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 <\^' ^v, 
 
J^ LIFE 
 
 OF 
 
 GROYER CLEYELAND 
 
 WITH A SKETCH OP 
 
 ADLAI E. STEVENSON 
 
 BY 
 
 GEORGE F. PARKER 
 
 EDITOR OF "the WRITINGS AND SPEECHES OF GROVER 
 CLEVELAND" 
 
 V..<3^ 
 
 NEW YORK 
 CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 
 
 104 & 106 Fourth Avenue 
 
COPTRIGHT, 1892, BY 
 
 CASSELL PUBLISHING COMrANT. 
 
 AH rights reserved. 
 
 THE MERSHON COMPANY PRHSi, 
 RAHWAV, N. J. 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The accompanying Life of Grover Cleve- 
 land may be considered a supplement to 
 my volume of his ^^ Writings and Speeches," 
 issued in June last. While making the 
 researches necessary for that, I was struck 
 with the paucity and weakness of the 
 literature that had grown up about this 
 virile political figure. Coming to the 
 front as he did without notice, rounding 
 out a political career in an unprecedentedly 
 brief time, no serious and intelligent 
 attempt had ever been made to bring out 
 in anything like connected form the 
 words and a history of the acts that rep- 
 resented what Mr. Cleveland is, and what 
 he means to the American people. Most 
 of the sketches extant were written in 
 1884 and re-issued in 1888, almost without 
 revision. They are of little value as a 
 record of his career, or an estimate of his 
 character. 
 
 m. 
 
IV PREFACE. 
 
 It was my good fortune to be thrown 
 into intimate relations witli this man, 
 and to discover, as I studied his character, 
 that much biographical material had re- 
 mained unused. This knowledge was util- 
 ized as best I knew how in the editing of 
 the "Writings and Speeches," which was 
 prepared without any attempt at an esti- 
 mate other than that included in the Intro- 
 duction, a composition purely critical both 
 in character and intent. 
 
 It appeared to me that the time was 
 opportune for a brief, comprehensive sketch 
 which should bring together, in a reason- 
 able compass, the events of Mr. Cleveland's 
 life, giving due emphasis to the great polit- 
 ical work he had done since his elec- 
 tion to the Presidency in 1884. I have 
 modestly attempted to do this here; in 
 the main, to sketch only in outline the acts 
 of the man, leaving the reader to turn to 
 the collected writings for his words. I 
 have thus been able to get away from the 
 old-time documentary sketch, which was 
 little more than a collection of letters and 
 speeches. 
 
PREFACE. V 
 
 Whatever faults this volume may have, 
 it is at least an honest attempt to sum up 
 the character of its subject, after a narra- 
 tion, however brief, of his achievements. 
 It has been throughout a labor of love. 
 I have the hio^hest admiration for the man 
 who is the subject of it, and the warmest 
 personal attachment. I believe thoroughly 
 in the enlightened ideas and impulses he 
 represents, and profess the faith of the 
 political party he has both led and regen- 
 erated. This sketch is, therefore, by a 
 friendly hand. The career under discus- 
 sion is not one that has things to be con- 
 cealed. The subject of it is himself open, 
 manly, free from vanity and show, moved 
 by impulses of the highest patriotism, 
 always looking at a question from a moral 
 point of view, and devoted in a degree 
 that few men can be to what he believes 
 to be the best interests of his countrymen. 
 
 Knowing as well as believing all this, 
 I have not had to look for flaws nor to 
 analyze bad or questionable motives and 
 methods, either personal or political. I 
 have simply felt moved, so far as in me 
 
VI PREFACE. 
 
 lay, to " tell the truth." So, if my little 
 work reads like a eulogy, the reasou is 
 not far to seek. I have felt that the mere 
 telling of the story of his life iu plain 
 language makes impossible anything else 
 than praise. This inheres to the character 
 of the man studied, and accords with my 
 own conception of the dignity and useful- 
 ness of the public service he has done and 
 may still do. 
 
 I have given only brief space to his 
 earlier life and struggles. Mr. Cleveland's 
 whole public career, like that of every 
 other man of force, is builded upon the 
 character which came fi-om native abilities, 
 and from his youthful surroundings and 
 days of struggle. It remains true, how- 
 ever, that the public work is the one thing 
 that interests his countrymen. They may 
 like to know something of the foundation 
 and how it was made, but in this case it is 
 the superstructure that is interesting and 
 valuable to them, and they want to know 
 this in reasonable detail. I have reviewed 
 his public service topically, endeavoring to 
 set it forth with sufficient fullness to give 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 the reader a knowledge of his acts. For 
 his words I must refer to his writings and 
 speeches. 
 
 I hope that these two books, complet- 
 ing for the present the study that I started 
 out to make, may find some acceptance as 
 my humble contribution to contemporary 
 history. If I have succeeded even in a 
 small degree, I shall have abundant reward, 
 because my own studies of public men long 
 ago convinced me that it is far more diffi- 
 cult to get fairly accurate information 
 about men of the time than of those 
 whose records have passed finally into 
 history. 
 
 I cannot forbear to make acknowledg- 
 ment to friends who have assisted me. 
 Little has been known about Mr. Cleve- 
 land as a young man. I have consequently 
 deemed myself fortunate in securing from 
 Miss Frances J. Crosby a careful review of 
 his life at that time. This certainly ought 
 not only to add to the interest of my little 
 book, but contribute something to a knowl- 
 edge of the character it treats. 
 
 In like manner his professional career 
 
'^'" PREFACE. 
 
 has Dot attracted the attention that it 
 deserved. Many men kno^. him as an 
 excellent lawyer; few know that he was 
 practically the leader of the bar in a great 
 and important community. The estimate 
 made of him by his former partner and 
 long, ime personal friend, Mr. Wilson S 
 Bissell, will, I think, contribute in some 
 degree to supply this lack. 
 
 Mr Eichard Watson Gilder, long Mr 
 Cleveland's friend and for some years my 
 own, from his abundant store of knowl- 
 edge, has given me a kindly and critical 
 analysis of his friend and mine. I esteem 
 this the more keenly because Mr. Gilder 
 seldom writes for publications other than 
 those of his own company, and for the 
 iurtlier reason that, without solicitation, he 
 kindly sent me the letter included in this 
 volume. It is a warm and sympathetic 
 analysis of the man whose training and 
 careei- are so different from his own, and 
 IS the result of a friendship honorable in 
 the highest degree to both. 
 ^ In the preparation of the brief sketch of 
 Mr. Stevenson, I have obtained from that 
 
PREFACE. ^^ 
 
 gentleman many of the material facts 
 included in it. In addition to tliis, I have 
 known liim well for many years, and count 
 him as one of my circle of friends. I have 
 endeavored to set forth his character as 
 well as I could in the brief space allotted 
 to it, and trust that his countrymen may 
 get from it some idea of the noble qualities 
 
 of the man. 
 
 While this work has been written in the 
 stress of other and absorbing employments, 
 and does not therefore make any preten- 
 sions to literary merit, I hope I may 
 have been successful in giving to my 
 readers something like a fair idea of the 
 men whose characters are thus delineated. 
 GEORaE F. Parker. 
 
 New York, September 10, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 PAGE 
 CHAPTEB 
 
 I. Ancestry and Early Life, .... 1 
 
 11. As Student and Lawyer, . . . - ^ 
 
 III. As Mayor of Buffalo, 45 
 
 IV. The Canvass for the Governorship, . 69 
 V. First Year in the Governorship, . . 80 
 
 VI. Second Year nr the Governorship, . 105 
 
 . VII. The Presidential Canvass and Election, . 116 
 
 VIII. Organizing the Executive Departments, 140 
 
 IX. The Work of Administration, . . 159 
 
 X. The Work of Adaiinistration (coiitinued), 179 
 
 XI. The Work of Administration (concluded), . 200 
 
 XII. The Tariff-Reform Message, . . . 214 
 
 XIII. Canvass of 1888 and Retirement, . . 224 
 
 XIV. A General Estimate of Character, . 247 
 XV. A Literary Man's Estimate, . . -261 
 
 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 I. Birth and Education, . 
 II. Professional Life and Politics, 
 
 III. Service in Congress, 
 
 IV. In the Post- Office Department, 
 V. Characteristics and Success, 
 
 271 
 278 
 289 
 304 
 315 
 
A LIFE OF GROYER GLEYELRND 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 ANCESTEY AND EAELY LIFE. 
 
 The first of the Cleveland name-a 
 name made famous by the subject of this 
 sketch— known to this country was Moses 
 Cleaveland, who came to Massachusetts m 
 1635 from Ipswich, in the county ot Nor- 
 folk Eno'land. The name was then spelled 
 " Cleveland," the superfluous " a" having 
 been dropped by some of his successors, 
 although several branches of the family 
 collateral to that to which the ex-President 
 belon-s have retained it. In about two 
 generations from the beginniug-as was 
 not uncommon in the records of New Eng- 
 Ig^^fl life— the ministerial habit became 
 fixed in the Cleveland family; since 
 which time there has never been a genera- 
 tion in which one or more of the name was 
 
2 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 not a minister of some one of the Protes- 
 tant Churches. In one or two eases they 
 were EpiscojDalians, but in general they 
 took to Presbyterianism or to its sister, 
 Congregationalism. 
 
 It is not necessary to go at any great 
 length mto the genealogical history of the 
 family simply because a descendant of 
 the original stock has attained distinc- 
 tion. Each generation of the Cle^relands 
 has been active, energetic; never noted 
 perhaps, at any time for the possession 
 of great wealth or such genius as to at- 
 tract universal attention in their various 
 walks of life, but at all times the men 
 and the women have done their duty and 
 have done it well. The family connections 
 have been good, and yet there is no record 
 anywhere that anything like extraordinary 
 family pride or vanity has been engen- 
 dered. ^ 
 
 Among the descendants of the original 
 Cleveland there have been, as already as- 
 serted, many men of character and ability. 
 They have been found in almost every 
 occupation and profession— farmers, me- 
 
ANCE8TR J ANT) EARL T LIFE. ^ 
 
 clianics, lawyers, physicians, soldiers, minis- 
 ters of the gospel at home and missionaries 
 in foreign lands. As early as 1757 one of 
 the ministerial members of the family, in 
 the fourth generation, the Kev, Aaron 
 Cleveland, died in Philadelphia at the 
 house of Benjamin Franklin, and his vir- 
 tues were recorded by his philosopher 
 friend in the primitive weekly newspaper 
 which he conducted. In this notice, which 
 would be considered singularly brief for a 
 man of such prominence in the present day, 
 the great American philosopher pronounced 
 upon his dead friend the following eulogy : 
 
 "As he was a gentleman of humane and 
 pious disposition, indefatigable in his minis- 
 trv easy and affable in his conversation 
 open and sincere in his friendship and 
 above every species of meanness and dis- 
 simulation, his death is greatly lamented by 
 all who knew him, as a loss to the public— a 
 loss to the Church of Christ in general, and 
 in particular to that congregation who had 
 proposed to themselves so much satisfaction 
 from his late appointment among tliem, 
 agreeable to their own request. 
 
 Ever since that day there have been 
 prominent clergymen in the ranks of the 
 
4 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Cleveland family, and the general cliarac- 
 teristics of all, whatever their calling, have 
 been those described so well by Benjamin 
 Franklin. 
 
 In 1793 AVilliam Cleveland, the grand- 
 father of Grrover Cleveland — a watchmaker 
 of the old-fashioned, hard-working, careful 
 kind, engaged in business in Westiield, 
 Mass. — was married to Margaret Falley 
 at Norwich, Conn. In the latter place 
 the young couple settled down to live, 
 and on June 19, 1805, there was born to 
 them a son, Richard Falley Cleveland, 
 who was the father of Grover Cleveland. 
 It was decreed in the councils of the 
 family that this young man should be- 
 come a minister. Accordingly he was 
 trained in the schools of Norwich and there 
 fitted for entering into Yale College, from 
 which institution he was graduated in 
 1824. 
 
 AVhen he began to look about for a place 
 to practice his profession he was led to go 
 for a time to Baltimore, Md., where for 
 a year he filled a position as tutor in a 
 private school. He proceeded forthwith to 
 
ANCESTR T AND EARL T LIFE. 5 
 
 fall in love with Anne Neal, but, as lie liad 
 not yet perfected himself in his theological 
 studies, he left his lady-love behind and en- 
 tered upon the study of theology in the 
 Seminary of Princeton. In 1829, when he 
 was twenty-four years old, he returned to 
 Baltimore and he and Miss Neal were mar- 
 ried. They went at once to Windham, 
 Conn., in which place the young man had 
 been oifered a position as minister of the 
 Congregational Church. He began his pro- 
 fessional life with enthusiasm, and his earn- 
 est, eloquent sermons were long remembered 
 in the neighborhood in which he first began 
 his work. He accepted soon after a call 
 from the Presbyterian Church of Ports- 
 mouth, Va., where he hoped to re-establish 
 his health, then somewhat shattered. He 
 remained there for only a brief time, and 
 the work he did was not different from 
 that which usually fell upon a young 
 clergyman in those days in a small 
 town. 
 
 In due time, with health restored, he be- 
 gan to contemplate a return to the North, 
 and upon the recommendation of his old in- 
 
6 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 structors at Princeton he was called to the 
 pastorate of the Presbyterian church in 
 Caldwell, N. J., then, as now, a village in 
 Essex County in that State. He began his 
 work in this new field just before Christ- 
 mas, 1834, and in the parsonage attached 
 to this modest church Grover Cleveland 
 was born on the 18th day of March, 
 1837. 
 
 For many years preceding the arrival 
 of Eichard F. Cleveland in Caldwell, the 
 pastor had been a man dee]3ly beloved by 
 his congregation, one whose death ^vas 
 greatly lamented — Stephen Grover. In 
 recognition of the good qualities of this 
 predecessor the child was given the name 
 which has now become famous. But even 
 in his later boyhood the name Stephen was 
 never used, and before he had arrived at 
 the years of maturity he was always 
 known by his middle name. 
 
 In 1841 Richard Cleveland accepted a 
 call to the pastorate of the Presbyterian 
 Church in Fayetteville, K Y., a small vil- 
 lage situated in what ^vas then almost a 
 pioneer region in Onondaga County. Syra- 
 
ANCESTM Y AND EARL Y LIFE. 1 
 
 cuse, now grown to be an important city, 
 was tlien little more than a village, and the 
 marvelous growth of central New York 
 had only just begun. As a consequence 
 there was a good deal of difficulty in 
 reaching the new pastorate, and it was 
 only after many days of Aveary travel by 
 river, canal, and wagon that the Cleveland 
 family, then numbering — besides the 
 father and mother — three daughters and 
 three sons, reached its destination in this 
 new and comparatively unsettled region. 
 
 Once there the father settled down to a 
 work that was congenial and useful. Like 
 many a minister in those days the salary 
 was small and the allowances almost noth- 
 ing. But the energy of the father and the 
 prudent watchfulness and loving foresight 
 of the mother enabled them to bring up 
 their family, not in luxury, but with all the 
 comforts of life. In spite of the $600 a 
 year, which would seem almost insignifi- 
 cant at this day, and upon which scarcely 
 any man of this type would undertake in 
 such a place to rear and train a family, 
 there was never anything like poverty in 
 
8 A LIFE OF QROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the Cleveland home. There was a neces- 
 sity for close management, care, and pru- 
 dent economy on the part of all, but each 
 did his part in the task of making life 
 happy. 
 
 This relation to Fayetteville continued 
 about eleven years, when, in 1851, Eichard 
 Cleveland, having accept ed^the agency of 
 the American Home Missionary Society at 
 the munificent salary of $1000 a year, re- 
 moved with his wife and children, the 
 latter now increased to nine, to Clinton, 
 Oneida County. One of the motives of 
 this change was not only a better position 
 in life, but a desire to use the educational 
 facilities offered by Hamilton College, then, 
 as now, located in Clinton. The eldest 
 son, the Rev. William N. Cleveland, now 
 pastor of the Presbyteiian Church at 
 Chaumont, Jefferson County, X. Y., 
 finished his education at Hamilton College, 
 while the 3'ounger members of the family 
 were able to avail themselves of the ad- 
 vantages of the Clinton schools, the boys 
 with immediate reference to a college 
 career. 
 
ANCE8TR T AND EARL Y LIFE. 9 
 
 Before leaving Fayetteville, Grover, 
 then fourteen years old, had accepted a 
 place as clerk in a grocery store in Fayette- 
 ville, and so did not at once go with the 
 family to the new home. He was able to 
 command for his services in this useful but 
 humble capacity the large sum of $50 a 
 year, with the promise of $100 for the 
 second year. A single year, however, was 
 enough. At the end of that time the 
 father called his son home in order that he 
 might begin his work in the academy. 
 
 The duties of the young boy in the 
 country store were not different from those 
 of the ordinary boy; nor are there any 
 records to show that he was either more 
 or less efficient or more or less active than 
 the average young merchant of his kind. 
 Since he became prominent every event of 
 his life has been brought to light, and it 
 has been found that even in those days 
 whatever he did he did well, and that he 
 left behind him a reputation for fidelity 
 that was not soon forgotten. As was com- 
 mon in the early days of every new com- 
 munity, all the people of the surrounding 
 
10 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 country found their way to this store. 
 There he studied human nature to ad- 
 vantage, and got that insight into the 
 motives of men which has been so useful 
 to him during his public career. As a re- 
 sult of this experience and his natural gifts 
 he has the faculty of knowing the peoj^le 
 and knowing how to reach them— better 
 perhaps than any other public man of our 
 generation, with the exception of Abraham 
 Lincoln, who had a training similar in 
 many respects. Now, when he speaks of 
 the "j^lain people of the land," as he is 
 wont to do with kindness and affection, it 
 is from personal knowledge ; he knows what 
 these plain people have done and what 
 they are doing; he knows the motives 
 that guide them, and how to appeal to 
 their intelligence so as to command the 
 best results. 
 
 On joining his family at Clinton the lad 
 entered^ the academy at that place. In this 
 institution he made satisfactory progress in 
 his studies and expected in due time to 
 enter Hamilton College, where he avouM 
 continue his educational training. But 
 
ANGESTR Y AND EARL Y LIFE. 1 1 
 
 these plans were never carried out, for 
 in September, 1853, tlie family moved to 
 Holland Patent, where the father had re- 
 ceived a call from the Presbyterian 
 Church. This was a village about fifteen 
 miles from Utica. Only three weeks 
 after this removal, on October 1, 1853, 
 Richard F. Cleveland died and left his 
 wife and children to struggle with the 
 world as best they could. The mother 
 remained in Holland Patent and kept with 
 her such of her family as had nofc already 
 gone out into the world to make their for- 
 tunes, and resided there the rest of her life, 
 dying in 1882, only a few weeks before 
 the nomination of Grover Cleveland as the 
 candidate for Governor of New York, and 
 while he was Mayor of Buffalo. 
 
 In the mean time the eldest son, William, 
 had obtained employment as principal 
 male teacher in the Institution for the 
 Blind, in New York City, which had at 
 that time about two hundred pupils. 
 When the older brother returned from the 
 funeral of his father he arranged with 
 the trustees of the institution to give 
 
12 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 employment to his younger brother, 
 Grover ; and during the month of October, 
 1853, the later assumed the position of 
 bookkeeper and assistant to the superin- 
 tendent of that institution. 
 
 In order that I might obtain some infor- 
 mation about the career of Grover Cleve- 
 land at the Institution for the Blind, and 
 learn something of his character at that 
 early age, I was fortunate enough to 
 get from Miss Frances J. Crosby, a pupil 
 and teacher in that institution from 1835 
 to 1858, her recollections of the young man 
 as he appeared to her at that time. 
 
 Miss Crosby is an interesting character 
 — one of those independent persons who 
 will not permit misfortunes to keep them 
 from hard work, or from attempting to 
 satisfy some of their ambitions. For 
 many years she has been recognized as one 
 of the best hymn-writers of the country. 
 During her early life she devoted herself 
 with much assiduity to poetry and to the 
 work of promoting the interests of the 
 Institution for the Blind, then compara- 
 tively unknown and little appreciated by 
 
ANCE8TR Y AND EARLY LIFE. 1 3 
 
 the families of those so afflicted. She has 
 done efficient work in every way, con- 
 quering for herself an excellent position. 
 
 In speaking of the man who has since 
 come to such fame— her associate for a 
 year in his early days— she says: 
 
 "When Grover Cleveland came to the 
 Institution in 1853, he was in his seven- 
 teenth year. His mind was unusually well 
 developed for his years ; so well, in fact, 
 that he might be called a marvel of pre- 
 cocity. He was nearly full grown as to 
 height, but slender, though he had reached 
 mental maturity many years earlier than 
 the average man. He had an mtellectual 
 appearance ; indeed, it was surprising that 
 one so young was able to hold a position 
 of such importance and to make his mark 
 in it. He seemed to have about him even 
 then the manner of a mature man. It was 
 my fortune to make his acquaintance soon 
 after he came to the Institution, and I felt, 
 therefore, free to tell him, as I did many 
 times, that he had a mind much in advance 
 of his years, and I also used, with almost 
 motherly caution, to say to ^him : ' Take 
 
14 A LIFE OF OROVER GLEVELAim. 
 
 care that you do not study too mucli and 
 injure yourself.' 
 
 " Every moment of his spare time 
 was given to the hardest kind of study. 
 He was a persistent reader^ devoting most 
 of his attention to history, and devel- 
 oping even in those days something of a 
 bent for the law, which he ^vas finally to 
 make his calling. But he did not confine 
 his reading entirely to such solid matter. 
 Many times he favored myself, and other 
 teachers and pupils in the Institution, by 
 reading to us from the poets. Among 
 other authors who were favorites of his 
 was Thomas Moore, from ^vhom he read 
 a good many selections, as well as from 
 Byron. I remember that at one time he 
 read Byron's ^ Corsair ' to me. Even then 
 he had developed the faculty of hard ^vork, 
 which has so distinguished his ]?:ter career, 
 so that it is no new thing for him to burn 
 the midnight oil. He did so even as a 
 young man Avhen I first knew him thirty- 
 nine years ago. 
 
 " No man could have a kinder heart than 
 had Grover Cleveland in those days — days 
 
ANGESTR r AND EARL Y LIFE. 1 5 
 
 that, to most boys of his age, might 
 be termed formative. He came to us 
 ahnost immediately after the death of 
 his father, and as a result he had an 
 air of pensive sadness about him. He 
 showed that he felt very keenly the loss of 
 his father. This did not take the form of 
 melancholia, but he used often to talk 
 to me about his father in an intimate, 
 familiar way that was touching and very 
 natural. As a cliild, he had been brought 
 up in a Christian household, under the 
 ministrations of a father noted for his deep 
 piety and of a mother distinguished for 
 tenderness and care for her family. 
 
 " When he first came there I used often 
 to talk to him when his office duties were 
 over, and in due course of time we became 
 good friends. Perhaps I knew him quite 
 as well as any of the teachers or officers of 
 tlie Institution. He came in contact with 
 mature men and women there, many of 
 whom have since become well known in 
 various fields of work, and was able to 
 meet them upon their own plane. He 
 showed himself to be keen and thoughtful. 
 
16 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 At the same time lie was extremely 
 modest; something I have noted with 
 interest since his great public career has 
 brought him before the people of his country. 
 " Indeed, the first time I met him after 
 those early associations was in Lakew^ood, 
 N. J., during the past winter. At that 
 time I noticed the same modest demeanor. 
 He was interested in telling me of an ex- 
 perience of his while President. A con- 
 vention or meeting of blind people was 
 held at Baltimore during that time, and he 
 went there on purpose to see them. In re- 
 counting to me this incident he never re- 
 ferred to the matter as having occurred 
 while he was President, but he used a form, 
 which I am told he has almost uniformly 
 adopted, of sa3dng, ' When I was in Wash- 
 ington ' ; in fact, I do not believe that 
 during our interview he used the word 
 President, or in any way said anything to 
 indicate that he had held such an exalted 
 office. This was thorougldy characteristic 
 of him, as lie was always anxious to avoid 
 anything like praise or commendation of 
 himself. 
 
ANCESTR YAND EAELT LIFE. 1 7 
 
 " He did not strike me during tlie period 
 I knew him as a young man who would 
 have a great number of friends, although 
 he had a capacity for friend ship. I thought 
 that he was somewhat chary of giving his 
 confidence to many people. This did not 
 come from any feeling of vanity, but from 
 his natural reserve. But when he came to 
 know a person and gave his confidence, he 
 did so fully and unreservedly. He vs^as 
 always kindly and sympathetic, and dur- 
 ing his residence there the tendency v^as 
 strongly developed at every turn. He re- 
 sented occasional cruelties practiced by a 
 superintendent, who lacked the qualities 
 necessary for a successful administration 
 of such an important place. I remember 
 at one time, that when a boy was punished 
 with undue severity, young Cleveland spoke 
 to me about it with much feeling. He 
 could not, of course, in his position, take 
 steps to resent it by a physical dem- 
 onstration, but he showed in every v^^ord 
 and action that he would like to punish its 
 perpetrator in the most effective way. 
 
 " I remember another incident that had 
 
18 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 a bearing personal to myself. The same 
 superintendent had about him a dictatorial 
 way when he found himself in authority 
 over anybody. It so hap]3ened one day 
 that I went downstairs into the office, 
 where Mr. Cleveland worked, and asked 
 him to copy a poem. He did so, and when 
 he had nearly finished the work, the super- 
 intendent came in and said, in a very inso- 
 lent way : ^ Miss Crosby, when you want 
 Mr. Cleveland to copy a piece for you, I 
 will thank you to come and ask me.' Of 
 course I felt very much hurt, and when 
 the superintendent went ^out, Mr. Cleve- 
 land said to me : ^ Now, Fanny Crosby, 
 how long do you intend to allow that man 
 to harrow up your feelings like this ? ' I 
 asked him : ^ What can I do to stop it ? ' 
 and he said, ' By giving as good as he 
 sent.' 
 
 " I was nonplused, and in reply I said, 
 ^ Mr. Cleveland, I never was saucy in my 
 life.' To this he replied : ' But it is not 
 impudent to take your own part, and you 
 never will be taught independence and 
 self-reliance any younger. Now, we will 
 
ANGE8TR T AND EARL Y LIFE. 1 9 
 
 try an experiment. Come down to- 
 morrow, and ask me to copy another poem 
 for you. I will do so, and then you come 
 in as usual and you will see the conse- 
 quences, but in any event make up your 
 mind never to let anyone impose upon 
 you.' According to this agreement I 
 went down and asked Mr. Cleveland to 
 copy a poem for me. As was anticipated, 
 the superintendent came in and made the 
 same remark. Then I turned round and 
 said to him : ' I want you to understand 
 that I am second to no one in this Institu- 
 tion except yourself, and I have borne 
 with your insolence so long that I will do 
 so no longer ; if it is repeated, I will re- 
 port you to the managers.' The superin- 
 tendent looked at me with the greatest 
 astonishment, but my reply had just the 
 effect that Mr. Cleveland said it would 
 have. I never had any further trouble 
 with the obnoxious superintendent, nor 
 did he assume such a manner toward me 
 or Mr. Cleveland any more. 
 
 " After young Cleveland left the Insti- 
 tution I myself remained until 1858. I 
 
20 A LIFE OF OROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 never heard from liim or about him until 
 lie was nominated for Governor in 1882, 
 while Mayor of Buffalo. But he took 
 occasion the first time he heard from me 
 to show his kindly feeling. While he was 
 Govei-nor one of my friends gave me a sort 
 of benefit, and sent an invitation to the 
 Governor. He immediately wrote back 
 expressing regret at his inability to attend, 
 but saying : ' I remember my old friend 
 Fanny Crosby very w^ell,' and in further 
 token of his remembrance he sent to the 
 friend managing the alfair a neat little sum 
 of money. 
 
 " I have always regretted that I did not 
 keep up a correspondence with him after 
 he became Governor or President ; but in 
 both cases I felt that, as I had neglected 
 him for so many years, it would not seem 
 just the right thing to open a correspond- 
 ence with him then, because it might look 
 as though I wanted to court favor. So I 
 never met him again until at Lakewood 
 last winter. 
 
 "I cannot say that I have been sur- 
 prised at his rise to prominence and great- 
 
ANGE8TR T AND EARL Y LIFE. 2 1 
 
 ness. I always felt that lie was a man far 
 above the average, both intellectually and 
 morally. He seemed to me to have great 
 possibilities, so that one who came in con- 
 tact with him in an intimate way, as I had 
 an opportunity to do by reason of official 
 association with him, would have predicted 
 for him a successful career. 
 
 " I do not think that he looked upon his 
 teaching work as other than preparatory for 
 the more serious struggles of life. But he 
 did his duty then, in a humble position, as 
 conscientiously and as well as he has shown 
 his ability to do it since in the large and 
 important responsibilities thrust upon him. 
 
 " While he was Governor he made a 
 visit to the Institution in company with 
 the late Augustus Schell, who was one of 
 the managers during Mr. Cleveland's term 
 of work there. Afterward, when I went 
 to the Institution, I heard many of the in- 
 mates, some who had been there as pupils 
 in his day, say:- ^Well, although Grover 
 Cleveland rose to great power he did not 
 forget the Institution of the Blind, and we 
 all praise him for it.' 
 
22 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 "It seems very odd to me to recall after 
 nearly forty years the injunction of liis 
 older brother, William, to me. The 
 brothers were very close friends and asso- 
 ciates in spite of the fact that William was 
 several years the elder. He always showed 
 his desire to protect his younger brother, 
 and would not allow anybody to be un- 
 generous or unjust to him. When they 
 were first there together the younger 
 brother was petted a good deal. Natu- 
 rally, he grew out of this to some extent 
 toward the close of the joint association 
 there, and yet I recall with pleasure how 
 William, when he was to be absent for a 
 time, would say to me : ^ Well, I know you 
 will be kind to my little brother' — a 
 fatherly sort of feeling — something quite 
 in consonance with the beautiful character 
 of William Cleveland, who, even as a young 
 man, was an exemplary Christian ; gener- 
 ous to everyone in his class, just in every- 
 thing he did. I could not speak too highly 
 of either of them." 
 
AS STUDENT AND LA WrEB. 23 
 
 CHAPTER 11. 
 
 AS STUDENT AND LAWYEE. 
 
 Upon liis return to liis mother's home, in 
 the autumn of 1854, the young man began 
 to think of making an independent career 
 for himself. It has ah-eady been seen that 
 he had formed his phms for becoming a 
 lawyer. He sought congenial and remuner- 
 ative work in the larger towns of Utica and 
 Syracuse, but without encouragement. It 
 w^as then that he resolved to go to Cleve- 
 land, O., a town named for one of his family. 
 He stopped at Buffalo to see his uncle, 
 Lewis F. Allen, then and long afterward a 
 well-known farmer, who was engaged in the 
 compilation each year of what was known 
 as ^' The American Short-Horn Herd Book." 
 The young man was easily persuaded to 
 remain and assist his uncle, and so gave up 
 the trip further west. It was this incident 
 that fixed his residence at Buffalo, and en- 
 abled him to make that city the field of 
 professional success and the wonderful po- 
 litical career which carried him, within so 
 
24 A LIFE OFGROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 short a time, to the highest office in the gift 
 of his countrymen. 
 
 By the help of liis uncle the young man 
 was enabled to get a place as a student in 
 the office of Bo wen &j\ Rogers, then and 
 subsequently one of the leading firms of 
 lawyers in the western part of the State 
 of New York. Here he began his legal 
 studies, living with his uncle, some distance 
 away, and assisting in the compilation of 
 the ^^ Herd Book," which had then begun 
 its course as an annual publication. In 
 1855 the compensation of the office boy 
 had reached the sum of $4 a week, and 
 Mr. Cleveland, in his days of power and 
 influence, has often recounted the fact that 
 all this was paid out each recurring week 
 for board. But he was able and 'willing 
 to do hard work, and the"^first' appearance 
 of his name in print was perhaps a brief 
 reference in the "Herd Book" for 1861, in 
 which his uncle made the following: ac- 
 knowledgment : 
 
 ''In the compilation of the second, third, 
 fourth, and fifth volumes of this work, I 
 take pleasure in expressing my acknowledg- 
 
A8 STUDENT AND LA WYEU. 25 
 
 ments to the kindness, indastiy, and ability 
 of my young friend and kinsman, Grover 
 Cleveland, Esq., a gentleman of the legal 
 profession, who has kindly assisted my la- 
 bors in correcting and arranging the jDedi- 
 gr^es for publication ; and to him is a por- 
 tion of the credit due for the very creditable 
 display which our American sliort-horns 
 make before the agricultural public." 
 
 It was in connection with this work 
 that a new opportunity was afforded the 
 young man for getting an insight into 
 that plain life which he understands so 
 well and which he lauds so often. Some 
 time after he had begun the study of the 
 law he secured rooms with an old school- 
 mate from Fayetteville in the old Southern 
 Hotel in Buffalo, which was then the re- 
 sort for drovers and farmers. These plain 
 and sensible people were perhaps sur- 
 prised to find so much knowledge of their 
 own business in a young law student, in, 
 what was to them, a large city ; but his 
 training in the country, and his work with 
 his uncle, had given him this to such a degree 
 that he was able without effort to impress 
 himself upon the drovers and farmers as 
 
26 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 an expert iu their business and to gain 
 from them that accurate knowledge of 
 many kinds of men so useful to its 
 possessor. 
 
 His life at this time was not out of the 
 common run. He was a hard student, not 
 only of _ his profession, but of the best 
 literature as well. He continued here the 
 habits that he had formed in his own 
 home, and while away from it in the In- 
 stitution for the Blind, in New York. 
 He shirked no duties that fell to him, and 
 did the work of each day as well as he 
 could. He thus fixed the habit of 
 thoroughness in everything he did; some- 
 thing that has enabled him to execute the 
 great duties confided to him by his fellow- 
 citizens with comparative ease to himself. 
 
 He ^was admitted to the bar in May, 
 1859. He did not immediately begin to 
 practice law on his own account, but re- 
 mained for four years longer with his pre- 
 ceptors, finally reaching the position of 
 chief clerk. It has been recorded by those 
 with whom he associated that he won 
 their admiration by his industry, courage^ 
 
AS STUDENT AND LAWYER. 27 
 
 and honesty. They declared him to be 
 thorough in everything that he undertook : 
 that he mastered every subject he dealt 
 with in all its bearings, and then, as no^v, 
 made up his mind for himself, and, having 
 done so, could not be swerved from his 
 conviction of the right. Even they, his pre- 
 dominant quality of intellectual integrity 
 often attracted attention and commanded 
 respect, even when the efforts of more bril- 
 liant men might be forgotten. His salary 
 as chief clerk was the modest one of $600 
 a year in the beginning. This was in- 
 creased year by year until, in the latter 
 part of 1862, it had become $1000. He 
 had then reached the age of twenty -five. 
 
 Up to this time the young lawyer had 
 not indulged any political aspirations. 
 In 1858, w^hen he reached his majority, 
 he had cast his first vote for the Demo- 
 cratic party ; but he had done more. In 
 accordance with the custom of those times 
 he took his place at the polls, and through- 
 out the day distributed ballots by the 
 side of the veterans of the party. He be- 
 lieved firmly in the principles of his party, 
 
58 A LIFE OF GlWVFli CLEVELAND. 
 
 and thinking that it ought to win he un- 
 dertook to do what he could to help it. 
 And the custom thus established upon 
 attaining his majority became a habit with 
 him, one that he kept up regularly un- 
 til his election as Governor. On each 
 election day he would go to the polls and 
 take his place, ballots in hand, remaining 
 as a volunteer helper to his party and its 
 candidates until the polls were closed, and 
 in every exciting political canvass he 
 marched in the procession when a great 
 Democratic demonstration was made. 
 
 On the 1st of January, 1863, Grover 
 Cleveland began his first independent work 
 in his profession, by leaving the office of 
 his preceptors and accepting an ofllce that 
 was professional as well as political. He 
 had been appointed Assistant District 
 Attorney of Erie County. In oj'der to do 
 so he gave up his salary of $1000 a year 
 to accept one of $600. He was in no way 
 dissatisfied with his office work or unduly 
 ambitious, but he saw that a place in his 
 profession would be reached much more 
 quickly and siu'ely by the training and ex- 
 
AS STUDENT AND LA WYER. 20 
 
 perience of such a place. He was tlie only 
 assistant in tlie office, and upon liim fell 
 most of the work, such as the filing of cases, 
 the drawing of indictments, and the trial 
 of many causes in the courts. The discipline 
 and training he had gained as a student 
 and teacher combined to give him much 
 advantage in his profession. It was then 
 that he fixed the habit of working late into 
 the night, something that has clung to him 
 during all the years of his political work. 
 His position gave him confidence and en- 
 abled him to make a wide acquaintance 
 among the people of the country towns, 
 then, as now, important elements in the 
 political life of Erie County. It also 
 attracted to him the attention of clients 
 and of his fellow-lawyers. 
 
 During his term in this office he was so 
 busily engaged w^ith the duties of it that 
 when he was drafted as a soldier he could 
 not leave his work to enter the army, and 
 sent a substitute instead. In a family 
 council it had been decided that as he was 
 earning enough money to make his contri- 
 butions valuable to the familv he should 
 
30 A LIFE OF GROVFR CLEVELAND. 
 
 not enter the army. Two of his brothers, 
 Richard Cecil and Lewis Frederick, early 
 entered the army in 1861 and served 
 throughout the whole of the war. It may 
 be interesting to add that the money paid 
 as a bounty to his substitute was borrowed 
 from his superior, the District Attorney, 
 and that it was not until the expiration of 
 his term, and after the war itself had closed, 
 that he was able to save enough money to 
 pay back the loan. 
 
 It was inevitable that younc^ Cleveland 
 should ^ be drawn into politics by his ser- 
 vice as District Attorney. From this time 
 he was recognized as a rising figure* in 
 Democratic politics, and so at the expira- 
 tion of the term of his superior officer, 
 Cyrenius C. Torrance, it was natural that 
 his party should turn to him as a can- 
 didate for District Attorney. By this 
 time he had become well known and 
 popular in the county, and the Repub- 
 licans recognized that in spite of their 
 great majority they had no easy task to 
 defeat him. At first their attention was 
 directed to a lawyer then residing in Erie 
 
AS STUDENT AND LA WYER. 31 
 
 County, Horace Boies by name. He was 
 some years older than Mr. Cleveland, but 
 in many respects they much resembled 
 each other. After the managers had 
 cast about among themselves they con- 
 cluded at first to nominate Boies, although 
 he was then comparatively unknown, 
 even much less so than his op- 
 ponent, whose nomination was already 
 assured. It was in this way that two men 
 now prominent in the councils of the 
 Democratic party — one of whom was then 
 a member of the opposing party — came 
 to know each other. Thus it was that 
 Grover Cleveland came into contact with 
 Horace Boies, no^v and for some years the 
 Democratic Governor of Iowa. 
 
 Among the intimate personal friends of 
 Mr. Cleveland at that time was Lyman K. 
 Bass, a young Republican lawyer, after- 
 ward a member of cong-ress. At this 
 time, when the Republicans concluded 
 that they must select their strongest can- 
 didate, Bass and Cleveland were not only 
 close personal friends, but room-mates. 
 One night the former came home and said, 
 
32 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 "Well, Cleve, I Lave been offered the 
 nomination for District Attorney against 
 you." In reply lie was asked, " Well, why 
 don't you take it ? " And the result was 
 that he did ; and that he was elected by a 
 narrow majority. 
 
 His friends even now recall the 
 good humor with which Mr. Cleveland 
 took his defeat, and how he turned his 
 attention at once to his profession as 
 an independent practitioner. He did this 
 by forming a partnership ^vith Isaac 
 V. Vanderpool, and about tlie same 
 time declined the appointment of As- 
 sistant District Attorney, tendered him 
 by the late AVilliam Dorsheimer, then 
 just appointed by President Johnson as 
 United States Attorney for the Northern 
 District of New York. A little later he 
 associated himself with A. P. Lanins: and 
 Oscar Folsom, the latter one of his closest 
 friends, who had himself accepted the 
 office declined by Cleveland. The name 
 of the firm was Laning, Cleveland Sz> 
 Folsom. This firm soon attained a high 
 po;u(ion at the bar of Buffalo, and Mr. 
 
AS STUDENT AND LA WTER. 33 
 
 Cleveland liad a cliauce to demonstrate 
 how well he had profited by his experi- 
 ence in an important pnblic place. 
 
 This association continued until 1870, 
 when Mr. Cleveland's friends offered him 
 the nomination for Sheriff of Erie County. 
 He hesitated for some time about accept- 
 ing this office ; his reluctance being due 
 to the fact that it was not common for 
 lawyers to accept the office of Sheriff', but 
 he finally concluded that there were many 
 reasons why he should consider this matter. 
 He had worked hard ever since he 
 was a boy of seventeen, and he himself 
 declared he had had so little time for read- 
 ing, and for thorough professional study, 
 that he thought the Sheriff''s office, by tak- 
 ing him out of practice for a time and still 
 keeping him about the courts in profes- 
 sional relations, would afford him consider- 
 able leisure for this coveted improvement. 
 There was, too, another important element, 
 in that it would enable him to make and 
 save a modest competence. Stating the 
 case to his friends in this way he took their 
 advice, accepted the nomination, and was 
 
34 A LIFE OF ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 elected. He performed the duties of the 
 office well and conscientiously. The result 
 was that upon the expiration of his term of 
 office, on January 1, 1874, he returned to 
 the practice of the law a stronger and 
 broader man than he had been before, and 
 at once took a higher place than he had 
 ever held or than he would, perhaps, have 
 attained in the same time if he had con- 
 tinued to practice uninterruptedly. 
 
 When his term of office expired he 
 formed a partnership with his old rival, 
 Lyman K. Bass, and a younger associate, 
 now known as one of the most thorough 
 lawyers in the western part of the State of 
 New York and one of the most influen- 
 tial men — Wilson S. Bissell. With some 
 changes in personnel the firm was main- 
 tained until Mr. Cleveland's inauguration 
 as Governor, in January, 1883. 
 
 By this time he had become one of the 
 best lawyers of his city and of the western 
 part of the State. Careful attention to 
 every detail of his work, a conscientious 
 desire to do his duty to his clients, and to 
 the public, unwearied industry — these were 
 
^.S' STUDENT AND LAWYER. 35 
 
 the principal traits tliat commended him to 
 his clients and to the* public. He main- 
 tained his interest in politics, though he 
 gave no attention to it so far as seeking 
 place was concerned. Occasionally, he was 
 a delegate to a State convention, and he 
 kept up his habit of activity at the polls as 
 well as at the primaries of his party. But 
 he was not looked upon as an ambitious 
 man ; nor, it may be said with truth, would 
 the public have looked to him as the one 
 man in his city who would be likely to 
 have great responsibilities thrust upon him. 
 
 His success in politics has obscured to 
 some degree his work as a lawyer, and in 
 order that there may be a better under- 
 standing of this the author has been for- 
 tunate enough to secure from his former 
 partner and close friend, Wilson S. Bissell, 
 an estimate of his professional work. He 
 writes : 
 
 '' Buffalo, N. Y., August 1, 1892. 
 " Dear Mr. Parker : 
 
 "My acquaintance ^vith Mr. Cleveland 
 began in August, 1869. I had just 
 graduated from Yale and made application 
 
36 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 for and was admitted to a clerkship in 
 the office of Laning, Cleveland & Folsom, 
 the firm of which he was a member, and 
 which was then just organized. The firm 
 did a very large business. They were the 
 attorneys for the New York Central and 
 the other Vanderbilt railroads centering at 
 Buffalo, and they had a large miscellane- 
 ous practice as well. I was one of the six 
 clerks employed by them. They defended 
 the New York Central Eailroad in a class 
 of suits brought to recover penalties for 
 overcharge of fare. These suits became a 
 very remarkable class of litigation, aggre- 
 gating more than three thousand in num- 
 ber. 
 
 " I soon found that Mr. Cleveland was 
 the ^ working member.' Ijaning and Fol- 
 som were both brilliant men, but Cleve- 
 land was undoubtedly the most profound 
 la^vyer and was the mainstay of the office. 
 He was generally the first one in the office 
 in the morning and the last one out of it at 
 night, and all the hours of these long days 
 w^ere devoted with patience and zeal to the 
 work he found before him. 
 
AS STUDENT AND LA WYER. 37 
 
 " He had already attained promiuence at 
 the bar, the result of no influence or re- 
 lationships or of adventitious circumstance, 
 but of patient industry and of down- 
 right — and always upright — hard work. 
 And so, even then, he was of the lawyers 
 of his years facile ])rinceps. His further 
 achievements as a lawyer, which brought 
 him into the very front rank of his profes- 
 sion, were only the added and natural 
 results of his untiring industry and energy. 
 To these the other disadvantages of 
 limited education and early mental train- 
 ing also yielded. 
 
 " How well and how encouraging it 
 would be to the younger struggling la^v- 
 yers of to-day if they could appreciate 
 the exact truthfulness of these statements, 
 and take the lesson of it to themselves ! 
 True, he was endowed with a great fund of 
 good common sense, and he was honest — 
 honest with himself, honest with his client, 
 honest with his subject. He thus became, 
 mentally, rather judicial than partisan, and 
 he would have made as able and capable 
 a Chief Justice as he was a President. 
 
