Yale University Library

39002002962414

YALE UNIVERSITY
LIBRARY

A PUBLIC OFFICE IS A PUBLIC TRUST."

1 I-

PRESIDENT

AND HIS

GflBl&GT)

o

eating the Progress of the Government
of the United States under the
Administration of
ROVER CLEVELAND

TO WHICH IS ADDED

The President's Message on the Tariff ; the Democratic
& Platform of 1888 ; Letters of Acceptance ; and other
valuable documents, including a Biography of
Hon. Allen G. Thurman.

la 6ko

C. B. NORTON,
Editor of " Civil Service Chronicle."

Illustrated with Portraits and V;

. ..

k/*'^~

o

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS
CABINET
INDICATING THE PROGRESS OF THE GOV
ERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES
UNDER THE ADMINISTRA
TION OF
GROVER CLEVELAND BY
C. B. NORTON
Editor of the Civil Service Chronicle
"A PUBLIC OFFICE IS A PUBLIC TRUST"

ILLUSTRATED WITH PORTRAITS AND VIEWS

BOSTON
CUPPLES AND HURD. Publishers
1888

Copyright, 1888.
By C. B. NORTON.

All Rights Reserved.

Dedicated to
Prosper Bender, M. T>., a warm friend and con
siderate adviser, by
C. B. NORTON.

CONTENTS,

PAGE
Introduction  -9
Chapter I. Cleveland's Early Days . .17
Chap. II. Cleveland as Mayor . . 29
Chap. III. Cleveland as Governor . . 39
Chap. IV. Cleveland as President . . 55
Chap. V. The State Department . .103
Chap. VI. The Treasury Department . 117
Chap. VII. The War Department . . 139
Chap. VIII. The Navy Department . . 153
Chap. IX. The Post Office Department . 161
Chap. X. Department of the Interior . 171
Chap. XI. Department of Justice — Depart
ment of Agriculture — Depart
ment of Labor — Government
Printing Office — U. S. Civil
Service Commission , .191
Chap. XII. Allen G. Thurman . . . 211
Chap. XIII. Official Documents . . . 229

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS.

Grover Cleveland, President, . . Frontispiece
The City Hall, Buffalo, N. Y., ... 29
The State House, Albany, N. Y., . . . 39
The Executive Mansion, Washington, D. C, . 55
T. F. Bayard, Secretary of State, . . . 103
C. S. Fairchild, Secretary of the Treasury, . 117
Wm. C. Endicott, Secretary of War, . . 139
W. C. Whitney, Secretary of the Navy, . . 153
Don M. Dickinson, Postmaster-General, . 161
Wm. F. Vilas, Secretary of the Interior, . .171
A. H. Garland, Attorney-General, . . . 191
Allen G. Thurman, candidate for Vice-Presi
dent,  211
Residence of Allen G. Thurman, Columbus, O. 217
The Capitol, Washington, D. C, 229

WORDS OF ACKNOWLEDGMENT.

In the preparation of this work, the writer has had
recourse to the biographies of Mr. Cleveland published
in 1884, written by Gen. La Fevre, Deshler Welch,
Thomas W. Hahdfofd, and others, to all of whom he
desires to express his obligations ; also specially to the
heads of departments, chief clerks, and other officers of
the Administration, for their uniform courtesy and kind
ness. The admirable portraits of the Cabinet officers
are from photographs by C M. Bell ; the one of the
President, by Merritt & Van Wagner, — all used by per
mission, for which thanks are now returned.
C B. N.

INTRODUCTION.

There can be no doubt that the present condition
of this country is a very satisfactory one to the ma
jority of its citizens. That this is largely due to the
existence of an honest and thorough business admin
istration, and the enforcement of a statesmanlike
foreign and domestic policy, are facts that hardly any
but the most bigoted partisan will challenge.
It is equally true that Grover Cleveland has given
more time and closer supervision to the duties of his
office, and administered the affairs of the country
more safely, economically, and judiciously, than any
of his predecessors in time of peace. There is no
department of the administration with the work of
which he is not fully acquainted, and all the officers
of the government testify to his minute and con
scientious inquiry into all matters submitted to him.
And yet he finds time to receive all callers at the
White House, which he does with that simple,
straightforward, and hearty manner which has won
him the affection and esteem of all who have come
in contact with him ; even his political opponents do
9

IO INTRODUCTION".
not leave his presence without experiencing the
greatest respect for their host.
We think that we may dare to assert that no
President, since the foundation of the government,
has shown greater wisdom in the safe guarding of
the institutions of the country, given more encour
agement and judicious protection to our industries,
inaugurated better or sounder policies, enacted more
desirable laws, advocated a more beneficial revision
of the tariff system, or administered the affairs of
the country with greater integrity or stricter economy
than Grover Cleveland.
In brief, Grover Cleveland has been the highest
exponent of the great principles of Democracy and
economical government. His past is a pledge for
the future, and, if he be given an opportunity
to carry out the reforms he advocates with such
characteristic courage and patriotism, including the
revision of the present tariff laws and the reduction
of the national taxation, a greater era of peace, pros
perity, and happiness than ever known in our annals
is before us.
With the view of placing before our fellow-citizens
the practical and beneficial results of the Cleveland
regime, and to comply with innumerable requests
for more information concerning the past and present
of our chief of state, this work has been prepared. [

INTRODUCTION. u
We shall devote some space to a biographical
sketch of our illustrious countryman, and give be
sides many interesting facts regarding the operation
of the different departments which he controls, and
for which he is responsible to the country.
It will be shown that under
THE STATE DEPARTMENT
our foreign relations have. steadily and satisfactorily
improved, that our consular service was never so
effective, that the valuable weekly and monthly re
ports supplied by the consuls are already yielding
important results, such as the adoption of the sug
gestions therein contained by our inventors and man
ufacturers, with all the benefits which that implies.
The effect of the wise and safe financial policy of
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT
will be fully established. Under the able supervision
of the secretary, the work of the department has
been greatly simplified and rendered more practi
cable. Through the adoption and enforcement of the
rules of merit service, there has been secured a great
economy in the general management of the depart
ment, while the assurance of permanence in office
during good behavior has resulted in the best and
most reliable work being obtained.

I2 INTRODUCTION.
We will show that
THE WAR DEPARTMENT
has not by any means been idle. The appropria
tions of Congress have been expended advanta
geously and with excellent discrimination, and to-day
the guns and projectiles manufactured in this coun
try compare favorably with those of Europe.
Through the systematic work of
THE NAVY DEPARTMENT,
a navy is being rapidly created which will be a credit
to the United States. Had not the secretary been
hampered by the condition of things in the depart
ment when he entered the office, more would have
been accomplished ; but the work achieved thus far
inspires hope and confidence in the mind of all
patriotic Americans.
A pronounced and decided advance has been
made in THE INTERIOR DEPARTMENT,
particularly in the general land office, through
which agency there have been redeemed, from the
hands of jobbers and speculators, millions of acres
that are now restored to the public domain, and will
in the course of time be homes for coming genera
tions. In the Indian Bureau, where good manage
ment and economy are the order of the day, and in

INTROD UCTION. 1 3
the Bureau of Pensions, Patents, and Education, etc.,
an equally gratifying state of things exists.
THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT
presents a remarkable increase in the facilities for
delivering mails, a great economy in the general
management of the department, a reduction in the
rates of postage, and more rapid and certain delivery
of all mail- matter.
There has also been a great and marked improve
ment in the very important work of
THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE,
under the able and experienced management of the
attorney-general. There has been a clearing-off of
the accumulated work on hand, and special attention
is being paid to the important matter of pardons,
every case of which receives, in addition, the careful
consideration of the President himself.
The farmers of our land have reason to feel grate
ful for the work of
THE DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,
which has done so much for the great practical in
terests of the country.
The introduction of new opportunities for the in
crease of our agricultural resources will be fully
shown in the account of this department.

! 4 INTRO D UCTION.
Under its zealous, capable, and experienced chief,
THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
is rendering incalculable benefit to this nation at
large. This is additional evidence that no point is
overlooked, under the present administration, that
will benefit our people.
THE CIVIL SERVICE COMMISSION
is engaged in one of the most difficult tasks ever
attempted in connection with the administration jof
any government. The patience and perseverance of
the commissioners deserve all praise, and the result
of their labors will convince our readers of the really
wonderful progress already secured, cavillers notwith
standing. With such a record as the above, is it not reason
able to believe that the independent thinker and non
partisan voter will unite with the Democratic party to
secure a perpetuation of so satisfactory a condition
of things ? With Grover Cleveland at the helm of
the ship of state, during the next four years, we may
look forward to broad, liberal, and enlightened tariff
reform measures, to comprehensive and successful
financial policies, and to marked progress and effi
ciency in the merit service of the United States.
No man stands higher to-day in the peerage of
public esteem and affection than Grover Cleveland,

INTRODUCTION.

IS

and all true patriots must earnestly desire to see him
for another term occupy the exalted position of the
ruler of the destinies of the greatest nation on the
face of the earth, in which he now figures so credit
ably and honorably.

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

CHAPTER I.
Cleveland's early days.
That the President of the United States occupies
the highest position among the rulers of the world
cannot be denied. When we take into considera
tion the enormous extent of territory, the large
and intelligent population, and the varied national
ities represented in this country, this fact must be ad
mitted. While the Queen of England and Empress
of India and the Czar of Russia govern millions
who neither know nor care as to the personality of
their ruler, the sixty millions of our citizens are all
interested to know of Grover Cleveland. For that
reason a sketch of his ancestry and early life is
here presented, with the view of supplying informa
tion from authentic sources and in a popular form
for the use of the people.
In 1635, Moses Cleveland came to America from
Ipswich, Suffolk County, in England ; he died in
Woburn, Mass., January 9, 1701, and in the old
graveyard of that town are still" standing head
stones of English slate which indicate the resting-
place of Aaron Cleveland, the second son of Moses,
and the great-grandfather of the President. He
17

1 8 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
was one of the early opponents of slavery, and will
long be remembered as having introduced a bill in
the Legislature of the State of Connecticut for its
abolition. He studied divinity and became a Con
gregational minister, and died in New Haven, 1815.
William, the second son of Aaron Cleveland, and
the grandfather of the President, was a practical
silversmith at Beacon Hill, near Norwich, Conn. ;
he retired from business and moved to New York
State, dying at Black Rock, in 1857.
Richard F. Cleveland, the second son of William,
and father of the President, was born in Norwich,
Conn., 1804. He graduated at Yale College in
1824, locating in Baltimore as a teacher, and while
engaged in his duties pursued his studies for the
ministry. In 1828, he was ordained a Presbyterian
minister in Windham, near Norwich. The following
year he married the daughter of Abner Neal of
Baltimore, and later on settled at Caldwell, N. J.
Thence he removed to Fayetteville, N. Y., in 184.1,
and in 1847 ne was appointed secretary of the
Home Missionary Society. Six years afterwards he
was installed at Holland Patent, where he died
October 1, 1853, in his fiftieth year. Mrs. Cleve
land, mother of the President, died in the same
place, July 19, 1882.
Grover Cleveland was born in Caldwell, N. J.,
March 18, 1837. The house, a small, unpretend
ing cottage, still remains, and it has attracted
many visitors to Caldwell, from its connection with
the childhood of the President. The father, grand
father, and great-grandfather of the President were
natives of Connecticut.

CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS. IO/
When Grover Cleveland was five years of age,
his father became pastor of a church in Fayetteville,
N. Y., and there the son attended school and was
for a time a clerk in a country store, "thus grow
ing up among the people as one of themselves.
In the character of the President there is evidence
of the advantages secured by an intermingling of
the old Puritan stock with that of the Cavaliers
of Maryland. While the family resided in Clinton,
the seat of Hamilton College, he continued his
preparations for entering college. His father's
health not being satisfactory, another removal was
made to Holland Patent, where the sudden decease
of the elder Cleveland changed the future life of the
son. William, an elder brother, occupied a respon
sible position as instructor in the Institution for the
Blind in New York City, and, although but sixteen
years of age, Grover also obtained employment,
through the influence of Augustus Schell, formerly
collector of that port. In this position the young
man did his duty with faithfulness, and it is
doubtless due to this experience with the blind
that the President possesses a patience and perse
verance for which he has universal credit. After
some time spent in New York, he determined to go
West ; but an interview with his uncle, Lewis F.
Allen, changed his plans, and, through the sugges
tions and advice of Mr. Allen, he located in Buffalo,
entering the law office of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers,
as an office boy, upon a salary of four dollars a
week, and walking from his uncle's house, two miles
from the office, in all weathers. It was a position
which, in itself, required detail, and Grover Cleve-

2o THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
land soon indicated his natural tendency to system
and order, an experience which has largely facili
tated him m the control and management of the
enormous amount of business which now falls to
him to supervise and complete. He was a hard
worker, studied his profession carefully in all his
spare time, and progressed so rapidly as to attract
the attention of his employers. After four years'
hard work he became managing clerk.
It is stated by those who knew Grover Cleveland
at this period of his life that he won success by his
industry, courage, and honesty. He was thorough
in all he undertook, and, once his convictions were
formed upon what he believed to be reliable data,
nothing could change them. In 1859, when he was
in his twenty-second year, he completed his legal
studies, passed the necessary examinations, and was
admitted to the bar. It was at this period in his
life that he adopted a rule to complete every day's
work so that it would not have to be done again,
and the late hours kept by the President at his desk
in the executive mansion bear testimony to the value
of a plan which he still adheres to.
During his connection with the bar at. Buffalo, he
was intrusted with some important cases, which were
so successfully conducted that he was at once recog
nized as a rising man in his profession. On January
1, 1863, Grover Cleveland was appointed assistant
district attorney of Erie County. This position was
a close test of his abilities, and the universally ex
pressed opinion of all who knew him was that in
that office he did an amount of work seldom accom
plished. He still maintained his resolution to com-

CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS.

plete the day's duties, and often, when it became
necessary, could be found busy till an early hour in
the morning. During his occupation of the office,
nearly the entire range of duties fell upon his
shoulders ; it was just the training he needed, and
he went into it with all the zeal of youthful aspira
tions. He was in attendance at all the grand jury
meetings during his three-years term of office, and
presented in full a large majority of the cases.
However, before the three years' had elapsed, the
people of Buffalo were so well satisfied with the
labors of Grover Cleveland that he was unanimously
nominated for district attorney by the Democrats
of Buffalo, at the age of twenty-nine, but was beaten
by his intimate personal friend, Lyman K. Bass, with
whom he afterwards formed a law partnership — in
1866. Mr. Cleveland formed a partnership with the
late mayor of Buffalo, I. V. Vanderpoel, which
lasted till 1869, when he joined the firm of Laning,
Cleveland & Folsom. In 1870 the friends of
Grover Cleveland suggested his name as candidate
for the office of sheriff, and, without any effort on
his part, he received the unanimous vote of the
Democratic party, and was elected for three years.
The office of sheriff is the most important executive
office in the county, under the system in the State
of New York. The duties of this position were
filled by Mr. Cleveland with the same attention and
business-like fidelity that he had always shown in such
positions as he had held either in public or private
life.- In this, the first important executive position
which he had filled, he did justice to himself and to
those whose confidence he had secured, and by

22 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
whom he was elected. While holding this important
office, Grover 'Cleveland's habits were simple and
unassuming, the fees of the sheriff's office were.
sufficiently large to admit of saving some money,
and, had he been ambitious in that direction, he could
have been a rich man.
At the expiration of his official term as sheriff, in
1873, he became a member of the firm of Messrs.
Bass, Cleveland, and Bissell, with Lyman K. Bass
and Wilson S. Bissell as associates. This was a
strong and popular firm, and commanded a large
and lucrative practice. In 1881 a new firm was
formed, Mr. George J. Sicard being admitted as a
partner under the firm name of Cleveland, Bissell
& Sicard, which still exists. It was in this position
that Mr. Cleveland secured a permanent reputa
tion in that section of the State of New York for
legal acumen and intellectual honesty. His man
agement of cases was distinguished ^sy sound views,
direct simple logic, and a t|u^a#Bg|i mastery of all
their intricacies, which secured fqt* him the respect
of his own profession and the admiration of the
public. " These qualities, combined with the fidelity
and independence of his official action, naturally -
secured for him the general respect and esteem of
his fellow-citizens. The best evidence of this are
the numerous statements that have appeared in type,
voluntarily contributed by citizens ' of western New
York. Judge George W. Clinton, the son of Governor
De Witt Clinton, and vice-chancellor of the Univer
sity of New York, chief judge ofthe Superior Court,
before whom Grover Cleveland frequently appeared,

CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS. 2$
says of him : "As a lawyer he was known both as
a counsellor and an advocate, and he often appeared
before a jury. In his jury addresses he never fired
over the heads of the jury in rhetorical eloquence.
He addressed himself to them directly, as an honest,
sensible man speaking to his fellows, and he won
his verdicts by his close and full argument, and
his thorough knowledge of all the evidence in the
case. He was strictly honorable, and .never en
deavored to take petty advantages of the opposing
counsel or of the jury. So keen was his sense of
honor and justice that it would have gone against
the grain of his character, to have tried to mislead a
jury if justice was opposed to him. I certainly never
knew him to make the effort. When he began
practice his reputation as a lawyer was respectable.
It rose gradually among the profession until at the
time he became mayor he can truthfully be said
to have been eminent at the bar of Erie County."
Mr. Milburn, a well known lawyer of Buffalo,
states as follows in reference to Mr. Cleveland :
" He is a fine lawyer. He is incapable of wilful
wrong, and nothing on earth could sweep him from J
his conviction of duty. That he is thoroughly'
honest cannot be questioned, and he has always been
regarded as an able and safe man in every relation of
life." Mr. James N. Matthews, editor of the leading
Republican paper in Buffalo, utters the same senti
ments : " I know of n"t> Democrat better equipped
for the position for which he has been named than
Grover Cleveland. He is an able, honest, and incor
ruptible man. He is self-reliant, and has excellent
judgment. He has long stood in the front rank

24 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
with the very leaders of thought and action in this
part of New York." At this time, 1881, there was
a strong revolt against the management of the muni
cipal affairs of the city of Buffalo, >and in this condi
tion of affairs the old party lines were to- a certain
extent disorganized. It had been badly ruled by a
combination of Republican managers, and many
voters took exceptions to an extension of this fraud
and mismanagement. The city was ring-ridden, its
revenues were stolen or wasted, and no mayor had
been found, for many years, who possessed the cour
age and ability to attack these abuses. To secure
such a mayor was no easy task. There were many
who were profuse in their promises, but such pledges'
had been so often broken that the citizens intended
that no one should be promoted to the place who
could not give good security by means of an unsul
lied reputation and a good record. At this time the
Democratic party was the party of reform, and
Grover Cleveland participated in a movement which
he believed to be just and right. As sheriff of Erie
County, he secured administrative reform, and the
respect he received from his fellow-citizens on retir
ing from that office is the best testimony to his suc
cess. A candidate for mayor was needed whose
honesty should be unimpeachable, and whose cour
age would enable him to stem the torrent of politi
cal corruption. The people turned to Grover Cleve
land as the man for the occasion. At first he declined ;
he did not desire the nomination, but suggested the
names of several prominent Democratic citizens as
far more available than himself for the position.
However, the strong pressure brought to bear by

CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS. 2$
some of the best men in Buffalo at last convinced
him of the importance of his acceptance of the nom
ination, and he did so. There can be no question
but that in this case the office sought the man. At
the Buffalo Democratic City Convention in 1881, in
accepting the nomination, Grover Cleveland placed
himself upon a platform which appeals to-day with
equal force to the entire voting population of these
United States. He said, " Gentlemen ofthe Conven
tion, I am informed that you have bestowed upon
me the nomination for the office of mayor. It cer
tainly is a great honor to be thought fit to be the
chief officer of a great and prosperous city like ours,
having such important and varied interests. I
hoped that your choice might fall upbn some other
and more worthy member of the city Democracy, for
personal and private considerations have made the
question of acceptance on my part a difficult one.
But because I am a Democrat and because I think
no one has a right at this time of all others to con
sult 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 affairs, I accept the nomination
tendered to me. I believe much can be done to re
lieve our citizens from their present load of taxation,
and that a more rigid scrutiny of all public expendi
tures will result in a great saving to the community.
I also believe that some extravagances in our city
government 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

2^i THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
v,s private interests. And when we consider that,
public officials are the trustees of the people, and
hold their places and exercise their powers for the
' benefit of the people, there should be no higher in
ducement to a faithful and honest discharge of pub
lic duty.
"These are very old truths ; but I cannot forbear
to speak in this strain to-day, because I believe the
time has come when the people loudly demand that
these principles shall be sincerely, and without men
tal reservation, adopted as a rule of conduct. And
I am assured that the result of the campaign upon,
which we enter to-day will deftionstrate that the
citizens of Buffalo will not tolerate the man or the
party who has been unfaithful to public trusts: I
say these things to a convention of Democrats,
because I know that the grand old party is honest,
and they cannot be unwelcome to you. Let us,
then, in all sincerity, promise the people an improve
ment in our municipal affairs, and, if the opportunity
is offered to us, as it surely will be, let us faithfully
keep that promise. By this means, and -by this
means alone, can our success rest upon a frnVi foun1
dation, and our party ascendancy be permartently
assured. Our opponents will war^e a bitter and
determined warfare ; but, with united and hearty
effort, we shall achieve a victory for our entire
ticket. And at this day, and with my record before
you, I trust it is unnecessary for me to pledge to
you my most earnest endeavors to bring about this
result ; and, if elected to the position for which you
have nominated me, I shall do my whole duty to
the party, but none the less, I hope, to the citizens
of Buffalo."

CLEVELAND'S EARLY DAYS.

27

The result of such an address as this may easily
be imagined. Speaking, as it did, to the sound, prac
tical common-sensevof those who listened to it, the
effect was like magic. Every independent reform
voter felt that his own views would be carried out
to the best interests of the city of Buffalo. The
truth of every word uttered by Grover Cleveland
was at once admitted, and, up to this time, not even
his bitterest foe has dared to question the perfect
honesty of his opinions. No better evidence of the
non-partisan feeling in Buffalo can be produced
than the following, from a leading editorial in the
Buffalo Express, a well known and prominent
Republican paper, — "The Man /or Mayor." " Cir
cumstances seem at last to have brought to the
front the right man for this great place, and it only
remains to be seen whether the people will have
wisdom enough to put him in it. We know Grover
Cleveland. Nearly all of his fellow-citizens are
aware of his distinguished abilities and reputation
as a lawyer, of his great personal worth, of his
unswerving uprightness, and of his high moral cour
age. But nve know something more than all this.
It has happened to us to have personal experience
of that „ sleepless vigilance, that tireless devotion,
that singular penetration, and that broad good judg
ment which Mr. Cleveland has always displayed in
the interest of his clients, and from which so many
have reaped the reward of a righteous verdict. If
he is mayor, the city will be to him as his client, —
as a client standing more sorely in need of all his
best endeavors than any one he ever served
before, — and woe would be to the man that should

28 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
attempt to rob or otherwise wrong her." What
better statement can be put before the people of
the United States than the evidence that this hon
esty of purpose, this decision of character, this care
for the public welfare, has consistently been the aim
of Grover Cleveland, as mayor of Buffalo, Governor
of the Empire State, and President of the United
States!

-. m

>rr-
c

>ro

CHAPTER II.
GROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR.
Reform was the watchword which elected Mr.
Cleveland mayor of the city of Buffalo. This election
was in itself an almost unparalleled triumph, demon
strating the confidence which the people had in his
integrity, and his special fitness to carry out the
needed reforms in the city government, and it
settled the issue of the hour, that it was possible to
secure by a popular election that kind of integrity
and sagacity that would administer the people's
affairs with the honesty and discretion that was nec
essary to good government. Upon his inauguration
as mayor; he took occasion immediately to reiterate
the principles of action which he had affirmed in his
speech accepting the nomination. So soon as he
was elected, he devoted his time to a careful study
of the departments of the city government, and he
made it clear, too, that in all of these and in all sub
ordinate positions he was firmly determined that the
principles he had laid down for himself should be
implicitly obeyed by others. In his inaugural mes
sage to the common council of Buffalo, on January
2, 1882, he set forth these principles in the following
vigorous and direct language : —
29

30

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

To the Honorable the Common Council of the City of
Buffalo.
In presenting to you my first official communication, I am by
no means unmindful of the fact that I address a body many of
the members of which have had quite a large experience in
municipal affairs, and which is directly charged, more than any
other instrumentality, with the management of the government
of the city, and the protection of the interest of all the people
within its limits. This condition of things creates grave respon-.
sibilities, which I have no doubt you fully appreciate. It may
not be amiss, however, to remind you that our fellow-citizens,
just at this time, are particularly watchful of those in whose
hands they have placed the administration of the city govern
ment, and demand of them the most watchful care and con
scientious economy. We hold the money of the people in our
hands, to be used for their purposes, and to further their inter*
ests as members of the municipality ; and it is quite apparent
that, when any part of the funds which the taxpayers have thus
intrusted us are diverted to other purposes, or when by design
or neglect we allow a greater sum to be applied to any munici
pal purpose than is necessary, we have to that extent violated
our duty. There surely is no difference in his duties and. obli
gations whether a person is intrusted with the money of one
man or many. And yet it sometimes appears as though the
office-holder assumes that a different rule of fidelity prevails
between him and the taxpayer 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 con
stantly bearing 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 pre
pared to render an honest account of them, touching the man
ner of their 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. And I
perhaps should do no less then than to assure your honorable
body that, so far as it is in my power, I shall be glad to coop
erate with you in securing the faithful performance of official
duty in every department of the city government.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR. 3I
It was at the time when Grover Cleveland was
elected mayor of Buffalo that the subject of civil
service reform commenced to attract serious atten
tion, and it can be stated with truth that he was one
of the first to give it practical use. In his inaugural
message, referring to the office of city auditor, he
said, — " It seems to me that the duties which
should be performed by this officer have been
entirely misapprehended. I understand that it has
been supposed that he does all that is required of
him when he tests the correctness of the extensions
and footings of an account presented to him, copies
the same in a book, and audits the same as charged,
if the extensions, and footings are found correct.
This work is certainly not difficult, and might well
be done by a lad. but slightly acquainted with figures.
The charter requires that this officer ' shall examine
and report upon all unliquidated claims against the
city, before the same shall be audited by the common
council.' Is it not very plain that the examination
of a claim means something more than' the footing
of the account by which that claim is represented ?
And is it not equally plain that the report provided
for includes more than the approval of all accounts
which on their face appear correct ? There is no
question but that he should inquire into the merits
of the claims presented to him, and he should be
fitted to, do so by a familiarity with the value of the
articles and services embodied in the accounts. In
this way, he may protect the interest of the city ;
, otherwise, his services are worse than useless, so far
as his action is relied upon." As regards the duties
, of officials, Mayor Cleveland was equally strong and

32 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
definite. "lam utterly unable to discover any valid
reason why the city offices should be closed, and the
employes released from their duties, at the early
hour in the day which seems now to be regarded as
the limit of a day's work. I am sure no man would
think an active private business was well attended-.
to if he and all his employes ceased work at four
o'clock in the afternoon. The salaries paid by the:!
city, to its officers and their employes, entitle it to
a fair day's work. Besides, these offices are for the
transaction of public business, and the convenience
of all our citizens should be consulted in respect to
the time during which they should remain open.
" I suggest the passage of an ordinance prescribing'
such hours for the opening and closing of the city!
offices as shall subserve the public 'convenience. It
would be very desirable if some means could be.
devised to stop the practice, so prevalent among
our city employes, of selling or assigning in advance:
their claims against the city for services to be ren
dered. The ruinous discounts charged and allowed .
greatly diminish the reward of their labors. In many-
cases, habits of improvidence and carelessness are
engendered, and in all cases this hawking and traf
ficking in claims against the city presents a humili
ating spectacle. In conclusion, I desire to disclaim*
any dictation as to the performance of your duties.
I recognize fully the fact that with you rests the
responsibility of all legislation which touches the
prosperity of the city and the correction of abuses.;
I do not arrogate to myself any great familiarity with
municipal affairs, nor any superior knowledge of
the city's needs. I speak to you not only as the

GROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR.

33

chief executive officer of the city, but as a citizen
proud of its progress and commanding position. In
this spirit the suggestions contained herein are made.
If you deem them worthy of consideration, I shall
still be anxious to aid the adoption and enforcement
of any measures which you may inaugurate looking
to the advancement of the interests of the city and
the welfare of its inhabitants."
These words afforded ample evidence to the
fellow-citizens of Grover Cleveland that in his
election they had secured the purification of the
municipal government, the hope of which had con
tributed so much to the great majority by which the
election had been carried. His views regarding the
freedom of the citizens are best understood from
the remarks made at a mass meeting of Irish-Amer
ican citizens, at which Mayor Cleveland presided.
He spoke as follows : " Fellow-Citizens : This is
the formal mode of address on occasions of this
kind, but I think we seldom realize fully its meaning,
or how valuable a thing it is to be a citizen. From
the earliest civilization, to be a citizen has been to be
a free man, endowed with certain privileges and
advantages, and entitled to the full protection of the
state. The defence and protection of the personal
rights of its citizens has always been the paramount
and most important duty of a free, enlightened
government. "And perhaps no government has this sacred
trust more in its keeping than this, the best and
freest of them all, for here the people who are to be
protected are the source of those powers which they
delegate upon the express compact that the citizens

34 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
shall be protected. For this purpose we choose;
those who, for the time being, shall manage the
machinery which we have set up for our defence!
and safety. And this protection adheres to us in all
lands and places as an incident of citizenship. Let
but the weight of a sacrilegious hand be put upon^
this sacred thing, and a great strong government!
springs to its feet to avenge the wrong. Thus it is
that the native-born American citizen enjoys his
birthrights. But when, in the westward march of
empire, this nation was founded and took root, we
beckoned to the old world and invited hither its
immigration, and provided a mode by which those
who sought a home among us might become our
fellow-citizens. They came by thousands and* hun-j
dreds of thousands ; they came and
Hewed the dark old woods away,
And gave the virgin fields to day.
They came with strong sinews and brawny arms to
aid in the growth and progress of a new country ;
they came and upon our altars laid their fealty and
submission ; they came to our temples of justice,
and under the solemnity of an oath renounced all
allegiance to every other state, potentate, and sover
eignty, and surrendered to us all the duty pertaining
to such allegiance. We have accepted their fealty,
and/' invited them to surrender the protection of
: their native land. ¦
" And what should we give them in return ? Man
ifestly, good faith and every dictate of honor demand
that we give them the same liberty and protection!
here and elsewhere which we vouchsafe to our

GROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR.

35

native-born citizens. And that this has been
accorded to them is the crowning glory of American
institutions. It needed not the statute which is now
the law of the land, declaring that ' all naturalized
citizens while in foreign lands are entitled to and
shall receive from this government the same
protection of person and property which is ac
corded to native-born citizens,' to voice the policy
of our nation., In all lands where the semblance
of liberty is preserved, the right of a person
arrested to a speedy accusation and trial is or ought
to be a fundamental law, as it is a rule of civiliza
tion. At any rate, we hold it to be so, and this is
one of the rights which we undertake to guarantee
to any native-born or naturalized citizen of ours,
whether he be imprisoned by order of the Czar of
Russia or under the pretext of a law administered
for the benefit of the landed aristocracy of England.
We do not claim to make laws for other countries,
but we do insist that, whatsoever these laws may be,
they shall, in the interests of human freedom and
the rights of mankind, so far as they involve the
liberty of our citizens, be speedily administered.
We have a right to say, and do say, that mere sus
picion, without examination or trial, is not sufficient
to justify the long imprisonment of a citizen of
America. Other nations may permit their citizens to
be thus imprisoned. Ours will not. And this, in
effect, ha5 been solemnly declared by statute. We
have met here to-night to consider this subject, and
to inquire into the cause and the reasons and the
justice of- the imprisonment of certain of our fellow-
citizens now held in British prisons without the

36 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
semblance of a trial or legal examination. Our
law declares that the government shall act in such
cases. But the people are the creators of the
government. The undaunted apostle of the Chris
tian religion, imprisoned and persecuted, appealingi
centuries ago to the Roman law and the rights of |
Roman citizenship, boldly demanded, ' Is it lawfulf
for you to secure a man that is a Roman and un-
condemned ? ' So, too, might we ask, appealing to
the law of our land and the laws of civilization, ' Is
it lawful that these, our fellows, be imprisoned, who
are American citizens and uncondemned ? ' I deem
it an honor to be called upon to preside at such a
meeting, and I thank you for it." This frank,
honest, and manly statement as to the rights of our
foreign-born citizens in other lands secured for Mr.
Cleveland the unswerving attachment of our Irish
fellow-citizens, who have ever remained his warm
friends. Grover Cleveland has secured for himself the
honorable titles of Veto Mayor, Veto Governor, and
Veto President ; honorable because that in every
instance the reasons for his vetoes were of such a
character as to at once impress the good sound com
mon-sense of the country that they were based on
good grounds, and were the only means by which ;
fraud and corruption could be stamped out forever."
While the mayor may have made some enemies
among those whose plans for extravagance were in
terrupted, and others whose interests were affected,!
yet it is a most gratifying fact that the large mass of
his fellow-citizens were heartily with him in his
efforts to do the best in his power for the good of
the city, without regard to friend or foe.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS MAYOR. 37
There were also many instances where expendi
tures of money, right enough in themselves, were
yet in direct violation of the city charter or the con
stitution. The legal and acutely honest mind of the
mayor at once noted these objections, and never
hesitated to apply the veto when necessary. A very
interesting case, attracting much attention, was in
connection with an appropriation which had passed
the city council, for the benefit of a benevolent in
stitution. The mayor, in his veto message, said : —
I have taxed my ingenuity to discover a way to consist
ently approve of this resolution, but have been unable to do so.
It seems to me that it is not only obnoxious to the provisions of
the constitution above quoted, but that it also violates that sec
tion of the charter of the city which makes it a misdemeanor
to appropriate money raised for one purpose to any other
object. Under this section, I think, money raised " for the cele
bration of the Fourth of July and the reception of distinguished
persons" cannot be devoted to the observance of Decoration
Day. I deem the object of this appropriation a most worthy
one. The efforts of our veteran soldiers to keep alive the mem
ory of their fallen comrades certainly deserve the aid and en
couragement of their fellow-citizens. We should all, I think,
feel it a duty and a privilege to contribute to the funds neces
sary to carry out such a purpose, and I should be much disap
pointed if an appeal to our citizens for voluntary subscriptions
for this patriotic object should be in vain. ... I cannot rid
myself of the idea that this city government, in its relation to
the taxpayers, is a business establishment, and that it is placed
in our hands to be conducted on business principles. This
theory does not admit of our donating the public funds in the
manner contemplated by the action of your honorable body.
I deem it my duty, therefore, to return both the resolutions re
ferred to without my approval.
Grover Cleveland.
In this connection it may be mentioned that the
mayor put his hand in his pocket, and made a liberal

38 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
subscription towards the expenses of Decoration
Day. As may well have been expected, his adminis
tration of the government of the city of Buffalo upon
business principles was a pronounced success. A
very large amount of money was saved to the voters
under his management, and the city improved in
every direction. The natural result of this success-*
ful reform movement on the part of Grover Cleve
land was to turn the attention \< of the people of the
Empire State to the value of his services, and in the
line of promotion he was selected as the proper can
didate for the position of Governor of the State of
New York, and was elected by nearly two hundred
thousand majority.

THE CAPITOL, ALBANY, N.Y.

CHAPTER III.
GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR.
The best evidence as to the fitness of Grover
Cleveland for the office of Governor of the Empire
State is the following panegyric of that able and
well known Republican journal The Buffalo Ex
press:
The most promising and prominent of the possible candi
dates for Governor of New York, on the Democratic side, is a
man who, this time last year, had hardly been thought bf as a
candidate for mayor of Buffalo. It was with the utmost diffi
culty that he could be persuaded to accept that nomination. He
didn't want the office. Only at a great sacrifice of professional
income and comfort could he discharge its duties. An election
could not gratify his ambition, if he had any, because, many
years before, he had filled a more lucrative public position, and
one that was more desirable to any man who cared to be an influ
ential practical politician. He had no such desire. But, after
much importunity, with extreme genuine reluctance, he at length
yielded his own preference and allowed his friends to nominate
him. He was elected by a majority of three thousand five hun
dred and thirty, the largest majority ever given to any candidate
for that office, though running on the Democratic ticket, and in
a city which at the same time gave a majority' of one thousand
six hundred and twentyfour for the Republican State ticket, and
his administration of the office has 'fully justified the partiality
of the friends who insisted upon nominating him, and vindicated
the good judgment of the people who so powerfully insisted upon
electing him. It is not too much to say that in the first half of
his first year he has almost revolutionized our municipal govern'.
39

40

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

ment. With no more power then his predecessors had, he has
inaugurated reforms heretofore only hoped for, and correctedj
abuses which had become almost venerable. Accounts against
the city are now thoroughly audited, since he pointed^ out whirt
is required of an officer whose duty it is to audit. The whole-;
some rule of competition has been adopted for important work
hitherto given out in the form of political patronage. So far as
one man can, he sees to it that the city gets the full value of its
money. He knows his power and is not afraid to use it He
has conquered the most corrupt combination ever formed in the,
council. His veto messages have become municipal classics,
Knowing his duty, he has faithfully performed it, — with what
benefit to the public, can hardly be overestimated.
Statements of this stamp in prominent Republi
can journals had great weight in the approaching
election for Governor, and it is not at all surprising
that Grover Cleveland received a majority of 192,854,
being nearly four times the majority received by
either Grant for President in 1872, or Tilden for
Governor in 1874. The New York Sun, edited by
Charles A. Dana, heartily endorsed the nomination
of Cleveland, and editorially said, " Grover Cleveland,;^
now mayor of Buffalo and the Democratic candidate^
for Governor of New York, is a man "worthy of the
highest public confidence. No one can study the
record of his career since he has held office in Buffalo,
without being convinced that he possesses those
highest qualities of a public man, sound principles of
administrative duty, luminous intelligence, and cour
age to do what is right no matter who may be
pleased, or displeased thereby. . . . No matter what
political faith a man now prefer to be called, no one
can consider such principles and sentiments as those
declared by Mr. Cleveland without feeling that such
a public officer is worthy of the confidence and sup-

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. ^
port of the whole people, and that the interests of
the Empire State will be entirely safe in his hands."
The best evidence of the sterling honesty and
ability of Mr. Cleveland, of his determination to act
justly, without regard to party, and his special atten
tion to great public trust, may be found in his letter
accepting the nomination, which we give herewith in
full, and beg to call the special attention of all of our
readers to its high tone, dignified utterances, and
yet its perfect simplicity and easily understood state
ments, making it a primer for the people.
MR. CLEVELAND'S LETTER.
Buffalo, October 7, 1882.
Hon; Thomas C. E. Ecclesine, Chairman, etc. :
Dear Sir, I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter,
informing me of my nomination for Governor by the Democratic
State convention, lately held at the city of Syracuse.
I accept the nomination thus tendered to me, and trust that,
while I am gratefully sensible of the honor conferred, I am also
properly impressed with the responsibilities which it invites.
The platform of principles adopted by the convention meets
with my hearty approval. The doctrines therein enunciated are
so distinctly and explicitly stated that their amplification seems
scarcely necessary. If elected to the office for which I have
been nominated, I shall endeavor to impress them upon my ad
ministration and make them the policy of the State.
Our citizens for the most part attach themselves to one or
the other of the great political parties ; and under ordinary cir
cumstances they support the nominees of the party to which
they profess fealty. It is quite apparent that under such cir
cumstances the primary election or caucus should be surrounded
by such safeguards as will secure absolutely free and uncon
trolled action. Here the people themselves are supposed to
speak; here they put their own hands to the machinery of gov
ernment, and in this place should be found the manifestations
of the popular will. When by fraud, intimidation, or any other
questionable practice the voice of the people is here smothered,

42

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

a direct blow is aimed at a most precious right, and one which;
the law should be swift to protect. If the primary election is
uncontaminated and fairly conducted, those there chosen to rep
resent the people will go forth with the impress of the people's
will upon them, and the benefits and purposes of a truly repre
sentative government will be attained.
Public officers are the servants and agents of the people to
execute laws which the people have made, and within the limits
of a constitution which they have established. Hence the in
terference of officials of any degree, and whether state or federal,
for the purpose of thwarting or controlling the popular wish,
should not be tolerated.
Subordinates in public place should be selected and retained
for their efficiency, and not because they may be used to ac
complish partisan ends. The people have a right to demand,
here as in cases of private employment, that their money be
paid to those who will render the best service in return, and
that the appointment to and tenure of such places should depend
upon ability and merit. If the clerks and assistants in public
departments were paid the same compensation and required to
do the same amount of work as those employed in prudently
conducted private establishments, the anxiety to hold these;
public places would be much diminished, and, it seems to me,
the cause of civil service reform materially aided.
The system of levying assessments for partisan purposes-
on those holding office or place cannot be too strongly con
demned. Through the thin disguise of voluntary contributions,
this is seen to be naked extortion, reducing the compensation
which should be honestly earned, and swelling a fund used to
debauch the people and defeat the popular will.
I am unalterably opposed to the interference by the Legis
lature with the government of municipalities. I believe in the ;
intelligence of the people when left to an honest freedom in
their choice, and that when the citizens of any section of the
State have determined upon the details of a local government
.they should be left in the undisturbed enjoyment of the same.
The doctrine of home rule, as I understand it, lies at the
foundation of republican institutions, and cannot be too /
strongly insisted upon.
Corporations are created by the law for certain defined
purposes and are restricted in their operations by specific'!

