The Abilene reflector. [volume] (Abilene, Kan.) 1883-1888, 1888-04-12
a CORRECT DIAGNOSIS.
An Independent California Papers Views
of Growers Second Term.

States to elect a man President for
second time merely because he wants
the office; and if that consideration be
removed in the present instance. it
will be difficult to find any good rea-
SON for the reelection of Grover
Cleveland. 1t may be hardly possible
to divest such question of all parti-
san bias; but if we can imagine
student of American politics from some
other land, called upon 10 weigh the
matter of Cleveland's reelection i'm
partially and without any prejudice
for or against him. we can see at once
that he would find it matter of ex-
treme difficulty to make such a case
for him as should justify or properly
entitle him to second term as Presi-
dent
In the consideration of this question
it must be borne in mind that it is
not enough that Cleveland should have
done nothing during his first term.
He may be endowed with every neg
ative virtue. he may not have done
any thing to injure the country. he
may be a man of pure and upright
morality. and he may have the best
wishes for the Nations welfare; but
in being possessed of all these excel
lent qualities, he is in no wise distin-
gu;shed from thousands of his fellow
citizens. The people demand as an
Executive something more than an in
animate mass of negations; they want
as their President a man who can
justly appreciate the condition of pub
lie affairs, and who can and will use
the great Office and vast power be-
slowed upon him for the common good
and the progress and prosperity OF the
whole country.
When the question is asked, what
has Cleveland done?-and it will be
asked very many times between now
and the coming election-the answer
must be, nothing; that is, nothing
which is of use to the country, or
which distinguishes the President in
any way. He came into office with
country made restive by Democratic
ISLANDERS and inuendoes. and more
than half convinced that the Repub-
lican party had been in power too
long He rode into the Presidency on
a wave of popular discomfort, created,
in a great measure, by the untiring
efforts of the Democrats, who insisted.
in season and out of season, that the
country was suffering under Repub-
lican Administration. But, granting
that there was some real cause for dis
content. and some need of change in
the condition of affairs, and that Cleve-
land was elected to put right the times
which were out of joint, it is legiti-
mate subject of inquiry to ask what he
has accomplished in the three years in
which he has been President with
Democratic House of Representatives
behind him, and a Senate which.
though Republican by a small majority,
has uniformly risen above mere parti-
san considerations in matters of legis-
lation. If the country was on the
brink of ruin in 1884. and Cleveland
was called to the conduct of public
affairs to save it, there ought to be
some change for the better in three
solid years. or else some COOL reason
should be shown by Mr.. Cleveland and
his friends for their failure to improve
matters.
Cleveland's late message. filled, as
it is, with dire forebodings and
gloomy presages for the country's
future, comedies one of two things
either tha: the dreadful condition of
affairs in 1884, as asserted by the
Democrats, was Il pure effort of par
tisan imagination for political pur-
poses. or that Cleveland is wholly in
and incompetent to get the
Nation out of the slough of despond
into which he says it is plunging
deeper and deeper. What would our
student of American poll
tics say if it were pointed out to him
that the man elected expressly to re-
deem the country from alleged Repub-
lican misrule. and to save it from de-
struction. should declare, after three
full years of the Presidency. that
nothing can be hoped for the future
except the crippling of National ener-
gies. the suspension of the country's
financial disturbance
and schemes of public plumber? To
our student, would the confession of
which such an admis-
sion involves, appear as a conclusive
for the election of the man
who makes this doleful statement to n
second term? Would he not rather
if this is the best a President
can do in three years. it would be bet
ter for the country to try some one
else, instead of continuing an inefli-
cient Executive in office?
The President is welcome to either
horn of the dilemma. Either he and
his supporters stated what was not
true in 1884. or he has proved himself
incapable of curing the evils of which
they complained. In either event. it
is time to change our doctor. If he
the disease incorrectly in
1884. he showed his ignorance; if his
was correct he has taken
three years in which to show his in
and the people. in either
case, have no further use for his serv-
ices.-San Francisco Chronicle.