The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1890-12-04
GROVER CLEVELAND.
THE PEOPLES POPULAR CANDI-
DATE FOR 1929.
The Ex- President and Gov. Hill Strik.
ingly COntrasted.

From that excellent and COnserva-
tive literary weekly The Balkimorean,
published by Messrs. Cru:chheld &
Haas, we take the following:
The recent Democratic cyclone has
had in political affairs an effect very
similar to that produced in the natural
world by real storm. Many very
small men have been whirled by the
wind so far above their proper level
that they have begun to imagine that
they originated the whole convulsion
and directed the political forces which
put it in motion. A rotten leaf or
piece of chaf hurled through the air
by tempest might probably imagine,
if they were endowed with imagination,
that they were soaring by their own
unaided strength and. could keep on
doing so without outside help. Yet as
soon as the wind goes down, they go
down with it and discover that they
were about the very smallest things
connected with the disturbance.
These reflections are suggested by
the impudent and absurd attitude as
sumed since the recent elections by
Governor Hill, of New York, and that
corrupt combination of politicians,
known as the Tammany Society. Hav-
ing been saved temporarily from a
sound chastisement by the popular in
dignation excited against republican,
ism by Speaker Reed and the McKin-
ley bill, these people, reeking, with
years of political corruption, and foul
with jobs and official wrong dong,
come forward and attempt to seize the
lions share of a victory that was won
not through their help, but in spite of
it. 1t is calmly announced that Gov
ernor Hill, who is nothing if not a
trickster, lays claim to the Democratic
nomination for the Presidency, and
that while he is waiting for that he will
stay his royal appetite by swallowing
the United States Senatorship from
New York, kicking it away from him
contemptuosly as soon as the greater
office is vacant.
The unblushing effrontery with which
these legitimate heirs and successors
of the Tweed regime undertake to as
sumo the leadership and management
of the Democratic party is simply with
out a parallel, and has already excited
strong indignation among the rank
and file of the Democracy in all sec
tions of the country. In the first
place. Governor Hill will be no credit
able addition to the United States
Senate. He is man of very ordinary
ability, ard New York could find a
hundred Democrats far worthier in
tellectually of the honor. But in ad-
dition to this his political methods
and principles unfit him for such a
place. He is political sharper, and
would carry with him into the Senate
his petty trickery and low code Of
ethics. There are enough small politi-
clans in the Senate already. Let us
have few statesmen by way of change.
But while the rest of the country
may not be able to control New York S
choice for Senator, it can and will
have something to say upon the ques-
ton of the Presidency. 1t does no,
propose to have New York, or rather
a small faction of the Democratic party
in that State, dictate the Democratic
Presidential nominee, nor say who shall
or shall not receive that honor. AS fol
Governor Hill and his friends they
might as we'll lay aside their asplra-
tions in that direction now as later
and the sooner they do so, the less sus
pense and disappointment they vii
have to endure. For they should
clearly understand that under no cir
CumstanCes now conceivable can Gov
ernor Hill ever be elected President o
the United States. He is SO thoroughly
identified with the spoils system anC
all that involves, and with all the prac
tices and methods that tend to degrade
politics and lower official honor, tha
the independent voters, who now hold
the balance of power in this country
would regard his election to the Presi
dency as little short of a nationa
calamity, and would vote against hin
with unanimity that would ensure
| his defeat bevOnd 4 doubt
1t is absurd, however, to argue seri
ously the possibility of the nomination
of such man as Hill. He is a
present like the leaf that the wind ha
carried up into the sky and imagine
that he is flying in his native sphere
He will drop after awhile to his tru,
place. The man the country want
as the Democratic nominee for th'
Presidency in 1892 is Grover Cleve
land, and the Democratic party viii
ignore that sentiment at its peril. rh'
recent victory was the reaffirmation b,
the people of their demand for tn,
consummation of the three reform
which Mr.. Cleveland championed 81
earnestly when he was at the head O
the government. They comprise th'
three chief articles OF the popular fai,l
and desire, and Mr.. Cleveland is to,
! closely associated with them in tn
public confidence and hope to permi
the standard to be transferred to othe
hands without the almost absolute Ger
tainty of disaster. Ballot reform, O
fair and honest elections, civil servic,
reform, or clean and efficient admins
tration of public affairs, and tariff re
form, or just and equal imposition
and collection of taxes, are still th'
important issues before the country, an6
they are too great and overshadowins