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 43
limitations. Acting within their legitimate sphere, they should
be protected; but when by combination or by the exercise of
unwarranted power they oppress the people, the same authority
which created should restrain them and protect the rights of
the citizen. The law lately passed for the purpose of adjust
ing the relations between the people and corporations should
be executed in good faith, with an honest design to effectuate
its objects and with a due regard for the interest involved.
The laboring classes constitute the main part of our popu
lation. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably
to assert their rights 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 improv
ing the condition of the workingrnan.
We have so lately had a demonstration of the value of our
citizen soldiery in time of peril that it seems to me no argu
ment is necessary to prove that it should be maintained in
a state of efficiency, so that its usefulness shall not be impaired.
Certain amendments to the Constitution of our State, involv
ing the management of our canals, are to be passed upon at
the coming election. This subject affects divers interests and
of course gives rise to opposite opinions. It is in the hands
of the sovereign people for final settlement; and, as the ques
tion is thus removed from State legislation, any statement of
my opinion in regard to it, at this time, would, I think, be out
of place. I am confident that the people will intelligently
examine the merits of the subject and determine where the
preponderance of interest lies.
The expenditure of money to influence the action of the
people at the polls, or to secure legislation, is calculated to
excite the gravest concern. When this pernicious agency is
successfully employed, a representative form of government
becomes a sham ; and laws passed under its baleful influence
cease to protect, but are made the means by which the rights
of the people are sacrificed, and the public treasury despoiled.
It is useless and foolish to shut our eyes to the fact that this
evil exists among us; and the party which leads in an honest.
effort to return to better and purer methods will receive the
confidence of our citizens and secure their support. It is
wilful blindness not to see that the people care but little for
party obligations, when they are invoked to countenance and

44

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

sustain fraudulent and corrupt practices. And it is well tor
our country and for the purification of politics that the people*.
at times fully roused to danger, remind their leaders that party
methods should be something more than a means used to
answer the purposes of those who profit by political occupation.
The importance of wise statesmanship in the management
of public affairs cannot, I think, be overestimated. I am
convinced, however, that the perplexities and the mystery :
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 elements the duty
which public servants owe, by constantly bearing in mind that
they 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.
I am profoundly conscious that the management of the
divers interests of a great State is not an easy matter ; but I
believe, if undertaken in the proper spirit, all its real difficulties J
will yield to watchfulness and care.
Yours respectfully, Grover Cleveland.
This admirable letter of acceptance attracted im
mediate attention, and the comments of the press
on all sides were most favorable. The New York
Herald expressed an editorial opinion as follows: —
There is something direct, fresh, and wholesome about this
letter of Mr. Cleveland which encourages one to hope that the
era of young men has really come, of which we have heard
much this past summer. Anything more different from the usual
platitudes of the old war-horses, to which the public has been
too long accustomed, it would be difficult to imagine. Without
the least air of dogmatism or any sniff of peculiar virtue, Mr.
Cleveland briefly recalls to the public recollection a few facts i
which our political masters have for some years tried to have
forgotten. For our own part we confess that the passage
which strikes us as the most significant in the letter is that in
which Mr. Cleveland writes : "I am convinced that the per- ;
plexities and the mystery often surrounding the administration _

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR. 45
of State concerns grow in a great measure out of an attempt
to serve partisan ends rather than the welfare of the citizens.
We may, I think, reduce to quite simple elements the duty
which public servants owe by constantly bearing in mind that
they are put in place to protect the rights of the people, to
answer their needs as they arise, and to expend for their bene
fit the money drawn from them by taxation."
That is sound, clear, common-sense. There is no mystery
or difficulty about free government, requiring great statesman
ship or supereminent genius. Free government means at bot
tom the least possible interference with the liberty of action of
the individual. It is a hopeful sign in our politics that a can
didate for the great office of Governor of New York remembers
this. It is natural that with this wholesome thought on his
mind he should select for the topics on which he briefly touches
mainly the questions which concern the correct ascertainment
of the will of the people ; the freedom and purity of primary
elections, by which the people denote whom they wish to be
candidates for office ; the non-interference by public officers
and corporations with the elections, hence the wrong of politi
cal assessments, used always in attempts to defeat the popular
will ; the necessity of local self government for the reform and
purification of municipal administration, and so on.
There are no sounding promises, no recitals of recondite
statesmanlike policies in 'this plain, blunt letter of Mr. Cleve
land. But it reads to us like the letter of an intelligent Ameri
can who has thought enough about free government to let him
see that it needs in rulers mainly good sense, honesty, and
courage, and who has no nonsense about him.
Upon the publication of the letter of acceptance,
public opinion in the State of New York all went
one way, political partisanship in a large measure
disappeared and there was but one feeling, to secure
the election of the best man. The Republicans of
New York, with Stewart L. Woodford at the head,
and Independents led by George William Curtis,
all united in the support of the reform candidate
for Governor. Thousands of Republicans led by

46 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
the Young Men's Club of Brooklyn voted for
Cleveland, and he swept the State like a tidal wave,.]
carrying all before him. He was not elected solely
by his party, but, as in his election for mayor, the
Democratic vote was supplemented by that of every
thinking man having the interests of his State at
heart, without reference to partisan politics. He
-was Reform Mayor and Reform Governor and is
now Reform President. Grover Cleveland took his
office as Governor with the same simple manner
that has always characterized him. His inaugural ,
message had the true ring, and, being thoroughly-.'
characteristic of the man, we give space to such,
portions as are of the greatest importance.
THE INAUGURAL MESSAGE.
Executive Chamber, Albany, January 2, 1883.
To the Legislature, — In obedience to the provisions of
the Constitution, which directs that the Governor shall commu
nicate to the Legislature, at every session, the condition of the
State, and recommend such matters to them as he shajll judge ,
expedient, I transmit this, my first annual message, with the' j
intimation that a newly elected executive can hardly be pre-,-
pared to present a complete exhibit of State affairs, or to submit ¦
in detail a great variety of recommendations for the action of
the Legislature. . . .
JUST AND EQUABLE TAXATION.
The aggregate receipts of the State Treasury during the last
fiscal year, including a balance from the previous year amount
ing to $5,531,858.71, were $17,735,761.59 ; the payments during
the same period amounted to $13,898,198.21, leaving a balance
in the treasury at the beginning of the current fiscal year of
$3,837,563-38- The amount received from taxes on corporations during the
last fiscal year was $1,539,684.27, being an increase of
$446,959.11 over the previous year.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR.

47

The rate of taxation for the current fiscal year was fixed by
the last Legislature at 2-fifn mills on -the dollar. This, it is
estimated, will yield, on the present valuation of property, a
revenue of $6,820,022.29.
The imperfection of our laws touching the matter of taxation,
or the faulty execution of existing statutes on the subject, is
glaringly apparent.
The power of the State to exact from the citizen a part of his
earnings and income for the support of the government, it is
obvious, should be exercised with absolute fairness and justice.
When it is not so exercised, the people are oppressed. This
furnishes the highest and the best reason why laws should be
enacted and executed, which will subject all property, as all
alike need the protection of the State, to an equal share in the
burdens of taxation, by means of which the government is
maintained. And yet it is notoriously true that personal prop
erty, not less remunerative than land and real estate, escapes to
a very great extent the payment of its fair proportion of the
expense incident to its protection and preservation under the
law. The people should always be able to recognize, with the
pride and satisfaction which are the strength of our institutions,
in the conduct of the State the source of undiscriminating
justice, which can give no pretext for discontent. . . .
THE STATE PRISONS AND HONEST LABOR.
If these penal institutions are self-sustaining, without injury or^
embarrassment to honest labor, it is a matter for congratula
tion ; but it is, at least, very questionable whether the State
should go further and seek to realize a profit from its convict
labor. In my judgment, it should not, especially if the danger
of competition between convicts and those who honestly toil is
thereby increased, and the overcrowding of any of the prisons,
with its attendant evils, is the result. . . .
IMMIGRATION.
During the year the State Board of Charities has returned to
Various countries of Europe forty-eight lunatic, idiotic, crippled,
blind, and otherwise disabled alien paupers, who had been
deliberately shipped to our shores by the authorities of foreign
cities and towns, or by relatives, guardians, and friends, in order

48 THE- PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET
to shift the burden of their support to our public chanties. It
is to be hoped that the continued return of such unfortunates to
those who should legally and naturally provide for them will m
time discourage such mean and disgraceful attempts to evade a
plain and humane duty. . . .
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
It is submitted that the appointment of subordinates in the
several State departments, and their tenure of office or employ
ment, should be based upon fitness and efficiency, and that this
principle should be embodied in legislative enactment, to the^
end that the policy of the State may conform to the reasonable
public demand on that subject. . . .
CONCLUSION.
Let us enter upon the discharge of our duties fully appreciat
ing our relations to the people, and determined to serve then.
faithfully and well. This involves a jealous watch of the public
funds, and a refusal to sanction their appropriation except for
public needs. To this end, all unnecessary offices should be
abolished, and all employment of doubtful benefit discontinued.
If to this we add the enactment of such wise and well consid
ered laws as will meet the varied wants of our fellow-citi
zens, and increase their prosperity, we shall merit and receive
the approval of those whose representatives we are, and, with
the consciousness of duty well performed, shall leave our im?
press for good on the legislation of the State. Grover Cleveland. §
So soon as he became Governor, Grover Cleve
land commenced at once the work of reform, and
did not confine it to large and important State ques
tions, but began at home arid in his immediate per
sonal surroundings. A numerous body of useless
men were discharged, and admission to see the;
Governor made free to all. He adopted a regular
system of work, not only for his employes but also,?
for his own office, and no official in his department

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR.

49

did as much work as the Governor himself. His at
tention was directed to the subject of pardons, the
decision upon which had heretofore been in the
hands of a pardon clerk, and he at once assumed the
responsibility of the examination and decision upon
all pardons himself. He was especially anxious to
give proper attention to all that related to the amelio
ration of the condition of laboring men, and through
the fearless use of his veto power he prevented the
enactment into statutes of several measures which
would have been injurious to the workingmen.
Under his administration a State Civil Service Re
form bill and a bill prohibiting political assessments
were passed and signed by the Governor. A bureau
of labor statistics was also established with his
approval, and with results of great advantage to the
State. Many attacks were made upon Grover Cleve
land having special reference to his views upon the
labor question, and, when an attempt was made to
defeat his nomination at a subsequent date, he
said : —
To say that I have ever failed to embrace every opportunity
offered me to elevate the condition and subserve the real inter
ests of the workingman, and to protect him in all his rights, is
false. This, however, is but evidence of the readiness of some
persons to make careless statements when engaged in a strug
gle, and of others to accept such statements as facts instead of
ascertaining the truth from the record. Understand me ; I do
not profess to be infallible on this or any other question, but I
do claim that no sincere and honest workingman can examine
my record and find from it anything which tends to show a lack
of' sympathy with and care for the true interests of those who
labor. I am sometimes afraid that at least a few of those who
pose as friends of the workingmen do not keep themselves fully
informed as to what is done' for them by way of legislation. As

5o

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

an illustration, I see it stated in the papers, as coming from one
who professes to be especially the friend of the workingmen,
and claiming to be a leader among them, that I vetoed a bill
preventing contract labor by children in the reformatories and
institutions of the State. In point of fact, this bill was
promptly signed by me, and no other measure touching this
question has been presented to me.
Governor Cleveland's veto of the Elevated Railroad
five-cent fare bill was occasion of universal clamor,
simply from the fact of its not being generally
understood. We give herewith the last clauses of
his veto message, which cover his most important
views on the subject : — •
It is manifestly important that invested capital should be
protected, and that its necessity and usefulness in the develop
ment of enterprises valuable to the people should be recog
nized by conservative conduct on the part of the State govern
ment. 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
attaches, through any act of ours, to the fair fame of the com
monwealth. The State should not only be strictly just, but
scrupulously fair, and in its relations to the citizens every legal
and moral obligation should be recognized. This can only be
done by legislating without vindictiveness or prejudice, and
with a firm determination to deal justly and fairly with those
from whom we exact obedience.
I am not unmindful of the fact that this bill originated in
response to the demand of a large portion of the people of New
York for cheaper rates of fare between their places of employ
ment and their homes, and I realize fully the desirability of
securing to them all the privileges possible, but the experience
of other States teaches that we must keep within the limits of
law and good faith, lest in the end we bring upon the very
people whom we seek to benefit and protect a hardship which'
must surely follow when these limits are ignored.
Grover Cleveland.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR.

SI

That we may form some idea of the impression
made upon thinking men by this message, we give
herewith a letter from Rev. Dr. Anderson, president
of Rochester University, and one of our most prom
inent educators : — Rochester, March 4, 1883.
Governor Cleveland : —
Sir, — I cannot, in justice to my convictions, refrain from
expressing my gratitude for your veto message, which I have
just read. I have no personal interest in any of the great cor
porations which were directly or indirectly affected by the bill
from which you have so wisely withheld your approval. But
the just and statesmanlike position taken in your message seems
to me a most fitting rebuke to the demagogism which is ready to
trifle with those sacred rights of property guaranteed by our
State and national constitutions. In these safeguards of prop
erty the poor man has a more vital interest than the capitalist,
for they make secure the poor man's savings, which constitute
his only means of support. I have taken occasion to commend
your message .to the careful consideration of my students, as an
exhibition of the principles which should govern their actions
should they be called to fill public station in their future lives.
I trust you will pardon me for obtruding myself upon your
attention. As a teacher of young men, I feel grateful to any
public functionary who illustrates in his person the lessons
which I am so anxious to impress upon their minds. Again I
thank you for the courageous and worthy action which you
have adopted to secure sound government for our great State.
Yours very respectfully,
Martin B. Anderson.
The second year of Grover Cleveland's adminis
tration as Governor of the Empire State commenced
under the best auspices ; he had secured the approval
and good-will of five millions of people, who were
perfectly satisfied with his control of the govern
ment. His second inaugural message dwelt on
many local subjects of great interest, but space will

52 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
i
not permit us to present but such as seem worthy of
special attention at the present time.
The Governor said as follows in reference to
CIVIL service reform.
During the year the provisions of the act passed by the last
Legislature to regulate and improve the civil service of the
State have been put into operation. Fortunately a commission
was secured whose members were in hearty sympathy with the
principles of the law, and who possessed much practical knowl
edge of the needs of the public service. The commission itself
was also fortunate in obtaining the services of Silas W. Burt as
chief examiner, whose experience in public affairs and familiar
ity with the best methods of regulating the civil service enabled
him to render invaluable assistance to the commission and the*
State. The preliminary classification and the framing of rules,
contemplated by the act governing the appointments to place,
having been completed and received my approval, the system
will become operative in respect to all State officers and in all
State institutions on the fourth day of the present month. This ;
work, owing to the diversity of the State service, and the num
ber and variety of positions affected by the law, has been a task
attended with many difficulties. Although some slight revision
may be necessary, on the whole I am confident the scheme will
be found practical and effective, without being too rigorous or
burdensome. In addition the commission has co-operated with the mayors.
of cities who, under the law, have exclusive control of the muni
cipal service, and in several cities, notably New York and
Brooklyn, a thorough system of civil service has been prepared
and promulgated, as nearly in harmony with the State systenfj
as the charters and statutes relating to municipal matters wilf|
permit. New York, then, leads in the inauguration of a comprehensive
State system of civil service. The principle of selecting the ¦
subordinate employe's of the State on the ground of capacity and
fitness, ascertained according to fixed and impartial rules, with
out regard to political predilections, and with reasonable assur
ance of retention and promotion in case of meritorious service,
is now the established policy of the State. The children of our

GROVER CLEVELAND AS GOVERNOR.

53

citizens are educated and trained in schools maintained at com
mon expense, and the people as a whole have a right to demand
the selection for the public service of those whose natural apti
tudes have been improved by the educational facilities furnished
by the State. The application to the public service of the same
rule which prevails in ordinary business, of employing those
whose knowledge and training best fit them for the duties at
hand, without regard to other considerations, must elevate and
improve the civil service and eradicate from it many evils from
which it has long suffered. Not the least gratifying of the re
sults which this system promises to accomplish is relief to public
men from the annoyance of importunity in the strife for appoint
ments to subordinate places.
RESULTS OF THE FIRST YEAR.
The people of the State are to be congratulated upon the
progress made during the last year in the direction of wholesome
legislation. The most practical and thorough civil service reform has
gained a place in the policy of the State.
Political assessments upon employe's in the public depart
ments have been prohibited.
The rights of all citizens at primary elections have been pro
tected by law.
A bureau has been established to collect information and
statistics touching the relations between labor and capital.
The sale of forest land at the source of our important streams
has been prohibited, thereby checking threatened disaster to
the commerce on our waterways.
Debts and obligations for the payment of money, owned
though not actually held within the State, have been made sub
ject to taxation, thus preventing an unfair evasion of liability
for the support of the government.
Business principles have been introduced in the construction
and care of the new capitol and other public buildings, and
waste and extravagance thereby prevented.
A law has been passed for the better administration of the
Emigration Bureau and the prevention of its abuses.
The people have been protected by placing cooperative in
surance companies under the control and supervision of the
Insurance Department.

54

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

The fees of receivers have been reduced and regulated in the
interests of the creditors of insolvent companies.
A court of claims has been established where the demands
of citizens against the State may be properly determined.
These legislative accomplishments, and others of less impor
tance and prominence, may well be cited in proof of the fact
that the substantial interests of the people of the State have not
been neglected.
Let us anticipate a time when care for the people's needs as
they actually arise, and the application of remedies, as wrongs
appear, shall lead in the conduct of national affairs; and let us
undertake the business of legislation with the full determina
tion that these principles shall guide us in the performance of
our duties as guardians of the interests of the State.
Grover Cleveland.
The vetoes of Governor Cleveland during the ses
sion ofthe Legislature of 1884 attracted much carp
ing opposition, but, as usual, when the good common-
sense of the people fairly considered his views, he
was almost unanimously supported, and it must be
admitted that as Governor he consistently carried
out the same ideas of reform and correction of finan
cial abuses that he did in his capacity of mayor of
Buffalo.

THE EXECUTIVE MANSION, WASHINGTON, D.C

CHAPTER IV.
GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.
As a natural result, the admirable administration
of Grover Cleveland as Governor of the Empire
State led to the early consideration of his name in
connection with the Democratic nomination for the
Presidency in 1884. He had made a good mayor,
he had made a good Governor, he should make a
good President. So soon as Governor Tilden de
clined the nomination, prominent Democrats at once
came out in favor of Cleveland, among them ex-
Governor Horatio Seymour and ex-Senator Francis
Kernan. At the Democratic State Convention held
at Saratoga, the delegation to the national convention
were instructed to give their unanimous vote for
Grover Cleveland.
The Democratic National Convention met at Chi
cago on July 8, 1884, Colonel William F. Vilas, of
Wisconsin, being appointed permanent chairman.
The name of Grover Cleveland was presented by
Mr. Daniel S. Lockwood, of Buffalo, representing
the delegation from the State of New York. The
remarks of Mr. Lockwood, made four years since, are
so patent to the present occasion that they are given
here in full : — 55

5 6 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Convention : It
is with no ordinary feeling of responsibility that I appear before
this convention, as representative of the Democracy of the
State of New York, for the purpose of placing in nomination a
gentleman from the State of New York, as a candidate for the
Presidency of the United States. This responsibility is made
greater when I remember that the richest pages of American
history have been made up from the records of Democratic ad
ministration. This responsibility is made still greater when I
remember that the only blot in the political history done at
Washington, an outrage upon the rights of the American people,
was in 1876, and that that outrage and that injury to justice is
still unavenged, and this responsibility is not lessened when I
recall the fact that the gentleman whose name I shall present
to you has been my political associate from my youth. Side by
side have we marched to the tune of Democratic music; side
by side we studied the principles of Jefferson and Jackson, and
we love the faith in which we believe ; and during all this time
he has occupied a position comparatively as a private citizen,
yet always true and always faithful to Democratic principle. No
man has greater respect or admiration for the honored names
which have been presented to this convention than myself; but,
gentlemen, the world is moving, and moving rapidly.
From the North to the South, new men — men who have acted
but little in politics — are coming to the front, and to-day there
are hundreds and thousands of young men in this country —
men who are to cast their first vote, who are independent in
politics — and they are looking to this convention, praying
silently that there shall be no mistake made here. They want
to drive the Republican party from power ; they want to cast
their vote for a Democrat in whom they believe. These people
know from the record of the gentleman whose name I shall
present, that Democracy with 'him means honest government,
pure government, and protection pf the rights of the people of
every class and every condition^'' A little more than three years
ago, I had the honor, at the city of Buffalo, to present the name
of this same gentleman for the office of mayor of that city. It
was presented then for the same reason, for the same causes
that we present it now ; it was because the government of that-
city had become corrupt and had become debauched, and poli
tical integrity sat not in high places. The people looked for a

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

57

man who would represent the contrary, and without any hesita
tion they named Grover Cleveland as the man. The result of
that election, and his holding that office, was that in less than
nine months the State of New York found herself in a position
to want just such a candidate and for such a purpose, and when,
at the convention in 1882, his name was placed in nomination
for the office of Governor of the State of New York, the same
people, the same class of people, knew that that meant honest
government, it meant pure government, it meant Democratic
government, and it was ratified by the people. And, gentlemen,
now, after eighteen months' service there, the Democracy of the
State of New York come to you and ask you to give to the
country, to give the independent and Democratic voters of the
country, the new blood of the country, and present the name of
Grover Cleveland as its standard-bearer for the next four years.
I shall indulge in no eulogy of Mr. Cleveland. I shall not
attempt any further description of his political career. It is
known. His Democracy is known. His statesmanship is
known throughout the length and breadth of this land. And all
I ask of this convention is' to let no passion, no prejudice, influ
ence its duty which it owes to the people of this country. Be
not deceived. Grover Cleveland can give the Democratic party
the thirty-six electoral votes of the State of New York on elec
tion day. He can, by his purity of character, by his purity of
administration, by his fearless and undaunted courage to do
right, bring to you more votes than anybody else. Gentlemen
of the convention, but one word more. Mr. Cleveland's candi
dacy before this convention is offered upon the ground of his
honor, his integrity, his wisdom, and his Democracy. Upon
that ground we ask it, believing that if ratified by this conven
tion he can be elected and take his seat at Washington as a
Democratic President of the United States.

Upon the second ballot taken in the convention
the name of Grover Cleveland was adopted as
Democratic candidate for President by a vote which
was at once made unanimous, the formal announce
ment of the vote being : —

58 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
Cleveland  6*?3
Bayard  8l|
Hendricks  451
Thurman  4
Randall  4
McDonald  2
In detail the States voted as follows : —

states.

w

nrf

<L>

rt

rt

ba

-D

<L>

<L)

<y

w

u

o
Q

cq

Alabama . .
.Arkansas California . .
Colorado . .
Connecticut
Delaware . .
Florida . . .
Georgia . . .
Illinois . . .
Indiana . . .
Iowa ....
Kansas . . .
Kentucky . .
Louisiana .
Maine Maryland . .
Massachusetts .
Michigan . .
Minnesota . .
Mississippi . .
Missouri . . .
Nebraska . .
Nevada . . .
New Hampshire
New Jersey . .
New York ." .

20

5 I

14

14 . .

16

16 . .

6

6 . .

12

12-

6

. . . .

8

8 . .

24

22 . .

44

43 1

3°

3° • •

26

26 . .

18

17 . .

26

4 • •

16

15 ¦ ¦

12

12 . .

16

16 . .

28

8 . .

26

23 ¦ ¦

14

14 . .

18

2 . .

32

32 • •

10

9 • •

6

8
8 . .
18
5 • •
72
72 . .
14
I
21
rh
14
I2£ 3
5
n
GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

59

STATES.

E/5<D
¦M OJ
Q

OJ
u

'rt 5
Q u
s

-d rtrt

crtsp
H

X) cOJ
a

-[5 rt

North Carolina ....
Ohio 
South Carolina ....
Utah 
Wyoming 
District of Columbia . .

2246 6
60 8
18
2426 8
24 12
22 22
22
22
2
2
2
820

2246 6
42 7
10
2426 8
23 10
22 22
22222
2
2

3 2
8 2

1
4

11 1

4

Totals 

683

2

81J

45i

4

Governor Cleveland was quietly at work at his
regular executive routine of business when the
news arrived of his nomination, and he was at once
obliged to receive the congratulations of his friends
and fellow-countrymen. In reply to an address by
Mr. James Tracey, President of the Young Men's
Club, Governor Cleveland said : —
Fellow-Citizens, — I cannot but be gratified with this
kindly greeting. I find that I am fast reaching the point

60 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
where I shall count the people of Albany not merely as fellow- ¦¦
citizens, but as townsmen and neighbors.
On this occasion I am, of course, aware that you pay no
compliment to a citizen, and present no personal tribute, but
that you have come to demonstrate your loyalty and devotion
to a cause in which you are heartily enlisted.
The American people are about to exercise, in its highest
sense, their power and right of sovereignty. They are to call
in review before them their public servants and the representa
tives of political parties, and demand of them an account of
their stewardship.
Parties may be so long in power, and may become so arro
gant and careless of the interests of the people, as to grow
heedless of their responsibility to their masters. But the time
comes, as certainly as death, when the people weigh them in
the balance.
The issues to be adjudicated by the-jiation's great assize are
made up and are about to be submitted.
We believe that the people are not receiving, at the hands
of the party which for nearly twenty-four years has directed the
affairs of the nation, the full benefits to which they are entitled,
of a pure, just, and economical rule ; and we believe that the
ascendency of genuine Democratic principles will insure a
better government, and greater happiness and prosperity to all
the people.
To reach the sober thought of the nation, and to dislodge
an enemy intrenched behind spoils and patronage, involve a
struggle which if we underestimate we invite defeat. I am pro
foundly impressed with the responsibility of the part assigned:;
to me in this contest. My heart, I know, is in the cause, and I
pledge you that no effort of mine shall be wanting to secure the
victory which I believe to be within the achievement of the
Democratic hosts.
Let us, then, enter upon the campaign now fairly opened,
each one appreciating well the part he has to perform, ready,
with solid front, to do battle for better government, confidently,
courageously, always honorably, and with a firm reliance upon
the intelligence and patriotism of the American people.
At the conclusion of his remarks the audience
cheered again and again tumultuously as the Gov-

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. fa
ernor reentered the house. The doors were thrown
open, and, taking his place in the broad hallway, on
the spot where eight years before Governor Tilden
had received the congratulations of the people on
his nomination, Governor Cleveland shook hands
with the thousands who for two hours poured
steadily in one door and out the other.
Governor Cleveland was officially notified of his
nomination to the high office of President of the
United States in the afternoon of July 29, 1884.
The ceremony took place in the Governor's mansion.
Colonel Vilas, president of the notification committee
delivered the following address : —
Grover Cleveland, Governor of the State of New
York, — These gentlemen, my associates here present, whose
voice I am honored with authority to utter, are a committee ap
pointed by the National Democratic Convention which recently
assembled in Chicago, and charged with the grateful duty of
acquainting you, officially and in that solemn and ceremonious
manner which the dignity and importance of the communication
demand, with the interesting result of its deliberations, already
known to you through the ordinary channels of news.
Sir, the august body, convened by direct delegation from
the Democratic people of the several States and Territories of
the republic, and deliberating under the witness of the greatest
assembly of freemen ever gathered to such a conference, in
forethought of the election which the Constitution imposes upon
them to make during the current year, have nominated you to
the people of these United States to be their President for the
next ensuing term of that great office, and, with grave consider
ation of its exalted responsibilities, have confidently invoked
their suffrages to invest you with its functions. Through this
committee the convention's high requirement is delivered that
you accept that candidacy.
This choice carries with it profound personal respect and
admiration ; but it has been in no manner the fruit of these
sentiments. -The national Democracy seek a President not in

62 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
compliment for what the man is, or reward for what he has done,
but in a just expectation of what he will accomplish as the true.
servant of a free people, fit for their lofty trust. Always of mo
mentous consequence, they conceive the public exigency to be
now of transcendent importance, that a laborious reform in ad
ministration, as well as legislation, is imperatively necessary to
the prosperity and honor of the republic, and a competent
chief magistrate must be of unusual temper and power. They
have observed with attention your execution of the public trusts
you have held, especially of that with which you are now so
honorably invested.
They place their reliance for the usefulness of the services
they expect to exact for the benefit of the nation upon the evi
dence derived from the services you have performed for the
State of New York. They invite the electors to such proofs of
character and competence to justify their confidence that in the
nation, as heretofore in the State, the public business will be ad
ministered with commensurate intelligence and ability, with
single-hearted honesty and fidelity, and with a resolute and
daring fearlessness which no faction, no combination, no power
of wealth, no mistaken clamor, can dismay or qualify.
In the spirit of the wisdom and invoking the benediction of
the Divine Teacher of men, we challenge from the sovereignty
of this nation his words in commendation and ratification of
our choice, " Well done, thou good and faithful servant ; thou
hast been faithful over a few things, I will make thee ruler over
many things." In further fulfilment of our duty, the secretary
will now present the written communication signed by the com
mittee. Governor Cleveland remained calm throughout
these remarks and looked the speaker squarely in
the face. Mr. Bell, the secretary of the committee,
then read the letter of notification, afterward handing
the manuscript, inclosed in its leather wallet, to the
Governor. Following is the address of the committee of noti
fication : —

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

63

New York City, July 28, 1884.
To the Hon. Grover Cleveland, of New York : —
Sir, — In accordance with a custom befitting the nature of
the communication, the undersigned, representing the several
States and Territories of the Union, were appointed a commit
tee by the National Democratic Convention, which assembled
at Chicago, on the eighth day of the current month, to perform
the pleasing office which by this means we have the honor to exe
cute, of informing you of your nomination as the candidate of
the Democratic party in the ensuing election for the office of
President of the United States. A declaration of the prin
ciples upon which the Democracy go before the people with
the hope of establishing and maintaining them in the gov
ernment was made by the convention, and an engrossed copy
thereof is submitted in connection with this communication for
your consideration. We trust the approval of your judgment
will follow an examination of this expression of opinion and
policy, and upon the political controversy now made up we in
vite your acceptance of the exalted leadership to which you have
been chosen.
The election of a President is an event of the utmost im
portance to the people of America. Prosperity, growth, happi
ness, peace, and liberty even may depend upon its wise order
ing. Your unanimous nomination is proof that the Democracy
believe your election will most contribute to secure these great
objects. We assure you that in the anxious responsibilities you
must assume as a candidate you will have the steadfast, cordial
support of the friends of the cause you will represent, and, in the
execution of the duties of the high office which we confidently
expect from the wisdom of the nation to be conferred upon you,
you may securely rely for approving aid upon the patriotism,
honor, and intelligence of this free people. We have the honor
to be, with great respect, W. F. Vilas (Wisconsin), President.
Nicholas N. Bell (Missouri), Secretary.
D. P. Bestor, Ala., D. E. McCarthy, Nev.,
Fued. W. Fordyce, Ark., J. F. Cloutman, N. H.,
Niles Searles, Cal., John P. Stockton, N. J.,
M. M. S. Waller, Col., John C. Jacobs, N. Y.,
Theo. M. Waller, Conn., G. H. Oury, Arizona,
George H. Bates, Del., Ransford Smith, Utah,
Atilla Cox, Ky., John M. Selcott, Idaho,
James Jeffries, La., W. D. Chipley, Fla.,

64

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

C H. Osgood, Me.,
George Wells, Md„
J. E. Abbott, Mass.,.
D. J. Campan, Mich.,
Thos. E. Heenan, Minn.,
Charles E. Hooker, Miss.,
David R. Francis, Mo.,
Patrick Fahy, Neb.,
Wilson G. Lamb, N. C,
Joseph H. Earle, S. C,
Wm. A. Quarles, Tenn.,
George L. Spear, Vt.,
Frank Hereford, W. Va.,
J. T. Hauser, Montana,
M. S. McCormick, D. T.,

M. P. Reese, Ga.,
A. E. Stevenson, 111.,
E. D. Bannister, Ind.,
L. G. Kinne, Iowa,
C. C. Burnes, Kan.,
Wm. E. Haynes, Ohio,
S. L. McArthur, Ore.,
James P. Barr, Pa.,
David S. Baker, Jr., R. I.,
E. D. Wright, Dist. of Col.,
Joseph E. Dwyer, Texas,
Robert Beverly, Va.,
W. A. Anderson, Wis.,
W. B. Childers, N. Mex.,
D. B. Dutro, W. T.

Governor Cleveland received the proffered wallet
gracefully and replied quietly, without gesture and
without the use of manuscript : —
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee, —
Your formal announcement does not, of course, convey to me
the first information of the result of the convention lately held
by the Democracy of the nation, and yet when, as I listen to
your message, I see about me representatives from all parts of
the land of the great party which, claiming to be the party of
the people, asks them to intrust to it the administration of their
government ; and when I consider, under the influence ,of the
stern reality which the present surroundings create, that I have
been chosen to represent the plans, purposes, and the policy of
the Democratic party, I am profoundly impressed by the
solemnity of the occasion and by the responsibility of my posi
tion. Though I gratefully appreciate it, I do not at this moment
congratulate myself upon the distinguished honor which has been
conferred upon me, because my mind is full of an anxious desire
to perform well the part which has been assigned to me. Nor
do I at this moment forget that the rights and interests of more
than fifty millions of my fellow-citizens are involved in our
efforts to gain Democratic supremacy. This reflection pre
sents to my mind the consideration which more than all others
gives to the action of my party in convention assembled its
most sober and serious aspect. The party and its representa
tives which ask to be intrusted at the hands of the people with

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

65

the keeping of all that concerns their welfare and their safety
should only ask it with the full appreciation of the sacredness
of the trust and with a firm resolve to administer it faithfully
and well. I am a Democrat because I believe that this truth
lies at the foundation of true democracy. I have kept the faith
because I believe, if rightly and fairly administered and applied,
Democratic doctrines and measures will insure the happiness,
contentment, and prosperity of the people.
If, in the contest upon which we now enter, we steadfastly
hold to the underlying principles of our party creed, and at all
times keep in view the people's good, we shall be strong, be
cause we are true to ourselves and because the plain and inde
pendent voters of the land will seek by their suffrages to com
pass their release from party tyranny where there should be
submission to the popular will, and their protection from party
corruption where there should be devotion to the people's inter
ests. These thoughts lend a consecration to our cause, and we
go forth not merely to gain a partisan advantage, but pledged
to give to those who trust us the utmost benefits of a pure and
honest administration of national affairs. No higher purpose or
motive can stimulate us to supreme effort or urge us to contin
uous and earnest labor, and effective party organization. Let
us not fail in this, and we may confidently hope to reap the full
reward of patriotic services well performed.
I have thus called to mind some simple truths, and, trite
though they are, it seems to me we do well to dwell upon them
at this time. I shall soon, I hope, signify in the usual formal
manner my acceptance of the nomination which has been ten
dered me. In the meantime I gladly greet you all as co-workers
in a noble cause.
The reply of Grover Cleveland to the letter from
the committee announcing his nomination is a sim
ple restatement of his views as expressed heretofore,
with the results of his added experience as mayor
and Governor. His views as regards the executive
management of the administration of a great nation
have been faithfully carried but during the past three
years, and the reader who follows carefully all of its

66 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
utterances will be surprised at their almost exact
confirmation by the acts of the President.
LETTER OF ACCEPTANCE. Albany, N. Y., August 18, 1884.
Gentlemen, — I have received your communication, dated
July 28, 1884, informing me of my nomination to the office of
President of the United States, by the National Democratic
Convention lately assembled at Chicago.
I accept the nomination with a grateful appreciation of the
supreme honor conferred, and a solemn sense of the responsi
bility which, in its acceptance, I assume.
I have carefully considered the platform adopted by the con
vention, and cordially approve the same. So plain a statement
of Democratic faith and the principles upon which that party
appeals to the suffrages of the people needs no supplement or
explanation. It should be remembered that the office of President is essen
tially executive in its nature. The laws enacted by the legisla
tive branch of the government the chief executive is bound
faithfully to enforce. And when the wisdom of the political
party which selects one of its members as a nominee for that
office has outlined its policy and declared its principles, it
seems to me that nothing in the character of the office or the
necessities of the case requires more from the candidate accept
ing such nomination than the suggestion of certain well known
truths, so absolutely vital to the. safety and welfare of the nation
that they cannot be too often recalled or too seriously enforced.
government by the people.
We proudly call ours a government by the people. It is not
such when a class is tolerated which arrogates to itself the
management of public affairs, seeking to control the people
instead of representing them.
Parties are the necessary outgrowth of our institutions, but a
government is not by the people when one party fastens its con
trol upon the country and perpetuates its power by cajoling and
betraying the people instead of serving them.
A government is not by the people when a result which

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

67

should represent the intelligent will of free and thinking men is
or can be determined by the shameless corruption of their suf
frages. When an election to office shall be the selectiou by the voters
of one of their number, to assume for a time a public trust in
stead of his dedication to the profession of politics ; when the
holders of the ballot, quickened by a sense of duty, shall avenge
truth betrayed and pledges broken, and when the suffrage shall
be altogether free and uncorrupted, the full realization of a gov
ernment by the people will be at hand. And of the means to
this end not one would, in my judgment, be more effective than
an amendment to the constitution disqualifying the President
from reelection. When we consider the patronage of this great
office, the allurements of power, the temptation to retain public
place once gained, and, more than all, the availability a party
finds in an incumbent whom a horde of office-holders, with a
zeal born of benefits received and fostered by the hope of favors
yet to come, stand ready to aid with money and trained political
service, we recognize in the eligibility of the President for re
election a most serious danger to that calm, deliberate, and in
telligent political action which must characterize a government
by the people. LABOR MUST BE PROTECTED.
A true American sentiment recognizes the dignity of labor
and the fact that honor lies in honest toil. Contented labor is
an element of national prosperity. Ability to work constitutes
the capital and the wage of labor, the income of a vast number
of our population, and this interest should be jealously pro
tected. Our workingmen are not asking unreasonable indul
gence, but as intelligent and manly citizens they seek the same
consideration which those demand who hav-p other interests at
stake. They should receive their full share of the care and
attention of those who make and execute the laws, to the end
that the wants and needs of the employers and the employed
shall alike be subserved, and the prosperity of the country, the
common heritage of both, be advanced. As related to this sub
ject, while we should not discourage the immigration of those
who come to acknowledge allegiance to our government and add
to our citizen population, yet, as a means of protection to our

68 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
workingmen, a different rule should prevail concerning those
who, if they come or are brought to our land, do not intend to
become Americans, but will injuriously compete with those
justly entitled to our field of labor.
In a letter accepting the nomination to the office of Governor,
nearly two years ago, I made the following statement, to which
I have steadily adhered : —
" The laboring classes constitute the main part of our popu
lation. They should^be protected in their efforts peaceably to
assert their rights 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 improving the con
dition of the workingman."
A proper regard for the welfare of the workingman being in
separably connected with the integrity of our institutions, none
of our citizens are more interested than they in guarding against
any corrupting influences which seek to pervert the beneficent
purposes of our government, and none should be more watchful
of the artful machinations of those who allure them to self-
inflicted injury.

CONSERVATION OF INDIVIDUAL RIGHTS.
In a free country the curtailment of the absolute rights of
the individual should only be such as is essential to the peace
and good order of the community. The limit between the
proper subjects of governmental control and those which can
be more fittingly left to the moral sense and self-imposed re
straint of the citizen should be carefully kept in view. Thus,
laws unnecessarily interfering with the habits and customs of
any of our people, which are not offensive to the moral senti
ments of the civilized world, and which are consistent with
good citizenship and the public welfare, are unwise and vexa
tious. The commerce of a nation, to a great extent, determines its
supremacy. Cheap and easy transportation should therefore be
liberally fostered. Within the limits of the constitution, the
general government should so improve and, protect its natural I
waterways as will enable the producers of the country to reach
a profitable market.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

THE PUBLIC SERVICE.

