Democratic Sentinel, Volume 8, Number 26, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 25 July 1884 — CLEVELAND. [ARTICLE]

CLEVELAND.

[NewYork Times (lad.Rap.).] There is as little evidence that the workingmen of this State are opposed to Governor Cleveland as there is grourd for such opposition. It will oe observed that most representations to the effect that hi? course as Governor has been unfriendly to the interests of laboring men, and that as a consequence they are unfriendly to him, emanate from those who have no right or authority to speak for workingmen, but who has some grievance of their own against the fearless Governor, or some object to be promoted by stirring up discontent- The first and most persistent in declaring that workingmen are not friendly to Cleveland has been the Tammany leaders. Their purpose was clear to the simplest under-, standing. They had their own reasons for opposing the Governor, which have been sufficiently shown up in the last few weeks. To give any show of strength to their opposition they were forced to claim thathe wou ; d lose votes inthisfcjtate which some other Democratic candidate might get. What votes would he lose ? Tammany would not directly admit that such yotes as it could control would be with-held iroin the nominee because the Governor had made au enemy of Grady and refused to be subservient to the wishes of Kelly, Such an admission would be too honest anu straightforward to come from such a source. .In casting about for a class of voters which could with more or less plausibility be represented as against the Governor, Tammany seized upon the laboring men as a class lor which a grievance might be manulactureu.

WHAT WAS THE GRIEVANCE to be? The workingmen had asked for the establishment oi a bureau of Labor Statistics. It had been created, with the prompt aprroyal of the Governor, and lie had appointed a Commissioner entirely acceptable to tue labor organization ot the State. Ihe demand for the proiiibi’ion of cigar making’ in tenement houses came Iroin the wntki .gmen, The governor signed the bill for mat purpose last vear. The act \vu o declaieu inyalid by the C ourt of Appo N, and auothei was passed which \v»s iuended to obviate the fatal objection- -nised, and this was signed without heai a'ion. PRISON LVHOK. The workingmen nmae a lou : demand for the abolition of cou(rnct labor in the prisons, and one which we have been forced to regard as mi- taken; bnt that proposition was favored by the Governor in his messages and in his signature of the Comstock bill, and his criticism upon the message for an investigating commission- In his general erfUrse Governor Cleveland has shown no special regard for this or that separate interest, but has kept in view the general well-being in which all have a share, but if there is any class to whose demands he has exhibited a friendly leaning, it is the work*, ing class- Out of what, then, was the pretended grievance to be made? Tammany hit upon just tin*, e of the Governor’s veloesor failute., insign hills in his two years of service, and boldly ventured to oa e its pretense on those.

iilE FIVE-CENT PARE BUGBEAR In 1882 there was a loudfdemand for five cent fares on elevated railroads of this city, at all hours- based on the belief that the receipts of the companies would permit it. The Legislature's failure io produce the Crane bill produced a good deal of indignation and had no small effect on the fortunes of Legislators, and last year a similar bill was passed, The Governor heard arguments l or and against it, and gave the subjet I careful consideration. Heconcluded that in view of the previous legislation and

the contract of the Rapid Transit Com 1 mission with the elevated Railroad Companies, the fares coaid not justly or constitutionally be reduced unlees tbe net receipts ot the companies were shown to exceed in per cent- on the capital actually expended. His reasoning convinced such ao earnest and fairminded advocate of the redaction as Theodore Roosevelt, and his conclusions weie subsequently acquiesced in by the anti-Monopoly member of tbe Railroad Commission, Mr. O’Donneil. Moreover, the demand for reduced fares through all hours of tbe day did not come from the workingmen, was not for their benefit, and its failure has never been regarded as a grievance by them. ’Hie other TWO TRUMPED-UP GRIEVANCES were the Governor’s failure to sign th« Mechanics’ Lien bill and the hill regulating i lie hours of car drivers and conductors. Hissed at the late session. It has l>eeii dearly shown ‘hat the toriner was pas.-e-i ill a shape that would have wrought injury aud not benefit to mechanics. and it was precisely on that ground that the Governor refused to sign it. Ills act-was a favor to workingmen. There was never evidence ot a demand for conducto s’and car-drivers’bill. It was introduced by a cheap demagogue as a bid for their favor, but from them nothir g was heard on the subject. This bill simply required that twelve hours should be a day’s work for this particular class ol workers- without providing against a corresponding reduction of wages or preventing contracts for overtime. In refusing to sign it tbe Governor said: *‘l cannot think ibis bill is in the interest of the workingmen.” This, then, is the case ma ’e up, not by the workingmen, but for them, and they are quite promptly repudiating it as Done of tlfcirs. It was made by Tammany in tbe hope of scaring oft support for Clevelaud at Chicago. 11 is taken up now only by small demagogues who wish to gam notoriety or consequence as agitators and supoorters of General Butler iu hi« s Greenback-Anti-Monopoly “racket,” It is based on false pretense and misrepresentation, and tbe worxingmeu are sensible enough not to be fooled with it-