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THE

WRITINGS AND SPEECHES

OF

GROVER CLEVELAND

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THE

WRITINGS AND SPEECHES/

OF

GROVER CLEVELAND

SELECTED AND EDITED, WITH AN INTRODUCTION,
BY
GEORGE F. PARKER

NEW YORK
CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY
104 & 106 Fourth Avenue

EDITION DE LUXE
Limited to two hundred (200) copies, of which
this is

No  /JA.

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Copyright, 1892, by
CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY.

All rights reserved.

THE MEESHON COMPANY PRESS
KAHWAY, N. J,

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PREFACE.

With Mr. Cleveland's consent, I have gathered into this
volume a representative collection of the speeches, public
papers, and letters of a man who has been for many years the
most prominent figure in his country. It gives, I think, under
a fair classification, his opinion on all the topics upon which
he has spoken. I am sure that, by means of. it, the reader
will be able to form a complete estimate of his character
as it is shown in his public utterances.
The matter has been classified under twenty-five chapter
headings. No reader, however critical, can know better
than myself how difficult it is to make such a classifica
tion strictly accurate ; but, when it is considered that Mr.
Cleveland has freely expressed his opinions, during the past
ten years, upon every topic that interested his neighbors or
his countrymen, and in every form common to public discus
sion, the result will, I am inclined to believe, be fairly satis
factory. An attempt has been made, in the index, to indicate every
thing so plainly that no reader can have trouble in tracing what
Mr. Cleveland has said upon any topic. Everything on the
tariff question could not be placed in the chapter entitled "Tax
ation and Revenue." In his first message to the Common
Council of Buffalo, and in speeches and letters accepting
nominations, there are paragraphs giving his idea of the

IV PREFACE.
principles of taxation, which must be sought in them. The
same is true of pensions, labor, and other questions. It is
believed, however, that a clew to all these will be supplied by
this completeness of the index.
The selections have been arranged under each chapter head
ing in chronological order. This, I am confident, will com
mend itself to readers, most of whom will, naturally, be
attracted first to some particular part of the work, in the
expectation of finding at once what may have been said upon a
question in which they themselves are most interested. Under
the plan adopted this will be easy.
Parts of messages have been separated and classified under
their appropriate headings. Those familiar with the annual
messages of an Executive know them to be composed of para
graphs treating of various questions. Such a document is
subjected to no wrench when it is separated, and the various
sections are incorporated under their proper headings.
Except in two or three instances, each is complete, and when
purely formal or local matter has been omitted, the fact is in
dicated in the usual way. Every speech is published in full.
The earlier speeches and letters have presented some
difficulties. Most of them have been collected from the
newspapers in which they were originally published ; some
after transmission by telegraph. I have had, however, some
advantages in collating such documents and letters. As
neither Mr. Cleveland nor anyone for him had had an oppor
tunity to see them or correct errors in copying or trans
mission, when first published, he kindly consented to go
over them with me, in order to correct misprints and
to suggest the proper reading in a document which has
puzzled by a text hopelessly mixed by some printer. I have

PREFACE. v
also compared the documents, as carefully as possible, with
official copies, and have been enabled, by these precautions,
to correct a good many errors. In some cases I have done
this by reference to manuscript documents in my possession.
Most of the later speeches have presented no serious diffi
culty, because the proofs were carefully read when they were
first published.
Before Mr. Cleveland's retirement from the Presidency,
neither he nor anybody for him had kept his speeches
with anything like system. I have found it necessary to make
a careful search in order to discover some of the earlier
speeches, some of which I found, upon inquiry, Mr. Cleveland
himself had forgotten. Since March, 1889, I have carefully
preserved copies of speeches and letters with the purpose,
now carried out, of issuing them in book form.
So, if there are faults in editing or arrangement, they are
mine. Mr. Cleveland has done no more than I have said.
He merely gave me absolute authority to make the collection
in such way as I chose, and I have done the best I could
in both gathering and arranging it in such a way as to make
it effective to students of our political history.
G. F. P.

INTRODUCTION.

The present generation of readers, studious of the history
of our earlier days, and curious as to the lives and ideas of
the men who made that history, has demanded new and com
plete collections of the works of the fathers of the republic.
Two new editions of the writings of Washington compete
for favor ; and when, in 1885, a change in party supremacy
brought to the Presidency the representative of opinions long
excluded from our national policy, an increased demand
at once arose for the works of Thomas Jefferson. When the
agitation of a great fiscal problem was begun in earnest in
1887, the advocates of the protective policy could find nothing
better to illustrate their theories than by a recurrence to
the report on Manufactures made by Alexander Hamilton,
while Secretary of the Treasury in the administration of our
first President. Interest in the opinions of men in our later
history has also been revived until the works even of those
within very recent times — always less accurately known than
those more remote — have been added to the list. This im
pulse has adorned our political literature with many studies of
great value to the future historian, and has enabled the
reader of to-day to estimate, with some approach to accuracy,
the character and achievements of the leaders of thought and
action who have preceded him in the arena of politics.
No apology, then, is necessary for bringing together the

via INTRODUCTION.
writings and speeches of -a man who, during the past ten
years, has so profoundly influenced the thought and action of
his countrymen, and who has held, with the highest accept
ance, the greatest official place in the gift of his fellow-men.
Nor can it be deemed inappropriate if such a work is accom
panied by a modest attempt to analyze in some degree the
character of the man, as shown by his public utterances, or to
measure the elements that gave him, within so brief a time, a
unique position in the affections of his countrymen, and made
him a power in a great nation.
In the rise and development of our public men, the legis
lative body has been so conspicuous in their training that
it might not unfairly be termed the fitting school for the
Presidency. Of the twenty-three men who have filled that
august place, all but four saw service — most of them compara
tively early in life — in Continental Congresses, in Constitu
tional Conventions, in one or the other House of Congress, or
in State Legislatures. Many of them were conspicuous figures
in such bodies, and the result in some instances was that their
aspirations were early directed toward the lofty place which
they were finally called to fill.
Some were thus brought prominently before their country
men, in important positions, during a long term of years.
Thus, Washington did not reach the Presidency until fourteen
years after he had become the most conspicuous soldier of the
New World ; nor Jefferson until a quarter of a century after
he had made his name immortal by writing the Declaration of
Independence. It was not until twenty-one years after he did
his great work of collaboration in the writing of the " Federal
ist" that Madison became President. John Quincy Adams
did notable diplomatic work thirty-one years prior to his elec-

IN TROD UC TION. ix
tion as President ; and his rival and successor, Jackson, did not
finally reach the goal of his ambition until thirty-two years
after he had entered public life, as the first representative of
the then new State of Tennessee, in the lower house of
Congress. In later times, James Buchanan's legislative career
in Pennsylvania began forty-three years before his inaugura
tion as President, while the like service of Abraham Lincoln,
in Illinois, preceded his culminating success by twenty-
seven years.
Without multiplying examples, it is plain that the public
man who reaches this high office after such training must, of
necessity, leave behind him, upon his retirement, a great body
of writings and speeches. The genius of our institutions both
permits and makes necessary the expression of opinion, by a
public man, on a great variety of topics. It is only natural,
however, that many of the early speeches of men thus trained
should have little enduring value. In the inception of such
service, entered upon in comparative youth and before the
character is fully formed, speeches are made upon nearly every
measure that may be introduced. These may contribute
something to an intelligent understanding of an issue at the
time, or even to its settlement ; but amid our rapidly changing
political conditions, interest in both the speech and the ques
tion is soon lost. In most cases such oratorical efforts remain
little more than temporary contributions to an issue restricted
to a neighborhood or a State.
Grover Cleveland had none of this training in politics and
oratory. Until his inauguration as Mayor of Buffalo, in
January, 1882, his experience and discipline were entirely pro
fessional. While an assistant to the District Attorney of Erie
County, New York— his first independent position as a

X INTRODUCTION.
lawyer — he was constantly engaged in the work belonging
to a prosecuting officer. His speeches then had the same
characteristics that have distinguished his public utterances
since he came into political prominence. They were short,
concise, carefully prepared, and never labored or showy either
in matter or in delivery. His manner of speaking was
earnest, well adapted, then as now, to both subject and
audience. His cases were submitted with clear and direct
statements of the law and the facts, and his arguments were
made with such care that neither judge, jury, nor culprit had
reason to complain of being bored with the loose, rambling
legal talks so often indulged in by prosecuting officials.
From 1866 to 1882 — with the exception of the years be
tween 1871 and 1874 — he was engaged in the active and un
remitting practice of his profession. He had for his associates
the best lawyers of the large city in which he lived, and as he
was brought into contact, before the Courts, with the recog
nized leaders of his profession, he met his growing responsi
bilities with confidence and success. He proved himself
equal to each new duty. He was actively engaged in politics
only so far as an interest in local affairs or in the struggles of
his party were involved. He seldom made a political speech,
but his increasing professional labors kept him in constant
tr,aining as a speaker, and he easily met the demands of his
new position in this respect as in all others. He took part in
memorial meetings held for the purpose of paying the last trib
ute of respect to members of his profession, and the earliest
speech in this volume is that on the character of Oscar Folsom,
his former partner and dearest friend, in July, 1875. He
made others of the same kind, and achieved such success that
he was called upon to bear his part on these occasions at his

INTRODUCTION. Xl
old home even after his election to the Governorship of his
State. His judgment of men was shown to be just and dis
criminating, and his habit of careful preparation stood him in
good stead. Another part of his training and practice that
contributed much to his skill in saying clearly what he had
in mind, was his work in drawing indictments and other law
papers. To a natural facility for expression, he thus added
a most exacting training.
It was not, then, a man untrained to clear and accurate state
ment, or unused to effective and eloquent speech, that as
tonished his neighbors and the people — always ready to wel
come the advent of a man with ideas and character —
by those vigorous messages which soon commanded attention
from the people of a great State. As the result of this fitness
for important place, Mr. Cleveland had an advantage
never before enjoyed by a public man. Almost from the be
ginning of his career — it was only a year after these earliest
messages until he had become Governor of the great State of
New York — he was able to make his appeal to the waiting
people of a nation, on all the great problems in which they were
interested. In spite of the demonstrated possession of effective oratorical
powers, Mr. Cleveland made but few speeches before his in
auguration as President. Into these he condensed much
thought and food for thought. They were prepared with care,
as neither then nor since has he permitted even the most ex
acting public duties to make him careless either as to thought
or form. He knew what he wanted to say, or studied until he
found out, and 'then showed that he could say it to advan
tage. His speeches were quotable. They were filled with
epigrams and pithy sentences, easy of recollection for reader

xu INTRODUCTION.
or hearer, and as they were short, everyone interested in the
question was sure to read and to recommend them to his associ
ates. His manner of delivery was earnest, and he early learned
the art of putting himself into sympathetic relations with his
audience. He did not speak until he felt that he had
something his countrymen needed to be told, and was
early recognized as a man who did not make speeches merely
for the sake of talking, or with the purpose of attracting
attention to himself. He showed a willingness to discuss
the various and varied problems of our social and political
life, without pushing himself forward or shirking the expres-.
sion of opinion.
One of Mr. Cleveland's claims to distinction lies in the
fact that he was the first President to take the country en
tirely away from the prejudices and traditions of the Civil
War, while still preserving the great moral lessons that made
it so real as an influence on national life and character. It
was his good fortune to restore perfect confidence between the
elements of a people long widely sundered. This had been
talked about by every President and public man for a full
score of years ; but his predecessors could not escape from
their environment, or fully recognize the fact that old things
had passed away and that all things were become new. The
war left many problems, some of them more serious than a
civilized nation had ever before known. But struggle or dream
as he might, during the long period under discussion, no Pres
ident could get away from prejudice and partisanship. The
one great overmastering issue had been settled by the stern
arbitrament of war. When it no longer remained as a
reality it was still left to do duty as a tradition. Giant abuses
had followed its settlement and in order to correct them the

INTRODUCTION. xiii
courage of the soldier must give way to that civic courage
so rare among men, and so valuable to a people. This could not
be found at once, and yet no perfect readjustment was possible
until it was found, and the man representing it was installed
in a commanding place.
Mr. Cleveland was elected President, and as the result of
his wisdom, prudence, and foresight the war became merely an
episode in our country's history. It was a glorious memory ;
not a living issue about which parties must divide or men
quarrel. The "conscious nationality," for which Lowell
had longed, had come at last. The last canvass had been
conducted on the ideas of twenty years before ; we now found
a man whose patriotic aspirations were not bounded by the
next election. Our national horizon was enlarged, and with
this wider view, new thoughts and sentiments were aroused.
The past was now so secure that both duty and necessity
compelled a great people to look to the future with ear
nestness and hope. Coming thus into the new conditions which
he did so much to create, there is nowhere in Mr. Cleveland's
utterances any regret that the past had left problems for him
and his generation to solve. He turns always with confidence
and hope to the new duties that lie before his country or
confront its leaders and people.
When courage, tempered by conscience, were combined with
the power inhering in a great office, the value of the resulting
service was simply incalculable. Mr. Cleveland has always
impressed his countrymen with his belief that, however
bad the conditions or the men they had produced, the virtue
and intelligence of his countrymen were potent to save
from the gravest perils. Yet he is not one of those who, call
ing themselves optimists, affect to believe that things will come

xiv INTRODUCTION.
right without an effort to make them so, and as he has al
ways emphasized the doctrine that the individual must work
and struggle with temptation and danger in order that he may
find or create opportunity, so to him the nation, the State,
or the community, is only an aggregation of units, and cannot
escape, without effort, the consequences of weakness, selfish
ness, or wrongdoing.
He never looks upon a temporary abuse as a necessary
effect or fixture of government by the people. So, always
and everywhere, he emphasizes the necessity for patriotic
effort. His exhortation to care and watchfulness shows how
deeply seated is the sentiment of faith in the right. With him
appeal lies to the good sense, the ingrained probity, the moral
purposes of his fellow-men. He insists everywhere that if
these are good in private life, and if the individual finds them
desirable and necessary, it is still more important that the
same principles shall animate the mass when it takes the form
of organized society. His speeches and letters show not the
least sign of demagogy. He no more appeals to the base pas
sions of men when they are associated, than he would if they
could be resolved into their original units.
His countrymen already know Mr. Cleveland as a man of
tender heart, kindly toward his neighbors and the world, con
siderate of the interests of all, and indifferent to nothing
human. They will find in his writings and speeches, here
massed together, new and emphatic evidence of this sentiment.
He is interested in political problems because, in his view,
their discussion and right settlement will promote the happi
ness of his fellow-men. He insisted upon the honest and
decent conduct of the affairs of a city, because he believed
that the health, prosperity, and happiness of its people would

INTRODUCTION. xv
be promoted, and he has shown that he believes the welfare
of the people of a State or a great nation should be the first
concern of the men chosen to direct its destinies.
He emphasizes, at all times, the duty of economy and thrift,
both public and private, because of his conviction that a plain
and prosperous people must be a contented and a happy one ;
and insists, with even more emphasis, that fine houses,
great fortunes, and material prosperity should be only means to
an end, and that end the greatest good of all. He saves the
taxpayers' money from misappropriation, when convinced that
its expenditure is wrong or that it is about to be devoted to
useless or questionable purposes. He refuses to permit the be
stowal of a pension upon an unworthy claimant, because it
would do violence to the sentiment of honesty that animates
him. While his kindness of heart is everywhere apparent, in
act as well as in speech, he does not permit himself to do an act
of charity with money derived from taxation, when placed at
his disposal by reason of his official position, even though it
might commend itself as worthy if appeal were made to him
as an individual.
So, while he is the most practical of men, he is made so
because every action is dictated by honor and duty. This
faculty has enabled him to appeal to his countrymen in his
individual right. With exalted conceptions of the dignity of
a great office, and the ability and courage to fix the very
highest standard in act, as well as in theory, his country
men have given him the perfect confidence that comes to few
public men — a confidence that never comes to the servant of
the people unless he is at the same time a high type of man,
morally as well as intellectually.
A man of this kind deals only with the serious concerns of

xvi INTRODUCTION.
life. He does not take a light view of them. Though his
sense of humor is keen, and he can hold unworthy men or
groveling ideas up to ridicule in the most effective way, he
could not make a joke on any question that had a moral issue in
it, or on the character of George Washington. It is an inter
esting fact that such serious discussion should be welcomed
from a man of elevated character with a great official dignity
behind it. The number of public men who can command
the attention of their countrymen upon the most important
business problems is not large, and much of Mr. Cleveland's
unquestioned popularity arises from the fact that he is the one
President, since the war period, who has gained the unreserved
confidence of his countrymen on great fiscal questions.
Whatever men may think of his party affiliations or his views
of public policy, there is agreement in the judgment that he
will conduct the financial affairs of the nation with unques
tioned safety. The secret of all this lies in the fact that he
applies to every question as it affects the public the well-
grounded moral principles which, according to his view, ought
to govern men in their individual relations.
It has been fortunate for Mr. Cleveland and his countrymen
that he was a man of mature years and thought before he
began to speak, and that, from the beginning of his public
career, he has never spoken at random. He did not have to
conduct any oratorical experiments at the expense of his
hearers in order to make his art useful. He was forty-four
years old when, in those remarkable messages to the Common
Council of Buffalo, he began a public career which, in a little
more than three years, led him to the White House. He had
learned to write and speak well while he was engaged
modestly in the practice of his profession. But he

INTRODUCTION. xvil
had something infinitely better and more effective than a gift
for saying things plainly and well. He had something to say.
He had gone in and oui before his neighbors, studying their
needs and forming an opinion about the best way to correct
the evils that he saw about him. With this knowledge of the
existence of abuses, and his habit of carefully studying every
question as it came before him, he had no difficulty in mastering
it in all its bearings and in suggesting a remedy.
His speeches and public papers are not mere pointers on the
political weather-vane, or the exposition of something that has
already become popular. He deems it his duty to direct
attention to wrongs, and when he finds a great one he attacks it
with the same intelligence and energy that he shows when deal
ing with the many smaller ones included in it. He does not seek
to alarm or to punish only petty offenders who are weak, in
order to impress the public, while big and strong ones are
left to escape. He shirks nothing. He will veto, ruthlessly,
an ordinance awarding a city contract to a political and per
sonal friend, when he knows that the bid is too high, or that
bad methods have been employed to secure it. He cannot be
induced to sign a bill for the reason that a political friend may
think it useful to his own party. If his power is enlarged, he
considers that his responsibility is increased in even a greater
ratio. While he may condemn the cowardice that unnecessarily
puts responsibility upon him, he does not shirk it and make
excuse because a legislative body has dealt unfairly with him
and the public interests. He applies to each case the test of
morality as well as that of good sense, and emphasizes his
belief that principle, as well as policy, is involved in every
measure brought to him for action, and in every cause upon
which he may be called to express an opinion.

xvui INTRODUCTION.
His Utterances have a consistency seldom found in those
of public men who have come to high places. This does
not arise from an obstinate attachment to opinions simply
because he has formed or expressed them. As he seeks
to measure every question by its moral bearings, and has
done so all his life, he is not forced to argue himself into
the conclusion that the thing that was right when
applied to the business management of his city, can be wrong
because the affairs or the business of the United States are
involved. He will not do a thing, or refuse to do it, in order
to impress the public. So far as official action or the expres
sion of opinion on any public question is concerned, his own
candidacy for an office, or the seeking of support, is not in
his thought. If votes come to him or his party because he has
done an honest or a courageous thing, he welcomes them ; but if
he is expected to win them by either doing a wrong or winking
at it, he will not so much as consider it, and that would be a
bold man who would dare propose it ; nor does he have to con
vince himself in order to carry out such a policy in a respon
sible place, or to avow his sympathy with a good cause. If the
existence of an abuse is admitted, and measures are concerted
to attack it, his countrymen are never left long in doubt about
his attitude toward it, nor do they ask themselves whether he
will have the courage to avow his convictions.
This is well shown by his position upon some of the im
portant questions he has been called upon to deal with
in executive place. As Mayor, Governor, and President, he
has insisted that the abuse of the taxing power was the most
serious known to government. In his speech, accepting the
nomination of Mayor of Buffalo, he expressed the opinion
that " much can be done to relieve our citizens from their

INTRODUCTION. xix
present load of taxation," and he insisted that " a more rigor
ous scrutiny of all public expenditures will result in a great
saving to the community." The message of 1887 is no more
than this. There is a change of scene, the magnitude of
the evils involved is greater, but the principle is the same.
This insistence that none but necessary taxes shall be levied
and that the resulting revenues must be expended with
economy, runs like a thread through everything that he has
said, and has been a guiding principle in all that he has done ;
and yet there is nowhere a suggestion of niggardliness, or of a
desire or willingness to put up with bad work in order that a
few dollars may be saved.
When, in 1882, he became a candidate for Governor, his
attachment to the principle of a reformed civil service was as
warm, his understanding of it as correct, and his arguments
for it as strong as they are in his latest message, speech,
or letter. He avowed his attachment to the doctrines of the
Pendleton bill while it was pending and showed that he knew
what it meant then as well as he did after he had applied its
principles in a practical way, and had proved himself the
best and most effective friend that genuine civil service reform
ever had.
When an agitation looking to the reform of defective
election laws was entered upon, he avowed his sympathy with
it at the first opportunity, and that, too, when he was only
a private citizen and had no responsibilities either to be
shirked or assumed. He saw clearly that while abuses of the
election laws were not causes, they were at least the most
serious of the effects produced by a bad system.*
* The franchise is not debauched in the interest of good laws and honest
government. It is by those who have special interests to subserve at the

XX INTRODUCTION.
For many years, the free coinage of silver has been one of
the most serious of our unsettled problems. The question had
been juggled with so much, so many compromises and sub
terfuges had been resorted to that the public mind and con
science were much confused. To Mr. Cleveland it has always
been plain. Its dangers were just as clear to his mind when
he was first called upon to express his opinion upon it as they
were in February, 1891, when he wrote a brief letter which revo
lutionized public sentiment and made impossible the adop
tion of such a policy by his party or Congress. In doing this
he saw clearly what the interests of the masses of his country
men demanded, and he fearlessly took his place on their side.
He has the knack of making new arguments as they are
needed. He does not use all his ammunition at once. If there
is to be only a skirmish, he knows that a musket may be as
useful as a howitzer, so he saves something for another skir
mish or the general engagement that is certain to follow. The
greatest parliamentary orator of the last century had for a col
league a man whose only speech was " I say ditto to Mr.
Burke." Mr. Cleveland does not resort to this even with him
self. He is not content to repeat, year after year, the same
recommendations on a given question. He brings to its dis
cussion new resources. He became interested in the Indian
problem, and set forth his opinions in his first message as
President, with force and intelligence. In each succeeding
message, special or annual, he treated it always from a different
point of view. He had studied its new phases, in the mean-
people's expense, and not by those whose interests are in common with the
masses, that the ballot is corrupted. There are no rich and powerful cor
porations interested in buying " floaters" or coercing employees to vote for
a reformation of our tariff laws. — Interview in the Nashville American,
February 11, 1890.

INTRODUCTION. xxi
time, with the same care that he had taken while it was new and
strange. When all his opinions on such a question are gathered
together, they acquire almost as much a connected form as
if, after a careful study, he had written an essay upon it.
An advantage of classification according to subjects chron
ologically is that it shows no posing whiJe in one office for
another of higher dignity. Close attention to the duty in hand,
a careful study of existing conditions and surroundings, the
waiting not for the morrow — all these are manifest, whether
the office be Mayor, Governor, or President. In each, the
same principles govern his action and his sayings ; but there
is nothing in his record while Mayor, or in his utteranoes while
holding that office, to show that its incumbent was looking for
higher honors ; or in his policy or speeches, while Governor,
to indicate that he thought the Presidency might be within
his reach. In each, he attempts for himself to do his
duty, and his exhortation to others is to watchfulness, econ
omy, and strict attention to the work in hand of public ser
vice. One of the great men of history was wont to say that
" No one rises so high as he who knows not whither he is
going "; and its truth is certainly shown by the career of the
man who became President of the United States, without look
ing for it or any of the places supposed to lead to it.
His speeches are all brief. He seizes upon the idea or
point of first importance or of practical value, and presents it
with skill and emphasis. He does not attempt to explain all
the steps he has taken to reach a given conclusion. As he
does not speak until he feels certain of his opinion upon a
question, so, when he announces his conclusion, it has in it a
positiveness akin to dogmatism. He does not permit official
position, or the dignity of an office he has held, to tie his

XXll INTRODUCTION.
tongue. Dealing, as he does, with principles and policies,
rather than with individuals, his wonted plainness of speech
is not affected by such an artificial dignity.
He puts himself directly in touch with the people, with no
reference to anyplace he may have held, and is so accustomed
to study the interest of the masses of his fellow-countrymen,
rather than the desires of a class, that he has no reason for
concealment or evasion. He speaks to them in plain, simple
language, with never an attempt to " divide a hair 'twixt south
and southwest side." He goes straight to his point. If he
believes that some newspapers "violate every instinct of
American manliness, and in ghoulish glee desecrate every
sacred relation of private life," he says so, and he says it to
the assembled representatives of the oldest and most dignified
educational institution in his country. If he wishes to rebuke
insolent partisanship, he does it by vetoing a measure favored
by his party in his own city, and insists upon it in language
that nobody can misunderstand or misinterpret. At the time
that he defeated this bad purpose, he declared : " I believe in
an open and sturdy partisanship ; but parties were made for
the people, and I am unwilling, knowingly, to give my assent
to measures purely partisan, which will sacrifice or endanger
their interests."* In this case, the just precept accompanied
the saving action, and as showing his consistency he epito
mized this opinion many years later, by declaring, in an
interview, that " party honesty is party expediency."
Two chapters of this book are given up to his advice to
members of his own party ; but there is nowhere a line, the
motive of which is partisan and nothing more. In every
speech or letter to a Democratic meeting or club will be
* Message vetoing the amendments to the Buffalo charter, April 9, 1883.

INTRODUCTION. xxiii
found the expression of the loftiest patriotism. He believes
in his party, but insists that it shall be true to its ideas and
principles ; that it shall reach the people of the country
through their conscience, and that it shall have the impulses
and purposes of patriotism, not the hope that springs from
selfishness in the individual or the mass, or the ambition that
is aroused only by the love of power. In point of fact, he
does not lower his standard when he addresses a meeting of
his party friends, recognizing that if one-half of his fellow-
countrymen make a public policy, it ought to be one that pro
motes the interests of all of them. Nothing ignoble is sug
gested or even left to inference ; there is nowhere a hint that
questionable means might be employed by a candidate, in order
to insure success, or by a party in order that it may secure
or maintain supremacy.
Mr. Cleveland's writings and speeches have little of the per
sonal or autobiographic element. He seldom draws directly
upon his own career or public service for an illustration. He
does not say : " I did so and so at such and such a time."
And yet his opinions are, in large degree, the result of his
own experience. Few of them have come from inheritance
or from a merely scholastic study of a question. They re
flect his early surroundings, or come from his close relations
with, and intimate knowledge of, men. His life has been one
of intelligent effort and great success ; so, if he seeks to en
force upon his 'countrymen the value of hard work, he but
cons anew the lesson of his own life. He insists upon the
most scrupulous regard for public honesty, because he believes
this to be as plainly his duty as it is to pay his debts or to tell
the truth. He appreciates Washington's tenderness for his
mother because he himself showed the same filial love and

xxiv INTRODUCTION.
devotion, and looked to his widowed mother for guidance and
comfort during more than a quarter of a century after he had
left his home. He sympathizes the more keenly with charities
and the poor, because his early experiences made him
acquainted with the hardships of plain people in all the rela
tions of life.
It is not necessary, in considering Mr. Cleveland's style, to
seek a model for it. He is simply an example of a man who
uses speech to express his thoughts, having no sympathy
with Voltaire's definition, which reverses this process. He fits
manner to matter with ease, and expresses his ideas with no
less of grace than of force ; but he never strives for effect
or show. Some of his messages to Congress have a beauty
and fineness of expression that make them rare and notable of
their kind. Many of his speeches appeal to the educated,
by the felicity of their expression, quite as distinctly as they
do to the plain people of the land by their manly vigor
and unquestioned good sense. At times, his utterance is
Hebraic in its plainness of speech, as it is in the loftiness of
thought and motive. Whether in commendation of the right, or
in condemnation of the wrong, his meaning is as clear as sun
shine, and no man, however plain, can have excuse for mis
understanding a single word ; and none, however refined,
can, with the least reason, charge him with making appeal
to groveling tastes, or with seeking to promote personal
ambitions or interests.
In spite of the growing influence of the press, of which
we hear so much these days, or, it may be, because of
it, there has never been a time when the written or spoken
words of the man fitted to lead had so much influence
upon the formation of individual opinion, or upon that peculiar

INTRODUCTION. xxv
product called public sentiment. Whatever the man of vig
orous mind and personality and rugged honesty may say,
the people of this and every other free country are waiting
to hear it as they never waited before.
In spite of the development of localism, there is an almost
universal desire to hear something from the men who have
risen so far superior to its trammels that they can be trusted
to consider the good of all rather than the desires of the few.
During recent years none has won this public confidence in so
high a degree as the man whose thoughts, on a great variety
of questions, are here brought together in collected form.
Some of this may come because he has filled acceptably
an exalted office ; but most of it arises from the fact that
he has held the strong and sensible opinions that gave new
dignity and importance to a place with great power and
opportunities and that he has always expiressed them with
freedom and emphasis.
This is well shown by the position he has held as the
apostle, of a great idea since his retirement from the Presi
dency. Not only has he remained the first citizen of hiSi
country, but he has kept this place because he had gained
and never abused the confidence of his countrymen. Behind
all that he has said were the great, sturdy character, the
trained intelligence, and the tender heart of a man who had
risen superior to personal ambitions or comfort, one who had
demonstrated, during all his public career, whether in or out
of place, his devotion to the true interests of the people, and
his indifference to praise or blame when advocacy of their in
terests demanded the telling of the whole truth. His country
men have rewarded this unselfishness with the most devoted
attention. In the remotest parts of the Union, that he has

xxvi INTRODUCTION.
done so much to render more perfect, his words have been
read with the same attention they commanded from those who
listened to them in a banqueting hall or in a political meeting.
Such a position is not the result of accident or merely a
tribute to an office from which its holder has retired, or to
which he may even be called again. It is due to the fact
that, though a people may wait long for a man of power, it
knows him when he comes, and gives him the recognition he
deserves. Such a man has a double claim to favor, that for
things said as well as for things done. In the one case it
makes Grover Cleveland t^e recognized friend of every good
cause, whether he is able to promote it with official power
or not ; in the other, it makes him, in public station, the
active promoter of the doctrines to which he may have
given his adhesion as a citizen.
The works of such a man, still living among his country
men and potent in every good cause, may well challenge
attention and command study.
George F. Parker.
New York, June 25, 1892.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER PAGE
Preface, .... .... iii
Introduction, .... vii
I. Speeches and Letters Accepting Nominations, i
II. Inaugural Message and Speeches, . 28
III. Civil Service Reform, . . 38
IV. Taxation and Revenue, . . . . 62
V. Centennial and Anniversary Celebrations, 107
VI. To Farmers' Organizations, ... 133
VII. To Commercial and Business Associations, . 144
VIII. To Religious and Charitable Organizations, . . 178
IX. Addresses Before Professional Bodies, . 203
X. On Educational and Patriotic Questions, . 215
XI. To Political Clubs and Organizations, . . 242
XII. Speeches in Political Canvasses, . . . 296
XIII. On Some Social and Economic Questions, . 329
XIV. The Character of George Washington, . . 348
XV. The Coinage of Silver,  363
XVI. On Pensions and to Soldiers' Organizations, . 375
XVIL The Indian Problem, . . . . 408
XVIII. The Public Domain, ... ... 424
XIX. Some Notable Vetoes,  . 433
XX. Characteristic Messages,  462
XXI. Estimates of Public Men  480
XXII. The Maintenance of National Honor, ... 498
XXIII. Miscellaneous Recommendations, . . -512
XXIV. Thanksgiving Proclamations  526
XXV. Letters and Speeches of a Personal Nature, . . 533

the writings and speeches of
GROVER CLEVELAND.

CHAPTER I.
SPEECHES AND LETTERS ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS.

Speech before City Convention, Buffalo, October 25, 1881.
Gentlemen of the Convention:
I am informed that you have bestowed upon me the nomi
nation for the office of Mayor. It certainly is a great honor
to be thought fit to be the chief officer of a great and prosper
ous city like ours, having such important and varied interests.
I hoped that your choice might fall upon 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 consult his own inclinations as against the call of his party
and fellow-citizens, and hoping that I may be of use to you in
your efforts to inaugurate a better rule in municipal affairs, I
accept the nomination tendered me.
I believe that much can be done to relieve our citizens from
their present load of taxation, and that a more rigid scrutiny
of all public expenditures will result in a great saving to the

2 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
community. I also believe that some extravagance 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 as 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 inducement to a faithful and honest
discharge of public duty.
These are very old truths; but I cannot forbear to speak in
this strain to-day, because I believe the time has come when
the people loudly demand that these principles shall be, sin
cerely and without mental reservation, adopted as a rule of
conduct. And I am assured that the result of the campaign
upon which we enter to-day will demonstrate that the citizens
of Buffalo will not tolerate the man or the party that 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
improvement in our municipal affairs ; and if the opportunity
is offered 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 firm foundation and our party ascendency
be permanently assured. Our opponents will wage 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 citi
zens of Buffalo.

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 3
II.
Letter Accepting Nomination for Governor.
Buffalo, N. Y., October 7, 1882.
Dear Sir: I beg to acknowledge the receipt of your letter
informing me of my nomination for Governor by the Demo
cratic 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 administration 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
circumstances, they support the nominees of the party to which
they profess fealty.
It is quite apparent that under such circumstances the pri
mary election or caucus should be surrounded by such safe
guards as will secure absolutely free and uncontrolled action.
Here the people themselves are supposed to speak; here they
put their hands to the machinery of government, 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, 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 con
ducted, those there chosen to represent the people will go forth
with the impress of the people's will upon them, and the
benefits and purposes of a truly representative government will
be attained.
Public officers are the servants and agents of the people to

4 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
execute laws which the people have made, and within the
limits of a constitution which they have established.
Hence the interference of officials of any degree, and
whether State or Federal, for the purpose of thwarting or con
trolling 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
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. If the clerks and
assistants in public departments were paid the same compen
sation 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 materi
ally 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 contribu
tions, this is seen to be naked extortion, reducing the compen
sation, 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 pur
poses, and are restricted in their operations by specific limita
tions. Acting within their legitimate sphere they should be

A CCEP TING NOMINA TIONS. 5
protected ; but when by combination, or by the exercise of
unwarranted power, they oppress the people, the same author
ity which created should restrain them and protect the rights
of the citizen. The law lately passed for the purpose of
adjusting 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 interests
involved. The laboring classes constitute the main part of our popula
tion. 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 condition of the workingman.
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 question
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 exam
ine the merits of the subject, and determine where the pre
ponderance 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

6 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
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
willful blindness not to see that the people care but little for
party obligations when they are invoked, to countenance and
sustain fraudulent and corrupt practices. And it is well, for
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 con
vinced, 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 difficul
ties will yield to watchfulness and care.
Yours respectfully,
Grover Cleveland.

III.
Serenade Speech in Albany, July lo, 1884.
Fello w-Citizens :
I cannot but be gratified with this kindly greeting. I find
that I am fast reaching the point where I shall count the
people of Albany not merely as fellow-citizens, but as towns
men and neighbors.

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 7
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 of right and 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 nation'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 under-estimate, we invite defeat. I am
profoundly impressed with the responsibihty 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 achieve
ment 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 soHd front, to do battle for better government ; confi
dently, courageously, always honorably ; and with a firm reliance
upon the intelligence and patriotism of the American people.

8 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
IV.
Response to Official Notification at Albany, July 29, 1884.
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 administra
tion of their government, and when I consider, under the
influence of the stern reality which present surroundings
create, that I have been chosen to represent the plans, pur
poses, and the policy of the Democratic party, I am pro
foundly impressed by the solemnity of the occasion and by the
responsibility of my position.
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 anx
ious 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 presents 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 representatives which ask to be intrusted,
at the hands of the people, with the keeping of all that con
cerns their welfare and their safety, should only ask it with
the full appreciation of the trust, and with a firm resolve to
administer it faithfully and well. I am a Democrat — because I
beheve that this truth lies at the foundation of true Democ
racy. 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 pros
perity of the people.

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 9
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,
because we are true to ourselves, and because the plain and
independent voters of the land will seek, by their suffrages, to
compass 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 peo
ple's interests.
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 benefit of a pure and
honest administration of national affairs. No higher purpose
or motive can stimulate us to supreme effort, or urge us to
continuous 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 manner my accept
ance of the nomination which has been tendered to me. In the
meantime, I gladly greet you all as co-workers in a noble cause.

V.
Letter Accepting Nomination for President.
Albany, N. Y., August i8, 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 Conven
tion, lately assembled at Chicago. I accept the nomin
ation with a grateful appreciation of the supreme honor con
ferred and a solemn sense of the responsibility which, in its

lo SPEECHES AND LETTERS
acceptance, I assume. I have carefully considered the plat
form adopted by the convention 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
essentially executive in its nature. The laws enacted by the
legislative 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 princi
ples, it seems to me that nothing in the character of the office
or the necessities of the case requires more, from the candidate
accepting 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 seri
ously enforced.
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 out
growths of our institutions; but a government is not by the
people when one party fastens its control 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 should represent the intelligent will of free
and thinking men is or can be determined by the shameless
corruption of their suffrages.
When an election to office shall be the selection by the voters
of one of their number to assume for a time a public trust,
instead 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 suf
frage shall be altogether free and uncorrupted, the full realiza
tion of a government by the people will be at hand. And of
the means to this end not one would, in my judgment, be more

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. II
effective than an amendment to the Constitution disqualifying
the President from re-election. When we consider the patron
age of this great office, the allurements of power, the tempta
tions 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 fos
tered 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 intelligent political action which
must characterize a government by the people.
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 consti
tutes the capital and the wage of labor the income of a vast
number of our population, and this interest should be jealously
protected. Our workingmen are not asking unreasonable
indulgence, but, as intelligent and manly citizens, they seek the
same consideration which those demand who have other inter
ests 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 employed
shall alike be subserved and the prosperity of the country, the
common heritage of both, be advanced. As related to this
subject, 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 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 Gov
ernor, nearly two years ago, I made the following statement,
to which I have steadily adhered:
The laboring classes constitute the main part of our population. They
should be protected in their efforts peaceably to assert their rights when

12 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
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 condition of the workingman.
A proper regard for the welfare of the workingmen being
inseparably 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.
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 restraint
of the citizen should be carefully kept in view. Thus laws
unnecessarily interfering with the habits and customs of our
people which are not offensive to the moral sentiments of the
civilized world, and which are consistent with good citizenship
and the public welfare, are unwise and vexatious.
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 water-ways as will enable the producers of the country
to reach a profitable market.
The people pay the wages of the public employees, 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 subordinated
in government employment should depend upon their ascer
tained fitness and the value of their work, and they should be
neither expected nor allowed to do questionable party service.
The interests of the people will be better protected; th^e esti
mate of public labor and duty will be immensely improved ;

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 13
public employment will be open to all who can demonstrate
their fitness to enter it ; the unseemly scramble for place under
government, 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.
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 frugal
ity, a prompt response to the needs of the people as they arise,
and a 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 believe, will
always bless honest human endeavor in the conscientious dis
charge of public duty.
Grover Cleveland.

VI.
Speech to the Committee on Notification, June 26, 1888.
Mr. Collins and Gentlemen of the Committee:
I cannot but be profoundly impressed when I see about me
the messengers of the national Democracy, bearing its sum
mons to duty. The political party to which I owe allegiance
both honors and commands me. It places in my hand the
proud standard and bids me bear it high at the front in a battle
which it wages bravely, because conscious of right; confidently,

14 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
because its trust is in the people, and soberly, because it com
prehends the obligations which success imposes.
The message which you bring awakens within me the liveli
est sense of personal gratitude and satisfaction, and the honor
which you tender me is, in itself, so great that there might well
be no room for any other sentiment. And yet I cannot rid
myself of grave and serious thoughts when I remember that
party supremacy is not alone involved in the conflict which
presses upon us, but that we struggle to secure and save the
cherished institutions, the welfare, and happiness of a nation
of freemen.
Familiarity with the great office which I hold has but added
to my apprehension of its sacred character and the consecra
tion demanded of him who assumes its immense responsibili
ties. It is the repository of the people's will and power.
Within its vision should be the protection and welfare of the
humblest citizen, and with quick ear it should catch from the
remotest corner of the land the plea of the people for justice
and for right. For the sake of the people he who holds this
office of theirs should resist every encroachment upon its legiti
mate functions, and, for the sake of the integrity and usefulness
of the office, it should be kept near to the people and be
administered in full sympathy with their wants and needs.
This occasion reminds me most vividly of the scene when,
four years ago, I received a message from my party similar to
that which you now deliver. With all that has passed since
that day, I can truly say that the feeling of awe with which I
heard the summons then is intensified many fold when it is
repeated now. Four years ago I knew that our chief execu
tive office, if not carefully guarded, might drift, little by little,
away from the people, to whom it belonged, and become a
perversion of all that it ought to be; but I did not know how
much its moorings had already been loosened.
I knew four years ago how well devised were the principles
of true Democracy for the successful operation of a govern
ment by the people and for the people ; but I did not know

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 15
how absolutely necessary their application then was for the
restoration to the pe9ple of their safety and prosperity. I
knew then that abuses and extravagances had crept into the
management of public affairs; but I did not know their numer
ous forms, nor the tenacity of their grasp. I knew then some
thing of the bitterness of partisan obstruction ; but I did not
know how bitter, how reckless, and how shameless it could be.
I knew, too, that the American people were patriotic and just;
but I did not know how grandly they loved their country, nor
how noble and generous they were.
I shall not dwell upon the acts and the policy of the Admin
istration now drawing to its close. Its record is open to every
citizen of the land. And yet, I will not be denied the privilege
of asserting, at this time, that in the exercise of the functions of
the high trust confided to me I have yielded obedience only to
the Constitution and the solemn obligation of my oath of office.
I have done those things which, in the light of the understand
ing God has given me, seemed most conducive to the welfare
of my countrymen and the promotion of good government. I
would not, if I could, for myself nor for you, avoid a single
consequence of a fair interpretation of my course.
It but remains for me to say to you, and through you to the
Democracy of the Nation, that I accept the nomination with
which they have honored me, and that I will, in due time, sig
nify such acceptance in the usual formal manner.

VII.
Letter Accepting Renomination.
Washington, September 8, 1888.
Hon. Patrick A. Collins and Others, Committee, etc.:
Gentlemen: In addressing to you my formal acceptance of
the nomination to the Presidency of the United States, my
thoughts persistently dwell upon the impressive relation of such
action to the American people, whose confidence is thus

1 6 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
invited, and to the political party to which I belong, just enter
ing upon a contest for continued supremacy.
The world does not afford a spectacle more sublime than is
furnished when millions of free and intelligent American citi
zens select their Chief Magistrate, and bid one of their number
to find the highest earthly honor and the full measure of public
duty in ready submission to their will.
It follows that a candidate for this high office can never for
get that, when the turmoil and the strife which attend the
selection of its incumbent shall be heard no more, there must
be, in the quiet calm which follows, a complete and solemn
self-consecration by the people's chosen President of every
faculty and endeavor to the service of a confiding and generous
nation of freemen.
These thoughts are intensified by the light of my experience
in the Presidential office, which has soberly impressed me with
the severe responsibilities it imposes, while it has quickened
my love for American institutions and taught me the priceless
value of the trust of my countrymen.
It is of the highest importance that those who administer our
government should jealously protect and maintain the rights of
American citizens at home and abroad, and should strive to
achieve for our country her proper place among the nations of
the earth ; but there is no people whose home interests are so
great, and whose numerous objects of domestic concern deserve
so much watchfulness and care.
Among these are the regulation of a sound financial system
suited to our needs, thus securing an efficient agency of
national wealth and general prosperity ; the construction and
equipment of means of defense, to insure our national safety
and maintain the honor beneath which such national safety
reposes ; the protection of our national domain, still stretching
beyond the needs of a century's expansion, and its preserva
tion for the settler and the pioneer of our marvelous growth, a
sensible and sincere recognition of the value of American
labor, leading to the scrupulous care and just appreciation of

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 17
tfie interests of our workingmen; the limitation and checking
of such monopolistic tendencies and schemes as interfere with
the advantages and benefits which the people may rightly
claim; a generous regard and care for our surviving soldiers
and sailors and for the widows and orphans of such as have
died, to the end that, while the appreciation of their services
and sacrifices is quickened, the application of their pension fund
to improper cases may be prevented ; protection against a
servile immigration, which injuriously competes with our labor
ing men in the field of toil, and adds to our population an ele
ment ignorant of our institutions and laws, impossible of
assimilation with our people, and dangerous to our peace and
welfare ; a strict and steadfast adherence to the principles of
Civil Service Reform and a thorough execution of the laws
passed for their enforcement, thus permitting to our people the
advantages of business methods in the operation of their gov
ernment; the guaranty to our colored citizens of all their
rights of citizenship, and their just recognition and encourage
ment in all things pertaining to that relation; a firm, patient,
and humane Indian policy, so that in peaceful relations with
the government the civilization of the Indian may be pro
moted, with resulting quiet and safety to the settlers on our
frontiers; and the curtailment of public expense by the intro
duction of economical methods in every department of the
government. The pledges contained in the platform adopted by the late
convention of the National Democracy lead to the advance
ment of these objects and insure good government — the aspira
tion of every true American citizen, and the motive for every
patriotic action and effort. In the consciousness that much
has been done in the direction of good government by the
present administration, and submitting its record to the fair
inspection of my countrymen, I indorse the platform thus pre
sented, with the determination that, if I am again called to the
Chief Magistracy, there shall be a continuance of devoted
endeavor to advance the interests of the entire country.

1 8 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
Our scale of Federal taxation and its consequences largely
engross, at this time, the attention of our citizens, and the peo
ple are soberly considering the necessity of measures of relief.
Our government is the creation of the people, established to
carry out their designs and accomplish their good. It was
founded on justice, and was made for a free, intelligent, and
virtuous people. It is only useful when within their control,
and only serves them well when regulated and guided by their
constant touch. It is a free government, because it guarantees
to every American citizen the unrestricted personal use and
enjoyment of all the reward of his toil and of all his income,
except what may be his fair contribution to necessary public
expense. Therefore, it is not only the right, but the duty, of
a free people, in the enforcement of this guaranty, to insist
that such expense should be strictly limited to the actual pub
lic needs. It seems perfectly clear that when the government,
this instrumentality created and maintained by the people to
do their bidding, turns upon them, and, through an utter per
version of its powers, extorts from their labor and capital trib
ute largely in excess of public necessities, the creature has
rebelled against the creator and the masters are robbed by
their servants.
The cost of the government must continue to be met by
tariff duties collected at our custom houses upon imported
goods, and by internal revenue taxes assessed upon spirituous
and malt liquors, tobacco, and oleomargarine.
I suppose it is needless to explain that all these duties and
assessments are added to the price of the articles upon which
they are levied, and thus become a tax upon all those who buy
these articles for use and consumption. I suppose, too, it is
well understood that the effect of this tariff taxation is not
limited to the consumers of imported articles, but that the
duties imposed upon such articles permit a corresponding
increase in price to be laid upon domestic productions of the
same kind; which increase, paid by all our people as consum
ers of home productions and entering every American home.

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 19
constitutes a form of taxation as certain and as inevitable as
though the amount was annually paid into the hand of the tax
gatherer. These results are inseparable from the plan we have adopted
for the collection of our revenue by tariff duties. They are
not mentioned to discredit the system, but by way of preface
to the statement that every million of dollars collected at our
custom houses for duties upon imported articles and paid into
the public treasury, represents many millions more which,
though never reaching the national treasury, are paid by our
citizens as the increased cost of domestic productions resulting
from our tariff laws.
In these circumstances, and in view of this necessary effect
of the operation of our plan for raising revenue, the absolute
duty of limiting the rate of tariff charges to the necessities of
a frugal and economical administration of the government
seems to be perfectly plain. The continuance, upon the pretext
of meeting public expenditures, of such a scale of tariff taxa
tion as draws from the substance of the people a sum largely in
excess of public needs, is surely something which, under a gov
ernment based upon justice, and which finds its strength and
usefulness in the faith and trust of the people, ought not to be
tolerated. While the heaviest burdens incident to the necessities of the
government are uncomplainingly borne, light burdens become
grievous and intolerable when not justified by such necessities.
Unnecessary taxation is unjust taxation.
And yet this is our condition. We are annually collecting
at our custom houses, and by means of our internal revenue
taxation, many millions in excess of all legitimate public needs.
As a consequence, there now remains in the national treasury
a surplus of more than one hundred and thirty miUions of
dollars. No better evidence could be furnished that the people are
exorbitantly taxed. The extent of the superfluous burden
indicated by this surplus will be better appreciated when it is

20 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
suggested that such surplus alone represents taxation aggre
gating more than one hundred and eight thousand dollars in a.
county containing fifty thousand inhabitants.
Taxation has always been the feature of organized govern
ment the hardest to reconcile with the people's ideas of free
dom and happiness. When presented in a direct form, nothing
will arouse popular discontent more quickly and profoundly
than unjust and unnecessary taxation. Our farmers, me
chanics, laborers, and all our citizens, closely scan the slightest
increase in the taxes assessed upon their lands and other prop
erty, and demand good reason for such increase. And yet
they seem to be expected, in some quarters, to regard the
unnecessary volume of insidious and indirect taxation visited
upon them by our present rate of tariff duties with indifference,
if not with favor.
The surplus revenue now remaining in the treasury not only
furnishes conclusive proof of unjust taxation, but its existence
constitutes a separate and independent menace to the prosper
ity of the people.
This vast accumulation of idle funds represents that much
money drawn from the circulating medium of the country
which is needed in the channels of trade and business.
It is a great mistake to suppose that the consequences which
follow the continual withdrawal and hoarding by the govern
ment of the currency of the people are not of immediate
importance to the mass of our citizens, and only concern
those engaged in large financial transactions.
In the restless enterprise and activity which free and ready
money among the people produces is found that opportunity
for labor and employment, and that impetus to business and
production, which bring in their train prosperity to our citi
zens in every station and vocation. New ventures, new
investments in business and manufacture, the construction of
new and important works, and the enlargement of enterprises
already established, depend largely upon obtaining money upon
easy terms with fair security; and all these things are stimu-

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 21
lated by an abundant volume of circulating medium. Even
the harvested grain of the farmer remains without a market,
unless money is forthcoming for its movement and transporta
tion to the seaboard.
The first result of a scarcity of money among the people is
the exaction of severe terms for its use. Increasing distrust
and timidity are followed by a refusal to loan or advance on any
terms. Investors refuse all risks and decline all securities, and
in a general fright the money still in the hands of the people is
persistently hoarded. It is quite apparent that when this per
fectly natural, if not inevitable, stage is reached, depression in
all business and enterprise will, as a necessary consequence,
lessen the opportunity for work and employment, and reduce
salaries and the wages of labor.
Instead, then, of being exempt from the influence and effect
of an immense surplus lying idle in the national treasury, our
wage-earners, and others who rely upon their labor for support,
are most of aH directly concerned in the situation. Others,
seeing the approach of danger, may provide against it, but it
will find those depending upon their daily toil for bread unpre
pared, helpless, and defenseless. Such a state of affairs does
not present a case of idleness resulting from disputes between
the laboring man and his employer, but it produces an abso
lute and enforced stoppage of employment and wages.
In reviewing the bad effects of this accumulated surplus and
the scale of tariff rates by which it is produced, we must not
overlook the tendency toward gross and scandalous public
extravagance which a congested treasury induces, nor the fact
that we are maintaining without excuse, in a time of profound
peace, substantially the rates of tariff duties imposed in time
of war, when the necessities of the government justified the
imposition of the weightiest burdens upon the people.
Divers plans have been suggested for the return of this
accumulated surplus to the people and the channels of trade.
Some of these devices are at variance with all rules of good
finance ; some are delusive, some are absurd, and some betray.