69

The people pay the wages of the public employe's, and they
are entitled to the fair and honest work which the money thus
paid should command. It is the duty of those intrusted with
the management of their affairs to see that such public service
is forthcoming. The selection and retention of subordinates in
government employment should depend upon their ascertained
fitness and the value of their work, and they should be neither
expected nor allowed to do questionable party service. The in
terests of the people will be better protected ; the estimate of
public labor and duty will be immensely improved ; public em
ployment will be open to all who can demonstrate their fitness
to enter it ; the unseemly scramble for place under the govern
ment, with the consequent importunity which embitters official
life, will cease ; and the public departments will not be filled
with those who conceive it to be their first duty to aid the party
to which they owe their places, instead of rendering patient and
honest return to the people.
AN HONEST ADMINISTRATION WANTED.
I believe that the public temper is such that the voters of the
land are prepared to support the party which gives the best
promise of administering the government in the honest, simple,
and plain manner which is consistent with its character and
purposes. They have learned that mystery and concealment in
the management of their affairs cover tricks and betrayal. The
statesmanship they require consists in honesty and frugality, a
prompt response to the needs of the people as they arise, and
the vigilant protection of all their varied interests.
If I should be called to the chief magistracy of the nation
by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens, I will assume the duties
of that high office with a solemn determination to dedicate
every effort to the country's good, and with an humble reliance
upon the favor and support of the Supreme Being, who, I be
lieve, will always bless honest human endeavor in the conscien
tious discharge of public duty. Grover Cleveland
To Colonel William F. Vilas, Chairman, and D. P. Bestor, and others,
Members of the Notification Committee of the Democratic National
Convention.

70 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
The nomination of Grover Cleveland was accepted
by the press of all parties as the best thing for the
nation's good, and Democrat, Republican, and Inde
pendent-joined hands in praise of the man so unex
pectedly brought forward. Geo. Wm. Curtis, in
Harpers Weekly, refused to countenance the Re
publican ticket, and published the following leading-
editorial : —
The nomination of Grover Cleveland defines sharply the
actual issue of the presidential election of this year. He is a
man whose absolute official integrity has never been questioned,
who has no laborious and doubtful explanations to undertake,
and who is universally known as the Governor of New York,
elected by an unprecedented majority which was not partisan,
and represented both the votes and the consent of an enormous
body of Republicans, and who, as the chief executive of the
State, has steadily withstood the blandishments and the threats
of the worst elements of his party, and has justly earned the
reputation of a courageous, independent, and efficient friend and
promoter of administrative reform. His name has become that
of the especial representative among our public men of the
integrity, purity, and economy of administration which are the
objects of the most intelligent and patriotic citizens. The
bitter and furious hostility of Tammany Hall and of General
Butler to Governor Cleveland is his passport to the confidence
of good men, and the general conviction that Tammany will do
all that it can to defeat him will be an additional incentive to
the voters who cannot support Mr. Blaine, and who are unwill
ing not to vote at all, to secure the election of a candidate whom
the political rings and the party traders instinctively hate and
unitedly oppose.
So firm and " clean " and independent in his high office has
Governor Cleveland shown himself to be that he is denounced
as not being a Democrat by his Democratic opponents. This
denunciation springs from the fact that he has not hesitated to
prefer the public welfare to the mere interest of his party. Last
autumn, when the Democratic district attorney of Queen's
County was charged with misconduct, the Governor heard the

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

71

accusation and the defence, and decided that it was his duty to
remove the officer. He was asked by his party friends to defer
the removal until after the election, as otherwise the party
would lose the district by the opposition of the attorney's
friends. The Governor understood his duty, and removed the
officer some days before the election, and the party did lose the
district. This kind of courage and devotion to public duty in
the teeth of the most virulent opposition of traders of his own
party is unusual in any public man, and it shows precisely the
executive quality which is demanded at a time when every form
of speculation and fraud presses upon the public treasury under
the specious plea of party advantage.
The argument that in an election it is not a man but a party
that is supported, and that the Democratic party is less to be
trusted than the Republican, is futile at a time when the Repub
lican party has nominated a candidate whom a great body of
the most conscientious Republicans cannot support, and the
Democratic party has nominated a candidate whom a great
body of the most venal Democrats practically bolt. Distrust of
the Democratic party springs from the conduct of the very
Democrats who madly oppose Governor Cleveland because they
know that they cannot use him. The mere party argument is
vain also because no honorable man will be whipped in to vote
for a candidate whom he believes to be personally disqualified
for the presidency on the ground that a party ought to be sus
tained. No honest Republican would sustain his party for such
a reason, and the honest Republicans who propose to vote for
Mr. Blaine will do so because they do not believe, as the pro
testing -Republicans do believe, that he made his official action
subserve a personal advantage. Nothing is more hopeless than
an attempt to persuade such Republicans to sustain their party
by voting for an unworthy candidate. Should they help to
reward such a candidate by conferring upon him the highest
official honor in the world, they could not reasonably expect the
nomination of a worthier candidate at the next election, and
they could not consistently oppose the election of any candidate
whom their party might select. The time to defeat unfit nom
inations is when they are made, not next time. The nomina
tion of Governor Cleveland is due not so much to the prefer
ence of his party as to the general demand of the country for
a candidacy which stands for precisely the qualities and services
which are associated with his name.

72 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
The New York Times, formerly a strong Repub
lican organ, appeared the next day after the nomi
nation with this argument : —
With Governor Cleveland as its candidate the Democratic
party appeals with unmistakable directness to the moral sense
of the people of the United States. Shall the next President be
a man who has weakly yielded to temptation or a man who has
unswervingly adhered to the right against powerful enticements
to do wrong ? A man who begs pecuniary rewards of those his
official action has enriched, or one who defies corrupt dictation
and seeks only by just courses to deserve the approval of right-
thinking men ? A candidate attacked, impeached, tainted, and
besmirched all over, or a candidate beyond reproach ? A Gro
ver Cleveland, whom honest men respect, or a James G. Blaine,
whom rogues love ?
This is the supreme issue. It is this which the voters of the
republic are to decide. It is not the issue of protection ; free
trade has nothing to do with it ; there is no admixture of foreign
policy or the want of foreign policy ; insincere professions can
not put it aside ; the glare of a boasted torchlight brilliancy will
not outshine it. The sober sense of an intelligent electorate,
the honest convictions and the patriotism of ten millions of
voters are appealed to, and they will settle this question conclu- .
sively and for the right.
It is not only in what he clearly represents, but in what he
distinctly opposes, that Grover Cleveland is strong before the
American people. His career has made him the exponent of
clean and honest politics. In the administration of public
trusts he has shown that he is superior to partisan bias, indiffer
ent to such party interests as are in conflict with official probity
and the public welfare. He has been severely tried in the im
portant and responsible post he now occupies. He has resisted
the importunities of designing politicians, he has defeated the
purposes of selfish schemers. All those members of his own
party who are not absorbed in private aims which are in con
flict with the public good are outspoken in his praise ; and he
has won the good opinion of all Republicans who are not so far
gone in partisanship as to have lost the power to commend up
right conduct in a political adversary.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 73
Favored as he is by the right-thinking elements of both the
Democratic and Republican parties, it is a noteworthy and
potent advantage to Grover Cleveland as a candidate that he
has incurred the bitter hostility of the worthless, disreputable,
and dangerous members of his Own party. Tammany hates
him. Butler sees no good in him. Could a candidate find
stronger recommendation than this in the opinion of voters
whose political action is shaped solely by considerations of
public welfare ? The official acts which have won for Governor
Cleveland the intense hostility of Tammany are the very acts
which have most strongly commended him to the support of in
dependent Republicans. The favor of these two classes, of a
wholly corrupt and selfish guerilla contingent within the Demo
cratic party, and of men with whom plain common sense and
the most ordinary form of political honesty are controlling
influences, no one man, be he ever so skilful in the art of bal
ancing, can hope or wish to possess. Grover Cleveland had
not been one month in office as Governor of the State of New
York before he had decided in his own mind and had made
plain to all observers that his official action was to be guided
solely by his own intelligent judgment of what the public inter
est demanded. And that is, above all, the safe and the saving
policy for a President of the United States.
No Democrat with whom patriotism is not subordinated to
private grudges will withhold his vote from Grover Cleveland.
Of Republicans those who are entirely satisfied that Blaine and
Logan faithfully represent the principles upon which the party
that preserved the Union was founded will doubtless vote
against him. Those of the Republican faith who are repelled
by the most unwise choice made at Chicago last month will find
no difficulty in voting for him, since he is one of the best repre
sentatives now to be found in public life of those administrative
principles and reforms to which they are committed. /A Demo
crat who has made enemies of the disreputable elements of his
own party is not greatly to be feared by Republicans, even when
he is a candidate for the presidency. /
The Times will heartily support Governor Cleveland. In
opposing Mr. Blaine it finds itself already upon impregnable
ground and in excellent company. It has closely watched the
career of the candidate nominated at Chicago yesterday, and h
has entire confidence in his probity, in his intelligence, and in

74 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
his administrative ability. He ought to be the next President
of the United States, and we believe he will be.
The New York Evening Post said, later on : —
Of the kind of experience which the present situation in
national affairs most imperatively calls for, experience in admin
istration, Cleveland has more than any one who has entered the
White House since i860, more than any man whom either party
has nominated within that period, except Seymour and Tilden .
— more than Lincoln, more than Garfield, more than Arthur.
He laid at the start that best of all foundations for American
statesmanship by becoming a good lawyer. He began his
executive career by being a good county sheriff. He was next
intrusted with the administration of a great city — as severe a
test of a man's capacity in dealing with men and affairs as any
American in our time can undergo. In both offices he gave
boundless satisfaction to his fellow-citizens of both parties.
His nomination for the governorship of this State came" in due
course, and at a crisis in State affairs which very closely resem
bled that which we are now witnessing in national affairs. His
election by an unprecedented majority is now an old story. It
was the beginning of a revolution. It was the first thorough
fright the tricky and jobbing element in politics ever received
here. . It for the first time in their experience gave reform an
air of reality. But it might, had Cleveland proved a weak
or incompetent man, have turned out a very bad blow for pure
politics. Luckily he justified all the expectations and even all the
hopes of those who voted for him. No friend of good govern
ment, who, in disregard of party ties, cast his vote for him, has
had reason to regret it for one moment. He is in truth a
Democrat of the better age of the Democratic party, when it
was a party of simplicity and economy, and might almost have
put its_ platform into the golden rule of giving every man his
due, minding your own business, and asking nothing of gov
ernment but light taxes and security in the field and by the
fireside. No one who has entered the White House for half a
century, except Lincoln in his second term, has offered such
solid guarantees that as President he will do his own thinking
and be his own master in the things which pertain to the
Presidency.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. j*
At a meeting of the " Independents " in New
York, July 22, 1884, the following remarks were
made by George William Curtis : —
Upon the practical questions of tariff and finance, and
other questions upon which both parties are divided within
themselves, we also are divided in opinion. We shall vote
therefore in the choice of representatives and other officers
according to our individual opinions of their political views and
their personal character.- Divided on other questions,' we are
united in conviction that the fountain of office and honor
should Joe pure, and that the highest office in the country should
be filled by a man of absolutely unsuspected integrity. As
there is no distinctive issue upon public policy presented for
the consideration of the country, the character of the candi
dates becomes of the highest ' importance with all citizens who
do not hold that party victory should be secured at any cost.
While the Republican nomination presents a candidate whom
we cannot support, the Democratic party presents one whose
name is the synonym of political courage and- honesty and of
administrative reform. He has discharged every official trust
with sole regard to the public welfare and with just disregard
of . mere partisan and personal advantage, which, with the
applause and confidence of both parties, have raised him from
the chief executive. administration of a great city to that of a
great State. His reserved, intelligent, and sincere support of
reform in the civil service has firmly established that reform
in the State and the cities of New York ; and his personal
convictions, proved by his official acts, more decisive than any
possible platform declaration, are the guarantee that in its
spirit and in its letter the reform would be enforced in the
national administration. His high sense of duty, his absolute
and unchallenged official integrity, his inflexible courage in
resisting party pressure and public outcry, his great experience
in the details of administration, and his commanding executive
ability and independence, are precisely the qualities which the
political situation demands in the chief executive officer of
the government, to resist corporate monopoly on the one hand
and demagogue communism on the other, and at home and
abroad, without menace or fear, to protect every right of

76 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
American citizens, and to respect every right of friendly States
by making political morality and private honesty the basis of
constitutional administration. He is a Democrat who is hap
pily free from all association with the fierce party differences
of the slavery contest, and whose financial views are in har
mony with those of the best men in both parties ; and coming
into public prominence at a time when official purity, courage,
and character are of chief importance, he presents the qualities
and the promise which independent voters desire, and which
a great body of Republicans, believing those qualities to' be
absolutely indispensable in the administration of the govern
ment at this time, do not find in the candidate of their own .
¦party. Such independent voters do not propose to ally themselves
inextricably with any party. Such Republicans do not propose
to abandon the 'Republican party nor to merge themselves in
any other party, but they do propose to aid in defeating a
Republican nomination which, not for reasons of expediency
only, but for high moral and patriotic considerations, with a
due regard for the Republican name and for the American
character, was unfit to be made. They desire not to evade the
proper responsibility of American citizens by declining to vote,
and they desire also to make their votes as effective as possible
for honest and pure and wise administration. How can such
voters, who at this election cannot conscientiously support the
Republican candidate, promote the objects which they desire
to accomplish more surely than by supporting the candidate
who represents the qualities, the spirit, and the purpose which
they all agree in believing tQ be of controlling importance in
this election ? No citizen can rightfully avoid the issue or
refuse to cast his vote. The ballot is a trust. Every voter is
a trustee for good government, bound to answer to his private
conscience for his public acts. This conference, therefore,
assuming that Republicans and independent voters who for any
reason cannot sustain the Republican nomination desire to
take the course which, under the' necessary conditions and
constitutional methods of a presidential election, will most '
readily and surely secure the result at which they aim, respect
fully recommend to all such citizens to support the electors
who will vote for Grover Cleveland, in order most effectually .
to enforce their conviction that nothing could more deeply '

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. 77
stain the American name, and prove more disastrous to the
public welfare, than the deliberate indifference of the people
of the United States to increasing public corruption, and to
the want of official integrity in the highest trusts of the
government. For the next three months this country was in the
throes of a presidential election, James G. Blaine
being the nominee of the Republican party. The
result is well known'. Graver Cleveland was elected
President of the United States by a plurality of the
popular vote of 69,806. He received 219 electoral
votes, against 182 cast for Mr. Blaine. This result
was received with much gratification by the entire
nation, and public opinion, when expressed without
partisan bias, is a unit as to the solid advantages to
this country derived from the election of Grover
Cleveland. One question of importance was soon
settled by Mr. Cleveland.
After the election in December, 1884, the Na
tional Civil Service Reform League addressed a
letter to the President, intended to draw from him
more explicitly a statement of his views in regard to
civil service reform. To this Mr, Cleveland returned
a reply, dated December 25, in which he declared
himself pledged to a "fair and honest enforcement"
of the civil service law, both because of his " con
ception of true Democratic faith and public duty,"
which required " that this and all other statutes
should be in good faith and without evasion en
forced." But he added a voluntary promise to
enlarge and extend the scope and operation of the
actual statute, as follows : —
" There is a class of government positions which

78 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
are not within th'e letter of the civil service statute,
but which are so disconnected with the policy of an
administration that the removal therefrom of present
incumbents, in my opinion, should not be made
during the terms for which they were appointed
solely on partisan grounds, and for the purpose of
putting in their places those who are in political
accord with the appointing power. But many now
holding such positions have forfeited all just claim
to retention, because they have used their places for
party purposes, in disregard of their duty to the peo
ple, and because, instead of being decent public
servants, they have proved themselves offensive par
tisans and unscrupulous manipulators of local party
management. The lessons of the past should be
unlearned, and such officials, as well as their suc
cessors, should be taught that efficiency, fitness, and
devotion to public duty are the conditions of their
continuance in public place, and that the quiet and
unobtrusive exercise of individual political rights is
the reasonable measure of their party service."
In April, 1885, Mr. Cleveland highly gratified the
true friends of civil service reform by appointing
Henry G. Pearson, the Republican incumbent,' for
a full term as postmaster of New York. This
appointment in the public interest was made in the
face of a party pressure and a party denunciation
which few men would have had the strength to resist,
and the act was regarded not only as a proof of Mr.
Cleveland's firmness and courage, but as a guarantee
that he would adhere to his civil service reform
pledges. Prior to the election of Cleveland there were

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

79

many phases of public opinion as to his views in
relation to civil service, and, as his election was
largely due to the unanimity of the Independent
party in casting their votes with the Democrats, it is
perhaps as well to give here the reasons which
brought this about, as presented by Carl Schurz, a
prominent Independent.

SPEECH OF HON. CARL SCHURZ BEFORE THE MEETING OF
INDEPENDENT VOTERS, BROOKLYN, AUGUST 5, 1884.
. . . The Democratic party has never presented a candi
date whom any friend of good government, Democrat or
Republican, could see step into the presidential chair with a
greater feeling of security than Grover Cleveland. This time,
therefore, is uncommonly propitious for a change of power, on
account of the safety with which it can be effected. . . .
Mr. Blaine's advocates loudly complain that Governor Cleve
land is not a statesman. It must be admitted that he is not a
statesman in the Blaine sense. If he were, it would be danger
ous to vote for him. He has evidently not the genius to be all
things to everybody. He is not magnetic enough to draw
every rascal to his support. He will probably be cold enough
to freeze every job out of the White House. He is not brill
iant enough to cover the whole world with flighty schemes.
But, unless I am much mistaken, he possesses very much of
that kind of statesmanship which is now especially required,
and for which Mr. Blaine has conspicuously disqualified himself.
And that is the statesmanship of honest and efficient adminis
tration. What is the kind of business which under present cir
cumstances the executive branch of the national government
has to attend to ? It is in the main administrative business. It
is to see to it that the laws be faithfully and efficiently executed,
and, to that end, to introduce and maintain honest and efficient
methods for the execution of the laws, and to enforce the
necessary responsibility. This is administration, and this is
under present circumstances the principal business of the
executive. No flighty genius, therefore, is required to make
business for the government ; but what we want is solid ability

80 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
and courageous integrity to see to it that the business which is
found there be well done.
Of this kind of statesmanship Mr. Cleveland, as all who
have impartially observed his career will admit, possesses in a
high degree the instinct, and now also the experience. When
he entered upon his duties as mayor of Buffalo, a few years ago,
he said, " It seems to me that a successful and faithful ministra
tion of the government of a city may be accomplished by con
stantly bearing 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 pre
pared 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." You may say
that this is neither very brilliant nor quite original. But it con
tains after all the fundamental principles of honest and efficient
administration, applicable not only to a city, but to a State and
to the nation. And when a public man coming into power
speaks such words, and fully understands what they mean, and
has the ability and courage to give them full effect, he pos
sesses a statesmanship for executive office infinitely more valua
ble to the country than Mr. Blaine's statesmanlike skill and
experience in making himself "useful in various channels,"
and being a deadhead in none.
And that Mr. Cleveland did understand the meaning of
what he said, and was determined to carry it out, he showed
sometimes in a way which astonished the natives. Here is an
instance : When the city council of Buffalo, composed of Dem
ocrats and Republicans, had passed a resolution approving an
extravagant contract for street-cleaning, his veto message con
tained the following language : " This is a time for plain speech.
I withhold my assent from the same [the resolution] because I
regard it as the culmination 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 misun
derstood in this matter. There are those whose votes were
given for this resolution whom I cannot and will not suspect of
a wilful neglect of the interests they are sworn to protect ; but
it has been fully demonstrated that there are influences,
both in and about your honorable body, which it behooves

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. gj
every honest man to watch and avoid with the greatest care."
This meant as plainly as parliamentary language could express
it : "Gentlemen, there are some scoundrels among you. I
know it. And I want you to know that I know it, and that I
watch you, and that your schemes will not succeed as long as I
am here." I like that kind of statesmanship. The taxpayers
of Buffalo liked it. The people of the State soon showed that
they liked it. And I think the people of the United States
would like it too, the knaves always excepted.
Mr. Cleveland had never been a professed civil service re
former. But he soon showed that he understood and adopted
the vital principles of civil service reform by instinct. Pie said
in his letter of acceptance, when nominated for the governor
ship, " Subordinates in public place should be selected and re
tained for their efficiency, and not because they may be used to
accomplish partisan ends. The people have a right to demand
here, as in cases of private employment, that their money be
paid to those who will render the best service in return, and
that the appointment to and tenure of such places should depend
upon ability and merit." This is the whole in a nutshell. And
he not only understood it and said it, but he acted accordingly
when in power, for he favored and signed and faithfully helped
to execute the Civil Service Act for the State of New York,
which embodies just these principles, although he knew that it
cut off the loaves and fishes of public spoil in a great measure
from his own party. But more. He said in the same letter
of acceptance, " The expenditure of money to influence the
action of the people at the polls, or to secure legislation, is cal
culated to excite the gravest concern. It is useless and foolish
to shut our eyes to the fact that this evil exists among us, and
the party which leads in an honest effort to return to better and
purer methods will receive the confidence of our citizens and
secure their support." Having said this, he favored and signed
a prohibition of political assessments in the civil service of New
York, although he knew that this measure would most severely
curtail the electioneering funds of his own party.
As a member of the Civil Service Reform Association, I may
say that, when we prepared and urged a legislative reform meas
ure, we never inquired whether Governor Cleveland, although a
Democrat, would sign it, because we knew he would if it was a
good one. When the citizens of New York City sought to cor-

82 THE PRESIDENT -AND HIS CABINET.
rect the crying abuses of their municipal government, they, too,
always counted with the same confidence upon the Governor, no
matter whether the Democratic or the Republican party might
be hurt by a measure of true reform, and that confidence was
always justified. And, by the way, it is rather a shabby piece
of business that some of the gentlemen who leaned upon the
Governor as one of their principal pillars of strength, and were
then full of praise of him for his courageous resistance to party
pressure, should throw paltry quibbles at him since he has be
come a candidate for the Presidency. Had he not been nomi
nated, it would have been said that the unbending courage for
the right with which he resisted pressure coming from his own
party was the very thing that defeated him. It was, indeed, the
thing which made his enemies hate him so bitterly. But take
his whole record. When he ceased to be mayor of Buffalo, a
Republican paper said, " Yesterday Buffalo lost the best mayor
she ever had." When he ceases to be Governor, to become
President of the United States, these very gentlemen will say,
" New York never had a more efficient Governor than this."
Mr. Cleveland resigned his office as Governor of
the State of New York upon the meeting of the
State Legislature, January 6, 1885, but continued his
residence in Albany. The intervening period be
tween his resignation as Governor and his inaugu
ration as President was occupied in receiving visits
from many of the leading men of the Democratic
party. On February 27, 1885, a letter of Mr. Cleve- '
land was published in reply to one signed by sev- .
eral members of Congress. In this letter he indi-l
cated his opposition to an increased coinage of silver,
and suggested a suspension of the purchase and
coinage of that metal as a measure of safety, in
order to prevent a financial crisis and the ultimate
expulsion of gold and silver. His inaugural address
was written during the ten days previous to his
departure for Washington. On the evening of

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. gj
March 2, 1885, Grover Cleveland quietly left Albany,
accompanied by his two sisters, Daniel Manning, and
Colonel Daniel S. Lamont, arriving in Washington
at 7 A. m. On the following day he went to the
Capitol with President Arthur, and, after the usual
preliminaries had been completed, he delivered his
inaugural address from the steps of the Capitol, on
March 4, 1885, as follows : —
INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
Fellow-Citizens, — In the presence of this vast assemblage
of my countrymen I am about to supplement, and seal by the
oath which I shall take, the manifestation of the will of a great
and free people. In the exercise of their power, and the right
of self-government, they have committed to one of their fellow-
citizens a supreme and sacred trust, and he here consecrates
himself to their service. This impressive ceremony adds little
to the solemn sense of responsibility with which' I contemplate
the duty I owe to all the people of the land. Nothing can relieve
me from anxiety lest by any act of mine their interests may
suffer, and nothing is needed to strengthen my resolution to
engage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their wel
fare. Amid the din of party strife, the people's choice was made,
but its attendant circumstances have demonstrated anew the
strength and safety of a government by the people. In each
'succeeding year it more clearly appears that our democratic
principle needs no apology, and that in its fearless and faithful
application is to be found the surest guarantee of good govern
ment. But the best results in the "operation of a government
wherein every citizen has a share largely depend upon a proper
limitation of purely partisan zeal and effort, and a correct ap
preciation of the time when the heat of the partisan should be
merged in the patriotism of the citizen.
To-day the executive branch of the government is transferred
to new keeping. But this is still the government of all the
people, and it should be none the less an object of their affec
tionate solicitude. At this hour the animosities of political

84 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat, and the, exultation of
partisan triumph, should be supplanted by an _ ungrudging
acquiescence in the popular will, and a sober conscientious con
cern for the general weal'. Moreover, if from this hour we
cheerfully and honestly abandon all sectional prejudice and
distrust, and determine, with manly confidence in one another,
to work out harmoniously the achievements of, our national
clestjny, we shall deserve to realize all the benefits which oui
happy form of government can bestow.
On this auspicious occasion we may well renew the pledge of
our devotion to the Constitution, which, launched by the found
ers of the republic and consecrated by their prayers and pa
triotic devotion, has 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 domes
tic strife and vicissitudes. By the father of his country our
Constitution was commended for adoption, as " the result of a
spirit of amity and mutual concession." In that same spirit it
should be administered, in order to promote the lasting welfare
of the country, and to secure the full measure of its priceless,
benefits to us and to those who will succeed to the blessings of
our national life. The large variety of diverse and competing
interests subject to" federal control, persistently seeking the
recognition of their claims, need give us no fear that "the
greatest good to the greatest number " will fail to be accom- .
plished if in the halls of national legislation that spirit of
amity and mutual concession shall prevail in which the Consti
tution had its birth. If this involves the surrender or post- .
ponement of private interests, and the abandonment of local ;
advantages, compensation will be found in the assurance that
thus the common interest is subserved and the general welfare
advanced. In the discharge of my official duty I shall endeavor to be
guided by a just and unstrained construction of the Constitution,
a careful observance of the distinction between the powers
granted to the federal government and those reserved to the
State or to the people, and by a cautious appreciation of those
functions which by the Constitution and laws have been espe
cially assigned to the executive branch of the government. But
he who takes the oath to-day to preserve, protect, and defend
the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn .?;

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

85

obligation which every patriotic citizen — on the farm, in the
workshop, in the busy marts of trade, and everywhere — should
share with him. The Constitution which prescribes his oath,
my countrymen, is yours, the government you have chosen him
to administer for a time is yours, the suffrage which executes
the will of freemen is yours, the laws and the entire scheme of
our civil rule — from the town meeting to the State capitol and
the national capitol — is yours. Your every voter, as surely as
your chief magistrate, — under the same high sanction, though in
a different sphere, —exercises a public trust. Nor is this all.
Every citizen owes to the country a vigilant watch and close
scrutiny of its public servants, and a fair and reasonable esti
mate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the people's will
impressed upon the whole framework of our civil polity, — muni
cipal, State, and federal, — and this is the price of our liberty
and the inspiration of our faith in the republic. It is the duty
of those serving the people in public place to closely limit pub
lic expenditures to the actual needs of the government, econom
ically administered, because this bounds the right of the govern
ment to exact tribute from the earnings of labor or the property
of the citizen, and because public extravagance begets extrava
gance among the people. We should never be ashamed of the
simplicity and prudential economies which are best suited to the
operation of a republican form of government and most com
patible with the mission of the American people. Those who
are selected for a limited time to manage public affairs are still
of the people, and may do much by their example to, encourage,
consistently with the dignity of their official functions, that plain
way of life which among their fellow-citizens aids integrity and
promotes thrift and prosperity. foreign policy.
The genius of our institutions, the needs of our people in
their home life, and the attention which is demanded for the
settlement and development of the resources of our vast terri
tory, dictate the scrupulous avoidance of any departure from
that foreign policy commended by the history, the traditions,
and the prosperity of our republic. It is the policy of indepen
dence favored by our position and defended by our known love
of justice and by our power. It is the policy of peace suit-

86 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
able to our interests. It is the policy of neutrality, rejecting,
any share in foreign broils and ambitions upon other conti
nents, and repelling their intrusion here. It is the policy of
Monroe and of Washington and Jefferson — " Peace, commerce,
and honest friendship with all nations ; entangling alliance with
none." FINANCIAL POLICY,
A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the
people demands that our finances shall be established upon
such a sound and sensible basis as will secure the safety and
confidence of business interests, and make the wage of labor
sure and steady, and that our system of revenue shall be so
adjusted as to relieve the people of unnecessary taxation, having
a due regard to the interests of capital invested and working-
men employed in American industries, and preventing the
accumulation of a surplus in the treasury to tempt extravagance
and waste. Care for the property of the nation and for the
needs of future settlers requires that the public domain should
be protected from purloining schemes and unlawful occupa- '
tion. INDIAN POLICY.
The convenience of the people demands that the Indians
within our boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as
wards of the government, and their education and civilization
promoted with a view to their ultimate citizenship, and that
polygamy in the Territories, destructive of the family relations
and offensive to the moral sense of the civilized world, shall be
repressed. The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit
the immigration of a servile class to compete with American
labor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and' bringing
with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our
civilization. CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
The people demand reform in the administration of the
government, and the application of business principles to public
affairs. As a means to this end, civil service reform should be
in good faith enforced. Our citizens have the right to prOtec-

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

87

tion from the incompetency of public employe's, who hold their
places solely as the reward of partisan service, and from the
corrupting influence of those who promise and the vicious
methods of those who expect such rewards. And those who
worthily seek public employment have the right to insist that
merit and competency shall be recognized, instead of party sub
serviency or the surrender of honest political belief.
THE FREEDMEN.
In the administration of a government pledged to do equal
and exact justice to all men there should be no pretext for
anxiety touching the protection of the freedmen in their rights
or their security in the enjoyment of their privileges under the
Constitution and its amendments. All discussion as to their
fitness for the place accorded to them as American citizens is
idle and unprofitable except as it suggests the necessity for
their improvement. The fact that they are citizens entitles
them to all the rights due to that relation, and charges them
with all its duties, obligations, and responsibilities.
CLOSING REMARKS.
These topics and the constant and ever varying wants of an
active and enterprising population may well receive the atten
tion and the patriotic endeavors of all who make and execute
the federal law. 'Our duties are practical, and call for indus
trious application, an intelligent perception of the claims for
public office, and, above all, a firm determination by united
action to secure to all the people of the land the full benefits of
the best form of government ever vouchsafed to man. And let
us not trust to human effort alone, but, humbly acknowledging
the power and goodness of Almighty God, who presides over the
destiny of nations, and who has at all times been revealed in
our country's history, let us invoke his aid and his blessing
upon our labors.
This admirable presentation of the views of
Grover Cleveland was accepted by the people of the
United States as his programme for their govern
ment, and the result of his administration has been

88 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
unanimously admitted to be full evidence of the
wisdom of his judgment and his honest intentions to
do all in his power to carry out the views thus pre
sented. On the 13th of March he issued a procla
mation in reference to the removal of unlawful white
intruders from Oklahoma, Indian Territory. He
ordered a naval expedition for the protection of
American citizens at Aspinwall. By his instruction
General Sheridan visited the Indian Territory to
report upon the condition of the various tribes who
were threatening war with each other. In the
interest of the great agricultural population of the
West, on the 10th of August, 1885, the President
issued an order warning all cattle-graziers to remove
all fences. On the 8th of December, 1885, Grover
Cleveland issued his first message to Congress, at
the beginning of the first session of the Forty-ninth
Congress. We have only room for some of the
special matters referred to by the President. Our
relations with foreign nations were all friendly. The
attention of Congress was specially called to the
importance of our diplomatic and consular service,
with suggestions for its improvement ; also to the
prohibitory duties upon paintings by foreign artists,
, with a recommendation that they should be abol
ished. OUR REVENUES.
The fact that our revenues are in excess of the actual needs
.- of an economical administration of the government justifies a
reduction in the amount exacted from the people for its support.
Our government is but the means established by the will of a
free people, by which certain principles are applied which they
have adopted for their benefit and protection ; and it is never

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

89

better administered, and its true spirit is never better observed,
than when the people's taxation for its support is scrupulously
limited to the actual necessity of expenditure, and distributed
according to a just and equitable plan.
The proposition with which we have to deal is the reduction
of the revenue received by the government and indirectly
paid by the people from customs duties. The question of
free trade is not involved, nor is there now any occasion for the
general discussion of the wisdom or expediency of a protective
system. Justice and fairness dictate that, in any modification of our
present laws relating to revenue, the industries and interests
which have been encouraged by such laws, and in which our
citizens have large investments, should not be ruthlessly injured,
or destroyed. We should also deal with the subject in such
manner as to protect the interests of American labor, which
is the capital of our workingmen ; its stability and proper
remuneration 'furnish the most justifiable pretext for a protective
policy. Within these limitations a certain reduction should be made
in our customs revenue. The amount of such reduction having
been determined, the inquiry follows, where can it best be re
mitted, and what articles can best be released from duty, in the
interest -of our citizens ?
I think the reduction should be made in the revenue derived
from a tax upon the imported necessaries of life. We thus
directly lessen the cost of living in every family of the land, and
release to the people in every humble home a larger measure of
the rewards of frugal industry. OUR NAVY.
All must admit the importance of an effective navy to a
nation like ours, having such an extended seacoast to protect.
And yet we have not a single vessel of war that could keep the
seas against a first-class vessel of any important power. Such
a condition ought not longer to continue. The nation that
cannot resist aggression is constantly exposed to it. Its foreign
policy is of necessity weak, and its negotiations are conducted
with disadvantage, because it is not in condition to enforce the
terms dictated by its sense of right and justice.

go THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
Inspired, as I am, by the hope, shared by all patriotic citizens,
that the day is not very far distant when our navy will be such
as befits our standing among the nations of the earth, and re
joiced at every step that leads in the -direction of such a con
summation, I deem it my duty to especially direct the attention
of Congress to the close of the report of the Secretary of the
Navy, in which the humiliating weakness of the present organi
zation of his department is exhibited, and the startling abuses
and waste of its present methods are exposed. The conviction
is forced upon us, with the certainty of mathematical demonstra
tion, that, before we proced further in the restoration of a navy,
we need a thoroughly reorganized Navy Department. The fact
that. within seventeen years more than seventy-five millions of
dollars have been spent in the construction, repair, equipment,
and armament of vessels, and the further fact that, instead of an
effective and creditable fleet, we have only the discontent and
apprehension of a nation undefended by war vessels, added to
the disclosures now made, do not permit us to doubt that every
attempt to revive our navy has thus far, for the most part, been
misdirected, and all our efforts in that direction have been little
better than blind gropings and expensive, aimless follies.
Unquestionably, if we are content with the maintenance of a
Navy Department simply as a shabby ornament to the govern
ment, a constant watchfulness may prevent some of the scandal
and abuse which have found their way into our present organiza
tion, and its incurable waste may be reduced to the minimum.
But if we desire to build ships for present usefulness, instead of
naval reminders of the days that are past, we must have a
department organized for the work, supplied with all the talent
and ingenuity our country affords, prepared to take advantage
of the experience of other nations, systematized so that all effort
shall unite and lead in one direction, and fully imbued with the
conviction that war vessels, though new, are useless unless they
combine all that the ingenuity of man has up to this day brought
forth relating to their construction.
I earnestly commend the portion of the secretary's report
devoted to this subject to the attention of Congress, in the
hope that his suggestions touching the reorganization of his
department may be adopted as the first step toward the recon*
struction of our navy.

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. gj

OUR INDIANS.
They are within the care of our government, and their rights
are, or should be, protected from invasion by the most solemn
obligations. They are properly enough called the wards of the
government ; and it should be borne in mind that this guardian
ship involves, on our part, efforts for the improvement of their
condition and the enforcement of their rights. There seems to
be general concurrence in the proposition that the ultimate
object of their treatment should be their civilization arid citizen
ship. Fitted by these to keep pace in the march of progress
with the advanced civilization about them, they will readily
assimilate with the mass of our population, assuming the
responsibilities and receiving the protection incident to this
condition.

OUR LANDS.
It is not for the " common benefit of the United States " that
a large area of the public lands 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 policy,
which encouraged many purchasers of these lands for homes,
and discouraged the massing of large areas. Exclusive of
Alaska, about three-fifths of the national domain has been
sold, or subjected to contract or grant. Of the remaining two-
fifths, a considerable portion is either mountain or desert. A
rapidly increasing population creates a growing demand for
homes, and the accumulation of wealth inspires an eager com
petition to obtain the public land for speculative purposes. In
the future, this collision of interests will be more marked than
in the past, and the execution of the nation's trust, in behalf of
our settlers, will be more difficult. I therefore commend to
your attention the recommendations contained in the report of
the Secretary of the Interior with reference to the repeal and
modification of certain of our land laws.

g2 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

OUR SOLDIERS.
While there is no expenditure of the public funds which the
people more cheerfully approve than that made- in recognition
of the services of our soldiers, living and dead, the sentiment
underlying the subject should not be vitiated by the introduo.
tion of any fraudulent practices. Therefore it is fully as
important that the rolls should be cleansed of all those who by
fraud have secured a place thereon as that meritorious claims
should be speedily examined and adjusted. The reforms in the
methods of doing the business of this bureau which have lately
been inaugurated promise better results in both these directions.

OUR HOMES.
The strength, the perpetuity, and the destiny of the nation
rest upon our homes, established by the law of God, guarded by
parental care, regulated by parental authority, and sanctified
by parental love.
These are not the homes of polygamy.
Tlje mothers of our land, who rule the nation as they mould
the characters and guide the actions of their sons, live accord
ing to God's holy ordinances, and each, secure and happy in the
exclusive love of the father of her children, sheds the warm
light of true womanhood, unperverted and unpolluted, upon all
within her pure and wholesome family circle.
These are not the cheerless, crushed, and unwomanly mothers
of polygamy.
_. The fathers of our families are the best citizens of the
republic. Wife and children are the sources of patriotism,
and conjugal and parental affection beget devotion to the coun
try. The man who, undefiled with plural marriage, is sur
rounded in his single home with his wife and children has
a stake in the country which inspires him with respect for its
laws and courage for its defence.
These are not the fathers of polygamous families.
There is no feature of this practice, or the system which sanc
tions it, which is not opposed to all that is of value in our insti
tutions, t
There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution
of the law now in operation, and I should be glad to approve

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. go
such further discreet legislation as will rid the country of this
blot upon its fair fame.
Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories are
reenforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend that
a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormons into the
country. . . . OUR FARMERS.
The agricultural interest of the country demands just recog
nition and liberal encouragement. It sustains with certainty
and unfailing strength our nation's prosperity by the products
of its steady toil, and bears its full share of the burden of taxa
tion without complaint. Our agriculturists have but slight
personal representation in the councils of the nation, and are
generally content with the humbler duties of citizenship, and
willing to trust to the bounty of nature for a reward of their
labor. But the magnitude and value of this industry is appre
ciated when the statement is made that of our total annual
exports more than three-fourths are the products of agriculture,
and of our total population nearly one-half are exclusively
, engaged in that occupation. ...
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
I am inclined to think that there is no sentiment more general
in theminds of the people of our country than a conviction of
the correctness of the principle upon which the law enforcing
civil service reform is based. In its present condition, the law
regulates only a~part of the subordinate public positions through
out the country. It applies the test of fitness to applicants for
these places by means of a competitive examination, and gives
large discretion to the commissioners as to the character of the
examination, and many other matters connected with its execu
tion. Thus the rules and regulations adopted by the commis
sion have much to do with the practical usefulness of the
statute, and with the results of its application.
The people may well trust the commission to execute the law
with perfect fairness and with as little irritation as is possible.
But of course no relaxation of the principle which underlies it,
and no weakening of the safeguards which surround it, can be
expected. Experience in its administration will probably sug-

g4 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
gest amendment of the methods of its execution, but I venture
to hope that we shall never again be remitted to the system
which distributes public positions purely as rewards for partisan
service. Doubts may well be entertained whether our govern
ment could survive the strain of a continuance of this system,
which, upon every change of administration, inspires an immense
army of claimants for office to lay siege to the patronage of gov
ernment, engrossing the time of public officers with their impor
tunities, spreading abroad the contagion of their disappointment,
and filling the air with the tumult of their discontent. ...
CONCLUSION.
In conclusion, I commend to the wise care and thoughtful
attention of Congress the needs, the welfare, and the aspira
tions of an intelligent and generous nation. To subordinate
these to the narrow advantages of partisanship or the accom
plishment of selfish aims is to violate the people's trust and be
tray the people's interests. But an individual sense of responsi- .
bility on the part of each of us, and a stern determination to
perform our duty well, must give us place among those who have
added in their day and generation to the glory and prosperity of
our beloved land.
Grover Cleveland.
Washington, December 8, 1885.
It will thus be seen that the President kept con
stantly in view all the points suggested in his inau
gural address, and a perusal of this work will
indicate, beyond contradiction, a consistent follow
ing out of his own convictions as to what was best
for the interests of the nation. On June 2, 1886,
Grover Cleveland was married to Frances Folsom.
It is eminently right and proper that some allusion
should be made to an event which has added so
mucb to the power of the executive. While the
President has secured to himself the esteem and ad
miration of his fellow-citizens for his thoroughly

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT.

