St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-03-04
GROVER CLEVELAND.


the man and his policy will have passed
into history. The memory of late po-
litical struggles is still too fresh, and
the spirit of partisan bitterness too act
i've to expect that the CLEVELAND adj
ministration shall yet receive impartial
treatment. But when it does pass into
the hands of the impartial historian
there is no reason to fear the verdict.
Mr.. CLEvELAND's rise in public life
was phenomenal. Never before in
American history has there been so
much distinction compressed INTO one
| decade of an individuals life. There
fore, the standards by which the CLEvE-
LAND administration shall be measured
| must be new and entirely distinct from
those by which other administrations
have been gagged. With the exception
| of Mr. ARTHUR, whose elevation to the
presidency was not pIemeditated by
the American people, Mr.. CLEVELAND
| is the only president who never sat in
congress or was in some way identified
| with national affairs through a long
public service. His first visit to the
national capital was when he went
there to be inaugurated president, and
| it is safe to say that up to the time he
was elected governor of New York he
did not have a speaking acquaintance
with dozen men who were prominent
in national politics. Consequently
when impartial judgment comes TO be
passed upon his administration, his
amateuriShnesS in politics must be
taken into account, and to this fact can
be ascribed most, if not all, the mis-
takes of his administration. He didn't
know men as he ought TO have known
them, and he became the victim of
others duplicity, through his lack of
knowledge in the art of politics. Be
ing man to acquire knowledge rap
idly, his four years experience in the
White house disclosed to him the wiles
OF the politicians who surrounded him,
and it is safe to say that if he had been
reelected his second term would have
been great improvement upon the
first. For the knowledge he has ac-
quired would have better fortified him
against being led into errors.
Mr.. CLEVELAND did make some
| grieyOuS mistakes, and yet the faults of
his administration are so few in COM
parison with its virtues. history will
deal leniently with them. His first
mistake, and probably the most serious
one, was in the selection of his cabinet.
for disguise facts as we may the truth
| still remains that not more than two of
his cabinet officers were loyal to him.
And if they had been, some of them
were so utterly incompetent for the po-
sitions to which they were assigned
| as to weaken his administration.
Another mistake was that he did not
put himself in more thorough accord
with the leaders of his party in congress,
and thus bring the legislative and ex-
| ecutive branches in closer harmony. It
is true that the Democrats in congress
| supported the administration, but a
great deal of this support was given in
such half-hearted way as to deprive it
of prestige. Both of these mistakes
arose, as we have previously indicated,
from lack of political training. and
from the lack of more familiar &C
|
But whatever errors crept into the
| CLEVELAND administration did more
damage to his party than to the coun-
| try. So far as national affairs and the
public interests are concerned they
were never left in better condition by
an outgoing administration than they
are to-day. The four years of the
| CLEVELAND administration have been
years of unusual national prosperity.
| The finances of the country are in a re-
markedly sound condition, population
has increased, the public debt has been
| steadily reduced, industries are flourish
ing, and with the exception that the
revenues are greater than the necessi-
ties of the government reQuire-which,
by the way, is no fault of Mr..
CLEyELAND's-the nation was never
in a more prosperous state. 1t
is noteworthy fact in this
connection, that during the entire
| CLEVELAND administration not one
dollar of the public money has been
misappropriated, nor has a cent left the
treasury that was not paid out accord
ing to the exact requirements of law.
1t is the first administration in great
many years that is absolutely free from
suspicion in this respect. Nor does the
faint of jobbery rest upon it, and for
the first time in quarter of a century
the monopolist was compelled to relax
his hold upon the government.
All these things will have to be
written down to the credit of the CLEvE-
LAND administration.
And of GROVER CLEVELAND himself
it will have to be said that he was as
honest man as ever filled public of
fee, always true to his convictions,
firm in his purposes, patriotic in his i'm
pulses. a lover of his country, and the
friend of his countrymen.
Mr.. CLEVELAND is devoted to the
principles of popular government. He
arose from the people, and his official
life demonstrated that his sympathies
are always. with them. During his adj
ministration the constitution was his
guide. and the promotion of the welfare
of the people his single object. And il
is a mistake to say that he was repudi.
ated by them. He was not defeated by
the popular vote. 1t was money and