Wichita eagle., 1888-06-27
QUEER INDEPENDENCE.

The Position of tho Muswumps-Can
They, as independents, Consistently
Support Mr.. Cleveland for = Second
Term2
Mugwurlp organs are constantly pro.
claiming that their political attitude is one
of independence Not Republican, not a
Democrat, but the critic Of both parties and
the partisan of neither, is the account
which the typical mugwump gives himself
in defining his relations to the two great
parties Is the description accurates Is the
mugwump genuine Independent
The mugwump in 1854 supported Mr..
Cleveland because Mr.. Cleveland was sup
posed to be a reformer The mugwump
was shut up to doing so because it could net
be pretended that Mr.. Cleveland was a
statesman. 1t follows therefore, says the
New York Tribune, that if Mr.. Cleveland
has proved failure as reformer the
mugwunp, in case he is also an independents,
can have no further use for him, is in honor
bound to drop him and to protest against his
candidacy for reelection.
But the facts are: /. That Cleveland has
proved a failure as reforDer. 9 That,
nevertheless, the mugwunp leaders are
still backing him. HGrper's Weekly, whose
editor is commonly recognized as mug
Wulup-lu-CuiSl, ldUely du6lltuSd
Cleveland had yielded to the malign pressure
which had been brought to bear upon him by
the Democratic party; that instead of bend
ing the organization to his purposes as re-
former he had been bent by it to its pur-
poses as a spoils-seelaer In its last issue
the Heehly again pllories the President. It
declares that he "can not be ignorant of the
contemptuous disregard Of his profound con-
oh 1>xy md
ayers of his party and of the scandal
which it brings upon him and upon the
country" AS if this reproach was not Bit
ter enough as it stands, the Wesley adds:
"When the Republican majority in Con-
gress ceased to profess any regard for re-
form President Grant frankly abandoned
the attempt 1t was better course than to
permit tho injury to the cause which lnevi-
tably results from using its name when its
substance has disappeared" The comics,
sion that Grover Cleveland has proved a
sham as Ciyil-Service reformer is thus
wrung from the leading organ Of mug
wumpery.
Nor does the Weekly stand alone in its de-
nuciation of the President. It's fellow mug
wump journals have expressed themselves
to the same effect. The New York Times,
which advocated Mr.. Cleveland in 1884 as .
reformer, albeit it had sneered ct him as a
'parochialn statesman, now admits that he
has betrayed the reform cause. The New
York Erentno Post, which in its zeal for tho
speedy advent of reform millennium,
joined the fortunes of Mr.. Cleveland to tho
cry that chastity was not zone of the viz
tues that bind society together" to-day is
saying ditto to the Weekly and the IIn,ea
And still the mugwump banner for 1885 Is
inscribedt "For President, Grover Caeves
land" Is this independence Of the courage
sns sort3 Is this independence which has
regard to that high ethical standard to
which the mugwump is continually point
ingl Mr.. Curtis is forever expressing HE
disapproval Of the dyedin,the-wool parry
man; the man who subscrihes 70 the doc
trine, ''rly party, right or wrong" Yetinow
we find him enlisted for the reelection Of o
President who he acknowledges has yielded
to the pressure of party which, to use his
own language, is "a conspiracy for plumber
and spoils."
Independence that commands respect {,
made Of sterner stuff.