95

honest and common-sense policy of administrating
the affairs of the nation, Mrs. Cleveland has secured
our hearts ; in her presence partisanship is at an
end, and there is but one unanimous feeling of love
and affection for her, from one extreme of this great
land to the other. On the 6th of December, 1886,
the President delivered his second annual message
to Congress, and from the tenor of the following
selections it will be seen that his persistence in the
plans promulgated in his inaugural had already pro
duced good results. OUR FOREIGN POLICY.
Our government has consistently maintained its relations of
friendship toward all other powers, and of neighborly interest
toward those whose possessions are contiguous to our own.
Few questions have arisen during the past year with other gov
ernments, and none of those are beyond the reach of settlement
in friendly counsel. . . .
Cases have continued to occur in Germany, giving rise to
much correspondence in relation to the privilege of sojourn of
our naturalized citizens of German origin revisiting the land of
their birth, yet I am happy to state that our relations with that
country have lost none of their accustomed cordiality. . . .
A treaty of extradition between the United States and Japan,
the first concluded by that empire, has been lately pro
claimed. . . .
The encouraging development of beneficial and intimate
relations between the United States and Mexico, which has
been so marked within the past few years, is at once the occa
sion of congratulation and of friendly solicitude. I urgently
renew my former representation of the need of speedy legisla
tion by Congress to carry into effect the Reciprocity Commercial
Convention of January 20, 1883.
Our commercial treaty of 1831 with Mexico was terminated,
according to its provisions in 1881, upon notification given by
Mexico, in pursuance of her announced policy of recasting all
her commercial treaties. Mexico has since concluded with sev-

96 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
eral foreign governments new treaties of commerce and naviga
tion, defining alien rights of trade, property, and reside.nce,
treatment of shipping, consular privileges, and the like. Our
yet unexecuted Reciprocity Convention of 1883 covers none of
these points, the settlement of which is so necessary to good
relationship. I propose to initiate with Mexico negotiations for
'a new and enlarged treaty of commerce and navigation. . . .
OUR CONSULAR SERVICE.
Pursuant to a provision of the diplomatic and consular appro
priation act, approved July 1, 1886, the estimates submitted by
the Secretary of State for the maintenance of the consular ser
vice have been recast, on the basis of salaries for all officers to
whom such allowance is deemed advisable. Advantage has
been taken of this to redistribute the salaries of the offices now
appropriated for, in accordance with the work performed, the
importance of the representative duties of the incumbent, and
the cost of living at each post. The last consideration has been
too often lost sight of in the allowances heretofore made. The
compensation which may suffice for the decent maintenance of a
worthy and capable officer in a position of onerous and repre
sentative trust at a post readily accessible, and where the neces
saries of life a-re abundant and cheap, may prove an inadequate
pittance in distant lands, where the better part of a year's pay is
consumed in reaching the post of duty, and where the comforts
of ordinary civilized existence can only be obtained with diffi
culty and at exorbitant cost. I trust that, in considering the
submitted schedules, no mistaken theory of economy will per
petuate a system which in the past has virtually closed to de
serving talent many offices where capacity and attainments of a
high order are indispensable, and in not a few instances has
brought discredit on our national character, and entailed em
barrassment and even suffering on those deputed to uphold our
dignity and interests abroad.
In connection with this subject, I earnestly reiterate the-
practical necessity of supplying some mode of trustworthy
inspection and report of the manner in which the consulates
are conducted. In the absence of such reliable information,
efficiency can scarcely be rewarded, or its opposite cor
rected. . . .

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. g»
OUR REVENUES.
In my last annual message to Congress, attention was
directed to the fact that the revenues of the government ex
ceeded its actual needs ; and it was suggested that legislative
action should be taken to relieve the people from the unneces
sary burden of taxation thus made apparent.
In view of the pressing importance of the subject, I deem it
my duty to again urge its consideration. ...
In readjusting the burdens of federal taxation, a sound pub
lic policy requires that such of our citizens as have built up
large and important industries under present conditions should
not be suddenly and to their injury deprived of advantages to
which they have adapted their business ; but, if the public good
requires it, they should be content with such consideration as
shall deal fairly and cautiously with their interests, while the
just demand of the people for relief from needless taxation is
honestly answered.
A reasonable and timely submission to such a demand should
certainly be possible without disastrous shock to any interest ;
and a cheerful concession sometimes averts abrupt and heed
less action, often the outgrowth of impatience and delayed
justice. THE LABOR QUESTION.
Due regard should be also accorded, in any proposed read
justment, to the interests of American labor so far as they are
involved. We congratulate ourselves that there is among us no
laboring class, fixed within unyielding bounds and doomed
under all conditions to the inexorable fate of daily toil. We
recognize in labor a chief factor in the wealth of the republic,
and we treat those who have it in their keeping as citizens en
titled to the most careful regard and thoughtful attention. This
regard and attention should be awarded them not only because
labor is the capital of our workingmen, justly entitled to its
share of government favor, but for the- further and not less im
portant reason that the laboring man surrounded by his family
in his humble home, as a consumer, is vitally interested in all
that cheapens the cost of living and enables him to bring
within his domestic circle additional comforts and advantages.
This relation of the workingman to the revenue laws of the

g8 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
country, and the manner in which it palpably influences the
question of wages, should not be forgotten in the justifiable
prominence given to the proper maintenance of the supply and
protection of well paid labor. And these considerations suggest
such an arrangement of government revenues as shall reduce
the expense of living, while it does not curtail the opportunity
for work or reduce the compensation of American labor, and
injuriously affect its condition and the dignified place it holds
in the estimation of our people. . . .
I recommend that, keeping in view all these considerations,
the increasing and unnecessary surplus of national income
annually accumulating be released to the people, by an amend
ment to our revenue laws, which shall cheapen the price of the
necessaries of life and give freer entrance to such imported
materials as by American labor may be manufactured into mar
ketable commodities.
Nothing can be accomplished, however, in the direction of
this much needed reform, unless the subject is approached in a
patriotic spirit of devotion to the interests of the entire country
and with a willingness to yield something for the public
good. ... OUR FORTIFICATIONS.
The defenceless condition of our seacoast and lake frontier
is perfectly palpable ; the examinations made must convince us
all that certain of our cities, named in the report of the board,
should be fortified, and that work on the most important of
these fortifications should be commenced at once ; the work has
been thoroughly considered and laid out, the Secretary of War
reports, but all is delayed in default of Congressional
action. ... OUR INDIANS.
The exhibit made of the condition of our Indian population
and the progress of the work for their enlightenment, notwith
standing the many embarrassments which hinder the better ad
ministration of this important branch of the service, is a grati
fying and hopeful one. ...
There is less opposition to the education and training of the
Indian youth, as shown by the increased attendance upon the

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. gg
schools, and there is a yielding tendency for the individual
holding of lands. Development and advancement in these
directions are essential, and should have every encouragement.
As the rising generation are taught the language of civilization
and trained in habits of industry, they should assume the duties,
privileges, and responsibilities of citizenship.
No obstacle should hinder the location and settlement of any
Indian willing to take land in severalty ; on the contrary, the
inclination to do so should be stimulated at all times when
proper and expedient. But there is no authority of law for
making allotments on some of the reservations, and on others
the allotments provided for are so small that the Indians, though
ready and desiring to settle down, are not willing to accept
such small areas, when their reservations contain ample lands
to afford them homesteads of sufficient size to meet their present
and future needs. . . . OUR SOLDIERS.
The American people, with a patriotic and grateful regard
for our ex-soldiers, — too broad and too sacred to be monopolized
by any special advocates, — are not only willing but anxious
that equal and exact justice should be done to all honest
claimants for pensions. In their sight the friendless and desti
tute soldier, dependent on public charity, if otherwise entitled,
has precisely the same right to share in the provision made for
those who fought their country's battles as those better able,
through friends and influence, to push their claims. Every
pension that is granted under our present plan upon any other
grounds than actual service and injury or disease incurred in
such service, and every instance of the many in which pensions.
are increased on other grounds than the merits of the claim,
work an injustice to the brave and crippled, but poor and friend
less soldier who is entirely neglected or who must be content
with the smallest sum allowed under general laws. . . .
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
The continued operation of the law relating to our civil ser
vice has added the most convincing proofs of its necessity and
usefulness. It is a fact worthy of note that every public officer
who has a just idea of his duty to the people testifies to the

IOO THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
value of this reform. Its staunchest friends are found among
those who understand it best, and its warmest supporters are
those who are restrained and protected by its requirements.
The meaning of such restraint and protection is not appre
ciated by those who want places under the government, regard
less of merit and efficiency, nor by those who insist that the
selection for such places should rest upon a proper credential
showing active partisan work. They mean to public officers, if
not their lives, the only opportunity afforded them to attend to
public business, and they mean to the good people of the coun
try the better performance of the work of their government.
It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of this
reform are so little understood, and that so many things not in
cluded within its plan are called by its name. When cavil yields
more fully to examination, the system will have large additions
to the number of its friends.
Our civil service reform may be imperfect in some of its
details ; it may be misunderstood and opposed ; it may not
always be faithfully applied ; its designs may sometimes mis
carry through mistake or wilful intent ; it may sometimes trem
ble under the assaults of its enemies or languish under the
misguided zeal of impractical friends ; but if the people of
this country ever submit to the banishment of its underlying
principle from the operation of their government, they will
abandon the surest ' guarantee of the safety and success of
American institutions. ... CONCLUSION.
In conclusion, I earnestly invoke such wise action on the
part of the people's .legislators as will subserve the public good
and demonstrate during the remaining days of the Congress as
at present organized its ability and inclination to so meet the
people's needs that it shall be gratefully remembered by an ex
pectant constituency. Grover Cleveland.
Washington, December 6, 1886.
We have in the preceding pages attempted to
give some account of the man in whose hands are
held to a large extent the welfare of this nation.
We have shown that from his early life, and through

GROVER CLEVELAND AS PRESIDENT. IOI
his occupation of the offices of mayor, Governor, and
President, he has been thoroughly consistent. While
holding the latter high position, he has simply am
plified, in carrying out, the same rules of government
which he set forth as mayor and Governor. In all
his messages there is the same clear ring : We, the
officers of the government of the United States, are
placed in power for the good of our country ; let the
result of our administration prove to the world our
ability as Democrats to secure the best welfare of
our fellow-citizens in our management of the great
trust committed to our charge. Mr. Cleveland's great
popularity is largely due to the fact that he is always
perfectly candid. He impresses the people as a
truthful, practical man, who devotes himself con
scientiously to the discharge of his duties ; also as a
man of moral courage, who when he believes it is
right aiid just to veto an obnoxious bill does not
hesitate to do it. All these facts have led to the
unanimous renomination of Grover Cleveland by
the Democratic party, an incident without precedent
in the history of the country. The principle which
he represents is the honest conduct of the public
business, and that principle has been conscientiously
carried out through the administration now drawing
to a close, so far as the position of the President has
permitted him to act. The record of this administra
tion is open to the people, and, so far as possible in
the space allotted, we have endeavored to show that
the President has been thoroughly supported by a
cabinet in' whose official position there has been but
little change during his administration.

CHAPTER V.

THE STATE DEPARTMENT.
All correspondence with the public ministers and
consuls of the United States, all correspondence
with the representatives of foreign powers accredit
ed to the United States, and negotiations relat
ing to the foreign affairs of the United States,
must pass through the hands of the Secretary of
State. He is also the medium of correspondence
between the President and the chief executive
of the several States of the United States. To
him is confided the custody of the great seal of
the United States, and he countersigns and affixes
such seal to all executive proclamations, to com
missions, and to warrants for pardon and the
extradition of fugitives from justice. He stands first
in rank among the members of the Cabinet. He
is, beside, the custodian of the treaties made with
foreign States and of the laws of the United
States. It is his privilege to grant and issue
passports, and exequaturs to foreign consuls in
the United States. He publishes the laws and reso
lutions of Congress, amendments to the Constitu-
J°3

104 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
tion, and proclamations declaring the admission
of new States into the Union. It is further his
duty to publish certain annual reports to Congress
relating; to commercial information received from
diplomatic and consular officers of the United
States. Indeed, his position in the Cabinet is very
important and responsible.
THE SECRETARY OF STATE.
Thomas F- Bayard
creditably and honorably fills the high post of Sec
retary of Sate.
The Bayard family have been residents in this
country for over two hundred years, and trace
their descent from the same family as that of
Chevalier Bayard, the knight " sans peur et sans
reproche." Peter Bayard, the direct ancestor of the
Secretary of State, settled in what is now known
as the State of Maryland, where he purchased some
25,000 acres. John Bayard, grandson of Peter, took
an active part in the Revolutionary war,_serving as
colonel of cavalry. The historian Bancroft refers
to him as " a patriot of singular purity of character
and disinterestedness." He was later a member of
th,e Continental Congress.
Richard Bassett, the great grandfather of our
present Secretary of State, was an active patriot of
the Revolution, and was a delegate to the conven
tion that framed the Federal Constitution, besides

THE STATE DEPARTMENT. 105
being the first Senator elected to Congress from
the State of Delaware. He resigned his seat in the
Senate in 1792.
James Ashton Bayard, son of John, was grand
father to Thomas F. Bayard, and with him began
the senatorial line of the family name in Congress.
He was the acknowledged leader of the old Fed
eral party, and was offered the missions to both
! 1 France and Russia, but declined. He, however,
served as joint commissioner with Clay, Gallatin,
Adams, and Russell in negotiating the treaty of
Ghent. Richard H. Bayard was chosen United States
Senator in 1836. James Ashton Bayard repre-
- sented Delaware in the Senate from 1851 to 1864,
and retired in 1869, when he was succeeded by his
son, the subject of our sketch.
Thomas F. Bayard was born at Wilmington,
Del., October 29, 1828; was educated at the
Flushing school, established by Rev. Mr. F. L.
Hawks. His early training was in the direction of
a mercantile life ; but he preferred and studied
the profession of the law, and was admitted to the
bar in 1 85 1. With the exception of two years in
Philadelphia, Mr. Bayard practised his profession
in his native city. In 1853, he was appointed
United States district attorney for the State of
Delaware, but resigned in 1854. He was elected
• • United States Senator from Delaware for the

106 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
term commencing in 1869 and ending 'in 1S75,
serving on the important committees on Finance,
Judiciary, Private Land Claims, and that on the Re
vision of Laws; and was a member of the Electoral
Commission of 1877. On the same day of his elec
tion his father, James A. Bayard, was also re-elected
to the Senate from the same State, to fill an unexpired
term, the first and only instance recorded of father
and son both occupying seats in that august body.
Mr. Bayard was re-elected in 1875, and again in
1 88 1, and was appointed Secretary of State by Mr.
Cleveland in 1885. He was Senator from Dela
ware for sixteen years, being the oldest in contin
uous service of the Democratic Senators. He was
chosen President oi the Senate, pro tempore, Oct.
10, 1881.
Mr. Bayard is a man whose public and pri
vate record is of the purest and most honorable
character. As a public speaker, he is always
listened to with the greatest respect and interest.
He had achieved a reputation as a sound and re
liable financial authority, prior to assuming the
chair of the State Department The result of his
administration of the State Department will be
best understood from a perusal of the following
facts, which are also indicative of that- complete
success in connection with our foreign relations
which is so clearly shown in all other Departments
of the "Government under the present Administra
tion.

THE STATE DEPARTMENT.

107

The State Department is recognized as the
first among the different departments, and the
Secretary of State, in his position as Premier of the
Administration, enjoys prerogatives not common to
other members of the Cabinet, and is charged with
special duties of an official, ceremonial and 'social
nature. He greets, in the name of the President, a
member of a Royal family or Ruler of a foreign
State visiting the capital. Is present during his call
of etiquette and attends the President in returning
the visit. He arranges the audiences accorded
Diplomatic Ministers in presenting their creden
tials or taking leave.
The special work of the State Department,
under the able administration of the present Secre
tary and during the past three years and a half, has
been to secure through proper diplomatic measures
a continuance of friendly relations with all foreign
Governments ; to carefully guard the citizenship of
all native born or naturalized citizens, in whatever
part of the world they may be ; to maintain our
rights whenever attacked, as far as they are known
to be just and based upon international law. Under
the present Administration, our treaty with the
Empire of China has been completed to the satis
faction of all concerned ; and while doing justice to
all honorable claims on the part of the great Gov
ernment of the West, at the same time the com
plaints of our fellow-citizens have been fairly

108 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
considered, and the result obtained through the
work of the State Department is considered most
creditable. The Fisheries Treaty, as it is commonly
called, is the result of the meeting of Commis
sioners from Great Britain and the United States,
who, after fairly and carefully considering all ques
tions before them, mutually agreed upon a treaty
which is now before the United States Senate for
confirmation. As much curiosity has been expressed
regarding this document, it has been thought best
to publish the views of the President upon
the subject, as indicated in his Message to the
Senate, from which the injunction of secrecy has
recently been removed and which we now print in
full. Message from the President of the United States, trans
mitting a Treaty between the United States and Great
Britain concerning the Interpretation of the Conven
tion of October 20, 1818, signed at Washington, Febru
ary 15, 1888.
To the Senate of the United States :
In my annual message transmitted to the Congress in Decem
ber, 1886, it was stated that negotiations were then pending for
the settlement of the questions growing out of the rights claimed
by American fishermen in British North American waters.
As a result of such negotiations, a treaty has been agreed
upon between her Britannic Majesty and the United States,
concluded and signed in this capital, under my direction and
authority, on the 15th of February instant, and which I now
have the honor to submit to the Senate, with the recommenda
tion that it shall receive the consent of that body, as provided
in the Constitution, in order -that the ratifications thereof may
be duly exchanged and the treaty be carried into effect.

TIIE STATE DEPARTMENT.

109

Shortly after Congress had adjourned in March last, and in
continuation of my efforts to arrive at such an agreement between
the Governments of Great Britain and the United States as would
secure to the citizens of the respective countries the unmolested
enjoyment of their just rights under existing treaties and inter
national comity in the territorial waters of Canada and of New
foundland, I availed myself of opportune occurrences indicative
of a desire to make without delay an amicable and final settle
ment of a long-standing controversy — productive of much
irritation and misunderstanding between the two nations — to
send through our minister in London proposals that a confer
ence should take place on the subject at this capital.
The experience of the past two years had demonstrated the
dilatory and unsatisfactory consequences of our indirect tran
saction of business through the foreign office in London, in
which the views and wishes of the Government of the Dominion
of Canada were practically predominant, but were only to find
expression at second hand.
To obviate this inconvenience and obstruction to prompt and
well-defined settlement, it was considered advisable that the
negotiations should be conducted in this city, and that the inter
ests of Canada and Newfoundland should be directly represented
therein. The terms of reference having been duly agreed upon between
the two Governments, and the conference arranged to be held
here, by virtue of the power in me vested by the Constitution, I
duly authorized Thomas F. Bayard, the Secretary of State of
the United States, William L. Putnam, a citizen of the State of
Maine, and James B. Angell, a citizen of the State of Michigan,
for and in the name of the United States, to meet and confer
with the plenipotentiaries representing the Government of her
Britannic Majesty, for the purpose of considering and adjusting
in a friendly spirit all or any questions relating to rights of fishery
in the seas adjacent to British North America and Newfoundland
which were in dispute between the Governments of the United
States and that of her Britannic Majesty, and jointly and sever
ally to conclude and sign any treaty or treaties touching the
premises ; and I herewith transmit for your information full
copies of the power so given by me.
In execution of the powers so conveyed, the said Thomas F.
Bayard, William L. Putnam, and James B. Angell, in the month
of November last, met in this city the plenipotentiaries of her

I IO THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
Britannic Majesty, and proceeded in the negotiation of a treaty
as above authorized. After many conferences and protracted*
efforts an agreement has at length been arrived at, which is em
bodied in the treaty which I now lay before you.
The treaty meets my approval, because I believe that it sup
plies a satisfactory, practical, and final adjustment, upon a basis
honorable and just to both parties, of the difficult and vexed
question to which it relates.
A review of the history of this question will show that all
former attempts to arrive at a common interpretation, satisfac
tory to both parties, of the first article of the treaty of October
20, 1818, have been unsuccessful; and with the lapse of time
the difficulty and obscurity have only increased.
The negotiations in 1854, and again in 187 1, ended in both
cases in temporary reciprocal arrangements of the tariffs of
Canada and Newfoundland and of the United States, and the
payment of a money award by the United States, under which
the real questions in difference remained unsettled, in abeyance,
and ready to present themselves anew just so soon as the con
ventional arrangements were abrogated.
The situation, therefore, remained unimproved by the results
of the treaty of 1871, and a grave condition of affairs, presenting
almost identically the same features and causes of complaint by
the United States against Canadian action and British default
in its correction, confronted us in May, 1886, and has continued
until the present time.
The greater part of the correspondence which has taken place
between the two governments has heretofore been communicated
to Congress, and at as early a day as possible I shall transmit
the remaining portion to this date, accompanying it with the
joint protocols of the conferences which resulted in the conclu
sion of the treaty now submitted to you.
You will thus be fully possessed of the record and history of
the case since the termination, on June 30, 1885, of the fishery-
articles of the Treaty of Washington of 187 1, whereby we were
relegated to the provisions of the treaty of October 20, 1818.
As the documents and papers referred to will supply full in
formation of the positions taken under my administration by the
representatives of the United States, as well as those occupied
by the representatives of the Government of Great Britain, it is
not considered necessary or expedient to repeat them in this
message. But I believe the treaty will be found to contain a

THE STATE DEPARTMENT. Iri
just, honorable, and, therefore, satisfactory solution of the diffi
culties which have clouded our relations with our neighbors on
our northern border.
Especially satisfactory do I believe the proposed arrangement
will be found by those of our citizens who are engaged in the
open sea fisheries, adjacent to the Canadian coast, and resorting
to those ports and harbors under treaty provisions and rules of
international law.
The proposed delimitation of the lines of the exclusive fish
eries from the common fisheries will give certainty and security
as to the area of their legitimate field ; the headland theory of
imaginary lines is abandoned by Great Britain, and the specifi
cation in the treaty of certain named bays especially provided
for gives satisfaction to the inhabitants of the shores, without
subtracting materially from the value or convenience of the
fishery rights of Americans.
The uninterrupted navigation of the Strait of Canso is ex
pressly and for the first time affirmed, and the four purposes for
which our fishermen under the treaty of 1818 were allowed to
enter the bays and harbors of Canada and Newfoundland with
in the belt of 3 marine miles are placed under a fair and liberal
construction, and their enjoyment secured without such condi
tions and restrictions as in the past have embarrassed and ob
structed them so seriously.
The enforcement of penalties for unlawfully fishing or pre
paring to fish within the inshore and exclusive waters of Canada
and Newfoundland is to be accomplished under safe-guards
against oppressive or arbitrary action, thus protecting the defend
ant fishermen from punishment in advance of trial, delays, and
inconvenience and unnecessary expense.
The history of events in the last two years shows that no
feature of Canadian administration was more harassing and in
jurious than the compulsion upon our fishing vessels to make
formal entry and clearance on every occasion of temporarily
seeking shelter in Canadian ports and harbors.
Such inconvenience is provided against in the proposed treaty,
and this most frequent and just cause of complaint is removed.
The articles permitting our fishermen to obtain provisions and
the ordinary supplies of trading vessels on their homeward
voyages, and under which they are accorded the further and
even more important privilege on all occasions of purchasing
such casual or needful provisions and supplies as are ordinarily
granted to trading vessels, are of great importance and value.

112 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
The licenses which are to be granted without charge and on ap
plication, in order to enable our fishermen to enjoy these privi
leges, are reasonable and proper checks in the hands of .the
local authorities to identify the recipients and prevent abuse,
and can form no impediment to those who intend to use them
fairly. The hospitality secured for our vessels in all cases of actual
distress, with liberty to unload and sell and transship their
cargoes, is full and liberal.
These provisions will secure the substantial enjoyment of the
treaty rights for our fishermen under the treaty of 1818, for
which contention has been steadily made in the correspondence
of the Department of State, and our minister at London, and by
the American negotiators of the present treaty.
The right of our fishermen under the treaty of 1818 did not
extend to the procurement of distinctive fishery supplies in
Canadian ports and harbors; and one item supposed to be es
sential, to wit, bait, was plainly denied them by the explicit and
definite words of the treaty of 1818, emphasized by the course
of the negotiation and express decisions which preceded the
conclusion of that treaty.
The treaty now submitted contains no provision affecting
tariff duties, and, independently of the position assumed upon
the part of the United States that no alteration in our tariff or
other domestic legislation could be made as the price or consid
eration of obtaining the rights of our citizens secured by treaty,
it was considered more expedient to allow any change in the
revenue laws of the United States to be made by the ordinary
exercise of legislative will, and in promotion of the public
interests. Therefore, the addition to the free list of fish, fish-
oil, whale and seal oil, etc., recited in the last article of the
treaty, is wholly left to the action of Congress ; and in connec
tion therewith the Canadian and Newfoundland right to regulate
sales of bait and other fishing supplies within their own juris
diction is recognized, and the right of our fishermen to freely
purchase these things is made contingent, by this treaty, upon
the action of Congress in the modification of our tariff laws.
Our social and commercial intercourse with those populations
who have been placed upon our borders and made forever our
neighbors is made apparent by a list of United States common
carriers, marine and inland, connecting their lines with Canada,
which was returned by the Secretary of the Treasury to the

THE STATE DEPARTMENT.

"3

Senate on the 7th day of February, 1888, in answer to a resolu
tion of that body ; and this is instructive as to the great volume
of mutually profitable interchanges which has come into existence
during the last half century.
This intercourse is still but partially developed, and if the
amicable enterprise and wholesome rivalry between the two
populations be not obstructed, the promise of the future is full
of the fruits of an unbounded prosperity on both sides of the
border. The treaty now submitted to you has been framed in a spirit
of liberal equity and reciprocal benefits, in the conviction that
mutual advantage and convenience are the only permanent
foundation of peace and friendship between States, and that
with the adoption of the agreement now placed before the
Senate, a beneficial and satisfactory intercourse between the
two countries will be established so as to secure perpetual peace
and harmony.
In connection with the treaty herewith submitted I deem it
also my duty to transmit to the Senate a written offer or arrange
ment, in the nature of a modus vivendi, tendered after the con
clusion of the treaty on the part of the British plenipotentiaries,
to secure kindly and peaceful relations during the period that
may be required for the consideration of the treaty by the re
spective Governments and for the enactmemt of the necessary
legislation to carry its provisions into effect if approved.
This paper, freely and on their own motion, signed by the
British conferees, not only extends advantages to our fishermen,
pending the ratification of the treaty, but appears to have been
dictated by a friendly and amicable spirit.
I am given to understand that the other governments con
cerned in this treaty will, within a few days, in accordance with
their methods of conducting public business, submit said treaty
to their respective legislatures, when it will be at once published
to the world. In view of such action it appears to be advisable
that, by publication here, early and full knowledge of all that
has been done in the premises should be afforded to our
people. It would also seem to be useful to inform the popular mind
concerning the history of the long continued disputes growing
out of the subject embraced in the treaty and to satisfy the
public interests touching the same, as well as to acquaint our
people with the present status of the questions involved, and to

114 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
give them the exact terms of the proposed adjustment, in place
of the exaggerated and imaginative statements which will other
wise reach them.
I therefore beg" leave respectfully to suggest that said treaty
and all such correspondence, messages, and documents relating
to the same as may be deemed important to accomplish these
purposes be at once made public by the order of your honorable
body.
GROVER CLEVELAND.
Executive Mansion,
February 20, 1888.
We are confident that upon the careful read
ing of the preceding document every sensible man
will acknowledge, that the rights of our fishermen
are carefully preserved, and that the attacks of
partisan politicians upon an honorable decision,
arrived at by the combined judgment of able and
experienced men, are totally unwarranted, and it
is to be hoped that the usually clear-sightedness
of United States Senators will recognize the facts
in the case and that they govern themselves ac
cordingly. It is a matter for grave consideration
and thankfulness on the part of every American
citizen, that through the able management of the
State Department, under its present head, that
this nation has been preserved from war and
the rumors of war, which, had it been under the con
trol of a less conservative man, might have led this
country into a conflict which we are not prepared
to meet. This Administration is one of peace, and
the experience of the past four years is sufficient
to make us all look forward with confidence to a
continuance of such management as will leave our
people time to do justice to their agricultural, man
ufacturing, mercantile, and commercial pursuits.

THE ST A TE DEPAR TMENT. \ 1 5
Our present relations with all the world are satis
factory and the United States to-day holds a posi
tion which should make every American citizen
thank God for the advantages which he enjoys.
As arbitrator of difficulties between other nations
the aid of the President has been secured, and
through the action of the State Department these
decisions have been rendered to the satisfaction of
the contending parties. The great value and impor
tance of our consular system, in its connection with
the growth of our manufactures and the increase
of trade and commerce by the introduction of new
channels, has been fully recognized by the present
Secretary of the State Department, not only by pre
senting to Congress the absolute need of a more
satisfactory system of payment for the work done,
but also in supplying the public with weekly instal
ments of information from our consuls in all parts
of the world. These reports being regularly sup
plied to the press become public property and are
at once utilized when available to the general ad
vantage of the public.
The business of the State Department is kept
thoroughly in hand, each bureau completing its
work daily, and at the present time there is no ac
cumulated work. This is due to the management
adopted by the Secretary and the persevering labors
of those employed. In the organization and syste
matized work of the State Department will be
found additional evidence that the present Adminis
tration is established on a business basis.

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CHAPTER VI.
THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.
The Secretary of the Treasury is charged by
law with the management of the national finances.
He prepares plans for the improvement of the rev
enue and for the support of the public credit ; sup
erintends the collection of the revenue, and pre
scribes the forms of keeping and rendering public
accounts and of making returns ; grants warrants
for all moneys drawn from the Treasury in pursu
ance of appropriations made by law, and for the
payment of moneys into the Treasury; and annu
ally submits to Congress estimates of the probable
revenues and disbursements of the Government.
He also controls the construction of public build
ings ; the coinage and printing of money ; the col
lection of statistics ; the administration of the
coast and geodetic survey ; life-saving, light-house,
revenue-cutter, steamboat inspection, and marine-
hospital branches 'of the public service ; and fur
nishes generally such information as may be re
quired by either branch of Congress on all matters
pertaining to the foregoing. 117

Il8 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
The routine work of the Secretary's office is tran
sacted in the offices of the Supervising Architect, Di
rector of the Mint, Superintendent of Engraving and
Printing, Supervising Surgeon-General of Marine
Hospitals, General Superintendent of Life-Saving
Service, Supervising Inspector-General of Steam
boats, Bureau of Statistics, Light-House Board, and
in the following divisions : Warrants, Estimates,
and Appropriations ; Appointments ; Customs ;
Public Moneys ; Loans and Currency ; Mercantile
Marine and Internal Revenue ; Revenue-Marine ;
Stationery, Printing, and Blanks ; Captured Prop
erty, Claims, and Lands; Mails and Files, and Spe
cial Agents. THE SECRETARY OF THE TREASURY.
Charles S. Fairchild.
Sidney T. Fairchild, the father of the present
Secretary of the Treasury, is known as one of the
most distinguished lawyers of Central New York.
He was for many years leading counsel for the New
York Central Railroad Company. Charles S. Fair-
child was born at CazSnovia, Madison County, New
York, April 30, 1842. He received his elementary
education at the Methodist seminary in that town,
from which he graduated in 1850. He immediately
entered Harvard College, where he graduated in
1863, and afterwards graduated from the Law
School in 1865. Having completed his collegiate

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

II9

and legal education, he became junior member of
the law firm of Hand, Hale, Schwartz & Fairchild,
in Albany, one of the leading firms in the State of
New York. In 1868 he began his political career
by organizing the Democratic party of his native
county, as chairman of its committee, in support
of Horatio Seymour for President, Mr. Fairchild
running for the State Senate himself. In 1874, he
was appointee! Deputy Attorney General by the
Hon. Daniel Pratt, and in that important office was
concerned in many famous cases, especially in rela
tion to the removal of the police commissioners of
the city of New York, when he was opposed by the
leading counsel of the State and city, but succeeded
in his efforts to secure for New York city the
purity of elections.
During the Canal Ring investigations in New
York, Mr. Fairchild was closely associated with
Samuel J. Tilden, who had great confidence in his
judgment and abilities and always favored his politi
cal advancement. He is sound on financial ques
tions and supports the Administration in its position (
in connection with silver, and tariff reform.
As a recognition of his ability he was nominated
and elected Attorney General in 1876. Having
served out his term he spent two years in Europe.
He was President of the Chanties Aid Association
of the State and Vice-President of the Charity
Organization Society of \he City of New York.

120 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
City, where he remained until invited to the second
place in the administration of the Treasury Depart
ment by Secretary Manning. Mr. Fairchild be
came Secretary of the Treasury by appointment
of. the President in 1887.
Secretary Fairchild is a man of quick percep
tions and an analytical mind. He is one of the
seven youngest persons who have filled the post of
Secretary of the Treasury. The youngest was
Alexander Hamilton, Washington's first secretary,
who was thirty-two; Wolcott, the second, was thirty-
five ; Dexter and Gallatin, third and fourth, were
forty ; Brewster was forty-one ; Crawford and Fair-
child were each forty-four.
In his management of the Treasury Department,
Mr. Fairchild has secured the confidence of both
the Government and the people ; and the important
results of his careful and conscientious labor as
herewith given will prove that he is fully entitled
to the great confidence thus secured.

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 12 1
The most important work of this department
obviously consists of the collection of the revenues,
and the management of the national finances.
In the matter of the collection of the revenue,
which is mainly derived from receipts for customs
dues and from internal taxes, it will be seen, from
an examination of the records and reports of the
department, that there has been a steady and
decided increase of revenue, and a steady and
decided decrease of the cost of collection, under the
present Administration. The fiscal year ends on
the thirtieth day of June, and the present year,
therefore, completes three full fiscal years of this
administration of the department ; and beginning
with the fiscal year 1884, which was the first year
after the tariff law of 1883 went into effect, it will
be found that the receipts from customs for that
year were, in round numbers, one hundred and
ninety-five millions of dollars; for 1885, one hundred
and eighty-one millions of dollars; for 1886, one
hundred and ninety-three millions of dollars, — being
the first year of this administration, — an increase of
twelve millions of dollars; and in 1887 they were
two hundred and seventeen millions of dollars, a
further increase of twenty-five millions ; and for
1888, two hundred and twenty millions of dollars,
a further increase of three millions, making a total
increase during the three years of over forty millions
of dollars ; while the cost of collection for 1884 was
.0344 per cent; 1885, .0377 per cent; 1886, .0330
per cent; 1887, .0316 per cent; 1888, .0298 per
cent. The same results are shown in the receipts from
internal revenue, and the expenditures in that branch

122 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
of the service : the collections for the fiscal year
1885, being, in round numbers, one hundred and
twelve millions; 1886, one hundred and seventeen
millions; 1887, one hundred and nineteen millions ;
1888, one hundred and twenty-five millions, a total
increase of thirteen millions of dollars; while the
cost of collection has decreased from .03963 per
cent for 1885 to .0302 per cent in 1888. This has
been accomplished • notwithstanding that the work
of collecting the tax upon oleomargarine, and the
enforcement of the law against the illicit production
and traffic in that article, have, during this period,
been devolved upon the Internal Revenue Bureau.
In both the customs and internal revenue service,
great vigilance has been displayed in the detection
and suppression of frauds upon the revenue. In
the customs department especial attention has been
given to the subject of undervaluations, which had
grown to be so great an abuse that loud complaints
were constantly made by the domestic manufacturer
and the honest importer, that their business was
seriously imperilled in consequence of it. The
result has been that this abuse has been practically
eradicated, and save in rare instances are complaints
now made either to the department or in the public^
press upon that account. Greater promptness in
the transaction of customs business has also been
secured. Two-thirds of the revenue from customs
are collected at the port of New York ; and two
years ago the work of the Liquidating Division at
that port was OA^er two years behind, and the
Division of Protests and Appeals was equally in
arrears ; but at the present time the work of both
divisions has been so far advanced, that, by the end

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 123
of this calender year, all arrears of business will have
been disposed of, and the work will be up to current
date. In the matter of the management of the national
finances a brief review of some of the difficulties
which had to be encountered, and of the dangers
which threatened the country, and of the manner
in which they have been avoided and averted, will
satisfy every candid and impartial mind that this
branch of the public service was never more ably or
more faithfully administered.
On the 30th of June, 1887, the surplus in the
Treasury, according to the Treasurer's statement of
assets and liabilities, was $45,698,594.15. The
expenditures, actual and estimated, including the
sinking-fund, for the fiscal year 1888 were $316,-
817,785.48; and the revenues of the Government for
the same period, under existing tariff and revenue
laws, were estimated to be approximately $383,000,-
000. Thus an addition to the surplus during the
fiscal year of $66,182,214.52 was expected, making
the total surplus on the 30th of June, 1888, $111,-
880,808.67. This was the situation as it appeared
one year ago. It will be seen from what follows
that the estimate was far below the reality.
Early in August, 1887, it became apparent that
the rapid accumulation of money in the Treasury,
which had already created a feeling of great anxiety
and uneasiness in business centres, would soon
cause severe stringency in the money markets. The
time was approaching when the annual shipments
of money to the West for the purpose of moving
the crops would deplete the reserves in the great
cities. This depletion, which in good crop years is

124 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
always great enough to increase the loaning rate to
seven per cent and upward, threatened to be so great
as to cripple the movement of money so necessary to
the welfare of the country, particularly of the great
grain-raising sections of the West; and the constantly
increasing surplus in the Treasury was daily adding
to the gravity of the situation. At this juncture
the Secretary of the Treasury wisely determined,
that, instead of distributing the purchases for the
sinking-fund over the whole fiscal year as he would
do in ordinary circumstances, he would invest the
entire amount (nearly twenty-eight millions) at
once, or as rapidly as possible; hoping thereby to so
far relieve the impending distress as to tide over the
period of moving the crops, and so prevent business
disturbances during that critical time. To this end
he published the circular of August, 1887, and later
the circular of September, 1887, for the purchase of
bonds for the sinking-fund. The first circular pro
posed to receive offers weekly, at prices to be named
by the owners ; and when all which were offered at
fair prices had been obtained by that method, the
second circular was published, fixing a price at which
they would be received. Under these two circulars
the Secretary purchased $24,844,650 bonds at a cost
of $27,842,237.10. No comment is needed to
emphasize the importance and vast benefit of this
operation. The Secretary placed in the hands of
the people nearly twenty-eight millions of money
with which to carry on the most important business
transactions of the year. The wisdom and success
of this measure is best shown by the fact, that,
throughout the period when the greatest trouble has
heretofore occurred, not the slightest disturbance of

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 125
business was recorded, and the average rate paid for
money on call in New York, the great banking
centre of the country, was never lower.
Upon completing the purchase of bonds for the
sinking-fund, the question of disposing of the further
additions to the surplus was carefully considered.
The authority to purchase bonds in addition to the
sinking-fund requirements was not considered to be
so clear and unequivocal as to justify the Secretary
in making purchases.
The authority, such as it was, was contained in a
paragraph in the Legislative Appropriation Bill,
approved March 3, 1881 ; and, after a careful survey
of all the circumstances, it was decided that doubt
existed, and that all other lawful means should first
be exhausted before resorting to other purchases.
The only resource -left appeared to be in the Secre
tary's authority to use national banks as depositories
of public money. Prior to this time, the deposits in
national banks had been somewhat restricted by
the unprofitable nature of the terms offered to the
banks. They were limited to a deposit of 90 per
cent of the par value of the bonds deposited by
them as security, so that from 18 to 36 per cent of
the value of the bonds was practically locked up.
In view of the high premium which these bonds
commanded as an investment, it was decided to allow
a deposit of the par value of 4I per cent bonds held
as security, and a deposit of 1 10 per cent against 4
per cent bonds held. The result is best shown by
the following statement : —
On the ist of July, 1885, there were 141 national
banks whose designations as depositories were in
force, and the deposits of public moneys in their

126 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
hands amounted to $12,928,264.47. On the ist of
July, 1888, there were 294 banks holding public
deposits of $59,979,039.63. This is an increase of
153 banks, and an increase of deposits in their hands
of $47,050,775.16. In other words, there are more
than twice as many banks now acting as depositories
as there were three years ago, and they hold nearly
five times as much public money as they did three
years ago. This great sum of $47,000,000 is now
in the hands of the people as the result of the wise
and liberal policy of the Secretary, instead of re
maining locked up in the Treasury as it would have
remained under the policy formerly in operation;
and the security held for the safe return to the
Treasury of the money deposited is at all times
ample, for the 4^ per cent bonds held by the Treas
ury have at all times been worth at least 7 per
cent more than the deposit, and the 4 per cent at
least 1 5 per cent more. Either class of bonds can
be sold at a day's notice, so that no possible contin
gency could result in loss to the Government. The
efforts of the Secretary to keep down the surplus in
the Treasury were effectual during the fall and early
winter, but the time soon came when something
more must be done; for the surplus continued to
grow, and the measures which had been so effective
earlier in the fiscal year were now inoperative, from
causes which were clearly foreseen, and to which the
present Secretary and his able predecessor, Mr.
Manning, had repeatedly called the attention of
Congress without avail. The absorption of public
moneys by the depository banks had reached its
limit, and the sinking-fund requirements had been
supplied ; so that nothing remained to be done but

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 1 27
to await the action of Congress. There had been
discussion of the subject in both houses, but no
material progress towards a settlement of the ques-
tian had been made. In April, however, the House
passed a resolution declaratory of its judgment that
the clause in the appropriation bill of March 3, 1881,
was still in force ; and a similar resolution was passed
a few days later in the Senate. The sanction of
Congress having thus been practically given to the
policy of purchasing unmatured obligations at a
premium, the Secretary promptly on the day after
the passage of the Senate resolution published a
circular, dated April 17, 1888, inviting daily offerings
of bonds to the Government. This circular, like
those which preceded it in August and September,
1887, invited the people to deal directly with the
Government in selling their bonds, being a marked
departure from the policy of former Administrations
in this respect. All previous purchases had been
made through the sub-treasury in New York, and a
deposit as a guaranty of good faith was required.
This restriction placed the business of selling bonds
to the Government exclusively in the hands of the
professional dealers in securities, and consequently
placed individual holders at their mercy. Under
the present system, the humblest citizen of the
United States, owner of a bond for fifty dollars,
can deal directly with the Government ; and his
proposal for the sale of his bond receives from the
Secretary the same consideration, and if his bond
is accepted the same prompt payment, as that
accorded the dealer who sells his millions at a time.
Under this circular of April 17, 1888, the Secretary
had purchased up to June 30, 1888, $18,383,800

128 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
4 per cent bonds at a cost of $23,347,744.20, and
$8,393,050 4i per cent at a cost of $9,039,056.20:,
making a total disbursement on acccount of pur
chase of $32,386,800.40.
The bonds so purchased, it should be remem
bered, were not redeemable ; the a.\ per cents
being payable after September, 1891, and the 4 per
cents not until after July 1, 1907.
The amount, therefore, which the Government
would pay in interest and principal on the bonds if
outstanding till maturity would be for the A.% per
cents $9,705,158.31, and for the 4 per cents $32,-
539,326, making a total of $42,244,484.31. The
difference between this amount and the amount
actually paid results in a direct saving to the Gov
ernment of $9,857,683.91, which, added to savings
in 1887 of $4,832,668.62, makes a total saving of
$14,790,352.03 ; so that at the same time that the
Secretary of the Treasury was relieving the people
by disbursing the money they so badly needed, he
was saving to them nearly $15,000,000, and mak
ing possible a still further reduction of taxation to
that amount.
But, notwithstanding the utmost endeavors of
the Secretary to diminish the surplus, statements
published at the close of the fiscal year 1888 show
that it is larger than at the commencement of the
purchases in August, 1887. According to the state
ments of' assets and liabilities for Aug. 1, 1887, the
surplus was then $45,698,594.15; and on July 1,
1888, it was $103,220,464.71, which is an increase of
$57,521,870.56, notwithstanding the purchase during
the interval of United States bonds costing over
$32,000,006, in addition to those purchased in

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

129

August for the sinking-fund, and which were
included in the estimated expenditures for the fiscal
year. At the beginning of this statement it was shown
that the estimates made on June 20, 1887, for the
ensuing fiscal year indicated a probable surplus of
$111,880,808.67 during the year. The actual surplus
was $135,607,265.11, consisting of $103,220,464.71
still in the Treasury, and $32,386,800.40 paid for
bonds purchased. This is an increase over the
estimate of $23,726,456.44.
There has prevailed the belief that the accumula
tion of the surplus revenues in the Treasury, and the
retirement of national bank notes by banks reducing
circulation, must result in contraction of the circu
lation of the country. So far the wise, prudent, and
skilful management of the Government finances by
the Secretary of the Treasury has averted all trouble
from this source. Indeed, the amount of money in
circulation among the people to-day is greater than
it was two years ago. The total circulation Jan.
1, 1886, was $1,285,173,012 ; while the amount
June 30, 1888, was $1,372,627,868, an increase of
$87,454,856. The following table shows how this increase is
effected. Changes.