22 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
by their reckless extravagance, the demoralizing influence of a
great surplus of public money upon the judgments of indi
viduals. While such efforts should be made as are consistent with
public duty, and sanctioned by sound judgment, to avoid dan
ger by the useful disposition of the surplus now remaining in
the treasury, it is evident that, if its distribution were accom
plished, another accumulation would soon take its place if the
constant flow of redundant income was not checked at its
source by a reform in our present tariff laws.
We do not propose to deal with these conditions by merely
attempting to satisfy the people of the truth of abstract theories,
nor by alone urging their assent to political doctrine.
We present to them the propositions that they are unjustly
treated in the extent of present Federal taxation, that, as a
result, a condition of extreme danger exists, and that it is for
them to demand a remedy and that defense and safety prom
ised in the guarantees of their free government.
We believe that the same means which are adapted to relieve
the treasury of its present surplus and prevent its recurrence,
should cheapen to our people the cost of supplying their daily
wants. Both of these objects we seek in part to gain by reduc
ing the present tariff rates upon the necessaries of life.
We fully appreciate the importance to the country of our
domestic industrial enterprises. In the rectification of existing
wrongs their maintenance and prosperity should be carefully
and in a friendly spirit considered. Even such reliance upon
present revenue arrangements as has been invited or encour
aged should be fairly and justly regarded. Abrupt and radical
changes which might endanger such enterprises, and injuriously
affect the interests of labor dependent upon their success and
continuance, are not contemplated or intended.
But we know the cost of our domestic manufactured products
is increased, and their price to the consumer enhanced, by the
duty imposed upon the raw material used in their manufac
ture. We know that this increased cost prevents the sale of

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 23
our productions in foreign markets in competition with those
countries which have the advantage of free raw material. We
know that, confined to a home market, our manufacturing oper
ations are curtailed, their demand for labor irregular, and the
rate of wages paid uncertain.
We propose, therefore, to stimulate our domestic industrial
enterprises by freeing from duty the imported raw materials
which, by the employment of labor, are used in our home man
ufactures, thus extending the markets for their sale and per
mitting an increased and steady production with the allowance
of abundant profits.
True to the undeviating course of the Democratic party, we
will not neglect the interests of labor and our workingmen. In
all efforts to remedy existing evils, we will furnish no excuse
for the loss of employment or the reduction of the wage of
honest toil. On the contrary, we propose, in any adjustment
of our revenue laws, to concede such encouragement and advan
tage to the employers of domestic labor as will easily compen
sate for any difference that may exist between the standard of
wages which should be paid to our laboring men and the rate
allowed in other countries. We propose, too, by extend
ing the markets for our manufacturers to promote the
steady employment of labor, while by cheapening the cost of
the necessaries of life we increase the purchasing power of
the workingman' s wages and add to the comforts of his
home. And before passing from this phase of the question I am
constrained to express the opinion that, while the interests of
labor should be always sedulously regarded in any modification
of our tariff laws, an additional and more direct and efficient
protection to these interests would be afforded by the restric
tion and prohibition of the immigration or importation of
laborers from other countries, who swarm upon our shores,
having no purpose or intent of becoming our fellow-citizens, or
acquiring any permanent interest in our country, but who
crowd every field of employment with unintelligent labor at

24 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
wages which ought not to satisfy those who make claim to
American citizenship.
The platform adopted by the late National Convention of
our party contains the following declaration: "Judged by
Democratic principles, the interests of the people are betrayed
when by unnecessary taxation trusts and combinations are per
mitted and fostered which, while unduly enriching the few that
combine, rob the body of our citizens by depriving them as
purchasers of the benefits of natural competition."
Such combinations have always been condemned by the
Democratic party. The declaration of its National Conven
tion is sincerely made, and no member of our party will be
found excusing the existence or belittling the pernicious results
of these devices to wrong the people. Under various names they
have been punished by the common law for hundreds of years ;
and they have lost none of their hateful features because they
have assumed the name of trusts, instead of conspiracies.
We believe that these trusts are the natural offspring of a
market artificially restricted ; that an inordinately high tariff,
besides furnishing the temptation for their existence, enlarges
the limit within which they may operate against the people,
and thus increases the extent of their power for wrong-do
ing. With an unalterable hatred of all such schemes, we count the
checking of their baleful operations among the good results
promised by revenue reform.
While we cannot avoid partisan misrepresentation, our posi
tion upon the question of revenue reform should be so plainly
stated as to admit of no misunderstanding.
We have entered upon no crusade of free trade. The reform
we seek to inaugurate is predicated upon the utmost care for
established industries and enterprises, a jealous regard for the
interests of American labor, and a sincere desire to relieve the
country from the injustice and danger which threaten evil to
all the people of the land.
We are dealing with no imaginary danger. Its existence

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 25
has been repeatedly confessed by all political parties, and
pledges of a remedy have been made on all sides.
Yet, when in the legislative body, where under the Consti
tution all remedial measures applicable to this subject must
originate, the Democratic majority were attempting, with
extreme moderation, to redeem the pledge common to both
parties, they were met by determined opposition and obstruc
tion; and the minority, refusing to co-operate in the House of
Representatives, or propose another remedy, have remitted the
redemption of their party pledge to the doubtful power of the
Senate. The people will hardly be deceived by their abandonment
of the field of legislative action to meet in political convention
and flippantly declare in their party platform that our conserv
ative and careful effort to relieve the situation is destructive
to the American system of protection. Nor will the people be
misled by the appeal to prejudice contained in the absurd
allegation that we serve the interests of Europe, while they will
support the interests of America.
They propose in their platform thus to support the interests
of our country by removing the internal revenue tax from
tobacco and from spirits used in the arts and for mechanical
purposes. They declare also that there should be such a
revision of our tariff laws as shall tend to check the importation
of such articles as are produced here. Thus, in proposing to
increase the duties upon such articles to nearly or quite a pro
hibitory point, they confess themselves willing to travel back
ward in the road of civilization, and to deprive our people of
the markets for their goods which can only be gained and
kept by the semblance, at least, of an interchange of business,
while they abandon our consumers to the unrestrained oppres
sion of the domestic trusts and combinations which are in the
same platform perfunctorily condemned.
They propose further to release entirely from import duties
all articles of foreign production (except luxuries) the like of
which cannot be produced in this country. The plain people

26 SPEECHES AND LETTERS
of the land and the poor, who scarcely use articles of any
description produced exclusively abroad and not already free,
will find it difficult to discover where their interests are
regarded in this proposition. They need in their homes
cheaper domestic necessaries; and this seems to be entirely
unprovided for in this proposed scheme to serve the country:
Small compensation for this neglected need is found in the
further purpose here announced and covered by the declara
tion, that if, after the changes already mentioned, there still
remains a larger revenue than is requisite for the wants of the
government, the entire internal taxation should be repealed,
"rather than surrender any part of our protective system."
Our people ask relief from the undue and unnecessary bur
den of tariff taxation now resting upon them. They are
offered instead — free tobacco and free whisky.
They ask for bread and they are given a stone.
The implication contained in this party declaration, that
desperate measures are justified or necessary to save from
destruction or surrender what is termed our protective system,
should confuse no one. The existence of such a system is
entirely consistent with the regulation of the extent to which
it should be applied and the correction of its abuses.
Of course, in a country as great as ours, with such a wonder
ful variety of interests, often leading in entirely different direc
tions, it is difficult, if not impossible, to settle upon a perfect
tariff plan. But in accomplishing the reform we have entered
upon, the necessity of which is so obvious, I believe we should
not be content with a reduction of revenue involving the pro
hibition of importations and the removal of the internal tax
upon whisky. It can be better and more safely done within
the lines of granting actual relief to the people in their means
of living, and at the same time giving an impetus to our
domestic enterprises and furthering our National welfare.
If misrepresentations of our purposes and motives are to gain
credence and defeat our present effort in this direction, there
seems to be no reason why every endeavor in the future to

ACCEPTING NOMINATIONS. 27
accomplish revenue reform should not be likewise attacked and
with like result. And yet no thoughtful man can fail to see in
the continuance of the present burdens of the people, and the
abstraction by the government of the currency of the country,
inevitable distress and disaster. All danger will be averted by
timely action. The difficulty of applying the remedy will
never be less, and the blame should not be laid at the door of
the Democratic party if it is applied too late.
With firm faith in the intelligence and patriotism of our
countrymen, and relying upon the conviction that misrepre
sentation will not influence them, prejudice will not cloud their
understanding and that menace will not intimidate them, let
us urge the people's interest, and public duty, for the vindica
tion of our attempt to inaugurate a righteous and beneficent
reform.
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER IL
inaugural messa-ge and speeches.
I.
Message as Mayor of Buffalo, January 2, 1882.
To the Honorable the Common Council:
In presenting to you ray first official communication, I ani
by no means unmindful of the fact that I address a body, many
of the members of which have had large experience in munici
pal 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 interests of all the people
within its limits. This condition of things creates grave
responsibilities, 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
government, and demand of them the most watchful care and
conscientious economy.
We hold the money of the people in our hands to be used for
their purposes and to further their interests as members of the
municipality ; and it is quite apparent that when any part of
the funds which the taxpayers have thus intrusted to us is
diverted to other purposes, or when, by design or neglect, we
allow a greater sum to be applied to any municipal purpose
than is necessary, we have, to that extent, violated our duty.
There surely is no difference in his duties and obligations,
whether a person is intrusted with the money of one man or
many. And yet it sometimes appears as though the office
holder assumes that a different rule of fidelity prevails between

INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES. 29
him and the taxpayers than that which should regulate "nis con
duct when, as an individual, he holds the money of his
neighbor. It seems to me that a successful and faithful administration
of the government of our city may be accomplished, by bear
ing in mind that we are the trustees and agents of our fellow-
citizens, holding their funds in sacred trust, to be expended for
their benefit; that we should at all times be prepared to render
an honest account to them touching the manner of its expen
diture, 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.
I am fully persuaded that in the performance of your duties
these rules will be observed. And I, perhaps, should not do
less than to assure your honorable body that, so far as it is in
my power, I shall be glad to co-operate with you in securing
the faithful performance of official duty in every department
of the city government.
It seems to me that the duties which should be performed by
this officer [the City Auditor] have been entirely misappre
hended. 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 cer
tainly 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

30 INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES.
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 interests of
the city; otherwise his services are worse than useless, so far
as his action is relied upon.
I am utterly unable to discover any valid reason why the
city offices should be closed and the employees 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 employees ceased work at four o'clock in the
afternoon. The salaries paid by the city to its officers and
their employees entitle it to a fair day's work. Besides, these
offices are for the transaction of public business; and the con
venience 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 employees, of
selling or assigning in advance their claims against the city for
services to be rendered. 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 trafficking in claims against
the city presents a humiliating 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 chief executive officer of the city,
but as a citizen proud of its progress and commanding posi-

INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES 31
tion. In this spirit the suggestions herein contained 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.

II.
Address as Governor, at Albany, January i, 1883.
Governor Cornell :
I am profoundly grateful for your pleasant words and kind
wishes for my success. You speak in full view of labors that
are past and duty well performed, and no doubt you gener
ously suppose what you have safely encountered and over
come, another may not fear to meet.
But I cannot be unmindful of the difficulties that beset the
path upon which I enter, and I shall be quite content if, when
the end is reached, I may, like you, look back upon an official
career honorable to myself and useful to the people of the
State. I cannot forbear at this time also to express my appreciation
of the hearty kindness and consideration with which you have,
at other times, sought to make easier my performance of official
duty. Fellow-Citizens :
You have assembled to-day to witness the retirement of an
officer, tried and trusted, from the highest place in the State,
and the assumption of its duties by one yet to be tried. This
ceremony, simple and unostentatious, as becomes the spirit of
our institutions, is yet of vast importance to you and all the
people of this great Commonwealth. The interests now trans
ferred to new hands are yours; and the duties here newly
assumed should be performed for your benefit and your good.
This you have the right to demand and enforce by the means

32 INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES.
placed in your hands, which you well know how to use; and if
the public servant should always know that he is jealously
watched by the people, he surely would be none the less faith
ful to his trust.
This vigilance on the part of the citizen, and an active inter
est and participation in political concerns, are the safeguards
of his rights; but sluggish indifference to political privileges
invites the machinations of those who wait to betray the peo
ple's trust. Thus, when the conduct of public affairs receives
your attention, you not only perform your duty as citizens,
but protect your own best interests. While this is true, and
while those whom you put in place should be held to strict
account, their opportunity for usefulness should not be
impaired, nor their efforts for good thwarted, by unfounded
and querulous complaint and cavil.
Let us together, but in our different places, take part in the
regulation and administration of the government of our State,
and thus become, not only the keepers of our own interests,
but contributors to the progress and prosperity which will
await us.
I enter upon the discharge of the duties of the office to
which my fellow-citizens have called me with a profound sense
of responsibility; but my hope is in the guidance of a kind
Providence, which I believe will aid an honest design; and the
forbearance of a just people, which, I trust, will recognize a
patriotic endeavor.

III.
Address as President, at Washington, March 4, 1885.
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 right of self-government
they have committed to one of their fellow-citizens a supreme

INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES. 33
and sacred trust; and he here consecrates liimself 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 welfare.
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 guaranty 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 limita
tion of purely partisan zeal and effort, and a correct apprecia
tion 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 trans
ferred to new keeping. But this is still the government of all
the people, and it should be none the less an object of their
affectionate solicitude. At this hour the animosities of politi
cal 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
concern 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
destiny, we shall deserve to realize all the benefits which our
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
founders of the republic and consecrated by their prayers and

34 INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES.
patriotic devotion, has for almost a century borne the hopes
and the aspirations of a great people through prosperity and
peace, and through the shock of foreign conflicts and the perils
of domestic strife and vicissitudes.
By the Father of his Country our Constitution was com
mended for adoption as "the result of a spirit of amity and
mutual concession." In that same spirit it should be admin
istered, 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 accomplished, if, in the halls
of national legislation, that spirit of amity and mutual conces
sion shall prevail in which the Constitution had its birth. If
this involves the surrender or postponement of private inter
ests and the abandonment of local advantages, compensation
will be found in the assurance that 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 unrestrained construction of the Consti
tution, 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
especially 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 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

INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES. 35
State capitals and the national capital, are 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 estimate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is
the people's will impressed upon the whole framework of our
civil polity — municipal. 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
closely to limit public expenditures to the actual needs of the
government economically administered, because this bounds
the right of the government to exact tribute from the earnings
of labor or the property of the citizen, and because public
extravagance begets extravagance among the people. We
should never be ashamed of the simplicity and prudential
economies which are best suited to the operation of a republi
can form of government and most compatible 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.
The genius of our institutions, the needs of our people in
their hom.e 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 inde
pendence, favored by our position and defended by our known
love of justice and by our power. It is the policy of peace
suitable to our interests. It is the policy of neutrality, reject
ing any share in foreign broils and ambitions upon other con
tinents, and repelling their intrusion here. It is the policy of

36 INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES.
Monroe and ^ Washington and Jefferson : "Peace, commerce,
and honest friendship with all nations; entangling alliance
with none."
A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the peo
ple demands that our finances shall be established upon such
a sound and sensible basis as shall secure the safety and confi
dence 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 workingmen
employed in American industries, and preventing the accumu
lation 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 pro
tected from purloining schemes and unlawful occupation.
The conscience 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 relation
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 civili
zation. 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 protection from the incompetency of public employees 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

INAUGURAL MESSAGE AND SPEECHES. 37
who worthily seek public employment have the right to insist
that merit and competency shall be recognized instead of party
subserviency or the surrender of honest political belief.
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.
These topics, and the constant and ever-varying wants of
an active and enterprising population, may well receive the
attention and the patriotic endeavor of all who make and exe
cute the Federal law. Our duties are practical, and call for
industrious application, an intelligent perception of the claims
of 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 bless
ing upon our labors.

CHAPTER III.
CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.

To the New York Civil Service Reform Association.
Mayor's Office,
Buffalo, N. Y., October 28, 1882.
Gentlemen:
In answer to your letter of inquiry, dated October 20, 1882,
in relation to civil service reform, I beg to refer you to my
recent letter accepting the nomination for Governor, in which
many of the matters referred to in your letter are touched
upon, and I assure you that the sentiments therein expressed
are sincerely and honestly entertained, and are stated without
any mental reservation.
I have no hesitation in saying that I fully approve of the
principles embodied in the Pendleton bill relating to this sub
ject, and that I should be glad to aid in any practical legislation
which would give them a place in the management of the affairs
of the State and of municipalities, so far as they can be made
applicable thereto. I believe that the interests of the people
demand that a reform in the national and State administrative
service should speedily become an accomplished fact, and that
the public should receive honest and faithful service at the
hands of well-fitted and competent servants. When contests
between parties are waged for the purpose of securing places
for professional politicians, of high or low degree, whose only
recommendation for appointment is their supposed ability to
do partisan service, the people are' apt to be defrauded by the
displacement of tried and faithful servants, well able to per
form the duties for which they are paid with the people's money,
.18

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 39
and the substitution of those who are unfit and incompetent.
In this way, the interests of the party may be subserved, but
the interests of the people are neglected and betrayed.
This pernicious system gives rise to an office-holding class,
who, in their partisan zeal based upon the hope of personal
advantage, arrogate to themselves an undue and mischievous
interference with the will of the people in political action; this
breeds the use of dishonest and reprehensible methods, which
frequently result in the servants of the people dictating to their
masters. If places in the public service are worth seeking, they
should be the reward of merit and well-doing, and the oppor
tunity to secure them on that basis should be open to all.
Those holding these places should be assured that their
tenure depends upon efficiency and fidelity to their trusts, and
they should not be allowed to use them for partisan purposes.
The money they earn they should receive and be allowed to re
tain, and no part of it should be exacted from them by way of
political assessments.
It seems to me that very much or all of what we desire in the
direction of civil service reform is included in the doctrine that
the concerns of the State and nation should be conducted on
business principles, and as nearly as possible in the same man
ner that a prudent citizen conducts his private affairs. If this
principle is kept constantly in mind I believe the details of a
plan by which its adoption may be secured will, without much
difficulty, be suggested. You refer especially to mismanage
ment in schools, asylums, and institutions of charity and cor
rection, and to the difficulty of securing the construction of an
additional aqueduct in the city of New York. Without being
fully acquainted in detail with the evils and obstacles sur
rounding these subjects, I believe they may be remedied and
removed by a due regard to the dictates of humanity and de
cency and the application of the principles to which I have
alluded. Yours very respectfully,
Grover Cleveland.

40 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
II.
From Message to the New York Legislature, January, 1883.
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 reason
able public demand on that subject.

III.
From the Second Message to the Legislature, January, 1884.
New York, then, leads in the inauguration of a comprehen
sive State system of civil service. The principle of selecting
the subordinate employees of the State on the ground of capac
ity and fitness, ascertained according to fixed and impartial
rules, without regard to political predilections and with reason
able assurance of retention and promotion in case of meritori
ous service, is now the established policy of the State. The
children of our citizens are educated and trained in schools
maintained at common expense, and the people, as a whole,
have a right to demand the selection for the public service of
those whose natural aptitudes have been improved by the edu
cational 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 results which this system promises
to accomplish is relief to public men from the annoyance of
importunity in the strife for appointments to subordinate
places.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 41
IV.
Letter to New York Civil Service Reform Association.
Albany, October 24, 1884.
Hon. George William Curtis:
De.4r Sir: While my letter of acceptance, in that part
devoted to civil service reform, has verbal reference to sub
ordinates in public affairs, I am of the opinion that there are
other officials of a non-political character, to whose retention
in place during the term for which they were appointed the
same considerations should apply. I am, of course, a Demo
crat, attached to the principles of that party, and if elected I
desire to remain true to that organization. But I do not think
partisan zeal should lead to "arbitrary dismissal for party or
political reasons" of officials of the class above referred to,
who have attended strictly to their public duty, and have not
engaged in party service, and who have not allowed themselves
to be used as partisan instruments, or made themselves obnox
ious to the people they should serve, by the use of their offices
to secure party ends. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

V.
Letter to the National Civil Service Reform League.
Albany, December 25, 1884.
Hon. George William Curtis, President, etc.:
Dear Sir: Your communication dated December 20,
addressed to me on behalf of the National Civil Service Reform
League, has been received.
That a practical reform in the civil service is demanded is
abundantly established by the fact that a statute, referred to in
your communication, to secure such a result, has been passed
in Congress with the assent of both political parties; and by
the further fact that a sentiment is generally prevalent among

42 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
patriotic people calling for the fair and honest enforcement of
the law which has been thus enacted. I regard myself as pledged
to this, because my conception of true Democratic faith and
public duty requires that this, and all other statutes, should be
in good faith and without evasion enforced, and because, in
many utterances made prior to my election as President,
approved by the party to which I belong and which I have no
disposition to disclaim., I have in effect promised the people
that this should be done.
I am not unmindful of the fact to which you refer, that
many of our citizens fear that the recent party change in the
National Executive may demonstrate that the abuses which
have grown up in the civil service are ineradicable. I know
that they are deeply rooted, and that the spoils system has
been supposed to be intimately related to success in the main
tenance of party organization; and I am not sure that all those
who profess to be the friends of this reform will stand firmly
among its advocates, when they find it obstructing their way
to patronage and place.
But, fully appreciating the trust committed to my charge, no
such consideration shall cause a relaxation on my part of an
^earnest effort to enforce this law.
There is a class of government positions which are not within
the letter of the civil service statute, but which are so discon
nected 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 people, and
because, instead of being decent public servants, they have
proved themselves offensive partisans, and unscrupulous
manipulators of local party management.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 43
The lessons of the past should be unlearned, and such offi
cials, as well as their successors, should be taught that
efficiency, fitness, and devotion to public duty are the condi
tions of their continuance in public place, and that the quiet
and unobtrusive exercise of individual rights is the reasonable
measure of their party service.
If I were addressing none but party friends, I should deem
it entirely proper to remind them that, though the coming
administration is to be Democratic, a due regard for the peo
ple's interest does not permit faithful party work to be always
rewarded by appointment to office; and to say to them that
while Democrats may expect all proper consideration, selections
for office not embraced within the civil service rules will be
based upon sufficient inquiry as to fitness, instituted by those
charged with that duty, rather than upon persistent importu
nity or self-solicited recommendations on behalf of candidates
for appointment. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

VI.
Accepting Letter of Resignation of Dorman B. Eaton.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 11, 1885.
My Dear Sir:
I am in receipt of your letter tendering your resignation as a
member of the Board of Civil Service Commissioners. I can
not refrain from expressing my sincere regret that you have
determined to withdraw from a position in the public service
where your intelligent performance of duty has been of ines
timable value to the country. The friends of civil service
reform, and all those who desire good government, fully appre
ciate your devotion to the cause in which, you early enlisted,
and they have seen with satisfaction that your zeal and faith

44 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
have not led you to suppose that the reform in which you were
engaged is unsuited to the rules which ordinarily govern prog
ress in human affairs, or that it should at once reach perfection
and universal acceptance. You have been willing patiently to
accept good results as they, step by step, could be gained,
holding every advance with unyielding steadfastness.
The success which, thus far, has attended the work of civil
service reform is largely due to the fact that its practical
friends have proceeded upon the theory that real and healthy
progress can only be made as such of the people who cherish
pernicious political ideas, long fostered and encouraged by
vicious partisanship, are persuaded that the change contem
plated by the reform offers substantial improvement and bene
fits. A reasonable toleration for old prejudices, a graceful
recognition of every aid, a sensible utilization of every instru
mentality that promises assistance, and a constant effort to
demonstrate the advantages of the new order of things are the
means by which this reform movement will, in the future, be
further advanced, the opposition of incorrigible spoilsmen
rendered ineffectual, and the cause placed upon a sure founda
tion. Of course, there should be no surrender of principle
nor backward step, and all laws for the enforcement of the
reform should be rigidly executed ; but the benefits which its
principles promise will not be fully realized unless the acquies
cence of the people is added to the stern assertion of a doctrine
and the vigorous execution of the laws.
It is a source of congratulation that there are so many
friends of civil service reform marshaled on the practical side
of the question, and that the number is not greater of those
who profess friendliness for the cause, and yet mischievously,
and with supercilious self-righteousness, discredit every effort
not in exact accord with their attenuated ideas, decry with
carping criticism the labor of those actually in the field of
reform, and, ignoring the conditions which bound and qualify
every struggle for a radical improvement in the affairs of gov
ernment, demand complete and immediate perfection.

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 45
The reference in your letter to the attitude of the members
of my cabinet toward the merit system established by the civil
service law, besides being entirely correct, exhibits an apprecia
tion of honest endeavor in the direction of reform, and a disposi
tion to do justice to proved sincerity, which is most gratifying.
If such treatment of those upon whom the duty rests of adminis
tering the government according to reform methods was the uni
versal rule, and if the embarrassments and perplexities attending
such an administration were fairly regarded by all those profess
ing to be friendly to such methods, the avowed enemies of
the cause would be afforded less encouragement.
I believe in civil service reform and its application in the
most practicable form attainable, among other reasons, because
it opens the door for the rich and the poor alike to a participa
tion in public place holding. And I hope the time is at hand
when all our people will see the advantage of a reliance for
such an opportunity upon merit and fitness instead of upon
the caprice or selfish interest of those who impudently stand
between the people and the machinery of their government.
In the one case, a reasonable intelligence, and the education
which is freely furnished or forced upon the youth of our land,
are the credentials to office ; in the other, the way is found
in favor, secured by a participation in partisan work often
unfitting a person morally, if not mentally and physically, for
the responsibilities and duties of public employment.
You will agree with me, I think, that the support which has
been given to the present administration in its efforts to pre
serve and advance this reform, by a party restored to power
after an exclusion for many years from participation in the
places attached to the public service; confronted with a new
system precluding the redistribution of such places in its inter
est; called upon to surrender advantages which a perverted
partisanship had taught the American people belonged to suc
cess, and perturbed with the suspicions, always raised in such
an emergency, that their rights in the conduct of this reform
had not been scrupulously regarded, should receive due

46 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
acknowledgment, and should confirm our belief that there is
a sentiment among the people better than a desire to hold office,
and a patriotic impulse upon which may safely rest the integ
rity of our institutions and the strength and perpetuity of our
government. I have determined to request you to retain your present
position until the ist day of November next, at which time
your resignation may become operative. I desire to express
my entire confidence in your attachment to the cause of civil
service reform and your ability to render it efficient aid, and I
indulge the hope and expectation that, notwithstanding the
acceptance of your resignation, your interest in the object for
which you have labored so assiduously will continue beyond
the official term which you surrender.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

VII.
From the First Annual Message to Congress, December, 1885.
I am inclined to think that there is no sentiment more gen
eral in the minds of the people of our country than a conviction
of the correctness of the principle upon which the law enforc
ing civil service reform is based. In its present condition the
law regulates only a part of the subordinate public positions
throughout the country. It applies the test of fitness to appli
cants for these places by means of a competitive examination,
and gives large discretion to the commissioners as to the char
acter of the examination and many other matters connected
with its execution. Thus, the rules and regulations adopted by
the commission 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 pos
sible. But, of course, no relaxation of the principle which

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 47
underlies it, and no weakening of the safeguards which sur
round it, can be expected. Experience in its administration
will probably suggest amendment of the methods of its execu
tion, 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 enter
tained whether our government could survive the strain of a
continuance of this system, which, upon every change of admin
istration, inspires an immense army of claimants for office to lay
siege to the patronage of government, engrossing the time of
public officers with their importunities, spreading abroad the
contagion of their disappointment, and filling the air with the
tumult of their discontent.
The allurements of an immense number of offices and places,
exhibited to the voters of the land, and the promise of their
bestowal in recognition of partisan activity, debauch the suf
frage and rob political action of its thoughtful and deliberative
character. The evil would increase with the multiplication
of offices consequent upon our extension, and the mania for
office-holding, growing from its indulgence, would pervade our
population so generally that patriotic purpose, the support of
principle, the desire for the public good and solicitude for the
nation's welfare would be nearly banished from the activity of
our party contests and cause them to degenerate into ignoble,
selfish, and disgraceful struggles for the possession of office and
¦ public place.
Civil service reform enforced by law came none too soon to
check the progress of demoralization. One of its effects, not
enough regarded, is the freedom it brings to the political action
of those conservative and sober men who, in fear of the confu
sion and risk attending an arbitrary and sudden change in all
the public offices with a change of party rule, cast their ballots
against such a chance.
Parties seem to be necessary, and will long continue to exist;
nor can it be now denied that there are legitimate advantages,
not disconnected with oflSce-holding, which follow party

48 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
supremacy. While partisanship continues bitter and pro
nounced, and supplies so much of motive to sentiment and
action, it is not fair to hold public officials, in charge of impor
tant trusts, responsible for the best results in the performance
of their duties, and yet insist that they shall rely, in confiden
tial and important places, upon the work of those not only
opposed to them in political affiliation, but so steeped in parti
san prejudice and rancor that they have no loyalty to their
chiefs and no desire for their success. Civil service reform
does not exact this, nor does it require that those in subor
dinate positions who fail in yielding their best service, or who
are incompetent, should be retained simply because they are in
place. The whining of a clerk discharged for indolence or
incompetency, who, though he gained his place by the worst
possible operation of the spoils system, suddenly discovers that
he is entitled to protection under the sanction of civil service
reform, represents an idea no less absurd than the clamor of
the applicant who claims the vacant position as his compensa
tion for the most questionable party work.
The civil service law does not prevent the discharge of the
indolent or incompetent clerk, but it does prevent supplying
his place with the unfit party worker. Thus, in both these
phases, is seen benefit to the public service. And the people
who desire good government, having secured this statute, will
not relinquish its benefits without protest. Nor are they
unmindful of the fact that its full advantages can only be
gained through the complete good faith of those having its
execution in charge. And this they will insist upon.

VIII.
Message on the Report of the Commission, March 26, 1886.
I transmit herewith the Report of the Civil Service Commis
sion for the year ended on the i6th day of January last.
The exhibit thus made of the operations of the coiamission,

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 49
and the account thus presented of the results following the
execution of the civil service law, cannot fail to demonstrate
its usefulness and strengthen the conviction that this scheme
for a reform in the methods of administering the government
is no longer an experiment.
Wherever this reform has gained a foothold, it has steadily
advanced in the esteem of those charged with public adminis
trative duties, while the people who desire good government
have constantly been confirmed in their high estimate of its
value and efficiency.
With the benefits it has already secured to the public service
plainly apparent, and with its promise of increased usefulness
easily appreciated, this cause is commended to the liberal care
and jealous protection of the Congress.

IX.
Order to Heads of Departments. Executive Mansion,
July 14, 1886.
I deem this a proper time especially to warn all subordinates
in the several Departments, and all office-holders under the
general government, against the use of their official positions
in attempts to control political movements in their localities.
Office-holders are the agents of the people, not their masters.
Not only are their time and labor due to the government, but
they should scrupulously avoid, in their political action as well
as in the discharge of their official duty, offending, by a dis
play of obtrusive partisanship, their neighbors who have rela
tions with them as public officials.
They should also constantly remember that their party
friends, from whom they have received preferment, have not
invested them with the power of arbitrarily managing their
political affairs. They have no right as office-holders to dic
tate the political action of their party associates, or to throttle

50 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
freedom of action within party lines, by methods and practices
which pervert every useful and justifiable purpose of party
organization. The influence of Federal office-holders should not be felt in
the manipulation of political primary meetings and nominating
conventions. The use, by these officials, of their positions to
compass their selection as delegates to political conventions is
indecent and unfair; and proper regard for the proprieties and
requirements of official place will also prevent their assuming
the active conduct of political campaigns.
Individual interest and activity in political affairs are by no
means condemned. Office-holders are neither disfranchised
nor forbidden the exercise of political privileges ; but their
privileges are not enlarged nor is their duty to party increased
to pernicious activity by office-holding.
A just discrimination in this regard, between the things a
citizen may properly do and the purposes for which a public
office should not be used, is easy in the light of a correct
appreciation of the relation between the people and those
intrusted with official place, and a consideration of the neces
sity under our form of government of political action free from
official coercion.
Grover Cleveland.

X.
Reasons for the Removal of William A. Stone.
Executive Mansion,
November 23, 1886.
Hon. a. H. Garland, Attorney- General:
Dear Sir: I have read the letter of the i8th instant written
to you by WiUiam A. Stone, lately suspended from office as
district attorney for the western district of Pennsylvania, and
the subject matter to which it refers has received my careful
consideration. I shall not impute to the writer any mischievous motive in

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 51
his plainly erroneous assumption that his case and that of
M. E. Benton, recently suspended and reinstated, rest upon
the same state of facts, but prefer to regard his letter as con
taining the best statement possible upon the question of his
reinstatement. You remember, of course, that soon after the present admin
istration was installed — and I think nearly a year and a half
ago — I considered with you certain charges which had been
preferred against Mr. Stone as a Federal official. You remem
ber, too, that the action we then contemplated was withheld by
reason of the excuses and explanations of his friends. These
excuses and explanations induced me to believe that Mr.
Stone's retention would insure a faithful performance of official
duty, and that whatever offensive partisanship he had deemed
justifiable in other circumstances, he would, during his con
tinuance in office, at his request, under an administration
opposed to him in political creed and policy, content himself
with a quiet and unobtrusive enjoyment of his political privi
leges. I certainly supposed that his sense of propriety would
cause him to refrain from pursuing such a partisan course as
would wantonly offend and irritate the friends of the adminis
tration who insisted that he should not be retained in office,
either because of his personal merit or in adherence to the
methods which for a long time had prevailed in the distribu
tion of Federal offices.
In the light of a better system, and without considering his
political affiliations, Mr. Stone, when permitted to remain in
office, became a part of the business organization of the pres
ent administration — bound by every obligation of honor to
assist within his sphere in its successful operation. This obli
gation involved not only the proper performance of official duty,
but a certain good faith and fidelity, which, while not exacting
the least sacrifice of political principle, forbade active partici
pation in purely partisan demonstrations of a pronounced type,
undertaken for the purpose of advancing partisan interests,
and conducted upon the avowed theory that the administration

52 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
of the government was not entitled to the confidence and
respect of the people.
There is no dispute whatever concerning the fact that Mr.
Stone did join others who were campaigning the State of Penn
sylvania in opposition to the administration. It appears, too,
that he was active and prominent, with noisy enthusiasm, in
attendance upon at least two large public meetings ; that the
speeches at such meetings were largely devoted to abuse and
misrepresentation of the administration ; that he approved all
this and actually addressed the meetings himself in somewhat
the same strain ; that he attended such meetings away from
his home for the purpose of making such addresses ; and that
he was advertised as one of the speakers at each of said
meetings. I shall accept as true the statement of Mr. Stone that the
time spent by him in thus demonstrating his willingness to
hold a profitable office, at the hands of an administration which
he endeavored to discredit with the people, and which had
kindly overlooked his previous offenses, did not result in the
neglect of ordinary official duty. But his conduct has brought
to light such an unfriendliness toward the administration which
he pretends to serve and of which he is nominally a part, and
such a consequent lack of loyal interest in its success, that the
safest and surest guarantee of his faithful service is, in my
opinion, entirely wanting. His course, in itself such as should
not have been entered upon while maintaining official relations
to the administration, also renews and revives, with unmistak
able interpretation of their character and intent, the charges of
offensive partisanship heretofore made and up to this time held
in abeyance.
Mr. Stone and others of like disposition are not to suppose
that party lines are so far obliterated that the administration of
the government is to be trusted, in places high or low, to those
who aggressively and constantly endeavor, unfairly, to destroy
the confidence of the people in the party responsible for such
administration. While vicious partisan methods should not

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 53
be allowed for partisan purposes to degrade or injure the pub
lic service, it is my belief that nothing tends so much to dis
credit our efforts, in the interest of such service, to treat fairly
and generously the official incumbency of political opponents,
as conduct such as is here disclosed.
The people of this country certainly do not require the best
results of administrative endeavor to be reached with such
agencies as these.
Upon a full consideration of all I have before me, I am con
strained to decline the application of Mr. Stone for his rein
statement. I inclose his letter with this, and desire you to acquaint him
with my decision. Yours truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XI.
From the Second Annual Message, December 6, 1886.
The continued operation of the law relating to our civil
service 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 support
ers are those who are restrained and protected by its require
ments. 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 creden
tial showing active partisan work. They mean to public offi
cers, if not their lives, the only opportunity afforded them to
attend to public business, and they mean to the good people
of the country the better performance of the work of their
government.

54 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of this
reform are so Htde understood, and that so many things not
included 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 willful 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 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.
I invoke for this reform the cheerful and ungrudging support
of the Congress.

XII.
Order for Uniform Classificatioti in the Departments.
To THE United States Civil Service Commission:
Gentlemen : I desire to make a suggestion regarding Sub
division C, General Rule 3, of the amended Civil Service Rules
promulgated February 2, 1888. It provides for the promotion
of an employee, in a Department, who is below or outside of the
classified service, to a place within said classified service in the
same Department upon the request of the appointing officer,
upon the recommendation of the commission and the approval
of the President, after a non-competitive examination, in case
such person has served continuously for two years in the place
from which it is proposed to promote him, and "because of
his faithfulness and efficiency in the position occupied by him,"
and ' 'because of his quahfications for the place to whicn the
appointing officer desires his promotion."

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 55
It has occurred to me that this provision must be executed
-with caution, to avoid the application of it to cases not intended
and the undue relaxation of the general purposes and restric
tions of the civil service law.
Non-competitive examinations are the exceptions to the plan
of the Act, and the rules permitting the same should be strictly
construed. The cases arising under the exception, above
recited, should be very few, and when presented they should
precisely meet all the requirements specified, and should be
supported by facts which will develop the basis and reason of
the application of the appointing officer, and which will com
mend them to the judgment of the commission and the Presi
dent. The sole purpose of the provision is to benefit the pub
lic service, and it should never be permitted to operate as an
evasion of the main feature of the law, which is competitive
examinations. As these cases will first be presented to the commission for
recommendation, I have to request that you will formulate a
plan by which their merits can be tested. This will naturally
involve a statement of all the facts deemed necessary for the
determination of such applications, including the kind of work
which has been done by the person proposed for promotion,
and the considerations upon which the allegations of the faith
fulness, efficiency, and qualifications mentioned in the rule are
predicated. What has already been written naturally suggests another
very important subject, to which I will invite your atten
tion. The desirabihty of the rule which I have commented upon
would be nearly, if not entirely, removed, and other difficulties
which now embarrass the execution of the civil service law
would be obviated, if there was a better and uniform classifica
tion of the employees in the different Departments. The
importance of this is entirely obvious. The present imperfect
classifications, hastily made, apparently with but little care for
uniformity, and promulgated after the last Presidential election

56 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
and prior to the installation of the present administration,
should not have been permitted to continue to this time.
It appears that in the War Department the employees were
divided on the 19th day of November, 1884, into eight classes
and sub-classes, embracing those earning annual salaries from
$900 to $2000.
The Navy Department was classified November 22, 1884,
and its employees were divided into seven classes and sub
classes, embracing those who received annual salaries from
$720 to $1800.
In the Interior Department the classification was made on
the 6th day of December, 1884. It consists of eight classes
and sub-classes, and embraces employees receiving annual
salaries from $720 to $2000.
On the 2d day of January, 1885, a classification of the
employees in the Treasury Department was made, consisting of
six classes and sub-classes; including those earning annual sal
aries from $900 to $1800.
In the Post Office Department the employees were classi
fied on February 6, 1885, into nine classes and sub-classes,
embracing persons earning annual salaries from $720 to
$2000. On the 1 2th of December, 1884, the Bureau of Agriculture
was classified in a manner different from all the other Depart
ments and presenting features peculiar to itself.
It seems that the only classification in the Department of
State and the Department of Justice is that provided for by
section 163 of the Revised Statutes, which directs that the
employees in the several Departments shall be divided into four
classes. It appears that no more definite classification has
been made in these Departments.
I wish the commission would revise these classifications and
submit to me a plan which will, as far as possible, make them
uniform, and which will especially remedy the present condi
tion which permits persons to enter a grade in the service in
one Department without any examination, which in another

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 57
Department can only be entered after passing such examina
tion. This, I think, should be done by extending the limits
of the classified service rather than by contracting them.
Grover Cleveland.
Executive Mansion,
March 21, 1888.

XIIL
Message Transmitting Report of the Civil Service Commission.
To the Congress of the United States:
Pursuant to the second section of Chapter XXVII 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 i6th day of January, 1886,
and the ist day of July, 1887.
While this report has especial 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 fifteen thousand
eight hundred and fifty-two persons were examined for admis
sion in the classified civil service of the government in all its
branches ; of whom ten thousand seven hundred and forty-six
passed the examination, and five thousand one hundred and
six failed. Of those who passed the examination, two thou
sand nine hundred and twenty-seven were applicants for admis
sion to the departmental service at Washington, twenty-five
hundred and forty-seven were examined for admission to the
customs service, and five thousand two hundred and twenty-
two for admission to the postal service. During the same
period five hundred and forty-seven appointments were made
from the eligible list to the departmental service, six hundred

58 CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
and forty-one to the customs service, and three thousand two
hundred and fifty-four to the postal service.
Concerning separations from the- classified service, the
report only informs us of such as have occurred among
employees 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 employees who obtained their
positions independently 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 examina
tion and certification, which vacancies were filled by appoint
ment from the eligible lists.
In the departmental service there occurred between the i6th
day of January, 1886, and the 30th day of June, 1887, among
the employees appointed from the eligible lists under civil serv
ice rules, seventeen removals, thirty-six resignations, and five
deaths. This does not include fourteen separations in the
grade of special pension examiners, four by removal, five by
resignation, and five 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
ist day of January, 1886, and the 30th day of June, 1887.
It appears that such separations in the customs service for the
time mentioned embraced twenty-one removals, five deaths,
and eighteen resignations, and in the postal service two hun
dred and fifty-six removals, twenty-three deaths, and four
hundred and sixty-nine resignations.
More than a year has passed since the expiration of the

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 59
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 remodeled, 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 prescribed
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
transfer of employees from one Department to another in proper
cases. A plan has also been devised providing for the exam
ination of applicants for promotion in the service, which, when
in full operation, will eliminate all chance of favoritism in the
advancement of employees, by making promotion a reward of
merit and faithful discharge of duty.
Until within a few weeks there was no uniform classifi
cation of employees in the different executive Departments
of the government. As a result of this condition, in some
of the Departments positions could be obtained without civil
service examination, because they were not within the class
ification of such Department, while in other Departments an
examination and certification were necessary to obtain pos
itions of the same grade, because such positions were
embraced in the classifications applicable to those Depart
ments. The exemption of laborers, watchmen, and messengers
from examination and classification gave opportunity, in the ab
sence of any rule guarding against it, for the employment,
free from civil service restrictions, of persons under these

6o CIVIL SERVICE REFORM.
designations who were immediately detailed to do clerical
work. All this has been obviated by the application to all the
Departments of an extended and uniform classification, embrac
ing grades of employees not theretofore included, and by the
adoption of a rule prohibiting the detail of laborers, watch
men, 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 parti
sans 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 enforcement with faithlessness to civil service reform.
Its importance has frequently been underestimated; and the
support of good men has thus been lost by their lack of inter
est in its success. Besides all these difficulties, those respon
sible for the administration of the government in its executive
branches have been, and still are, often annoyed and irritated
by the disloyalty to the service and the insolence of employees
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.
With a continuation of the intelligent fidelity which has
hitherto characterized the work of the commission; with a
continuation and increase of the favor and liberality which
have lately been evinced by the Congress in the proper equip
ment of the commission for its work; with a firm but conserv-

CIVIL SERVICE REFORM. 6i
ative 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 serv
ice law cannot fail ultimately to answer the hopes in which
it had its origin.
Grover Cleveland.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 23, 1888.

CHAPTER IV.
taxation and revenue.
I.
First Message to the New York Legislature, January 2, 1883.
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 jus
tice. 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.
Let us enter upon the discharge of our duties, fully appre
ciating our relations to the people, and determined to serve
them faithfully and well. This involves a jealous watch of the
public funds, and a refusal to sanction their appropriation ex
cept 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-considered laws as will meet the varied wants of our
62

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 63
fellow-citizens 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 impress for good on the legislation of the State.

IL
Interview in the New York Herald, December 10, 1883.
If Congress, at its present session, shall fail to reduce the
revenues, now admitted to be larger than necessary, I have no
doubt that the question will become an important issue in the
Presidential election of next year, and that the election of
Mr. Carlisle to the Speakership will tend to commit the Demo
cratic party to advocate such a revision of the revenue laws as
will secure a reduction of- excessive revenue, by removing or
lessening such duties as increase the cost of the necessaries of
life rather than those which enhance the price of luxuries.

in.
Second Message to the New York Legislature, January i, 1884.
The subject of taxation still remains a vexed question ; and
the injustice and discrimination apparent in our laws on this
subject, as well as the methods of their execution, call loudly
for relief. There is no object so worthy of the care and at
tention of the Legislature as this. Strict economy in the man
agement of State affairs by their agents should furnish the
people a good government at the least possible cost. This is
common honesty. But, to see to it that this cost is fairly and
justly distributed, and the burden equally borne by those who
have no peaceful redress if the State is unjust, is the best at
tribute of sovereignty and the highest duty to the citizen.
The recognition of this duty characterizes a beneficent gov-

64 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
ernment ; but its repudiation marks the oppression of tyran
nical power. The taxpayer need not wait till his burden is
greater than he can bear, for just cause of complaint. How
ever small his tax, he may reasonably protest if it represents
more than his share of the public burden, and the State neg
lects all efforts to apply a remedy.
The tendency of our prosperity is in the direction of the ac
cumulation of immense fortunes, largely invested in personal
property ; and yet its aggregate valuation, as fixed for the
purpose of taxation, is constantly decreased, while that of real
estate is increased. For the year 1882, the valuation of per
sonal property subject to taxation was determined at $351,021,-
189, and real estate at $2,432,661,379. In 1883 the assessed
valuation of personal property was fixed at $315,039,085, and
real estate $2,557,218,240.
The present law permits, in the case of personal property, the
indebtedness of its possessor to be deducted from its value,
and allows no such deduction in favor of real estate, though it
be represented by a mortgage which is a specific lien upon
such real estate. Personal property, in need more than any
other of the protection of the government, when discovered,
escapes taxation to the extent of its owner's indebtedness,
though such indebtedness is based upon the ordinary credit in
the transaction of business, or is fictitious, and manufactured
for the temporary purpose of evading taxation. But real
property, the existence of which cannot be concealed, is, in
contemplation of the law, taxed according to its full valuation,
though the incumbrance upon it easily divests the owner of his
title, though the interest and perhaps part of the principal
must, as well as the tax, annually be met, and though, if sold,
the amount due upon this lien must always be deducted from
any sum agreed upon as the price of the land.
This statement does not necessarily lead to a deduction of
the amount of any incumbrance upon real estate from its valu
ation for the purpose of taxation ; but it does suggest that
both real and personal property should be placed upon the

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 65
same footing, by abolishing, in all cases, any deduction for
debts. This amendment, with some others regulating the
manner in which local assessors should perform their duties,
would do much toward ridding our present system of its im
perfections. If measures more radical in their nature, having for their
object the exaction of taxes which are justly due, should be
deemed wise, I hope their passage will not be prevented under
the specious pretext that the means proposed are inquisitorial
and contrary to the spirit of our institutions. The object is to
preserve the honor of the State in its dealings with the citizen,
to prevent the rich, by shirking taxation, from adding to the
burdens of the poor, and to relieve the landholder from unjust
discrimination. The spirit of our institutions dictates that this
endeavor should be pursued, in a manner free from all dema-
gogism, but with the determination to use every necessary
means to accomplish the result.
The State of New York largely represents within her borders
the development of every interest which makes a nation great.
Proud of her place as leader in the community of States, she
fully appreciates her immediate relations to the prosperity of
the country ; and, justly realizing the responsibility of her
position, she recognizes, in her policy and her laws, as of first
importance, the freedom of commerce from all unnecessary
restrictions. Her citizens have assumed the burden of main
taining, at their own cost and free to commerce, the waterway
which they have built, and through which the products of the
great West are transported to the seaboard. At the suggestion
of danger she hastens to save her northern forests, and thus
preserve to commerce her canals and vessel-laden rivers. The
State has become responsible for a bureau of immigration,
which cares for those who seek our shores from other lands,
adding to the nation's population and hastening to the develop
ment of its vast domain ; while at the country's gateway a quar
antine, established by the State, protects the nation's health.

66 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
Surely this great commonwealth, committed fully to the
interests of commerce and all that adds to the country's pros
perity, may well inquire how her efforts and sacrifices have
been answered ; and she, of all the States, may urge that the
interests thus by her protected, should, by the greater govern
ment administered for all, be fostered for the benefit of the
American people.
Fifty years ago a most distinguished foreigner, who visited
this country and studied its condition and prospects, wrote :
When I contemplate the ardor with which the Americans prosecute com
merce, the advantages which aid them, and the success of their undertakings,'
I cannot help believing that they will one day become the first maritime
power of the globe. They are bound to rule the seas, as the Romans were
to conquer the world. . . . The Americans themselves now transport
to their own shores nine-tenths of the European produce which they consume,
and they also bring three-fourths of the exports of the New World to the
European consumer. The ships of the United States fill the docks of Havre
and Liverpool, while the number of English and French vessels which are to
be seen at New York is comparatively small.
We turn to the actual results reached since these words were
written, with disappointment.
In 1840 American vessels carried eighty-two and nine-tenths
per cent, of all our exports and imports ; in 1850, seventy-two
and five-tenths; in i860, sixty-six and five-tenths; in 1870,
thirty-five and six- tenths ; in 1880, seventeen and four-tenths;
in 1882, fifteen and five-tenths.
The citizen of New York, looking beyond his State and all
her efforts in the interest of commerce and national growth,
will naturally inquire concerning the causes of this decadence
of American shipping.
While he sternly demands of his own government the exact
limitation of taxation by the needs of the State, he will chal
lenge the policy that accumulates millions of useless and un
necessary surplus in the national treasury, which has been not
less a tax because it was indirectly and surely added to the
cost of the people's life.

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 67
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 determi
nation that these principles shall guide us in the performance
of our duties as guardians of the interests of the state.

IV.
Frotn the First Annual Message to Congress, December, 1885.
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 ap
plied which they have adopted for their benefit and protec
tion ; and it is never 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 ex
penditure, and distributed according to a just and equitable
plan. The proposition with which we have to deal is the reduc
tion 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 protec
tive 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 in
jured 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

6S TAXATION AND REVENUE.
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 hav
ing been determined, the inquiry follows — where can it best
be remitted, 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 de
rived 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.

