The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1886-12-10
COMMENT AND OPINION.

VERDICT OF the people: The Presidents mes
sage is more remarkable for its length than for
its breadth. Detroit Tribune.
THE most careful study of President Cleve-
lands utterances on the tariff will not reveal
whether he would have voted for the Morrison
bill or against it-New York Sun.
THE Presidents message contains no allusion
10 the telephone scandal. Yet there is no sub
ject upon which Congress the country would
rather have presidential utterance. -Br ooklyn
Union.
THERE are many good people who long for a
return to the old fashioned temperance society
as the chief instrument for the suppression or
abatement of the liquor traffic. st. Louis Post
Dispatch.
THERE is no doubt that Mr.. Cleveland has
done much to bring the name of reform into dis
grace. and that he has inflicted worse injuries
upon the reform movement than all the spoils-
men who oppose it-Mil waukee Sentinel
AFTER reading what the administration has to
say on the tariff question many good sort of
Americans will remark: San administration of
the United States in the interest of foreign NJ AN
ufacturers and laborers." And they will be right
Boston Journal
GENERAL MCCLELLAN's military memoirs will
not increase hs reputation either as a soldier or
a fair minded critic His allegations against the
party in power while the war lasted went far to
show that politics shaped his course as federal
commander. as was charged at the time.-Bos
ton Transcript.
One may be pardoned for pausing to consider
the sort of message we should have been reading
this morning had Mr.. Blaine been elected. Surely
it would have been something very different from
Mr.. Cleveands dry synopses awkwardly ex-
pressed commonplaces and cheap moralizings.
Minneapolis Tribune.
THE country cannot fsil to note the utter ina
bility of the Democrats to efficiently manage ma
tional affairs. They keep the country distracted
Oft nd
ing afirmatively, but always threatening action
of an underlined character. The result is contin-
ued uncertainty and distrust in every channel
of the nations business Cincinnati CONNER
cial Gazette
ISN'T it the fact that the cause of Democratic
wrath is not the Presidents virtue but the ne
ces1ity for the whole party to pretend to be as
good as It's chiefl A stalwart Democrat Offering
a civil-service resolution must feel good deal
like the bad boy who is forced to go to Sunday
school Outwardly they are both seemly but
nwardly there is terrible amount of profanity.
New York Mail and Express.
THERE is feeling among young men that the
day of great opportunity is over that it does
not pay to force issues, to have too strong con
victions But silence never made men. and ac-
quiescence is not the passport to influence A
true, sturdy adhesion to principle Is better even
If 1t sometimes strikes fire. for few sparks are
not the worst sign IN a political party any more
than in church Apathy and indifference are
the evils of our politics to-day, and in almost
any way men should be aroused. Boston Ad-
vertiser
PRESIDENT CLEVELAND has not the strong,
infectious personality which can compel party
acceptance of his own ideas. That Is wherein
he differs from Andrew Jackson, who made his
party wild with enthusiasm over measures
which its real JUDGMENT did not approve. But
he differs from Andrew jackson in another par
tcular, in this crisis quite as important No
one ever questioned "Old Hickorys" complete
and intense loyalty to the Democratic organiza-
ton; whereas the impression gains ground apace
that Grover Cleveland has only negative and
selfish sort of regard for the party that made
him all he is.-Albany Express.