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Hon. Don M. Dickinson

Hon. Don M. Dickinson image
Parent Issue
Day
10
Month
July
Year
1895
Copyright
Public Domain
OCR Text

The following excellent sketch is re printed from the June number of the Michigan Alumnus : For the past ten years Don M. Dickinson has been a prominent figure in national politics. During six oE those years Mr. Cleveland has been president and no one has stood closer to the president than Mr. Dickinson. His adrice has been freqiiently sought and his counsel followed. For ten years prior to Mr. Cleveland's first election Mr. Dickinson was the leader of the Democratie party in Michigan. When that unuch can be truthfuüy said of a man still on the sunny side of fifty, it goes without saying that he must possess rare natural abilities. The order o that ability, its kiud and quality, is not however indicated and the kind and character of a public man's ability are of primary importance. During the last twenty-five years several persons in New York City have attracted public attention and have had quite as much to do with shaping the political history of this nation as any member of the Senate or House of Representatives, and vet not one of them if lie liad lived in some country village would have been known outside his township,provided he had been fortúnate enough toescape indictment. They all belong to the class known in this country as practical, working politicians, political drill seraeants. mantera in the art of making the public serve the office in place of the office serving the public. The result of an election under the manipulation of sucli men always registers the voice of the worker, seldom the will of the voters. A politician of that order bears the same relation to statesmanship, that the cracksman does to the art and industry of manufacturiug burglar proof safes. Each presents a problem to the citizens or the artizan which he must solve, if the public are to be protected from burglars and the state from spoilsmen. The practical political worker is always found in the party having a majority in the location where he schemes and plots. A inajority is an essential condition to the harinonious development of lus peculiar abilities. Mr. Dickinson could not if he txsu, properly equipped, intellectually and morally ; he posessed both aptitude and inclina tion, be one of tl i at class. From in fancy he has lived in the state of Mioh gan and for the past tliirty-flve year there has not been a presidental elec tion when any Republican could not carry the state. Twice during the period the party has failed to elect its candidate for governor. But in each case the result vas due to local anc transient political squalls, producing sea-sickness for a time- which kep many away from the party feast. The indisposition was teinporary, due to stomachic difficulties and not to any constitutional troubles, and when thei passed away they left tlie appetite o theafflicted well whetted. Since 18(0 the Democratie party proper in this state has been in the minority and for most of that time the minority has been weak and contemptible. A political majority so strong tliat the opposition exerts no restraint upon its selection of leaders or its party policy is a plague to any state or borough. The majority of every party will always vote the party ticket and if such majority is a majority of all the electors the result is foreordained. There are many pious souls, politically, -n-ho hold that there is no reform for the state save "reform of the party witliin the party." Similia Similibus Curantur may be a correct basis for Materia Medica, andtheadage tliat it takes a thief to catch a thief may contain a trace of truth, but neither the one or the other justifies the belief that politcal evils may be best cured by retaining in power the party responsible for those evils. Great majorities make all political evils chronic. A tyrannical majority is responsible for a still greater public niisfortune. It fllls public positions with a lot of nincompoops whose abilities great or sniall are a menace to the public good. The best public service is uecessarily otic and self-sacrificing service. The great sta'tesrnan is alwaya a philosopher, a prophet, a seer, with 110 aptitude for the work of the politica] lieeler. The man who can serve the public well seldom proffers his service. He waits to be invited, in, the meantime doing the work at hand, ploughing the fields with Cincinnatus or tanning hides with Grant. And he must wait, inobedienee to the law of his beinfr; f he did not lie would not be great. There are some few blessings in this world that are bestowed without the asking, the sunshine and the dew, but most of the thincs that are worth having or are desirable must be sought and labored for, wliile the pests, tiie brambles and briars, mosquitoes and vermin are neither shy nor diffident. The same law prevaila in politics. The statesmen who will serve the public for the public good mist be searched for with a lantern while the slumbers of every voter are listurbed by the importunities of those who desire to serve themselves under ;he pretext of serving the public, and if here is one man the political boss adnires more than another it is a man vho makes politics a business. If the najonty is large enough, so tliat he are gratify