The true northerner. [volume] (Paw Paw, Mich.) 1855-1920, 1890-03-19
THE ADMINISTRATION.



His Work Has Been brilliant. and in All
Respects IL Has Been Good and Whole
some.
From the New York Tribunel
The first year OF BENJAMIN Harrison's
term of office as President of the United
States is euded. and a point Is reached
from which a critical glance ut his admin
istration may be conveniently taken.
Government in the United States Is in
one sense simple problem. We are not
occupied with efforts to prevent other ma
tions from becoming great. We have no
territorial ambitions TO crafty. We have
no disposition to seek interests or quar-
rels beyond our own premises, and no
other country sees the wisdom or atyant-
age of quarrels with as. Our Presidents
do not need to play dramatic parts.
They are not expected TO do any OF the
striking things 10 which kings and en-
perors are so fond of consecrat ing them
selves. 1t is not desired that any shall
be law givers or conquering heroes, but
merely that they shall conduct the public
business in a sensible strais htforward,
economical way. enforcing the laws hon.
estly, fearlessly, and equally.
the facts will not support any other
Judgment upon President Harrison at
this time than that he has we'll and faith
July uOuc tnc uulN lubt Wd5 CANtNtch VI
him. In some respects his work has been
brilliant, in all respects il has been good
and wholesome, and in no respect can 1t
be Justly assailed as harmful or inefficient.
The situation when he took Office was
cloudy. group OF inexperienced states
men ha been in charge of affairs for four
years with results that were the natural
fruit of timidity and incompetence.
Their one object was TO introduce rev.
enue and industrial system based upon
free trade, and to that everything else was
subordinated. Our interest in the
Northern fisheries was blindly sacrificed.
Weakness and folly carried us almost to
the verge of war with Germany. Desir-
ing to build up new navy the Cleveland
administration began by repudiat ng con-
tracts and by destroying the country's
largest ship building industry. The rev.
enue laws We're so applied as to put a
premium upon dishonest importation.
Millions of money that should have been
appropriated 10 the reduction of the pub
lie debt were handed out to .vored banks,
that they might make fortunes at the pub
lie expense. Rank decentralization took
hold of the Postoffice system. Amer
lean steamship lines carrying the mails
TO foreign countries were unjustly and
absurdly Disseminated against, and a
fortune in public money was spent to
break them down and TO build up foreign
carriers. And all the while the civil
service was being filled up with incompe-
tent persons and prostituted to political
| ends.
President Harrison, though he has been
in Office only twelve months, has made it
| possible to draw gratifying contrast to
| this picture of NAL administration. He is
| eminently practic Il man, candid, direct,
4
| to spend half his term making the ac-
| quaintance of public men and public
| affairs, and the other half vainly trying
| to undo his earlier mistakes. He under
stood the country and all ITS sectional in
| terests. He surrounded himself with able
| advisers, men of reputation and expert
ence. each adm rably fitted by training
and taste for his particu ar work. The
| result has been a harmonious, active adj
| ministration, sure OF what il needed to
co and of how il needed to be done. Sec
rotary Blaines conduct of the State De-
| partment has already reflected the high
est credit VI on the country abroad. So
| soon as his sagacious policy had repl ced
| the dull aims and timid methods of Mr..
| Bayard our disturbed fore gn relations
were easily settled. The Samoan troubles
were promptly arranged in q treaty which
secures all our rights and at the same
| time restores our good understanding with
| Germany. The British eXtradition treaty,
with which Mr.. Bayard bungle led and
| failed, is too day law, and in form much
more compre ensive and useful than that
previously proposed. Secretary Window
has restored the eff .iency OF the GU toms
| service, has withdr ,wn in large measure
| the loans so unwarrantably made to IA
vored banks, has appropriated a consider
| able portion of the surplus revenue to
| the reduction of the public debt upon
| terms much better than those secured by
| his pre- iecessor, and has proposed a sill
yer poll " much commended for its prac-
| ticability and wisdom. The Navy De-
| partment under Secretary Tracy has taken
| great strides toward that efficiency so
| loudly demanded by the country. The
| work of construction moves iorwar with
| marvellous vigor, and the original methods
adopted, together with the wise policies
prop osed, have or titled the country and
| Inspired the service. In the War De-
| partment, in the Departments of Justi e
| and OF Agriculture, striking reforms h we
| been adopted and a vast amount of work
| performed. The Interior Department
and the Postofice have fully recovered
their strength and efficiency. In the
| Pension Office, Lind Office. and Indi IN
| Office new methods end policies of the
highest value have been inau9urdted, and
| the civil service has been maintained free
| of partisan evils.
| This Is good, praiseworthy record. 1t
| entities the President to the thanks and
the full confidence of the country.