Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1884-07-25
ABOUT cleveLAMo,s HONESTY.

is not honest, while Grover Cleveland
is not n competent statesman, has new
er sat in legislative body, and has
had nothing TO do with the affairs of
national government. but is honest.
We call peremptorily for the proof
/ that Mr.. Cleveland is honest. How
has that fact been discovered When
was he tempted, and what did he de-
cline, and how much was it worth?
The Sun could consider how much
honesty on the part of Cleveland inl-
plies. Ii implies that man who ye-
tees railroad bills in which Jay Gould
has the leading interest in favor of u
veto, and the'working poer have the
leading interest against the veto, hon
estly believes that JAY Gould needs
the extra five cents of fare more than
the working class do. 1t implies tina.
the man who vcioes bill for shorten
ing the hours of labor of city railway
employees honestly believes the greater
the number of hours day a car driver
works the better il is for himself, his
family and society.
Abraham Lincoln was nominated on
his honesty, because instances in which
he had sacrificed his apparent inter
with the lowlv. But when did Mr..
Stephen G.. Cleveland ever sacrifice
anything 10 his convictions, or appear
as the champion Of the lowly! lie
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 shrewd-
ness in this. bu; wherein does it de-
velop honesty!
1t is honesty that secures 10 a Dem
ocrat the enthusiastic support of the
! Standard Oil gang in Ohio?
Does the fact that lawyer leaves
the bar aud accepts the shrievalty of II
populous county, and with il the duty
of hanging his fellow creatures, be-
cause the fees of the Office are consid-
cradle, indicate that he is martyr for
principle? Or does it show that he is
willing to descend 10 extremely dirty
and mean work if he thereby can OBJ
/ tain pelfi Can any one imagine Abra-
ham Lincoln conscenting TO become a
hangInan, merely because the fees of
the Office OF sheriff were larger than he
could obtain at his profession? When
! Lincoln was very poor. so poor that he
! informed one of his friends that he
dared not trust himself 10 carry u
pocket knife lest the deep dependency
I into which he was often plunged by
/ his financial straits. might lead him To
commit suicide. lie was offered IA fee
of 5000 by the Hon Jesse Il Du-
/ Bots, state auditor of Illinois, To tie
/ fend certain case on behalf of the
state, and he declined it because he
/ thought the state TO be in the wrong.
Scores of facts like these. made fainil-
! lar years before Lincoln's nomination,
procured for him the sobriquet OF
/ Honest Abe. But pray, tell us what
{ fees this Stephen Cleveland, of Buffalo,
ever declined. His acceptance of an
office ireighted with Eangman's
knot, after he had become a
LAWYER, shows that he was not
at all squeamish as TO the
means by which he should make
( his money. Great rs are the necessi-
/ ties of many of the struggling mem-
I beers of the bar of the country, very
! few of them desire TO exc out the prot
! its of their profession by accepting an
Office which from lis nature comrcls
! its incumbent to act as an Off
hangman. We do not say that a sheriff
when once he has consented to he elec-
( ted TO that Office should shrink from
! the duty. But we do atfir that it
/ has not been the usage to select men
! for the office of sheriff from among
( the learned professions, and that the
/ LAWYER who accepts such an office and
officiates at the hanging of fellow
creature, sets an estimate upon his
profession in which few members of
( the bar can agree with him. But he
. indelibly stamps himself rs shifiy.
( thrifty. self-seeker who is ready TO
perform the meanest of all human Of
: fees for money. Gentlemen who part
/ their hair in the middle NAV seek TO
find in this hangman their hero and
( ideal. But we must inform them that
/ such are the instincts of self-respect-
/ ing men and women not only of
America, but of Europe, and not
rely in this age but in Ill ages, that
: the doors of reputable homes and So
cial circles stand preemptorisly closed
against any man who for money has
personally descended to the act of
/ haugman. But Notwithstanding the
( strictly mercenary character of all of
/ Cleyeland's associations aud ambitions.
Notwithstanding he has never stood
identified with ideas of anv kind, has
never proposed or inauguraied any
reform whatever but the tricky poll
tician's pretense of cutting down mt
nicipal expenses, "A preieuse which al
most invariably makes political
scoundrel. We are told that Mr.. Ste
phan g. Cleveland is still too poor to
have surrounded himself by the ordi
nary appointments Of a home, but that
he lives in bachelors chambers in Buff
falo, at the age of AZ.
We respectfully bnt pointedly ask
why?
Honesty amid such surroundings
implies another great Democratic vir-
tue, the very name of which. in any
association with a Democratic candi-
date for Office, will simply strike the
loud earth breathless. And
vet every person who is
not II fcaihered chicken in
matters of intrigue and gallantry
knows that actual social and personal
honesty in bachelor implies chastity,
and that career of intrigue and gal
lantrv outside of wedlock, is by ire
sistible necessity career of constant
living and fraud. both as TO society and
rs to the various temporary or per-
mancnt partners in this career.
We have no desire 10 invade private
life, but when '1Honesty, honesty. hon
esty," is the refrain TO which a cam
paIgn in favor of hangman for prcsi-
dent is to be run, and when the candi-
date in question happens 70 be so cir
cumstanced that the hypothesis ofhon-
estv involves a lis corollary the prac-
tice of certain principles of ethics !
which have usually been attributed TO
priests and saints, and when on behalf
of the man with whom we have 10 |
deal no claim whatever is even pui |
forward on the score Of chastity, we |
call upon his claquers to reconsider |
the intended party cry of honesty. 1t
won't work. Qualify your just
praise.
II is true that Buchanan and Han |
cock were bachelors. But Buchanan /
was statesman. He had long ca
reer of public service. II was not me- /
cessary to trot him out on honesty |
alone. Hancock too had 4 military ca I
reer. But Stephen q. Cleveland has /
absolutely nothing but The boom of
having been accidenily running for
Governor at a time when Republicans
were disguised. lie achieved his frs
fame in 1.-The neat and exp ditious
hanging" of two prisoners. In addi-
ton to this there is only succession
of sordid yetoes. each one OF which is
sordid bid to monopoly.
Whereby then do we learn fha, this
Stephen Is so honest For auyht the
public has means to know this may be
the identical Stephen mentioned in the
plantation melody:
90 away, Steben',
Better he a leabin',
Steben's SO decebin'.
Dat de debil can't beieb him.
Don't babble any more about Ste
phens honesty, but Just tell us whrn,
where, and how much il was tested,
and how he came out, and who knows