V.
From the Second Annual Message to Cotigress, December, 1886.
The income of the government, by its increased volume and
through economies in its collection, is now more than ever in
excess of public necessities. The application of the surplus to
the payment of such portion of the public debt as is now at
our option subject to extinguishment, if continued at the rate
which has lately prevailed, would retire that class of indebted
ness within less than one year from this date. Thus a con
tinuation of our present revenue system would .soon result in
the receipt of an annual income much greater than necessary
to meet government expenses, with no indebtedness upon
which it could be applied. We should then be confronted
with a vast quantity of money, the circulating medium of the
people, hoarded in the treasury when it should be in their
hands, or we should be drawn into wasteful public extravagance
with all the corrupting national demoralization which follows
in its train.
But it is not the simple existence of this surplus, and its
threatened attendant evils, which furnish the strongest argu
ment against our present scale of Federal taxation. Its

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 69
worst phase is the exaction of such a surplus through a per
version of the relations between the people and their govern
ment, and a dangerous departure from the rules which limit
the right of Federal taxation.
The indirect manner in which these exactions are made
has a tendency to conceal their true character and their ex
tent. But we have arrived at a stage of superfluous revenue
which has aroused the people to a realization of the fact that
the amount raised, professedly for the support of the govern
ment, is paid by them as absolutely, if added to the price of
the things which supply their daily wants, as if it was paid at
fixed periods into the hand of the tax-gatherer.
Those who toil for daily wages are beginning to understand
that capital, though sometimes vaunting its importance and
clamoring for the protection and favor of the government, is
dull and sluggish, till, touched by the magical hand of labor,
it springs into activity, furnishing an occasion for Federal
taxation and gaining the value which enables it to bear its
burden. And the laboring man is thoughtfully inquiring
whether, in these circumstances and considering the tribute
he constantly pays into the public treasury as he supplies
his daily wants, he receives his fair share of advantage.
There is also a suspicion abroad that the surplus of our
revenues indicates abnormal and exceptional business profits,
which, under the system which produces such surplus, increase,
without corresponding benefit to the people at large, the vast
accumulations of a few among our citizens whose fortunes,
rivaling the wealth of the most favored in anti-democratic
nations, are not the natural growth of a steady, plain, and in
dustrious republic.
Our farmers, too, and those engaged directly and indirectly
in supplying the products of agriculture, see that, day by day,
and as often as the daily wants of their households recur,
they are forced to pay excessive and needless taxation,, while
their products struggle in foreign markets with the competi
tion of nations which, by allowing a freer exchange of pro-

70 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
ductions than we permit, enable their people to sell for prices
which distress the American farmer. A sentiment prevails
that the leading-strings, useful to a nation in its infancy,
may well be, to a great extent, discarded in the present stage
of American ingenuity, courage, and fearless self-reliance.
And, for the privilege of indulging this sentiment with true
American enthusiasm, our citizens are quite willing to forego
an idle surplus in the public treasury.
And all the people know that the average rate of Federal
taxation upon imports is, to-day, in time of peace, but little
less, while, upon some articles of necessary consumption, it is
actually more, than was imposed by the grievous burden
willingly borne at a time when the government needed mil
lions to maintain by war the safety and integrity of the
Union. It has been the policy of the government to collect the
principal part of its revenues by a tax upon imports, and no
change in this policy is desirable. But the present condition
of affairs constrains our people to demand that, by a revision
of our revenue laws, the receipts of the government shall be
reduced to the necessary expense of its economical adminis
tration ; and this demand should be recognized and obeyed
by the people's representatives in the legislative branch of the
government. In readjusting the burdens of Federal taxation, a sound
public 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 ad
vantages 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

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 71
and heedless action, often the outgrowth of impatience and
delayed justice.
Due regard should also be 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 repub
lic ; and we treat those who have it in their keeping as citizens
entitled 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 important reason that the laboring man, surrounded by
his family in his humble home, as a consumer, is vitally in
terested 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
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 nor reduce the compensation of Ameri
can labor, and injuriously affect its condition and the dignified
place it holds in the estimation of our people.
But our farmers and agriculturists — those who from the
soil produce the things consumed by all — are, perhaps, more
directly and plainly concerned than any other of our citizens
in a just and careful system of Federal taxation. Those
actually engaged in, and more remotely connected with this
kind of work, number nearly one-half of our population.
None labor harder or more continuously than they. No
enactments limit their hours of toil, and no interposition of the

72 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
government enhances to any great extent the value of their
products. And yet, for many of the necessaries and comforts
of life, which the most scrupulous economy enables them to
bring into their homes, and for their implements of husbandry,
they are obliged to pay a price largely increased by an un
natural profit which, by the action of the government, is given
to the more favored manufacturer.
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
amendment to our revenue laws which shall cheapen the price
of the necessaries of life, and give freer entrance to such im
ported materials as, by American labor, may be manufactured
into marketable 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.

VI.
Third Annual Message to Congress.
To the Congress of the United States :
You are confronted at the threshold of your legislative duties
with a condition of the national finances which imperatively
demands immediate and careful consideration.
The amount of money annually exacted, through the oper
ation of present laws, from the industries and necessities of
the people, largely exceeds the sum necessary to meet the ex
penses of the government.
When we consider that the theory of our institutions guar
antees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the fruits of his
industry and enterprise, with only such deduction as may be
his share toward the careful and economical maintenance of

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 73
the government which protects him, it is plain that the exaction
of more than this is indefensible extortion, and a culpable be
trayal 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 consequences. The
public treasury, which should only exist as a conduit convey
ing 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, preventing
investment in productive enterprise, threatening financial dis
turbance, 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 inci
dents, more than ever presaging financial convulsion and
wide-spread disaster.
It will not do to neglect this situation because its dangers
^re not now palpably imminent and apparent. They exist
none the less certainly, and await the unforeseen and unex
pected occasion when suddenly they will be precipitated upon
us. On the 30th 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

74 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
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 interest of the three per cent, bonds still outstanding, and
which were then payable at the option of the government.
The precarious condition of financial affairs among the people
still needing relief, immediately after the 30th day of June,
1887, the remainder of the three per cent, bonds then out
standing, 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 completed by the expenditure of $27,684,283.55
in the purchase of government bonds not yet due, bearing four
and four and one half per cent, interest, the premium paid there
on 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 antici
pated, and banks selected as depositories of public money
were permitted somewhat to increase their deposits.
While the expedients thus employed to release to the people
the money lying idle in the treasury served to avert imme
diate danger, our surplus revenues have continued to accu
mulate, the excess for the present year amounting on the first
of December 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 expected 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
community may not in the near future be subjected to the
same distress which was quite lately produced from the same

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 75
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 interests, 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 legit
imate means should be devised by the government to restore
in an emergency, without waste or extravagance, such money
to its place among the people.
If such an emergency arises there now exists no clear and
undoubted executive power of relief. Heretofore the re
demption of three per cent, bonds, which were payable at the
option of the government, has afforded a means for the dis
bursement 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 con
tribution 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 direc
tion. In the present state of legislation the only pretense 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 pro
vision 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 tem
porary and limiting in its application, instead of conferring a
continuing discretion 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 condition of the country ; and if it is deemed wise to

76 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
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 possible, with such checks and
limitations as will define this official'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
purchased 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 be
tween the old and new security paid in cash, thus finding use
for the surplus in the treasury. The success of this plan, it
is apparent, must depend upon the volition of the holders of
the present bonds ; and it is not entirely certain that the in
ducement 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
establishing 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. Legislative
and executive effort should generally be in the opposite direc
tion, and should have a tendency to divorce, as much and as
fast as can safely be done, the Treasury Department from pri
vate enterprise.

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 77
Of course, it is not expected that unnecessary and extrav
agant appropriations will be made for the purpose of avoiding
the accumulation of an excess of revenue. Such expenditure,
besides the demoralization of all just conceptions of public
duty which it entails, stimulates a habit of reckless improvi
dence not in the least consistent with the mission of our peo
ple or the high and beneficent purposes of our government.
I have deemed it my duty thus to 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 apprehen
sion 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 continued 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
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 ap
parent cause, constantly reproducing the same alarming cir
cumstances — a congested national treasury and a depleted
monetary condition 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 treas
ury, consists of a tariff or duty levied upon importations from
abroad, and internal revenue taxes levied upon the consump
tion 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

78 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
be no just complaint of this taxation by the consumers 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 purchase for use these imported articles. Many of these
things, however, are raised or manufactured in our own coun
try, and the duties now levied upon foreign goods and pro
ducts are called protection to these home manufactures, be
cause they render 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 compara
tively a few use the im.ported articles, millions of our people,
who never use and never saw any of the foreign products, pur
chase 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 imported articles. Those who buy
imports pay the duty charged thereon into the public treas
ury, but the great majority of our citizens, who buy domestic
articles of the same class, pay a sum at least approximately
equal to this duty to the home manufacturer. This reference
to the operation of our tariff laws is no^t made by way of in
struction, but in order that we may be constantly reminded of
the manner in which they impose a burden upon those who
consume domestic products as well as those who consume im
ported articles, and thus create a tax upon our people.
It is not proposed to relieve the country entirely of this tax
ation. 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

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 79
our manufacturers. It may be called protection, or by any
other name, but relief from the hardships and dangers of our
present tariff laws should be devised with especial precaution
against imperiling the existence of our manufacturing inter
ests. But this existence should not mean a condition which,
without regard to the public welfare or a national exigency,
must always insure the realization of immense profits instead
of moderately profitable returns. As the volume and diver
sity 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 taxation 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 ofganized
combination, all along the line, to maintain their advantage.
We are in the midst of centennial celebrations, and with be
coming 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 rea
sonable demand for governmental regard, it suits the purposes
of advocacy to call our manufactures infant industries, still
needing the highest and greatest degree of favor and foster
ing care that can be wrung from Federal legislation.
It is also said that the increase in the price of domestic
manufactures resulting from the present tariff is necessary in
order that higher wages may be paid to our workingmen, em
ployed in 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 compensa
tion of our laboring people. Our labor is honorable in the
eyes of every American citizen ; and as it lies at the founda
tion of our development and progress, it is entitled, without

8o TAXATION AND REVENUE.
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
personal service — 2,934,876 of whom are domestic servants and
laborers — while 1,810,256 are employed in trade and transpor
tation, 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 wHom it includes 375,143 carpenters and joiners, 285,401
milliners, dressmakers, and seamstresses, 172,726 blacksmiths,
133,756 tailors and tailoresses, 102,473 masons, 76,241 butchers,
41,309 bakers, 22,083 plasterers, and 4891 engaged in manu
facturing agricultural implements, amounting in the aggregate
to 1,214,023, leaving 2,623,089 persons employed in such man
ufacturing 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 there
fore should forego an advantage, in the interest of low prices
for the majority ; their compensation, as it may be affected by
the operation of tariff laws, should at all times be scrupulously
kept in view ; and yet, with slight reflection, they will not over
look the fact that they are consumers with the rest ; that they,
too, have their ovyn wants and those of their families to supply
from their earnings, and that the price of the necessaries of
life, as well as the amount of their wages, will regulate the
measure of their welfare and comfort.
But the reduction of taxation demanded should be so

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 8 1
measured as not to necessitate or justify either the loss of em
ployment by the workingman or the lessening of his wages ;
and the profits still remaining to the manufacturer, after a
necessary readjustment, should furnish no excuse for the sacri
fice of the interests of his employees, 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 receives 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 payment of the increase in price which
the tariff permits, the hard-earned compensation of many days
of toil.
The farmer and 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 purchases of clothing and woolen 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 themselves and their households must v?ear
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

82 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
found in small flocks numbering from twenty-five to fifty.
The duty on the grade of imported wool which these sheep
yield is ten cents each pound, if of the value of thirty cents or
less, and twelve cents if of the value of more than thirty cents.
If the liberal estimate of six pounds be allowed for each fleece,
the duty thereon would be sixty or seventy-two cents, and
this may be taken as the utmost 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 thirty-six dollars 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 until 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 operation of other tariff laws. In the meantime the
day arrives when the farmer finds it necessary to purchase
woolen 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 considerable sum thereto to meet a further in
crease 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 pro
portion they bear to our population is considered ; when it is
made apparent, that, in the case of a large part of those who

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 83
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
unemployed, the sick and well, and the young and old, and
that it constitutes a tax which, with relentless grasp, is fast
ened 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 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 competition 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 com
modities 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
othervyise 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 someone is
willing to accept lower prices for such commodity, and that
such prices are remunerative ; and lower prices produced by
competition prove the same thing. Thus, where either of
these conditions exists, a case would seem to be presented for
an easy reduction of taxation.
The considerations which have been presented touching

84 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
our tariff laws are intended only to enforce an earnest recom
mendation 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 unfriend
liness toward our manufacturing interests, or of any lack of
appreciation 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 pa
triotism, as well as a grateful recognition of advantages already
afforded, should lead them to willing co-operation. No de
mand is made that they shall forego all the benefits of govern
mental regard ; but they cannot fail to be admonished of their
duty, as well as their enlightened self-interest and safety, when
they are reminded of the fact that financial panic and collapse,
to which the present condition tends, afford no greater shelter
or protection to our manufactures than to our other important
enterprises. Opportunity for safe, careful, and deliberate re
form is now offered, and none of us should be unmindful of
a time when an abused and irritated people, heedless of those
who have resisted 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.

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 85
Under our present laws more than four thousand articles
are subject to duty. Many of these do not in any way com
pete with our own manufactures and many are hardly worth
attention 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 upon raw
material used in manufactures, or its free importation, is, of
course, an important factor in any effort to reduce the prices
of these necessaries ; 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 modified. Such reduction, or free importation,
would serve besides largely to 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, 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 em
ployees more certain and steady labor, with its resulting quiet
and contentmeat.
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 confiding 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

86 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
government have, by repeated and authoritative declarations,
condemned the condition of our laws which permits the collec
tion 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 con
done 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 co7idition
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 con
sideration for the public good.
The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is to
reduce the 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, with
out danger to the opportunity for remunerative labor which
our workingmen need, and with benefit to them and all our
people, by cheapening their means of subsistence and
increasing the measure of their comforts.
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 cu.stom of the Executive, in com
pliance with this provision, to exhibit annually to the Congress,
at the opening of its session, the general condition of the
country, and to detail, with some particularity, the operations
of the different Executive Departments. It would be especially

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 87
agreeable to follow this course at the present time, and to call
attention to the valuable accomplishments of these Depart
ments during the last fiscal year. But I am so much im
pressed with the paramount importance of the subject to which
this communication has thus far been devoted that I shall
forego the addition of any other topic, and shall only urge
upon your immediate consideration the " state of the Union," as
shown in the present condition of our treasury and our gen
eral fiscal situation, upon which every element of our safety
and prosperity depends.
The reports of the heads of Departments, which vi^ill be
submitted, contain full and explicit information touching the
transaction of the business intrusted to them, and such rec
ommendations relating to legislation in the public interest 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 ear
nestly 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.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 6, 1887.

88 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
VII.
Letter to Tammany Hall Celebration.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 29, 1888.
To James A. Flack, Grand Sachem :
Dear Sir : I regret that I am obliged to decline the cour
teous invitation which I have received to attend the celebration
by the Tammany Society of the birthday of our republic on
the 4th day of July next The zeal and enthusiasm with
which your society celebrates this day afford proof of its stead
fast patriotism as well as its care for all that pertains to the
advantage and prosperity of the people.
I cannot doubt that the renewal of a " love and devotion to
a pure Jeffersonian Democratic form of government," which
you contemplate, will suggest the inquiry whether the people
are receiving all the benefits which are due them under such a
form of government. These benefits are not fully enjoyed
when our citizens are unnecessarily burdened, and their earn
ings and incomes are uselessly diminished under the pretext
of governmental support.
Our government belongs to the people. They have decreed
its purpose ; and it is their clear right to demand that its cost
shall be limited by frugality, and that its burden of expense
shall be carefully limited by its actual needs. And yet a use
less and dangerous surplus in the national treasury tells no
other tale but extortion on the part of the government, and a
perversion of the people's intention. In the midst of our im.-
petuous enterprise and blind confidence in our destiny, it is
time to pause and study our condition. It is no sooner appre
ciated than the conviction must follow that the tribute exacted
from the people should be diminished.
The theories which cloud the subject, misleading honest
men, and the appeals to selfish interests which deceive the un
derstanding, make the reform, which should be easy, a difficult
task. Although those who propose a remedy for present evils

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 89
have always been the friends of American labor, and though
they declare their purpose to further its interests in all their
efforts, yet those who oppose reform attempt to disturb our
workingmen by the cry that their wages and their employment
are threatened.
They advocate a system which benefits certain classes of
our citizens at the expense of every householder in the land —
a system which breeds discontent, because it permits the du
plication of wealth without corresponding additional recom
pense to labor, which prevents the opportunity to work by
stifling production and limiting the area of our markets, and
which enhances the cost of living beyond the laborer's hard-
earned wages.
The attempt is made to divert the attention of the people
from the evils of such a scheme of taxation, by branding those
who seek to correct these evils as free-traders, and enemies of
our workingmen and our industrial enterprises. This is so far
from the truth that there should be no chance for such decep
tion to succeed.
It behooves the American people, while they rejoice in the
anniversary of the day when their free government was de
clared, also to reason together and determine that they will
not be deprived of the blessings and the benefits which their
government should afford. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

VIII.
From the Fourth Annual Message to Congress, December, 1888.
As you assemble for the discharge of the duties you have
assumed as the representatives of a free and generous people,
your meeting is marked by an interesting and impressive inci
dent. With the expiration of the present session of the Con-

90 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
gress the first century of our constitutional existence as a na
tion will be completed.
Our survival for one hundred years is not suflacient to as
sure us that we no longer have dangers to fear in the main
tenance, with all its promised blessings, of a government
founded upon the freedom of the people. The time rather
admonishes us soberly to inquire whether in the past we have
always closely kept in the course of safety, and whether we
have before us a way, plain and clear, which leads to happiness
and perpetuity.
When the experiment of our government was undertaken,
the chart adopted for our guidance was the Constitution.
Departure from the lines there laid down is failure. It is only
by a strict adherence to the directions they indicate, and by re
straint within the limitations they fix, that we can furnish
proof to the world of the fitness of the American people for
self-government. The equal and exact justice of which webcast, as the under
lying principle of our institutions, should not be confined to the
relations of our citizens to each other. The government
itself is under bond to the American people that, in the exer
cise of its functions and powers, it will deal with the body of
our citizens in a manner scrupulously honest and fair, and ab
solutely just. It has agreed that American citizenship shall be
the only credential necessary to justify the claim of equality
before the law, and that no condition in life shall give rise to
discrimination in the treatment of the people by their govern
ment. The citizen of our republic in its early days rigidly insisted
upon full compliance with the letter of this bond, and saw
stretching out before him a clear field for individual endeavor.
His tribute to the support of his government was measured
by the cost of its economical maintenance, and he was secure
in the enjoyment of the remaining recompense of his steady
and contented toil. In those days the frugality of the people
was stamped upon their government, and was enforced by the

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 91
free, thoughtful, and intelligent suffrage of the citizen. Com
binations, monopolies, and aggregations of capital were either
avoided or sternly regulated and restrained. The pomp and
glitter of governments less free offered no temptation and
presented no delusion to the plain people, who, side by side, in
friendly competition, wrought for the ennoblement and dignity
of man, for the solution of the problem of free government,
and for the achievement of the grand destiny awaiting the land
which God had given them.
A century has passed. Our cities are the abiding-places of
wealth and luxury ; our manufactories yield fortunes never
dreamed of by the fathers of the republic ; our business men
are madly striving in the race for riches, and immense aggre
gations of capital outrun the imagination in the magnitude of
their undertakings.
We view with pride and satisfaction this bright picture of
our country's growth and prosperity, while only a closer scru
tiny develops a somber shading. Upon more careful inspection
we find the wealth and luxury of our cities mingled with
poverty and wretchedness and unremunerative toil. A crowded
and constantly increasing urban population suggests the im
poverishment of rural sections, and discontent with agricultural
pursuits. The farmer's son, not satisfied with his father's
simple and laborious life, joins the eager chase for easily
acquired wealth.
We discover that the fortunes realized by our manufacturers
are no longer solely the reward of sturdy industry and en
lightened foresight, but that they result from the discrimi
nating favor of the government, and are largely built upon
andue exactions from the masses of our people. The gulf
between employers and the employed is constantly widening,
and classes are rapidly forming, one comprising the very rich
and powerful, while in another are found the toiling poor.
As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we dis
cover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monopolies,
while the citizen is struggling far in the rear, or is trampled to

92 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which should be
carefully restrained creatures of the law and the servants of
the people, are fast becoming the people's masters.
Still, congratulating ourselves upon the wealth and prosperity
of our country, and complacently contemplating every incident
of change inseparable from these conditions, it is our'duty as
patriotic citizens to inquire, at the present stage of our progress,
how the bond of the government, made with the people, has
been kept and performed.
Instead of limiting the tribute drawn from our citizens to
the necessities of its economical administration, the government
persists in exacting, from the substance of the people, millions,
which, unapplied and useless, lie dormant in its treasury.
This flagrant injustice, and this breach of faith and obligation,
add to extortion the danger attending the diversion of the cur
rency of the country from the legitimate channels of business.
Under the same laws by which these results are produced,
the government permits many millions more to be added to the
cost of the living of our people, and to be taken from our con
sumers, which unreasonably swell the profits of a small, but
powerful minority.
The people must still be taxed for the support of the gov
ernment under the operation of tariff laws. But, to the extent
that the mass of our citizens are inordinately burdened beyond
any useful public purpose and for the benefit of a favored few,
the government, under pretext of an exercise of its taxing
power, enters gratuitously into partnership with these favorites,
to their advantage and to the injury of a vast majority of our
people. This is not equality before the law.
The existing situation is injurious to the health of our entire
body politic. It stifles, in those for whose benefit it is per
mitted, all patriotic love of country, and substitutes in its place
selfish greed and grasping avarice. Devotion to American cit
izenship for its own sake and for what it should accomplish as
a motive to our nation's advancement and the happiness of all

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 93
our people, is displaced by the assumption that the government,
instead of being the embodiment of equality, is but an instru
mentality through which especial and individual advantages are
to be gained.
The arrogance of this assumption is unconcealed. It appears
in the sordid disregard of all but personal interests, in the re
fusal to abate for the benefit of others one iota of selfish ad
vantage, and in combinations to perpetuate such advantages
through efforts to control legislation and influence improperly
the suffrages of the people.
The grievances of those not included within the circle of
these beneficiaries, when fully realized, will surely arouse
irritation and discontent. Our farmers, long-suffering and
patient, struggling in the race of life with the hardest and most
unremitting toil, will not fail to see, in spite of misrepresenta
tions and misleading fallacies, that they are obliged to accept
such prices for their products as are fixed in foreign markets,
where they compete with the farmers of the world ; that their
lands are declining in value while their debts increase ; and
that, without compensating favor, they are forced by the action
of the government to pay, for the benefit of others, such en
hanced prices for the things they need that the scanty returns
of their labor fail to furnish their support, or leave no margin
for accumulation.
Our workingmen, enfranchised from all delusions and no
longer frightened by the cry that their wages are endangered
by a just revision of our tariff laws, will reasonably demand
through such revision steadier employment, cheaper means of
living in their homes, freedom for themselves and their children
from the doom of perpetual servitude, and an open door to
their advancement beyond the limits of a laboring class. Oth
ers of our citizens whose comforts and expenditures are meas
ured by moderate salaries and fixed incomes, will insist upon
the fairness and justice of cheapening the cost of necessaries
for themselves and their families.
When to the selfishness of the beneficiaries of unjust dis-

94 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
crimination under our laws there shall be added the discontent
of those who suffer from such discrimination, we will realize
the fact that the beneficent purposes of our government, de
pendent upon the patriotism and contentment of our people,
are endangered.
Communism is a hateful thing, and a menace to peace and
organized government. But the communism of combined
wealth and capital, the outgrowth of overweening cupidity
and selfishness, which insidiously undermines the justice and
integrity of free institutions is not less dangerous than the
communism of oppressed poverty and toil which, exasperated
by injustice and discontent, attacks with wild disorder the
citadel of rule.
He mocks the people who proposes that the government
shall protect the rich and that they in turn will care for the
laboring poor. Any intermediary between the people and
their government, or the least delegation of the care and pro
tection the government owes to the humblest citizen in the
land, makes the boast of free institutions a glittering delusion
and the pretended boon of American citizenship a shameless
imposition. A just and sensible revision of our tariff laws should be
made for the relief of those of our countrymen who suffer
under present conditions. Such a revision should receive the
support of all who love that justice and equality due to Amer
ican citizenship ; of all who realize that in this justice and
equality our government finds its strength and its power to
protect the citizen and his property ; of all who believe that
the contented competence and comfort of many accord better
with the spirit of our institutions than colossal fortunes un
fairly gathered in the hands of a few ; of all who appreciate
that the forbearance and fraternity among our people, which
recognize the value of every American interest, are the surest
guarantee of our national progress, and of all who desire to see
the products of American skill and ingenuity in every market of
the world with a resulting restoration of American commerce.

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 95
The necessity of the reduction of our revenue is so apparent
as to be generally conceded. But the means by which this
end shall be accomplished, and the sum of direct benefit which
shall result to our citizens, present a controversy of the utmost
importance. There should be no scheme accepted as satisfac
tory by which the burdens of the people are only apparently
removed. Extravagant appropriations of public money, with
all their demoralizing consequences, should not be tolerated,
either as a means of relieving the treasury of its present sur
plus or as furnishing pretexts for resisting a proper reduction
in tariff rates. Existing evils and injustice should be honestly
recognized, boldly met, and effectively remedied. There
should be no cessation of the struggle until a plan is perfected,
fair and conservative toward existing industries, but which
will reduce the cost to consumers of the necessaries of life,
while it provides for our manufacturers the advantage of
freer raw materials and permits no injury to the interests of
American labor.
The cause for which the battle is waged is comprised within
lines clearly and distinctly defined. It should never be com
promised. It is the people's cause.
It cannot be denied that the selfish and private interests,
which are so persistently heard when efforts are made to deal
in a just and comprehensive manner with our tariff" laws, are
related to, if they are not responsible for, the sentiment largely
prevailing among the people that the general government is
the fountain of individual and private aid ; that it may be ex
pected to relieve with paternal care the distress of citizens
and communities, and that from the fullness of its treasury it
should, upon the slightest possible pretext of promoting the
general good, apply public funds to the benefit of localities
and individuals. Nor can it be denied that there is a growing
assumption that, as against the government and in favor of
private claims and interests, the usual rules and limitations of
business principles and just dealing should be waived.
These ideas have been, unhappily, much encouraged by

96 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
legislative acquiescence. Relief from contracts made with the
government is too easily accorded in favor of the citizen ; the
failure to support claims against the government by proof is
often supplied by no better consideration than the wealth of
the government and the poverty of the claimant ; gratuities
in the form of pensions are granted upon no other real ground
than the needy condition of the applicant, or for reasons less
valid ; and large sums are expended, for public buildings and
other improvements, upon representations scarcely claimed to
be related to public needs and necessities.
The extent to which the consideration of such matters sub
ordinates and postpones action upon subjects of great public
importance, but involving no special, private, or partisan
interest, should arrest attention and lead to reformation.
A few of the numerous illustrations of this condition maybe
stated. The crowded condition of the calendar of the Supreme
Court, and the delay to suitors and denial of justice resulting
therefrom, have been strongly urged upon the attention of the
Congress, with a plan for the relief of the situation approved
by those well able to judge of its merits. While this subject
remains without effective consideration, many laws have been
passed providing for the holding of terms of inferior court at
places to suit the convenience of localities, or to lay the foun
dation of an application for the erection of a new public
building. Repeated recommendations have been submitted for the
amendment and change of the laws relating to our public
lands, so that their spoliation and diversion to other uses than
as homes for honest settlers might be prevented. While a
measure to meet this conceded necessity of reform remains
awaiting the action of the Congress, many claims to the pub
lic lands and applications for their donation, in favor of States
and individuals, have been allowed.
A plan in aid of Indian management, recommended by
those well informed as containing valuable features in further-

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 97
ance of the solution of the Indian problem, has thus far failed
of legislative sanction, while grants of doubtful expediency to
railroad corporations, permitting them to pass through Indian
reservations, have greatly multiplied.
The propriety and necessity of the erection of one or more
prisons for the confinement of United States convicts, and a
post-office building in the national capital, are not disputed.
But these needs yet remain unanswered, while scores of pub
lic buildings have been erected where their necessity for
public purposes is not apparent.
A revision of our pension laws could easily be made, which
would rest upon just principles and provide for every worthy
applicant. But, while our general pension laws remain con
fused and imperfect, hundreds of private pension laws are
annually passed which are the sources of unjust discrimination
and popular demoralization.
Appropriation bills for the support of the government are
defaced by items and provisions to meet private ends, and it
is freely a'feserted by responsible and experienced parties that
a bill appropriating money for public internal improvement
would fail to meet with favor unless it contained items more
for local and private advantage than for public benefit.
These statements can be much emphasized by an ascer
tainment of the proportion of Federal legislation which either
bears upon its face its private character or which, upon exam
ination, develops such a motive power.
And yet the people wait, and expect from their chosen repre
sentatives such patriotic action as will advance the welfare of
the entire country ; and this expectation can only be answered
by the performance of public duty with unselfish purpose.
Our mission among the nations of the earth, and our success
in accomplishing the work God has given the American people
to do, require of those intrusted with the making and execu
tion of our laws perfect devotion, above all other things, to the
public good.
This devotion will lead us to resist strongly all impatience

98 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
of constitutional limitations of Federal power, and to check per
sistently the increasing tendency to extend the scope of Fed
eral legislation into the domain of State and local jurisdiction,
upon the plea of subserving the public welfare. The preser
vation of the partitions between proper subjects of Federal
and local care and regulation is of such importance under
the Constitution, which is the law of our very existence, that
no consideration of expediency or sentiment should tempt us
to enter upon doubtful ground. We have undertaken to dis
cover and proclaim the richest blessings of a free government,
with the Constitution as our guide. Let us follow the way it
points out. It will not mislead us. ' And surely no one who
has taken upon himself the solemn obligation to support and
preserve the Constitution can find justification or solace for
disloyalty in the excuse that he wandered and disobeyed in
search of a better way to reach the public welfare than the
Constitution offers.
What has been said is deemed not inappropriate at a time
when, from a century's height, we view the way already trod
by the American people, and attempt to discover their future
path. The seventh President of the United States — the soldier and
statesman, and at all times the firm and brave friend of the
people — in vindication of his course as the protector of popular
rights, and the champion of true American citizenship, declared :
The ambition which leads me on is an anxious desire and a fixed deter
mination to restore to the people, unimpaired, the sacred trust they have
confided to my charge ; to heal the wounds of the Constitution and to pre
serve it from further violation ; to persuade my countrymen, so far as I may,
that it is not in a splendid government supported by powerful monopolies
and aristocratical establishments that they will find happiness, or their liber
ties protection, but in a plain system, void of pomp — protecting all and grant
ing favors to none — dispensing its blessings like the dews of heaven, un
seen and unfelt save in the freshness and beauty they contribute to pro
duce. It is such a government that the genius of our people requires — such
an one only under which our States may remain, for ages to come, united,
prosperous, and free.

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 99
IX.
To the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, December 24, 1888.
Messrs. Sherman, Hoar, and Others, Committee:
Gentlemen : I am exceedingly sorry that I cannot be pres
ent at the dinner of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform League
on the 28th instant. This is not merely a formal and common
expression of regret ; it truly indicates how much I should en
joy meeting the members of your league, and how glad I
should be to express in person my appreciation of their im
portant services in a cause to which I am earnestly attached,
and to acknowledge at the same time their frequent and en
couraging manifestations of personal friendliness. I know,
too, that it would be profitable and advantageous to be, even
for a brief period, within the inspiring influence of the atmos
phere surrounding patriotic and unselfish men, banded together
in the interests of their fellow-countrymen, and devoted to the
work of tariff reform.
This reform appears to me to be as far-reaching in its pur
poses as the destiny of our country, and as broad in its benefi
cence as the welfare of our entire people. It is because the
efforts of its advocates are not discredited by any sordid mo
tives that they are able boldly and confidently to attack the
strongholds of selfishness and greed. Our institutions were
constructed in purity of purpose and love for humanity. Their
operation is adjusted to the touch of national virtue and
patriotism, and their results, under such guidance, must be the
prosperity and happiness of our people ; and so long as the
advocates of tariff reform appreciate the sentiments in which
our institutions had their origin, so long as they apprehend
the sources which alone can guide their operations, so long as
they, in a spirit of true patriotism, are consecrated to the serv
ice of their country, temporary defeat brings no discourage
ment. It but proves the stubbornness of the forces of com-

lOO TAXATION AND REVENUE.
bined selfishness, and discloses how far the people have been
led astray and how great is the necessity of redoubled efforts
in their behalf. To lose faith in the intelligence of the people
is a surrender and an abandonment of the struggle. To arouse
their intelligence, and free it from darkness and delusion, gives
assurance of speedy and complete victory.
In the track of reform are often found the dead hopes of
pioneers and the despair of those who fall in the march. But
there will be neither despair nor dead hopes in the path of
tariff reform ; nor shall its pioneers fail to reach the heights.
Holding fast their faith, and rejecting every alluring overture
and every deceptive compromise which would betray their
sacred trust, they themselves shall regain and restore the
patrimony of their countrymen, freed from the trespass of
grasping encroachment and safely secured by the genius of
American justice and equality. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

X.
To the Lndiana Tariff Reform League. .
New York, February 15, 1890.
Edgar A. Brown, Esq., President.
My Dear Sir : Though my letters to Democratic and
tariff reform assemblages have lately been very frequent, I
cannot deny your request to say a word of encouragement to
the tariff reformers who will meet at the first annual conven
tion of the Indiana Tariff Reform League on the 4th of
March. I am very much pleased with the plan upon which your
league seems to be organized. It conveys a suggestion of
practical work in the field of information and enlightenment.
This, if persistently carried out, cannot fail of success. Of
course, we do not approach the American people, assuming

TAXATION AND REVENUE. loi
that they are ignorant or unpatriotic. But we know that
they are busy people and apt to neglect the study of
public questions. In the engrossment of their daily avoca
tions, they are too ready to rely upon the judgment and
avowed principles of the party with which they have affiliated
as guides to their political actions. In this way they have be
come slow to examine for themselves the questions of tariff re
form. If, in the lights of reasonable and simple arguments
and of such object-lessons as are being constantly placed be
fore them, our people can be induced to investigate the sub
jects, there need be no fear as to their conclusion.
The Democratic party — as the party of the people, opposed to
selfish schemes, which ignore the public good, and pledged to the
interests of all their countrymen instead of furtherance of the in
terests of the few who seek to pervert governmental powers for
their enrichment — was never nearer to its fundamental princi
ples than it was in its contests for tariff reform.
It certainly adds to the satisfaction with which we labor in
this cause to be asstired that in our efforts we not only serve
our party, but all the people of the land.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XL
To the Tariff Reform Club, Hagerstown, Md.
New York, April 29, 1890.
Henry Kyd Douglass, Esq.
My Dear Sir : I thank you for your invitation to attend
the meeting on the 2d day of May which inaugurates a tariff
reform club at Hagerstown. I am sorry that I cannot be with
you on this interesting occasion, which is to give birth to
another of those agencies whose mission it is to rouse to
practical thought and activity. Those who propose to juggle
with the question of tariff reform will never again find their in-

I02 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
tended dupes asleep and uninformed. The people shall know the
merits of this question, and shall know, too, that its fair and
honest adjustment greatly concerns them.
With such a mission, and in the enforcement of such a prin
ciple, it is a glorious thing to be a true Democrat in these days.
The zeal and enthusiasm which at this time prevail in our
party demonstrate that Democracy is never in a more con
genial element than when it battles for a principle which in
volves the real welfare and prosperity of the people. I hope
that your meeting will be a great success, and that your Tariff
Reform Club will never falter in usefulness and efficiency.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
xn.
To the Kensington Reform Club, Philadelphia.
New York, May 9, 1890.
F. A. Herwig, President.
My Dear Sir : I desire through you to thank the Kensing
ton Reform Club, formerly known as the Workingmen's Tariff
Reform Association, for the courteous invitation I have received
to attend a mass meeting on the evening of the 3d of June.
The terms in which the invitation is expressed convince me
that the question of tariff reform is receiving the attention it
deserves from those most vitally interested in its just and
fair solution. I know that, with the feeling now abroad in our
land and with the intense existence and activity of such clubs
as yours, the claim, presumptuously made, that the people at the
last election finally passed upon the subject of tariff adjust
ment will be emphatically denied ; that our workingmen and
our farmers will continue to agitate this and all other questions
involving their welfare with increased zeal, and in the light of
increased knowledge and experience, until they are determined
finally and in accordance with the American sentiment of fair
play.

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 103
I use no idle form of words when I say that I regret my en
gagements and professional occupations will not permit me to
meet the members of your club on the occasion of their mass
meeting. Hoping that those who are fortunate enough to
participate will find it to their profit, and that the meeting
will in all respects be a great success,
I am, yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XIII.
To the President of the Custom Cutters' National Convention.
New York, January 20, 1891.
G. H. Huntoon, Esq.
Dear Sir : I thank you for sending me your address made
at the convention of the Custom Foremen Tailors' Associa
tion, and I have read the same with interest.
The question of tariff reform directly affects all the people of
the land in a substantial way, and they ought to be interested
in its discussion. I am afraid that a great many of our fellow-
citizens are too apt to regard this as a political question, intri
cate and complex, affecting them in a remote way, and one
which may well enough be left for politicians to wrangle over.
This induces a neglect of the subject on the part of a great
number of our people and a willingness to follow blindly the
party to which they happen to belong in their action upon it.
It is a good sign to see practical men, such as belong to
your association, discussing the question for themselves. If
this is done intelligently, and with sincere intent to secure the
truth, tariff reformers, I think, have no need to fear the result
of such discussions. Very truly yours,
Grover Cleveland.

104 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
XIV.
To the Tariff Reform Club, Montclair, N. J.
New York, February 3, 189 1.
Alexander D. Noyes, Esq.
Dear Sir : I have received the invitation you sent me to
attend a dinner given by the Tariff Reform Club of Montclair,
N. J., on the 6th instant, and I regret that my engagements
are such that I cannot accept the same.
It gives me great pleasure to note the growth of Democratic
sentiments and strength in my native county, and to know
that the cause of tariff reform has commended itself to the
voters of the Sixth Congressional District. These circum
stances furnish exceptional persuasion to an invitation to meet
those who, by organized effort, are pushing on the good work
in the county where I was born.
Nothing can excuse the Democratic party if, at this time, it
permits the neglect or subordination of the question of tariff
reform. In the first place, the principle involved is plainly
and unalterably right. This, of itself, should be sufficient
reason for constant activity in its behalf. Secondly, we have
aroused a spirit of inquiry among our countrymen which it is
our duty to satisfy.; and finally, there may be added to these
considerations the promise of success held out to the party
which honestly perseveres in the propagandism of sound and
true political principles. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XV.
To the Indiana Tariff Reform League, March, 1891.
You will not, I hope, think it amiss if I suggest the neces
sity of pushing, with more vigor than ever, the doctrine of your
organization. I believe that the theories and practices which
tariff reform antagonizes are responsible for many, if not all,

TAXATION AND REVENUE. 105
of the evils which afflict our people. If there is a scarcity of
the circulating medium, is not the experiment worth trying as
a remedy, of leaving in the hands of the people, and for their
use, the money which is needlessly taken from them under the
pretext of necessary taxation ? If the farmer's lot is a hard
one, in his discouraging struggle for better rewards of his toil,
are the prices of his products to be improved by the policy
which hampers trade in his best markets and invites the com
petition of dangerous rivals ?
Whether other means of relief may appear necessary to re
lieve present hardships, I believe the principle of tariff reform
promises a most important aid in their rectification, and that
the continued and earnest advocacy of this principle is essen
tial to the lightening of the burdens of our countrymen.
Hoping that your organization may continue to be one of
great usefulness and encouragement. I am, yours very respectfully,
Grover Cleveland.

XVI.
To the Young Men's Democratic Club, Canton, O.
New York, November 27, 1891.
Chas. Krichbaum, Esq., President, etc.
Dear Sir : I regret that I am unable to attend the meeting
to be held at Canton on the evening of the 3d of December,
under the auspices of the Young Men's Democratic Club.
The value and significance of this occasion, it seems to me,
are found in the evidence it furnishes of a determination to
push the issue of tariff reform in a practical and effective
manner. It is the duty of the Democratic party to do this ;
and expediency, as well as duty, forbids any backward step or
faltering. No party can succeed which deliberately relinquishes a
principle on the eve of its vindication ; and no party ought to

io6 TAXATION AND REVENUE.
succeed, which, having led honest men to the examination of a
question vital to their interest and welfare, abandons their
guidance and leaves them in unhappy doubt and perplexity.
The confidence born of mutual congratulation over partial
success, and the assertion of the claims of any individual to
pre-eminence or leadership, ought not to divert us from the duty
we owe to the people. Our obligations, then, will not be dis
charged, until, in every hamlet and neighborhood throughout
the land, our cause is so presented to our countrymen that
they can no longer be deceived through blindness nor cor
rupted through indifference. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER V.
centennial and anniversary celebrations.
I.
At the Semi-Centennial of the City of Buffalo, July 3, 1882.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
I ought, perhaps, to be quite content on this occasion to as
sume the part of quiet gratification. But I cannot forbear ex
pressing my satisfaction at being allowed to participate in the
exercises of the evening, and I feel that I must give token of
the pleasure I experience in gazing with you upon the fair
face of our Queen City at the age of fifty. I am proud, with
you, in contrasting what seem to us the small things of fifty
years ago, with the beauty, and the greatness, and the impor
tance of to-day. The achievements of the past are gained ;
the prosperity of the present we hold with a firm hand ; and
the promise of the future comes to us with no uncertain sound.
It seems to me to-day that of all men the resident of Buffalo
should be the proudest to name his home.
In the history of a city, fifty years but marks the period of
youth, when all is fresh and joyous. The face is fair, the step
is light, and the burden of life is carried with a song ; the
future, stretching far ahead, is full of bright anticipations, and
the past, with whatever of struggle and disappointment there
may have been, seems short, and is half forgotten. In this
heyday of our city's life, we do well to exchange our congrat
ulations, and to revel together in the assurances of the happy
and prosperous future that awaits us.
And yet I do not deem it wrong to remind myself and you
that our city, great in its youth, did not suddenly spring into
107

lo8 CENTENNIAL AND
existence clad in beauty and in strength. There were men
fifty years ago, who laid its foundations broad and deep ; and
who, with the care of jealous parents, tended it and watched
its growth. Those early times were not without their trials
and discouragements ; and we reap to-day the fruit of the
labors and the perseverance of those pioneers. Those were
the fathers of the city. Where are they? Fifty years added
to manhood fill the cup of human life. Most have gone to
swell the census of God's city, which lies beyond the stream
of fate. A few there are who listlessly linger upon the bank,
and wait to cross, in the shade of trees they have planted with
their own hands. Let us tenderly remember the dead to
night, and let us renew our love and veneration for those who
are spared to speak to us of the scenes attending our city's
birth and infancy.
And in this, our day of pride and self-gratulation, there is,
I think, one lesson at least which we may learn from the men
who have come down to us from a former generation.
In the day of the infancy of the city which they founded,
and for many years afterward, the people loved their city so
well that they would only trust the management of its affairs
in the strongest and best of hands ; and no man in those days
was so engrossed in his own business but he could find some
time to devote to public concerns. Read the names of the
men who held places in this municipality fifty years ago, and
food for reflection will be found. Is it true that the city of
to-day, with its large population and with its vast and varied
interests, needs less and different care than it did fifty years
ago? We boast of our citizenship to-night. But this citizenship
brings with it duties not unlike those we owe our neighbor
and our God. There is no better time than this for self-exam
ination. He who deems himself too pure and holy to take
part in the affairs of his city, will meet the fact that better
men than he have thought it their duty to do so. He who
cannot spare a moment, in his greed and selfishness, to de-

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 109
vote to public concerns, will, perhaps, find a well-grounded
fear that he may become the prey of public plunderers ; and
he who indolently cares not who administers the government
of his city, will find that he is living falsely, and in the neg
lect of his highest duty.
When our centennial shall be celebrated, what will be said
of us ? I hope it may be said that we built and wrought
well, and added much to the substantial prosperity of the
city we had in charge. Brick and mortar may make a large
city, but the encouragement of those things which elevate
and purify, the exaction of the highest standard of integrity
in official place, and a constant, active interest on the part
of the good people in municipal government, are needed to
make a great city.
Let it be said of us when only our names and memory
are left, in the centennial time, that we faithfully administered
the trust which we received from our fathers, and religiously
performed our parts, in our day and generation, toward
making our city not only prosperous, but truly great.

II.
Evacuation Day Celebration, New York, November 26, 1883.
Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Chamber of
Commerce :
My theme is too great for me, and I shall not attempt to
cover it. The few words I shall speak will be upon a topic
which makes but one element in the supremacy of the State of
New York, and I fear that I shall treat of that in a very prac
tical and perhaps uninteresting way.
I am free to confess that I am somewhat embarrassed to
night by my surroundings. Not only am I in the presence of
a distinguished company, but I see about me what I suppose
to be the guardians of the commerce of the State. This word
" commerce " sounds very large to me ; because, whenever I

no CENTENNIAL AND
have heard the greatness of a nation or a State spoken of, their
commerce has been dwelt upon as a chief ingredient or factor
in such greatness. Here is the gateway of the commerce of
our State ; and while the uttermost corner of our domain has
felt and still feels its healthful influence, the tribute it has paid
in passing this point has erected one of the largest cities in
the world, and created many colossal fortunes. I suppose, of
course, I need not suggest that other cities and other States
are quite willing to relieve the city and State of New York of
a part or all of the commerce thus enjoyed ; and I doubt not
the danger to be apprehended from any such competitors has
received due care and attention.
I have lately seen a statement, by which it appears that for
the year ending August 31, 1882, there were shipped from
New Orleans to fifteen foreign ports 2,744,581 bushels of
wheat and 639,342 bushels of corn. This was transported in
sixty-one steamers and two sailing vessels. But for the year
ending August 31, 1883, there were shipped from the same
city to twenty-nine foreign ports 5,529,847 bushels of wheat
and 7,161,168 bushels of corn, and this was transported in 278
steamers and twenty-four sailing vessels. We thus find an
increase, during the year specified, as follows : Increase in
wheat, 2,785,266 ; increase in corn, 6,521,826 ; increase in
number of ports, 14 ; increase in number of vessels, 239.
I expect there are other dangers to be apprehended from
other quarters, which may threaten the perpetuity and volume
of New York commerce. Is there care enough taken to have
champions of this all-important interest in the halls of legisla
tion, and is it there distinctively enough represented ? Bear in
mind that you may labor and toil, in the whirl and excitement
of business, to build new warehouses, and add to the city's
wealth and to your own, but that, while you thus build, igno
rant, negligent, or corrupt men among your lawmakers can
easily and stealthily pull down. Political duty and selfish in
terests lead in the same direction, and a neglect of this duty
will, I believe, bring a sure punishment.
I venture the opinion that the commerce of your port should

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. HI
be free from the annoying burdens and taxation to which it is
now subjected, and yet a law passed by the last legislature, as
a partial measure of relief, failed in its execution, for reasons,
perhaps, in one sense commercial in their character, but far
removed from any relations to the commerce of the port. I
hasten to disclaim any insinuation that there are legislators
sent from here who are not faithful to this great interest ; but
I see no reason why they should not all be of that kind, nor
why the commercial interests of this great city should not be
more regarded in their selection.
The people of the State have lately taken it upon themselves
to support the canals from funds raised by taxation, thus free
ing one branch of commerce from its burden. This means
much to the farmer, who, by hours of toil, unknown to you,
exacts from the soil barely sufficient to live and educate his
children. He deems the advantage of a free canal to him in
direct and remote ; but this increased taxation he must meet.
His land and farm buildings cannot be concealed ; and if, by
chance, he is able to improve them, his betterments are within
the gaze of the tax-gatherer, and bring a further increase of
taxation. Are you sure that all the property of this great
metropolis, where fortunes, which the farmer vainly works a
lifetime to secure, are made and lost in a day, meets, with
equal fairness, its share of taxation ? At any rate, cannot the
city of New York afford to pay the expense necessary to the
maintenance of its port — thus securing its commercial suprem
acy and controlling, free from State interference, this interest
so directly important to you all.
We are apt, on such a day as this, to recall with pride what
has been done within a hundred years to make us great, and
we are quite sure to appropriate a full share of all that has been
done in our day and generation. It is well, too, that we should
deserve the praise of those who shall follow us and speak of us
a hundred years hence ; but let us see to it that in our love for
our State, and in our recognition of every duty which belongs
to good citizenship, we are not behind those who lived a hun
dred years ago.

112 CENTENNIAL AND
III.
At the Semi-Centennial of Rochester, N. Y., June lo, 1884.
Having been in the service of the State for nearly eighteen
months, I feel, like any other loyal and grateful servant, that
no flight of oratory or grace of diction could, if they were within
my reach, do justice to the greatness and the goodness of my
master. I shall not attempt to do more than to recall some of
the elements which make ours a great State, and to suggest
the pride which we should feel as citizens of this common
wealth. The State of New York is not alone a vast area — though it
includes within its borders more territory than seven of the
original thirteen States combined, beautifully diversified with
mountains and valleys, streams and lakes, forests and fields,
and with farms where the wealth and variety of crops tell the
story of fertility and adaptation to the most valuable products.
The State is not alone a busy workshop, with its continuous
hum of machinery and its army of artisans and workmen —
though its manufactures exceed in worth, variety, and volume
any other State or Territory, and though their value is
more than the aggregate produced in ten of the original
States. The State is not alone a pathway of commerce and a center
of trade — though our waterways and railroads transport a
nation's wealth, and though our metropolis rivals the money
centers of the world, and is a distributing point for all
lands. The State is not alone an immense aggregation of people —
though its population exceeds that of any sister State, amount
ing to more than one-tenth of all the States and Territories,
and nearly exceeds that of eight of the original States.
Nor do all these things combined make up the State that we
delight to call our own.
Our cities, busy, thrifty, and prosperous, are constantly in
creasing in population and wealth, and in the means to furnish

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 113
to their people all that pertains to refinement and civiliza
tion. Our villages, quiet, contented, and orderly, are everywhere ;
and by their growth and enterprise give proof of proper and
economical management.
Our colleges and seminaries on every hill, and our common
schools on every hand, are evidences of the faith of the people
in popular and thorough education. Our numerous charitable
institutions enlist the care of the State for the unfortunate
poor. Our churches, and the tolerant and almost universal
observance of religious duties by every sect and creed, teach
obedience to the law and prepare our people for good citi
zenship. Our soldiery, well disciplined and equipped, stand
ready to defend our homes, while they beget a martial spirit
and patriotic sentiment. A wise and firm administration of
the law by our courts gives no occasion for disorders and out
breaks that arise from the miscarriage of justice.
Surely we have enough to cause us to congratulate ourselves
upon the claim we have to State citizenship. And yet I cannot
forget how much the continuance of all that makes us proud
to-day depends upon the watchfulness and independence of
the people and their effective participation and interest in
State affairs. With a bad government, notwithstanding all our
advantages, our State will not be great. Remember that the
government of the State was made for the people, and see to it
that it be by the people. A sturdy independence and a deter
mination to hold the public servant to a strict accountability
will teach him to keep well in view the line between the
people's interests and narrow and selfish partisanship ; and I
am sure that a man, after faithful service in official place,
reaps no mean reward, if, at the end, he shall retire with the
confidence and affection of a thoughtful and intelligent com
munity, still retaining the proud title of a citizen of the
Empire State.