Gold Coin
Silver Dollars .
Subsidiary Coin
Gold Certificates
Silver Certificates
United States Notes
National Bank Notes

Increase.
$38,625,381 3>287>7323>207.372
i4>527>769
107,207,911

Decrease.

$10,042,004 69.359.305

$166,856,165 $79,401,309

130 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
At the time the present Administration assumed
the charge of the Treasury Department, very grave
apprehensions were entertained by eminent finan
ciers, that gold and silver could not be maintained
as currency upon equal footing ; and it was believed
in many quarters that they must soon part company,
and that gold would soon become the sole standard
of value in the commerce of the country. It was
claimed that such a result must follow from the
Act requiring the compulsory purchase and coinage
of silver by the Government at the rate of at least
two million dollars per month ; and it may be fairly
urged that such would have been the inevitable
consequence had it not been for the determination
of the Treasury Department to use all lawful expe
dients to maintain the equality of the two metals
as to their purchasing power, and the^wise policy
inaugurated and pursued by it in this resp^ect. How
completely successful it has been, the above exhibit
will show. There has been an increase in eighteen
months of over $110,000,000 in the silver circula
tion of the country ; thereby not only placing in the
hands of the people the $36,000,000 of silver coined
during that period, but also over $74,000,000 of the
accumulated silver in the Treasury.
Every American citizen is justly proud of the
rapidity with which the great public debt of
the country is reduced from year to year, and the
record of this Administration far surpasses all its
predecessors in this respect. The average annual
reduction of the public debt during the three years
preceding June 30, 1885, being $99,500,000; and
during the three years succeeding the same date,
$106,500,000.

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. IJI
Another important branch of the work of the
Treasury Department is the auditing and adjust
ment of public accounts. The annual expenditures
of the Government for all purposes exceed three
hundred millions of dollars, not a dollar of which
expenditure can be legally allowed until an account
therefor has been rendered to the proper accounting
officers of the Treasury Department, and the same
has been approved and certified by them to be
correct. This work is mainly done by the six
auditors, two comptrollers, commissioner of customs,
and the various divisions of the Secretary's office.
When the present Administration undertook this
work, it was in many bureaus and divisions very
largely in arrears. It will be impossible in the brief
limits of this book to give any thing like a detailed
or tabulated statement of the results which have
been accomplished here during the past three years.
A few prominent facts only can be mentioned.
In the office of the first auditor, where the
accounts accruing in the Treasury Department are.
first examined, during the three years subsequent to
1885 there has been an average annual increase
of three thousand in the number of accounts
examined and certified as compared with the three
years immediately preceding, and an average
decrease of the cost of the office, on the basis of
the amount of work done, of nearly eleven per cent
annually. In the office of the first comptroller, which reviews
in part the accounts examined and certified by the
first auditor, and also the accounts of the fifth
auditor, there has been an average annual increase,
during the same period, in the number of accounts

132 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
of 7,700, and an increase in the amount involved,
as shown by the footings of the accounts examined,
of nearly one billion dollars annually ; and the
average decrease of cost of work has been about
twenty-one per cent annually.
In the office of the fourth auditor, where all the
disbursements in the naval service are first
examined, there has been an average annual
increase of forty per cent in the number of claims
and accounts adjusted, and of over nine millions
in the amount involved ; while the average annual
expenses of the office have been over two thousand
dollars less, and an average decrease in the cost of
work, according to the amount done, of thirty-five
per cent annually.
In the office of the commissioner of customs there
has been an increase of eleven per cent in the
average number of accounts annually adjusted per
capita ; and in the Division of Customs, in the
Secretary's office, in which all the appeals in
customs cases from the decision of collectors are_
examined and reported upon, there were examined
and decided during the fiscal year ending June 30,
1886, 25,537 appeals, while the total number for
the three years immediately preceding only aggre
gated 26,526; it thus appearing that the work for
the entire three years was only slightly in excess
of that of the single year 1886.
In the office of the sixth auditor, where all the
accounts of the Post-office Department, and
the expenditures of the postal service, amount
ing to over fifty millions of dollars annually,
are finally adjusted, a corresponding improvement
in the methods of transacting the public business

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 1 33
has been effected. Much money has been saved
to the public Treasury by the more rigid scrutiny
to which the accounts passing through this office
have been subjected. As an illustration, it may be
stated that the number of cases in which orders
have been made by the Postmaster-General, upon
the report of the auditor, withholding commis
sions because of false reports of postmasters to
increase their compensation, is 571, charging back
an aggregate of $228,815 ; and it is evident, from an
examination of the books, that the probable loss to
the Government during the period from 1878
to 1885 was more than one million of dollars from
this single channel of fraud.
In the second auditor's office are first examined
the accounts of the disbursing officers of the army,
and all claims for the back pay and bounty of soldiers
in the war of the Rebellion, and all disbursements
in the Indian service for supplies and the pay of
agents and other officers. During the past three
years there has been an increase in the number of
claims and accounts adjusted of over thirty per cent,
and an increase of over forty per cent in the amount
involved, over a corresponding period prior to June
30, 1885 ! and the amount allowed and paid out- for
the back pay and bounty due soldiers during the
last three years has been over $2,700,000, as against
only $1,350,000 allowed in the three previous years,
showing that the interests of the soldiers of the
Union army have received special attention and
"consideration. The third auditor has the examination, in the
first instance, of all claims and accounts arising
in the Quartermaster's and Commissary Depart-

134 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
ments of the army, including horse claims and
miscellaneous claims and accounts, and all disburse
ments on account of pensions. The exhibit of
work done in this office during the past three years,
it is believed, is without parallel in the history of the
department. In the Claims Division over 41,000
claims have been disposed of during that period,
while during the three years previously only 1 1 ,000
were adjusted ; making an increase of over 350 per
cent, and the amount involved was over 100 per cent
greater. In the Horse-Claims Division over 9,000
claims were disposed of during the past three years,
and but 2,200 in the three years previously, an
increase of over 400 per cent. In State war claims
there has been an increase of nearly 700 per cent
in the amount of claims disposed of during the
same periods respectively, and in the Pension Divis
ion there has been an average increase in the work
of the division of 254 per cent during the past
three years over the work of the three previous
years, and an average decrease in the force amount
ing to 31 per cent. During the past three years
the number of clerks employed has been reduced
2 1 per cent, and great improvement is noted in the
attendance of clerks. The absences in the fiscal
years 1884-85 aggregated over 6,000 days, while in
1887-88 there were only 3,750 days ; and during the
same years the absence on account of sickness fell
off from 1780 to 357 days.
The work of the second comptroller's office
exhibits exceptionally good results. This office has
the final revision and adjustment of all claims and
accounts which are first examined in the offices of
the second, third, and fourth auditors, and the

I I

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT. 1 35
supervision of the expenditures of all the appro
priations for the army, the navy, the Indian service,
and the pension roll, aggregating over $150,000,000
annually. The average number of claims and
accounts annually adjusted during the past three
years is over 51,000, while the number was but
22,000 annually during the three years prior to 1885,
an increase of 133 per cent; and the number of
vouchers examined and compared during the former
period was 7,300,000, and but 3,600,000 during the
years 1882, 1883, and 1884; and the official letters
written were 22,000 as against 5,200 during the
same periods respectively, while at the same time
the force of clerks actually employed in the office
has been reduced one-third.
The office of the supervising architect of the
Treasury Department has charge of all matters
relating to the erection of public buildings through
out the country under appropriations by Acts of
Congress. It has been under the supervision of the
present supervising architect since July, 1887; and
during that period many reforms have been intro
duced into the administration of the office, and a
large saving of expenses effected. The preparation
of specifications has been greatly simplified; and
where, under the former system, 380 drawings and
51 specifications were prepared for four buildings,
under the present method only 86 drawings and 4
specifications are required for the same buildings.
Greater competition in submitting proposals has also
been secured by giving greater publicity to the
advertisements for proposals, especially by securing
their publication, free of cost to the Government, in
eighteen building papers published in all parts of

* ¦ &-'$&,

136 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
the country, and obtaining the co-operation of forty-
three building exchanges located in the principal
cities. Where but three or four proposals were
formerly received, the number now has run up in one
case as high as forty-four. During the past year
work has been commenced on seventeen buildings,
and ten buildings have been completed, and twelve
buildings are now so far advanced that they will be
completed before Sept. 1 ; while during the three
preceding years the average number of buildings
commenced annually was ten, and the average num
ber completed annually, four. These results have
all been accomplished without any increase in the
working force of the office.
In the Bureau of Engraving and Printing there
has been a great increase in the amount of work
done, and a great saving in the cost of doing it.
In the three years ending June 30, 1885, there were
produced 91,754,351 sheets of securities at a cost
of $3,047,483.75. In the three years ending June
30, 1888, 97,346,662 sheets of securities were
turned out at a cost of $2,542,505.07. The increase
in the number of securities printed was 5,592,311,
and the saving in expense $504,978.68. The aver
age cost of a thousand sheets of securities in 1885
was $34.21 ; in 1888 it was only $24.94. 38,038,939
sheets of securities in 1888 cost $948,819.29. The
greatest production in any prior year was in 1883,
when 33,330,746 sheets cost $1,104,986.43. In
1885 the average number of employees was 1,133,
and the average number of sheets turned out for each
employee less than 25,000. In 1888 the average
number of employees was 895, and the average num
ber of sheets produced by each employee 42,500.

THE TREASURY DEPARTMENT.

137

These results have been due to economies in the
management of the bureau, simpler methods of
doing business, the discharge of superfluous em
ployees, the doing away with unnecessary places,
and the exaction of greater diligence in the dis
charge of duty, and of a higher standard of qualifi
cation. At the same time the quality of the work,
especially of the engraving, has been improved ;
better provision has been made for the health and
comfort of the employees, and new and improved
machinery has been introduced. A just and
orderly system of promotion has been followed,
and the employees have had more constant employ
ment and better wages than ever before, while they
have been free from the terror of arbitrary dismissal.
Under the present Administration not a single
person has been discharged for partisan reasons, or
to make room for another. Specific appropriations
have been secured, fixing the amount to be spent
for plate-printing, for other services, and for materials,
in lieu of the loose and indefinite appropriations
which were formerly the rule ; and the number, grades,
and salaries of all the employees have been fixed
by law or regulation. By a recent order of the
President, all the employees of the bureau have
been brought under the civil service rules. These
measures have made of the Bureau of Engraving
and Printing an orderly, efficient, and reputable
business establishment, which may safely challenge
comparison with any like establishment in the
world. The same general good results may be safely
affirmed of every other bureau and division in the
department, and there is scarcely a desk in the

138 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
whole department upon which there can be found
any thing but current work ; and this condition of
the public business has not been reached by slight
ing work of any kind, but only after the most
careful and painstaking examination of every voucher
or question involving the law governing the adjust
ment and settlement of accounts. Nor has it been
brought about by increasing the number of clerks
and other employees in the department. On the
contrary, the pay-roll of nearly every bureau and
division shows a material decrease. The number of
persons on the rolls of the department at Washington
on the first day of July, 1885, was 3,747; and the
number on the first day of July, 1888, 3,433.
Useless offices have been abolished, and divisions
have been consolidated ; and a large saving in
expenditure has thus been effected, while the
efficiency- of the service has at the same time been
greatly promoted.

CHAPTER VII.

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.
The Secretary of War performs such duties as
the President may enjoin upon him concerning the
military service, and has the controlling super
vision of the purchase of Army supplies, transpor
tation, etc., and of all expenditures made under the
appropriations for the support of the Army, and
for such of a civil nature as may by law be placed
under his administration.
He is required to provide for the taking of met
eorological observations at the military stations in
the interior of the continent, and at other points in
the States and Territories ; arranges the course of
studies at the Military Academy ; submits to Con
gress all estimates for public buildings and grounds
in charge of the Chief of Engineers, and has
supervision of all expenditures of appropriations
for repair or improvement of the public buildings
and grounds in the District of Columbia in charge
of the Chief of Engineers. He is charged with
the purchase of such real estate as in his judgment

I4P THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
is suitable and necessary for the purpose of carry
ing into effect the provisions for national ceme
teries. He exercises supervision of the disburse
ments by Army officers ; has the control and man
agement of the National Park forming a part of
Mackinac Island in the State of Michigan, and has
direction of the expenditure of the appropriation
for the Mississippi River Commission.
He submits annually to Congress a statement of
the appropriations for the preceding fiscal year for
the Department of War under each specified head
of appropriation, the amount expended and remain
ing on hand, together with estimates of the pro
bable demands that may remain on each appropria
tion. He also submits to Congress at each session, in
connection with reports of examinations and sur
veys of rivers and harbors, full statements of all
facts tending to show the extent to which the gen
eral commerce of the country will be promoted by
the several works of improvement contemplated by
such examinations and surveys, together with
numerous other reports relating to the various
matters of which he has supervision.
THE SECRETARY OF WAR.
William Crowninshield Endicott
Is a descendant of John Endicott, who was Gov
ernor of the Colony of Massachusetts in 1628, and

THB WAR DEPARTMENT.

141

his family have been continuously residents of
Salem and its immediate vicinity ever since, most
of the time in the old homestead of Governor
Endicott. He is the son of William Putnam
Endicott and Mary, daughter of Hon. Jacob
Crowninshield, and was born in Salem, Nov. 19,
1826, and was reared and educated in that place.
He was fitted for college at Salem, and .grad
uated from Harvard in 1847. Afterwards evinc
ing a desire to choose the law as a profession,
he at once entered the office of Nathaniel J. Lord,
Esq., of Salem, who then stood at the head of the
Essex bar, and, after a course at the Cambridge
Law School, he was admitted to practice at Salem
in 1850. For the next two years he was alone, but
found that he could form a business alliance with
J. W. Perry, Esq., whose name is now well known
as a legal author. It was during this partnership
that Mr. Perry wrote the work which has since
become famous and been pronounced one of the
ablest works on the subject of which it treats,
namely, " Perry on Trusts." In his preface Mr.
Perry speaks of Mr. Endicott the following words : ,
" And it is my especial duty and pleasure to ac
knowledge my obligations to my friend and associ
ate in business for nearly twenty years, William
Crowninshield Endicott, Esq., whose sound learning
and clear judgment have been a never-failing re
source in matters of doubt and difficulty, and whose
refined and severe taste has been freely employed
in smoothing redundances and softening asperities
of manner and style."
He was a director in one of the old State banks
of Salem, and at the age of twenty-nine years

I42 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
he was elected its president, which position he
held until the bank went out of existence.
Very soon the abilities of Mr. Endicott as a law
yer were recognized, and this, combined with his
deportment and dignity of character, attracted and
held a very large and constantly increasing business.
So marked was his prominence, both as a lawyer
and as a man, that, a vacancy occurring on the
bench of the Supreme Judicial Court of Massachu
setts in 1873, Governor William B. Washburn
selected him, although of a political party opposed
to his own, for appointment to the vacant seat, with
out solicitation on the part of Mr. Endicott or his
friends. He continued on the bench until 1882, when, his
health failing him from the very close application
to the business of the Court, he was compelled to
go abroad, and, after having been in Europe for
about a year, he forwarded his resignation to his
colleagues upon the bench, whom he requested to
place the letter in the hands of the Governor, Hon.
John D. Long ; but his colleagues did not at once
comply with his request, hoping to change his de
termination, thus retaining his valuable services to
the State. The ill-health of Mr. Endicott con
tinuing, he was forced to decline the kindly offices
of his colleagues, and insisted upon the prompt de
liverance of his letter of resignation to the Gov
ernor, which was accordingly done and accepted.
And thus, after a period of nearly ten years upon
the bench, during which time he delivered four
hundred opinions and decisions as a judge, he closed
his judicial career.
On his return to the United States, he opened an

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

143

office in Boston fpr the practice of. his profession,
and became the general counsel for the New Eng
land Mutual. Life Insurance Company.
In 1884, he was induced, after long and frequent
urging, to consent to the use of his name as the
Democratic candidate for Governor of the State.
He accepted the nomination against his inclina
tions, as he did not feel equal to the long and
protracted labors of a campaign, and with the
understanding that under no circumstances was he
to be called upon to participate in the campaign.
In February, 1885, he was tendered a position in
the Cabinet, in charge of the portfolio of Secretary
of War, which position he has held continuously
ever since, with credit to himself and honor to the
nation. A distinguished literary gentleman of Massa
chusetts has paid the following graceful tribute to
Mr. Endicott:
' "Among the cultivated men of Salem, William
C. Endicott has accomplished, as lawyer, writer,
jurist, and statesman, a work of which his native
city will always be proud. He was born in Salem
in 1826, and was graduated at Harvard in 1847.
After having taken his degree at Cambridge, he
was admitted to the bar in Essex County, and com
menced the practice of his profession in Salem.
His judgment as a lawyer was soon recognized, and
he became one of the leaders of the bar and one
of the best of office, advisers. The grace and
finish of his style have always been recognized in
his public performances, among the most interest
ing and elaborate of which are his orations on the
two hundred and fiftieth anniversary of the land-

I44 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
ing of John Endicott, celebrated in Salem in 1878;
his address, before the Young Men's Union on
Patriotism as bearing on the duties of the citizens;
address on John Hampden and his relations to the
great Puritan movement here and in England ;
lecture on Chivalry; agricultural address at Ster
ling on the relation of agriculture to the stability
and prominence of the State ; and speech on the
death of N. J. Lord. Mr. Endicott's services on
the supreme bench of Massachusetts are highly
esteemed, and his conduct of affairs as Secretary
of War, to which he was appointed in 1885, will
place him on the list of sound and judicious Cabi
net Ministers."
The results of his administration of the military
affairs of the Government will best be understood
by a reference to the pages which follow.
Among the principal acts of Mr. Endicott as
Secretary of War was the organization of the Board
on Fortifications or Other Defences on June 1,
1885. Meetings were held at New York and else
where, during which the defensive works of the
United States in the different parts of the country
were thoroughly inspected, as well as the capacity
of the large number of iron and steel works of the
country ; numerous papers from inventors and
other persons in reference to the subject of fortifi
cations and defences were received and examined
and the whole subject of coast defences was dealt
with. An exhaustive report of the Board was sub
mitted to Congress, wherein the utterly defenceless
condition of the sea-coast and lake frontier is thor
oughly set forth, and asking that immediate action
be taken^to prevent the disastrous and humilia-

THE WAR DEPARTMENT. 145
ting results that might follow a declaration of war
with the most insignificant of foreign powers pos
sessing guns and ships of modern construction.
In connection with this work was that of the ex
amination of the different methods or inventions for
the resisting of attacks from the seaboard, and how
to best silence the armored ships and steel guns
and mortars of modern construction. Among
other means of defence which have been developed
and examined under the auspices of the Board, is
the dynamite gun and others of large calibre that
have been tested at Sandy Hook.
Under Mr. Endicott's administration of the War
Department, the civil service law has been strictly
observed, and in no instances have removals been
made in the War Department for purely political
reasons ; indeed, the removals have been very few,
and in every instance for cause. Below is presented
a statement showing the changes which occurred in
the classified service of the department between
July 16, 1883, the date on which the law went into
operation, to July 1, 1888, in the belief that it may
be of interest and possibly of some value, as show
ing the practical operation of the law :
Resigned  237
Died  * 80
Discharged  158
Dropped at the end of probationary term . . 9
Total ... 484
Appointed  356
Decrease (through legislation) in number of positions 86
Vacancies existing  42
Total ... 484

146 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
The following statement shows the number of
persons to whom letters of appointment were issued,
but who failed, for the reasons stated, to enter the
service :
Declined appointments  37
Failed to report  10
Died prior to receipt of appointment . . . 1
Total ... 48
The total number of positions in the classified
service in the War Department on November 14,
1887, including twenty-three places exempt from
the operations of the law under Rule XIX of the
Civil Service Rules, was 1,264. Taking this num.
ber as a basis of calculation, it will be seen from
the foregoing statement that the aggregate of those
resigned and those who failed to accept appoint
ment constituted 1 9 per cent, of the entire force.
Mr. Endicott has also been an advocate of an in
crease in the salaries of the efficient clerks, in order
to induce them to remain in the public service. If
the higher places had higher salaries and were open
to competition, it would add much to the efficiency
of the service and would hold out strong induce
ments to the older clerks to remain.
The departmental examinations for promotion
under the new Civil Service Rules, which occurred
in the summer of 1887 and which were held
during the period between June 18 and October
28, embraced the whole classified service of the
War Department. The total number of persons
examined was 1,014, °f whom 953, or 95 per cent,
passed the examination, and of this number
353, or 35 per cent., attained an average mark
ing above 90. Of the total number examined 51, or

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

H7

5 per cent., failed to pass, having attained an aver
age marking of less than 75 per cent.
At the second departmental examination held
April 25, 1888, there were examined —

Failed

Of Class 3 . . .

2

_

Of Cla^s z . . .

. 21

2

Of Class 1 . . .

. 18

4

Of Class $1,000

. 46

3

Of Class D

2

It thus appears that, of the 89 persons examined,
80 (or 90 per cent.) passed the examination ; while
9 (or 10 per cent.) failed to pass, having attained an
average marking of less than 75 per cent.
The Secretary believes there are other great ad
vantages resulting from the Civil Service Law, and
among them the entire abolition of political assess
ments and the abandonment of " election leaves,"
the latter of which had grown into a great abuse.
Prior to the enactment of the Civil Service Law in
1883, it was the custom to grant employees of the
department leaves of absence to attend the vari
ous elections in their several States, and these
were not deducted from their annual leaves of thirty
days each year, and, for the 1,200 employees of the
department, estimating that 50 percent, took advan
tage of the election leaves, amounted to 6,000 days,
and equalled the time of one clerk for twenty years.
Since the passage of the Civil Service Law this
custom has ceased to exist. Employes who desire
to exercise the elective franchise may still do so,
but the time consumed must be deducted from their
annual leave of thirty days, thus saving to the gov
ernment their services.
Through the active and persevering labor 01

I48 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
those connected with the Quartermaster-General's
Office, the reforms carried out under the sugges
tion and approval of the Secretary of War have
been very successful, as may be seen from the
following statement : — The authorized force of the
Quartermaster General for the fiscal year 1884-85
was 203. This has been reduced for the present
fiscal year to 123, showing a saving of 80 employees.
The appropriation for the first term was, $240,490.00
and for the present year $156,440.00, showing a re
duction of $84,055.00, and additional evidence of the
economy and good work of the present Administra
tion. The work of the record and pension division of
the Surgeon-General's Office has also been much
improved, and is now in a satisfactory condition.
It had so far fallen in arrears that 9,5 1 1 unanswered
calls from the Commissioner of Pensions for infor
mation relative to pension claims had accumulated
in this office on December 13, 1886. Prior to that
date a large number of cases were subjected to a
delay of two and one-half and three months, and
often for a longer period. This state of affairs had
been brought about by a combination of causes,
the most important of which were defective
methods of work, laxity of discipline, indifference
and lack of interest on the part of some of the
clerks, many of whom were inattentive to duty,
inefficient, physically or mentally disabled, or other
wise incompetent. A belief seemed to pervade
the whole office that no improvement in the old
system was either desirable or possible, and that
any change made in it must necessarily be for the •. >
worse. To such an extent was this carried that the

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

149

two principal officers responsible for this division
were of opinion that for efficient and constant work
it was necessary to have from two to ten thousand
cases always on hand.
Repeated efforts by the Department to secure
greater expedition having failed, the methods of work
were changed, at once increasing its volume without
diminishing its accuracy; the discipline of the
force was improved ; disabled clerks, who, for vari
ous reasons, were entitled to consideration, were
assigned to such duties as they could efficiently
perform with comfort to themselves ; twenty clerks
discharged ; and it is now generally understood. that
the work of the office is of the first importance, to
which personal preference and convenience must
yield, and it has been clearly demonstrated that a
large number of cases on hand is not essential to
the efficient and economical employment of the
clerks engaged on pension work. Any call for in
formation from the records of the Surgeon-
General's Office relative to pension claims can now
be answered in from one to three days from the
date of its receipt.
Since the accession of Mr. Endicott, Congress
has passed more so-called "bridge acts," authoriz
ing the construction of bridges across the navigable
waters of the United States, than have been passed
by Congress under the administration of any Secre
tary for the previous ten years. A great many of
these acts related to bridges across the more im
portant navigable streams of~the country, and in
nearly every instance legal questions were involved
that required the abilities of a very able lawyer to
decide. Among the more important of the bridge
acts mentioned were those authorizing the construe-

I50 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
tion of the bridge across the Kill von Kull, or
Staten Island bridge ; the bridge across the Hud-
son River at Poughkeepsie ; and the bridge across
the Ohio River at Cincinnati. In each of these
acts legal questions arose, which required much |
deliberation, and Mr. Endicott was enabled, through \
his intelligence and acumen, to render such deci- \
sions as would prove not to be inimical to the inter- :
ests of the United States, at the same time observ
ing all the principles of equity and justice to the
corporations building these bridges.
When Mr. Endicott became Secretary of War,
he found great inequality in the punishment of sol- ¦
diers for similar offences in the different depart
ments and divisions of the Army. With a view to
correcting the injustice done to many by the action
of courts, he caused the code of military law known
as the Articles of War to be examined, looking to
their amendment so as to make them more in con
sonance with the spirit of the age in which we live
than at the time of their original adoption, nearly a
hundred years ago. He recommended to Congress
that specific punishments should be awarded for
particular offences, and not to leave to courts-mar
tial the discretion given them in the Articles of
War as they stand to-day. In the meantime, to do
what he could within the law, he determined to
make more uniform the punishments awarded for
desertion, by fixing the period of confinement at
two years, for in different departments and divisions
they would be sentenced from three to four or five
years' confinement for this offence, while in a very
few instances some courts would sentence them to
two years. Believing that the sentences for these

THE WAR DEPARTMENT.

151

long periods were oppressive, the Secretary of War
limited the period of confinement in the military
prisons, if the person's behavior was such as to en
able him to do so, to two years.
In matters of administration few men who have
had the experience of Mr. Endicott' have done more
to simplify the duties of the Department, and to in
augurate economy in the discharge of its functions.
Wherever it was possible to reduce expenses with
out crippling the service to any extent, the Secre
tary has retrenched the expenses of the Depart
ment. Probably never in the administration of the
affairs of the War Department have the require
ments of the law been so carefully observed as
since his advent as head of the Department.

CHAPTER VIII.
THE NAVY DEPARTMENT.
The Secretary of the Navy performs such duties
as the President of the United States, who is
Commander-in-Chief, may assign him, and has the
general superintendence of construction, manning,
armament, equipment, and employment of vessels
of war. THE SECRETARY OF THE NAVY.
William C. Whitney
Was born at Conway, Mass., July 15, 1841.
After graduating from Williston Seminary at Easf-
hampton, Mass., he entered Yale College in 1859;
from there he entered the law school of Harvard
College, from which- he graduated in 1865. He
continued the study of law in the office of Hon.
Abraham R. Lawrence, in New York City, was
admitted to the bar, and entered upon the practice
of law in New York. In 1872 he was appointed
inspector of schools in the same city, and in
August, 1875, was appointed corporation counsel.
This was at the time of the downfall of the Tweed
ring. The position had amounted to little for

154 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
many years ; but now it suddenly became important,
partly because of the mass of litigation over fraudu
lent claims against the city, but largely through the
celerity, energy, and ability shown by Mr. Whitney
in clearing off the cases. This achievement estab
lished his reputation as a lawyer, and he maintained
it during his continuance in office, which he subse
quently resigned.
Mr. Whitney is a natural born organizer, and in
his management of the New York County Democ
racy proved his ability in promoting measures for
'definite objects. As Secretary of the Navy, Mr.
Whitney has had the good-will and support of
universal public opinion in his efforts to secure a
first-class navy for the United States ; and we now
propose to show what has been done by the Navy
Department under his control.
\ Under the present Secretary, a great advance has
been made in the work of this department. An
entire plant for a new navy has been laid, and the
work is steadily progressing towards a successful
termination. One great reason for this success is
the determination of the Secretary to have this
department managed upon business principles, with
out regard to the red-tape routine which existed
on his taking command. As is well known, the
condition of our navy in 1883 was any thing but
satisfactory, and proper credit should be given to
Secretary Whitney for placing this country in a
position where we shall soon be free from any
danger from a foreign foe.

THE NA VY DEPARTMENT.

155

The striking features of the present administra
tion of the Navy Department have been, —
ist, The high character of its designs for war
ships ; the great advance in these beyond the point
reached in the designs for the " Chicago," "Atlanta,"
" Boston," and " Dolphin " (in 1883) ; and the meth
ods of making contracts for the construction of new
vessels, whereby all competitors are fully acquainted
with the definite plans and details of the vessels
before bidding, and contractors are rewarded for an
excess of performance beyond that specified and
required, or are fined for a failure to comply with the
requirements.

,,

Horse-

Power
Date
NAME.
Displace ment.
Trial
Speed.
Horse-
Power.
per Ton
of
Machin ery.
Built at.
of
Con
tract.
CHICAGO 
,4,5oo
16.3
5,084
5-4
1883
ATLANTA 
3,190
'5-5
3,35o
5-1
r883
BOSTON ...
3,190
14.9
3,780
5-7
1883
DOLPHIN 
1,485
15-5 Esti
2,253
mated.
5-6
1883
BALTIMORE . . .
4,4i3 '
19 to 20
10,700
11.9
Philadelphia . . .
1886
CHARLESTON
3,730
18 to 19
7,500
10.5
San Francisco
1886
YORKTOWN .
1,700
16.0
3,500
10.3
Philadelphia
1886
PETREL . .
890
13.0
1,300
IO.O
Baltimore .
r886
BENNINGTON
1,700
16.0
3,500
!io.3
Chester . .
1887
CONCORD .
1,700
16.0
3,500
10.3
Chester . .
1887
NEWARK . .
4,083
18.0
8,500
IO.I
Philadelphia
1887
PHILADELPHIA
4,324
19 to 20
10,700
12.2
Philadelphia
1887
SAN FRANCISCO
4,083
19 to 20
10,700
12.2
San Francisco
1887
VESUVIUS . . .
800
20 tO 21
4,000
16.0
Philadelphia
1887
TORPEDO BOAT
99
23.0
1,600
34.0
Bristol, R.I.
1888
Armored
Vessels.
6,648
17.0
9,000
9-9
New York Navy Yard,
1887
6,300
17.0
8,600
10.4
New York Navy Yard,
1887
156 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
An examination of the appended table will show
the progress made in the requirements for speed,
horse-power, and reduced weight of machinery, the
amount of work performed or in hand, . and the
wider distribution of naval ship-building throughout
the country.
2d, Furnishing the means to induce the estab
lishment of plant and facilities for the manufac
ture of gun-forgings, armor, and heavy shafting,
within the United States, so as to enable the Gov
ernment and private firms to be independent of
foreign manufacturers ; and the creation of naval
gun factories at the Washington Navy Yard and
elsewhere. Hitherto, it has been necessary to purchase heavy
steel shaftings, armor-plates, and steel forgings for
guns of more than eight-inch calibre, abroad ; but
under the contract of the Navy Department with the
Bethlehem Iron Company, the forgings of guns up
to twelve-inch calibre will begin to be delivered in
August ; the shafting for new vessels can be made
at same time ; and steel armor plates, ranging in
thickness from three to twelve inches, will be deliv
ered in 1889 ! while the gun factory. will at the same
time be in position to build the highest power guns
up to sixteen inches calibre. (At the present time
it can and has built ten-inch guns.)
Heretofore it has been necessary to buy heavy
steel shafting abroad : hereafter it can be furnished
within the United States.
In addition to the more powerful and heavier
guns to be built at the naval gun factory, the Navy
Department will be supplied with the recently de
veloped rapid-fire guns, with which all navies are

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT. 157
arming, by the firm of Hotchkiss & Co., which has
established connections in Connecticut for the
manufacture of their guns and ammunition, all of
which will be of domestic material and workman
ship. The enormous benefit to be derived by the
country, in the possession of the means and in
creased facilities for arming its fleet or other fortifi
cations, cannot be overestimated.
2,d, The improvement in the system of purchases,
care of stores, etc.
By the consolidation of all naval stores under one
store keeper at each naval station, great economy
has been accomplished. The reduction during the
first year under this system, in the expense of
handling and caring for stores, including clerks,
has been over 25 per cent, or a net gain of over
$5 5. o°o-
The saving to the Government through the im
proved methods of making contracts for the entire
naval service, and of concentrating these under one
head, has been very great.
With reference to the former and the present sys
tems of making purchases by contract and in open
market for the navy, it is difficult to present a com
parative statement of results, or an exact showing of
economy now achieved, owing to the lack of data at
command concerning the former method. Under that
method, each bureau controlled its own purchases ;
making them at such times and in such manner,
under the law, as each saw fit to select. In order
to exhibit a comprehensive statement of the results
achieved through that system, exhaustive and lengthy
research would be needed in the respective- bureaus.

158 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
But with regard to the present system, it may be
said that the Government secures much better terms
by buying as much as possible under yearly con
tracts, thereby aggregating the purchase of similar
supplies for the various stations in one or more
contracts made at one time. By consolidating
the work of purchase as far as possible, there
must also be a large reduction in the expense of
advertising. The annual contracts, ninety-three in number,
made with this bureau for the present fiscal year,
1887-88, amounted to $548,398.86; the open pur
chases in pursuance of approved requisitions upon
the purchasing bureau amount, for the first ten
months of the year, to $332,616.82. These figures
embrace the general purchases, under contract
or in open market, pertaining to all the bureaus
except provisions and clothing and medicine and
surgery, and also coal and stationery for these two
bureaus. For the ensuing fiscal year all the work of con
tracts and open purchase, and all the accounts and
returns, will be based upon the new classified sched
ule of naval supplies and material. By the system
adopted, the purchasing bureau will be able to report
at the end of the year the exact value under each of'
the classes of the schedule of receipts, expenditures,
and balances remaining in hand at every station and
on board every ship. These results can be pre
sented in tabulated form in such manner as to
give a valuable digest of the year's work In all that
relates to the purchase and expenditure of naval
supplies.

THE NAVY DEPARTMENT. 159
It will thus be seen that in the Navy Department,
as in all other departments of this Administration,
there is a steady advance in satisfactory results,
which are secured at an economical saving to the
finances of the nation.

,.#:^

CHAPTER IX.

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT.
The Postmaster-General has the direction and
management of the Post-Office Department. He
appoints all officers and employees of the Depart
ment, except the three Assistant Postmasters-Gen
eral, who are appointed by the President, by and
with the advice and consent, of the Senate; ap
points all postmasters whose compensation does
not exceed one thousand dollars ; makes postal
treaties with foreign Governments, by and with the
advice and consent of the President, awards and
executes contracts, and directs the management of
the domestic and foreign mail service.
THE POSTMASTER-GENERAL.
Don M. Dickinson
Was born in Auburn, New York State, about
1846, and is therefore forty-two years old. His
family came from the State of Massachusetts,
where it was widely extended and well known.
His father, Asa Dickinson, settled in Michigan
when Don was a boy, and he was educated in that
State, obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Laws in
1869.

