St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1896-01-07
ga REMARKABLE ADMINISTRA-
U,InNg

When a judicial and judicious his
torian, and not the editor Of thick
and-thin partisan journal, comes to
write the narrative of this administra-
! ton Of Mr. Cleveland, he will accord to
it place among those justly and hon
orably called remarkable. Relieved
from the necessity Of disparagement
pressed on the partisan editor by pres
ent and future emergencies, he will
take account of the conditions under
which it assumed the responsibility of
administration, the difficulties that
beset it and the effort it made to up
hold the honor Of its party and to
maintain the financial integrity Of the
country. He will observe that parti-
sanship then was so intense and reck-
less that it preferred national dishonor
to it's preservation by a Democratic
administration Fair-minded men are
not waiting for the judgment Of the
supposititious historian, but, unin-
fuenced by the screeds Of political pa
pers and jackdaw statesmen, are adj
hitting that this Is "a remarkable
administration.
Let us briefly sketch some of the
facts that give to Mr.. Clevelands sec
ond administration this distinction.
1t succeeded a Republican administra-
ton, supported by both houses of con-
gress, which had taken it's triumph in
1883 as a vindication Of it's policies and
conclusion. 1t earned and gloried' in
the name of being "a billion-dollar
congress-" It made it's extraordinary
appropriations continuous, placing them
beyond the power of it's successors to
reduce. 1t found over $4,000, 900 of a
bank note redemption fund in the
vaults and forthwith turned it into
the revenue fund. 1t paid 80 per cent
premium for the privilege of redeeming
before maturity bonds that had been
sold TO: deprecated greenbacks.
It passed a bill "to reduce revenue"
that was so successful that from over
duced in the last year Of it's operation
$131, 100000. Under the joint operation
of spending and cutting off income, the
excess of income over expenditure that,
in it's first year, was over 0700O,000,
fell to about 100000 in it's last and
to deficit of nearly s70,OOO,O 900 in the
first year Of it's successor. 1t had over
$100,0OO,000 of free gold in it's treasury
at its beginning, and at it's close it's
treasurer was getting ready bond is
sue to replenish the fund. 1t shook
the confidence Of the financial world
in the stability Of our currency by
| doubling its purchases Of silver, pay
ing for it in treasury notes necessarily
redeemable in gold, augmenting the
load on the gold s15O,OO0, 900 without in
creasing the base. The stock panic of
November, 1890, was but the heralding
gust of the cyclone of 1893.
1t was under these circumstances
that the present administration came
into power. The issue on which it
had won became, in the presence of
the financial storm, a secondary mat
ter. The monetary question was SUI
preme. The conditions were ripe for a
plunge into silver fiatism. Against
this storm Mr.. Cleveland set his
sturdy breast. He demanded and Sc
cured the repeal Of the act for the
purchase of silver. He has since then
fought the battles of sound currency
| with courage rarely witnessed. In
the intervals Of financial stress, this
remarkable administration has protect
ed and advanced every interest of the
country. Without the support of a.
united and aggressive party behind it,
it has faced every emergency tri-
| umphantly. 1t rebuked filibustering
in Hawaii Then, when the howl Of
the lingo grew loud and long, it set
| a limit to English ambition on this
continent, In a message that will go
/ down to history as more famous than
/! that Of Monroe. 1t has so economically
administered affairs that there has
been no embarrassment even when g.
| decision of the supreme court cut off
$60,000.000 Of anticipated revenue. It
has extended and established more
firmly the system of civil service re-