114 CENTENNIAL AND
IV.
At the Two Hundred and Fiftieth Anniversary of Harvard
College, November 9, 1886.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
I find myself to-day in a company to which I am much
unused, and when I see the alumni of the oldest college in the
land surrounding in their right of sonship the maternal board
at which I am but an invited guest, the reflection that for me
there exists no alma mater gives rise to a feeling of regret,
which is tempered only by the cordiality of your welcome and
your reassuring kindness.
If the fact is recalled that only twelve of my twenty-one pre
decessors in office had the advantage of a collegiate or uni
versity education, a proof is presented of the democratic sense
of our people, rather than an argument against the supreme
value of the best and most liberal education in high public
positions. There certainly can be no sufficient reason for any
space or distance between the walks of a most classical educa
tion and the way that leads to a political place. Any disin
clination on the part of the most learned and cultured of our
citizens to mingle in public affairs, and the consequent aban
donment of political activity to those who have but little
regard for student and scholar in politics, are not favorable
conditions under a government such as ours, and if they have
existed to a damaging extent, very recent events appear to
indicate that the education and conservatism of the land are
to be hereafter more plainly heard in the expression of the
popular will.
Surely the splendid destiny which awaits a patriotic effort
in behalf of our country will be sooner reached if the best of
our thinkers and educated men shall deem it a solemn duty
of citizenship to engage actively and practically in political
affairs, and if the force and power of their thought and learn
ing shall be willingly or unwillingly acknowledged in party
management.

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 1 15
If I am to speak of the President of the United States I
desire to mention, as the most pleasant and characteristic
feature of our system of government, the nearness of the people
to their President and other high officials. A close view
afforded our citizens of the acts and conduct of those to whom
they have intrusted their interests, serves as a regulator and
check upon temptation and pressure in office, and is a constant
reminder that diligence and faithfulness are the measure of
public duty ; and such a relation between President and people
ought to leave but little room, in popular judgment and con
science, for unjust and false accusations and for malicious
slanders invented for the purpose of undermining the people's
trust and confidence in the administration of their govern
ment. No public officer should desire to check the utmost freedom
of criticism as to all official acts, but every right-thinking man
must concede that the President of the United States should
not be put beyond the protection which American love of fair
play and decency accords to every American citizen. This
trait of our national character would not encourage, if their
extent and tendency were fully appreciated, the silly, mean,
and cowardly lies that every day are found in the columns of
certain newspapers, which violate every instinct of American
manliness, and in ghoulish glee desecrate every sacred relation
of private life.
There is nothing in the highest office that the American
people can confer which necessarily makes the President alto
gether selfish, scheming, and untrustworthy. On the contrary,
the solemn duties which confront him tend to a sober sense of
responsibility ; the trust of the American people and an appre
ciation of their mission among the nations of the earth should
make him a patriotic man, and the tales of distress which reach
him from the humble and lowly, and needy and afflicted in
every corner of the land, cannot fail to quicken within him
every kind impulse and tender sensibility.
After all, it comes to this : The people of the United States

Ii6 CENTENNIAL AND
have one and all a sacred mission to perform, and your Presi
dent, not more surely than any other citizen who loves his
country must assume part of the responsibility of the demon
stration to the world of the success of popular government
No man can hide his talent in a napkin, and escape the con
demnation which his slothfulness deserves, or evade the stern
sentence which his faithlessness invites.
Be assured, my friends, that the privilege of this' day, so full
of improvement, and the enjoyments of this hour, so full of
pleasure and cheerful encouragements, will never be forgotten ;
and in parting with you now let me express my earnest hope
that Harvard's alumni may always honor the venerable institu
tion which has honored them, and that no man who forgets
and neglects his duty to American citizenship will find his
alma mater here.

V.
At the Centennial of Clinton, N. Y., July 13, 1887.
I am inclined to content myself on this occasion with an
acknowledgment, on behalf of the people of the United States,
of the compliment which you have paid to the office which
represents their sovereignty. But such an acknowledgment
suggests an idea which I cannot refrain from dwelling upon
for a moment.
That the office of President of the United States does repre
sent the sovereignty of sixty millions of free people, is, to my
mind, a statement full of solemnity ; for this sovereignty I con
ceive to be the working out or enforcement of the divine right
of man to govern himself and a manifestation of God's plan
concerning the human race.
Though the struggles of political parties to secure the in-
cumbency of this office, and the questionable methods some
times resorted to for its possession, may not be in keeping with
this idea, and though the deceit practiced to mislead the peo-

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 117
pie in their choice, and its too frequent influence on their suf
frage may surprise us, these things should never lead us astray
in our estimate of this exalted position and its value and
dignity. And though your fellow-citizen who may be chosen to per
form for a time the duties of this highest place should be badly
selected, and though the best attainable results may not be
reached by his administration, yet the exacting watchfulness
of the people, freed from the disturbing turmoil of partisan
excitement, ought to prevent mischance to the office which
represents their sovereignty, and should reduce to a minimum
the danger of harm to the State.
I by no means underestimate the importance of the utmost
care and circumspection in the selection of the incumbent.
On the contrary, I believe there is no obligation of citizenship
that demands more thought and conscientious deliberation than
this. But I am speaking of the citizen's duty to the office and
its selected incumbent.
This duty is only performed when, in the interest of the en
tire people, the full exercise of the powers of the Chief Magis
tracy is insisted on, and when, for the people's safety, a due
regard for the limitations placed upon the office is exacted.
These things should be enforced by the manifestation of a calm
and enlightened public opinion. But this should not be simu
lated by the mad clamor of disappointed interest, which, with
out regard for the general good, or allowance for the exercise
of official judgment, would degrade the office by forcing
compliance with selfish demands.
If your President should not be of the people and one of your
fellow-citizens, he would be utterly unfit for the position, in
capable of understanding the people's wants and careless of
their desires. That he is one of the people implies that he is
subject to human frailty and error. But he should be per
mitted to claim but little toleration for mistakes ; the gener
osity of his fellow-citizens should alone decree how far good
intentions should excuse his shortcomings.

ii8 CENTENNIAL AND
Watch well, then, this high office, the most precious posses
sion of American citizenship. Demand for it the most com
plete devotion on the part of him to whose custody it may be
intrusted, and protect it not less vigilantly against unworthy
assaults from without
Thus will you perform a sacred duty to yourselves and to
those who may follow you in the enjoyment of the freest
institutions which Heaven has ever vouchsafed to man.

VI.
At the Constitution Centennial, Philadelphia, September it , iZ%T .
I deem it a very great honor and pleasure to participate in
these impressive exercises.
Every American citizen should on this centennial day re
joice in his citizenship.
He will not find the cause of his rejoicing in the antiquity
of his country, for among the nations of the earth his stands
with the youngest. He will not find it in the glitter and the
pomp that bedeck a monarch and dazzle abject and servile
subjects, for in his country the people themselves are rulers.
He will not find it in the story of bloody foreign conquests,
for his government has been content to care for its own
domain and people.
He should rejoice because the work of framing our Con
stitution was completed one hundred years ago to-day, and
also because, when completed, it established a free government.
He should rejoice because this Constitution and government
have survived so long, and also because they have survived so
many blessings and have demonstrated so fully the strength
and value of popular rule. He should rejoice in the wondrous
growth and achievements of the past one hundred years, and
also in the glorious promise of the Constitution through cen
turies to come.
We shall fail to be duly thankful for all that was done for

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 1 19
US one hundred years ago, unless we realize the difficulties of
the work then in hand, and the dangers avoided in the task of
forming "a more perfect union" between disjointed and in
harmonious States, with interests and opinions radically di
verse and stubbornly maintained.
The perplexities of the convention which undertook the
labor of preparing our Constitution are apparent in these
earnest words of one of the most illustrious of its members :
The small progress we have made after four or five weeks of close attend
ance and continued reasonings with each other, our different sentiments on
almost every question — several of the last producing as many noes as yeas —
is, methinks, a melancholy proof of the imperfection of the human under
standing. We, indeed, seem to feel our own want of political wisdom, since
we have been running about in search of it. We have gone back to ancient
history for models of government, and examined the different forms of
those republics which, having been formed with the seeds of their own dis
solution, now no longer exist. In this situation of this assembly, groping
as it were in the dark to find political truth, and scarce able to distinguish it
when presented to us, how has it happened, sir, that we have not heretofore
once thought of humbly applying to the Father of Light to illuminate our
understandings ?
And this wise man, proposing to his fellows that the aid and
blessing of God should be invoked in their extremity, de
clared :
I have lived, sir, a long time, and the longer I live the more convincing
proofs I see of the truth that God governs in the affairs of men. And if a
sparrow cannot fall to the ground without his notice, is it probable that an
empire can rise without his aid ? We have been assured, sir, in the sacred
writings that " except the Lord build the house, they labor in vain that build
it." I firmly believe this ; and I also believe that without his concurring
aid we- shall succeed in this political building no better than the builders of
Babel. We shall be divided by our little partial, local interests, our projects
will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a reproach and a by
word down to future ages ; and, what is worse, mankind may hereafter, from
this unfortunate instance, despair of establishing governments by human
wisdom, and leave it to chance, war, and conquest.
In the face of all discouragements, the fathers of the re
public labored on for four long, weary months, in alternate

I20 CENTENNIAL AND
hope and fear, but always with rugged resolve, never faltering
in a sturdy endeavor sanctified by a prophetic sense of the
value to posterity of their success, and always with unflinch
ing faith in the principles which make the foundation of a
government by the people.
At last their task was done. It is related that upon the back
of the chair occupied by Washington as the president of the
Convention a sun was painted, and that as the delegates were
signing the completed Constitution one of them said : " I have
often and often, in the course of the session, and in the solici
tude of my hopes and fears as to its issue, looked at that sun
behind the president without being able to tell whether it was
rising or setting. But now at length I know that it is a rising
and not a setting sun."
We stand to-day on the spot where this rising sun emerged
from political night and darkness ; and in its own bright
meridian light we mark its glorious way. Clouds have some
times obscured its rays, and dreadful storms have made us fear ;
but God has held it in its course, and through its life-giving
warmth has performed his latest miracle in the creation of
this wondrous land and people.
As we look down the past century to the origin of our Con
stitution, as we contemplate its trials and its triumphs, as we
realize how completely the principles upon which it is based
have met every national peril and every national need, how
devoutly should we confess, with Franklin, " God governs
in the affairs of men ; " and how solemn should be the reflec
tion that to our hands is committed this ark of the people's
covenant, and that ours is the duty to shield it from impious
hands. We receive it sealed with the tests of a century. It
has been found sufficient in the past ; and in all the future
years it will be found sufficient, if the American people are
true to their sacred trust.
Another centennial day will come, and millions yet unborn
will inquire concerning our stewardship and the safety of their
Constitution. God grant that they may find it unimpaired ;

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 121
and as we rejoice in the patriotism and devotion of those who
lived a hundred years ago, so may others who follow us re
joice in our fidelity and in our jealous love for constitutional
liberty.

VII.

At the Dinner of the Historical and Scientific Societies of Phila
delphia, September 17, 1887.
On such a day as this, and in the atmosphere that now
surrounds him, I feel that the President of the United States
should be thoughtfully modest and humble. The great office
he occupies stands to-day in the presence of its maker ; and
it is especially fitting for this servant of the people and crea
ture of the Constitution, amid the impressive scenes of this
centennial occasion, by a rigid self-examination to be assured
concerning his loyalty and obedience to the law of his exist
ence. He will find that the rules prescribed for his guidance
require for the performance of his duty, not the intellect or
attainments which would raise him far above the feeling and
sentiment of the plain people of the land, but rather such a
knowledge of their condition, and sympathy with their wants
and needs as will bring him near to them. And though he
may be almost appalled by the weight of his responsibility and
the solemnity of his situation, he cannot fail to find comfort
and encouragement in the success of the fathers of the Con
stitution, wrought from their simple, patriotic devotion to the
rights and interests of the people. Surely he may hope that,
if reverently invoked, the spirit which gave the Constitution life,
will be sufficient for its successful operation and the accomplish
ment of its beneficent purposes.
Because they are brought nearest the events and scenes
which, marked the birth of American institutions, the people
of Philadelphia should, of all our citizens, be more imbued with
the broadest patriotism. The first Continental Congress and

122 CENTENNIAL AND
the Constitutional Convention met here, and Philadelphia still
has in her keeping Carpenter's Hall, Independence Hall and
its bell, and the grave of Franklin.
As I look about me and see here represented the societies
that express so largely the culture of Philadelphia, its love of
art, its devotion to science, its regard for the broadest knowl
edge, and its studious care for historical research — societies
some of which antedate the Constitution — I feel that I am in
notable company. To you is given the duty of preserving for
your city, for all your fellow-countrymen, and for mankind,
the traditions and the incidents related to the freest and best
government ever vouchsafed to man. It is a sacred trust,
and as time leads our government further and further from
the date of its birth, may you solemnly remember that a nation
exacts of you that these traditions and incidents shall never
be tarnished nor neglected, but that, brightly burnished, they
may always be held aloft, fastening the gaze of a patriotic
people and keeping alive their love and reverence for the
Constitution.

VIIL

At the Washington Inauguration Centennial, New York,
April 30, 1889.
Wherever human government has been administered in
tyranny, in despotism, or in oppression, there has been found,
among the governed, yearning for a freer condition and the
assertion of man's nobility. These are but the faltering steps
of human nature in the direction of the freedom which is its
birthright ; and they presage the struggle of men to become a
free people, and thus reach the plane of their highest and best
aspirations. In this relation, and in their cry for freedom, it
may be truly said, the voice of the people is the voice of
God. In sublime faith and rugged strength our fathers cried out

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 1 23
to the world, " We, the people of the United States, in order
to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic
tranquillity, provide for the common defense, promote the
general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves
and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for
the United States of America."
Thus " our people," in a day, assumed a place among the
nations of the earth. Their mission was to teach the fitness of
man for self-government, and their destiny was to outstrip
every other people in national achievement and material great
ness. One hundred years have passed. We have announced
and approved to the world our mission, and made our destiny
secure. Our churches, our schools and universities, and our benevo
lent institutions, which beautify every town and hamlet, and
look out from every hillside, testify to the value our people
place upon religious teaching, upon advanced education, and
upon deeds of charity. That our people are still jealous of
their individual rights and freedom is proved by the fact that
no one in place or power has dared openly to assail them.
The enthusiasm which marks the celebration of the centennial
of the inauguration of their first Chief Magistrate shows the
popular appreciation of the value of the office, which, in our
plan of government, stands above all others, for the sovereignty
of the people, and is the repository of their trust.
Surely such a people can be safely trusted with their free
government ; and there need be no fear that they have lost
the qualities which fit them to be its custodians. If they
should wander, they will return to duty in good time. If
they should be misled, they will discover the true landmarks
none too late for safety; and if they should even be corrupted
they will speedily be found seeking with peace-offerings their
country's holy altar.
Let us, then, have an abiding faith in " our people."
Let petulance and discontent with popular action disappear

124 CENTENNIAL AND
before the truth that in any and all circumstances, the will of
the people, however it may be exercised, is the law of our
national existence — the arbiter, absolute and unchangeable, by
which we must abide. Other than existing situations and
policies can only justify themselves when they maybe reached
by the spread of political intelligence and the revival of un
selfish and patriotic interest in public affairs. Ill-natured
complaints of popular incompetency, and self-righteous asser
tions of superiority over the body of the people, are impotent
and useless.
But there is danger, I fear, that the scope of the words " our
people " and all they import are not always fully apprehended.
It is only natural that those in the various walks of life should
see "our people" within the range of their own vision, and
find just about them the interests most important and the most
worthy the care of the government. The rich merchant or
capitalist, in the center of wealth and enterprise, hardly has a
glimpse of the country blacksmith at his forge or the farmer in
his field; and these, in their turn, know but little of the laborers,
who crowd our manufactories and inhabit their own world of
toil, or of the thousands who labor in our mines. If represent
atives of every element of our population and industries
should be gathered together, they would find but little of
purely selfish and personal interest in common ; and upon a
superficial glance but little would be seen to denote that only
one people was represented. Yet, in the spirit of our institu
tions, all these, so separated in station and personal interest,
are a common brotherhood and are " our people "; all of equal
value before the law ; all having, by their suffrage, the same
voice in governmental affairs ; all demanding with equal force
protection and defense ; and all, in their persons and property,
equally entitled to their government's scrupulous care.

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 1 25
IX.
On Taking the Chair at the Celebration of the Organization of
the Supreme Court, February 4, 1890.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
We are accustomed to express, on every fit occasion, our rev
erence for the virtue and patriotism in which the foundations
of our republic were laid, and to rejoice in the blessings vouch
safed to us under free institutions. Thus we have lately cele
brated, with becoming enthusiasm, the centennial of the
completion of our Constitution and the inauguration of our
first President.
To-day we have assembled to commemorate an event con
nected with our beginning as a people, which, more than any
other, gave safety and the promise of perpetuity to the Ameri
can plan of government, and which, more than any other, hap
pily illustrated the wisdom and enlightened foresight of those
who designed our national structure.
In the work of creating our nation, the elements of a free
government were supplied by concessions of sovereign States,
by surrender of accustomed rights, and by the inspiration of
pure and disinterested patriotism. If, from these elements,
there had not been evolved that feature in our Federal sys
tem which is our theme to-day, the structure might have been
fair to look upon and might have presented a semblance of
solidity and strength ; but it would have been only a sem
blance ; and the completed edifice would have had within its
foundations the infirmity of decay and ruin.
It must be admitted that it is hardly within the power of
human language so to compass diverse interests and claims,
within the lines of a written constitution, as to free it entirely
from disputes of construction ; and certainly diverse construc
tions were apt to lurk in the diction of a constitution declared
by the president of the convention which formulated it, to be
" the result of a spirit of amity and of that mutual deference

126 CENTENNIAL AND
and concession which the peculiarity of our political situation
rendered indispensable."
It is fairly plain and palpable, both from reason and a re
view of events in our history, that without an arbiter to deter
mine, finally and conclusively, the rights and duties embraced
in the language of the Constitution, the unionof States and the
life of the American nation must have been precarious and
disappointing. Indeed, there could hardly have been a well-
grounded hope that they would long survive the interpreta
tion of the national compact by every party upon whom it
rested, and the insistence of each, to the last extremity, upon
such an interpretation as would secure coveted rights and
benefits, and absolve from irksome duties and obligations.
In the creation of the world, the earth was without form
and void, and darkness was upon the face of the deep, until
God said : " Let there be light, and there was light."
In the creation of our new nation, our free institutions
were without the form and symmetry of strength, and the
darkness of hopelessness brooded over the aspirations of our
people, until a light in the temple of Justice and Law, gath
ered from the Divine fountain of light, illumined the work of
the fathers of our republic.
On this centennial day we will devoutly thank Heaven for
the revelation, to those who formed our government, of this
source of strength and light, and for the inspiration of dis
interested patriotism and consecrated devotion which estab
lished the tribunal which we to-day commemorate.
Our fathers had sacrificed much to be free. Above all
things they desired freedom to be absolutely secured to them
selves and their posterity. And yet, with all their enthusiasm
for this sentiment, they were wiUing to refer to the tribunal
which they devised all questions arising under their newly
formed Constitution, affecting the freedom and the protection
and safety of the citizen. Though bitter experience had
taught them that the instrumentalities of government might
trespass upon freedom, and though they had learned in a hard

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 127
school the cost of the struggle to wrest liberty from the grasp
of power, they refused, in the solemn work they had in hand,
to take counsel of undue fear or distracting perturbation ; and
they calmly and deliberately estabUshed, as a function of their
government, a check upon unauthorized freedom and a re
straint upon dangerous liberty. Their attachment and alle
giance to the sovereignty of their States were warm and
unfaltering ; but these did not prevent them from contributing
a fraction of that sovereignty to the creation of a Court which
should guard and protect their new nation, and save and per
petuate a government which should, in all time to come, bless
an independent people.
I deem myself highly honored by the part assigned to me
in these commemorative exercises. As in eloquent and fitting
terms we shall be led, by those chosen to address us, to the
contemplation of the history of that august tribunal organized
one hundred years ago ; as the lives and services of those who
in the past have presided over its councils are rehearsed to us ;
as our love and veneration for our fellow-countrymen who now
fill its high and sacred places are quickened ; and as we are
reminded of the manner in which our national Court has at
all times illustrated the strength and beneficence of free in
stitutions, let us be glad in the possession of this rich heritage
of American citizenship, and gratefully appreciate the wisdom
and patriotism of those who gave to us the Supreme Court of
the United States.

X.
At the Celebration of the Semi-Centennial of the German Young
Men's Association, Buffalo, May 11, 1891.
Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen :
I am glad to meet here to-night so many old friends and ac
quaintances, and to join them in the felicitations which have
called us together. At this moment I recall with perfect vivid-

128 CENTENNIAL AND
ness another evening nearly eight years ago, when, in a beautiful
building standing on this spot and then just completed, we
inaugurated with songs and rejoicing a grand national Sanger-
fest. That was a proud day for Buffalo, and a prouder one still
for our German fellow-townsmen, who then welcomed as their
guests a large and notable assemblage from many States, rep
resenting their national love of music ; and, at the same time,
were permitted to exhibit to their visitors, as a monument
of the enterprise and activity of the German Young Men's
Association, the grand and imposing Music Hall in which their
festival of song was held.
The disaster which soon after overtook the association, involv
ing the destruction of their splendid building, brought no dis
couragement to the members of the organization. To-night we
meet in another and more magnificent Music Hall, built upon
the ashes of the first, to celebrate the close of fifty years in the
life of an association that exhibits to every observer the cour
age and determination which inevitably lead to usefulness and
success. I shall not assume such a familiarity with the career of
the association as would enable me to present in detail the
results of its past efforts. In any event it would ill become me
to enter upon this field, in view of the fact that the able and
honorable gentleman now at the head of the association was
also its first president, and for fifty years has watched its prog
ress and been devoted to its interests. Surely there has seldom
been an organization which numbered among its members, at
the end of half a century, so competent a chronicler of its his
tory and achievements.
I understand that among the prominent purposes of
the German Young Men's Association are the propagation
and promotion of a knowledge of German literature and
the cultivation and encouragement of the best elements of
German character.
So far as the first of these objects is concerned, I hope I may
be permitted to say that, while the efforts of the association in

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 129
the direction mentioned are most praiseworthy and patriotic,
such an undertaking can by no means be monopolized by any
association. The value and importance of German literature
are too keenly appreciated to be neglected in any part of the
world, where there are those who seek to know the past tri
umphs of science, poetry, music, and art, or where there are
those who strive to keep pace with their present development
and progress. It is not too much to say that all nations which
make claim to high civilization encourage the study of German
literature, and that the extent to which this study is pursued
by a people furnishes a standard of their enlightenment.
On behalf of the American people, I am inclined, also, to
claim to-night that the German character which the association
undertakes to cultivate is so interwoven with all the growth and
progress of our country that we have a right to include it
among the factors which make up a sturdy and thrifty Ameri
canism. With our early settlers came the Germans. They
suited themselves to every condition of our new world. Many
of them fought for American independence, and many, who in
the trade of war came to fight against us, afterward settled
on our soil, and contributed greatly to the hardihood and
stubborn endurance which our young nation so much needed.
As years were added to the new republic, the tide of German
immigration increased in volume. Those who thus came to
us brought with them a love of liberty which readily assimi
lated them to our institutions, and their natural love of order
made them good citizens. By their love of music and social
enjoyments they shed a bright light upon the solemn and con
stant routine of American work, while, at the same time, they
abundantly proved that reasonable recreation was entirely
consistent with wholesome and conservative accumulation.
They were found in every part of our land. Among the pio
neers of the far West, they struggled against discouragements
and hardships— counteracting privation by frugality, and never
for a moment losing sight of the better day promised by the
future to undaunted courage and persistent industry. In our

130 CENTENNIAL AND
cities and towns they were found in the front ranks of success
ful business and trade ; and by the choice of their fellow-
citizens they held public positions of trust and influence.
Everywhere they illustrated the value and the sure reward of
economy and steady work.
Thus, before the American nation had lived one hundred
years, our German population had grown to millions, and
constituted an important ingredient in the mass of American
activity. Then there came a time when the government of the
country of their adoption was assaulted by rebellious hands ;
and then our German fellow-citizens had presented to them an
opportunity to prove the depth and breadth of their attachment
to the land in which they lived and wrought, and to exhibit how
completely they had become patriotic American citizens. They
allowed not a moment for uncertainty, but flocked by thousands
to the standard of the Union and bravely devoted themselves
to its defense. In every battle the German soldiers fought with
courage and persistence, and died with fortitude. This common
baptism of blood, and this partnership in peril, brought closer
together every element of our people, and made them all —
more than ever and in every sense — Americans. This leads
me to say that any opposing claims to ownership in the valuable
traits of German character admit of a fair compromise. No
one will begrudge the satisfaction to be derived from analyzing
these elements and establishing their German origin ; and all
will concede that the more they are cultivated the more our
country will gain. But when all this is done, let us call these
traits, so far as they are here exhibited, American. They have
been with us since our beginning ; they have influenced every
day of our country's life ; they are among the traits which our
government was formed to foster, and they are essential to our
country's safety and prosperity.
I hardly think there is any city in the land that should ap
preciate the value of German population better than Buffalo.
On every side, within your limits, are seen the evidences of the
thrift of your German fellow-townsmen and monuments of

ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS. 131
their industry and enterprise. No one can dispute their con
tribution to your immense municipal growth, and you do well
to recognize it in the selection of those charged with the ad
ministration of your city government. Even now there stands
at its head, performing his duties acceptably to the entire
community, one who has won his way to the confidence of his
fellow-citizens solely by the German-American traits of hon
esty, industry, and economy. I know that he will forgive me
for saying that when I knew him first, not many years ago, he
was occupyinganhonorable,butvery humble position, and gave
no symptom of his present prominence. I will not dispute the
right of anyone to call him a German ; but I claim the satis
faction of also calling this old friend of mine a first-rate
American. In the light of the suggestions I have made, it is a pleasant
thing to learn the significant fact that the membership of the
German Young Men's Association is quite largely made up of
those who have no title to German parentage or origin.
I cannot resist the temptation to introduce here the thought
that no such association can exist and escape a responsibility
to our people and our government. Wherever our countrymen
are gathered together with the professed purpose of mutual
improvement, or in furtherance of any useful object, they ought
to do something for their country. Its welfare and progress
depend so clearly upon what the people are taught and what
they think that patriotism should pervade their every endeavor
in the direction of mental or social improvement. Our gov
ernment was made by the people ; and by the people it must
be constantly watched and maintained. Like every other
mechanism it requires guidance and care. Without this, like
many another mechanism, it will not only fail to do its work, but
it may injure and wound those who stand idly near. We cannot
afford, in the heedless race for wealth, nor in the absorbing
struggle for the promotion of selfish ends, to neglect, for a day,
our duty to our government.
So, as the members of the German Young Men's Association

132 ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATIONS.
contemplate the steadfast love of country which belongs to the
German character, let them enforce the lesson that this senti
ment is absolutely essential to the strength and vigor of Amer
ican institutions. If they find that German industry and
frugality lead to national happiness and comfort, let them
insist that these characteristics be rooted in our soil ; and if
they find that the justice and equality which our free institutions
promise, and which the Germans love, are withheld from them
and the American people, let them demand from the govern
ment which they support a scrupulous redemption of its
pledges. As this association crosses the threshold which lies midway
in the first century of its existence, its members may well recall
with pride and congratulation what it has thus far done for
the promotion of a knowledge of German literature and the
cultivation of German character ; and, as they enter upon the
second half century of organized effort, they should be more
than ever determined to pursue these purposes, not only
because they may thus keep alive a fond remembrance of the
Fatherland, but because they may thus, in a higher, better
spirit, aid in the cultivation of those sentiments which purify
and strengthen a genuine and patriotic Americanism.

CHAPTER VL
to farmers' organizations.

At the Oswegatchie Fair, Ogdensburg, N. Y., October 5, 1883 .
Ladies and Gentlemen :
When I received the invitation of the president of this fair
to be with you to-day, I could hardly see my way to accept,
because I find that the duties of the office to which I have been
called are of such a nature that I can scarcely do all that crowds
upon me, with quite constant attention. But the more I con
sidered the question of visiting you, the stronger the desire be
came to accept the invitation. I remembered that I had never
been here but once, many years ago, and then for only a night.
I wanted to know more of the largest county in the State. I
wanted to see your thriving and pleasant city. I thought of the
opportunity I should have of seeing something of the kind and
quality of your products ; and, more than all, I wanted to see,
and become better acquainted with, the people here, who, from
lack of familiarity, seemed so far away. And then, too, I re
flected that I was the servant of the people of the State ; and
inasmuch as they could not all come to see how their servants
are doing their duty, it is no more than right that these serv
ants should occasionally go to their masters and report — or
at least answer to their names. Thus I am here ; but I came
upon the express condition that I shall not make a speech.
And the little talk I may have here with my friends of St.
Lawrence County I do not regard as either a speech or an
address. I have not come to you with any pretense of special knowl-

134 TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS.
edge of the things which are here the subject of interest. I
am obliged to confess that I am not a farmer, and know but
little about it. My experience of a few weeks on a farm, when
a boy, resulted in but little addition to my knowledge of agri
culture, and I am sure was of but little benefit to the proprie
tor of the cornfield in which I worked. I suppose, too, you
have, from time to time, heard enough of transparent flattery,
having for its text the nobility of those who till the soil and
the simplicity which characterizes the greatness of a farming
community. I am glad to meet you as fellow-citizens, all
engaged in one way or another in developing the resources of
a great State, and maintaining and adding to its high suprem
acy, as well as increasing your own wealth and comfort.
The farm, furnished with fine and well-kept buildings, is not
only a proof of its owner's thrift and competency, but that
much has been added to the wealth of the State.
Broad fields, well tilled, not only secure comfort and an
income to the farmer, but build up the commerce of the State
and easily supply the wants of the population. None of these
things result except by labor. This is the magic wand whose
touch creates wealth and a great State. So all of us who work
are, in our several ways, engaged in building to a higher reach
and nobler proportions the fabric of a proud commonwealth.
Those who make and execute the laws, join with those who
toil from day to day with their hands in their several occu
pations, all alike engaged in building up and protecting the
State. The institution of fairs such as this must, it seems to me, have
a wholesome and beneficial effect. In addition to the competi
tion engendered, which spurs to more effect and better methods,
the opportunity is afforded to profit by the experience of
others. The State has shown an appreciation of the value of
experiment in agriculture, by establishing and maintaining, at
considerable expense, a farm for the express purpose of devis
ing and proving the value of new plans and operations in
farming. The results are freely offered to all ; and thus the

TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 135
farmer may gain a knowledge of methods which will render his
labor more profitable without the risk of loss in time which he
himself might spend in experiment. I have no doubt that the
soil of the State of New York is tilled well and intelligently.
And still I suppose much of our farming might be improved
by a closer regard to successful experiment, and by learning
the lessons of approved science as applied to agriculture. I
do not fear, however, that the farmers of New York will stop
short of the highest excellence. The people of this State are
not given to that.
While I, in this manner, urge you to claim from the soil all
it has to yield, by the aid of intelligent efforts in its cultivation,
I cannot refrain from reminding you that, as citizens, you have
something else to do. You have the responsibility of citizen
ship upon you, and you should see to it that you do your duty
to the State, not only by increasing its wealth by the cultiva
tion and improvement of the soil, but by an intelligent selec
tion of those who shall act for you in the enactment and exe
cution of your laws. Weeds and thistles, if allowed in your
fields, defeat your toil and efforts. So abuses in the adminis
tration of your government lead to the dishonor of your State,
choke and thwart the wishes of the people, and waste their
substance. I have heard it said that a farm or business never does bet
ter than when it is managed by its owner. So it is with your
government. It accomplishes its purposes and operates well
only when it is managed by the people and for the people. It
was designed and constructed to be used in just this way.
None of you would attempt to turn the soil of a field without
putting a strong hand on the plow. A plow was constructed
to be thus operated, and it can do its work in no other way.
The machinery of the government will not do its work unless
the strong, steady hands of the people are put upon it. This
is not done when the people say that politics is a disgraceful
game, and should be left untouched by those having private
concerns and business which engages their attention. This

136 TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS.
neglect serves to give over the most important interests to
those who care but little for their protection, and who are will
ing to betray their trust for their own advantage.
Manifestly, in this matter, the people can only act through
agents of their selection. But that selection should be freely
and intelligently made by the careful exercise of their suffrages-
I have said this duty should not be neglected. A careless or
mistaken performance may be as fatal as neglect. All cannot
personally know the applicants for office ; but, by careful in
quiry, their characters for fair dealing and honesty, and the
manner in which they have fulfilled the ordinary duties of life,
may be discovered as well as the ability they have shown in
the management of their own affairs. Do their neighbors and
those who know them well trust them, and are they willing to
put in their hands important interests ? Are their personal
habits and their personal and private relations good, and pure,
and clean ?
I believe that, in the selection of those who shall act for the
people in the government, no better rule can be adopted than
the one suggested by these inquiries. If they are answered
satisfactorily, the people will probably conclude that they have
found the men they wish to put in public places, even though
they lack a knowledge of the arts and wiles which tricksters
use to deceive and mislead.
Be diligent, then, in your business, and willing and anxious
to improve and expand it. This you owe to yourselves, to
your families, and to the public. Be also diligent and careful
in the performance of your political duty. This you owe none
the less to yourselves and to the State. With every obligation
thus discharged, your welfare and prosperity will be secured,
and you may congratulate yourselves upon the honorable part
you bear in the support and maintenance of a free and benefi
cent government.

TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 137
IL
At the State Fair at Elmira, September 8, 1884.
It affords me great pleasure to meet you here to-day, and
to have an opportunity of inspecting the annual exhibition
which illustrates the condition of the agriculture of our State.
I regard these annual fairs as something connected with the
State government, because, to some extent, at least, they are
fostered and aided by public funds, and I am sure that no
good citizen is inclined to complain of the appropriation of a
small part of the people's money to the encouragement of this
important interest.
The fact that this is done furnishes a distinct recognition by
the State of the valuable relation which the farmers and its
farms bear to the prosperity and welfare of the common
wealth. We boast of our manufactures, exceeding, as they
largely do, those of any other State ; but our supremacy is
clearly shown when we recall the fact that, in addition to our
lead in manufactures, the value of our farms and their products
is second only among the States.
There is a fixedness and reliability in agricultural pursuits
which is not always found in other branches of human effort.
The soil remains in its place, ready to be tilled ; and the
farmer, with ruddy health and brawny arm, depends alone
upon the work of his hands and a kind Providence for a re
ward of his labor. Thus our farmers are the most independ
ent of our citizens. They produce, or have within their
reach, all they need for their necessities and for their comfort.
Their crops may be more abundant at one harvest than at an
other, and their products may command a higher price at one
market time than another. These conditions may expand or
contract their ability to indulge in luxuries or in expenditures
not absolutely needful, but they should never be in want of
the necessities or comforts of life.
This is the sure result of patient and well-regulated farm
ing. When the farmer fails and becomes bankrupt in his busi-

138 TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS.
ness, we may, I think, confidently look for shiftlessness ; or a
too ambitious desire to own more land or stock than he can
pay for ; or an intermeddling with matters that bear no relation
to his farm ; or such mismanagement and ignorance as demon
strate that he has mistaken his vocation. Fortunes may be
quickly amassed in speculation and lost in a day, leaving a bad
example and, perhaps, demoralization and crime. The trades
man or the manufacturer, by the vicissitudes of trade, or
through the allurements of the short road to wealth, may in a
day be overcome and bring disaster and ruin upon hundreds
of his neighbors. But in the industrious, intelligent, and con
tented farmer the State finds a safe and profitable citizen,
always contributing to its wealth and prosperity. The real
value of the farmer to the State and nation is not, however,
fully appreciated until we consider that he feeds the millions
of our people who are engaged in other pursuits, and that
the product of his labor fills the avenues of our commerce
and supplies an important factor in our financial relations
with other nations.
I have not come here to attempt to please you with cheap
and fulsome praise, nor to magnify your worth and your im
portance ; but I have come as the Chief Executive of the
State to acknowledge on its own behalf that our farmers yield
a full return for the benefits they receive from the State gov
ernment. I have come to remind you of the importance of the
interests which you have in charge, and to suggest that, not
withstanding the farmer's independence, he cannot and must
not be unmindful of the value and importance to the interests
he holds of a just and economical government. It is his right
and his duty to demand that all unjust and inequitable burdens
upon agriculture and its products, however caused, should be
removed, and that, while the furtherance of the other interests
of the State have due regard, this important one should not be
neglected. Thus, by his labor as farmer and in the full per
formance of his duty as citizen, he will create and secure to
himself his share of the result of his toil and save and guard

TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 139
for all the people a most important element in the prosperity of
the State.

III.

At the Virginia State Fair, Richmond, October 12, 1886.
Fellow-Citizens of Virginia :
While I thank you most sincerely for your kind reception
and recognize in its heartiness the hospitality for which the
people of Virginia have always been distinguished, I am fully
aware that your demonstration of welcome is tendered not to
an individual, but to an incumbent of an office which crowns
the government of the United States. The State of Virginia,
the Mother of Presidents, seven of whose sons have filled that
high office, to-day greets a President who for the first time
-meets Virginians upon Virginia soil.
I congratulate myself that my first introduction to the peo
ple of Virginia occurs at a time when they are surrounded by
the exhibits of the productiveness and prosperity of their
State. Whatever there may be in honor in her history, and
however much of pride there may be in her tradition.s, her
true greatness is here exemplified. In our sisterhood of
States the leading and most commanding place must be gained
and kept by that commonwealth which, by the labor and in
telligence of her citizens, can produce the most of those things
which meet the necessities and desires of mankind.
But the full advantage of that which may be yielded to a
State by the toil and ingenuity of her people is not measured
alone by the money value of the products. The efforts and
the struggles of her farmers and her artisans not only create
new values in the field of agriculture and in the arts and man
ufactures, but they, at the same time, produce rugged, self-re
liant, and independent men, and cultivate that product which,
more than all others, ennobles a State — a patriotic, earnest
American citizenship.
This will flourish in every part of the American domain.

140 TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS.
Neither drought nor rain can injure it, for it takes root in true
hearts, enriched by love of country. There are no new varie
ties in this production. It must be the same wherever seen,
and its quality is neither sound nor genuine unless it grows to
deck and beautify an entire and united nation, nor unless it
supports and sustains the institutions and the government
founded to protect American liberty and happiness.
The present administration of the government is pledged to
return for such husbandry not only promises, but actual
tenders of fairness and justice, with equal protection and a
full participation in national achievements. If, in the past, we
have been estranged and the cultivation of American citizen
ship has been interrupted, your enthusiastic welcome of to-day
demonstrates that there is an end to such estrangement, and
that the time of suspicion and fear is succeeded by an era of
faith and confidence.
In such a kindly atmosphere and beneath such cheering
skies I greet the people of Virginia as co-laborers in the field
where grows the love of our united country.
God grant that in the years to come Virginia — the Old
Dominion, the Mother of Presidents, she who looked on the
nation at its birth — may not only increase her trophies of
growth in agriculture and manufactures, but that she may be
among the first of all the States in the cultivation of true
American citizenship.

IV.
To the annual Grange Picnic of Pennsylvania.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 27, 1888.
Dear Sir :
I hope I need not assure you that I should very much enjoy
meeting the large representation of farmers who will gather at
Williams Grove to-morrow. I shall not plead confinement

TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 141
here by official business as my excuse for declining the cour
teous invitation I have received to be present at the picnic,
but shall frankly say to you that the opportunity, long contem
plated, to enjoy two or three days of rest and recreation unex
pectedly presents itself in such a manner that, if I avail myself
of it, I must, therefore, forego the pleasure of visiting Williams
Grove. I am sure that I am not calculating too much upon
the kindness and consideration of those managing the picnic
when I believe they will be content with my non-attendance, if
I am enabled thereby to improve the opportunity I am offered
to enjoy a much-needed rest and freedom from official care.
I haveheardof the character of your exhibition; and the large
congregation of farmers and others interested in subjects re
lating to farming which are there brought together, the ex
hibits, the discussion, and the comparison of views which
necessarily are the accompaniment of such a meeting, cannot
fail to be of the utmost use to those directly interested; and
what is useful to them is useful to all our people.
The reflection is an interesting and consoling one that in
the midst of political turmoil, in the feverish anxiety of the
marts of trade, and in the rush and hurry of financial opera
tions, our agriculturists pursue the even tenor of their way at
all times, furnishing the most stable support of our country's
prosperity, and quietly supplying the most reliable source of
our greatness and strength. When our farmers are prosperous
and contented, the welfare and advancement of the nation are
secured. Hoping that the picnic of 1888 will exceed all prior ones in
the enjoyments and benefits accorded to those in attendance,
I am, Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

142 TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. V.
To a Steubenville (0.) Lodge of the Farmers' Alliance.
New York, March 24, 1890.
J. A. Hill, Esq., Corresponding Secretary, etc.
Dear Sir : I have received your letter, accompanied by
a copy of the declaration of principles of the Farmers' Al
liance. I see nothing in this declaration that cannot be fully indorsed
by any man who loves his country, who believes that the ob
ject of our government should be the freedom, prosperity, and
happiness of all our people, and who believes that justice
and fairness to all are necessary conditions to its useful ad
ministration. It has always seemed to me that the farmers of the country
were especially interested in an equitable adjustment of our
tariff system. The indifference they have shown to that ques
tion, and the ease with which they have been led away from
a sober consideration of their needs and their rights as related
to this subject, have excited my surprise.
Struggle as they may, our farmers must continue to be
purchasers and consumers of numberless things enhanced in
cost by tariff regulations. Surely they have the right to insist
that this cost shall not be increased for the purpose of collect
ing unnecessary revenue or to give undue advantage to domes
tic manufactures. The plea that our infant industries need
the protection which thus impoverishes the farmer and con
sumer is, in view of our natural advantages and the skill and
ingenuity of our people, a hollow pretext.
Struggle as they may, our farmers cannot escape the condi
tions which fix the price of what they produce and sell, ac
cording to the rates which prevail in foreign markets flooded
with the competition of countries enjoying freer exchange of
trade than we. The plausible presentation of the blessings
of a home market should not deceive our depressed and
impoverished agriculturists. There is no home market for

TO FARMERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 143
them which does not take its instructions from the seaboard,
and the seaboard transmits the word of the foreign markets.
Because my conviction that there should be a modifica
tion of our tariff laws arose principally from an apprecia
tion of the wants of the vast army of consumers, compris
ing our farmers, our artisans, and our workingmen, and
because their condition has led me to protest against present
impositions, I am especially glad to see these sections of
my fellow-countrymen arousing themselves to the impor
tance of tariff reform. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER Vn.
TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
I.
At the Commercial Exchange, Philadelphia, September i6, 1887.
I AM glad I have an opportunity to meet so large a repre
sentation of the business men of Philadelphia. It is well
that we should not entirely forget, in the midst of our centen
nial jubilee, that the aim and purpose of good government
tend, after all, to the advancement of the material interests of
the people and the increase of their trade and commerce. The
thought has sometimes occurred to me that, in the hurry and
rush of business, there might well be infused a little more
patriotism than we are wont to see, and a little more recogni
tion of the fact that a wholesome political sentiment is closely
related not only to the general good, but to the general suc
cess of business. Of course, our citizens engaged in business
are quick to see the bearings of any policy which the govern
ment may adopt, as it affects their personal success and their
accumulation. But I would like to see that broad and patriotic
sentiment among them which can see beyond their peculiar
personal interests, and which can recognize that the advance
ment of the entire country is an object for which they may
well strive, even sometimes to the diminution of their con
stantly increasing profits.
Must we always look for the political opinions of our busi
ness men precisely where they suppose their immediate pe
cuniary advantage is found ? I know how vain it is to hope for
the eradication of a selfish motive in all the affairs of life ; but
\ am reminded that we celebrate, to-day, the triumph of

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 145
patriotism over selfishness. Will anyone say that the conces
sions of the Constitution were not well made, or that we are
not to-'day in the full enjoyment of the blessings resulting
from a due regard for all the conflicting interests represented
by the different States which were united a hundred years
ago? I believe the complete benefits promised to the people by
our form of government can only be secured by an exercise of
the same spirit of toleration for each other's rights and in
terests in which it had its birth. This spirit will prevail when
the business men of the country cultivate political thought ;
when they cease to eschew participation in political action ;
and when such thought and action are guided by better
motives than purely selfish and exclusive benefit.
I am of the opinion that there is no place in the country
where such a condition can be so properly and successfully
maintained as here, among the enlightened and enterprising
business men of Philadelphia.

II.
Before the Milwaukee Merchants' Association, October 7, 1887.
I feel like thanking you for remembering on this occasion
the President of the United States ; for I am sure you but in
tend a respectful recognition of the dignity and importance of
the high office I, for the time being, hold in trust for you and
for the American people.
It is a high office, because it represents the sovereignty of
a free and mighty people. It is full of solemn responsibility
and duty, because it embodies, in a greater degree than any
other office on earth, the suffrage and the trust of such a
people. As an American citizen, chosen from the mass of his
fellow-countrymen to assume for a time this responsibility and
this duty, I acknowledge with patriotic satisfaction your
tribute to the office which belongs to us all.

146 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
And because it belongs to all the people the obligation is
manifest on their part to maintain a constant and continuous
watchfulness and interest concerning its care and operation.
Their duty is not entirely done when they have exercised their
suffrage and indicated their choice of the incumbent. Nor is
their duty performed by settling down to bitter, malignant, and
senseless abuse of all that is done or attempted to be done by
the incumbent selected. The acts of an administration should
not be approved as a matter of course, and for no better
reason than that it represents a political party ; but more un
patriotic than all others are those who, having neither party
discontent nor fair ground of criticism to excuse or justify
their conduct, rail because of personal disappointment ; who
misrepresent for sensational purposes, and who profess to see
swift destruction in the rejection of their plans for govern
mental management.
After all, we need have no fear that the American people
will permit this high office of President to suffer. There is a
patriotic sentiment abroad which, in the midst of all party
feeling and of party disappointment, will assert itself and will
insist that the office which stands for the people's will shall,
in all its vigor, minister to their prosperity and welfare.

III.
To the New York Chamber of Commerce.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, November 4, 1887.
Messrs. Henry Hentz, Charles Watrous, and others,
Committee :
Gentlemen : I have received your invitation to attend the
annual banquet of the Chamber of Commerce of the State of
New York on the evening of the 15th instant. It would cer
tainly give me great pleasure to be present on that occasion

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 147
and meet those who, to a great extent, have in charge the im
portant business interests represented in your association. I
am sure, too, that I should derive profit as well as pleasure
from such a meeting.
Those charged by the people with the management of their
government cannot fail to enhance their usefulness by a famil
iarity with business conditions and intimacy with business
men, since good government has no more important mission
than the stimulation and protection of the activities of the
country. This relation between governments and business suggests
the thought that the members of such associations as yours
owe to themselves and to all the people of the land a thought
ful discharge of their political obligations, guided by their
practical knowledge of affairs, to the end that there may be
impressed upon the administration of our government a busi
ness character and tendency free from the diversion of passion,
and unmoved by sudden gusts of excitement.
But the most wholesome purpose of their political action
will not be accomplished by an insistence upon their exclusive
claims and selfish benefits, regardless of the welfare of the
people at large. Interdependence is so thoroughly an element
in our national existence that a patriotic and generous heed to
the general good sense will best subserve every particular
interest. I regret that my official duties and engagements prevent the
acceptance of your courteous invitation, and, expressing the
hope that the banquet may be a most enjoyable and interesting
occasion to those present, I am. Very truly yours,
Grover Cleveland.

148 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIA TIONS.
IV.
political selfishness and its antidotes.*
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :
When I see about me this gathering of business men and
merchants, I find it impossible to rid myself of the impressive
thought that here is represented that factor in civilized life
which measures the progress of a people, which constitutes the
chief care of every enlightened government, and which gives
to a country the privilege of recognized membership in the
community of nations.
Our business men cannot, if they would, escape the responsi
bility which this condition casts upon them — a responsibility
most exacting and invested with the seriousness which always
results from a just apprehension of man's relation to his fellow-
man and the obligation due from a citizen to his government.
They can find no pretext for indifference in the self-complacent
claim that under American institutions, as in other times and in
foreign lands, business men and merchants have only gained a
recognition of their importance and value as it has been forced
from a government in which they had no representation and
from rulers who looked upon their vocation with contempt.
They cannot absolve themselves from loyal duty to a govern
ment which has, at all times, invited them to a high place in
public counsels and which has always ungrudgingly conceded
their indispensable value in the growth and progress of our
republic. These considerations plainly point out your responsibi ity
and duty as members of the guild of business and as belonging
to the fellowship of trade.
But we cannot avoid other reflections leading in the same
direction and related to you alone— the business men of Boston.
The scene of your activity is the commercial center of a great
* An address delivered at the banquet of the Merchants' Association of
Boston, December 12, 1889.

