of the weak and the unsuccessful. It is the unrest of the strong and
ambitious. You cannot still it by talking about prosperity: of course we
are prosperous, after a fashion, but it is a fashion that no longer
pleases us. We want something better and we propose to get it. What
disturbs you is the appearance in force of a generation that has turned
its attention to a new set of problems, and is attempting to solve them
by scientific methods. It is believed that there is a Science of
Government as well as an Art of Politics. The new generation has a
respect, born of experience, for the expert. It seeks the man who knows
rather than the clever manager. It demands of public servants not simply
that they be honest, but that they be efficient.
Its attitude to the political boss is decidedly less respectful than
that to which you were accustomed. You looked upon him as a remarkably
astute character, and you attributed to him an uncanny ability to
forecast the future. These young men have discovered that his ability is
only a vulgar error. Remove the conditions created by public
indifference and ignorance, and he vanishes. In restoring power to the
people, they find that a hundred useful things can be done which the
political wiseacres declared to be impossible.
When I consider the new and vigorous forces in American life I cannot
agree with your apprehensions; but there is one thing which you said
with which I heartily agree. You said that you wished we might settle
down to sound and constructive work, and get rid of the "muck-raker."
I agree with you that the muck-raker stands in the way of large plans
for betterment. But it might be well to refresh our minds in regard to
what is really meant by the man with the muck-rake. He is not the man
who draws our attention to abuses which can be abolished by determined
effort. He is the man who apologizes for abuses that are profitable to
himself. He prefers his petty interests to any ideal good. His character
was most admirably drawn by Bunyan:--
"The Interpreter takes them apart again, and has them first into a room
where was a man that could look no way but downwards, with a muck-rake
in his hand. There stood also one over his head with a celestial crown
in His hand, and proffered him that crown for his muck-rake, but the man
did neither look up nor regard, but raked to himself the straws, the
small sticks, and the dust of the floor.
"'Then,' said Christiana, 'I persuade myself that I know somewhat the
meaning of this; for this is the figure of a man of this world, is it
not, good sir?'
"'Thou hast said right,' said he....
"'Then,' said Christiana, 'O deliver me from this muck-rake.'
"'That prayer,' said the Interpreter, 'has lain by till it is almost
rusty. "Give me not riches," is scarce the prayer of one in ten
thousand.'"
The man with the muck-rake, then, is one who can look no way but
downward, and is so intent on collecting riches for himself that he does
not see or regard any higher interests. I agree with you that if we are
to have any constructive work in American society the first thing is to
get rid of the man with the muck-rake, and to put in his place the Man
with a Vision.
THE END
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End of Project Gutenberg's Humanly Speaking, by Samuel McChord Crothers