Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1892-03-31
A PRoFlTLsss SHOWING.
Harrison Has Done Nothing to Meri

Harrison Has Done Nothing TO mSrlC
Popular Communication.
President Harrison has completed
three years of his administration and
must accept popular judgment as
formed IN his record It will be re-
membered that he secured his high
office as the result of blind and
exultant sentiment on the tariff ques-
ton. ingeniouSly wrought up for the
occasion and inevitably to be followed
by a reaction disastrous to republican
interests This reaction set in so soon
as the excitement Of election had sub
sided, but Mr.. Harrison based his poll
cy upon total misrepresentation OF
the true state of affairs. He proceeded
upon the theory that the people had
acted deliberately and upon matured
judgment as to the issues involved in
the campaign.
Clarkson was put in charge of the
civil service policy and promptly DEM
onstrated the insincerity of the party
platform by cleaning out thirty thou
sand offices the first year. His equa-
nimity and assurance that he was
doing the country's will were not dis
turbed by the November elections of
1889, when, for the first time in thirty
years, Iowa went democratic. He let
civil service keep going wrong without
protest or intervention. The scandal
in the pension office created public
distrust and the post office department
did its part in spreading dissatisfaction.
The department of justice was prosti-
tuted in Dudley's behalf and the I'M
faithful instrumentality has since been
asked by the president to come up
higher. Patronage was manipulated
TO benefit the Quay order OF bosses
and subsidize the party organs Ex-
travagance was given full play in the
building of big war vessels and be-
stowal of bounties from the treasury
to private enterprises
In 1890 Blaine began to feel the
foundation of republican supremacy
shaking and applied homeopathic
remedies of the reciprocity order.
Harrison remained in pleasant state
of imaginary security until the crash
came in the fall. when Massachusetts,,
Michigan, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Wis
consin Ne braska, Kansas and other
republic ~ states avowed demo-
cratic faitl. ugh the ballot box.
Then the truth dawned upon the presi-
dent and he went about the country
seeking to restore popular confidence
by talking while train waited. But
his awakening was too late. Since
then he has passed through the ordeal
of seeing his secretary of state an
nouneed as the popular choice for pres
ident. Harrison attempted to win
confidence and arouse enthusiasm in
the Gillian affair, but Blaine made the
hoped for fruit as the apples of Sodom.
Now the president is producing plenty
of stage thunder while negotiating
with Lord Salisbury in regard to the
seal fisheries, but the sensible public
are not deceived.
Mr. Harrison will probably be re-
nominated for he holds the whip hand
and runs the machine. but the issue
that was misunderstood in 1888 has
been grasped by the people and a
united effort of democracy means a
democratic successor to Mr. Harrison.
A vast majority will disclaim him for
the principles that he represents, the
things that he has done and the things
tn at he has left undone. Detroit Free