38 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 " In the trial of a cause be neither relied 
 on ^ genius ' nor the inspiration of the mo- 
 ment to help him out, but upon most 
 careful and painstaking preparation of the 
 case in advance and the anticipation of 
 every possible adverse contingency. Be- 
 fore the trial he was always timid and self- 
 distrustful ; once pushed or dragged into 
 court by his client, however, he was not 
 only part and parcel of the case, but bold 
 and self-reliant ; and through much prac- 
 tice he acquired great skill and sagacity in 
 marshaling his facts before the jury. 
 
 '^ During a trial he would devote himself 
 to the case absolutely and completely, 
 whether it was large or small, whether 
 with fee or without, and for a rich cli- 
 ent or for a poor one. The noon hour 
 was, for him, always an opportunity for 
 further study and preparation — not for 
 eating — and the hours of the night, not 
 infrequently the whole night, a further 
 opportunity. 
 
 ''And so he honestly bought and paid 
 for success with honest work. In an ad- 
 dress before the bar on the occasion of the 
 
AS STUDENT AND LA WYER. 39 
 
 death of his devoted personal friend, Oscar 
 Folsom, referring to his qualities as a 
 lawyer, he said : ' In the practice of his 
 profession, and in the solution of legal 
 questions, he clearly saw which was right 
 and just, and then he expected to find the 
 law leading him directly there.' This with 
 truthfulness could and should be said of 
 Mr. Cleveland himself. 
 
 " In those days it was the habit of the 
 judges of that locality, more than now, 
 when a close legal question would arise in 
 a trial, to call for an opinion upon it in 
 open court from some lawyer in the court- 
 room not engaged in the case. So good 
 and well recognized was Cleveland's judg- 
 ment, and so great his legal attainments, 
 that he would almost invariably be the 
 lawyer thus consulted, whenever he hap- 
 pened to be present. 
 
 ^' ' The law is a jealous mistress,' but 
 there was never occasion in Cleveland's 
 case to suggest a lack of devotion. Of 
 course it would have been impossible to 
 yield such devotion to his profession if he 
 had not loved it ; but he loved his pro- 
 
A 
 
 40 A LIFE OF QROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 fessioiial work, found liis greatest pleasure 
 and satisfaction in it, and lie loved also the 
 study of the law as a science. 
 
 " This fact will serve to explain the 
 interruption in his professional career 
 which he permitted when he became 
 Sheriff. His opportunity for considering 
 that ste^^ was less, perhaps, than of any 
 important act of his life. The circum- 
 stances were these : Thei'e was an impor- 
 tant local ticket to be nominated, and there 
 seemed a fair opportunity to overcome a 
 normally large adverse majority by the 
 selection of a strong combination of candi- 
 dates. Cleveland was popular, and had 
 made a splendid nm for District Attorney 
 of the county not long before. On the 
 day before the nominating convention was 
 to be held it was suggested that Cleveland 
 should take the nomination. Such a con- 
 tingency had never entered his mind, and 
 he at first declined to listen to the sugges- 
 tion. Party managers then surrounded 
 him, and at length successfully urged upon 
 him the importance of the subject as a 
 party matter, and his duty and obligation 
 
AS STUDENT AND LAWYER. '41 
 
 to his party. Yet in connection witli his 
 reluctant assent was the consideration, ex- 
 pressed to me that day, that if he should 
 be elected it would afford him a longed-for 
 and splendid opportunity to study law. 
 
 "His partners w^ere loath to lose him, 
 both because they w^ere personally much 
 attached to him and because they had come 
 to know and rely upon his great strength 
 and ability as a lawyer. He had had the 
 laboring oar in all their more important 
 litigations, and was in the midst of great 
 activity and usefulness. He was conserva- 
 tiv^e by nature and a safe counselor. In- 
 deed, if he erred at all, it was on the side 
 of conservatism and safety. 
 
 "Mr. Cleveland was in the best sense 
 a successful lawyer. He never belonged 
 to the class of ' money-making ' lawyers, 
 although he often received large fees for his 
 professional services. He always met his 
 personal obligations promptly, and he ab- 
 horred debt ; but he never had any deiire 
 to accumulate a fortune, and he was gen- 
 erous to a degree. I recall the fact that, 
 on resuming the practice of law after the 
 
42 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 expiration of Lis term as Sheriff, his first 
 act was to lend a considerable sum of 
 money to a poor client in distress. His 
 generosity was evidenced not alone by 
 direct gifts of money, but by professional 
 advice and service. He tried many a case 
 ^vithout fee or the expectation of it, and 
 often intervened to prevent the doing of 
 injustice because of his hatred of injustice. 
 A notable instance of this was his devotion 
 to the case of Flannig^an before Governor 
 Cornell. Cleveland's first relation with the 
 case was after the man had been sentenced 
 to be hanged, and despite Cornell's well- 
 known disinclination to exercise the pardon 
 power, he secured a commutation of tlie 
 sentence to life imprisonment. 
 
 " It seemed to him always a pleasure as 
 well as a duty to give aid and counsel to 
 the younger members of the bar, and many 
 a successful lawyer of to-day in Buffalo 
 will recall and attest the readiness and 
 chferfulness with which he aided in com- 
 plicated legal situations, or assisted as 
 counsel in the trial of causes, accepting for 
 himself at most nothino; but nominal fees. 
 
AS STUDENT AND LA WYER. 43 
 
 "On January 1, 1874, lie resumed the 
 practice of law, becoming a member of the 
 iirm of Bass, Cleveland <fe Bissell. Mr. 
 Bass was then a member of Congress, and 
 by reason of failing health he removed to 
 Colorado to reside at the expiration of his 
 term of office, so that Mr. Cleveland be- 
 came practically the head of the firm at 
 once. The business of the office was large 
 and active, consisting of a general miscel- 
 laneous practice, and he applied himself to 
 it as assiduously as ever during the ensu- 
 ing eight years. This was the period of 
 his greatest activity and usefulness as a 
 lawyer. He tried and argued cases in 
 all the courts of the State and in the 
 District and Circuit Courts of the United 
 States. He was one of the counsel for 
 the plaintiff who secured the largest ver- 
 dict ever rendered by a jury in Western 
 New York— upwards of $240,000. He 
 worked incessantly, and his vacation 
 period never exceeded ten days in t|[e 
 year. 
 
 " He was engaged in the trial of a case 
 in court in October, 1881, when he was again 
 
44 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 called upon by his party to do further 
 public service by accepting the nomination 
 for Mayor of Buffalo, which was then ten- 
 dered and urged upon him. He yielded to 
 this demand the more readily because he 
 saw before hi in not only an opportunity to 
 serve his party, but to perform a j^^^blic 
 duty, and, although he remmned a partner in 
 the law firm of Cleveland, Bissell & Sicard 
 during the following year, still, with char- 
 acteristic regard for and conscientious de- 
 votion to the performance of official duty, 
 his personal interests as a lawyer were set 
 aside for a time, and, as events proved, for 
 seven years. 
 
 " Two things remain to be said in por- 
 traying Mr. Cleveland's career as a lawyer : 
 One, that in all his varied i-elations Avith 
 clients, lawyers, and courts his every act 
 was characterized by the highest sense of 
 honor and by the most delicate apprecia- 
 tion of and compliance with all the rules 
 of professional ethics ; and the other, that 
 every professional engagement, great or 
 small, received the best judgment, thought, 
 and energy of which he was capable» 
 
AS MA TOR OF B UFFAL 0. 45 
 
 Nothing lie undertook was slighted ; tliere= 
 fore all his work was done well. 
 " Yours sincerely, 
 
 "W. S.BlSSELL." 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 AS MAYOR OF BUFFALO. 
 
 The people of Buffalo had reached such 
 a stage in municipal development that 
 they were ready to welcome just such a man 
 as Grover Cleveland had proved himself 
 to be. It was growing rapidly in popula- 
 tion and wealth, as well as in compara- 
 tive position. It had long been the princi- 
 pal business center of the western part of 
 the State of New York. At the terminus 
 of the Erie Canal and the head of lake 
 navigation, it had obtained an importance 
 which its early settlers, and even its later 
 residents, scarcely appreciated. 
 
 It was not unnatural, either, that it 
 should develop the abuses apparently in- 
 separable from the government of Ameri- 
 can municipalities. It had grown so 
 
46 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 rsi]}id]y from a village to a town, and from 
 a town to a city, that tlie methods of its 
 earlier days had been outgrown, and yet, 
 neither the people nor the system had been 
 thoroughly readjusted to the new sur- 
 roundings. For many years political con- 
 ditions had been bad. The worst practices 
 incident to municipal maladministration 
 had obtained a foothold. Politics had got 
 into the business of the city, and the busi- 
 ness of the city had, to a certain extent, 
 been given over to politics. It was Repub- 
 lican by a substantial majority, but there 
 was then, as now, a large number of Inde- 
 pendents among the voters. The people 
 saw clearly enough that, if the conditions 
 then existing were permitted to continue, 
 their city would suffer not only in devel 
 opment but in credit. 
 
 So, when in the autumn of 1881 they 
 cast about them for a proper man to fill the 
 office of Mayor, the Democrats turned their 
 attention to the quiet lawyer, who, after 
 filling with acceptance the various offices 
 to w^hich he had been called, had returned 
 at once to his professional Avork, Much 
 
AS MA YOR OF B UFFALO. 4 7 
 
 against his will, lie was nominated by the 
 Democratic City Convention for Mayor on 
 October 25, 1881. There were a large 
 number of offices to fill at this election, 
 and a good many elements to be satisfied. 
 The matter was broached to Mr. Cleveland, 
 and he declined at first to consider it seri- 
 ously. Finally, when importunity became 
 stronger, he consented to accept the nomi- 
 nation in case the convention would select 
 a ticket that should be satisfactory in every 
 way to the reform element in the Demo- 
 cratic party and among the citizens. As 
 the result of this, the ordinary rules of 
 procedure were reversed, and nominations 
 were made for all the minor offices before 
 a candidate for Mayor was chosen. In 
 this way a thoroughly good ticket was 
 secured, questionable elements were rele- 
 gated to the rear, and the candidate for 
 Mayor was enabled to make his canvass 
 upon the high ground of promoting the 
 interests of his city, and of keeping his 
 party up to the highest possible standard. 
 It is not my purpose to quote largely 
 from Mr. Cleveland's speeches and let- 
 
48 A LIFE OF OROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 ters.* They have now been made accessible 
 in permanent form, so that what may be de- 
 nominated the old-fashioned documentary 
 sketch is no longer a necessity. But it 
 will, perhaps, be pertinent to set out in this 
 place two or three paragraphs from his 
 speech accepting the nomination for Mayor 
 of Buffalo. 
 
 After emphasizing his reluctance to ac- 
 cept the nomination, but insisting that " be- 
 cause I am a Democrat, and because I 
 think no one has a right at this time, of all 
 others, to consult his own inclinations as 
 against the call of his party and fellow- 
 citizens, and hoping that I may be of use to 
 you in your efforts to inaugurate a better 
 rule in municipal alfairs, I accept the nomi- 
 nation tendered me," he proceeded to lay 
 down the principles upon which he thought 
 an office like that of Mayor of a city such 
 as Buffalo should be conducted. He did 
 this in words which, taking into considera- 
 tion his later career, ought to be remem- 
 bered. He said : 
 
 * ' ' The Writings and Speeches of Gro ver Cleveland. " 
 Edited by Geoi-ge F. Parker. New York : Cassell 
 Publishing Company. 
 
AS MAYOR OF BUFFALO. 49 
 
 ^' I believe that mucli can be done to re- 
 lieve our citizens from their j^resent load of 
 taxation, and that a more rigid scrutiny of 
 all public expenditures will result in a great 
 saving to the community. I also believe 
 that some extravagance in our city govern- 
 ment may be corrected without injury to 
 the public service. 
 
 "There is, or there should be, no reason 
 why the affairs of our city should not be 
 managed with the same care and the same 
 economy as private interests. And when we 
 consider that public officials are the trustees 
 of the people, and hold their places and exer- 
 cise their powers for the benefit of the 
 people, there should be no higher inducement 
 to a faithful and honest discharge of public 
 duty. 
 
 " These are very old truths, but I cannot 
 forbear to speak in this strain to-day, be- 
 cause I believe the time has come when the 
 people loudly demand that these principles 
 shall be, sincerely and without mental reser- 
 vation, adopted as a rule of conduct. And I 
 am satisfied that the result of the campaign 
 upon which we enter to-day will demon- 
 strate that the citizens of Buffalo will not 
 tolerate the man or the party that has been 
 unfaithful to public trusts." 
 
 He closed his address by pledging him- 
 self that, "If elected to the position for 
 which you have nominated ine, I shall do 
 my whole duty to the j)arty, but none 
 
oO A LIFE OF OliOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the less, I hope, to tlie citizens of Buf- 
 falo." 
 
 It may not be inapt to compare a single 
 phrase in the address just alluded to when 
 lie was a candidate for Mayor of his city 
 with one of his latest utterances after he 
 had served liis country in the highest office 
 within the gift of its people. He said to 
 the convention that nominated him : 
 
 ■' Let us, then, in all sincerity, promise the 
 people an improvement in our mmiicipal 
 affairs, and if the opportunity is offered us, 
 as it surely will be, let us then faithfully 
 keep that promise. By this means, and by 
 this means alone, can our success rest upon 
 a firm foundation and our party ascendancy 
 be permanently assured." 
 
 Nearly eleven years after, in the pres- 
 ence of 20,000 of his countrymen, he ac- 
 cepted for the third time the call of his 
 party to become the candidate for Presi- 
 dent of the United States. In the speech 
 made upon that w^onderf ul occasion — some- 
 thing that in the future will be looked 
 upon as historic — he said : 
 
 "Let us tell the people plainly and hon- 
 estly what we believe and how we propose to 
 serve the interests of the entire country, and 
 
AS MAYOR OF BUFFALO. 51 
 
 then let us, after the manner of true De- 
 mocracy, rely upon the thoughtf ulness and 
 patriotism of our fellow-countrymen." 
 
 In the canvass that followed, Mr. Cleve- 
 land was able to command not only the 
 united support of his own partisans but of 
 a considerable element among his oppo- 
 nents. Some of the most influential of the 
 Republican newspapers either gave him 
 their support openly or refused to oppose 
 him in the usual bitter way. The move- 
 ment in his favor became one full of en- 
 thusiasm. The candidate declared at the 
 beginning of it that he would not permit 
 the use of money for the influencing of 
 votes and that he would make no canvass 
 in the saloons. But he neglected no legiti- 
 mate means to deserve and command the 
 support of the people. As a result of a 
 canvass begun and carried on in this spirit, 
 Mr. Cleveland was elected Mayor by a ma- 
 jority of 3500, the largest up to that time 
 ever given to a candidate for that office in 
 Buffalo. He was not only successful him- 
 self, but carried the entire Democratic ticket 
 through by good and sufficient majorities. 
 
52 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Comiug into politics and into an execu- 
 tive position under such circumstances, he 
 began to prepare himself for the important 
 and responsible duties that he must assume 
 within a few weeks. He put his law busi- 
 ness into such condition that he might 
 intrust it mainly to his partners, and pre- 
 pared to give up practically his whole time 
 to his work as Mayor. He was fortunate 
 here, as he has been during his career, in 
 securing a most efficient private secretary 
 in Harmon S. Cutting, who was a devoted 
 friend, a lawyer of excellent standing and 
 large experience, who had had excellent 
 opportunities for obtaining a knowledge of 
 municipal law. 
 
 The new Mayor entered upon his duties 
 in the spirit shown in every other place 
 that he has held thus far. He looked 
 upon the promises made at the time of his 
 nomination not merely as something by 
 which he had been able to secure his 
 election, but as something to be redeemed. 
 He saw no reason why the business of a 
 city — that is, the paving, lighting, the 
 cleaning of the streets, and the general con- 
 
AS MA YOB OF B UFFALO. 5 3 
 
 duct of its affairs — should not be con- 
 ducted as economically and as conscien- 
 tiously as if tliey were the private concerns 
 of the men to whom they were intrusted. 
 He thought first of the city; next, perhaps, 
 of his party — recognizing that it was im- 
 possible to escape party responsibilities ; 
 and last, of himself, except so far as he 
 reached the determination to do his duty 
 without fear or favor. 
 
 He entered upon his official duties Janu- 
 ary 1, 1882. No formal inauguration was 
 necessary ; but on the following day he sent 
 to the Common Council an elaborate mes- 
 sage, which may be said to bear a close re- 
 semblance to what might be termed an inau- 
 gural message from a Governor or President. 
 In this document, the first elaborate one 
 by which he is known to the public as an 
 executive officer, and in which he indulged 
 in that plain speaking, the knowledge of 
 which has become so universal, he said : 
 
 '' We hold the money of the people in our 
 hands to be used for their purposes and 
 to farther their interests as members of the 
 municipality, and it is quite apparent that 
 
54 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND, 
 
 when any part of the funds which the tax- 
 payers have thus intrusted to us is diverted 
 to other purposes, or when, by design or 
 neglect, we allow a greater sum to be applied 
 to any municipal purpose than is necessary, 
 we have, to that extent, violated our duty. 
 There surely is no difference in his duties and 
 obligations, whether a person is intrusted 
 with the money of one man or many. And 
 yet it sometimes appears as though the 
 officeholder assumes that a different rule of 
 fidelity prevails between him and the tax- 
 payers than that which should regulate his 
 conduct when, as an individual, he holds the 
 money of his neighbor. 
 
 "It seems to me that a successful and 
 faithful administration of the government 
 of our city may be accomplished by bear- 
 ing in mind that we are the trustees and 
 agents of our fellow-citizens, holding their 
 funds in sacred trust, to be expended for 
 their benefit ; that we should at all times be 
 prepared to render an honest account to 
 them touching the manner of its expenditure, 
 and that the affairs of the city should be 
 conducted, as far as possible, upon the same 
 principles as a good business man manages 
 his private concerns." 
 
 He then assured the legislative depart- 
 ment of the city government that, so far as 
 it was in his power, he would co-operate 
 wdth them in securing the faithful per- 
 formance of official duty in every depart- 
 
AS MAYOR OF BUFFALO. 55 
 
 ment of tlie government intrusted to them. 
 In tlie declarations above quoted there is 
 something of the sentiment that has now 
 become familiar to all the people in the 
 land. It was refreshing, even in a compar- 
 atively small city, to find such a lofty 
 appreciation of the duties incumbent upon 
 a man w^ho held an important executive 
 office. The people of Buffalo saw that 
 they had found a man far above the aver- 
 age — one who was likely to begin a work 
 which would revolutionize the government 
 of their city. 
 
 In the same message, proceeding from 
 the enunciation of general principles to de- 
 tails, he demonstrated that he had gained a 
 close knowledge of the different depart- 
 ments of the government he was to admin- 
 ister. He hadjgone so far as to discover 
 how much the city had paid for the con- 
 struction of plank sidewalks, showing that 
 the same kind of work was done for 
 private citizens at a price nearly one- third 
 less, and he cited this, which many an offi- 
 cial would have overlooked, as an example 
 of the difference between work for the 
 
56 A LIFE OF Q ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 public and work for individuals, and in- 
 sisted that lie saw no good reason wliy the 
 city should not let its contracts as cheaply 
 as anybody. He suggested a method for 
 overcoming this difficulty by providing 
 that all work of this kind should be let 
 to the lowest bidder, and expressed the 
 oj)inion that the adoption of this plan, 
 with a thorough system of inspection, 
 would enable the city to get what it 
 wanted, and what it paid for, at reason- 
 able prices. 
 
 In like manner he went carefully into 
 the question of the cleaning of the streets, 
 and !in this matter, too, suggested plans 
 which would correct the then existing 
 abuses. He found that extravagance pre- 
 vailed in the repairing and refurnishing of 
 public school buildings, and so he not only 
 adjured the Common Council to exercise a 
 reasonable economy, but suggested that 
 committees of citizens in the several dis- 
 tricts might, if they would take the work 
 upon themselves, be able to avoid much 
 useless expenditure. 
 
 He devoted his attention to the abuses 
 
AS MA YOB OF BUFFALO. 57 
 
 incident to tlie public printing and insisted 
 that it should not be given to newspapers 
 as a reward for party service, or appear 
 merely as "an item of political patronage." 
 
 He found that the duties performed by 
 the City Auditor were looked upon as 
 largely perfunctory, and that, instead of 
 investigating carefully every account pre- 
 sented to him, he deemed his duty done 
 when he audited and verified the footings. 
 He insisted that this officer "should 
 inquire into the merits of the claims pre- 
 sented to him." He went so far as to insist 
 that the city offices should not be closed 
 at the early hour of the day then usual, 
 without regard to the interests of the 
 public. 
 
 Taken all in all, the first message of the 
 new Mayor was like a fresh breeze blow- 
 ing through the fever-infected district of a 
 city. Disclaiming any desire to dictate to 
 the Common Council as to the perform- 
 ance of its duties, and recognizing that the 
 responsibility of legislation remained with 
 it, he nevertheless gave them an amount 
 of information that was scarcely to be 
 
58 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 expected from a man new to tbe duties of 
 an office, and that, too, one who had not 
 been known to give special attention to the 
 affairs of his city. 
 
 He was soon, however, to give evidence 
 not only of a close knowledge of the con- 
 dition of the business intrusted to him, but 
 the Common Council found that he had a 
 faculty for finding out all the weak spots 
 in their conduct of the public affairs. 
 Within a fortnight after his inaugural 
 message had been sent to the Common 
 Council, the Mayor took occasion to show 
 that his opinion on the question of patron- 
 age for newspapers was something not 
 merely to be spoken of on such occasions 
 and to be put aside in practice. So, when 
 three German newspapers were designated 
 to do the city printing, at an expense of 
 $800 a year each, he vetoed the resolution, 
 in s]3ite of the fact that the German popu- 
 lation of Buffalo bore a very important 
 relation to the entire number of its 
 inhabitants. He insisted that there was 
 no occasion for spending the people's 
 money in publishing a synopsis of the 
 
AS MA YOB OF B UFFALO. 5 9 
 
 Comicirs proceedings, and in the course of 
 the message he laid down a principle often 
 forgotten by executive officers and legis- 
 lators. He said : 
 
 ^'The German newspapers mentioned in 
 the resolution depend for their success upon 
 the amount and value of the news or infor- 
 mation they furnish to their patrons. We 
 will assume that some account of the pro- 
 ceedings of the Common Council — in other 
 words, that a synopsis of such proceed- 
 ings — is of importance and interest to their 
 readers. I am quite sure we may safely 
 calculate that, from motives of self-interest, 
 the proprietors of these newspapers will 
 publish a synopsis much more satisfactory 
 to their subscribers than any which the City 
 Clerk would be apt to prepare, and they 
 would do so for their own profit and without 
 any compensation from the city." 
 
 He characterized this appropriation as 
 coming " very near being a most objection- 
 able subsidy," which nobody ought to en- 
 courage, and which he (iid not believe the 
 people of the city would tolerate. In this 
 case he began to carry out the policy since 
 followed of not asking how it would affect 
 his political friends or their interests — one 
 
60 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 of the papers affected by the resolution 
 being Democratic. But most important of 
 all, lie emphasized the policy so often over- 
 looked, that, left to themselves, the public 
 would be able to get, without expense, and 
 as the result of private enterprise, those 
 things so often paid for out of^ the public 
 treasury. 
 
 He continued this careful examination of 
 the ordinances that came to him from the 
 Common Council. Scarcely a week passed 
 that he did not send to that body a veto 
 message, often expressed in language so 
 positive and strong that the Council scarcely 
 knew how to deal with it. Every detail 
 of the municipal service thus passed under 
 careful examination — not by a clerk or 
 private secretary, but by the official head 
 *^f the city himself. He vetoed extravagant 
 printing bills, provisions for extra pay for 
 clerks, and gave special attention to legisla- 
 tion looking to *the improvement of the 
 water supply and the sewerage of the city. 
 When an attempt was made to evade the 
 law by dividing contracts into several parts, 
 in order to escape the provision requiring 
 
^>S' MAYOR OF BUFFALO. 61 
 
 advertisement, lie interposed his objection 
 successfully. 
 
 During the month of May, after assum- 
 ing the duties of his office, the Common 
 Council passed a resolution directing the 
 City Clerk to draw a warrant on the Fourth 
 of July Fund for $500, payable to the 
 order of the Memorial Day Committee of 
 the Grand Army of the Republic, for the 
 purpose of defraying the expenses attend- 
 ing a proper observation of Memorial Day. 
 This brought forth one of the documents 
 which came to be known in Buffalo as the 
 " Plain Speech Vetoes," although the one 
 containing that particular phrase was not 
 issued until a month later. He contended 
 that the resolutions in question were for- 
 bidden by the Constitution of the State, 
 as well as the charter of the city, whi(;h 
 made it a misdemeanor to appropriate 
 money collected for one purpose to any 
 other object, and he tli^refore saw no rea- 
 son why he should permit money received 
 by taxation to be diverted to the celebra- 
 tion of Memorial Day. In avowing his 
 purpose he declared : 
 
62 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 ' ' I deem the object of this appropriation 
 a most worthy one. The efforts of our 
 veteran soldiers to keep alive the memory of 
 their fallen comrades certainly deserves the 
 aid and encouragement of their fellow- 
 citizens. We should all, I think, feel it a 
 duty and a privilege to contribute to the 
 funds necessary to carry out such a pur- 
 pose, and I should be much disappointed if 
 an appeal to our citizens for voluntary sub- 
 scriptions for this patriotic object should be 
 in vain; but the money so contributed 
 should be a free gift of the citizens and tax- 
 payers, and should not be extorted from 
 them by taxation." 
 
 The day before this message was sent 
 to the Common Council he wrote to the 
 Chairman of the Memorial Day Committee 
 the following letter : 
 
 '' Buffalo, May 7, 1882. 
 *' John M. Farquhae, Esq., 
 
 ''Dear Sir: I have tried very hard, but 
 fail to find a way, consistently to approve 
 the resolution of the Common Council ap- 
 propriating $500 for the observance of 
 Decoration Day. 
 
 " If my action has the effect of stopping 
 
 the payment of this sum for the purpose, 
 
 and you attempt to raise the necessary sum 
 
 by subscription, you may call on me for $50. 
 
 " Yours very trul}^ 
 
 " Grover Cleveland." 
 
AS MA YOB OF BUFFALO. 63 
 
 He thus proved his faith by his works. 
 The necessary sum was quickly raised, and 
 the principles which he had commended 
 were successfully asserted. 
 
 Probably nothing in his career as Mayor 
 attracted wider attention than this act. 
 Here was an object which the Mayor him-. 
 self declared to be a worthy one. He was 
 a member, too, of a party that had been 
 the victim of much obloquy from its oppo- 
 nents on the question of its relations to the 
 Civil War ; but the leading newspapers, no«fc 
 only of his own city, but of the State in 
 general, without distinction of party, cor- 
 dially approved his brief and plain-speak- 
 ing message, and the reputation of 
 Buffalo's reform Mayor began to broaden. 
 
 But if this message had such an effect, 
 it was merely preparatory to another and 
 by all odds the most important veto mes- 
 sage written by Mr. Cleveland during his 
 term as Mayor. This concerned the clean- 
 ing of the streets, and is generally known 
 by the name of the '' Plain-Speech Veto." 
 The Common Council passed an ordinance 
 awarding the contract for cleaning the 
 
64 A LIFE OF GBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 streets for tlie term of five years for 
 $422,500. This was more than one hun- 
 dred thousand dollars higher than the bid 
 made by another contractor equally re- 
 sponsible, and fifty thousand dollars more 
 than that made by the same contractor 
 only a few weeks before. In his veto 
 message, which would fill little more than 
 a quarter of a column of an ordinary city 
 newspaper, he said : 
 
 ''This is a time for plain si^eech, and my 
 objection to the action of your honorable 
 body now under consideration shall be 
 plainly understood. I withhold my assent 
 from the same because I regard it as the cul- 
 mination of a most barefaced, impudent, 
 and shameless scheme to betray the interests 
 of the people, and to worse than squander 
 the public money. 
 
 " I will not be misunderstood in this mat- 
 ter. There are those whose votes were given 
 for this resolution Avliom I cannot and will 
 not suspect of a willful neglect of the inter- 
 ests they are sworn to protect ; but it has 
 been fully demonstrated that there are in- 
 fluences in and about your honorable body 
 which it behooves every honest man to watch 
 and avoid with the greatest care. 
 
 " When cool judgment rules the hour, the 
 peoi^le will, I hope and believe, have no 
 reason to complain of the action of your 
 
AS 3IA TOR OF BUFFALO. 65 
 
 honorable body. But clumsy appeals to 
 prejudice or passion, insinuations, Avith a 
 Idnd of low, cheap cunning* as to the motives 
 and purposes of others, and the mock heroism 
 of brazen effrontery which openly declare 
 that a wholesome public sentiment is to be 
 set at nau^ ht, sometimes deceive and lead 
 honest men o aid in the consummation of 
 schemes wh.ch, if exposed, they would look 
 upon with abhorrence." 
 
 The closing paragraph of the same mes- 
 sage is also interesting, as well as impor- 
 tant to an understanding of the character of 
 the man with whom the Common Council 
 of Buffalo had to deal then, and with 
 whom the American people have dealt 
 since. In it he said : 
 
 "We are fast gaining positions in the 
 grades of public stewardships. There is no 
 middle ground. Those who are not for the 
 people, either in or out of your honorable 
 body, are against them, and should be 
 treated accordingly." 
 
 It is little wonder that such sentiments 
 as these, expressed with almost brutal di- 
 rectness, with a force that proved to the 
 public that truth lay behind them — should 
 have drawn upon him a great deal of abuse 
 from the men whose motives were thus ex- 
 
QQ A. LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 posed ; but tlie more the politicians or tlie 
 jobbers undertook to misrepresent liim, 
 the more strongly was the public drawn 
 to this man of strong character and iron 
 will. 
 
 He found, too, that the construction of 
 an intercepting sewer for the city was be- 
 ing used as a basis for jobbery ; so, in mes- 
 sage after message, and in veto after veto, 
 he combated the measure, and was finally 
 successful in saving to the cit}^ about 
 $800,000, which, but for him, would have 
 been expended uselessly or corruptly. 
 
 In the same way he insisted that his 
 appointments, to which then, as ever, he 
 gave much careful attention, should be 
 confirmed by the City Council, and a failure 
 to do so in the case of the Sewage Com- 
 missioners enabled him to bring the Com- 
 mon Council to terms and to put this 
 important service upon a permanent busi- 
 ness basis. By doing this he did a lasting 
 service to a great and growing city, the 
 good effects of Avhich are still apparent. 
 
 No attempt has been made to review 
 fully the relations of Grover Cleveland to 
 
A8 MAYOR OF BUFFALO. , 67 
 
 the Common Councii of Buffalo or to his 
 administration of the duties of his office as 
 the Mayor of that city. But these are 
 specimens of the work he undertook to do. 
 He had entered upon the duties of his 
 office with a distinct declaration that he 
 would administer it in a business way, and 
 he showed that he had meant what he 
 said, and that, so far as in him lay, he 
 would redeem his promise. 
 
 Lons: before half of his term had ex- 
 pired he was recognized as something more 
 than a mere Mayor of Buffalo — as other 
 than an official figure in the third city of 
 his State, and his name began to be dis- 
 cussed as one to whom higher honors 
 might come. But in all this he took no 
 part. He simply went in and out about 
 his work, thinking of nothing else ; trying 
 only to see how he could best subserve 
 the interests confided to him. There is 
 universal agreement among all who came 
 in contact with him then, and at other 
 times, that he never used one office as a 
 stepping-stone to another. He felt that it 
 was all he could do to be Mayor of Buffalo 
 
68 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 SO lono; as the duties of that office were in- 
 cumbent upon him. He did not aspire to 
 be Governor, and thought much less seri* 
 ously of it than did his friends, who, soon 
 after the expiration of lialf his first year as 
 Mayor, presented his name for that office. 
 
 During his term as Mayor he first devel- 
 oped those wonderful qualities of speech- 
 making which have made him one of 
 the most influential public speakers in 
 his country. He did not make many 
 speeches, and none of them were long. At 
 the celebration of the Semi-Centennial of 
 Buffalo he spoke with great acceptance, as 
 he did also at the laying of the coruer 
 stone of the Young Men's Christian Asso- 
 ciation. He was the presiding officer at a 
 mass meeting to protest against the im- 
 prisonment of Americans abroad. On 
 each occasion he spoke briefly and clearly, 
 preparing his addresses carefully, and de- 
 livering , them with whatever force and 
 power he could command. 
 
 He thus gave evidence that he was not 
 a mere cheese-parer, who expected to make 
 a reputation by cutting off an insignificant 
 
' AS MA TOR OF B UFFALO. 6 9 
 
 appropriation, but au official who, having 
 a thoroiio'h knowledo^e of tlie business in 
 hand, was determined that it should be 
 conducted upon right principles. It is not 
 to be wondered at, that, coming forward at 
 such a time, a man like this should be 
 thought of for higher honors. The people 
 are accustomed to look for such men, and 
 scan the political horizon with eager gaze 
 for signs of their appearance. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE CANVASS FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP. 
 
 For many years the people of Western 
 New York had thought themselves slighted 
 because neither of the great parties had 
 nominated one of their citizens as a can- 
 didate for Governor. So, in 1882, it was 
 only natural for the local pride of the 
 old Eighth Judicial District, and especially 
 that of the city of Buffalo, to assert itself 
 without much regard for parties, so far as 
 the nomination was concerned, and to pre- 
 sent for higher office the man who had so 
 
70 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND, 
 
 distinguislied liimsel'f in tlie office of Mayor 
 of Buffalo. It mattered little that his rise 
 had been rapid, or that he had not been 
 known as the holder of an office which 
 brought him into close relation w^ith, and 
 intimate knowledge of, the people of the 
 State. Perhaps the lack of these things 
 contributed something to the demand 
 for his promotion. When an official has 
 done so well as Grover Cleveland had in 
 performing the duties of the office of 
 Mayor of an important city, the people 
 are apt to look upon him as a man who 
 has not been carried into office by 
 some tidal w^ave of party feeling, or 
 as a protest against unworthy men, or 
 the dominance of bad methods. It is com- 
 mon, when reputations are made within a 
 very brief time, to attribute a good deal of 
 it to luck, but the people know better; 
 they know it is not chance that makes a 
 man an efficient administrator in an execu- 
 tive office, and they reason from such a suc- 
 cess that if this man, having good abilities 
 and due and proper modesty, is promoted 
 to an office still higher he will carry into 
 
THE CANVASS FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP. 11 
 
 it the same characteristics tliat made him 
 useful to his fellow-citizens in a smaller 
 sphere. 
 
 When, therefore, in 1882, the Democrats 
 of the two great cities on the opposite 
 sides of the East River presented each 
 an active aspirant for the nomination for 
 Governor, it w-as logical that the people of 
 the western and central parts of the State, 
 who had had their attention directea, to 
 Mr. Cleveland's career, should present him 
 for promotion at the hands of his party. 
 This w^as done without any active partici- 
 pation by himself. His friends, many of 
 them members of the party w^hich he had 
 always opposed, made up their minds to 
 present his name for nomination by the 
 Democratic Convention, which was to be 
 held on September 22, at Syracuse. They 
 formed their committees, made their allot- 
 ment of work for themselves, easily carried 
 the local caucuses and those in their im- 
 mediate neigliborhood, and were ready to 
 go down to Syracuse with a considerable 
 number of delegates. 
 
 When these local delegates started to 
 
'72 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Syracuse a good many of tliem intimated 
 that perhaps they would like to have their 
 candidate, who was comparatively unknown 
 to the great majority of the men who made 
 up the membership of the convention, run 
 down to the meeting place merely to show 
 himself. He ridiculed the suggestion and 
 had uo intention of complying ; but late in 
 the evening of the day before the convention 
 was to meet his friends telegraphed him 
 with such urgency that he finally consented 
 to go, almost without time for preparation. 
 He reached Syracuse late in the evening, met 
 the late Daniel Manning — the then dom- 
 inant leader of the party in his State — for 
 the first time, and thoroughly impressed 
 upon the minds of the latter and his 
 friends the fact that a new personality had 
 appeared in the Democratic politics of the 
 State. Then he returned to Buifalo and 
 was at his desk in the Mayor's ofiice at the 
 usual hour the next morning. 
 
 In the convention the next day a fair 
 j)roportion of the votes were cast for him on 
 the first ballot. On the second ballot his 
 support was largely augmented, and the 
 
THE CANVASS FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP. V3 
 
 drift became so strong toward liim, while 
 tlie antas^onism between the two candi- 
 dates from the eastern part of the State 
 was intensified, that he was nominated by 
 a substantial majority on the third ballot. 
 
 Then followed one of the most remark- 
 able canvasses in the history of the State of 
 New York or any other. The Republican 
 candidate, nominated at the Republican 
 Convention held a fortnio:ht earlier than 
 that of its rival, was the late Charles J. 
 Folger, who had been for many years a 
 prominent man in his State, and was then 
 the incumbent of the office of Secretary of 
 the Treasury in the Cabinet of President 
 Chester A. Arthur. He had been Chief 
 Justice of the Court of Appeals, was a man 
 of large attainments, great experience in 
 political work, and the highest possible 
 character. 
 
 But these very virtues were turned 
 against the worthy man who had become 
 the beneficiary of bad methods in politics. 
 Immediately the cry was raised that the 
 Republican Convention which had nomi- 
 nated this excellent candidate for Governor 
 
V4 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 had been controlled and dominated in every 
 part by the National Administration, and 
 that it had sought not only to dictate the 
 head of the ticket in the State, but practic- 
 ally to appoint the man who should become 
 Governor. Immediately the independent 
 elements everywhere took alarm ; one after 
 another of the leading men of the Republi- 
 can party in every portion of the State 
 bolted the nomination thus made and allied 
 themselves with the candidate nominated by 
 the Democratic Convention. Some of the 
 strongest Republican newspapers pursued 
 the same policy, and exposed with unspar- 
 ing severity the methods that had been 
 used to secure the nomination of Judge Fol- 
 ger, and commended with equal emphasis 
 the independent man who had been nomi- 
 nated in spite of the aspirations of the rep- 
 resentatives of his party who had sought the 
 honor. 
 
 In a little more than a fortnight after 
 the adjournment of the Syracuse con- 
 vention, Mr. Cleveland's letter of accept- 
 ance appeared. It was a short, concise, 
 plain, well- written document, without a 
 
THE CANVASS FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP. 75 
 
 trace of demagogy in it ; devoted en- 
 tirely to State issues, each of wliicli he 
 treated with sufficient fullness to make his 
 views understood, and with the wonderful 
 force and clearness which have now be- 
 come so widely recognized. 
 
 A single paragraph may bear quotation 
 even after the lapse of many ^^ears, and in 
 spite of the fact that the whole of it 
 has been so often reprinted and is acces- 
 sible in his published works. He said : 
 
 "The importance of wise statesmanship 
 in the management of public affairs cannot, 
 I think, be overestimated. I am convinced, 
 however, that the jjerplexities and the mys- 
 tery often surrounding the administration 
 of State concerns grow, in a great measure, 
 out of an attempt to serve partisan ends 
 rather than the welfare of the citizen. We 
 may, I think, reduce to quite simple ele- 
 ments the duty which public servants owe^ 
 by constantly bearing in mind that the}^ 
 are put in place to protect the rights of the 
 people, to answer their needs as they arise, 
 and to expend, for their benefit, the money 
 drawn from them by taxation." 
 
 From that time forward the canvass 
 in favor of the election of Mr. Cleveland 
 moved along with a force that was resist- 
 
V6 A LIFE OF OROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 less. He made no speeclies ; lie did not 
 even sliow himself in the older parts of the 
 State, where he was almost entirely un- 
 known. He went about his work in Buf- 
 falo, giving some attention, however, then, 
 as he always has done when a candidate 
 for office, to the detail management of the 
 canvass. Little of a politician, in the 
 usual sense of that term, he has, after all, 
 had more facilities for obtaining correct 
 information as to the condition of public 
 opinion than any dozen ordinary poli- 
 ticians or managers combined. These he 
 has always used legitimately with much 
 effect. When the election was held and 
 the votes counted, it was found that 
 Grover Cleveland had 192,854 votes 
 more than had been cast for Charles J 
 Folger. 
 
 ISTothino^ like this had ever been known 
 in American politics. Here was a man, 
 who to the ordinary politician was an 
 obscure man, one who had never held an 
 office outside of a small part of the great 
 State which he had been called on to 
 govern by the most decisive majority cast 
 
THE CANVASS FOR THE 00VERN0R8HIP. 11 
 
 in a disputed election in any State of the 
 Union. 
 
 In this day of triumph, when his par- 
 tisans everywhere were indulging them- 
 selves in demonstrations of enthusiasm the 
 man who was the subject of it felt perhaps 
 a stronger sense of responsibility than any 
 man ever chosen to such an office in any 
 State. But there w^as no vanity, no exul- 
 tation, no assertion, even in his most con- 
 fidential relations with his friends, of any 
 feeling but the sense of responsibility that 
 rested upon him and the expression of a 
 fear that he might not be able to cany it 
 out to his own satisfaction. On the night 
 of election day he wrote the following 
 letter to his brother : 
 
 " Mayor's Office, 
 '' Buffalo, N. Y., November 7, 1882. 
 My Dear Brother : 
 
 "I have just voted. I sit here in the 
 Mayor's office alone, with the exception of 
 an artist from Frank Leslie' s Neiosparper, 
 who is sketching the office. If mother was 
 here I should be writing to her, and I feel 
 as if it were time for me to write to some- 
 one who will believe what I write. 
 
 *' I have been for some time in the atmos- 
 
78 4 LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 pliere of certain success, so that I have been 
 sure that I should assume the duties of the 
 high office for which I have been named. I 
 have tried hard, in the light of this fact, to 
 appreciate properly the responsibilities that 
 will rest upon me, and they are much, too 
 much underestimated. But the thought 
 that has troubled me is, can I well perform 
 my duties, and in such a manner as to do 
 some good to the people of the State ? I 
 know there is room for it, and I know that 
 I am honest and sincere in my desire to do 
 well ; but the question is whether I know 
 enough to accomplish what I desire. 
 
 "The social life which seems to await me 
 has also been a subject of much anxious 
 thought. I have a notion that I can regu- 
 late that very much as I desire ; and, if I 
 can, I shall 'spend very little time in the 
 T)urely ornamental part of the office. In 
 point of fact, I will tell you, first of all 
 others, the policy I intend to adopt, and 
 that is, to make the matter a business en- 
 gagement between the people of, the State 
 and myself, in which the obligation on my 
 side is to perform the duties assigned me 
 with an eye single to the interest of my em- 
 ployers. I shall have no idea of re-election 
 or any higher jwlitical preferment in my 
 head, but be very thankful and happy if I 
 can well serve one term as the people's Gov- 
 ernor. Do you know that if mother were 
 alive I should feel so much safer. I have 
 always thought that her prayers had much 
 to do with my success. I shall expect you 
 
THE CANVASS FOR THE GOVERNORSHIP. 79 
 
 all to help me in that way. Give my love 
 
 to and to if she is with you, and 
 
 believe me, 
 
 "Your affectionate brother, 
 
 " Grover Cleveland." 
 "Rev. William N. Cleveland." 
 
 Then, as if emphasizing this feeling of 
 awe, this innate diffidence, he began to 
 prepare himself for the new duties that 
 awaited him. He had very little time to 
 make that study of the condition of the 
 State which it was necessary for liim to 
 deal with in the annual message, which 
 must be sent to the legislature only 
 a few weeks later. He went about his 
 usual duties, accepted few of the invita- 
 tions that came to hini, and in the interval 
 made only a single speech — at a recep- 
 tion given him by the Manhattan Club in 
 December after his election. It is re- 
 markable now, looking back upon that 
 speech, the first made after his broader 
 career had dawned upon him, that it was 
 pervaded by the same lofty sentiments, 
 emphasized in the strongest way the sense 
 of responsibility he felt, and expressed 
 many of the ideas that he has since been 
 
80 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 able to cany out as an executive officer 
 and as the friend and mentor of the Amer- 
 ican people. 
 
 He went to Albany one day before the 
 time fixed by law for his inauguration, 
 accompanied only by his friend and law 
 partner, Mr. Wilson S. Bissell, and was 
 inaugurated the next day with the simple 
 ceremony so long a distinctive feature in 
 the political life of the State of New York. 
 When the legislature convened the next 
 day, he sent to it his annual message, and 
 was thus fully embarked upon the new 
 and broader career. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 FIRST YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 
 
 The people of the great State of New 
 York did not have Ions: to wait to find out 
 that they had placed the government in 
 the hands of one in no way unworthy to 
 succeed to its power and honors. That 
 office has long been deemed the fitting re- 
 ward for men of great ability and high 
 personal character. In very few cases has 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 81 
 
 it been filled by men of low political am- 
 bitions or of bad character, or by those 
 who would use it merely for the sake of 
 the power or the spoils inherent in it. 
 In many respects it has been considered 
 but little less dignified to be Governor of 
 the State of Ne^v York than to be Presi- 
 dent of the United States. The names of 
 the men who have been elevated to that 
 lofty place are, in and of themselves, proof 
 of the truth of this assertion. George 
 Clinton, De Witt Clinton, Silas AVright, 
 William L. Marcy, W^illiam H. Seward, 
 Horatio Seymour, John A. Dix, and 
 Samuel J. Tilden were fitted to adorn any 
 public office, whatever its dignity, or how- 
 ever grave its responsibilities. 
 
