Page:Speeches, correspondence and political papers of Carl Schurz, Volume 4.djvu/386

352 men in the Democratic party. The Treasury Department should be given to one of these foremost men. So also should the State and Interior. The party is not yet out of the woods. It is not in a position to take risks. Its majorities in the pivotal States are narrow and uncertain. It is under the necessity of doing its very best and of seeming to do so.

The three men of widest and solidest reputation in the Democratic party who may be considered available for Cabinet places are Thurman, Bayard and McDonald. These are the men who have come to the front by ten years competitive examination and this is proved by the fact that they stood next to Mr. Cleveland at the Chicago Convention.

In my judgment a Democratic Cabinet, in this time of trial, should contain all of these men. A Cabinet which did not contain any one of them would not look much like a Democratic Administration. Unless some of the “old hard heads”—the men of experience, and of reputation gained in the combats of the forum and in the competition of statecraft—are found in the Administration there will be no certainty about anything. Intentions may be ever so good, yet the public will never be reasonably sure of what will be done in any given emergency. Mr. Manning has had little more experience with National legislation and administration than Governor Cleveland himself. His reputation is that of a politician rather than of a statesman—a politician of the better class, indeed, but still coming short of what ought to be expected in an office which will be in some sense the keynote of the Administration. The Departments of State and Treasury should be filled by men of whom it will be generally said by intelligent and observing persons in all parts of the country, “We know where to find them; their characters are established, their mettle has been proved, their