The Indianapolis journal., 1892-02-16
COL. INGERsoLL ON PRESIDENT HARRISON.

COL. NGERSOLL on PRESIDENT HARRISON.
Col. r. G.. IDgersoll is reported in
published interview at Cleveland as
saying: Harrison is not O very mag
netic man and the people are not stretch
ing out their hands towards him. His
strength is negative; that is to say. it
lies in what he has not done. There is
no great objection to his administration.
That is the most that can be said"
Colonel Ingersoll is brilliant talker,
and like most brilliant takers he some-
times makes mistakes. We regard the
foregoing as a rather remarkable in
stance of very large mistake ably con-
densed into small space. We Will not
take Issue with Colonel Ingersoll on the
statement that President Harrison els
not very magnetic man." That is 80
meaningless and has become so hack
neyed that it is hardly worth making or
replying to. Magnetic men" do not ex-
ist in any other country besides the
United States, if they do here. We are
the only people in the world who at
tempt to apply meaning to the word
magnetic" as applied to public men, as
if it implied some valuable or desirable
adjunct of craftsmanship. If the word
means anything as applied to men. it
probably means that q man possesses
the qualities of magnet in that he is
an attractive, drawing man. In politics
that would mean a winning man. Presi-
dent Harrison possesses qualities that
are attractive to large class OF
people in his unquestioned ability,
his honesty, uprlghtncss, exalted pot
riotisn,. unflinching devotion to duty,
his readiness to meet responsibility, his
solicitous regard for the national honor
and welfare, his moral courage, his firm
ness, frankness, truthfulness and steady
devotion to Republican principles. To
these qualities might be added his fine
oratorlcal style. which has astOnished
and charmed SO many people. These
with the masses, but perhaps they do
not make him magnetic" Perhaps,
also, only those who possess magnet
ism" themselves can recognize it in
others, and if so it is not surprising that
the select circle of those who can ap-
preciate the quality is SO small. This,
however, is somewhat conjectural, as
BELTS so vague and indefinable a sub
ject.
The part of Colonel Ingersolrs state
ment which most distinctly challenges
contradiction is that in which he says
that President Harrison's strength is
negative; that is to say, it lies in what
he has not dOne," and that the most
that can be said is there is no great
objection to his administration" Col.
Ingersoll is as much noted for his illogic-
alness as he Is for his brilliancy. He
never discards an epigram on ac-
count of it's unreasonableness or rejects
an aptithesis because it cannot be
proved. In this case he seems to have
misled himself. Having decided that
Harrison Is not magnetic man,
whatever that means. he seems to have
jumped from that to the conclusion that
Harrison is a negative man, as If there
were some mysterious connection be-
tween magnetism and positiveness of
character. Or, perhaps. it was the ire
sistible temptation to utter q striking
paradox which led Colonel Ingersoll to
say that "HarrisOn's strength lies in
what he has not DONE" Whatever it
was, we think the Colonel has fallen
into mistake as great as any of those
he attributes to Moses.
The charge that President Harrison is
a negative man is new. His friends and
neighbors of lifetime have always re-
garded him as o very positive man,
strong In his convictions and firm in his
assertion of them. AS q lawyer he has
always been regarded as very aggressive,
while as party leader and orator he
was ever in the thickest of the fray. AS
President he has made most of his ene-
mics by his firmness. His critics are
chiefly those who have not been able to
run the administration or to control the
President in the matter of ar-
pointments. He has been repeat.
edly charged with paying too little
attention to the wishes OF politicians
and with being too fond of having his
own way. 1t hos not been charged that
his way was not good one, or that his
appointments were bad. but simply that
he did not yield enough to the wishes
and suggestions of others. He was too
positive. Colonel Ingersolrs assertion
that he is a negative man is in the
nature of discovery that properly
comes under the head of startling.
In saying that the most that can be
said of President Harrison's admins
tretIon is that there is no great OBJ
lection tn it. Colonel Ingersoll INDUCES
in one of his sweeping generalities. If
true. it reflects as much on every men,
ber of the administration as it does on