The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, August 12, 1906, Page 3

THE SAN FRANCISCO SUNDAY CALL. ¢fHALL THE ESWNESTN ISV )NT € =00 -3 “Don’t go into polities. It Is bad for % young man, or for any one, in fact, to follow. This Smal—Ieave politics alome.” “Young men of today are smart— for their age than in former years. Perhaps that is why compara- tively few are entering polities. I have They took my advice and entered other busimes smarter three soms. n e e X “I dom’t see where Senator Platt has any good basis for his argument. 1 hope to mee more young menm go out after the political offices. It means better government; it means bet- ter conditions In every way for everybody. It is homorable to be am- bitious, and every young man should be nmbitious. It is every young man's right to aspire to public office, and while the start you may be laughed a( for your presumption, remember that in this great republic every whe has & vote has a right to seek public office and, consequently, the ¢ fidence of his fellow men. . £ Milw . as »wn dow & B K's & P al manip or. an voung moral s should be left n back The C of Milwaukee eplies to look f e ambi- of sth, that the young mar = more the confidence of the ter than he has been in the past at e field s oper the young ail ns for the voung sra conta T ywersy between the aged B of New York, who is on the threshold of retirement after a suc- career in whic he has figured paigns, or ever Republican ention to e last ty years. em- bryo ¥ of Milwaukee, who has successf shown what the young w ney accomplish in . - to be interesting Se P s a picturesque type f . ticlan. Mayor Beck- . the political e and pite the machine . er but Mr. Becker es the s come to relegate the an entirely new line of pol- background, and shown his con- soc ts,” the class and stand- is nece to tne dissatis- en of his own believe that it ary doctrines of m economic sub- fied and read lectures ts. The son of a rich man himself, Becker declares that it is not ssary for a rich man's son to do a that he can accom- more good by employing the | ch nature and environ- him ts with w wed He looks with a good-natured teler-| ance upon youths of the type who de-| sire to be known as reformers and are| ready to adopt the mewest theories| which cenform to their fantastic ideas, ' Mayor Becker has declared repeatedly on the ump and off that politics is| a good field for rich young man who does not know what to do with himself, and who has some ideas which may be of benefit to the m He has demonstrated that his ideas were prac- | ticable by defeating one of the most strenuous campaigners of the country, | the Mayor Davl Rose of Milwaukee. And his entree into the field of munici- pal politics has been auspicious and fraught with good results. Here s what he s Go Into Politics if You Are a Young Man. cker of Milwarkee. By Mayor Be not seen basis In the He young s su o e votitics. I do not agree with the New York Senator on this point, and believe 1 can show where young men can become a power in polit ey go Into it I was the type of young o had nothing particular to ) When I returned from I treveled some, but fin swn in Mil- waukee. that there was a « ng in pol tics, and hed at me I holding myself to be fol- lowed, but am simpl showing what can be done. here are great opporturities in the world for the yo man in all the| walks of life, but 1 believe that none offers a greater inducement han that which I have chosen and which I am happy to say has been chosen by many thousands of other young men. To be in public life as an official neces- sitates the study of politics in its| many phases. Also, 1 believe a young | man who adopts a political career | should have some natural gdalifica- tions, There is plenty of room at the very front of public life for the young man of capacity. To succeed, he must | have a code containing principles, the | first of which must be honesty | No young man should enter pf)hh('s‘ there may be in it, for| for what money if he does he certainly will meet with | disappointment nce, he| omit from his code the first paragraph 1 haye mentioned, and then he will fall. | The unless, per young man who enters politics | should do so from a sense of duty to his country, with a willingness to be | misunderstood and misrepresented. If | he does not do this he will not succeed. | He must submit to great injustice | when he is bhewing to the line. In the| city of Milwaukee, where I have the honor to hold the highest office with- in the gift of the people, we have a number of young men in positions of public trust, and my observation ha been that every one of them, no mat- ter to what political party he may be- long, to his congtituents. Our people pre- | viously placed a little toe much con- fidence in the age of a candidate in| selecting moet of their officials, but I s Becessary to employ moung blood. | age. IV GATEY believe they now realize that it “Old men have less to look forward 0 and cannot have the ambition of youth, yet I do not wish to be under- | #tood as saying that age does not have its value in many ways. work; old men for advice based upon experience. The young man of today, 1 believe, is more in the confidence of the voter than he has been in the past. However, we have striking examples in history of exceptionally young men who have left their marks upon the books containing the records of the £00d work done In the world. I refer to Alexander Hamilton, to the great Pitt of England, to Napoleon and oth- Hme In the historw of the world has there been so much confidence in the young man as has recently been shown by the voter. “A wave seems to be swee| ing over the country demanding certain changes In the system of government of cities, States and the nation that require vigorous, youthful manhood Our honored President Roosevelt entered the political arena almost as soon as he took his degree at the university. And how he has advanced! What a wonderful record he I made, as we might say, the most wenderful of the He could not the great things he has accomplished had he begun his political career at his present age. He would. have lacked his early training in minor offices, would have failed to com- prehend the necessities of many emer- gencies that he has