THE SORANTON' TRIBUTE FRIDAY MOttNTJSTGr, MARCH 5, 1897.
9
THE MEMBERS OF
M'KINLEY'S CABINET
Brief Sketches of Those Who Will Over,
sec the Country's Business.
FEW EVER HELD ANY OFFICE
1'coplo Who Hrivo Attained IUrIi
Plnccs from Jiowly Hcsslnninc,'
Aided Only by American Push and
Pcrsovcronco.
Washington, D. C Mnrch 4. Senator
John Sherman, secretary of state, who
lias been the author, sponsor or de
fender of some of the most important
measures in our legislation, was born
at Lancaster, O., May 10, 1823, and left
an academy at 15 years of age to take
a position with a government survey
ing party. It lacks but one years of
half a century since John Sherman was
chosen a delegate to the Whit? na
tional convention of ISIS. It is more
than forty years since he entered the
house of representatives, and he may
b.e said to have come Into the senate
with President Elncoln't first adminis
tration, for lie took his seat In that
body March 23, 1861. He championed the
national banking system when It was
deemed an Innovation; he shaped the
refunding act and that providing for
the resumption of specie payments
which he, as secretary of the treusury
under President Hayes, put In opera
tion. When Garfield succeeded Hayes
Mr. Sherman returned to the senate.
LYMAN J. GAGE.
Lyman J. Gage, president of the First
National bank of Chicago, 111., Is per
haps the most popular man In that city.
Even "Tommy" Morgan, the leader of
the Chicago Socialists, approves Mr.
Gage's appointment, He says that Mr.
Gage Is the best man of any whom Mc
Kinley would be likely to appoint. No
man in the city Is more approachable
than the head of the city's biggest
bank. Nobody stops the visitor on his
way to see him. Mr. Gage Is willing to
seen anybody who wants to talk with
htm if lie Is not too busy just at that
moment.
He is Chicago's foremost citizen, and
there never has been n movement In
Chicago which was for the good of the
city, for the good of the people, or for
the good of what Mr. Gage never calls
the "common people," in which he lias
not borne an active part.
As bank president his salary Is $25,
000. As secretary of the treasury he
will receive but $8,000. Mr. Guge Is not
rich. His private fortune is not In ex
cess of $200,000, and he Is very far from
being the multi-millionaire which some
of the papers have called him.
He begun his career as a banker at
the age of 1" in Home, N. Y. Then he
was ofilce boy in the Oneida Central
bank, of that town, to which his pa
rents had removed seven years before.
Their old home had been De Huyter,
in Madison county, N. Y., where Ly
man Judson Gage had been born on
June 2S, 1836. He stayed In Home two
years, and then went west to seek ills
fortune.
RAPID IUSE AS A BANKER.
In Chicago he could ilnd no openings
for clerks In banks. Therefore Guge
went to work In u pinning mill. He
spent only a few months shoving lum
ber, when the manager, noticing Ills in
telligence, gave him a place In the of
fice, where he remained until 1S5S.
Then he re-entered the banking busi
ness, becoming a bookkeeper for the
Merchants' Savings, Loan and Trust
company. From that time his rise In
the profession of banking was rapid.
Within a year lie had become paying
teller; thenasslstant cashter.and finally,
nt the age of 25 years, he was cashier of
the bank. Twenty-eight years ago he
began his connection with the First
National bank, having been appointed
cashier. Even then he was the virtual
manager of the Institution, which pros
pered greatly. When It was reorgan
ized in 1S82 he was elected vice presi
dent, and In 1S91 he succeeded S. M.
Nickerson as president. He is down
at his olllce before the bank opens in
the morning. He seldom comes down
town In a carriage, unless Mrs. Gage
is going to drop him on' on her way to
do some shopping, Usually he goes
down on a lumbering stage called a
"carette." Often he sits alongside the
driver, with whom he is quite confi
dential. Mr. Gage has never lipid an
office. The nearest approach to this
was when he was president of the
Chicago board of directors of the
World's fair. When It was decided that
the fair should be held In Chicago
there was no talk of any one else for
the presidency of the board of directors.
It was he who prevented the selection
of the lake front as the site. Mr. Gage
resigned from the presidency of the
World's fair when lie was made presi
dent of the First National bank. In 1891.
