The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1886-12-08
Under n Cloud.

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Under a Cloud.
1t is evident that the vacillating course
of President Cleveland for some months
past has served to weaken him greatly
in the estimation of the great bulk of his
supporters, while the republicans have
no reason to retract anything they have
alleged against his administration. The
gist of the Presidents reasons for re-
moving Collector Stone of Pittsburg
was that this republican officer has
made campaign speeches attacking the
administration; but in another case,
that of Mr.. Benton, a democratic dis
trict attorney in Missouri, after remov-
ing that officer on the ground of his
offensive partisanship and to please
the mugwumps, the President subse-
quently reconsidered the case and re-
instated Mr.. Benton. The reasons
therefor were given in letter which
announced that an oflice-holder can
make a political speech to his neigh
bors, provided that he is not unfair"
etc. And yet Stone, the republican,
was dismissed for doing nothing worse
than what the democratic Benton did
But in the Missouri case the joke is on
the President, for it turns out that Ben
ton in his campaign speeches severely
criticised the administration for its
financial theories and denounced the
" civil service humbuggery." In view
of all the circumstances, even the mug
wumps who, have stuck by the Presi-
dent through thick and thin, find Gas
the Tribune remarks) the labor of hold
ing up this administration by the tail
fatiguing and discouraging. The in
sincerity of the President is we'll dem
onstrated in this telling manner by the
Utica Herald
Clereland's Iaaugu- and Clerelald'S Letter
raj, Mdrch, 'S5. TO Stone, Nor, 'S6.
Those who worthily The administration
seek public employ of the government is
ment have the right not to be trusted in
to insist that merit places high or low
and competency shall to those who are OPP
be recognized instead posed to the party re-
of party subserviency sponsible for such adj
or the surrender of ministration.
honest political be-
lief
OF late the Washington correspond
ents of democratic journals have been
setting out the President in an unfavor-
able light. This may be on account of
his dislike of newspaper men; but it is
learned from other sources that he is
not popular with the people in Wash
ington. Reference is made by COR
respondents to his g Feasibility of tenn
per and habitual irritation of mind;"
that he avoids the public, and shows a
great distrust of the people about him.
Another correspondent says: The
Presidents stolen flights from the town
when he travels, the devious and
dangerous routes employed by him to
reach the railway stations before his
departure, the black cloud of mystery
which hovers over his plans for days
outing in search of country diversion
are evidences of Mr.. Cleveland's alb
horrence of any natural contact with
the public. People are beginning to
ask if the President is afraid, or whether
it is native shrinking from the gaze of
the curious, or a poetic fondness for
solitude. The Washington public is
wonderfully polite and non-aggressive.
Every President before Mr.. Cleveland
has taken constitutional walks on
Pennsylvania avenue without restraint
or annoyance" He has also made
himself unpopular by closing after five
P. NJ. part of the White House
grounds that has always been open to
the public and great convenience to
workmen and pedestrians going through
them from Pennsylvania avenue into
the western part of the city. Another
correspondent writes: "The President
is growing more and more sensitive
every day. He seems to think that
the newspapers are natural enemies of
his administration. There is hardly a
public man who calls upon him who
does not hear some complaint from him
about the newspapers" All this gives
unfavorable impression of Mr.. Cleve-
land, and, taken in connection with his
erratic and inconsistent political course
under the guise of reform, is not calcu-
lated to increase his popularity with
the people of the country.
The Presidents Message.
The programme of the opening day