Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-06-02
Fiue Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents
BY JAMES MORGAN.
I1Ia Demncrafi0 Moses
BY JAMES MORGAN.

GROVER CLEVELAND was the
Moses whom Destiny hid In the bull
rushes that he might in good time
lead the Democrats out of their "a
years bondage to defeat. The times
demanded a new deal, and this called
for a new man.
When the President-elect arrived in
Washington. 1t may well be that he
could not unaided have found his way
to the White House. Certainly he had
never been IN it. Some say ne never
had been in town before and another
story has it that he had visited 1t once,
but only for a few hours while he
hurried through some legal business.
Nevertheless. the heavy figure of the
unknown President-elect stalk
ed into the unfamiliar Senate Chamber
with calm self-possession. Nor did
he nervously tumble a manuscript and
read his inaugural, as the custom is.
The veteran Statesmen. in whose
midst he stood for the first time.
should have been warned by the spec
tacle of this novice on the National
stage. striding out onto the eastern
portico OF the Capitol without a sheet
of paper in his hand and coolly adj
dressing in his high. penetrating voice
the largest audience ever assembled
for an inauguration.
AS he took the oath he departed
from the time-honored precedent of
swearing on a new copy of the Scrip
lures, which the clerk of the Supreme
Court always has in readiness for the
occasion. He had brought his own,
the old, faded Bible his mother ave
him when he left his boyhood home.
And on its fly leaf was the inscription
her fond hand had written to Stephen
Grover Cleveland.
Here was a man who was to make
his own precedents, a man who was
to care for nothing h a had happened
before he happened. The first Presi-
dent after the Civil War to have had
no part in that strife. he was without
a political past. and his face was turn
ed wholly to the future.
Three of his seven Cabinet mem
bers he took from the South, which
had been barred for a quarter of CEN
fury. On the other hand, he appoint
ed a negro 10 the best-paying office in
the District of Columbia.
He struck dismay to the greedy
hopes of the Democrats. after their
long wandering in a wilderness with
out spoils. by announcing that he
would let the Republican office-hold-
ers finish their terms. with the excep-
ton OF those who had been guilty of
offensive partisanship." When the
Republican Senate attempted to inter
fere with such removals as he lie
num- AS cpJttANh ~ NiV VI IA
old statute after an existence of near
ly 20 years of almost innocuous desue-
ltude." That phrases was too much for
the Senators and the act was repeal
ed.
Although a strong partisan, who
appointed none but Democrats. Cleve-
lands stiff-necked resistance TO his
party's clamor for a clean sweep did
more to dull the abnormal appetite
for public place than anything that
had been done before in 60 years.
When Samuel j. Tilden was asked If
this new leader had backbone, the old
sage of Greystone ~squeaked, Back
bone! He has SO much of it. it makes
him stick out in 'front.'"
Never could anyone in politics say no
more ungraciously han Cleveland. His
grudging. disdainful doing out of jobs
robbed office-seeking of Its joy, max
ing it a slow, wearisome and humiliat-
ing business.
Although he was an utter stranger
to the public men of the country. n
the Democrats were without training
in official positions, his little gray eyes
were shrewd detectors of merit In the
procession of applicants hat passed
before him, and he brought into the
service of the Government a large
company of able men. Not that all
his appointees were wisely chosen. But
a Senator or Representative who
foisted upon him an unworthy con-
stituent remained a marked man.
We'll" he snarled through his nose
10 one such offender. who came again
with a recommendation, We'll. do you
want me to appoint another horse
thief for your"
The unresting industry of the Pres
lident and his long hours. stretching
far into the night, were the despair Of
his subordinates. He was the hard
est worked man in Washington, n
his attention to the details of his ad-
ADMINISTRATION were more a fault than
la virtue. HE would rather do some
thing badly for himself" said Tilden,
than have somebody else do ii WELL"
He did not prove to be a construc-
tive statesman. He ventured upon nc
experiments in law giving. h only
notable legislative measure of his term
Having been the establishment of the
Interstate Commerce Commission,
which he approved, but did not in
|itiate. The real service, that Cleve-
land did was to set up a new standard
flor public life and party leadership.
And the country never since has toler-
lated a descent to the old standard. His
bold independence. his self-forgettipg