San Antonio daily light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1886-1907, 1893-03-17
WASHINGTON LETTER.
From Our Regular Correspondent.

One of the most difficult roles
ever attempted by a public man is
that of setting himself up as being
better than his party. This the
friends of Mr.. Cleveland have per-
sistently done for him ever since
his entrance into national politics,
and the claims of his wOrshippers
about his having refused to make
one single promise during the last
campaign have been louder than
ever since his last inauguration.
Well, the idol has been shattered,
and in view of the whole world.
One of the most prominent nOmi-
nations to office he has made-eX-
Governor Gray, of Indiana, to be
minister to MeXicO-was the result
of a bargain made at the Chicago
convention, not, it is true, by Mr..
Cleveland in person, but by his
personal representative at that
convention, Hon. w. c. Whitney,
of New York. The terms of this
bargain were that Gov. Gray was
to withdraw as a presidential cam
didate, and throw the Indiana del
egation to Mr.. Cleveland, and in
return was either to have place
in the cabinet or first class for
eign mission, if Mr.. Cleveland were
nominated and elected. That bar
gain has now been carried out by
Mr.. Cleveland, just as any other
politician would have carried it
out, and it is about time there was
a cessation of the talk about his
being better than his party.
Mr.. Cleveland's ingenius method
of knocking the army of office
seekers out by sections, as it were,
shows that he is a wiser man than
when he was President before, and
has furnished no end of amuse-
ment for those not after office as
well as for the office seekers not in
the prescribed sections. First, he
disposed of the section that were
after the offices held under four
year commissions, by telling them
that no official would be removed
until the expiration of his term,
except for cause. Next he jumped
Onsthe section that held office I'M
der his first administration, nearly
all of whom were here ready
and willing, not to say anxious,
to again atfiX their autographs to
the official pay roll, by telling them
that none of them would receive
an appointment, unless it was in
some exceptional casej where spe-
cial qualifications were demanded
that were not possessed by any
new applicant. And his last knock
out was directed at the Democrat
ic editors who are laundering after
the official tlesh-pOts. His words
on this subject are herewith quot
ed for the especial benefit of the
editors of your Democratic con-
temporaries, who might otherwise
make the mistake of expecting an
office. 81 have been surprised"
said Mr.. Cleveland to a Congress-
man who called on him in the in
terest of a Democratic journalist.
"tO notice the very large number
of newspaper men who have made
application for an office. |
remember that during the recent
campaign, and in fact during al
most the whole of the last admin
iStratiOn, the democratic news
papers charged that in the appoint
ments of Whitelaw Reid, and other
journalists Mr.. Harrison was at
tempting to subsidize the press.
Now, don't you see that | should
be laying myself open to precisely
the same charges if were to honor
the drafts made on me by news
paper men? | do not like the idea
either, which the editors of little
democratic papers all over the
country seem to have, that they
are entitled to the office Of post
master in their town"
Those close to the administration
say that the withdrawal of the
Hawaiian annexation treaty from
the Senate does not indicate that
Mr.. Cleveland is opposed to annex
alton. They say that he thinks a
more satisfactory treaty can be
negotiated, and sent to the Senate
before the present extra session
comes to a close. 1t other words
if these gentlemen be correct in
their statements, the principal OBJ
lection to the treatyNwas that it
was negotiated by a republican,
instead of by a democratic admin
istratiOn.
The Democrats may not be in
clined to favor the makers of
"moonshine" whiskey, but official