The Eaton Democrat. (Eaton, Ohio) 1875-1903, 1885-05-28
Secretary Lamar.

The washington Sunday Gazette
an independent Republican paper
pays the following deserved compli-,
ment to Secretary Lamar:
That Secretary Lamar is a level
headed statesman, and not an unre-i
fleeting partisan, has been the gener-
al idea of all men who have watched
his distinguished course as represent
alive in Congress and Senator. If
any person ever had a doubt of the
broad statesmanlike scope of his in
tellect that doubt has been effectual-
ly removed by his recent action in the
matter of the Bureau of Labor Stats
tics, of which Mr.. Carol D. Wright
is chief. 1t was said tina. Mr.. Lamar
notified Mr.. Wright that political
preference should be regarded before
special fitness in appointments as
agents of this bureau. Now comes
Mr.. Wright and knocks this silly sto-
ry in the head at one blow. Secretary
Lamar cordially agrees with him that
mere ~partisanship should have no
place in a work such as is to be car
ried on in the burea u of Labor Sta
~tistics.
The truth is that Nh. Lamar's con-
stitution is the very reverse of parti-
san, regarding that word in its ordi-
nary sense. Originally constituted
with an intellect peculiarly fitted to
examine o question in all its lights,
his system Of mental training has de-
veloped such natural tendency until
it would be hard for him to be parti-
san. There is no narrow illiberality
about him, no u~nreasoning bias, no
tendency toward a fixed and undevi-
ating rule Of action merely because
it was customary. In q very high de-
gree his mind seeks to follow after
truth without regard to precedent, IN,
less that precedent has been found
by sufficient tests to be a standard OF
truth. His tests all run in the same
direction as his intellect. Besides,
while too clear aud far.sighted intel.
lectually to be easily deceived, his
kindness of heart, his constitutions
catholicisy of temperament forbids
him to be bitter or narrow. In his
forensic and Congressional career
Mr.. Lamar has shown the bent o.
his mind towards the philosophers.
examination of principles and to
wards their most generous and liber
al application.
Thus far MI. Lamar has managed
the affairs of the Interior Department
with comm endable wisdom and fair
f ness. As a rule, the Secretaries O
this department have been men O
usual mental endowments, and Their,
has nothing yet been done to shov
: that the present Secretary is not
2 worthy successor, Intellectually, o
/: Ewing, of Meredith ard of Teller
p His past record has proved him pos
, sessed of lofty abilities, of genuin,
= scholarship and Of practical wisdom
while the even character of his tenn
per and his love for Justice and i'm
partiality will always spur him on
, ward to be consistent. with the yer,
enviable reputation for those quail
ties that he has won in the past.
Another guarantee-and probabl,
the best that could be given-is MI
d Lamar's poetic temperament. Doubt
. less he has the power of poetic utter
ance-he certainly has the poet
> tastes and the poets temper. Too re
fined to be small, too delicate to b
mean, too keenly sensitive to the spil
i it of beauty to indulge in coarse O
: vulgar methods, We may safely asser
. that MI. Lamar's administration O
Il the Interior Department will contin
e ue in the future along the same plan
as il has in the past, wise, just, in
! partial and characterized by a tru
and lofty craftsmanship. Should
not, we shall be wofully mistaken i
, our opinion of the man.