1 62 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
Mr. Dickinson early showed great capacity as a
civil lawyer, and as a business man's attorney he
is said to have no superior in his State.
His professional prosperity has kept pace with
the rise in his reputation, his income for several
years having been not less than $25,000. Mr.
Dickinson has not until very recently been prom
inent in politics, his interests as well as his ener
gies having been engrossed by his profession.
In 1872, being still a young man, he advocated
the election of Greely; in 1876, he was Chairman
of the State Committee of the Democratic party;
in 1884, he was a member of the National Com
mittee which managed the Democratic canvass,
and December 6th, 1887, he was nominated by the
President as Postmaster-General.
There is no Department in the Government that
appeals to the interest of every American citizen
so strongly as the Post-Office Department. Its
agents are welcomed from the Atlantic to the Paci
fic, from the mountains of Alaska to the plains of
Texas, and probably few of our readers, when in
daily receipt of their correspondence, have the
faintest idea of the enormous extent of the duties
so ably managed by this Department under the
careful supervision of the Postmaster-General,
from whose last report we annex such extracts as
will in a condensed form supply such information
as may be most interesting.
The expectation of growth and improvement in the affairs of
the postal service, indulged in previous reports, has been realized
during the past year. In part arising from an extension of the
limits of mailable matter of the fourth class — ordered to meet
the requirements of trade — and from the receipts of the special-
delivery service, but chiefly from the greater employment of all

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 163
postal facilities consequent upon the rising business prosperity
of the country, faithfully reflected in the postal service, the
revenues have gained upon the preceding year by nearly
$4,840,000, attaining a height never reached before, despite the
restrictive operations of various reductions in the rates of post
age. Upon the other hand, the study of economy has not been
without effect in restraining the necessarily rising scale of ex
penditure, so that the increase of cash disbursements has but
little overstepped $2,000,000. * * * The time is probably not
distant when, if the wisest measures of economy be pursued, the
rate of charge upon letters can be properly lowered to one cent
an ounce, and some diminishment permitted in the postages
upon merchandise and other matter. But the letter postage of
the United States is now fixed at a rate below that of all other
countries save one, and, when the distances of transportation
are considered, is cheaper than in any other, and the combined
receipts from all mail matter not of the first class fall far short
of its handling, affording little claim therefore for less postage
charges. The paramount duty of the Government, so far as it concerns
this Department, is to furnish the most perfect and useful postal
facilities to the people, within the authority of the Constitution,
which the skill of man can provide. It is due to the character
of the citizens of this country, to their freedom and enlighten
ment, to their enterprise and activity, to their wealth and power,
and especially to the intimacy of their personal relations main
tained over so great an expanse of territory to an extent never
equalled, hardly aimed at, elsewhere on the globe, from which
arise the fraternity of feeling and community of interest that
furnish the safest guarantees for the future stability and value
of our Federal institutions. It is, indeed, their due as a
personal, individual right, because the Government monopolizes
the postal business and forbids them all other attempts at self-
service. Upon every ground the postal service rightfully urges
a constant and exacting demand upon legislative and executive
wisdom and labor for its enlargement and improvement to the
utmost of perfectibility. * * *
The whole number of post-offices on the ist day of October,
1887, had become 55,434, of which 2,381 were salaried or Presi
dential offices, distributed in classes, and 53,053 were fourth
class. Besides these were 625 branch offices or stations, an in
crease of 12, for the sale of stamps only. Of the whole, 8,089
were money-order offices and no money-orde* stations. * * *

1 64 THE PRESIDENT AND, HIS CABINET.
The division of post-offices into the two general classes — by
distinguishing those the importance and magnitude of whose
business is such as to require independent and separate main
tenance from those which can properly be carried on in connec
tion with a private business — implies that the former be regard
ed and treated entirely as Government offices in every particular
of their affairs. This consequence is demanded by the soundest
principles of public business, and its recognition appears to
promise far more satisfactory and efficient service. The office
should then become the care of the Department, be provided
and equipped, supplied and maintained at its cost, and the post
master paid by a salary measured by the nature of the responsi
bilities and duties imposed upon him. His time and labor,
reasonably exacted, belong then to the Government, to be ap
plied not only to proper supervision but to such other duties of
riis office as their use may enable the proper discharge of by
him personally ; and for the excess of necessary service required
the proper provision of clerks devolves upon the Department.
The Postmaster-General makes the following
important statement in reference to the cost of the
Post-Office Buildings.
Obviously the first objection to be fairly met and perfectly
guarded is the risk of unnecessary and lavish expenditure ; and
the sure economy of such a course of extensive construction de
mands to be demonstrated and its satisfactory safeguards dis
cerned and provided. Yet it will be remarked that Congress
necessarily loses no control over the subject, and can apply any
checks from time to time not foreseen to be requisite but dis
covered to be by trial ; and the official responsibility of the
officers of the Department, with the limitations fixed by appro
priation and by public criticism, affords trustworthy grounds for
confidence in the experiment. Indeed it may be truly said,
notwithstanding instances of peculation and criminal miscon
duct inseparable from human trusts, that the record of the vast
expenditures and performances of the Post-Office Department,
during its history, displays such fidelity in the use of public
money and the accomplishment of results so satisfactorily an
swerable to its proportionable outlays, that no agency of the
Government promises to better justify the proper deposit of ex
tensive authority to attempt a great undertaking for the public
benefit and the improvement of its service.

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 1 65
In reference to Post-Office clerks the report of
the Postmaster-General makes the following sug
gestions which convey conviction to the practical
mind of every business man.
The first aim should seemingly be to settle the rules by which
to determine in what offices and to what extent clerical service,
in addition to the postmaster's personal service, ought to be fur
nished by the Department. This is properly dependent on the
nature and magnitude of the work required at the office. It
does not depend on the gross receipts, nor is it to be gauged by
them. The tables show this clearly. And the work in post-
offices divides into many different kinds, each of which requires
an especial consideration. The desideratum is, a fixed scale
for measurement — not in money, but in clerical power or
capacity — of the several kinds of work, in order to make the
adequate provision for each branch of duty, and in total. This
appears attainable by a study of each species of labor sufficiently
to determine how much of it a person of average competency
should perform in a given time ; the perception of the proper
unit of measure in each grade of duty.
Given the rules, the particular facts to which they are to be
applied must then be reliably found. This suggests the second
aim of such an inquiry : the discovery or invention of the
methods by which the postmaster may trustworthily take the
census of his various duties and make faithful reports thereof in
such form that the true estimation of the clerical service due his
circumstances arises from the application of the rules.
The third point indicated is, that the entire body of post-
office clerks requires to be intelligently graded into classes and
divisions, adapted to the work in post-offices, the pay of each
grade and rank predetermined ; and assignment of the force
found necessary for the work — according to the prescribed rules
— should be of clerks of the requisite grades, chargeable to the
Department, instead of being in money to the postmaster to em
ploy service. * * *
¦ So signally helpful to the public service is a well-trained, well-
disposed, faithful, honest, and patriotic postal clerk, who is de-
... it ...voted to his duty, and content to confine himself to its excellent
"performance as his best recommendation, eschewing foreign
contentions which excite needless animosity and invite attack,
\ \ that no superior who sustains the care of the service fails to

1 66 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
recognize the injury to the public interests of his loss. It is
undeniably true that equally as good may elsewhere be found, and
in time a practised and competent successor may stand in his
stead. But it is not enough for the particular exigency that
humanity betters with time, and the present and future hold as
suitable for every vocation as the past. Time is of thes essence
of excellence in the mail service, and immediate provision for
a loss is its imperative demand, rendering the needless loss of
a valuable, well-governed employe" in such a place a breach of
public duty. The private wrong may be also great, especially
when many years have been given to faithful service of the
Government for a rate of pay which offers no possibility of much
saving, and natural disqualification for other avocations can not
but have resulted.
The postal service is prominent among the agencies which
the common Government can better wield for the common good
than any private or corporate hands. Yet its efficiency demands
so vast a body of public servants, responsive to the will of the
central authority, that no branch is more within the just appre
hension of lodging excessive power in the Federal Government. .
No principle has been more aptly and vigorously invoked to'
limit the extension of the Department's powers, especially to
withhold control over the kindred function adjoined to it by so
many civilized countries, the management of correspondence by
the electric wire. Yet no counteracting force can more effectively
modify the danger and deliver the agency of Government from
the chains of that wise fear to a greater public usefulness flian
such a course of appointment and such a tenure in appointees
as will render them dependent only on excellence in public ser
vice and fidelity to the common interest, while they remain in
and subject to the influences of different localities to which they
belong and their service is immediately directed. Discrimina
tion in original selection diminishes the risks of incurring the
censure of sound discipline ; and amenability to no other
criticism for continuance in duty enfranchises the officer in
great degree from the perilous subserviency.
The importance of the Carrier Service is re
cognized. There should be no hesitation in providing every city and
town in the United States with this service, whose business
interests and local conditions are such as to make it of an

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 167
advantage compensatory to its cost. There can justly be
no shorter limitation. One such community of our people is
equally entitled with another ; and all such are entitled by the
best claim, American citizenship upon American enterprise, to
the highest conveniences of the best postal system. No limita
tion is to be justly found in the relation of local postage to the
cost of this service. The aggregate of such postage exceeded
the entire cost of carrier-delivery in the past year by $2,072,-
561.62, and each year the excess will be more. But 30 cities
out of 329 now in possession realized this result independently,
so that the claim of such as do not enjoy it is equal to that of
the other 299 which are assisted to maintain it. The liberal
policy approved by Congress is fully warranted by the finances
of the postal service, and will doubtless be generously pursued
hereafter. * * *
The extent of our Domestic Service is given : —
The large area of our country and the equality of privileges
enjoyed in all parts of it, with the corresponding diffusion of all
the advantages, accompanied by all the demands of high civiliza
tion, have caused the gradual augmentation of our system of
mail transportation to its present immensity, and continually
press its greater extension. The most trustworthy, statistics at
command show that all the residue of the globe possesses no
more miles of railroads employed in mail carriage than the
United States alone, and that no other one nation maintains
one-quarter the amount of other methods of mail transporta
tion. * * *
In 1886 there were handled by clerks in the Railway Mail
Service, of letters, ordinary mail matter, registered packages,
through registered pouches, and inner registered sacks, 5,345,-
846,044. In 1887, 5,851,394,057 ; being an increase of 505,-
148,053 pieces, or 9.46 per cent.
And the extent of Foreign Service as follows : —
The Foreign Mail Service has been satisfactorily conducted
during the past year. The use of all vessels, whether foreign
or domestic, departing from our ports for other countries, has
been regularly tendered to the Department, and the most favor
able opportunities for frequent and rapid transportation afforded
by ocean carriers have been availed of. In the transatlantic ser
vice, where many vessels of rival lines compete for patronage,

1 68 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
the swiftest -have been chosen for employment from week to
week in accordance with the settled policy of the Department.
The service so secured is unequalled by that of any other
country; contrasting conspicuously to our advantage with the
service inward from Great Britain, which is maintained at
greater cost and less efficiency by adherence to the system of
contracting with particular lines for annual subsidies. The rates
paid by the United States are highly remunerative to the princi
pal companies whose swift ships secure the heaviest mails;
probably yielding greater profit, proportioned to space, weight,
and expense, than anything transported except jewels and
precious metals ; if, indeed, they are to be excepted.
The entire weight of our foreign mail despatches by sea was
nearly 1,500,000 kilograms, or 3,278,269 pounds, of which 568,-
728 were of letter mail and 2,709,541 pounds of prints and merch
andise samples. Nine-tenths of the letter mail was European-
bound, and but about one-tenth for South America, the West
Indies, Pacific Islands, and the Orient combined ; but of the
paper and samples mail the latter countries received nearly one-
fourth, and the despatches across the Atlantic were little over
three-fourths. The increase in the gross weight of our ocean mails was about
410,488 pounds; the transatlantic letter mail gaining 10.59 Per
cent, and the Central and South American 19.21 per cent.; the
paper mail in approximate similar ratios. As an indication of
increasing trade with the countries of our hemisphere these are
acceptable facts. The increase iri the sailings from our ports
of steamships bound for the West Indies, Central or South
American ports is pleasingly cumulative, having been greater
during the last fiscal year than for many previous years, perhaps
than for any, the total number of such sailings at the three
ports of New York, New Orleans, and San Francisco being re
ported at 831, as against 712 during the preceding year.
The following important Postal Conventions
have been executed since March 4, 1885, with
Tasmania, Mexico and Canada, also Parcel Post
Conventions with Jamaica, Barbadoes, the Baha
mas and British Honduras, and nearly completed
with Mexico ; through these conventions our citizens
enjoy advantages which when understood will be
sure to be appreciated.

THE POST-OFFICE DEPARTMENT. 169
Besides the foregoing, negotiations have been opened with
the countries of the Central and South American states, and
the favorable replies received indicate that, after a sufficient con
sideration, many, if not all, will join in this arrangement of
such excellent promise to enlarge the commercial and individ
ual intercourse between the peoples of this continent. It is the
purpose of this Department to spare no pains to this end, if
the course shall be found to have the favor of Congress.
The great gain which would surely follow such a system with
the Republics of Uruguay and the Argentine Confederation
furnish additional reasons for the provision of a direct mail
between those countries and ours.
The natural ending of the Post-Office Depart
ment is The Dead-Letter Office.
The Dead-Letter Office was placed under charge of a super
intendent- at the beginning of the year, as a separate office,
pursuant to the Act of Congress authorizing its detachment from
the office of the Third Assistant. From the report of the Super
intendent it appears that the work of this office has considerably
increased. During the year 5,578,965 pieces of mail matter were treated,
increasing by 11. 4 per cent, over 1886 and by about 17 per cent.
over 1885. This increase is in part attributable to the enlarged
volume of mail matter transported, and partly to the greater
care taken by postmasters in rendering returns of undelivered
matter and withdrawing from the mails such as is unmailable.
Among the interesting items of the work performed it is to
be noted that 456,183 pieces of mail arriving from foreign lands
were returned to the country of origin ; that 12,725 letters, in
closing in the aggregate $22,639.12, and 21,868 ietters contain
ing drafts, notes, checks, money-orders, etc., of the amount in
face value of $7,581,761.10, were restored to the owners.
There was derived to the postal revenue from dead mail mat
ter the sum of $9,593-77, $714-48 in excess of the previous year.
Magazines, pamphlets, and other reading matter incapable of
return, have been distributed to the various charitable institu
tions in the District of Columbia, in all 18,182 pieces.
In closing this most interesting summary of the
work of the Post-Office Department it will be re-

I 70 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
membered that it was first under the administration
of Colonel Vilas, now Secretary of the Interior
Department, and that Mr. Dickinson has entered
with energy upon the work so well started. The
present Postmaster-General is the author of the
very important bill now before Congress to provide
separate small post-offices throughout the country
at an actual saving to the Government and confer
ring a benefit upon our people which is sure to be
appreciated. In no way could we have presented
more clearly to our readers the progress made by
the various Departments under the present admin-
istration than by thus showing that the Post-Office
Department has accomplished more work at less
cost and to the better satisfaction of the entire na
tion than has ever been done before.

CHAPTER X.
THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.
The Secretary of the Interior is charged with the
supervision of public business relating to patents
for inventions ; pension and bounty lands ; the pub
lic lands, including mines ; the Indians ; education ;
railroads ; the public surveys ; the census, when
directed by law ; the custody and distribution of
public documents ; and certain hospitals and elee
mosynary institutions in the District of Columbia.
He also exercises certain powers and duties in
relation to the Territories of the United States.
THE SECRETARY OF THE INTERIOR.
William F. Vilas
was born at Chelsea, Vt., July 9, 1840. He removed
with his parents, in 185 1, to Madison, Wis., gradu
ated from the Wisconsin State University in 1858,
and from the law school, Albany, N.Y., in i860,
when he was admitted to the Wisconsin bar, and
entered upon the practice of the law at Madison.
In 1862 Mr. Vilas raised a company of volunteers,

172 THE" PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
and joined the Twenty-third Wisconsin Regiment as
captain in March, 1863 ; was promoted to lieuten
ant-colonel, and had command of his regiment during
the siege of Vicksburg and for two months after
wards. Resigned his commission in 1863, and re
newed the practice of his profession at Madison.
He was appointed lecturer in the Department of
Law, Wisconsin State University, and was a member
of the Board of Regents of that institution, from
1875 to 1878.
By appointment of the Supreme Court of the
State of Wisconsin, Col. Vilas was one of the revi
sers of the statutes of the State.
In 1884 he was chairman of the Democratic
National Committee. It has been generally con
ceded at home that Col. Vilas was the leader of the
Madison bar, and he was recognized as one of
the most able and eloquent advocates of Wiscon
sin. His reputation as an orator began with his
famous eulogy of Grant at the Chicago banquet.
Col. Vilas is a man of genuine brilliancy, and of
great abilities as a lawyer and a scholar, and his
selection by President Cleveland as Postmaster-Gen
eral was universally applauded. Upon the selection
of Secretary Lamar to fill a seat on the supreme
bench, Mr. Cleveland appointed Col. Vilas Secre
tary of the Interior. He has entered upon his
duties with his usual conscientious energy, and the
large portion of our people who are interested in

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 173
the work of the Interior Department can form their
conclusions as to its progress from the statements
which follow.
The work of this department comprises the most
important interests of the country, and it is quite
impossible to do more than refer to such offices and
bureaus as have charge of the leading subjects to
which attention should be called.
THE PATENT OFFICE.
In this important bureau of the Interior Depart
ment, as in the other departments of the Govern
ment, we see the same salutary reforms and changes
which have characterized the advent of the present
Administration. The country was met with what seemed to be a
very plausible and vehement objection at first, that
a change of administration would work disastrously
to the business of the departments and bureaus. It
was charged that turning out old and trusted offi
cials, and putting in new ones, would have the effect
of impairing the public service.
Time has contradicted these misgivings and fore
bodings, that a change would impair the public ser
vice ; and it is confidently claimed that in no bureau
has such a charge been more plainly and clearly
contradicted, than in the Patent Office. Not only
has the public business of this office not been in the
least lessened, or the efficiency of the public service
impaired, but, on the other hand, we see a steady
growth, both of the business of the office, and the
respect in which it is held by the inventors of the

174 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
country ; and that this steady growth, this keeping
up in its full vigor the business of the office, has
been accomplished under many disadvantageous
circumstances. During President Cleveland's administration, the
records as seen from time to time in the reports of
both the Hon. M. V. Montgomery, the first Com
missioner of Patents under President Cleveland's
administration, and the Hon. Benton J. Hall, the
present incumbent, give a most satisfactory and
creditable showing: of the condition of affairs in the
Patent Office.
Mr. Montgomery succeeded Hon. Benjamin But-
terworth ; and it will be seen, that, with about the
same force, and lessened expenditure, more business
was transacted from 1885 up to the end of his offi
cial incumbency than was ever. before transacted in
the same time in the history of the Patent Office. It
will also be seen, from his annual report to Congress,
that the number of applications, and the number of
patents granted, was largely in excess of applications
received and patents granted by his predecessor ; and
that he transacted a larger amount of business, and
turned into the treasury over fifty-seven thousand
dollars more than was turned in by the preceding
Commissioner of Patents.
It should also be noted, that, for the first six
months of the fiscal year of 1886, the Commissioner
of Patents covered into the United States Treasury
$114,899.74, which was a greater surplus for six
months than for the entire year of 1884, and that
the applications for patents exceeded those for the
same period by nearly two thousand.
The undisputed concurrent testimony of the offi-

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 175
cers of the bureau, a large per cent of whom are
Republicans holding over from old Republican admin
istrations, shows that the bureau has never before in
the history of the office done so much work, at so
small an expense, and with the same official and
clerical help, as under the administration of the
Hon. Benton J. Hall. And it is proper here to say
that he has shown rare skill in the management
of the Patent Office ; and when it is ¦ remembered
that probably seventy per cent of the officials
under him, and upon whom he must rely largely
in the direction of the duties pertaining to the
office, hold political views different from his own,
it is a worthy tribute to his efficiency and sterling
executive worth that he should have enlisted the
cordial co-operation of this force in the many valu
able suggestions and reforms made and inaugurated
by himself.
, The decisions of this commissioner, by the uni
versal consent of the bar of the district, and by the
attorneys practising before the office, representing
as they do the interests of the thousands of invent
ors alLover the country,, take a high rank. Indeed,
so marked has been the judicial ability displayed by
' Commissioner Hall, that it has drawn from the lead
ing papers of the Republican party many worthy
tributes to this efficient and scholarly official. Prom
inent among the notices in the Republican papers of
Mr. Hall's rare efficiency and capacity, is one taken
from the " New York Tribune " of Oct. i, 1887, and
voices probably the sentiments of all. This article
is printed in the " Scientific American," one of the
ablest industrial journals in the world, with added
editorial comments of a high character. It says, —

176 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
" In brief, he seems to recognize the fact that the Patent Office
is not a political office ; that it is supported by the men of a par
ticular class, the inventors, — so well supported, in short, that the
yearly dividend of twenty per cent is realized from the fees paid in,
while there is an accumulated surplus of three millions of dollars
in the treasury.
" Every week's issue of the ' Official Gazette ' contains from
one to three of the commissioner's decisions on points of office
practice, designed to bring -uniformity in the same among the
different divisions. If the story told by the attorneys is to be
believed, something of that kind is badly needed."
The "Scientific American" then proceeds to add
editorially, —
" The encomium of the ' Tribune ' on Commissioner Hall is
just, and reminds one of the patent-office administration under the
commissionerships of Judge Mason and Judge Holt, which was a
good while ago, but whom the few of us live to remember with
satisfaction." In this necessarily brief notice space is not per
mitted to mention the many able and valuable decis
ions of Commissioner Hall, touching as they do the
direct and varied interests of the tens of thousands
of inventors throughout the country. It is a worthy
tribute to President Cleveland's selection of this able
official to refer in this connection to the many
reforms recommended in the Patent Office by
Commissioner Hall; foremost of which, and as
forming a part of the issues to which the public
mind will be directed in the coming campaign, is the
abuse of organized wealth and corporate power as
they affect the actual workings of the Patent Office
which the commissioner has striven to remedy.
Corporate power, grown to an alarming size dur
ing the past quarter of a century by special class

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 177
legislation, and the many privileges given to it during
the Republican regime, has pushed its baleful influ
ences even into the industrial arts.
For years it has been known that the real in
ventors of the country, most of them humble but
skilled mechanics in the industrial arts, have utterly
failed to secure the benefits of their inventive genius.
Seldom has it been that the real inventor has reaped
the harvest of his patience and his skill. It has
been seen that the influence and greed of corporate
power, with its restless and corrupting energies, have
been specially directed to the monopolization of
labor-saving devices in all branches of mechanics ;
so that it can be said to control, and, in fact, has
aggregated to itself by the use of enormous capital,
the skill of the inventive genius of the country.
Almost every invention, representing years of some
ingenious mechanic's life, is immediately seized upon
by some monopoly or other, the interest of the in
ventor bought for a song, and the benefits of the
invention, which the spirit of the patent laws intended
should go to the public at large, have been held
for the advantage of the special few, to be doled out
by corporations to the general public at enormous
profits to the managers.
The cause of general industry gains nothing.
Labor where it has thus been controlled by corpora
tions has received no substantial benefits from inven
tion, and capital organized against the interests of
the masses received the enormous gains which have
made these monopolies threatening factors in social
and political life, inimical to the interests of the
masses of the laboring people.
Commissioner Hall, among other valuable sug-

178 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
gestions for reform, referring to the corrupt power
of corporate wealth, and the pernicious influences of
its presence in the Patent Office, said in his annual
report for the year ending December, 1887, when
the consideration of section 4894 of the Revised
Statutes was before him, that this section of the
statute enables rich and influential parties to keep
the applications for patents, of which they are the
assignees, pending in the office for years before
their patent is issued. In the mean time, they are
engaged in manufacturing and putting upon the
market the article or improvement, but warning
the public that the patent is " applied for ; " the effect
of which is to give them the absolute control of
the monopoly of the invention, and to deter all
other inventors from entering the same field of
invention, and manufacturing the same article. The
commissioner, seeing the danger which must inevi
tably result to the inventive talent of the country
from this illegitimate use of wealth and corporate
power, recommended to Congress that this section
should be modified, and that there be vested in the
commissioner a discretion to declare any application
forfeited for want of prosecution whenever he is
satisfied that such should be done. This suggestion
promptly acted upon will go far towards checking the
domination of capital over the development of
the industrial arts. It would be a step in the direc
tion of freeing the laboring classes, out of which
comes the inventive skill and genius of a nation,
from being the mental slaves of powerful corpora
tions. The work of the Patent Office for the year 1887
can be best understood from the following detail.

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

179

Receipts from applications
" " copies
" '* deeds .
" " " Gazette "
" " labels .
Total income

^1,014,265 00
83,267 40
23,416 70
14,402 53
2,9°3 5°
11,138,255 13

For the six months ending June 30, 1888, there
were received 86,080 letters, containing in money
$508,091.26. The whole business of this important
office has been conducted with more celerity, less
proportional expense, and to the better satisfaction
of patentees than ever before ; and we may look
forward, under another four years of the present
Administration, to results which will prove the
wisdom of the Executive in managing all depart
ments upon business principles.

THE PENSION BUREAU.
The work of this important bureau is perhaps
more closely connected with the hearts and homes
of our people than any other. It is a great monu
ment to those who have sacrificed their lives for
the liberties of the nation. It represents an act of
national justice hitherto unparalleled in the world's
history. Through its action the widow and the
orphan receive that proper recognition for the ser
vices of the husband and father, which a grateful
nation will render so long as they live to re
ceive it.
It is a satisfaction to state that under the present
administration the work of this bureau has, in every
respect progressed in such a manner as to win
admiration from all those who have any idea of

180 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
what has been done in the Pension Bureau since
March 16, 1885 ; and a comparison may fairly be
challenged in the number of pensions granted, in
the large number of veterans who have had their
pensions increased, in the extraordinary work of
the office, through its Special Examination Division,
in making that critical examination of the rights of
claimants at their homes and elsewhere all over the
country. Since the present administration of the office up
to the 15th day of June, 1888, a perio.cL.of three
years and three months, the enormous number of
one hundred and sixty-seven thousand new names
have been added to the pension rolls of the nation,
and more than one hundred and thirty-eight thou
sand scarred veterans have had their;..- pensions
increased. In the rapid movement of events we
hardly have time to pause and reflect upon what
this indicates; viz., that an army larger than the
combined armies of Wellington and Napoleon at
Waterloo have received through the magnificent
liberality of the Government of these United States
its generous bounty, and that this large additional
amount has been granted under the present admin
istration, thus affording additional proof (if it were
needed) that the Democratic party is true to the
memory of those who fought their country's battles,
true to those who upheld the old flag in the fiery
storm of war.
It must be borne in mind, that, with these gratify
ing results and this greatly increased work, the
clerical force of the Bureau of Pensions remains
the same as it was at the commencement of the
present Administration.

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. l8l

CIVIL SERVICE.
The whole force is subject to the rules and regula
tions governing the civil service. No appointments
are made, nor have any been made, in this bureau
except through the avenue of civil service exam
inations and certification. At the time the present
Commissioner of Pensions assumed charge of the
bureau, he found ninety-five per cent of this clerical
force selected from that political party antagonistic
to the present Administration, nearly all of whom
were appointed regardless of civil service qualifi
cations. New appointments, however, have been
made only through the channel of civil service
examination, and with most gratifying results ; and
of the original ninety-five per cent, it is safe to
assert that at least seventy-five per cent still remain
undisturbed at their desks. No discharges have
been made except in cases of gross inefficiency,
neglect of duty, or evidences of partisanship incom
patible with the efficient administration of the office.
The Pension Bureau during the current year will
distribute the immense sum of eighty millions of
the people's money, payable to over four hundred
and sixteen thousand pensioners. This great work
will be accomplished at far less expense than ever
before ; for the reason that in this bureau, as in all
others under the present Administration, the work
is being done for the first time upon business princi
ples, thus securing a larger amount of labor upon a
more economic and satisfactory basis. In this con
nection it is but just to allude to the attempts made
by pension sharks to introduce fraudulent claims ;
thus not only doing injury to those who are justly

1 82 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET
entitled to their country's bounty, but at the same
time casting a stigma upon the fair name of the
nation. To every sensible man or woman who
reads this article, the action ef the President in
putting his veto upon all such attempts to defraud
the Government and the people can admit of but
one construction ; viz., that in Grover Cleveland we
have secured a President who devotes himself
steadily to but one object, and that is the good of
this nation, and to prove to his fellow-citizens that
" a public office is a public trust."
THE GENERAL LAND-OFFICE.
The Commissioner of Public Lands is charged
with the survey, management, and sale of the public
domain, and the issuing of titles therefor, whether
derived from confirmations of grants made by former
governments, by sales, donations, or grants for
schools, railroads, military bounties, or public im
provements. He is aided by an assistant commis
sioner. The Land- Office audits its own accounts.
The great importance of this bureau in its relation
to the progress of our country cannot be overesti
mated. Its energies have been devoted, during the
present administration, to remedy defects and cor
rect abuses in the public land service. The results
of these efforts are so largely in the nature of
reforms in the processes and methods of our land
system as to prevent adequate estimate ; but it
appears, from the latest official statement, that there
has been secured and restored to the public domain,
and recommended for recovery, from March 4, 1885,
to May 12, 1888, as follows: —

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR. 183
Total actually restored to the public domain, and
opened to entry and settlement, 80,690,720 acres.
It must be borne in mind that these lands are se
cured from railroad forfeitures, indemnity lands, illegal
land claims, and withdrawn lands restored ; thus
offering to the farmer and emigrant an opportunity
to secure a comfortable home, and at the same time
adding to our national territory an extent of valuable
property which would otherwise have been controlled
by trusts, syndicates, or corporations. In addition
to this great work, there has been accomplished also
an examination of other lands, which will fall under
the same rules, and which will restore an additional
extent of territory, amounting to 65,020,538 acres.
This immense territory, comprising lands most favor
able for settlement, can accommodate all the emi
grants which are likely to arrive in this country
within the next twenty years ; and we may look
forward to another advance in civilization through
farms, villages, towns, and cities, secured by the
work of the Land-Office under the present Adminis
tration, and at a less proportionate cost than under
any previous Administration since the commence
ment of our government. INDIAN OFFICE.
The important question of the management of our
Indians is one that has given much trouble and
embarrassment to this department. The expenses
attending such management have been very great,
and yet the ultimate results have been so unsatisfac
tory as to occasion much public and private comment.
Following out the suggestions of the President in his

1 84 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
annual message, the work of the Indian office has
been more carefully attended to under this Adminis
tration, and with the result that the condition of our
Indian population, and the progress of the work for
their enlightenment, is a gratifying and hopeful one.
And when it is understood that this has been accom
plished at a saving to the nation in the estimates
for the year of over four hundred thousand dollars,
our fellow-citizens will certainly appreciate the steady
and unwearied efforts of the present Administration
to carry on its work upon a business basis.
In addition to the above, the Department of the
Interior has control of the management of such
railroads as are in whole or in part west, north, or
south of the Missouri River, and to which the
United States have granted any loan of credit or
subsidy in lands or bonds. Also it has charge of
the Geological Survey, comprising the classification
of the public lands, and examination of the geologi
cal structure, mineral resources, and products of the
national domain ; and finally this department has
charge of the supervision of the census of the
United States, which is taken every tenth year, and
the subsequent arrangement, compilation, and pub
lication of the statistics collected. It is a gratifying
statement, that, under the present Administration, the
immense labor connected with this department has
been faithfully conducted at less proportionate ex
pense than ever before, and with results which are
universally admitted to be far more satisfactory thaYi
could have been expected in so short a time. With
another four years of the same capable management,
we may look forward to results of even greater inv
portance.

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

THE BUREAU OF EDUCATION.

185

The names of Horace Mann, Henry Barnard, and
John Eaton are substantial guarantees that the sub
ject of education, in its connection with the present
and future welfare of the growing youth of the
nation, has been well cared for. In Col. N. H. R.
Dawson, the present commissioner, and his able
corps of assistants, we have every reason to look
forward to a continuation of the good work so well
begun. As may be clearly understood from the
peculiar and special character of the work of this
office, its employes have always been selected spe
cially with reference to their qualifications and intelli
gence, and possibly to a greater extent than has
prevailed in the general clerical service of the
government. The late commissioner, Gen. Eaton,
was in control of this bureau for sixteen years, and
his careful selection of his subordinates, and their
retention in office by his successor, under the rules
of merit service, has secured the best work being
accomplished with the limited force in hand. The
special object of this bureau is to inform the public
as to the advancement of education in the United
States, and this is done through an annual report,
which contains all data up to the time of issue.
This annual report comprises the general statistics
as regards education in the United States, including
State school systems with all the facts as to popula
tion and percentage of school attendance, which have
shown a most gratifying steady increase from year
to year; statistics regarding teachers and their

1 86 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
salaries in different States ; the various State laws
relative to education, with public-school receipts and
expenditures, are also fully given in detail. The,
city school systems are then taken up, and the most
complete and reliable information supplied upon this
important subject. The training of teachers, nor
mal schools, kindergartens, superior instruction of
women, statistics regarding colleges, universities,
schools of science, and technological schools, all
receive due attention. A separate chapter is devoted
to professional instruction, comprising all informa
tion regarding schools of theology, law, medicine,
dentistry, and pharmacy, and a statistical summary
of all degrees conferred. The subject of special
training comprises much of interest, taking in as it
does all that relates to industrial and manual training-
schools, military schools, commercial and business
colleges, together with training-schools for nurses.
Upon the education of special classes full reports
will be found supplying interesting statistics con
nected with the deaf and dumb, blind, feeble-minded,
and juvenile delinquents ; also, the education of
the colored race and that of the Indian. These
reports are supplied freely to the public, and should
be secured by all interested. They will be found of
special value as works of reference in our city, town,
and village libraries. A very interesting statement
bearing upon foreign education is included, and also
a report upon the success in the attempts to intro
duce education among the Indians in Alaska, which
far-off section of our great country is in the special
charge of the Bureau of Education. Under the
present commissioner all these reports have been

THE DEPARTMENT OF THE INTERIOR.

I87

brought forward and published up to the latest date
possible, and our readers will find in this collection
a vast amount of interesting information. Several
very important and special pamphlets have also been
prepared and published by this bureau, viz. : Pro
ceedings of the department of superintendence of
the National Educational Association, February 2-
26, 1886, and of the same association March 15-17,
1887. Many of the papers read at these meetings
are of absorbing interest, and we would specially call
the attention of our readers to an illustrated article
relating to Alaska, and what has been done there in
connection with education and civilization. The
Educational Bureau has also published a most elab
orate and important essay upon "The Study of His
tory in American Colleges and Universities," an
interesting account of William and Mary College, of
Virginia, and a complete catalogue of all the libraries
in the United States. Commissioner Dawson, under
instructions from the Interior Department, made a
personal visit to Alaska, establishing many schools,
and otherwise aiding the efforts of those interested
in the civilization of these comparatively new citi
zens of the United States. He had the good fortune
to be present at the new settlement of the native
Indians from Metlakahtla, whose fate has attracted
so much attention during the past year. It will be
remembered that they were so harshly treated under
the rules of the British government and the church
authorities that Mr. William Duncan, the distin
guished English missionary, decided to place them
under the protection of the American flag. The
following description of the exercises upon the occa-

1 88 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS OABINET.
sion of locating their new home will be found spe
cially interesting.
The day was a perfect one, and the visitors were at once put
on shore. A more lovely place than this harbor it is impossi
ble to imagine. It is semi-circular in shape, opening out
through a number of small islands to the westward. On the
east and north were wild, rugged mountains, coming down to
the water's edge, and on the south is a low green shore, skirted
by a gravel beach that winds in and out in beautiful curves.
The place was entirely uninhabited, except by thirty or forty of
the men of Metlakahtla, with their families, who had come on
as an advance guard. The remainder, in all about one thousand
people, men, women, and children, will come as soon as provis
ion can be made for them and the means of transportation
shall arrive.
The exercises were impromptu, and Mr. Duncan first ad
dressed his people in their native tongue. He told them of his
trip to the United States, and concluded by introducing Hon.
N. H. R. Dawson, the United States Commissioner of Educa
tion, then upon an official tour of Alaska, who had kindly con
sented to make an address upon this occasion. In Mr. Daw
son's address, interpreted by Mr. Duncan into the native
language, for the benefit of those who did not understand
English, they were impressively told of the power and glory of
the great American government, under whose protection they
were coming, and were assured that when its flag was raised
over them they would be protected in their lives and liberties,
that their homes and lands would be assured to them, and that
their education and welfare would be the cherished care of the
great government to which they had intrusted themselves.
He congratulated them upon their advent to American soil,
and assured them that they would have the sympathy and pro
tection of the government in their new homes, and that,
although the general land laws of the United States were not
now in force in the Territory, that they would not be disturbed
in the use and possession of any lands upon which they might
settle and build houses, but that when those laws were extended
over the country they would doubtless be allowed to enter and
purchase these lands and hold possession of them in preference

THE DEPARTMENT OF 2WE INTERIOR.

189

to others. In the meantime they would have the same advan
tages of education open to them which are now extended to all
the inhabitants of the Territory. Efforts had been made to
impress them with the idea that the American government was
unfriendly and would show them no kindness. This impression
Mr. Dawson successfully dispelled in his address, which was re
ceived, with great satisfaction by the Indians. When he con
cluded, the flags were raised, the ship saluting them as they
went up with its battery of one gun. The natives then sang
" Rock of Ages," exquisitely, in their native tongue. Rev. Dr.
Fraser, of San Francisco, in a touching prayer, then commended
the new settlement to the protection of Divine Providence,
after which all united in singing old " Coronation." One of
the principal chiefs, or selectmen, Daniel Ne-ash-kum-ack-kem,
then replied to Mr. Dawson's address in a short speech, as
follows : —
" Chiefs, I have a few words of truth to let you know what
our hearts are saying. The God of heaven is looking at our
doings here to-day. You have stretched out your hands to the
Tsein-she-ans. Your act is a Christian act. We have long
been knocking at the door of another government for justice,
but the door has been closed against us. You have risen up
and opened your door to us, and bid us welcome to this beauti
ful spot, upon which we propose to erect our homes. What can
our hearts say to this, but that we are thankful and happy !
The work of the Christian is never lost. Your work will not
be lost to you. It will live, and you will find it after many
days. We are here only a few to-day who have been made
happy by your words ; but when your words reach all of our
people, numbering over a thousand, how much more joy will
they occasion ! What shall we say further to thank you ? We
were told that there were no slaves under the flag of England.
For a long time our hearts relied on this as the truth. We were
content and happy ; but we now find that our reliance has been
misplaced. These promises have been broken ; that nation
has set at naught its own laws in its treatment of us, and is
dealing with us as with slaves. We come to you for protection
and safety. Our hearts, though often troubled, have not
fainted. We have trusted in God, and he has helped us. We
are now able to sleep in peace. Our confidence is restored.
God has given us his strength to reach this place of security

! \

igO THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
and freedom, and we are grateful to him for his mercy and
loving kindness. We again salute you from our hearts. I
have no more to say."
At the conclusion of this reply, which was delivered in the
musical intonations of his native tongue, with a grace and elo
quence that did credit to the picturesque forum in which he
stood, Dr. Fraser gave the benediction. The passengers and
natives then joined in one rousing cheer for the old flag, that
must have impressed Ihe Metlakahtlans with the fervor and zeal
of American patriotism.

-f^f.

