Devils Lake inter-ocean. (Devils Lake, Ramsey Co., Dakota [N.D.]) 1884-1905, 1888-09-08
Low TIDE s~TATEsmAxsHiP.

Low TIDE sTATEsMAlsMiP.
In the whole history Of white house
occupancy there has never been 90
much poverty in the art Of government
or such paucity Of statesmanship ~ we
now have in the presidential mansion
at Warrington. With chief executive
who owes his position to. the success Of
false pretense, we have q cabinet com.
posed Of men who are scarcely equal to
the task Of intelligently governing q
township. We might excuse the ignor.
ance with which Secretary Bayard con.
ducts the foreign Office If he didn't sup
plement that ignorance with partisan
brutality that would not be expect
ed of a professional ward politician.
And the same may be said in regard to
the treasury department, where the
financial interests of this country are
sunken beneath the purposes Of q sec-
ond term for Mr.. Cleveland, and where
records are distorted and laws disobeyed
to win applause and political consider
alton for an administration that is now,
near the end Of its firat term, stamping
around on crutches in halls whose hal.
lowed walls have echoed the voices of
such statesmen and patriots a. Wash.
ington, Jefferson, Lincoln, Grant and
Garfield. 1t is a spectacle such a. the
American people have never before
been obliged to look upon.
WHEN Cleveland fired off his free
trade message, he called attention to an
enormous surplus of--money in tho
treasury. Later ON he asked congress
to give him a law which would enable
him to dispose of that surplus; then
congress called his attention to q law
which had been passed several years
ago expressly for that purpose. Cleye-
land was we'll aware of the fact that
such a law was in existence. but his aim
was to deceive the people into a belief
that he had made a discovery which
had escaped the attention Of his prede.
cessors. His hypocrisy has been thor.
oughly exposed.
\
A FEW weeks ago one of the clerks
in the treasury department discovered
and announced that no surplus existed.
The white house "statesmen" were
panic.stricken. The books were turned
over to experts and they confirmed the
report Of the clerk. Secretary Fair.
child has admitted the truth; but does
Cleveland and Thurman acknowledge
the error in the presidents messageI
No. On the contrary. the "old Roman
is going about the country telling the
people about "the awful surplus" Ii
this craftsmanship. or is it political
dishonesty?
WHILE the people are thinking over
these rank discrepancies and are trying
to discover the object of this admins.
tration of false pretense and false
alarms, another blank cartridge is fired
of by Mr.. Cleveland in the shape of a
special message in which he asks fol
extraordinary powers and unnecessary
authority to deal with Canada, going
from the extreme of humiliating sur.
render Of undisputed rights to thai
other extreme which would result in
war if the authority he asks were given
and any attempt should be made tc
use it. Investigation shows thai
there is now on the statute books a Law
which permits the president to take all
reasonable and necessary steps to pun.
ish any Infringement of treaty rights
which the Dominion government might
undertake.
So MUCH again for the "honesty' o.
this remarkable administration which,
happily for the good reputation and
good standing Of tins country, is soon tc
close it's career forever and be permitted
to return to obscurity with its thimble.
rigging games and school boy diplo
macy.