Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1893-03-07
\ Now SUSTAIN OF Reform.

to openly say or write anything INC
could be warped into an adverse eri'i-
csm of our superiors. 1t has always
been our policy to support the demo
cratic party, and the broom OF reform,
with which it has proposed to sweep
the cobwebs Of third of a century
from the structure Of our government.
For three decades our party has been
but n minority report, figurativcly
| speaking. in the executive departments
of the government. All these years we
have had ccascless struggle over
which. when we look back, we see but
a wide. shoreless waste, peopled by the
spectres of dead ambitions. For 80
years we have padded firmly and with
manly strokes against the currents OF
bribery, intimidation and ballot-ooN
stuffing to gain the reins ofgovernment,
and during all these years the men we
have supported have been forced to
take the peanut gallery, so to speak,
while the reserved seats have been let
to the opposition party.
Called by the yoke of unjust taxa,
ton and the heavy burdens heaped
upon us by the friends of grinding mo-
nopolies and trusts, and spurrred on
By bright stories ofvictory, freedom and
reform, we put our wounded shoulders
to the wheel and turned the tables.
Now we wait with breathless interest
the fullilment of the glowing prophe-
sizes OF reform. 1t has begun.
There is said to be nothing which so
rcodilv threatens the destruction Of the
government as the pension roll.
Through the shrewdness of pension
sharks and dishonest and mercenary Of
ficials, friends ofthe giant octopus, thou
sands and thousands of dollars of the
peoples money are daily fraudulently
expended. But it is useless for us to
outline the heinous oflenses committed
in this department of our government.
The people will know and feel the in
evitablc result of this daily increasing
drain upon the treasury Yet, when y
bill for the reimbursement of the pension
roll came up in the House recently, the
fierce watch dog of the treasury, our
own economical Holman, kicked the
whole affair into the sombre shades of
oblivion. This is reform with big X,
but it is not the reform we have dream
ed Of
But this new system of reform does
not stop here. 1t goes still further.
and Walter @. Gresham, who has said
over his own signature that he voted
for Blaine in 1851, and for Harrison in
1888. and that in voting for Mr.. Clevc-
land in 1892 he felt that any republican
could do so without joining the demo
cratic party" has been the recipient OF
the most important and honorable po-
sition in the gift of the President;
Since making the statement quoted
above, Judge Gresham has said moth
ing that changes it. The new Secre-
tary of State, like his predecessor, is re-
publican. Under the existing law, III
the event of the death of Mr.. Cleveland
) and Mr.. Stevenson, Mr.. Gresham be-
comes President of the United States.
Thus we stand with but t'cO HceS be-
tween us and an administration, the
policies Of which we have fought for
; thirty years to overcome.
Because Judge Gresham did some
efficient work during the last cam
paign for our party does not seem to
us II warrantable excuse for placing him
within two steps of the head OF the ma
ton. position which his party tlaunts
: in the face ofthc public with defiant
.sNhat are vou going to do about ii :?
Again we say that it has never been our
desire to adversely criticise our party
managers-men whose names are print
ed UPON the walls Of the temple OF fame
. and TO whom we undoubtedly owe the
rreat victory of 1892; but we cannot.
even for,thc principle Of public unity,
sanction an act that speaks of such
glaring abuse of executive authority.
Granting that Judge Gresham has q
blamccss record, that socially ana
politically he is man Of unmeasured
popularity with all men whatever their
party bias or Misunderstanding even
that he has come into the ranks of the
democratic party to stay (of which we
have no assurance), yet, were there not
other and less important positions he
might have filled, and were there not
abundantlv able and deserving men in
our own party who should have been
givcn this place? To the victor belongs
the spoils Mr.. Cleveland surely can
not expect 10 unuo INC "IohSS anu IL
lease the people from the tyranny and
fragrant abuses heaped upon them for
third of century by placing men at
t the head of the executive department
who have aided, and are still willing to
aid in bringing this condition of affairs
} upon us.
Our party has undertaken the formi-
dable task of purifying politics and has
promised the people an era of prosper
iity and freedom from slavery, as 1t
f were. We were told that chasm deep
, err and wider and more implacable
than that which threatened the
destruction of Rome stood yawnng
at our feet, and that Mr.. Cleveland. like
brave Curtius of old stood rs our deyerer'
ready to fling himself into the gulf that our
country might he saved. Now that we have
, placed him at the nations head we expect
him to take our public affairs out of the hands
of the uns :rupulous demagogucs who have al
ready brou. ht lis so pcrilously near the verge
of ruin Fill every office with good, solid
democrats is our motto, with men who have
stood BY the party through thirty years oil
toll and adversely and to whom honor Is now
due.
1t may be we'll at times. to fight the devil
with fire. aud probably Mr.. Cleveland has
made wise choice for the State Department,
but the more we look at the matter the more
we are assured that our party Is making some
strange bed-fellows and the more we sniii
the air the more fully we are convinced that
there is a stencil arising from locality much
uoarpr than Dcnmark-say, for instance