his own wishes, no other andidate is nominated. In all the tates where a nomination is equivalent o m election candidates have been aken froin that class almost exclusivey for years. AVith the exception of General Grant, whose election to the presidency was due to his army record, the states of New York, Ohio and Indiana, where parties have been fairlv matched, liave furnished all the presidente elected since the war, and all the defeated candidates for that office except Mr. Blaine. That these states, having about one-teutli of the population of the whole country, should have furnished all the successlul candidates and with one exception all of the unsuccessful candidates for the highest office in the nation for thirty years is not due to chance but to the pernicious labors of Bill, Jack and Jim at the priniaries in all the other states. The effect of au unbridled party governnient is quite as disastrous to the party in the minority as to the party in the tnajority- the whole party machinery of both parties falls into the hands of second and third rate men. If examples of this truth were needed, Michigan is a good object lesson. At the close of the war she liad a number of men of ability for public affairs, among theui Chandler, Palmer, Alger, hut ior twenty-five years the party in power lias not produced a single man of uational reputátion. The state it is true has not been disgraced. Her mediocre statesmen have been fairly honest. Their sins in government have been due rather to selfishness tlian to venality, to ignorance and inoompetency and not to pure cussedness. Their follies have amused and have not shocked the public. If occasionally the little fellows have promulgated from tlie state capital sonie law which savored of nepotism, and they have been found legislating for the special benefit of "skunks" and "imbéciles" a generous public: has not been disposed to be captioiis and to overlook the esprit de corps that prompted the act. That Mr. Dickinson lias been able here in Michigan to make for himself a national reputation is a very significant fact and its full significance cannot be ippreciated without taking into account the pohtical life of our people and the political situation in this state. He has made for himself this reputation without being in faot a politician at all of that order that Tainmany first originated and whicJi has been so successfully mitated and improved upon here and tliere wJiere majonties would pennit. Mr. Dickinson grailuated from the Law Department of the University in the class of '67 and was soon after admitted to the bar at the age of twenty-one. He ïasfrom thatday tothis been first of 11 a lawyer. Tso other attorney in this tate for the past ten years lias had so xtensive a practice iri the United tates Supreme Court and in the disrict and circuit courts. Other attoreys, nnder equally favorable circum;ances, have given their entire time to ;be profession and have accomplished far less. It is only uecessary to suggest to those who know what a jealous tress the law is that Mr. Dickinson gives the whole of his time, practíeally, to his profession. We believe that lie has never been a candidato for any office, appointive or elective, and lias never held butone office, that of Postmaster General. He has for years been personally acguainted with the leading men in thejstate. He is a good judge of character and when appointments to office have been made upon his recommendation, the choice has invariably been satisfactory to the public. The secret of Mr. Dickinson's success is the fact that his political work is uuselfish. He wants no office, seeks nothingfor himself and consequently his judgnient is never warped by personal and selfish considerations. He is a born leader of a political party when great principies are at stake in the contest, but there is many a man who is his equal, if not his superior, in presiding over a political dress parade where prizes are to be awarded to the victor in a sack race, and the fellow who catches the greased pig. Without those qualities of head and heart he could not have gained his present position with tlie poor support of a minority party, torn asunder by divided counsels, and opposed by a party united, and grovrn bold aud arrogant throngh great and repeated triumphs. No part of his success is due to party support at home, or party concessions abroad. In spite of incubus of modern political methodsf' indeed in a mensure by being opposed to sucb nietbods, he is to-day the mostf prominent political figure in tliis state. Mr. Dickinson is another illustnui.m of the trutli, that history has eraphasized over and over again, that if the public man would serve himself lie must serve the public fearlessly and honestly. He has by au unselfish devotion to the public good as he saw it, attracted the attention and gained the coDfldence of the nation. The times are not ripe for great leaders, because each of the old parties are busily engaged in threshing over old straw. When the time comes for a new alignment of parties upon the vital issues of the near future, how the freedom of the individual may be preserved and at the same time each citizensgiven an equal start in the race of life, Don M. Dickinson, or men of liis mould, will be in command of the conteuding hosts.

Article

Subjects
Old News
Ann Arbor Courier