There has never been any public
movement in Chicago In which Mr,
Gage has not been Interested. The civic
federation, the great municipal reform
association, which Is directly responsl
ble for whatever good there is In the
Chicago city government, whb organ
ized largely through his efforts, and he
has been president of it for two years
He lias not been a strong party man,
but he has always voted for Republi
cans In preference to Democrats, and
Blaine is the only Republican he has
voted against as a president.
He presided over the conferences be
tween bankers, socialists, anarchists
and single taxers in Chicago, which fol
lowed the riots, and often had the meet
ings In his own parlor.
In social life Mr. Gage is also popular.
He is a member of the two leading
clubs of Chicago the Chicago club und
Union League club. He is a member
and former president of the Commercial
club, membership of which Is limited
to sixty. It is popularly called the
Millionaires' club. Mr. Gage was the
llrst president of the Hankers' club.
In 1S83 he was elected president of the
American Bankers' association, and
held tills office three successive years,
He is a patron of art and has a fine
library.
'RUSSELL A. ALGER,
The career of General Russell A, Al
ger, who will huve the war portfolio In
President McKinley', cabinet, Is an en
couraging study for those who have
life still before them. He has risen to
his present distinction and success by
controlling circumstances, by attacking
and conquering obstacles, by seeing and
improving opportunities, by a good un
derstanding and careful conservation
and employment of gifts and by pluck,
energy and honesty.
At thirteen years of ago he was left
an orphan, with a parent's responsibil
ities. He had a brother and sister both
younger than himself. That was Ills
Inheritance. Of worldly ioods he was
absolutely destitute. But lie possessed
resolution, integrity and courage, and
he went to work. He has been at work
ever since.
When lie reached the age of twenty
one lie was qualified to teach a district
pcliool, and took up thut occupation, In
a year or two he was qualified for ad -
mission to the bar and went to Cleve-
land, O., to enter upon ills profession.
On the last day of 1860 he set out for
Michigan with a little borrowed capital
and entered Into the. lumber business
ut Grand Rapids with a friend. The
following year the young men lost
everything they possessed by the fail
ure of a Chicago firm, young Alger
having In the meantime married,
The breaking out of the civil war
opened a now and exciting chapter In
Ills life, it was during the August af
ter Fort Sumter was fired upon that lie
enlisted In the Second Michigan cavalry
and was soon after made captain of
Company C. A brother captain wns
Philip H. Sheridan. When Gordon
Granger, the colonel of his regiment,
was promoted lie sent Captain Alger
as an emissary to Governor Blair to
induce him to appoint Sheridan, the
acting commissary on General Hal
leck's staff, to the vacant command.
In this service lie was entirely success
ful, und thus Identified himself with
v n l
JAMES A.
Postmaster
the start that cave the great cavalry
officer his rapid rise. Alger served un
der him at the battle of Boonville, Mo
where lie was wounded and taken pris
oner, but escaped the same day. About
a year after his enlistment he was
made lieutenant colonel of the Sixth
Michigan cavalry and colonel of the
Fifth two or three months before the
close of tile war. Before that also he
had been brevetted brigadier gen
eral of volunteers for gallant and mer
itorious service at Trevllle Station, and
the June following the close of the war
he was brevetted major general for
general "gallant and meritorious" ser
vice. It is said that during his mili
tary career he was in more than sixty
battles and minor engagements. He
went through the battle of Gettysburg
unharmed, but was seriously wounded
nt BoonesborouKh. Maryland, in less
than a week after tho more memorable
conlllct. The wirr following lie was
employed by President Lincoln in con
fidential service, and while thus en
gaged visited nearly every army In the
Held.
After the war he returned to Michi
gan, and laid the foundation for a for
tune in lumber. In 1S34 he was elected
governor by the largest Republican,
vote ever cast in tho stat?. He has
three sons and three daughters, and it
has long beer, his custom to buy a suit
of clothes for every newsboy In Detroit
for Christmas.
JOHN D. LONG.
Of Hon. John Davis Long, who is to
be secretary of the navy under Mr.
MeKinley's administration, it may be
said that he has a positive gift for
popularity.
To know him is to like him. His pub
lic career lias covered but 22 years. He
was 37 years old when he took his
seat in the house of representatives, for
iff 53$ mm
Vi t HIT, Jffiw V i
CORNELIUS N. BLISS,
Secretary uf the Interior.
he was bom in Buekfleld, Me., October
27, 1S3S. Ho was the son of parents
who had neither poverty nor riches, but
possessed tho golden mean which en
ables so many New England rural fam
ilies to look forward to sending pans
Into the woild well educated. Mr.
