Show The Era of Suspicion I IAN LINDBERGH LINDBERGH'S S demand that I C there be bc an un investigation of the financial connections con con- S of the members of the congressional committee that is halting baiting the II money moncy de devil il is not insulting as it once would havo hova boon boell In the days f when a 3 thorough knowledge of the niceties of the Code Duello DuelIo constituted au an all ample education for a 8 aI I Mr 1 Ii Lindbergh would b have we had for his breakfast this morning a 0 cup of coffee to test his nerves and a bullet to gauge his physical endurance I Nowadays howe however er men in publio office have havo become boI bo- bo I come so accustomed to to being regarded as thie thieves es and thugs that an au insinuation like that contained in the Lindbergh resolution of yesterday will cause little littlemore littlemore more than a ripple I Bec Because of this and other similar incidents we weI I might as a n nation casually assume ourselves to be beI I developing the publio public conscience to a high degree of sensitiveness Yet that conclusion would be erroneous elTone- elTone ous we are not more honest merely more I cal The sm that has lifted so many insincere cere Pharisees to public office in the present decade has bas become popular because of its success The young ambitious man burdened with little conI conscience con con- I I science and less sincerity looks about abou t him hiro and observes ohI ob oh- I serves sel that the assumption of superficial virtue has bas become a national failing he finds that the really honest man who is engaged neither in lauding his own virtues nor publicly exposing the supposed noes I of others waits in vain for the call to serve servo the peo pee pIe And in an age when only success is worshipped and laudable ble endeavor or for the right gets its exponent expo epo nent nothing not even gratitude it is not surprising I that the m man n with ambitions is jg tempted and sueI suc sue I bs Tho be public man who escapes being considered a I grafter and a a. thief is fortunate indeed his lines have been cast in pleasant places and a beneficent Providence has b been n watchful lest leat he dash his foot against a stone If he be raise his bis voice against wholesale whole whole- e sale gale condemnation of the representatives of the tho people people peo peo- pie if he insist publicly that honor and virtue are not dead that the average R of honesty of those who sit git in high p places is no less than that of those whom they serve ho he is considered an emissary of the thc inI in in- I Those Thosa who eB east cast t stones do not pretend themI themselves them them- I seI selves es to be without sin they sin they demand that their representatives in publio public office shall be as irreproachable irreproachable irre irre- t as Caesars Caesar's wife yet the attitude of this I ilk is always suspicious without adequate reason t The dispassionate observer unacquainted with this t now pha phase c of American life might assume that scandal scan scan- I dat dal had been rampant that malfeasance in office I was most common and that those of our prominent I statesmen who had not learned the lockstep were t just about to do so We all aU know now however that t I the reverse is true that our public life is remarkably remark remark- I t ably free from untoward hap happenings and that the I level of integrity mong inong our officeholders is infinitely I I higher than that of any other nation I Hypocrisy and are the Gold Dust DustI I political twins a President of the United States discovered discovered dis dis- dis- dis covered them and put them to work for him Unfortunately J f innately while he hG 6 directs them with more skill than is shown by his imitators imitator he could neither copyright copyright copy copy- right nor patent them and they have become fa favorite fn- fn I I e employees plo of many This new new political school 1 teaches its pupils that tb the shortest and most certain road to high political preferment is over tho the bodies I of others The old adage that there is always room at the top is cast into the discard and t the he climbers I make s a G for for themselves themselves b by sta stabbing bing those above aboc them with nth innuendo and insinuation While that j method reached its apotheosis in tho the recent campaign cam cam- I aign it also found und its Vat Waterloo We Ve shall have little more of of It from the inventor of the new t thought J Tol Tolerance ran rane e of the failings of others and charity ty in ii judging them was once an American characteristic A tic it will be again The reaction is always tain tam The public will come in time to regard the accuser with rith as great suspicion as the accused and andt t will win demand that he lie that casts the first stone shall I be himself without sin Wholesomeness will be the keynote of our national life as CJ it once was and the j reckless dema demagogue demague ogue who inspires 5 suspicion a against i t public men will be he covered with the contumely ly h he t deserves i 49 4 4 cJ 4 |