Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1892-04-17

Bet,oeen you and Me, Said Grouer.
concerning public affairs. As he Is to-day
regarded as the apostle of tariff reform and
is often held up as an authority upon the
subject it is perhaps we'll to allude to por-
tion of the talk of that day which did not
appear in the published interview. During
the progress of the conversation asked Mr..
Cleveland what he thought of the tariff
question.
Between me and you" said he, with q
twinkle in his eye, "and this need not 60
down, dom know thing about it. %.
His entire knowledge of the subject must
have been acquired within the shortest posi-
BILE period, for he did not take up the sub
ject until after he was elected President I
spent nearly the whole day with the Gov
ernor in preparing material He gave me q
line of introduction to his married sister,
who had charge of the Executive Mansion,
at some distance from the Capitol found
her most agreeable, refined lady and was
indebted to her for some of the most inter-
estlng material furnished concerning the
life Of Mr. Cleveland.
Grover Has Splendid Nerves.
Upon the second occasion when saw the
President he had just taken possession of
the White House. It was within two or
three days after his Inauguration. Colonel
Lamont asked if would like to 90 in and
see him. 1t was 10 o'clock in the evening
at the time of my CALL found the Presi-
dent alone He had been through, perhaps,
as great strain of excitement as is possible
for a man to be called upon to endure. He
had been the center of the concentrated at
tention of the entire country and had borne
the transfer from the comparative quiet of
Albany to the pressure and excitement of
the highest place in our country without
showing the slightest trace of disturbance,
lack of confidence or nervous worry. I had
but few words with him that evening, and
nothing was said which was permitted to
use for publication -
The first authorized interview that Presi-
dent Cleveland gave out as President, and
in which he enunciated the extraordinary
powers assumed by him as Executive, was
given to me. have to-day the original
manuscript of that interview, with the care
full revisions made in the Presidents own
handwriting. To obtain this interview re-
quired the work of several weeks The
President I always found very accessible,
but his brusqueness increased as time passed
on, and he was more and more reluctant to
talk to representatives of newspapers for
publication. When he consented to give
me the interview, which was published dur
ing the first year of his taking Office, am
sure that he followed the advice of Colonel
Lamont, and that 1t would not have been
given if Colonel Lamont had objected. The
Interview was not obtained without num-
Der of preliminary visits and talks with the
Presidents private secretary. Finally it
was arranged that I should see the Presi-
dent and talk over the whole matter with
him. 1t was understood that l should see
the President alone.
How He Trusted to lamont"
Cleveland was at his usual post of duty in
the library of the White House with
great mass of papers placed before him. He
talked nearly as frankly as at the first in
terview that I had with him at Albany, but
he doubted the advisability of saying any
thing for publication. The conversation
had hardly begun when Colonel Lamont
came in very quietly and took a seat upon
the ledge of the window just back of the
President. His attitude was one of the
most perfect discretion. He never volun-
teered a suggestion, but his presence eyi-
IDENTIFY acted as check upon the President.
Upon any doebtful point the President
would turn to Lamont, and he always
adopted his view. 1t was to the Colonel
that the President finally referred the ques-
tion of whether there should be an inter-
view or not. Lamont nodded approval.
There were no notes taken, at the time of
this interview. After half or three-quar-
ters of an hour L went away and dictated to
q typewriter the substance of the converse
tibn. The next day when called upon the
President with mass of manuscript he was
greatly surprised and almost alarmed. He
said to me: "Why, it does not seem possi-
Bile that I said as much as this p
then asked him to read the manuscript
l. 4 I-ks Il
it that he had not said to promptly erase it.
posaL I further gave him the assurance
that not one word OF the conversation would
be published except that part revised and
approved by himself The President seemed
very much relieved at this He appeared
to have all through the affair an underlying
feeling that it was not dignifed for the
President of the United States to submit to
an interview at the hands of q newspaper
The Independence OF the Executive.
The President now put on pair of round
ard black trimmed eyeglasses and went to
work upon the manuscript He first read
it all through carefully. He then drew a
long breath and said: There is nothing
with great carefulness and accuracy But
there are number of things here which 1
said which think it would be we'll to leave |
out"
The President then began the work him.
self of revision and editing. Instead of |
calling Lamont to do this under his direc- |
tion he performed the work himself and |
only called upon Lamont now and then for |
his advice. This manuscript, crossed out !
and revised, and in some instances with |
whole pages gone, is a most interesting e1-
hibit of Mr.. .Cleveland's methods of work.
ing. The part which he left in, and even
ampliied and, emphasized, was the inde-
pendence Of the Executive in his relations
to Congress This new departure from the
previously held views OF the relations be-
tween the President and Congress was made
without the slightest consultation with any
one of his Cabinet Ministers, and created
therefore in official circles the widest possi-
Die interest and attention. Some Of his
Cabinet advisers criticised him because he
'ook 30 important position without con.
Iulting them. But the President never paid
he slightest attention to any criticism
which came from this direction. His Cabin