The Portland daily press., 1886-12-02
DISTRICT ATTORNEY BENToN'S
SPEECHES.

Either District Attorney Benton failed TO
tell the President the whole truth about his
Missouri speeches or else Mr. Cleyeland's
notions as to what constitutes decent and
fair speech" are very percular. Stones re-
instatement was refused because it was
alleged that he had been guilty of abusing
the administration-tha is of making in
decent and unfair speeches. AS matter of
fact Stone said nothing about the admins
tration That cannot be said of Benton who
devoted considerable portion of his speech
to the President sand his policy. And very
curiously it now appears that his remarks
were by no means complimentary Ito either
Here is what he said:
don't agree with President Cleveland in every
thing. don't believe in his civil service hnmbug
gerry. do believe in genuine civil service reform,
but don't want men under me to work every
conceivable dodge to defeat me and my party at
the next election. But he believes it, and he is a
MI Cleveland on the silver question He was was
raised east of the Allegheny Mountains, and he
gets his ideas from that region. He never has
been west of Buffalo, and has not any more idea
of the great West and its vast material resources
thai the mere schoolboy who learns 1t from study
ing geography cog PId he gets his Ideas on finances
monetized silver and had 1.-THE dollar-stTicken
from the coinage act clandestinely and without
the consent OF the people. He learns his financial
theories from Wall street. the eech that sucks the
blood of the honest yeomanry of the West like
vampires. That's where Mr.. Cleveland gets
his ideas Of finance. When he wrote his gratuit-
Gus letter ON the subject of silver coinage even
before he was inaugurated as President he got
his ideas and he struck a blow at the West in the
interest of the bondh0lders and money sharks, and
lfelt like sinking down in my boots but when
reagan OF Texas, and others stood up in their dig
mined manhood and wrote to him that he was the
Executive and not the law-making power, and
saw these Democrats battling for their rights and
the rights OF the people against his assumptions, 1
rejoiced again that was Democrat. (Tremen-
dons applause.) do in a great measure indorse
his Administration. For the most part indorse
his vetoes OF pension bills, but not every one. He
jected by Commissioner w. w. Dudley, whose
name is OdOriferOus all over the country / am
not here to kdefend every one of his yetoes, but
in the main do"
To characterize the Presidents civil ser
vice policy as ''humbuggery" and allege that
he gets this idea sof finance from the gold
bugs of Wall street. and learns his financial
theories from the Wall street "leeches that
suck the blood of the honest yeomanry of the
West, and to accuse him of writing "gra-
tuitous letter" on the subject of silver coin
age, seems very much like abuse. AT any
rate it does not Indicate that Thorough 10y
atty to the administration which the Presi-
dent thinks tits so essential that the FEEDER
al official should feel. 1t will be hard to
find speech delivered by a Republican DUR
ing the last campaign in which
the President is more severely ar
raigned than in this one from the
man who has just been restored to office be-
cause his frank letter" convinced the Presi-
dent that he had been too severely punished.
If Benton deceived the President in regard
to the character Of his speeches, as he prob
ably did, then Benton ought to be summarily
elected Indeed he must be, or the President
will be put into the ridiculous attitude of
holding that Democratic official who
makes political speeches denouncing his
civil service policy as "humbuggery' and
his financial policy as swindle ION large
part of the country is less offensive than a
Republican sofficial who makes political
speeches containing no criticism of.his ad-
ministration whatever.