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 149
and ancient commonwealth, rich in patriotic traditions. It
was upon the waters of your harbor that the first active and
physical defiance and opposition were made to odious and un
fair imperial legislation affecting colonial trade ; and the first
battle by Americans for liberty of the person, and for freedom
from unjust and oppressive restraint upon business, was fought
within sight of your warehouses.
You have, besides, inherited a trust which shades with sober
sentiment your obligation to your country and your fellow-
citizens. With the birth of American trade there arose on the
spot merchants of strong sense and enlightened enterprise, chiefs
among their fellows, independent and self-reliant, willing to
chance their success upon their own effort and foresight, inflex
ibly honest and intensely jealous of their commercial honor.
Upon your wharves and in your counting rooms they wrought
out their well-earned fortunes. Their ships were found in
every ocean-path, and they made their country known in the
trade transactions of the world. Abroad they gained willing
confidence and credit by their commercial integrity and pro
bity, and at home they were the pride of their countrymen.
These were the old Boston merchants. You, their business
heirs and successors, will pardon me if I remind you to-night
that the commanding influence of these men did not rest upon
immense fortunes, made in a day ; but resulted from their well-
known honor and scrupulous good faith, which led them to con
cede to all even the uttermost fraction of right. Nor did they
forget their duties of citizenship. They jealously watched the
operations of their government, and exacted from it only
economy and honesty and a just measure of care and security for
themselves and the interests they had in charge.
The Boston merchant of to-day has not less integrity and
virtue than his predecessor ; but surely we are not called
upon, by the fear of controversy, to close our eyes to the fact
that his environment is vastly different. There is among our
people less of meaning embodied in the sentiment that the
government upon which we have staked all our hopes and as-

15° TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
pirations, requires, for its successful maintenance, a patriotic re
gard for the aggregate of the happiness and prosperity of all
our people and a willing consent to a fair distribution of the
benefits of our free institutions.
Equal rights and impartial justice are stipulations of the
compact we have entered into with each other as American
citizens ; and so nicely adjusted is this plan of our political
association, that favoritism for the sole advantage of any sec
tion of our membership inevitably results in an encroachment
upon the benefitsjustly due to others. But these things sit so
lightly upon the consciences of many that a spirit of selfish
ness is abroad in the land, which has bred the habit of clamor
ous importunity for government aid in behalf of special inter
ests — imperfectly disguised under the cloak of solicitude for
the public good.
Can we see no contrast between the sturdy self-reliance of
the Boston merchant in the days that are past, and the attitude
you are invited to assume as dependents upon the favor of the
government and beneficiaries under its taxing power ? Is there
not a difference between the ideas that formerly prevailed con
cerning the just and wholesome relations which should exist
between the government and the business of the country, and
the present tendency toward a government partnership in
trade ? And was there a hint in former days that especial ad
vantages thus once secured, constituted a vested right which in
no event should in the least be disturbed ?
Political selfishness cheapens in the minds of the people
their apprehension of the character and functions of the govern
ment ; it distorts every conception of the duty of good citizen
ship, and creates an .atmosphere in which iniquitous purposes
and designs lose their odious features. ,It begins when a per
verted judgment is won to the theory that political action may
be used solely for private gain and advantage, and when a ten
der conscience is quieted by the ingenious argument that such
gain and advantage are identical with the public welfare.
This stage having been reached, and self-interest being now

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 151
fully aroused, agencies are used and practices permitted in the
accomplishment of its purposes, which, seen in the pure light
of disinterested patriotism, are viewed with fear and hatred.
The independent thought, and free political preference of
those whom Fate has made dependent upon daily toil for hard-
earned bread, are strangled and destroyed by intimidation and
the fear of loss of employment. Vile, unsavory forms rise to
the surface of our agitated political waters, and gleefully an
ticipate, in the anxiety of selfish interest, their opportunity to
fatten upon corruption and debauched suffrage.
This train of thought leads us to consider the imminent dan
ger which threatens us from the intimidation and corruption of
our voters.
It is too late to temporize with these evils, or to speak of them
otherwise than in the plainest terms. We are spared the labor
of proving their existence, for all admit it. That they are
terribly on the increase all must concede.
Manifestly, if the motives of all our citizens were unselfish
and patriotic, and if they sought in political action only their
share of the advantage accruing from the advance of our coun
try at all points toward her grand destiny, there would be no
place or occasion for the perversion of our suffrage. Thus
the inauguration of the intimidation and corruption of our
voters may be justly charged to selfish schemes seeking success
through political action. But these evils have been neglected
by honest men, disgusted with all political endeavor ; they
have been tolerated by respectable men who, in weakness of
patriotic sentiment, have regarded them as only phases of
shrewd political management, and they have been actually en
couraged by the honors which have been bestowed upon those
who boast of their use of such agencies in aid of party su
premacy. Many of us, therefore, may take to ourselves a share of blame,
when we find confronting us these perils which threaten the
existence of our free institutions, the preservation of our na
tional honor, and the perpetuity of our country. The condition

152 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
annexed to the founding of our government upon the suffrage
of the people was that the suffrage should be free and pure.
We consented to abide by the honest preponderance of politi
cal opinion, but we did not consent that a free vote, expressing
the intelligent and thoughtful sentiment of the voter, should
be balanced by a vote of intimidation and fear, or by an un
clean, corrupt vote disgracefully bought and treacherously
sold. Let us look with a degree of pity and charity upon those who
yield to fear and intimidation in the exercise of their right of
suffrage. Though they ought not thus to yield, we cannot for
get that, as against their free ballot, they see in the scale their
continued employment, the comforts of their homes, and the
maintenance of their families. We need not stifle our scorn
and contempt for the wretch who basely sells his vote, and
who for a bribe betrays his trust of citizenship. And yet the
thought will intrude itself that he but follows, in a low and
vulgar fashion, the example of those who proceed upon the
theory that political action may be turned to private gain.
But whether we pity or whether we hate, our betrayal is none
the less complete ; nor will either pity or hate restore our birth
right. But we know that when political selfishness is destroyed
our dangers will disappear ; and though the way to its strong
hold may be long and weary, we will follow it — fighting as we
go. There will be no surrender, nor will there be desertions
from our ranks. Selfishness and corruption have not yet
achieved a lasting triumph, and their bold defiance will but
hasten the day of their destruction.
As we struggle on, and confidently invite a direct conflict
with these intrenched foes of our political safety, we have not
failed to see another hope, which has manifested itself to all
the honest people of the land. It teaches them that though
they may not immediately destroy at their source the evils
which afflict them, they may check their malign influence and
guard themselves against their baneful results. It assures
them, that, if political virtue and rectitude cannot at once be

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thoroughly restored to the republic, the activity of baser ele
ments may be discouraged. It inspires them with vigilant
watchfulness and a determination to prevent as far as possible
their treacherous betrayal by those who are false to their obli
gations of citizenship.
This hope, risen like the Star in the East, has fixed the gaze
of our patriotic fellow-countrymen ; and everywhere — in our
busy marts of trade and on our farms, in our cities and in our
villages, in the dwellings of the rich and in the homes of the
poor, in our universities and in our workshops, in our bank
ing houses and in the ranks of inexorable toil — they greet
with enthusiastic acclaim the advent of ballot reform.
There are no leaders in this cause. Those who seem to
lead the movement are but swept to the front by the surging
force of patriotic sentiment It rises far above partisanship ;
and only the heedless, the sordid, and the depraved refuse to
join in the crusade.
This reform is predicated upon the cool deliberation of polit
ical selfishness in its endeavor to prostitute our suffrage to the
purposes of private gain. It is rightly supposed that corrup
tion of the voter is entered upon with such business calculation
that the corrupter will only pay a bribe when he has ocular
proof that the suffrage he has bargained for is cast in his
interest. So, too, it is reasonably expected that if the employee
or laborer is at the time of casting his ballot removed from
the immediate control of his employer, the futility of fear and
intimidation will lead to their abandonment.
The change demanded by this reform in the formalities sur
rounding the exercise of the privilege of suffrage has given
rise to real or pretended solicitude for the rights of our voters ;
and the fear has been expressed that inability on the part of
electors to conform to the requirements of the proposed change
might produce great inconvenience, and in some cases result in
disfranchisement. It has even been suggested that the inau
guration of the new plan might encroach upon constitutional
guarantees.

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It will not do to accuse of hostility to the reform all those
who present these objections ; but it is not amiss to inspect
their ranks for enemies in disguise. Though the emergency
which is upon us is full of danger, and though we sadly need
relief, all rights should be scrupulously preserved. But there
should be no shuffling, and no frivolous objections should be
tolerated. When a dwelling is in flames we use no set phrase
of speech to warn its inmates, and no polite and courtly touch
to effect their rescue. Experience has often demonstrated
how quickly obstacles, which seemed plausible if not convinc
ing when urged against a measure of reform, are dissipated by
the test of trial, and how readily a new order of things adjusts
itself to successful use.
I remember the inauguration of another reform ; and I have
seen it grow and extend, until it has become firmly established
in our laws and practice. It is to-day our greatest safeguard
against the complete and disgraceful degradation of our public
service. It had its enemies, and all of them are not yet silenced.
Those openly and secretly unfriendly said in the beginning
that the scheme was impracticable and unnecessary ; that it
created an office-holding class ; that it established burdensome
and delusive tests for entry in the public service which should
be open to all ; that it put in the place of real merit and effi
ciency, scholastic acquirements ; that it limited the discretion
of those charged with the selection of public employees, and
that it was unconstitutional. But its victory came, — wrought
by the force of enlightened public sentiment, — and upon its
trial every objection which had been urged against it was com
pletely discredited.
As it has been with civil service reform, so will it be with
ballot reform, except that the coming victory will be more
speedily achieved and will be more complete.
And as the grand old State of Massachusetts was foremost
to adopt and demonstrate the practicability and usefulness of
civil service reform, so has she been first to adopt a thorough
scheme of ballot reform and to prove in practice its value and

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 155
the invalidity of the objections made against it. We thank
Massachusetts to-night for all that she has done for these re
forms ; and we of New York hope that our Empire State will
soon be keeping step with her sister States in the enforcement
of an effective and honest measure of ballot reform.
In conclusion let me say that good men have no cause for
discouragement. Though there are dangers which threaten
our welfare and safety, the virtue and patriotism of the Ameri
can people are not lost, and we shall find them sufficient for
us. If in too great confidence they slumber, they will not
always sleep. Let them but be aroused from lethargy and in
difference by the consciousness of peril, and they will burst
the bonds of political selfishness, revive their political freedom,
and restore the purity of their suffrage.
Thus will they discharge the sacred trust committed to their
keeping ; thus will they still proudly present to the world proof
of the value of free institutions ; thus will they demonstrate
the strength and perpetuity of a government by the people ;
thus will they establish American patriotism throughout the
length and breadth of our land ; and thus will they preserve
for themselves and for posterity their God-given inheritance of
freedom and justice and peace and happiness.

V.
At the New York Chamber of Commerce Banquet, November
19, 1889.
As I speak of the honorary members of the Chamber of
Commerce, I shall, first of all, avail myself of the opportunity
here afforded to express my thanks for the action of that body
which placed my name upon its roll of honor. It is a source
of great gratification to me to be thus related, though only nomi
nally, to the vast business interests which this organization
has in its charge and keeping, and I think and trust that I

155 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
do not in the least underestimate the improvement and benefit
which may result to me from such relationship.
The business of a country is its life blood ; and all who are
directly or indirectly connected with it, who are acquainted
with its operations and are able to discern the manner in
which it may be benefited or injured, and the causes which
affect it, should be, for these reasons, better able to perform
well_their duties as citizens.
Good government is the object of every patriotic aspiration
of our people. But good government is so unlike a thing to
be gained by dreaming of it, and is something so practical and
palpable, that it is best judged by business tests ; and thus the
condition of the business of a country is properly considered a
reliable indicator of the nature of its government and the
manner in which such government is administered.
Of course, the conception of business here intended must
not be confused with the selfish scurry and sordid clutching
after wealth which we see about us every day — heedless of the
rights of others and utterly regardless of any obligation to aid
in the nation's growth and greatness. This is not the busi
ness of a country ; nor should the narrow and circumscribed
success of such endeavor be recognized as evidence of a benefi
cent government or of wholesome laws. The active, strong
impulse which, starting from important centers, steadily per
meates the entire land, giving to our tradesmen, everywhere,
healthy prosperity, to our toilers remunerative labor, and to
our homes comfort and contentment, constitute phases of the
business of our country which we love to recognize as proofs
of the value of our free institutions and demonstrations of the
benign operation of just legislation. But when these factors
of general thrift and happiness are wanting, we may well fear
that we are not in the enjoyment of all the blessings of good
government. Since business, properly defined, is th'us closely related to"
government, it plainly follows that, if those intrusted with pub
lic affairs were- more identified with men like those forming

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 157
the active membership of this Chamber of Commerce, and
were better informed concerning the interests which such men
represent, the country would be the gainer. I do not hesitate
to say that we should have more business men in our national
legislature. If this should be conceded, and the question of
reaching that result is presented, but two modes can be sug
gested — either to make business men of those elected or
choose business men in the first instance. The latter plan is
manifestly the best, and, indeed, the only practical one.
I must confess that, fresh from public employment, as I look
about me here, I feel like a good judge of valuable material,
when he sees it in abundance unused and going to waste be
fore his eyes. It is well for you to be conversant with markets,
and you are obliged to study them. But it is undeniable that
the laws of your country and their execution are so related to
markets that they, too, are worthy of your attention. I know
that participation in the public service would involve an inter
ruption of your ordinary vocations, but is it not your duty to
suffer this for the sake of the good you can accomplish ? Nor
is the subject devoid of an inducement based upon self-interest,
for you must agree with me that business men upon Congres
sional committees, or upon the floor of Congress, could accom
plish much more in the direction of their own protection than
by periodically seeking admission to committee rooms, or
awaiting the convenience of legislators who need their in
structions. I cannot be mistaken when I say that some dangers which
beset our political life might be avoided or safely met if our
business men would more actively share in public affairs, and
that nothing would better befit the character and object of
your organization than a practical movement in this direction.
I hasten now to say that I have not forgotten the topic with
which I started. I am embarrassed in treating of it because,
in theory, the honorary members are those who have rendered
useful public service. As the last and least of these members
I feel that I can do little more than acknowledge my grati-

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tude for the privilege of being counted with the grand men
whose names stand above me on the roll — the living and the
dead. There has been much discussion lately concerning the dis
position which should be made of our ex-Presidents, and many
plans have been suggested for putting us out of the way. I
am sure we are very sorry to make so much trouble, but I do
hope that, whatever conclusion may be reached, the recom
mendation of a Kentucky newspaper editor, to take us out and
shoot us, will not be adopted. Prior to the 4th day of last
March I did not appreciate as well as I do now the objections
to this proceeding, but I have had time to reflect upon the
subject since and I find excellent reasons for opposing this
plan. If I should be allowed to express myself upon this question
I would suggest that the best way to deal with your trouble
some ex-Presidents is to let them alone and give them the
same chance to earn an honest living that other people have.
And if for any reason you desire to honor them, it cannot be
done better than by putting their names upon the roll of honor
ary membership of the New York Chamber of Commerce.

VI.

At the Piano and Organ Manufacturers' Banquet, New York,
April 24, 1890.
Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen :
The words of the toast to which I am to respond may just
at this time appear to have a somewhat threatening sound.
In the midst of unusual thought and discussion among our
fellow-citizens upon economic subjects, the phrase " our
American industries " is very commonly used ; and the
furtherance of these industries is claimed to be the patriotic
purpose of those in both political parties who lead in such
thought and discussion.

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 159
Thus it happens that the announcement of " Our American
Industries," as a topic of discourse, has almost come to be a
signal for combat between those not at all loath to fly at each
other in wordy warfare over the subject of tariff reform.
But if there are any persons here who now feel an inclination
to gird up their loins for the fray, I hasten to assure them
that, though I have been suspected of having some opinions
on that question, I am sure that at this particular time the
toast I have in charge is not loaded, and that there will be no
explosion. And yet, while I think I can keep the peace and mention
my subject without any warlike sensation, I cannot avoid
feeling the weight and impediment of another difficulty, which
is calculated to appall and discourage me. This is the vast-
ness of my subject. It embraces the toil of the pioneer in the
far West, the most delicate operations of manufacture, the
most pronounced triumphs of art, and the most startling re
sults of inventive genius.
How can I compass these things within the limits allotted to
me on this occasion, and where shall I begin, as I stand
before this assemblage of American citizens and am con
fronted with the ideas which " Our American Industries " sug
gests ?
I can do little more than to speak of the present condition
of these industries as indicating the greatest and swiftest
national growth and advancement the world has ever seen.
We have only one hundred years of history ; but in all that
time American ingenuity and investigation have been active
and restless. We have begrudged to Nature everything she
seeks to hide, and have laid in wait to learn the secret of her
processes. We have not believed that the greatest advance
yet reached in mechanical skill and art has exhausted Ameri
can invention, and when other nations have started first in
any field of progress, we have resolutely given chase and
struggled for the lead.
We now invite the old nations of Europe to see our steam

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plows turning furrows in wheatfields as large as some of their
principalities. We astonish them with the number and the
length of our railroads, and the volume and speed of our
transportation. With odds against us, for which American
skill and industry are in no wise to blame, we force our prod
ucts and manufactures into their markets. Our Edison
lighted the Eiffel Tower, and by his display of the wonders
of electricity lent success to the American exhibits at the
Paris Exposition.
It appears that some of our industries suit the people of
foreign lands so well that they desire to own them ; and daily
we hear of English syndicates purchasing our manufacturing
establishments. Our people seem to endure this raid upon them
with wonderful complacency, though we cannot forget that,
less than two years ago, they were very solemnly warned
against the dangers and seductions of British gold.
I hope I am not too late in expressing my thanks for the
privilege of meeting on this occasion an assemblage represent
ing one of our industries which, so far as I know, is not in
fected by the wholesale influence of British gold, and which
embraces only such manufactures as are honestly and fairly
American. This means a great deal ; and I do not envy the American
citizen who has no pride in what you have accomplished.
Of course, we do not forget that many who have contributed
to our glory in this direction bear names which betray their
foreign lineage. But we claim them all as Americans ; and
I believe that you will, in the enthusiasm and vigor of true
American sentiment and independence, stubbornly hold the
place which has been won by you and others of your guild,
under the banner of "A fair field and no favor."
I have within the last few days received as a gift— perhaps
suggested by my contemplated presence here— a book entitled
" A History of the American Pianoforte," which I shall read
with much interest.
In glancing through it my eye fell upon a passage which

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. l6l
arrested my attention, as furnishing a slight set-off against the
indebtedness we owe to those of foreign birth among our
piano and organ manufacturers. I know you will permit me
to quote it, as evidence of the share our free institutions may
claim in the success of your industry. The writer, claiming
priority for the United States for some particular things done
in the progress of piano manufacturing by two certain makers,
who, though manufacturing in this country, were, as he says,
" originally Britons, one English and the other evidently
Scotch," clinches the argument in our favor, as follows :
Notwithstanding this circumstance, America is entitled to the honor of
the achievements pointed out, because it is a well demonstrated fact,
although, perhaps, a subtlety, that the social and governmental institutions of
this country, in so far as they promote mental freedom, have a. stimulating
and immediate influence upon the inventive faculties of persons brought up
in Europe and settling here.
I cannot forbear, in conclusion, a reference to the manner
in which your busy manufactories and the salesrooms of your
wares are related to the love and joy and hopes and sadness
and grief and the worship of God which sanctify the American
family circle.
In many a humble home throughout our land, the piano
has gathered about it the most sacred and tender associations.
For it, the daughters of the household longed by day and
prayed in dreams at night. For it fond parents saved and
economized at every point and planned in loving secrecy.
For Jit, a certain Christmas Day, on which the arrival of the
piano gave a glad surprise, was marked as a red-letter day in
the annals of the household.
With its music and with simple song each daughter in her
turn touched with love the heart of her future husband.
With it, the sacred hymn and the family prayer are joined in
chastened memory. With it, closed and silent, are tenderly
remembered the days of sickness, the time of death, and the
funeral's solemn hush.
When the family circle is broken and its members are scat-

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tered, happy is the son or daughter who can place among his
or her household goods the old piano.

VII.

AJ the Chamber of Commerce Banquet, New York, November
i8, 1890.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
This volunteer business I did not calculate upon, and I
think it would best befit me now only to thank you for the
kindness which you have extended to me. I do not believe it
would be fair for me to disturb the contentment which ought to
remain to you after the delicious dinner which you have eaten;
and I know that, after the oratory and the dinner speeches you
have heard, it would ill become me to obtrude any random
thoughts. I do not believe that when people are under the
influence of sweet music, a boy around the edges ought to be
shooting off a blunderbuss.
I shall go home to-night with some confused ideas in my
mind ; you are not to blame for them, but I suppose my con
dition and circumstances are to blame. We have heard about
literature and business, about education and business, and
about foreign commerce, and a good deal about reciprocity ;
and that is where my trouble comes in. We have been told that
it would be a grand thing to have reciprocity with Spanish-speak
ing people. Now, if it is good for Spanish-speaking people,
how would it do with the people who speak our own language ?
We have heard that our breadstuffs go across the water, and
that the people need them there. That means a market for
them, doesn't it ? I had an idea that a bird in the hand is
worth two in the bush, and that, perhaps, if you had a mar
ket, it might be well to cultivate it, instead of trying to manu
facture another.
We have heard that England and France have within -a few
days rushed to our rescue in a financial way, prompted thereto

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 163
by the noble sentiment of reciprocity. If they are so willing
and glad to extend to us the hand of reciprocity in financial mat
ters, how would it do to give them a chance in commercial and
other matters ?
Now, as I said, these difficulties of mine are entirely attrib
utable to my own neglected education, and incidentally and
indirectly, I think they are attributable to the fact that I am
only an honorary member of this institution, instead of being
an active one. This being the case, I have not that intimate
familiarity with the subject which would probably clear up my
doubts. I have spoken of being an honorary member of this institu
tion ; and I have prized that distinction very highly, indeed,
but never more so than to-night, because I see there may be
at some time a possibility of my attending a banquet of the
Chamber of Commerce, without being called upon for a speech;
that I may come here and enjoy the good things which you
set before me, without that gloomy foreboding which an undi-
gested and indigestible speech brings over a man. I have
almost accomplished it to-night, and as progress is the order
of the day, I have no doubt but that it will be finally arranged
to my liking.
To-night I find myself facing this audience under circum
stances which gave me no intimation that I was to make a
speech. That was a mercy in itself, for I enjoyed my dinner
before the collapse came. Therefore, as I speak of my asso
ciation with this Chamber of Commerce, though my relations
are not so intimate as to understand all questions which are,
perhaps, easy to jyou, and though I have not reached that
stage when I can confidently come here without being called
upon to make a speech, I am glad to believe that the promise
is favorable.I am very strongly tempted to say something in answer to
some remarks which my friend Depew made, but everybody
seems to have pitched on to him, and even Mr. Schurz, who
promised to stand by him, did not do so at all ; and although

1 64 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
he is well able to stand up against any number of us, I do not
know that I ought to make any reference to some things which
he has said ; and yet, when he spoke of the nomination my
friend Springer made, I could not help but think that per
haps Springer had learned from him how to do it. Now, it
was a very innocent thing that my friend Springer said. It
amounted to nothing. But I can tell you a circumstance
which involves in it modesty, accountability to the people of
the country, and ambition, and, when I have done, I think you
will agree with me, that perhaps Mr. Depew was more to
blame before the eyes of the people than Mr. Springer was.
The first time I ever saw Mr. Depew in a public place was
in Albany. I was then Governor of the State, and we had a
banquet in commemoration of a certain military company, or
something of that kind, and I was invited and went. I was
to make a speech. I prepared myself most elaborately, and
did the very best I could. Now, mind you, at that time I was a
quiet, unambitious man, quite content with the situation I oc
cupied, and happy with the delusion that I was doing some
thing for the good of the State. Mr. Depew arose — I shall re
peat only what he said — and congratulated those present that at
last they had elected a Governor who could do that most diffi
cult of all things, make an after-dinner speech. That made
me very happy indeed. He spoke of some other traits,
and of some other things which were very complimentary, and
he then said, " Gentlemen, I know of nothing more proper, I
know of nothing more in keeping with the services of this
gentleman than that the party with which he is affiliated
should nominate him in the coming convention for the highest
office in the gift of the people."
Now, the effect of that on a young man can be easily im
agined, if not described. And then he went on and said:
" When that is done, the party with which I am proud to be
affiliated, I hope, will nominate as his competitor that noble
citizen, that grand man and statesman whose name I have no
doubt rises to the lips of every man here present — though it

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 165
does not to mine." Well, I did not know what to make of
that then, nor why he did not mention the name of the citizen
and statesman, but subsequent events have made me rather
suspicious that at that moment our friend was struck with a
fit of extreme modesty. Doesn't that excuse Mr. Springer ?
I think so. There was an administration of the Federal Gov
ernment with which I was connected, and with which I had
something to do — at all events, I have been held to an account
ability for all its shortcomings — and I long ago made up my
mind, that when the opportunity came that I could do it with
out injuring myself, I might, perhaps, have something to say
about Mr. Depew's candidacy for the Presidency. Now, see
the selfishness of this thing. See the mean political selfish
ness of that idea. Not so with Mr. Depew. Why, within four
weeks, I think, in his magnanimity, and in his generous heart,
though at a festive board, where we are all apt to say kind and
generous things, he said such complimentary things of me
as visited upon him, I am informed, the condemnation of
members of his party. Indeed, I hear that one enthusiastic
adherent of his from the West, on account of those compli
mentary and courteous things, which he said regardless of
Presidential consequences, while I was waiting- for an oppor
tunity when I could say a kind thing of him, without hurting
myself, wrote to him : " While you have been for years my
ideal of a man that has Presidential timber in him, and while I
have been strongly your advocate for that office, after seeing
what you said of that miserable fellow Cleveland, I wouldn't
vote for you for poundmaster."
Now this carries with it an acknowledgment of the kindness
and goodness of Mr. Depew, and also a confession of my own
disposition, for I confess to you that the time has not yet
come when I have thought I could safely, and without harm
to myself, launch out on that subject in regard to him ; but I
hope the time will come. I am watching for it.
Now, gentlemen, there seems nothing left to me but to
thank you again for your hearty recognition of me, and to say

1 66 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
of the Chamber of Commerce that I sincerely hope that it may
long exist in the prosperity which has marked it for so many
years, and that these banquets may constantly increase in
pleasure to those who are fortunate enough to be their invited
guests.

VIIL

At the Jewelers' Association Annual Dinner, New York,
November 21, 1890.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
The sentiment assigned to me suggests a theme so vast and
so animating that I am embarrassed in my attempt to deal
with it. You surely will not expect me on this occasion to
voice all the thoughts and feelings which the mention of " Our
Country " inspires. If I should do this, I should merely tax
your time and patience by the expression of reflections which
spontaneously fill your minds. Besides, if I should launch
upon this subject in true American style, I know I could not
avoid the guilt of making a Fourth of July speech late in the
month of November.
I hasten to declare that I do not fight shy of my subject
because I do not love it. On the contrary, I love it so well
that I am anxious to observe all the proprieties related to it ;
and I cannot rid myself of the idea that our American eagle
soars higher and better in the warm days of July than in the
cool atmosphere of the present season.
And yet, I am far from believing that at any time and in any
assemblage of Americans the sentiment " Our Country " is not
a proper one to propose ; though I have sometimes thought
that it speaks so eloquently for itself that it needs no inter
preter. There seems absolutely to be no necessity for arousing
enthusiasm on this topic, and there is not the slightest danger
that any of us will forget what we have accomplished as a
nation or what we propose to accomplish, or that we will fix

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 167
too narrow a limit upon the progress, development, and great
ness of our country. Sometimes those who, unfortunately,
cannot claim this as their country accuse us of dwelling with
some exaggeration upon these things, but every American is
entirely certain that such imputations arise from ignorance of
our achievements or from envy and disappointed rivalry. At
any rate, it is a habit to glorify our country, and we propose
to continue it. We all do it without prompting, and we like
it. We can stand any amount of it without disturbance, and
whether others like it or not, we know, and we propose to de
clare on every occasion, that America is the finest and the
best and the greatest country on the face of the globe. That
proposition is not original with me, but has been a settled fact
in the American mind for many years.
Though this might be said to dispose of the subject by a
short cut, and though I have declined to deal with it in all its
aspects, the American disposition to glorify our country is
strong with me ; and I am disinclined to abandon my allotted
sentiment in a manner quite so summary. If I am to retain
it for a few moments, I know of no better way to deal with it
than to divide it and consider one branch or part of my text,
as is sometimes done with a long text in the pulpit. I, there
fore, propose to say something about the word " our " as re
lated to the sentiment, "Our Country."
This is " our " country, because the people have established
it, because they rule it, because they have developed it, be
cause they have fought for it, and because they love it. And
still each generation of Americans holds it only in trust for
those who shall come after them, and they are charged with
the obligation to transmit it as strong as it came to their hands.
It is not ours to destroy, it is not ours to sell, and it is not
ours to neglect and injure. It is ours as our families are ours,
and as our churches and schools are ours — to protect and de
fend, to foster and improve. As its strength and its fitness to
reach its promised destiny depend upon its unity, one of our
highest duties toward it is to cultivate and encourage kindli-

l68 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
ness among our people, to the end that all may heartily co
operate in performing the terms of our trust. As it exists for
us all, so all should be accorded an equal share in its benefits.
It is so constructed that its work is badly done and its opera
tion perverted, when special and exclusive advantages are
awarded to any particular class of our people. If we permit
grasping selfishness to influence us in the care of our trust,
we are untrue to our obligations and our covenants as
Americans. Our country is " ours " for the purpose of securing through
its means justice, happiness, and prosperity to all — not for the
purpose of permitting the selfish and designing to be enriched
at the expense of their confiding fellow-countrymen. It is our
duty, then, to defend and protect our country, while it remains
in our hands, from that selfishness which, if permitted, will
surely undermine it, as clearly as it is our duty to defend it
against armed enemies.
Nor are we discharged from our obligations as trustees of
our country if we merely preserve it in the same condition as
when we received it. The march of progress and civilization
throughout the world imposes on us the duty of improving the
subject of our trust so that it may be transmitted to others in
such an advanced condition of prosperity and growth as shall
bear witness to our faithfulness and our devotion to its interests.
He who hid his talent in a napkin and added nothing to it was
condemned as unfaithful, when called upon to give an account
of his stewardship.
Let us, then, rejoice in the greatness of " Our Country";
but let us remember that it will be our blame if it is not made
greater ; let us boast of the country which is ours, but let our
boasting be tempered with the reflection that its possession is
charged with a sacred trust ; let us constantly bear in mind
that while it is ours to use patriotically and transmit to coming
generations, our relation to it is made more serious by the
fact that, in its broadest and most solemn meaning, our country
is something which, as an example and interpreter of freedom,

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 169
belongs to the world, and which, in its blessed mission, be
longs to humanity.

IX.

At the Banquet of the National Association of Builders,
New York, February 12, 1891.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
When American citizens are gathered together on occasions
like this, and the hour of feasting is supplemented by toast
and sentiment, it is surely fitting that " Our Country " should
be prominent among the topics proposed for thought and
speech. Evidence is thus furnished of the ever present love
and affection of our people for their country, prompting them,
at all times and in all places, to yield to her ready recognition
and homage.
The conspicuous place which this sentiment occupies in
American thought is the result of our relations to the land
which we possess and to the government under which we live.
Our vast domain belongs to our people. They have fought
for it, and have labored hard for its development and growth.
Our government, too, was fashioned and established by and
for our people, and is sustained and administered at their be
hest. Subjects of other lands, less free than ours, and those
who owe obedience to governments further removed from
popular control, may boast of their country, in a spirit of natu
ral pride and patriotism and as sharers in its splendor and
glory. They thus exhibit their submission and allegiance and
a habitual regard for constituted authority. But the enthusi
asm which warms our hearts at the mention of " Our Country"
grows out of our sense of proprietary and individual right in
American institutions. It is mingled with no servile gratitude
to any ruler for scant freedom generously conceded to us, nor
with admiration of monarchical pomp and splendor. The
words, "Our Country," suggest to us not only a broad domain

17° TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
which is ours, but also a government which is ours, based upon
our will, protected and guarded by our love and affection,
vouchsafing to us freedom limited only by our self-imposed
restraints, and securing to us, as our right, absolute and impar
tial justice.
When we consider the extensive growth of our country —
its cities and villages, and all the physical features which con
tribute so much to give to it a foremost place in the civiliza
tion of the age — we are bound to acknowledge that the build
ers of our land have had much to do with securing for us the
commanding position we hold among the nations of the earth.
It may, indeed, be said that all the nations which have ever ex
isted, have, like us, been largely indebted, for the grandeur
and magnificence of which they could boast, to those belong
ing to the vocation represented in this assembly. It will be
impossible to find a complete description of any country,
ancient or modern, which does not mention the size and char
acter of its buildings, and its public and private edifices.
I do not intend to do injustice, in the enthusiasm of this
hour, to any of the trades and occupations which have con
tributed to make our country and other countries great. But
truth and candor exact the confession that the chief among
these occupations in all times past has been that of the builder.
He began his work in the early days of created things, and
has been abroad among the sons of men ever since. The
builder's advent was signalized by a service to mankind of
which not another craft can boast. No one has the hardihood
to deny that the construction of the ark was the turning-point
in the scheme for the perpetuation of the human race. The
builder's work in that emergency saved mankind from a
watery grave ; and if we suffer at the hands of his successors
in these modern times, we should allow his first job to plead
loudly in his behalf. If in these days we are vexed by the
failure of the builder to observe plans and specifications, let us
bear in mind that in his first construction he, fortunately for
us, followed them implicitly. The gopher wood was furnished,

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 171
the ark was pitched within and without, it was built three hun
dred cubits long, fifty cubits broad, and thirty cubits high ;
the window was put in, the door was placed in the side, and it
had a lower, second, and third story. If we are now and then
prompted almost to profanity, because the builder has not
completed our house within the time agreed, let us recall with
gratitude the fact that the ark was fully completed and fin
ished in a good and workmanlike manner and actually occu
pied, seven days before the waters of the flood were upon the
earth. If a feeling like paralysis steals over us when a long
account for extra work is placed before our affrighted eyes, let
us be reconciled to our fate by the thought that there was no
charge for extra work in the construction of the ark, and that
the human race was saved without that exasperating incident.
We sometimes hear things which are calculated to convey
the impression that there is an irrepressible conflict raging
between our builders and the rest of our people. If any such
thing exists, I desire to suggest, in behalf of the builders, that
it may to a great extent arise from the uncertainty prevailing
among employers concerning their wants and what they can
afford to have. These are days when the free-born and am
bitious American citizen does not like to be outdone by his
neighbor or anyone else. If, as a result of this, a man with
fifty thousand dollars to spend for a home, is determined to
have one as good and as extravagant as that of another man,
who has twice the amount to invest for the same purpose, the
builder certainly ought not to be blamed if he fails to perform
that miracle. On the other hand, it has sometimes seemed to
me that when an honest, confiding man applies to a builder
for an estimate of the cost of a construction which he contem
plates, he ought to receive more definite and trustworthy fig
ures than those frequently submitted to him. lam inclined to
think, however, that on the whole the relations of the builder with
his fellow-men have been fairly amicable. If this were not so,
and if disputes and misunderstandings were ordinary incidents
of building contracts, it is quite apparent that the buildings

IT 2 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
which have been put up in our country would have caused
enough of quarrels not only to endanger our social fabric, but
to transfer much of the wealth now in the hands of the build
ers and their patrons to the pockets of the members of that
peaceful and honest profession to which I have the honor to
belong. This latter result would not be altogether mournful;
the legal profession are so patriotic, and so easily satisfied, that
I am quite certain they are contented with existing conditions.
The National Association of Builders gives promise in its
declared objects and purposes of much usefulness. It recog
nizes the fact that the relation its members bear to vast
numbers of our wage-earners furnishes the opportunity for
them to do an important and beneficent work in the way of
reconciling differences between employers and employees and
averting unprofitable and exasperating conflicts. All must
commend the desire of the organization for the adoption of
effective precautions against accident and injury to employees,
and for some provision for such as are injured or incapaci
tated for work. And all our people ought especially to appre
ciate the efforts of your association to aid in the establishment
of trade schools for the education and improvement of appren
tices. Of course, no one will deny that a workman in your
vocation, who labors intelligently and with some knowledge of
the underlying reason for his plan of work, does more and
better service than one who pursues his round of daily toil,
unthinkingly, and as a mere matter of routine or imitation.
Herein is certainly a palpable advantage to the workman, to
the builder, and to his patron. But the value of a trade school
education is not thus limited. The apprentice not only
becomes a better workman by means of the education and
discipline of such a school, but that very process must also
tend to make him a better citizen. While he learns the things
which give him an understanding of his work and fit his mind
and brain to guide his hand, he also stimulates his perception
of that high service which his country claims of him as a
citizen.

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 173
For this service he and all of us have placed in our hands
the suffrage of freemen. It is only faithfully used when its
exercise represents a full consciousness of the responsibilities
and duties which its possession imposes, and when it is guided
and controlled by a pure conscience and by thoughtful, intel
ligent, and independent judgment.
" Neither walls, theaters, porches, nor senseless equipage,
make states ; but men who are able to rely upon themselves."
As a concluding thought, let me suggest, that though the
builders of the United States may erect grand and beautiful
edifices which shall be monuments of their skill and evidences
of our nation's prosperity, their work is not well done nor
their duty wholly performed unless, in pursuance of their con
tract of citizenship, they join with all their fellow-countrymen
in building and finishing in beautiful proportions, the grand
est and most commanding of all earthly structures — " Our
Country."

X.
Before the Commercial Club, Providence, R. I.,
June 27, 1 89 1.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
I suppose from the name of the organization which extends
to us the hospitalities of this occasion, that its membership is
mainly, at least, made up of those engaged in business enter
prises, and that its object is the discussion of topics related to
the progress and development of such enterprises.
I never attend a gathering of business men, and recall the
restless activity which they represent, and the strain of brain
which they willingly bear for the sake of profit and success,
without wondering that they are content to be so thoroughly
engrossed in the immediate details of their occupations, as
often to lead to an habitual neglect of those affairs, which
though outside of their counting houses, exchanges and man-

174 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
ufactories, have an intimate relation to their prosperity. No
one can be oblivious to the fact that matters of legislation,
and the course of governmental policy, are so important to the
business in which we engage that our individual efforts in its
prosecution may be easily promoted or thwarted by the con
duct of those who make and execute our laws. Yet, in busi
ness circles we find but few men who are willing to forego
their ordinary work to engage in the business of legislation.
Indeed this unfortunate condition has reached such a pass that
our business men think and often speak of politics as some
thing quite outside of their interest and duty, which, if not
actually disreputable, may well be left to those who have a
taste for it.
I am by no means unmindful of the spasmodic interference
of business interests in politics, spurred on by a selfish desire
to be aided, especially and exclusively through legislative
action. Such interference, based upon such motives, is more
blameworthy than inactivity, because it amounts to an attempt
to pervert governmental functions — which is worse than a
neglect of political responsibility. But I speak of a heedless
ness of the duty resting upon every one of us as American citi
zens, to participate thoughtfully and intelligently in the gen
eral conduct of the government which is ours, and which has
been left to our management.
I seek to remind you of the interest which you and all of us
have as members of our American body politic, in wholesome
general laws and honest administration. This interest is rep
resented by the share to which each of us is entitled, in the
aggregate of advantage which such laws and such administra
tion secure. This interest and this duty are surely worth all
the attention we can bestow upon them ; and the penalty of
their neglect we shall surely not escape. In order that the
patriotism and intelligence of the country shall prevail in our
legislation, the patriotic and intelligent men of the country
must see to it that they are properly represented in our
national councils. If they fail in this they will be governed

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 175
by those who simply make a trade of politics. If it is well
that our legislation be influenced by the enlightened and prac
tical business sense of the people, our business men must see
to it that those they trust are chosen as their lawmakers. If
they are indifferent on the subject, the vast interests which so
greatly concern them and all their fellow-citizens will be left
at the mercy of those who neither understand them nor care
for them ; and I do not believe these dangers will be effectively
averted until they are better understood by the people and
more thoroughly resisted.
It seems to me that private and special legislation, as it at
present prevails, is an evil chargeable to a great extent to the
listlessness and carelessness of the people.
There is a kind of legislation which, upon its face and con-
cededly, is private and special, and which engrosses far too
much of the time and attention of our lawmakers. The peo
ple have a right to claim from their representatives their best
care and attention to the great subjects of legislation in which
the entire country is interested. This is denied them if their
representatives take their seats burdened with private bills, in
which their immediate neighbors are exclusively interested,
and which they feel they must be diligent in advancing, if they
would secure their continuance in public life. They are thus
led by the exigencies of their situation as they view it, not only
to the support of private bills of questionable propriety, but to
the neglect of a study and understanding of the important
questions involved in general legislation. Nor does the per
nicious effect of such special and private legislation stop here.
The importance of a successful championship of these private
bills, measured by a standard which ought not for a moment
to be recognized, seems so vital to those having them in charge
that they are easily led to barter their votes for measures
as bad as theirs or worse, in order to secure the support of
similarly situated colleagues. Thus is inaugurated a system
called log-rolling, which comes frightfully near actual legisla
tive corruption ; and thus the people at large lose not only

176 TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS.
the attention to their affairs which is due to them, but are
often no better than robbed of the money in the public
treasury. I have hardly done more than to present a very general out
line of some of the palpably bad accompaniments of legisla
tion, confessedly special and private. The details might easily
be filled in, which would furnish proof of the elements of its
mischievous character which I have pointed out.
I have not, however, mentioned the aspect of special and
private legislation which seems to me most pernicious. I refer
to the habit which it engenders among our people of looking
to the government for aid in the accomplishment of special and
individual schemes, and the expectation which it creates and
fosters, that legislation may be invoked for the securing of in
dividual advantages and unearned benefits.
The relations of our countrymen toward their government
should be founded upon their love for it as the fountainhead
of their national life ; their faith in it as the power which pre
serves them a free people ; their reverence for it as the perfect
work of the highest patriotism ; their confidence in its justice
and equality, and their pride in its ownership and management.
These should furnish at all times sufficient motive for a lively
interest in public affairs, and should supply abundant incen
tive to popular watchfulness of legislative and executive
methods. In the light of these considerations, no thoughtful
American can shut his eyes to the truth, that when our people
regard their government as the source of individual benefit and
favoritism, and when their interest in it is measured by the ex
tent to which they hope to realize such benefit and favoritism,
our popular government is in dangerous hands and its entire
perversion is alarmingly imminent.
These perils are not alone chargeable to legislation which is
confessedly special and private. Measures of a general char
acter, and apparently proposed for the public good, frequently
originate in selfish calculations, or so completely subserve in
their details selfish plans, that they also tend toward the fatal

TO COMMERCIAL AND BUSINESS ASSOCIATIONS. 177
point of sordidness among the people and unjust paternalism
in the government. No matter what plausible pretexts may be
advanced for such legislation, if it has in it these elements, it
ought to be condemned. Neither the cry of protection to
American interests, nor pretended solicitude for the public
good, ought to succeed in concealing schemes to favor the few
at the expense of the many ; nor should the importance to the
country of legislative action upon any subject divert us from
inquiry concerning the selfish motives and purposes which may
be hidden behind the proposal of such legislation.
It is quite timejthat our business men, and all American citi
zens who love their country, bestir themselves for battle
against the evil tendencies of private and special legislation,
whatever guise it may assume. At this time no more impor
tant truth can be presented to the people than that they should
support their government in love and patriotism, and remain
unselfishly content with the blessings and advantages which
our free institutions were established to bestow, with justice
and equality, upon every citizen throughout the length and
breadth of our land.

CHAPTER VIIL
to religious and charitable organizations.
I.
At the Laying of the Corner Stone of the " Fitch
Institute," Buffalo, May lo, 1882.
Mr. Fitch:
It falls to my lot on this occasion to extend to you, on
behalf of the city of Buffalo, a hearty greeting and a cordial
welcome. I am to attempt to express to you the sentiments
of gratitude and appreciation which our citizens cherish toward
you, their former fellow-citizen.
I am sure I shall do no act during my official career, as
Chief Executive of our beautiful and prosperous city, which
more accords with my own feelings, or which will afford me so
much pleasure. You, sir, have known and watched the
growth and progress of our city since its day of small things;
and in the full strength of your earlier years you were identi
fied with its important and successful enterprises. The way
of the world, too, often is to forget and neglect the scene of a
successful struggle with life; and those who amass wealth are
too apt to enjoy the fruit, unmindful of the soil whereon it
grew. We joyfully and gratefully acknowledge to-day that human
nature has a different phase. You left the activities of our
city's business life, years ago, laden with the prizes earned and
gathered by untiring industry, prudent management, and hon
orable dealing. But the occasion which we celebrate assures
us that your heart has still been with us, and that, in the day
of independent affluence, you have not been unmindful of the

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. i79
city where you conquered success. You return to us to-day
bearing gifts to our people which will make them happier and
better. The extent and value of your princely munificence certainly
call for the warmest gratitude on the part of all of us, inas
much as it adds so greatly to the beauty, advancement, and
substantial prosperity of the city. But the object and purpose
of your noble charity touch our hearts more deeply, and
awaken our love and affection.
You have given a fortune away, and have directed that it
"be applied to the physical, moral, and intellectual benefit of
the worthy poor of Buffalo without distinction of creed or
sex." This comprises all the elements of the most Christian.
and disinterested benevolence.
The poor are to be relieved. And not only their physical,
but their moral and intellectual wants are to be provided for.
And all this is to be done for the worthy poor, because they are
poor and worthy, and not because they profess any creed, or
religious belief. A common humanity is the only necessary
credential. This opens your charity to the family of man, and
stamps upon it the seal of genuine and pure philanthropy.
You have not built for yourself a monument of brass, but
have secured for yourself in the grateful hearts of thousands
living, and those yet unborn, a more enduring monument than
brass or marble. AVe feel that your greatest compensation
to-day consists in your self-approval of a noble work well
done, and that our words of thanks are cold and cheerless.
And yet, on behalf of our citizens, and on behalf of the worthy
poor of Buffalo, we thank you for all you have done for us.
You witness on this occasion the beginning of the building
which is to perpetuate your goodness. We pray Heaven that
you may live long to witness its completion and continued use
fulness. And may your declining years be sustained and
soothed by the sweet solace of an approving conscience, and
the benisons of thousands of the poor people who shall rise
up and call you blessed.

l8o TO RELIGIOUS AND
I have been directed by the Common Council to present to
you resolutions expressing their sentiments toward you, and
extending to you the freedom of the city.

IL
Message to the Buffalo Common Council, June 5, 1882.
My attention has been called, by a committee from the Soci
ety for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children, to the number
of small boys and girls found upon our streets at late hours in
the night.
I have reason to believe that many of these children are
allowed, and some are obliged, by their parents, thus to remain
in the streets for the ostensible purpose of earning money by
selling newspapers or blacking boots. In truth, however, after
a certain hour in the evening, the most, if not all the money
they receive, they obtain by begging or by false pretenses. In
the meantime they are subjected to the worst influences, lead
ing directly to profligacy, vagrancy, and crime.
The importance of caring for children who are uncared for
by their natural guardians, or who are unmindful of parental
restraint, must be apparent to all. In the future, for good or
evil, their influence will be felt in the community; and cer
tainly the attempt to prevent their swelling the criminal class
is worth an effort.
It seems to me that no pretext should be'permitted to excuse
allowing young girls to be on the streets at improper hours,
since the result must necessarily be their destruction.
The disposition of the boy — child though he be — to aid in his
own support or that of others, in an honest, decent way, ought
not to be discouraged. But this does not call for his being in
the street at late hours, to his infinite damage morally, mentally,
and physically, and to the danger of society.
I respectfully suggest that this subject be referred to the
committee on ordinances and the attorney, and that a commit-

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. i8l
tee from the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children
be invited to co-operate with them in an effort to frame an
ordinance which will remedy the evil herein considered.
Grover Cleveland, Mayor.

in.

At the Laying of the Corner Stone of the Y. M. C. A.
Building in Buffalo, September 7, 1882.
Ladies and Gentlemen:
I desire to express the sincere pleasure and gratification I
experience in joining with you in the exercises of this after
noon. An event is here marked which I deem a most impor
tant one, and one well worthy of the attention of all good citi
zens. We, this day, bring into a prominent place an institution
which, it seems to me, cannot fail to impress itself upon our
future with the best results.
Perhaps a majority of our citizens have heard of the Young
Men's Christian Association; and perchance the name has
suggested, in an indefinite way, certain efforts to do good and
to aid generally in the spread of religious teaching. I venture
to say, however, that a corriparatively small part of our com
munity has really known the full extent of the work of this
Association ; and many have thought of it as an institution well
enough in its way — a proper enough outlet for a superabun
dance of religious enthusiasm — doing, of course, no harm, and
perhaps very little good. Some have aided it by their contri
butions from a sense- of Christian duty, but more have passed
by on the other side.
We have been too much in the habit of regarding institu
tions of this kind as entirely disconnected from any considera
tions of municipal growth or prosperity, and have too often
considered splendid structures, active trade, increasing com
merce, and growing manufactures as the only things worthy of
our care as public-spirited citizens. A moment's reflection

l82 TO RELIGIOUS AND
reminds us that this is wrong. The citizen is a better business
man if he is a Christian gentleman, and surely business is not
the less prosperous and successful if conducted on Christian
principles. This is an extremely practical, and perhaps not a
very elevated, view to take of the purposes and benefits of the
Young Men's Christian Association. But I assert that if it
did no more than to impress some religious principles upon
the business of our city, it would be worthy of generous sup
port. And when we consider the difference, as a member of
the community, between the young man who, under the influ
ence of such an association, has learned his duty to his fellows
and to the State, and that one who, subject to no moral
restraint, yields to temptation and thus becomes vicious and
criminal, the importance of an institution among us which
leads our youth and young men in the way of morality and
good citizenship must be freely admitted.
I have thus only referred to this association as in some man
ner connected with our substantial prosperity. There is a
higher theme connected with this subject which touches the
welfare, temporal and spiritual, of the objects of its care.
Upon this I will not dwell. I cannot, however, pass on with
out invoking the fullest measure of honor and consideration
due to the self-sacrificing and disinterested efforts of the
men — and women, too — who have labored amid trials and
discouragements to plant this Association firmly upon sure
foundation. We all hope and expect that our city has en
tered upon a course of unprecedented prosperity and growth.
But to my mind not all the signs about us point more surely to
real greatness than the event which we here celebrate.
Good and pure government lies at the foundation of the
wealth and progress of every community.
As the Chief Executive of this proud city, I congratulate all
my fellow-citizens that to-day we lay the foundation stone of
an edifice which shall be a beautiful adornment, and, what is
more important, shall inclose within its walls such earnest
Christian endeavors as must make easier all our efforts to

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 183
administer, safely and honestly, a good municipal government.
I commend the Young Men's Christian Association to the
cheerful and generous support of every citizen, and trust that
long after the men who have wrought so well in establishing
these foundations shall have surrendered lives well spent, this
building shall stand a monument of well directed, pious labor,
to shed its benign influence on generations yet to come.

IV.
To the Cardinal Gibbons Reception Committee.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, January 26, 1887.
My Dear Sir:
I have received from you, as one ¦ of the Committee of the
Catholic Club of Philadelphia, an invitation to attend a ban
quet to be given by the club, on Tuesday evening, Feb
ruary 8, in honor of His Eminence Cardinal Gibbons. The
thoughtfulness which prompted this invitation is gratefully
appreciated ; and I regret that my public duties here will pre
vent its acceptance. I should be glad to join in the contem
plated expression of respect to be tendered to the distinguished
head of the Catholic Church in the United States, whose per
sonal acquaintance I very much enjoy, and who is so worthily
entitled to the esteem of all his fellow-citizens.
I thank you for the admirable letter which accompanies my
invitation, in which you announce as one of the doctrines of
your club "that a good and exemplary Catholic must ex neces
sitate rei be a good and exemplary citizen," and that "the
teachings of both human and Divine law thus merging in the
one word, duty, form the only union of Church and State that
a civil and religious government can recognize."
I know you will permit me, as a Protestant, to supplement
this noble sentiment by the expression of my conviction that
the same influence and result follow a sincere and consistent

1 84 TO RELIGIOUS AND
devotion to the teachings of every religious creed which is
based upon Divine sanction.
A wholesome religious faith thus inures to the perpetuity, the
safety and the prosperity of our Republic, by exacting the due
observapce of civil law, the preservation of public order, and a
proper regard for the rights of all; and thus are its adherents
better fitted for good citizenship and confirmed in a sure and
steadfast patriotism. It seems to me, too, that the conception
of duty to the State which is derived from religious precept
involves a sense of personal responsibility, which is of the
greatest value in the operation of the government by the peo
ple. It will be a fortunate day for our country when every
citizen feels that he has an ever-present duty to perform to the
State which he cannot escape from or neglect without being
false to his religious as well as his civil allegiance.
Wishing for your club the utmost success in its efforts to
bring about this result, I am. Yours sincerely,
Grover Cleveland.

V.
At the Laying of the Y. M. C. A. Building Corner Stone,
Kansas City, Mo., October 13, 1887.
In the busy activities of our daily life we are apt to neglect
instrumentalities which are quietly, but effectually, doing most
important service in molding our national character. Among
these, and challenging but little notice compared with their
valuable results, are the Young Men's Christian Associations
scattered throughout our country. All will admit the supreme
importance of that honesty and fixed principle which rest
upon Christian motives and purposes, and all will acknowledge
the sad and increasing temptations which beset our young men
and lure them to their destruction.

