The Washington critic., 1886-08-17
A CoMMoN-sENsE PRESIDENT.

uutCNCl ulul w sul' WBulH9t ! it9l-
dent Cleveland rs n political President,
it cannot be charged that he is
not in many things common.
sense President In nearly every
paper coming from his hand is
shown his business ideas, and his neg
lect of the political and buncombc con.
siderations too often u part of state
papers.
In giving his eXplana iDps regarding
ILLS which he let unsigned, very
sensible views are taken, and he totally
disregj rds policy, for justice to the
people at large, who have the bills to
pay. The public building at Annapolis
is squelched, because all the business
Of the Government is done there with
perfect case in buildings which may be
rented for $515, the interest on, say,
$4,000. Because 1t is the capital of
Maryland, and the other capitals have
public buildings, Annapolis wants one.
Congress in fit Of enthusiasm passes
the bill, and the President in fit of
common sense refuses 10 sign It. Mr..
Morgan wants So, O0O ncarly, on con-
tract which he did not fulfill, and Con-
gress generously passes the bill. The
President cant see why, when Mr..
Morgan owes more than that amount
TO the Government in losses sustained
by his failure to do as he contracted,
the Government should pay out more,
S,,ut hnno,,gp I n, 10 ,;n ho
Mr. Morgan and can stand it better,
and he refuses to sign away the peo-
les money.
In smaller matters he exercises the
same common sense, and when two men
On the laborers' roll of the House
;sked $500 year more for their serv-
ices, because they had been acting rs
messengers, Congress in its votive ten
der heartcdness passed the bill and it
went to the President for signature.
The President did not >loSk at 1t in that
way. lie said that if they did two
hleRih'W'G0yyK apiece, it was evident that
the work was very light, and If they
were acting merely as messengers they
were saved from the harder work of
the class to which they belonged, and
they should be thankful that they had
pleasant work for pay they had agreed
TO accept for much more hurdensomC
tasks, and he refused to sign. lie also
refused to sign bill allowing 5000 tC
man, who twenty two years ago, as {
twelve.year old boy, remained a yeai
in the army as n soldiers pet, Tlis
was pure buncombe bill passed by
Congress as Il sort of Il worthy example
to other boys in succeeding wars, WHO
might run away from home and nearly
frighten their mothers to death unit
they were returned to their bibs ant
bottles.
1t las been The tradition tha
Presidents duties were Concerne,
only with the great affairs of earth
and that he should leave all the smalle
affairs to his clerks and other subordi
mates; and, acting upon this tradition
Congress has thrown away mil.
Ions OF dollars. What Presideu
Cleveland may save in actual outlny
may not be great, but the example hC
is setting will be of inestimable value
The taxpayers contribute to thu
Treasury dollar by dollar, and they
watch the output dollar by dollar, anC
wi Zen they see President controlling
his actions by the same rule, they hav
peculiar confidence in him which |
more binding than any political clap
trap, and which incites the people t
force the politicians from the field an,
assert their own ideas of what polite
is and what is due them AS the con
triLnting majority.