Los Angeles herald., 1892-07-01
A COMMANDING CHARACTER.

by the house of representatives. TIL,
same majestic utterance of publ
opinion that enforced the nomination
and reelection of Old Hickory is appar
ent in the case of Cleveland. That III,
issue will be the same, few men ma,
doubt who have had an opportunity o
feeling the public pulse.
That this ovation to Mr.. CLEVELAND
has been utterly without his procure
ment in any shape, will be admitted BY
any fair-minded man of either party
He has unostentatiously pursued hi
private affairs. He has not sought tx
obtrude himself on any public assem-
blies. In constant demand at all sort,
of gatherings devoted to all sorts o
topics, he has accepted very few of thes,
compliments. They have ran ,ed from
Yale and Harvard commencements tt
the banquets of the Tariff Reform clut
of Boston. But when Mr.. Cleveland
has responded to these invitations his
utterances have been luminous and in.
structive.
But they have been more than that
They have been patriotic to degree not
noted in the outgivings OF Americans OF
the past twenty-five years, with perhaps
the exception of Samuel j. Tilden. They
have sounded in all the lines OF eco
nomie progress and genuine Democracy.
They have embodied the directness and
Knockout masculinity of Andrew Jack
son with much of the unspeakable intui-
tion and mastery statesmanship of
Thomas Jefferson. In all his utterances
he has been as true to the cause of the
people as the needle to the pole.
Even Old Hickory, when in the presi-
Dental chair, never showed more nerve,
not even when ordering the removal of
the federal deposits from the old United
States bank, than did Cleveland when
he came to deal with the fast gathering
surpias, demanding that the peoples
money should be left in the peoples
pockets, and that the manufacturer
should have free raw material. On this
issue he dared defeat. He took the
chances-or, as Old Hickory would have
said, the responsibility, ,"--at most
critical time, and dared all in devotion
to the right.
As president his record was a most
unique one. For now these many years
it has been said of the Democrat tic party
that the very essence of it's life--the
breath OF it's nostrils-was the spoils.
TO the victor belongs the Hpoils" was
an aphorism that has been often mia.
Ia,,s,enly ascribed to Old HiekQsy while
it Was really an inspiration of william
l.. Marcy. 1t was undoubtedly pro-
nunciamento better adapted to those
days than to these, as the decisive
defeat of Democratic statesman like
Hill, in Democratic national conven-
ton, backed by the unbroken delega-
tion from his own state, abundantly
proves. This action shows that how
ever it may have been devoted to the
spoils in the past, the Democratic party
has been washed whittier than hyssop of
that stain. AS to Mr.. Cleveland him
self, the Republican civil service com
mission has placed it upon record that
be has done more than all Republican
presidents put together to advance the
cause of civil service reform.
Not even his Republican enemies
have dared to decry the exceptional
worth OF the unbendirg indastry and
never shrinking devotion to duty that
signalized every detail of Mr.. Cleve.
lands official life. Integrity was its
main spring and patriotic devotion to
the cause of the people was its guiding
principle. During his administration of
the highest office in the gift of the ma
tion there were no official scandals, no
screenings of Dudleys and Raums, no
appointments to high station on the
bench of such time-servers as John B.
Woods. An unusual measure OF respon-
sibility, decency and efficiency were ex-
acted in all departments of the govern
ment at Washington, which has been
emphasized by the lax atmosphere
which has prevailed there since.
When such man is spontaneously
nominated to the presidency without
violating any American tradition
Americans have twice occupied that
Office, and they were the best men that
ever filed it-what wonder that his
fellow Democrats and his supporters in
all parties. have sanguine hope that
he will be elected? They believe that
1t is not question so much of how
many states be may carry, but OF how
many he may fail to carry. They are
carried back to 1862, when Gen. Win
field Scott carried only four of the states,
and think that this may not impossibly
be the case of Benjamin Harrison.
Allowing for the largely increased num-
Der of the states, we would be inclined
to give Harrison eight.
However that may be, Democrats,
having such knightly leader, ought to
apostrophize him as did the poet
another leader on another occasion:
Take thou the leading of the van,
And charge the Moors amaiD:
For there's not D Drawer lance than thine