Long entered Harvard, where lie grad
uated in 1857. some months before lie
had attained his nineteenth birthday,
He was admitted to the bar In 1SG1,
but did not succeed In Buekfleld, where
he hung out ills sh'lngle, so returned to
Boston. In tho house of 1875 lie gained
un Immense and Immediate popularity
and 'when Its successor met and found
Mr. Long a member he was the almost
spontaneous choice for speaker. This
position he held in 1S76, '77 ami '78. He
hud tho great art of getting tho house
to work without letting it realize that it
was being pushed. He was elected gov
ernor of Massachusetts In 1879, 1680
and 1S81, defeating General Butler.
Ho was sent to tho Forty-eighth, Forty-ninth
and Fiftieth congresses, whero
ho confirmed on the stago of natlonul
J affairs the reputation he had won in
Massachusetts. Greatly interested in
temperance work through the agency of
mon;l suasion, he bus long been presi
dent of the Massachusetts Total Absti
nence society. An active Unitarian, ho
lias also been president of the Unitarian
club.
"1 have no especial aptitude for tha
nnvy department," said he, recently,
"no more than nny well-lnfonucd man
who is Interested In all public matters.
11 was simply a question of wanting a
man from New England, and when Mr.
Dlngloy refused to go Into tho treasury
department Major McKinlcy asked If t
would accept a cabinet place. As I un
derstand it, the work of tho navy de
partment is divided aniotigiwoll-organ-lzed
bureaus, whoso officers1 understand
what Is needed."
JOSEPH M'KENNA.
"lie is a careful, painstaking, labor
ious, honorable and just Judge," snld
one of the members of the San Francis-
GARY,
General.
co bar of Judge Joseph McKonna, who
will be attorney general. Judge Me
Kenna Is not, strictly speaking, a Cali
lornian. He has resided in that state
continuously since 1855, in which year
he came to the Pacific coast. Ho was
born In Philadelphia on August 10,
1S43. His appearance today is that of
a man of 40, and ware It not for the
slight tinge of gray in his hair lie could
pass for a still younger man. Mr. Mo
Kennn is a member of the Roman Cath
olic church, worshipping at St. Mary's
Cathedral, San Francisco.
In politics James McKenna Is, of
course, a staunch Republican.' His ex
perience in public life dates back to
1S75, when lie was elected to the as
sembly of the state of California. In
1S76 he received tho nomination for
congress In the Third congressional
district of California, but was defeated,
the district being Democratic. He did
not despair of being a congressman,
however, and, upon leceivlng the nom
ination for the third time, was elected
In 1SS1 to the Forty-ninth congress. He
was successively elected to the Fiftieth,
i'ltty-nrst and Fifty-second con
gresses, and, while serving in the last
was appointed by President Harrison a
United States circuit judge. During
the period of his service at Washing
ton it is known that Judge McKenna
was thrown Into contact with Major
McKinley to a considerable extent. He
was a member of tho ways and means
committee, presided over by the presi
dent-elect, which reported the McKin
ley tariff bill to the house.
JAMES WILSON.
The new secretary of agriculture is
spoken of by Iowans who know him
well as a large all-around man. His
career in congress was creditable, but
perhaps not brilliant. His speeches are
substantial rather than eloquent. Mr.
Wilson is a practical farmer und ills
estate In Tama county is said to be
worth $50,000, which signifies a pretty
good Iowa farm.
James Wilson was born August 16,
1835, in Ayshire, Scotland, of parents
belonging to the farming class of the
population. His parents Immigrated to
Connecticut In the spring of 1852, and
began farming In the vicinity of Nor
wich. They came to Iowa in the fall
of 1S55, buying government land In
Tama county, James is the oldest of a
family of fourteen children, Boven boys
and seven girls. His father, John Wil
son, was a stock farmer and began at
an early day to fatten stock for the
eastern market. The family pursued
diversified farming from the beginning,
having the dairy feature prominent
from the llrst us well as that of meat
making. For many years Mr. Wilson
was a teacher in the country schools
near old Bickingham and West Union,
and so poor wuh lie that oven in the
coldest weather he was compelled to go
barefooted. In the course of time lie
accumulated money enough to pur
chase the magnificent farm of twelve
hundred acres which he now owns,
There Is probably not another farm In
tho state so well Improved In all re
spects. For many yenrs he was a
breeder of fancy cattle, and In that
business he hns made a competence.
