The Price of Saving the Country
In 1880 Seattle, a local paper captures a cynical, all-too-familiar conversation between two men on the street regarding the true value of political engagement.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A ragged man of leisure, who was sunning himself yesterday, was accosted by a second, who was a little more ragged, if possible, with the inquiry: 'And which party are you hollering for this fall?'
'Neither,' was the brief reply.
'What, ain't you fixed?'
'Not a fix. The last offer I have had is the promise of two dollars for two months of hollering.'
'Only two dollars! Why, what sort of an election is this going to be, and a Presidential year, too? Did you take it?'
'Take it!' echoed the other, as he pulled a loose patch over his naked knee. 'I did not. I've been thinking and thinking for a whole week past, and do you know what I've made up my mind to do?'
'No.'
'I'm going to let the country go to her destruction! Yes, sir; I'm going to see her plunged into the depths of anarchy and never raise a hand to prevent it. Two dollars to save the country! They don't know me, sir—they don't begin to know me!'
And then the pair sat down on a barrel and made a dinner off of hard apples and a piece of salt codfish.
“I'm going to see her plunged into the depths of anarchy and never raise a hand to prevent it. Two dollars to save the country! They don't know me, sir—they don't begin to know me!”
This vignette from 1880 Seattle echoes modern political cynicism, where the feeling that the 'country's future' is a transaction—and a poorly paid one at that—remains a biting critique of grassroots political mobilization. The imagery of two men debating the worth of their civic participation over a lunch of salt cod and apples remains a poignant reminder of the enduring gap between political elites and the working class.
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