The Montgomery advertiser., 1902-12-10
He Was Loyal.

Selma Times. ." ti , !. A good many of the newspapers of the occasional shot at Grover Cleveland. just as if he were a Republican. The writer
 of this has. on many occasions drawn bead on the ex-Presider1f and popped a small squib at him., but as the free silver wave is gradually reeeding. a good many people are looking on the ex-President with @ much more ienient eye.
 There is a little piece of unwritten his- tory connected with Fourth District poll lies and Mir. Cleveland that shows the ex-President up In a light that any man who believes in loyalty to friends cannot aeIp but admire. The matter referred 70 is the pos;mastership at Anniston. Af-
 CT Mir. Cleveland's election. there was a
 wild scramble for the Anniston post office. Milton A. Smith. P. B. Brown. !, T. Vickers and Mir. Curry were the tour most prominent candidates. MT. smith had been the editor and proprietor Cleveland man. He attended the conven-
 ion at Chicago that nominated him. and
 here was never moment In his life
 hat the editor of The Hot Blast had not sung the praises of Mir. Cleveland.
 When the fight for the postoffice came m. Mir. Smith became an active candi-
 tate along with the rest of the boys The
 writer of this made trip to Selma to 'ee Congressman Gaston A. Robbins in his interest," Mir. Robbins. like most of politics, was non-committal, and che pll- grimmage was fruitless, so far as accomplishing anything was concerned. MT. Smith did not have a single politi- ian in Anniston of any note backing him. He had tremendous petition of he common masses of the common peo- pie. and he relied on that alone. The other three gentlemen were backed by politicians and to all appearances one of them seemed to bs a winner But when the announcement came out, MT. Smith got the plum.
 The writer of this never knew until few months before ex-Congressman Rob- Gins vent to New York how it was done We had always thought that Mir. Robbins ndorsed MT. Smith. but such was not the case. MT. Robbins told the writer how it was done. with promise from us not to divulge 1t as long as he lived. Now that he is dead we are released from that promise and can tell how Mr. Cleveland stood by his friend.
 It is usual for the Congressman from bailiwick. Mir Robbins had endorsed one of the other candidates, which one does not matter now, and went to Mir. Cleve- land and handed in the name he had set tied upon, with the request to have a commission issued to him. Mir. Robbins said that the President was unusually kind and gracious when he called upon him. and listened to what he had to say After he had finished, the President told him he could name the postmasters in the rest of the district. but he had decid- ed to appoint Milton A. Smith postmaster at Anniston.
 This announcement came like a flash Of lightning from clear sky to MT. Rob. bins. There was nothing left for him t- do but to withdraw his man and endorse Smith. which he proceeded to do, and he got the credit of having named MT Smith. President Cleveland kept the se. cret MT Robbins reaped- the. benefit o' the appointment fin securing the suppo' of The Hot Blast. and oniy.the man who,- MT. Robbins endorsed and his intimat friends, perhaps. ever knew how the ap pointntent was made. The secret reve would have been known to US had ns MT. Robbins voluntarily told US about it
 This little incident goes to show ho' very loyal Grover Cleveland was to man who had been his friend when h needed friends. There is bound to H something good in a fellow who stand by his friends. There are a great man, men v ho are your friend when you cay help them. and then go of to the othe fellow when you can no longer be of an' benefit to them. The writer of this ha. always had higher opinion of Grove Cleveland ever since MT. Robbins told ur how Milton Smith received his appoint. ment as postmaster of Admission