He served several terms in tho Iowa
assembly.and was elected to the Forty
third and Forty-fourth congresses. Ho
retired at the end of his second term
to ills farm, when lie was appointed by
Governor Sherman a member of tho
railway commission. After serving one
year he resigned to lake his sent In tho
Forty-eighth congress. At tho end of
tills congiess ho again retired to ills
fnrm, when several editors of county
papers arranged with hint to write
weekly letters for their papers, which
ho lias continued until the present
time. In 1391 he was elected director
of the Iowa srtntlon and professor of
agriculture by the trustees of the Iowa
Agricultural college, positions lie has
held up to tlie present time. The col
lege during the time lie has been con
nected with It hns had an era of great
prosperity. When Mr. Wilson was in
the house the other James Wilson was
in the senate from tli'e same state, and,
what was more curious still, James
Wilson succeeded Jumes Wilson McDItl
hi that senate. But tho two Wilsons
were distinguished In congress In tills
way: The senator came from Fairfield,
and ills middle Initial was F., so he
was known as "Fairfield" Wilson, so
that people usually supposed that was
Ills, middle name, and there Is nothing
In the congressiotu.l directory to show
thut It was not. The other Jumes Wil
son, now selected fur tho culnot, had
now no middle Initial, but ns he came
from Tama county, lie wusjkiiuwn as
"Tama Jim," and so the twb Wilsons
were distinguished.
JAMES A. GARY.
James A. Gary is the new postmaster
general, He wears n heavy beard and
moustache, and has all the outward and
visible slgn3 of a man of substance. He
Is a man with whom politics has been
more a recreation than a profession.
He Is first a business man, having made
ills millions In manufacturing cotton
goods, but commercial mutters have
never been quite so pressing ,that lie
could not find time to take a hand in
public affairs when questions of real
Interest have arisen.
Ever since the Republican party was
formed lie lias been working and hoping
for a party victory in Maryland. He
had accepted nominations for congress
and governor when there was no pros
pect of success but after each defeat
tho Republicans rallied, Mr. Gary con
tributed liberally and the fight went on.
Now that success lias finally come to
Maryland Republicans Mr. Gary re-
ueivrs as ms rewuru HIS llrst olllce.
For many years Mr. Gary lias held
the position of "one of Maryland's fore
most citizens." In every list of repre
sentative men of Baltlmoio his name
is among Hip first, whether in com
merce, politics or public reform.
But with all this conservatism there
is no business man in Baltimore more
up-to-date than the millionaire merchant-politician.
He works from 9 a.
m. to 4 p. m. every day on business.
He is a director in half a dozen corpor
ations and Is as active as any young
man In Baltimore. As president of tho
Merchants' and Manufacturers' asso
ciation he represents the commercial
industries of the city.
Mr. Gnry was born in Connecticut in
1S33, but was taken to Baltimore by
his parents when live years old. The
elder Gary founded the business that
the son now carries on. Mr. Gary has
one of the largest private residences In
the city. Near Coatesvlllo ho has a fine
country place. His family consists of
his wife, one son and seven daughters,
who will take a leading place in official
society of the capital. They are beau
tiful women, of the queenly Baltimore
type.
Mr. Gary entered politics In 1S5S,
when he was nominated for state sena
tor, but was not elected. He was an
Abolitionist and strongly supported
the Union during the war. He first
went as a delegate to a national con
vention In 1S72, and he lias attended
every one since then. He lias been
Maryland's member of the Republican
national committee for elsht years.
CORNELIUS N. BLISS.
