The morning news., 1891-03-06
wo Years Of Harrison,s Rule.

One tslf Of Gen. Harrison's administra-
| tion has passed, and some of the republican
papers are calling attention in terms of
/ praise to what it has accomplished. and pre-
| dieting that it will end in a blaze of glory.
The New York Press, for instance. says:
''If the next two years of the administra-
ton are as full OF commendable features as
| the pas two years there will be little in its
full four years for he public to coldemn,
but eveFyt ing to praise and indorse"
A perfectly far review Of President Har-
rison's administration is not 10 be expected
from the republican papers, aud certainly
not from the New York Press. whose editor
the President made superintendent of the
census However bad the administration
might be he would defend and praise it as
long as he was permitted to hold on to his fat
Office.
But, as a matter Of fact, is the admins
tration such an excellent one? Is it not
considered weak even by leading repub~
licalsl What thing has it done to raise it
above the level of me1iocrityl Has the
President shown broad craftsmanship or
has he suggested single reforml How mas
he dealt with the southl As generously as
with other parts of the union1 Not by any
means. At the beginning Of his term he
purposed to build up a white Republican
party In the southern states, but he did not
hold to that purpose long. Hs thought he
saw chance TO make the black vote more
serviceable to himself and party than a
white Republican party would be- and he
became an advocate Of the force bill. He
lrv1a Of, Al. A.
bill would do the south incalculable dam
age, but that knowledge did not
deter him from arguing in favor Of the bill
in bis message to congress, nor prevent him
from using all his influence to induce sem
ators 10 vote for it The defeat of the bill
made him exceedingly bitter against the
south, and he did not hesitate to appoint
black men as postmas;ers in southern towns.
Only week or two ago he appointed
black man postmaster at vicksburg, Miss,
notwithstanding there were half dozen
acceptable white republican applicants for
the place.
And what has the administration done to
advance the cause Of civil service reforml
Is it not a fact that that reform is less
popular now than it was two years ago7
Did not republican senator almost sue
ceed in having the thousands of employees
in the census office confirmed in their places
without first complying with the civil
service regulationsi And is there not
steadily growing hostility to civil service re-
form. owing to the indifference of the ad-
ministration with regard to itl
And the administration cannot be praised
for economy. For the last two years fully
$1,000, 900 900 has been appropriated with
out single objection from the President.
Indeed. he has promptly signed all the bills
calling for large appropriations without
once protesting against the extravagant
and wasteful manner in which the public
money was being spent.
There are those who claim that the Nc
Kinley tariff law is extremely creditable to
the administration, but they are interested
in trusts and monopolies. The people do
not look with favor upon that law. They
expressed their opinion of it last fall by
making the House of Representatives over
whelmingly democratic And it is by no
means certain that the reciprocity feature
of it will amount to anything. 1t looks
now as If it wouldn't Even Brazil may re-
fuse to ratify the reciprocal agreement her
minister made with this country.
If the last two years OF President Har-
rison's administration do not prove to be
more satisfactory than the first two were
the Republican party will have no reason to
be proud Of it. The republican papers may
say what they please about it, but they will
not be able to mislead the people with re-
spect to it