Among Reformers 43 



enunciated much the same doctrine in the phrase, 

 "The Decalogue and the Golden Rule have no part 

 in political life." Such statements, openly made, 

 imply a belief that the public conscience is dull ; and 

 where the men who make them continue to be politi 

 cal leaders, the public has itself to thank for all short 

 comings in public life. 



The man who is constitutionally incapable of 

 working for practical results ought not to need a 

 much longer shrift. In every community there are 

 little knots of fantastic extremists who loudly pro 

 claim that they are striving for righteousness, and 

 who, in reality, do their feeble best for unrighteous 

 ness. Just as the upright politician should hold in 

 peculiar scorn the man who makes the name of 

 politician a reproach and a shame, so the genuine 

 reformer should realize that the cause he champions 

 is especially jeopardized by the mock reformer who 

 does what he can to make reform a laughing-stock 

 among decent men. 



A caustic observer once remarked that when Dr. 

 Johnson spoke of patriotism as the last refuge of a 

 scoundrel, "he was ignorant of the infinite possi 

 bilities contained in the word 'reform.' " The sneer 

 was discreditable to the man who uttered it, for it 

 is no more possible to justify corruption by railing 

 at those who by their conduct throw scandal upon 

 the cause of reform than it is to justify treason by 