Cornelius N. Bliss, the secretary of
the interior, was born in 1S33, at Fall
River, Mass. He traces his ancestry
In this country to the year 1035. He is
head of the wholesale dry goods firm
of Bliss, Fabyan & Co. In politics he
has long been within the city as promi
nent as in business. Until now lie has
treated politics us strictly an avocation
to which he could make no sacrltices
which might interfere with his regular
business. It was strictly upon the
ground of his unwillingness to neglect
his business that he based hla refusal
for the second time some six weeks
ago to accept the portfolio then of
fered him. He once, for a similar rea
son, declined a nomination for the
governorship when the nomination
would lie equivalent to election. He
was one of the earliest and most un
compromising of the promenent antl
Plutt Republicans, and down to a re
cent period maintained the strife
against Iintt. Then, however, there
was a noticeable remission of hostility,
and so far as any explanation could
ever be drawn from Mr. Bliss it was
that the necessity of harmony In the
party required a non-lnslsence upon
factional differences. He has served
ills party well In purely organization
offices, having often been a delegate to
city, county and state conventions. In
1SSI lie was chairman of the commit
tee of 100 business men appointed at a
public meeting in Cooper Union to at
tend the national convention in Chi
cago for the purpose of urging the
nomination of President Arthur. In
1889 he took an Important part In the
Pan-American conference of that year,
Mr. Bliss holds In the business world
many positions of honor und trust. He
has been chairman of the executive
committee and Is vice president of the
Chamber of Commetce; lie Is vice pres
ident of the Fourth National bank, a
director In the Home and Equitable In
surance companies and the Central
Trust company, governor and treasurer
of the New York hospital and chair
man of the uoaru or trustees of the
Broadway tabernacle. He was treas
urer of the Republican national com
mittee In the last two campaigns.
WALL STREET CELEBRATES.
rings, n Song mid Cheers on tho
1'Ioor of the Stock Rxclinugo.
New York, March 4. The Inauguration
of President McKinley means much to
those engaged In financial enterprises, and
the event wus quietly celebrated In thut
part of tho city where the banks, the sub
treasury und the Stock Exchange is lo
cated. Heforo noon flags began to glvo color
to Wall, Nassau, Broad, William, New
streets and Exchange Place, Lower
Broadway was also dotted with tho Stars
and Sullies.
It was not until noon that the Stock
Exchange celebrated. Just us tho bauds
of tho clock pointed tho hour several hun
dred brokers gathered on tho tloor und
began singing "America." They sang
with a will and not unmusically. Then
followed thiee cheors for McKinley, und
buislnefcs was resumed,
THE SUN'S VIEW OF
GROVER CLEVELAND
Wlia( 4 Charles A. Dana Has to Say
About (lie Ex-Presiihul.
A WORMWOOD-SBASONED FAREWELL
Powerful Searchlight Is Turned Up
on the Itutiring President's .11 any
N'onknosscs-A Review of diame
ter That Savors lif the Proverbial
Plain, Unvarnished Tnlo.
This is tho Now York Sun's farewell:
Tho fairest estimate ot Orover Cleve
land's public career would perhaps bo one
rm $ l
JOSEPH McKENNA,
Attorney General.
separating rigidly his achlovemnts from
his personal charcterlstics, and admitting
nplther friendly nor hostile consideration.
The question then would be, not what Is
he, but what has lie really done for lits
party, his country, or mankind In gen
eral? Great men are finally measured in
that way. If it were now possible to con
sider Mr. Clevlnnd's publico career apart
ftom the enmities lie tins provoked and
the adulation ho has enjoyed, the conclu
sions of lilstoty concerning him would
doubtless be very accurately prefigured.
Hut we are confronted at the outset by
tho circumstance, without parallel proba
bly, in American experience, that the sell
appointed custodians of the twenty-second
piesldent's fame demand that he
shall bo judged according to another
standard tlian that of accomplished re
sults. As a citizen, it Is not his deeds
that are to be weighed for valuation, but
his Indefinite posing as a type and on
exemplar. As a politician it is not a
question of equivalent rendered for hon
ors conferred and confidence bestowed,
but wo must constantly remember that ho
1st greater than his party, and that tho
fortunes of his party under his leadership
are of trilling significance when com
pared with his personal fortunes. As a
Democrat he must not be Judged by his
fidelity to the principles that make the
party, and that have marked and moulded
Its long line of eminent worthies front
Jefferson to Tlldcn; for he is greater than
Democracy. As a statesman In suprcm
olllce he is not subject to tho tests and
limitations established for the safeguard
ing of our system of Institutions; for he
Is greater than the olllce filled by Wash
ington and Lincoln. As an American his
personality emancipates him from prece
dents and entitles him to promulgate a
revised patriotism, and to decide, obiter,
what constitutes true Americanism; for
he is more patriotic than patriotism, and
greater than America. Such is the extra
ordinary basis upon which the impartial
critic of this day or future days is invited
to cons'der Mr. Cleveland's record; and
the tr.!tatlon forces the Investigator, in
spite of any reluctance which he may en
tertain, to take largely Into account the
JAHES P.
