The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1878-03-29

erS no moss! a r0lllng stone Is the type OF al
useless, ineffective things, among which Mr..
Eaton surely does not wish to enroll his reform.
hazard the conjecture that he had in his
mind an indistinct "reminiscences of the rolling
SNOWFALL of his school-boy days, which in
creases with every roll; but when he tapped on
his brain and asked for that SNOWFALL, it gave
him stone, aud he did psrceive the differ.
ence. ...
'The rolling stone of reform which the
officers at Washington had rejected" Here
Mr.. Eaton has unwittingly slipped off his roll
ing-stone and stepped upon the scriptural stone
which the builders rejected and which after
wards became the head Of the corner. But
this is unfortunate, because no one supposes
that the stone which the builders rejected was
trolling stone. If Mr.. Eaton and his asso-
ciates on the Civil Service Commission pre-
sented themselves to the officers at Wssh-
ingtou with rolling stone in their hands as
the cornerstone of the new building, the
officers at Washington did very right in reject
ingit. Conceding Mr.. Eaton's claims to "true
statesmanship," I greatly fear he could not
pass competitive examination on masonry.
My good neighbor. that staunch and stalwart
old Federalist, Colonel "Tim" Pickering, was
walking over his pleasant Wenham farm one
Summer morning, refreshing himself after the
fatigues and the ISLANDERS aud the general abuse
that beset member of Washington's Cabinet
when man came up and asked for work,
"What can you do on farm"' inquired Col.
Pickering.
"Ali kinds of work" said the man, off hand
"Do you know how to build stone wall?''
''Oh! yes; any fool knows that"
"Tell me how you do it, then"
"Well, nothin' much to tell. You Jest have
to set one stone on another
''No you don't' thundered the irate Colonel
"gou have to set one stone on two! You can
60"
suspect that Mr.. Eaton was building better
than he knew or meant when he perched his
Reform edifice on rolling stones and set it trun.
ding down to what he euphuistically calls "the
lowest point of the downward plane of the zig.
gag of progress at present it seems to
stick fast in the mire.
And who, again, is il that Mr.. Eaton means
by "the officers at Washington" who rejected
his rolling-stone? Not the Civil Service officers,
for it was not presented to them. greatly
fear me that Mr. Eaton is shipwrecked again
on members OF Congress-wh0 are not officers
at all. Since he is 30 much embarrassed in his
nomenclature, how would it do for him to fol
low the example of the good wife who singles
out her husband as the one man in all the
world, and monopolizes for him the prononn
he? Rather than confuse his argument by
applying to congressman an improper term,
suppose MI. Eaton arraign them for survey
and sentence under "They."
But Mr.. Eaton's rolling stone gives another
lurch, and always with a vicious certainty, it
lurches over on him. Rejected as building
ston, and very properly, as we have seen il
was by no means crushed, but would crush the
builders if not put into the new edifce. Still,
by a sort of unconscious cerebratioD, Mr.. Eaton
is hammering away at the scriptural stone in
one lobe of his statesmanlike brain, while he
is grinding to powder the sagaciOus party man.
was never in danger of being crushed. Who
ever should fall on it should be broken, and o1
whomsoever it should fall it would griud him
to powder Let Mr.. Eaton notice that the peo-
the stone were in danger, bat not the stone
itself: However, says Mr.: Eaton, rushing on
in spite of warning "It'-that is, the policy,
that is. the cornerstone, that is, the rolling
stone-"could be used to catch votes, if not as
a foundation to build upon" How, Mr..
Eaton? If it were a rolling-stone then it must
be round. If it were round, how could it catch
anything? 1t is difficult to see how it could be
used as underpinning; it is impossible to see
how it could be used for catchall. The best
thing for Mr.. Eaton is to let it roll ont of sight,
confne himself hencefortb to such mild missiles
as words and grass, and not attempt to try
|. what virtue there is in stones. He will be sur
prised to find how much can be done with
words, if he but respect their limitations and
their meaning.
When Mr. Eaton is at length dragged ut
from under his untimely cairn, very much the
worse for wear, and set upon his feet again, be
shows that his afliction has not been sanctified
to his spiritual good. by saying: "rhere were
before the country men of eminence who had
rendered great services, from among whom,
according TO partisan theories, the new Presi.
dent must be selected" Certainly the partisan
theory does not show badly in this case. II
would be difficult for 'true statesmanship" to
find better theory than to select its Presi-
dents from men of eminence who are before
the country and who have rendered great serv-
ices. If partisanshp were SO "mere" and so
"mercenary," so selfish" aud so Corrupt as
Mr.. Eaton considers it, marvel that it
was SO particular as to insist that Presi-
dent should be chosen from the ranks of
eminent and patriotic men. L wonder it
did not mouse about among the light-ingered
gentry who could be depended upon for a
'tsteaP', or search for some unknown man
whose public reputation would not be guar
rantee, or whose love of country, eviuced by
great services rendered, would not be a pre-
sumption against subsequent plunder and be-
trayal But no; it was not only the partisans who
were seeking leader among eminent men, it
was the 'coL1mon politicians also, the men
without intelligence. CAT the outset of tho
in five hundred docbted that one of these great
men would be the next President" So that
Mr. Eaton represents the partsans, the
politicians the men without intelligence, as
all agreed in selecting aud expecting Presi-
dent from among their great men, their widely
known men who had rendered the country
great services.
But the Reformers knew more excellent
way. Instead of taking a great man. man
who had rendered great services, they thought 1t
wiser to trust a man who was not known at all.
Mr.. Eaton says: "The resolve for reform
soon declared for the nomination OF person
before unrecognized by the Nation" 1t is true
that Mr.. Eaton is inaccurate as usual. In his
desire to show Eow "umble' the Reformers
were, how low down they would 60 for candi-
date, he thrusts Mr. Bristow in as "a subordin-
ate in the Treasury Department" But Mr..
Bristow was never subordinate in the Treas
ury Department to the worlds knowledge, ex.
cept as Mr.. Eaton put him there He was
never in the Treasury Department at all until
President Grant placed him at its head and
made him his own confidential adviser. Mr,
Brstow had been Solicitor General, an officer
in the Department of Justice, and second oply
to the Attorney General To the Ounce, in
deed, there seems trihiDg difference between
being at the head of one department. or the
heels OF another, and it would hardly be safe
for the common politician" to make such a
mistake; but "person of intelligence" may
indulge IN these little antics with impunity.
so without further ado let US go on to MIR.
Eaton's boast that 'up to the time that Mr.:
brlstow confronted the whiskey ring,
he had not been thought of for the Presidency; /;
that the reforming spirit at once made him-
destitute as he was of partisan support-a for
midable rival of those in either party who had
served the country longest and best according
to common standards, even when they were
backed by the most powerful party orgapiZa-