New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1895-02-17
THE FAITH-BREAAERS.

WHAT" said the stenographcr. with the accent
-, enc "wbat" Answered then the Muse Of
History. with settled sadness in her tone: "Ilirn
$40 the letter L in the index OF great Names
"and under Thomas c. Plat record that an
..other man in whom he reposed his trust mas
"broken faith with him. II my memory serves
"the record he has made consists entirey Oh
"the list OF names OF those who have broken
"faith with him. Tally another" with that
the Muse threw down n copy OF The New-lork
SIM" and said: There it is In the headlines
II YOU see it in The Sum- it's So" Then unused
the Muse: "IIow remarkable career! Chiefly
headlines! And all the headlines tell OF the
"d,fferenccs he has had with other men! And
"oll the differences were solely because the other
"men broke faith with him. And the Muse
sighed.
Let Mayor Strong take comfort 1t may seem
a little hard that after n long, honorable and
successful business career, In which ne mas
stood among his fellows as the exponent OF hign
prnciple. the representative Of business integ-
rity. and the embodiment OF personal honor ana
good faith. he should be charged ut the begin
ming Of his administration Of a great civil office
with breach of faith. But it may console him
TO take thought that he is in high company;
and yice-Prcsidents, Cabinet officers, Governors
and long array of public officials OF all degrees
all of whom have upon the same testimony as
thar ON which the charge against himself rests
broken faith with Mr. Plat. Indeed the OK
perience Of that gentleman in this regard mas
been SO unvarying and so monotonous that some
strange fatality seems 10 attend II. For. II that
gentleman is to he believed. no public man ever
I,
own lustro,is loyalty to truth So lighiens up the
natural blackncss of those with whom ne deals
that their moral dcformity is at once revealed or
because there is something in his atmosphere
that sets everybody lying who comes within
IT, VIC are unable To say, hut one thing Is GER
tain: that no public man Of his time has ever
happened To fall in with so many other public
men who turned out TO be- faith-brcakers. de
ceivcrs and liars.
President HAYES broke faith with Mr. Plat
in 1877. and in September of that year Mr. iatt
road \ spceeh on thu. subject Of his few
platform uttcranccS at the Republican STAT"
convention nj Rochester. President Garfield
broke faith with him four years Later and he
thcrcupon resigned his seat in The Senate GOV
ernor Cornell broke faith with him Immediately
af-crward and prevented the programme" Tor
his reelection from hlnS carrie" ""' NV"
President Arthur broke faith with him. ana
thcir relations were severed. Senator tonkling
did the same. and Mr.. PlaitS relations with that
gentleman ceased The late General Hustled
also broke faith with him NJ Albany. President
Harrison broke faith with him In refusing 10
give him a Cabinet position. and Mr. Platt con
sc1ucn,ly used every effort 10 defeat his r'nom
nation. Secretary Window broke faith with
him when hc declined 10 interfere at bis bidding
in the New.York Custom House. Collector Er
hardt broke faith with him when he Insisted on
conducting his office independently Of Mr.
Platt's dictaiion More recently William Brook.
field broke faith with him when he declined TO
be party to his scheme for getting possession
Of the Republican organization in this county
ON this account Mr.. Brookiicld WAS turned
down" I'm the State and County committees 10y
the machinery which Mr. Plat keeps in running
order 10 behead the men who break faith with
him. These are all Republican faith breakers
Only one Democrat has broken faith with him
40 far As known That was Mayor Grant. who
refused 10 appoint Jake" Patterson Police JUS
tice and for that Mr.. Pla't set the Fassctt Com
mittee on him. Mayor Groy kept faith with
him in the appointment " two Police Commits
soners still in office
1t is noticeable that, though he has dealt
largely with Democrats, it is Republicans who
uniformly break faith with him. And now
Mayor Strong is added TO the list. Isn't 1t get
ting lust a trifc too monOtonous? Would 1t not
be well for Mr. Plat TO stop trusting folks: He
discovers SO many faith-brcakers and liars that
he disturls confidence in ones fellow men.