The weekly intelligencer. [volume] (Lexington, Mo.) 1891-1901, 1895-02-16
CLEVELAND AND JACKSON.
Henry WattersOn Contrasts the Lead
er Of the Past With the Leader
Of the Present.

Iuc ucIiOCTitS vi tue ouitcu Stalce
will not celebrate the Sth Of January Of
the year 1895 with u great deal OF
cheertulness, or even u great deal Of
universally. The look ahead has, il
must be confessed, little in il to exhil-
arate the boys IN the trenches. A few
crumbs of comfort still remain to them,
it is trne: but the prospect is as cheer
less as the weather. The material
conditions, too, are equally ominous
with the political perspective. We
have the bag to hold and the bag Is
empty. To be sure, times may mend
and luck may change; the old enemy
of democracy will have to face his por-
ton of responsibility and, in the
melodrama. of American politics, no
man a tell what a year may bring
forth. Still, at this moment, the skies
are not very bright.
1t seems impossible to consider Mr..
Cleveland fairIy-sans fear And sans
favor, and solely on his merits and in
the party's in.srest-without raising a
storm of misconstruction or detraction.
Here is the Fort Worth Gazette stig-
matizing the Courier-Journal rs a
cuckoo because the Courier journal is
supporting the Carlisle bill, as it has
supported all the administrations
measures 1t has approved; while, on
the other hand, the slightest sugges-
ton of Mr.. Clevelaud's fallibility is re-
scented by his admirers as a personal
attack. Meanwhile, the Acknowledged
official head of the party, u leader in
spite Of ourselves, Mr.. Cleveland, has
conducted us into a morass and left us
to founder out as best we may.
No well-informed man will say that
the president has been to blame, and
no Just man will accuse him of bad
faith.
He is simply a strong man unequal
to the demands of a situation surpass-
ing his experience in affairs and the
reach of his mental vision. He has
encountered much of the ill-fortune
which Is said to accompany i'll play.
He has tried to change the conditions
and methods of political life; but lack
ing the character and temperament, he
has lacked the training and the knowl-
edge which might have instructed him
in default of the character and temper
ament. He seems profoundly ignorant
of the springs of human passions and
how to make them respond to great &C.
c~asions and purposes. With not \ lit
tic of a certain craft in the art Of pos
ing as a rcformer and q great deal of
real talent in phrasemongsry, he shows
few Of the staying qualities, little Of the
sublety Of the true reformer. Yet no
man EVER set u upon a more peril0us
expedition on q field of civil action, or
engaged in an encounter with antagon-
isms and antagonists 8 intrenched
both in power and in tradition.
General Jackson may not have been
a good man, or y great man. But he
was an emincntly successful nan Mr..
Cleveland may not be a small man, or
a bad man, but he is eminently an
unsuccessful a The one was a
leader. The other was an experiment
alist. In peace or war success II ever
the standard, and no matter how little
moral value we may attach to it we IA
not dispute its verdicts.
Mr.. Cleveland Sc. u upon the
national highway with the one idea
that the government Of the United
States was corrupt as the state Of New
York, and that nothing was needed to
purify it but tho mugwump panacea
of civil service reform. He was going
to administer his office upon lines laid
out in Heaven. To this end he chose
as the head Of his cabinet a most
charming and accomplished man; but
one who, in his character of statesman,
had passed his life in q psach-bl0w
vase q thousand miles beyond the
moon The rest Of his political family
consisted mainly of discoveries of his
own. The same plan ran through the
gamut of his appointments to Office.
His idea seemed to be to re-create the
public service In tho image Of its
immediate maker; and, 1t is only fair
to say, that he proceeded with the
most impartial disregard Of by-gone
friends or enemies. Indeed, like the
upright Judge, he stood so erect as to
lean rather to by-gone enemies than
by-gone friends. Tbs result was
defeat which, however well-intentioRed
his motives, and however theoretically
good y themselves his actions, was
not a logical sequence Of the situation.
Brought back to power after an
interval Of feur years, aud through
one Of the MOS, whimsical chapters of
accident in all the whimsical annals Of
American politics, he vt once began to
display those qualities that deny him
leadership, and to plunge his party
into disaster. On paper, very self
conildant; 10 action, nearly abortive.
He had been re-nominated by his ex-
appointees. They had worked four
years to this end, thinking that when
he got back they would get back. But
hardly was he warm in his seat before
he coolly told them they were not in il.
Yet, while no punished his friends, he
did not punish hls enemies.
jackson Was quick and clear In his
perceptions, prompt In his movements.
rss0lute in his purposes, faithful alike
to his friends and his enemies.
Nobody was ever in doubt where to
find him. As = consequence, not
merely the people rallied to him-ss.
indeed, they have rallied to Cleveland,
but the public men Of his time SAW In
him a leader whom they could tie to,
and who, in turn, would tie to them.
In this latter respect the conditions are
exactly reversed in Mr.. Cleveland.
Pie trusts nobody, and, as u conse-
.quence, is trusted only by those who
have some ~ to grind. No public
man of consequence, aud without
selfish motives, would venture to risk
his character aud influence upon any
joint enterprise with Mr.. Cleveland,
because Mr.. Cleveland makes common
cause with nobody, and may ut any
moment be expected to disappear from
the scene, leaving his inconsiderate
yokeman 10 carry the burden paaiaed
and alone. As u result the president
is at war with half his own side Of the
senate; and, while The senate has
acted badly enough, yet, IN tho matter
of personal alienation, responsibility
must be placed Oh the president. who
ought to be, and whc, but for the lin
itatlOns We have noted, would be equal
to the management Of men Of such
scanl measure. To make an issue,
aud not 10 tight il out; ~ arouse a
party following, aud TO disappoint it,
&c come to the scratch when it is zoe
late; in short, ever 10 seek both horns
of the dilemma; to wish to eat his cake
and have it-,hese are tue features