The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1885-03-05
A POLITICAL MEMORY.
An Item in the Party History Of a
Past Period.
Henry Reed the Veteran Journalist,
Tells How the Elder Thomas
Ewing Was Retired to
Private Life.
Especial correspondenes.1

TOLEDO, O., Nov. Al have a mind
20 relate how the Hon. Thomas Ewing,
che der Of the name, came to be re.
tired from public life, not altogether
20 his satisfaction, illustrating, as VIII ap-
near, the unwisdom Of ambitious men sacri-
icing their well -wishers, even when the lat
ter are seemingly without the means to re-
taliate. The story is as 1 believe, an item
IN the party history of past period that has
never been written, and may be interesting
TO some who witnessed and still remember
She manifestations, without having been
eognizant Of the means by which they were
produced. Mr.. Ewing had no longings for
the otiIns cum dignitdte. Like most men
who have sought and held Office, he wanted
to continue in Office. he had been Congress
man, Senator, Secretary of the Interior and
Of the Treasury, and, I'm his Imagination, had
surveyed and marked the path by which he
was to advance to the presidency. Had
there been no Thomas Corwin in the world
it is not unlikely that he would have attained
the end Of his ambition; but the instances
are not uncommon in the party arena in
which one ambition effectually blocks the
way of another.
Mr.. Ewing was covetous of Office, the
AAOI6 HO GlkSI Al6 Idu uS1Q q Lt1SLo VI AJS OiA-
joyments. Probably to very few could
RELOCATION to the comparative unimportance
OF private citizenship have been less
agreeable He was in the full vigor of an
advanced manhood, powerful in FRAME
commanding in presence, conscious of ex-
ceptional and unimpaired energies, conf
dent In his powers and in will infexible
Narrowed by his personal ambition and
party attachments, he was a politician
rather than a statesman; and as a lawyer he
owed his reputation and such success as he
achieved rather to his audacity and assert
iveness than to his industry or profundity.
It was a bitter day for Mr.. Ewing when he
found the gates of the official paradise
closed against him; and they who had been
instrumental in the occlusion-all of which
saw and part of which l was-could not
help serious sm1 when they witnessed his
frequent but fruitless efforts To- rehabilita.
tion; comparing him to q huge leviathap
that had got sheIved upon a sand-spit and
was, as long as life lasted, trying to take
advantage of every little thunder-gust
freshet to float himself into deep water.
Persons who have been run over and de-
nnolished by the behemoth do not usually
pity the mishaps of their demolisher. They
do not admit the right of the Fictitious
great TO override the little; and the fact that
Mr.. Ewing wanted the constr ucy of mind
60 accept his fate and die with dignity did
not enhance the mourning of any for his
disasters.
In the year 1913, and some time before
end afterwards, Oren Fol1ett, Samuel Fouer
and Jacob Blickensdeifer, Junior, consti.
tuted the Board of Public Works of Ohio,
and were the active central managers for
the Wing party of the State, having their
official domicile at Columbus. Follett had
been editor of The State Journal, the central
organ OF the Wing party-a sort of joint
concern, in which the prominent Wing poll
ticians of Ohio were understood to be stock
holders-but had been succeeded by Hon.
William B. Thran, gentleman of fine abil-
tiles, but of an uncombative disposition. and
whose love Of intellectual labor as not the
most marked of his characteristics. Asa
presidential election looming up in the mid
die distance-it was deemed advisable to
TO put a little more 'sandn into the craw of
The State Journal, there was an inquest for
some one who could be depended upon to
supply the desired commodity; and, be-
heve at the suggestion of my next door
neighbor and intimate friend, Mr.. Morrison
R. Waite, who has since been very deserv-
sdly raised TO the place of Chief Justice of
the United States, it was resolved to
give me an opportunity to show the de-
gree and kind of slick had in my compost
ton. In short, was invited to occupy the
post Of assistant to that able and meritori-
Gus senior, Judge ThralI.
It was not exactly an invitation; it was a
command. Tor two or three years, had held
a petty local Office under the Boad of Public
Works, and the matter was placed before
me in the shape of an obligation, as thus:
As had done good service to the State, to
wit, the Wing party, in one capacity, it
was morally obligatory upon me to COM
pensate for the same by doing good service
TO the Wing party, to wit, the State, in
another capacity. 1 had dipped into news
papers once or twice before, and made
reputation-or to speak more precisely,
sort Of horse-thief notoriety-enough, but
no money nor prospects of any; and l had
firmly resolved to have nothing more to do
with a trade so unremunerative.
But the insistence of my sponsors-every-
body has his sponsors-was insidiously sup
plemented by an emissary within myself.
Like the stigmata of the Indian pigment,
upon the surface, that of printers ink upon
the physical corporeity defies detergence.
Alike In man and woman, the effects of the
first fall are ineradicable. The scent of blood
lingering on the paws of the lion re-
awakens, the dominant appetite of the
animal; and had my memories. In short
/ consented upon conditions. These were
that, if l filed the bill, and if the party
should succeed at the coming election, Judge
Thran was to be disposed of by an appoint
ment to the Office of postmaster of Columbus.
and was TO be placed at the head of The
State Journal in permanency.
I appeared, according to the arrangement.
Taking survey of the capital of Ohio be-
fore assuming my position, noticed copies
of The State Journal lying in the areas, one
days issue on top of another, consigned to
grass and wet with the dew of heaven like
Nebuchadnezzar, and l then and there made
q covenant with the undersigned either to
make speedy correction of this or to tender
my resignation; which covenant-in view
Of the fact that Columbus, in the matter OF
intellectual vitality, was nearly as dead as
the famous party after whom it was bap-
tized-I conscientiousIy fulfilled.