St. Paul daily globe., 1895-12-26
THE l.PATHFINDER.v

When the Republican party began
its national career it named John C.
Fremont as it's standard bearer.
Subject yet to that mania for find
ing some catchword by which to
charm the public ear, which has been
so long the trick of parties, they
dubbed him the Pathfinder" be-
cause he had led a transcontinental
exploring party. There has been a
notable change in this expedient of
late years, and it indicates that more
serious questions are involved in the
campaigns and that something more
is wanted in a candidate than that
he rode a mule on canal, or a horse
through the slashes to mill. The
paths that statesmen are trying now
to find are those that lead to good
government through wise, sound ma
tional policies. AS our civilization
advances. as the industrial organiza-
tion becomes more and more diversi-
fled and interdependent, the ques-
tions to be solved by legislation be-
come more and more difficult, and he
is now the real pathfinder who finds
for his party and the country a safe
pathway through the difficulties.
Whatever present opinion may be,
it will be recorded, when history is
soberly written, that Mr.. Cleveland
has been pre-eminent among the
presidents whom his party has given
the nation, as pathfinder. Lincoln
was such a one for his party, and,
it must be said, the only one it has
had. He led his party by the only
true path out of the long wearisome
complications brought on by slavery,
and pity it was that he was not
spared to lead the country back into
an early and peaceful settlement of
the questions raised by the war.
Possibly in the great scheme of hu-
manity, it was necessary that Lin
coin be removed that the South
might be further scourged for her
sins, and so that out of it she might
come, as she has, stronger and bet
ter than ever But be that as may,
it has been Mr. Cleveland's fortune
to be where, at critical junctures, he
could on two occasions point his
party the path which was the right
and true one.
For nearly thirty years the federal
government had been made to serve
the interests of those who could con-
troll it. The old true American self
helpfulness and independence had
been atrophied by the policy of de-
pendence on the government. Amer
lean manhood had been sapped of
its virility until everywhere men
were initiating the wagner and
praying to the government, their
Jupiter to help them. The whole
commercial fabric was vitiated by
it. Men no longer thought of engag-
ing in an industry aided only by
their own capital, energy and ability,
but demanded bonuses. Railway
promoters went through the country
demanding gifts as the price of not
avoiding villages and cities with
their lines. The government edu-
Gated it's people into helplessness. 1t
was then that Cleveland sent his
party on a new path, one leading
to saner and healthier views of what
a government is, announcing that
the people should support the gov
ernment, not the government the peo-
pie. Men must learn to depend on
themselves and not on the govern
ment. 1t is monstrous proposition
this of taking from the many to
help the few. He sent his party on
the path of tax reform, the cure of
the manifold evils generated by tax
abuse.
Checked temporarily in it's move
ment along that path, the party
found itself confronted with another
problem growing out of the none
tary policy of its predecessor The
greenback craze of twenty years ago
appeared in new form. There
were men who insisted that the gov
ernment could make fifty cents
worth of silver worth dollar by it's
simple fiat, just as in the former
period of dementia men had insisted
that the government could make
money out of nothing more valuable
than paper. There were, in pity be
1t said; Democrats who were thus
disloyal to Democracy. In his own