The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1895-10-18
Third.Ternl Talk.

MT. William r.. curtis, one OF tne
ablest and most conservative gentlemen
connected with the American press
he whose letters from Japan and China
to the Chicago Record have proved so
interesting-is now studying the public
| pulse of New York city. with an eye
to its political symptoms. All of his
| letters which collate the results are eX-
tremely readable. and some of them are
| really important. Mr. Curtis, for eX-
| ample. finds that the amount of third
term feeling that exists in New York is
amazing. President Cleveland seems 20
| be the only man in the Democratic
party. and although there is general
dissatisfaction with the financial and
| foreign policies of the administration,
| the same people who condemn them
| predict that he will be the next candi-
date for president" He adds:
sat the other day in a business house
which Is very prominent In the South
American trade, and where all the five
| partners are Democrats, some of whom
| have been very active in politics. They
| condemned the administration for revok-
| ing the reciprocity treaties, for prevent
| ing the annexation of the Hawaiian ISL
| ands. for permitting Great Britain to
| blackmail Nicaragua, for not interfering &
| in the Cuban revolution and the Nene-
Zuela boundary dispute, for enforcing the
payment of the Mora claim. for permit
| ting Chile to get the better of us in the re-
cent claims commission, and for almost
| everything else that has been done or
| omitted in our foreign relations, and de-
clared the Cleveland administration had
| done more to injure our foreign trade than
years of careful cultivation could correct.
| Then when We began to talk of the fu-
| ture every one of them declared his belief
| that the president would be nominated
| for third term and would be the strong
est candidate the Democrats could offer
| to the country. Nor Is this an eXcep-
tional instance, You hear the same talk
| everywhere--at the hotels, at the clubs
and restaurants in the banks and brokers'
offices and wherever men who talk politics
gather together.
Mr.. Curtis talked with a very prom
inent Democratic Senator" name natur-
ally withheld, who said:
Mr.. Cleveland is by far the strongest
| man in the Democratic party today, al
| though a majority of the politicians are
against him. He has succeeded In secur-
| ing the confidence of the people to de-
| gree that has been enjoyed by no presi-
| dent since Abraham Lincoln: and, al
| though his present administration has
| been marked by a succession of ineXcus-
| able blunders, the public charges them to
| his subordinates and to the leaders of the
party in congress rather than to him.
| Poor Gresham has gone to his grave with
| the odium of mistakes in our foreign
policy, when the president Is responsible
for the whole business. Secretary Car
| Isle is blamed for the financial blundcrs
| that have been made. whereas he has
never signed letter Of any Importance
| without first showing 1t to the president.
| The blame for the failure to carry out the
| free trade policy of the Democratic party
| has been laid upon German and other
| Democratic sena tors, when everybody
| knows that the bill they supported In the
| senate was prepared at the treasury de-
partment and the president was consulted
about every paragraph. When he thought
! It was going to be an unpopular measure
| he kicked 1t in the stomach and in the
| face, and threw 1t over into their side OF
| the yard, but he had just as much to say
| about its preparation as they did. Secre-
| tary Olney Is the man who stood up dur
| ing the railroad strike against the advice
| Of the rest of the presidents advisers and
| carried through the policy that Lamont,
| Gresham and Carlisle feared would make
| him very unpopular among the working
people If it had turned out that way Olney
| would have been condemned and perhaos
kicked out Of the cabinet, but the public.
and even the strikers themselves. saw that
|
turned out to be one of the most popular
Incidents Of the administration. The presi-
| dent gets all the credit. And for the same
| reason he Is going to be nominated for a
| third term. II is his manifest destiny.
The Democratic senator credits Mr..
| Cleveland with being the favorite OF
dumb luck" and. really, when the de-
tails of his phenomenal career are re-
viewed, this seems to come as near to
rational explanation of his success as
anything. There is very little doubt In
our mind that II Mr.. Cleveland does
not explicitly and peremptorily decline
to permit such a use of his name by
the next Democratic national conven-
tion, he will be fourth time nominated
for a third presidency. We do not
think that he could be third
| time elected, but the nomination
for a third term is within his grasp
Does he want the honor? That. the
future must decide. The present fact
Is that he Is in his own personality
and following about all that's worth
mentioning of the Democratic party.
|