42 Latitude and Longitude 



All kinds of forces are continually playing on him, 

 to shove him first into one gulf and then into the 

 other; and even a wise and good man, unless he 

 braces himself with uncommon firmness and fore 

 sight, as he is pushed this way and that, will find 

 that his course becomes a pronounced zigzag in 

 stead of a straight line; and if it becomes too pro 

 nounced he is lost, no matter to which side the zig 

 zag may take him. Nor is he lost only as regards 

 his own career. What is far more serious, his 

 power of doing useful service to the public is at an 

 end. He may still, if a mere politician, have politi 

 cal place, or, if a make-believe reformer, retain that 

 notoriety upon which his vanity feeds. But, in 

 either case, his usefulness to the community has 

 ceased. 



The man who sacrifices everything to efficiency 

 needs but a short, shrift in a discussion like this. The 

 abler he is, the more dangerous he is to the com 

 munity. The master and typical representative of 

 a great municipal political organization recently 

 stated under oath that "he was in politics for his 

 pocket every time." This put in its baldest and 

 most cynically offensive shape the doctrine upon 

 which certain public men act. It is not necessary 

 to argue its iniquity with those who have advanced 

 any great distance beyond the brigand theory of 

 political life. Some years ago another public man 



