New-York tribune., 1886-02-23

III He COULD ONLY RECOVER HIMSELF !
If President Cleveland had lived up to MS
professions how different would be his positloh
to-day. Probably he does not realize llmseH
how much his own conduct has departed IRON
those professions. Certainly most OF his sup
no,ters do not stop To think how inconsistent Is
the attitude he has taken.
If he had strictly regarded public office as
n,iblic trlst. and had never removed puDllc
officer for partisan reasons; if he had never
made an aUnointmcnt to reward personal
friend or political worker; if he had never ap-
pointed notorious political trcksters, ballot-box
suffers. and contriveis of crime against the
rights of tlR people, how different Wou'" h'r
bren the imircssiOn made by his many excel
lent selections. The President ought 10 re'l-
ize lhis. lie should not blame men VINO arc
greatly impressed by the Inconsistency OF ''l'eS'
acts with bis professions, ana VINO tle'el"ic
distrust him. His own work causes thiS ais
trust. and he does injustice to his p"ll'lcal "P-
moments if he thinks 1t prompted only by par
tisanShip. -.
II the President had conducted the pubilc
business behind glass doors; II he had reiuSe"
for himself and had required bis associates I"
rcfnse any attention to secret Whispers anu cou-
6deptial sIanders if he had made 1t Ia" o1
his Administration, as unvaying as the laws oi
the Mcdes and Persians that no accusation or
cborge against any official should be received
ar allowed to have the slightest weight unless
nut into written form for record, ana backed py
RESPONSIBLE names, and open to examination
and answer by the person Affected thereby now
mncb more dignified and manly his position
would he. Il is the reputation for dirty back
stairs work which defles an Administration.
When the people see that secret lntrlgueS are
allowed to shape the action OF the highest ON
cials they cannot help losing confidence III the
sincerity of men who began by declaring thaI
they would lise above such lntrlgueS, ana
would conduct the public business strictly as
public servants. Here agan, the President can
blame no one but himself, if there is great dis
trlst on the part of sciizcns who were ANXIOUS
to think well OF him aud his work.
If the President had lived mp to his rule that
there should be no suspicion OF corrupt motives
in the discharge of public duty. how long would
he have kept Mr.. Garland in his Cabinet after
tbe Pan Electric disclosure How long would
he have retained Commissioner Johnston IN
office d? How could he have listened to recon-
mepdations by Senator Harris, or other inter
pSteu officials lie 1IcSltithi hilb"N' 40 an WV
people know that he would have refused with
lofty indignation to use the power OF the O0V-
ernment TO enrich a corporation IN which prom
inent Republicans had taken stock as pay Tor
their influence If the stock had been given to
Republican Senators, and if their legal opinions
had been published to the world as an induce
ment to other people to buy rights from their
company and they had then asked the Gov
ernment to begin suit to make their franchise
more valuable. would Secretary Lamar have
recommended, or would President Cleveland
ever have asked him to recommend such ac-
tion7 The President knows that this has
nothing to do with the soIndnesS or unsound-
ness of the claim against the Bell patents.
Had that claim been thousand times stronger,
he would have refused to use the power OF the
Government to help corporation In which a set
of high Republican olcials had accepted a large
interest as pay for their influence.
All good citizens sincerely regret that the
President has taken such a course rs to break
down public confidence in him. In some I'M
10 tant matters, as in regard to silver coinage,
his influence has been on the right side. There
would be great rejoicing among good citizens
if lie could rid himself of the influences which
have led him into this predicanent and would
act hereafter strictly upon the rule that public
office is public trust.