 But though the people of the State knew 
 it not, they had conferred their great office 
 upon a man who was to bring to it greater 
 renown than any of his predecessors. That 
 he was comparatively unknown in person 
 and character to the great majority of the 
 people who had elected him only increased 
 the interest and made his success the more 
 conspicuous. It has always been some- 
 
82 A LIFE OF QROVER CLE VF LAM). 
 
 thing of a surprise that a man who, to all 
 outward appearances, had only the slightest 
 experience in the larger politics of his 
 State should have been chosen from all 
 his fellow-citizens to administer this great 
 trust. And his election by such a remark- 
 able majority, the revulsion of feeling that 
 had produced this result, the moral force 
 and ideas behind it, had given him a 
 position which none but a man of great 
 ability and of the very highest traits of 
 character could have filled. It was not 
 enough that he was known to be an honest 
 man whose actions in an office of this 
 magnitude could hardly be predicted. 
 
 It was, in many respects, a risk for 
 a people to take, in spite of the fact 
 that there are few instances indeed in 
 Avhich men w^ill permit themselves to be 
 elected to such a place without the ability 
 and character to till it. As a rule men 
 know themselves better than anybody else 
 knows them, and they are seldom given to 
 inviting inevitable defeat and failure. But 
 he was left fi:ee-handed and independent. 
 He had not been identified long enough in 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE OOVERNORSHIP. 83 
 
 a prominent way with the management of 
 his party to take sides, or to have allied 
 himself with factions in it. He had in- 
 curred few obligations to individuals, local- 
 ities, or interests. Then, too, he had 
 been so trained in the exactino; duties 
 of his profession, and in the few public 
 trusts that had been confided to him, to 
 consider everything presented to him on 
 its merits, that he could examine fairly 
 every public question as it arose and decide 
 it as seemed best to his judgment and con- 
 science. 
 
 His first annual message, prepared, as 
 must always be the case in ]S"e^v York, 
 under many difficulties and without an 
 opportunity to get himself into the atmos- 
 phere of State politics and interests, was 
 comparatively brief, limited to as small a 
 number of subjects as was consistent with 
 reasonable completeness, and set forth the 
 views of a practical man who looked upon 
 public affairs in the same light that he 
 did upon the private business of an indi- 
 vidual — as something to be done con- 
 scientiously and intelligently. 
 
84 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 lu this message lie discussed with iutelli- 
 gence the interests of the canals and empha- 
 sized their importance. At the session of 
 the legislature held just before his elec- 
 tion the State had finally completed the 
 legislation necessary to make them free. 
 He insisted that as the people had surren- 
 dered the protection thus afforded, to- 
 gether with the revenue derived from the 
 tolls, their chosen representatives should, 
 in the execution of the trust committed to 
 them, oppose the expenditure of large sums 
 of money until the effect of this policy 
 had been seen. As the result of his recom- 
 mendations some legislation very much in 
 advance of that usually passed in such 
 emergencies was secured. 
 
 He had excellent recommendations to 
 make on the principles that should 
 rule the conduct of the public schools, 
 the management of banks and insurance 
 companies, the relations that the National 
 Guard should bear to the State, and the 
 management of prisons and charitable in- 
 stitutions. It was perhaps no more than 
 natural that he should give much attention 
 
FIB8T TEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP, 85 
 
 to tlie latter. His early experience in 
 New York, althongh it had come to liim 
 when little more than a boy, had evidently 
 impressed him deeply. So he insisted 
 that if abuses existed in the care of the 
 insane no opportunity should be given for 
 their continuance without the most relent- 
 less exposure. He averred that ^'frequent 
 visitations and the most thorough exami- 
 nation should be made by local boards 
 of properly constituted State authorities, 
 which the people would be sure were in 
 no wise bound except to the faithful dis- 
 charge of their duties." He felt that by 
 such means the institutions and those in 
 charge of them would be protected from 
 unjust charges and suspicion, and that the 
 confidence of the people of the State 
 would be secured. 
 
 He gave much attention to the question 
 of immigration, as it was then conducted 
 by the commissioners appointed by the 
 State and under the laws passed by con- 
 gress. For many years the Quarantine 
 and Health Departments had been in bad 
 odor. He insisted that the abuses incident 
 
86 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 to tliem should be corrected. It was in- 
 evitable tliat tlie man who had just come 
 from the successful administration of a 
 municipal office should give some attention 
 to the problems incident to the duties he 
 had Just laid down. His remedy for the 
 evils of muncipal government was simple. 
 He said : 
 
 '^They [city governments] should be so 
 organized as to be simple in details and to 
 cast upon the iDeople affected thereby the 
 full responsibility of their administration. 
 The different departments should be in such 
 accord as in their operation to lead toward 
 tlie same results. Divided councils and 
 divided responsibility to the people on the 
 part of municipal officers, it is believed, give 
 rise to much that is objectionable in the life 
 of cities. If, to remedy this evil, the Chief 
 Executive should be made answerable to the 
 ]3eople for the proper conduct of the city 
 affairs, it is quite clear that his power in the 
 selection of those who manage its different 
 departments should be greatly enlarged." 
 
 Scarcely less important was his decla- 
 ration in favor of the enactment of an 
 efficient State civil service law, and to 
 this recommendation is due the fact that 
 he was able to declare in his next message 
 
FIRST YEAH IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. SY 
 
 that " NewjYork, then, leads in the inaugu- 
 ration of a comprehensive State system of 
 civil service." His first official declaration 
 in favor of the adoption of this policy was 
 brief, covering only a few lines in his 
 annual message, but it was thoroughly in 
 harmony with the sentiment of the State, 
 and was so enforced from time to time by 
 his own example that, while the legislature 
 failed to enact many a good law that he 
 had recommended, and public sentiment 
 really favored, it dared not refuse this 
 demand. 
 
 In his message there was less of the dog- 
 matism that characterized his Buffalo ca- 
 reer than was to be expected ; but when it 
 is borne in mind that he had assumed great 
 responsibilities in an office to which he was 
 entirely new, and was surrounded by condi- 
 tions with which he had had little opportu- 
 nity to familiarize himself, this is not at all 
 surprising. It was not long, however, before 
 he began to feel thoroughly at home, and 
 it is interesting to the student of political 
 conditions, as well as of individual char- 
 acter, to go back over the public papers of 
 
88 A LIFE OF O ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Mr. Clevelancrs first year as Governor and 
 observe \iow quickly he projected himself 
 into the atmosphere of State politics. 
 
 He had been known as " The Veto 
 Mayor of Buffalo." It was not long until 
 he was as Justly entitled to the name of 
 "The Veto Governor of New York." 
 Although there was a change of scene, 
 there was none in the principles upon 
 which he carried on the business of the 
 government. He still looked upon a 
 public office as a place in which he must 
 serve the interests of the people. He pro- 
 ceeded in Albany, with the same delibera- 
 tion he had used in Buffalo, to interpose 
 the veto power for the protection of the 
 public treasury. In Buffalo he had vetoed 
 a bill to transfer money from a Fourth of 
 July fund to a Memorial Day fund, and, as 
 has been seen, expressed his reluctance to 
 do so because of his sympathy with the 
 object ; so in Albany he vetoed a bill 
 authorizing the supervisors of Chautauqua 
 County to appropriate money for a soldiers 
 monument, and in doino^ so declared : " It 
 is not an agreeable duty to refuse to give 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE GOVEUNOBSHIP. 89 
 
 sanction to the appropriation of money for 
 sucli a worthy and patriotic object, bnt I can- 
 not forget that the money proposed to be ap- 
 propriated is public money to be raised by 
 taxation, and that all that justifies its exac- 
 tion from the people is the necessity of its 
 use for purposes connected with the safety 
 and substantial welfare of the taxpayers." 
 And, in closing the same message, he in- 
 dulged in that legislative lecturing that had 
 made him famous in Buffalo. In doing so 
 he expressed the hope that " a due regard to 
 fundamental principles, and a strict adher- 
 ence to the letter and spirit of the Constitu- 
 tion, will prevent the passage of bills of this 
 nature in the future." 
 
 He vetoed the bill enacted by his own 
 partisans in the legislature to amend the 
 charter of the city of Elmira, and only a 
 little later he did the same thino; with the 
 bill to amend the charter of his own city 
 of Baifalo. He had been succeeded by a 
 new Mayor, who was not unwilling to have 
 something of partisan glory and spoils. 
 So a bill was introduced, and passed in the 
 legislature, reorganizing the Fire Depart- 
 
90 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 ment. In an elaborate message, vetoing 
 this bill, be expressed bis dissent from tbe 
 principles of tbe bill for legal as well as 
 moral reasons, and in closing tbis docu- 
 ment be wrote a paragraph wbicb bas con- 
 tributed largely to bis fame, and wbicb 
 was in every way characteristic of tbe man. 
 In this be said : 
 
 '' I believe in an open and sturdy partisan- 
 ship, wbicb secures the legitimate advan- 
 tages of party supremacy ; but parties were 
 made for the people, and I am unwilling, 
 knowingly, to give my assent to measures 
 purely partisan, which will sacrifice or en- 
 danger their interests." 
 
 During tbis session of tbe legislature be 
 also laid down the principle, emphasized so 
 many times during his term as President, 
 that persons should not be relieved from 
 responsibility for the safe keeping of money 
 or property for any light or insufficient 
 reason. His opinions on tbis matter were 
 expressed in a bill authorizing the Comp- 
 troller to compromise claims against a bank 
 in his own city. In many other vetoes he 
 carried out in a larger held the policies that 
 bad given him prominence and bad made 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 91 
 
 him such an efficient servant of the 
 people. 
 
 He exercised the power granted him by 
 the Constitution to remove an elective 
 officer, taking up the charges preferred 
 against a District Attorney belonging to his 
 own party, and ousting the incumbent from 
 an office, in spite of the fact that he was an 
 important political factor in his community. 
 In doing all these things he encountered 
 the usual amount of partisan abuse. He 
 had a difficult leo^islature to manaoje. His 
 own party in the senate was rent by fac- 
 tions, and a series of disgraceful ti*ades had 
 been made from time to time between one 
 or the other of these and the Republicans 
 in the same body ; but he went his way, 
 paying little attention to these things, and 
 apparently gathering courage and ideas for 
 carrying out the same policy in other direc- 
 tions. 
 
 Every criticism was mild compared 
 with the opposition evoked by his action 
 in vetoing what was known as the " Five- 
 Cent Fare Bill." This ^vas a bill forcibly 
 reducing to five cents the fares charged 
 
92 A LIFE OF OROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 on the elevated railroads of tlie city of 
 New York. The question had been agi- 
 tated for a good many years, and a strong 
 feeling of opposition to the elevated rail- 
 roads themselves, and to what were 
 deemed their exactions, had been devel- 
 oped. That some new and reasonable re- 
 strictions might have been justified can 
 scarcely be doubted, but the legislature 
 undertook to embody these in the most 
 radical and destructive form. The Gov- 
 ernor saw that while there were some 
 abuses in the management of the roads, the 
 action of the legislature would produce 
 still greater injustice to the corporation 
 affected, but more to the public interests. 
 He gave long and patient hearings to the 
 advocates of the law and to its opponents, 
 and, finally making up his own mind, wrote 
 a strong and comprehensive veto of the' bill. 
 This Avas almost purely a legal document. 
 He reviewed the history of the legislation 
 that had resulted in the building of these 
 roads, and finally in their consolidation into 
 a single system, and also reviewed with 
 care the demand made by the people of 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 93 
 
 New York for so many years for increased 
 rapid transit facilities. He never did a 
 piece of work of this kind that demanded 
 more time and labor, more conscientious 
 consideration, than did the veto in ques- 
 tion. On the one hand were the selfish 
 interests of a great and, in some respects, a 
 grasping corporation ; on the other were 
 what seemed to be almost the united de- 
 mands of all the different elements that 
 went to make up a great city — demands 
 supposed to be especi.illy strong among 
 the laboring element. Delegations from 
 the trade organizations representing them 
 appeared before the Governor in support 
 of the measure; petitions of interminable 
 length were presented to him, and able 
 lawyers made arguments on both sides, 
 which were quite enough, even of them- 
 selves, to try the patience of a man less 
 anxious to get at the truth. After all 
 this had been done, he made up his mind 
 for himself and, as already thus narrated, 
 vetoed the bill. In doino; so, he laid down 
 the principles upon which he had pro- 
 ceeded ; 
 
94 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 "But we have especially in our keeping 
 the honor and good faith of a great State, 
 and we should see to it that no suspicion at- 
 taches, through any act of ours, to the fair 
 fame of the Commonwealth. The State 
 should not only be strictly just, but scrupu- 
 lously fair, and in all its relations to the 
 citizen every legal and moral obligation 
 should be recognized. This can only be 
 done by legislating without vindictiveness 
 or prejudice, and with a firm determina- 
 tion to deal justly and fairly with those 
 from whom we exact obedience." 
 
 As illustrating his courage, in such a cri- 
 sis, an anecdote is related by his friends to 
 the effect that on the night of the day 
 he sent this veto messao^e to the Assem- 
 bly while making himself ready for bed, 
 he thought it over and said to himself: 
 "Well, to-morrow I shall be the most 
 unpopular man in the State of New York." 
 But he was mistaken. The next morn- 
 ing, when he got up, he found upon his 
 table, as usual, the papers from New York 
 City and Albany, and discovered that 
 the conscientious regard he had shown 
 for public honor, the care ^vith which he 
 had examined the matter in all its bear- 
 ings, had made an impression upon the 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE OOVERNORSHIP. D3 
 
 public mind, and that the same conclusion 
 had been reached by the newspapers which 
 represented this sentiment that he himself 
 had been compelled to find. The same 
 thing, too, was true in the assembly itself, 
 as the attempt to pass the bill over his 
 veto failed disastrously. 
 
 Thus he went on dealing with the legis- 
 lature in much the same spirit he had 
 shown in the case of the Common Council 
 of Buffalo, only with the change in lan- 
 guage and manner that circumstances 
 made necessar}^ 
 
 Another question to which he gave much 
 attention dui'ing his first year as Governor 
 was that of pardons and commutations. 
 Naturally a man of kind heart, and never 
 afraid of any work that might be imposed 
 upon him in doing the duties of his office, 
 he was soon overwhelmed with applica- 
 tions for the pardon of criminals and com- 
 mutations of sentences. To each of these 
 he gave the most careful attention, granting 
 hearings and beginning then the custom of 
 reviewing, when necessary, the entire I'ecord 
 of the cases to ^vhich his attention had been 
 
^0 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 called. Because of this lie was subjected 
 to a great deal of bitter criticism. His 
 predecessor had made it a point to grant 
 but few pardons, and had in fact been 
 rather curt in his refusal to consider cases. 
 About six months after Mr. Cleveland's 
 inauguration he expressed his views, in a 
 newspaper interview, in answer to the 
 criticisms that had been made upon him. 
 He said : 
 
 "The pardoning power is one of the most 
 difficult and perplexing duties that a Gover- 
 nor has to perform. It is one of the duties 
 imposed upon him by the Constitution. No 
 person can properly appreciate the embar- 
 rassments attending it without going through 
 an examination of the facts presented in con- 
 nection with the different cases. There are 
 instances where injustice has been done ; 
 where men have been convicted on evidence 
 insufficient or evidence that subsequently 
 turned out to be false, and wliere men have 
 been sentenced to longer terms than the 
 character of the crimes justified. 
 
 " Occasionally^ there is an epidemic of a 
 particular chiss of crime in a section of the 
 State; the public becomes excited, and it 
 sometimes occurs that a mnn is convicted on 
 insufficient evidence and at a time wlien pub- 
 lic sentiment is high ; he receives a long 
 sentence and, perhaps, all contrary to the 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE GOVERNCRSHIP, 97 
 
 facts. After a lapse of timersw facts are 
 brought to light, throwing doubt on the 
 guilt of the i^arty. The prosecuting officer 
 who secured the conviction, and the judge 
 who sentenced the party, appeal for the ex- 
 ercise of executive clemency ; setting forth 
 the facts, and strongly recommending that 
 the ends of justice have already been served 
 by the punishment inflicted. 
 
 "I have one case before me now where 
 the prosecuting attorney on the trial now 
 sets forth that he withheld certain evidence 
 which would have shown that the person ar- 
 raigned was not guilty of murder, but only 
 of robbery, and only by withholding the evi- 
 dence was he convicted. In reality, the man 
 claimed to have been murdered died of con- 
 sumption three weeks after the robbery. 
 The party had been imprisoned for twenty 
 years, and now the prosecuting attorney 
 and the judge have made an apj^eal on his 
 behalf for executive clemency. These are 
 only a few examples. The question whether 
 a Governor is issuing too few or too many 
 pardons can only be properly answered after 
 considering all the evidence." 
 
 Such an out-of-the-way declaration — 
 something overlaid by matters more im- 
 portant — is cited merely to show how this 
 man's character developed and how he 
 tried at every turn to do his duty, regard- 
 less of misunderstanding or obloquy. He 
 
98 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 has always ^mauifested a willingness to 
 bide liis time in all important matters, and 
 to do justice wlien liis heart and head in 
 concert urged him to take such a course. 
 
 During his first year as Governor he 
 made a few public speeches. He returned 
 to "his own home and addressed the annual 
 Saengerf est in session there. He spoke to 
 the graduates of the Albany High School 
 in June, and in October made an excellent 
 speech at the fair in Ogdensburg. In 
 none of these was there anything to shoAv 
 that he had in view any higher honors; 
 in fact, at no time during his career has he 
 seemed while in one office to be looking 
 for promotion to another and higher one. 
 He has merely done his duty in each, and 
 whether in speech or act has a23parently 
 been satisfied to let the future take care 
 of itself. 
 
 During the time under consideration it 
 fell to the lot of the Governor to make 
 many appointments to fill vacancies in 
 public offices, and in doing this he applied 
 the same tests of fitness and character that 
 had distinguished him in Buffalo and upon 
 
FIB8T YEAR IN THE OOVERNORSUIP. 99 
 
 which he insisted when he recommended 
 the adoption of a State civil service law. 
 This does not mean that either then or 
 since he paid no attention to the demands 
 of his party. He has always recognized 
 that it is not possible to separate impor- 
 tant and responsible places from account- 
 ability to the sentiment dominant among 
 the people of a neighborhood, or a State, 
 or the nation. But this sentiment with 
 him was always accompanied by the most 
 exacting demands as to the fitness and 
 character of the applicant. 
 
 He carried his own principles into prac- 
 tice by promoting many men who had 
 served the State in minor places. Thus, 
 when he had to appoint a Superintendent 
 of the Insurance Department, he promoted 
 to be the head of it the man who had en- 
 tered the office as a messenger. When he 
 had to choose a Commissioner of the new 
 Capitol Building he appointed a business 
 man of whose character and fitness he was 
 personally cognizant. The Superintend- 
 ency of the Public Works, an office which 
 for many years before and for some years 
 
100 A LIFE OF GROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 since Mr. Cleveland's time has been looked 
 upon as one belonging almost entirely to 
 spoilsmen, was conferred upon a man 
 whose experience in the management of 
 the canals and whose place of residence 
 made him thoroughly useful in his new 
 capacity. 
 
 He had the appointment of the original 
 Railroad Commission of his State, the law 
 authorizing it having been enacted during 
 the jDeriod under discussion. He gave the 
 most careful attention to the selection of 
 the members of this body, and it was done 
 with such judgment that his choice gave 
 general satisfaction, regardless of party 
 affiliations. It was very important in the 
 early days of such a body that it should be 
 composed of men of a high type of char- 
 acter, with a conscientious regard for the 
 public interest. These qualities he was 
 able to command, and it is perhaps safe 
 to say that the first commission — that ap- 
 pointed by Mr. Cleveland when he was 
 Governor — had the best and ablest men 
 that has ever composed that body since 
 its authorization by the legislature. As a 
 
FIRST FEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 101 
 
 natural result its work was started on sensi- 
 ble lines, and it has thoroughly justified it- 
 self by an entire absence of the irritation 
 and ill-feeling so common between the 
 people and the railroads in many parts of 
 the Union. 
 
 For many years the labor question had 
 been looked upon as a very important one. 
 Political conventions, legislators, and execu- 
 tive officers had given much attention to it. 
 The two great cities of the State were and 
 are so large as almost to dominate its politi- 
 cal sentiment, and in these cities what is 
 known as the labor element certainly holds 
 the balance of power between the two 
 parties. The manufacturing interest, once 
 unimportant compared with the commercial 
 element, had grown with great rapidity, 
 until in 1880 New York had attained the 
 first position as a manufacturing city. 
 There had been introduced into what has 
 long been known as the metropolitan dis- 
 trict a population which in origin, ideas, 
 and interests could scarcely be matched any- 
 where else. It was a thoroughly eclectic 
 population, keen, intelligent, aspiring, and 
 
102 A LIFE OF OROVER ULEVELAND. 
 
 witli no more, perhaps, than its fair share of 
 human selfishness. Its growth had been so 
 rapid that it had not assimilated itself thor- 
 oughly to the new political conditions, nor 
 had party leaders been able to learn clearly 
 how to deal with it. Therefore, many im- 
 practicable measures had been brought for- 
 ward by the accepted representatives of 
 the labor element, together with many 
 others which, though honestly meant, 
 were distinguished for inefficiency, and, if 
 enacted into laws, would have utterly 
 failed to bring about the desired result. 
 Previous Governors had even permitted 
 some of these crude measures to become 
 laws ; in many cases, no doubt, with the 
 idea that if they proved failures they could 
 be repealed, but in most instances they 
 surrendered what were their honest 
 opinions in order to appease what were 
 supposed to be the demands of this new 
 and unknown element in the population 
 by which they were surrounded. 
 
 By the time that Mr. Cleveland was 
 nominated for Governor it had become an 
 accepted thing to have a labor plank and. 
 
FIRST YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 103 
 
 in referring to this utterance in the plat- 
 form Mr. Cleveland accepted it by saying : 
 
 " The laboring classes constitute the main 
 part of our population. They should be 
 protected in their efforts to peacefully assert 
 their riglits when endangered by aggregated 
 capital, and all statutes on this subject 
 should recognize the care of the State for 
 honest toil and be framed with a view of im- 
 proving the condition of the workingman." 
 
 The first legislature with which Mr. 
 Cleveland had to deal undertook to carry 
 out the promises of the platform and the 
 candidate as far as possible. In pursuance 
 of this policy a bureau of labor statistics 
 was provided for. The bill prohibiting 
 the manufacture of woolen hats in State 
 prisons, penitentiaries, and i-eformatories, 
 and that prohibiting the manufacture of 
 cigars in tenement houses, together with 
 the Convict Labor bill, were passed and 
 approved by the Governor. 
 
 He refused, however, to surrender his 
 judgment to popular clamor when con- 
 vinced that a proposed law, affecting the 
 interests of many men, was not consti- 
 tutional or in accord with the principles 
 
104 A LIFE OF Q ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 of practical politics. Thus lie refused to 
 sign the bill, wliich was passed late in the 
 session, prohibiting the working of more 
 than twelve hours a day by drivers and 
 conductors on street railways. He dis- 
 tinctly approved the object of the law, 
 but vetoed it on legal and constitutional 
 grounds. It was clear then, as some of the 
 leaders of the laboring people afterward 
 admitted, that the law could never have 
 been enforced, and, as it applied to a 
 single class, it would have been dangerous 
 as well as impracticable legislation. 
 
 Thus the first year as Governor, which 
 has already been passed hurriedly in re- 
 view, was closed with much credit to the 
 Governor. He had worked with con- 
 science and industry to carry out not only 
 the promises made by his party and him- 
 self, but to enact into practical legislation 
 the principles he approved. Each month 
 his honesty and faithfulness had become 
 more widely known in his own State as well 
 as in every other. In general his relations 
 with his party were fairly good. He had 
 refused to do many things that the politi- 
 
SECOND TEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 105 
 
 cal managers wanted, but he had behind 
 him then, as before and since, the senti- 
 ment of the people. He had no need to 
 turn either to the right or to the left, so 
 far as higher honors were concerned, and 
 although a Presidential election was ap- 
 proaching he gave no encouragement to 
 efforts to push his claims upon his party 
 in the country at large. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 SECOND YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland began his second year 
 as Governor by sending to the legislature 
 his annual message, on January 1, 1884. 
 If there appeared to be something like 
 hesitation the year before, it was no longer 
 to be found. He showed that if he had 
 ever lacked confidence in himself he had 
 now gained it, and he evidently felt sure 
 of his ability to carry out his own promises 
 in spite of limitations, and to conduct the 
 affairs of his office about as he thought 
 they should be conducted. Pie knew 
 thoroughly what laws the best interests of 
 
106 A LIFE OF QROVER CLBVELAND. 
 
 Ms State demanded, and he showed this 
 feeling by recommending them with some- 
 thing of the dogmatism that had dis- 
 tinguished his earlier efforts in Buffalo. 
 
 In the opening sentences of this message 
 he emphasized the sentiment which so 
 many times before and since he has re- 
 ferred to. That was, the responsibility of 
 officials to the people. On this he said : 
 
 " I believe it to be entirely proper at the 
 outset to dii'ect attention to the fact of the 
 growth and progress of llie State in every 
 direction. The needs of the people call for 
 patient and intelligent action on the part 
 of their representatives in the legislature. 
 Everyone who has assumed any share of re- 
 sponsibility in this branch of the govern- 
 ment should enter upon the discharge of his 
 duties fully appreciating his trust and with 
 an unwavering determination to serve the 
 State faithfully." 
 
 He gave special attention to the perni- 
 cious influences of leo'islation which were 
 the natural result of the introduction and 
 consideration of bills purely local in their 
 character. He looked upon these as aifect- 
 ing merely special interests, that ought 
 not under any pretext to be permitted to 
 
SECOND YEAH IN THE OOVERNOESUIP. 107 
 
 find adoption by tlie legislature represent- 
 ing all the people of the State. He 
 pointed out that the powers of the Board 
 of Supervisors and other local authori- 
 ties had been enlarged for the express 
 purpose of enabling them to deal intelli- 
 gently and properly with such subjects, 
 but he complained that, notwithstanding 
 this, " bills are introduced authorizing the 
 building and repairing of bridges and high- 
 ways, the erection of engine-houses and 
 soldiers' monuments, the establishment of 
 libraries, the regulation and purchase of 
 cemeteries, and other things of a like 
 nature." He even insisted that there Avas 
 reason to suspect in many cases that such 
 measures were made the means of develop- 
 ing the system which has long been 
 known by the term of legislative log-roll- 
 ing; so he lectured the legislature ^vith 
 his old-time force, and even anticipated 
 in a degree some of those plain-speaking 
 messao;es wdiich used to astonish a do-noth- 
 ing congress and attract the attention of a 
 grateful people. 
 
 He dealt with the subject of taxation 
 
108 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 mucli more fully than tlie previous year, 
 and insisted that "strict economy in the 
 management of State affairs by their agents 
 should furnish the people a good govern- 
 ment at the least possible cost. This is 
 common honesty. But, to see to it that 
 this cost is fairly and justly distributed, and 
 the burden equally borne by those w^ho have 
 no peaceful redress if the State is unjust, 
 is the best attribute of sovereignty and the 
 highest duty to the citizen." He insisted 
 that " the recognition of this duty charac- 
 terizes a beneficent government, but its 
 repudiation marks the oppression of tyran- 
 nical power." This was the same prin- 
 ciple that he had avowed in Buffalo, and 
 the tariff-reform message of 1887, with its 
 scarcely less emphatic predecessor of 1886, 
 is no more positive. 
 
 He reviewed in detail and Avith be- 
 coming pride the management of the dif- 
 ferent departments of the State. Public 
 education, banks, insurance, the National 
 Guard, prisons, and the charitable institu- 
 tions were all so treated in this second mes- 
 sao-e that the lemslature had an excellent 
 
SECOND YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 109 
 
 opportunity, if it cliose, to get a good deal 
 of mucli-iieeded information. Indeed, lie 
 gave far more attention to the charitable 
 institutions than any of his predecessors. 
 
 The first report of the Railroad Com- 
 mission, authorized at the preceding ses- 
 sion of the legislature and. appointed by 
 him, gave him an opportunity to review at 
 considerable length the relations of cor- 
 porations to the people, and no more 
 scathing review of the abuses of corpora- 
 tions has been made than is to be found 
 in this legislative document. He de- 
 manded that the State should "refuse to 
 allow these corporations to exist under its 
 authority and patronage, or, acknowledg- 
 ing their patei-nity and its responsibility, 
 should provide a simple, easy way for its 
 people whose money is invested, and the 
 public generally, to discover how the 
 funds of these institutions are spent and 
 how their affairs are conducted." 
 
 The new State civil-service reform law 
 had gone into operation, and its beginnings 
 were reviewed with an appreciation that 
 showed intelligence as well as devotion to 
 
110 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND 
 
 the idea underlying tliis reform. It was, 
 therefore, only natural tliat in closing his 
 review of the business pf the State he 
 should recapitulate the work that had been 
 done during the first year of his adminis- 
 tration. Among others he cited the es- 
 tablishment of the civil-service reform 
 principle ; the prohibition of political as- 
 sessments of employees of the public 
 departments ; the protection by law of all 
 citizens at primary elections ; the establish- 
 ment of a labor bureau to collect infor- 
 mation and statistics; the enactment of 
 legislation providing for saving the forests 
 of the State; the* revision of the tax laws 
 in such a way that the evasion of liability 
 was rendered more difficult ; the placing 
 of co-operative insurance companies under 
 the control of the Superintendent of the 
 Insurance Department ; the reduction and 
 regulation of the fees of receivers; the 
 introduction of business principles into 
 the construction of public buildings ; the 
 establishment of a Court of Claims in 
 which the rights of citizens might be 
 asserted even against the State itself. 
 
SECOND YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. Ill 
 
 T-i8se were cited as accomplisliments 
 important ellougli to show tkat the sub- 
 stantial interests of the State had not been 
 neglected or overlooked. 
 
 For the first time he made a reference in 
 a public document to national politics, in 
 which he cited, with much appositeness, 
 an extract from De Tocqueville's " Democ- 
 racy in America," and showed by contrast 
 how great had been the decline of our 
 shipping interests. He hoped that the 
 people might be permitted to " ^' anticipate 
 a time when care for the people's needs as 
 they actually arise, and the application of 
 remedies as wrongs appfear, shall lead in 
 tho conduct of national affairs." He per- 
 haps little suspected even then, only a few 
 months before his nomination for Presi- 
 dent, the meaning these words were to 
 be given within the next few years. 
 
 The presence in an important position in 
 the politics of a great State of a man who 
 had begun his career as a municipal re- 
 former was certain to attract his attention 
 to questions connected with the govern- 
 ment of cities. In this second annual mes- 
 
112 A LIFE OF O ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 sage lie set forth liis opinions on tlie 
 question witli fullness. Many bills w^ere 
 introduced, some of tliem ynpracticable 
 and useless, otbei's wantonly unjust ; but 
 among them were important measures. 
 Of these probably the one that had the 
 most far-reachincy eifect was that takino* 
 away from the Board of Aldermen of the 
 city of New York its power to confirm ap- 
 pointments made by the Mayor. There 
 were many features in the bill as proposed 
 and passed that did not commend them- 
 selves to the Governor, but he signed it 
 without much hesitation, and took oc- 
 casion to set forth his views at length in 
 a memorandum filed with it. 
 
 In like manner measures instituting re- 
 forms in the county offices in New York 
 City were all signed by the Governor, after 
 he had insisted that they should be made 
 as perfect as possible. In one or two cases 
 in which he recommended the adoption of 
 this policy the legislature refused to recall 
 the bills, in the hope that, as he seemed to 
 favor the principle back of them, he might 
 sign them, without regard to the form in 
 
SECOND YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 113 
 
 whicli they were presented to him. But 
 lie refused to do so, and in vetoing one 
 lie used an expression, almost savage in 
 denunciation, in which he said : " Of all 
 the defective and shabby legislation which 
 has been presented to me, this is the worst 
 and most inexcusable," pointing out in de- 
 tail the blunders and inconsistencies he had 
 discovered. 
 
 At the election in November, 1883, dur- 
 ing his first year as Governor, the people 
 of the State had voted by a large majority 
 in favor of the abolition of contract labor. 
 The legislature did not deal with the ques- 
 tion in a direct way, but established a com- 
 mission to investigate and report at a late 
 day in the session. At the same time it 
 passed a bill prohibiting such labor in the 
 State prisons, after the contracts then in 
 force had expired. The Governor vetoed 
 this bill, as it did not apply to the prohibi- 
 tion of contract labor in the penitentiaries, 
 and seemed intended by the legislature to 
 evade the doing of the full duty imposed 
 upon it by the vote of the people. The 
 bill was amended in accordance with 
 
114 A LIFE OF QROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the Governor's objections and at once 
 signed by liim, since which time contract 
 labor in prisons and penitentiaries has been 
 prohibited. He insisted, however, that the 
 State should keep faith with the prison 
 contractors as well as with everybody else, 
 and the failure to do this resulted in some 
 vigorous veto measures and memorandums. 
 During this session the act providing for 
 the appointment of a commission to set 
 aside the land necessary for a park at Niag- 
 ara Falls was passed, and, as the Dominion 
 of Canada soon adopted the same policy, 
 many of the abuses that had grown up in 
 the neighborhood of Niagara Falls were 
 corrected and many perils that threatened 
 their beauty were averted. In this way 
 there was created a State reservation, 
 under the management of which unsightly 
 constructions have been removed and 
 the scenery surrounding the Falls has 
 been restored, so far as practicable, to 
 what it was originally. An eifort had 
 been made to do this for several years be- 
 fore Mr. Cleveland's accession to the Gov- 
 ernorship, but his predecessor had indicated 
 
SECOND YEAR IN THE GOVERNORSHIP. 115 
 
 liis opposition and the bill had not been 
 passed. Bat Mr. Cleveland showed a 
 disposition friendly to the undertaking, 
 due pei'haps to his familiarity with the 
 country about the Falls and his knowledge 
 of the abuses that had grown up there. 
 The law has been carried into effect with 
 much satisfaction, and the State reserva- 
 tion, though not as beautiful as its pro- 
 moters hoped, has at least saved the great- 
 esTb landscape feature of the world and left 
 it almost undisturbed. Many of the serious 
 abuses with which visitors were formerly 
 met have been removed. 
 
 Thus every question which engaged the 
 attention of the people of his State found 
 in Mr. Cleveland, during his term as Gov- 
 ernor, the most intelligent encouragement. 
 The reform of the State civil service, the 
 protection and preservation of the forest 
 domain, the promotion of education and in- 
 dustry, all had in him an active and intel- 
 ligent supporter. 
 
 So excellent had his administration been 
 that, during the early part of 1884, a de- 
 mand for his nomination for the Presidency 
 
116 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 went up from every part of tlie country. 
 The canvass was carried on, however, with 
 little aid from him. His appreciation of 
 this great honor was well shown in a letter 
 written on June 28, 1884, in which he 
 said: 
 
 " I feel that I now hold in my keeping a 
 trust from the people of the State which 
 nothing should induce me to surrender ex- 
 cept the demand of the people of the United 
 States. I am very sure that the office of 
 President, with all its responsibilities, is fiot 
 one to be sought for ambitious ends, and I 
 suppose it should not be declined. I have 
 full faith in the wisdom of my party, and 
 look for such action in the coming conven- 
 tion as will give the best guarantee of sound 
 Democratic principles." 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE PEESIDENTIAL CANVASS AND ELECTION. 
 
 Many influences combined to make the 
 canvass and the election of 1884 as impor- 
 tant as any in our history. A great many 
 things had happened during the preceding 
 eight years to unsettle political conditions. 
 A disputed election in 1876 — followed by 
 
' THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 117 
 
 four years' incumbency of a man who, 
 though he made a fair record, had never 
 commended himself to the conscience of 
 the country, because of the methods by 
 which he had been chosen — had done much 
 to break up the party long dominant. 
 When to this were added the methods 
 adopted in the election of 1880, and the 
 subsequent tragic death of Garfield, the 
 situation was greatly intensified. It be- 
 came plain, as President Arthur's fairly 
 commendable administration wore to its 
 close, that, in spite of its vigor and clean- 
 ness, he would not be able to command the 
 entire confidence of his party. The Blaine 
 element was still dominant, and was able, 
 in 1884, for the first time so to control the 
 party as to secure the nomination of its 
 favorite. 
 
 On the other hand there had been a 
 good many changes in the Democratic situa- 
 tion. In 1880 Samuel J. Tilden had felt 
 called upon to decline a renomination, not 
 so much because he was anxious to avoid 
 the candidacy, but mainly because of the 
 bitter opposition among certain ele- 
 
118 A LIFE OF O ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 ments of his party in the State of New 
 York. He had so long dominated the 
 party, his ideas of administration and his 
 political methods had become so well 
 known, that it was clearly impossible to 
 get entirely away from the circle of his in- 
 fluence, and indeed the mass of the'party 
 saw with clearness that to do this would 
 mean inevitable defeat and continued ex- 
 clusion from participation in the gov- 
 ernment of the country and the making of 
 its policy. It was no more than natural 
 in such a crisis that the drift of the Demo- 
 cratic party should have been toward Mr. 
 Cleveland, who had not been active in 
 politics during the most of Tilden's 
 later career, and was never known as one 
 of his special friends, either personally or 
 politically. Indeed, so far as he had any 
 leanings at that time, they were rather 
 opposed to the Tilden management than 
 favorable. 
 
 This was due, in the main, to the fact that 
 Tilden, in choosing his managers, had put 
 forward in Erie County and the western 
 part of the State some men scarcely credit- 
 
THE PRE8IDEFT1AL CANVASS. 119 
 
 able to the party. This ^vas the ohl iiiaua- 
 ger's way, and, while he seldom did it, the 
 fact that he had made au exception in the 
 locality mentioned had the effect of keep- 
 ing men of the Cleveland stamp away from 
 his standard and support. It must not, 
 however, be concluded from this that he 
 was an opponent of Tilden or of his re- 
 form ideas. It is needless to say that he 
 had no sympathy with the war waged upon 
 him by the canal ring and by party dis- 
 organizers everywhere. His attitude was 
 due entirely to the facts thus briefly out- 
 lined. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland had been nominated for 
 Governor of New York because of his re- 
 form record as Mayor of Buffalo. This 
 put him in entire accord with the best men 
 among the old Tilden element. This was 
 due to his recognized merit, as well as to 
 the fact that many of the enemies of the 
 older man had become also the enemies of 
 the younger one. It did not take Mr. 
 Cleveland long to make a considerable num- 
 ber of enemies in his own party, and as 
 they included most of the men who had 
 
120 A LIFE OF (^h^lf^R CLEVELAND. 
 
 also been the enemies of Mr. Tilden the 
 two influences co-operated to make the 
 friends of one friendly to the other ; so 
 when the final withdrawal of Tilden 
 from the politics of New York became a 
 necessity on account of advanced age and 
 increasing infirmities, it was natural that he 
 and his friends should cast about for some- 
 one upon whom his mantle might fall. 
 
 It was also clear to the party in the 
 country at large that a nomination must 
 be made which would command the sup- 
 port of the great body of independent 
 voters of the States surrounding and tribu- 
 tary to it. Mr. Cleveland's course as 
 Governor had been such as to command 
 the admiration of these people. This de- 
 mand was increased by distrust of Mr. 
 Blaine, the opposing candidate ; so that 
 two influences again contributed to give 
 unusual strength in his party to the new 
 political figure that had risen so suddenly. 
 The Tilden element,* representing the re- 
 form sentiment in the Democratic party, 
 and the independent element, representing 
 the progressive sentiment in the Kepub- 
 
THE PRESIDBJSTJTl CANVASS. 121 
 
 lican party and among tliose men attacliecl 
 to neither, were of themselves the two most 
 important elements in the politics of that 
 day. 
 
 The one great political manager — other 
 than himself — developed by Tilden's ca- 
 reer was Daniel Manning. He early 
 attached himself to the fortunes of Mr. 
 Cleveland. He saw clearly the patriotic 
 as well as the political policies repi'esented 
 by this new figure in State politics. So it 
 was not at all surprising that, when the 
 Democratic Convention for the selection of 
 delegates to the National Convention to be 
 held in Chicao'o met in Saratoo^a in June, 
 1884, Mr. Manning and his friends should 
 be able to control it, and choose an unin- 
 structed delegation, bound by the unit rule, 
 as had been common in New York. Then 
 the full vote of the Empire State was cast 
 for the nomination of Grover Cleveland for 
 the Presidency of the United States in 
 the face of bitter opposition from certain 
 elements in New York City, mainly growing 
 out of the GubeiTiatorial campaign of 1879, 
 in which the regular Democratic candidate 
 
122 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 had been defeated because of the presence 
 in tlie field of a bolting candidate. 
 
 The canvass for Presidential preferences 
 had been going on in other States of the 
 Union, and a strong sentiment had devel- 
 oped in favor of the nomination of Mr. 
 Cleveland. When the convention met at 
 Chicago it Avas at least clear that he was 
 the leading candidate, although the senti- 
 ment in his favor was not so marked as to 
 give assurance of his nomination. Good 
 management was necessary. The elements 
 defeated at Saratoga, and represented in the 
 New York delegation, went to Chicago and 
 waged bitter opposition to the nomination 
 of Mr. Cleveland. 
 
 The National Democratic Convention of 
 that year was in mauy respects a remark- 
 able body. For the first time since the 
 war, it was composed mainly of the younger 
 men of the party — men who, under the 
 dominance of the Tilden sentiment, had 
 become active in politics. Its President 
 was William F. Vilas of Wisconsin, who 
 attained there a prominence he has de- 
 served so well that he is now sei'ving with 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. l'^^ 
 
 acceptance as a United States Senator from 
 the State of Wisconsin. 
 
 On the third day of the convention, after 
 many efforts to postpone nominations, and 
 the defeat of all obstructive tactics, the 
 first ballot was taken and resulted as fol- 
 lows: Cleveland, 392 ; Bayard, 170; Thur- 
 man, 98 ; Randall, 78; McDonald, 56, and 
 36 votes scattering among several others 
 who were not formally presented as candi- 
 dates at the convention. Adjournment 
 was taken until the next day, when upon 
 the second ballot, the result was declared 
 as 683 for Cleveland, 81i for Bayard, 45i 
 for Hendricks, with a few votes distributed 
 as usual among other candidates. Cleve- 
 land had thus secured on this ballot 136 
 votes more than the t^vo-thirds necessary to 
 nominate. Thomas A. Hendricks of In- 
 diana was nominated as the candidate for 
 Vice President. 
 
 There has never been a convention in 
 the history of the country at which both 
 sentiment and management combined more 
 emphatically to produce the i-esult than the 
 National Democratic Convention of 1884. 
 
124 A LIFE OF GROVEK CLEVELAND. 
 
 There was general agreement that to be 
 successful a candidate satisfactory to 
 the independent voters must be chosen. 
 These were not confined to the Republican 
 party, in spite of the fact that as the result 
 of that campaign thei'e grew up a distinc- 
 tive element known as Mugwumps — those 
 Eepublicans who refused to vote for the 
 candidate nominated by their party for 
 President. A much greater number of in- 
 dependent voters, perhaps ten to one, en- 
 rolled themselves with the Democrats, 
 willingly avowing themselves partisans 
 so long as that party meant the domi- 
 nance of the ideas of Grover Cleve- 
 land. 
 
 The fact is often overlooked or forgotten 
 that it is impossible for a sentiment to find 
 expression in one party without making at 
 the same time a strong impression upon the 
 other and opposing party. Any given set 
 of political conditions is the outgrowth of 
 a sentiment among the great body of the 
 people, and not in any one party. If there 
 is a demand for the reform of abuses among 
 the people it will find expression in both 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 125 
 
 parties. If there is a tendency to cater to 
 a demagogic idea the same thing will be 
 true ; so that while there was perhaps a 
 few thousand Mugwumps, there w^ere hun- 
 dreds of thousands of independent, intelli- 
 gent, thinking men, who became Democrats 
 or were turned to that party, and have since 
 remained with it. Wherever it was to be 
 found, or however it had been promoted, it 
 was this sentiment that made success possi- 
 ble in l^ovember, 1884. 
 
 In 1884 this sentiment was so strong 
 that it took an organized form. Many of 
 the Republicans who revolted against their 
 party were among the oldest and most 
 sturdy that it had; in their ranks were 
 found many of the old Abolitionists and 
 Freesoilers. They were not content with 
 merely recording their protest. They or- 
 ganized not only to defeat the candidate of 
 the party with which they had been affil- 
 iated, but to elect a man belonging to the 
 party to which they had been oj^posed. 
 They went to work systematically, appoint- 
 ing their local and State committees, and 
 these in their turn choosing a National 
 
126 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 committee composed of men of the 
 higliest character. 
 
