Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1896-06-19
Characteristic of the Man.

Il there ever was man whose
mental autonomy was constructed on
Il more gigantic scale o! self-esteem
than Grover Cleveland, the pages OF
history have failed To record the fact
For egoti>m, pure and unauthorized ;
iur SeltishueSS that is sublime in the
utter abnegation OF every interest ex
cept those affecting his own personal
ity for gall that paralyzes at times
both friend and foe, Grover Cleveland
stands alone and unapproachabe
1t nigh. be that those who have
been honestly deluded into bis sup
port would now keep silent, out OF re-
spcct for the few commendable traits
gard for the high Office he has filled,
had he the decency to refrain from
obtruding his views upon the party,
accompanied by threats, when large
majority of that organization have en-
pressed an unqualified dissent to his
currency policy. But he seems so
closely welded to his idols, that, after
q vigorous personal campaign and the
use Of all the machinery of executive
patronage, without results, he still
persists in attempting to drive the Chi
cago Convention into adoption OF the
gold standard
In letter to tie N. y. Herald,
under date OF the 10th, he "refuses to
believe that when the time arrives for
deliberate action, there will be en-
grated upon the Democratic creed. a
demand for free, unlimited, independ-
ent coinage of silver" He says he be-
lieves this because he knows that the
Democratic party is neither unpatri.
otto nor foolish" So it has come to
pass that this Caesar has thrived so
we'll upon the juicy meat" that is
served to those in governmental posi-
ton, that he has grown to prodigeous
proportions, and he is thereby enabled
to say to his party and the people
"Iou are not true patriots, if you in
sist upon this thing; you are fools, if
you place your reliance upon silver"
Verify the times are out of Joint when
leader OF undoubted corporosity and
unbounded will may presume to say to
the hosts who have placed him on the
pinnacle of earthly glory, "You are
fools am right am dlways right"
while they have witnessed such disas.
trous results flowing from almost
every act of his administration, and
which he has persistently maintained
was the identical needful measure to
restore prosperity to our suffering
people.
The professions OF party fealty
which accompany this last manifesto
sound exceedingly strange, coming
from leader who has SO often VIC
lated the letter and spirit of party
usage. A man who assumes the
government of seventy millions Of
people, without asking or accepting
the counsels of few good and great
men who must necessarily be embraced
amid their numbers; man who has
kept his political enemies in power
full terms OF Office, while they were
engaged in active hostility to the party
which placed him in exalted position !;
a man, who appointed to his chief
cabinet position a rival aspirant for
the nomination of the opposing party !;
a man who, under the plea of "civil
service reform" has made it the means
for turning down" those who were so
indeiatigable in their efforts to sub
serve what they conceived to be prin-
ciple as embodied in his own can
didacy; man with this record, who
now appeals to the honest yeomany
who he has duped, must be indeed
blind to his own standing with the
people.
When, q few days ago, the assoc
lated press dispatches announced that
Grover Cleveland, "rather than to
support free oliver candidate on a
free silver platform, with certain
members of his cabinet. would vote
for Mckinley" it did not surprise
those who have placed proper esti-
mate on his character. 1t would be
just like the Ego OF the White House
to become an Arnold in return for the
honors heaped upon him by his party.
1t is evident that his first and last
effort has been and will be to induce
several millions of honest voters to
subordinate their judgment TO his
imperious will, proposition so alb
surd and preposterous as to be simply
contemplate.
The sooner Mr.. Cleveland draws
moral from the fate OF Andy Johnson,
when he attempted similar task, the
less profound will be his ultimate hu-
initiation; for the people are now too
fearfully in earnest to be cajoled into
any course that will sidetrack the
white metal.
THE Olympiam is quite fulsome in
its comments upon Dr." Ford's lee
ture on the General Conference held
in Cleveland, Ohio, last month. That
journal never loses an opportunity to
"square itself" with organized infiu-
ence as election-day approaches;
hence the eagerness displayed in pour