Wichita eagle., 1888-05-06
GOOD PRESIDENTS.

Some Of the Qualifications which Char
actcrize Them - But Examination
With u Good-Sized Microscope Does Not
Reveal Them in Grover Cleveland.
The friends and supporters Of President
Cleveland are IN the constant habit Of bas-
ing his claim to reelection upon the broad
and comprehensive assertion that he has
made good President. When requested
to particularize, and to specify Ii what re-
spect he is especially entitled TO the disttnc-
tion Of being called good President, they are
somewhat at a loss for an answer, but fire.
quently make iteration take the place Of
reason, and assert with renewed earnest
ness that Cleveland has made a good Presi-
dent.
Without attempting to furnish an ex-
haustlve definition to what constitutes a
good President, we think, says the San
Francisco Chronicle, that it viii be generally
agreed that to be a good President the
Chief Magistrate Of the Nation must, ar the
commencement of his official career, adopt
a sound and wise policy, founded on the
wants of the Nation and adjusted as nearly
as possible TO the diversified interests Of the
American people ;and having marked out his
course, he must adhere to il, unless there
shall be some overwhelming popular de-
mand, based on reason, for change Of
policy. Honesty, efficiency, consistency,
and firmness of purpose, accompanied by de-
votioQ to the pubic interests and sub
jugation of his personal wishes and feei-
lngs, must be the characters tics Of good
President; and tested by this touchstone,
we deny explicitly that Grover Cleveland
has been good President
Mr.. Cleveland, in accordance with estab-
Eshed custom, announced his policy in his
inaugural address, delivered on the 4th Of
March, 1885, now more than three years ago.
In that address he made certain declarations
and promises by which the people had
right to consider him as bound. In view of his
Presidential career, 1t is but right 20 re-
view those promises; and if he has not kepc
them, there being no reason except his indi-
viduaI will 10 account for his breaking them,
his violation of those pledges must certainly
initiate against bis claim of having been
good President
Among other things, Mr. Cleveland said:
" A due regard for the interests and pros
perity of al the people demands that our
finances shall be established upon such
sound and sensible basis as shall secure the
safety and confidence of business interests
and make the wages Of labor sure and
D
shall be so adjusted as to relieve the people
from unnecessary taxation, having due re-
gard to the interests of capital invested
and working-fnen employed in American in
dustries, and preventing the accumulation
of surplus IN the Treasury to tempt ex-
travagsnce and waste
A little further along he took up another
topic, saying:
IL 4 ~ 4
ministration of the Government, and the
application of business principles to public
affairs AS means 10 this end, Civil
Service reform should be in good faith in
dorsed. Our citizens have the right to pro-
lection from the incompetency of public
employees, who hold their places solely as
the reward OF partisan service, and from
the corrupting influence of those who
promise, ana the vicious methods of those
who expect such rewards; and those who
worthily seek public employment have the
right to insist that merit and competency
shall be recogniz ID, instead Of party sub
serviency, or the surrender Of honest poht-
ical belief"
In this ipauT,ral there Is not VTeEd
about the payment of the National debt;
but it may be included in the first para
graph cited. i'll reference to the National
finances.
These. then, were Mr.. Cleveland's prom
ises. and this is the outcome of his policy.
How has he fulfilled those pledges, or how
closely has be adhered to the policy mapped
out by himsclfl
The establishment Of our finances upon q
sound and sensible basis required the
speedy reduction Of the interest-bearing
National debt Money was abundant for
that purpose, there was no obstacle in the
way. and yet President Cleveland's Secre-
tary of the Treasury, during the first SIX
teen months of the Administration, re-
deemed only SIS, ,oOO, 900 OF bonds, as against
an average of si53, ,000, 900 redeemed by a
Republican Administration every sixteen
months during the preceding four years,
and no progress would hare been made
even then had not Republican members of
Congress driven the Precedent and his Sec
rotary TO do their duty.
As to regulation of currency questions,
the premature message Of Mr. Cleveland,
Familiarity known as the Warner letter, in
dicatcd that he was controlled by the bond
holders and the Wall-street clique, and that
instead of studying the silver question he
had accepted the dictation of Secretary
Manning and the gold interests which he
represented, and intended to demonetlze
silver, if it were possible, and that was his
idea Of putting the finances on = sound and
sensible basis.
Bat what shall be said OF his much
vaunted Civil-Service rcforui Can anv fair
minded person read the paragraph which is
quoted and not conclude that the retention
in Office of honest and capable public serv-
- ars1,- ,-Dlt-a1 in 20 darlara.
ton that those who worthily seek pubic
employment may insist that merit and com
potency shall be recognized instead Of party
subscrviencyl Is not the one absolutely the
correlative of the other. And yet who can
trace the history of removals from Office
under the present Administration and find
the faintest trace of an adherence to Cleve-
lands declaration on the subject of Civil
Service reforml A President who between
March 4. 1855, and June IL, 1887, could
change 1900 out OF 52. .60S fourth-class post
masters. who could change 1900 out of 2,S.9
Presidential postmasters, 81 out Of IS col
lectors of internal revenue. IL out Of Is Su-
pcrinte ndents Of Mints, IN short, who could
make 42,623 changes in the public service
out Of . possible %, ,7o2 in the space Of TWEEN
ty-seven months, should abandon his title Of
a civil-servlce reformer
Nor were his only mistakes to put il in a
a charitable light made il his disnissals.
he appointed Garland. tainted with the Pan
Electric scandal, his Attorney General; he
selected Villas, who was only keen polti-
ciar, has Postmaster-Gene and has since
promoted him TO DO Secretary of the Inter
ior; he kept Eugene Higgins as appoint
ment clerk until public opinion forced him
TO dismiss him; he sent drunken Judge 20
Alaska and ! drunken Minister 70 Mexico:
he appointed men to Office who were State
prison convlcts, and made ali the mistakes
which a couceited man could make in that