98 State Legislation 



and have been contemptuously disregarded by the 

 professional politicians in consequence. A number 

 of them will get together in a large hall, will vocif- 

 erously demand "reform," as if it were some con- 

 crete substance which could be handed out to them 

 in slices, and will then disband with a feeling of the 

 most serene self-satisfaction, and the belief that 

 they have done their entire duty as citizens and 

 members of the community/ It is an actual fact 

 that four out of five of our wealthy and educated 

 men, of those who occupy what is called good so- 

 cial position, are really ignorant of the nature of 

 a caucus or a primary meeting, and never attend 

 either. Now, under our form of government, no 

 man can accomplish anything by himself; he must 

 work in combination with others; and the men of 

 whom we are speaking will never carry their proper 

 weight in the political affairs of the country until 

 they have formed themselves into some organiza- 

 tion, or else, which would be better, have joined 

 some of the organizations already existing. But 

 there seems often to be a certain lack of the robuster 

 virtues in our educated men, which makes them 

 shrink from the struggle and the inevitable contact 

 with rough politicians (who must often be rudely 

 handled before they can be forced to behave) ; while 

 their lack of familiarity with their surroundings 

 causes them to lack discrimination between the poli- 

 ticians who are decent, and those who are not; for 

 in their eyes the two classes, both equally unfamil- 

 iar, are indistinguishable. Another reason why this 



