Springfield globe-republic. (Springfield, Ohio) 1884-1887, 1885-03-25
CLEyELAND AND rHE aUowUAPs.

dent Cleveland. During the two months
succeeding election they neglected no op-
portunity of proclsiming that the Reform
Candidate owed his triumph to their sup
port. Predictions were freely made by
their journals, particularly the New York
Times and Boston Herald, that with the
Inauguration Of the President an epoch Of
idylc purity, simplicity, and economy in
national affairs would be ushered in.
Especially was Fitness with very large
F) to be the leading consideration in the
selection of all officers in the executive
department of the government. The mere
politician and political worker" were to
be ignored in consequence Of which the
old parties were to disintegrate, on the
ruins Of which new organization to be
called the Peoples party, or the Reform
party, was to rally around the administra-
ton and another era of good feeling would
dawn rivaling the one which began when
Monroe first became President.
The selection of Daniel Manning
for the most important Cabinet port
folio shattered this roseate picture
conjured up by the lively fancy of
the Mugwumps That gentleman had
been identified with the most offensive
methods of the machine" 1t was con-
ceded by them that he had rendered good
service to the cause of Reform in the man.
agement of Cleveland's canvass in the
Empire State. Neither did they attempt
to obscure the fact that in manipulating
caucuses and packing conventions on one
or two occasions at an earlier date he had
developed resources and Staying" quail
ties which made him the admiration Of the
workers" of his party. But they were
unable to discover anything in his educa-
ton, experience or predictions which
would lead any person, except in spirit
Of facetiousness, to single him out as q
proper person to place in charge of the
Treasury Department. The appointment
OF Whitney, if none more Objectionable
had been made, would have provoked
many wry faces, but the fact that he was
much less intimately associated with
practical politics than Manning, coupled
with the further fact that the Navy port
folio is of less importance in our govern
mental system than that Of the treasury.
would have rendered Whitney at least en-
durable. Predictions of disaster as con-
to the cause Of civil service re-
form, were freely made.
These predictions were realized sooner
than the Independents expected. One OF
the first public acts of Secretary Manning
was the selection of Eugene Higgins, OF
for the important position Of
Clerk of the Treasury De-
partment Senator German, of that State,
him for the place. Scarcely
had his name been mentioned when a
howl of indig nation went up from every
Mugwump from Maine to California and
rom Oregon to Florida, and the howl is
wen yet reverberating among the recesses
If the Alleghanies and the ravines and Al
,ine heights Of the Rocky Mountains. Nor
we're the members of that faction alone in
heir denuciations of this selection. The
accepted the appointment as
. matter of course, not having had their
raised to q very lofty atti-
ude. But against him the respectable
Democrats of the country, especially those
# his own State who knew him best, also
aised protest. 1t was currently re-
'orted by his neighbors that he was not
'nly political trickster of the most OBJ |
,oxious type. but that he had an interest in |
gambling house in Baltimore, had been
with q scandalous street |
'aving job, which cost the taxpayers of
he same city sl,5OO,OOO, and had been
'uilty Of many other more or less discred-
table transactions in that and other places.
is understood that Secretary Manning
ot only knew Higgins's antecedents before
e appointed him, but that his record was
ne recommendation which secured him
be place.
In this exigency two truths confront
ne unhappy Mugwumps. They know
nat Cleveland sustains more intimate re-
Itlons to Manning than to any other
lember of his Cabinet, and that he, too,
new the unsavory record Of Higgins.
hey also know that if he has attempted
induce Manning to retire Higgins that
has been unsuccessful In any event,
ley see that the Democratic cry OF civil
'rvice reform means simply clean swap
the offices. SO far as they are held by
epublicans, to make room for another
t of officers whose principal qualification
that they voted and worked for the
emocratic reform candidate. This policy
ay commend itself to Democratic parti-