Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1888-08-24
NOT A GOOD PRESIDENT.
New York Tribune.

There are gOOd.natured but not
well-infoTmed people who say: "Mr.
Cleveland has been a pretty good
President after ALL They ac-
knowledge his shortcomings as a
Civil Service reformer, bat excuse
him on the plea that he could not
have been expected to resist the
pressure Of political party which
had been out Of Office for twenty
years. 1t was inevitable, they as.
sert, that Republican officeholders
should be replaced by Democrats,
but the President took great care
to appoint competent and reputa'
ble men, and this was all that the
country had a right to ask.
Unfortunately for the President
and his apologists, the record does
not confirm the assertion that com.
petent and reputable Democrats
were appointed in the place of Re-
pubicans. The list printed in the
Tribune is not by any means com.
plete, but it contains the names Of
21S ofllceholders who have been di.
rectly connected with the criminal
classes. The Civil Service has been
recruited with mail thieves, embez.
zlers, ballot-bOx suffers, defraud-
ing local officials, forgers, rioters,
wife-beaters, drnnkards, accomplic.
es of assassins, and even murder.
ers. All these facts have been
proved by the T'ibune's alphabet.
cal list of Executive appointments,
based largely upon exposures made
by Democratic journals. With that
Indictment against the Administra.
tiOn unanswered, no intelligent and
fair.mlnded man is justified in say
ing that while Republicans we're
turned out in response to the mex
Orable demands OF place-hunting
Democracy, only good, competent
and reputable men we're allowed to
get In, Judged by his record alone,
Mr.. Cleveland has not been a good
President. If he had been, he
would not have allowed the public
service to be degraded and de.
bauched as it is today.
The only reply that is made to
such considerations as these is the
feeble assertion that the President
has been a man OF good intentions.
No doubt he has had good inten-
tons. lie has meant well. In his
letter of acceptance he took the
strongest possible ground against
a second term, and probably in
tended to decline a denomination,
but he has not been as good as his
word. After his election he made
Mr.. Curtis Christmas present of
a covenant to embody in his adj
ministratiOn the principles of Civ
il Service reform. His intentions,
then, were undoubtedly excellent,
but alas the pledges have not
been kept. There have been SYM
pathetic expressions of interest in
CIVIL Service reform in the Presi.
dents messages and speeches ; but
his actual performance has been
an indiscriminate expulsion of Re-
publlcans from Office on the ground
that they were partisans, and the
recruiting Of every branch OF the
Civil Service with Democratic par.
usans. So, too, he may have in
tended to put only reputable and
intelligent men in office; but some.
how the rascals have got in every.
where appointments have been
made in every branch of the public
service without regard for capac-
ity, fitness or reputation ; and the
Administration stands before the
country to-day without defence
against its own record.
1t is not enough to say that the
President has meant well. He has
not done well. Four years ago
men might have been justified in
voting for him on the strength of
his vIrtuous intentions. His per-
Torrance since March 4, 1885, is
now the only practical standard by
which the President is to be meas
ured. By that test he is found to
fall far below the heroic proper.
tons of a good President.