch in the right of suffrage. From this lowest depth of citizenship the proletarian spirits spreads upwards and controls and characterizes all those who bring their political privileges to market. The employee of government, he who serves the State in an oflScial capacity, is entitled to fair compensation for his labor, as if the service were rendered to a private in- dividual or corporation. But he who i-enders political service in the interests of his party, degrades his citizen- ship, by asking or accepting compensation. This distinction is clearly made in conscience and in reason, but I fear is not clearly drawn in practice. Many a man has accepted recompense for his political work, because others seemed to regard it as proper; but no man, I maintain, who has the spark of a freeman's spirit, has ever done so without humiliation. The wages of labor are received with a sense of dignity and satisfaction, but the wages of political work, when any part of the service rendered is a yielding of one's opinion or independence, is felt to be the wages of shame. THE IDEA OF l!Al!lU:i.l>. 2;] Sucli ]-iayineiits ;ire niadu in secret; tliev uiv iiiircc'ei|)ti'il tor and iiiiackiii)\vletlL:;e<.l. Tlie citizen does nut rise altove the pruletaire, uur is the bar^^ain less shameful when political inlliiencu is bought by appointment to cilice. In transactions of tiiis kind there is a broad well-beaten road by which the pro- letaire goes up and becomes an t>ligarch. The machine in politics is organized to kee]> this road open. Espe- cially is this tiie case in large cities. It is eas\' lor a suc- cessful proletaire to develop into a demagogue, and a demagogue, when he has firmly established himself, be- comes an oliirarch. It may seem that I am using the word patriot in a too restricted sense in designating by it only those who believe, that our government should be tlirected solely to the best interest of all the governed. But I contend that a patriot must love not only his land, but its form of government. We would hardly call him a patriot, who wished to establish here a momirchical form ofgi>v- ernment. I think also it will hardly be denied that our form of government being organized to promote the general welfare, and to secure the blessings of liberty to our fathers and their posterity, is perverted if turneil to the advantage of a few. It is then jiroper, as far as this country and its citizens are concerned, to confine the word patriot to those who believe strictly in the government as originally designed by its founds::-. 21 THE IDEA OF GARFIELD. Any citizen who would change the laws or the admin- istration, so that the welfare of the whole people shall no longer be its chief end, is not entitled to this name. It is even not enough that the general welfare should be kept in view. An oligarchy or a monarchy, it might be claimed by its supporters, best promotes the general welfare. The general welfare must be sought through the general exercise of equal civil rights. The sovereign- ty of the people must be acknowledged and defended. ; A partisan then in excess of zeal, for the mere tri- umph of his party, may cease to be a patriot, and so may the advocate of sectional interests, or the champion of a monopoly. The man who sells his vote is certainly not a patriot, nor is he who carries to excess personal de- votion to a popular hero. He who endeavors to con- struct a political machinery outside of law, to nullify the political privileges of citizens whom he cannot control, is not a patriot. lie only is entitled to be called an American patriot who is careful to exercise his own political rights with- out influence of personal reward, and equally careful not to take away or infringe the same rights of others. Every man ma}' vote in this country because our govern- ment is based upon the theory that thus the general wel- fare can be best secured, not because there never has been a party able to curtail or qualify this right. I am aware that the most probable objection against the use which I make of the word patriot will come from those who have been in the habit of confounding the taking an interest in aftairs of government with being patriotic. Men who give attention to public matters are often influenced by sundry unpatriotic motives. Men TIIK IDEA OF (JARFIKLD. 2r» ma}' be candidates for office, may make fervid eampni^Mi speeches, may fii;lit in tlie raidcs or may lead the armies of the Republic, witliout having felt one spark of j.a- triotic sjiirit Men may spend their best efforts and their lives in the public service, and yet be solely bent on servini,' themselves. The test of patriotism is in sacrificinij self- interest to the interest of one's country. The educated soldier \vill do the duty he has been trained to and fi<;ht in the cause for which he has enlisted, without roi;ard to the principle involved. But only patriotic feL'lin:; can nerve green troops to face the "unaccustomed terrors of hostile guns. Garfield, the college professor, leading his men against Humphrey Marshall's intrenchments, and sustaining his soul for the ordeal by muttering " For how can man die better Than facing fearful odds For the ashes of his fathers And the temples of his gods?" is a fine example of pure patriotism. The same spirit sustained him afterwards when he alone of all the AVest- ern Eepresentatives voted against the Silver bill, and thereby seemed to his advisers to be sacrificing his pop- ularity and his brilliaiit career. The professioiuvl politician is far from patriotism when he follows his party for the sake of his own success. Patriotism may be shown in breakin;^ p-'U'ty ties, and throwing away chances of individual advancement, when party triumph would be national misfortune, or i>arty methods are corrupting national life. The true patriots among our people are not necessarily our must promi- 26 THE IDEA OF GARFIELD. nent men. These are more apt to be influenced by con- siderations of policy as to their own fortunes, than are independent, thoughtful citizens. I am aware also that it has been sought