CHAPTER VII
Reformer
THE prevailing sentiment in Chester County during
the time of my early life there was that it was the
duty of all men to show an interest and even to
participate in the management of public affairs.
Many of the youths about to enter upon the struggles that
confronted them had some ambition in the direction of
seeking public station. In any event, they had a real
concern for, and earnestly discussed the acts and the merits of
officials, whether executive or representative. As one of
them I saw, or thought that I saw, much that needed
improvement and I was altogether ready to take hold
somewhere and make an effort to have the evils which afflicted
the administration of public affairs corrected. My experience
had not been sufficient, nor was my philosophy subtle
enough, to enable me to see that while there is much in the
conduct of men that is imperfect, such imperfection is at
least as great among those who narrate and comment as
among those who do the work of the world. What appeared
in print was accepted as the truth, and there my reasoning
began. It needed to go much deeper. The feeling in the
county was very antagonistic to Simon Cameron, who was
then a controlling factor in the Republican party in the state,
and with that feeling the members of my own family, which
for over half a century had been active in county affairs,
were in entire accord. I regarded him as a malign influence
which was, through the efforts of those imbued with a due
regard for the public welfare, to be in some way or other
overcome. The entire line of this political thought was that
a Democrat was an obnoxious person who had been helping