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 1 85
To save these young men, oftentimes deprived of the
restraints of home, from degradation and ruin, and to fit them
for usefulness and honor, these associations have entered the
field of Christian effort and are pushing their noble work.
When it is considered that the subjects of their efforts are to
be the active men for good or evil in the next generation, mere
worldly prudence dictates that these associations should be
aided and encouraged.
Their increase and flourishing condition reflect the highest
honor upon the good men who have devoted themselves to this
work, and demonstrate that the American people are not
entirely lacking in appreciation of its value. Twenty years
ago but one of these associations owned a building, and that
was valued at only $11,000. To-day more than one hundred
such buildings, valued at more than $5,000,000, beautify the
different cities of our land and beckon our young men to lives
of usefulness.
I am especially pleased to be able to participate to-day in
laying the corner stone of another of these edifices in this
active and growing city ; and I trust that the encouragement
given the Young Men's Christian Association located here may
be commensurate with its assured usefulness, and in keeping
with the generosity and intelligence which characterize the
people of Kansas City.

VI.
To the Evangelical Alliance, Washington, December 9, 1887.
Mr. President :
I am glad to meet so large a delegation from the Evangelical
Alliance of the United States. I understand the purpose of
this Alliance to be the application of Christian rules of con
duct to the problems and exigencies of social and political
life. Such a movement cannot fail to produce the most valuable

1 86 TO RELIGIOUS AND
results. All must admit that the reception of the teachings of
Christianity results in the purest patriotism, in the most
scrupulous fidelity to public trust, and in the best type of citi
zenship. Those who manage the affairs of government are by
this means reminded that the law of God demands that they
should be courageously true to the interests of the people, and
that the Ruler of the Universe will require of them a strict
account of their stewardship. The people, too, are thus
taught that their happiness and welfare will be best promoted
by a conscientious regard for the interest of a common brother
hood, and that the success of a government by the people
depends upon the morality, the justice, and the honesty of the
people. I am especially pleased to know that your efforts are not
cramped and limited by denominational lines, and that your
credentials are found in a broad Christian fellowship. Mani
festly, if you seek to teach your countrymen toleration you
yourselves must be tolerant; if you would teach them liberality
for the opinions of each other, you yourselves must be liberal ;
and if you would teach them unselfish patriotism, you yourselves
must be unselfish and patriotic. There is enough of work in
the field you have entered to enlist the hearty co-operation of
all who believe in the value and efficacy of Christian teaching
and practice.
Your noble mission, if undertaken in a broad and generous
spirit, will surely arrest the attention and respectful considera
tion of your fellow-citizens; and your endeavors, consecrated
by benevolence and patriotic love, must exert a powerful influ
ence in the enlightenment and improvement of our people, in
illustrating the strength and stability of our institutions, and
in advancing the prosperity and greatness of our beloved
land.

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 187
VII.
Before the Northern and Southern Presbyterian Assem
blies at Philadelphia, May 23, 1888.
I am very much gratified by the opportunity here afforded
me to meet the representatives of the Presbyterian Church.
Surely a man never should lose his interest in the welfare of
the Church in which he was reared; and yet I will not find
fault with any of you who deem it a sad confession made when
I acknowledge that I must recall the days now long past, to find
my closest relation to the grand and noble denomination which
you represent. I say this because those of us who inherit
fealty to our Church, as I did, begin early to learn those things
which make us Presbyterians all the days of our lives; and
thus it is that the rigors of our early teaching, by which we are
grounded in our lasting allegiance, are especially vivid, and
perhaps the best remembered. The attendance upon church
service three times each Sunday, and upon Sabbath school dur
ing the noon intermission, may be irksome enough to a boy of
ten or twelve years of age to be well fixed in his memory ; but I
have never known a man who regretted these things in the years
of his maturity. The Shorter Catechism, though thoroughly
studied and learned, was not, perhaps, at the time perfectly
understood, and yet, in the stern labors and duties of afterlife,
those are not apt to be the worst citizens who were early
taught : ' 'What is the chief end of man ? "
Speaking of these things and in the presence of those here
assembled, the most tender thoughts crowd upon my mind — all
connected with Presbyterianism and its teachings. There are
present with me now memories of a kind and affectionate
father, consecrated to the cause, and called to his rest and his
reward in the midday of his usefulness ; a sacred recollection
of the prayers and pious love of a sainted mother, and a family
circle hallowed and sanctified by the spirit of Presbyterianism.
I certainly cannot but express the wish and hope that the
Presbyterian Church will always be at the front in every move-

1 88 TO RELIGIOUS AND
ment which promises the temporal as well as the spiritual
advancement of mankind. In the turmoil and the bustle of
everyday life few men are foolish enough to ignore the pracd-
cal value to our people and our country of the Church organi
zations established among us, and the advantage of Chri^ian
example and teachings.
The field is vast, and the work sufficient to engage the efforts
of every sect and denomination; but I am inclined to believe
that the Church which is most tolerant and conservative, with
out loss of spiritual strength, will soonest find the way to the
hearts and affections of the people. While we may be par
doned for insisting that our denomination is the best, we may,
I think, safely concede much that is good to all other Churches
that seek to make men better.
I am here to greet the delegates of two General Assemblies
of the Presbyterian Church. One is called "North" and the
other "South." The subject is too deep and intricate for me;
but I cannot help wondering why this should be. These
words, so far as they denote separation and estrangement,
should be obsolete. In the councils of the nation, and in the
business of the country, they no longer mean reproach and
antagonism. Even the soldiers who fought for the North and
for the South are restored to fraternity and unity. This fra
ternity and unity are taught and enjoined by our Church.
When shall she herself be united, with all the added strength
and usefulness that harmony and union insure?

VIIL

To a Meeting for Promoting the Free Library Movement,
New York, March 6, 1890.
Mr. Chairman and Ladies and Gentlemen :
The few words I shall speak on this occasion, I intend rather
as a pledge of my adherence to the cause in which you are
enlisted, than an attempt to say anything new or instructive.

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 189
I gladly join, with the enthusiasm of a new convert, in the
felicitations of those who have done noble and effective work
in the establishment and maintenance in our city of a free cir
culating library; and it seems to me they have abundant cause
for congratulation in a review of the good which has already
been accomplished through their efforts, and in the contempla
tion of the further usefulness which awaits their continued
endeavor. In every enlightened country the value of popular education
is fully recognized, not only as a direct benefit to its recipi
ents, but as an element of strength and safety in organized
society. Considered in these aspects, it should nowhere be
better appreciated than in this land of free institutions, conse
crated to the welfare and happiness of its citizens, and deriv
ing its sanction and its power from the people. Here the
character of the people is inevitably impressed upon the gov
ernment, and here our public life can no more be higher and
purer than the life of the people, than a stream can rise above
its fountain or be purer than the spring in which it has its
source. That we have not failed to realize these conditions is demon
strated by the establishment of free public schools on every
side, where children are not only invited but often obliged to
submit themselves to such instruction as will better their situ
ation in life and fit them to take part intelligently in the con
duct of the government.
Thus in our schools the young are taught to read, and in
this manner the seed is sown from which we expect a profitable
return to the state, when its beneficiaries shall repay the edu-
tional advances made to them by an intelligent and patriotic
performance of their social and political duties.
And yet, if we are to create good citizenship, which is the
object of popular education, and if we are to insure to the
country the full benefit of public instruction, we can by no
means consider the work as completely done in the school
room. While the young gathered there are fitting themselves

1 90 TO RELIGIOUS AND
to assume in the future their political obligations, there are
others upon whom these obHgations already rest, and who now
have the welfare and safety of the country in their keeping.
Our work is badly done if these are neglected. They have
passed the school age, and have perhaps availed themselves of
free instruction; but they, as well as those still in school,
should, nevertheless, have within their reach the means of
further mental improvement and the opportunity of gaining
that additional knowledge and information which can only be
secured by access to useful and instructive books.
The husbandman who expects to gain a profitable return
from his orchards not only carefully tends and cultivates the
young trees in his nurseries as they grow to maturity, but he
generously enriches and cares for those already in bearing and
upon which he must rely for ripened fruit.
Teaching the children of our land to read is but the first
step in the scheme of creating good citizens by means of free
instruction. We teach the young to read so that, both as
children and as men and women, they may read. Our teaching
must lead to the habit and the desire of reading, to be useful ;
and only as this result is reached, can the work in our free
schools be logically supplemented and made valuable.
Therefore, the same wise policy and intent which open the
doors of our free schools to our young also suggest the com
pletion of the plan thus entered upon, by placing books in
the hands of those who, in our schools, have been taught to
read. A man or woman who never reads and is abandoned to
unthinking torpor, or who allows the entire mental life to be
bounded by the narrow lines of a daily recurring routine of
effort for mere existence, cannot escape a condition of barren
ness of mind which not only causes the decay of individual
contentment and happiness, but which fails to yield to the
state its justly expected return of usefulness in valuable service
and wholesome political action.
Another branch of this question should not be overlooked.

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 191
It is not only of great importance that our youth and our men
and women should have the ability, the desire, and the oppor
tunity to read, but the kind of books they read is no less
important. Without guidance and without the invitation and
encouragement to read publications which will improve as well
as interest, there is danger that our people will have in their
hands books whose influence and tendency are of a negative
sort, if not positively bad and mischievous. Like other good
things, the ability and opportunity to read may be so used as
to defeat their beneficent purposes.
The boy who greedily devours the vicious tales of imaginary
daring and blood-curdling adventure, which in these days are
far too accessible to the young, will have his brain filled with
notions of life and standards of manliness which, if they do
not make him a menace to peace and good order, will certainly
not tend to make him a useful member of society.
The man who devotes himself to the flash literature now
much too common will, instead of increasing his value as a
citizen, almost surely degenerate in his ideas of public duty
and grow dull in his appreciation of the obligations he owes
his country.
In both these cases there will be a loss to the state. There
is danger also that a positive and aggressive injury to the
community will result; and such readers will certainly suffer de
privation of the happiness and contentment which are the fruits
of improving study and well-regulated thought.
So, too, the young woman who seeks recreation and enter
tainment in reading silly and frivolous books, often of doubtful
moral tendency, is herself in the way of becoming frivolous
and silly, if not of weak morality. If she escapes this latter
condition, she is almost certain to become utterly unfitted to
bear patiently the burden of self-support, or to assume the
sacred duties of wife and mother.
Contemplating these truths, no one can doubt the importance
of securing for those who read, as far as it is in our power,
facilities for the study and reading of such books as will

192 TO RELIGIOUS AND
instruct and innocently entertain, and which will, at the same
time, improve and correct the tastes and desires.
There is another thought somewhat in advance of those
already suggested, which should not pass unnoticed.
As an outgrowth of the inventive and progressive spirit of
our people, we have among us legions of men, and women too,
who restlessly desire to increase their knowledge of the new
forces and agencies, which, at this time, are being constantly
dragged from their lurking-places and subjected to the use of
man. These earnest inquirers should all be given a chance
and have put within their reach such books as will guide and
inspire their efforts. If, by this means, the country shall gain
to itself a new inventor, or be the patron of endeavor which
shall add new elements to the sum of human happiness and
comfort, its intervention will be well repaid.
These considerations, and the fact that many among us hav
ing the ability and inclination to read are unable to furnish
themselves with profitable and wholesome books, amply justify
the beneficent mission of our Free Circulating Library. Its
plan and operation, so exactly adjusted to meet a situation
which cannot safely be ignored and to wants which ought
not to be neglected, establish its claim upon the encouragement
and reasonable aid of the public authorities and commend it
most fully to the support and generosity of private bene
faction. The development which this good work has already reached
in our city has exhibited the broad field yet remaining
untouched, and the inadequacy of present operations. It has
brought to view also instances of noble individual philanthropy
and disinterested private effort and contribution.
But it certainly seems that the time and money directed to
this object are confined to a circle of persons far too narrow,
and that the public encouragement and aid have been greatly
disproportioned to private endeavor.
The city of New York has never shown herself willing to be
behind other cities in such work as is done by our Free Circu-

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 193
lating Library, and, while her people are much engrossed in
business activity and enterprise, they have never yet turned
away from a cause once demonstrated to them to be so worthy
and useful as this.
The demonstration is at hand. Let it be pressed upon our
fellow-citizens, and let them be shown the practical operation
of the project you have in hand and the good it has accom
plished, and the further good of which it is capable through
their increased liberality, and it will be strange if they fail to
respond generously to your appeal to put the city of New York
in the front rank of the cities which have recognized the use
fulness of free circulating libraries.

IX.

At the Ninth Annual Meeting of the Actors' Fund of
America, January 3, 1890.
Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen:
If my appearance here to-day serves no other purpose, I
hope I may say, without offense to anyone, that it illustrates the
progress of our time in toleration and liberality of sentiment.
I was reared and taught in the strictest school of Presby
terianism. I remember well the precious precepts and exam
ples of my early days, and I acknowledge that to them I owe
every faculty of usefulness I possess, and every just apprehen
sion of the duties and obligations of life. But though still
clinging to these with unabated faith and steadfastness, I meet
and congratulate you on this occasion, not only without the
least vestige of moral compunction, but with great pleasure and
satisfaction. It is not necessary to remind this audience that, whether
right or wrong, such a condition could not always be antici
pated, for the time is within the remembrance of us all when, in
many quarters of our country, very little good was acknowl
edged to exist in the dramatic profession. We are certain

194

TO RELIGIOUS AND

there has been a change in the relation your profession bears
to the people at large; and, while much of this change is
undoubtedly due to the growth of more liberal ideas, it will
not do to overlook the fact that you yourselves have, by a con
stant regard to the ethics of your calling, contributed perhaps
in a greater degree to the breaking down of old prejudices and
misconceptions. At all events, we, as laymen, know that we
are freer from bigoted intolerance; and you, as members of the
dramatic profession, must feel that you are greatly relieved
from unjust suspicions.
We all see less and less reason why our ministers should
quote Shakspere from their pulpits and we be prohibited
from seeing and hearing his works better interpreted on the
stage. We see still less consistency in permitting the perusal
of books of fiction, which only sometimes teach wholesome
moral lessons, and at the same time prohibiting attendance
upon the well-regulated and conventional play, where virtue
is always triumphant and villainy is always circumvented.
But while I can say that I am not at all perplexed at this
moment by my Presbyterianism, I cannot claim that my posi
tion before such an audience as this is entirely free from
embarrassment. I have been told by one of my best friends,
and, at the same time, one of the best actors I ever saw, that
at a play an audience of actors are critical, but kind and
patient. This reflection is, of course, reassuring as far as it
goes. But, since I agreed to meet you here to-day, it has
often occurred to me that I had no guarantee of your kindness
and patience except at a play; and that perhaps when you see
your places on the stage occupied by those not of your broth
erhood, you may still be critical, but neither kind nor patient.
In these circumstances, I may as well confess now and here,
that, in strict accordance with the promptings of weak and
unamiable human nature, I have stifled all misgivings as to
what I may inflict upon you — if I have not rid myself of anx
iety — by the reflection that, however much I may fall short of
your approbation, I cannot possibly take of you excessive

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 195
reprisals for the dreary speaking and acting that have at times
been inflicted upon me when some of your profession have
been upon the stage and I in the audience.
It is very doubtful whether there is much appropriateness in
the ideas I have thus far presented, in the light of the fact that
we have met to review the work of a noble charity; for, though
this particular enterprise has its rise within the limits of the
dramatic profession, surely, in the things which pertain to the
relief of the sick and suffering, and to the aid and comfort of
the unfortunate and afflicted, all who are charitably inclined
belong to one fraternity. The sentiment of charity arouses all
that is worth having in human nature, and in its work it weaves
the bands which hold mankind in gentle kinship.
I cannot refrain from speaking of one characteristic of the
charity you have in charge, which to me is especially gratify
ing. Necessarily, in the administration of many benevolent
enterprises, the conditions of participation in their benefits are
so exacting and the investigations practiced are so searching
and unsparing, that humiliation and sadness often accompany
relief. It is a most happy arrangement of the work of your
organization that it is done directly, promptly, and without
humiliating incidents ; that your relief is extended to all in any
way related to your profession, from the highest to the lowest
grade ; and that they require no other certificate than their
needy condition. Thus there is given to your charitable
efforts a sort of cordiality and heartiness which makes your
assistance doubly welcome.
I remember well how impressed I was by this feature of
your charity, when, six or seven years ago, I first knew of the
existence of your organization, and was urged, as Governor of
the State, to attend an entertainment to be given for its bene
fit; and how it determined me to set aside my objections and
accept the invitation which was so cordially and persuasively
presented. I have always felt grateful to those who tendered
that invitation, not only for the enjoyment which the enter
tainment afforded, but also because I was thus introduced to a

196 TO RELIGIOUS AND
charity in which I have ever since taken a lively interest. You
at that time placed my name upon your roll of honorary mem
bership, and I am very proud of it — aU the more so because if
not the first, it was among the first, there recorded.
I feel, then, that I am nearly enough related to you and your
active membership to join in your felicitations upon the good
you have already accompHshed and upon the promise of
extended usefulness in the future. The record of charitable
accomplishments which has been presented by your president
must be full of satisfaction, and must, of necessity, bring home
to you the feeling that you have been amply paid for all you
have done for this beneficent organization, by the conscious
ness that you have in this way aided in alleviating the sorrow
and the distress of your "forlorn and shipwrecked" brethren.
The highest and best development of your charity, and the
most important purpose of your Fund, will be reached when
you are able to provide a home for those in your profession
who, through age, sickness, or infirmity, are unfitted longer to
work and struggle. It must be perfectly apparent that, in such
a retreat, managed and superintended by those who, from pro
fessional experience and sympathy, are conversant with the
history and peculiar needs of those whom it shelters, poverty
would lose much of its humiliation, and disability need not
rob the unfortunate of self-respect. I hope the day is not far
distant when this important instrumentality will be added
to your means of usefulness.
You will not, I trust, deem it amiss if, in conclusion, I pre
sent a thought which is apt to be prominent in my mind on
occasions like this.
Considering, as I do, the dramatic profession as furnishing
favorable conditions for the development of thoughtful men, I
am not fully satisfied that its members appreciate, as soberly as
they ought, their duty to our country. You must yourselves
confess that the tendency of your occupation is somewhat in
the direction of isolation, and a separation from familiar con
tact with the ordinary affairs of Hfe. These lead not only to

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 197
your being misunderstood by many of your fellow-citizens, but
to the loss of the advantage which your intelligence might
contribute to the common welfare. You are patriotic in senti
ment, but you are too apt to think that you perform your full
duty when you do well your professional work and when you
keep the peace and obey the laws. Pardon me if I say to you
that all these things, and all your readily acknowledged char
itable undertakings, will not atone for a neglect to discharge
your duty as it is related to the affairs of your country. This
government of ours is constructed upon the theory that every
thoughtful, intelligent, and honest citizen will directly interest
himself in its operation; and unless this is forthcoming, its
best objects and purposes will not be accomplished.
As the welfare of your country is dear to you, as you desire
an honest and wise administration of your government, and as
your interests and prosperity, in common with those of your
fellow-citizens, are bound up in the maintenance of our free
institutions, do not forget that these things can only be secured
by conscientious political thought and careful political action.

X.
Before the State Charities Aid Association, New York,
May I, 1891.
Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen:
When I consented to say a few words on this occasion, I
knew that others would attend, and ably and thoroughly pre
sent the work and achievements of the State Charities Aid
Association. This knowledge gave rise in my mind to consid
erable doubt and hesitation, because it seemed to me that in
this condition of the matter, the little I could say must appear
useless — if nothing worse. It occurred to me, however, in
settling the question, that my participation in this meeting
would probably benefit one person at least — and that was
myself. If this suggests a motive for my appearance, which

1 98 TO RELIGIOUS AND
seems to have a slight color of selfishness, I hasten to declare
that I would be glad to share the good effects of the influence
of this occasion with all my fellow-townsmen who might be
inclined to place any value upon disinterested and well-
directed charitable effort.
There are benefits originating in charitable activity, which
reach others besides those directly relieved. It is clear that
those actually engaged in the ministrations of charity derive a
benefit therefrom. Physical exercise and outdoor athletic
recreation strengthen the muscles and invigorate the bodily
powers. So charitable exercise and humane work strengthen
the best tendencies of human nature and invigorate the moral
health. These are the natural and expected rewards of actual
participation in physical exercise and in the activity of charity.
But the thought I have in my mind relates to certain benefits
resulting from charitable efforts which may accrue to those
who, simply as observers, are brought within its influence.
Those who go out to witness the physical exercise of others, or
to watch athletic sports, receive a benefit by breathing the
fresh air, if in no other way. So, those who witness charitable
exercise and humane work, and even those who only put them
selves in the way of hearing of the results of such exercise and
work, cannot fail to derive benefit and advantage from the
atmosphere surrounding them. They will be cured of much
moral dyspepsia, they will be relieved of the atrophy of selfish
ness; they are apt to be better fitted for all the duties of life,
while the' flexibility and mobility of their inclinations toward
charitable giving will, almost surely, be increased.
It is well, therefore, to keep before those not actively
enlisted in charity, the work that is being done by others — to
the end, that, by a process of absorption or leavening, the
charitable and kindly feeling which should characterize Ameri
can civilization may be quickened among our people.
I hope I have not placed too much stress upon the value of
the benevolent sentiment which may be cultivated by the con-

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 1 99
templation of charitable work, by those who are simply
bystanders — even though they remain bystanders. I cannot
help thinking, that, in a country like ours, where so much
depends upon the virtue of individuals, the improvement of
every impulse or inclination which makes men better and more
unselfish, is most important to our citizenship.
Besides, we do not expect that those who thus feel the influ
ence which is spread abroad by the charitable activity of others,
will long remain mere bystanders. What they see and feel
ought to lead to hearty co-operation — if not in time and effort,
certainly in pecuniary assistance.
We commemorate, to-night, the successes in humane work of
a volunteer association of men and women so organized that
their labor and influence is found in every neighborhood of our
State. Theirs is a labor of love and disinterested humanity.
They ask no public appropriation of money, nor do they seek
compensation for their services. What they have done for the
dependent poor and unfortunate cannot be over-valued. The
part they have taken in rescuing the State from the disgrace of
its neglect of the pauper insane, and their instrumentality in
placing these afflicted ones within the reach of proper care and
treatment, are sufficient to entitle these earnest workers to the
gratitude of every good citizen. If there is difficulty in obtain
ing the small amount of money — beyond their own contribu
tions — which is necessary to continue the work of their organi
zation, it must be that its mission is not understood or that the
bystanders, of whom I have spoken, either do not comprehend
the necessities of the situation, or are resisting the beneficent
influences of the association's existence and labors.
I have left to others the agreeable task of recounting, in
detail, the direct benefits to the poor, the wretched, and the
unfortunate, which have been wrought by the association. I
have spoken of the improvement which the influence and
example of its members should make in the character of our
people. I desire now to suggest a way by which the work of

200 TO RELIGIOUS AND
the association may be made useful to our State charitable
institutions themselves, altogether aside from the correction of
any wrongs and abuses in their management.
We aU know that there is among our people a readiness to
suspect the existence of neglect and cruelty in the conduct of
these institutions. This is evidenced by the unquestioning
credence which is accorded to the most sensational reports
concerning the ill-treatment of the paupers in our poorhouses,
of the insane in our asylums, and of the sick in our hospitals.
We aU know, too, that, though these reports are sometimes
unfounded and often grossly exaggerated, no amount of official
denial, and frequently no exoneration through official investi
gation, can reassure the public, or shake the belief easily rooted
in the minds of compassionate citizens, that terrible outrages
are committed behind the doors which only open to official
bidding. It is hardly necessary to suggest that these appre
hensions and convictions have their rise in sentiments of
humanity and pity, coupled with what is construed to be a
desire for the concealment of the actual situation.
It is perfectly plain that such a want of confidence on the
part of the people, in the proper management of our public
charitable institutions, must remove the chief supports of their
usefulness and prevent their fulfillment of the purposes of their
maintenance. The avoidance of such conditions can in no
way be better secured, nor can a surer safeguard against such
groundless and sensational accusations be provided, than by
the frequent visitation and inspection of these institutions by
prudent, intelligent, and sensible men and women in their
localities, respected and trusted by the entire community, and
volunteering in the service. The further removed they are
from official limitations and regulation, the more implicit faith
and confidence will their neighbors and fellow-citizens place
in their reports and representations. It would be exceedingly
difficult for unfounded accusations and tales of horror to gain
a foothold against the testimony of such disinterested and
unpaid visitors, and the quiet existence of conditions, which, if

CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS. 201
known, might justify accusation and suspicion, would be
impossible under their watchful visitations.
I do not overlook the fact that such visitation and inspection
might be regarded, with some reason, as an interference with
necessary official management and administration and might
thus cause irritation and trouble. But the danger of such
consequences I am sure could be avoided by care in the selec
tion of the visitors and by the employment of only those of
good judgment and conservative disposition. Indeed, visitors
of that kind must, of necessity, be selected, if any good purpose
is to be accomplished through their efforts. At any rate, I
believe the wholesome checks to the improper treatment of the
unfortunate wards of the State and the protection of our char
itable institutions against unjust attack, which volunteer visita
tion and inspection would secure, much more than counter
balance the risk of any objectionable results.
Besides, in considering this plan of charitable work, we
have something more reliable and satisfactory to guide us than
mere theory and presumption. For ten years the members and
agents of the State Charities Aid Association have been per
mitted by law to visit and inspect the county, city, and town
poorhouses and almshouses within the State. The far-reaching
good which has resulted from these limited ministrations of
the Association can hardly be estimated; and I have never
heard of any instance where harm has resulted.
With such a demonstration before us, and thus having rea
son and experience to support us, we are abundantly justified
in asking that the Association's right of visitation and inspec
tion be extended, so that it shall apply to all the asylums and
other charitable institutions which are under State manage
ment. In conclusion, I desire to congratulate the members of the
Charities Aid Association on the grand results of their labors,
and to acknowledge the beneficence and usefulness of their
undertaking. I believe the encouragement of such endeavors
as theirs is a duty devolving upon every citizen of the State.

202 CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS.
Their mission should be better understood and our people
should be constantly reminded that charity not only aids and
relieves the poor and distressed, but that, by its influence and
inspiration, it improves and broadens the best elements of
American citizenship.

CHAPTER IX.
addresess before professional bodies.

Memorial Tribute to Oscar Folsom, before the Erie County Bar
Association Meeting, July 26, 1875.
It has been said, " Light sorrows speak, great grief is
dumb," and the application of this would enforce my silence
on this occasion. But I cannot go so far, nor let the hour
pass without adding a tribute of respect and love for my de
parted friend. He was my friend in the most sacred and
complete sense of the term. I have walked with him, talked
with him, ate with him, and slept with him — was he not my
friend ?
I must not, dare not, recall the memories of our long and
loving friendship. And let not my brethren think it amiss if
I force back the thoughts which come crowding to my mind.
I shall speak coldly of my friend ; but the most sacred tribute
of a sad heart, believe me, is unspoken.
In the course of a life not entirely devoid of startling inci
dents, I can truly say I never was so shocked and overwhelmed
as when I heard, on Friday night, of the death of Oscar Fol
som. I had an engagement with him that evening, and was
momentarily expecting him when I received the intelligence
of his injury ; and before I reached the scene of the accident
I was abruptly told of his death ; I shall not attempt to de
scribe my emotions. Death seemed so foreign to this man,
and the exuberance of his life was so marked and prominent,
that the idea of his dying, or his death, seemed to me incon
gruous and out of place. And before I saw him dead I found

204 ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES.
myself reflecting, " How strange he would look, dying or
dead." I had seen him in every other part of the drama of life but
this, and for this he seemed unfitted.
His remarkable social qualities won for him the admiration
of all with whom he came in contact, while his great, kind
heart caused all to love him who knew him well. He was
remarkably true in his friendships, and having really made a
friend he " grappled him with hooks of steel." Open and
frank himself, he opposed deceit and indirection. His remark
able humor never had intentional sting ; and though impulsive
and quick, he was always just. In the practice of his profes
sion and in the solution of legal questions he saw which was
right and just, and then expected to find the law leading him
directly there.
It is not strange to find joined to a jovial disposition a kind
and generous heart ; but he had, besides these, a broad and
correct judgment and a wonderful knowledge of men and
affairs ; and the instances are numerous in my experience
when his strong common sense has aided me easily through
difficulties. Such was my friend.
The sadness of his taking off has no alleviation. I shall not
dwell upon the harrowing circumstances. On Friday after
noon Oscar Folsom, in the midday of life, was cherishing
bright anticipations for the future. Among them, he had
planned a home in an adjoining town, where he calculated
upon much retirement and quiet. He had already partially
perfected his arrangements, which were soon to be fully con
summated. Within forty-eight hours he reached the town of
his anticipated residence. But God had intervened. The
hands of loving friends bore him to a home, but not the home
he had himself provided. He found peace in the home that
God provides for the sons of men, and quiet — ah I such quiet —
in the grave. I know how fleeting and how soon forgotten
are the lessons taught by such calamities. " The gay will
laugh, the solemn brow of care plod on, and each one as before

ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES. 205
pursue his favorite phantom." But it seems to me that long,
long years will intervene before pleasant memories of his life
will be unmingled with the sad admonitions furnished by the
death of Oscar Folsom.
Let us cherish him in loving remembrance, and heed well
the lessons of his death ; and let our tenderest sympathy
extend to a childless father, a widowed wife, and fatherless
child.

IL
When presiding over the New York State Bar Association,
Albany, January 8, 1884.
Gentlemen of the Association :
At a late hour I was solicited to preside at your meeting.
I should certainly have felt that I must decline, but for two
considerations. I was assured that no address would be ex
pected of me, and that even a little speech, on assuming the
chair, might be dispensed with. This disposed of one objection
to my consent.
The other consideration sprang up in my mind when I reflected
that there would be here an assemblage of my professional
brethren, and the impulse was irresistible to be among them for
a time, though necessarily brief, and to feel about me the atmos
phere from which, for a twelve-month, I have been excluded. I
beg to assure you, gentlemen, that in the crowd of official duties
which for -the past year have surrounded me, I have never lost
sight of the guild to which I am proud to belong, nor have I
lost any of the love and care for the noble profession I have
chosen. On the contrary, as I have seen the controlling
part which the lawyers of the State assume in the enacting
of her laws, and in all other works that pertain to her progress
and her welfare, I have appreciated more than ever the value
and usefulness of the legal profession. And, when I have
seen how generally my professional brethren have been faith
ful to their public trusts, my pride has constantly increased.

2o6 ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES.
And yet from the outside world I come within the grateful
circle of professional life to say to you that much is to be
done before the bar of this State will, in all its parts, be what
we all could wish. We hold honorable places, but we hold
places of power — if well used, to protect and save our fellows;
if prostituted and badly used, to betray and destroy. It seems
to me that a profession so high and noble in all the purposes
of its existence should be only high and noble in all its results.
But we know it is not so. There is not a member of the bar
in this assemblage who has not shuddered when he thought of
the wicked things he had the power to do safely ; and he has
shuddered again when he recalled those, whom he was obliged
to call professional brothers, who needed but the motive to do
these very things.
An association like this, to be really useful, must be some
thing more than a society devoted to the laudation of the
profession. It should have duties to perform, earnest in their
nature, and not the less boldly met because they are disagree
able. Those who steal our livery to aid them in the com
mission of crime should be detected and exposed ; and this
association, or branches of it, should have watchmen on the
walls to protect the honor and fair fame of the bar of the
State. Your words are fair, when, in your constitution, you declare
the objects of this association to be " to elevate the standard of
integrity, honor, and courtesy in the legal profession " ; and I
have no doubt you have done much in that direction ; but I
hope I may be pardoned for reminding you here that frequently,
to insure health and vigor, the bad, diseased limbs of the tree
must be lopped off.
My thought has carried me further than I intended. Be
assured I have spoken in no censorious spirit. I congratulate
the State Bar Association on all it has done, and for one am de
termined to aid its work as well during my temporary profes
sional exile as when I shall again gladly mingle in the con
tests of the bar.

ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES. 207
in.
At the Laying of the Corner Stone of the New Academy of
Medicine, New York, October 2, 1889.
The congratulation and the satisfaction which attend this
hour especially belong to the members of the Academy of
Medicine. This is as it should be, for the exercises of to-day
signalize an achievement wrought by their activity and energy,
and give proof of their devotion and attachment to their
chosen profession. To the members of this organization the
corner stone which we now lay is an honor, for it is a monu
ment which marks an important advance in the attainment of
the purpose of the Academy, as declared in its constitution :
" the promotion of the science and art of medicine."
In these extensive foundations is also found proof of the
progressive ideas of these earnest men and their constantly
enlarging estimate of what is necessary to meet the purposes to
which their energy is directed. I have lately seen a pamphlet
containing the constitution and by-laws of the Academy, with
a prefatory note published only three years ago. In this note
it is declared that, from the inception of the Academy, one of
its chief objects has been the procurement of a building or
hall where its meetings might be held, where a library and
museum could be garnered, and where the profession could
meet on common ground. The statement is added with much
apparent satisfaction that the efforts put forth in this direction
have culminated in the purchase of a commodious building
centrally situated, thus " providing a library, hall, and au
dience room, which will, for some time, answer the Academy's
wants and those of the profession." It is already found that
the commodious building which, three years ago, was deemed
sufficient headquarters for the usefulness of the Academy, is
too small and cramped to answer the beneficent purposes of
the organization, and the erection of a structure three or four
times as large has been entered upon. It is thus evident that
the members of the Academy of Medicine, not forgetting the

2o8 ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES.
mission they have undertaken to promote the science and art
of medicine, and, seeing broader avenues leading to this ob
ject, have promptly, and with an energy which never fails,
begun their preparations for wider activity and more impor
tant results.
I have spoken of the mission of the Academy. The nobility
and sacred character of this mission have been often dwelt upon.
It is an old story, but it will never lose its interest while
humanity is touched with human woe ; while self-sacrifice
receives the homage of Christian hearts ; while the sufferings
and sorrows of our fellow-men start the tear of pity ; nor while
their alleviation brings comfort and satisfaction to the soul of
sympathy. These reflections easily and naturally lead to the thought
that the members of the Academy of Medicine are not entitled
to the absolute monopoly of congratulation to-day. All your
fellow-citizens may well claim a share, not only because they
are interested in the promotion of the science and art of
medicine, by reason of their liability to accident and disease,
but because such advance in any profession, as is here demon
strated, adds to the glory and renown of our common country.
I am here to claim for the laymen among your fellow-citizens
a part of the pride which grows out of the progress and
achievement of our medical profession. I base this claim
upon the fact that, in this favored land of ours, all interests are
so interwoven and all activities lead, or should lead, so
directly to the accomplishment of our common national des
tiny that none of us can be indifferent to an important
advance among us in any science or industry.
I am sure that you are not inclined to ignore the aid you
have received, in the project you have undertaken, from the
laymen among your fellows. Nor can you forget that underlying
all that you have done and all that you have received are our
free American institutions, which encourage and give scope to
every worthy effort, and which offer fitting rewards for intelli
gent and well-directed labor in every condition of life.

ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES. 209
You will not, therefore, I trust, deem it impertinent if I re
mind you that none of us is absolved from the duty of aiding
in the maintenance in complete integrity of these free institu
tions, and that this requires the thoughtful care and attention
of every citizen. You do much for your country when you
raise the standard and enlarge the usefulness of your profes
sion ; but you do not accomplish all you can, nor do you
discharge your full duty of citizenship, unless you also attempt
to better the condition of public affairs and give to political
topics and movements the benefit of your trained thought and
well-informed judgment. In this way you assist in making
safe and sure the foundations upon which must rest the
success and value of all your professional efforts and accom
plishments. I hope, when we shall celebrate here the discovery of our
country, that we may point out on this spot, in your completed
building, a splendid monument of the progress of our medical
education, a monument which shall not only prove to the
stranger that our physicians are proud of their profession, but
one which shall also be a reminder that those who govern
within its walls do not forget, in their devotion to the science
and art of medicine, their other duties of citizenship.

IV.
Before the Medical Alumni Association of New York City,
February 15, 1890.
Mr, President and Gentlemen :
I feel that I ought, first of all, to acknowledge the courtesy
which affords me the opportunity of pleasantly meeting this
evening so many of the medical fraternity. I hasten to follow
this by the expression of my thanks for the permission to say
the few words which I suppose are expected of me thus early
in the speech-making stage of this entertainment. I recognize
in this favor the utmost kindness, based, I have no doubt, upon

210 ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES.
your knowledge of physical and mental conditions. You evi
dently know as well as I do that of all congested, distended
and flatulent conditions, the worst and most painful arise from
the combination of a stomach full of good things to eat and
drink, held in uncomfortable solution by an undigested
speech. I interpret my invitation to be here to-night as a recogni
tion of the relationship which exists between the professions of
medicine and law. At any rate I am quite proud in the as
sumption that I am entitled, in a fashion, to represent the law
side of this professional reunion.
There are many things which we have in common, and many
points where we diverge in our professional ways. We, with
the clergy, enjoy the distinction of belonging to the learned
professions. This has a pleasant sound and conveys to us an
idea calculated to inspire the greatest self-satisfaction and to
fill us with a feeling of arrogant superiority. These sentiments
are, however, at once much tempered, or are destroyed, by the
reflection that we are all obliged to recognize as professional
brethren those who demonstrate by their conduct that mere
membership in our brotherhoods will not, of itself, raise us
above the ordinary scale of morality, or exalt us above the
plane of everyday human nature. Neither you nor I can deny
that both of our professions have at this moment representa
tives not engaged in active practice, but resting in retirement
and seclusion within the walls of certain penal institutions
scattered throughout the land. And I will concede, if you will,
that there are others now at large, in both professions, who are
entitled to the same retirement and seclusion.
Perhaps, in passing, I might also say with bated breath that
it is sometimes broadly hinted that even" the clergy occasion
ally do things which better befit the unregenerate.
I do not indulge in these reflections for the sake of saying
unpleasant things, but rather to suggest humility and modesty,
and to introduce the declaration that I am prepared now and
here to disavow with you the claim of any special goodness or

ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES. 211
greatness for our profession, except such as grows out of active
sympathy with everything which helps and benefits our fellow-
men, and except such as result from a conscientious and honest
discharge of professional duty.
We occupy common ground in the similarity of the treat
ment we receive at the hands of the outside world, and in the
opportunity we have to make things even with those who de-
spitefuUy use us.
I have no doubt that it is very funny for people to caricature
doctors as playing into the hands of undertakers, and to rep
resent lawyers as being on such good terms with the evil one
as to preclude the least chance of their salvation. Those who
indulge in this sort of merriment are well people and peo
ple who have no law suits on hand. They grow very serious
when their time comes and they grow sick or are caught in the
meshes of the law. Then they are very respectful and very
appreciative of our skill and learning. If sick they would fain
have the doctor by their side day and night ; and if they are
troubled with a law suit they sit like Mordecai at the lawyer's
gate and are unwilling that he should attend to any business
but theirs. They are ready to lay their fortunes at our feet
and to give and promise all things if they can but recover their
health or win their suit. These are the days in which the
lawyer, if he is wise, will suggest to his clients the payment of
a round retainer or a fee in advance. I mention this as indi
cating a difference at this time in our situations in favor of the
lawyer which gives him a slight advantage over his medical
brother. When the patient recovers, or the client has succeeded in his
suit, the old hardihood and impenitence return. The patient
insists that his strong constitution carried him through, and
the client declares that he always knew there was nothing in
the case of his adversary. They haggle over our bills and
wonder how we can charge so much for so little work.
But sometimes the life or the law suit cannot be saved. In
such a case we must not overlook a difference in our situations.

212 ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES.
with features in favor of the doctor. The defeated client is
left in a vigorous and active condition, nOt only in the complete
enjoyment of his ancient privilege of swearing at the Court,
but also with full capacity to swear at his lawyer. The de
feated patient, on the contrary, is very quiet indeed and can
only swear at his doctor if he has left his profanity in a phono
graph to be ground out by his executor.
A point of resemblance between us is found in the fact that
in neither profession do we manage well in treating our own
cases. Doctors solemnly advise their patients that it is danger
ous to eat this or drink that, or do many other things which
make existence pleasant ; and after marking out a course for
their poor patients which, if followed, robs life of all which
makes it worth living, they hasten away to tempt instant death,
according to their own teachings, by filling themselves with all
the good things and indulgence within the reach of their de
sires. So the lawyer, safe and wise when he counsels others,
deals so poorly with his own legal affairs as to have originated
the saying that a lawyer who tries his own case has a fool for
a client ; and it seems almost impossible fer a lawyer to draw
his own will in such manner as not to yield a passage through
it for a coach and four.
Another point of resemblance between the two professions
consists in the disposition of the members of both to quarrel
with each other. I am bound to say, however, that a differ
ence is to be noted in this matter in favor of the amiability of
the Bar. Our quarrels are mostly of the Pickwickian sort and
strictly in the line of business. They keep us in fighting trim
and serve a very good purpose in impressing our clients with
our zeal and devotion to their interest. Our asseveration of
the rectitude and justice of their side of the cause in hand, and
our demonstration of contempt and indignation for the base
less pretenses of their antagonist and for that prostitution of
professional effort which advocates such pretenses, is a part of
our trade. At the same time I suppose our clients would suspect
us of bad faith and disloyalty if they knew how temporary and

ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES. 213
free from bitterness our quarrels are. Of course, I personally
know but little of the quarrels of doctors, except that they are
constant and well sustained. I am not to be blamed, however, if
I share in the common belief of those outside of the profession,
that you are very belligerent and quarrel a great deal for the
sake of quarreling. You seem to quarrel in squads, in sec
tions, in schools and in colleges. You certainly have not, as
we have, the excuse that your warfare pleases and exhilarates
your patients ; for neither they nor anyone else know what
you are quarreling about.
It is extremely pleasant to turn from these things to the ac
knowledgment of certain obligations we, as lawyers, often owe
to the medical fraternity. When, burdened with a troublesome
case, we feel that the facts are against us ; when we languish in
the chill darkness of adverse legal principles ; and when dis
couragement broods over our efforts, if we can bring from afar
and inject into our cause some question of medical science,-
our drooping law suit immediately becomes animated and in
teresting, for we know that whatever our theory may be con
cerning this medical question, we shall find generous and con
siderate doctors who will support it. Of course fully as many
will dispute and denounce it ; but with a jury in the box who
have not the slightest idea of what the doctors are talking
about, neither litigant need feel discouraged.
You are not, I trust, unprepared for the distinct expression in
conclusion, that nothing is more noble or useful than worthy
membership in our professions. In both are found that culture
and enlightened education which make them learned profes
sions; and in both are found that dignity, integrity, and devotion
which entitle them to be called honorable professions. Our
membership should lead us to acknowledge the responsibili
ties to our fellow-men, which our situations impose, and our ob
ligation to our country, which we cannot innocently evade.
May I not suggest that our entire duty is not done if v/e never
look beyond our professional routine, and if we limit our en
deavor to strictly professional labor ? If our positions give us

214 ADDRESSES BEFORE PROFESSIONAL BODIES.
influence, that influence should be exerted in every direction
for the good of our fellow-countrymen. There are also mala
dies and evils afflicting the body politic which require remedies
and corrections ; and there are suits to be tried before the
tribunal of public opinion in which the anxious suitors are a
free, generous, and confiding people.

CHAPTER X.
on educational and patriotic questions.
I.
At St. Stephen's Hall, Buffalo, December 5, 1881.
Ladies and Gentlemen :
I DESIRE to acknowledge the honor you have conferred upon
me by this call to the chair. My greatest regret is that I
know so little of the conditions that have given birth to the
Land League. I know, in a general way, that it is designed to
secure to Ireland those just and natural rights to which Irish
men are entitled. I understand, also, that these are to be ob
tained by peaceful measures and without doing violence to
any just law of the land. This should meet with the support
and countenance of every man who enjoys the privilege of
American citizenship and lives under American laws. Our
sympathy is drawn out by a bond of common manhood. We
are here to-night to welcome an apostle of this cause, one who
can, from personal experience, recount the scenes of that
troubled isle ; who can tell us the risks that are taken and the
pains that are suffered by those who lead the van in this great
movement. I congratulate you upon having Father Sheehy
with you, and I will not delay the pleasure of his presentation
to you.  II.
At St. James' Hall, Buffalo, at a Mass Meeting to Protest
Against the Treatment of American Citizens Imprisoned
Abroad, April (), 1882.
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.

2 1 6 ON ED UCA FIONA L
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 defense
and protection of the personal rights of its citizens have always
been the paramount and most important duties of a free, en
lightened 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 citizen 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 defense and safety.
And this protection adheres to us in all lands and places as
an incident of citizenship. Let but the weight of a sacri
legious hand be put upon this sacred thing, and a great, strong
government springs to its feet to avenge the wrong. Thus it
is that a native-born American citizen enjoys his birthright.
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 hundreds 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 re
nounced all allegiance to every other state, potentate, and
sovereignty, 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 be given them in return? Manifestly,

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 217
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 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 persons and property which is accorded 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 civilization.
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 natur
alized 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, whatever those 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 admin
istered. 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, has 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 semblance of a trial or legal exam
ination. 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 Christian religion, imprisoned
and persecuted, appealing, centuries ago, to the Roman law

2x8 ON ED UCA TIONAL
and the rights of Roman citizenship, boldly demanded : " Is
it lawful for you to scourge a man that is a Roman, and un-
condemned ? "

IIL
At the Albany High School, June 12, 1883.
I accepted the invitation of your principal to visit your
school this morning with pleasure, because I expected to see
much that would gratify and interest me. In this I have not
been disappointed ; but I must confess that if I had known
that my visit here involved my attempting to address you, I
should have hesitated, and quite likely have declined the in
vitation. I hasten to assure you now that there is not the slightest
danger of my inflicting a speech upon you, and that I shall do
but little more than express my pleasure in the proof I have of
the excellence of the methods and management of the school,
and of the opportunities which those who attend have within
their reach of obtaining a superior education.
I never visit a school in these days without contrasting the
advantages of the scholar of to-day with those of a time not
many years in the past. Within my remembrance, even, the
education which is freely offered to you was only secured by
those whose parents were able to send them to academies and
colleges. And thus, when you entered this school, very many
of you began where your parents left off.
The theory of the State, in furnishing more and better schools
for the children, is that it tends to fit them to perform better
their duties as citizens, and that an educated man or woman is
apt to be more useful as a member of the community.
This leads to the thought that those who avail themselves of
the means thus tendered them are in duty bound to make such
use of their advantages as that the State shall receive, in return,
the educated and intelligent citizens and members of the com-

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 219
munity, which it has the right to expect from its schools. You
who will soon be the men of the day, should consider that you
have assumed an obligation to fit yourselves by the education,
which you may, if you will, receive in this school, for the
proper performance of any duty of citizenship, and to fill any
public station to which you may be called. And it seems to
me to be none the less important that these who are to be the
wives and mothers should be educated, refined, and intelligent.
To tell the truth, I should be afraid to trust the men, educated
though they should be, if they were not surrounded by pure
and true womanhood. Thus it is that you all, now and here,
from the oldest to the youngest, owe a duty to the State which
can only be answered by diligent study and the greatest possi
ble improvement. It is too often the case that in all walks
and places the disposition is to render the least possible return
to the State for the favors which she bestows.
If the consideration which I have mentioned fails to impress
you, let me remind you of what you have often heard, that you
owe it to yourselves, and the important part of yourselves, to
seize, while you may, the opportunities to improve your minds
and store in them, for your own future use and advantage,
the learning and knowledge now fairly within your reach.
None of you desires or expects to be less intelligent or edu
cated than your fellows. But, unless the notions of scholars
have changed, there may be those among you who think that
in some way or manner, after the school day is over, there will
be an opportunity to regain any ground now lost, and to com
plete an education without a present devotion to school
requirements. I am sure this is a mistake. A moment's
reflection ought to convince all of you that when you have
once entered upon the stern, uncompromising, and unrelenting
duties of mature life, there will be no time for study. You
will have a contest then forced upon you which will strain
every nerve and engross every faculty. A good education, if
you have it, will aid you, but if you are without it you cannot
stop to acquire it. When you leave the school you are well

2 20 ON ED UCA TIONAL
equipped for the van in the army of life, or you are doomed to
be a laggard, aimlessly and listlessly following in the rear.
Perhaps a reference to truths so trite is useless here. I hope
it is. But I have not been able to forego the chance to assure
those who are hard at work that they will surely see their
compensation, and those, if any such there are, who find school
duties irksome, and neglect or slightingly perform them, that
they are trifling with serious things and treading on dangerous
ground.

IV.
At the Annual Saengerfest in Buffalo, July i6, 1883.
I have come to join my fellow-townsmen and their visitors
in the exercises which inaugurate a festival of music and of
song, and a season of social enjoyments.
It may be safely said, I think, that no one who has called
this his home, who has ,enjoyed a residence in this beauti
ful city, and has learned the kindness of its people, ever
forgets these things, or fails to experience a satisfaction in
whatever adds to the prestige of the city and the pride and
enjoyment of its inhabitants.
And thus it is that I am here to-night, at my home, claiming,
as an old citizen of Buffalo, my full share of the pleasure
which Buffalonians appropriate to themselves on this occasion.
I am glad that our State has within its borders a city con
taining sufficient German enterprise, and enough of the Ger
man love of music, to secure to itself the honor and distinction
of being selected as the place where this national festival is
held. I desire to feel free, to-night, from official responsibilities
and restraint, and, as a private citizen, to join in welcoming
our guests to my home ; but I will not forbear, as the Executive
of the great State of New York, and on behalf of all its people.

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 221
to extend to those here assembled from other States a hearty
greeting. At this moment the reflection is uppermost in my mind that
we owe much to the German element among our people.
Their thrift and industry have added immensely to our growth
and prosperity. The sad and solemn victims of American
overwork may learn of them that labor may be well done and
at the same time that recreation and social enjoyment have their
place in a busy life. They have also brought to us their music
and their song, which have done much to elevate, refine, and
improve, and to demonstrate that nature's language is as sweet
as when the morning stars sang together.
I am inclined to think that a music-loving people are not
apt to be a bad people ; and it may well be hoped that occa
sions like this will tend to make the love and cultivation of
music more universal in our land.
We hear, sometimes, of the assimilation of the people of
different nationalities, who have made their home upon Amer
ican soil. As this process goes on, let the German's love of
music be carefully included, to the end that the best elements
of human nature may be improved and cultivated, and Amer
ican life be made more joyous and happy.
I must not detain you longer ; better things await you.
To the stranger guest, I pledge a cordial hospitality at the
hands of the Germans of Buffalo. I know the warmth of
heart and the kindliness of disposition of those having you in
charge, and no other guarantee is needed.
To my fellow-townsmen, who have labored thus far so faith
fully in preparation for this occasion, I cannot forbear saying
that your most difficult and delicate work will not be done until
your guests depart declaring the twenty-third the most suc
cessful and enjoyable Saengerfest upon the list, and confessing
that the most cordial and hospitable entertainers are the Ger-
mans of Buffalo.