to stigmatize those whom I have called patriots, as " senti- mentalists," and on the other hand to dignify the oli- garchs and proletaires, as " practical" politicians. This use of words is not justified. Although influenced by patriotic sentiments, patriots are not sentimentalists, in any authorized sense of the word. Ou the contrary, they are the most thoroughly practical of American citizens. They are the sincere and industrious people, and their sentiments are the practical sentiments by which their every-day life is regulated. They learn these sentiments in the common schools, on the farms, and in the shops and factories. The patriots are strongly bound to the welfare of their government, by ties of family, of habita- tion, and of property. They know that the best way to live satisfactorily is to work manfully and honestl}'. Thej^ are economical and self-supporting. They attend ])rincipally to their own aff'airs. But when in the intervals of business thev ffo to church, or read books or newspapers, or listen to lectures or political speeches, their minds promptly present cer- tain fundamental principles, by which they judge what- ever they see or read or hear. These principles, tiiey may not be able to define clearly, but they maloj no mis- takes in applying them to facts. It is wonderful what the patriots among the American ])eople can be moved to do, when these silent but never slumbering principles are appealed to. One has but to remember the electrical effect in the JSTorth of the firinw- THE IDEA OF (JAL'F/KLlK L>7 on Fort Suiupter, The patriotic SLMitiinuiit wliifh had remained quiet for years, while politicians played their cards shrewdly and inni^ined the -^aine all in their own hands, asserted itself in a moment with cominandiii^ etiect. The mere politicians were swept aside. The sclf- sacriticing sentiment moved ])eo])Ie, and furnished men and money to accomplish their will, which was irresistible. Gailield was one of those patriots at that time, and lie led a regiment of patriots like himself It may be a healthful mental exercise for certain poli- ticians to recall those times and the difficulty they then found in believing the evidence of their senses, and the extraordinary agility required in getting themselves in the current of the sudden sweeping tide. Garfield never lost his consciousness of this great ])at- riotic sentiment. He never belittled it by efforts to stifle it in caucuses or to control it by machinery. He revered it and kept himself in accord with it. He never sought to win its favor by fulsome praises, such as are too common in political harangues. But his speeches are full of solemn allusions which show how deeply he appreciated it. Take the following 'eloquent passage from his speech in the Chicago Convention, nominating Hon. John Sher- man: "Not here in this brilliant circle, where fifteen thou- sand men and women are assembled is the destiny of the Republic to be decreed; not here where I see seven hun- dred and fifty-six delegates waiting to cast their votes into the urn and determine tlie choice of their party, but by four millions of Republican firesides where thoughtfu 1 fathers with wives and children about them, with 28 THE IDEA OF GARFIELD. calm thoughts inspired by love of home and love of country, with the history of the past, the hopes of the future, and the knowledge of the great men who have adorned and blessed our nation in days gone by — there God prepares the verdict that shall determine the wis- dom of our work to-night. Not in Chicago, in the heat of June, but in the sober quiet which comes between now and November, in the silence of deliberate judgment will this great question be settled." It would be easy to fill a volume with extracts from liis speeches giving varying forms of this idea. At the time of his election to the Presidency his misd seemed to be more occupied with the grandeur of the thought that millions ot ballots were being cast to indi- cate the will of the people than with considerations of liis personal interest in the result. As a kindred idea, and one which also distinguishes patriotism from oligarchism, Garfield frequently spoke of the necessity of changes in political offices for the jn-eservation of public well-being. His favorite figure for this was the sea, as in the followino': "There is deep down in the hearts of the American people a strong and abiding love of our country and its liberties, which no surface storm of passion can ever shake. That kind of instability which arises from a free movement and interchange of position among the members of society, which brings one drop up to glisten for a time in the crest of tlie highest wave and then to give place to another, while it goes down again to mingle with the millions below. On such instability the eter- nal fixedness of the universe is based. * * * * * So the hope of our national perpetuity' rests upon that THE IDEA OF GAUFIIll.h. 20 perfect imUvidiiiil tVci'duin, which ^hull forever keejt ii|> the circuit of perpetual cliauL^e." Or this: "■There is no liorizmital stratilicatioii of society in this countr}' that holds one class down below forever and lets another come to the surface to stay there forever. Our stratification is like the ocean where every indiviil- ual drop is free to move, and where from the sternest depths of the mif^hty deep any drop may come up to glitter on the lii<3:liest wave that rolls." It is the tendency of oligarchism to deny this theory. The oligarchs endeavor to make themselves permanent in the higher political positions, and in order to do this they make the tenure of office insecure in the non-polit- ical offices, those in which mere expert or clerical labor is required. They would make the holding of the non- political positions dependent upon jiersonal allegiance to those in political power, and thus create for them- selves an army of salaried retainers, paid out of the public funds. Exactly the reverse of this was intended by the founders of the Government. It was intended that non-political positions should be held during