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Show SPIRIT OF THE PRESS. Public Office and Private Duty. St. Louis Globe-Democrat. The inscription upon the monument of the late Henry V. tirady "He Never Held or Sought Public Office" is calculated to tt-.'h an erroneous leisonrand convey a false impression im-pression of the duties and responsibilities of American citizenship. It is not true, as this inscription implies, that the rtfan does best who avoids official service under all circum-rtances. circum-rtances. Mr. Grady was an excellent man, but there was nothing added to his reputation by the fact that he remained all his life in a private pri-vate station. Our form of government includes in-cludes the idea that every ciUzcn has the right to accept an office, but also to strive for it in an hoeest aud reputable way. Some of our greatest men have sought political promotion, pro-motion, and the country lias not looked upon such conduct with disfavor. That kmc! of ambition may be abused, but the ambition am-bition itself is not wrong. It is the duty of every citizen to hold himself ready to act in any public capacity to which he shall be chosen by tlc people. - ' "Wariitnjj to the Alliance. " Florida Times-Union. - - " " The fact that there has been a marked fall- 1 ing off in the numerical strength" Of the farmers' "alliance in several if not all of the southern states;- is one that should cause'lts leaders to pause and give some thought to the warnings and counsel of the independent press; that is to say, the newspapers that are not edited at their dictation. Their policy has been one of proscription aud dictation, and to that policy free-born American citizens will not submit. The farmers will not turn from old and trusted political lenders and newspapers because they will not suddenly accept a set of radically new-ideas new-ideas of government, which every experienced experi-enced statesman and editor in the country has pronounced chimerical and dangerous in the extreme. They will not accept men like Polk and Macune as law givers in place of Jefferson and Hamilton. The Issue In Ohio. Philadelphia Ledgor. The Ohio democrats sought to evade the silver issue and devoted themselves to urging urg-ing condemnation of the McKinley act. This issue was so distinctly that on which the campaign was conducted as to leave no doubt that it was the one on which the election elec-tion has been decided. Mr. McKinley having hav-ing been elected, his triumph may be confidently confi-dently accepted as the triumph in Ohio of his protective policy as it is embodied in the McKinley bill. The United States and Chile. New York Herald. The federal officials who thought to make political capital out of the Chilean incident reckoned without their host. The American people are altogether to cool blooded to get excited unless they have special provocation, ana tnile liasn t jet lurnisiu-U provocation enough for a call on our ironclads. We arc-ready arc-ready to make a demonstration when occasion occa-sion requires, but we want to be sure we are right before we go ahead. |