Secrrtury uf
heart and soul and cranial convolutions
of the limn himself.
HIS ANTECEDENTS.
Up to tho ago of 45 or thereabouts Mr.
Cleveland lived the narrow and not al
ways refined or regular llfo of a ismali
local politician and uetty professional
man; and such uterances on public ques
tions as ho wus then prompted to make
ueio not heard beyond the Buffalo beer
biiops of Mr, Goetz and Mr. Mergenhn
gen. He was elected sheiilT. and stolidly
executed with his own hands tho most r
pulslvo functions of that olllce. He was
cho?en mayor, and Industriously wroto
communications to tho common counolt
charged with ponorous genarallties which
sounded lial enough at tho time, but were
destined later to become parts of nu Im
posing ritual. A political Occident gave
him the Democratic nomination for gov
ernor of Now York In the year when tho
Republican party was lent by the striro
of the Stalwart and Half Breed factions;
and his plurality of nearly 200,000 ovw
iioor Folger was at once characteristically
accepted by himself, and by h'.a now in
creasing contingent of political adherents,
us u special tribute to his individual qual
iho.itlans. At Albany he was Industrious,
with that minute Industry which consid
ers self as an IndUpensablo factor la
w!KMk y till f
every ndmlnlstrntlvo detail; and he was
likewise Independent with that Independ
ence which springs from a growing mas
nlllcatlon ot the third vowel, At this
stage he was described by our neighbor,
the Times, as' "a parochial stutesmatij"
and the samo Journal ventured to cast un
warranted doubts upon his strict honesty
as a public olllclal, Hut It happened that
Mr. Cleveland's term nt Albany was co
Incident with the development in national
politics of two general conditions, which
ills shrewd senso of pcrsonhl opportunity
tho habit of mind which. impelled air.
Tlldcu to characterize him ua "tho most
selfish politician I have ever known"
fastened upon and utilized for nil they
were worth, One was tho returning wavo
of Democratic success which had pre
vailed Ineffectually In tho election of 1876.
The other wns tho appearance In our
polities of a body of voters of a now
school, nnxlotis to Ilnd a hero III to reflect
their own Intense sclf-cotisclousncss,
ready to turn to any issue branded Re
form, and rather Indifferent as to actual
performances, If the performances were
accompanied by nobly resonant words,
These lnlluences, together with his for
tuitous majority for governor of New
York and tho general obscurity which Is
sometimes styled availability, put Mr.
Cleveland into the white house twelve
years ago today, as the accidental repre
sentative of a hundred years of Democra
cy, and of Democracy's hopes for a cen
tury to come.
HIS CONCEIT.
All this Is now ancient history, but a
brief review of It has been necessary to
an understanding of the evolution of the
man and the significance of this second
term, which the merciful course of Time
and tho hand of a beneficent Providence
have now happily brought to a close. Ho
began as an Accident, he developed as an
Ego, and he ends as a Destroyer.
Next, as to the development of the Ego,
This process has gone on swiftly, as swift
ly as in his always sapient judgment tho
public forbearance would tolerute. He bus
studied and learned in progress not only
the extent of the market for solemn didac
tics, .but also the danger line for personal
assertion and arroiwtlon. The role of his
ambition has been that assigned to him by
the complaisant Bayard, that of the strong
ruler of a violent people, but lie has as
sumed It gradually. Between the first of
the first term and the second half of tho
second term, wherein the period of in
trigue for a third term merged into the
final phase of utter carelessness of con
sequences, there is all. the difference that
exists between politic reserve and reck
less self-disclosure. He went Into of
fice in 1SS5 with the declaration that he
knew he had been "chosen to represent
tho plans, purposes, and policy of tho
Democratic party." His natural vanity,
abeted by the entreaties of some incom
parable fools, convinced him before long
that his mission was to formulate anew
the plans, to determine for himself tho
purposes, and to dictate out his own in
wards the policies of a party that had
once been Democratic. Ho crawled like a
hermit crab. Into the interior of a great
political organization, occupying It, ap
propriating It to himself and his own
glory and advancement, and constituting
WILSON,
Agriculture,
himself, as far and as fast as ho was
able, its living monopolist und Its motive
puwer. The conceptions uf political grati
tude, representative capacity, responsi
bility to Democracy's past and for its
future, were speedily eradicated from hU
mind, If, indeed, they had ever been im
planted there. To Washington he carried
amazing Ignorance of every political and
economical question, and an unparalelled
lack of fixed convictions on any political
subject beyond the minor matters of ad
ministrative routine; and this absence und
this uncertainty he concealed behind
words laboriously chosen from the dic
tionary. He btudled diligently his copy
of the "Statesman's Manual," and found
in Its pages both ideas and phrases which
needed only his utterance to become his
own. Probably to his immense surprise
nt first, ho found thut his platitudinous
versions of venerable Ideas were hailed
by a considerable and very voluble part
of tho American public as tho revelations
and Inspirations of a vast, original politi
cal genius. Thus there grew up In him
tho firm und apparently sincere belief,
perhaps the moat characteristic and cer
tainly the most amusing feature of his
Intellectual make-up, that a truth needed
to be accepted and uttered by him In or
der to possess public Importance. He had
discovered early tho potency of the word
Heform.but reform was, iiptreform un
til the Word wirH'phUii.tJMfyith?Cleve
land. Successively the various Issues to
his attention, or his always keen expe
dient, were nbsorbed Into his capacious
sclf-consclousneas und became part of tho
Cleveland whole, and went forth again
ns emanations ot Cleveland. Thus ho bo
camo greater than Democracy.
