60 Morality and Efficiency 



at first, and if they fail again, let them merely make 

 up their minds to redouble their efforts, and per- 

 haps alter their methods; but let them keep on 

 working. 



It is sheer unmanliness and cowardice to shrink 

 from the contest because at first there is failure, 

 or because the work is difficult or repulsive. No 

 man who is worth his salt has any right to abandon 

 the effort to better our politics merely because he 

 does not find it pleasant, merely because it entails 

 associations which to him happen to be disagree- 

 able. Let him keep right on, taking the buffets 

 he gets good-humoredly, and repaying them with 

 heartiness when the chance arises. Let him make 

 up his mind that he will have to face the violent 

 opposition of the spoils politician, and also, too 

 often, the unfair and ungenerous criticism of those 

 who ought to know better. Let him be careful 

 not to show himself so thin-skinned as to mind 

 either; let him fight his way forward, paying only 

 so much regard to both as is necessary to enable 

 him to win in spite of them. He may not, and 

 indeed probably will not, accomplish nearly as much 

 as he would like to, or as he thinks he ought to: 

 but he will certainly accomplish something; and 

 if he can feel that he has helped to elevate the 

 type of representative sent to the municipal, the 

 State, or the national legislature from his district, 

 or to elevate the standard of duty among the pub- 

 lic officials in his own ward, he has a right to be 

 profoundly satisfied with what he has accomplished. 



