change for money, that money decides our national elections,
that money is the one thing necessary for success in politics.
Great guilt must lie at the door of those who trade in votes,
who buy or sell their nation's virtue, who make what should
be sacred a means of pollution; but is that man guiltless who,
through indifference or selfishness, ignorance or cowardice, al
lows these things to be done? Is that man guiltless who, from
any cause whatever, neglects or refuses to use the ballot ? A
battle for purity and thoughtful activity in politics has begun,
and upon its successful termination our national life depends.
Men must'realize their political power and duty; they must
learn that suffrage is not only a right, but that it is at the same
time a sacred trust, that the use of the ballot is not a matter of
choice, that, in a country so vitally dependent upon the
people, no man can escape his share of responsibility for the
government. Young men must be taught that the political
field offers them the greatest possible chance to serve human
ity, that their country has a claim upon their first and best'ser
vices, that to be a true politician is the birthright of every
American and the highest patriotism.
The time is at hand when men should be taught that he who
shirks his political duties or fails to exercise his political rights
is unworthy of American citizenship, that the man who stays
out of politics because of the corruption there is a ,moral
coward, that frauds upon the ballot box are the worst possible
crimes that can be committed against a republican govern
ment. Men must realize that the ballot should be cast for
right not party, for right not friends, for right not money. To
preserve our national honor, to hold our position as leader
among the nations of the world, men must consider the use of
the ballot mandatory; they must treat the effort to influence
their ballot by any valuable consideration whatever with con
tempt; they must treat the one making the offer as the basest
of criminals; they must hold the purity of the ballot as sacred