Birmingham state herald. (Birmingham, Ala.) 1895-1897, 1896-03-19
SHOULD RE DEALT WITH.

Mr.. Clarke, the Advertisers candidate
for governor, denounced Mr.. Cleveland
in 1892, while in attendance upon the Chi
cago national convention, as "a mug
wump and no democrat" This fact has
been proven by General Pettus and not
denied by Mr.. Clarke. The Advertiser
and its editors oppose Captain Johnston
on principle" because he saw proper in
a respectful manner not to approve the
presidents financial policy. The Adver-
tiser on principle" favors the candidacy
of Mr.. Clarke, who denounced the presi-
dent and on principle" bitterly antag-
onizes Captain Johnston, evidently be-
cause he did not denounce the president,
but declared he was an honest man and
a loyal friend to the south.
When Mr. Clarke characterized the
president as "a d-n mugwump" he
meant of course, to say that Mr.. Cleve-
land was in favor of a rigid observance
of the civil service rules, and when ne
said the president was no democrat he
was understood to have meant that the
administration appointed and retained
republicans in office and left good demo-
Gratis out in the cold, by reason of the
enforcement of the civil service law. AS
Mr. Clarke is now an intense administra-
tion democrat and hero worshipper,
crying loud at the top of his voice every
where, on the hills, in the valleys and
along the streams of Alabama, great is
Grover" and that the king can do no
wrong" it is to be presumed that the
president has ceased, in the opinion of
Mr. Clarke, to be any longer "a d-n
mugwump' or a sincere believer in the
civil service commission as a potential
republican factor in the politics of this
country This presumption is strength
ened by the fact that Maj. William Wall
lace Screws, postmaster at Montgomery
is an intense partisan and is guilty of Of
fensive partisanship within the rules and
regulations of the civil service commits
sion. He is not only a candidate for con-
gress in the Second district, but is also
one of the editors and proprietors of the
Montgomery Advertiser, the most noto-
rious and bitterly offensive partisan
journal in the south. According to the
decisions and rulings of the civil service
commission, as we'll as the letter and
spirit of the civil service law, Major
Screws unquestionably has no right to
neglect his duties as postmaster at Mont
gomery and take the stump in any case,
and particularly against candidate for
governor inside the democratic ranks.
The fact that the president permits this
aggressive partisan to set at defiance the
rules of proprety and decency and to
violate regulations of the civil service
commission, tend to show as strongly
'as proofs of holy writ" that the pres-
dent is no longer a stickler for the en-
forcement of the civil service laws.
Notwithstanding Mr.. Clarke's former
contemptuous opinion of the president,
ships him, while Major Screws holds on
and politely invites the civil service COM
mission to go to the "demnition bow
vows" another evidence of the Adver-
Users lack of principle,
Congressman StallngS ought to look
into the matter without delay and see
to it that his competitor and appointee,
Major Screws, walks chalk line" and
attends strictly to the duties of the
Montgomery postoffice especially since
the Advertiser proposes to have the au-
thorities call the Decatur postmaster
down, and If the civil service commission
is not a dead letter it ought also to in
vestigate his case without delay. We
make the suggestion for what 1t is worth
and shall wait to see what action is taken
in the premises.