St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-04-08
AN EDITOR ABROAD.

AN EDITOR ABROAD.
ALDEN j. BLETHEN is keen OBJ
server,an man who has had sufficient
experience in public affairs to tell a
mouse from hawk. When Mr.. BLETH-
EN- makes tour of observation, it is
usually worth the while to listen to his
description of what he saw and the inl-
pressons he received. He has just re-
turned from trip to Washington, where
he spent several weeks in sizing up the
HARRISON administration, and comes
back home with the clear conviction, as
he expresses it in yesterdays Tribune,
that, "in spite OF any theory. there is
cold blanket impression made on the
mind Of every man who visits Washing
ton, so far as the popularity of the ad-
ministration is concerned. There is a
prevailing gloom and an iciness sur
rounding the administration which
everybody recognizes, but no one ex-
plains"
During Mr.. BLETHEN'S stay in Wash
ington he heard the hotel men complain
ing of the scarcity of visitors to the ma
tional capital since the HARRISON re-
gime, and he himself observed a marked
change in the social conditions of the
capital city from the time when Mrs.
CLEVELAND was first lady of the land.
Then ever ything was gaiety, and So
ciety moved along with the happy jingle
of marriage bells. Now all is dreary,
dull and monotonous, with occasional
dashes of pharasaical sanctity, but moth
ing enlivening. In short, he found
nothing in Washington to fascinate
Minnesota man. Even the drinks at
the Shoreham are badly mixed.
According to Mr.. BLETHEN's idea,
there is only one member of the admin
istration who amounts to a hill Of beans;
and, as he is more the shadow of past
greatness than the substance of con-
temporaneous intellectually, there must
be some question in the mind of the
Minneapolis editor whether even Mr..
BLAINE can rescue the administration
from state of innocuouS deSuetude.
There was only one man in Washington
with whom Mr.. BLETHEN became in
fatuated, and that was big Tom REED.
The overshadowing corporosity of the
speaker impressed the Minneapolis man
with the belief that Mr.. REED was the
only shelter the Republican party could
find in the next presidential contest. So
thoroughly convinced was he of this
fact that he came right back home and
inaugurated a constructive quorum
boom for REEDS presidential candi-
dacy, 1t must have occurred to Mr..
BLETHEN that REEDS method of count
ing votes that were not cast affords the
only possible hope for Republican sue
cess in 1892, and for that season there
would be singular appropriateness in
making Mr.. REED the leader of his
party in the next campaign.
AT all events, Mr.. BLETHEN has seen
enough to convince him that the HAIR
RIsoN administration is no good, and
that the people of this country are rest
less in their impatience for the time to
come around to get a whack at it. 1t is
possible, however, that, if MI. BLETHEN
had remained in Washington little
longer, and had studied the situation
little more closely, he would have dis
covered that the popular demand for
tariff reform is creating more unpopu-
larity for the Republican administra-
ton than the incapacity of cabinet mem
bers. Hard times and heavy taxes, the
result of the high tariff policy, are Gre
ating more discomfort than an admins
tration composed wholly of BLAINES
and REEDS could allay.