22 2 ON ED UCA TIONAL
V.
Accepting the Bartholdi Statue, October 28, 1886.
The people of the United States accept with gratitude from
their brethren of the French Republic the grand and com
pleted work of art we here inaugurate.
This token of the affection and consideration of the people
of France demonstrates the kinship of republics, and conveys
to us the assurance that in our efforts to commend to man
kind the excellence of a government resting upon popular
will, we still have beyond the American continent a steadfast
ally. We are not here to-day to bow before the representation of
a fierce and warlike god, filled with wrath and vengeance, but
we joyously contemplate instead our own deity keeping watch
and ward before the open gates of America, and greater than
all that have been celebrated in ancient song. Instead of
grasping in her hand thunderbolts of terror and of death, she
holds aloft the light which illumines the way to man's enfran
chisement. We will not forget that Liberty has here made her home ;
nor shall her chosen altar be neglected. Willing votaries will
constantly keep alive its fires, and these shall gleam upon the
shores of our sister republic in the east. Reflected thence and
joined with answering rays, a stream of light shall pierce the
darkness of ignorance and man's oppression, until Liberty
enlightens the world.

VI.
At the Unveiling of the Garfield Statue, Washington,
May 12, 1887.
Fellow-Citizens :
In performance of the duty assigned to me on this occasion,
I hereby accept, on behalf of the people of the United States,
this completed and beautiful statue.

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 223
Amid the interchange of fraternal greetings between the
survivors of the Army of the Cumberland and their former
foes upon the battlefield, and while the Union General and
the people's President awaited burial, the common grief of
these magnanimous soldiers and mourning citizens found ex
pression in the determination to erect this tribute to American
greatness ; and thus, to-day, in its symmetry and beauty, it
presents a sign of animosities forgotten, an emblem of a
brotherhood redeemed, and a token of a nation restored.
Monuments and statues multiply throughout the land, fit
tingly illustrative of the love and affection of our grateful
people and commemorating brave and patriotic sacrifices in
war, fame in peaceful pursuits, or honor in public station.
But from this day forth there shall stand at our seat of
government this statue of a distinguished citizen who, in his
life and services, combined all these things and more, which
challenge admiration in American character — loving tender
ness in every domestic relation, bravery on the field of battle,
fame and distinction in our halls of legislation, and the highest
honor and dignity in the Chief Magistracy of the nation.
This stately effigy shall not fail to teach every beholder that
the source of American greatness is confined to no condition,
nor dependent alone for its growth and development upon
favorable surroundings. The genius of our national life
beckons to usefulness and honor those in every sphere, and
offers the highest preferment to manly ambition and sturdy
honest effort, chastened and consecrated by patriotic hopes and
aspirations. As long as this statue stands, let it be proudly
remembered that to every American citizen the way is open
to fame and station, until he
Moving up from high to higher,
Becomes on Fortune's crowning slope
The pillar of a people's hope.
The center of a World's desire.
Nor can we forget that it also teaches our people a sad and
distressing lesson ; and the thoughtful citizen who views its

224 ON ED UCA TIONAL
fair proportions cannot fail to recall the tragedy of a death
which brought grief and mourning to every household in the
land. But, while American citizenship stands aghast and
affrighted that murder and assassination should lurk in the
midst of a free people and strike down the head of their
government, a fearless search and the discovery of the origin
and hiding place of these hateful and unnatural things should
be followed by a solemn resolve to purge forever from our
political methods and from the operation of our government,
the perversions and misconceptions which gave birth to pas
sionate and bloody thoughts.
If, from this hour, our admiration for the bravery and nobil
ity of American manhood, and our faith in the possibilities and
opportunities of American citizenship be renewed; if our ap
preciation of the blessing of a restored Union and love for our
government be strengthened, and if our watchfulness against
the dangers of a mad chase after partisan spoils be quickened,
the dedication of this statue to the people of the United States
will not be in vain.

VII.

At the Banquet of the Hibernian Society, Philadelphia,
September 17, 1887.
I should hardly think my participation in the centennial
celebration was satisfactory if I had not the opportunity of
meeting the representative of the society which, through its
antiquity and associations, bears close relations on the events
of the time we commemorate. That you celebrate this occa
sion is a reminder of the fact that in the troublous and
perilous days of our country those whose names stood upon
your roll of membership fought for the cause of free govern
ment and for the homes which they had found upon our soil.
No society or corporation, I am sure, has in its charter, or
in its traditions and history, a better or more valuable certifi-

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 225
cate of its patriotic worth and character than you have, and
which is found in the words of Washington, who, in 1782, de
clared of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, of which this asso
ciation is the successor, that it " has always been noted for the
firm adherence of its members to the glorious cause in which
we are engaged." These are priceless words, and they render
most fitting the part which the members of the Hibernian So
ciety are to-day assuming.
I noticed upon a letter which I have received from your
secretary that one object of your society is stated to be "for
the relief of emigrants from Ireland," and this leads me to
reflect how nearly allied love of country is to a kindly human
ity, and how naturally such a benevolent purpose of this soci
ety, as the assistance and relief of your stranger and needy
emigrants, follows the patriotism in which it had its origin.
Long may the Hibernian Society live and prosper, and long
may its benevolent and humane work be prosecuted. And
when another centennial of the Constitution is celebrated, may
those who shall then form its membership be as fully inspired
with the patriotism'of its history and traditions, and as ready
to join in the general felicitation, as the men I see about me
here.

VIIL
At the Fellowcraft Club, New York, May 14, 1889.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
I think I should be glad to depart to-night from what I sup
pose to be the custom here, and say a few words to you with
out the least reference to the occupations in which I under
stand the members of this club are principally engaged, and
without speaking of the newspapers and those who make and
manage them. But I do not see how I am to accomplish these
things, because, in the first place, the atmosphere is against me,
and in the second place, the newspaper press and what it does

2 26 ON ED UCA TIONAL
are so interwoven with our life that they can hardly be elimi
nated from the discussion of any subject.
I want to speak of American citizenship ; and I am prompted
at the outset to say that I cannot see why, among those who
have to do with the newspaper press, all things that pertain to
good citizenship should not have the highest place ; and
that I never could discover why those connected with news
papers should not be judged by the same rules as are applied
to the rest of us, nor why they are not charged with cer
tainly as serious duties and responsibilities as other citizens.
I protest against the theory, which appears to have gained
some headway in certain quarters, that they are a little outside
of the mass of ordinary citizens ; and in their defense and vin
dication, I deny the proposition that they deliberately acknowl
edge fealty and devotion to their newspapers first and to their
country afterward. Of course, if crowded, I should be
obliged to confess that, in my opinion, there are exceptions, and
that, occasionally, there are found among the editors and man
agers of newspapers, as everywhere else, those whose personal
resentments, or extreme and misguided partisanship, lead them
to pitiable conclusions ; but against these I put the great
number who, day by day, labor to make our country better and
our people more thoughtful and intelligent.
The warmth of my desire to see good American citizenship
more prevalent, and the value of it better appreciated by our
people, arises in a great degree, I suppose, from my recent: ex
perience in discharging the duties of an office which afforded
an opportunity of observing the motive power and strength of
selfish interests in governmental affairs ; and in comparison,
how weak, if judged by their accomplishments, are disinter
ested love of country and dutiful solicitude for the public
good. Ours is not a government which operates well by its own
momentum. It is so constructed that it will only yield its best
results when it feels the constant pressure of the hands of the
people. This condition suggests the importance of patriotism

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 227
and devotion to the general and public welfare in all branches
of the government. But this is impossible if the representa
tives of the people in the State or nation look no higher than
the promotion of personal benefit, or the local interests of
their immediate constituents, or the accomplishment of some
purpose in aid of their own retention in place. The man who
enters upon a legislative career, having charged himself espe
cially or exclusively with the passage of measures in which he
or his personal supporters are alone interested, or with the
success of some private enterprise, is apt to be false to himself
and untrue to his trust. His mind is preoccupied to such an
extent, and his selfish purposes assume such large proportions
in his sight, that a scheme for a new public building for his
town or district, or for a bridge across a river, or for the right
of way for a railroad, or for the allowance of a claim against
the government, crowds out all consideration on his part of
great and broad general subjects. Thus he furnishes no in
telligent aid in legislation for the public good, and it is for
tunate for the people if he does not deliver questionable votes
in exchange for like favors in behalf of his pet scheme or
schemes. I do not indulge in the statement of an imaginary case.
And what I have thus presented is but an illustration of the
perversions that are creeping into every branch of our public
service. Thoughtful men will not deny that danger lurks in
the growing tendency of to-day to regard public office as
something which may be sought and administered for private
ends, instead of being received and held as a public trust.
Now I plead for the cultivation of a sentiment among the
people which will condemn this conduct and these ideas, and
which will impress upon those who act for and represent us in
every official capacity the truth that their duty is only per
formed by activity for the public good and by the utmost care
that the spirit of our institutions suffers no impairment
As a stream will not rise above its source, so it is manifest
that, to reach this better condition, selfishness and listlessness

228 ON ED UCA TIONAL
among the people themselves must give way to a sincere and
earnest desire for the preservation and increase of that senti
ment of true American citizenship which recognizes in the
advancement of the entire country something more to be
desired than the direct and immediate attainment of purely
private ends.
Here is a field in which all can labor and find plenty to do.
Those active in the work will have their love of country
enlivened, and they will not fail to receive encouraging re
sponse to their efforts.
It will be a mistake for us to relax effort because we cannot
reach the highest point of useful activity, or because we may
not be able to deal directly with evils in the highest places.
A good beginning is made when communities and individuals
are led to appreciate properly the value of public spirit and
unselfishness in matters connected with their home affairs and
with the interest of their neighborhoods. The men who have
learned the lesson of good citizenship, as related to the con-
cerns of the school district, the village, or the city, will soon
strive effectively to impress that lesson upon those who have
to do with the concerns of the State and of the nation.
I am sure that we can none of us confidently say that even
here, in this grand and busy city, there is no room for an
increase of public spirit, or that too much attention is paid to
the cultivation of American citizenship. I do not mean to say
that we are behind in these things, but intend merely to inti
mate that we should as far excel in this direction as we do in
every other.
Nor is there the least danger that we shall have among us
too many reminders that our city is something more than a
swift-running mill which grinds the grists of fortune, and that
we have in our history and traditions things well worthy of
commemoration in palpable and lasting form. Thus the proj
ect now on foot to build in an appropriate location a per
manent and beautiful arch, to replace a temporary one which
added so much to our splendid Centennial display, should not

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 229
be allowed to miscarry. Such a structure will lead the minds
of our citizens away from sordid things, and will suggest to
them not only the impressive thoughts connected with our
first President's inauguration, but will constantly remind them
how grandly the event was celebrated in this city one hundred
years afterward. By such means is public spirit fostered, and
the way opened for a wider prevalence of good citizenship in
its highest and broadest sense.
Let us, on the threshold of a new century, charged as we are
with the maintenance, in our day and generation, of the integ
rity of our government, pledge ourselves to labor, each in his
own sphere, for the revival of pure and simple patriotism and
for the increase of that unselfish love of our entire country in
which our safety lies.
And now I cannot refrain from suggesting as a closing
thought that the responsibility of men like those who consti
tute the membership of this club, in every part and every
phase a movement in the direction of public spirit and good
citizenship, is made apparent when it is conceded that no
agency can accomplish more in the cause than a free, coura
geous, and patriotic press.

IX.
At the Cornell Alumni Society Meeting, December 21, 1889.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
I am confident that however well a man may think he has
computed the factors which fix his status among his fellows,
and however closely he may have inventoried his social assets
and the claims he may hold to dignity and consideration, an
item is quite likely now and then to escape his scrutiny. As
a result he is liable to awaken some morning and find himself,
if not famous, at least entitled to some distinction or consider
ation which had not before entered into his calculation.
If I am not the inventor of this weighty proposition I may

230 ON ED UCA TIONAL
safely claim to be a striking and convincing illustration of its
truth. When a committee having the arrangements for this occasion
in charge came to me with an invitation to be present, I listened
to their proposition with that placid fortitude which one
acquires in encounters with those anxious to demonstrate
their unselfish patriotism by accepting office in the Federal
service. I confess that the impressive representation made by
the committee of the importance of the occasion, which in these
days I hear so often, had^little or no effect upon me, and that
the thought I was giving to the subject was solely directed to
determining the manner in which I might most courteously
announce my declination. At this juncture one of my visitors
mentioned the fact that I had been the only Governor of the
State of New York, who, during his incumbency, had attended
a meeting of the Trustees of Cornell University as ex officio
a member of that body.
This was an entirely unexpected announcement. I need
hardly say that conditions changed in an instant, when I under
stood that I had done an important thing, entirely proper
and creditable, which my gubernatorial predecessors had not
done. Somewhat puffed up by this newly found superiority,
and by the additional importance which I imagined it gave
me, I was ready to acknowledge the character of the obligation
which was imposed by my relations thus established to an im
portant institution of learning, and the duty I owed to those
who ate and drank in its honor.
So I came here to insist upon a proper recognition of my
kinship to you all, and, I fear, with some idea of exploiting, in
rather a patronizing way, my importance in that relationship.
But I am entirely cured of all this ; for when I see here the
alumni of Cornell and others connected with her, and when I
recaU the pride which the people of New York have in her
success and achievements, and when I remember the interest
and inspiration aroused by my visit to her home more than six
years ago, I am quite willing to rest the satisfaction I exper-

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 231
ience from the privilege of being with you to-night, upon
the interest which every citizen of our country and our State
ought to feel in an institution which^has done so much, and
which promises so much for the instruction and improvement
of the people of the nation and the State.
As I speak of the nation in its relation to your university,
I at once encounter a thing which seems not only to underlie
the establishment of the institution, but which presents a feature
full of gratification and congratulation. In the grant of aid
made by the general government, which did so much toward
the founding of the university, I find it provided that the institu
tions which sought the benefit of its benefaction must " teach
such branches of learning as are related to agriculture and the
mechanic arts, in order to promote the liberal and practical
education of the industrial classes in the several pursuits and
professions in life."
When we consider the relations of the State to the university,
we find the charter giving her a corporate existence upon the
same condition contained in the Federal grant. We find, too,
that the State guided in her direction the benefits of that
grant, and at the same time permitted her to extend, to addi
tional branches of science and learning, her plan of instruction.
Nor should we overlook the fact that in her charter the State re
quired her several departments of study to be open to applicants
for admission at the lowest rate of expense consistent with
her welfare and efficiency, and without distinction as to rank,
class, previous occupation, or locality.
To my mind these things mean a great deal. They mean
that both the nation and the State deemed the instruction of the
people in agriculture and the mechanical arts as a fit subject
for governmental care. This seems natural enough when we
consider the broad area of our country, with its variety of
soil and climate, waiting the magic transformation of agricul
ture, and when we remember that the American people sur
pass all others in ingenuity and mechanical faculty. They
mean, too, the recognition of the fact that the good of the

332 ON ED UCA TIONAL
nation and the State is subserved by the education of all the
people without distinction of rank or class, thus keeping in
view the principle, upon which our institutions rest, that the
people are the rulers of the land, and that their intelligence
and education are the surest safeguards of our perpetuity,
our prosperity, and our progress. They mean, also, that our
nation and our State have made an offer of educational
facilities and have exacted from their beneficiaries a compen
sating return of good citizenship.
These thoughts immediately suggest that those who close
with this offer and accept its benefits incur an obligation to
the nation and State which cannot be avoided or compromised.
It is an obligation to realize thoughtfully and carefully the
trust they hold as citizens, to interest themselves in public
questions and to discharge their political duties with a patriotic
intent and purpose of securing and protecting the welfare of
their entire country. No man has a right to be heedless and
listless under the responsibility he bears as an American
citizen. An educated man has certainly no excuse for indiffer
ence ; and most of all, the man is derelict to his obligation
who calls your university his Alma Mater and yet fails to dis
charge his full duty of citizenship. His graduation is proof
that he has worthily earned the honors which your university
can bestow ; but, wherever he may go and whatever may be
his way of life, his diploma is evidence that he owes service
to the nation.
Of this service he should at all times be proud. He is every
where, if he is true to his duty, in the ranks of those who are
engaged in the noble work of aiding to reach its grand and
ultimate destiny, the best and freest nation the world has
ever seen. If he retains his allegiance to the Empire State of
New York, his pride should be enhanced; because, if he is
faithful to his pledge, he is striving to advance the interest of
the greatest commonwealth which the government of the
United States numbers among its jewels.
Thus in the nation and in the State he wears the badge of

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 233
his obligation to good citizenship placed upon him within the
walls of Cornell University. Happy and dutiful are her
graduates, if, for the welfare of their country, for the honor of
their university, and for the vindication of their own rectitude
and good faith they respond patriotically to this obligation.
Concerning the debt of affection due from you to the uni
versity herself, I hardly need say, in this company, that all the
alumni of Cornell, wherever in this broad land they may be,
should love and revere their Alma Mater, beneath whose
sheltering roof they have been fitted for usefulness and
well equipped for the conflict of life. Their loyalty to her
should never fail, and when the student life of their sons makes
their fathers' names again familiar in the old university and
upon her rolls, the sons should come to her halls laden with
a father's devotion to her welfare, and they should be spurred
to their best endeavor by a father's appreciation of her bene
fits and advantages.
Let me, in closing, leave the alumni of Cornell University
the thought that they cannot honor their Alma Mater more,
nor illustrate her value and usefulness better, than by keep
ing alive and active at all times a sober apprehension of the
duty they owe to " the Nation, the State, and the University."

At a Meeting to Demand New Legislation Concerning the
Adirondack Park, New York, January 24, 1891.
Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen :
I rise to say a word in support of the resolutions that have
been read. I have come here to be instructed as to the pro
gress that has been made in a cause to which a few years ago,
as Governor of your State, I gave considerable attention, and
to testify to my continued interest in forest preservation.
When, as Governor, this subject was brought to my mind, I
gave it careful study, and I was thoroughly satisfied that the

234 ON ED UCA TIONAL
destruction of the Adirondack forests was jeopardizing our
rivers as means of transportation, and that their preservation
was essential to the health and comfort of future generations.
It is a most important matter, worthy the attention of all.
Therefore it was that I recommended to the legislators of
the State the passage of measures calculated to prohibit the
further sale of forest lands in the possession of the State, and
that such lands as we had, together with such as should come
into our hands for the non-payment of taxes, should be pre
served for a park. Something of that sort was done or at
tempted through an act providing for a forest commission,
but the necessary amount of public feeling could not then be
aroused to accomplish much.
I have listened with a great deal of interest to the sugges
tions which have been made here. To my conservative mind
many of them seem radical. I have had the same advan
tages of observation as some of the previous speakers. I
am an Adirondacker. I go to the Adirondacks every year.
I have seen the great waste places and the desolation of
which you have heard ; but, ladies and gentlemen, I have
been on the edge of another great waste, on the margin of
another great wilderness. I refer to the Capitol at Albany.
Now, make no mistake : if you wish to preserve your forests
from waste, there must be considerable cultivation done up
there. But, after all, there is no reason for discouragement. A
little reminiscence of a previous struggle like this will teach
you that. There was a suggestion made when I was in
Albany that an effort should be made to have a reservation at
Niagara Falls for the purpose of preserving the great natural
beauty of the place. I must confess that that project seemed
to me a rather discouraging one to attempt. I was full of
sympathy, but not full of hope. Its warmest supporters
hardly dared to predict that their hopes would be realized,
yet they were realized, and I will tell you how.
If we had then gone to the Legislature with a bill asking

AND PATRIOTIC QUESl IONS. 235
for SO much money to buy so much land around the Falls, we
certainly would have failed. We might have gone there and
pleaded that we only wanted $1,500,000 until we were black
in the face, and we would have been answered every time that
the $1,500,000 we asked for was only an entering wedge.
Our opponents would have pointed to the Capitol Building at
Albany and shaken their heads.
What did we do ? We got the Legislature to pass a law
authorizing an appraisal of the lands we wanted to preserve.
As good luck would have it, the appraisal amounted to
just about the amount we said the lands would cost. We had
continued to win supporters for our project. We then asked
the State to buy the lands, and, to her credit be it said, she
did so.
Our success then was largely due to an argument we may
use here. We wanted to awaken the people's pride. I used
to say to people that Niagara Falls was a great natural
wonder by which we were known throughout the world.
When you go to Europe, you are asked about Niagara Falls.
I have never been to Europe, but I take that for granted for
the sake of argument. When we told people that they began
to take a sort of personal pride in Niagara. So we must make
them feel that they have a personal interest in the splendid
Adirondack region, which will make them demand its preser
vation. I would propose that we have a committee of 128
able-bodied citizens, each of whom shall go to Albany, take
a legislator by the ear, and show him the great import of the
work for which we ask his support.
The trouble is that the waste of our means of transporta
tion is too remote to affect them. They will shrug their
shoulders and say that the Hudson River will continue to
flow as long as they live, and future generations — well, per
haps future generations can get along without rivers. Tell
them that the work is essential to the preservation of health,
and they will answer you that they are healthy enough. These
arguments are weak to us, but to a member of the Legislature,

236 ON ED UCA TIONAL
when linked with the question of expense, they become
strong. We must take up the great task before us by easy stages.
Let us begin on what we already have. Let us demand that
the State shall preserve the great amount of Adirondack
lands it now owns. That will not antagonize anybody. Let
us demand that railroads shall not go in there on public lands
except upon the consent of the State and the Forest Com
mission. That is but right and cannot antagonize anybody.
We must not ask that somebody be given a license to go into
the Adirondack region and blow up all the destructive dams,
but we can with reason ask the State to see that no dam shall
exist which is an injury to public lands and public forests.
Let us begin at once to protect what we have. That will
demonstrate to the people the value of our work. Having
done that, I believe that securing new lands and finally get
ting such a great State Park as we need will be an easy
matter. Rome was not built in a day. A great Adirondack
Park cannot be acquired by a single act.
I believe that we must have the co-operation of those who
now own Adirondack lands. This is especially true of the
clubs which have purchased preserves there for sporting pur
poses. Their desire to preserve the natural beauty of the
region is as strong as ours is. If we could get these clubs to
hold lands adjoining State lands, doing more or less exchang
ing for State lands, the region under preservation would be so
much larger. I believe that it would be perfectly feasible to
frame a law, agreeable to these clubs, that would give the
State a right to protect, not a title to, private preserves ad
joining a park.
Don't, then, let us shock our lawmakers, economical at least
on matters of this kind, by asking for too much at once.
Don't let us oppose any association, society, or individual that
is working on the same line as we are. We need all the help
we can get. Let us get to work to do something now, for,
although it may be but an inch of the mile we ultimately

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 237
want, we must remember that a little done now is worth a
great deal in the future. I move the adoption of the resolu
tion as offered.

XL
At the Annual Banquet of the New England Society of
Brooklyn, December 21, 1891.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
As this is the first time I have attended a dinner given by a
New England Society, I beg to express the gratification it
affords me to enter upon my new experience in the City of
Brooklyn and among those whom I have always regarded as
especially my friends.
You are by no means to suppose that my failure heretofore
to be present on occasions like this is accounted for by any
doubt I have had as to my qualifications for admission. From
the time the first immigrant of my name landed in Massachu
setts, down to the day of my advent, all the Clevelands from
whom I claim descent were born in New England. The fact
that I first saw the light in the State of New Jersey I have
never regarded as working a forfeiture of any right I may
have derived from my New England lineage, nor as making
me an intruder or merely tolerated guest in an assemblage of
this kind. I resent, of course, with becoming spirit, the impu
tation that my birth in New Jersey constitutes me a foreigner
and an alien ; and I have never been able to see any humor
in the suggestion that my native State is not within the Union.
To my mind the regularity with which she votes the Demo
cratic ticket entitles her to a high rank among the States that
are really useful. At any rate, I shall always insist that New
Jersey is a good State to be born in, and I point to the fact that,
after an absence of more than fifty years, I have returned to
find a temporary home within her limits as fully demon
strating that my very early love for her is not extinguished.

238 ON ED UCA TIONAL
Assuming that you agree with me that my birth in New
Jersey has not stamped me with indelible ineligibility, and an
ticipating your demand for affirmative support of my qualifi
cation to mingle with those who celebrate Forefathers' Day
and sing the praises of the men who first settled in New
England, I can do no better than to rest my case upon the
statement that Bean Hill, in the town of Norwich and State of
Connecticut, was the birthplace of my father. I hope that in
making this statement I shall not remind you of the man who
loudly boasted of his patriotic sacrifice in defense of his coun
try on the ground that he had permitted his wife's relatives to
join the army. At any rate, it seems to me that the claim I
make is entirely valid, with no embarrassment connected with
it, except the admission by inference that for some purposes
and on some occasions a father's birthplace may be of more
value to a man than his own. I have nothing further to urge
on the subject of my eligibility except to mention, as some
thing which should be credited to me upon my own account,
the fact that I have lately demonstrated my preference for
New England and my love for that section of our country
where my ancestors lived and died, by establishing a summer
home in the State of Massachusetts.
I think all of us are old enough to remember the prophetic
words put opposite certain dates in the old almanacs, " About
these days look out for snow." If almanacs were now made
up as they used to be, it would not be amiss to set opposite the
latter days of December, " About these days look out for glori
fication of the Pilgrims." This would be notice to those con
sulting the almanac that a time was foretold when the people
of the country would be reminded that there were Pilgrims
who came to New England, and th«re set in motion the forces
which created our wondrous nation.
No one will deny that the Pilgrims to New England were
well worthy of all that is done or can be done to keep them in
remembrance. But we cannot recall their history, and what
they did and established, and what they taught, without also

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 239
recalling that there have been Pilgrims from New England
who, finding their way to every part of the land, have taken
with them those habits, opinions, and sentiments which, having
an early origin in American soil, should be best suited to
American life everywhere, and should be the best guarantees
in every situation, of the preservation, in their integrity and
purity, of American institutions.
We have heard much of abandoned lands in New England.
If farms have been abandoned there, we know that larger and
more productive farms have been developed in newer States
by the Pilgrims from New England. If the population of New
England has suffered a drain, we shall find that the vigorous
activity lost to her has built up new cities and towns on dis
tant and unbroken soil and impressed upon these new crea
tions the truest and best features of American civilization.
While all will admit the debt our great country owes to New
England influences, and while none of us should be unmindful
of the benefits to be reasonably expected from the maintenance
and spread of these influences, a thought is suggested which
has further relation to the mission and duty of the Pilgrims
from New England and their descendants, wherever they may
be scattered throughout the land. If they are at all true to
their teachings and their traditions, they will naturally illus
trate, in a practical way, the value of education and moral sen
timent in the foundations of social life and the value of indus
try and economy as conditions of thrift and contentment.
But these Pilgrims and their descendants and all those who,
with sincere enthusiasm, celebrate Forefathers' Day, will fail
in the discharge of their highest duty if, yielding to the
temptation of any un-American tendency, they neglect to
teach persistently that in the early days there was, and that
there still ought to be, such a thing as true and distinctive
Americanism, or if they neglect to give it just interpretation.
This certainly does not mean that a spirit of narrowness or
proscription should be encouraged, nor that there should be
created or kept alive a fear concerning such additions to our

240 ON ED UCA TIONAL
population from other lands as promise assimilation with our
conditions and co-operation in our aims and purposes. It
does, however, mean the insistence that every transfer of alle
giance from another government to our own, should signify
the taking on at the same time of an aggressive and affirmative
devotion to the spirit of American institutions. It means that
with us, a love of our government for its own sake and for
what it is, is an essential factor of citizenship, and that it is
only made full and complete by the adoption of the ideas and
habits of thought which underlie our plan of popular rule. It
means that one fills a place in our citizenship unworthily who
regards it solely as a vantage ground where he may fill his purse
and better his condition. It means that our government is
not suited to a selfish, sordid people, and that in their hands it
is not safe.
This is a time when there is pressing need for the earnest
enforcement of these truths ; and occasions like this cannot
be better improved than by leading us to such self-examination
and self-correction as shall fit us to illustrate and teach the
lessons of true Americanism. When we here recall the land
ing of the Pilgrims, let us remember that they not only sought
" Freedom to worship God," but they also sought to establish
the freedom and liberty of manhood. When we dwell upon
their stern and sturdy traits, let us remember that these
nurtured the spirit which achieved American independence,
and that in such soil alone can its fruits ripen to bless our
people. When we contemplate how completely conscience
guided their lives and conduct, let us resolve that conscience
shall find a place in every phase of our citizenship ; and when
we learn of their solicitude and care for their new-found home,
let us acknowledge that unselfish love of country can alone
show us the path of political duty.
With such preparation as this — leaving no place for the
ignoble thought that our government can, without perversion,
hold out unequal rewards and encourage selfish beings — we

AND PATRIOTIC QUESTIONS. 241
shall teach that this heritage of ours has been confided from
generation to generation to the patriotic keeping and loving
care of true Americanism, and that this alone can preserve it ;
to shelter a free and happy people — protecting all, defending
all, and blessing all.

CHAPTER XI.
to political clubs and organizations.
I.
At the Manhattan Club, December 5, 1882.
It is not without considerable embarrassment that I attempt
to say a few words in response to those so well spoken, and to
express my thanks for the kindness and good will of which
this occasion is an evidence. This scene and these surround
ings are new and strange to me, and, notwithstanding all that
is calculated to reassure and comfort me in the kindness of
your welcome, when I am reminded of the circumstances
which give rise to this reunion, a sense of grave responsi
bility weighs upon me and tempers every other sentiment.
We stand to-night in the full glare of a grand and brilliant
manifestation of popular will, and in the light of it how vain
and small appear the tricks of politicians and the movements
of party machinery. He must be blind who cannot see that
the people well understand their power and are determined to
use it when their rights and interests are threatened. There
should be no skepticism to-night as to the strength and per
petuity of our popular government. Partisan leaders have
learned, too, that the people will not unwittingly and blindly
follow, and that something more than unmeaning devotion to
party is necessary to secure their allegiance.
I am quite certain, too, that the late demonstration did not
spring from any pre-existing love for the party which was
called to power, nor did the people place the affairs of state in
our hands to be by them forgotten. They voted for them
selves and in their own interests. If we retain their confidence

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 243
we must deserve it, and we may be sure they will call on us to
give an account of our stewardship. We shall utterly fail to
read aright the signs of the times if we are not fully convinced
that parties are but the instruments through which the people
work their will, and that when they become less or more the
people desert or destroy them. The vanquished have lately
learned these things, and the victors will act wisely if they
profit by the lesson.
I have read and heard much of late touching the great re
sponsibility which has been cast upon me, and it is certainly
predicated upon the fact that my majority was so large as to
indicate that many, not members of the party to which I am
proud to belong, supported me. God knows how fully I ap
preciate the responsibility of the high office to which I have
been called, and how much I sometimes fear that I shall not
bear the burden well. It has seemed to me, however, that the
citizen who has been chosen by his fellows to discharge public
duties owes no less nor more to them, whether he was elected
by a small or a large majority. In either event, he owes to
the people who have honored him his best endeavor to protect
their rights and furth'er their interests.
But if it is merely intended to remind me that, as a member
of a party, attached to its principles, and anxious for its
continued supremacy, my conduct should be such as to give
hope and confidence to those who are surely with us, I have
to say that this responsibility should be shared by all the
members of the party. An administration is only successful,
in a partisan sense, when it appears to be the outgrowth and
result of party principles and methods. You who lead and
others who follow, should all strive to commend to the people
in this, the time of our opportunity, not an administration
alone, but a party which shall appear adequate to their wants
and useful to their purposes.
The time-honored doctrines of the Democratic party are
dear to me. If honestly applied in their purity I know the
affairs of the government would be fittingly and honestly ad-

244 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
ministered, and I believe that all the wants of the people
would be met. They have survived all changes, and good and
patriotic men have clung to them, through all disasters, as the
hope of political salvation. Let us hold them as a sacred
trust, and let us not forget that an intelligent, reading, and
thinking people will look to the party which they put in power
to supply all their various needs and wants. And the party
which keeps pace with the development and progress of the
time, which keeps in sight its landmarks and yet observes
those things which are in advance, and which will continue
true to the people as well as to its traditions, will be the dom
inant party of the future.
In conclusion, may I bespeak for myself your kind support
and consideration ? My only aspiration is to perform, faith
fully, the duties of the office to which the people of my State
have called me, and I hope and trust that proud endeavor will
light the way to a successful administration.

II.
At a Reception Given by the Democratic Club, New York,
April 27, 1889.
Mr. President :
Many incidents of my short residence in this good city have
served to fill my cup of gratitude, and to arouse my appre
ciation of the kindness and consideration of those with whom
I have made my home. The hospitality of the citizens of New
York, for which they have long been distinguished, has out
done itself in my welcome. The members of my profession
have, upon my return to its activities, received me with fra
ternal greetings, and personal friends have not permitted me
to feel like a stranger in a strange city.
Andyet I can truly say to-night that none of these things

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 245
will be more vividly and gratefully remembered than the op
portunity afforded me by this occasion to greet the political
friends I see about me. While I believe that no man is more
susceptible than I to every personal kindness, and while I am
sure that no one values more his personal friendships, it should
not be regarded as strange when I say that these are not more
cherished than my loyalty and attachment to Democratic faith
and my obligation to the cardinal principles of its party or
ganization. I have been honored by my party far beyond my deserts ;
iiideed, no man can deserve its highest honors. After six
years of public service, I return to you, my party friends.
Six years have I stood as your representative in the State and
nation, and now I return again to the ranks, more convinced
than ever that the cause of true Democracy is the cause of the
people — their safeguard and their hope.
I come to you with no excuses or apologies, and with no
confession of disloyalty. It is not given to man to meet the
various and conflicting views of party duty and policy which
prevail within an organization where individual opinion is so
freely tolerated as in the Democratic party. Because these
views are various and conflicting some of them must be wrong,
but when they are honestly held and advocated they should
provoke no bitterness or condemnation. But when they are
proclaimed merely as a cover and pretext for personal resent
ment and disappointment, they should be met by the exposure
and contempt which they deserve.
If one charged with party representation, with sincere design
and purpose keeps the party faith, that should be a fulfillment
of his party obligation.
No man can lay down the trust which he has held in behalf
of a generous and confiding people, and feel that at all times
he has met, in the best possible way, the requirements of his
trust ; but he is not derelict in duty if he has conscientiously
devoted his effort and his judgment to the people's service.
I have deliberately placed in close connection loyalty to

246 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
y Democratic principles and devotion to the people's interest,
for, in my view, they belong together and should mean the
same thing.
But, in this day of party feeling and attachment, it is well for
us to pause and recall the fact that the only justification for
the existence of any party is the claim that, in profession and
intent, its objects and its purposes are the promotion of the
public good and the advancement and the welfare and pros
perity of the entire country. There never was a party plat
form or declaration of principles that did not profess these
things and make them the foundation of party creed, and any
body of men that should associate themselves together pro
claiming openly that their purpose was supremacy in the gov
ernment with the sole intent of distributing offices and the
spoils of victory among their associates, would be treated
with ridicule and scorn. Thus we are brought face to face
with the proposition that parties no more than individuals
should be untruthful or dishonest.
Of course in the supremacy of party there are advantages
to its members — and this is not amiss. But when high party
aims and professions are lost sight of and abandoned; and
the interests of office-holding and personal pelf are all that
remain to inspire party activity, not only is the support ex
pected from patriotic people forfeited, but the elements of
cohesion and of effective and lasting political strength are
gone. The honest differences of opinion which must always
exist upon questions of principle and of public policy, should
be sufficient occasion for the existence of parties, and should
point to the field of their usefulness. The study of these
questions cannot fail to result in more valuable citizenship
and more intelligent and better equipped partisans.
When we seek for the cause of the perpetuity of the Demo
cratic party and its survival through every crisis and emer
gency, and in the face of all opposition, we find it in the fact
that its corner stone is laid in devotion, to the rights of the
people and in its sympathy with all things that tend to the

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 247
advancement of their welfare and happiness. Though heresy
may sometimes have crept into its organization, and though
party conduct may at times have been influenced by the shifti
ness which is the habitual device of its opponents, there has
always remained deeply imbedded in its nature and character
that spirit of true Americanism and that love of popular rights
which has made it indestructible in disaster and defeat, and
has constituted it a boon to the country in its hour of triumph
and supremacy.
The great founder of our party, as he consecrated himself
by a solemn oath to the faithful performance of the duties of
the Presidential office, and as he pledged himself to the preser
vation, protection, and defense of the Constitution, after pre
senting to his assembled countrymen the causes of congratu
lation, found in the condition of our country and the character
of our people, impressively added : "With all these blessings,
what more is necessary to make us a happy and prosperous
people? Still one thing more, fellow-citizens: a wise and
frugal government which shall restrain men from injuring one
another, shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own
pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from
the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum
of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle
of our felicities."
In the lexicon of true Democracy these words are not obso
lete, but they still furnish the inspiration for our efforts and an
interpretation of our political faith.
Happily the party creed which we profess is not within such
narrow lines as that obedience does not permit us to move
abreast with the advanced thought of the country and to meet
and test every question and apply a principle to every situa
tion. True Democracy, stanch in its adhesion to fundamental
doctrine, is at the same time, in a proper sense, progressive.
It recognizes our growth and our expansion, and the birth of
new thought and sentiment. It will judge them all by safe

248 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
Standards, and in every phase of national development it will
be prepared to meet as they arise every need of the people
and every popular want. True Democracy honestly advocates
national brotherhood, to the end that all our countrymen may
aid in the achievement of the grand destiny which awaits us as
a nation ; and it condemns the pretext of liberality and har
mony which, when partisan advantage is to be gained, gives
way for inflammatory appeals to sectional hate and passion.
It insists upon that equality before the law which concedes
the care and protection of the government to simple manhood
and citizenship. It does not favor the multiplication of offices
and salaries merely to make partisans, nor use the promise
and bestowal of place for the purpose of stifling the press and
bribing the people. It seeks to lighten the burdens of life in
every home and to take from the citizen for the cost of gov
ernment the lowest possible tribute.
We know that we have espoused the cause of right and
justice. We know that we have not permitted duty to coun
try to wait upon expediency. We know that we have not
trafficked our principles for success. We know that we have
not deceived the people with false promises and pretenses.
And we know that we have not corrupted or betrayed the
poor with the money of the rich.
Who shall say that these things promise no reward and that
triumph shall not follow the enlightened judgment and the
sober second thought of our countrymen ? There are to-day
no weak, weary, and despondent members of the true Democ
racy, and there should be none. Thoughtful attention to
political topics is thoroughly aroused. Events day by day are
leading men to review the reasons for their party affiliations
and the supporters of the principles we profess are constantly
recruited by intelligent, young, and sturdy adherents.
Let us deserve their confidence, and, shunning all ignoble
practices, let us remain steadfast to Democratic faith and to
the cause of our country. If we are true and loyal to these,

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 249
the day of our triumph will surely and quickly come, and our
victory shall be fairly, nobly won, through the invincible
spirit of true Democracy.

IIL

At the Thurman Birthday Banquet, Columbus, 0., November
13, 1890.
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
I follow the promptings of a heart full of devotion and
veneration, as I tender from the Democracy of the great State
of New York her tribute of affection for the man whom we
honor to-night. I am commissioned to claim for my State her
full share of the glory which has been shed upon the American
name and character by one whose career and example cannot
be pre-empted, and whose renown cannot be limited in owner
ship to the neighbors and friends of any locality. We contest
every exclusive pretension to his fame and greatness, because
he is a neighbor to all the people of the land ; because he is
the friend of all who love their country ; because his career
splendidly illustrates the best and strongest elements of our
national character; and because his example belongs to all
his countrymen.
It is fitting that those who have faith in our destiny as a
nation, who believe that there are noble things which belong
distinctively to our character as a people, and who prize at its
true worth pure American citizenship, should gather here to
night. It is given us to contemplate the highest statesman
ship, the most unyielding and disinterested devotion to the
interests of the people, and the most valuable achievements
in the cause of our country's welfare, all of which have been
stimulated and accomplished through the influence and im
pulse of true, unperverted, sturdy Americanism. We rejoice
in the example afforded on this occasion of genuine American

250 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
citizenship, revealed to us as a safe and infallible interpreter
of duty in all the emergencies of a long and honorable public
career, and as an unfailing guide to usefulness and fame.
In this presence and in the atmosphere of these reflections,
we should not miss the lesson they commend to us, nor fail to
renew our appreciation of the value of this citizenship, and
revive our apprehension of the sentiments and conditions in
which it has its rise and growth.
And first of all we should be profoundly grateful that the
elements which make up the strength and vigor of American
citizenship are so naturally related to our situation and are so
simple. The intrigues of monarchy which taint the individual
character of the subject ; the splendor which dazzles the pop
ular eye and distracts the attention from abuses and stifles
discontent ; the schemes of conquest and selfish aggrandize
ment which make a selfish people, have no legitimate place in
our national life. Here the plain people of the land are the
rulers. Their investiture of power is only accompanied with
the conditions that they should love their country, that they
should jealously guard and protect its interests and fair fame,
and that all the intelligence with which they are endowed
should be devoted to an understanding of its needs and the
promotion of its welfare.
These are the elements of American citizenship, and these
are the conditions upon which our free institutions were in
trusted to our people, in full reliance, at the beginning and for
all time to come, upon American manhood, consecrated by the
highest and purest patriotism.
A country, broad and new, to be subdued to the purposes of
man's existence, and promising vast and independent re
sources, and a people intelligently understanding the value of
a free nation and holding fast to an intense affection for its
history and its heroes, have had much to do with molding
our American character and giving it hardihood and vigor.
But it should never be forgotten that the influence which,
more than all other things, has made our people safe deposi-

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 251
tories of governmental power, and which has furnished the
surest guarantee of the strength and perpetuity of the re
public, has its source in the American home. Here our patri
otism is born and entwines itself with the growth of filial love,
and here our children are taught the story of our freedom and
independence. But above all, here in the bracing and whole
some atmosphere of uncomplaining frugality and economy,
the mental and moral attributes of our people have been firmly
knit and invigorated. Never could it be said of any country
so truly as of ours, that the permanency of its institutions
depends upon its homes.
I have spoken of frugality and economy as important factors
in American life. I find no fault with the accumulation of
wealth, and am glad to see energy and enterprise receive their
fair reward. But I believe that our government, in its natural
integrity, is exactly suited to a frugal and economical people ;
and I believe it is safest in the hands of those who have been
made strong and self-reliant in their citizenship, by self-denial
and by the surroundings of an enforced economy. Thrift and
careful watchfulness of expenditure among the people tend to
secure a thrifty government ; and cheap and careful living on
the part of individuals ought to enforce economy in the public
expenditures. When, therefore, men in high places of trust, charged with
the responsibility of making and executing our laws, not only
condemn but flippantly deride cheapness and economy within
the homes of our people, and when the expenditures of the
government are reckless and wasteful, we may be sure that
something is wrong with us, and that a condition exists which
calls for a vigorous and resentful defense of Americanism, by
every man worthy to be called an American citizen.
Upon the question of cheapness and economy, whether it
relates to individuals or to the operations of the government,
the Democratic party, true to its creed and its traditions, will
unalterably remain attached to our plain and frugal people.
They are especially entitled to the watchful care and protec-

252 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
tion of their government ; and when they are borne down with
burdens greater than they can bear, and are made the objects
of scorn by hard taskmasters, we will not leave their side. As
the great German Reformer, insisting upon his religious con
victions, in the presence of his accusers, exclaimed, " I can
do nought else. Here I stand. God help me," so, however
much others may mock and deride cheapness and the poor
and frugal men and women of our land, we will stand forth in
defense of their simple Americanism, defiantly proclaiming,
" We can do nought else. Here we stand."
Thus, when the question is raised whether our people shall
have the necessaries of life at a cheaper rate, we are not
ashamed to confess ourselves " in full sympathy with the de
mand for cheaper coats " ; and we are not disturbed by the
hint that this seems " necessarily to involve a cheaper man or
woman under the coats."
When the promoter of a party measure which invades every
Home in the land with higher prices, declares that " cheap
and nasty go together, and this whole system of cheap things
is a badge of poverty ; for cheap merchandize means cheap
men, and cheap men mean a cheap country," we indignantly
repudiate such an interpretation of American sentiment.
And when another one, high in party councils, who has be
come notorious as the advocate of a contrivance to perpetuate
partisan supremacy by outrageous interference with the suf
frage, announces that the "cry for cheapness is un-American,"
we scornfully reply that his speech does not indicate the slight
est conception of true Americanism.
I will not refer to other utterances of like import from simi
lar sources. I content myself with recalling the most promi
nent and significant. The wonder is that these things were ad
dressed by Americans to Americans.
What was the occasion of these condemnations of cheapness,
and what had honest American men and women done, or what
were they likely to do, that they should be threatened with the
epithets " cheap," " nasty," and " un-American ? "

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 253
It is hard to speak patiently as we answer these questions.
Step by step a vast number of our people had been led on, fol
lowing blindly in the path of party. They had been filled
with hate and sectional prejudice ; they had been cajoled with
misrepresentations and false promises ; they had been cor
rupted with money and by appeals to their selfishness. All
these things led up to their final betrayal to satisfy the de
mands of those who had supplied the fund for their corrup
tion. This betrayal was palpable ; and it was impossible to deny
or conceal the fact that the pretended relief tendered to the
people in fulfilment of a promise to lighten the burden of their
life, made by the party intrusted with the government, was
but a scheme to pay the debt incurred by the purchase of party
success, while it further increased the impoverishment of the
masses. The people were at last aroused and demanded an explana
tion. They had been taught for one hundred years that
in the distribution of benefits their government should be ad
ministered with equality and justice. They had learned that
wealth was not indispensable to respectability and that it did
not entitle its possessors to especial governmental favors.
Humble men with scanty incomes had been encouraged, by the
influence and the spirit of our institutions, to practice economy
and frugality to the end that they might enjoy to the utmost
the reward of their toil. The influence of the American home
was still about them. In their simplicity they knew nothing of
a new dispensation which made cheapness disreputable, and
they still loved the cheap coats of Lincoln and Garfield, and
hundreds of their countrymen whom they held in veneration.
And thus these unsophisticated Americans, unconscious of
their wrong-doing, demanded the redemption of party pledges
and clamored for cheapness, in order that they might provide
the necessaries and comforts of life for themselves and their
families at the lowest possible cost.
The leaders of the party, which was caught in the act of

254 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
robbery and which was arraigned by the people for a violation
of its trust, were forced by their sad predicament to a desperate
expedient. To attempt to reverse the current of true Ameri
canism and discredit the most honorable sentiments belonging
to American manhood, were the disgraceful tasks of those who
insulted our people by the announcement of the doctrine that to
desire cheapness was to love nastiness, and to practice economy
and frugality was un-American.
Thus we do plainly see that when the path pointed out by
patriotism and American citizenship is forsaken by a party in
power for schemes of selfishness and for unscrupulous con
spiracies for partisan success, its course inevitably leads to un
just favoritism, neglect of the interest of the masses, entire
perversiorf of the mission of republican institutions, and, in
some form, to the most impudent and outrageous insult to true
American sentiment.
It cannot be denied that political events in the past have
gone far toward encouraging arrogant party assumption.
Every thoughtful and patriotic man has at times been dis
appointed and depressed by the apparent indifference and de
moralization of the people.
But such reflections have no place in the felicitations of to
night. This is a time when faith in our countrymen should be
fully re-established. The noise of a recent political revolution
' is still heard throughout the land ; the people have just de
monstrated that there is a point beyond which they cannot be
led by blind partisanship, and that they are quite competent to
examine and correctly decide political questions concerning
their rights and their welfare. They have unmercifully re
sented every attack upon true American manhood, and have
taught party leaders that, though slow to anger, they take terri
ble revenges when betrayed. They permit us to forgive
our honored guest for all the cheap coats he has ever
worn, for they have declared them to be in fashion. They
have also decreed that the Decalogue has a place in our
politics, for they enforced the command, " Thou shalt not

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS: 255
steal," and rendered an emphatic verdict against those who
have borne false witness.
Nothing could so well accompany the honors we pay our
distinguished guest as the celebration on his birthday of the
victory which has just been achieved in vindication of Ameri
can citizenship — for in him we honor the man who has best
illustrated true American manhood. Our rejoicing and his
are increased, as we also celebrate to-night the triumph of a
Democratic principle for which he fought and fell but two
short years ago ; and to complete our joy and his, we are per
mitted to indulge in true Democratic enthusiasm over the
steadfastness and devotion to its creed exhibited by our party,
which, knowing no discouragement, has fought to victory in the
people's cause.
Who can now doubt our countrymen's appreciation of that
trait, so well illustrated in the character of Allen G. Thurman,
which prompted him throughout his long career, at all times and
in all circumstances, and without regard to personal conse
quences, to do the things which his conscience and judgment
approved, and which seemed to him to be in the interests of his
country and in accordance with the Democratic faith ? Who
can now doubt that conscience and courage point out the way
to public duty ?
If we entertain more solemn thoughts on this occasion, let
them be concerning the responsibility which awaits us as our
fellow-countrymen place in our keeping their hopes and their
trust. We shall fail in our obligation to them if we stifle con
science and duty by ignoble partisanship ; but we shall meet
every patriotic expectation if, in all we do, we follow the guid
ance of true and honest Democracy, illumined by the light of
genuine American citizenship.

