Belmont chronicle. [volume] (St. Clairsville, Ohio) 1855-1973, 1889-03-21
PUBLIC OPINION.
EXIT sNOB DEMOCRACY

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From the cincinnati Conmerciai-tazerte.
The Democracy which has just been re-
moved for cause was largely administered
at Washington by snobs. The common
people had little chance. Everywhere they
were crowded aside by aristocrat.c airs
and methods. which made an attempt TO
approach the heads of departments par
take OF tine nature Of an Arctic expedition.
The dispatches from Washington agree
that all the doors Of the administration
are wide open to the people again.
The sn0bS OF the Cleveland adminiStTa-
ton were four in number-Bayard.E Endi-
colt. Whitney. and Villas. The rest were
accessible. But the ice and the aSsump-
ton of these. copied ObSequiOusly and eX-
aggerated by their tlunky SubordinateS.
made the whole administration a frigid
and formal affair in its intercourse with
the public. in spite of the sunshine and
official pOliteneSS with which F&iTchild.
Dickinson, and Garland invariably wei
coined those who had business with their
departments.
The great seal of the family of snobS
was stamped on the administration at the
start. There never was a greater miSnO-
mer than TO call it Democratic. From its
birth to its death and burial. it justified
its right TO this seal. The President was
not snOb. He was personally accessible.
But self-aSSertiOn. assumption OF sutici-
ent knowledge. and contempt for the Opin-
ions of others. barred further approach /
Except that ne admitted his party to his
presence, he was as far apart from them
as the Chinese Emperor ever is from his
subjects.
But his State Department was as mac
ceSsible as the icy pole Only those who
felt compelled to visit It ever set foot in it
a second time. The anJe-rOOm and other
means Of approach TO the Secretary were
as fOrbidding as the receiving vaults at
cemetery. The Chief Clerk office. after
the peremptoTy removal Of the alfable
and experienced Seyel0n Brown. was the
dwelling place of stupidity, supercilious-
ness and funkeyism. The Secretary with
drew himself from his party as complete
" as Mr. Cleveland had done and became
a hermit in his chilly surroundings.
Mr. Whitney WAS at home to the elect
and 10 none Others. and not always to
them. Money ruled both III the depart
ment and throughout the social structure
which the WhitneyS erected. To the last
degree it was Sh0ddy. Its opponents were
in wash tubs. The solid worth of Wash
ingtOn society, which had been content
with ordinary and decent expenditures in
social affairs, shrank into the shadow be-
fore a scale of entertainments which it
could not support or return. And so it
came to pass that the reign of Democracy
was the most eXtravagant and reckless in
its expenditures, and the furtheSt remOy-
ed from the common people, of any that
ever had possession OF the national capi
tai
Secretary EndicOtt was not shOddy. He
was something worse. He belonged to
the silk stocking Democracy Of Cape Ann
and had ancestors "whO never engaged
in trade" The experience of the genial
Henry WatterSOn, that Wheel-hGTse of
free-trade Democracy. sufficiently illus
trateS how well Mr. Endic0tt's doors were
guarded. Not only did Mr. WatterSOn
not gain admission when he called to pay
his respects. but the Secretary. after eX-
aiming his card. told the messenger who
brought it that he not only did not know
Mr.. WatterSon. but had never heard of
him. WhereupOn the messenger return !
ed. and after lecturing Mr. WatterSOn
upon the attempt to pass himself Off as a
friend of the Secretary, actually ended by
ordering him out of the ante-rOom: and
yet for twenty-five years before the dis
cOvery of Mr.. EndicOtt Mr.. WattersOn's |
name had been a household word with his !
party: in fact, with both of the great par |
ties of the land.
As for Mr. Villas. he never attempted to |
be anything but inaccessible and super !
ciliOuS. No member of his party. or any
one else with self-Tespect, ever called a /
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business in hand.
All this has changed. The dispatches
relate that the doors of the heads of de-
partmentS once more swing open freely /
to the public. If there is one place easier !
of access than the others. it is the room of
the Secretary of State No one. however
humble his station, or commonplace his
business. is detained at Mr. Blaine'S door
longer than the matter in hand at the mo-
meGt requires. So the Whitney barriers !
are down. and the FndicOtt doors. which
stood as immOyable as the granite tomb |
stones of his ancestors, have been oiled
into easy motion again: and the fuss and
pOmpOuSneSS of q French dancing-maSter
nave vanished from the Department of
the Interior.
In short, the people have got back to
their own. 1t is now possible for Ordina-
ry people to transact ordinary business in |
the public departments. Those lOudest
in praise of the change are said to be the !
Democratic Congressman, who have con !
stant business in the departments. Par
adOXical as the declaration may seem, it /
is evident that snObbShneSS and ariSt0c-
racy have ruled in government by the /
Democracy. Both have disappeared in
the recent wholesome change.