Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 5.djvu/431

Rh being well aware that it ordinarily excludes them from the so-called rewards of political activity. And the “practical politician” of your stamp does respect them in spite of himself; for, whenever an important election approaches, the practical politician in dulcet tones appeals to “the high-minded citizens who put country above party” for support. After the election you may abuse them, because you are not able to command them; but you will appeal to them in the same sweet way anew when their aid is again needed. Now, if you call the conduct of such men “treason,” all I can say is, in the language of Patrick Henry, that you are at liberty to “make the most of it.” You can hardly be expected to appreciate the significance of the smile with which such revilings are received by those for whom they are intended.

Of the gentlemen who serve as the officers of the Civil Service Reform League—not one of whom, pardon me for saying, would shun comparison with you, either intellectually, or morally, or socially, or politically—you say that “none of them has ever voted the Republican ticket as a matter of political principle.” You are mistaken in a twofold sense. The Civil Service Reform League is a non-partisan organization. There are men in it who have always been Democrats, others that have always been and now are Republicans, and still others who are Independents, but most of them have voted the Republican ticket more frequently than the Democratic. Why did they do so? Take the last election. They voted for McKinley and Hobart because the Republican party had declared itself emphatically for honest money and for civil service reform. Was not that “voting the Republican ticket as a matter of political principle?” What else could it be? It was certainly not voting the Republican ticket as a matter of personal interest; for not one of these Independents expected or desired any