 The protest against the nomination of 
 Mr. Blaine went on ; nothing that party 
 managers could do, no denunciations that 
 newspaper organs could indulge in, had the 
 slightest effect. Personal abuse of the 
 best men in the community was, perhaps, 
 never resorted to more than during the 
 canvass of 1884. The partisan newspa- 
 pers appeared to resent the prominence of 
 any man who was called a " Mugwump," 
 although there was scarcely a community 
 so small that it did not contain one or 
 more members of this hated class. They 
 had come together with a common pur- 
 pose, and they organized for a common end. 
 
 After the appearance of Mr. Cleveland's 
 letter of acceptance, about the middle of 
 August, this independent support became' 
 stronger than before. He showed in this 
 utterance that as a candidate he had noth- 
 ing to take back or to explain so far as his 
 attitude on public questions was concerned. 
 He thus attracted still more men from the 
 ranks of his opj)onents, and when the cam- 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 127 
 
 paign was fairly organized it was found 
 that the names of George William Curtis, 
 Carl SchurZj Henry Ward Beecher, Charles 
 R. Codman, Thomas Went worth Higgin- 
 son, Henry L. Piei'ce, James Freeman 
 Clarke, Bainbridge Wadleigh, Daniel H. 
 Chamberlain, then of South Carolina, now 
 of New York; ex-Governors Blair of 
 Michigan and Pound of Wisconsin, to- 
 gether witli thousands more of the same 
 type of men, were doing what they could 
 in support of the Democratic candidate for 
 the Presidency. 
 
 These were joined by many important 
 newspapers. Harper''s WeeMy, which had j-, 
 for a long time been the strongest sup- "" 
 porter of the Republican party among the 
 illustrated papers, and outspoken Repub- 
 lican papers like the Herald and Transcript 
 of Boston ; the Herald^ Times, and Evening 
 Post of New York; the Ti7nes of Phila- 
 delphia ; the JSfeivs of Indianapolis, to- 
 gether with many among the smaller 
 papers everywhere in the country, were 
 giving their support to Mr. Cleveland. 
 The result of this was not merely tem- 
 
1-28 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 porary. In the main this support did not 
 fall away from Mr. Cleveland after lie was 
 elected or leave the Democratic party, but 
 gave it such help as they thought it de- 
 served. As a result all the papers men- 
 tioned, and of the number behind them 
 unheralded, have done good service in the 
 cause of tariff reform since it became the 
 dominant issue. 
 
 ^ Mr. Cleveland has always refused to 
 make a personal canvass for the Presidency. 
 He did this in 1884, when he was Gov- 
 ernor, as he did also in 1888, when he was 
 the chief executive of the nation. Instead 
 of making a general canvass, he went about 
 his work in the usual way, giving little 
 attention to mere political managemeDt. 
 He made two short speeches, one at 
 Newark, N. J., in the county of his birth, 
 and another at Bridgeport, Conn. Neither 
 was more than a quarter of an hour in 
 length, and neither was what might be 
 termed a partisan or a campaign speech. 
 
 In the Newark speech he first showed 
 that he thoroughly understood the abuses 
 of our system of tariff taxation. None of 
 
TEE PRESIDENTIAL GANVA8S. 129 
 
 his declarations on this important question 
 has been stronger than that in which he 
 declared his convictions upon the question 
 as it was then presented to the public 
 mind. He said : 
 
 " It is quite plain, too, that the ]3eople 
 have a riglit to demand that no more monej^ 
 shall be taken from them, directly or in- 
 directly, for public uses than is necessary 
 for an honest and economical administration 
 of public affairs. Indeed, the right of the 
 government to exact tribute from the citizen 
 is limited to its actual necessities, and every 
 cent taken from the people beyond that re- 
 quired for their protection by the govern- 
 ment is no better than robbery. We snrely 
 mnst condemn, then, a system whicli takes 
 from the' pockets of the people millions of 
 dollars not needed for the suj^port of the 
 government, and which tends to the inangu- 
 ration of corrupt schemes and extravagant 
 expenditures." 
 
 He expressed in the Bridgeport speech, 
 as he had done in many public utterances 
 before, both as Mayor and as Governor, his 
 keen sense of the responsibilities imposed 
 upon him. In it he said : 
 
 " The world does not present a more sub- 
 lime spectacle than a nation of freemen 
 determining their own course, and the leader 
 
130 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 whom they follow at such a, time might well 
 feel a sober, solemn sense of responsibility. 
 The plaudits of his fellows he should feel, 
 but only to feel more intensely what a 
 serious thing it is to have in keeping their 
 hopes and their confidence." 
 
 Events move so rapidly in this country 
 that the electors of the present day have 
 perhaps forgotten that the October elec- 
 tion in Ohio was formerly considered a sort 
 of preliminary to the Presidential election. 
 It made no difference that the Eepublicans 
 had always carried the State in a Presiden- 
 tial year. The Democrats ever showed a 
 determination to follow them in making 
 the canvass there as spirited as possible. 
 In order to impress his countrymen Mr. 
 Blaine made an extensive electioneering 
 tour through the State and put forth the 
 most active efforts in order to command 
 a favorable result, and the Republicans 
 carried the State, while the Democrats, as 
 usual, carried Georgia and West Virginia. 
 
 The election was held on Tuesday, 
 November 4, and resulted in the choice of 
 219 electors who voted for Cleveland, and 
 182 who voted for Mr. Blaine. Cleveland 
 
THE PRE8IDEISTIAL CANVASS. 131 
 
 luid secured tlie necessary votes, together 
 with his majority, in twenty States, while 
 Mr. Blaine had carried eighteen. Of the 
 popular vote Cleveland had 4,874,596, 
 Blaine 4,850,981 ; the Greenback candi- 
 date, who had bolted from the Democratic 
 party af fcer the nomination of Mr. Cleveland, 
 received about 170,000, and St. John, the 
 Prohibition candidate, had aboufc 150,000. 
 
 Because of the closeness of the vote in 
 New York, the Republicans did not at 
 once concede the election of Mr. Cleve- 
 land, whose majority was tinally determined 
 to be 1047. But as the election had been 
 conducted fairly, there was no opportunity 
 to question its honesty or its evident re- 
 sult ; so, within a few days, the party that 
 had profited by a disputed election in 
 1876 was compelled to accept the adverse 
 verdict of 1884. But they did not do this 
 without venting their rage upon the ele- 
 ments that had been supposed to con- 
 tribute to their defeat. They forgot for 
 the moment that their candidate had gone 
 into the campaign with a character much 
 smirched, and that he had emerged from it 
 
132 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 in a worse condition. Tlie people had 
 simply resented the foisting upon them of 
 such a man. 
 
 The result of the election was celebrated 
 by the Democrats in a way thoroughly 
 American. Jubilees, parades, and every 
 kind of public demonstration were in- 
 dulged in. As the party had been once 
 premature in celebrating the election of 
 Tilden in 1876, its members gave way 
 to demonstrations of Joy that were perhaps 
 doubled by the recollection of the previous 
 inauspicious event. The sober sense of 
 the people and of the newspapers that had 
 supported the successful candidate soon 
 found expression, and in a few weeks the 
 result was looked upon as bringing greater 
 responsibility to a party, and to the man 
 who had led it, than any event since the 
 election and inauguration of Lincoln. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland was still Grovernor, and 
 held the even tenor of his official way until 
 the 1st of January, 1885, when in a mes- 
 sage of a few words to the legislature he 
 resigned his office and assumed the task 
 of organizing his administration as Presi- 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 133 
 
 dent of the United States. He received 
 delegations of citizens from every part 
 of the Union, heard appeals from the 
 friends of public men thought of as 
 fit to hold places in the Cabinet, and 
 many good men were sent for after 
 careful inquiry as to their character, their 
 ambitions, and their probable fitness for 
 various offices. 
 
 But this was not all that the President- 
 elect had to do in the two months between 
 the time that he had resigned the Govern- 
 orship and when he was to be inaugurated 
 as President. Questions of public as well 
 as party policy were to be considered. 
 The successful candidate had decided views 
 of his own on all great public questions, 
 but he felt that he must of necessity put 
 himself into the closest touch with the 
 sentiment of his party and of the country. 
 While many men no doubt looked forward 
 to the time when they would hold some 
 lucrative and honorable office, the struggle 
 for place did not reach the noxious de- 
 velopment that it showed four years later, 
 when a party which had been expelled 
 
134 A LIFE OF OROVEU CLE} ELAND. 
 
 from power after twenty-four years of 
 tenure returned to exhibit to tlie nation 
 the most disgraceful scramble that the 
 world has ever seen. Although the Dem- 
 ocratic party had been excluded from 
 Federal offices so long, its members showed 
 a degree of patience which did much to 
 commend it to public favor, and to enable 
 the man whom it had elected for President 
 to gain and to keep the confidence of the 
 people. 
 
 Two important questions engaged the 
 attention of Mr. Cleveland between the 
 time of his election in November and his 
 inauguration on March 4. On December 
 23, 1884, he sent a letter to Mr. George 
 William Curtis, President of the National 
 Civil Service Keform League, in which he 
 set forth his ideas on the use of government 
 offices as party patronage. In this letter 
 he promised that no partisan considera- 
 tions should cause any relaxation on his 
 part of an earnest eifort to enforce the Civil 
 Service law, then new to the statute books. 
 He emphasized the fact, however, that a 
 large number of men holding public places 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 135 
 
 had forfeited all just claim to retention, 
 because tliey had used tlieir offices for 
 party purposes. "They had done this/' 
 he declared, " in disregard of their duty to 
 the people, and because, instead of being 
 decent public ser\^ants, they have proved 
 themselves offensive partisans, and un- 
 scrupulous manipulators of party man- 
 agers." 
 
 This term, " offensive partisans," was to 
 gain wider currency than its author per- 
 haps thought when he used it, but the dis- 
 tinction between such men and those 
 public servants who had done their duty 
 faithfully and well was clear to his mind, 
 and was never lost sight of in prac- 
 tice during his entire administration. In 
 this respect he did what he promised in 
 the letter to Mr. Curtis, when he declared 
 that " such officials should be tauo^ht that 
 efficiency, fitness, and devotion to public 
 duty are the conditions of their continu- 
 ance in public places, and that the quiet 
 and unobtrusive exercise of their rights 
 is the reasonable measure of party ser- 
 vice." 
 
136 A LIFE OF GBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 On February 24, only eiglit days before 
 his inauguration, be addressed a letter to 
 A. J. Warner, then a representative in 
 congress from Obio, and otbers, on tbe 
 question of devising some metbod of re- 
 beving tbe government from tbe dangers 
 threatened by the accumuLation in tbe 
 Treasury of tbe United States of uncircu- 
 lated and uncalled-for silver dollars. In 
 this letter be took occasion to sound tbe 
 alarm felt by himself and conservative men 
 everywhere about the dangers surrounding 
 the coinage of silver. He insisted that 
 it was desirable to maintain and con- 
 tinue in use tbe mass of gold coin as well 
 as the mass of silver already coined. He 
 declared that be believed this to be pos- 
 sible only by a temporary suspension of 
 the purchase and coinage of silver. He be- 
 lieved it to be " of momentous importance 
 to prevent tbe two metals from parting 
 company; to prevent the increasing dis- 
 placement of gold by the increasing coin- 
 age of silver; to prevent tbe disuse of 
 gold in tbe custom houses of the United 
 States in tbe daily business of the people ; 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 137 
 
 to prevent tlie ultimate expulsion of gold 
 by silver." 
 
 He did not attempt to exaggerate the 
 dangers of the situation then existing, and 
 the people of the country do not know 
 even now to what extent wise management 
 was necessary in order to ward off peril. 
 He concluded his letter by recommending 
 that the compulsory coinage of silver pro- 
 vided for by the Bland bill should be sus- 
 pended for a time, and it is probable that 
 if this had been done immediately upon 
 the meeting of Congress, in December, 
 1884, as recommended by President 
 Arthur, the country would never have 
 been subjected to the many perilous 
 changes that have taken place in the con- 
 dition of its finances. 
 
 This was his first specific utterance on 
 silver coinage, and everything that he has 
 since said, whether in office or out, has 
 shown that he has not had cause to 
 change his views on this important 
 question. He was then, as now, an 
 avowed monometaPist, and he has always 
 warned the people of the country against 
 
138 A LIFE OF GROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 any of tile patent schemes presented in 
 such numbers to Congress. 
 
 The remainder of his time, in the interim 
 between the resignation of the Governor- 
 ship and his inauguration as President, was 
 taken up with political work. He was 
 ready for the serious duties that had de- 
 volved upon him, and it may be said wdth 
 truth that no man ever came to the Presi- 
 dency with less of the outward prepara- 
 tion that was formerly deemed essential to 
 the man chosen to fill this great office. He 
 had never been in politics in the ordinary 
 acceptation of that term. As he had never 
 looked forward to a political career for 
 himself, so he did not think it necessary to 
 train himself for one by seeking a position 
 in the Common Council of his towm, or 
 in the legislature of his State. He had 
 never been Chairman of a State or County 
 Committee, or an accepted manager of his 
 j)arty. He had held offices, but he had 
 never made any of them, whatever its char- 
 acter, a partisan position, and its use for 
 personal ends was entirely foreign to his 
 nature and his ideas. 
 
THE PRESIDENTIAL CANVASS. 139 
 
 The fact is sometimes overlooked, how- 
 ever, that every place Mr. Cleveland had 
 filled was an executive office and noth- 
 ing else ; whether as an assistant to the 
 District Attorney, Sheriff: of his county, 
 Mayor of Buffalo, or Governor of New 
 York, he had had the execution of the 
 laws, not the making of them. • In each 
 he was compelled to assume responsibility ; 
 to exercise his judgment; to carry out now 
 one existing law, then to promote the en- 
 actment of a good measure or to put a veto 
 on a bad or dans^erous one. AVhatever it 
 was, he was compelled to do and dare ; he 
 could not skulk behind the decrees of a 
 caucus, or obey the behests of a pi-imary, or 
 shield himself from a disagreeable necessity 
 by throwing the blame upon somebody else. 
 
 This character, with its peculiar fitness, 
 and this remarkable political experience — 
 have been set forth as briefly as possible, 
 and yet as fully as necessary, in the preced- 
 ing chapters of this work. We must now 
 go with him to his inauguration as Presi- 
 dent of the United States, the most august 
 and responsible office in the world. 
 
140 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 ORGAmZING THE EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 
 
 A FEW days before tlie 4tli of March, 
 1885, the day fixed by law for the inaugu- 
 ration of the President, Mr. Cleveland left 
 his home in Albany for Washington. He 
 was received by President Arthur A^ith a 
 courtesy which always distinguished that 
 remarkable man, and one of the pleasant 
 features of politics is the close friendship 
 that grew up between the two men. As 
 the result of this, when the ex-President 
 died, during the first year of Mr. Cleve- 
 land's Administration, he had few more 
 sincere mourners than the man who had 
 succeeded him a few months before in the 
 White House. Everything was done that 
 could possibly contribute to the comfort of 
 the new occupant of the Executive Man- 
 sion. 
 
 Perhaps no inauguration was ever 
 marked with more j^^g^^ntry and more 
 genuine rejoicing than that which ushered 
 Grover Cleveland into the highest ofiice 
 
ORGANIZING EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 1 4 1 
 
 in the gift of Ms countrymen. The day 
 was one of those perfect ones that finally 
 gained, from the new President, the distinc- 
 tive name of " Cleveland weather." The 
 exercises had been organized with the 
 greatest elaboration, and by men long 
 accustomed to the handling of crowds and 
 to the manao;ement of ceremonials. The 
 regular army, the marines, the navy, the 
 artillery, the Marine Band, and large de- 
 tachments from the militia of the sev- 
 eral States, especially from Pennsylvania, 
 swelled the military procession to some- 
 thing like 25,000 men. As usual, the 
 formal ceremony of inauguration was com- 
 pleted by the delivery, at the east front of 
 the Capitol, of the inauguration message by 
 the new President. 
 
 It had been the custom of almost every 
 President since the beginning to read his 
 address. Mr. Cleveland departed from 
 this, and rising before the great audi- 
 ence, on that most beautiful of March 
 days, he delivered his inaugural address as 
 coolly and as calmly as if he had been talk- 
 ing with his friends in a parlor. His com- 
 
142 A LIFE OF GBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 posure and self-confidence were remarked 
 at the time, and not long ago one of his 
 bitterest personal and political enemies 
 said in a lecture that nothing like it had 
 ever been seen in the history of the world 
 — the spectacle of a man who, without ex- 
 perience in the larger politics, had come to 
 the Presidency, standing unabashed be- 
 fore his countrymen to deliver his in- 
 augural address without a line of manu- 
 script or a word of note before him. 
 
 His inaugural address was pitched on 
 the lofty plane which had distinguished all 
 of his public utterances up to that time, 
 and which has become more distinctive as 
 his position among his countrymen has be- 
 come more secure. There was a widely 
 prevailing sentiment that the change from 
 a party that had held power for twenty- 
 five years to one that had been excluded 
 from it during all that time had some 
 elements of danger ; but he took occasion 
 to assure his countrymen that although the 
 executive branch was transferred to new 
 keeping, it " was still the government of 
 all the people, and should be none the less 
 
ORGANIZING EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 143 
 
 an object of their affectionate solicitude," 
 and he adjured his countrymen to renew 
 their pledge of devotion to the Constitu- 
 tion, which, as he eloquently expressed it, 
 had " for almost a century borne the hopes 
 and aspirations of a great people through 
 prosperity and peace, and through the 
 shock of foreign conflicts and the perils of 
 domestic strife and vicissitudes." 
 
 He proceeded to set forth at considerable 
 length his conception of the duties of a 
 Chief Magistrate to the people, and of the 
 people to their Government, emphasizing 
 the ideas that had found expression in 
 previous utterances, and especially in his 
 letters accepting the nomination for Gov- 
 ernor and President. It is not toa. 
 much to say that this inaugural address 
 did more to win the confidence of the 
 American people than all he had said or 
 done before his election to that auo^ust 
 office. It was pitched on such a high 
 plane from first to last ; its loftiness of tone 
 was so apparent ; the sincerity of the man 
 who spoke it was accepted so unquestion- 
 ingly and promptly, that the bitter par- 
 
144 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 tisans who had just been turned out of 
 power, and their representatives in the news- 
 papers, could find nothing in it to warrant 
 the continuance of the petty warfare they 
 had carried on until this time. He thus 
 started auspiciously on the new work to 
 which he had been called. 
 
 On the day following the inauguration, 
 he began the organization of the Executive 
 Departments by sending to the senate 
 the names of the men he had chosen as 
 private secretary and as members of his 
 Cabinet. 
 
 The selection of the former was an easy 
 task. It was natural that Mr. Cleveland 
 should take with him from his old to his 
 new duties Daniel S. Lamont, who had 
 done such faithful work in Albany. It 
 would not have been possible for the new 
 President to find a man better fitted for the 
 delicate and important duties intrusted to 
 him. He had already demonstrated his 
 ability and usefulness so thoroughly as to 
 command the confidence and gain the ac- 
 quaintance of many of the best men in the 
 country. If this appointment had needed 
 
ORGANIZING EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 145 
 
 justification, it was soon found in the rec- 
 ord that Mr. Lamont made in his new 
 office. For four years he w^ent in and out 
 before the American people, without spot 
 or blemish, making himself acceptable to 
 men of all parties, gaining the friendship 
 and good will of all the people with whom 
 he was thrown in contact. More than any 
 man who ever occupied that office before 
 or since, he impressed himself upon the 
 people of the country by his ability and 
 tact. He soon became more than a private 
 secretary, and was recognized as part and 
 parcel of the Administration. It is certain 
 that no incumbent of that office came into 
 such close personal and political rela- 
 tions with his chief as did Daniel S. La- 
 mont. As the result of it he was almost 
 as well known, when he left office with Mr. 
 Cleveland on the 4th of March, 1889, as 
 was his chief himself. Keen, calm, self- 
 collected, saying no more than he must, 
 with an almost perfect insight into men, 
 during all this time he was not only the 
 most effective of private secretaries, but 
 the close and acknowledged friend of 
 
146 A LIFE OF GBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the President. The relations thus formed 
 have been maintained dming all the inter- 
 vening years, and there is, perhaps, no man 
 upon whom Mr. Cleveland relies more im- 
 plicitly than upon his old-time secretary. 
 
 The newer generation of Democrats had 
 had little opportunity to prove their fit- 
 ness for executive office. This made it 
 almost necessary when a Democrat came 
 to the Presidency that he should look 
 about him carefully, and should conclude 
 to take from the senate some of the men 
 who should be called into his Cabinet as 
 official advisers. Apparently, Mr. Cleve- 
 land did not feel bound to follow any 
 precedents in the choice of a Cabinet, so 
 he proceeded upon a plan of his own. 
 Under no obligation to give a Cabinet 
 place to any man because he had been 
 voted for in the convention which nomi- 
 nated the saccessful candidate ; his own 
 nomination having been made so spontane- 
 ously that he had incurred no obligations ; 
 the log-rolling elements having been ab- 
 sent from the convention and canvass more 
 thoroughly than in any previous case in 
 
ORGANIZINO EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 147 
 
 the liistoiy of the country, he looked 
 about him and found that he could best 
 satisfy himself by taking three members 
 of his Administration from the United 
 States Senate. He consulted freely with 
 everybody entitled to consideration, 
 whether he was the possesser of a great 
 name or not. Many a man, occupying a 
 comparatively humble place, found him- 
 self summoned to Albany to give some ac- 
 count of those whose names had been men- 
 tioned in the press or presented by their 
 friends for appointment as members of 
 the Cabinet. 
 
 The men chosen from the Senate were 
 Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware, as Secre- 
 tary of State; L. Q. C. Lamar of Mis- 
 sissippi, as Secretary of the "Interior, and 
 Augustus H. Garland of Arkansas, as 
 Attorney General. ^ 
 
 The nomination of Mr. Bayard was a 
 natural, almost an inevitable one. It 
 would have been difficult for a Democratic 
 President, seeking a man to fill the office 
 of Secretary of State, to pass by the name 
 of Mr. Bayard. To great ability, to posi- 
 
148 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 tion won as well as inherited, lie added 
 long and distinguished service, industry, 
 wide acquaintance with public men and 
 measures, thorough devotion to his party, 
 the broadest and most unquestioned 
 patriotism, and a character absolutely un- 
 sullied. Passing through a period the 
 most corrupt that this country had known, 
 no man had or has ever so much as whis- 
 pered a word against the character or the 
 motives of Thomas F. Bayard. 
 
 Mr. Lamar had seen service in the House 
 of Representatives before the war, had 
 borne a leading and honorable part in the 
 ill-starred and short-lived effort to establish 
 the Southern Confederacy, and had been 
 sent back to the lower house of congress 
 as i'Jon as hi^ people had gained control of 
 their forces from the pestiferous carpet- 
 baggers who had invaded the South like 
 the plagues of ancient Egypt. He bore a 
 quiet part until in 1875, when, after the 
 death of Charles Sumner, he distinguished 
 himself by the delivery ik the House of 
 Representatives of a eulogy which at once 
 carried him to the front as an orator and as 
 
OmANIZINQ EXEGUTttB IfEPARTMENTS. Ud 
 
 a man of large mind and of distinguished 
 ability. The step to the senate was an 
 easy one, and while there he distin- 
 guished himself by many acts of the 
 highest patriotism. When the State of 
 Mississippi instructed its senators to vote 
 for a bill having much financial heresy in 
 it Mr. Lamar absolutely refused to obey 
 these instructions, and appealing to the 
 people of his State was re-elected. In 
 every place he had proved himself an 
 honest, able, patriotic public servant- — a 
 man of deep sentiment and of poetic in- 
 stincts, but one who had so much about 
 him of the practical that he was far more 
 of a success in an executive ofiice than 
 even his friends had thought possible. 
 
 Augustus H. Garland first «ame to '^e 
 fore after the war as Governor of the State 
 of Arkansas. Perhaps in no State in the 
 Union did plunder run riot with less fear 
 of punishment, but the very violence of 
 this corruption soon produced a cure, and 
 it so happened that Arkansas was practi- 
 cally the first State in the South to regain 
 full control of its own affairs. That it did 
 
150 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 SO with success was largely due to the wis- 
 dom and ability of Mr. Garland, who, as 
 its first Democratic Governor, found in it 
 conditions of the most serious kind, and 
 grappled with them so successfully that he 
 not only redeemed his own State, but set 
 an example to the other States that they 
 were quick to follow. 
 
 The man chosen for Secretary of war, 
 William C. Endicotfc of Massachusetts, had 
 had a creditable judicial career and had 
 been the candidate of his party for Gov- 
 ernor of that State. Though without 
 experience in an executive office he was 
 appointed to a position which, important 
 in itself, had declined in the demands that 
 it made upon the holder of it. 
 
 * As Secrel^ary of the Treasury — in reality 
 at the time mentioned the most important 
 position in the gift of the President — Dan- 
 iel Manning of New York was chosen. 
 From humble beginnings, Mr. Manning 
 had made his way up until he had occu- 
 pied an enviable position as a newspaper 
 manao^er and banker. As an incident of 
 these, and under the distinguished tutelage 
 
ORGANIZINO EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 151 
 
 of Samuel J. Tilden, Mr. Mannino: had, 
 for mauy years, taken an active part in 
 politics as a manager for his party, in its 
 conventions as well as in its campaigns. 
 He had never sought office for himself, and 
 v^as, perhaps, quite as much surprised as 
 any man when his name was first dis- 
 cussed in connection with this great and 
 important office. He took office at a time 
 when the finances of the country were in a 
 most difficult condition, but as responsibility 
 was placed upon him, he developed such 
 fitness for his place that, before a single 
 year had passed, his name was impressed 
 upon the public mind as one of the few 
 great Secretaries of the Treasury, and will 
 go down to history as representing a man 
 scarcely less efficient in that great office 
 than Albert Gallatin, Levi Woodbury, 
 Salmon P. Chase, and Hugh McCulloch. 
 When he resigned, after less than two 
 years of service, with health impaired as 
 the result of the magnitude of the duties 
 and responsibilities put upon him, his po- 
 sition as a great administrator, and as a 
 figure in the history of his country, was 
 
152 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 universally recognized. Perhaps few men 
 of his time have been mourned more sin- 
 cerely than he when he died, early in 
 1888. 
 
 The President took the unusual step of 
 choosing two Cabinet officers from his own 
 State, whose dominance in the politics of 
 the Union, especially in the Democratic 
 party, had not grown less because of the 
 great and rapid development of the West 
 and South. The second man was William 
 C. Whitney, chosen to be Secretary of the 
 Navy. None of his selections more fully 
 justified itself than did this one. It was 
 soon conceded, almost without exception, 
 that no occupant of that office in the his- 
 tory of the country had shown the pos- 
 session of greater practical ability. His 
 training as a lawyer, and his experience 
 in public service in the great city of New 
 York, had given him just those gifts, and 
 the capacity for work, which fitted him to 
 carry out successfully the task of recon- 
 structing the navy of the United States on 
 new and modern lines. 
 
 When General Grant returned from his 
 
ORGANIZING EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. 153 
 
 tour around the world a youug lawyer, 
 named William F. Vilas, was engaged in 
 the practice of the law in Madison, the 
 capital town of Wisconsin. At a banquet 
 given to the General in Chicago Mr. Vilas 
 sprang at once to the front as one of the 
 finished orators of the country. In 1884 
 he had been chosen to preside over the 
 National Convention which nominated Mr. 
 Cleveland, and he it was whom the new 
 President chose to fill the office of Post 
 master General. He had been a lawyer in 
 successful practice with whom politics was 
 merely an incident. Of all the members 
 of the Cabinet Mr. Vilas probably gave the 
 closest attention to the business of his 
 office in all its details, as well as to the 
 making of its general policy. In 1888, 
 when Mr. Lamar was taken from the head 
 of the Interior Department and made a 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of the 
 United States, Mr. Vilas was transferred 
 from the head of the Post-office Dej^art- 
 ment to that of the Interior. In his new 
 position he distinguished himself by the 
 same unwearied industry and by that per- 
 
154 .1 LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 feet devotion to liis duties whicli had made 
 him a reputation and enabled him greatly 
 to improve the morale and the efficiency of 
 the postal service. 
 
 The President exercised the same care 
 in filling the less dignified of the offices in 
 his gift. Many of these places with but 
 moderate salaries rise almost to the dignity 
 of a Cabinet place. The men chosen for 
 these positions were of a higher average 
 character than any that had been seen for 
 many administrations. 
 
 Amonof them was Charles S. Fairchild 
 of New York, who had served with accept- 
 ability as Attorney General of his own 
 State and was now transferred to Federal 
 politics as Assistant Secretary of the 
 Treasury, only to come to the head of that 
 office upon the retirement of his chief, Mr. 
 Manning. 
 
 It is impossible to enumerate in the 
 space at my disposal the names, and to de- 
 scribe with anything like completeness the 
 characters, of the men appointed to these 
 secondary places. It seemed that the 
 Democracy of every State in the Union 
 
ORGANIZING EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS 155 
 
 had determined to put forward its best 
 men ; and many a man whose business 
 yielded him a large income was prevailed 
 upon to accept an important office wdth a 
 small salary and with the recognized neces- 
 sity for much hard work. Among them 
 may be mentioned George A. Jenks of 
 Pennsylvania, who first became Assistant 
 Secretary of the Interior and later Solicitor 
 General of the United States; the late 
 Malcom Hay of the same State, who, be- 
 cause of ill-health, which soon resulted in 
 his death, was comjDelled to give up the 
 office of First Assistant Postmaster General, 
 and was succeeded by Adlai E. Stevenson 
 of Illinois, now the Democratic candidate 
 for Vice President; Norman J. Colman, 
 who became Commissioner of Agriculture, 
 and gave the department such dignity and 
 usefulness that it was raised to the rank 
 of a Cabinet office, of which he became 
 the first incumbent. Conrad N. Jordan 
 of New York, one of the most experienced 
 financiers of the country, accepted the 
 position of Treasurer of the United States 
 and impressed his ideas and policy upon 
 
156 A LIF£J OF GllOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the general management of fiscal affairs. 
 The late Joseph E. Johnston, the veteran 
 soldier of the Confederacy, became Com- 
 missioner of Railroads, and William S. 
 Rosecrans, one of the heroes of the Union, 
 accepted the position of Register of the 
 Treasury, while John C. Black of Illinois, 
 in every way an excellent soldier, became 
 Commissioner of Pensions. 
 
 The names mentioned are only specimens 
 of the kind of men that Mr. Cleveland in- 
 sisted should be drawn into the public ser- 
 vice. There was less of the policy of tak- 
 ing care of the " lame ducks " of politics 
 than had ever been seen. Fewer of the 
 names of men who by accident had got 
 into congress, only to fail, were found 
 among the appointees of the new President 
 than had ever been known. As a result 
 of this the number of political barnacles 
 was smaller than usual under Mr. Cleve- 
 land's administration. 
 
 In the diplomatic service, which since the 
 days of reconstruction had been growing 
 rather better as to the ability and character 
 of its members, the improvement was ac- 
 
ORGANIZING EXECUTIVE DEPARTMENTS. \b1 
 
 celerated under Mr. Cleveland's administra- 
 tion. This was shown by the sending of 
 Edward J. Phelps of Vermont as Minister 
 to England ; Robert M. McLane of Mary- 
 land to France; George H. Pendleton of 
 Ohio to Germany ; George V. N. Lathrop 
 of Michigan to Russia ; Samuel S. Cox and 
 Oscar S. Straus of New York, successively 
 to Turkey ; J. B. Stallo of Ohio to Italy ; 
 J. L. M. Curry of Vii^nia to Spain, and 
 Charles Denby of Indiana to China. The 
 minor offices, as well as the most impor- 
 tant, were filled with the same general 
 type of men as those already mentioned. 
 As the result of this care few scandals 
 were developed in the diplomatic and, con- 
 sular service during Mr. Cleveland's ad- 
 ministration. 
 
 He proceeded in the same way to choose 
 the best men he could find for collectors 
 of the ports and postmasters of the princi- 
 pal cities. In a few cases, where the Presi- 
 dent felt bound to concede something to 
 the local political managers, the result was 
 not satisfactory to him or to the service, 
 but there was very little of tliis, and Mr. 
 
158 A LIFh OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Cleveland soon developed tlie unusual 
 gift of putting a man out of office, witli a 
 good deal more promptness than he had 
 put him in, when he discovered that he 
 either had not the ability to carry on its 
 v^ork with efficiency, or that he lacked the 
 character to maintain the high level which 
 he himself had fixed for his administra- 
 tion. 
 
 Most of the men in important places 
 were thus chosen with direct reference to 
 their character and fitness. They were 
 Democrats, of course, only a single appoint- 
 ment, that of Postmaster of New York, 
 having been made from men who were not 
 avowed members of the President's own 
 party. In this case the late Plenry G. 
 Pearson had done so much to improve the 
 postal service, in which he had grown up 
 from boyhood, that he was reappointed by 
 the President, and that, too, in spite of the 
 protest of the more violent of his own 
 partisans. 
 
 The President had carried out his own 
 ideas of what the civil service should 
 be, not in mere clerkships or in petty 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 159 
 
 places, ill wliicli one man might do the 
 work about as well as another, but in those 
 great administrative positions where ability 
 and character count for little unless they 
 are united with peculiar fitness for execu- 
 tive duties. 
 
 CHAPTEE IX. 
 
 THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 
 
 The ceremonials over, and the work of 
 reorganizing the government intrusted to 
 competent hands, the President and his 
 advisers settled down to hard work. 
 
 In reviewing briefly the history of the 
 four years of Grover Cleveland's adminis- 
 tration as President, it will be impossible 
 to follow at all times the chronolocrical 
 method. A more satisfactory and cer- 
 tainly a more logical plan is to treat it 
 topically ; that is, to review the distinctive 
 work of the various departments. I have 
 no purpose of writing a history of every 
 detail of that administration which for 
 four years conducted the affairs of the 
 country so successfully, but a brief view 
 
160 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 conducted upon the lines marked out will, 
 I am sure, suffice to give my readers a clear 
 idea of the principles upon which Mr. 
 Cleveland did his work, and the success he 
 had in putting those principles into prac- 
 tice. 
 
 However able the advisers of a Presi- 
 dent may be he will, if he is a man of 
 commanding ability and lofty chai'acter, 
 dominate his administration at nearly 
 every point. Everything done cannot be 
 his, but, as a rule, no great thing can be 
 done unless it is the expression of his 
 opinion and the execution of his policy. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland did not treat his Cabinet 
 officers as mere clerks. He looked upon 
 them as helpers in a great cause — men 
 of standing in the country, carefully 
 trained in public life, who, believing 
 as he did as to the general principles of 
 government, might impress their own ideas 
 upon the detail work of their depai'tments 
 and carry them out as best they could. 
 But everywhere and at all times the great 
 policies that he had enunciated during the 
 few years of his public life were soon 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION^. 161 
 
 rec0gmzed as the dominant ideas of the 
 administration. That these were adopted 
 in many cases upon the suggestion of his 
 Secretaries made them none the less his. 
 He insisted that these men should develop 
 their own plans and policies, believing that 
 their ideas were in substantial accord with 
 his own. 
 
 Generally speaking, the politics of this 
 country are pretty free from serious diffi- 
 culties with foreign governments, so that 
 when complications arise that in other lands 
 might be looked upon as trivial, they pro- 
 duce a sense of irritation quite out of 
 proportion to their real importance. Dur- 
 ing the four years of Mr. Cleveland's ad- 
 ministration no serious misunderstanding 
 arose, and yet there was abundant occasion 
 for diplomatic intervention, and for the 
 careful conduct of the matters assigned to 
 the Secretary of State. There was no 
 scandal in the management of the depart- 
 ment. No attempt was made to exploit a 
 foreign policy, when nothing in the situa- 
 tion required it. Nobody was able to use 
 the department to enforce the collection 
 
162 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 of vast sums of blood money from 
 friendly, tliougli petty governments. The 
 efforts to collect claims against Peru, 
 which, made under Garfield, had been 
 abandoned under Arthur, were doomed 
 to ignominious failure under Mr. Cleveland 
 and Mr. Bayard. A man named Jewett 
 tried in this way to lodge a claim for some 
 $50,000,000 against the Government of 
 Brazil, but upon investigation it was found 
 that if any loss had resulted it could not 
 amount at the utmost to more than a thou- 
 sand dollars. Still further investigation 
 showed that the whole thing was trumped 
 up. The Secretary dismissed it, with a 
 prompt and curt refusal to give it any fur- 
 ther official consideration. 
 
 Fewer demands than usual arose for the 
 protection of American citizens abroad. 
 Such came, however, from Mexico, Eng- 
 land, and Turkey. In the first-named 
 country a somewhat ridiculous person 
 named Cutting was arrested for acts com- 
 mitted in this country, and ^vas brought up 
 for trial on the south of the Rio Grande. 
 A protest from the department against the 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 163 
 
 action of the Mexican Government was 
 effective, and the offender, no doubt much 
 to his own discomfiture and a loss of the 
 notoriety which he so much coveted, was 
 released from custody. It Avas one of those 
 petty incidents that could not be entirely 
 dismissed, but it was little more than an 
 annoyance. 
 
 Intervention was asked by naturalized 
 American citizens of Irish birth, tried 
 under English laws, for offenses committed 
 in England. Their cases were carefully 
 considered and representations made to the 
 the government of Her Majesty that their 
 release would be agreeable to the authori- 
 ties of this country. It appeared, however, 
 that the prisoners did not claim the pro- 
 tection of this government at the time of 
 arraignment and trial, and that they had 
 been fairly tried under English laws and 
 convicted of serious offenses against person 
 and property. So it became evident that 
 their claim for protection from their 
 adopted country was not well founded. 
 
 Perhaps nothing more distinctive was 
 done during the entire administration than 
 
164 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the success of Oscar S. Straus, Minister to 
 Turkey, in putting the American missions 
 and the schools connected with them upon a 
 recognized basis. For many years before 
 Mr. Cox and Mr. Straus were sent to 
 Turkey, our rejDresentatives there had been 
 little more than ridiculous. Some of them 
 had been men who neither knew nor cared 
 about the work that had been intrusted to 
 them, while others looked only for a cer- 
 tain notoriety for themselves. But Mr. 
 Straus went carefully to work to correct 
 existing wrongs and to place the mis- 
 sions and their schools upon a perma- 
 nent basis. In this he was eminently suc- 
 cessful. He was a business man of large 
 experience as well as a lawyer well trained 
 in his profession. He appeared to know just 
 what ought to be done and how to do it, 
 and to have a faculty for dealing success- 
 fully with the Oriental mind. The com- 
 mendations bestowed upon him and upon 
 Mr. Cleveland's administration since his 
 return were earned by strong ideas and 
 excellent intentions carried into practice. 
 During the earlier part of the adminis- 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATIOX. 165 
 
 tration a compreliensive treaty with China 
 was negotiated by the Secretary of State 
 under the direction of the President. 
 Under the provisions of this treaty the 
 Chinese Government agreed to meet the 
 views of the United States and to prevent 
 further immigration into this country of 
 Chinese laborers. But the senate, moved 
 by a desire to gain a partisan advantage, 
 inserted in this treaty some insignificant 
 amendments w^hich the Emperor of China 
 refused to ratify or accept. It was this 
 refusal to accept a definite treaty — a re- 
 fusal based entirely upon a supposed 
 partisan advantage — that rendered neces- 
 sary the drastic legislation of the last year 
 of the Cleveland administration, which 
 took form in what was known as the 
 " Scott law." Its effects were felt, too, in 
 the enactment by a succeeding congress 
 of an exclusion law, to take the place of 
 one that had expired by its own terms 
 — a law which even some of the extreme 
 advocates of the exclusion policy have 
 felt called upon to condemn. There is little 
 doubt that if the Bayard treaty had been 
 
166 A LIFE OF GBOVER CLEVELAND, 
 
 ratified further immigration of Chinese to 
 this country would have been prevented by 
 agreement quite as effectively as it is now 
 by force. 
 
 A peculiar complication arose with Aus- 
 tria early in 1885. Soon after Mr. Cleve- 
 land's accession to office he nominated as 
 Minister to Italy a resident of Virginia, 
 A. M. Kieley by name. It turned out that 
 in 1870 Mr. Kieley had made a speech at 
 a public meeting in Richmond, in his State, 
 in ^vhich he had indulged in violent de- 
 nunciations of King Victor Emanual for 
 his treatment of the Pope. This having 
 been developed, the Italian Government, 
 through its representative in Washington, 
 intimated to the Department of State that 
 Mr. Kieley was persona noii grata to the 
 king. The appointee may have been lack- 
 ing somewhat in the diplomatic quality, 
 but it was a petty affair for a great gov- 
 ernment to claim as a cause of offense. 
 His nomination was withdrawn. Later 
 his name was sent to the senate to fill 
 the office of Minister to Austria-Hungary. 
 
 Mr. Kieley had married a woman of 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 167 
 
 Jewish birth, and the anti-semitic agitation 
 was then at its fiercest throughout all the 
 German-speaking countries. For some rea- 
 son, therefore, the Austrian Government 
 made his withdrawal from Italy an excuse 
 for objecting to his appointment as Minister 
 to Vienna, and no other reason being avail- 
 able the fact that his ^vife belonged to 
 the race then persecuted was put forward. 
 The Austrian Minister I'epresented to the 
 Secretary of State and to the President 
 that no Jewess could be received in the 
 social circles in Vienna, and that, as a 
 consequence, her husband would not be an 
 acceptable Minister to the court of that 
 country. 
 
 The President and his Secretary refused 
 to accept an excuse so flimsy, and the 
 Secretary of State in two letters to the 
 Austrian Minister resented the objections 
 based upon such an allegation. He re- 
 buked the religious bigotry which could 
 suggest such a course, and announced that 
 the United States would never assent to 
 the creation or enforcement of such tests 
 as Austria sought to impose. The letters 
 
168 ,4 LIFE OF GBOVEIl CLEVELAND. 
 
 which Mr. Bayard wrote in defense of this 
 policy have seldom been excelled in our 
 diplomatic literature for careful wTiting, 
 sound views, and loftiness of thought. 
 The President, in his first annual message, 
 announced the policy he had adopted, and 
 added a spirited rebuke to that admin- 
 istered by his Secretary. The mission to 
 Austria was left vacant for more than a 
 year in order to emphasize more thor- 
 oughly the unalterable opposition of this 
 country to the imposition of religious tests. 
 In 1886 Mr. Phelps, Minister at the 
 Court of St. James, concluded with Lord 
 Rosebery, Minister of Foreign Affairs 
 under Mr. Gladstone, as the representative 
 of Her Majesty's Government, a treaty pro- 
 viding for the extradition of criminals who 
 should escape from the jurisdiction of one 
 country into that of another. It added 
 four new extraditable offenses to the seven 
 already recognized by existing treaties. 
 These were : Manslaughter, burglary, 
 embezzlement or larceny to the value of 
 $50 or <£10 sterling or upward, and mali- 
 cious injuries to property whereby the 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 169 
 
 life of any person should be endangered, 
 if such injuries should constitute a crime 
 according to the laws of both the contract- 
 ing parties. 
 
 When the senate received the treaty 
 from its committee on Foreio-n Affairs it 
 was discovered that offensive words con- 
 cerning the use of explosives had found a 
 place in the treaty. It was assumed by 
 the Republican press and speakers that 
 this was an attempt on the part of 
 England to secure the arrest of certain 
 men charged with the use of dynamite ; 
 and the interpolation was resented by 
 many classes of citizens. 
 
 At once the Republican press asserted 
 that the offensive words had appeared in 
 the original treaty as negotiated by Mr. 
 Phelps. The discussion of this question 
 was conducted in executive session of the 
 senate, so that it was not difficult to main- 
 tain such a position ; and it was an almost 
 impossible task to expose the falsity of 
 the charge. It was persistently asserted, 
 even until the close of the Presidential 
 canvass of 1888, but after the election 
 
IVO A LIFE OF' G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 when tlie tnitli came out it was made 
 plain that the objectionable words had 
 been inserted in the treaty, not by the 
 original negotiators, but by the Republi- 
 can majority of the senate committee on 
 Foreign Affairs. 
 
 In February, 1888, a treaty was con- 
 cluded between the representatives of the 
 United States, Great Britain, and Canada, 
 which would have definitely settled the 
 contention which, since 1818, had gone on 
 between the two English countries on the 
 one hand and the United States on the 
 other hand. The negotiations were con- 
 cluded in Washington, and a treaty, fair 
 to all interests, one under which all diffi- 
 culties were in* a fair way of being dis- 
 posed of, was agreed to unanimously by 
 the Commissioners from all the countries 
 represented. The senators from Maine 
 and Massachusetts, in pursuance of their 
 usual policy on this question, with the 
 hope of gaining a partisan advantage, 
 raised the same old cry of surrender to 
 Canada, and the treaty was rejected by a 
 partisan vote. After its rejection the 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. IVI 
 
 President sent to congress a vigorous mes- 
 sage in which he announced that unless 
 Canadian exactions upon our fishermen 
 should cease, he would be compelled to 
 resort to the retaliatory measures author- 
 ized by laws already in existence, under 
 which he would prohibit the transit of 
 goods in bond across and over the ter- 
 ritories of the United States to and from 
 Canada. 
 
 Thus the management of the State De- 
 partment, which always comes closely into 
 relation with the President himself, had 
 been careful, just, and honest. 
 
