Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-06-25

II
its seat The Harrison administration
is acting on the theory that the people
are fools and that it can deceive them
until after the November elections as
to the actual state of the treasury
President Harrison himself and his
eoerced cabinet, we venture to say, are
the only persons who hold to this
theory.-Albany Argus.
BENJAMIN HARRISON'S WOES.
The Humiliation of the Nominal Head oa
the Republican Party.
IL is proverbia1 that crowns make
poor nightcaps, but we of the demo-
cratic faith are apt to imagine that our
presidents, who Scorn crowns and
would thrice put the gilded bauble
from them were it thrice offered. are
exempted from the curse which lies on
monarchS- Yet look upon Benjamin
Harrison and his wees, and who for all
the pleasures of the white house and
the plaudits of postmastes would ex-
change peace in privacy for his pub
licity? Mr.. Harrison was never
suspected of greatness, physical or
mental, and when he carried out
the bargain by virtue of which he
was made president and made James
g. Blaine his secretary of state, ii was
plain what would happen. His friend,
boasted that he alone would be presi-
dent, and in minor matters pointed out
the fact that he had apparently run
counter to the wishes of the Maine
man as proof of his ability to shape his
own administration Yet to-day there
is no prominent feature of state policy
that is not attributed to Blaine. and
has 11ar =
the greater man behind it The presi-
dent is accredited with q desire to be
his own successor, and 1t is the COM
mon gossip of the country that the re-
alization OF his ambition is conditioned
wholly upon the consent of his master
and the ratification of the people
This is humiliation enough, but il IL
not the only one which the nominal
chief of the republican party suffers
Ii he were not suspected of broad
craftsmanship. MIR. Harrison was never
sInirched with scandal His skirts were
cleaner than those of most of the lead
ers of the party He even pretended t<
austerity of life. and his church con.
nection was made prominent during hi.
canvass and in the cabinet forming
days Good people who accept church
connections as a guaranty OF an honor
able life had right TO expect from the
Presbyterian elder decorous if not
brilliant administration. a promise of
a moral one was taken from the se1ec
ton of Sunday-school superintendent
to direct the postal department., in
which arose the scandals OF tina
last previous republican administration,
not Gwithstanding the charge openly
made that the sanity Wanamaker
bought his portfolio by raising great
sum of money with which to corrupt
the suffrage Yet from the very begin
ming of the rule of the elders and dear
cons scandals have logged the heels OF
the president and kept him awake
nights. First Dudley with his blocks
of five, scandal so undenia bic thai
the president was compelled to admit
it's truth by openly repudiating the In
diana president-maker in order to clear
his own skirts of suspected knowledge
of the hagitious scheme Then began
the raid upon the pension department
by the pension ring and the scanda.
which resulted in the displacement Of
one commissioner by another so muck
worse that the stencil of the
Tanner regime is forgotten il
the stencil which surrounds thu
unspeakable Raum- Then came
Reeds congress with its Hobbies,
who laft to the administration Al
empty treasury and the task of con-
verting a deficit into a surplus by lay
ing hands upon trust funds which the
grand old party had always declared
sacred A silver-ring scandal surged
NO even to the feet of the cabinet. but
was Gained by the judicious use of oil
An Indian war was openly attri buted
to the malign influence of the Indian
ring over the interior Department
Scandal has attended the B.hring sea
negotiations, and to-day the comp
trolier OF the treasury and the sancti-
monious Wanamazer are under cloud
It is intiInated that the retirement of
the secretary of state to Bar Harbor Is
not unconnected with strange doings
in the state department, and the rels-
tons of the president and his secretary
OF the interior are not pleasant, owing
to the scandals in the interior oer.zrt- :
For all these III ings the nominal head
OF the administration is held response
bic, while the man from Maine whoss
record Is tattooed, is the idol of his
party, and, whether firing paper salvos
at crowned heads from Washington or
listening to the murmur of the waves
at bar Harbor, is its recognized chief.
1t was bad bargain which BENJAMIN
Harrison made with Steve EIkins at
Indianapolis just before the national
repu blican convention met in Chicago
In 1SsS--Chicago Times
If any body had told the republic
an spell binders in IS that if a r.
publican president should be elected
there would not be enough money IN
the treasury in 81 to pay maturine
bonds, every orator of them womb
have roared a fierce denial-Louisvilla
Mr. Ingalls, is advising the
publican party as to its future co,r-e
MI Ingalls, himself tried to act ON th;.
advice when it was too late and ;. :.