New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-07-14
ed in 1884. The fact that he has none now
is d significant omen in a year OF omens'
IN INDUSTRIOUS EXECUTIVE.

6N INDUNIHiOJO E-AEtcf ~ -
Although we are opposed to Mr.. Cleveands
70 ELECTION. we have no disposition to do him
injustice or to withhold from him any credit
to which he is fairly entitled 1t would be
mistake we think, for instance, to say thaV
the President is not an industrious person
Or that he lacks The courage Of his sclf-con-
sciousness. Or that he Shirls responsibility IN
cases of most tremendous moment, some OF
which involve the payment out of the Treas
uly of as much as Sl2 month. HIS industry
is attestcd by his 200 vetoes; almost twice as
many as the aggregate of all his predecessors.
It is estimated that by his manly and heroic
defence of the Treasury against the lnsiulouS
widow and rapaciOus orphan he has saved i'll
round numbers at least S24, 600 year to tho
Government-nearly half his salary. nor
should il be forgotten that this is an annual
saving upon which the interest also IS saVed
according to the continuity of the widow ana
longevity Of the orphan. And compounded
Now it requires industry TO take up and cX-
anime separately several thousand pension
cases so eXhaustively as to be able to ind Ill
200 of them the weak point which has escaped
detection in the two Houses of Congress
There have been Presidents who, when batch
of bills of this character was laid before Them
would excuse themselves from making an eX-
haustive investigation in each case on the
ground that it had already been made by the
committees, and the bills had passed the scru-
tiny of both Houses of Congress Not 50 with
President Cleveland. lie knows that no de-
pendence can be placed upon the intelligence
or honesty of either brapch, and that when the
insatiate widow and the scheming orphan once
get started in for plumber they stop at nothing
short Of SIP monitor outs-unlesS
the Executive stands in front of the treasury
in his shIt-sleeves, with the flaming sword oil
the veto power. This he has done with such
industry and devotion, especially during the
warm weather that some of his most powerful
veto messages have been diScolOred with pers-
piration.
MANY of the cases which come before the
President are of the most involved and intri-
cate character, and unless he has the instincts
and training of detective, with the skill oil
a practising physician, and much more INDUS
try than the average plumber, it Will go nara
with the Treasury Take such a case as that
Of the widow of Dennis Mahafy, Of the lp2d
Rhode Island Cavalry wherein it is alleged
that NIahaffy died of rheumatism contracted
in the service, in consequence OF Wlich inc
widow has the assurance to ask inc NoNerh-
ment for 81 a month or thercaboutS. 1hlS Is
the sort of case that at once awaEenS the
Executive suspicion. In the first place there
is the improbability that Rhode Island had
% regiments of cavalry in the service. BE
ing in the cavalry how could Mahaify have
L s..,,, AID tt..
Iinger so long with it? Then the chances arc
that he was a drinking man. Is this really
his widow? Is it not probable that she mar
RED MahafTy for his money? Why did she
survive him? And did not Mahaify himself
enlist from mercenary motives? These ana
similar questions at once arise III the ENecu-
tive mind. Being the only honest and faith
full Executive the country has enjoyed since
James Buchanan. he does not shrink from ms
duty He pursues the necessary inquiries IN
all directions by means Of Army Registers
encyclopedias, gazetteers, census returns
actuarial calculations. Dabolls Arithmetic and
the whole Matera Medica. lie finally makes
I'D his mind that there never was such man
as Dennis Mahaffy, and sends back veto mes
sage that Just huns through every line re-
buke to both branches of Congress for legis-
Iating away the peoples money on pensions
when they ought to be revising the tariff so
as TO reduce the surplus.
He would feel differently about it, Of course,
if he &C nd believe that Senators and members
of Congress were only halfway honest. But
so long as he knows them to be dishonest,
negligent and mfaithful, there is nothing for
him to do but assume the legislative function
himself 1t must make him tired sometimes
but he has the proud consciousness of being
the only President who ever did it. And at
the close of his term it may be said Of him that
for four years he sat up nights guarding the
Treasury surplus against the steathy approach
of the widow and the audacouS assault OF the
orphan.