Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-02-15
NOT A THING TO HIDE.
Continued from First Page.

/
last fall. "Had certain conditions beer
eliminated from the campaign" he says
Eve would have won a decisive victory.
So far as he is individually concerned, h,
has no regrets at laying down his trust. HI
thinks the defeat of the Democracy is 10 bt
deplored because of the injury resulting t.
the public interests, but personally he ex
| periences a profound sense of relief at the
| prospect of speedy release from the ordeal tc
| four years.
The strain has been so great that no man Of
| less robust health and rugged vitality could
have withstood it. One OF the most trying fea
lures of his position has been that in the dis
| charge of his official duties he has been
/ called upon SO frequently to ofend persons
| whose friendship and good opinion he valued
Mr.. Clevelands sympathies are warm and
| easily reused The insensibility with which he
| has so often been accused IS supposed trait of
character which has no existence.
He has often hesitated between & personal personal in; n:
him by the dignity Of his position the interests
of the public and his oath of office. He has
had TO fight for the right at almost every step
of his official progress, and he is naturally
tired of the continuous wear and tear of the
contest.
1t is an open secret that he accepted the
Democratic nomination last summer with gen.
uine reluctance and after earnest efforts to es-
cape it. His supposed political aspirations for
the future do not exist. There is no rivalry on
his part between himself and anybody else. II
am in no ones way he says. Il shall be de-
lighted to be relieved of the cares of the Presi-
dency. On the 4th of March next. on purely
personal grounds, there will be no happier man
in the United States"
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
With reference to the civil service system he
is as firm and decided as in his views on the
tariff question. He believes that civil service
reform has come to stay. He has treated it
Il. haa ~
much hampered and embarrassed by the vaga-
ries of sentimental reformers and theorists who
have been continually urging him to so do this
or that for mere sensational erect which he
did not regard as judicions. He endeavored to
give the civil service scheme fair trial, and ex-
presses himself as fully satisfied with the re-
suits.
There may be differences of opinion as to de-
tails, but he thinks the examinations are, on
the whole, about the best test of merit that can
be devised. 1t is certainly far preferable to
the spoils system, and he has no fear that it
will degenerate into a mere bureaucracy. The
worst type of bureaucracy was developed under
the spoils system of former administrations.
When Mr.. Cleveland came into office he found
the department filed with incompetents who
had found a permanent lodgment there through
favoritism.
His doubt is whether sufficient clearing has
been done to subserve the best interests OF the
Government and to give wider scope for civil
service reform, through its methods in filling
the places of inefficient men. the President
recognizes fully the feeling of the great mass
of Democratic oficeseekers, who expected
place and recognition, and the disappointment
and irritation which resulted from his inability
to satisfy them.
SORRY, BUT CAN'T HELP IT.
1t is matter of deep regret to him that he
could not do So but he had a higher public
duty to perform, the puriication and elevation
of the public service. and the elimination from
party policies as far as possible of the degrad-
Tr,rr If hos
grown to gigantic proportions, and was steadily
increasing He is very earnest in advocacy of
the civil service system as being thoroughly
practical reform, and in no sense undemo-
cratic.
He thinks the work of his administration has
fixed this reform as permanent feature of
government and that no party can afford to an
tagonize it openly. So far as his own status in
the party as affected by his attitude in the civil
service question is concerned, it may be said
that he regards himself as better Democrat
than many of his critics.
The President is especially gratified at the
effect Of his administration on the prosperity
and happiness of the Southern people, both
black and white. He believes in making no
distinctions between any of the sections, and
he deprecates strongly the revival of animosi-
ties which were supposed to be dead and
buried. He is satisfied that the race problem
can be worked out by the people of that Sec
tion without outside interference.
A UNITED CABINET.
He speaks in terms of grateful appreciation
Of the hearty and united support accorded him
by the members of his Cabinet The admins
tration, it must be conceded, will go down in
history as unique, in the fact that all its mem
Ders have pulled together from beginning to
end, and no personal jealousy or resentments
have marred the harmony of its deliberations
Every member of it has been hard working.
and wholly devoted to the public in |
serests. and every department presents an
snviable record of important reforms and
n nj a ra-I
'ults in the effort to promote the public good. |
No breath of scandal or taint of corruption |
las attached to any branch of the public SER
yice. In view of the jobbery and scheming |
hat permeated every department of the pub |
ic service under former regimes, and which |
eemed to have become a permanent feature |
# official life in Washington, no more honor |
stration now drawing to a close than the en-
'hatic declaration of the President to the |
writer I'VE have nothing to hide"