Abilene weekly reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1888-1935, 1888-08-02
a ROUSING ADDRESS.

Delivers a Grand Speech at Springfield,
m--CieyeIand and His Weak Civil-Serv-
ice Reform Given a Bitter Scoring.
We are nov entering upon political canvass
he results Of which must prove OF high and
lasting importance to the people of this Nation.
A long established American policy. vital to all
interests. is on trial before the voters on the
Bne hand, while upon the other an Admnistra-
ton that gained power under mask OF reform
and by the most solemn promises of Jefer-
-0nisn virtue is to receive attention in response
70 the demand that its doings and pretensions
shall be ratified in November.
The result OF this campaign must also 90 a
long way coward determining whether any
effort in the future is to be made to enforce the
provisions OF the constitution relating 10 SUI
frage in the South or whether We are to sit
down helplessly and allow political party 70
enjoy the perpetual fruits of violence and
fraud. Such question may well receive the
candid consideration Of candid men. This cam
paign is. hope, to be battle OF opposing
principles, and not petty iusilade OF personal
detraction and calumny.
Republican ideas have conquered a continent,
and we behold to-day the Democratic party
the old, Incorporating enemy of Republican
ism, the party that contested with bludgeon,
steel and calumny each step of the splendid
tdvance from the last Imbecile act of Buchanan
mp TO the pure and lofty craftsmanship OF Ar
thur-crawling under the big tent of Repub-
hca3ism, and saying: 20, yes, we agree to all
this and always did, but il you will give US a
chance we would like TO reform the civil serv-
ice"
After referring TO the fact that Mr. Cleve-
land was elected upon his repeated assertion
that he would, il elected, reform the civil serv-
ice. the speaker continued:
1t is interesting well as instructive TO note
the manner in which these pledges of Civil
Service Reform have been kept. shall not re-
sort to the long columns Of statistics which are
at hand to show the exact percentage of re-
movals and appointments which Mr.. Cleveland
has made in three years, moved thereto by
partisan and personal motives. Happily with
men who have been living in this country the last
three years and have kept their eyes and ears
open, no tedious statistics are needed to prove
the recreancy OF this Administration TO its
promises. Scarcely had the ink with which the
President wrote his reform inaugural became
dry before the axe of the Administration heads
man began to be wet with the blood of Re-
publican ofacials whose efficiency and faithful
ness were unQuestiOned, and Tto were slain
solely that their places night be filed by
Democrats. II was only necessary 10 look and
listen for a single day to be convinced of the
hollowpess Cf 81 the pretenses of the Presi-
dent concerning the civil service and to know
these pretenses were put forth for the dishon-
est purpose OF securing votes from the men
formerly afiliating with the Republican party
who really did not believe civil service questions
TO be more important than any others. Even
private character was not safe from assassina- |
ton at the hands OF the Executive head of the |
Nation in the search for causes" which would |
help to make partisan acts seem TO accord with |
ante election professions; and we find this |
same Executive as the time approached when |
he should in all honesty respect his own dec |
laration OF the great danger lying in a Presi- |
dents personal ambition 10 renominate him
self not only setting at naught his own argu- |
ment but sliding down from his high pedestal |
into the camp of the party spokesman, where |
he has been wholly invisible to the long
ing eye of the 'mugwump" for lol these
many months. All the alleged abuses
which before election furnished the texts
Of Mr.. Cleveiand's various homilies on re-
form now hold unlimited sway under his ad-
Pernicious activity by officials
in party management; the leVying of assess
ments upon Government employees for cam
paign purposes; the removal of faithful officials
TO make places with which TO reward ignorant
party helpers-all these vices and many more
about which Mr.. Cleveland theor zed so well |
that he won the admiration of Mr. Curtis and
Mr.. SchurZ, have held unbounded sway at Wash
lngton for the last two years, and that, too, |
not only in violation of the Presidents per-
sonal pledges, but in violation of the statute
Of the land. o, reform thou art jewel, but
thou art not Democrat
But are you not more than glad, fell
low citizens. that the Gays of the civil
service masquerade have drawn to a
closes Mr.. Cleveland makes much better
figure as an ayowed spokesman than he
ever did in the guise OF a reformer. In the
be ght of the exhibition he resembled a hip
popotamus trying to balance on a slack rope |
All is now changed The last "mugwump" has
disappeared down the back stairs of the White
House, followed closely by the masterful boot
# the Democratic "bouncer,' and h ceforth
here is to be none to modest the President or
o make him afraid. 1t is to De hoped we shall
n future have less Of hypocrisy, whatever may
be the fate of the civil service.
In the face OF the fact that the Democratic |
is distinguished for its i'm
Decility and for its pledges TO the people IN
fulfilled Mr.. Cleveland Is accounted by his
party as great leader. To be the leader in a
party in which a man is accounted wise by
reason of what he has not written or said
'eformer by reason of what he has not reformed,
and patriot by reason of the sacrifices he
has not made, is, in my judgment, rather an
Easy position.
Taking up the tariff question, Mr.. Fifer said:
predict that the Democratic party long be-
lore the close of this campaign will be chiefly
exercised to convince the voters. and particu-
iarly the mechanics and wage-workers of the
country. that they are not free-trade party
and are not even infected with the kindred and
worse heresy of tariff for revenue only"
but the issue upon this question is now made
and defined far beyond the power of any
Democrat to obscure and befud6le it.
Upon this circumstance the country is to be
Time was when the Democratic
party, which lies principally in the South hated
the manufacturing industries of the North and
had the honesty and courage TO say so boldly
away back IN the sixties the Democratic party
SAID in terms that II was for free trade AS
late as 1876 il said in terms that tariff should
be 'for revenue only In 1880 and 1884 it pre-
FABRICATED and straddled. 1t sat upon the politi-
cal fence with one leg hanging down in Iowa
and the other in Pennsylvania, but neither
loot quite touching the ground. But while this
s true, there has never been the least doubt as
70 the real convictions and desires of that !
>arty upon the tariff question. 1t is and always
has been free-trade party. Such are its ira
1itions and its history. And now in the full |
Tess OF time Moses has arisen in the Demo-
cratic Israel and with all the stuboornness of
The taur1ne animal which disputed the right OF
way with the locomotive. and with about the
'ame perception of the question. proclaims with
he courage OF his conviction that the protective
eatures of the tariff are unjust and Illogical
md should be abandoned. Let US thank the
President for his courage if not for his wis
iom- He has so far alighted from the fence
nat one foot at least now touches the ground |
The different theories advanced to-day by the
of protection on the one hand and of
rec trade on the other are as old as the Gov |
rnment itself. II is not too much TO say that
the supporters of those different views of our
tariff are no nearer agreement now than
hey were in the days of Clay and Calhoun: and
Il left in the domain of theory alone il is safe to
ay they will be far apart at the close OF the
next century as they are to-day Now, some
questions may, concede, be settled theoreti-
ally but the tariff is not, in my opinion. such
cfn nIa l..
III the theories that have been advocated from
he clear and statesmsnlixe utterances of