Judge — May 10, 1884 — page 2: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

THE JUDGE. 824, 326 and $28 Pearl St., (Franklin Square.) NEW YORK. PUBLISHED ONCE A WEEK. TERMS TO SUBSCRIBERS (Ustren Staves asp Casapa.) tm ADvAsCR. One copy, one year, or 2 numbers... . « One copy, #1x months, o 3 oumbers One copy. for bweeks, . . BRrrosTA0k yee ad Address, THE JUDGR PUBLISHING New York, RUROPEAN AGENTS STwe LerensaTiowat, News Comrasy, I Bouverte 8t., (Fleet St.) Loxwos, Exaasb, NOTICE. Contribators must put thelr valuation upon the articles they send to us (subject to a price we may ourselves Nx). or otherwise they will be regarded as gratuitous Stamps should be Inclosed for return postage, with name and addres, If writers wish to regain thelr declined articles CORRESPONDENTS. EW CORRESPONDENTS WILL PLEASE TAKE NOTICE THAT THEY OFFICE AY THEIR OWN RISK. WHERE #TAxre LE, OCT WR DISTINCTLY REPUDIATE ALL RESPONSIBILITY FOR SUCH EVERY CASE WHERE A PRICE 8 SOT APPIKED MY THE WRITER, RDED AM ORATUTTOUR, AND (LL BE ENTERTAINED, amusement season, in theatrical par- lance, has ended, and, as usual, a very great many thousands of American dollars are finding their way across the water. The season has been a noteworthy and brilliant one, and our most enterprising American entrepreneur, Wenry E. Abbey, is looking somewhat ruefully over his books with the consciousness that, after some months of unremitting toil and anxiety, he is no richer than when he started. He has gained largely in reputation, he has won upon the confidence of the amusement-loving public and of the artists whom he provided for its entertainment ; but he has not made money. That Opera House has proved a terrible ogre, and its insatiable maw has devoured the profits of what would otherwise have proved a highly remunerative season. Henry Irving and Miss Ellen Terry have, in differ- ent degrees, enriched themselves by their American tour, and between them are car- rying back to Europe somewhere in the neighborhood of a quarter of a million dol- lars. ‘That isa very large sum of money an enormons one to make in a single season. Where is Mr. Abbey's share ? the deficiencies in the running expenses of Nilsson, Campanini, Sem- brich, Schalchi and others are returning with sums which moderately minded people would call fortunes, They are carrying their bags of gold out of the Abbey which, if not ruined, has at least suffered severely Gone to pay the new opera. THE JUDGE. in the efforts to mect their demands and sat- isfy the public. As usual, the foreigners carry off the profits and the American gets left. "Twas ever thus. Well, we opera as we have never seen it before; we have seen Irving and Terry, and we have paid handsomely for the privilege and Mr. Abbey, if he has gained nothing e gained in reputation and experience. Hence- forth he will leave grand opera severely alone, and Tue JupGe trusts that with this dead weight off his hands he will enough next season to handsomely repay him for the trouble and anxiety he has suffered during this one. ave seen » has make THE POLITICAL, PILLORY. Ir isa constant complaint that we do not get our best citizens to take an active inter- est in politics, and that the men who are especially worthy to fill offices are the very men who never run for them. This is toa great extent true—so true, in fact, that for a man to be actively engaged in politics is counted against him as a kind of reproach. Elections are manwuvred and run by the “machine,” and the solid business men— the brains and wealth of the community— content themselves with voting, if, indeed, they even dothat much, for whatever part of the ticket submitted by their party seems least objectionable to them. This is very sad—very deplorable even, but it is scarcely to be wondered at. he press of this coun- try has instituted a kind of political pillory in which it fixes every man who becomes a candidate for any office ; and once there the victim must have the hide and feelings of a rhinoceros to endure with any degree of equanimity the pitiless pelting to which he is subjected. It is true that the lives of most candidates for office are obvious to the severest criticism; it is seldom indeed that a thoroughly blameless public record is pre- sented; but the worst malefactor in Sing Sing scarcely deserves the abuse which is heaped upon the average candidate. ‘This is bad enough wheu only a petty office is question, but when it comes to dential campaign, where men of sterling worth and integrity are frequently con- cerned, it becomes unbearable. or do the newspapers slacken their abuse on t count. in a presi- ‘The higher the position more lavish they are of their pleasant criti- cisms, and where no legitimate point of attack exists they are not slow to manufac- ture one. A candidate for the Presidency appears to have no feelings which anyone is bound to ‘The moment his head shows itself above its fellows it becomes a mark for the mud slingers, and where so much filth is flung some of it is bound to stick. Charge after charge is made and reiterated, touch- ing his honesty, his morality, his family re- lations and his family history to the third and fourth generation. If he had a grand- father hanged for sheep stealing we are bound to find it out, and if he had not, a great grandfather will be supplied by the vivacious and imaginative press to decorate one of the numerous halters of the last cen- tury. Ishe rich ? Te has stolen his wealth. Is he poor? He has squandered and dissi- pated it unworthily. Is he married? He has a second wife somewhere in the back- ground. Is he single? He has been di- vorced. In short, there is no incident in his life, no trait in his character, which the malignant ingenuity of a rival press will not distort to his discredit. Under these circumstances it is not won- derful that our best citizens refuse to volun- tarily this ordeal. ‘They have nothing to gain by it, and every thing to lose. ‘They may be blameless in their public relations and exemplary in their private life, but every closet contains a skeleton which the owner would ‘be loth to see dragged forth and exposed to the jeers of the rabble, and so politics remain in the hands of the professional politicians. The people have aclear right to know the character of the men whom they are asked to elect to rule over them, and it is the manifest duty of the press to show can- didates in their true character to the public; but has not the liberty of this political pil- lory degenerated into license, It has reached a point at which good men hesitate to enter it, and too often it is only those who have no reputation to lose who will endure the piti- less pelting of mud which greets the candi- date. This year we have a few good names submitted for President; a few good men are stepping up bravely to meet the public eye and the indignities of the newspapers. Let us hope that their conduct will be ap- preciated at its true worth, and though the mud will fly in abundance, that none of it will stick save to the persons of those who richly deserve it, and who have handled pitch so long that nothing them more. subject themselves to an now defile JAMES G. BLAINE. Tere are two proverbs which very well serve to illustrate the causes of the storm of rebuke and obloquy which the mention of Mr. Blaine’s name has evoked quarters. in certain One is to the effect that “high winds blow on h hills,” and the other tells usthat ‘Scandal loves a shining mark.” In this busy age no one is attacked gratuit- ously; even the footpad will not molest a man whom he suspects of empty pockets; Vacnus viator cantabit ante latronem. But from the standpoint of his political foes, Mr Blaine is very well worth attacking, for he is sufficiently formidable. The of Blaine has been among the most prominent in the country fc his movements have been noted and his sayings quoted: his life, public and private, has be the name years; 1 subject to trong light that beats on thrones —er, to translate the phrase into United States, on men who are eminent among their fellow comicbooks.com