The Columbia herald. [volume] (Columbia, Tenn.) 18??-1935, 1892-12-30

ton. In a few weeks the newspapers
Will be filled day after day with gossip
! concerning the formation of the new
presidents cabinet. Let us anticipate
our friends of the daily dispatches lit
tie and see if we can throw any light
upon the important and interesting
topic of what Mr.. Cleveland is likely tc
do and not to do.
think can say without fear of con
tradiction that Mr.. Cleveland is going
| to be a very large part of the new ad
ministration himself He always was
accustomed to having his way about
things. and as he grows older and meets
with new successes it is very natural
| that this habit should become more no
/ ticeable. One hears about twenty tiIRei
! a day in Washington the prediction that
| in less than six months Mr.. Cleveland
| will be the most cordially hated and In.
ridly cursed man in the Democratic party
that is to say, his own party friends
will be cursing him. This may be true
but if it is l imagine that Mr.. Cleve-
land isn't losing any sleep about it.
There are numerous and unmistakable
! indications that when he comes to the
|
Cleveland will take up the cares of his
great office with the supreme satisfac.
ton of feeling that he is going to dc
| what he pleases and bother the conse-
quenccs.
1t is an odd thing, but a president OF
! the United States, the most powerful
official of this continent and one of the
greatest rulers of the world, is under
ordinary circumstances a man who soon
becomes noted for not having his own
way. A president who wants to be re-
elected-and nearly all presidents do,
sooner or later-must bow the knee to d
! horde of politicians great and small OF
bid farewell to any hope of succeeding
| himself.
If he stands up and fights and has his
| own way about things, he will become
unpopular, will be cursed from Maine to
Texas and will not be renOminated or
reelected. If he succumbs to the in
fluence of the politicians and submits to
! their domination, he will advertise him
! self to the country as a man too plant
| and weak to be trusted with the great
responsibilities of the office. In seeking
a happy mean between the two ex-
| trelnes a president of the United States
! is one of the most miserable, most
harassed and most unhappy mortals on
the face of the earth.
This brings me to a point which
! have often made before in these letters.
| 1t is that we are surely coming to ii
! change in our constitution which will
forbid the reelection of a president.
/ e oil ora N
! it is unwise to choose a man as his own
successor in the presidential chair. The
| politicians are agreed that it is only un-
| der exceptional circumstances, such as
war OF danger of war, that a president
! can be reelected, even if it is then
desirable. Cleveland tried it and failed;
| Harrison tried it and failed. The trou-
| BILE is that during his first term a presi-
! dent necessarily makes SO many enemies
| that when the campaign for his re-elec-
! ton comes on he is inevitably weaker
than his party.
Still more serious is the influence
! which a denomination has upon the pol
| iticians and local leaders throughout the
country. They say: "Oh, what differ
! ence does it make to us whether this
man is elected again or not? He didn't
! give usan office during the present term,
| and if we turn to and help him to a
| second term we are simply working to
! keep in Office the fellows who are already
! there" But if new man is put up the
men who already hold good jobs turn i'll
and work in hope Of keeping them, and
the chaps who are on the outside pull off
their coats in hope of getting in.
Besides there is some peculiar quality
in the public mind which welcomes
change The people become tired of the
very name of a president. They become
tired of gossip about him and stories
which illustrate his character and meth
ods. They would like to see a new sun
rise in the horizon. They have an in
stinctive, even if unconscious, craving
for novelty. In four years about all the
sentiment there is in the personality of a
president is dissipated in the popular
mind.
Four years ago the people were little
weary of Grover, whose strong charac-
ter and certain mental peculiarities- had
at first strangely attracted them. Last
month they gave evidence that the senti-
ment which Little Ben" had reused III
them was no longer force. When you
come to think about it, sentiment Is after
all the biggest thing in the world. II
beats money and brains all to pieces.
Andrew jackson obtained his marvel
Gus hold upon the people of our earlier
republic because his rude character and
uncouth manners were just suited to fill
and satisfy The imagination of the times.
He was heroic figure, and his clay pipe
and "By the Eternal!' did more to main
tain him in power than all his craft and
wisdom.
1t was the same with Lincoln, the next
president after jackson who appealed
to the popular imagination. OF course
! Lincoln was great, a wonderful man,
as we see him now, but when he was
proposed for u second term there were
| plenty of people who did not take the
view of him which history takes. Yet
the sentiment which attached to "Old
! Abe" and the rail splitting, and the sto-
| ries, and the anecdotes about his tender
ness of heart and homeliness of speech
made him invincible III the face of pow
erful opposition. OF course General
Grant obtained a second term almost
without struggle. y great military
| nero ike Grant cOulu never DC Ofs'I'
turned in a popular election in this couli
try in the generation of the struggle il
which he had distinguished himself.
Mr.. Cleveland will come in with th'
advantage of four years experience ant
four years more of observation from th'
outside. If he can't make good presi
dent this time, there is no virtue in op
portunity.
There is one thing that do not thinl
Mr.. Cleveland will do, and that is to ap
point any member of his old cabinet t
a place in the new ministry. If there /
any exception to this rule, it viii proba
bly, be found in the case of Mr.. Fair
! child, who was secretary of the treasur,
after the death Of Manning. Mr.. Fair
child is not only warm personal frien'
of the new president, bat he is an abb
and experienced finaucier. l hear from
very good sources that if Mr.. Fairchil'
will make the sacrifice of income neces
sary to enable him to come to Washing
ton and work four years for Uncle Say
for salary that will keep his trfses an
pay his house rent and leave his cthe
expenses to come out Of his fivai
purse he may be asked to take Is oil
post at the head OF the treasur spar
| melt, a .ssss.s n -.