 The management of the finances of the 
 government was, as has already been 
 stated, intrusted in the first instance to the 
 late Daniel Mannins;. When he took 
 charge of the Treasury Department on 
 March 6, 1885, he found two great and 
 threatening perils. Nearly all of the 
 indebtedness of the government that was 
 due had been paid, and still the laws 
 which yielded a surplus were in effect, and 
 nearly one hundred millions of dollars a 
 year more than there was any demand for 
 
172 A LIFE OF O ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 in the legitimate and economical adminis- 
 tration of the country were collected 
 under them. At the same time all at- 
 tempts to get the people of the country to 
 use the silver dollars, heaped up in the 
 vaults of the Treasury and in government 
 warehouses, failed. 
 
 This condition of aifairs continuing, and 
 congress refusing and failing to pass laws 
 for the reduction of the revenues, it Became 
 evident, early in 1887, that this continued 
 drain of money from the people was becom- 
 ing a serious menace to business interests 
 and was creating a feeling of great anxiety. 
 There was the ever present danger that 
 a severe stringency in the money market 
 would be the natural effect. The Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury, Charles S. Fairchild, 
 who had succeeded Mr. Manning upon his 
 retirement because of impaired health, de- 
 termined early in 1887 that, instead of dis- 
 tributing the purchases for the sinking fund 
 over the whole fiscal year, as would natu- 
 rally have been done under ordinary cir- 
 cumstances, he would invest at once or as 
 rapidly as possible the entire amount neces- 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATIOX. 173 
 
 sary for this purpose, nearly twenty-eight 
 millions. This was done in the. hope of re- 
 lieving the financial situation at a period 
 of the year when a larger amount of money 
 than usual is necessary for the purchase 
 and movement of the new crop. In 
 pursuance of this policy, bonds to the 
 amount of $24,844,650 were purchased at 
 a cost of $27,842,237.10. By the prompt 
 distribution of this large sum of money 
 in the hands of the people the threatened 
 danger was averted. 
 
 The same policy was pursued in the suc- 
 ceeding year, with the exception that in- 
 stead of waiting until the crisis was immi- 
 nent the circular was issued in A]3ril, four 
 months earlier than in the preceding year. 
 This was done for the purpose of inviting 
 bids from the small holders of the obliga- 
 tions of the government. By this method 
 owners of bonds to the amount of $50 were 
 permitted to offer their holdings direct to 
 the Treasury. Many investoi's willing to 
 turn their bonds into money by dealing 
 directly with the government, but not in- 
 clined to sell at a lower price to the banks 
 
1V4 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 or syndicates, were induced to pai't witli 
 them, and thus do their share in the relief 
 of the financial situation. Under this 
 policy, and as the result of the circulars so 
 issued, there were bought within less than 
 eleven months bonds to the amount of 
 $51,621,500, at a total cost of $60,230,- 
 031.50. As these were interest-bearing, 
 the sum saved to the Treasury in interest 
 by the operation during the year under 
 discussion was $14,790,352.53. 
 
 The positive success of this policy was 
 not sufficient to hinder the continued 
 grow^tli of a surplus in the Treasury. 
 This increased from $45,698,549.15 on 
 June 30, 1887, to $111,880,808.67 on June 
 30, 1888, the close of the last fiscal year 
 of the Cleveland administration. In this 
 emergency a decision was reached to 
 increase the deposits in the national banks 
 under the law of March 3, 1881, under the 
 provisions of which it had been the policy 
 of the Treasury to limit the deposits allowed 
 to banks to 90 per cent, of the face value 
 of the bonds deposited as security. In 
 ordei' to make it more of an object to the 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 175 
 
 banks for them to draw some of this 
 surplus money out of the Treasury and 
 to get it into the channels of business, the 
 plan was adopted of allowing a deposit to 
 the par value of the 4j per cent, bonds 
 and a deposit of 110 per cent, against the 
 4 per cents, due in 1907. 
 
 The result was so encouraging that while 
 141 national banks held only $12,928,264.- 
 46 at the close of the fiscal year on June 
 30, 1887, on June 30, 1888, at the close of 
 the next fiscal year, 294 national banks had 
 acquired deposits to the amount of $59,979,- 
 039.63. The number of banks had almost 
 doubled, while the deposits had increased 
 nearly fivefold. This money was distrib- 
 uted fairly, without the least favoritism, 
 and mthout inquiry as to the politics of 
 the managers of the financial institutions 
 so intrusted, and, finding its way into the 
 banks of every section of the country, did 
 much to promote healthful business de- 
 velopment and to strengthen the confidence 
 of the public. 
 
 The credit of the government was well 
 shown by the average selling price of the 
 
IV 6 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 4 per cent, bonds at different periods dur- 
 ing tlie four years under treatment. In 
 March, 1885, these bonds were worth 122.- 
 326 and yielded investors an average in- 
 terest rate of 2.731 per cent. In Decem- 
 ber, 1885, the average price was 124.023 
 and the investment value 2.614 per cent. 
 In June, 1888, the average price had in- 
 creased to 127.938 and the investment 
 value had diminished to 2.245 per cent, 
 per annum, so that in spite of the fact that 
 the bonds had approached three years 
 nearer to maturity their price had steadily 
 advanced. In this way the confidence of 
 both investors and the public was empha- 
 sized and the conservatism and safety of 
 our financial management was assured. 
 
 The silver question was dealt with in 
 such a way as to reduce to a minimum 
 the danger which threatened the business 
 interests of the country. On June 30, 
 1884, the total coinage of standard silver 
 dollars under the compulsory law of 1878 
 had reached $175,355,829. Of this there 
 were in circulation $137,052,472, of which 
 the sum of $97,507,011 was represented 
 
THE WORK OF ADMlNlSTRA flON. 1 V 7 
 
 by outstanding certificates, and $39,545,461 
 by silver coin in circulation. On June 30, 
 1888, the number of dollars coined under 
 the same law had reached 299,424,790, of 
 which 229,491,722 were outstanding in the 
 shape of certificates, and 55,545,203 in 
 coin. This increase was due in large meas- 
 ure to the fact that the small denomina- 
 tions of the Treasury notes were withdrawn 
 from circulation, and their places taken by 
 silver certificates of the same denomina- 
 tions, as well as to the policy of the 
 Treasury in not discrediting the silver 
 coin, but a resolution to make the best 
 possible use of it, and thus to relieve, as 
 far as possible, a situation which had in it 
 so many dangerous elements. 
 
 The reduction of the public debt went 
 on steadily in spite of the fact that almost 
 none of the obligations of the government 
 fell due. The amount of this reduction 
 during the three full fiscal years from 
 June, 1882, to June 30, 1885, was $299,- 
 671,031.34. The reduction during the 
 corresponding period of three years, from 
 June 30, 1885, to June 30, 1888, was $312,- 
 
178 A LIFE OF GMOVER CLEVELAND, 
 
 347,549.18, an average annual increase 
 during tlie Cleveland administration of 
 more than $4,000,000 over a like period 
 under Garfield and Arthur. 
 
 In spite, too, of the great increase in the 
 volume of business the percentage of the 
 cost of collecting the revenue continually 
 declined. In the year 1885, about one- 
 third of which was under a Democratic 
 Secretary, the cost of collecting the cus- 
 toms revenue was 3.77 per cent. ; in 1886 it 
 declined to 3.30 ; in 1887 to 3.16, and in 1888 
 to 2.98 ; and the cost of collecting the in- 
 ternal revenues, which was 3.93 in 1885, 
 gradually fell to 3.20 in 1888. These reduc- 
 tions were made possible by the cutting off 
 of useless offices and by the adoption by 
 the government of the same methods that 
 a business man would employ in private or 
 corporate concerns. 
 
 The last process was applied to the man- 
 agement of the department proper. Un- 
 necessary expenditures were cut off and 
 the increase in the number of clerks in the 
 different bureaus did not keep pace with 
 the growth of work and efficiency. Far 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 179 
 
 more labor was done under the careful 
 manao'ement of Mr. Mannino- and Mr. Fair- 
 child with the same force than had been 
 done under their predecessors. Exorbi- 
 tant allowances and salaries were reduced, 
 unnecessary bureaus abolished or consoli- 
 dated, and in every way the working of the 
 department was managed with a great deal 
 of economy. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION (cONTINUED). 
 
 It is scarcely necessary now to repeat in 
 detail the old and oft-told story of the deg- 
 radation of the United States between 
 1868 and 1885. In his first annual report, 
 submitted to the President in December 
 of the last-named year, Mr. Whitney 
 said : 
 
 "The country has expended since July 1, 
 1868, over seventj^-five millions of money on 
 the construction, repair, equipment, and 
 ordnance of vessels, which sum, with a very 
 slight exception, had been substantially 
 thrown away, the exception being a few 
 ships now in piocf^ss of construction. . . . 
 
180 A LIFE OP GBOVm CLEVELAND. 
 
 For about seventy of the seventy-five mill- 
 ions expended by the department for the 
 creation of a navy, we have nothing to 
 show." 
 
 The story of waste, w^aste of time, waste 
 of money, and, worst of all, waste of mor- 
 als, is a story of national shame. There 
 was not only jobbery in building and 
 jobbery in repairs, but there was jobbery 
 in the detail management and in the pur- 
 chase of the supplies necessary to keep our 
 poor ships afloat and supply their men 
 with clothing and provisions. 
 
 When Secretary Whitney took charge 
 of the department in March, 1885, the 
 United States did not have a single war 
 vessel which could have kept the seas for a 
 week, and was at the same time dependent 
 upon English manufacturers for gun forg- 
 ings, armor, and secondary batteries. 
 There were only two vessels on the Navy 
 Register — the Tennessee, a ramshackle 
 wooden craft since condemned, and the 
 Chicago, then building, but not in commis- 
 sion. At the close of the administration, 
 the Register carried the names of four ves- 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 181 
 
 sels, first class not only in name, but in 
 reality. They were tlie Chicago^ witli 
 4590 tons displacement; Baltimore, \y\t\ 
 4400 ; PMladelphia, with 4324 ; and the 
 San Francisco, of 4083 tons. Several ves- 
 sels were nearly completed at the close of 
 Mr, Cleveland's administration, in March, 
 1889, and the present efficiency of the 
 navy is due almost entirely to the careful 
 and faithful execution of the laws by Mr. 
 Cleveland and his Secretary of the Navy. 
 In less than a year after the close of the 
 administration, the United States had 
 eight or ten vessels of modern type, cred- 
 itable to the most progressive nation upon 
 earth, as they would have been useful to 
 the most wai'like. 
 
 The . President and Secretary Whitney 
 early perceived that by no possibility could 
 the government build a new navy, which 
 would be both effective and American, 
 while the United States were dependent 
 upon foreign countries for guns and armor. 
 In order to encourage manufactories for the 
 furnishing of armor, the policy was adopted 
 in 1886 of putting into a single contract all 
 
182 A LIFE OF QROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 the armor authorized by congress, and at 
 the same time of allowing bidders the nec- 
 essary time to take steps for building the 
 plant for making this armor. In June, 
 1887, only two years after the advent of 
 the new administration, a contract was en- 
 tered into with the Bethlehem Iron Com- 
 pany, of Bethlehem, Pa., under which a 
 plant for the construction of both armor 
 and gun steel was to be perfected. The 
 work of providing this was still under way 
 when Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Whitney left 
 office. Under this policy the government 
 was able to escape from the condition of 
 industrial dependence into which twenty 
 years of waste, incompetency, and dishon- 
 esty had j)lunged it. From that time the 
 government of the United States, like that 
 of any other first-class power, was able to 
 construct vessels built entirely from mate- 
 rial, labor, and capital furnished by its own 
 people. A great deal has been said about 
 protecting and building up new industries, 
 biit in this way effective work was done 
 directly and legitimately. By a single act 
 of enlightened policy Mr. Cleveland and his 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 183 
 
 Secretary had done more for the encourage- 
 ment of an important industry than could 
 have been accomplished by half a dozen 
 new tariff schedules increasing the rates 
 of duty. 
 
 But it was not alone in the construction 
 of new vessels that an advance was made. 
 The business methods of the department 
 and the management of its detail affairs 
 were completely revolutionized. Bureaus 
 were re-organized and put in charge of 
 careful and honest men. The purchase of 
 supplies for several of these bureaus was 
 consolidated and placed under a responsi- 
 ble head. So effective did this policy 
 prove that while in 1884 and 1885 more 
 than fifty per cent, of the value of the 
 supplies was purchased in the open 
 market without competition, in 1888 the 
 proportion of supplies so purchased had 
 been reduced to less than eleven per cent. 
 All these improvements, with new vessels 
 finished and under way, with new plant 
 for armor and guns, built by private 
 capital thus guaranteed work, the cost of 
 the department was less than for the three 
 
184 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 fiscal years, 1886, 1887, and 1888, than for 
 the three corresponding years of the pre- 
 ceding administration. The total ex- 
 penditures of the department for 1882, 
 1883, and 1884, as fixed by statute and 
 beyond the control of the Secretary, were 
 $27,757,866.35. This included nearly 
 $2,000,000 expended on steel cruisers and 
 monitors. During the years 1886, 1887, 
 and 1888 the total expenditures as fixed 
 by congress were $30,910,486.25, in which 
 were included two items, absent from the 
 previous period, for increase of navy and 
 vessels and monitors aggregating $3,347,- 
 935.55. But the largest proportionate 
 saving was made in the ordinary bureau 
 expenses of the department directly under 
 the control of the Secretary. 
 
 For the full three years' period during 
 President Arthur's administration this 
 amounted to $20,224,531.28. For the last 
 period, the corresponding three years under 
 Mr. Cleveland, the expenses for the same 
 bureaus were only $15,920,143.99. Reduc- 
 tions were made in every bureau but one, 
 while the expenditure for contingent ex- 
 
THE WOBK OF ADMimSTRATION. 185 
 
 penses, whicli for tlie first period amounted 
 to $12,900,570, liad declined in the corre- 
 sponding period to $1,179,760. At last it 
 had been demonstrated that the Navy De- 
 partment could be conducted honestly, 
 efficiently, and upon business principles. 
 When this was done it was not difficult to 
 induce congress — which for many years 
 had shown itself unwilling to vote the 
 necessary appropriations — to pro^dde the 
 money necessary for the maintenance of the 
 honor of the country by building a navy 
 worthy of the name. 
 
 Although the Secretary of War had few 
 opportunities to make much of a show or 
 even to display great executive ability, 
 that department did all there was to do, 
 and did it well. Early in his administra- 
 tion the President set about the work of 
 breaking up the system of favoritism which 
 had so long made that department a nest 
 of intrigue. The officers who, by the use 
 of every kind of inHuence, had been getting 
 assignments to soft places for twenty 
 years, were sent to their regiments, in 
 order that they might not entirely forget 
 
186 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the profession wliich the goveriimeut had 
 enabled them to acquire at West Point. 
 Because of the growth of the AVestern 
 Territories and of the success of the peace- 
 ful policy so consistently carried out by 
 Mr. Clevehmd and his administration, there 
 was almost no employment during his 
 term for the reo;uhar army. However, in 
 spite of this fact, its discipline and condi- 
 tion were constantly impi'oved, mainly for 
 the reason that, like the othei' departments, 
 it was conducted on business pi'inciples. 
 
 The Department of Justice was con- 
 ducted without noise or bluster and with 
 great efficiency. During a considerable 
 portion of the time covered by the Cleve- 
 land administration the duties of the 
 Attorney General ^vere done by his Solici- 
 tor General, George A. Jenks, of Penn- 
 sylvania, but w^hether the ^vork was 
 directed by Mr. Garland or Mi*. Jenks it 
 was well and faithfully done. The Presi- 
 dent himself being a lawyer of careful 
 training and recognized position, with a 
 conscientious devotion to his profession, 
 e^ave close attention to all questions of a 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 187 
 
 legal character. Congress had just enacted 
 many important • laws miposiug additional 
 work upon this department. As the result 
 of this 39,361 criminal prosecutions were 
 disposed of during the years 1885, 1886, 
 and 1887, against 27,828 for the three full 
 years of the preceding administration. 
 All this additional business was transacted 
 at an increased expense of a little more 
 than a quarter of a million dollars for the 
 whole period. The laws against violators 
 vv^ere strictly enforced in every part of the 
 country, and no serious scandal attached 
 itself to a marshal or to a district attorney 
 in any State or Territory. 
 
 Durino: Mr. Cleveland's term a Chief 
 Justice was chosen to succeed Moriison R. 
 Waite. After careful consideration this 
 great office was conferred upon Melville 
 W. Fuller, one of the leaders of his profes- 
 sion in the West, and the success with 
 which he has administered an important 
 trust has fully justified the confidence of 
 the President. An Associate Justice was 
 appointed in the person of L. Q. C. Lamar, 
 Mr. Cleveland's Secretary of the Interior. 
 
188 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 He, too, has done his work with general 
 acceptance to the country' and his profes- 
 sion. One Circuit Judge and eleven Dis- 
 trict Judges were also appointed, all of 
 them men of excellent standins: in their 
 
 o 
 
 several localities. In fact, no President 
 ever devoted more attention to the choice 
 of judges and all other officials who had 
 to do with the machinery of the law than 
 did Mr. Cleveland. 
 
 The Post-office has grown so rapidly 
 of late years, and become such an im- 
 mense establishment, that it demands the 
 highest administrative talent that it may 
 keep itself continually in touch with the 
 development of the country. In 1883 
 the letter j^ostage rate was reduced from 
 three to two cents, and the weight limit 
 increased from half an ounce to an ounce. 
 During that and the following years 
 marked reductions were made in the rates 
 on second, class postage matter, and in the 
 limit of w^eight for a very considerable 
 portion of that embraced in the third 
 class. But such was the unprecedented 
 growth of the volume of business that in 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINT8TRA TIOI>'. 1 8 9 
 
 spite of these concessions the receipts in- 
 creased from $42,560,843.83 in 1885 to 
 $52,672,735.30 in 1888, nearly 25 per cent. 
 in three years. At the same time the ex- 
 pense for carrying on this greatly aug- 
 mented service only increased from $49,- 
 782,619.09 in 1883^ to $56,468,315.20 in 
 1888, or only about 11,4 per cent, more 
 for transacting a business 25 per cent, 
 greater. Each dollar in receipts cost the 
 government $1.17 in 1885 and only $1.06 
 in 1888. 
 
 In spite of the unexamj)led growth of the 
 service a decided savins: was eifected in the 
 transportation of the mails. This was done 
 by economy in star route, steamboat, and 
 railway charges ; by the discontinuance of 
 illegal allowances for apartment-car service ; 
 by a readjustment of the pay of land-grant 
 railroads, and in the reduced cost of mail 
 equipment. While all this was done a 
 decided improvement ^vas made in the 
 number and speed of the fast mail routes. 
 For the first time in the history of the de- 
 partment parcels post contracts were con- 
 cluded with Mexico and the West Indian 
 
190 A LIFE OF GROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 and Soutli American countries, and the de- 
 partment itself at Washington was con- 
 ducted with the greatest efficiency and 
 economy. Not a scandal or serious abuse 
 was developed, while many antiquated 
 ways of doing business were replaced by 
 improved methods. The free delivery 
 service was greatly enlarged and, under 
 the careful management of William F. 
 Vilas and Don M. Dickinson, its extension 
 to the smaller towns was made a perma- 
 nent policy. This has been followed up 
 by their successors in office, thus giving 
 many thousands of people in the United 
 States the boon of a free delivery of their 
 letters. The money order system was ex- 
 tended to a large number of new offices, 
 and improvements in the methods of man- 
 aging this department went hand in hand 
 with this extension. 
 
 For nearly three yeai's of the adminis- 
 tration the work was carried on by Mr. 
 Vilas. He was succeeded early in 1888 
 by Don M. Dickinson of Michigan, who 
 proved himself in every way worthy to 
 hold a place under such a chief and to 
 
THE WORK OF A DMINISTRA TION. 1 1 
 
 succeed so efficient an officer as Mr. Vilas. 
 No more efficient man has made his way 
 into public life of recent years, or been 
 tried more thoroughly in a difficult depart- 
 ment, than Mr. Cleveland's second Post- 
 master General. He was not only an 
 excellent official, but proved himself in 
 every way an able man, and has been 
 recognized every \vhere as one of the firmest 
 and most consistent friends of the man w^ho 
 called him into his councils. 
 
 For many years before the accession of 
 Mr. Cleveland there had been a growing de- 
 mand that the small area of public lands 
 remaining as the property of the nation 
 should be saved as homes for actual 
 settlers. Almost no steps had been taken, 
 however, to wrest fi*om the railroads vast 
 tracts which, though granted, had not been 
 earned. When the new administration 
 came into office it found millions of acres 
 tied up with claims made by railroads, 
 and other millions illegally surrounded 
 by fences for the purpose of furnishing 
 pasture to the herds and flocks of cattle 
 kings and ranchmen. The work of remov- 
 
192 A LIFE OF GEOVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 ing the fences from tlie public lands was 
 taken up and prosecuted almost at the 
 outset of the administration, and it was 
 done Avitli such energy that at the end of 
 its second year there was very little cause 
 for complaint of the existence of such 
 abuses. They had been removed by the 
 firm and vigorous policy adopted by Mr. 
 Cleveland and his Secretary of the 
 Interior. 
 
 But this was not all. The policy of de- 
 claring forfeit lands granted to railroads but 
 never earned was taken up with such energy 
 that, before the close of the third fiscal year 
 of the administration, there had been re- 
 stored to the public domain and for the use 
 of actual settlers the following amounts in 
 acres : 
 
 Lands in granted railroad limits - - 2,108,417.38 
 
 Forfeited by acts of congress - - - 28,253,347.00 
 
 Railroad indemnity lands - - - - 21,323,600.00 
 Private land claims and withdrawn 
 
 lands - - - 576,000.00 
 
 Entries under the law, canceled for 
 
 various reasons ----__. 27,460,608.74 
 Invalid State selections (internal im- 
 provements and swamp lands) - - 698,747,52 
 
 Making the total number of acres 
 
 restored to entry and settlement - 80,420,720.59 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 193 
 
 Besides this vast area restored for the 
 homes of actual settlers, more than sixty -five 
 million acres were recommended for res- 
 toration or were in process of forfeiture at 
 the close of the administration, makino; a 
 grand total of nearly 146,000,000 acres, an 
 area almost as large as that contained in 
 all the New Eno;land and Middle States 
 combined. 
 
 This was in no way the result of accident. 
 Among the earliest acts of the President, 
 as already narrated, was the proclamation 
 warning ranchmen to remove fences from 
 the public lands. Even earlier in his 
 career, so early, indeed, as 1882, the con- 
 vention that nominated him for Governor 
 declared in its platform : " We also arraign 
 the Republican party for its wholesale gifts 
 to railroad jobbers, thus robbing the mass 
 of the people of their rightful inheritance, 
 and we demand that so far as possible 
 these lands shall be reclaimed and reserved 
 for occupation by actual settlers." 
 
 In his first annual message to congress 
 the President reviewed briefly the origin 
 of the public domain, and emphasized the 
 
194 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 fact, often lost sight of, that the concessions 
 of land were made originally by the States, 
 and that they were " encumbered with 
 no condition except that they should be 
 held and used ^for the benefit of the 
 United States.'" 
 
 He also insisted that the lands acquired 
 by purchase with the public mone}^ all had 
 attached to them the original trust "for 
 the benefit of the United States." In his 
 view, '^the policy of many homes rather 
 than large estates w^as adopted by the gov- 
 ernment " in the execution of this trust. 
 He then declared that "it is not for the 
 benefit of the United States that a large 
 area of public land should be acquired, 
 directly or through fraud, in the hands of a 
 single individual. The nation's strength is 
 in the people ; the nation's prosperity is in 
 their prosperity ; the nation's glory is in 
 the equality of her justice; the nation's 
 perpetuity is in the patriotism of all her 
 people. Hence, as far as practicable, the 
 plan adopted in the disposal of the public 
 lands should have in view the original pol- 
 icy, which encouraged many purchasers of 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 195 
 
 these lands for homes and discouraged the 
 massing of large areas." 
 
 This policy was recurred to again and 
 again in his annual messages ; in instruc- 
 tions to the Secretary of the Interior and 
 to the land offices ; and in his last annual 
 message he observed with pride, that "it 
 is gratifying to know that something has 
 been done to redress the injuries to our 
 people and check the perilous tendency of 
 the reckless grants of the national domain," 
 and insisted that the remainder of our 
 aOTcultural lands should be husbanded 
 with the greatest care, and recommended 
 the speedy enactment of measures of legis- 
 lation to confine the remaining lands to 
 the uses of " actual husbandry and genuine 
 homes." 
 
 In none of the questions that came before 
 him did the President show himself more 
 deeply interested than in that of dealing 
 with the Indian wards of \\\q^ government. 
 He believed in fair and kind but firm treat- 
 ment and in the use of the civilizing in- 
 fluences of schools, missions, and farm ma- 
 chinery. Thus believing, he gave careful 
 
196 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 attention to the question from tlie earliest 
 days of his administration. The men 
 chosen to carry out this policy were se- 
 lected with care, and soon showed their 
 fitness for the work in hand. This was 
 demonstrated by a great increase in the 
 acreage of land under cultivation by In- 
 dians, and in the fact that many new tribes 
 and bands were added to those already 
 engaged in this most civilizing work. Fa- 
 voritism was practically abolished in the 
 appointment of agents, clerks, farmers, and 
 physicians, and the practice of making pro- 
 vision for the relatives of men already in 
 the service was strictly forbidden. 
 
 All this was done at a marked decrease 
 in cost, even when efficiency is taken into 
 consideration. The decrease is so marked 
 as to show the care given to the Indian 
 que^ion in every detail. For the three 
 years\l,882, 1883, 1884, the entire cost of 
 the Indian service was $19,519,613.06; the 
 annual average for school expenses was 
 $383,008.29, and during this same time the 
 annual average number of pupils in the 
 Indian schools, on the reservations, and in 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 197 
 
 the training schools was 4561. During tlie 
 three years 1886, 1887, 1888, the total cost 
 of the Indian service was $18,411,154.11, 
 of which the annual averao;e for school 
 
 CD 
 
 expenses was $1,036,078.03, and the aver- 
 age number of pupils in all the schools 
 was 10,523. 
 
 This was the natural result of a policy 
 under which honesty and business prin- 
 ciples were applied to the management of 
 Indian affairs. This became so firmly fixed 
 that it has been carried out, though with 
 a considerable increase in cost. That the 
 maintenance of the policy adopted during 
 this period will finally do much to solve 
 the problem which has heretofore pre- 
 sented so many difficulties cannot be 
 doubted. 
 
 In each of his annual messages, begin- 
 ning with the first, in December, 1885, and 
 with the exception of the tarift'-reform mes- 
 sage of 1887 — in which none of the detail 
 work of the government was reviewed — 
 the President expressed again and again 
 his views upon the Indian question, and 
 their publication as a chapter in a connected 
 
198 A LIFE OF OBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 form in his writings is almost as tliorougli 
 a presentation £>i his views as if it had 
 been written in the form of an essay for 
 the purpose of setting forth his ideas. 
 When he found misapprehensions among 
 certain elements concerning the policy of 
 the department he wrote letters explaining 
 itj and in this way showed not only his 
 interest in the subject, but the knowledge 
 he had gained of it. At every opportunity 
 he took occasion to congratulate the coun- 
 try upon the improvement in the condition 
 of the Indian population, and in his closing 
 message, in December, 1888, he declared 
 that " the proofs multiply that the trans- 
 forming change, so much to be desired, 
 which shall substitute for barbarism educa- 
 tion and civilizing sentiment, is in favorable 
 progress." 
 
 For many years the Department of Agri- 
 culture had been one of the accepted jokes 
 of the public service, but when Mr. Cleve- 
 land became President he selected for 
 Commissioner of Agriculture a man long 
 accustomed to the study not only of farm- 
 ing itself, but of the people who were en- 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 199 
 
 gaged in it. This gentleman, Norman J. 
 Colman of Missouri, brought to the dis- 
 charge of the duties of his office unusual 
 fitness. He had been a practical farmer 
 all his life, and in addition had for many 
 years conducted one of the most successful 
 weekly newspapers devoted to the farming 
 interest. He was therefore at once able to 
 take up the practical work. 
 
 He began by establishing close relations 
 between the Department of Agriculture 
 and the State agricultural colleges and the 
 experiment stations endowed by con- 
 gress. He succeeded in this by calling 
 a conference of himself and his staff 
 with the leading men of these insti- 
 tutions. At this meeting a policy was 
 mapped out which had for its general pur- 
 pose the pursuit of work on some system, 
 the prevention of duplication, the exchange 
 of the results of work, and the establishing 
 of experiment stations in the different 
 States and Territories. He began and 
 carried out a careful investigation of adul- 
 terations and imitations. He adopted vig- 
 orous and successful measures to stamp out 
 
200 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 the contagious diseases of cattle, and con- 
 ducted a series of experiments with sor- 
 ghum, which demonstrated the ability of 
 the country to increase greatly its produc- 
 tion of raw sugar. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 THE WOEK OF ADMINISTEATION (cONCLUDEd) 
 
 While the President kept himself in 
 close and practical relation with the work 
 of the departments, there were a gi'eat 
 number of questions, to which he gave 
 much time, by means of which he im- 
 pressed himself strongly upon the country. 
 One of the first to press for settlement was 
 the confirmation of his appointments. In 
 certain nominations the senate, led by 
 George F. Edmunds, then, and for many 
 years before, a senator from Vermont, un- 
 dertook to assert the principles of the old 
 Tenure of Office Act, which, as the Presi- 
 dent said with force in his messag^e to the 
 senate, had fallen into " innocuous desue- 
 tude." 
 
 This message was one of the most vig- 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 201 
 
 orous of his public utterances. In it he 
 met the senate upon its own ground. He 
 stated so succinctly the issue between the 
 Executive and that body, and declared in 
 such a decided way that he would not 
 comply with its demand for the surrender of 
 letters or documents of a private nature, in 
 no sense official, that, after its receipt b}' 
 the senate and the return of a formal an- 
 swer, that body discovered that the senti- 
 ment of the country was strongly with the 
 President, and the contest ended in his 
 complete success. No further concerted 
 effort was made to hamper the President 
 on the question of appointments. 
 
 In the matter of pensions as affected by 
 both general and pi'ivate acts, the Presi- 
 dent took his own way. He insisted from 
 the very beginning that the pension list 
 should be made and kept " a roll of honor.'' 
 AVith him assurance of merit on the part 
 of the beneficiary and not the liberality 
 of the government, which, because it was 
 rich, could afford to be lavish, was the test ; 
 so he vetoed private pension bills to the 
 number of about two hundred and fifty, 
 
202 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 insisting that if the money of the govern- 
 ment was to be paid out to the soldiers of 
 our wars it shoukl be done under genei'al 
 laws that would permit no favoritism and 
 place the private soldier upon an equality 
 with the officer, thus enabling a man with- 
 out friends to command a pension as a right 
 to himself and not as a favor from a gov- 
 ernment official or a political party. 
 
 He also vetoed the Dependent Pension 
 bill because it made many of its beneficia- 
 ries objects of charity, and while showing 
 a feeling of gratitude to the soldiers of the 
 Union and manifesting a desire to promote 
 their interests, he tried at every turn to 
 protect them from their enemies, and, if 
 need be, from themselves. 
 
 Nothing that he did has more thor- 
 oughly justified itself than Mr. Cleveland's 
 pension policy. No man in the United 
 States, who is both sensible and honest, 
 ever believed or asserted that he was, 
 or is, the enemy of the soldier. His 
 actions as well as his words attest the 
 falsity of such a charge. But he saw that 
 the pension system had grown to be a 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 203 
 
 great abuse, and recognized, what is now 
 almost universally admitted, tliat the 
 bounty of the government had been con- 
 ferred upon men who did not deserve or 
 need it, and that the demand for further 
 pension legislation, more than a quarter of 
 a century after the close of the war, was 
 largely artificial, the result of systematic 
 agitation and organization by pension agents 
 and attorneys. 
 
 He saw, too, that the whole system was 
 put in peril by the magnitude of the abuses 
 which were growing up about it. For 
 this reason he insisted on making the pen- 
 sion list ^'a roll of honor," upon which 
 might be found the names of those men 
 who actually had w^on such recognition 
 from a grateful people. 
 
 His course in the matter of civil-service 
 reform does not need to be set forth at 
 length. He came into office under most 
 difficult conditions so fai' as this important 
 problem was concerned. For a quarter of 
 a century, the offices had been filled by 
 the merciless application of the spoils sys- 
 tem. No man not a member of the major- 
 
204 A LIFE OF GROVEB CLEVELAND. 
 
 ity party had a chance to obtain any 
 important employment in the public serv- 
 ice. In 1882 the demand for the enact- 
 ment of a civil service law had become so 
 positive that a compromise measure, unsat- 
 isfactory to the advocates of the principle, 
 was extorted from an unwilling congress. 
 This law had been in operation a little less 
 than two years when Mr. Cleveland came 
 into office. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland found the civil service 
 with less than fourteen thousand em- 
 ployees resting under the protection of the 
 new law, 90 per cent, of whom had proba- 
 bly been appointed originally as a reward 
 for political services, and had become part 
 of the new system when the civil service 
 law was enacted. When Mr. Cleveland 
 left office, more than twenty-seven thousand 
 persons were included within the provi- 
 sions of the classified service. With 
 the exception of those appointed to fill 
 vacancies caused by death, resignation, re- 
 duction of force, and one or two removals 
 for cause, he kept about him in the Execu- 
 tive Mansion the men he had found there. 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 205 
 
 The messengers who answered his calls 
 and those of his secretary during the entire 
 period of four years, the executive clerks, 
 the personal correspondence clerk, and 
 nearly all the men about him, with the ex- 
 ceptions noted, had entered the service 
 under his predecessor. 
 
 He went on with this work so constantly 
 and consistently that if history is honestly 
 written it will be recorded that the merit 
 system owes more to Grover Cleveland 
 for giving it a fair trial by extending 
 its operations into many different depart- 
 ments, and by permitting many men un- 
 used to public work to find opportuni- 
 ties to do it, than to any other man or to 
 any other influence. 
 
 No act of Mr. Cleveland's during his ad- 
 ministration was more popular than his 
 marriage, on June 2, 1886, to Miss Frances 
 Folsom of Buffalo. This introduced into 
 social life a woman who, though young, 
 never made a mistake in her dealings with 
 her countrymen.i Beautiful in character as 
 in person ; domestic in her tastes ; devoted 
 to her husband, she has shown at every 
 
206 A LIFE OF GROVE II CLEVELAND. 
 
 step of his career and her own the capabil- 
 ities of American womanhood. Mr. Cleve- 
 land's domestic life has been as happy as 
 it could be, and the example he and his 
 wife have set cannot be too highly com- 
 mended. They have lived in a plain, 
 simple manner, going about their own 
 c(mcerns in their own way, as far as the 
 public would permit, and neither has 
 shown the least tendency to vanity or dis- 
 play. 
 
 During the years 1886 and 1887 the 
 President traveled in eveiy part of the 
 country. On September 30, 1887, he left 
 Washington on a train of well appointed 
 palace cars, furnished with all the comforts 
 of travel, accompanied by his wife, his 
 secretary, and a few political and personal 
 friends. They traveled through the States 
 of Maryland, Pennsylvania, Ohio, and made 
 their first stop in the city of Indianapolis, 
 were they were greeted with the warmest 
 manifestations of interest. The same 
 scenes of enthusiasm and hospitality were 
 witnessed in Chicago, Milwaukee, Madison, 
 St. Paul, Minneapolis, Omaha, Kansas City, 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION. 207 
 
 St. Louis, Memphis, Nashville, Chatta- 
 nooga, Atlanta, ancl^Montgomeiy, the Presi- 
 dent returniuo^ direct to his home from the 
 last named point. All along the route 
 chosen for this extensive journey the same 
 interest was shown in the person, character, 
 and position of the President. He was 
 met everywhere by delegations, and when 
 time permitted, the President generally 
 made a speech, always aptly worded, as 
 was his wont, and received all who came to 
 see him, whether rich or poor, white or 
 black. 
 
 In few of these did he refer in any way 
 to politics or public questions, but in 
 Montgomery, Ala., he departed from this 
 rule somewhat. His trip was then practi- 
 cally over, and he had seen in the South 
 everywhere the signs of a restored Union, 
 and recognized even more emphatically 
 than he had done during all his career tliat 
 sectionalism was no longer a part of the 
 life in that region. So he said : 
 
 " Your fellow-countrymen appreciate the 
 value of intimate and profitable business re- 
 lations with you, and there need be no fear 
 
208 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 that they will permit them to be destroyed 
 or endangered by designing demagogues. 
 The wickedness of those partisans who seek 
 to aid their ambitious schemes by engender- 
 ing hate among a generous people is fast 
 meeting exposure ; and yet there is and 
 should be an insistence upon a strict adher- 
 ence to the settlement which has been made 
 of disputed questions, and upon the unre- 
 served acceptance of such settlement. As 
 against this, I believe no business considera- 
 tions should prevail, and I firmly believe 
 that there is American fairness enough 
 abroad in the land to insure a proper and 
 substantial recognition of the good faith 
 which you have exhibited." 
 
 The bearino^ of the President on this 
 extended journey, the ease and dignity 
 with which he met his countrymen, the 
 interest he manifested in local develop- 
 ment everywhere, the impressions that he 
 brouo;ht back with him of a restored and 
 united country, did much to promote the 
 popular sentiment not only in behalf of 
 unsectional politics but to increase his 
 pei'sonal popularity. 
 
 The President was also a conspicuous 
 figure at the centennial of the adoption of 
 the Constitution in Philadelphia, in Sep- 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATION 209 
 
 tember, 1887, and while there made several 
 appropriate speeches in a single day. He 
 manifested mnch interest in the evidences 
 of the industrial progress made by our 
 people, and in all the varied elements that 
 served to mark the difference between that 
 time and the century before when the Con- 
 stitution had been adopted by the conven- 
 tion in session in that city. 
 
 No President in all our history has used 
 the veto power so freely as did Mr. Cleve- 
 land. This was done not merely from any 
 desire to use this Constitutional right, but 
 to assert in the most effective way his 
 belief in certain principles, to protect the 
 Treasury from spoliation, and to do what 
 he could to direct legislation in the proper 
 channels. Mention has already been made 
 of his pension vetoes. These asserted the 
 supremacy in his own mind of his idea of 
 what the pension list ought to be, and 
 his purpose to protest, as he thought he 
 ought, against a prevailing tendency, and, 
 last and least, to prevent the misappropria- 
 tion of government money. 
 
 The same principles were applied in his 
 
210 A LIFE OF OBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 veto of tlie bills appropriating money for 
 the erection of public buildings. For 
 many years tliei'e liad been an epidemic of 
 this class of legislation, which had grown 
 to such proportions that it was really a 
 serious abuse. The people of nearly every 
 large town, encouraged by the success of 
 places only a little larger, pushed their 
 claims for Federal buildings. It made 
 little difference whether these were needed 
 or not, if, by the combination of one set 
 of members of congress with another, an 
 ao^reement could be reached by which a 
 union of all the votes could be had for 
 the purpose of voting these appropriations. 
 Mr.. Cleveland ruthlessly vetoed such legis- 
 lation from the very beginning, signing 
 only a few bills of this character during 
 his whole term. In doing so, however, he 
 always gave his reasons with the utmost 
 fullness, going carefully into the history of 
 the appropriation, the methods pursued 
 to get it, examining the condition of the 
 town, referring many times to the census 
 reports to iind out its population, and ob- 
 taining information from postmasters and 
 
THE WORK OF ADMimSTRATION. 211 
 
 otlaer officials as to the real needs of the 
 locality. Then a brief veto would be 
 written, and in spite of the log-rolling 
 system, which had been so successfully 
 conducted, no public building bill was 
 passed over his protest. 
 
 He also used the veto power on bills of 
 doubtful constitutionality. Thus, during 
 his administration, a drought visited cer- 
 tain portions of Texas, and a successful 
 appeal was made to congress for the 
 passage of a bill appropriating $10,000 
 for seed. This he vetoed, and in his mes- 
 sage laid down the epigrammatic prin- 
 ciple that though " the people support the 
 government, the government should not 
 support the people." 
 
 The last important act of his official 
 career was his veto of the Direct 
 Tax bill, a measure to refund to the 
 States nearly $20,000,000 of what was 
 known as the Direct Tax, levied and paid 
 at the beginning of the Civil War. The 
 passage of such a law had been agitated 
 for many years, but was only successful in 
 the closing days of the Fiftieth Congress. 
 
212 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND, 
 
 Mr. Cleveland reviewed the case with 
 great directness and ability, and this last 
 official communication to congress is one 
 of the most vigorous of those that he sent 
 to it. 
 
 He did all this extra work with his 
 usual care. Every bill vetoed was ex- 
 amined carefully by himself after he had 
 obtained from the departments, and the 
 friends of the measure itself, such informa- 
 tion as he could get; then he would go 
 carefully over every point of it, always 
 working into the early morning hours in 
 order to accomplish this self-imposed task. 
 A President less conscientious would have 
 permitted much of this legislation to go 
 through and have thrown the respon- 
 sibility upon congress. But this did not 
 accord with his conception of the scope of 
 his duties, so he persisted in his work, 
 with the result that his protest, though 
 unheeded perhaps at the time, and in spite 
 of the fact that many of these offensive 
 bills have been since passed into law, 
 had the effect of directing attention to 
 political abuses, not only in Federal, but 
 
THE WORK OF ADMINISTRATtON, 213 
 
 in State legislation. All this contributed 
 to arouse tlie moral sentiment of the 
 country, which in the end is sure to assert 
 itself. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland made speeches on many 
 questions during his term of office, more, 
 perhaps, than all his predecessors together. 
 They were on all manner of questions, and 
 related to almost eveiy element in our 
 population. Everyone was short, pointed, 
 and bright, and each showed the highest 
 regard for the dignity of his office, a close 
 and intimate knowledge of the question 
 discussed, a willingness to aid every good 
 cause, and all were thoroughly democratic in 
 tone and matter. He thereby put him- 
 self in close relations with the people, 
 never shirking any physical exertion 
 necessary to go through a reception, or to 
 do on such occasions what was deemed 
 best by his friends and countrymen. Per- 
 haps no man ever submitted to such an 
 ordeal with a better grace. 
 
214 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 THE TAEIFF-KEFOEM MESSAGE. 
 
 The most important policy announced 
 and advocated by Mr. Cleveland during 
 his term as President was that of tariff 
 reform. The discussion of the message in 
 which this was enunciated and emphasized 
 has been so long continued and has become 
 so universal that it is scarcely necessary to 
 refer to it at length. 
 
 In his first message in 1885 he made a 
 brief reference to the condition of our 
 revenue laws, and insisted, with em- 
 phasis, that a revision ought to be effected ; 
 that the surplus then being heaped up in 
 the Treasury was a serious danger. He 
 believed then that it could only be met 
 by a proper revision of the laws, and so 
 asserted. It was, however, merely a para- 
 graph in a message, and, being his first 
 official reference to the question, it did not 
 attract the attention that was afterward 
 given it, when he put forth his ideas in a 
 much more emphatic way. 
 
THE TARIFF-REFORM MESS A OE. 215 
 
 In 1886 he devoted still more attention 
 to this questioD, giving to it a greater pro- 
 portion of his annual review of the con- 
 di'ion of the government than had been 
 done for many years before. He never 
 wrote anything stronger or more perti- 
 nent, or anything that better show^ed his 
 deep knowledge of the question and his 
 thorough conception of the dangers that 
 were involved in the perpetuation of war 
 taxes in time of peace. But even this did 
 not attract wide attention to the question. 
 
 Duiing the spring and summer of 1887 
 the condition of the Treasury, by reason of 
 the rapid inci'ease of the surplus, became a 
 menace to the prosperity and the financial 
 stability of the country. With the excep- 
 tion of his Secretary of the Treasury no 
 man knew it so well as the President. 
 The duty of providing some way of escape 
 from the difficulties which surrounded the 
 country w^as incumbent upon them. They 
 did this work, and in doing it the Presi- 
 dent, in daily dread of commercial disaster, 
 was led to consider, w^ith more care than 
 ever before, the ways and means necessary 
 
210 A LIFJiJ OF GUOVElt C'LKVELAND. 
 
 for removing tlie cause of such a disturbance. 
 As a result he saw no other way than to 
 reduce the exorbitant and unnecessary 
 taxes the imposition of which had brought 
 about this condition of financial plethora. 
 
 His annual message of 1887, devoted 
 entirely to the I'e venue system of the 
 country, naturally followed. For the first 
 time since the war public attention was 
 attracted to financial questions with a 
 directness that could not be challenged. 
 The knowledge of the question shown in 
 the message, the courage tliat prompted it, 
 the patriotism that stood forth in every 
 line — all these appealed in a surprising way 
 to the conscience as well as to the pockets 
 of the people. . At once there came a 
 realizing sense of the dangers with which 
 we were threatened, and in spite of the 
 fact that at the succeeding election the 
 majority of the electoral votes was not cast 
 for the man who had written this message 
 and emphasized this issue, the sentiment of 
 the country was shown by the fact that a 
 decided popular majority *was cast in its 
 favor. 
 
