We
are not obliged to select a drowning man for our President; we can choose
a man who stands on his own feet upon dry ground.
"There is an old proverb which contains much wisdom: 'Tell me who are your
friends, and I will tell you what you are.' Is a man fit to stand at the
head of a community of men when he has associated with a set of parasites,
who live upon his leavings, and will starve him if they can, in order to
enjoy his portion? Consider what is the position of the President of the
United States. Think what vast power is placed in the hands of one man;
what vast interests of public and private good are at stake; what an
endless sequence of events and results of events must follow upon the
individual action of the chief of the Executive Department; and remember
how free and untrammeled that individual action is. A people who elect an
officer to such a position need surely to be cautious in their choice and
circumspect in their judgment of the man elected. They must satisfy
themselves about what he is likely to do by judging honestly what he has
done; they must know who are his friends, his supporters, his advisers, in
order to judge of the friends he will make.
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