been compelled to meet Work is the best thing for every | voung man; Idleness is the greatest and breeds dishonesty & have by their vates chosen you as such, but those who have opposed you and | who, perhaps, misunderstand vou ‘and Do not, under any circumstances, al- low prejudice to swerve you from your best nent H a platform short and pointed. Ee sure it is right and stand upon it to the end Do not make it complicated or ver- b for if you do your planks will break and you will find yourself in trouble. It is & good thing to be conserva- tive, but too much of it is apt to be | disastrous to vourself and constituents. “Do something all the time, but in vour ambition to do something don't do things that eount for naught. “Malke plans, think of them, and then carry them ou Have as many ideas to develop as possibly can at one time; ess yourself of as much concentra- tion as possible. “Finish your work as you go along. Always keep in mind the you are the servant and not the master, matter what position you il the service of the public. “Do not imagine, if are elected Mayor, for example, that you own the City Hall “It, belongs every no may in you to sex all your people of condition. “You have been elected to represent all the people, and it is their right and color, or privilege to come to you as their rep- | resentative with their tales of woe or with their suggestions, which you should listen to with patience and can- dor. “Do not troversies. “Think fast and your responses in emergencies. “Conservatism is not entirely a dis- ease, and should not be so regarded by enthusiastic young men in politicsy “I believe political parties are mere instruments to meet occasions, and if readily take sides in con- try to be quick in but little public weifare. Men are of the greatest importance today, and I believe that the young man is by no means the least of his kind. 1 want to glve the young man contemplating a based upon my own experience of near- ly five years of public office: “Make up your mind to be honest and fair, both in business and in poli- has rendered creditable service | tics, “Work nine-tenths of the time, and when occasion requires, work the other tenth. You can enjoy yourself with hard work if you will »ut think so, UBINATOR, PLATY Young | men for action, for warfare, for actual | ers; but I do not believe that at any | have accomplished | nd corrup- | up yeur mind, when you a public trust. that vou repre- 1 the people, not only thosé who | still, | fact that | we did not have them we could have | no public opinfon, and there would be | public career a few words of advice, | R 2, . z “It {s In this way, and only in this | way, that you may come properly in | contact with the people, “Steer clear of classes and take the | hand of the masses at all times. | “Assoclate with as many people as | you can find. Extend your acquaintanceship every day. “Make it a point never to retire for | the night without being able to say: “‘Today T have made a new friend; today has been a success even though a minor matter." i Never know or recognize the word | ‘tail. You will 'fail, and faily badly some- times, but pass it up and do it as quickly as you can. | “Do not hesitate to put the stamp of| disapproval upom “bad legislation no matter if it be unanimously passed. Do not follow—lead—be original, and do be afraid to do things that some else has not done. taking public office of a great amount| in not one “A must be possessed of discretion “He will be compelled to listen to ad- vice from all sorts of people who pro- 1 honestly or otherwise, to have his personal interests at stake. “Use great care in the. selection ot your advisers, and do not take any- thing for granted. Know you young man men well before you se- | lect them, if they are to be intimately | associated with you, and then give| them your whole and undivided con-| fidence. “You must trust some one, and you mugt depend upon some one for advice, otherwise early vour career will come to an If you start ur own way, with- who have exp is only s failure, and failure of | A voung man who is! example, will meet | great problems that will | first seem to overwhelm him. | ‘Do not Worry' is a bad | | disease. | | “Just sit down and put on your| thinking cap, and before you think | many {imes you will decide to o to| that man or to thosc men in whom | and untimely end. out to ‘run things consulting men | ence and ability, the sult and that { the worst kind | elected Mayor, for v | out i- | one re- | with many | at worry you have implicit confidence for assist- | ance. Talke things over with lhem,‘ | reach a conclusion, and go ahead. | | “You will see that you have learned | something when have done this.| You will see that you have made pro- | ‘gress as a public man. The next time | yopare confronted with the same situ- | atiop you will have this added infor- | you mation in your storehouse of knowl- | | edge. 1 can recommend this recipe, for | | T have used it and am proud of it.| Things that 1 would not have thought | | of doing at the beginning of my short | career in politics come to me now with such easge as sometimes to startle me. “My own father, who knows me per- | haps better than any one else in the| | world, actually gasped for breath when | | he heard me make my maiden speech | 1ast spring in the campaign before an | audience of over 2000 people. He was| fearful that I would blunder and | utterly collapse that he took a position |at the doorway, one foot inside and lone outside. prepared, as he said | atterward, to run away and not suffer | the humiliation that he actually be- | | lieved was in store for me. “There is nothing impossible for the young man in this world. If you have an honest heart and a healthy brain, put them to use now. Don't waste a moment, but go at it—go to work,| serve your country if you can in some. capacity. The field of politfes is wide | and green. It is open to the young| man, and only remains for the young man to enter it and garner the rich grain it contains. “There has grown up in the new Western world a class known as the ‘idle rich.’ This includes a vast army of rich young men, who devote their time wholly to pleasure. They produce nothing. They just live and that is all, T am glad to know, however, that there has been an awakening, princi- pally' in the East. among this class, and that some of them have begungto | feel the very insignificant positions that they oecupy on earth, and that they have determined to go to work, Thereis no reason in the world why people should not be rich, but every man, no matter how rich, shoyld he a s0 | advocating as a cure-all producer of something that will be .of benefit to his fellow man ) N ! [\ i} i “The young man who devotes his | whether rich or poor, against the flnn-\ sure as|gers of the fantastic and the extreme | time wholly to pleasure is eternity to be an old man long before | tenets of socialism. We have a govern- | he should be. The man who tries to live without working and without ac- | complishing something is a bad ex- ample and a menace to society. It h not a kind father who brings up his son to live in idleness. There are, among my acquaintanceship, many highly educated and naturally honest young men who pride themselves that they have never earned a dollar or who have no thought or worry of what the morrow may bring for “I do not wish to be understood as for this evil a recourse to the digging of ditches, plowing on a farm or firing a locomo- tive,'although I do believe that a course of treatment of this kin# would be eftective in many cases. What I do mean is that every voung man should devote a liberal sharg of his time to some Dpccupation whether it produce him money or not. If he has all the money he needs then let him give his seryices to some charitable calling. There is a wide field for work of this kind. No church on earth has enough of such assistance. Young men pof wealth should familiarize and of their country, and in this way make themselves useful. be interesting to every young man to feel that his opinion and assistance are sought in laudable public undertakings. “1. feel ( ) themaelves | words implies. with the affairs of their community | In the styeet or plows in the field is | like . warning young mon, ! o S+ \ { ment that was founded upon good prin- ciples largely by young men, and while | it has often been threatened with de- struction, 1t has weathered the storms of over a century. I am not in sym- pathy . with what the press has been | pleased to~ call ‘parior socialism,’ nor any other kind of socialism which | eontemplates the utter of { our present farm of governg overthrow t e is great room for reform. and we are growing better every day. Let us not be led astray by the more or less at- | tractive pleadings and arguments of theorists who talk of revolutions. “These thihgs come to us principally through the agency of men who have made a failure of life in some country other than our own, and who would | be dissatisfied. 1 believe, matter what the conditions might be. The idle rieh voung man, with proper train- ing, has great opportunities in all honorable professions—the chu medicine, the law. the newspaper of- fice, literature, art. If he will identify { himselt with any one of theas he will be producing something., and will be working man in every sense that the The man who shovels no the | not the ouly preducer. and he is not the only man who toils. I could tell It dught to| you, were I not too modest. of at least | one Mavor who works hard and who |18 known to have labored far Into the | night for daye and weeks that he might ! for the laborious duties of Y E jmot BHCIER “A few weeks ago the®e came to MH- waukee a young ‘parior sociallst, whe informed s hearers in a public ad- dress that he had been idle for yea: th 1@ produced nothing, and that ke had no object In life except to spend the mon earned by labor, and whieh did not rightfully belong to him. When I read his address in a paper I felt like saying to him, ‘Go te work—you have the ability and you are needed— | stop talking and do something. Get out of the parlers of the rich if you think vou belong somewhere else. And it struck me that a desk in a bank or newspaper office would be a good place for him. Now I am informed that he is to take a course in agriculture and raise cabbages and turnips, perhaps. I believe that this young man means well | —that he is honest and sincere, but | that he Is not the kind of man whe | makes a success of farming. He has, I pnderstand, the advantages of a’eol- | 1ege education and the good breading fohat goes with it. He was trained in the school of journalism, and fs an able | correspondent ana reporter. Them why | should he go to the farm to malk cows or sow grain? Why cannot he do good in the world h his pen? He can | produce something with that as well ai others can produce something with the | plow or the corn planter. But he prob- ably imagines that he must do manual labor, and toil with loused hand He is mistaken. We need intelligent yowng men in Intellectual pursults te | help guide us in the right direetion We need brains as well as muscle, and we must have thetn “It is within the power of the rich | young man to do his country great ser- vice. He is not handicapped with pov- erty and therefore tempted to be a grafter while in ofice. His ambition is not to make money. but to make & name for himself. 'There might be ex- ceptions to this, but not many. I do not mean to say that the rich young man is always honest or pure minded or that the poor young man is usually dishonest. What I am trying to do is to demonstrate that there is a place for the idle rich and educated young man, and to show you the things that | recommend him. As a matter of fact more poor young men go to the fromt, T believe, in public affairs than any other, because he former is forced to do something, and in casting about for a calling he seeks public faver at the polls. Frequently, when young men are candidates for public office. oppe- | nents attack them on account of their youth. s was my experience last spring when 1 ran for Mayor. It was my experience two vears ago when I ran for Alderman: and It was my ex- perience five years ago when I ran for County Supervisor; but I was eleet- | ed every time by good comfortable | majorittes “1 do not deny that I am young, but am proud of it, and every young man should be proud that he is yo and | hope that he never will be a8 eld | fashioned and stale as some of thess | who criticise him."