THE TARIFF-REFORM MESS A GE. 217 
 
 It would be difficult to overestimate the 
 eii'ect of this message. For one thing it 
 took politics out of the ruts into which it 
 had fallen, and gave the country something 
 real, over which its voters might divide. 
 It showed that so far as Mr. Cleveland was 
 concerned, the war, glorious memory though 
 it was, should not be permitted to fasten 
 upon the country permanently a system of 
 taxation which had been devised merely 
 for the purpose of meeting an imperious 
 and temporary necessity. Then, too, it 
 gave fiscal questions a different standing. 
 Complaint was no longer made that a 
 speech on the tariff was dull, or that an ex- 
 position on the financial condition of the 
 country was of necessity stupid. In spite 
 of the result of the election in 1888, and 
 whatever may be the result of that of 1892 
 or any other that may follow, the good 
 effects of the message of 1887 cannot be 
 overestimated. 
 
 Probably no document of the same 
 length ever- had so wide a reading in the 
 same space of time as this message. 
 It did not say anything new, but the man 
 
218 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 who wrote it had the courage to see the 
 peril into which the country had been 
 drawn by adherence to a dangerous policy, 
 and, seeing this, he was willing to stake his 
 political fortunes upon the correction of 
 these wrongs. 
 
 It would, however, be a mistake to look 
 upon this message as nothing more than a 
 discussion of the tariff question. It was 
 truly this, and as such it was most intelli- 
 gent and effective ; but its influence upon 
 political discussion bids fair to be so far- 
 reaching that, in the end, it will insure not 
 only a change from a bad to a sound and 
 sensible flscal system, but the practical re- 
 generation of our politics. 
 
 When the movement resulting from it is 
 carried to its logical conclusions, it means 
 that selfishness shall not add the power of 
 government to the force that it already 
 possesses. That message reorganized and 
 rejuvenated one political party. In the 
 course of time, it will have the same effect 
 on all parties, however great or small they 
 may be, and on all sections or movements 
 that may be organized for the next quarter 
 
THE TARIFF-REFORM MB 88 A GE. 219 
 
 of a century. INOuiinally, the mau who 
 wrote it and brought this moral force into 
 politics was defeated for re-election, but in 
 reality he was the most successful public 
 man known to our history. The seeming 
 defeat of that day was not a defeat at all ; 
 it was a victory for moral principles in 
 politics and for a man who was ready to do 
 whatever lay in his power for those princi- 
 ples. It put new life into political discus- 
 sion, and took the country out and far 
 away from the old and sectional questions 
 that should have been dropped long before, 
 and brought to the front new problems of 
 every kind. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland has sometimes been criti- 
 cised for having delayed this message. But 
 no thin o; is clearer now than that the mes- 
 sage was timely, because it was necessary, 
 and that this necessity did not make itself 
 absolutely apparent until the period men- 
 tioned. The condition of things was bad 
 in 1885 and 1886, but there was little 
 then to indicate that the evils from 
 which the country was suifering were the 
 result of one serious abuse. Then, too, 
 
220 A LIFE OF O ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 there were many other things to do besides 
 reforming the tariff. The principles of one 
 great party had been excluded from consid- 
 eration for twenty-iive years. It was neces- 
 sary to reassert these before the country 
 could be aroused upon a great fiscal ques- 
 tion, to which, however great or important 
 it may be, it is always difficult to attract 
 universal attention. The President was 
 engaged during all these years in choosing 
 men who should assert these principles. 
 He had very little time to study this ques- 
 tion in all its bearings. That he had an 
 intelligent appreciation of it was shown 
 from the days of the Newark speecli in 
 1884. 
 
 His personal relations to the question 
 were, however, well illustrated by an in- 
 cident early in his career as President. 
 During these early days he talked with 
 Speaker (now Senator) John G. Carlisle of 
 Kentucky, on this issue. It was only 
 natural that such a man as Mr. Carlisle, 
 who had given so much attention to the 
 question of taxation, should desire to 
 impress his views strongly upon the Presi- 
 
THE TARIFF-REFORM MESSAGE. 221 
 
 dent. In reply tlie latter said, in substance, 
 that he had had little opportunity to give 
 the matter careful study, but that his views 
 were in accord with the position his party 
 had assumed on the question of revenues. 
 He did not believe in using the power of 
 the government to help individuals or 
 interests, but averred that he had never 
 had a chance to give it the thought it 
 ought to have or that he intended to give it. 
 As the administration went on, his at- 
 tention was attracted to it, so that in 1887 
 he was able to make the study necessary 
 to write the historic message of that year. 
 He no doubt felt that in addition to his 
 own desire on this matter, a position 
 reached after long consideration, he was 
 almost driven to it by public necessity. 
 Then came that wonderful document, which, 
 slowly elaborated in his own mind, so far 
 as the details were concerned, was not 
 given to the public until after consultation 
 with the men entitled to know about it. 
 From that time forward no])ody had any 
 reason to complain that Grover Cleveland 
 (lid not know some thin j^ about the tariff 
 
222 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 question, and that he was not interested 
 in it. 
 
 Apropos of this, the result of another 
 interview with Mr. Carlisle may properly 
 be narrated. Just before the meeting of 
 congress in December, 1888, after the elec- 
 tion, Mr. Cleveland sent for the Speaker of 
 the House to consult with him about the 
 tariif portion of his message. Before be- 
 ginning the conversation, as has been nar- 
 rated by the ex-Speaker himself, the Presi- 
 dent said : 
 
 " I have asked you to call and see me, Mr. 
 Speaker, in order that I may get your views 
 about that portion of my message which 
 deals with the tariff question. You know 
 that I have always been willing and anxious 
 to consult the wishes- of the leaders of m}^ 
 j)arty oi} every public question ; that I have 
 tried to show that deference to their wishes 
 that their position demanded, and so far as 
 it was consonant with the interests of the 
 country, but I want to tell you now that if 
 every other man in the country abandons 
 this issue 1 shall stick to it." 
 
 Certainly nobody could complain that 
 progress in knowledge between the time of 
 these two interviews had not been rapid. 
 
THE TARIFF-REFORM MESSAGE. 223 
 
 It has been asserted many times that 
 Mr. Cleveland was defeated because of the 
 question of 1887, and that he deliberately 
 threw away the Presidency for this idea, 
 when, if he had enunciated the message 
 the year before, or left it until a year 
 later, he might have been re-elected. 
 That the message of 1887 enabled his op- 
 ponents to raise a large corruption fund is, 
 no doubt, true; but if that message had 
 not been sent to congress — if the countiy 
 had been permitted to drift, pei-haps the 
 opposing party could not have raised so 
 much money. But it could have raised 
 enough for its purposes if an election 
 was to be won by corrupt methods. The 
 message of 1886 was positive enough on this 
 question, and would have enabled the oppos- 
 ing party to raise, if not so much, at least 
 enough to bring about the apparently in- 
 auspicious result that followed. 
 
 Whatever effect it may have had upon 
 his personal fortunes, nothing in the his- 
 tory of the country has had such a good 
 effect upon a political party as did this 
 message upon that of which Mr. Cleveland 
 
224 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 was and lias been for many years the 
 leader; so that it would have made very 
 little difference whether the party had gone 
 out of power in four years or in eight, if it 
 had no principles at the end of either or in 
 the interim. Mr. Cleveland gave it these, 
 or rather from his lofty position he reas- 
 serted them with such emphasis that 
 nothing can now stop the progress of the 
 ideas that he then enunciated until they 
 shall have been successful. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 CANVASS OF 1888 AND RETIREMENT. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland was renominated by the 
 convention of his party at St. Louis in 
 June, 1888, without a dissenting vote. He 
 w^ould not permit any of the Federal 
 officeholders to take part either in the pre- 
 liminary proceedings or in those of the con- 
 vention itself. Every State in the Union 
 instructed its delegates to vote for him. 
 
 The campaign which resulted from this 
 was a bitter and unrelenting one on the 
 part of the Republicans. They had known 
 
CAXVASS OF 1888 AXD BETIREMENT. 225 
 
 for four years wliat it was to be iu tlie 
 minority. They liacl also felt what it was 
 to have a President of the United States 
 who represented the reverse of everything 
 that they themselves had emphasized dur- 
 ing the latter stages of the history of their 
 party. So they attempted to make use of 
 the tariff-reform message of the previous 
 year to raise the usual scare about the re- 
 duction of wages of workingmen. In this 
 they had little success, but as the canvass 
 progressed it became apparent that there 
 was not enough time to reach the farming 
 population of the country and to instruct 
 them fully in the meaning of tariff reform. 
 The desperation of Republican partisans 
 and the interests of certain classes of manu- 
 facturers enabled the managers to raise 
 large sums of money, ^vhich were used cor- 
 ruptly and with much effect in several of 
 the close States. In this way the vote of 
 Indiana was carried, and in the same way 
 the State of New York gave its electoral 
 vote to Mr. Harrison by a small majority. 
 Probably at no time in our history has 
 there been such a carnival of corruption as 
 
226 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 was seen at that time. The success 
 achieved was, however, comparatively small 
 so far as public sentiment was concerned, 
 as the party successful in the elec- 
 toral college was unable to command a 
 majority of the votes of the United States. 
 While Mr. Harrison carried tw^enty States 
 with 233 electoral votes and Mr. Cleveland 
 eighteen States with 168 electoral votes, 
 Mr. Cleveland received 5,538,233 votes, 
 while Mr. Harrison received 5,440,216. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland did not indulge in any 
 wailing or repining over the result of the 
 election. Personally it Avas no disappoint- 
 ment. He had had a thorough trial of the 
 labor and difficulties attending his high 
 office. He felt, as perhaps no man in re- 
 cent times has felt, the gigantic responsi- 
 bilities of the office. He did not change 
 his method of transacting public business. 
 He gave the same careful attention to de 
 tails and still showed the same positiveness 
 which he exhibited from the beo-innino; of 
 his public career. He vetoed bills that did 
 not conform to his standard, and in many 
 respects did some of the best work of his 
 
CANVASS OF 1888 AND RETIREMENT. 227 
 
 entire administration during . the four 
 months intervening between the election 
 and the inauo-uration of his successor. 
 
 In the mean time he began to make 
 preparations for a return to the practice of 
 his profession, and made arrangements to 
 enter into partnership with Bangs, Stetson, 
 Tracy & MacVeagh in New York. For 
 almost the first time in our recent history, 
 the defeat of a candidate for President did 
 not have the effect of directing public 
 attention away from him and toward his 
 successor. In fact, more than ever the pub- 
 lic heart seemed to turn to him, and he 
 was probably more popular on the day after 
 his defeat and in spite of it than he was the 
 day that he was renominated by acclama- 
 tion in the National Convention of his own 
 party. 
 
 Immediately after the inauguration of his 
 successor, Mr. Cleveland came to New York, 
 and, after remaining for a little time at 
 his hotel in order to make the necessary 
 preparations, settled down at No. 816 
 Madison Avenue. From the beginning 
 the greatest interest was manifested in his 
 
228 A LIFE OF GBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 movements. He commanded as much 
 attention as lie had when President, and it 
 was soon to be demonstrated that on cere- 
 monial occasions, when both were partici- 
 pants, he was shown more respect than his 
 successful rival for President of the United 
 States. He was received into fellowship 
 by the members of his profession in New 
 York, with many of whom he had come 
 into contact during the days of his practice 
 in Buffalo and in the State courts. With 
 many others he had been thrown into rela- 
 tions during the six busy years of high 
 political office. He had challenged the 
 highest respect from these men, and it was 
 only natural that the leaders of the bar of 
 New York should feel it incumbent upon 
 them to welcome to his new residence the 
 man who had brought so much honor to 
 them and to their calling. 
 
 He declined nearly all invitations from 
 political organizations, especially from 
 those non-partisan in their character. He 
 no doubt saw clearly that if he permitted 
 himself to receive attentions from one 
 organization, he would tind it impossible 
 
GANVA88 OF \^m AND RETIREMENT. 229 
 
 to draw the line when others might seek to 
 render him the same honor. So he ac- 
 cepted only a single invitation, and made 
 but one speech in response to the welcome 
 extended to him. It was especially proper 
 that this should be given him by a club 
 or organization representing his own party. 
 So on the 27th of April, after his re- 
 moval to New York, he made a speech 
 before the Democratic Club of the city of 
 New York, in which he reviewed briefly 
 the principles upon which he had con- 
 ducted himself during his political caree]', 
 then temporarily closed. He asserted that 
 he had been honored by his party far be- 
 yond his deserts, and declared that no man 
 could deserve its highest honors. But he 
 said : " After six years of public service, 1 
 return to you, my party friends. Six years 
 have I stood as your representative in the 
 State and nation, and now I return again 
 to the ranks, more convinced than ever 
 that the success of true Democracy is the 
 cause of the people — their safeguard and 
 their hope." He also declared that he 
 came without excuses or apologies, and with 
 
230 .4 LIFBjyjF Q ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 no conviction of disloyalty. He reviewed 
 the work done by liis party, as usual 
 taking for himself only a modest share. 
 He insisted that as the party had rehabili- 
 tated itself as a party of principles that it 
 should continue its work in the same way, 
 and renew its fealty to the Constitution 
 and to the interests of the people. 
 
 In this speech he made one of the strong- 
 est declarations of his whole life, expres- 
 sive of the exalted idea that he had of 
 party usefulness and of the necessity of 
 a continual devotion to the public interests. 
 He said: "We know that we have es- 
 poused the cause of right and justice. 
 We know that we have not permitted 
 duty to country to wait upon expediency. 
 We know that we have not trafficked our 
 principles for success. We know that we 
 have not deceived the people with false 
 promises and pretenses; and we know 
 that we have not corrupted or betrayed 
 the poor with the money of the rich." 
 
 This sentence has been repeated again 
 and again. It has been made the text of 
 great political organizations working in- 
 
CANVASS OF 1888 AND R^TtkEMENT. 231 
 
 side the Democratic party and devoted to 
 its ideas and purposes. To it Mr. Cleve- 
 land owes much of the new position that 
 came to him in his own party after he left 
 the Presidency. As usual, he admonished 
 his hearers to remain steadfast to the 
 Democratic faith and to the cause of the 
 country, and insisted that if they were true 
 and loyal to these, " the day of triumph 
 would surely and quickly come, and the 
 victory be nobly and fairly won through 
 the invincible spirit of true Democracy." 
 
 His first appearance on a popular occasion 
 after his retirement from the Presidency was 
 at the Washino;ton inau2:uration Centennial 
 in New York on April 30 of the same year. 
 Few pageants more magnihcent have been 
 seen in this country than those that occu- 
 pied the attention of the people of that 
 great city, and of their guests, during the 
 three days of the Centennial celebrating 
 Washington's inauguration. 
 
 But they were more than this, as they 
 showed how a man who had done unselfish 
 and patriotic service could be received and 
 appreciated by his countrymen. Where- 
 
232 A LIFE- OF GROVEB CLEVELAND, 
 
 ever he appeared he was received with the 
 liveliest manifestations of delight and 
 enthusiasm ; and when he responded to a 
 toast at the banquet which concluded the 
 ceremonies there was no longer any doubt 
 about his position in the hearts of his 
 countrymen. 
 
 He made only a few speeches during 
 the summer, which he devoted to getting 
 as much rest as possible. After the long 
 period of hard work this was most grate- 
 ful. But on December 12, 1889, he made 
 what it is fair to call the greatest speech of 
 his life up to and including that time. 
 This was delivered in Boston before the 
 Merchants' Association of that city — a 
 body without partisan leanings or affilia 
 tions. He chose for his subject " Political 
 Selfishness and its Antidotes," and in it he 
 took occasion to discuss on the most ele- 
 vated plane all the questions of the day 
 then pressing for settlement. He empha- 
 sized at considerable length the responsi- 
 bility of business men to the country, and 
 reminded them that perhaps the older mer- 
 chants, their predecessors in the commercial 
 
CANVASS OF 1888 ANI) RETIREMENT. L^33 
 
 organizations of Boston, had not been led 
 to depend upon the bounty oi- the liber- 
 ality of the government for the favor 
 which they deemed it but right and proper 
 they should win for themselves. He re- 
 ferred briefly to fiscal questions, and in- 
 sisted that the revenues of the country 
 should be levied and collected only because 
 the money resulting therefrom was needed 
 to defray the public expenses. 
 
 He dwelt with much plainness upon the 
 political corruption of the time, and re- 
 probated with severity the purchase of 
 votes by political managers or parties, as 
 well as their sale by the individual voter. 
 As a natural result from this, he advocated 
 with enthusiasm the enactment of laws 
 looking to a secret ballot, and it is due 
 no doubt quite as much to his honest and 
 open advocacy of this idea as to the 
 popular conception of the magnitude of 
 the evils involved that nearly two-thirds of 
 the States of the American Union have 
 since that time passed laws looking to a 
 reform of the ballot. In advocating this 
 idea, he declared : '' There are no leaders in 
 
234 A LIFE OF QBOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 this cause. Tliose who seem to lead the 
 movement are but swept to the front by 
 the surging force of patriotic sentiment. 
 It rises far above partisanship, and only the 
 heedless, the sordid, and the depraved re- 
 fuse to Join in the crusade." He insisted, 
 too, that this refoi'm was " predicated upon 
 the cool deliberation of political selfishness 
 in its endeavor to prostitute our suffrage 
 to the purposes of private gain." As the 
 advocacy of this had the natui-al effect al- 
 ready noted of arousing public sentiment 
 to the magnitude of the evil with which it 
 had to deal, so in the same speech he de- 
 clared auew his devotion to the cause of 
 civil service reform, and went so far as to 
 say that "it is to-day our greatest safe- 
 guard against the complete and disgrace- 
 ful degradation of our public service." 
 
 In spite of the fact that the speaker was 
 so well known throughout the country, and 
 so popular with every element of his 
 fellow-citizens, this speech had almost an 
 electrical effect. It showed the country 
 that it had to deal with no ordinary man, 
 and that it noade but little difference 
 
CANVASS OF 1888 AN J) RETIREMENT- 235 
 
 whether he was President of the United 
 States or in private life. In the latter he 
 felt the responsibility of citizenship as in 
 the former he bad felt the responsibility 
 of an official. This speech showed, too, a 
 great advance in many respects over any 
 previously made. 
 
 It was the longest political speech of 
 his entire careei* up to that time, and yet 
 it was brief enough to find universal publi- 
 cation, and to be read at every fireside in 
 the land. If he had not occupied a unique 
 position among his countrymen, this 
 speech of itself would have given it to 
 him, and I think I hazard nothing in as- 
 serting that, more than anything else, it cre- 
 ated the public sentiment that demanded 
 his renomination, a demand which from 
 that time became resistless. It mattered 
 little thereafter what political managers 
 might do. It mattered little \vhat plans the 
 manipulators of political caucuses might 
 attempt to carry out. The sentiment of 
 the American people was behind Grover 
 Cleveland, and it predetermined the action 
 of his party. From that time forward he 
 
236 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 made many speeches, and it was soon 
 plain that here was a man who w^as not con- 
 fined to a single idea, but one whose lofty 
 ideas were not expressed merely for sel- 
 fish purposes, and who could see beyond 
 primaries and elections. 
 
 In November, 1890, he made a notable 
 speech at the banquet given in Columbus, 
 O., to Allen G. Thurman, on his seventy- 
 seventh birthday. This was indeed the 
 first partisan speech he made since the wel- 
 come that had been extended to him by 
 the Democratic Club. He followed this 
 up by another party speech, or rather 
 one reviewing the tariff agitation, de- 
 livered before the Reform Club of New 
 York, during Christmas week of 1890. 
 So, too, he went to Philadelphia and made 
 a speech on Jackson day, January 8, 1891. 
 
 It is not my purpose, however, to review 
 in detail the various speeches that Mr. 
 Cleveland has made. Those carefully pre- 
 pared, from March 4, 1889, to his nomi- 
 nation for the thii'd time by his party on 
 June 23, 1892, amount to about forty. 
 Many were delivered before political 
 
CANVASS OF 1888 AND HUTIEEMEJST. 237 
 
 organizations of one kind and another. 
 He showed the greatest ^villingness to do 
 whatever lay in his power to promote 
 every good object. By this time he had 
 become known as the most successful of 
 after-dinner speakers, and the demands 
 made upon his time were greater perhaps 
 than upon any of his contemporaries. 
 
 During the campaign of 1891 he made four 
 political speeches, two in his own city of 
 New York, one in Brooklyn, and one in 
 Boston, advocating the re-election of Wil- 
 liam E. Russell as Governor of Massachu- 
 setts. But a partisan speech of Mr. Cleve- 
 land's is not so different from his usual ad- 
 dresses as is the case with most men. He 
 does not take merely a partisan view of po- 
 litical questions, so that he rises to the same 
 lofty plane when he is addressing himself to 
 a gathering of his own political friends as 
 he does when he is speaking to an audience 
 made up of all the elements of his country- 
 men. 
 
 Perhaps his most notable speech during 
 the past year was that delivered before the 
 students of the University of Michigan at 
 
238 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Adh Harbor on Washington's Birthday, 
 February 22, of the present year. He took 
 for his topic ^'Sentiment in our National 
 Life," and treated it with such cogency 
 and from such a lofty point of view, that 
 he really gave to a subject long since 
 hackneyed a vigor and an interest that are 
 rare. There are passages in it that w^ould 
 make the fortune of even the greatest 
 of our public speakers. After reviewing 
 the elements that enter into American 
 sentiment, and insisting that they should 
 be deeply imbedded in the minds and 
 hearts of his countrymen, and after insist- 
 ing, too, that we cannot outgrow depend- 
 ence upon sentiment, nor reach a stage of 
 our national development when it will be 
 less important than now, he emphasized 
 his position in these notable utterances : 
 
 " I beg you, therefore, to take with yoti 
 when you go forth to assume the obligations 
 of American citizenship, as one of the best 
 gifts of your Alma Mater, a strong and 
 abiding faith in the value and potency of a 
 good conscience and a pure heart. Nevtr 
 yield one iota to those who teach that these 
 are weak and childish things, not needed 
 in the struggle of manhood with the stern 
 
CANVASS OF 1888 AND BETIREMENT. 280 
 
 realities of life. Interest yourself in public 
 affairs as a duty of citizenship, but do not 
 surrender your faith to those who discredit 
 and debase politics by scoffing at sentiment 
 and principle, and whose political activity 
 consists in attempts to gain popular support 
 by cunning devices and shrewd manipula- 
 tion. 
 
 "You will find plenty of these who will 
 smile at your profession of faith, and tell 
 you that truth and virtue and honesty and 
 goodness were well enough in the old days 
 when Washington lived, but are not suited 
 to the present size and development of our 
 country and the progress we have made in the 
 art of political management. Be steadfast. 
 The strong and sturdy oak still needs the 
 support of its native earth, and, as it grows 
 in size and spreading branches, its roots 
 must strike deeper in the soil which warmed 
 and fed its first tender sprout. You will be 
 told that the people have no longer any 
 desire for the things you profess. Be not 
 deceived. The people are not dead, but 
 sleeping. They will awaken in good time, 
 and scourge the money-changers from their 
 sacred temple. 
 
 " You may be chosen to public office. Do 
 not shrink from it, for holding office is also 
 a duty of citizenship. But do not leave 
 your faith behind you. Every public office, 
 small or great, is held in trust for your fel- 
 low-citizens. They differ in importance, in 
 responsibility, and in the labor they impose ; 
 but the duties of none of them can be well 
 
240 A LIFE OF GBOVER GLEVELAJSD. 
 
 performed if the mentorship of a good con- 
 science and pure lieart be discarded. Of 
 coiM-se other equipment is necessary, but 
 without tliis mentorship all else is insuffi- 
 cient. In times of gravest responsibility it 
 will solve your difficulties ; in the most try- 
 ing hour it will lead you out of perplexities, 
 and it wall, at all times, deliver you from 
 temptation." 
 
 Such a declaration rings out like a 
 clarion, and reduces the wonder sometimes 
 expressed that this man has gained such 
 a hold upon the affection of his people. 
 Perhaps nothing could explain it better 
 than these few crisj^ sentences. They con- 
 stitute a confession of political faith that 
 any man might well be proud to make, 
 and it is evident that his countrymen 
 looked upon them and like utterances as 
 merely the logical results of a strong 
 character, which made him notable in the 
 history of his time. 
 
 But it was not merely in the making of 
 speeches that Mr. Cleveland appeared be- 
 fore the public from time to time. Per- 
 haps no man in our recent history has had 
 such an opportunity to study the senti- 
 ment of the American people as Mr. Cleve- 
 
CANVASS OF 1888 A^■B RETIRE ME I^ *! 
 
 land had after his retire r. in the 
 
 Presidency. Day after d week 
 
 after week, letters poured n him 
 
 from every quarter. There -^ 
 
 a county in the nation in whici' 
 recoo^nizino^ the loftiness of '>^ 
 
 character, ' and perhaps the ne< ei - > 
 advice on a public question, has noi 
 written to tell him perhaps of some polit- 
 ical vagary ; to give warning of some 
 demagogue w^hose head had just appeared 
 above the surface; or to tell him of some 
 new figure, a man of character, conscience, 
 and ability who was beginning to make 
 himself felt in a given neighborhood. 
 The number of these answered wdth his 
 own hand in those busy days was un- 
 precedented. Some have been printed, 
 though not one by himself. He kept no 
 copies of them, and gave almost no heed 
 to what he had said in them. And yet 
 he seldom repeated himself when writing 
 again upon the same general question. 
 Many w^ere written to organizations of one 
 kind or another, political clubs, church socia- 
 bles, or meetings to agitate some reform. 
 
i^42 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 Perhaps the most notable letter written 
 during this period Avas that bearing date 
 February 10, 1891, to the meeting called 
 by the Reform Club to express the opposi- 
 tion of the business men of New York to 
 the tree coinage of silver. Mr. Cleveland's 
 views were well known. There was no 
 reason why he should be invited to write 
 such a letter, or why, being invited, he 
 should accept. Nobody had a right to 
 assume that he had changed or modified 
 his opinions on the subject. But he was 
 not accustomed to dodge and so he 
 wrote a letter of about one hundred and 
 sixty words, that has had perhaps a 
 greater effect upon the discussion of 
 financial questions than any document of 
 a like length ever prepared or published. 
 Justly assuming that nobody had a right 
 to criticise his attitude on the question, he 
 said: 
 
 *' I have this afternoon received your note 
 inviting me to attend to-morrow evening 
 the meeting called for the purpose of voic- 
 ing the opposition of the business men of 
 our city to 'the free coinage of silver in the 
 United States.' 
 
CAMVASS OF 1888 AWJ) RETIREMENT. 24S 
 
 " I shall not be able to attend and address 
 the meeting as you request, but I am glad 
 that the business interests of New York are 
 at last to be lieard on this subject. It surely 
 cannot be necessary for me to make a formal 
 expression of my agreement with those who 
 believe that the greatest peril would be in- 
 vited by the adoxDtion of the sclieme em- 
 braced in the measure now pending in con- 
 gress for the unlimited coinage of silver at 
 our mints. 
 
 '' If we have developed an unexpected ca- 
 pacity for the assimilation of a largely in- 
 creased volume of this currency, and even if 
 we have demonstrated the usefulness of 
 such an increase, these conditions fall far 
 short of insuring us against disaster, if, in 
 the present situation, we enter upon the 
 dangerous and reckless experiment of free, 
 unlimited, and independent silver coinage." 
 
 There can be no doubt that this letter 
 changed the course of public sentiment, and 
 that it will scarcely fail to change the 
 course of history itself. The service 
 thereby rendered cannot be computed. 
 And yet it could not have been written 
 with any intention to mold public senti- 
 ment in his fa vol*. It was not needed for 
 that, perhaps, any more than the tariff-re- 
 form message of 1887 was needed for the 
 
244 A LIFS! OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 purpose of securing a renomination. But 
 it was written, as was the message, be- 
 cause lie believed that he was right, and 
 that, being right, he should say so. 
 
 During the first summer after 'the close 
 of his administration Mr. Cleveland spent 
 a considerable portion of his time in Massa- 
 chusetts on the shores of Buzzard's Bay. 
 He was attracted by the surroundings. 
 He liked the comparative retirement it 
 gave him, and enjoyed the amusements it 
 furnished. So, in 1890, he bought a place 
 of nearly a hundred acres near the head of 
 Buzzard's Bay and remodeled the house to 
 make for himself a summer home. This is 
 the only house he owns, and he spends his 
 summers there in as much retirement as 
 the curiosity of his countrymen and the 
 visits of his friends permit him to com- 
 mand. There he is able to indulge his 
 domestic tastes, and to live a quiet, simple 
 life with his family. There he would 
 have been more content to spend his 
 leisure days than to be drawn again into 
 the arena of politics. But if fate decides 
 otherwise, and he finds that he must again 
 
CAN'VASS OF 1888 ANB RETIREMENT. 245 
 
 become a resident of tlie Executive Man- 
 sion, lie Avill accept tliat verdict with as 
 much composure as he would any other 
 call to work or duty. 
 
 On July 25, 1891, after he had become 
 fairly settled in his home at Gray Gables, a 
 short distance from the town of Buzzard's 
 Bay and from the Cape Cod branch of the 
 Old Colony Railroad, the citizens of Barn- 
 stable County gave a reception, at which 
 he was formally inducted into a summer 
 citizenship of Massachusetts. No occasion 
 like this has perhaps ever been seen before, 
 and it is doubtful if the conditions will 
 ever be such as to make its repetition 
 possible. From every quarter of Massa- 
 chusetts men, women, and children came 
 to take part in the proceedings held in the 
 town of Sandwich. Men of all parties 
 and no party united, and it seemed that 
 each vied with the other to be more enthu- 
 siastic than his neighbor. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland's relations to the Demo- 
 cratic nomination for the Presidency in 
 1892 are well known. At no time in his 
 career has he ever sought an office, and he 
 
246 A LIFE OF G ROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 certainly did not do so after his retirement 
 from the Presidency. No man felt more 
 keenly than he the responsibilities of that 
 high place. He had no personal desire to 
 be nominated again, and it was only his 
 willingness to do a patriotic service when 
 he was called upon that induced him to 
 accept a third nomination. 
 
 The sentiment in his party, the coun- 
 try over, was overwhelming in demand- 
 ing that he should again make the race. 
 This manifested itself between the day 
 of his defeat and that of the inaugura- 
 tion of his successor. It grew stronger day 
 by day and year by year. At first many, 
 both friendly and opposed, thought that 
 there would soon come a change in the 
 situation, but the one change that came 
 was a strengthened and aroused demand 
 that he should be chosen as the leader of 
 his party. Finally, it was as evident at 
 the beginning of the present year, as any 
 future event could be, and especially after 
 the delivery of the Ann Arbor address, on 
 the 2 2d of February, that his party would 
 demand his nomination at the hands of the 
 
GENERAL ESTIMATE OF GHARAGTER. 24V 
 
 members of its convention and an accept- 
 ance from him. As has ah'eady been said, 
 he did nothing to promote it. He organ- 
 ized no machine, he had no literary bureau, 
 while in many of the States the leading 
 politicians and managers were arrayed 
 against him ; but party sentiment was so 
 strong that the convention nominated him 
 on the first ballot by more than the neces- 
 saiy two-thirds vote. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 A GEKEEAL ESTIMATE OF CHAKACTEE. 
 
 I HAVE thus endeavored fairly to set 
 forth the main features of Grover Cleve- 
 land's career. I have not thought it either 
 fitting or necessary, in the brief space at 
 my command, to go into all the details of 
 the minor events of his life. It has seemed 
 to me necessary, for the purposes of this 
 study, to set forth as fully as possible 
 those important things which together con- 
 stitute what may be termed his public 
 career. It is nothing but the story of a 
 man who has won his way from humble 
 
248 A LIFE OF GROVEU CLEVELAND. 
 
 beginnings with honest, self-respecting 
 industrious people, to the highest honors, 
 
 Tlie achievements of such a man con 
 stitute in and of themselves his character 
 sketch. If we find that he has been indus 
 trious, honest, persistent, fair to friend and 
 opponent, these qualities will bear them- 
 selves in upon the mind of the reader, 
 if the writer has made himself clear in 
 setting forth the things that the man 
 has been able to do by reason of having 
 them. 
 
 Then, too, a good many difficulties arise 
 in making anything like a careful estimate 
 of such a man. Here is one who for more 
 than ten years has been in the fullest blaze 
 of publicity, none of it self -sought. Before 
 his career became of the highest interest to 
 his countrymen he had employed none of 
 the ordinary methods to bring himself into 
 notice. When nominated for Governor lie 
 had no self-prepai*ed biographies, he had 
 no literary bureaus, and had indeed made 
 few speeches that had been published. 
 While much interest attaches to the career 
 of a man of this kind — more, indeed, than 
 
Q ENSEAL ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 249 
 
 if lie had come up in the usual way, 
 through a city, a State, or a Federal office — 
 one writes at all times with the knowledge 
 that for many years all his countrymen 
 have had an opportunity to analyze his 
 character. But though he did not gain 
 this faculty for work in the lower grades 
 of the public service, he had it when first 
 called to the least important office that he 
 had held, in which he demonstrated that 
 he possessed the same qualities since shown 
 in a higher office. It was merely a trans- 
 fer from one place to another, a great 
 responsibility so far as the public was con- 
 cerned, but none the larger so far as the 
 habits and thoughts and moral character 
 of the man himself were involved. 
 
 Then, too, there is the difficulty of mak- 
 ing a final estimate of a man with a career 
 like this, who may have a future still 
 greater than his past. One might with 
 safety make predictions concerning such a 
 man — that he would be found always and 
 ever doing his work ^v^ith perfect faithful- 
 ness — and yet the opportunity might come 
 within the bi'iefest time for a work, the 
 
250 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 greatness of whicli would surpass all that 
 he had ever done. But I do not perceive 
 that it is my duty to indulge in prophecies. 
 I have tried in the preceding chapters to 
 tell what the man has done. 1 shall now 
 attempt to explain in some measure why, 
 in my opinion, he has done these things — 
 to set forth in the space that remains to 
 me some of my own ideas as to the facul- 
 ties that have made him what he is and 
 that have given him a great and recognized 
 place among his countrymen. 
 
 In the first place Grover Cleveland has 
 always been a hard, systematic worker — 
 one who does not have to wait for moods. 
 When he feels that a thing must be 
 done and that he is the man to do it, he 
 does not hesitate about it; he does it. 
 Whether it be the preparation of a case for 
 court, the making of an argument, the 
 preparation of a speech on a social or polit- 
 ical question, the dispatch of a great mass 
 of public business — he does not wait for 
 to-morrow to do what ought to be done 
 to-day. His " ought " means " must." It 
 wa^ almost a natural result when such 
 
GENERAL ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 251 
 
 a man found he had a great mass of work 
 to do, that he should steal time from sleep 
 and recreation to do it ; so he early formed 
 the habit of annexing a great part of the 
 night to the day. When he was an assist- 
 ant District Attorney, he sat down after 
 hours to draw indictments and prepare 
 cases against the meeting of the court the 
 next morning. When he was a lawyer in 
 full practice, he deemed that he owed a 
 duty to his clients that could only be per- 
 formed by applying to it the same habits of 
 faithful and continued eif ort. This has en- 
 abled him to do practically the work of 
 two men. Probably if he could have seen 
 his way to it, he would have enjoyed lei- 
 sure just as other men do, but he has not 
 felt that he could get it. 
 
 When he became Mayor, he assumed a 
 great responsibility to a large number of 
 his fellowmen. No man could hope to 
 carry on his ordinary employments and 
 then to serve the public with such accept- 
 ance as Mr. Cleveland did while Mayor, 
 without giving a great deal of time to his 
 duties — more time, in fact, than the day- 
 
252 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 light hours could possibly afford. When 
 he became Governor, he felt that a still 
 greater responsibility was laid upon him. 
 If he felt that he did not know how to do 
 a thing, he never came to feel that he could 
 not learn how to do it, and that to his own 
 satisfaction and acceptance to the people 
 who had trusted him. While Governor, 
 he was in his office night after night con- 
 sidering pardon cases, bills sent to him 
 from the legislature, and all the varied 
 affairs that pertain to an executive office. 
 Nothing was shirked. If it was necessary 
 to see a number of people, many of them 
 without real business, he would see them, 
 Just as he would shut himself up for hours 
 and consider with the utmost care some 
 legislative measure involving the highest 
 principles of law or the interpretation of 
 the Constitution, or the interests of the 
 masses of his constituents. 
 
 When he went into the Presidency, 
 w^here the demands upon him w^ere still 
 greater — in spite of the fact that he had 
 there a Cabinet that considered and adjudi- 
 cated the great mass of public business — 
 
(JHINEEAL ESTIMATE OF CBARAOTEIl 25;] 
 
 n^ found again that lie was the responsible 
 official, and that many questions must be 
 considered entirely by himself, and a con- 
 clusion reached upon them according to his 
 best judgment. Here he gave still more 
 time to his work — probably an average of 
 at least sixteen hours a day during the en- 
 tire four years, with only the rest he must 
 take. 
 
 In this great office, as in other work that 
 had come to him, no detail was too small 
 to eno^ao^e his attention if he thouo-ht that 
 the question at issue demanded or deserved 
 it ; in truth, a question that many men in 
 such an office would pass over by accept- 
 ing, without question, the opinion of a clerk 
 or of a Cabinet officer, seemed to him as 
 urgent as some great policy of administra- 
 tion might be. He knew that the big 
 things would, in some way, take care of 
 themselves, while in many cases the little 
 ones must have his thought or they might 
 be entirely neglected. Many a convict owes 
 his pardon to the careful study of his case 
 made by the President of the United 
 States in the early hours of the morning 
 
254 A LIFE OF QROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 when his fellow-citizens were enjoying 
 their slumbers. So, too,* many a man with 
 a bad claim, which he had pushed through 
 the departments and courts, and finally 
 through congress, found his way to the 
 Treasury blocked because the President of 
 the United States had deemed it his duty 
 to sit up until two o'clock in the morning 
 to do it. 
 
 This facility for work and willingness to 
 do it, his almost impatient desire to know 
 the ins and outs of every question upon 
 which he must decide, have made his work 
 far more difficult to him than to the 
 ordinary man occupying any similar posi- 
 tion. Reference has been made both here 
 and in the body of the work to his care 
 in investigating pardons. He always ex- 
 amined these applications with the greatest 
 thoroughness. Whatever the crime may 
 have been, whatever the position of the 
 man, or however few or many his friends, 
 he gave the same care to his work as if the 
 people of a nation were waiting to hear his 
 decision. Sometimes it would be no more 
 than a poor Indian condemned to death or 
 
GENERAL ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 255 
 
 long imprisonment, perhaps for an offense 
 comparatively sliglit. Many times lie 
 would find in an application something that 
 did not seem clear to him — something 
 passed over by a clerk or the head of a 
 bureau. It might be some knotty point of 
 law, that would only attract the attention 
 of a judge watchful for every point. If 
 such a thing occurred he ^vould send for 
 the papers on file, whether in the guber- 
 natorial ofiice in Albany or in the Depart- 
 ment of Justice in Washington, and go 
 over the whole of it as carefully as if 
 he were a judge bent upon deciding 
 whether the evidence would w^arrant him 
 in holding an accused man for trial. 
 
 This was his way. He felt that if any 
 man's life or honor was at stake, the duty 
 had been put upon him to protect the 
 rights of that man, however humble he 
 might be, or however much work it might 
 impose upon himself. It is not at all 
 surprising that such a man should 
 have been popular. In such a case popu- 
 larity, as it is called, is nothing but a 
 natural result of having done his duty 
 
256 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 as best he could. He felt that if great 
 honors were conferred upou him, they also 
 brought with them great responsibilities. 
 He not only shows this as an official, but in 
 private life manifests the same feeling as a 
 citizen. If something has to be done, and 
 he is thought the best man to do it, he 
 does not shirk a duty — never putting him- 
 self upon show, never pushing himself into 
 publicity — he still feels it incumbent upon 
 him to do what in him lies to help a 
 worthy cause or man. 
 
 This has made him a thorous^h man 
 until thoroughness has become a habit. 
 Thus, from the beginning, he had th'e 
 faculty of going to the bottom of things. 
 So even now, when he makes a speech on 
 any question, he takes the opportunity at 
 once to become familiar with it in all its 
 bearings ; and, as he does not take a posi- 
 tion until he has satisfied himself of the 
 correctness of his view, ^vhen lie has de- 
 cided he does not chans^e with the winds. 
 
 He is in every way an effective speaker. 
 This, too, is the result of the same habit of 
 thoroughness. That he should speak well 
 
GENERAL ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. '267 
 
 is with him a result as natural as it is that 
 he should be successful in drawing a legal 
 paper. But he has about him little of 
 what is called the orator. He does not 
 speak on every occasion, and never without 
 preparation, or upon some question that 
 he has thought out with great care. Most 
 of his speeches are short, none so far hav- 
 ing taken an hour in its delivery. Of late 
 there has been something more of elabora- 
 tion, not only because of the greater im- 
 portance of the questions and his own 
 position in the community, but from his 
 own broadening and growing character. 
 His manner of delivery is careful and 
 weighty. Each sentence is given its 
 proper emphasis, although there is no at- 
 tempt at declamation. 
 
 It is only natural that a man with these 
 qualities — ^the qualities of hard work, hon- 
 esty, and simplicity of charactei' — should 
 also be a courageous man, and he has 
 shown this courage at every point of his 
 public career. He does not stop to think 
 about the personal effect of a lecture to a 
 legislative body or a plain-speaking letter 
 
258 A LIFE OF G HOVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 to the promoter of some political move- 
 ment. Let him once make up his mind 
 that a proposed project or a practice is 
 wrong, and he does not stop to consider 
 the effect upon his own political position 
 of the stand he is about to take. So, 
 whether he vetoes a five-cent fare bill 
 that is thought to be popular, or resists an 
 attempt to pass a law that is dangerous, or 
 interposes his objection to pension acts or 
 public building bills, he never inquires 
 in any case what the effect will be upon 
 his personal fortunes. The same is true of 
 his position upon the silver question and 
 other large issues that he has been com- 
 pelled to consider both as an official and 
 as a private citizen. 
 
 Mr. Cleveland's tastes are plain. He 
 has never shown any desire for the osten- 
 tation so common in these days. He does 
 not deem it incumbent upon him to 
 struggle with millionaires to make a dis- 
 play, and it may be said with perfect truth 
 that he always recalls with pleasure his 
 own early struggles and the habits and 
 tastes of the plain people with whom his 
 
GENERAL ESTIMATE OF CHARACTER. 259 
 
 lines were cast during his early and forma- 
 tive days. 
 
 He has always had a strong and abiding 
 faith in the people, having been with them 
 and of them from his earliest years. Men 
 engaged in all sorts of occupations and 
 professions have come under his notice in 
 such a way that he could study their char- 
 acters and characteristics. It is due to 
 this knowledge that he has gained the 
 confidence of his countrymen. Knowing 
 them, he has never truckled to them. He 
 has never given up his own opinions to 
 please them, and has at no time indulged 
 in a demagogic utterance. 
 
 As a consequence he has enjoyed for 
 many years, perhaps in a larger degree 
 than any man known to this generation, 
 the confidence of his countrymen. He has 
 been able to command this by reason of 
 service as well as of character. While in 
 ofiice the rights of every man, race, or 
 interest were recognized and protected, and 
 sectional questions and race differences dis- 
 appeared, so far as he could bring about 
 this auspicious result. 
 
260 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 This confidence was never confined to 
 any section or to any interest. It was felt 
 in every section, trade, business, and call- 
 ing, and by men holding every variety of 
 opinion on public questions. As the re- 
 sult of such a policy he was able to insure 
 a wise economy in every branch of the 
 public service; the preservation of the 
 remnant of our public lands ; the building 
 of an effective navy ; the rebuke of political 
 selfishness ; the prudent and moderate 
 conduct of foreign affairs ; a careful and 
 honest reform of the civil service, and a 
 wise conservatism in the financial policy of 
 the government. His whole administra- 
 tion was based upon opposition to State 
 Socialism, as it manifested itself in every- 
 thing from protection to pauperism ; to 
 combinations, whether they took the form 
 of industrial trusts or the work of log-roll- 
 ing appropriations through congress ; to 
 the dangerous and indefinite purpose of 
 silver for coinage by the government, and 
 to the unnatural fear of foreign competi- 
 tion. In all these things Mr. Cleveland 
 represented the conservatism and common 
 
A LITERARY MAN'S ESTIMATE, 261 
 
 sense of Lis country men, and was able to 
 carry out so many positive ideas, and to 
 destroy or cripple so many dangerous 
 tendencies, tliat he has fairly merited the 
 confidence he has received from his 
 countrymen. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 A LITEEAEY MAn's ESTIMATE. 
 
 "55 Clinton Place, 
 "New York, August 12, 1892. 
 "My Dear Mr. Parker: 
 
 " I am very glad you are to write a life 
 of Mr. Cleveland, and hasten to meet your 
 request for some impressions of my own 
 derived from personal acquaintance. In 
 thinking the matter over it occurs to me 
 that perhaps the best I can do is to 
 make note of some of the reasons why so 
 many men of letters have been particu- 
 larly attracted by his character and person- 
 ality. 
 
