io2 State Legislation 



speeches. Some of these are worth repeating, though 

 they can never, in repetition, seem what they were 

 when they occurred. The names and circumstances, 

 of course, have been so changed as to prevent the 

 possibility of the real heroes of them being recog- 

 nized. It must be understood that they stand for 

 the exceptional and not the ordinary workings of the 

 average legislative intellect. I have heard more 

 sound sense than foolishness talked in Albany, but 

 to record the former would only bore the reader. 

 And we must bear in mind that, while the ignorance 

 of some of our representatives warrants our saying 

 that they should not be in the Legislature, it does 

 not at all warrant our condemning the system of 

 government which permits them to be sent there. 

 There is no system so good that it has not some 

 disadvantages. The only way to teach our foreign- 

 born fellow-citizens how to govern themselves, is to 

 give each the full rights possessed by other Ameri- 

 can citizens ; and it is not to be wondered at if they 

 at first show themselves unskilful in the exercise 

 of these rights. It has been my experience, more- 

 over, in the Legislature that when Hans or Paddy 

 does turn out really well, there are very few native 

 Americans indeed who do better. A very large 

 number of the ablest and most disinterested and 

 public-spirited citizens in New York are by birth 

 Germans ; and their names are towers of strength in 

 the community. When I had to name a committee 

 which was to do the most difficult, dangerous, and 

 important work that came before the Legislature at 



