The Red Cloud chief., 1886-01-29
GOVERNOR MILLS MESSAGE.
He serves Notice spos Presidsst C1ess.
land and the Cessiry That us IL q the
Esee for .

H serves Notice spos Presidsss Cievs-
land and the Cess;ry That lIs IL - the
Eses for 1ss8.
THE attempt Of Governor Hill - pose
a. 3 Ciyil-Seryice reformer Is simply ABB
surd. His position is very well under
stood. He was nominated last fall by
the spoils clique OF the party. and his
triumph in convention was h.ralded as
q rebuke Of the Mugwump tendency.
real or supposed, Of President Clcve-
land. Blu, upon a~nalyzing his message
il will be seen that ne admits himself
Z o nothing in particular. He indulges
in n few platitudes. and that i all His
words have no ring Of genaineness.
His predecessor made the public be-
lieve that he meant something when he
di.cour.ed Of CIyil-Seryice reform. and
perhaps he did, albeit the greater part
OF lis professions have already coed
out. leaving his air balloon IN \ state
bordering closely upon absolute coli
lapse. The fact, however. tina, the
Governor in his talk dilutes the reform
medicine much more than the President
il III the habit Of doing can no, fail TO
attract the attention of impatient Demo-
cratic ofice-seekers. who wll!, il Is eyi-
IDENTIFY hoped, regret that the Guberna-
torial ticket If 1889 IN New York had
not been reversed, with ali the prob
able consequences Of such reversal.
So long rs Thomas A. Hendricks
lived he was the natural representative
and leader of the spoils wing of his
party, and now the question IS who
shall inherit that distinction. The sit
ua,ion is best expressed in the language
of the turf. As being Hill against the
field. Thus far no definite rivalry has
developed. Mr.. Randall was put out Of
the race apparently by the signal de-
feat experienced in the revision Of the
rules Of the House. Mr.. Beck made a
good deal Of capital out Of asssailing
the Administration. but he is a Scotch
man. and il is written in the Constitu-
ton that no foreigner shall inherit the
Presidency. Thus far it il a walk-away
for Hill.
But even il he should hold the lead
ership of that wing Of the party il
would by no means follow that the
Governor will supplant the President
i'm 1888. He might find his very
strength 10 BE- his fatal weakness, es-
pecialIy as the President is steadily
convincing everybody. even the Mug
wumps. that he is partisan enough TO
meet the most exacting demand. From
the slow progress made by his APP
pointees in getting through the Senate
il NAV vet be found that he was a little
too previous in making changes. There
is such a thing ~ haste that makes de-
Law, and if his course in the StreatOr
pOst-ofice matter is a fair specimen OF
the kind of faith he proposes to keep
with Senators, then the proverbial
molasses in January will be swiftness
itself as compared with the progress of
his appointments in getting through
the executive branch of Congress.
Governor Hill has the good fortune Of
being in a position to take advan-
,age of any slips which may be made
at the White House.
Evidently a slight mistake was made
in the name of the present Governor Of
New York. He should have been
c~Iristened Absalom, instead of David.
and perhaps the President made q mis-
take in dropping Stephen from the
brace Of names he received at the sa-
cred font, and that he will vet be the
noted martyr of the Democratic restOra-
ton.
Without indulging in mere surmise
or allowing fancy too much freedom, it
may be set down as morally certain
that whoever captures the New York
delegation will win the prize. The
precedent established in 1884 as to the
unit'rule may prove II of those good
little chickens that come home TO rOost.
instead of prowling around strange hen
houses. There are n good many Dem
ocrats who would like TO see Daniel
Manning and his Robinson CrusOe step
ping in the tracks made by John Kelly
and his braves when they performed
the war dance of july. 1884. In view
of all these may-bcs this message in
question may be interpreted as an open
letter TO the President of the United
States. serving timely notice of acom-
pctitor.-Intcr Ocean.