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Show -jSj!- PARTY COMPLAINTS. I 1 ; ; I 1 That President Cleveland is not popu-I popu-I ij . I . larwith the professional politicians and ; 1 1 : j the "boys" of the Democratic party is hi j certain. The latest complaint about him I ;; ( ' comes from Brooklyn. It seems that the S ' ' leaders tliere have been urging Secretary j ;. i Whitney to discharge Republican em- 1 ; i s 1 j i jj ployes in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, and , ; this he has absolutely refused to do. His : - . 'refusal has caused a great deal of indig- ' ' "i nation among local leaders, and will no j 1 i';4;i j doubt cause the breach between the I i 1 1 ' ji friends of good government and reform, I , h J and the upholders of the spoils system to I s j I; be greatly widened. If the Democratic I j ! ' I party can only succeed on the theory that 1 ' ! to the victor belongs the spoils, and that 1 : ; i I h the end of politics is to obtain control of i1 f I the public offices merely for the sake of I -. j v the pay of the offices, then the -Demo- f ' j h i cratic party is no better . thss'- the ; : f , I ij! party "it has succeeded. But- we do j M I not take the Democratic party to be such, j i j and it is certain that when the-party pro- . ! M mulgates a platform of principles and ;it elects a President upon that platform, the I ' ,l it l , man so elected and who adheres to the .; :; l , !, ' platform is far more representative of the Ii j j ji j party than any ward politician and local i1: ! ' ' J - leader. , Jf the employes of the Brooklyn I ' ; i . Nff-y YaVd are honest and competent I M : j j men, is there any reason in the world i i ; j ' why they shoald be removed 1 to make 1-: I r way for another set of .employes? It j ; don't make the ; least bit of difference I';;;'! ' whether, the employes of the.. Brooklyn '! ! ; Navy Yard are Republicans or Democrats, j Ul black or white, so long as thev are' first- T;:: llli r-Hiiil . class and skilled workmen . in shipbuilding. shipbuild-ing. This demand tor the dismissal of ; one set of workmen for the purpose of j giving place to another set of workmen j reminds : us very strongly of the letter j that John Rusirin wrote to 1 the students of the University of Glasgow, when, as j Conservatives, they nominated him as j their candidate for; Rector, andin their J letter to him announcing his nomination i they dwelt at length on the character and j qualities of the Conservative party. In j his reply Buskin asked the Conservative j students of the University of Glasgow in plain straight English, "What in the devil have the students pf the University of Glasgow got to do with politics?" So it may well be asked, What in the devil have the employes of the Brooklyn Navy Yard - got to do with politics? It is a maxim in American politics that public officers are public servants, but many politicians of all parties liave construed it to mean, and have so applied it, that public servants are party tools. Such a construction is wrong, and its practical application has been most pernicious. As Madame Adam said in the first number num-ber of her Revue, "Each age has its task ;" and that is true. And it may be said that each v new era in politics has its task. The advent of the Democratic party to power in 1885, was the coming of a new . era in .Amercan politics, and Grover Cleveland was chosen as the representative of this new-era because he was thoroughly in sympathy with its ideas, and was earnest and honest in . his advocacy of them. In a higher sphere and in a wider field he has but pursued the same policy that he pursued be-, fore his election to the - Presidency of the United States. If the Democratic party shall pass a vote of censure and condemnation upon him . three - years, lience for his policy, if he shall adhere to it; the Democratic party will at the same ! time sound its funeral knell. When Congress Con-gress meets and recommendations are made, and measures approved and disapproved, disap-proved, then only can President Cleveland be fully judged, and we have no hesitation in saying that the. judgment will be in his favor. -if'"' - M |