CHAPTER XL
the department of justice.
The attorney-general is the head of the Depart
ment of Justice, and the chief law officer of the
government. He represents the United States in
matters involving legal questions ; he gives his
advice and opinions on questions of law when they
are required by the President or by the heads of
the other executive departments on questions of law
arising upon the administration of their respective
departments ; he exercises a general superintendence
and direction over United States attorneys and mar
shals in all judicial districts in the States and Terri
tories, and he provides special counsel for the
United States whenever required by any department
of the government. THE ATTORNEY-GENERAL.
Augustus H. Garland.
A. H. Garland was born in Tipton Co., Tenn.,
June n, 1832. In the following year his parents
191

J02 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
removed to Arkansas. Mr. Garland graduated at
St. Joseph College, Bardstown, Ky., in 1849. He
studied law, and after his admission to the bar set
tled in the practice of his profession at Little Rock,
Ark. He opposed the early movements of the South
at the commencement of the civil war, but event
ually joined his State, Arkansas, in its connection
with the Confederacy, and served in the Confederate
congress. At the close of the war, Mr. Garland was
chosen United States senator, but was refused
admission. After serving as Secretary of State for
Arkansas he was elected Governor, in 1874, and in
1876 was elected to represent the same State in the
United States Senate for a term of six years, from
March, 1877. In 1882 he was reelected for another
term, receiving not only the entire vote of his own
party, but also that of the Republicans in the State
Legislature, only three votes being cast against him.
In March, 1885, he was appointed attorney-general
of the United States, and took his seat in the Cabinet
of President Cleveland.
Judge Garland, while in the United States Senate,
enjoyed the confidence and respect of all his col
leagues. He was indefatigable in committee work,
and his legal knowledge and judicial impartiality
made him one of the strongest and most influential

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. Ig,
members of the judiciary committee. In debate he
has always been a strong, forcible speaker, his nota
ble characteristics being, first, conciseness and per
spicuity of statement ; second, logical order of argu
ment; and, third, power of condensation, — all qualities
specially fitting him to occupy the chair of the
Department of Justice, the work of which office is
herewith given.
We find on examination that in this department,
as in all others; there has been a steady gain and
improvement not only in the amount of work done,
but also that for the first time laws have been
actually put in force under the present administration
which have heretofore been allowed to remain dor
mant. That some idea may be arrived at as regards
the importance and extent of this department, ex
tracts are made from the last official report of the
attorney-general. business of the court of claims.
Since the last report 449 suits, claiming upward of $4,150,000,
have been brought under the ordinary jurisdiction of the court.
The total number of such cases now pending is 1,110, claim
ing upward of $18,250,000.
Under the act of March 3, 1883, known as the " Bowman act,"
there have been transmitted to the court, to date, 2,038 cases.
The amount claimed cannot be stated, but involves a very large
sum. During the last term 147 of these cases, claiming about
$1,260,000, were acted on by the court and reported to Con-

194 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
gress. Of this number, 34 cases, aggregating upward of
$670,000, were dismissed for want-of jurisdiction.
In 63 cases the findings of the court were favorable to claim
ants, but for reduced amounts.
There are now pending about 1,819 cases, involving, in so far
as can be ascertained from the petitions and other papers re
ceived, upward of $50,000,000.
Under the same act there have been transmitted by heads of
departments, to date, 29 claims, amounting' in the aggregate to
upward of $4,000,000. One case, claiming $1,226,804.81, with
interest, was acted on by the court during the term, and a find
ing for $249,000 certified to the department transmitting the
claim. Nine cases, claiming about $350,000, are now pending, one of
which has been submitted, and is now held under advisement by
the court.
There are also pending matters entertained by the court
under the provisions of section 2 of said act.
FRENCH SPOLIATIONS.
The petitions filed in French spoliations cases number 5,560,
representing- 2,386 vessels, and about $30,000,000. Thirteen
cases arising upon four vessels were reported by the court, with
favorable recommendations, to Congress on December 6, 1886.
Sixty-eight additional cases arising upon 29 vessels have
been passed upon by the court in favor of claimants and will
be reported to Congress at its next session.
Twelve cases upon 12 vessels have been decided against the
claimants; 200 additional are now on trial.
The amount reported in favor of claimants in all the 81 cases
passed upon, in the aggregate, is about $425,000, varying in
sums from $66.40 to $45,318.66.
The general principles involved in these cases have been
fully discussed, and four opinions have been delivered by the
court, settling some of the important questions governing them.
The following is a summary of the business of the last term :
CLAIMS AGAINST THE UNITED STATES.
There were'brought to trial 314 suits, claiming $18,551,605.58.
In 24 of these, claiming $105,595.66, judgment was for defend
ants.

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.

195

In 290 suits, claiming $18,446,009.92, judgment was for
claimants for $3,409,953.21. In this sum is embraced the
amount of $2,858,798.62, the judgment in the case of the
Choctaw Indians, which was rendered in the Supreme Court
and ordered by mandate from that court to be entered in the
Court of Claims.
Two suits, claiming $662.26, were discontinued on claimants'
motion. CRIMINAL PROSECUTIONS.
There were terminated during the last year 12,905 criminal
prosecutions ; 227 of these were prosecutions under the customs
laws, in which there were 120 convictions, 27 acquittals, and 80
were entered not. pros., discontinued, or quashed; 5,064 under
the internal revenue laws, in which were 3,100 convictions, 803
acquittals, and 1,161 were entered not. pros., discontinued, or
quashed; 540 under post-office laws, in which there were 302
convictions, 115 acquittals, and 123 entered not. pros., discon
tinued, or quashed; 96 under election laws, in which there
were 45 convictions, 13 acquittals, and 38 entered not. pros.,
discontinued, or quashed; six under the civil rights acts, in
which there were — convictions, 2 acquittals, and 4 entered not.
pros., discontinued, or quashed ; 298 under intercourse acts, in
which there were 260 convictions, 9 acquittals, and 29 entered
not. pros., discontinued, or quashed ; 175 under the pension
laws, in which there were 77 convictions, 27 acquittals, and 71
entered not. pros., discontinued, or quashed; 36 for embezzle
ment, in which there were 14 convictions, 6 acquittals, and 16
entered not. pros., discontinued, or quashed; 6,463 miscellane
ous prosecutions, in which there were 4,080 convictions, 1,348
acquittals, 1,035 entered not. pros., discontinued, or quashed.
In many of the prosecutions under the internal revenue laws
entered not. pros., discontinued, or quashed, a compromise and
settlement were made in the internal revenue bureau of the
treasury department.

Among subjects of special interest to the people
of the United States we can refer with satisfaction to
the action of the Department of Justice in connection

196' THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
with laws against Mormonism which have been on
our statute books for many years and which had
been practically ignored until the advent of the pres
ent administration, when, under the special direction
of the President, they have been put in force with
the result that offenders have been tried and pun
ished, and that the Mormons themselves, in many
instances, admit the justice of the acts of the govern
ment and govern themselves accordingly. The pros
ecution of timber thieves has. been carried out with
such vigilance that in a large measure the terrible
inroads made upon the property of the nation have
been put a stop to and the offenders brought to jus
tice. In this connection we close with the views of
the President relative to this department, as stated
in his message to Congress indicating the improve
ments suggested by the attorney-general.
The conduct of the Department of Justice for the last fiscal
year is fully detailed in the report of the attorney-general, and
I invite the earnest attention of the Congress to the same, and
due consideration of the recommendations therein contained.
In the report submitted by this officer to the last session of
the Congress he strongly recommended the erection of a peni
tentiary for the confinement of prisoners convicted and sen
tenced in the United States courts ; and he repeats the recom
mendation in his- report for the last year.
This is a matter of very great importance and should at once
receive Congressional action. United States prisoners are now
confined in more than thirty different State prisons and peniten
tiaries scattered in every part of the country. They are sub
jected to nearly as many different modes of treatment and
discipline and are far too much removed from the control and
regulation of the government. So far as they are entitled to
humane treatment and an opportunity for improvement and ref
ormation, the government is responsible to them and society
that these things are forthcoming. But this duty can scarcely

THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE. jgy
be discharged without more absolute control and direction than
is possible under the present system.
Many of our good citizens have interested themselves, with
the most beneficial results, in the question of prison reform.
The general government should be in a situation, since there
must be United States prisoners, to furnish important aid in
this movement, and should be able to illustrate what may be
practically done in the direction of this reform and to present
an example, in the treatment and improvement of its prisoners,
worthy of imitation.
With prisons under its own control, the government could
deal with the somewhat vexed question of convict labor, so far
as its convicts were concerned, according to a plan of its own
adoption, and with due regard to the rights and interests of our
laboring citizens, instead of sometimes aiding in the operation
of a system which causes among them irritation and discontent.
Upon consideration of this subject it might be thought wise
to erect more than one of these institutions, located in such
places as would best subserve the purposes of convenience and
economy in transportation. The considerable cost of maintain
ing these convicts, as at present, in State institutions, would be
saved by the adoption of the plan proposed ; and by employing
them in the manufacture of such articles as were needed for use
by the government quite a large pecuniary benefit would be
realized in partial return for our outlay.
I again urge a change in the federal judicial system to meet
the wants of the people and obviate the delays necessarily at
tending the present condition of affairs in our courts. All are
agreed that something should be done, and much favor is shown,
by those well able to advise, to the plan suggested by the attor
ney-general at the last session of the Congress, and recom
mended in my last annual message. This recommendation is
here renewed, together with another made at the same time,
touching a change in the manner of compensating district at
torneys and marshals ; and the latter subject is commended to
the Congress for its action, in the interest of economy to the
government, and humanity, fairness, and justice to our people.

>>

198

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE.

The President, in his message to the second ses
sion of the Forty-ninth Congress, stated that " the
Department of Agriculture, representing the oldest
and largest of our national industries, is subserving
well the purposes of its organization. By the intro
duction of new subjects of farming enterprise, and
by opening new sources of agricultural wealth, and
the dissemination of early information concerning
production and prices, it has contributed largely to
the country's prosperity. Through this agency, ad
vanced thought and investigation touching the sub
jects it has in charge should, among other things,
be practically applied to the home production at a
low cost of articles of food which are now imported
from abroad. Such an innovation will necessarily, of
course, in the beginning be within the domain of in
telligent experiment, and the subject in every stage
should receive all possible encouragement from the
government." Thus indorsed by the executive, the
Department of Agriculture, in charge of its experi
enced commissioner, Norman J. Colman, has steadily
progressed under the present administration, to the
great advantage of our farming population. In May,
1885, was organized the. Dairy Division, for the pur
pose of facilitating, in every way possible, the work
of this great and important industry. A complete
list was obtained of all those engaged in dairying on
a large scale, and then a circular was issued and
widely distributed, with the view of obtaining facts
and data sufficient to enable the computation to be

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. jgg
made of the several averages of the yield per cow
per day, in milk, butter, and cheese, and the average
value per cow in the different States. ' The result of
this inquiry has been to secure, for the first time, a
mass of most important and reliable information rela
tive to all matters connected with the dairy industry.
This interesting report can be secured by our
farmers upon writing to the Commissioner of Agri
culture.

BUREAU OF ANIMAL INDUSTRY.
This highly important bureau was organized June
i, 1884, with the view of making investigations and
reports upon the condition, protection, and use of
the domestic animals of the United States, also as to
the causes of contagious, infectious, and communica
ble diseases among domestic animals, and the means
for the prevention and cure of the same ; together
with the direction and management of quarantine
stations, for imported cattle. Special experienced
agents are sent to all sections of the country to in
vestigate and report upon supposed cases of pleuro
pneumonia, and a temporary quarantine of herds
thus suspected is immediately ordered. The strict
est scrutiny is maintained to prevent any violation of
the quarantine, and to guard against the spread of
pleuro-pneumonia while it is being extirpated in the
quarantined district. The great importance of the
work of this bureau to the interest of the farmer, and
its successful results so far obtained, are universally
admitted. The reports already published of the work
of this bureau should be in the hands of every prac-

200 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
tical farmer, as they contain a digest of valuable in
formation not to be found elsewhere.

DIVISION OF ENTOMOLOGY.
The work of this division covers the securing of
reliable information upon all that relates to insects
injurious to agriculture, and also the best means of
counteracting their ravages. The entomologist, with
his assistants and field agents, devotes his time to
giving needed information, in the warfare which the
cultivators of the soil have constantly to make against
these injurious insects. The importance of this work
may best be understood when we consider the vast
number of insects that affect our agriculture, and the
immense losses which they occasion ; and in no way
can this be indicated so clearly as by facts regarding
losses occasioned by insects, reduced to dollars and
cents. The wheat midge in New York State, 1854,
caused a loss of fifteen millions of dollars.
The damage in the Mississippi valley in 1864,
done by the chinch-bug, amounted to seventy-three
millions of dollars.
The Rocky Mountain locust, in 1874, damaged the
crops of four States to the amount of fifty-six mill
ions of dollars.
The cotton-worm occasioned an average annual
loss, before the war, of fifteen millions of dollars.
The most careful estimates here placed the aggre
gate annual loss to American agriculture, in its
broadest sense, from the injuries of insects, at from
three to four millions of dollars ; a sum which seems

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 20I
at first flash so enormous that it strikes one as in
accurate ; but, notwithstanding the losses nave been
measurably decreased by important remedial dis
coveries, so far as the worst pests are concerned,
the total loss will still remain enormous. The work
of this division is best exemplified in the reports
which it has made, and which are distributed gratui
tously by the department. We annex titles of a few
of these valuable contributions : —
Insects affecting the orange-tree.
The cotton-worm.
The mulberry silk-worm.
Insects injurious to forest-trees.
Insects affecting garden crops.
Insects affecting the hop crop.
Insects affecting the cranberry crop.
Together with many others of equal value and
interest. SECTION OF SILK CULTURE.
To those interested and who have given attention
to the introduction of the growth and manufacture
of silk in this country, the subject is one of absorb
ing interest, and it properly deserves national atten
tion. With everything in our power, climate, man
ufacturing facilities, etc., there is every reason to
believe that within a few years the United States
will become an important factor in the growth and
manufacture of silk. In this connection it is satis
factory to refer to the good work already accom
plished under the above named section. An
immense correspondence is carried on, and every
facility afforded in the shape of practical information
on the subject.

202 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

DIVISION OF CHEMISTRY.

The work of this division has proved of great
practical service to the country in the analysis made
of milk, Sorghum cane-juice, beet-juices, etc. The
experiments in the manufacture of sugar have been
very interesting, and the reports have been largely
distributed for the benefit of our farming population.
Space will not permit our reference to the important
divisions of botany and ornithology, both of which
have proved of incalculable value to the general
interests of our whole country, but the total result of
the good work of the Department of Agriculture will
be sufficient evidence to the thinking farmer that
under the present administration the interests of
agriculture have not been lost sight of.

THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR.
The bureau of labor was established by act of Con
gress, approved June 27, 1884. The commissioner
of labor is directed by this organic law to collect infor
mation upon the subject of labor, its relation to
capital, the hours of labor, and the earnings of labor
ing men and women, and the means of promoting
their material, social, intellectual, and moral pros
perity ; and annually to make a report in writing to
the Secretary of the Interior of the information col
lected and collated by him, and containing such
recommendations as he may deem calculated to pro
mote the efficiency of the bureau.
Under the present administration the great im
portance of this subject of labor has received careful

THE DEPARTMENT OF LABOR. 2OX
consideration, the result being that the bureau has
been officially raised to a department the general
design and duties of which shall be to acquire and
diffuse among the people of the United States useful
information on subjects connected with labor, in the
most general and comprehensive sense of that word,
and especially upon its relation to capital, the hours
of labor, the earnings of laboring men and women,
and the means of promoting their material, social,
intellectual, and moral prosperity. The commis
sioner is specially charged to ascertain at as early a
date as possible, and whenever industrial changes
shall make it essential, the cost of producing articles
at the time dutiable in the United States in leading
countries where such articles are produced by fully
specified units of production, and under a classifica
tion showing the different elements of cost, or ap
proximate cost, of such articles of production,
including the wages paid in such industries per day,
week, month, or year, or by the piece, and hours
employed per day, and the profits of the manufac
turers and producers of such articles, and the com
parative cost of living, and the kind of living. It
shall be the duty of the commissioner, also, to ascer
tain and report as to the effect of the tariff, and the
effect thereon of the state of the currency, in the
United States, on the agricultural industry, especially
as to its effect on mortgage indebtedness of farmers,
and what articles are now controlled by trusts, and
what effect said trusts have had on limiting produc
tion and keeping up prices.
He shall also establish a system of . reports by
which, at intervals of not less than two years, he

204 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
can report the general condition, so far as produc
tion is concerned, of the leading industries of the
country. The commissioner of labor is also spe
cially charged to investigate the causes of and facts
relating to all controversies and disputes between
employers and employes as they may occur, and
which may tend to interfere with the welfare of the
people of the different States, and report thereon to
Congress. Under the experienced and able man
agement of Col. Carroll D. Wright the work of the
bureau has been carried out in a most successful
manner, the annual reports supplying the most
important information from reliable data, giving the
reasons for industrial depression, the " rights and
wrongs of convict labor," and " strikes and lockouts
between January, 1880, and December, 1886."
This department has now in course of preparation
reports upon " The Condition of Railroad Employees,"
and " The Condition of Working Women in Thirty
Leading Cities in the United States." These reports
have been in great demand, and have been of great
service in definitely settling questions bearing upon
work and wages. It would be well if every thinking
laborer should secure copies for the reading of him
self and friends, which will prove to him that there
has been very great interest taken during the present
administration in all that relates to the comfort of
the workingman, and reasonable evidence given that
under the same state of things there can only be
progress for the better as these various statistics are
collected.

THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING-OFFICE. 205

THE GOVERNMENT PRINTING-OFFICE.
Although neither a department nor bureau, this
office should have some notice as the one from
which the enormous volume of reports, speeches,
etc., finds its way all over the United States.
Under the able management of Mr. Benedict the
public printer, important results have been secured,
which compare most favorably with the work done
under previous Administrations. Some idea of this
greatly increased work may be gained from the
following : —
Copies.
Copies of speeches and President's message printed.
on private order for Congress, from Dec. 1, 1885,
to June 1, 1886, first session, Forty-ninth Congress, 2,481,880
Copies of speeches and President's message printed
on private order for Congress, from Dec. 1, 1887,
to June 1, 1888, first session, Fiftieth Congress . . 5,565,835
Increase  3>o83>955
Statement showing the increase in bound con
gressional work delivered to Congress this session
over that of two years ago : — Volumes.
Congressional work bound, complete, and delivered to
Congress, from July 1, 1885, to June 1, 1886 . . 950,215
'Congressional work bound, complete, and delivered to
Congress, from July 1, 1887, to June 1, 1888 . . 1,312,122
Increase of volumes bound  361,907
During the year ending June 30, 1886, 6,094,785
pounds of printing and writing papers were used.
This year, up to June 9, a period of eleven months
and a quarter, 6,226,360 pounds of printing and
writino- papers were used, or an increase of sixty-

206 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
five odd tons more for the eleven and a quarter
months than was used in the whole twelve months
of 1885-86.
The result of a recent investigation of this office
indicates, that notwithstanding the enormous increase
in work done, and additional cost of material, a
saving of $217,000 has been effected, with 303
less employees.
THE UNITED STATES CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSION.
To establish a reform in the working of a govern
ment, is a herculean task ; and where that reform has
to meet with universal prejudice, it becomes still
more difficult. Reform in civil service has been the
bugbear in all governments, and the barnacles of
red-tape policy cling to their positions with renewed
strength at every attempt at removal. In this coun
try, on the other hand, the trouble has been that the
service of the nation has suffered front" the long-
established custom of turning out office-holders at
the beginning of a new administration. Thoughtful
men, who have given their attention to the subject,
saw that each year as it rolled around added a num
ber of incompetent men to the already overloaded
rolls of our various departments ; and, having the
good of the nation in view, an organization has been
effected for the purification of public offices, and
reducing the work of the Government to a business
basis. The result of the influence of this third
political party has been to establish the Civil-Service
Commission, having for its object the proper arrange
ment and classification of all applications for posi
tions ; with the view that there should be no

THE CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSION. 207
complaint as to examinations, sufficient notice is
given in season for the applicants to be present at
the locations selected in each State and Territory.
From the fourth, annual report of this commission,
now passing through the press, we learn, that, during
the year 1886-87, two hundred and sixty-eight
examinations were held, the number of applicants
examined being four thousand three hundred and
twenty-seven. Of course a large proportion of
these applicants were examined in Washington,
to which place they would naturally come seeking
office. It is a gratifying fact to know, that, accord
ing to this last report, a little more than two-thirds
of those examined passed favorably, and were en
tered on the proper lists as available. It can be
seen at once that by the addition of an experienced
clerical force the general work of the Government
would be more faithfully accomplished ; and the
result, so far as shown in the different departments,
indicates better work, more rapidity in its comple
tion, a less number of employees, and a reduction
in expense. The total number of appointments in
the departments under the civil-service rules, during
the period covered by the report, were five hundred
and forty-seven ; and a visit to any of our depart
ments, bureaus, or offices of the Government will
satisfy the most incredulous of the great gain that
has been derived from the working of the civil-
service rules under the careful management of the
commission, composed of Alfred P. Edgerton, Indi
ana, John H. Oberly, Illinois, and Charles Lyman,
Connecticut. Under civil-service rules, each State
and Territory is entitled to so many appointments,
according to its population. When a clerk is needed

208 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
in a department, the Civil-Service Commission is
notified ; and the names of the four highest in the
grade desired are sent in to be selected from, these
names being taken from the States whose quota has
not already been filled. In this way the time and
patience of heads of departments, congressmen, and
others is not trenched upon ; and we are saved the
scandals which have existed heretofore in the greedy
rush for office.
As might naturally be expected in a great work of
this kind, experience would indicate improvements
and changes ; and, when necessary, such improve
ments have been made, and new rules promulgated,
very much to the advantage of the service of the
Government. The Civil-Service Commission make
many practical suggestions for the future in their
fourth annual report, which, if adopted and carried
out, cannot but lead to a most valuable and perfected
system in the general management of the various
departments of our government. Not the least im
portant recommendation is a new system of classifi
cation for all of the departments, by which employees
are divided into ten classes, covering salaries of from
$720 per annum to over $2,000. The perfect sim
plicity of such an arrangement must be apparent at
a glance, and there is reasonable certainty that it
will be adopted. The successful working of the
civil-service rules in every department of our Gov
ernment has been admitted to the writer by all the
heads of departments and bureaus. Work is better
done and more promptly, and the knowledge on the
part of the employee that his or her services are
permanent during good behavior is a great induce
ment for thorough good work. A singular and very

THE CIVIL-SERVICE COMMISSION. 209
striking evidence of this lies in the fact, that, under
the present Administration, there has been an unpre
cedented increase in the purchase and leasing of
permanent residences by clerks in the departments
at Washington. No better evidence of the value of
civil-service reform can be given than the following
extract from the message of the President of the
United States : —
" The continued operation of the law relating to our civil ser
vice has added the most convincing proofs of its necessity and
usefulness. It is a fact worthy of note that every public officer
who has a just idea of his duty to the people testifies to the value
of this reform. Its stanchest friends are found among those who
understand it best, and its warmest supporters are those who are
restrained and protected by its requirements.
" The meaning of such restraint and protection is not appre
ciated by those who want places under the Government, regardless
of merit and efficiency, nor by those who insist that the selection
for such places should rest upon a proper credential showing
active partisan work. They mean to public officers, if not their
lives, the only opportunity afforded them to attend to public busi
ness ; and they mean to the good people of the country the better
performance of the work of their Government.
" It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of this
reform are so little understood, and that so many things not in
cluded within its plan are called by its name. When cavil yields
more fully to examination, the system will have large additions to
the number of its friends.
"Our civil-service reform may be imperfect in some of its
details ; it may be misunderstood and opposed ; it may not always
be faithfully applied ; its designs may sometimes miscarry through
mistake or wilful intent; it may sometimes tremble under the
assaults of its enemies, or languish under the misguided zeal of
impracticable friends ; but if the people of this country ever sub
mit to the banishment of its underlying principle from the opera
tion of their Government, they will abandon the surest guaranty
of the safety and success of American institutions."

M

/'•'in

/yd£££e^- ^T^Z

CHAPTER XIII.
ALLEN G. THURMAN.
There is one compensating feature, in our
troubled and ofttimes troubling American politics,
that in a measure condones for the offences of the
system, and repairs the wrongs that an undue parti
sanship may commit. It lies in the fact that after
the contentions and turmoils of party campaigns
have passed, and the inflamed and exaggerated view
has given place to dispassionate estimate and fair
judgment, we do substantial justice to our public
men, and, in the end, ^award to them their proper
place in history. The stress of passion and of half-
calumny that accompanies the discussion of public
questions is an evidence of the earnestness with
which our voters regard the issues before them, and
the final award of praise that is given becomes all
the more valuable because it is a vindication and an
apology as well. To some men who are so well en
dowed by nature, and have so wrought during their
working years that any belittling carries immediate
reaction, this final justice is often done before the
close of their earthly career, and sometimes even in
the years of their best mental vigor and usefulness.
Such has been the case of Allen G. Thurman, in
whose honor all men are now pleased to speak, and
who is loved and respected by many not of his polit-

212 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
ical faith, and whose patriotic, honest, and honorable
devotion to his country is recognized by all. That
he is not in the front of public or political leadership
to-day lies only in his fixed determination, made
some time ago, never again to be a candidate for
public place or power, but to give his final years to
the quiet of that private life he always loved but of
which he was for so many years deprived. We need
go back no farther than the last convention of his
party in this State to discover the pressure brought
to bear upon him to again enter public life, nor the
decided manner in which he adhered to the above
described resolution.
Had affairs so shaped themselves, on several occa
sions when such shape seemed more than possible,
as to have sent Mr. Thurman to the White House,
he would have represented both the old and the new
" Mother of Presidents," as Virginia gave him to the
nation, and Ohio early adopted him as one of her
sons. He was born in Lynchburg, Virginia, on
November 13, 18 13, his father being the Rev. P.
Thurman, and his mother the only daughter of Col
onel Nathaniel Allen, of North Carolina, nephew
and adopted son of Joseph Hewes, one of the sign
ers of the Declaration of Independence. His par
ents removed to Chillicothe, the old capital of Ohio,
in 1 8 19, and he made that place his home until he
removed to Columbus, in 1853, where he has since
resided. His education was in the Chillicothe acad
emy, and at the hands of his mother, who was well
gifted by nature and learning for that important
task. He studied law under the direction of his
uncle, the late William Allen, then United States

ALLEN G. THURMAN.

213

senator, and afterwards Governor of Ohio ; and also
with Noah H. Swayne, afterwards one of the justices
of the United States Supreme Court. While engaged
in this duty he also gave much time to land-survey
ing, of which profession he was very fond, and which
doubtless aided in giving him that robust strength
and physical vitality that in after years enabled him
to accomplish so great an amount of mental work.
The preparation he had for the busy and useful life
he has lived is best described by Judge Alfred Yaple,
who, in a recent sketch, gives the following graphic
picture : —
His mother continued to superintend his educa
tion, directing his reading of authors even after he
had left the old Chillicothe academy, a private insti
tution, and the highest and only one he ever at
tended until his admission to the bar. While
attending this academy Thurman's classmates and
intimates were sent away to college. He could not
go, for not only did his parents find themselves
without means to send him, but even required his
exertions for their own support and the support of
his sisters, a duty which he cheerfully and efficiently
rendered, remaining single and at home for more
than nine years after his admission to the bar, giving
a large part of his earnings towards his parents' and
sisters' support. The day his companions mounted
the stage and went away to college he was seized
with temporary despair. Sick at heart, he sought
the old Presbyterian burying-ground, and lay down
on a flat tomb and cried. Soon the thought struck
him that it was idle and would not do. A gentle
man was passing to whom he told his grief, but

214-

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

added, — "If they come home and have learned
more «than I have, they must work for it." Old citi
zens still remember that a light was often seen in
young Thurman's room until four o'clock in the
morning. He would never quit anything until he
had mastered it and made it his own. This particu
lar trait he has possessed ever since. In the acqui
sition of solid learning his academy fellows never
got in advance of him, and he kept studying .long
after they had graduated. He taught school, studied
and practised surveying, prepared himself for and
was admitted to the bar in 1835.
Those who have watched the slow and ceaseless
battle by which a young lawyer fights his way into
practice and to a standing at the bar can guess the
progress made by young Thurman, who in sixteen
years after his admission was placed by his State
upon its supreme bench. This promotion was made
by no sudden leap, but came only by natural growth
and after he had shown himself a master hand in his
great profession. The period between the above
dates was one of constant and intense mental activity.
The bar of Chillicothe at that time was excelled by
none in the State for ability, learning, and eloquence ;
but such progress did he make that in a compara
tively short time he stood confessedly in the very
front rank of the profession, not only in Ross County
but in the State of Ohio. " Employed in almost
every litigated case in Ross County," says one of his
biographers, " he was retained in many important
litigations in adjoining and remote counties. With
this immense practice, no client could ever truthfully
complain that his case was . neglected. Pleadings

ALLEN G. THURMAN. 21$
were filed at the proper time, and, when the case was
called for trial, his carefully prepared brief demon
strated that every pertinent authority had been
noticed and every principle of law involved in the
case thoroughly analyzed and considered. The
painstaking labor which he bestowed upon the prep
aration of a case was remarkable."
In 1844, Mr. Thurman was nominated as the
Democratic candidate of the Chillicothe district for
Congress, and elected. During his service in that
high position he advocated and voted for the " Wil
mot proviso," and, upon the introduction of the Kan
sas-Nebraska bill by Mr. Douglas, he opposed the
repeal of the Missouri Compromise, as an unnecessary
disturbance of a fair settlement of controverted
questions, the reopening of which might produce the
most dire consequences. One term in Congress led
him to desire to again return to the law, and he did
so, declining a renomination, much to the regret of
his constituents. He remained at the bar, in a great
and growing practice, until 1851, when he was
elected to the supreme bench of Ohio, under the
new constitution, and drew the term for four years.
From December, 1854, to February, 1856, he served
as chief justice, and, on the expiration of his term,
refused a renomination. The grand record he madej
while on that bench is a part of the history of Ohio,]
and the wisdom he there showed gave the newj
court a standing and character all through the land.
His opinions, contained in the first five volumes of
the Ohio State reports, are notable for the clear and
forcible expressions of his views and the accuracy of
his statements of the law, and greatly strengthened

2i6 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
and extended his reputation as a lawyer and jurist.
On leaving the bench he returned once more to
practice, the greater part of his labors being in the
state and federal courts.
Judge Thurman steadily grew in mental stature,
in legal reputation, and in the respect of his fellow-
men, and it was easily seen that he would not be
long left to the quietness he had chosen for himself.
In 1867, the party to which he had always belonged,
the Democratic, facing a majority of over forty-two
thousand, cast against it on the previous year,
looked about for a man who could give to it the
splendid leadership it needed, and the prestige of a
high and honored name. All eyes turned toward
Judge Thurman, and at- the convention of the party
he was unanimously nominated to the governorship.
It was a call he could not ignore, and, on accepting
the leadership, he determined to make the best
fight that lay within the compass of his powers and
of the weapons at his command. The campaign
was an intense and remarkable one, and the stand
ard-bearer carried himself with such courage and
determination that he won the respect and admira
tion of those who were his political foes. The
question in issue was, whether the Constitution of
the State should be so amended as to permit negro
suffrage. The Democratic party opposed the meas
ure. Mr. Thurman gave his personal attention to
the details of the campaign, securing a perfect
organization all over the State, managing all the
party machinery with rare generalship and skill, and
personally taking the stump, making, in the four
months of the campaign, over one hundred strong

RESIDENCE OF ALLEN G. THURMAN, COLUMBUS, O.
[From a Photograph by Urh~n.~\

ALLEN G. THURMAN. 217
and masterly speeches. The result was that he
defeated the amendment by over fifty thousand
votes, and cut down the Republican majority of
forty-two thousand, in 1866, to less than three thou
sand. Although a defeated candidate himself, he
was the real winner of the contest, having carried
for his party a majority of the General Assembly.
That body, in recognition of his splendid fight, and
with a view that his services should not be lost to
his country, elected him to the United States Sen
ate, as the successor of Benjamin JF Wade. He
took his seat on March 4, 1869, and,, from the first,
assumed a leading commanding position in that
notable body. He was no new and untried man,
but one of national reputation, and known every
where as the possessor of great power as a debater
and lawyer, and a master of the diplomacy of poli
tics. From the day of his entrance to the Senate,
he was recognized as the leader of the Democratic
minority, and for twelve years held that post of
responsibility without question and without a rival.
He was made a member of the committee on judi
ciary, and, on the accession of his party to pQjver,
in the Senate of the Forty-sixth Congress, he was
made chairman of that important committee, and
also elected to the position of president pro
tempore, and, because of illness of Vice-President
Wheeler, was compelled to preside a fair portion of
the time.
Ohio was carried by the Republicans in 1872, by
a majority of nearly forty thousand, and the chances
of their opponents, in the year following, looked
meagre and discouraging. Senator Thurman stud-

2l8 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
ied the situation carefully, and decided there was
a chance for his party, and, under his direction,
and the spur of his enthusiasm, the State was or
ganized, a hard fight made, and won. Both branches
of the Legislature were carried, and the victory was
signalized by a return of Mr. Thurman to the Sen
ate, for another term of six years. His power and
influence there were recognized and acknowledged
by those who were not of his political faith, as well
as those who were. He was looked upon as one
ofthe wise and great statesmen of the day, and,, no
matter how much one might condemn his political
belief, there was no one who doubted his personal
honor or his earnest and high-minded patriotism.
His services to the public were invaluable. A re
cent biography of Senator Thurman, in referring to
this phase of his public life, says : —
Perhaps he is entitled to be most commended and
longest remembered for introducing, advocating
with consummate skill and ability, and causing to be
passed, an act since known as the " Thurman Act,"
relating to the Pacific railroads. By this act, it is
said that more than one -hundred million dollars
were saved to the people as an immediate or pro
spective result. The opposition to the passage of
this act was unscrupulous, the friends of the rail
roads employing every means, influence, and argu
ment, both in and out of the Senate, to defeat it.
The bill, as was asserted, with great vehemence,
was unconstitutional, but its ^constitutionality was
clearly established by Mr. Thurman, in a speech of
great power, and his position in this respect has
since been sustained by a decision of the Supreme

ALLEN G. THURMAN. 2Ig
Court of the United States. Senator Thurman was
not led to introduce and advocate the passage of
this measure because of any fanatical opposition to
railroad corporations, as such, but simply to estab
lish and secure what he believed to be the plain
contract rights of the government.
Space will allow no extended mention of his ser
vices while in the Senate. They are a part of our
country, and stand on a permanent record. So val
uable were they, and in such manner had he carried
himself, that suggestions came from all parts of the
country, that the National Democratic Convention
of 1876 should honor him in nomination for the
Presidency. The result was that his friends saw
for him as good a chance in St. Louis as lay before
any man, and that chance would, undoubtedly, have
materialized into fact had not a division arisen in
the Ohio delegation, and opposing ambitions kept
him from having the undivided support of his State.
The cold, simple fact of history is, whether pleasant
to all or not, that the friends of other candidates
prevailed on William Allen to stand forth as an
aspirant, when they knew he could not be nomi
nated, and in expectation that Ohio would thus be
kept powerless for Thurman, through a divided dele
gation. The scheme worked, and the Ohio senator
was not presented to the convention, and the nomi
nation went to New York. In 1880 there was
even a more determined and outspoken expression
in his favor. The Democratic State Convention
unanimously adopted resolutions in his favor, and
instructed the delegation frqm Ohio to vote for him,
and support him in the national convention. The

22b THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
first ballot in the last named body gave Senator
Thurman the entire vote of the Ohio delegation,
with considerable support from other States. He
also received the vote of Ohio on the second ballot,
and some from other States ; " but, before the con
clusion of that ballot, it became manifest that Gen
eral Hancock would be nominated, and the vote of
all the States was changed to the latter, with the
single exception of Indiana, which State adhered to
ex- Senator Hendricks to the last." A close ob
server of the times, and one who knew much of
Senator Thurman and the incidents surrounding
that convention, has said : —
Senator Thurman has been almost universally ac
knowledged by the Democracy of the country as the
ablest and best representative of the party, and,
from his long and eminent services rendered to the
party and country, the most entitled to be honored
by it. Motives of policy undoubtedly prevented the
convention from nominating Thurman, not because
he was not popular, for no man before the conven
tion has as many friends or fewer enemies, but he
lived in Ohio, a State, under all ordinary circum
stances, certainly Republican. And, as the October
election in that State for State officers would be
regarded as a test of the strength of the presidential
candidate in November, it was feared that the De
mocracy, with all of Senator Thurman's popularity
in the State, would not be able to wrest it from the
Republicans, with a favorite son, in the person of
General Garfield, as their candidate. The apprehen
sion that the moral effect of the defeat of the De
mocracy in Ohio, in October, might be disastrous to

ALLEN G. THURMAN. 221
success, with Thurman as the candidate, was proba
bly unduly magnified by the immediate friends of
other candidates.
When Mr. Thurman retired from the Senate, on
March 4, 188 1, he did so with the expectation of
laying down all public burdens, and giving himself
to the pleasant quiet of private life, where he could
enjoy the society of his family and his books. But
the powers that be willed otherwise, and the admira
tion and friendship that President Garfield had always
held for his Ohio neighbor were shown by an ap
pointment of the latter as one of the representatives
of the American government in the international
congress to be held in Paris in 1881, where an at
tempt would be made to agree if possible on the
fixing of a uniform rule by which silver should be
regarded as money by the countries therein repre
sented. He accepted the position because of the
pleasant manner in which it would allow him to make
a trip to Europe, a thing he had always desired but
had never had leisure to accomplish. He sailed
from New York on April 5, 1881, and returned in
the following October, having meanwhile visited
Switzerland, Belgium, England, and Scotland. Soon
after his return he was chosen as one of the advisory
commission in the troubles as to differential rates
between trunk-line railroads leading from the Atlan
tic seaboard to the West. In this capacity he was of
great service, as his wide acquaintance with all public
questions, his knowledge of the country, his studies
in connection with railroad problems while in the
Senate, and the natural logic and fairness of his mind

222 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
aided him to a comprehensive view and just conclu
sions. His determination to remain in private life was
once more thwarted in 1884, when the Democratic
State Convention of Ohio, against his purpose and
protest, sent him as a delegate at large to the national
Democratic convention in Chicago, where he did
good and patriotic service for his party. He was
again and again mentioned while there in connection
with the presidential nomination, but would not allow
himself to be spoken of, or even considered as a can
didate. In the State convention of the year 1885, a
most determined effort was made to persuade him to
accept the nomination for Governor, but he firmly and
emphatically declined.
Such success and fame as Allen G. Thurman has
won came not from any sudden freak of fortune, but
grew as the legitimate superstructure of the founda
tions he had carefully laid. His life is a text-book of
instruction to the young men of America. I have
not done it full justice in the above, as the incidents
and illustrations that give grace and flavor to a man's
record, and that bring the reader into sympathy with
him, were perforce omitted, and only the bare out
line laid down. But enough has been said to show
that industry, honesty, and a concession to the rights
of others have ever been among the strong points of
his character. In the early days,. when building up a
practice at the bar, he made a point to attend to the
interests of his clients with the most exact care and
faithfulness. His pleadings were filed at the proper
time, and when the case was called he was always

ALLEN G. THURMAN. 223
ready, with a carefully prepared brief that showed
that every pertinent authority had been noticed and
every principle of law involved in the case thoroughly
analyzed and considered. No labor was too great,
and no detail so small that it was not weighed and
given its due attention. He was able and adroit in
the trial of a case, and the weak point of an adver
sary was always discovered and attacked. His abil
ity to class and generalize was always great, and his
logic of the solid and convincing order. He has
always been a Democrat as a matter of conviction,
and his belief in the principles of his party has been
such that he has sometimes manfully stood by it
when all its declarations did not conform to his judg
ment, in the hope and expectation that it would
surely return to all the tenets of the ancient faith.
As a public speaker he is forcible and direct, wasting
no time on trivial points, and so carrying and ex
pressing himself as to compel the hearer to concede
that he is- uttering the faith that is within him.
While in the Senate he always received marked at
tention from the public, and an announcement that
he was to speak would always secure a large attend
ance of spectators and fellow-senators.
While in that body he was never a mere partisan,
and he always held the respect of his political
opponents. The gravity, strength, and high mental stature of
Senator Thur-man were so well recognized after his
first few years in the Senate that the title of the
" Old Roman " was soon attached to him, and has
since remained, as Jackson became " Old Hickory,"

224 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
Benton "Old Bullion," and Douglas the "Little
Giant." The appellation has a sturdy suggestion,
that is readily adopted by those who know the plain
and simple manner in which he carries his honors,
and the aversion he holds towards all forms of cant,
hypocrisy, or ornamental display. As one has said
of him, —
He is a perfect type of the straightforward, strong-
hearted, clear-headed, Westerner. He is plain in
dress and manner, and, barring the red bandanna
handkerchief, which has become a part of American
history, there is nothing about him to break the
monotony of the darkish, loose-fitting suit in which
he is always attired..
From this it must not for a moment be imagined
that he lacks culture, or has lost anything of the
grace of the old school of manners, that was
constantly before him in the early days of his
career. He is one of the most thoroughly learned
men in public life in the country. He is a fine
French scholar, and among his favorite books are
the works of the early French dramatists, which
he reads in the original. He has a large and well
selected library, that touches in some form on
every point of the world's literature. He has' a
genius for mathematics, and is frequently occupied
in working out abstruse and intricate problems. He
is resolute, serious, and emphatic in all the tasks he
has in hand, and, when they are accomplished, enjoys
a quiet sociability, his talk pleasant and humorous,
and full of illustrative anecdotes. His days in these
latter years of quiet are mostly spent at his pleasant

ALLEN G. THURMAN. 22c
home in Columbus. He has enough of this world's
goods to keep him comfortably the rest of his life,
although his fortune is small ; every dollar of it is
his own earnings, and no shadow of suspicion ever
fell into the minds of any as to his methods of
obtaining it. One of his most pleasant memories, as
he reviews the long and busy life he has lived, must
lie in the fact that, even in the wildest ventures of
party detraction and the most frenzied forms of
political warfare, no hint has ever been heard against
his personal honor, or his honesty as a man or public
official. Surrounded by the good-will and good-
wishes of his home community, honored by the
American people everywhere as a great and patriotic
man, secure in the fame he has so ably earned, and
allowed to see that he is strong in the affections and
respect of many who have in the past bitterly op
posed him in public and political life, his lot is
indeed a favored one, and his sun is going down in
peace. "
We have selected the above admirable sketch of
Senator Thurman, as prepared by H. J. Seymour and
published in the Magazine of Western History, 1885,
as the best and most complete epitome of his life.
The fact of his unanimous nomination for Vice-Presi
dent of the United States, at the St. Louis conven
tion, is conclusive evidence of the correctness and
justice of the preceding remarks. Mr. Thurman's
letter of acceptance, which will be found in our con
cluding chapter, breathes that fair, honest spirit of
national independence which is bound to win.
The members of the Democratic Notification

226 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
Committee called on Judge Thurman, June 28, at
his residence, Columbus, Ohio. General Collins
spoke as follows : —
Judge Thurman, — We bear a message from the great coun
cil of your party. It is but a formal notice of your nomination
by that body for the high office of Vice-President of the United
States. Rich as our language is in power and expression, it
contains no words to adequately convey the sentiment of that
convention as its heart went out to you. I present my friend,
the Hon. Charles D. Jacob, Mayor of Louisville.
Mr. Jacob stepped forward, and, in an earnest
voice, read the following formal letter of notifica
tion : — Columbus, Ohio, June 28, 1888.
To the Hon. Allen G. Thurman of Ohio, —
Sir, — It has become the highly agreeable duty of this com
mittee to inform you that upon the first ballot of the National
Democratic Convention, held recently in the city of St. Louis,
and representing every State and Territory of our Union, for the
purpose of selecting candidates for the Presidency and Vice-
Presidency, you were unanimously chosen as the nominee of
that great party, for the eminent and responsible office of Vice-
President of the-United States. In thus spontaneously and em
phatically demanding a return to that political arena which you
graced with so much wisdom, dignity, and vigor, the Democracy
of this country have honored themselves by relieving their party
from the charge of ingratitude, and we believe and trust, in No
vember next, the people will efface such a taint from the repub
lic by electing you to preside over the most august deliberative
body in the world — the Senate of the United States. [Ap
plause.] Should so desirable a consummation be achieved,
then, indeed, could every lover of his country, regardless of
party or creed, rejoice that in you is embraced the highest type
of the enlightened and refined American citizen, and that, no
matter what the crisis might be, this government would be safe
in your hands. [Applause.]
An engrossed copy of the platform of principles, couched in
language that admits of no doubt, and adopted without a dis
senting vote, is herewith presented.

