Harper's Weekly/The Attack Upon Secretary Schurz
THE ATTACK UPON SECRETARY SCHURZ.
An effort has been made to cast obloquy
upon Secretary Schurz because he has
sometimes been paid for campaign speeches. If
he had been paid and had denied it there
would be some reason for blaming him, or if
he had driven hard bargains he might be accused
of avarice. But nothing of the kind
appears. Mr. Schurz was a poor man with
an ability for public speaking which was so
greatly prized that he was invited to leave
his occupations and stump different States,
sometimes for many days, or even weeks.
Of course he could not do it for nothing,
and he said to the committees that if they
wanted him enough to pay him he would
come, but otherwise he could not afford it.
The committees decided that the service
was worth the sum charged, and it was
paid. Mr. Schurz says, and with undoubted
truth, that he has given as much time
and labor to campaign work as any man in
the country, if not more, and that he has
done a great deal of such work in the last
twenty years for nothing. It certainly is
not unreasonable that an able advocate
whose services are very useful, and who
can not afford to give his services in
continuous travel and speaking, should be paid
for his work. And it is not unusual to offer
any speaker payment when he is sought for
a campaign in another State. We knew a
Senator of the United States twenty years
ago who was a poor man with a large
family, and who asked and received payment
for such services.
This charge is offensively made against Secretary Schurz to discredit his interest and efforts as a reformer of the spoils system of the public service, and it is made by defenders and agents of that venal system. This is not surprising. A system so miserable naturally destroys faith in high motives of public conduct, and those who defend it most lustily are those who have the utmost contempt for patriotism and political honesty. The attack upon Secretary Schurz was promptly and conclusively met by him. He did not deny that he had been sometimes legitimately paid for campaign services. No honorable man in the country will regard him less favorably for it, or doubt that the services were well worth very much more than all the money ever paid for them. It would be well if all public men who have received money for services of various kinds were as clean in the business as Mr. Schurz.
This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before January 1, 1929.
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