auowixa aitEATKH.
The psychological process by which ho
also bocomo greater than the presidential
office Itself -was similar In origin and de
velopment, Hn entered the white houso
with tho declaration, suggested to hit) then
comparatively modest mind by tho utter
anccs of some of his Democratic prede
cessors, that the ambition of tho oocu
pnnt of that mansion to get himself re
elected, constituted nt once tho most se
rious absncla to thu proper performance
of executive duties, nnd the gravest men
ace to tho permanenco of our republican
Institutions. Ho began, In fact, by pledg
ing himself practically to n single torm.
It Is not profitable to trace step by step
the evolution of the candidate for a Beo
ond nomination, the cnndldato for a third
nomination and a second term, tho un
successful candidate for a fourth nomlna.
tlon and a third term, nnd the man who
goes out of olllce today upheld by tho
entire Mugwump circlet In. his private
uenei nun uie country win discover dur
ing the next four years that he Is Indis
pensable to Its. welfare, und will surely
demand! his return In spite ot traditions
and unwritten laws. He Is not wholly to
blame for this. Thu lnlluences which
have wrought that great change in twelvo
years are botli from without ami from
within him. From a chief magistrate
loudly celbrated at the stnrt as tho Ideal
devotee of law and constitutional restric
tions, he has educated himself and has
been educnted by others to be, In his view
of his office and Its functions, tho nearest
approach to the Irresponsible dictator, tha
self-contained ruler, that we havu over
had as president. He has done more than
any other president to famllarlzu the pub
lic mind with the dangerous idea that a
personal government, a substantial auto
cracy, Is more convenient and In somo
respects preferable to government by tho
co-ordinate departments which the
founders of the republic erected as a
check against tho aggrandizement of any
ambitious Individual. Dining the last
half of his second term his attitude In this
regard has been openly offensive. The
congress Is a nuisance, avd he Is an
noyed when he ha.s the national legisla
ture "on his hands." Tho constitutional
question between tho senate and tho ex
ecutive ns to their relative powers In the
shaping ot foreign policy Is decided by
him off-hand In his own favor, and upon
his own unsupported authority. This ul
timate period In tho development of tho
man who Is larger than the olllce of presi
dent is marked yet by a pretence of re
spect for law, but It must be. law as laid
down by Cleveland, or as Interpreted by
him. Thero is yet; much tulk, In the old so
norous fushlori, of direct responsibility to
tho people, the source of supremo power,
who have constituted him as a sort ot uni
versal trusteo and receiver; but tho peo
ple he means are the people who clamor
for more Clevelnnd. Even in the subor
dinate but not less significant matter of
tho use of government property for pri
vate convenience, and the employment of
olllclal opportunities for personal gratifi
cation or prdlVti the Cltlaens of this coun
try have gradually become accustomed
to the same dumb, stolid Insensibility to
restraints which have appealed to con
science or the creed ot propriety In the
cases of twenty-two other presidents,
with possibly one partial exception. From
Pan-Electilc to Perrlne, from Wall street
to Ilntteras Inlet, he has proceeded upon
tho theory that a unique personality nulli
fies the ordinary limitations affecting
tho president of tho United States.
