The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-06
STILL HARp1Na ON CLEVELAND.

STILL HARPING ON CLEVELAND.
 The Louisville Courier-Journal asserts that ''in 1892, as matters fell out we could have elected anybody" the inler- ence, of course, being that MT CleVe- land was not entitled to any creolt ioi Democratic success in that election. AS is well known. it is impossible for our able and frequently cratic contemporary to be just to Mir. Cleveland That great Democrat haunts the editor. sleeping or waking, and nothing is more certalh 10 tip lis pen with vitrol than to have Cieve- land favorably mentioned by Demo- cratic speaker or writer.
 We'll 'as matters fell out" we elected 4 Democrat in 1892 on a Democratic plat form To claim that the Party could have elected anybody in that year is simply absurd. Those who are as well informed as The Courier-Journal can possibly be, know that both the man and the platform had something to do with the result. That the editor of The Courier-Journal bit terly opposed the nomination of Mir. Cleveland is we'll known. That he de- clared with all the brilliant rhetoric of which he Is past-master that the nomina- ton of the ex-President was political sui eide is a matter of history. Having asserted that Mir. Cleveland could not be elected, 1t was natural that he should be embittered and disappointed at the result, and perhaps 1t is only human nature that the bitterness should remain.
 Mir Cleveland is not now an issue in the politics of the country. He never ob- tirdes himself or his opinions on the Party. and only expresses himself when invited. to do so. When he speaks, it is always words of truth and soberness. |" It would have been we'll with the Party and the country if Democrats had needed his advice and walked in his counsels during the last half-dozen years. Then we should have been spared the humilia- tion of two defeats and the country would have been saved from the evils of Repub- lican administrations.
 It has been a popular fad to rail at Mir. Cleveland. and most of the railing comes from those who were not able to reach his high standard of politics and patriotism. The fad Is fast falling into disuse, because so many of those who were foremost in denouncing him have seen that he was right and they were wrong, and they are ashamed of the in- justice done him. An occasional Bourbon of Democracy still launches a hurtless spear against the man who twice led the Party to victory and gave to the country sound, safe and economical administra- tions. It does him no harm or his as- sailants credit. Perhaps 1t eases their miI.os.
 He must be purblind who cannot see that the drift of Democratic politics Is to- wards what we may term Clevelandism. We do not now believe that he will be in any way prominent In 1904. That his counsel will be asked is beyond doubt. and we'll will it be for the Party and the country if that counsel is needed and fol- lowed. There Is nothing now to indicate that he will be the leader, but there is everything to show that his Is the kind of Democracy to win and that no other kind stands any show of success. Abuse of him may do harm, but cannot possibly do good. Those who persist in it are cast ing stumbling blocks in the path of Democracy. They would be better en- gagged in fighting the enemy instead oi trying to enact the role of Joab. There are real enemies of Democracy outside the Party, and there are real bars to success inside the Party. Let the guns of Democratic fighters be turned on these two classes of enemies, and not be con tinually used against men like MT. Cleve- land, who are not obtrusive or oficiousi but who have been safe leaders in the past and will be safe counsellors in the future, if called on. War on MT. Cleve- land is unjust, ungenerous and unprofit- able to the Democracy.