The Redemption of a Public Servant
A young man sheds a life of idle indulgence to find purpose as a prosecutor, sparking a debate over the value of public integrity in the Washington Territory.
Mr. Bloomfield was formerly known by his indulgent father and friends as a young man of leisure, interested only in being an ornament to society. Regarded by practical men as a useless appendage to the community, a change in his habits brought him to a realization of his own unworthiness. He entered into the study of law, and in the short space of time since, has won the respect and admiration of all by his manly bearing and manifest devotion to duty. Soon after commencing practice, he was elected Prosecuting Attorney of his judicial district, and in the discharge of the duties of that office, has made a splendid record. During the year '77, convictions were secured in all cases where true bills were returned by the grand juries. The young man who, by industry and perseverance, overcomes all obstacles and achieves honorable distinction for himself is always regarded with high consideration; but he is a greater hero who emancipates himself from habits of luxurious indulgence, voluntarily enters upon a life of toil, and carves out for himself a position of honor by his own indomitable will.
“He is a greater hero who emancipates himself from habits of luxurious indulgence, voluntarily enters upon a life of toil and self-denial and carves out for himself a position of honor by his own indomitable will.”
This 1879 editorial highlights a perennial tension in American civic life: the expectation that public officials must exhibit a 'bootstraps' morality to earn the public trust. While the language of 'self-made men' is archaic, the scrutiny of a prosecutor's conviction record and the demand for personal austerity remain familiar touchstones in modern political discourse.
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