Eureka daily sentinel. [volume] (Eureka, Nev.) 1871-1887, 1885-01-30
wv.,ru NOT ESSENTIAL.

INK A&RO
Democratic Senators have said to tnei
friends that they preferred not to tax
Cabinet places because they though
themselves not wealthy enough to CIV
dinners and evening entertainments ma
excited a good deal Of just and sometime
acrimonious criticism in Democratic cir
cles. Such sentiments are denounced a
mere snobbery, and those who are sa''
to hold them are the subjects OF unpieas
ant remarks-remarks, that is to say
which would be unpleasant to them
they could hear them.
omitting personalities, there is q gres
deal Of good sense in much that one hear
on this matter. A prominent Democrat
said at q little gathering in Washington
where the subject came up in the course
of conversation: "If poverty ought tc
disoualify a man for Cabinet or Other
influential position under the administrs'
tion OF Mr.. Cleveland, as these Senators
seem to think, then our President viii
have to 90 to the Republicans for his
Cabinet, foreign Ministers and other
assistants. We Democrats are almost
without exception poor, and my poverty
certainly does not make me ashamed. l
do not expect to be called into the
Cabinet, but | should be very sorry to
think that only rich men were to I'LL such
places. That notion has grown up slowly
during the long Republican rule, and 1t
certainly has, in a measure, changed Tor
the worse the character Of Washington
society. Fifteen years ago it was a very
simple and really Democratic place. 1t
was so because jobbers had not yet got
into Office, and it was only during the
last years of General Grants rule that
the Belknaps and Robesons set an evil
fashion of snobbish and vulgar display
and extravaganza, which has found too
many imitators. Grant had q liking for
rich men, but after all he had Boutwell,
in the Treasury, who was and remains a
man Of very humble means, and was
never ashamed to live in the simplest
way. don't like the old mans politics,
but l have always respected him for his
honorable poverty. Then there was
Rawlings, Grants first Secretary Of War.
He lived and died in q little house in
Grant Place, which is probably now oc-
by a small government clerk.
General Cox. another Of Grants Cabinet,
was poor"
AS to the belief imputed to some prom
nent Democrats that wealth is necessary
a Cabinet officer. il is, of course,
absurd. The Speaker of the House of
Representatives is. by the Constitution
and by the power in his hands, a very
great personage-next to the President
in both power and dignity. The Demo-
Gratis have had three Speakers since the
war-kerr, Randall and Carlisle-all
men of very moderate means. MI. Kerr,
one Of the ablest men this country ever
had. wa never in circumstances to keep
q house in Washington; his narrow
means obliged him to live at a hotel. Nj.
Randall's little house. in a very IN.
fashionable part Of the town. has amazed
some ~diplomatists, bat has never been a
reproach to him. as the great mansions OF
some other public men have been to
them. Mr.. Carlisle, Is Mr.. Kerr before
him, lives at a hotel. Certainly no one
thinks the less of him.
Some Of the greatest men in the Demo
cratic party and in the country live in
Washington in humble quarters-men
Ike Lamar, Hampton, Morrison, Nor
gan. and dozens Of others-bus they are
faithful. honest and able public servants.
aud every access Of Aristocratic or would
De aristocrasic snobbery and exclusive
ness in Washington has helped to make
their lives harder, and has had the evil
tendency to close the doors of public life
to all except mere rieh men.