 " In the first place, to the man of letters 
 the man of action is always interesting. 
 If the man of action is also a man of 
 
262 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 thoiiglit, if he is a man of exceptional 
 force, having great mental energy, strength 
 of will, and moral courage, the interest is 
 increased. Naturally, it is still further 
 increased if this man's acts are so fortified, 
 by either personal or official authority, as 
 to be in themselves public events of the 
 first importance ; if, indeed, his convictions 
 and the frank utterance of them actually 
 change the course of history. 
 
 " To the man of letters there is a special 
 interest in a man of action like Mr. Cleve- 
 land, owing to certain individual character- 
 istics. I refer to a directness of conversa- 
 tion and manner — what may be called 
 a lack of sophistication — which is partic- 
 ularly welcome and refreshing to those 
 who are brought into constant association 
 with aesthetic and social subtleties. While 
 carrying himself on all occasions with 
 great dignity and good feeling, this 
 country clergyman's son has an almost 
 rustic simplicity of thought and tone that 
 is democratic and American in the best 
 sense. 
 
 " There is another feature of individual 
 
A LITERARY MAN'S ESTIMATE. 263 
 
 interest appealing 23artieularly to the 
 literary mind, and this is the fact that, 
 althongh a man of education in the 
 ordinary sense of the term, Mr. Cleveland 
 has been, after all, chiefly educated, not by 
 books and academies, but by actualities — 
 as Taine says of Napoleon, by direct con- 
 tact with men and things. I know few 
 men of action more willing to consider 
 carefully a diffeidng view. He sometimes 
 arrives slowly, and with laborious investi- 
 gation, at his own opinion. But the very 
 method of his education — that is,' mainly 
 by the world as he has seen and known it — 
 tends to clear vision and direct and ef- 
 fective action. 
 
 " I must add to the list another trait 
 especially attractive to men of letters, 
 though the trait itself may be considered 
 the very opposite of literary; I refer to 
 Mr. Cleveland's admirable lack of anxiety 
 about the preservation of literary or other 
 records of his own career. In these days 
 of ' records ' and ' claims ' it is bracing to 
 find a man who, while applying himself 
 with intense industry and devotion to the 
 
264 A LIFE OF OROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 thing to be accomplished, lets the accom- 
 plishment pass from his hand without the 
 slightest worry about its history. 
 
 " A more literary reason for interest lies 
 in the fact that this man of action while 
 writing, in his public papers, often with a 
 sort of Washingtonian solemnity, has the 
 faculty of now and then striking off phrases 
 so apt and telling that they pass quickly 
 into the currency of popular speech. Judg- 
 ing from the list of ' Noted Sayings ' in the 
 Stedman-Hutchinson ' Library of American 
 Literatm^e/ Mr. Cleveland is remarkable 
 for this 'faculty among modern statesmen. 
 The list in '• Noted Sayings ' is far from con- 
 taining all the fortunate expressions which 
 occur in his writings — expressions some- 
 times terse and homely, wdth a touch of 
 humor "in them, sometimes effective mainly 
 through a certain fire of conviction. The 
 published book of his ' Writings and 
 Speeches ' does not displease me by its itera- 
 tion of the simple duties of citizenship, for I 
 know how sincere is this note, and how 
 profoundly characteristic. If Mr. Cleve- 
 land has taken seriously the duties of pub- 
 
A LITERARY MAN'S ESTIMATE. '^05 
 
 lie office, he takes not less seriously tlie 
 duties of that ^public trust' which, in a 
 republic like ours, is implied in mere citi- 
 zenship itself, and is the prerogative and 
 duty of every voter. 
 
 " After all, to men of letters and to pro- 
 fessional men in general — men who are a 
 little outside of the dusty field of political 
 strife — the one thino; about Mr. Cleveland 
 most interesting, the thing that differenti- 
 ates him from the ordinary politician, is a 
 certain moral fury applied to the practi- 
 cal affairs of government. Yet, ii. he is 
 popularly classed among the reformers, it 
 is certainly not among the excellent so- 
 called ^ professional reformers.' His repu- 
 tation in this respect is the nat\iral result 
 of the contact of a straightfor^vard, sincere, 
 and strong nature with the honestly as- 
 sumed duties of administration. No one 
 who is personally acquainted with Mr. Cleve- 
 land can fail to recognize the fact that it is 
 the essentially moral view which coloi's his 
 opinions on nearly all public questions. I 
 am perfectly sure that it is his personal con- 
 viction of the moral evils which he believes 
 
266 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 accompany the purely protective theory 
 of the tariii' that has led him to assume 
 such a determined attitude on this subject 
 The moral issues involved have notably 
 affected his position as to the civil ser- 
 vice and ballot reforms, pensions, inter- 
 national copyright, and the silver ques- 
 tion. 
 
 "I believe it is this moral earnestness 
 which lias given such consistency and con- 
 tinuity of purpose to his public record. His 
 first message as Mayor of Buffalo w^as even 
 more decidedly a prediction of his political 
 career than was Cromwell's first recorded 
 speech in Parliament a promise of that of 
 the . great Protector. Add to this trait, 
 moral courage — a trait which even his 
 opponents acknowledge and applaud — 
 and you have largely accounted for a 
 series of conscientious public acts, each 
 of which, one after the other, notably 
 and consciously endangered his whole 
 future career. 
 
 "Beyond the lines of party there is a 
 general" recognition of the fact that in such 
 deliverances as the tariff message and the 
 
A LITER AR Y MAN '8 E8TIMA TE. 267 
 
 silver letter and other public and well- 
 known acts, bravery of an unusual kind was 
 displayed. Mr. Cleveland's personal ac- 
 quaintances can bear testimony that the 
 private occasions connected mth public 
 duties in which he has shown the same 
 courage — often along with a unique power 
 to resist ' pressure' — have been, to say the 
 least, quite as numerous as those known of 
 all men, from the time he was Mayor of 
 Buffalo to the other day when he declared 
 just before the Chicago Convention that he 
 would ^ have the Presidency clean or not at 
 all.' 
 
 " In speaking of the well-known interest 
 of men of letters in the character and per- 
 sonality of Mr. Cleveland, my mind natu- 
 rally reverts to the public and private 
 utterances of that man of letters whose 
 admiration for Mr. Cleveland's character I 
 consider the most honorable leaf in the 
 chaplet of this statesman's fame. In a let- 
 ter to a friend, written in 1887, Mr. Lowell 
 said : ^ I am glad that you have been seeing 
 the President. To me his personality is 
 very simpatico. He is a truly American 
 
268 A LIFE OF GROVEU CLEVELAND, 
 
 type of the best kind — a type very dear to 
 me, I confess.' 
 
 '^In the few paragraphs I send you — 
 written from a personal and not a partisan 
 point of view — I have merely mentioned 
 some of the traits that go to make up the 
 type of which Lowell speaks. I may note, 
 finally, as very characteristic of Mr. Cleve- 
 land, that I have never known him to show 
 so much pleasure at any appreciation of 
 himself as at those lines of Lowell's con- 
 tained in a letter sent to Josiah Quincy, 
 chairman of the banquet given in 1890 by 
 the Merchants' Association of Boston, in 
 which lines Lowell did not repeat the high 
 praise he had given him on other occasions, 
 but simply accorded the ex- President credit 
 for honest intentions — for merely doing his 
 best. There is no doubt that fair-minded 
 men of all parties believe Lowell's lines to 
 be true of Mr. Cleveland. Those who have 
 seen him near at hand and have been aware 
 of the perplexities, the pressures and diffi- 
 culties that have encumbered his w^ay, as 
 they do that of every man who tries to 
 walk the straight path in public life, such, 
 
A LITERARY MAN'S ESTIMATE. 269 
 
 I say, can well understand why Mr. Cleve- 
 land was so deeply touched by these words 
 of Lowell : 
 
 " Let who has felt compute the strain 
 
 Of struggle with abuses strong, 
 The doubtful course, the helpless pain ' 
 
 Of seeing best intents go wrong. 
 We who look on with critic e^^es, 
 
 Exempt from action's crucial test, 
 Human ourselves, at least are wise 
 
 In honoring one who did his best. 
 
 " Mr. Cleveland is most fortunate in that 
 he has outlived calumny, won from his own 
 party unprecedented honors, and met in the 
 opposite party wide recognition of his per- 
 sonal integrity and honesty of purpose. 
 Indeed, some of his most eloquent eulogists 
 have been his political opponents. Of 
 such a man it is natural that his friends 
 should feel moved to speak in terms that 
 might savor of extravagance, yet nothing 
 would be more out of keeping with the 
 character of the man. You well know that 
 I have left much unsaid that is in my heart 
 to say of one with whom companionship is 
 a privilege and an inspiration. 
 
 " I fear there is little here that will be of 
 
270 A LIFE OF GROVER CLEVELAND. 
 
 any great service to you in your work, be- 
 cause your own acquaintance witli the sub- 
 ject of your sketch makes you well aware 
 of the traits of which I have spoken, but 
 you are welcome to use anything I have 
 written in any way that will best serve 
 your purpose. 
 
 " Very sincerely yours, 
 
 " R. W. Gilder. 
 " Mr. George F. Parker." 
 
A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 BIETH AND EDUCATION. 
 
 Adlai Ewing Stevenson was born in 
 Christian County, Ky., on the 23d of 
 October, 1835. His father and mother 
 were natives of North Carolina, having 
 left there when they were mere children. 
 His grandfather Stevenson was one of the 
 early settlers of that part of Kentucky. 
 His ancestors were Scotch-Irish. The 
 paternal great-grandfather of the candidate 
 for Vice President was a native of the 
 North of Ireland, who settled in North 
 Carolina about the beginning of the last 
 quarter of the eighteenth century, and his 
 son, the grandfather of Mr. Stevenson, 
 went, in 1813, to Kentucky, which was 
 then a primitive country — far more prim- 
 itive, in fact, than any settlement to be 
 
272 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 found anywhere in tlie country at the pres- 
 ent time, however remote it may be. All 
 these men were farmers, as their ancestors 
 had been for generations. 
 
 It is difficult to understand in these days 
 that the occupation of farming can be 
 made so attractive as to lead one generation 
 after another to engage in it, but this 
 tendency was never stronger — even in the 
 most confirmed peasant classes of the old 
 world — than it was among the pioneers, 
 especially those of the Southern States. 
 These people might move on from one 
 country to another, or they might go out 
 from an old State and found a new one, 
 yet they carried with them, wherever they 
 went, the same love for the soil that, in all 
 generations, has distinguished a large part 
 of the people. To a very considerable 
 extent this feeling seems to have declined ; 
 but it was just as natural for people like 
 the Stevensonsto be enrolled as farmers as 
 it was apparently for certain families in 
 New England to find work and reputation 
 generation after generation as clergymen. 
 
 Then, too, the wonderful productiveness 
 of North Carolina in the matter of men is 
 
BIRTH AND ED UGATION. 273 
 
 well illustrated in the early career of the 
 Stevensons, and now by the candidate for 
 the Vice Presidency who is the subject of 
 this sketch. In spite of the fact, now 
 illustrated by many decennial census 
 reports, that North Carolina has upon its 
 soil a larger proportion of peo]3le born 
 there than any other State of the Union, it 
 is nevertheless true that it has also fur- 
 nished an astonishingly large proportion of 
 the new settlers — not only for other States 
 in the South, but for many in the North. 
 That State is indeed the one exception 
 to the ordinary rule that immigi-ation 
 moves from North to South or from South 
 to Nortli. Not only is there a large ele- 
 ment of people of North Carolina ancestry 
 in all the Southern States, esj)ecially in 
 Tennessee, Arkansas, and Kentucky, but the 
 number of those in the North who have 
 the same blood in their veins is surprising. 
 It seems almost natural for these 
 people, whatever their condition in life, 
 to ^' move on." First a family would 
 move, perhaps, across the mountains into 
 southern Kentucky ; then the same family, 
 or the next generation of it, would find its 
 
274 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 way into southern Ohio, into Indiana, or 
 into central or southern Illinois. With 
 the instinctive desire for moving, these 
 people kept on, generation after generation, 
 carrying themselves and their household 
 goods into many pioneer States and neigh- 
 borhoods, until there is scarcely an impor- 
 tant settlement anywhere west of Ohio 
 that has not had within its limits a consid- 
 erable number of people of North Carolina 
 birth or ancestry. 
 
 It was this instinct that brought the 
 Stevensons and the Ewings, now promi- 
 nent figures in this generation in the poli- 
 tics of Illinois and the West, into that 
 region. It is only by the cessation or tem- 
 porary stilling of this desire to move that 
 the next generation has not found its way 
 still further west into some still newer 
 State or Territory ; but this nomadic life, 
 confined as it was to the younger in each 
 generation, had a wonderful influence 
 upon the new States and neighborhoods 
 thus peopled, and gave to North Car- 
 olina a position that is quite unique in our 
 history. Out from her borders have gone 
 
BIRTB AND EDUCATION. 275 
 
 men like Jackson and Jolinson, botli of 
 whom became Presidents of the United 
 States, and others, representatives of the 
 best blood that had found its way into 
 North Carolina in early days from the 
 north of Ireland, made careers for them- 
 selves. Indeed, this instinct appears, so 
 far as the stronger elements are concerned, 
 to be confined almost entirely to people of 
 Scotch-Irish blood. 
 
 The Stevensons were farmers in Ken- 
 tucky, as they had been in North Carolina 
 and in Ireland ; so, when the father of Ad- 
 lai moved to Bloomington, 111., in 1852, he 
 was only proceeding in accordance with 
 the instincts and habits of his race. At 
 this time the future Vice President was 
 sixteen years of age. The community in 
 which he thus had his early training was 
 entirely agricultural, and the school to 
 which he went was an old-fashioned 
 country one, in which, for some four or five 
 months in the year, some peripatetic peda- 
 gogue, or some poor, but aspiring, young 
 college student administered to the wants 
 of a pioneer community in a log school- 
 
276 A SKETCH OF ADLAI K STEVENSON. 
 
 house, wliich has long since fallen into such 
 utter ruin that it would probably be diffi- 
 cult even to find the place where it stood. 
 He attended the neighborhood school in 
 Kentucky, and, after the removal of the 
 family to Illinois, he continued his studies 
 there. 
 
 He himself never engaged in farming, 
 except it might be in some early efforts 
 in which he helped out neighbors or 
 friends. But, like many others who have 
 come up through this plain and industri- 
 ous school, he was not satisfied with his 
 surroundings. His father, like all of his 
 generation, was just a little bit further 
 advanced in the art of money-getting, and 
 the instinct for gain had grown so much 
 stronger among the people that the sons 
 began to look out for a better education 
 than their fathers could get or could be 
 contented with. 
 
 So, only a little while after the removal to 
 Illinois, young Stevenson returned to Ken- 
 tucky and entered himself as a student at 
 Center College, at Danville, in that State. 
 This was a Presbyterian institution, and 
 
BIRTH AND ED UGA TION. 277 
 
 was quite celebrated iu its time. It has 
 sent fortli many good men who have 
 made their mark upon the history of their 
 times. Among those now or recently 
 prominent in public affairs in different 
 States may be named : Senator J. C. S. 
 Blackburn of Kentucky; Thomas T. Crit- 
 tenden, ex-Governor of Missouri ; Repre- 
 sentative James B. McCreary, formerly 
 Governor of Kentucky and now a promi- 
 nent member of the House of Representa- 
 tives at Washington; John Young Brown, 
 now Governor of Kentucky ; W. C. P. 
 Breckinridge; John C. Breckinridge, late 
 Vice President of the United States, and 
 Claude Matthews, Democratic candidate 
 for Governor of Indiana this year, all of 
 whom were graduated from this college. 
 It has also sent forth a number of men 
 who have entered the ranks of the profes- 
 sions and gained excellent positions and 
 done good work in many localities of 
 the State in which it is located and of its 
 neighbors. Some of those mentioned were 
 fellow-students with young Stevenson, 
 who rema-ined two or three years at the 
 
2V8 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. HTEVEN80N. 
 
 college, althougli he did not graduate. 
 Bat Lis after life goes to show that he 
 did not lose the interest in the institution 
 which might have been his alma mater. 
 Many years afterward he returned to Ken- 
 tucky and showed his devotion to the in- 
 stitution by marrying the daughter of the 
 President of the college, who was the most 
 noted figure it ever had — the Rev. Dr. 
 Lewis W. Green, a Presbyterian clergyman. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PROFESSIOISTAL LIFE AND POLITICS. 
 
 The young man had aspirations for 
 something else than farming. Not that he 
 looked down upon the employment which 
 had given character and sustenance to many 
 generations of his ancestors, but, living in a 
 new country, he thought he saw an oppor- 
 tunity to make a place for himself in his pro- 
 fession. So, in his twenty-second year, he 
 left college without graduating, and en- 
 tered upon the study of the law in Bloom- 
 ington, with Robert E. Williams, then him- 
 
PUOFES^^WXAL LIFE AND POLITICS. 279 
 
 self a comparatively young man, though 
 old enough to have attained considerable 
 I'eputation as a lawyer and a Democratic 
 politician. 
 
 His preceptor, still living and in active 
 practice, looks back with interest to the 
 days when his young student was making 
 his wav throuo-h the difficulties incident to 
 
 t/ o 
 
 the study of the law — difficulties which 
 exist nov/ in a degree quite as great as 
 they did in the days when the young 
 lawyer had fewer advantages in the way of 
 libraries. It was not the fashion in those 
 days to attend a law school. But young 
 Stevenson pursued his studies with 
 much earnestness, and with such success 
 that in 1859, in his twenty-third year, 
 he was admitted to the practice of his 
 profession in Bloomington, the town of his 
 residence. By a coincidence, Mr. Cleveland 
 himself the same year was admitted to 
 practice in Buffalo. 
 
 Then it was that the moving instinct 
 also found expression in the son of the 
 man who had been born in North Carolina, 
 moved to Kentucky, and later to Illinois. 
 
280 A SKETCH OF AD LAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 In the year of his admission young Steven- 
 son left his home in Bloomington and re- 
 moved to Metamora, in Woodford Connty, 
 of the same State. There he settled down 
 to the practice of his profession, doing such 
 work as a young lawyei' could find in a 
 pioneer community. His law library w^as 
 not large, but he had the faculty that 
 many others had developed — of using what 
 he had to the fullest possible advantage. 
 Whatever work he undertook to do he did 
 well. 
 
 If the cases intrusted to him w^ere small, 
 and his fees still smaller, his expenses were 
 light. He had none of the costly tastes 
 that belong to these days of luxury, and no 
 idea that he must bes^in where his success- 
 ful brethren of the law w^ere to leave off. 
 His character fitted him for life among a 
 people simple in their tastes and ideas, and 
 intelligent and active in all good work. 
 
 Soon after his removal to Metamora he 
 was appointed a master in chancery, which 
 ofiice he held for four years. There w^ere 
 in those days no important railroad cases, 
 nothing but the ordinary routine business, 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND POLITICS. 281 
 
 mainly of an equity character. But it 
 gave the young lawyer recognition in sucli 
 a community, and enabled him to make 
 many legal connections that were valuable, 
 not only then so far as fees were con- 
 cerned, but such as brought him many 
 friends in later years. So well did. he do 
 his work that in 1864 he was elected to 
 the office of District Attorney, which un- 
 der the old constitution of Illinois was an 
 office whose work extended over several 
 counties. This office he also held for four 
 years. Although the district gave about 
 a thousand Eepublican majority he was 
 elected as a Democratic candidate — his 
 first experience of this sort. 
 
 The practice of a lawj^er holding such 
 an ofiice is, of course, almost entirely crim- 
 inal, and although he had had little expe- 
 rience in this he worked hard and did his 
 duty justly and fearlessly. The position 
 of public prosecutor was then more impor- 
 tant than it is now, when the prosecutor 
 is oftentimes enabled to bring to his assist- 
 ance some of the best members of the bar 
 in order to enable him to meet the many 
 
282 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 lawyers who are sometimes pitted against 
 him in the defense of a man indicted for 
 crime. 
 
 The Illinois bar of that day, as before 
 and since, was a strong one. Few of the 
 newer States of the West have produced 
 more lawyers of distinguished ability, more 
 men who have made their mark as judges 
 and councilors than did that State. There 
 were not so many books, but there was 
 perhaps more real law. The body of com- 
 mon law being smaller, there was not 
 the opportunity to quibble that has de- 
 veloped during these later days. What- 
 ever it was, the lawyers of that day, living 
 in a new community, made their mark 
 upon it in a most distinctive way. 
 
 As has already been said, the district 
 was composed of many counties, and the 
 public prosecutor was compelled to follow 
 the practice of " riding the circuit/' then 
 so common and necessary for the success- 
 ful lawyer. As a rule the courts in the 
 different counties were held by the same 
 judge, the lawyers going from one to an- 
 other, and before the days of railroad 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE ANB POLITICS. 283 
 
 commimication they traveled togetlier in 
 stages or on horseback, and in such other 
 primitive fashion as they must. 
 
 During his incumbency of this office he 
 was also enabled to perfect himself in the 
 general practice of his profession. This 
 embraced nearly everything that the law 
 afforded — criminal law, because he was the 
 public prosecutor and that was his busi- 
 ness ; civil cases of every kind, from the 
 simplest to the most important that could 
 arise in a community of the character in 
 which he lived. The lawyers' offices 
 generally looked out on the public square 
 — that construction so peculiar to the 
 towns of the older West — and were seldom 
 closed. Day and night they were open, 
 and it is not probable that many keys 
 were ever turned in the locks of their 
 doors. These offices, as Mr. Stevenson 
 once quaintly expressed it, were "almost 
 as open as the public square itself," and 
 his was no exception. 
 
 He came out of this training — as did his 
 chief and running mate on the Democratic 
 ticket this year from a sioiilar office — well 
 
2^4 A SKETCH OF AD LAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 equipped as a lawyer, with sufficient prac- 
 tice to give him coufidence in himself and 
 vrit]i a gro^\'ing reputation. He had been 
 industrious, honest, and persistent ; he had 
 neglected no opportunities, and yet he 
 had never permitted himself to resort to 
 methods that discredited him then, or that 
 he has since had occasion to look upon with 
 regret. 
 
 It was almost as natural for a lawyer to 
 go into politics in those days as it was for 
 him to eat his dinner, and the subject of 
 this sketch was no exception to this ten- 
 dency. He got his first introduction to 
 politics in 1860, when he made some 
 speeches in favor of the election of Stephen 
 A. Douglas. In 1858, while still a resident 
 of Bloomington, the celebrated series of 
 debates between Lincoln and Douo-las were 
 being carried on thi'oughout the State of 
 Illinois. One of them was held at Bloom- 
 ington, and it was there that the young 
 laA^yer first made the acquaintance of Mr. 
 Douglas, then the leading man of his State 
 and perhaps of his party in all the country. 
 The older man formed a liking for the 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND POLITICS. 285 
 
 younger one, and it was perhaps only 
 natural that, when the campaign of 1860 
 came on, the young lawyer, Just beginning 
 his life work in another town, should 
 have thrown himself into the contest with 
 all his zeal. 
 
 In spite of the fact that he was a Ken- 
 tuckian by birth, association, and training, 
 Mr. Stevenson refused to support Breckin- 
 ridge and allied himself with the Douglas 
 or Northern wing of the Democracy. He 
 was one of the most earnest of the young 
 supporters of that wonderful man, and in 
 1861, when, during the dark and early days 
 of the war, Douglas died, it was Stevenson 
 to whom the people of his town looked 
 when they cast about for some man to pro- 
 nounce the eulogy upon the life of Senator 
 Douglas. This was delivered at Meta- 
 mora, 111., on the 4th day of July, 1861. 
 
 In order to give some idea of his method 
 of speech in those days, I have selected the 
 following extracts from the address in 
 question : 
 
 " He died in the prime of mniiliood, nt the 
 early age of forty-eiglit, while liis intellect iimI 
 
286 A SKETCH OF AJDLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 faculties were yet undimmed and just as he 
 had reached the zenith of his glory. No 
 greater honor could have been conferred 
 upon him. Like Clay and Webster, he 
 never attained the Presidency, but, like Clay 
 and Webster, his name will be remembered 
 when Tyler is forgotten. He died when his 
 country had great need of his services. In 
 the hour of our national gloom we looked to 
 him for counsel. 
 
 "The congress of the United States will 
 assemble to-day, but who can fill that 
 vacant chair ? Can you estimate our loss? 
 As well you may attempt to count the sand 
 upon the seashore or to measure the drops 
 of the ocean. But, though dead, he yet 
 liveth in the affections of a grateful people. 
 His death has sanctified the last acts of his 
 life and made sacred the last words he 
 uttered to his countrymen. Take those 
 words, write them upon your hearts, teach 
 them to your children, inscribe them upon 
 your banners, and through them its in- 
 fluence will be felt and his voice still heard 
 calling upon you to ' obey the laws and 
 support the Constitution.' 
 
 "He is buried upon the shores of the 
 beautiful lake upon whose banks he lived; 
 in the bosom of the State that be loved so 
 well and served so faithfully. He sleeps 
 quietly at his own Cottage Grove, ' with the 
 rippling waters of old Michigan for his re- 
 quiem, and the shadow of his monument, a 
 noble university, resting upon his grave. 
 As the faithful Moslem made his annual 
 
PROFESSIONAL LIFE AND POLVIWS. 287 
 
 pilgrimage to tlie tomb of tlie prophet, so 
 will the tomb of Douglas be the Mecca of 
 the West, and thither, j^ear after year, will 
 be turned the footsteps of tlie American 
 patriot, who, lingering around the spot, will 
 drop a tear of gratitude and regret npon his 
 grave. From that tomb a noble monument 
 will pierce the heavens, and as year after 
 year passes away it will stand as a living evi- 
 dence of our gratitude to the dead. But he 
 needs no monument to perpetuate his name. 
 His fame is historic; his name is embalmed 
 in the hearts of his countrymen. Need I 
 speak of his social qualities % He attracted 
 men to him as the magnet attracts the 
 needle. K devoted partisan, a warui friend, 
 an affectionate husband, and an uncom- 
 promising patriot, truly he was such a man, 
 'take liim for all in all, we shall not look 
 upon his like again.' Like the great Pitt of 
 England, he was the friend of the common 
 people. The mechanic in his shop, and the 
 laborer upon our great thoroughfares, felt 
 that in him they had a friend. Sprung 
 from an humble origin himself, he gave a 
 helping hand to all who were struggling 
 through poverty and obscurity to obtain 
 positions in life. 
 
 "Not only from the palaces of wealth 
 and splendor, but from the hut of poverty, 
 from the cottage of the humble and lowly in 
 life do we behold the symbols of sorrow and 
 grief." 
 
 In 1864 Mr. Stevenson was nominated 
 
288 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVEJSSON. 
 
 by the Democratic State Convention as a 
 district elector for McClellan. He then 
 made speeches throughout the counties 
 which composed his congressional district, 
 one of the lai'gest in the State, and came 
 out of the canvass with still wider reputa- 
 tion. 
 
 During the war Mr. Stevenson was a 
 strong Union man, and, while he did not 
 participate personally, he did a great deal 
 of work in the raising of troops in Wood- 
 ford County. In this way he assisted in 
 organizing the One Hundred and Eighth 
 Illinois Regiment, the colonel of which 
 was John Warner, now Mayor of Peoria, 
 a sturdy Democrat, and then, as now, a 
 strong personal friend of Stevenson. The 
 lieutenant colonel of the regiment was the 
 Sheriff of Woodford County, and as a re- 
 sult of the work done by Stevenson and 
 others two companies of the regiment in 
 question were raised in that county. 
 Years after, when Stevenson had become a 
 candidate for Congress, and was subjected 
 to the usual abuse in those days heaped 
 upon a Democrat, this same lieutenant 
 
SERVICE m CONGRESS. 289 
 
 colonel, K. L. Sid well, tlieu of Chicago, 
 came out in a letter over his own 
 name, in which he told of the work tliat 
 Mr. Stevenson had done and so refuted 
 effectively the vile charges. From that 
 day to this no man in Illinois has ever 
 been so audacious as to repeat such a 
 charge. However, unlike many rising 
 young men of that day, Stevenson re- 
 mained a Democrat. 
 
 CHAPTER in. 
 
 SERVICE IN CONaRESS. 
 
 In 1869 Mr. Stevenson returned to 
 Bloomington. For some years he had very- 
 little to do with politics, but gave his time 
 to perfecting himself in his profession and 
 to making a legal position for himself in a 
 town where he was then little known as a 
 public man. His practice was still of the 
 same general character, although after the 
 end of his term as District Attorney he 
 gave little attention to criminal matters. 
 
 His life moved along in this quiet 
 
290 A SKETCH OF ABLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 groove until 1874, wlaen lie was nominated 
 for congress. All the elements opposed 
 to tlie Republican party in the district in 
 wliicli lie lived, then Republican by about 
 four thousand majority, united in his sup- 
 port. He sought no nominations, wrote 
 no letters of acceptance, but simply went 
 into the contest, holding joint discussions 
 with his opponent and predecessor. Gen- 
 eral John McNulta. Of this Mr. Steven- 
 son himself now says : ^'' There Avas no word 
 personally offensive spoken by either of 
 the candidates during the entire canvass. 
 After the election we were just as good 
 friends as we were before." 
 
 General McNulta has since been prom- 
 inent in public life, and in 1888 was a 
 prominent candidate for the Republican 
 nomination for Governor of his State. It 
 is also interesting to know that after Mr. 
 Stevenson had been nominated for Vice 
 President in June of this year, the man 
 who made the speech at the wonderful 
 ovation that awaited him in his own town 
 was General McNulta. The friendship 
 formed between them had o-rown A\ith the 
 
SERVICE IN CONGRESS. 291 
 
 years. No professional or political rivalry 
 had had the least effect upon it. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson entered congress in the 
 first House of Representatives controlled 
 by the Democrats after the war. For 
 fourteen years the Republicans had held 
 absolute control not only of the Executive 
 but of both houses of congress. But the 
 tidal wave of 1874 brought into the House 
 a large number of new men, defeating 
 many Republicans who had been most 
 prominent in the drastic legislation of the 
 war period. 
 
 When the Forty-fourth Congress con- 
 vened, the contest for the speakership was 
 between Michael C. Kerr of Indiana and 
 Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania. Both 
 had seen lono- service and had attained 
 about equal prominence. Mr. Kerr was 
 known generally as a tariff reform can- 
 didate, because he had given much atten- 
 tion to questions of revenue and taxation ; 
 while Mr. Randall was known as the ad- 
 vocate of economical appropriations, and 
 had developed in the preceding congress a 
 great faculty for leading the minority, and 
 
292 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. 8TEVEN80N. 
 
 thereby preventing the passage of the 
 Force bill. The contest between them 
 was sharp, and Mr. Stevenson, being an 
 ardent tariff reformer, and living in a 
 State adjoining that of Mr. Kerr, allied 
 himself with the Indiana candidate, who 
 was elected. 
 
 Although a new member, he was as- 
 signed to a place on the Committee on 
 Territories, then far more important than 
 now when nearly all of the Territories 
 have been admitted to the Union as States. 
 And he was also made a member of the 
 Committee on the District of Columbia. 
 This was really one of the most important 
 committees in that congress. The Forty- 
 third Congress had entirely changed the 
 system of government in Washington — the 
 revelations made about the improvements 
 carried on by Alexander E. Shepherd, the 
 great debt entailed upon the District, and 
 the immense cost of the wonderful improve- 
 ments, which really did so much to make 
 Washington a city, together with many 
 other local scandals growing out of the fact 
 that a large proportion of the voters of the 
 
SERVICE IN GONORESS. 293 
 
 District were negroes, had induced the 
 Eepublicans of the Forty-third Congress to 
 deprive the District of what was called 
 "self-government" and to make it really 
 dependent upon congressional appropria- 
 tions. Matters had not yet adjusted them- 
 selves to the new conditions and all the 
 work fell upon the House Committee on 
 the District. It had in charge the devis- 
 ing of a system of taxes and assessments, 
 the government of the police, and all the 
 various minutise relating to the govern- 
 ment of an important city which had been 
 so long misgoverned that an entirely new 
 system was made necessary. Much of the 
 work done by this committee was very 
 laborious, and yet it was of such a charac- 
 ter that very little report of it came to the 
 light, being a working committee, not a 
 dress parade one. 
 
 The Presidential election of 1876 oc- 
 curred during the life of the Forty-fourth 
 Congress. It is not necessary to review 
 the events that led up to a disputed Presi- 
 dency. It is sufficient for the purposes of 
 this sketch to say that Mr. Stevenson was 
 
294 A SKETCH OF AD LAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 a firm supporter of tlie Electoral Commis- 
 sion bill, under the provisions of which a 
 commission, composed of five senators, five 
 members of the House of Representatives 
 and ^YQ Justices of the Suj)reme Court — 
 the fifth of whom was chosen by the other 
 four — was authorized by law and selected 
 under its provisions, and that he was strongly 
 in favor of the commission bill and made a 
 vigorous sj)eech in its favor. 
 
 After the decision had been rendered 
 by the commission, a considerable number 
 of Democrats, under the leadership of 
 William M. Springer of Illinois, now Chair- 
 man of the Ways and Means Committee, 
 and George M. Beebe of New York, under- 
 took to carry on a filibustering contest to 
 prevent the confirmation of what nearly 
 everybody conceded to be a great wrong. 
 While Mr. Stevenson deprecated the de- 
 cision of the commission, he contended that 
 the whole question had been submitted to 
 the tribunal appointed by congress, and 
 that its decision, whatever it might be. 
 should be carried out in good faith. To 
 him the peace of the country was para- 
 
SERVICE IN CONGRESS. 295 
 
 mount and tlie patli of duty was plain, and 
 he saw no reason why he should not follow 
 it, in spite of the fact that it defeated the 
 candidate of his party for the Presidency. 
 While these filibustering proceedings w^ere 
 going on Mr. Stevenson made a brief 
 speech condemning them and insisting that 
 the decision of the commission should be 
 allowed to stand. Later, in February, 
 1877, when the last vote on the question 
 was about to be taken, he made another 
 brief speech on the same question, in which 
 he said : 
 
 '' Mr. Speaker, we have now reached the 
 final act of this great drama, and the record 
 here made will pass into history. Time, the 
 great healer, will bring a balm to those who 
 feel sick at heart because of this grievous 
 wrong. But who can estimate, what seer 
 can foretell, tlie evils that may result to us 
 and our children from this judgment ? For- 
 tunate, indeed, will it be for this country if 
 our people lose not faitli in popular institu- 
 tions. Fortunate, indeed, if they abate not 
 their confidence in the integrity of that liigh 
 tribunal, for a century the bulwark of our 
 liberties. In all times of popular commo- 
 tion and peril, the Supreme Court of the 
 United States has been looked to as the final 
 arbiter, its decrees heeded as the voice of 
 
296 A SKhJTGH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 God. How disastrous raay be the result of 
 decisions so manifestly partisan, I will not 
 attempt to forecast. 
 
 " Sir, let tins vote be now taken and the 
 curtain fall upon these scenes forever. To 
 those who 'believe, as I do, that a grievous 
 wrong has been suffered, let me entreat that 
 this arbitrament be abided in good faith, 
 that no hindrance or delay be interposed to 
 the execution of the law, but that by faith- 
 ful adherence to its mandates, by honest 
 efforts to revive the prostrate industries of 
 the country and restore i^ublic confidence by 
 obedience to the constituted authorities, we 
 will show ourselves patriots rather than 
 partisans in the hour of our country's mis- 
 fortunes." 
 
 In the congressional elections of 1876 
 Mr. Stevenson, renominated by all the ele- 
 ments in his district opposed to the Ke- 
 publican party, had been defeated by 
 Thomas F. Tipton by a majority of less 
 than 850 votes, although the Eepublican 
 candidate for President had carried the dis- 
 trict by several thousand. 
 
 After his retirement from congress Mr. 
 Stevenson returned to the practice of his 
 profession in Bloomington. He never per- 
 mitted anything to keep him away from 
 his practice except those public duties 
 
SmVICE IN CONGRESS. 29^ 
 
 wliich he would not shirk. AVhile lie was 
 in congress his law practice had been 
 kept up, during his absence, by his 
 partner, James S. Ewing, so that he 
 had only to return to it to find plenty of 
 work. He did so then, as he had always 
 done after his retirement from the impor- 
 tant public offices that he has held. 
 
 In 1878 Mr. Stevenson was nominated 
 by the convention of his party, and was 
 supported by all the elements opposed to 
 the Republicans. As usual, he did not 
 push himself upon his party, but, once 
 nominated, he deemed it his duty to enter 
 the field and give the best service he 
 possibly could. His personal popularity 
 stood him in good stead again, and he was 
 returned to congress, after two years' 
 absence, by a good majority. 
 
 This contest was made just after the 
 agitation against the so-called demonetiza- 
 tion of silver and the opposition to tlie 
 legal tender clause of the greenback had 
 become political issues. These questions 
 were under full discussion. Mr. Stevenson 
 took the view then popular in the West on 
 
298 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. 8TEVEN80N. 
 
 these issues. He was in favor of the re- 
 monetizatiou of silver, accomplished only a 
 few months before by the passage of what 
 has since been known as the Bland bill, 
 providing for the coinage of not less than 
 two millions and not more than four mil- 
 lions per month of standard silver dollars 
 of 41 2i grains. Mr. Stevenson was elected 
 by nearly two thousand majority, the dis- 
 trict remaining Republican by a large 
 majority on other candidates. 
 
 So he entered the Forty-sixth Congress. 
 In it the principal committee upon which 
 he served was that upon "Private Land 
 Claims." This was almost entirely a 
 judicial committee. His legal training- 
 stood him in good stead, because this com- 
 mittee had jurisdiction in all matters per- 
 taining to the settlement of claims growing 
 out of the treaty between Mexico and the 
 United States after the Mexican War and 
 the territory which was ceded to the 
 United States — such as Calif oi-nia and 
 other States. In order to do his work 
 effectively it was necessary to study care- 
 fully the Spanish laws relating to land. 
 
SERVICE IN CONGRESS. 299 
 
 He did his work here, as everywhere, care- 
 fully and conscieutiousl}", sparing no labor 
 necessary to reach a complete and intelli- 
 gent understanding of every question sub- 
 mitted to him. 
 
 In this congress also came up what was 
 known in that day as the "Army bill," in 
 which the Democrats sought to force, as a 
 rider in the Appropriation bill, a clause 
 prohibiting the use of the army in the 
 Southern States. Upon this bill Mr. 
 Stevenson made a short and vigorous 
 speech, which not only attracted atten- 
 tion at the time but has been liberally 
 reprinted since his nomination for the 
 Vice Presidency.- This was really the 
 agitation succeeding the original Force 
 bill, fathered by General Butler and de- 
 feated by Mr. Blaine, and pi-eceding 
 the election bill proposed in the Fifty- 
 first Congress by Mr. Lodge and passed 
 under the party discipline then carried 
 out so effectively by Thomas B. Heed, 
 the Speaker. 
 
 This speech condemning the application 
 of force bills was so apt that it might well 
 
300 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 be aj)plied to the existing situation. He 
 said: 
 
 "It would be difficult to conceive of a 
 question of higher moment, or which more 
 vitally concerns the sacred right of the 
 citizen, than that of the exercise of the 
 elective franchise free from apprehension 
 of unauthorized arrest and imprisonment. 
 This is the chief corner stone of all his other 
 rights and privileges. Are the liberties of 
 the citizen safe when he can be obstructed 
 in the choice of his representative, whether 
 by the armed soldiery or by the deputy 
 marshals ? He who believes that the Amer- 
 ican people will consent that their liberties 
 may permanently be held by so brittle a 
 tenure has studied the history of our race 
 to little purpose. The purity of the ballot 
 box must be maintained. None should be 
 X:>ermitted to api^roach it except such as 
 have the lawful qualifications. To these 
 the pathway must be unobstructed. Every 
 necessary guard must be thrown around it 
 to protect it against fraud. But, while this 
 is true, it is all-important that the right of 
 the people, unawed by menace, to select 
 their representatives should not be abridged. 
 Upon the full exercise of this right depends 
 not only the maintenance of the independ- 
 ence of the po23ular branch of our govern- 
 ment, but of the integrity of the government 
 itself." 
 
 Mr. Stevenson has been a consistent 
 
SERVICE IN CONGRESS. 301 
 
 Democrat all his life. His first vote, cast 
 ill 1856, Avas for Mr. Buchanan, and lie has 
 never supported the nominee of any other 
 party than his own. Whatever the elec- 
 tion might be — National, State, or local — 
 he has looked upon himself, and his neigh- 
 bors and friends have looked upon him, as 
 a consistent partisan. It is quite remark- 
 able, indeed, that a man of such strong 
 opinions and affiliations should have been 
 able to command the support of the inde- 
 pendent elements in such a district at 
 various times, but this conies generally 
 from his strong character and the fact 
 that he has all his life been prudent in 
 speech and utterance, kindly to his neigh- 
 bors, and fortunate enough not to excite 
 those enmities and jealousies that injure 
 so many men. 
 
 Ill 1880 he was again renominated, but 
 w^as defeated by a majority of only 242, 
 and that, too, during the Presidential con- 
 test, when his district gave 3000 Kepubli- 
 can majority. This closed his congres- 
 sional career, upon which he resumed the 
 practice of the law in the same general 
 
302 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 line. During this canvass bis old friend 
 and townsman, David Davis, then a United 
 States Senator, wrote a letter in favor of 
 Mr. Stevenson, extracts from which are 
 interesting now. In it he said : 
 
 uj i-egret my inability to attend your 
 meeting, the more so because it would have 
 afforded me an opportunity to bear personal 
 testimony to the claims of Hon. A. E. 
 Stevenson, who is up for re-election to con- 
 gress, and who deserves the support of 
 every fair-minded and independent voter. 
 Mr. Stevenson unites in his character and 
 candidacy the qualities which Jefferson 
 defined as the necessary conditions for prop- 
 erly filling a public trust. He is honest, he 
 is capable, and he is faithful to duty. 
 
 •'As a representative, the peoi3le of this 
 district, whether Democrats, Rei:)ublicans, 
 or Nationals, have reason to be proud of 
 him, for on all test questions he has risen 
 above the narrow restraints of party, guided 
 by the ]principles of right, and animated by 
 a moral courage that never faltered in 
 asserting his convictions. 
 
 "The soldier, the soldier's widow, and 
 the soldier's children have found in him a 
 vigilant, a valuable, and an untiring friend, 
 to whose influence and efforts they owe 
 relief that has soothed many sorrows. 
 
 "Enjoying the fullest confidence and re- 
 spect of all parties in congress, he has done 
 very much to serve local and State interests. 
 
SERVICE IN CONGRESS. 303 
 
 This experience will enable him to do more 
 than any new member could hope to achieve, 
 for the first term is practically the infant 
 school of a legislator. 
 
 " If there was no better reason than self- 
 interest to recommend him, he ought to be 
 returned again. But as he stands upon a 
 higher plane, and asks the approval of an 
 intelligent and a just constituency upon the 
 merits of his congressional career, it should 
 be given gratefully and generously." 
 
 In 1884 lie was elected as a delegate to 
 the National Convention wliicli nominated 
 Mr. Cleveland the first time, and was a 
 member of the Notification Committee. 
 The first time he met Mr. Cleveland ^vas 
 when, as a member of that committee, the 
 candidate was notified of the nomination 
 in Albany on July 29, 1884. While the 
 Notification Committee was in session at 
 Albany, a large ratification meeting ^vas 
 held, at which the late Samuel J. Randall, 
 Patrick A. Collins, the late Governor 
 Walker of Virginia, Representative Hooker 
 of Mississippi, and Mr. Stevenson were 
 the speakers. He took an active part 
 in that campaign, canvassing a great part 
 of the State of Illinois for Mr. Cleveland. 
 
304 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 IN THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 
 
 In August, ] 885, Mr. Stevenson was ten- 
 dered the office of First Assistant Post- 
 master General. He was never an appli- 
 cant for the phxce, but he was on intimate 
 terms with Postmaster General Vilas, who 
 recommended the appointment, and was 
 exceedingly anxious to obtain Mr. Steven- 
 son's services in his department. 
 
 This office was then by far the most im- 
 portant in the whole Post-Office Depart- 
 ment, after the Postmaster General himself. 
 Its work Avas divided within a few months 
 after Mr. Stevenson's retirement from 
 office, in March, 1889, and its duties are 
 now distributed between the office of First 
 Assistant Postmaster General and the new 
 office of Fourth Assistant Postmaster Gen- 
 eral. As it was then constituted, it in- 
 cluded a good deal more than half of the 
 work of the department. Everytliing re- 
 lating to the appointment of postmasters 
 and their bonds, to the free delivery 
 
IJSr THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 305 
 
 services, to salaries and allowances, and 
 other smaller bureaus, was attached to 
 this office, the head of which w^as com- 
 pelled to make himself familiar with the 
 details of the vast business confided to 
 him. 
 