good- behavior and efficiency without regard to political changes. But it was provided that the holding of ])oliti- cal offices should be frequently referred to the decision of the people at elections, and Washington, the first citizen of the republic, expressed in action the truth which his late successor Garfield expressed in the fig- ures I have quoted, that only in well-ordered instability among political factors, can permanent well-l)eing to the state be secured. "Washington refused to be a can- didate for a third term. Ilis patriotic wisdom in this 30 The idea of garfield. sint^le act can never be too hiorlilv revered and com- mended. He probably saved the patriots of the present day from the rule of an oligarchy, against which tliey might have struggled in vain. Still another distinction which maybe drawn between patriots and oligarchs, is in tlie different attitudes they as- sume concerning candidacy for political office. The true oligarcli claims nomination for office as his personal right, and treats all other possible candidates as his personal enemies. The patriot, on the other hand, feels an instinctive diffidence in seeking a nomination, nnd recognizes no ground for enmity against others, whom some of his fellow citizens seem to prefer. It is impossible to exhaust the fund of these thoughts, which come to those who mourn the loss of Garfield to his country. The vision of what he was qualified to be fades before the reality that he is no more. And the question, where shall we look for another leader like him, remains unanswered. His great and noble qualities stand out in unexampled magnificence; and it should be the efibrt of all of us, to keep them before our public men, as the standard of what we require. They should also be clearly presented to the minds of the rising generation, as the example of what American citizenship may be made. IIisti)ry has never known so sad a cutting off. It is as if Washington had fallen at White Plains, or Lincoln TIIK IDE:[ OF n.lRriKfJ). .>1 liml ]>oori fissassiiiatcMl liefuro issiiiiii; tlic proclamation of emancipation. Gartield's trainini:; and lii.s capacities missed tlifir njrcatest fnltillnicnt. His (jualifications remain for tlie most part imcrystalized in deeds. The nohle mark wliich lie mic^ht liave set n))(»n our national liistorr, can never be I'ltlly realized, and can l>e evidenced oidv l.v the regrets of his countrymen. It is chiefly as the possessor of groat qualities that we must remember and honor Garfield. The nation and the world knew him fairly l)ut a few months. In this brief period they had opportunity to observe his grand ciiar- acter. They learned something of Ids conscientious patriotism, something of his statesman-like reasoning, something of his kind but firm temper and manly forti- tude; and when the light of publicity was flashed upon his simple domestic life, the whole world of faithful hus- bands and loving wives, of tender parents and dutiful children, were touched, as never before, with reverence and affection. So it is to a great extent as an idea, not in realized works, that Garfield remains with us. It is this idea c»f a high-minded patriotic life which we shouM sacredlv cherish. "We should defend it from all envious detrac- tions and belittling suggestions. And we, the patriotic people of these United States, bj- contemplating and fol- lowing this idea, will be prepared to overcome the pro- letarian influence in politics, and to unmask and defeat the designs of political oligarchs. Tliei'e is a keen instinct which calls ever}' patriotic; American citizen to his duty, in the hour of supreme danger. Tiiis instinct works mysteriously. It is foolish- 32 THE IDEA OF GARFIELD. ness and a stunil)lin2: block to many liiglilj intelligent men who have not felt it. But it is the leaven of self- government which permeates and preserves the nation. It has resisted t^a-anny from without and treachery from within. It seems to be the last and most intelligent de- velopment of the Anglo-Saxon spirit. It is so tolerant of differing opinions, that it hardly raises a voice to ex- press dissent. It will endure menaces, and even lesser wrongs almost without remonstrance. It seems forgiv- ing of injuries, forgetful of insults, asleep, even dead. But let a deadly blow be aimed at a principle which it cherishes as vital, ■ and it is awake in an instant. At such times, it speaks with a million tongues but one voice; it strikes with a hundred thousand arms but one blow. Many times in our history has it seemed as if this freeman's instinct in the people were grown powerless, corrupted by self-interest, or overborne by sectional jealousy and distrust. But never yet has it failed to manifest itself at the proper time. Still, anxious minds often ask if it is not too ranch relied on, if it is not possible that it may fail in some great crisis and leave the nation to fall into anarchy or despotism. For- eign politicians are looking for and prophesying such a fate for us. Many capitalists interested in our material prosperity are speculating on such a contingency. There are even selfish organizations whose efforts are bent to bring about such a result. The influences which pull our government toward ruin are not unknown. They are not phantoms of sentimental minds, but are embodiments of powerful human selfish- ness. On the one hand are the idle, the dissolute and TllF. U)i:.{ OF liAlilllll.h. 33 the incompetent, pervertiiii; tlie privilei^es of fifcdom, and as the pretended champions of hilmr and hnmanity, pressini^ on to confisi*ate, possess and enjoy the fruits of the hibiM- of the iu(hi.strions, the frugal and the onlurl y. And on theother hand are tlie^reat schemers, who would or^^anize the forms of production and commerce for their own exchisive advantai^e, and make all propc-rty and all effort pay perpetual tribute to their trea.suri»'s. How shall we escape the wretched chaos of the socialists without deliveriui^ ourselves into the hands of thf monopolists; and how shall we free ourselves from tiic slavery of the monopolists without fallin