POLITICS A BEAUTIFUL GAME SAID CUSHING

Lieutenant-Governor Grafton Delaney Cushing '85 spoke to about two hundred members in the Union last evening, on the subject of politics in general. A large number of the members of the Republican Club were present.

Politics, Mr. Cushing said, is a beautiful game, one worthy of any man's best ability, because in it you are dealing with unadulterated human nature. The great essential is being a good mixer.

Politics in this country is a rather precarious profession. As such, perhaps, it is not to be recommended, unless a man has plenty of time, and independent means. The greatest drawback is the man who is in politics for his pocket and not for public service: in other words the lobbyist. There are many men in politics who repeatedly bring up bills simply in order to be bought off; once getting legislative protection in business, a corporation often goes farther and wants legislature to help their business.

We are becoming more and more a nation governed by legislature; therefore we need good men in politics, who can afford it. This nation has its affairs in its own hands, a position which every nation in Europe would give its life blood to reach. But until every man feels strongly that it is a part of his duty to have a hand in it, we cannot be a self-governing nation.

We have been more or less discarding representative government for a system of direct legislation, nomination and election. It is too soon to tell how the system works. The people can send the right man if they want to take the trouble: but as a rule they do not take enough interest, and let the choice fall into the hands of "the machine." The people say they want direct legislation, but if they will send a good man to the legislature, representative legislature is best.