Such Is tho metaphysical and personal
aspect of Clcvelandlsm. What results
have theso qualities wrought?
RESULTS ACHIEVED.
Very meagre, except In words, and even
more meagre In nouns than'ln ndjectlves,
Is the record of nctual achievement now
exhibited as tho Hon. Grover Cleveland's
title to bo regarded as "the greatest pres
ident since Washington." lie took up
civil service reform, with tho principles
of selection for supposed merit, of perma
nence of tenure, nnd of federal non-interference
in elections. Ho applied those
principles by the wholesale and with con
sequences whereof the value is yet to bo
determined by experience, whenever his
personal fortunes had nothing to lose by
their application; and whenever he per
ceived any benefit to himself from their
violation, he violated them openly and
defiantly. He took up tariff reform, used
It for ono year to procure his own renoml
nation and the overwhelming defeat of
his party, and then traded polltlcaly dur
ing four years of retirement upon his
constantly proclaimed purpose to conquer
or die with that cause; and having thereby
got back itrfo ofilce, he deliberately plot
ted and betrayed the reform which hla
party had demanded, and gave the coun
try a ridiculous and Ineffective, tariff act,
plus a socialistic Income tax, which the
Supremo court overthrew. Ho found a
consistent protective tariff that produced
a revenue adequato for tho government's
needs' and a surplus large enough for
safety; and ho left an incongruous pro
tective tariff that produces annually an
immense deficiency, and. that has, during
its dishonest and dieful existence, de
volved upon the country financial confu
sion and business distress beyond the
power of figures to measure or ot lan
guage to describe. He lias Increased tho
public debt, In a time of peace with all
the world, by more than a quarter of a
billion of dollars. He has borrowed
money on false pretences, compelling tho
taxpayers to pay for his disastrous tariff
experiment while informing them that
they were sustaining the government's
credit. Ho has rendered, even if indirect
ly and disingenuously, some service in tho
way of helping to maintain a sound cur
rency; but In so doing, and always with
his selfish Interests steadily In view, he
ha3 broken tho Democracy in pieces, re
inforced the hosts of socialism and anar
chy, and wrecked for the time, If not Ir
reparably, the futuie of one of this na
tion's great historical political organiza
tions. He has destioyed the Democratic
idea as a living force, and has given us In
Its place a socialism of discouragement
and discontent which finds Its heaviest
ammunition in .Mr. Cleveland's own let
ters and speeches. Ho has sounded tho
bugle call for the enemies of thrift and
the assailants of every owner's rights to
tho accumulations of his ability and in
dustry. The Supreme court, wo say, de
feated his socialistic Income tax; but no
Supreme court, no power under heaven
save tho common sense and common hon
esty of the people, long and vigilantly ex
ercised, can counteract the stimulus
which the forces of disorder have re
ceived through the sullen pessimism and
Inflammatory philosophy ot his socialis
tic teachings. He goes, but they remain,
the most lasting and most pernicious lega
cy ot Clevelandlsm.
ONE BRAVE DEED.-
Once, to his honor, he has been led to
lntervcno for tho suppression ot domestio
riot. Once, ulso to Ids honor, ho has sound
ed a note of genuine Americanism In a
communication to a foreign power. Tho
Chicago strike proclamtlon and the Vene
zuela message shine all the brighter be
ciuihe ot the black background, but be
yond them, ranging through tho whole
dismal story of effort and Intrigue to pre
vent the national expansion, to restore
monarchy In one Island to perpetuate It
In another, to evade tho responsibilities
of neighborhood, humanity, and republi
can sympathy, to avoid our national duty
to our own citizens in prisons at tho mer
cy of butchers, and finally to compensate
for all these outrages of commission and
cilmcs of omission by Juggling tho United
States Into a humbug treaty of perpetual
peace with a nation which tho world has
always had to pay heavily to be peaceful i
running through all tho record of Mr.
Cleveland's domestic and foreign achieve
ments, whero else do you find any con
spicuous deed recorded which Justifies the
Mugwump theory that tho Man tfnd not
tho Principles is what this country needs
at Washington to rule it and to shape Its
destinies?
What wonder .that nn overwhelming
majority of Americans will remember
with heurtfelt gratitude March ), 1897, as
a day ot dullverance and tho starting
point of a new era of good feeling and
hopel