Wichita eagle., 1888-09-16
THE CLEVELAND ADMINISTRATION

|
rapidly as possible, maintain our nation
al credit and peacable relations with for
eign nations, and in fact almost every
thing was promised that was grand,
noble, good and true. Office was deemed
a public trust. 1t was held that a
president should not run for a sec
| ond term, but what do we See
in the confusion and chaos of results.
Nothing but bad faith and broken prom
ises. A president who advocated no sec
ond term stands posing as a candidate
for reelection. He who promised to
maintain our peaceable relations with
foreign nations has recently written a
message to congress urging the expedi-
ency of retaliatory measures against our
sister government, Canada. Although
| the policy is not likely to provoke the ru-
nous and devastating conditions OF war,
still it was unwise. What was his OBJ
| iect: Evidently not particularly to re-
| taliate against Canada but to retaliate
against the United States senate for not
ratifying his British fishery treaty.
There was nothing in the act of writing
the message that even was wise, let
alone noble and manly, as it is
: =
piece of demagogery unworthy the exec
utive administrator of great nation.
| In all the four years that have passed
what has the Democratic administration
accomplished? what has it done for the
good of the country? what great and be-
neticent law has it passed, or what gov
ernmental policy has it suggested and
completed? Echo answers, none.
! In Clevelands message OF last Decem-
| Der he sounds the tOcsin of alarm by
heralding all oyer the land the startling
news that there was great surplus III
the United States treasury. and If con-
gress did not do something at once to
get the money out among the people,
ruin and destruction would sweep over
the country like some fell destroyer,
then month after month passed and the
surplus continued to increase at the rate
of $10,OOO,OO0 per month until millions
of money was piled up in the treasury,
and the old surplus of $4,000, 600 was
increased to $13O,OOO.OO0. Congress
done nothing, until the people
through stress and want clamored for
their money, and the depressed business
of the country groaned out its pressing
need of money. What did ''inocuous
desuetude" do to relieve the people who
demanded that he reduce the surplus by
buying bonds?
He answered that because the law Civ
ing him power to buy bonds was in an
appropriation bill he could not follow its
directions. He forgot for the moment
that the law granting him $4,000 per
year was also in an appropriation bill,
still he continued to draw it just as reg
ular, also Notwithstanding Republican
administrations had for years reduced
the surplus by the purchase of bonds, re-
ducing the national debt from $12, OO0,-
to 5000, 900 per month, and they were
never called in question.
Time wore on and the peoples money
was not restored to them, and the sur
plus continued to increase and it was not
until senator rose in his seat in the
senate-John Sherman of Ohlo-and in
speech upon that floor said that in the
''sundry civil appropriation bill of March
3, 1884," would be found law empower
ing the secretary of the treasury to go
into the market and buy bonds with the
surplus, ''such bonds to be Cancelled and
not to constitute part of the sinking
fund.- thus reducing the national debt.
Mr.. Sherman further said: The exist
ence Of a surplus revenue had been
constant occurrence before and since the
close of the war Larger sur
pluses had frequently been dealt
with wisely by Republican admin
istrations, being applied by the executive
authority to the payment of the national
debt" but this was not done because
Cleveland had cast doubt upon the
power of the secretary of the treasury
to enter the market and purchase bonds
Continuing Mr.. Sherman said that the
above mentioned law was passed at his
own suggestion when he was secretary
of the treasury, for his own relief, and
for the relief of future secretaries of the
treasury, that the law was all right and
that the president should go ahead. a
Democratic house of representatives then
passed resolutions stating that the law
was all right and that the president
should go ahead. That was the judg-
ment of Democrats against a Democrat
The judgment of Democratic
house of representatives against
a Democratic president and
thereby virtually censurlng the
president The president passed
crept out Of his hole and told the secre-
tdIJ Oi tile tlcdiSui W cuy JUST q iS"
little bonds, and the bonds he purchased
did not use up the monthly earnings of
the government. The fact is Cleveland
did not want TO stop the accumulation of
the surplus. but wanted it to continue to
increase and get larger and larger, so he
could use it as lever against our pro-
tectlve system and force voters to vote
the Democratic ticket and thus abandon
protection.
He loaned pet banks of New York $50,
100000 of the peoples money without a
cent of interest, and deposited $1,000
in Chairman of the Democratic Commit
tee Brice's bank. Lima, Ohio. What
right had he to thus dispose of the peo-
pies money and throw The government
into a national loan company: 1t is
claimed he did it to relieve the money
market. If that was his object why
did he do it contrary to law in
instead OF according to law, viz, III the
purchase of bonds. He sends his
cheque for so. 600 to the national Dem
ocratic committee for campaign pur
poses, and only $50 to the earth
quake sufferers in South Carolina: vetoes
hundreds of poor soldiers widows
and orphans pension bills, disre-
CARDS the civil service law by changing
thousands of the Office holders he has
under his control, spends so, 900, 600
more during his administration than was
spent under the Garield-Arthur admin
istration. ..Office a public trust indeed,
we think it VIII soon be time 70 have
congress appoint a committee
/ Il