 Naturally, the most important work — 
 that requiring the best judgment of its 
 incumbent — related to the appointment of 
 what are known as ''Fourth-Class Post- 
 masters." Of the entire number of post- 
 masters (then nearly 60,000) only a little 
 more than 2000 belonged to the first, sec- 
 ond, and third classes, and were what are 
 known as "Presidential Officers." These 
 appointments were made by the President 
 upon the advice of the Postmaster General. 
 Of the other 58,000, the task of making the 
 appointments was lodged in the First As- 
 sistant's office, and in only a comparatively 
 small number of cases was the Postmaster 
 General himself even consulted about the 
 appointment that should be made. It was 
 in this office, how^ever, he made the reputa- 
 tion of being a headsman of postmasters. 
 That he did remove a large number of 
 
:^00 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 sucli officials is undoubtedly true, but that 
 lie improved the service at every turn is 
 also true. 
 
 During the twenty-iive years' term of 
 power of the Republicans these fourth- 
 class postmasters had been used as mere 
 pawns on the political chessboard. They 
 had become a compact body of active, 
 energetic politicians, working at every 
 cross-road ; and that, too, in obedience to 
 orders from National, State, or local Repub- 
 lican committees and partisan managers. 
 A goodly number of them had perhaps 
 neglected the duties of their offices, or had 
 become purely subordinate to the purposes 
 of their partisan managers. It was, there- 
 fore, necessary for a Democratic Adminis- 
 tration, entering upon power after a long 
 exclusion from it, to reach these officials 
 and to teach them that their tenure of 
 office was not for life. But this wonderful 
 power, perhaps the greatest lodged in any 
 single man by any government in the 
 world, was not abused. Changes were 
 not made so rapidly as to injure the 
 effectiveness of the service, nor upon the 
 
IN THE POST-OFFICE DJUPARTMENT. JiOV 
 
 mere whim of a membei* of con caress or of 
 a patron. 
 
 It was necessary that Democrats should 
 be appointed to these places. The inso- 
 lence of power, together with the partisan 
 use that had been made of them and the 
 kind of men that had been appointed — 
 men, in many cases, wdio had held them so 
 long that they looked upon themselves as 
 having a mortgage upon them — all ren- 
 dered it absolutely essential to the good of 
 the service, as well as to the assertion of 
 the ideas of the party that had gained 
 power, that in these smaller offices the 
 changes should be made. 
 
 In fact, the responsibilities of these places 
 are quite as great, if not greater than some 
 of the large offices, and as to their relative 
 importance there is no comparison what- 
 ever. It makes little difference to a large 
 community what may be the personal bear- 
 ing or the political methods of a postmaster. 
 The people do not come in contact with 
 him, but in the small places, if a man is 
 offensive to a few of his neighbors he soon 
 becomes offensive to most of them, because 
 
308 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 the qualities whicli make him so in the one 
 
 case are almost certain to produce the same 
 
 result in the other. 
 
 As showing Mr. Stevenson's attitude 
 
 toward his own business interests, as they 
 
 might be affected by his official position, 
 
 the following letter, which explains itself, 
 
 may be of interest : 
 
 " PosT'Office Department, 
 ''Office First Asst. Postmaster Gen., 
 "Washington, D. C, July 27, 1886. 
 "Thomas J. Bunn, Postmaster, 
 " Bloomington, III. 
 "Dear Sir: In reply to your inquiry 
 whether the removal of the Bloomington 
 post office at the expiration of the present 
 lease to Stevenson block is contemplated by 
 the department, I answer it is not. Inas- 
 much as a number of gentlemen for whom I 
 maintain a high regard have written me 
 suggesting the removal, I should be glad to 
 have them know my views upon the sub- 
 ject. Stevenson block is owned by members 
 of my own family, whicli fact, while I sus- 
 tain my present position, wholly excludes it 
 from consideration as a location for a post 
 office. The exercise of official power to 
 promote the pecuniary interest of one's self 
 or one's friends cannot, in my judgment, 
 under any possible circumstances, be jus- 
 tified. Yours very traly, 
 
 "A.'E. Stevenson." 
 
/iV THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 309 
 
 In February, 1889, just before the close 
 of the Cleveland administration, Mr. Ste- 
 venson was nominated without consultation 
 with him as Associate Justice of the 
 Supreme Court of the District of Colum- 
 bia, but as a Republican President had 
 been elected in the meantime, the Senate 
 took advantage of this fact to " hang up " 
 the appointment, and so the nomination 
 was neither confirmed nor rejected. Mr. 
 Cleveland was very much attached to his 
 appointee for judge, and it is not too much 
 to say that he regretted very seriously 
 the defeat of his purpose in this Avay. He 
 would have made an excellent judge in 
 every way. His legal training and temper 
 are such that he would soon have made his 
 mark as judge in an important court like 
 that of the District of Columbia. 
 
 In April, 1892, he was elected a dele- 
 gate-at-large by his State convention to the 
 National Convention at Chicago, and was 
 afterward chosen as chairman of the dele- 
 gation. It is scarcely necessary to review 
 his relations with the Cleveland canvass. 
 Ever since the close of the Democratic 
 
310 A SKETVII OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 administration, in 1889, Mr. Stevenson lias 
 been looked upon as the firm friend of Mr. 
 Cleveland, and he has always insisted that 
 the one thing to do was to nominate Mr. 
 Cleveland. He was potent in bringing this 
 about during the convention, and was the 
 original chairman of the conference com- 
 mittee composed of prominent Cleveland 
 men from every State that took under its 
 charge the duties of the canvass. 
 
 Immediately after his retirement from 
 office Mr. Stevenson returned to his home 
 in Bloomington, resumed the active prac- 
 tice of his profession, and has been engaged 
 in his old Avork ever since. Since that 
 time he has manifested his old-time interest 
 in politics, as well as in business matters, 
 by taking an active part in the interests of* 
 the location of the World's Fair at Chicago. 
 
 After his own nomination and the ad- 
 journment of the convention he returned 
 home. The citizens of his own city, a 
 strongly Republican one, closed up their 
 places of business and turned out with 
 almost absolute unanimity to tender him a 
 reception. 
 
IN THE POST OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 3 1 1 
 
 At this a speech was made by his old- 
 time political opponent and personal friend, 
 General John McNulta. The most compli- 
 mentary references were made to the can- 
 didate for the Vice Presidency, and every- 
 thing showed that his standing among his 
 neighbors was such as to justify this genei'al 
 approbation of his career and the celebration 
 of his nomination as candidate for the Vice 
 Presidency. He also made a speech at 
 Peoria, in his State, on the Fourth of July, 
 that has attracted a good deal of attention. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson is the President of the 
 McLean County Coal Company, in which 
 he owns a small amount of stock. The 
 mine itself is mainly owned by members 
 of his family — his brother-in-law having 
 been the original President and for many 
 years the active manager of the company. 
 It was, therefore, only natural that the coal 
 miners, of whom an average of about 225 
 are employed the year round, should ex- 
 press their approbation of the nomination 
 of the President of the company by ten- 
 dering him a serenade. This was done 
 on July 11. 
 
512 A SKETCH OF ADLAT E. STEVENSON. 
 
 As showing Mr. Stevenson's relations to 
 the labor question and laboring people, it 
 is interesting to read the speech made by 
 him on this occasion in reply to Mr. Rad- 
 ford, the pit boss and spokesman of the 
 miners : 
 
 "It has been my good fortune on more 
 than one occasion to witness manifestations 
 of the kindly feelings entertained toward 
 me by neighbors and fellow-townsmen, but 
 I can say to you in perfect candor that your 
 visit to-night and your words of kindness 
 have touched me more deeply than I have 
 ever been touched before. It is indeed 
 gratifying now that the most cordial rela- 
 tions exist between the officers of our com- 
 pany and all of those who are employed in 
 its service. As has been truly said by your 
 chairman, but few disagreements have ever 
 occurred between yourselves and the com- 
 pany, and these liave been amicably settled. 
 During the time I have been President of 
 the company no disagreement or misunder- 
 standing of any kind has arisen. 
 
 " I was more than gratified at the remark 
 of Mr. Radford that I had not only treated 
 you with justice, but always with kindness. 
 I have certainly aimed to do so. Mr. Rad- 
 ford has referred to the fact that many of 
 you have homes of your own in the village 
 of Stevensonville, paid for out of your earn- 
 ings at the mine. It has been a source of 
 great pleasure to my brothers and myself 
 
IN THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 3 1 3 
 
 that our efforts to enable each of you to pro- 
 cure a comfortable home has met with such 
 gratifying success. 
 
 ^'The most kindly and cordial feelings 
 should ever exist between the employer and 
 the employed. All disagreements should 
 be settled either by conference or by arbi- 
 tration. It has been my firm conviction for 
 years that organization looking solely to 
 their bettering and the protection of their 
 rights is a necessity to the wage-earners. I 
 will detain you a moment with an additional 
 suggestion. It is this : By appropriate leg- 
 islation when needed, but especially by the 
 management of all the industrial enterprizes 
 of the country, the hours of toil should be 
 lessened. This would give to the wage- 
 earner more time for the enjoyment of his 
 home and the society of his family." 
 
 These were no newly acquired opinions of 
 Mr. Stevenson's — opinions that had come 
 to him after nomination for an important 
 office. To show this it is only necessary 
 to quote a few sentences from a political 
 speech made by him on September 12, 1878, 
 in which he thus referred to the rights 
 of labor : 
 
 "At no previous period of our history 
 have the rights of the laboring men been so 
 earnestly pressed upon our attention. It is 
 the part neither of humanity nor of sound 
 statesmanship to close our eyes to the griev- 
 
314 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 ances and distress of this large and useful 
 class of our citizens. It cannot be denied 
 that for some cause or causes labor is failing 
 to meet with its just reward. To a large ex- 
 tent the evils complained of are the inevit- 
 ableVesults of the vicious financial legislation 
 to which I have referred. There should be no 
 antagonism between employed capital and 
 labor. It is idle and unproductive capital 
 which antagonizes labor. It must be ad- 
 mitted that the improvements in machinery 
 during the last few years have to a large 
 extent supplanted human labor. But I can 
 hardly believe that the invention of genius, 
 dispensing with the hard labor of human 
 hands, is in the end to prove a curse rather 
 than a blessing to our race. 
 
 "In the end, under a proper adjustment 
 of the rights of labor and of capital, labor- 
 saving machinery must prove a benefit by 
 shortening the hours of toil and adding to 
 those of social and intellectual recreation. 
 The important inquiry is, How can the re- 
 spective rights of labor and capital be so 
 adjusted that labor may meet with its just 
 recomj)ense ? It is a question of difiicult 
 practical solution, but it is an encouraging 
 fact that the attention of so many earnest 
 and thoughtful men is now being called to 
 its consideration. Intelligent discussion is 
 necessarily the forerunner of all reforms. 
 I would favor the appointment by congress 
 of sf commission to collect facts and statis- 
 tics bearing upon this inquiry, and to ascer- 
 tain the opinions of x^i'^ictical, thoughtful 
 
CHAR A CTERISTICS AND S VCCESS. 3 1 5 
 
 men with a view to such legislation as 
 would solve this question and secure to 
 labor the just reward of its service. It has 
 been truly said that "Government should 
 protect labor, capital being always able to 
 protect itself." • 
 
 CHAPTEE V. 
 
 CHAEACTEEISTICS AND SUCCESS. 
 
 The unusual name, Adlai, first appeared 
 in the Stevenson family in Adlai Osborn, 
 who was the clerk of Rowan County, N. 
 C, as far back as 1775, when it was still a 
 colony. He was an uncle of Mr. Steven- 
 son's grandfather, and the name, so far as 
 the candidate for the Vice Presidency can 
 recall, has been confined almost entirely to 
 his family and to those persons named for 
 himself and other members of his family 
 during the many generations that it has 
 been current. 
 
 Few men have a larger acquaintance the 
 country over than Mr. Stevenson. He is 
 not only associated politically with a large 
 number of men, but his family and personal 
 relations have been such as to brino; him 
 
316 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 into close relations with almost as many 
 as he had come to know through politics. 
 His acquaintance, therefore, especially in 
 the South, where he is known by reason of 
 Kentucky and North Carolina ancestry, is 
 perhaps unsurpassed by that of any man 
 now living in the United States. This 
 applies not only to men now prominent 
 in politics, but to those who have been 
 prominent since the days of reconstruction ; 
 that is, since his election to congress in 
 1874. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson is not a man of wealth ; 
 he has never been a money-maker. He is, 
 however, in moderate circumstances, hav- 
 ing always been a prudent and thrifty man, 
 without any of the ostentation that can 
 only be satisfied by the expenditure of 
 money. ■ 
 
 He is a collector of books and has a very 
 good and well chosen library. He is not 
 only a collector, but he is a reader. His 
 studies have been mainly in the line of 
 history, more especially of American politi- 
 cal history. 
 
 As a lawyer he has never run to special- 
 
CHAR A GT ERISTICS A ND S UCCESS. 3 1 7 
 
 ties, but lias given liis atteution to that 
 general practice of the law so common in 
 an agricultural community. He has been 
 more successful, perhaps, as a jury lawyer 
 than in anything else. He has an excel- 
 lent command of language, knows his case 
 well, studies carefully the character of the 
 jury to whom he must make appeal, and 
 has a faculty of keeping them interested in 
 the case. He does not make long legal 
 arguments; in fact, his political speeches 
 and addresses to juries have seldom been 
 more than an hour and a half long, with an 
 averao-e of about an hour. 
 
 Mr. Stevenson's conception of his profes- 
 sion and the dignity and responsibility of 
 the lawyer were w^ell shown in an address 
 delivered by him before the students of 
 the Illinois Wesleyan University, Novem- 
 ber 5, 1873, in which he said : 
 
 ^' No man should enter the profession of 
 the law through merely mercenary motives. 
 If he has no higher aim than the accumula- 
 tion of wealth he had better seek some less 
 laborious and more lucrative calling. The 
 same intellectual ability in another avoca- 
 tion, with one-half the toil, anxiety, Jind 
 weariness of the lawyer's life, would bring 
 
318 A SKETCH OF ADLAl E. STEVENSON. 
 
 far greater gains to Lis coffers. He who 
 enters this profession should do so actuated 
 by far nobler, holier purposes. It should be 
 his aim to master those great principles upon 
 which the structure of human society rests ; 
 the great principles and laws by which right 
 is made superior to might; by which the 
 moral and intellectnal attributes of our 
 nature are made to rise superior to and to 
 control mere brute force. Nay, more than 
 this, it is his high prerogative to assist in 
 administering that God-like quality — jus- 
 tice — tempered ofttimes by that still more 
 God-like attribute — mercy. 
 
 "Let no man, then, enter this profession 
 with a mistaken idea of his duties, its re- 
 sponsibilities. The life of a lawyer is not 
 one of ease, but a life of w^eariness, both to 
 the body and mind. There is no royal road 
 to victory, but he who ascends to the highest 
 niche in the temple of fame does so only 
 after many years, perhaps a long life, of 
 unwearied effort. While this is true it is 
 also true that save only the ministers of 
 God's holj^ church no calling in this life 
 affords such opportunities for the attain- 
 ment of noble ends, the accomplishment of 
 glorious purposes. Upon the bar rest great 
 responsibilities. To whom much is given, 
 of them much will be required. In propor- 
 tion as the lawyer is endowed with great 
 abilities are his responsibilities great. In 
 proportion as are his opjiortunities will be 
 demanded of him the talents given, with 
 usury, at that tribunal whose judgments 
 
CHARA CTERISTICS AND SUCCESS. 3 1 9 
 
 are founded in wisdom and from whose de- 
 crees there is no appeal. 
 
 " I have spoken of the duties and require- 
 ments of the profession ; need I speak of its 
 rewards ? The greatest is, in the prospect 
 of a busy life, to know that your high office 
 has never been prostituted to base purposes ; 
 that it has never been an engine of oppres- 
 sion ; that in you the weak and helpless 
 have ever found a defendant ; that the vic- 
 tims of injustice and wrong have never 
 sought your aid in vain ; that your influence 
 and example have ever been on the side of 
 tlie right, for those measures and reforms 
 that purify and elevate our race. As we ap- 
 proach the dark river from whose farther 
 shore no traveler has ever yet returned, a 
 consciousness that we have caused the faces 
 of sorrowing childhood to light up with joy, 
 that to the widow in her weeds of mourning 
 we have indeed been benefactors, will be 
 more glorious far than to have left behind us 
 monuments of marble, a name in history, or 
 to have worn the jewels of royalty." 
 
 As a political speaker he has adapted 
 himself well to the Western manner. He 
 tells a variety of interesting stories in 
 order to keep his audience in good humor 
 with himself and the 'subject upon which 
 he is speaking. He is an inimitable story- 
 teller, whether on the platform or in pri- 
 vate life, and few men other than profes- 
 
320 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSOS. 
 
 sional raconteurs like Proctor Knott Lave 
 
 so mucli reputation or have better deserved 
 
 it. He nearly always lias something " to 
 
 point a moral or adorn a tale," and yet he 
 
 does not obtrude these stories. They are 
 
 suggested naturally by the course of the 
 
 conversation. His manner in tellino^ 
 
 them — as is the case with all successful 
 
 story-tellers — is deliberate, and he has a 
 
 faculty of joining in the resulting laughter 
 
 with much zest. 
 
 It may not be inapt to recount, as may 
 
 be done from memory, one of his political 
 
 stories. He says : 
 
 '' Early in 1872, when the opening of the 
 Presidential campaign was imminent, an old- 
 time client of mine from one of the country 
 townships of McLean County came in to see 
 me. He was a plain farmer of Kentucky 
 birth and Southern ancestry. After we had 
 talked for a good while about various 
 matters, he touched on politics. Just at 
 that time a good deal of discussion was go- 
 ing on in the press about David Davis, my 
 townsman, as the candidate to be nominated 
 by the Liberal-Republican Convention then 
 called to meet in Cincinnati during the fol- 
 lowing May. When my friend asked me 
 who was talked about I said : ' Well, a 
 good many of us are thinking of Davis.' 
 
CHARACTERISTICS AND SUCCESS. 321 
 
 My visitor thereupon said : * Well, you 
 know, Mr. Stevenson, that our township is 
 very strongly Democratic, and that its vote 
 will be cast for any man whose nomination 
 it is thought best to make.' Then he came 
 up to me a little closer and added in a 
 friendly and intimate way : ' But don't you 
 think it's a little airly to bring old Jeff 
 out.' " 
 
 His stock of stories is large, and yet no 
 man ever hears one a second or even a 
 third time that he does not enjoy it quite 
 as well as upon the first narration. There 
 is always a new knack in the telling — 
 something that gives new zest to it, and 
 that, therefore, maintains the interest of 
 the listener. 
 
 Probably no man ever entered public 
 life who made himself so thoroughly acces- 
 sible as did Mr. Stevenson during the time 
 that he was filling the office of First As- 
 sistant Postmaster General. There was 
 very little ceremony about whom he 
 would see; none of that sending in of 
 cards and waiting that have become the 
 bane of men having business with public 
 officials. Not only was he ready and will- 
 ing to transact business in a business way, 
 
322 A SKETCH OF ADLAI E. STEVENSON. 
 
 during business hours, but was also ever 
 ready and willing to receive any man at his 
 house or in a hotel or any place that seemed 
 convenient. Few men have been com- 
 pelled to lose their trains in order to 
 transact business with him. He is a good 
 listener, has quick decision, and is soon able 
 to let his visitor know whether an impres- 
 sion has been made upon him. 
 
 He has never been looked upon as a 
 political manager. All the nominations 
 that he has ever had hare conie to liim 
 without personal seeking. He has always 
 had a fair knowledge of the situation in a 
 district or State, or in the country, but was 
 never a manager of caucuses, and at no_ 
 time has he ever sought an office, in the 
 ordinary acceptation of that term. 
 
 He is a member of the Second Presby- 
 terian Church of Bloomington, 111., and has 
 been since his boyhood. His family con- 
 sists of his aged mother, now in her eighty- 
 fourth year, his wife, and four children, 
 one son and three daughters. He has a 
 home well situated, well furnished, but 
 without anything that is merely for show 
 
CHARACTERISTICS AND SUCCESS 323 
 
 or ostentation. He has close personal 
 relations with his neighbors, and it is said 
 that he has almost no enemies. This does 
 not arise from any defect in his own char- 
 acter, but from his even temper and his 
 thorough tolerance of difference of opinion. 
 Among his intimates was David Davis, for 
 many years Justice of the Supreme Court 
 of the United States, and who died while 
 a member of the United States Senate. In 
 all Mr. Stevenson's political fortunes Judge 
 Davis was his earnest supporter and at all 
 times his devoted personal friend. 
 
 THE END. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Arthur, Chester A. , Pres- 
 ident of the United States, 
 73 ; courteous treatment of 
 the President-elect and 
 friendly relations with, 140; 
 claims against Peru aban- 
 doned under, 162 
 
 Agriculture, Department of, 
 efficient man chosen as Com- 
 missioner, 198 
 
 Allen, Lewis F., uncle of 
 Grover Cleveland, 23 ; edi- 
 tor of Shorthorn Herd 
 Book, 22, 23 
 
 Abolitionists, many, in revolt 
 against their party, 125 
 
 Bangs, Stetson, Tracy & 
 MacVeagh, Cleveland's 
 partnership with, 227 
 
 3ass, Lyman K., nominated 
 for District Attorney 
 against Cleveland, 31 ; 
 forms partnership with 
 Cleveland, 34 
 
 Bayard, Thomas F., voted for 
 for President, 123 ; appoint- 
 ment as Secretary of State, 
 147 ; character of, 147 
 
 Beebe, George M., leader in 
 filibustering contest, 294 
 
 Beecher, Rev. Henry Ward, 
 supports Cleveland for Pres- 
 ident, 127 
 
 Bethlehem Iron Company, 
 
 contract with, for armor 
 plate and gun steel, 182 
 
 Bissell, Wilson S., autlior's 
 obligations to, viii ; enters 
 law tirm with Cleveland, 
 34 ; accompanies Cleveland 
 to Albany, 80 
 
 Black, John C, appointed 
 Commissioner of Pensions, 
 156 
 
 Blackburn, J. C. S., graduate 
 of Centre College, 277 
 
 Blaine, James G., Republican 
 candidate for President, 
 126 ; opposition to, 127, 
 128 ; defeated for President, 
 
 130 ; carries eighteen States, 
 
 131 ; Butler's Force bill de- 
 feated by, 299 
 
 Blair, Austin, of Micliigan ; 
 supports Cleveland for 
 President, 127 
 
 Bloomington, Stevenson's re- 
 movafto, 275 
 
 Boies, Horace, selected as 
 candidate for District At- 
 torney, 31 
 
 Boston Merchants' Associa- 
 tion, speech before, 232 
 
 Bowen & Rogers, hiw precep- 
 tors of Grover Cleveland, 23 
 
 Breckinridge, W. C. P., grad- 
 uate of Centre College, 277 
 
 Breckinridge, John C, grad- 
 uate of Centre College, 277 
 
326 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Bridgeport,' Conn., speech at, 
 128 
 
 Brown, Governor John 
 Young, graduate of Centre 
 College, 277 
 
 Buchanan, James, Stevenson's 
 first vote for. as candidate 
 for President, 301 
 
 Buffalo,' Cleveland's removal 
 to, 23 ; growth of the city 
 of, 45 ; Cleveland nominated 
 for Mayor of. 45 ; Cleveland 
 discovers weak points in 
 Common Council of, 58 
 
 Butler, Benjamin F., advo- 
 cate of original Force bill, 
 299 
 
 Byron, Lord, favorite author 
 with Grover Cleveland as 
 young man, 14 
 
 Caldwell, N. J., Rev. Rich- 
 ard F. Cleveland's call to 
 the Presbyterian Church, 5 
 
 Carlisle. John G., conversa- 
 tions with, on the tariff 
 question, 220, 222 
 
 Chamljerlain, Daniel H., sup- 
 ports Cleveland for Presi- 
 dent, 127 
 
 Character, general estimate of 
 of Cleveland's, 247 
 
 Chase, Salmon P., Secretary 
 of the Treasury, 151 
 
 China, treaty with, negotiated 
 by Secretary of State, 165 
 
 City Government, Cleveland's 
 opinion on, 86 
 
 Civil Service Commission, in- 
 stitution of, in New York 
 Stale, 115 
 
 Civil service reform, Cleve- 
 land's opinion on, i27; let- 
 ter to George William Cur- 
 tis on, 134; result of policy 
 in, 204 
 
 Clarke, James Freeman, sup- 
 ports Cleveland for Presi- 
 dent, 127 
 
 Cleveland, Aaron, Rev., death 
 in Philadelphia, 3 
 
 Cleveland, Grover, ancestry 
 and early life. 1 ; birth at 
 Caldwell. N. J., 6; always 
 known b}^ middle name 
 only, 6; clerk at grocer}' 
 store at Fayetteville, ]S. Y., 
 and duties, 9: returns to 
 family at Clinton, 10; finds 
 employment in tlie Blind 
 Asylum. New York City, 
 11; career in that institu- 
 tion. 13; recollections of. by 
 Miss Frances J. Crosby, 
 13-22; reading, habits of 
 work, etc., 14; kindness of 
 heart, 14; as student and 
 lawyer, 23-45: return to 
 Holland Patent, 23; ad- 
 mitted to the Bar, 26; first 
 independent work as a lav,-- 
 yer, 28; appointed Assist- 
 ant District Attorney, 28; 
 n(jniinated and elected 
 Sheriff of Erie County. 33; 
 returned to law practice, 
 34; work as a lawyer, 34-35; 
 estimate of his career as a 
 lawyer, by Wilson S. Bis- 
 sell, 37-43; becomes mem- 
 ber of the firm of Bass, 
 Cleveland & Bissell. 43; the 
 firm becomes Cleveland. 
 Bissell <fe Sicard, 44; as 
 Mayor of Buffalo, 45-69; 
 nominated for Mayor of 
 Buffalo, 46; speech accept- 
 ing nomination for Mayor. 
 49; commanded support of 
 independent elements, and 
 of straight-out Republican 
 newspapers, 51; elected 
 
INDEX. 
 
 327 
 
 Mayor, 51; talked of for 
 higher honors, 69 ; canvass 
 for the Governorship, 69-80 ; 
 proposed by friends for the 
 Democratic nomination for 
 Governor, 71 ; goes to Syra- 
 cuse convention, meets 
 Daniel Manning, 72; elec- 
 tion as Governor, 76; inau- 
 guration as Governor, 80; 
 first year in the Governor- 
 ship, 80-105; first annual 
 message as Governor, rec- 
 ommendations of, 83, 84, 
 85, 86, 87; speeches while 
 Governor, 98; care in mak- 
 ing appointments, 99; first 
 Railroad Commissioner 
 
 chosen by, 100; method of 
 dealing with the labor ques- 
 tion, 101, 102; second year 
 in the Governorship, 105- 
 116; second annual message 
 to legislature, reviews con- 
 dition of the State, 105; rec- 
 ommendations of, 105-111; 
 took no part in the canvass 
 to secure his own nomina- 
 tion for the Presidency, 115; 
 the Presidential canvass 
 and the election, 116-139; 
 nominated for President, 
 123; elected President, 130; 
 carries twenty States, 131; 
 has held nothing but execu- 
 tive offices, 139; organizing 
 the executive departments, 
 140-159; inauguration as 
 President, 141 ; inaugural 
 address, 142; desires pub- 
 lic confidence, 143; selects 
 Daniel Manning as Secre- 
 tary of State, 146; method 
 of choosing his Cabinet, 
 146; close attention given to 
 legal questions while Presi- 
 
 dent, 186; tours throughout 
 the country, 206; speX'ches 
 while President, 213; Tarilf- 
 Reforni message, 214-224; 
 renominated for President 
 at St. Louis, 224; canvass 
 of 1888 and retirement, 224- 
 247; defeated for President, 
 225; forms partnership with 
 Bangs, Stetson, Tracy & 
 MacVeagh, 227 ; takes a 
 house in New York, 227; 
 relation to nomination in 
 1892, 245; general estimate 
 of character, 247-260; esti- 
 mate of, by R. W. Gilder, 
 261-270 
 
 Cleveland, Lewis Frederick, 
 entered the army in 1861, 
 30 
 
 Cleveland, Moses, first Ameri- 
 can of the name, 1 
 
 Cleveland, Richard Cecil, 
 entered the army in 1861, 
 30 
 
 Cleveland, Richard Falley, 
 birth, Norwich, Conn., 4; 
 settled in Baltimore, Md., 
 4; married, 5; removed to 
 Windham, Conn., 5; ac- 
 cepts call to Portsmouth, 
 Va., 5; settled as minister 
 at Caldwell, N, J., 6; re- 
 moved to Fayetteville, N. 
 Y., 6; removed to Clinton, 
 N. Y., 8; agent American 
 Home Missionary Society, 
 8; called to pastorate at, 
 Holland Patent and death 
 there, 11 
 
 Cleveland, AVilliam, grand- 
 father of Grover Cleveland, 
 married to Margaret Fal- 
 ley. 4 
 
 Cleveland, Rev. William N., 
 eldest son of Richard F. , 
 
32^ 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 and brother of Grover, 8 ; 
 pastor at Presbyterian 
 Church at Chaiimont, Jef- 
 ferson County, New York, 
 8; exemplary character, 22; 
 letter to, 77 
 
 Clinton, De Witt, Governor 
 of New York, 81 
 
 Clinton, George, Governor of 
 New York, 81 
 
 Codman, Charles R., supports 
 Cleveland for President, 
 127 
 
 Colman, Norman J,, ap- 
 pointed Commissioner of 
 Agriculture, 153 
 
 Cornell, AlonzoB., disinclin- 
 ation as Governor to par- 
 don ; exercises this power 
 in the case of Flannigan on 
 Cleveland's presentation of 
 the case, 42 
 
 Collins, Patrick A., speaker 
 at ratification meeting, 303 
 
 Contract labor, abolition of, 
 by vote of the people of the 
 State, 113 ; method of deal- 
 ing with, by legislature, 113 
 
 Cox, Samuel S. , appointed 
 Minister to Turkey, 157 
 
 Crittenden, Thomas T., grad- 
 uate of Centre College, 277 
 
 Crosby, Miss Frances J., au- 
 thor's obligations to, vii ; 
 pupil and teacher in the 
 Institution for the Blind, 
 12 ; recollections of Grover 
 Cleveland, 13-22 ; hymn 
 writer, 12 
 
 Cutting, Harmon S., private 
 secretary of Mayor of Buf- 
 falo, 52 
 
 Curry, appointed Minister to 
 Spain, 157 
 
 Curtis, George William, sup- 
 ports Cleveland for Presi- 
 
 dent, 127 ; letter to, on civil 
 service reform, 134 
 
 Davis, David, strong advo- 
 cate of Stevenson's election, 
 302 
 
 Democratic Club of New 
 York, speech before, 229 
 
 Denby, Charles, appointed 
 Minister to China, 157 
 
 Dependent Pension bill, veto 
 of, 202 
 
 Dickinson, Don M., appointed 
 Postmaster General, 190 ; 
 record as Postmaster Gen- 
 eral, 190, 191 
 
 Direct Tax bill, veto of, 211 
 
 Dix, John A., Governor of 
 New York. 81 
 
 Dorsheimer, William, United 
 States District Attorney ; 
 tendered Cleveland appoint- 
 ment as assistant, 32 
 
 Endicott, William C, ap- 
 pointed Secretary of War, 
 150 ; efficient record in of- 
 fice, 185 
 
 Estimate of character, by a 
 literary man, 261-270 
 
 Ewing, James S., Stevenson's 
 law partner, 297 
 
 Executive offices, Cleveland 
 has held no other, 139 
 
 Extradition Treaty concluded 
 with England by Minister 
 Phelps and Lord Rose- 
 bery, 168 ; attitude of Sen- 
 ate and Republican press 
 toward, 169 
 
 Franklin , Benjamin, friend 
 of Rev. Aaron Cleveland, 3 
 
 Folsom, Oscar, law partner 
 in firm of Laning, Cleve- 
 land & Folsom, 32 ; Cleve- 
 
INDEX. 
 
 329 
 
 land's tribute to at Bar 
 meeting, 38 
 
 Fairchild, Charles S., trans- 
 ferred from Assistant Secre- 
 tary of the Treasury to the 
 head of the Department, 
 154 ; policy as Secretary of 
 the Treasury, 173 
 
 Fisheries Treaty, conclusion 
 of, 170 ; attitude of senators 
 to, 171 
 
 Five Cent Fare bill, veto of, 
 91 
 
 Flannigan, Cleveland's suc- 
 cessful application for par- 
 don of, 42 
 
 Folger, Charles J., Republi- 
 can candidate for Governor, 
 73 
 
 Free Soilers in revolt against 
 their party, 125 
 
 Fuller, Melville W., appointed 
 Chief Justice, 187 
 
 Gakfield, James A., tragic 
 death of, 117 ; claims against 
 Peru under administration 
 of, 162 
 
 Gallatin, Secretary of the 
 Treasury, 151 
 
 Garland, Augustus H., At- 
 torney General, 147 ; char- 
 acter of, 149 
 
 Gilder, Richard Watson, ob- 
 ligations of author to, viii ; 
 estimate of Cleveland by, 
 261 
 
 Grand Army of the Repub- 
 lic, veto of v^arrant for 
 paying expenses, 61 ; sub- 
 scription to funds of, 62 
 
 Grant, General U. S., speech 
 of Wm. F. Vilas at banquet 
 to, in Chicago, 153 
 
 Green, Rev. Lewis, father of 
 Mr. Stevenson's wife, 278 
 
 Grover, Rev. Stephen, min- 
 ister at Caldwell, N. J., 
 Grover Cleveland his name- 
 sake, 6 
 
 Hamilton College, at Clin- 
 ton, N. Y.,8 
 
 Harrison, Benjamin, New 
 York and Indiana carried 
 for, by free use of money, 
 225 ; elected President, car- 
 rying twenty States, 226 
 
 Hay, Malcolm, appointed as 
 Assistant Postmaster Gen- 
 eral, 155 
 
 Hendricks, Thomas A. , voted 
 for for President, 123 ; 
 nominated for Vice Pres- 
 ident, 123 
 
 Herd Book, American Short- 
 horn, 23 ; recognition of 
 Cleveland's work on, 24 
 
 fligginson, Thomas Went- 
 wortli, supports Cleveland 
 for President, 127 
 
 Hooker, Charles, speaker at 
 ratification meeting, 303 
 
 Indians, government of, 
 Cleveland's policy on, 195 
 
 Jenks, George A. , Assistant 
 Secretary of the Interior 
 and Solicitor General, 155 ; 
 faithful work as Solicitor 
 General, 186 
 
 Jewett, James C, claims 
 against Brazil for fifty mil- 
 lions lodged with Depart- 
 ment of State and thrown 
 out by Secretary, 162 
 
 Johnston, Joseph E.. ap- 
 pointed Commissioner of 
 Railroads, 156 
 
 Jordan, Conrad N., United 
 States Treasurer, 155 
 
330 
 
 IND^X. 
 
 Kerr, Michael, C, elected 
 Speaker^of the House, 291 ; 
 supported by Stevenson as 
 candidate for Speaker, 291 
 
 Kieley, A. M., nominated as 
 Minister to Italy and ob- 
 jected to by that govern- 
 ment, 166 ; nominated as 
 Minister to Austria-Hun- 
 gary and objection made, 
 166 
 
 Lamar, L. Q. C, appointed 
 as Secretary of the Interior, 
 147 ; character of, 148 ; 
 appointed Justice of the 
 Supreme Court, 187, 
 
 Lamont, Daniel S., chosen as 
 private secretary to the 
 President, 144 ; character- 
 istics of, 145, 146 
 
 Lame ducks of politics, [fewer 
 than usual appointed," 156 
 
 Laboring classes, Cleveland's 
 opinions on, 103 
 
 Laning, A. P., partner in law 
 firm of Laning, Cleveland 
 & Folsom, 32 
 
 Lathrop, George V. N., ap- 
 pointed Minister to Russia, 
 157 
 
 Lodge, Henry Cabot, his ad- 
 vocacy of the Force bill, 299 
 
 Lowell, James Russell, opin- 
 ion of Cleveland, 267 ; let- 
 ter to Josiah Quincy, J268 ; 
 poem on Cleveland, 269 
 
 Manning, Daniel, first meet- 
 ing with Cleveland, 72 ; 
 great political manager de- 
 veloped by Tilden, 121 ; con- 
 vention controlled by, and 
 friends, 121 ; appointed 
 Secretary of the Treasury, 
 
 ; 150 ; death of, 152 ; policy 
 
 as Secretary of the Treas- 
 ury, 171 
 
 Marcy, William L. , Governor 
 of New York, 81 
 
 Matthews, Claude, graduate of 
 Centre College, 277 
 
 McCreary, James B., grad- 
 uate of Centre College, 277 
 
 McDonald, Joseph E., voted 
 for for President, 123 
 
 McCuUoch, Hugh, Secretary 
 of the Treasury, 151 
 
 McLane, Robert M., ap- 
 pointed Minister to France, 
 157 
 
 McNulta, John, Republican 
 candidate|for Congress, de- 
 feated by Stevenson, 290 ; 
 speech of congratulation to 
 his old political opponent, 
 311 
 
 Ministerial habit, fixed in 
 Cleveland family, 1 
 
 Moore, Thomas, a favorite 
 author with Grover Cleve- 
 land as a young man, 14 
 
 Mugwumps, developed as a 
 distinctive element in poli- 
 tics in 1884, 124 ; organ- 
 ization of, 126 
 
 Neal, Anne, mother of 
 Grover Cleveland, 5 
 
 Newark, N. J., speech at, 129 
 
 New York Central Railroad, 
 Cleveland's firm attorneys 
 for, 36 
 
 Niagara Falls, passage of law 
 setting aside reservation, 
 114 
 
 North Carolina, productive- 
 ness of, in men, 272 
 
 Pardons and commutations, 
 Cleveland's care in consid- 
 erino:, as Governor, 95; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 331 
 
 opinion on pardoning 
 power, 96, 97 
 
 Pearson, Henry G., reap- 
 pointed Postmaster at New 
 York, 158 
 
 Pendleton, George H., ap- 
 pointed Minister to Ger- 
 many, 157 
 
 Pensions, Cleveland's policy 
 on, 201; veto of private 
 bills, 201 
 
 Phelps, Edward J., appointed 
 Minister to England, 157; 
 treaty concluded with, 168; 
 
 Pierce, Henry L., supports 
 Cleveland for President, 
 127 
 
 Pound, Thaddeus C, sup- 
 ports Cleveland for Presi- 
 dent, 127 
 
 Princeton Theological Semi- 
 nary, William F. Cleve- 
 land's graduation at, 5 
 
 Public Building bills, veto 
 of, 209 
 
 Public Land Policy, 191 
 
 QuiNCY, JosiAH, letter to, 
 from James Russell Lowell, 
 on Cleveland, 268 
 
 Randall, Samuel J., voted 
 for for President, 123; can- 
 didate for Speaker of the 
 House, 291; speaker at 
 ratification meeting, 303 
 
 Reed, Thomas B., promoted 
 enactment of the Force 
 bill, 299 
 
 Reform Club, letter to, on 
 Silver Question, 242; effect 
 of same on public senti- 
 ment, 243 
 
 Rosebery, Lord, treaty with 
 Minister Phelps, 168 
 
 Rosecrans, General William 
 
 S., appointed Register of 
 the Treasury, 156 
 Russell, William E., speech 
 favoring re-election of, as 
 Governor, 237 
 
 Sandwich, Mass., speech in 
 response to greeting of 
 neighbors, 244 
 
 Schell, Augustus, manager 
 Institute for the Blind, 21 
 
 Schurz, Carl, supports Cleve- 
 land for President, 127 
 
 Seward, William H., Gover- 
 nor of New York, 81 
 
 Seymour, Horatio, Governor 
 of New York, 81 
 
 Shepherd, Alexander R., Dis- 
 trict of Columbia debt cre- 
 ated bv, 292 
 
 Sidwell.^R. L., defends Ste- 
 venson's war record, 289 
 
 Southern Hotel, Cleveland 
 boarder at, 25 
 
 Stedman-Hutchinson, Library 
 of American Literature, list 
 of Cleveland's sayings in, 
 204 
 
 Stevenson, Adlai E., ap- 
 pointed First Assistant Post- 
 master General, 155 ; birth 
 and education, 271-277; 
 birth of, 271; ancestors of 
 settled in Kentucky, 271; 
 ances^^ors of farmers in Ken- 
 tucky, North Carolina, and 
 Ireland, 272; attended pub- 
 lic school in Kentucky and 
 Illinois, 276; returnetl to 
 Kentucky and entered Cen- 
 tre College, 276; profes- 
 sionjil life and politics, 278- 
 287; enters upon the study 
 of the law, 278; admitted 
 to practice as a lawyer, 
 279; removes to Woodford 
 
33: 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 County, 111., 280; elected 
 District Attorney, 281; al- 
 lies himself with the Doug- 
 las Democracy, 285; deliv- 
 ers an eulogy on Stephen A. 
 Douglas, 285; nominated as 
 candidate for elector, 288; 
 strong Union man during 
 the war, 288; service in Con- 
 gress, 289-303; returned to 
 Bloomington, 289 ; nomi- 
 nated for Congress, 291; 
 assignment to committee 
 service, 292; supports Elec- 
 toral Commission, 294; 
 speech in favor of decision 
 of Electoral Commission, 
 295; nominated for Forty- 
 sixth Congress, 297; elected, 
 298; opposed to Army bill, 
 299 ; election advocated by 
 David Davis, 302; elected 
 delegate to the National 
 Democratic Convention, 
 303; in the Post-Office De- 
 partment, 304-315; ap- 
 pointed as First Assistant 
 Postmaster General, 304 ; 
 removal of Fourth (Jlass 
 Postmasters, 305; refusal to 
 permit his property to be 
 used for post office, 308 ; 
 nominated as Associate Jus- 
 tice of the Supreme Court 
 of the District of Columbia, 
 309; elected a delegate at 
 large to Chicago conven- 
 tion, 309; assisted inlocating 
 the World's Fair at Chicago, 
 310; president of the Mc- 
 liCan County Coal Com- 
 I)any, 311; attitude on labor 
 question, 312; speech on 
 labor in Congress, 313; char- 
 acteristics and success, 315- 
 323; not a man of wealtii or 
 
 a money-maker, 316; book 
 collector and reader, 316; 
 conception of the legal pro- 
 fession, 319; as a story-tel- 
 ler, 319; accessibility \vhile 
 Postmaster General, 321 ; 
 not a political manager, 
 322; member of the Presby- 
 terian Church, 322 
 
 Springer, William M., leader 
 of filibustering contest, 
 294 
 
 Straus, Oscar S., appointed 
 Minister to Turkey, 157; 
 excellent record as Minister, 
 104 
 
 Takiff Reform, Cleveland's 
 first otlicial reference to, 
 after election as President, 
 214 ; reference to in second 
 annual message, 215 ; mes- 
 sage of 1887 devoted en- 
 tirely to, 216 
 
 Tenure of Office Act, contest 
 with Senate on, 200 
 
 Thurman, Allen G., voted for 
 for President, 123 ; speech 
 at banquet to, 236 
 
 Tilden, SannielJ., Governor 
 of New York, 81 ; declines 
 nomination for President in 
 1880, 117; management of, 
 and Cleveland's relation to, 
 118; Cleveland not in entire 
 sympathy with, 118 ; ene- 
 mies of, also enemies of 
 Cleveland, 120 
 
 Tipton, Thomas F., Republi- 
 can candidate for Congress, 
 defeated by Stevenson, 
 296 
 
 Torrance, Cyrenius C, Dis- 
 trict Attorney, appoints 
 (Heveland his assistant, 
 30 
 
INDEX. 
 
 333 
 
 University of Michigan, 
 speech to students of, 237 ; 
 extracts from, 238, 239. 240 
 
 Veto, of ordiuaiice.s passed 
 by Common Council of Buf- 
 falo, 62 ; plain speech. 63; 
 Mayor of Buffalo, Cleveland 
 known as, 88 
 
 Veto Power, free use of, as 
 President, 209 
 
 Vanderpoel, Cleveland's tirst 
 law partnership formed 
 with, 32 
 
 Vilas, William F., President 
 of the National Democratic 
 Convention of 1884, 122 ; 
 speech at Grant banf^uet, 
 153 ; appointed Postmaster 
 General, 153 ; transferred 
 to the head of the Interior 
 Department, 153 
 
 Wadleigh, Bainbridge, sup- 
 ports Cleveland for Presi- 
 dent, 127 
 
 "Waite, Morrison R., Chief 
 Justice, death of, 187 
 
 Walker, ex-Governor of Vir- 
 
 ginia, speaker at ratitication 
 meeting, 303 
 
 Warner, A. J., letter to, on 
 Free Coinage of Silver, 136 
 
 Warner, John, Colonel of reg- 
 iment raised by Stevenson 
 and others, 288 
 
 Washington Inauguration 
 Centennial, speech at, 231 
 
 Western New York, local 
 pride of, 69 
 
 Whitney, William C, ap- 
 pointed Secretary of the 
 Navy, 152 ; first report to 
 the President, 179 ; policy 
 as Secretary of the Nav3^ 
 181 ; makes contract with 
 Bethlehem Iron Company 
 for armor plate and gun 
 steel, 182 
 
 Williams, Robert E., Stev- 
 enson's law preceptor, 
 278 
 
 Woodberry, Levi, Secretary 
 of the Treasury, 151 
 
 Yale College, William 
 F. Cleveland's graduation 
 there, 3 
 
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