Life, 1891-10-08 · page 4 of 16
Life — October 8, 1891 — page 4: what you’re looking at
What you’re looking at
# Political Commentary on 1890s State Politics This *Life* magazine page critiques a contemporary gubernatorial campaign, likely in New York state. The text attacks a candidate (possibly William C. Flower based on the discussion) for hypocrisy: he's accused of being a silver-coinage advocate, yet allegedly wealthy and connected to New York capitalists and "Watertown" interests. The cartoons mock political machines and voter manipulation. The editorial suggests that creating a "new party" (possibly referencing Populists or "Mugwumps") to challenge Democrats and Republicans is impractical without strong leadership. The satire emphasizes that effective politics requires organizational machinery and "bosses"—implying that idealistic reform movements cannot compete against entrenched party structures. The piece reflects late-19th-century debates over currency policy, machine politics, and third-party viability.
📄 Transcribed text from this page (OCR, searchable)
Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.
‘LIFE: “While there's Life there's Hop VOL. XVIII. OCTOBER 8th, 1891, 28 Wrst Twesty-tHirp Street, New York. No. 455. ery Thursday. $5.00.4 year in advance, postage free. Single ck numbers can be had by applying to this office. Vol, nd. $¢s.c0, ack numbers, one year old, 20 Published ¢ copies rocents. F 1,, bound, $30.00 cents per copy $5.00 per volume ; Rejected contributions will be destroyed unlessaccompanied by a stamped and directed cavelope. a . Subscribers wishing address changed wi'l greatly facilitate matters by ing old address as wellas new. * (1 Vols. HI. to XVIT", inclusive, bound or in flat numbers, at T HIS much can be said for the con- temporary campaign in this State—that it is a polite campaign. There is little slang-whanging of the candidates. It is charged against Mr. that he is Platt’s man, that he parts his name in the middle, that his wife educational advantages in youth, as a free American, with a capacity for But all None of them, even if proven, is rich, and that he had such becoming his own maker, should scorn to accept. these are political offence imply a serious degree of personal turpitude in the convicted person Flower. It is al- leged against him that his circumstances are scandalously So of the offences complained of in Mr. ainst inst Mr. Hill; that he isn’t; that capitalist from New York, and t! from Watertown. These allegations, like those against Mr. easy; that he is in favor of silver coinage; that he is a silver coinage ; that he is a he is a he isa countryman Fassett, are almost entirely political, and Mr. Flower would not necessarily become a social outeast, even if they were Hl true, N EVER THELESS, comparatively 1 respectable as both candidates for the Governorship personally are, there are citizens who are not satistied with either of them, and whose dissatis- faction does not rest on disappointed personal aspirations, but on high moral ‘ »\ grounds. For example, the other day ‘ the valued Evenny Post published a 7 letter from a correspondent who wrote from Auburn to express his unwillingness to vote either for * Platt’s man” or *T candidates ; mmany’s and to enquire if there was some way out of this shameful condition of things ? The way out that this voter would like to tind would be a new party, composed of the “decent Democrats,” the *Anti- Platt Republicans,” and those “ Mugwumps and Independ- ents" who “have been long anxiously looking into the future for hopes of better things.” The end for which the new party would work would be “the liberation of our State and our country from the accursed slavery of the present race of infamous machine politicians.” To figure out reasons for the existence of a new party is easy—to create one is an- other story. I T is a pretty idea, this union of the True, the Beautiful and the Good against the machine Politician and his Works, but, honestly, we don’t f believe the time has come for it yet. For one thing, we don't believe it would be possible to get the best j men out of either the Democratic or the Republican party just now, for the reason that both parties ex- pect to elect a President next year, and the good men in each want to be marching around Jericho, blowing horns at the moment the walls fali down. And if they could he lured out, it isn’t certain that they could be induced to combine with us Mugwumps and Inde- pendents. They might assume modesty, and aver that they were unworthy For another thing, in the absence of a new issue of gr potency, it would take a mighty good machine to beat “ the infamous machine politicians ” in the old parties; and if such a machine was constructed and its competence shown, it would be very difficult to prevent the experienced politicians from coming over the fence and helping to run it. RE suffrage is unlimited, and one or two votes out of five are ignorant and one or two more are indiffer- ent, it would seem that there has got to be organization, — that is, a machine; and where there is organization there must be leaders,—that_ i bosses. It is an innocent political action to complain to. the Svening Post, that through Platt and Tammany, we are I going the way of the Italian vendors’ but really if a man feels bad about image: the state of things it might be better to make it & subject of prayer, for it is possible that the Almighty might help it, whereas we know that Mr. Godkin can't. comicbooks.com