ALLEN G. THURMAN.

227

In discharging their trust this committee desire to convey to
you assurances of the most profound esteem and admiration,
and to express their sincerest good-wishes for your happiness
and prosperity. We have the honor, sir, to be your obedient
servants. Patrick Collins, Chairman, Massachusetts.
Basil Gordon, Secretary, Virginia.
Amid the profound silence, Judge Thurman re
plied as follows : —
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen of the Committee, — I
pray you to accept my very sincere thanks for the kind and
courteous manner in which you have communicated to me the'
official information of my nomination by the St. Louis conven
tion. You know without saying it that I am profoundly grate
ful to the convention and to the Democratic party for the honor
conferred upon me, and the more so that it was wholly unsought
and undesired by me ; not that I undervalued a distinction
which any man of our party, however eminent, might highly
prize, but simply because I had ceased to be ambitious of public
life. But when I am told in so earnest and impressive a man
ner that I can still render service to the good cause to which I
have ever been devoted — a cause to which I am bound by the
ties of affection, by the dictates of judgment, by a sense of
obligation for favors so often conferred upon me, and by a fer
vent hope that the party may long continue to be able to serve
the republic, what can I under such circumstances do but yield
my private wishes to the demand of those whose opinions I am
bound to respect ? [Applause.] Gentlemen, with an unfeigned
diffidence in my ability to fulfil the expectations that led to my
nomination, I yet feel it to be my duty to accept it, and do all >
that it may be in my power to do to merit so marked a distinction.
Gentlemen, the country is blessed by an able and honest ad
ministration of the general government. [Applause.] We
have a President who wisely, bravely, diligently, and patriotically
discharges the duties of his high office. [Applause.] I fully
believe that the best interests of the country require his reelec
tion, and the hope that I may be able to contribute somewhat to
bring about the result is one of my motives for accepting a
place on our ticket, and I also feel it my duty to labor for a re-

228 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
duction of taxes, and to put a stop to that accumulation of a
surplus in the treasury that, in my judgment, is not only prej
udicial to our fmancial welfare, but is in a high degree danger
ous to honest and constitutional government. [Applause.] I
suppose, gentlemen, that I need say no more to-day. In due
time, and in accordance with established usage, I will transmit
to your chairman a written acceptance of my nomination, with
such observations upon public questions as may seem to me to
be proper. [Applause.]

THE CAPITOL, WASHINGTON, D.C.

CHAPTER XIII.
CAMPAIGN OF 1 888.  OFFICIAL DOCUMENTS.
TARIFF MESSAGE.  DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. — CIVIL SERVICE
MESSAGE.
In this, the concluding chapter of our work, it is
our province to show that the programme of the
Democratic party is to continue the good work so
well commenced, and to that end we invite the atten
tion of our readers to the documents which follow,
feeling convinced that a careful perusal of the same
will secure conviction to the minds of all : —
TARIFF MESSAGE
OF THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES, COMMUNICATED TO
THE TWO HOUSES OF CONGRESS AT THE BEGINNING OF THE
FIRST SESSION OF THE FIFTIETH CONGRESS.
To The Congress of the United States, — You are con
fronted at the threshold of your legislative duties with a condi
tion of the national finances which imperatively demands
immediate and careful consideration.
The amount of money annually exacted, through the opera
tion of present laws, from the industries and necessities of the
people, largely exceeds the sum necessary to meet the expenses
of the government.
When we consider that the theory of our institutions
guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits
of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may
229

230 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
be his share towards the careful and economical maintenance
of the government which protects him, it is plain that the
exaction of more than this is indefensible extortion, and a
culpable betrayal of American fairness and justice. This
wrong inflicted upon those who bear the burden of national
taxation, like other wrongs, multiplies a brood of. evil conse
quences. The public treasury, which should -only exist as a
conduit conveying the people's tribute to its legitimate objects
of expenditure, becomes a hoarding-place for money needlessly
withdrawn from trade and the people's use, thus crippling our
national energies, suspending our country's development, pre
venting investment in productive enterprise, threatening finan
cial disturbance, and inviting schemes of public plunder.
This condition of our treasury is not altogether new ; and it
has more than once of late been submitted to the people's
representatives in the Congress, who alone can apply a remedy.
And yet the situation still continues, with aggravated incidents,
more than ever presaging financial convulsion and widespread
disaster. It will not do to neglect this situation because its dangers
are not now palpably imminent and apparent. They exist none
the less certainly, and await the unforeseen and unexpected
occasion when suddenly they will be precipitated upon us.
On the thirtieth day of June, 1885, the excess of revenues over
public expenditures, after complying with the annual require
ment of the sinking-fund act, was $17,859,735.84; during the
year ended June 30, 1886, such excess amounted to $49,405,
545.20; and during the year ended June 30, 1887, it reached
the sum of $55,567,849.54.
The annual contributions to the sinking fund during the
three years above specified, amounting in the aggregate to
$138,058,320.94, and deducted from the surplus as stated, were
made by calling in for that purpose outstanding three per cent.
bonds of the government. During the six months prior to
June 30, 1887, the surplus revenue had grown so large by
repeated accumulations, and it was feared the withdrawal of
this great sum of money needed by the people would so affect
the business of the country, that the sum of $79,864,100 of such
surplus was applied to the payment of the principal and inter
est of the three percent, bonds still outstanding, and which were
then payable at the option of the government. The precarious

TARIFF MESSAGE.

231

condition of financial affairs among the people still needing
relief, immediately after the thirtieth day of June, 1887, the
remainder of the three per cent, bonds then outstanding,
amounting with principal and interest to the sum of $18,877,500,
were called in and applied to the sinking-fund contribution for
the current fiscal year. Notwithstanding these operations of
the Treasury Department, representations of distress in business
circles not only continued but increased, and absolute peril
seemed at hand. In these circumstances, the contribution to
the sinking fund for the current fiscal year was at once com
pleted by the expenditure of $27,684,283.55 in the purchase of
government bonds not yet due bearing four and four and a half
per cent, interest, the premium paid thereon averaging about
twenty-four per cent, for the former and eight per cent, for the
latter. In addition to this, the interest accruing during the
current year upon the outstanding bonded indebtedness of the
government was to some extent anticipated, and banks selected
as depositories of public money were permitted to somewhat in
crease their deposits.
While the expedients thus employed to release to the people
the money lying idle' in the Treasury served to avert immediate
danger, our surplus revenues have continued to accumulate, the
excess for the present year amounting on the first day of Decem
ber to $55,258,701.19, and estimated to reach the sum of
$113,000,000 on the 30th of June next, at which date it is ex
pected that this sum, added to prior accumulations, will swell
the surplus in the treasury to $140,000,000.
There seems to be no assurance that, with such a withdrawal
from use of the people's circulating medium, our business com
munity may not in the near future be subjected to the same
distress which was quite lately produced from the same cause.
And while the functions of our National Treasury should be few
and simple, and while its best condition would be reached, I
believe, by its entire disconnection with private business inter
ests, yet when, by a perversion of its purposes, it idly holds
money uselessly subtracted from the channels of trade, there
seems to be reason for the claim that some legitimate means
should be devised by the government to restore in an emer
gency, without waste or extravagance, such money to its place
among the people.
If such an emergency arises, there now exists no clear and

f
232 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
undoubted executive power of relief. Heretofore the redemp
tion of three per cent, bonds, which were payable at the option
of the government, has afforded a means for the disbursement
of the excess of our revenues; but these bonds have all been
retired, and there are no bonds outstanding the payment of
which we have the right to insist upon. The contribution to
the sinking fund which furnishes the occasion for expenditure
in the purchase of bonds has been already made for the current
year, so that there is no outlet in that direction.
In the present state of legislation, the only pretence of any
existing executive power to restore, at this time, any part of our
surplus revenues to the people by its expenditure, consists in
the supposition that the Secretary of the Treasury may enter
the market and purchase the bonds of the government not yet
due, at a rate of premium to be agreed upon. The only provis
ion of law from which such a power could be derived is found
in an appropriation bill passed a number of years ago ; and it is
subject to the suspicion that it was intended as temporary and
limited in its application, instead of conferring a continuing dis->
cretion and authority. No condition ought to exist which
would justify the grant of power to a single official, upon his
judgment of its necessity, to withhold from or release to the
business of the people, in an unusual manner, money held in the
Treasury, and thus affect, at his will, the financial situation of
the country ; and if it is deemed wise to lodge in the Secretary
of the Treasury the authority in the present juncture to purchase
bonds, it should be plainly vested, and provided, as far as pos
sible, with such checks and limitations as will define this offi
cial's right and discretion, and at the same time relieve him
from undue responsibility.
In considering the question of purchasing bonds as a means
of restoring to circulation the surplus money accumulating in
the treasury, it should be borne in mind that premiums must of
course be paid upon such purchase, that there may be a large
part of these bonds held as investments which cannot be pur
chased at any price, and that combinations among holders who
are willing to sell may unreasonably enhance the cost of such
bonds to the government.
It has been suggested that the present bonded debt might
be refunded at a less rate of interest, and the difference between
the old and new security paid in cash, thus finding use for the

TARIFF MESSAGE. 233
surplus in the treasury. The success of this plan, it is appar
ent, must depend upon the volition of the holders of the present
bonds ; and it is not entirely certain that the inducement which
must be offered them would result in more financial benefit to
the government than the purchase of bonds, while the latter
proposition would reduce the principal of the debt by actual
payment, instead of extending it.
The proposition to deposit the money held by the govern
ment in banks throughout the country, for use by the people, is,
it seems to me, exceedingly objectionable in principle, as estab
lishing too close a relationship between the operations of the
government treasury and the business of the country, and too
extensive a commingling of their money, thus fostering an
unnatural reliance in private business upon public funds. If
this scheme should be adopted, it should only be done as a
temporary expedient to meet an urgent necessity. Legisla
tive and executive effort should generally be in the opposite
direction, and should have a tendency to divorce, as much and as
fast as can safely be done, the treasury department from private
enterprise. Of course it is not expected that unnecessary and extrava
gant appropriations will be made for the purpose of avoiding
the accumulation of an excess of revenue. Such expenditure,
beside the demoralization of all just conceptions of public duty
which it entails, stimulates a habit of reckless improvidence not
in the least consistent with the mission of our people or the high
and beneficent purposes of .our government.
I have deemed it my duty to thus bring to the knowledge of
my countrymen, as well as to the attention of their representa
tives charged with the responsibility of legislative relief, the
gravity of our financial situation. The failure of the Congress"
heretofore to provide against the dangers which it was quite
evident the very nature of the difficulty must necessarily pro
duce caused a condition of financial distress and apprehension
since your last adjournment, which taxed to the utmost all the
authority and expedients within executive control ; and these
appear now to be exhausted. If disaster results from the con
tinued inaction of Congress, the responsibility must rest where
it belongs. Though the situation thus far considered is fraught with
danger which should be fully realized, and though it presents

234 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
features of wrong to the people as well as peril to the country, it
is but a result growing out of a perfectly palpable and apparent
cause, constantly reproducing the same alarming circumstances
— a congested national treasury and a depleted monetary con
dition in the business of the country. It need hardly be stated
that, while the present situation demands a remedy, we can only
be saved from a like predicament in the future by the removal
of its cause.
Our scheme of taxation, by means of which this needless
surplus is taken from the people and put into the public
treasury, consists of a tariff or duty levied upon importations
from abroad, and internal revenue taxes levied upon the con
sumption of tobacco and spirituous and malt liquors. It must
be conceded that none of the things subjected to internal-
revenue taxation are, strictly speaking, necessaries ; there
appears to be no just complaint of this taxation by the consu
mers of these articles, and there- seems to be nothing so well
able to bear the burden without hardship to any portion of the
people. But our present tariff laws, the vicious, inequitable, and
illogical source of unnecessary taxation, ought to be at once
revised and amended. These laws, as their primary and plain
effect, raise the price to consumers of all articles imported and
subject to duty by precisely the sum paid for such duties. Thus
the amount of the duty measures the tax paid by those who pur
chase for use these imported articles. Many of these things,
however, are raised or manufactured in our own country, and
the duties now levied upon foreign goods and products are
called protection to these home manufactures, because they ren
der it possible for those of our people who are manufacturers to
make these taxed articles and sell them for a price equal to that
demanded for the imported goods that have paid customs duty.
So it happens that, while comparatively a few use the imported
articles, millions of our people, who never used and never saw
any of the foreign products, purchase and use things of the
same kind made in this country, and pay therefor nearly or
quite the same enhanced price which the duty adds to the im
ported articles. Those who buy imports pay the duty charged
thereon into the public treasury, but the great majority of our cit
izens, who buy domestic articles of the same class, pay a sum
at least approximately equal to this duty to the home manufac-

TARIFF MESSAGE.

235

turer. This reference to the operation of our tariff laws is not
made by way of instruction, but in order that we may be con
stantly reminded of the manner in which they impose a burden
upon those who consume domestic products as well as those
who consume imported articles, and thus create a tax upon all
our people.
It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country of this
taxation. It must be extensively continued as the source of the
government's income ; and in a readjustment of our tariff the
interests of American labor engaged in manufacture should be
carefully considered, as well as the preservation of our manu
facturers. It may be called protection, or by any other name, '
but relief from the hardships and clangers of our present tariff laws
should be devised with especial precaution against imperilling
the existence of our manufacturing interests. But this existence
should riot mean a condition which, without regard to the public
welfare or a national exigency, must always insure the realiza
tion of immense profits instead of moderately profitable returns.
As the volume and diversity of our national activities increase,
new recruits are added to those who desire a continuation of the
advantages which they conceive the present system of tariff tax
ation directly affords them. So stubbornly have all efforts to
reform the present condition been resisted by those of our
fellow-citizens thus engaged that they can hardly complain of
the suspicion, entertained to a certain extent, that there exists
an organized combination all along the line to maintain their
advantage. We are in the midst of centennial celebrations, and with
becoming pride we rejoice in American skill and ingenuity, in
American energy and enterprise, and in the wonderful natural
advantages and resources developed by a century's national
growth. Yet when an attempt is made to justify a scheme
which permits a tax to be laid upon every consumer in the land
for the benefit of our manufacturers, quite beyond a reasonable
demand for governmental regard, it suits the purposes of advo
cacy to call our manufactures infant industries, still needing the
highest and greatest degree of favor and fostering care that can
be wrung from federal legislation.
It is also said that the increase in the price of domestic man
ufactures resulting from the present tariff is necessary in order
that higher wages may be paid to our workingmen employed in

236

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

manufactories than are paid for what is called the pauper labor
of Europe. All will acknowledge the force of an argument
which involves the welfare and liberal compensation of our labor
ing people. Our labor is honorable in the eyes of every Ameri
can citizen ; and, as it lies at the foundation of our development
and progress^ it is entitled, without affectation or hypocrisy, to
the utmost regard. The standard of our laborers' life should
not be measured by that of any other country less favored, and
they are entitled to their full share of all our advantages.
By the last census it is made to appear that, of the 17,392,099
of our population engaged in all kinds of industries, 7,670,493
are employed in agriculture, 4,074,238 in professional and per
sonal service (2,934,876 of whom are domestic servants and
laborers), while 1,810,256 are employed in trade and transporta
tion, and 3,837,112 are classed as employed in manufacturing
and mining.
For present purposes, however, the last number given should
be considerably reduced. Without attempting to enumerate all,
it will be conceded that there should be deducted from those
which it includes 375,143 carpenters and joiners, 285,401 milli
ners, dressmakers, and seamstresses, 172,726 blacksmiths,
I33>756 tailors and tailoresses, 102,473 masons, 76,241 butchers,
41,309 bakers, 22,083 plasterers, and 4,891 engaged in manufac
turing agricultural implements, amounting in the aggregate to
1,214,023, leaving 2,623,089 persons employed in such manufac
turing industries as are claimed to be benefited by a high
tariff. To these the appeal is made to save their employment and
maintain their wages by resisting a change. There should be
no disposition to answer such suggestions by the allegation that
they are in a minority among those who labor, and therefore
should forego an advantage, in the interest of low prices for the
majority ; their compensation, as it may be affected by the oper
ation of tariff laws, should at all times be scrupulously kept in
view ; and yet, with slight reflection, they will not overlook the
fact that they are consumers with the rest ; that they, too, have
their own wants and those of their families to supply from their
earnings, and that the price of the necessaries of life, as well as
tha amount of their wages, will regulate the measure of their
welfare and comfort.
But the reduction of taxation demanded should be so meas-

TARIFF MESSAGE.

m

ured as not to necessitate or justify either the loss of employ
ment by the workingman, nor the lessening of his wages ; and
the profits still remaining to the manufacturer, after a necessary
readjustment, should furnish no excuse for the sacrifice of the
interests of his employe's, either in their opportunity to work or
in the diminution of their compensation. Nor can the worker
in manufactures fail to understand that, while a high tariff is
claimed to be necessary to allow the payment of remunerative
wages, it certainly results in a very large increase in the price of
nearly all sorts of manufactures, which, in almost countless
forms, he needs for the use of himself and his family. He re
ceives at the desk of his employer his wages, and perhaps before
he reaches his home is obliged, in a purchase for family use of
an article which embraces his own labor, to return in the pay
ment of the increase in price which the tariff permits the hard-
earned compensation of many days of toil.
The farmer and the agriculturist, who manufactures nothing,
but who pays the increased price which the tariff imposes, upon
every agricultural implement, upon all he' wears and upon all he
uses and' owns, except the increase of his flocks and herds, and
such things as his husbandry produces from the soil, is invited
to aid in maintaining the present situation, and he is told that a
high duty on imported wool is necessary for the benefit of those
who have sheep to shear, in order that the price of their wool
may be increased. They, of course, are not reminded that the
farmer who has no sheep is by this scheme obliged, in his pur
chases of clothing and woollen goods, to pay a tribute to his
fellow-farmer as well as to the manufacturer and merchant ; nor
is any mention made of the fact that the sheep-owners them
selves and their households must wear clothing, and use other
articles manufactured from the wool they sell at tariff prices, and
thus as consumers must return their share of this increased
price to the tradesman.
I think it may be fairly assumed that a large proportion of
the sheep owned by the farmers throughout the country are
found in small flocks, numbering from twenty-five to fifty. The
duty on the grade of imported wool which these sheep yield is
10 cents each pound if of the value of 30 cents or less, and 12
cents if of the value of more than 30 cents. If the liberal esti
mate of six pounds be allowed for each fleece, the duty thereon
would be 60 or 72 cents, and this may be taken as the utmost

238 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.
enhancement of its price to the farmer by reason of this duty.
Eighteen dollars would thus represent the increased price of the
wool from twenty-five sheep, and $t,6 that from the wool of fifty
sheep ; and at present values this addition would amount to
about one-third of its price. If upon its sale the farmer receives
this or a less tariff profit, the wool leaves his hands charged with
precisely that sum, which in all its changes will adhere to it, un
til it reaches the consumer. When manufactured into cloth and
other goods and material for use, its cost is not only increased
to the extent of the farmer's tariff profit, but a further sum has
been added for the benefit of the manufacturer under the oper
ation of other tariff laws. In* the meantime, the day arrives
when the farmer finds it necessary to purchase woollen goods
and material to clothe himself and family for the winter. When
he faces the tradesman for that purpose, he discovers that he is
obliged not only to return in the way of increased prices his
tariff profit on the wool he sold, and which then perhaps lies
before him in manufactured form, but that he must add a con
siderable sum thereto to meet a further increase in cost caused
by a tariff duty on the manufacture. Thus in the end he is
aroused to the fact that he has paid upon a moderate purchase,
as a result of the tariff scheme, which, when he sold his wool,
seemed so profitable, an increase in price more than sufficient to
sweep away all the tariff profit he received upon the wool he
produced and sold.
When the number of farmers engaged in wool-raising is com
pared with all the farmers in the country, and the small propor
tion they bear to our population is considered ; when it is made
apparent that, in the case of a large part of those who own
sheep, the benefit of the present tariff on wool is illusory ; and,
above all, when it must be conceded that the increase of the
cost of living caused by such tariff becomes a burden upon
those with moderate means and the poor, the employed and un
employed, the sick and well, and the young and old, and that it
constitutes a tax which, with relentless grasp, is fastened upon
the clothing of every man, woman, and child in the land, reasons
are suggested why the removal or reduction of this duty should
be included in a revision of our tariff laws.
In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer of our
home manufactures, resulting from a duty laid upon imported
articles of the same description, the fact is not overlooked that

TARIFF MESSAGE. 2ng
competition among our domestic producers sometimes has the
effect of keeping the price of their products below the highest
limit allowed by such duty. But it is notorious that this com
petition is too often strangled by combinations quite prevalent
at this time, and frequently called trusts, which have for their
object the regulation of the supply and price of commodities
made and sold by members of the combination. The people
can hardly. hope for any consideration in the operation of these
selfish schemes.
. If, however, in the absence of such combination, a healthy
and free competition reduces the price of any particular duti
able article of home production, below the limit which it might
otherwise reach under our tariff laws, and if, with such reduced
price, its manufacture continues to thrive, it is entirely evident
that one thing has been discovered which should be carefully
scrutinized in an effort to reduce taxation.
The necessity of combination to maintain the price of any
commodity to the tariff point furnishes proof that some one is
willing to accept lower prices for such commodity, and that such
prices are remunerative; and lower prices produced by compe
tition prove the same thing. Thus where either of these con
ditions exists a case would seem to be presented for an easy
reduction of taxation.
The considerations which have been presented touching our
tariff laws are intended only to enforce an earnest recommen
dation that the surplus revenues of the government be prevented
by the reduction of our customs duties, and, at the same time, to
emphasize a suggestion that in accomplishing this purpose we
may discharge a double duty to our people by granting to them
a measure of relief from tariff taxation in quarters where it is
most needed and from sources. where it can be most fairly and
justly accorded.
Nor can the presentation made of such considerations be, with
any degree of fairness, regarded as evidence of unfriendliness
toward our manufacturing interests, or of any lack of apprecia
tion of their value and importance.
These interests constitute a leading and most substantial
element of our national greatness and furnish the proud proof
of our country's progress. But if in the emergency that presses
upon us our manufacturers are asked to surrender something
for the public good and to avert disaster, their patriotism, as

240

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

well as a grateful recognition of advantages already afforded,
should lead them to willing cooperation. No demand is made
that they shall forego all the benefits of governmental regard ;
but they cannot fail to be admonished of their duty, as well as
their enlightened self-interest and safety, when they are re
minded of the fact that financial panic and collapse, to which
the present condition tends, afford no greater shelter Or protec
tion to our manufactures than to our other important enterprises.
Opportunity for safe, careful, and deliberate reform is now
offered ; and none of us should be unmindful of a time when
an abused and irritated people, heedless of those who have re
sisted timely and reasonable relief, may insist upon a radical
and sweeping rectification of their wrongs.
The difficulty attending a wise and fair revision of our tariff
laws is not underestimated. It will require on the part of the
Congress great labor and care, and especially a broad and
national contemplation of the subject, and a patriotic disregard
of such local and selfish claims as are unreasonable and reck
less of the welfare of the entire country.
Under our present laws more than four thousand articles are
subject to. duty. Many of these do not in any way compete
with our own manufactures, and many are hardly worth atten
tion as subjects of revenue. A considerable reduction can be
made in the aggregate by adding them to the free list. The
taxation of luxuries presents no features of hardship ; but. the
necessaries of life used and consumed by all the people, the
duty upon which adds to the cost of living in every home, should
be greatly cheapened.
The radical reduction of the duties imposed on raw material
used in manufactures, or its free importation, is of course an
important factor in any effort to reduce the price of these neces
saries; it would not only relieve them from the increased cost
caused by the tariff on such material, but, the manufactured
product being thus cheapened, that part of the tariff now laid
upon such product, as a compensation to our manufacturers for
the present price of raw material, could be accordingly modi
fied. Such reduction, or free importation, would serve beside
to largely reduce the revenue. It is not apparent how such a
change can have any injurious effect upon our manufacturers.
On the contrary, it would appear to give them a better chance
in foreign markets with the manufacturers of other countries,

TARIFF MESSAGE

241

who cheapen their wares by free material. Thus our people
might have the opportunity of extending their sales beyond the
limits of home consumption — saving them from the depression,
interruption in business, and loss caused by a glutted domestic
market, and affording their employe's more certain and steady
labor, with its resulting quiet and contentment.
The question thus imperatively presented for solution should
be approached in a spirit higher than partisanship and con
sidered in the light of that regard for patriotic duty which should
characterize the action of those intrusted with the weal of a con
fiding people. But the obligation to declared party policy and
principle is not wanting to urge prompt and effective action.
Both of the great political parties now represented in the gov
ernment have, by repeated and authoritative declarations, con
demned the condition of our laws which permit the collection
from the people of unnecessary revenue, and have, in the most
solemn manner, promised its correction ; and neither as citizens
nor partisans are our countrymen in a mood to condone the
deliberate violation of these pledges.
Our progress toward a wise conclusion will not be improved
by dwelling upon the theories of protection and free trade.
This savors too much of bandying epithets. It is a condition
which confronts us — not a theory. Relief from this condition
may involve a slight reduction of the advantages which we
award our home productions, but the entire withdrawal of such
advantages should not be contemplated. The question of free
trade is absolutely irrelevant ; and the persistent claim made in
certain quarters, that all efforts to relieve the people from
unjust and unnecessary taxation are schemes of so-called free
traders, is mischievous and far removed from any consideration
for the public good.
The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is to
reduce- taxation to the necessary expenses of an economical
operation of the government, and to restore to the business of
the country the money which we hold in the treasury through
the perversion of governmental-powers. These things can and
should be done with safety to all our industries, without danger
to the opportunity for remunerative labor which our workingmen
need, and with benefit to them and all our people, by cheapen
ing their means of subsistence and increasing the measure of
their comforts.

242

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

The Constitution provides that the President " shall, from
time to time, give to the Congress information of the state of
the Union." It has been the custom of the executive, in com
pliance with this provision, to annually exhibit to the Congress,
at the opening of its session, the general condition of the coun
try, and to detail with some particularity the operations of the
different executive departments. It would be especially agree
able to follow this course at the present time, and to call atten
tion to the valuable accomplishments of these departments
during the last fiscal year. But I am so much impressed with
the paramount importance of the subject to which this commu
nication has' thus far been devoted that I shall forego the
addition of any other topic, and only urge upon your immediate
consideration the " state of the Union " as shown in the present
consideration of our treasury and our general fiscal situation,
upon which every element of our safety and prosperity depends.
The reports of the heads of departments, which will be
submitted, contain full and explicit information touching the
transaction of the business intrusted to them, and such recom
mendations relating to legislation in the public interests as they
deem advisable. I ask for these reports and recommendations
the deliberate examination and action of the legislative branch
of the government.
There are other subjects, not embraced in the departmental
reports, demanding legislative consideration, and which I should
be glad to submit. Some of them, however, have been earnestly
presented in previous messages, and as to them I beg leave to
repeat prior recommendations.
As the law makes no provision for any report from the
Department of State, a brief history of the transactions of that
important department, together with other matters which it may
hereafter be deemed essential to commend to the attention of the
Congress, may furnish the occasion for a future communication.
Grover Cleveland.
Washington, December 6, 1887.

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 243

DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM, 1888.
The Democratic party of the United States, in national
convention assembled, renews the pledge of its fidelity to Demo
cratic faith, and reaffirms the platform adopted by its representa
tives in the convention of 1884, and indorses the views expressed
by President Cleveland in his last earnest message to Congress as
the correct interpretation of that platform upon the question of
tariff reduction ; and also indorses the efforts of our Democratic
representatives in Congress to secure a reduction of excessive
taxation. Among its principles of party faith are the mainte
nance of the indissoluble Union of free and indestructible states,
now about to enter upon its second century of unexampled prog
ress and renown ; devotion to a plan of government regulated
by a written constitution strictly specifying every granted power
and expressly reserving to the states or people the entire un-
granted residue of power ; the encouragement of a jealous pop
ular vigilance, directed to all who have been chosen for brief
terms to enact and execute the laws, and are charged with the
duty of preserving peace, insuring equality, and establishing
justice. The Democratic party welcomes an exacting scrutiny of the
administration of the executive power which four years ago was
committed to its trust in the election of Grover Cleveland
President of the United States, but it challenges the most
searching inquiry concerning its fidelity and devotion to the
pledges which then invited the suffrages of the people during a
most critical period of our financial affairs, resulting from over
taxation, the anomalous condition of pur currency, and a public
debt unmatured. It has by the adoption of a wise and conserva
tive course not only avoided disaster, but greatly promoted the
prosperity of our people.
It has reversed the improvident and unwise policy of the Re
publican party touching the public domain, and has reclaimed
from corporations and syndicates, alien and domestic, and re
stored to the people, nearly one hundred million acres of land,
to be sacredly held as homesteads for our citizens.
While carefully guarding the interest of the principles of jus
tice and equity, it has paid out more for pensions and bounties
to the soldiers and sailors of the republic than was ever paid

244

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

before during an equal period. It has adopted and consistently
pursued a firm and prudent foreign policy, preserving peace
with all nations while scrupulously maintaining all the rights
and interests of our own government and the people at home
and abroad. The exclusion from our shores of Chinese laborers
has been effectually secured under the provision of a treaty, the
operation of which has been postponed by the action of a Re
publican majority in the Senate.
In every branch and department of the government under
Democratic control, the rights and the welfare of all the people
have been guarded and defended ; every public interest has
been protected, and the equality of all our citizens before the
law, without regard to race or color, has been steadfastly main
tained. Upon its record, thus exhibited, and upon the pledge of
a continuance to the people of the benefits of Democracy, it in
vokes a renewal of public trust by the reelection of a chief magis
trate who has been faithful, able, and prudent, to invoke, in
addition, to that trust by the transfer also to the Democracy of
the entire legislative power.
The Republican party, controlling the Senate, and resisting in
both houses of Congress a reformation of unjust and unequal
tax laws, which have outlasted the necessities of war and are
now undermining the abundance of a long peace, deny to the
people equality before the law, and the fairness and the justice
which are their right. Then the cry of American labor for a
better share in the rewards of industry is stifled with false pre
tence, enterprise is fettered and bound down to home markets,
capital is discouraged with doubt, and unequal, unjust laws can
neither be properly amended nor repealed.
The Democratic party will continue with all the power con
fided to it the struggle to reform these laws in accordance with
the pledges of its last platform, indorsed at the ballot-box by
the suffrages of the people. Of all the industrious freemen of
our land, the immense majority, including every tiller of the
soil, gain no advantage from excessive tax laws, but the price of
nearly everything they buy is increased by the favoritism of an
unequal system of tax legislation. All unnecessary taxation is
unjust taxation.
It is repugnant to the creed of Democracy that by such taxa
tion the cost of the necessaries of life should be unjustifiably in
creased to all our people. Judged by Democratic principles, the

THE DEMOCRATIC PLATFORM. 345
interests of the people are betrayed when, by unnecessary tax
ation, trusts and combinations are permitted to exist, which,
white unduly enriching the few that combine, rob the body of
our citizens by depriving them of the benefits of natural compe
tition. Every Democratic rule of governmental action is violated
when, through unnecessary taxation, a vast sum of money, far
beyond the needs of an economical administration, is drawn
from the people and the channels of trade, and accumulated as
a demoralizing surplus in the national treasury. The money
now lying idle in the federal treasury, resulting from superflu
ous taxation, amounts to more fhan one hundred and twenty-five
millions, and the surplus collected is reaching the sum of more
than sixty millions annually. Debauched by this immense
temptation, the remedy of the Republican party is to meet and
exhaust, by extravagant appropriations and expenses, whether
constitutional or not, the accumulation of extravagant taxation.
The Democratic policy is to enforce frugality in public expense,
and abolish unnecessary taxation. Our established domestic
industries and enterprises should not, and need not, be endan
gered by the reduction and correction of the burdens of taxa
tion. On the contrary, a fair and careful revision of our tax
laws, with due allowance for the difference between the wages
of American and foreign labor, must promote and encourage
every branch of such industries and enterprises by giving them
assurances of an extended market and steady and continuous
operations in the interests of American labor, which should in
no event be neglected. Revision of our tax laws, contemplated
by the Democratic party, should promote the advantage of such
labor by cheapening the cost of necessaries of life in the home
of every workingman and at the same time securing to him
steady remunerative employment. Upon this question of tariff
reform, so closely concerning every phase of our national life,
and upon every question involved in the problem of good gov
ernment, the Democratic party submits its principles and pro
fessions to the intelligent suffrages of the American people.

246 THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

THE PRESIDENT'S CIVIL-SERVICE MESSAGE.
To the Congress of the United States, — Pursuant to the
second section of chapter 27 of the laws of 1883, entitled '^An
act to regulate and improve the civil service of the United
States," I herewith transmit the fourth report of the United
States Civil Service Commission, covering the period between
the sixteenth day of January, 1886, and the first day of July,
1887. While this report has special reference to the operations of
the commission during the period above mentioned, it contains,
with its accompanying appendices, much valuable information
concerning the inception of civil -service reform and its growth
and progress which cannot fail to be interesting and instructive
to all who desire improvement in administrative methods.
During the time covered by the report, 15,852 persons were
examined for admission in the classified civil service of the gov
ernment in all its branches, of whom 10,746 passed the exami
nation, and 5,106 failed. Of those who passed the examina
tion 2,977 were applicants for admission to the departmental
service at Washington, 2,547 were examined for admission to
the customs service, and 5,222 for admission to the postal ser
vice. During the same period, 547 appointments were made
from the eligible lists to the departmental service, 641 to the
customs service, and 3,254 to the postal service.
Concerning separations from the classified service, the report
only informs us of such as have occurred among employe's in
the public service who had been appointed from eligible lists
under civil-service rules. When these rules took effect they
did not 'apply to the persons then in the service, comprising a
full complement of employes who obtained their positions inde
pendently of the new law. The commission has no record of
the separations in this numerous class, and the discrepancy
apparent in the report between the number of appointments
made in the respective branches of the service from the lists of
the commission and the small number of separations mentioned
is, to a great extent, accounted for by vacancies of which no
report was made to the commission, occurring among those
who held, their places without examination and certification,

CIVIL-SERVICE MESSAGE. 247
which vacancies were filled by appointment from the eligible
lists. In the departmental service there occurred between the
sixteenth day of January, 1886, and the thirtieth day of June,
1887, among the employes appointed from the eligible lists
under civil-service rules, 17 removals, 36 resignations, and 5
deaths. This does not include 14 separations in the grade of
special pension examiners — 4 by removal, 5 by resignation,
and 5 by death.
In the classified customs and postal service, the number of
separations among those who received absolute appointments
under civil-service rules is given for the period between the
first day of January, 1886, and the thirtieth day of June, 1887.
It appears that such separations in the customs service for the
time mentioned embraced 21 removals, 5 deaths, and 18 resig
nations, and in the postal service 256 removals, 23 deaths, and
469 resignations.
More than a year has passed since the expiration of the
period covered by the report of the commission. Within the
time which has thus elapsed many important changes have
taken place in furtherance of a reform in our civil service. The
rules and regulations governing the execution of the law upon
the subject have been completely remodelled, in such manner as
to render the enforcement of the statute more effective, and
greatly increase its usefulness.
Among other things, the scope of the examinations pre
scribed for those who seek to enter the classified service has
been better defined and made more practical, the number of
names to be certified from the eligible lists to the appointing
officers from which a selection is made has been reduced from
four to three, the maximum limitation of the age of persons
seeking entrance to the classified service to forty-five years has
been changed, and reasonable provision has been made for the t
transfer of employe's from one department to another in proper £
cases. A plan has been devised providing for the examination ;,
of applicants for promotion in the service, which, when in full
operation, will eliminate all chance of favoritism in the advance
ment of employes, by making promotion a reward of merit and
faithful discharge of duty. _ _ »»
s Until within a few weeks there was no uniform classification
of employe's in the different executive departments of the

248

THE PRESIDENT AND HIS CABINET.

government. As a result of this condition, in some of the depart
ments positions could be obtained without civil-service exami
nation, because they were not within the classification of such
department, while in other departments an examination and
certification were necessary to obtain positions of the same
grade, because such positions were embraced in the classifica
tions applicable to those departments. *
The exception of laborers, watchmen, and messengers from
examination and classification gave opportunity, in the absence
of any rule guarding against it, for the employment, free from
civil-service restrictions, of persons under these designations
who were immediately detailed to do clerical work.
All this has been obviated by the application to all the de
partments of an extended and uniform classification embracing
grades of employe's not theretofore included, and by the adop-
¦ tion of a rule prohibiting the detail of laborers, watchmen, or
messengers to clerical duty.
The path of civil-service reform has not at all times been
pleasant or easy. The scope and purpose of the reform have
been much misapprehended ; and this has not only given rise
to strong opposition, but has led to its invocation by its friends
to compass objects not in the least related to it. Thus partisans
of the patronage system have naturally condemned it. Those
who do not understand its meaning either mistrust it or, when
disappointed because in its present stage it is not applied to
every real or imaginary ill, accuse those charged with its en
forcement with faithlessness to civil-service reform. Its impor
tance has frequently been underestimated ; and the support of
good men has thus been lost by their lack of interest in its suc
cess. Besides all these difficulties, those responsible for the
administration of the government in its executive branches have
been, and still are, ofter* annoyed and irritated by the disloyalty
to the service, and the insolence, of employes who remain in
place as the beneficiaries and the relics and reminders of the
vicious system of appointment which civil-service reform was
intended to displace.
And yet these are but the incidents of an advance move
ment, which is radical and far-reaching. The people are, not
withstanding, to be congratulated upon the progress which has
been made, and upon the firm, practical, and sensible founda
tion upon which this reform now rests.

CIVIL-SERVICE MESSAGE.

249

With a continuation of the intelligent fidelity which has
hitherto characterized the work of the commission, with a con
tinuation and increase of the favor and liberality which have
lately been evinced by the Congress in the proper equipment
of the commission for its work, with a firm but conservative
and reasonable support of the reform by all its friends, and
with the disappearance of opposition which must inevitably
follow its better understanding, the execution of the civil-service
law cannot fail to ultimately answer the hopes in which it had
its origin.
Grover Cleveland.
Executive Mansion, July, 23, 1888.

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