The sun., 1894-10-15
MFR. Cleveland Not n Plsgiarist In
This Case.

Mr. tIeNethnu NVb - y hAfAs"a'"S sh
This Case.
A correspondent in South Carolins, who
hates literary humbus and IL interested in
tracing ideas TO their origin, writes us the
following communication concerning Mr..
CLEvELAND's record in plagiarism:
"Your editorial article In q recent Issue exposing
the larceny By CLEVELAND Of Ton hooREp IDEAS, and
his most lncongruous OF sentimental expression
10 round on grave political address, and that with
out the grace 60 acknowledge his obligation 10 the
poet gave me such pleasure that venture to ask u
has been called 10 your attention that this IL not the
nrrt otfence Of the kind CfkvELAsD has committed
against good morals by acting the pissisrist.
EVERY one remembers the fame CLEVELAND &C.
quired In his rst term OF once by using the phrase
Public once IL public trust
"Icsi your attention TO fact that he crbbed II
word for word from page s09 Of cooiEYs Principle.
OF Constitutional Law, students series, edition OF
1890 LITTLE BRowH Co., publishers; and that with.
out having the common honesty to acknowledge his
authority More than that In the perversion Of the
phrs.. he did the author Of that weknown text book
the Injustice OF giving the phrase exactly an opposite
meaning from what u was intended to have.
Judge CooiEY says distinctly that, though trust,
public once Ia not contract; whereas CLEyELANDs
idea IL that appointed to ONCE. there Ia an i'm.
piled contract with the ofceholder 60 continue him
In the same until death doe. them part, which Is con.
trary both to CoorEr and the American sentiment.
"RipowaI, g. c.. Oct. II. IN. A. hEAREs.'
Mr.. MEAREs will perhaps be interested to
know that the authorship OF the phrase so
often attributed to Mr.. CLEvELAND's genius
has been traced back into the eighteenth
century. The successive steps by which this
has been accomplished are here indicated:
In 1889, two years before Mr. CLEvE-
LANDS nomination for President, the Hon.
IN In, - Ia latt m
civil service reform had advanced the idea
that Public Office is public trust"
In 1881, year before Mr. EATON got hold
Of the idea, the Hon. THOMAS l.. JAMES, in
one Of his annual reports as Postmaster.
General under ARTHUR, had used the words,
"The public service Is a public trust
In 1877, Judge COOLEY, to whose later
book on Constitutional Law our correspond
ent refers, had contributed to the Southern
Lar Rortc,U OF st. Louis, an article on the
liability of public officers to private actions
for negligence of public duty; and In that
article the celebrated CLEVELAND maxim
occurred In the form in which 1t is now so
frequently heard.
In 1875, writing his letter accepting NOM
ination to the Office to which he never was
Il. HAYES had remarked that Public Office
Is a trust"
But a little earlier that same year the
National Democracy Of the United States,
In Convention assembled. had formally
adopted this sentiment: "Ofices are not
private perquisite: they are public trust
In an opinion by Mr.. Justice SwAYNE Of
the Supreme Court Of the United States,
rendered in the case of TRIsT against CHILD,
IL had been laid down that "all public sta
tions are trusts"
And still earlier. in 1864, Mr.. Justice
FIELD, also OF the United States Supreme
Court, had remarked, in the course Of his
opinion in the case OF the Tool Company
against NORRIS, that Public Offices are
trusts held solely for the public good"
That was not the first time the idea had
been uttered. DANIEL WEBSTER delivered
an address In Boston on Oct. l2, 1885, in
which that immortal orator resonantly pro-
nounced the words 1T IL time TO declare
that offices created for the people are public
trusts, not private spoils."
But the idea was not original with WEB
sTRR, or indigenous to American soil. In
1890 Lord Chancellor LouGHBoRoUGH, pre-
viously known as ALEXANDER WEDDER-
BURN, rendered an opinion in the case OF
GARFoRTH against FEARoN, and formulated
the maxim that Public office is deemed by
law to be place of public trust"
That carries back Public Office Is q pub
lie trust more than a century. Very likely
il might he traced back still further; but
the task Is unnecessary, so far as the ques-
tion Of Mr.. CLEvELAND's authorship OF the
phrase is concerned Mr. MEAREs will agree
with us that II Mr.. CLEVELAND borrowed or
stole the idea, the right Of replevin il not
monopolized by Judge COOLEY.
Our South Carolina correspondent, how
ever, will he surprised to hear that, so far as
is known to THE Sun, the phrase Public
Office IL public trust" in just those words,
has never been spoken or written by Mr..
CLEVELAND; and so he cannot be accused OF
stealing It from Judge COOLEY, from Dor
MAN b. Eaton, from x-Postmaster-Gen-
eral JAMES, from RUTHERFORD b. HAYES,
from Mr.. Justice SwAYSE, from Mr.. Justice
FIELD, from DANIEL WEBSTER, from Lord
I.oUGHBORoUGH, or from anybody else, liy-
ing or dead The best evidence Is to the
effect that the phrase was injected into the
politics OF 1885 by tho Hon. DANIEL
s. LAMONT, by whose order it was
placed a. a motto upon certain campaign
document issued from the Argus Office In
Albany just after Mr.. CLEvELAND's nomi-
nation At Chicago.
count OF the general indictment against him
for the larcenous use of other peoples words
and ideas.