The morning call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1878-1895, 1892-05-13
SECRET OF HAKRIsoN's STRENGTH,

As con vention after convention either in
structs for Harrison or shows its preference
SO plainly that as John Sherman says, his
nomination on the first ballot appears TO be
a forced conclusion, people are asking each
other why this modest, unObtruSive, retiring
gentleman from Indiana should be the first
choice Of so many widely different COM
munities which differ among themselves on
so many other questions. He has simply
transacted the business which was entrusted
TO his hands In a quiet inoffensiye way, and
has made no mistakes. That is the secret
of his strength.
The power Of a President for mischief is
enormous. A nation Of g., 600, 900 people has
so many points Of contact with the world at
large that the least iBdiscretion or want Of
balance in the chief executive might be fol-
lowed by very grave results indeed. There
is such innate vitality in American institu-
lions that they would probably survive
almost any maiadministTation, but foolish
or reckless chief magistrate might cause a
great deal Of trouble and give rise to serious
disturbance before equilibrium was restored.
We have had Presidents who brought the
country to the verge OF foreign or civil war
by indiscretiOn or loss Of temper or wild
ambition. At this very moment we see
people who are naturally as quiet and or
derly as ourselves, the Germans, dragged to
the edge of a conYulsion By the irresp onsi-
bic utteTances Of the head off heir Govern
ment. Nearly thirty years ago the insensate
talk Of a President Of the United States put
strain on our Institutions which tried their
strength. Only a few months ago if the
course Of the executive had been less dis
Greet and c0nsiderate we might have been
hurried into war in which we could have
won neither glory or profit, and in which
we might have seemed to be playing the
part OF a truculent bully.
The success OF Mr.. Harrison's admins
tratiOn has arisen not so much from what
he has done, as from what he has not done.
And that IS the kind of men which the
people desire in a chief magistrate. The
ideal President is he who is not often heard
Of, but who conducts public affairs so
smoothly that there is no friction, aud moth
ing to divert peoples attention from their
own concerns. Americans do not seek
eclat in the citizen whom they inirust with
supreme authority. They want him to cOD-
duct the national business safely and noise
lessly. AS that nation is said to be the hap
pest which has no history, SO that admins
tralion is the most successful which fur
nishes the feWest topics for talk.
When the American people were a few
millions strewn along the edge of the
Atlantic, without an army, without navy.
with scant finances and with unimportant
foreign relations the character of the Pres
ident was matter Of secondary Importance.
He conld not do much mischief, however
he was minded. But the President of the
United States Of to-day is very different
parsonage He is sole executive, and a CO.
equal branch Of the Legislature Of the most
populous nation in the world, except Russia
and China, and by all odds the most power
full beligerent on the globe; his relations
are close with all foreign countries, and
quite often peace and war lie in his hands /;
he administers the common business of
forty-tOur independent sovereign common
WealtbS, whose aims are often divergent
whose interests are clashing, whose destiny
is various; he is practically the arbiter of
the fate of a hemisphere. Alexander at
the apOgee Of his career, Trajan at the
utmost extension Of his empire, Charlie
magne at his zenith. Napoleon wien his
eagles few from the Atlantic to the Dnieper
and from the North Sea to the Mediter-
ranean, did not WELD power greater than
his. And the power involves a correspond
iBg resi- possibility. An error of Judgment.
a hasty act, an uDgnarded word, might be
followed by consequences which none could
measure. TO Gil such post man does not
need to be genius, but be must be model
of calm judgment, perfect self-restraint
absolute discretion and unimpeachable in
tegrity.
Such man has been found in President
Harrison; and that is the reason why his
party wants him again.