The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-06-18
The pREsIpENr,s CRITICS.
The Criticisms Upon the Acts OF the Ad
ministration.

The Criticisms Upon the Acts OF the Adj
ministration.
II the general public is much given
to a perusal of the criticisms that are
passed upon the Administration from
thy to day by editors of newspapers,
who seem to have an intuitive mastery
OF the situation, or by gossiping poll
ticians upon the street corners, who APP
pear to think that the country will go
to the dogs unless the Government is
run on their plan, there must be a pains
full confusion on the part of the general
public as to what is really the matter.
Upon the One hand we are told that
the President is so stubbornly set in his
ways and holds the reins SO taut over
his Executive household, and insists
with SO much obstinacy upon carrying
out his own ideas, regardless OF advice
to the contrary, that there is grave
danger of a rupture and that the Cabin
ct can not pos sibly hold together for
any great length of time.
Upon the other hand-and we not in
frequently come across the same con-
f1icting and inconsistent opinions in the
same day and the same paper, it not
| HULL UlC SdllC SOulCC VIC dAC boouiOo
in tones of ominous solemnity that Mr..
Cleveland, instead of exercising the
decision of character and independence
of Judgment with which he has always
been credited, has tamely succumbed
to the d%ictatorial whims of his consti-
tutional advisers and is permitting them
to perform various unseemly acts, for
which the people will sooner or later
be certain 10 call him to a severe &C.
count.
How shall these criticisms be recon-
cileda By what process will We be made
to comprehend that Il President can be
self-willed and arbitrary. beyond all
reasonable endurance, yet so weak and
vacillating withal as to be nothing more
than a cat's-paw in the hands of his
SecretariesP 1t is impossible that both
of these propositions can be true. Is there
any competent evidence that either
one of them has even a foundation in
factp
In Yesterdays Post attention was
called to the obviously frivolous and
improbable twaddle concerning the
strained relations between the Presi-
lent and the Secretary of State, brought
about by alleged quarrels over certain
diplomatic appointments. Yesterday we
were advised by the New York Herald
that ''the President is Indicating his
constitutional functions and letting his
subordinates run him."
This harsh and anything but respect
full comment is followed by an equally
uncalled-for scolding to the effect that
the people chose Mr.. Cleveland Presi-
dent, not that he should do the At
torney-General's or any other Cabinet
officers bidding, and that if he imagines
he can put responsibility for bad and in
judicious appointments upon anybody
!, besides himself he is very much mis-
taken.
, The inspiration of this diatribe is the
selection of Zachariah Montgomery for
the position of Assistant Attorney-Ien-
= eral and of Mr.. Wickliffe for District
Attorney of Kentucky, at the supposed
t.bidding" of MI. Garland. Now il
5 may be that these appointments are not
the best that could have been made.
. They are certainly not as acceptable to
5 the friends of other applicants as would
have been the appointment of those
/ other applicants; but if it be true that
the President deferred in this matter to
e the preference of the Acknowledgement,
is this a convincing demonstration thai
Mr.. Garland, in the classic language Of
the Herald, is running" Mr.. Cleve
q land, or sufficient cause for a furious
onslaught upon the Presidents lack o
- Independence
If he Thought it best" to agree will
Il his Acknowledgement, as he is said tt
v have told Mr.. Carlisle, what right has
e anybody to insist that he should havt
done what he didn't think best ant
make some other selection? The logic
of such criticisms is simply absurd
a There has never beer an Administratio
in which the President did not pay NOR
:, or less Difference to the opinions of hi
Cabinet officers, and the moment tina
those opinions cease to be worthy of hi
4 Difference that moment the Cabine
should be dissolved and a new on
,, formed.
a Whether the President appointment
are invariably faultless or not is a fai
question for criticism, but that is not tn
pc mt here. What we protest against
!. the presumptuous and suspicion
haste with which certain newspaper
seize upon what they conside
>, an injudicious appointment as conc'u
=, sive evidence that there is somethin
=, wrong with the Government, and tina
the President is either exercising hi
With u nlgu-ndnoeu drre
" gance or supinely yielding to the al
:, rogance of his Cabinet officers, which
o" ever way the writer chooses to put il
The truth of the matter is that tn
+ Administration is pursuing a polio
N which the people generally accept a
wise and just. Itmay not prove in tn
= end to be so in all respects, but tn
y people are more disposed to give it
&c fair trial than to PREJUDICE and col
., denim it on mere suspicion. 1t will b
~ time enough to denounce the Presider
~ when he shall be found to have bee
faithless to his trusts. The newspaper
can far better afford to be equally to
Grant thar to be continually snarlin
y. over an arrangement of minor detail
st that does % always square with the
q individual notions. Washington Pos
V TILE AS A SGAREHPOV