The daily morning journal and courier., 1900-05-12


 Some points in Admiral Dewey's s character, well understood in Wash ington, are apparently not so well understood in the country at large, to judge by the comments excited by his statements to the press the past week. They account for all the things he has done which appear so mysterious to people who insist on judging him by the standards which apply to other men. Unless they are accepted and understood these people are likely to become more and more beWildered as the campaign goes on.
 Those who know the Admiral are amused at the attempts to explain his statements by figuring on the effect they were intended to produce. He has no idea of effect. He acts on inn pulse, and says the things which oc- cur to him, and it is impossible for Mrs. Dewey or any one else to get him to think of their effect political or oth- erwise
 The best illustration of his character in this respect is the way in which he received, at the hands of President Mckinley, the sword presented to him by Congress. He came down the Capitol steps in the presence of thou sands of his fellow-citizens who had assembled to see the presentation. The escorting party walked with the pom derous, measured tread and solemn air always assumed by American citizens on such occasions. Dewey tripped light heartedly down the steps with such speed that the party had to ac- celerate it's pace to keep up with him. When he seated himself he looked around and noted the size of the crowd, and raised his eyebrows with an air of surprise Then glancing around, his eyes fell on the casl1et in which the sword reposed Every one of the thou sands present knew what was in the box except Dewey. He raised the lid with an air of curiosity to see what was inside, and looked upon the gift which he was not supposed to know anything about until the Secretary of the navy should take it out. Instantly he realized his mistake, shut the casket with bang and looked up the apolo- getically at Secretary Long.
 Then MT. Long began long and eulogistic address, and the Admiral
 
 and occasionally applauded. Ere quently he applauded references to himself. When the Secretary men toned Deweys great deeds, and the raises his voice at the close of period, the Admiral claDped his hands It did not convey the slightest idea of ego tisln, as it would have in the case of another man; it simply appeared to the At~.. kI. was listening to an eloquent speech and that it was only courteous to ap- plaud, Any other man would have thought of the effect that would be produced by applauding praises of himself, but it never occurred to Dewey.
 Later on, and just before the Presi- dent rose, his eye was attracted by young mother holding up her four-year old child to look at him. and he waved his hand and smiled at the child. ap- parently perfectly unconscious that there was any one present but himself the President, the Secretary, the moth- CT and the baby.
 Deweys political arrangements now are conducted with the same total absence of thought for consequences. When he does not want to see any body he leaves orders to that effect, and the orders are vigorously obeyed. If William ]. Bryan should come here from Nebraska to pledge his support to Dewey, and should happen to reach Rhode Island Avenue at a time when Dewey did not want to receive visitors, his card would not be taken up.
 In all this the Admiral has not the slightest idea of giving offense. His dealings with newspaper men are equal ly artless He does not shun newspaper men, but it is extremely difficult for them to see him. When he does not want to receive them he will not and there is no particular, time when he is willing to see them. It may be in the morning, the afternoon or the evening. A newspaper man may haunt the Dew ey residence for twenty hours and nev- CT get a chance to see the admiral and another, arriving in the twenty-first hous and happening to strike the time when the admiral is in the mood to re- ceive, will get in and get an interview.
 Everything the admiral does is char acterized by the same utter carelessness of effect or consequences. When the great celebration in his honor took place in New York all his utterances however trivial were reported, and no doubt many people imagined that he knew they would be reported, and said them with that idea in mind, and wondered | how the great man talked when he was off his guard. People who have made 1 his acquaintance since he reached | Washington declare that he talks in | precisely the same way The scraps of | unimportant conversation at the dinner | table and at social gatherings which are | repeated by his acquaintanceS all sound | exactly like the utterances he made on | his quarterback in New York bay, with | the eyes of the world upon him. He is incapable of talking or acting in any | other way.
 Dewey's friends say that those who, accustomed to the careful consideration | by candidates of the effect of each 1 spoken word imagine that there is some deep meaning beneath the admral's statements, are mistaken, and so are l those who think he is under the domina- tion of any will but his own No one here doubts that if Mrs. Dewey had the 1 influence over him which she is sup posed to have, his statements would have been vastly more diplomatic and +1,. Mol bad