The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-04-27
beware OF
CLEVELAND.
Editor WattersOn Warns the Democ-
racy of the Nation.
THE EX-PREsIDENT OUT FOR 1900.
HIS CANDIDACY A MENACE TO
THE FUTURE OF THE PARTY.
WILL SEEK THE PRESIDENCY
EVERY FOUR YEARS AS LONG
AS HE LIvEs-HIs EGoTIsM AND
LUST FOR OFFICE.

Washington, April ga special to
the Post from Louisville says:
Henry Watterson will print the follow
ing editorial In the Courier Journal of to-
morrow under the head of 'Eorewarned
Is Forearmed:' rsasAS7
"T he first gun of tffto, 'batte of 1900 is
fired somewhat early, but it was fired by
the Reform Club in New York last Sat
urGay night. The Reform Club is made
upexcusively of the personal followers of
Mr.. Cleveland. 1t exists in point OF fact
to exploit the fame and to advance the
interests of the eN President. The names
of Fairchild and Hornblower and Peck.
ham are sufficient guarantee that the
association has no other source of inspi-
ration, nor any further point of destina-
ton The dinner was given to place Mr..
Cleveland in the field as Il candidate for
President, and from this time forward all
the appliances of n small but energetic
and intelligent machinery will be put
forth to make II cu:.pnign of education
and a canvass for Mr.. Cleveland synony-
nous terms.
1T is IL grievous feature of public
affairs that great issues are so often COM
plicated by lesser issues, and that the
virus of private aim not infrequently per-
colateS tine veins of the fnirest policies
BY 10 possibility can Mr.. Cleveland affect
the cause OF genuine reform eXcept for
ill. He has had his day-a sad one for
his party-unu whatever contributions he
made to the cause of good government
during that day are upon the record and
go to his credit. But his name in con-
nection with the Presidency can lie only
reproach, because aside from the con-
taminn:ions and frictions it involves, it
carries with it the odious id en- of u third
term. antagoniZing law, unwritten it is
true, but deeply Embedded in the popular
mind and heart.
Mr.. Cleveland can never again be
President of the United States. Under
no conceivable circumstances ought he to
be. That be should contemplate another
candidacy affords strong evidence of n
lack in him OF integrity and virtue. THAT
club of satellites should conspire to
place him again in nomination is not
merely proof of the treason of it's mem.
bers to their country and to the party to
which they profess allegiance, but of a
degrading sacrifice of patriotism and man
hood.
1T was snid not long ago, and very
truly, that Mr.. Cleveland would be n can
didate for President every four years as
long us he lives. The circumstances of
his life, in the absence of any elevated
of action, bear him out in the belief that
he is law unto himself, contradicting
all presidents. He has impressed this
Dellef upon the group of persons who i'm.
mediatcly surround him. They ought to
he good Christians, for they seem to have
been created for no other purpose than to
serve their creator; and, if assiduity and
consistency be merits, they are surely mer
itorous. But they are short sighted.
Their notion that Mr.. Cleveland is within
himself both party and platform, and
that he can command following strong
enough to win an election against the So
called Democrats and the soalled Repub-
iiacns, is an illusion. If it could be realiZ.
ed the event would then and there Next
caniZe the public administration; 70, once
again in power, like Diaz, Mr.. Cleveland
would find the means to continue in
power the residue OF his natural life.
Better Mexicanization of the currency
than the overthrow of liberty would be
the well-nigh universal cry of the nation,
so that the very best hope. that the free
silverttes can have is the candidacy of
Mr.. Cleveland, fatally dividing the cle-
ments of sound economies, ami making II
sure highway for the forces of fiscal, and
other, adventures.
But there can be no reason to doubt
the fact that Mr. Cleveland is the one
man to be reckoned with by those who
seek to attain good government as distin.
guished from the operations of rampant
partyisni, swinging the pendulum from
one to the other dizzy height of political
excess From first to last this callous,
self.seeking man has been the direct
cause, the sole occasion, of all our undo.
ing. To go back no farther than the last
internal Democratic conflict, if six
months before the nominating period in
lS96. Mr.. Cleveland had firmly said: Il
Will not be IL candidate under any circum.
stances, nor allow my name to be used by
anybody the elements of order in the
party could have got together and united
on some leader equal to the task of meet.
ing and beating the extremists. But Mr..
Cleveland could not he induced to make
the slightest sign. He was as silent as an
oracle, standing the while exactly where
the lightning might be expected to strike.
Except for this, paralyZing Carlisle.
Kentucky could have been held; but Ken
tucky gone, the rest followed like land
slide Mr.. Cleveland was known to lie
covertly candidate, and, handicapped by
MN, the friends of sound money and rev.
enue reform were overwhelmed by the
malcontents, raised up in the first place
by AIR. Cleveland's eXaspcrating temper
ana incompetency for leadership.
ID Is ulscouraSlng TO the friends of re-
form In the South and West that thus
prematurely the movement for honest
politics and sound money should be
freighted down by name'which is potent
only for evil But it is still more dis.
couragng to reflect that the man behind
this name is as indefatigable as he is mis-
chic Vous; that he is very much richer
than he ever was, and much more ambi.