The Wellington enterprise. [volume] (Wellington, Ohio) 1867-188?, 1884-07-30
Stephen G. CleYeIand's Honesty.

ueciulng on winch SIDE OF the fence "
will get down, concludes that James G.
Blaine is vary able statesman but is
not honest, while Grover Cleveland is
not competent statesman, has never
sat in legislative body, and has had
nothing to do with the affairs Of Ma
tional Government. but is honest.
The S&b should consider how much
the claim of entire and immaculate
honesty on the part of Cleveland i'm
plies. 1t implies that man who We
toes railroad bills in which Jay Gould
has the leading interest in favor of
veto and the working poor have the
leading interest against the veto, hon
estly believes that Jay Gould needs the
extra five cents of fare more than the
working classes do. 1t implies that a
man who vetoes bill for shortening the
hours of labor of city railway employees
honestly believes the greater the num-
Der OF hours o day car-driver works
the better it is for himself, his family
and society. Abraham Lincoln was
nominated on his honesty, because in
stances in which he had sacrificed his
apparent interests to his convictions
were numerous, and his convictions
were always with the lowly. But when
did Mr.. Stephen G. Cleveland ever
sacrifice anything to his convictions or
appear as the champion of the lowlyP
He has been railroad and corporation
attorney, and has aimed to enlist on his
side the capital with which he came in
contact We can see shrewdness in
this, but wherein does il develop
honesty?
Does the fact that q lawyer leaves the
bar and accepts the shrievalty Of pop
ulous county, and with it the duty Of
hanging his fellow creatures, because
the fees Of the Office are considerable,
indicate that he is a martyr for princi-
pie? or does it show that he is willing
to descend to extremely dirty and mean
work If he can thereby make pelf? Can
any one imagine Abraham Lincoln con-
senting to become hangman merely
because the fees of the Office Of Sheriff
were larger than he could earn at the
practice of his profession? When Lin
coin was very poor, so poor that he in
formed one OF his friends that he dared
not trust himself TO carry pocket
knife lest the deep despondency into
which he was often plunged by his
financial straits might lead him to COM
nit suicide, he was offered 5000 by
Hon. Jesse G. Dubois, State Auditor of
Illinois, to defend certain case on be-
half Of tho State, and he declined IL be-
cause he thought the State to be in the
wrong. Scores of facts like this, made
familiar years before Lincoln's nomina-
ton, procured for him the sobriquct OF
Honest Abe. But pray tell us what
fees this Stephen Cleveland, Of Buffalo,
ever declinedP His acceptance of an
Office freighted with hangman's duty,
after he had become lawyer, shows
that he was not at all squeamish as 10
the means by which he should make
his money. Great as are the necessities
of many of the struggling members OF
the bar Of the country, very few Of them
desire to exc out the profits Of their pro-
fession by accepting an Office which
from Sts nature as practiced In this
country compels its incumbent to act
as an official hangman. We do not say
that Sheriff when once he has con-
sented to be elected to that Office should
shrink from the duty. But we do af-
firm that it has not been the usage 10
select men for the Office Of Sheriff from
among the learned professions, and
that the lawyer who accepts such an
Office and ofiiciates in the hanging Of a
fellow-creature sets an estimate upon
his profession in which few members
of the bar can agree with him. But he
indelibly stamps himself as shifty,
thrifty self-seeker who is ready 10 per-
form the meanest of all human offices
for money. Gentlemen who part their
hair in tho middle may seek TO find in
:his hangman their hero and ideal. But
we must inform them that such arc the
instincts of self-respecting men and
women not only of America but Of Eu-
rope, and not merely in this age but in
all ages that the doors of reputable
homes and social circles stand peremp.
torily closed against any man who for
money has personally descended to the
act of a hangman. Butt notwithstand.
ing the strictly mercenary character
OF all Of Cleveland's associations and
ambitions, Notwithstanding he has
never stood identified with ideas Of any
kind, has never proposed or orinaugurated
any reform whatever, but the tricky
politicians pretense of cutting down
municipal expenses, a pretense which
almost invariably masks political
scoundrel; we are told that MI. Ste
phen G. Cleveland is still too poor to
have surrounded himself by tho ordinary
appointments of home, but that he
lives in bachelors chambers In Buffalo.
at the age Of forty-seven!
We have no desire to invade private
life. But when "Honesty, honesty,
honesty" is the refrain to which cam
paign In favor OF q hangman for Presi-
dent Is TO be run, and when the candi-
date in question happens TO have been
so circumstanced that the hypothesis Of
honesty involves as its corrollary the
practice OF certain principles Of ethics
which have usually been attributed 10
priests and saints, we call upon his
claquers TO reconsider the intended par
ty cry Of honesty. Itwon't work. Quail
ify your just praise.
1t Is true that Buchanan and Hancock
were bachelors. But Buchanan was q
statesman. He had long career Of
public service. IL was not necessary TO
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