New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1888-12-08

HOW NOT TO DO 1T.

Newspapers have been engaged In making
q Cabinet for President Harrison But they
are getting bemred in their own plumbers.
Every day their contradictions, absWdltles ana
nolit;cal mistakes accumulate, so that the opln-
ion is now gaining ground that the President
NAV have to make his own Cabinet after all.
To able and ng-if-not-sensauonai jour
nalists it might perhaps appear dlscourteouS
to suggest that, as it is to be Mr.. harrison
Cabinet in official duty, it might have been
wiser to leave its selection entirely to him.
But it is safe to say that President Harrison,
if he has to do the selecting, will not repeat
Mr. Clevelands mistakes. lie will not pick
out seven men of whom six prove to be de-
feated by the people of their States. 1t is TO
be presumed that he will not find men weaker
than Bayard or Endicott; men who owe their
political existence to law-breaking, as Lamar
and Garland did; men likely to make such
records in the practical management Of a de-
paltment as Whitney, Villas or Lamar; men as
willing as Dickinson or Fairchild to use public
power for partisan ends; or any man as I'M
savory as Garland From the first the effort
to make the Administration strong with nch
spectators of the ScottBrice variety has weak
ened it throughout the West. From the first
the presence Of secessioniSts like Lamar,
Bayard and Garland in the Cabinet has been
an offence to many Of Mr.. Cevelands sup
porters Mr.. Bayard's disposition to please
England in his policy and theories has angered
multitudes Mr.. Cleveland, in short has set
an excellent example Of how not to do it,"
Mr. Cleveland took three prominent men out
of the Senate, where they were OF more use
than they ever have been since. 1t does not
follow that men of mark and usefulness in the
Senate or House should not be selected for the
Cabinet but a wise President will not fail to
consider whether a man is likely to be OF
greater service in new place than
where he is. Mr.. Cleveland was from New
York, and took two Cabinet officers from that
State, one from New-England, three from the
South, and only one originally from the great
West 1t is safe to say that Mr.. Harrison will
not take two Cabinet officers from Indiana
1t is equally safe to say that he will not leave
twenty millions Of people in Eastern States
with one representative, as Mr.. Cleveland left
twenty millions in Western States. 1t may
occur to some that these principles render
most of the newspaper Cabinets inadmssible.
Mr.. Harrison also will think so, in all prob
ability.
The most egregious blunders which the vol
unteer Cabinet makers have been committing
spring from forgetfulneSs of the rather OBJ
vious fact that members of Cabinet are Sc
lected not to pay debts or to please friends,
but to secure an able, wise, and efficient adj
ministration of the Government. If Mr.. Cleve-
land had acted on that rule he would have made
fewer bunders If he never knew this or for
got IT, his successor probably will not initiate
his example. What the Republican party
wants what patriotic men of all parties want,
is frst-rate administration If the coming
President will so select assistants as to make
that sure, it will not much matter whether in
dividuas or States or party leaders are alto
gether pleased