Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1895-06-06
D0INGS AT WASHINGTON.
Washington. NAV 81. 1895.


week. First. there was the great hi.
metallic speech of Senator sherman.
which strongly indicates that the re-
publican party intends to maintain its
friendly position towards silver and
not follow Mr.. Clevelahd's lead in
worshipping at the shrine of the
single gold standard. Then came the
harmonious action of the Ohio repub-
lican convention. in nominating a
winning ticket, adopting a platform
that all good republicans can stand
upon, and endorsing ex-Gov. Foraker
for the L. s. senate and Gov. McKin-
ley for the presidential nomination.
Gov. Mckinley may or may not be the
national standard bearer Of the repub-
lican party next year, but the Ohio
convention made it plain that he is to
be earnestly pushed in the national
convention by his own state.
Another topic much discussed by
the republicans is the Harmony din
ner given by Hon. Chauncev NJ De-
pew. at his New York home in honor
of eX-President Harrison. and attend
ed by number of leading republicans
including GOV. Morton and Gov. Me-
kinley. A gentleman who was a
guest at that dinner tod your cores
pendent that what struck him most
WIS the extremely cordiality shown
toward each other by the gentleman
who are by general consent regarded
as leading candidates for the republi-
nomination. He said he was convin-
ced that whatever envy and iealosy
might exist between some few of the
followers of the principal guests at
Mr.. Depew's dinner no such feeling
existed between the gentleman them
selves
/ have no de sire to wave the. bloody
shirt but it 4oes have queer look
when you come to think about it, that
in all the various celebrations of Me-
mortal Day in the immediate vicinity
of Washington not a single official of
any prominence connected with the
administration took any part. 1t is
only fair to mention in connection
that Secretary Herbert had accepted
an invitation to deliver the address
at the St Elizabeth Asylum cemetery
but was prevented By having to ac-
company the funeral cortege of
Secretary Gresham to Chicago. But
il does seem strange that of all the
hundreds of assistant secretaries and
bureau chiefs under the government
which those soldiers fought to pre-
serve, and did preserve. not one
should have taken part in the eere-
monies in honor of the dead defenders
of the nation
With the sudden and entirely un-
expected death of Secretary Gresham
all hard feeling towards him were
buried, his mistakes forgotten. or at
least overlooked, and everybody who
had ever knownthe man could recall
some pleasant trait of the personal
geniality which made him easily the
most popular man, personally in the
cabinet. 1t is matter of deep regret
to his warmest personal admirers that
he ever became Secretary of State
he had ability enough to have success
fully administered the office, but his
education. temperament, previous life
and modes of thought were all so
many stumbling blocks in the way of
his doing so. This IS not time of
criticize his career at the head of that
department, but his most partial
friends do not claim it to have been
the success his judicial career was.
Some people got a little mixed up
about the length of the time within
which Mr.. Cleveland would be COM
PEELED to select the successor to the
late Secretary Gresham. The old law
said the President could appoint an
acting Secretay for a period of only
ten days, but in 1891 the law was
amended to read as follows: "A va
cancy oceasioned by death or resigna-
ton must not be temporarily filled for
longer period than thirty days. =
Thus it will be seen that Mr.. Cleve-
land having designated Assistant
Secretary Uhl to act as Secretary of
State. Only one thing appears to be
certain about it at this tima, and that
is. that Mr.. Cleveland will endeavor
to use the vacancy to strengthen his
financial policy. Some of those who
are being discussed as eligible for the
vacancy are impossibilities One of
these is ex-Secretary Whitney, who
very positively declined to become a
member of Mr.. Cleveland's second
cabinet when it was being formed.
Mr.. Whitney may, if he decides to
become candidate for the democratic
nomination next year, be willing to
accept all the support the administra-
ton cares to give him, but he is far
too smart to become a member of the
administration; he knows too well the
odium it has earned.