nciples, and they
leave the fields, the shops, and the stores once in four years,
for the purpose of attending to that business. In the meantime,
politicians quarrel about offices. The people go on. They plow
fields, they build homes, they open mines, they enrich the world,
they cover our country with prosperity, and enjoy the aforesaid
quarrels. But when the time comes, these gentlemen are forgotten.

Principles take the place of politicians, and the people settle
these questions for themselves.

--_Sunday Gazette_, Washington, D. C., July 24, 1881.

DISTRICT SUFFRAGE.

_Question_. You have heretofore incidentally expressed yourself
on the matter of local suffrage in the District of Columbia. Have
you any objections to giving your present views of the question?

_Answer_. I am still in favor of suffrage in the District. The
real trouble is, that before any substantial relief can be reached,
there must be a change in the Constitution of the United States.
The mere right to elect aldermen and mayors and policemen is of no
great importance. It is a mistake to take all political power from
the citizens of the District. Americans want to help rule the
country. The District ought to have at least one Representative
in Congress, and should elect one presidential elector. The people
here should have a voice. They should feel that they are a part
of this country. They should have the right to sue in all Federal
courts, precisely as though they were citizens of a State. This
city ought to have half a million of inhabitants. Thousands would
come here every year from every part of the Union, were it not for
the fact that they do not wish to become political nothings. They
think that citizenship is worth something, and they preserve it by
staying away from Washington. This city is a "flag of truce" where
wounded and dead politicians congregate; the Mecca of failures,
the perdition of claimants, the purgatory of seekers after place,
and the heaven only of those who neither want nor do anything.
Nothing is manufactured, no solid business is done in this city,
and there never will be until energetic, thrifty people wish to
make it their home, and they will not wish that until the people
of the District have something like the rights and political
prospects of other citizens. It is hard to see why the right to
representation should be taken from citizens living in the Capital
of the Nation. The believers in