256 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
IV.
the campaign of education.*
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
I suppose I have a correct understanding of what is meant
by " The Campaign of Education." Assuming this to be so, I
desire, before going further, to acknowledge the valiant services
in this campaign of the organization whose invitation brings
us together to-night. I may be permitted, I hope, to make
this acknowledgment as a citizen interested in all that prom
ises the increased prosperity of the country ; and I shall also
venture to do so as a Democrat who recognizes, in the princi
ple for which the campaign has thus far proceeded, a cardinal
and vital doctrine of Democratic creed. If I thus acknowl
edge the useful services, in a Democratic cause, of any who
have not claimed long affiliation with my party, I feel 'that my
Democratic allegiance is strong enough to survive such an in
dulgence in fairness and decency. I am, too, at all times will
ing that the Democratic party should be enlarged ; and, as
tending in that direction, I am willing to accept and acknowl
edge in good faith honest help from any quarter when a strug
gle is pending for the supremacy of Democratic principles.
Indeed, I have an idea that, in the campaign oif education, it
rwas deemed important to appeal to the reason and judgment
of the American people, to the end that the Democratic party
1 should be reinforced as well as that the activity and zeal of
\ those already in our ranks should be stimulated. If this be
\ treason in the sight of those who, clothed in Democratic uniform.
Would be glad to stand at the entrance of our camp and drive
back recruits, I cannot help it. I have come here to-night,
among other things, to rejoice in the numerous accessions we
have received in aid of Democratic endeavor and to give credit
wherever it is due for the work of conversion.
* In response to the Toast, " The Campaign of Education : its result
is a sigjnal tribute to the judgment of the American people," delivered at the
Reform Club Dinner, New York, December 23, 1890.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 257
The grand and ultimate object of the campaign of educa
tion was the promotion of the welfare of the country and the
relief of the people from unjust burdens. In aid of this pur
pose and, of course, subordinate and accessory to its accom
plishment, it became necessary, first of all, to arouse the Demo
cratic organization to an apprehension of the fact that the
campaign involved a Democratic principle, in the advocacy of
which the party should be active and aggressive.
Let it be here confessed that we, as a party, had, in these
latter days, been tempted by the successes our opponents had
gained solely by temporary shifts and by appeals to prejudice
and selfish interests, into paths which avoided too much the
honest insistence upon definite and clearly defined principle
and fundamental Democratic doctrine. To be sure, some
earnest men in the party could but ill conceal their dissatisfac
tion with the manner in which cardinal principles were rele
gated to the rear and expediency substituted as the hope of
success ; but the timid, the heedless, and those who, though
nominally belonging to the organization, were not of the faith,
constantly rendered ineffective all attempts to restore the party
to the firm and solid ground of Democratic creed.
If these things are confessed, let it also be conceded that
when the time came and the cries of a suffering people were
heard, and when, for their relief, a genuine Democratic remedy
was proposed, the party easily recognized its duty and gave
proof of its unconquerable Democratic instincts. As soon as
the campaign of education was inaugurated, the party was
quickly marshaled as of the olden time, aggressive, coura
geous, devoted to its cause and heedless of discouragement or
defeat. Day by day, and hour by hour, expediency and time
serving were thrown to the winds. Traitors were silenced,
camp-followers fell away or joined the scurvy band of floaters,
while the sturdy Democratic host confidently pressed on, bear
ing aloft the banner of tariff reform. If any have wondered
in the past at the tenacity and indestructibility of our party,
their wonder should cease when, in the light of the last three

2S8 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
years, it is seen how gloriously it springs to the front at the
call of duty to the people, and in obedience to the summons
of party loyalty and obligation.
Thus the education of the campaign meant, as related to
the Democracy, its awakening in response to the signal for its
return to the propagandism of Democratic doctrine.
The thoroughly aroused enthusiasm and determination of
the party, and its allied thousands of good and earnest men,
drawn from the non-partisan intelligence and honesty of the
land, saw no obstacle too formidable for attack and no end
which was not within their reach. In a sublime confidence,
almost amounting to audacity, they were willing to attempt
the education of those high in the counsels of the Republican
party, and those who formulated that party's policy, so far as
such a thing existed.
I am afraid, however, that if this task may be considered a
step in the campaign of education, the word education, as ap
plied to those who were to be affected, must be construed as
meaning the instillation of such fear and terror in the minds of
unregenerate men as leads them to flee from the wrath to come.
But even in this unpromising field we are able to report
progress. No one who remembers the hilarity with which the
leaders of the Republican party greeted the message of tariff
reform, and the confidence with which they prepared to meet
and crush the issue presented, can fail to see how useful a les
son has been taught them in our campaign of education.
Within twenty-four hours after the submission to Congress
of the question of tariff reform, sundry Senators and Repre
sentatives belonging to the Republican party were reported to
have ventilated their partisan exultation jauntily in the public
press. If it be true that a Senator from Nebraska said, " It is a big
card for the Republicans," this big card cannot appear remark
ably useful to him now, for his State to-day contains a big
curiosity in .the shape of a Democratic Governor-elect.
If the junior Senator from New York declared that his party

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 259
would carry this State by the largest majority ever known if
they could be given the platform proposed, the reply will come
when, in a few days, a Democratic colleague is placed by his side.
If a Senator from Maine declared, " It is a good enough
platform for the Republicans— we want nothing better," how
is it that he is now so diligently endeavoring to find out the
meaning of the word Reciprocity ?
If a New Hampshire Senator believed that " the Republi
cans want nothing better with which to sweep the country,"
the trouble his State is giving him to-day must lead him to
suspect there is a mistake somewhere.
If a Senator from Wisconsin gleefully said he was glad to
see us " show our hand " he cannot fail to be convinced, when
he soon gives place to a real good, sound Democrat, that there
was, after all, more in the hand than he cared to see.
If the present Speaker of the House sarcastically said, " It
only shows what fools all the other Presidents have been," he
may well be excused, since he has lately so thoroughly learned,
that, in the sight of the people, infallibility is not an attribute
always to be found in the Speaker's chair.
If the Representative from Ohio whose name is associated
with a bill which has given his party considerable trouble of
late, said, " If the Democratic party had hired Burchard to write
a stump speech it could not have suited us better," it must be
that circumstances leading to his approaching retirement from
public life have suggested a modification of his judgment, and
caused him to suspect that Mr. Burchard has at least one formid
able competitor.
As our campaign has proceeded, other unusual symptoms
have been apparent among those prominent in directing the
opposition. Some of them have become insubordinate and
discontented, and at times actually disobedient to party orders.
Some have left the ship. One shrewd and weather-wise navi
gator has clambered off, and, in a frail bark, with the word
" Reciprocity " painted on its stern, was last seen hovering
near, prepared to climb aboard again, or sail away, as wind

26o TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
and wave would appear to make most safe. At the present
stage of the campaign the unwieldy party hulk of Bourbon
Republicanism is still afloat, but damaged and badly leaking.
On board, some are still working at the pumps against the
awful odds of opening seams ; many, mutinous and discon
tented, short of provisions and of grog, are loudly and angrily
disputing as to whether bad seamanship or overloading is the
cause of their wretched plight, while accusations of guilty re
sponsibility are heard on every side. If, from this turbulence,
there shall emerge any who, actually pricked in conscience,
desire a better life, they will be gladly welcomed. I cannot,
however, keep out of my mind the story of the pious deacon
who, having, in his efforts to convert a bad sinner, become so
excited by his incorrigibility that he gave him a thorough
drubbing, afterward explained and justified his course by de
claring that he believed he had " walloped saving grace into
an impenitent soul."
Of course, we do not overlook the fact that before their pres
ent predicament was reached, and in their first battle with us,
the enemy gained a victory over tariff reform. This is con
fessed ; and we may here only refer to the methods by which
that victory was gained for the purpose of saying that we
thoroughly understand them, and that if the beneficiaries of
those methods are satisfied with the condition they have
wrought, we also are not without compensation. That we
have cause for satisfaction, even in the remembrance of tem
porary defeat, is evidenced by the fact that among those who
ought to rejoice in success there is quite. a general sentiment
that "the least said of it the better."
I have spoken of the campaign of education as it has af
fected the two great party organizations. It remains to men
tion another and a more important and gratifying feature of
its progress. I refer to the manner in which access has been
gained to the plain people of the land, and the submission to
their reason and judgment of the objects and purposes for
which the campaign was undertaken.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 261
The Democratic party is willing to trust the ordinary intel
ligence of our people for an understanding of its principles.
It does not seat itself above the common feelings and sympa
thies of humanity, and in an arrogant assumption of superior
learning formulate political doctrines suited only to those
favored with advanced educational opportunities. It recog
nized the fact at the outset of the campaign of education
that it was not the ignorance of the people which had led
them to submit to the evils of bad government, but that it
was partly owing to the busy activity of their occupations, and
the consequent neglect of political subjects, and partly to the
rigidity of their party ties and their unquestioning confidence
in party leadership. Having once settled upon their political
affiliations, they have been wont to turn from a watchfulness
of public affairs to the daily routine of their labor with much
virtuous satisfaction in the reflection that they were not
politicians. Therefore the labor of their education in the campaign has
consisted in persuading them to hear us ; to examine the
theories in party organizations and the ends to which they
lead ; to recall the promises of political leadership and the
manner in which such promises have been redeemed ; and to
counsel with us as to the means by which their condition could
be improved.
Never was more intelligent, honest, and effective effort made
in a noble cause than that made by the Democratic party and
its allies in this work. Our fellow-countrymen were ap
proached, not by fabricated extracts from English journals
and a lying demagogic cry of British gold ; not by fraudulent
pictures of the ruin of American industries if the justice of
governmental favoritism was questioned ; not by a false pre
sentation of the impoverishment and distress of our laboring
men which would follow their independent political thought and
action ; not by a disgraceful proposition for the purchase of
their suffrages ; and not by the cruel intimidation, by selfish
employers, of those dependent on them for the wages of their toil

262 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
We have been content to rely upon the intelligence and
thoughtfulness of the people for the success of our cause.
We have solicited the most thorough examination of its
merits. For the purpose of such examination we have put
before the people plain and honest exposition of the justice
and beneficence of our principle. This has been done by
the systematic and industrious distribution of tariff reform
literature, by the effective and conscientious arguments of a
well-informed and unsubsidized press, and by an extensive
discussion on the platform of the question involved.
These are the weapons we have used in our campaign of
education. It is a cause of congratulation to-night that our
work has been done in a manner so decent, and in its best
sense so purely American.
Need I speak of the results of our labors ? This happy
assemblage, called together " To celebrate the victories
achieved in the cause of tariff reform," tells the story of our
success. We will rejoice to-night, not only in our success and the
manner of its achievement, but as American citizens we will
especially rejoice in the proof which our victory affords of the
intelligence, the integrity, and the patriotism of our fellow-
countrymen. We have again learned that, when roused to
thought and action, they can be trusted to determine rightly
any questions involving their interests and the welfare of their
country. Let us not fail to realize the fact that our work is not done.
Our enemies are still alive, and have grown desperate. Human
selfi.shness is not easily overcome, and the hope of private gain
at the expense of the masses of our people is not yet aban
doned. It would be shameful, and a pitiable disgrace, if by
over-confidence we should lose the ground we have gained,
or if we should fail to push further our advantage. The
result of our labor thus far is, indeed, " a signal tribute to the
judgment of the American people." In full faith in this judg
ment our work should continue upon the lines thus far followed

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 263
until the enemies of tariff reform are driven from their last
intrenchment. As the people have trusted us, let us, above all
things, be true to them. Let the light of our campaign be
carried into every part of the land where it has not been seen ;
and where it has been kindled let it be kept brightly burning,
still showing the way to better days for the people, and dis
closing the plans of insidious foes.
In the years to come,- when we look back with patriotic
satisfaction upon our participation in the glorious struggle for
tariff reform and recall its happy termination, it will delight
us to remember every incident of discouragement as well as
of triumph in the people's cause. Then, when we are asked
to speak of our proudest political endeavor, and to give the
best illustrations of American intelligence, and to pay the
highest tribute to the judgment of the American people, we will
rehearse the history and the grand result of " the campaign
of education."

V.
the principles of true democracy.*
Mr. President and Gentlemen :
As I rise to respond to the sentiment which has been assigned
to me, I cannot avoid the impression made upon my mind by
the announcement of the words ' ' True Democracy. ' ' I believe
them to mean a sober conviction or conclusion touching politi
cal topics, which, formulated into a political belief or creed,
inspires a patriotic performance of the duties of citizenship. I
am satisfied that the principles of this beHef or creed are such
as underlie our free institudons, and that they may be urged
upon our fellow-countrymen, because, in their purity and integ-
*A speech in response to the toast: "The Principles of True Democ
racy : They are Enduring because They are Right, and Invincible because
They are Just," at the banquet of the Young Men's Democratic Associa
tion, Philadelphia, January 8, 1891.

264 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
rity, they accord with the attachment of our people for their
government and their country. A creed based upon such
principles is by no means discredited because illusions and
perversions temporarily prevent their popular acceptance, any
more than it can be irretrievably shipwrecked by mistakes made
in its name or by its prostitution to ignoble purposes. When
illusions are dispelled, when misconceptions are rectified, and
when those who guide are consecrated to truth and.^duty, the
ark of the people's safety will still be discerned in the keeping
of those who hold fast to the principles of true democracy.
These principles are not uncertain nor doubtful. The iHus-
trious founder of our party has plainly announced them.
They have been reasserted and followed by a long line of great
poHtical leaders, and they are quite familiar. They comprise :
Equal and exact justice to all men; peace, commerce, and
honest friendship with all nations — entangling alHance with
none; the support of the State governments in all their rights;
the preservation of the general government in its whole con
stitutional vigor; a jealous care of the right of election by the
people; absolute acquiescence in the decisions of the majority;
the supremacy of the civil over the military authority ; econ
omy in the public expenses; the honest payment of our debts
and sacred preservation of the public faith; the encouragement
of agriculture, and commerce as its handmaid, and freedom of
religion, freedom of the press, and freedom of the person.
The great President and intrepid Democratic leader whom
we especially honor to-night, who never relaxed his strict
adherence to the Democratic faith nor faltered in his defense
of the rights of the people against all comers, found his inspi
ration and guidance in these principles. On entering upon
the Presidency he declared his loyalty to them; in his long and
useful incumbency of that great office he gloriously illustrated
their value and sufficiency ; and his obedience to the doctrines
of true Democracy, at all times during his public career, per
mitted him on his retirement to find satisfaction in the declara
tion: "At the moment when I surrender my last public trust, I

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 265
leave this great people prosperous and happy and in the full
enjoyment of liberty and peace, and honored and respected by
every nation of the world."
Parties have come and parties have gone. Even now the
leaders of the party which faces in opposition the Demo
cratic host, listen for the footsteps of that death which destroys
parties false to their trust. Touched by thine
The extortioner's hard hand foregoes the gold
Wrung from the o'erworn poor.
Thou, too, dost purge from earth its horrible
And old idolatries ; from the proud fanes,
Each to his grave, their priests go out, till none
Is left to teach their worship.
But there has never been a time, from Jefferson's day to the
present hour, when our party did not exist, active and aggres
sive and prepared for heroic conflict. Not all who have fol
lowed the banner have been able by a long train of close
reasoning to demonstrate, as an abstraction, why Democratic
principles are best suited to their wants and the country's
good; but they have known and felt that as their government
was established for the people, the principles and the men
nearest to the people and standing for them could be the safest
trusted. Jackson has been in their eyes the incarnation of the
things which Jefferson declared. If they did not understand
all that Jefferson wrote, they saw and knew what Jackson did.
Those who insisted upon voting for Jackson after his death
felt sure that, whether their candidate was alive or dead, they
were voting the ticket of true Democracy. The devoted
political adherent of Jackson who, after his death, became
involved in a dispute as to whether his hero had gone to
Heaven or not, was prompted by Democratic instinct when he
disposed of the question by declaring, "I tell you, sir, that if
Andrew Jackson has made up his mind to go to Heaven you
may depend upon it he's there. " The single Democratic voter

266 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
in more than one town who, year after year, deposited his single
Democratic ballot undismayed by the number of his misguided
opponents, thus discharged his political duty with the utmost
pride and sadsfaction in his Jacksonian Democracy.
Democratic steadfastness and enthusiasm, and the satisfaction
arising from our party history and traditions, certainly ought
not to be discouraged. But it is hardly safe for us because we
profess the true faith, and can boast of distinguished poHtical
ancestry, to rely upon these things as guarantees of our present
usefulness as a party organization, or to regard their glorifica
tion as surely making the way easy to the accomplishment of
our political mission.
The Democratic party, by an intelligent study of existing
conditions, should be prepared to meet all the wants of the
people as they arise, and to furnish a remedy for every threat
ening-evil. We may well be proud of our party membership;
but we cannot escape the duty which such membership imposes
upon us, to urge constantly upon our fellow-citizens of this
day and generation the sufficiency of the principles of true
Democracy for the protection of their rights and the promotion
of their welfare and happiness, in all their present diverse con
ditions and surroundings.
There should, of course, be no suggestion that a departure
from the time-honored principles of our party is necessary to
the attainment of these objects. On the contrary, we should
constantly congratulate ourselves that our party creed is broad
enough to meet any emergency that can arise in the life of a
free nation.
Thus, when we see the functions of government used to
enrich a favored few at the expense of the many, and see also
its inevitable result in the pinching privation of the poor and
the profuse extravagance of the rich; and when we see in
operation an unjust tariff which banishes from many humble
homes the comforts of life, in order that, in the palaces of
wealth, luxury may more abound, we turn to our creed and
find that it enjoins "equal and exact justice to all men."

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 267
Then, if we are well grounded in our political faith, we will nOt
be deceived, nor will we permit others to be deceived, by any
plausible pretext or smooth sophistry excusing the situation.
For our answer to them all, we will point to the words which
condemn such inequality and injusdce, as we prepare for the
encounter vidth wrong, armed with the weapons of true
Democracy. When we see our farmers in distress, and know that they are
not paying the penalty of slothfulness and mismanagement;
when we see their long hours of toil so poorly requited that the
money-lender eats out their substance, while for everything
they need they pay a tribute to the favorites of govern
mental care, we know that all this is far removed from the
"encouragement of agriculture" which our creed commands.
We will not violate our political duty by forgetting how well
entitled our farmers are to our best efforts for their restoration
to the independence of a former time and to the rewards of
better days.
When we see the extravagance of public expenditure fast
reaching the point of reckless waste, and the undeserved dis
tribution of public money debauching its recipients, and by
pernicious example threatening the destruction of the love of
frugality among our people, we will remember that "economy
in the public expense "is an important article in the true
Democratic faith.
When we see our political adversaries bent upon the passage
of a Federal law, with the scarcely denied purpose of perpetua
ting partisan supremacy, which invades the States with election
machinery designed to promote Federal interference with the
rights of the people in the localities concerned, discrediting
their honesty and fairness, and justly arousing their jealousy of
centralized power, we will stubbornly resist such a dangerous
and revolutionary scheme, in obedience to our pledge for "the
support of the State governments in all their rights."
Under anti- Democratic encouragement we have seen a con
stantly increasing selfishness attach to our poHtical affairs. A

268 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
departure from the sound and safe theory that the people
should support the government for the sake of the benefits
resulting to all, has bred a sentiment manifesting itself with
astounding boldness, that the government may be enlisted in
the furtherance and advantage of private interests, through
their willing agents in public place. Such an abandonment of
the idea of patriotic political action on the part of these inter
ests, has naturally led to an estimate of the people's franchise
so degrading that it has been openly and palpably debauched
for the promotion of selfish schemes. Money is invested in
the purchase of votes with the deliberate calculation that it
will yield a profitable return in results advantageous to the
investor. Another crime akin to this in motive and design is
the intimidation by employers of the voters dependent upon
them for work and bread.
Nothing could be more hateful to true and genuine Democ
racy than such offenses against our free institutions. In several
of the States the honest sentiment of the party has asserted itself,
in the support of every plan proposed for the rectification of
this terrible wrong. To fail in such support would be to violate
that principle in the creed of true Democracy which com
mands " a jealous care of the right of election by the people,"
for certainly no one can claim that suffrages purchased or cast
under the stress of threat or intimidation represent the right
of election by the people.
Since a free and unpolluted ballot must be conceded as
absolutely essential to the maintenance of our free institutions,
I may perhaps be permitted to express the hope that the State
of Pennsylvania will not long remain behind her sister States
in adopting an effective plan to protect her people's suffrage.
In any event the Democracy of the State can find no justifica
tion in party principle, nor in party traditions, nor in a just
apprehension of Democratic duty, for a failure earnestly to
support and advocate ballot reform.
I have thus far attempted to state some of the principles of
true Democracy, and their application to present conditions.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 269
Their enduring character and their constant influence upon
those who profess our faith have also been suggested. If I
were now asked why they have so endured and why they have
been invincible, I should reply in the words of the sentiment
to which I respond: "They are enduring because they are
right, and invincible because they are just."
I believe that among our people the ideas which endure, and
which inspire warm attachment and devotion, are those having
some elements which appeal to the moral sense. When men
are satisfied that a principle is morally right, they become its
adherents for all time. There is sometimes a discouraging
distance between what our fellow-countrymen believe and what
they do, in such a case; but their action in accordance with
their belief may always be confidently expected in good time.
A government for the people and by the people is everlastingly
right. As surely as this is true so surely is it true that party
principles which advocate the absolute equality of American
manhood, and an equal participation by all the people in the
management of their government, and in the benefit and pro
tection which it affords, are also right. Here is common
ground where the best educated thought and reason may meet
the most impulsive and instinctive Americanism. It is right
that every man should enjoy the result of his labor to the fullest
extent consistent with his membership in civilized community.
It is right that our government should be but the instrument
of the people's will, and that its cost should be limited within
the lines of strict economy. It is right that the influence of
the government should be known in every humble home as the
guardian of frugal comfort and content, and a defense against
unjust exactions, and the unearned tribute persistently coveted
by the selfish and designing. It is right that efficiency and
honesty in public service should not be sacrificed to partisan
greed; and it is right that the suffrage of our people should
be pure and free.
The belief in these propositions, as moral truths, is nearly
universal among our countrymen. We are mistaken if we

270 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
suppose the time is distant when the clouds of selfishness and
perversion will be dispelled and their consciendous belief will
become the chief motive force in the polirical action of the
people. I understand all these truths to be included in the principles
of true Democracy. If we have not at all times trusted as
implicitly as we ought to the love our people have for the
right, in poHtical action, or if we have not always relied
sufficiendy upon the sturdy advocacy of the best things which
belong to our party faith, these have been temporary aberra
tions which have furnished their inevitable warning.
We are permitted to contemplate to-night the latest demon
stration of the people's appreciation of the right, and of the
acceptance they accord to Democratic doctrine when honesdy
presented. In the campaign which has just closed with such
glorious results, while party managers were anticipating the
issue in the light of the continued illusion of the people, the
people themselves and for themselves were considering the
question of right and jusdce. They have spoken, and the
Democracy of the land rejoice.
In the signs of the times and in the result of their late State
campaign, the Democracy of Pennsylvania must find hope and
inspiration. Nowhere has the sensitiveness of the people, on
questions involving right and wrong, been better illustrated than
here. At the head of your State government there will soon
stand a disciple of true Democracy, elected by voters who
would have the right and not the wrong when their consciences
were touched. Though there have existed here conditions and
influences not altogether favorable to an unselfish apprehen
sion of the moral attributes of political doctrine, I believe that
if these features of the principles of true Democracy are per-
sistendy advocated, the time will speedily come when, as in a
day, the patriotic hearts of the people of your great Common
wealth will be stirred to the support of our cause.
It remains to say that, in the midst of our rejoicing and in
the time of party hope and expectation, we should remember

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 271
that the way of right and justice should be followed as a matter
of duty and regardless of immediate success. Above all things
let us not for a moment forget that grave responsibiHties await
the party which the people trust ; and let us look for guidance
to the principles of true Democracy, which "are enduring
because they are right, and invincible because they are just."

VI.
At the Democratic Club, New York, April 13, 1891.
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
I desire, first of all, to express my thanks to the promoters of
this occasion, for the pleasure which a place in this goodly
company affords me, and to congratulate the Democratic Club
upon the indication of prosperity and enterprise supplied by its
ownership of this beautiful and commodious house. The
maintenance of such a center for the cultivation and dissem
ination of true Democratic principles, together with the activity
and earnestness of members of the club, furnish the most
gratifying evidence that those who abide here fully realize the
value and importance of unremitting political endeavor and
thorough organization in behalf of true Democracy.
It seems to me that the atmosphere which pervades this
place is ill-suited to selfish and ignoble designs; and I feel at
this moment that I am surrounded by influences which invite
patriotic partisanship and disinterested devotion to party prin
ciples. This sensation is most agreeable — for I am glad to be
called a partisan if my partisanship is patriotic. If a partisan
is correctly defined as "one who is violently and passionately
devoted to a party or interest," I must plead guilty to the
charge of being a Democratic partisan, so long as the Democ
racy is true to its creed and traditions, and so long as condi
tions exist which, to my understanding, make adherence to its
doctrines synonymous with patriotism.

272 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
It is a glorious thing to belong to a party which has a history
beginning with the first years of our government, and full of
achievements interwoven with all that has made our country
great and kept our people free. It is an inspiring thing to
know that by virtue of our party membership we are associated
with those who resist the attempt of arrogant political power
to interfere with the independence and integrity of popular
suffrage, who are determined to relieve our countrymen from
unjust and unnecessary burdens, who are intent upon checking
extravagance in public expenditures, and who test party pur
poses by their usefulness in promoting the interests and welfare
of all the people of the land.
These considerations furnish to those who love their country
the highest and best incentives to constant and faithful effort
in the cause of true Democracy.
We are reminded on this occasion that we not only have a
proud history and glorious traditions, but that our party had an
illustrious founder, whose services and teachings have done as
much to justify and make successful our government by the
people and for the people, as any American who ever lived. A
claim to such political ancestry is, of itself, sufficient to lend
honor and pride to membership in a party which preserves in
their vigor and purity the principles of that Democracy which
was established by Thomas Jefferson.
These principles were not invented for the purpose of gain
ing popular assent for a day, nor only because they were useful
in the early time of the Republic. They were not announced
for the purpose of serving personal ambitions, nor merely for
the purpose of catching the suffrages of the people. They
were laid as deep and broad as the truths upon which the
fabric of our government rested. In the spirit of prophecy,
they were formulated and declared, not only as suited to the
experiments of a new government, but as sufficient in every
struggle and every emergency which should beset popular rule,
in all times to come and in all stages of our country's growth
and development.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 273
The political revolution which accompanied the birth of our
party was not accomplished while the principles of Democracy
were kept laid away in a napkin, nor was the unanimity of
their first acceptance secured by the senseless and noisy shout
ing of partisan bigotry and the refusal to receive converts to
the faith. No man believed more implicitly in the political
instruction of the people than the great founder of our party ;
and the first triumph of Democratic principles, under his lead
ership, was distinctly the result of a campaign of education.
So, too, in the light of our last great victory, no man who
desires Democratic success will deny the supreme importance
of a most thorough and systematic presentation to our fellow-
citizens of the reasons which support the avowed and accepted
purposes of our party. Those who now sneer at efforts in that
direction are our enemies — whether they confront us as con
fessed opponents, or whether they are traitors skulking within
our camp.
It seems to me that this is peculiarly a time when the Demo
cratic party should be mindful of its relations to the country,
of its responsibilities as the guardian of sacred principles, and
of its duty to a confiding people. In the rejoicing which
success permits, let us remember that the mission of our party
is continued warfare. We cannot accomplish what we promise
to the people if we allow ourselves to be diverted from the
perils which are still in our way. Blindness to danger, and
neglect of party organization and discipline, are invitations to
defeat. We cannot win permanent and substantial success by
putting aside principle and grasping after temporary expedi
ents. We shall court disaster if we relax industry in com
mending to the intelligence of our countrymen the creed which
we profess; and we tempt humiliating failure and disgrace
when we encourage or tolerate those who, claiming fellowship
with us, needlessly and often from the worst of motives, seek
to stir up strife and sow discord in the councils of our
party. As we celebrate to-night the birthday of the father of

274 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
Democracy, let us reinforce our Democratic zeal and enthusi
asm and renew our faith and trust in the aroused intelligence
of our countrymen. Let the reflections prompted by the
surroundings of this occasion, confirm us in the assurance that
we shall patriotically discharge our poHtical duty and well
maintain our party loyalty, if in all we do as Democrats we
bravely and consistently hold fast to the truths which illumine
the path laid out by our great guide and leader.

VII.

Before the " Cleveland Democracy " at Buffalo, N. Y.,
May 12, 1891.
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
As I stand for the first time face to face with the Cleveland
Democracy, I experience mingled emotions of responsibility
and pride. My sense of responsibility arises from my relation
to your organization as its godfather, and my pride from the
noble manner in which you have borne my name. I acknowl
edge your right to require of me at this time an account of the
manner in which I have kept the political faith to which you
are devoted. This right grows out of the fact that the word
"Democracy," as it stands in the name of your organiza
tion, means so much and is so worthy of your care, that
its significance should not be in the least clouded by any
prefix which is not in keeping with Democratic aims and pur
poses. In giving an account of my political behavior, I can only
offer a record of political conduct familiar to all my country
men, and supplement this record by the declaration that I have
.done the best I could to deserve the confidence in me which
you have so gracefully manifested. For the character of the
record thus presented, you yourselves are answerable with me
— for it has been made under the influence and encouragement

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 275
of the sentiments and doctrines which the Cleveland Democ
racy have cultivated and enforced. When we started together
in political life and responsibility, your accepted creed taught
that politics was something more than adroit jugglery; that
there was still such a thing as official duty, and that it meant
obligadon to the people ; that the principles of our government
were worthy of conscientious study ; and that the doctrines of
true Democracy, honestly and bravely enforced, promised the
greatest good to all our countrymen, and exacted, through the
length and breadth of our land, impartial governmental care
and indiscriminating justice.
You were not content to allow these truths to remain with
you as mere idle beliefs. They supplied constant and aggress
ive motives for your political activity and were your inspira
tion as you went forth to do battle in the Democratic cause,
resting your hope of triumph upon an unwavering faith in the
thoughtful and well-informed intelligence of the American
people. Thus you were found doing valiant service in the campaign
of education. As the smoke of the last stubbornly fought
battle cleared away, no soldiers on the field were found sur
rounded by more trophies of victory than the forces of the
Cleveland Democracy.
Surely your rewards are most abundant. You have not
only aided in the advancement of the Democratic standard,
but you have also contributed your full share in demonstrating
that the people can be trusted when aroused to thoughtfulness
and duty.
When I suggest to you that much sturdy fighting still awaits
all those enlisted in the Democratic ranks, I feel that I am
speaking to veterans who have no fear of hard campaigning.
We may be sure that unless we continue active, watchful war
fare, we shall lose what we have gained in the people's cause.
Insidious schemes are started on every side to allure them to
their undoing. Awakened to a sense of wrong and injustice,
promises of redress and benefit are held up to their sight, "like

276 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
Dead Sea fruits, that tempt the eye but turn to ashes on the
lips." The selfish and designing will not forego the struggle,
but will constantly seek to regain their vantage ground through
tempting faHacies and plausible pretexts of friendliness.
I believe the most threatening figure which to-day stands in
the way of the safety of our government and the happiness of
our people, is reckless and wicked extravagance in our public
expenditures. It is the most fatal of all the deadly brood born
of governmental perversion. It hides beneath its wings the
betrayal of the people's trust, and holds powerless in its fas
cinating glance the people's will and conscience. It brazenly
exhibits to-day a Billion DoHar Congress. But lately, a large
surplus remained in the people's public treasury after meeting
all expenditures, then by no means economical. This condition
was presented to the American people as positive proof that
their burden of taxation was unjust because unnecessary; and
yet, while the popular protest is still heard, the harpy of Public
Extravagance devours the surplus and impudently calls upon
its staggering victims to bring still larger supplies within the
reach of its insatiate appetite. A few short years ago a pen
sion roll amounting to fifty-three millions of dollars was will
ingly maintained by our patriotic citizens. To-day, Public
Extravagance decrees that three times that sum shall be drawn
from the people, upon the pretext that its expenditure repre
sents the popular love of the soldier. Not many years age a
river and harbor bill, appropriating eleven millions of dollars,
gave rise to a loud popular protest. Now, Public Extrava
gance commands an appropriation of twenty-two millions for
the same purposes, and the people are silent. To-day, miflions
are paid for barefaced subsidy; and this is approved or con
doned at the behest of Public Extravagance, and thus a new
marauder is turned loose, which, in company with its vicious
tariff partner, bears pilfered benefit to the households of
favored selfish interests.
We need not prolong the details. Turn where we will, we
see the advance of this devouring and destructive creature.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 277
Our Democratic faith teaches us that the useless exaction of
money from the people, upon the false pretext of public neces
sity, is the worst of all governmental perversions, and involves
the greatest of all dangers to our guarantees of justice and
equity. We need not unlearn this lesson to apprehend the fact
that behind the fact that such exaction, and as its source of
existence, is found Public Extravagance. The ax will not be
laid at the root of the unwholesome tariff tree, with its vicious
inequality and injustice, until we reach and destroy its parent
and support.
But the growth of Public Extravagance in these latter days,
and its unconcealed and dreadful manifestations, force us to
the contemplation of other crimes, of which it is undoubtedly
guilty, besides unjust exactions from the people.
Our government is so ordained that its lifeblood flows from
the virtue and patriotism of our people, and its health and
strength depend upon the integrity and faithfulness of their
public servants. If these are destroyed, our government, if it
endures, will endure only in name, failing to bless those for
whom it was created, and failing in its mission as an example to
mankind. Public Extravagance, in its relation to inequitable tariff laws,
not only lays an unjust tribute upon the people, but is respon
sible for unfair advantages bestowed upon special and favored
interests as the price of partisan support. Thus the exercise
of the popular will, for the benefit of the country at large, is
replaced by sordid and selfish motives directed to personal
advantage, while the encouragement of such motives, in public
place for party ends, deadens the official conscience.
Public Extravagance directly distributes gifts and gratuities
among the people, whose toleration of waste is thus secured, or
whose past party services are thus compensated, or who are thus
bribed to future party support. This makes the continuance
of partisan power a stronger motive among public servants
than the faithful discharge of the people's trust, and sows the
seeds of contagious corruption in the body politic.

278 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
But to my mind, the saddest and most frightful result of
Public Extravagance is seen in the readiness of the masses of
our people, who are not dishonest, but only heedless, to accus
tom themselves to that dereliction in public place which it
involves. Evidence is thus furnished that our countrymen are
in danger of losing the scrupulous insistence upon the faithful
discharge of duty on the part of their public servants, the
regard for economy and frugality which belongs to sturdy
Americanism, the independence which relies upon personal
endeavor, and the love of an honest and well-regulated gov
ernment, all of which He at the foundation of our free institu
tions. '
Have I overstated the evils and dangers with which the
tremendous growth of Public Extravagance threatens us?
Every man who loves his country well enough to pause and
think of these things must know that I have not.
Let us, then, as we push on in our campaign of education,
especially impress upon our countrymen the lesson which
teaches that Public Extravagance is a deadly, dangerous thing,
that frugality and economy are honorable, that the virtue and
watchfulness of the people are the surest safeguards against
abuses in their government, and that those who profess to
serve their fellow-citizens in public place must be faithful to
their trust.

VIIL

Before the Business Men's Democratic Association, New York,
January 8, 1892.
Mr. President and Gentlemen:
No one can question the propriety of the celebration of this
day by the organization whose invitation has called us together.
Its right to celebrate on this occasion results from the fact that
it is an organization attached to the doctrines of true Democ
racy, having a membership composed of business men, who.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 279
in a disinterested way, devote themselves to honest party work,
and who labor for the growth and spread of the political prin
ciples which they profess.
This anniversary has not gained its place as a festival day in
the calendar of Democracy by chance or through unmeaning
caprice ; nor is it observed by the Democratic party merely
because a battle was fought on the 8th day of January,
many years ago, at New Orleans. That battle in itself had no
immediate political significance, and, considered solely as a
military achievement in comparison with many other battles
fought by Americans both before and since, it need not be
regarded as an event demanding especial commemoration.
The Democratic zest and enthusiasm of our celebration of
the day grow out of the fact that the battle of New Orleans
was won under the generalship of Andrew Jackson. So, while
the successful general in that battle is not forgotten to-night.
Democrats, wherever they are assembled throughout our land
to celebrate the day, are honoring the hero who won the battles
of Democracy, and are commemorating the political courage
and steadfastness which were his prominent characteristics.
It is well that there are occasions like this where we may
manifest that love and affection for Andrew Jackson which
have a place in every Democratic heart. It is needless to
attempt an explanation of this love and affection. They are
Democratic instincts. So strong is our conviction that Jack
son's Democracy derived its strength and vigor from the stead
fast courage, the honesty of purpose and the sturdy persistency
which characterized the man, that we wilHngly profess the
belief that these same conditions are essential to the usefulness
and success of the Democratic party in these latter days.
Thus, wherever party principle or policy may lead us, we have
constantly before us an unquesdoned example of the spirit m
which our work should be undertaken.
It may not be unprofitable for us, at this time, to recaH some
incidents in the career of Andrew Jackson, and note their
bearing upon the posidon of our party in its present relations

28o TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
to the people. We may thus discover an incentive for the
cultivation and preservation of that Jacksonian spirit which
ought to belong to Democratic effort.
When General Jackson was sent with troops to protect our
border against disturbers of the peace whose retreat was in the
Spanish province of Florida, he notified our government that
if it was signified to him that the possession of the Floridas
would be desirable to the United States, it should be forthwith
accomplished. He only believed he had the assent of his
government, but in that belief, and because his word had been
given, he never rested until his military occupation of the
territory was complete.
The Democratic party has lately declared to the people that
if it was trusted and invested with power, their burdens of
taxation should be lightened, and that a better and more just
distribution of benefits should be assured to them. There is
no doubt concerning our commission from the people to do
this work, and there is no doubt that we have received their
trust and confidence on the faith of our promises. In these
circumstances, there is no sign of Jacksonian determination and
persistency in faltering or hesitating in the cause we have
undertaken. If we accepted the trust and confidence of the
people with any other design than to respond fully to them, we
have been dishonored from the beginning. If we accepted
them in good faith, disgrace and humiliation await us if we
relax our efforts before the promised end is reached.
At New Orleans General Jackson attacked the enemy as
soon as they landed, and fought against their making the least
advance. It never occurred to him that by yielding to them
a foot of ground, or giving them a moment's rest, his oppor
tunity to defeat them would be promoted.
We, who are proud to call ourselves Jacksonian Democrats,
have boldly and aggressively attacked a political heresy op
posed to the best interests of the people and defended by an
arrogant and unscrupulous party. The fight is still on. Who
has the hardihood to say that we can lay claim to the least

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 281
Jacksonian spirit if in the struggle we turn our backs to the
enemy, or lower in the least our colors?
President Jackson beHeved the United States Bank was an
institution dangerous to the liberties and prosperity of the
people. Once convinced of this, his determination to destroy
it closely followed. He early began the attack, utterly regard
less of any considerations of political expediency or personal
advancement except as they grew out of his faith in the people,
and-' giving no place in his calculations for any estimate of the
difficulty of the undertaking. From the time the first blow
was struck until the contest ended in his complete triumph, he
aflowed nothing to divert him from his purpose, and permitted
no other issue to divide his energy or to be substituted for that
on which he was intent.
The Democratic party of to-day, which conjures with the
name of Jackson, has also attacked a monstrous evil, intrenched
behind a perversion of governmental power and guarded by its
selfish beneficiaries. On behalf of those among our people
long neglected, we have insisted on tariff reform and an aban
donment of unjust favoritism. We have thus adopted an issue
great enough to deserve the undivided efforts of our party,
involving considerations vi'hich, we profess to believe, lie at the
foundation of the justice and fairness of popular rule.
If we are to act upon our declared belief in the power of that
Jacksonian spirit which was the inspiration of our party in the
days of our great leader, we shall be steadfast to the issue we
have raised until it is settled and rightly settled. The stead
fastness we need will not permit a premature and distracting
search for other and perplexing questions, nor will it allow us
to be tempted or driven by the enemy into new and tangled
paths. We have given pledges to the people, and they have trusted
us. Unless we have outgrown the Democratic spirit of Jack
son's time, our duty is plain. Our promise was not merely to
labor in the people's cause until we should tire of the effort, or
should discover a \v3.y which seemed to promise easier and

282 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
quicker party ascendency. The service we undertook was not
to advise those waiting for better days that their cause was
hopeless, nor under any pretext to suggest a cessation of effort.
Our engagement was to labor incessantly, bravely, and stub
bornly, seeing nothing and considering nothing but ultimate
success. These pledges and promises should be faithfully and
honestly kept. Party faithlessness is party dishonor.
Nor is the sacredness of our pledges, and the party dishonor
that would follow their violation, all we have to consider.
We cannot trifle with our obligations to the people without
exposure and disaster. We ourselves have aroused a spirit of
jealous inquiry and discrimination touching political conduct
which cannot be blinded ; and the people will visit with quick
revenge the party which betrays them.
I hope, then, I may venture to claim in this assemblage that,
even if there had been but slight encouragement for the cause
we, have espoused, there would still be no justification for
timidity and faint-heartedness. But with the success we have
already achieved, amounting to a political revolution, it seems
to me that it would be the height of folly, considered purely as
a question of party management, to relax in the least our
determination and persistency. If we suspect, anywhere in
our counsels, compromising hesitation or a disposition to divert
the unity of party efforts, let us be watchful. The least retreat
bodes disaster ; cowardice is often called conservatism, and an
army scattered into sections invites defeat.
We have preached the doctrine that honesty and sincerity
should be exacted from political parties. Let us not fall under
the condemnation which awaits on shifty schemes and insin
cere professions.
I believe our countrymen are prepared to act on principle,
and in no mood for political maneuvering. They will not
waste time in studying conundrums, guessing riddles, or trying
to interpret doubtful phrases. They demand a plain and
simple statement of political purpose.
Above all things, polidcal finesse should not lead us to for-

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 283
get that, at the end of our plans, we must meet face to face at
the polls the voters of the land, with baHots in their hands,
demanding as a condition of their support of our party fidelity
and undivided devotion to the cause in which we have enlisted
them. If, inspired by the true Jacksonian spirit, we hold to the
doctrine that party honesty is party duty and party courage is
party expediency, we shall win a sure and lasting success
through the deserved support of a discriminating, intelHgent,
and thoughtful people.

IX.
To a Political Rally, in Columbus, O.
Executive Mansion,
Albany, September 24, 1884.
My Dear Sir:
I very much regret that the pressure of official duties will
prevent my joining you at the meeting to be held in Columbus
on the 25th inst. I hope the meeting will be a complete
success, and that it will be the means of increasing the enthu
siasm already aroused for the cause of good government.
I believe that the voters of the country are fully alive to the
necessity of installing an administration of public affairs which
shall be truly their own, not only because it is the result of
their choice, but because its selected instrumentalities are
directly from the body of the people and impressed with the
people's thoughts and sentiments. They are tired, I think, of
a rule so long continued that it has bred and fostered a class
standing between them and their political action, and whose
interest in affairs ends with partisan zeal and the advancement
of personal advantage.
Let me remind the people that if they seek to make their
public servants feel their direct responsibility to them, and be
careful of their interests, their objects will not be accom
plished by blind adherence to the party which has grown arro-

284 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
gant with long-continued power. Let me impress upon the
people that the issue involved in the pending canvass is the
establishment of a pure and honest administration of their
government. Let me show them the way to this and warn
them against any cunningly designed effort to lead them into
other paths of irrelevant discussion.
With these considerations before them, and with an earnest
presentation of our claims to the confidence of the people
and of their responsibility, we need not fear the result of their
intelligent action. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
Allen G. Thurman, Columbus, O.

X.
To the " Cleveland Democracy," Buffalo, N. Y.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, September 30, 1885.
My Dear Sir:
Please accept my thanks for the pamphlet you sent me
containing papers read before the Cleveland Democracy
of Buffalo. The collection gives excellent proof of the
amount and value of 'the work already done by the organ
ization. I know of nothing which could better engage the
endeavor of such an association than its declared objects — "to
foster and disseminate Democratic principles" and "to pro
mote and secure the political education and Democratic
fellowship of its members."
A marked improvement in our politics must follow, I think,
a better understanding of the reasons for the existence of
parties, and a clearer apprehension of their relations to the
welfare of the country and the prosperity of our people.
Membership in a party might well rest less upon a blind,
unreflecting enthusiasm for a certain continued partisan com-

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 285
panionship and the hope of personal reward and advantage,
and more upon a deliberate attachment to well-defined and
understood party principles. And this better condition is to
be realized largely as the result of such work as the Cleveland
Democracy has undertaken.
The Democratic cause need have no fear of the most com
plete discussion of its principles; and the history of its great
leaders and their achievements cannot fail to inspire the mem
bers of the party with pride and veneration. It is well in
these latter days to turn back often and read of the faith which
the founders of our party had in the people — how exactly they
apprehended their needs and with what lofty aims and purposes
they sought the public good.
The object of your organization should arouse the zeal and
continuous effort of every member; and its usefulness should
insure its encouragement and prosperity. Yours sincerely,
Grover Cleveland.
Herbert P. Bissell, Esq., President.

XL
To the President of the National Association of Clubs.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, September 14, 1888.
Chauncey F. Black, President, etc.
My Dear Sir : The papers which you kindly sent for my
perusal, touching the scope, method, and purpose of the Asso
ciation of Democratic Clubs, have strengthened my belief in
the extreme importance of such organizations as have been
thus associated.
The struggle upon which we have entered is in behalf of
the people — the plain people of the land — and they must be
reached. We do not proceed upon the theory that they are
to be led by others who may or may not be in sympathy with

286 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
their interests. We have undertaken to teach the voters as
free, independent citizens, intelligent enough to insist upon
their rights, interested enough to insist upon being treated
justly, and patriotic enough to desire their country's welfare.
Thus this campaign is one of information and organization.
Every citizen should be regarded as a thoughtful, responsible
voter, and he should be furnished the means of examining the
issues involved in the pending canvass for himself.
I am convinced that no agency is so effective to this end as
the clubs which have been formed, permeating all parts of the
country and making their influence felt in every neighborhood.
By a systematic effort they make the objects of the Demo
cratic party understood, by the fair and calm discussion of the
Democratic position in this contest, among those with whom
their members daily come in contact ; and by preventing a
neglect of the duty of suffrage on election day,, these clubs
will become, in my opinion, the most important instrumentality
yet devised for promoting the success of our party.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XII.
To the Democratic Societies of Pennsylvania.
New York, October ii, 1889.
My Dear Sir:
I am sorry that I shall not be able to be in Philadelphia at
the General Assembly of the Democratic Societies of Penn
sylvania on the 15th inst., and cannot, therefore, attend the
meeting which will follow that assembly.
My estimate of the value of these Democratic Societies as
agencies for the instruction of the people upon political topics
and for the accomplishment of legitimate political work is well
known, and there never was a time when, in the interests of good
government and national prosperity, they were more needed.
The condition of political affairs is such that the attention of

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 287
all true Democrats should be directed to the enforcement of
the distinctive principles of the party; and in my opinion this
is no time for the search after makeshifts and temporary
expedients. We, as a party, are fairly enlisted in the cause of the people,
and patriotism, duty, and party success require that we should
be constant and steadfast. All personal and selfish aims
should be subordinated.
I confidently expect that in the work we have in hand our
Democratic societies will exhibit an efficiency which will be
gratefully acknowledged by all who have at heart the welfare
and prosperity of the American people.
Yours very sincerely,
Chauncey F. Black. Grover Cleveland.

XIII.
To the New York Convention of Democratic Clubs.
New York, October 21, 1889.
Dear Sir:
I am in receipt of your invitation to attend the Convention
of New York State Democratic Clubs to be held at the Hoff
man House on the 2 2d inst.
I am glad that you were considerate enough of my situation
and feelings to give me an opportunity to infer from your note
that my failure to accept your invitation would neither cause
great disappointment nor be construed as indicating any lack
of interest in the work which the clubs represented in the
league have undertaken.
These organizations had their origin in the heat and activity
of a Presidential election, which furnishes plenty of that enthu
siasm upon which political organizations easily subsist. While
they are certainly very useful at such a time, it must be con
ceded that the noise and excitement of a campaign are not
conducive to the accomplishment of missionary work or the
effective dissemination of political truth. This most important

288 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
/ work can better be done in more quiet surroundings, though
TisuaHy it is not then so easy to maintain political associations.
It has been too often the case, if it may not be said to be
the rule, that polidcal clubs, whatever their declarations of
perpetuity may have been, have only lived during the cam
paign in which they had their birth, and only performed tem
porary campaign work. I am very much pleased to learn that
the League of New York Democratic Clubs intends to make
the organizations of which it is composed permanent agencies
for spreading and illustrating the doctrines of the Democratic
party at all times and in all circumstances.
In making this effort the league is to be congratulated upon
the fact that the principles of Democracy occupy at this time
a larger place than they lately have in the consideration of the
party. The study and propagation of these principles afford
strong inducements to associated effort, and, what is better,
these efforts are invested with a value and importance as great
as the prosperity of our land, and as broad in their beneficence
as the welfare of all our people.
I look to the ascendency of the principles upon which true
Democracy rests, which will be greatly aided by the activity of
leagues such as yours to secure us from wasting extravagance,
from demagogic pretense, from sectional bitterness, and from the
widespread corruption of our suffrage. Could labor and effort
have greater or higher incentives than the accomplishment of
these results ? Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XIV.
To the Democracy of Kings County, N. Y.
45 William Street,
New York, October 30, 1889.
Dear Sir :
I have received your invitation, tendered on behalf
of the Democratic organization of Kings County, to at-

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 289
tend and address a mass meeting of the Democracy of the
county on the evening of Friday, the ist day of Novem
ber. You are quite right in suggesting that I am too well ac
quainted with the Democracy of Kings County to make nec
essary any assurance of the sincerity and earnestness of this
invitation ; and I confess that it is difficult for me to decline
the courtesy or disappoint the wishes of such kind party
friends. I cannot, however, quite satisfy myself that I ought, by ac
cepting your invitadon, to depart from the course which I
have followed in all similar cases.
I know how ably the speakers who address the meeting
will present the topics which are prominent in the canvass,
and how well the claims of our candidates to public confidence
will be advocated.
The thought which is uppermost in my mind leads me to
suggest that this is a time for the Democrats of our State to
guard against the indifference and lack of activity which are
apt to result from the reaction of a recent Presidential cam
paign, and which, also, too often exist when the grade and
character of the offices to be filled are not such as inspire the
greatest party enthusiasm.
We should constantly bear in mind that every election in
volving Democratic principles is important to our party, and
that indifference should not be permitted to invite defeat when
fit and worthy men and true Democrats are presented as can
didates for public office.
In the pending campaign, though the canvass has to do
with State policy and State offices, it cannot be denied that
it is also related in an important way to fundamental party
principles ; and it should be our pleasure, as it is our duty,
to give active and earnest support to the worthy and honest
men, and the tried and true members of the Democratic party
who are our candidates.
I hope that your mass meeting may be the means of arous-

290 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
ing that Democratic activity, watchfulness, and enthusiasm
which will insure Democratic success. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
John P. Adams, Esq., President, etc.

XV.
To the Young Mens Democratic Club at Canton, 0.
New York, November 22, 1889.
Dear Sir:
I am pleased with the invitation you extend to Mrs. Cleve
land and myself to be present at the anniversary meeting of
the Young Men's Democratic Club on the 5th day of Decem
ber. If the exercises you contemplate and outline in your
letter are carried out, all who attend them are certainly
promised a rare exposition of sound doctrine from the eloquent
and able speakers you have secured. I am sorry that, owing
to other engagements, we must be among the absent ones.
The spirit and tone of your letter, so far as it relates to the
purposes of your club, are very gratifying. The constantly
growing interest manifested by our young men in the princi
ples of the Democratic party constitute, in my opinion, the
most reliable hope of their ascendency. If, at any time in the
past, it has with any truth been said that our party did not
invite to its standard the enterprising and thoughtful young
men of the country, to-day such an allegation shall be disputed.
And these men, keenly alive to their country's welfare,
quick to discover the needs of the present, and ready, in the
freedom of untrammeled thought, to follow in the pathway of
good citizenship, can be safely trusted with political responsi
bilities. Hoping your meeting will be very successful, I am
Yours truly,
Grover Cleveland.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 291
XVI.
To the Tammany Society's Fourth of July Celebrations.
I.
Marion, Mass., June 30, 1890.
Dear Sir:
My absence from the city of New York, and plans which
I have already made, prevent my acceptance of the courteous
invitation which I have received to attend the celebration
by the Tammany Society of the one hundred and fourteenth
anniversary of American independence.
The celebration contemplated by your ancient and time-
honored organization will, it seems to me, fall short in the
impressiveness due to the occasion if it does not persistently
present and emphasize the idea that the Declaration of Inde
pendence was the protest of honest and sturdy men against the
wrongs and oppressions of misgovernment. The reasons and
justification for their revolt are exhibited in their recital of a
long list of grievous instances of maladministration. They
complained that their interests had been so neglected, and their
rights as lawful subjects so violated, under British rule, that
they were absolved from further fealty.
Our fathers, in establishing a new government upon the will
of the people and consecrated to their care and just protection,
could not prescribe limitations which would deny to political
parties its conduct and administration. The opportunities
and the temptations, thus necessarily presented to partisanship,
have brought us to a time when party control is far too arro
gant and bitter, and when, in public place, the true interests
of the country are too lightly considered.
In this predicament, those who love their country may well
remember, with comfort and satisfaction, on Independence Day,
that the disposition of the American people to revolt against
maladministration still remains to them, and is the badge of
their freedom and independence, as well as their security for
continued prosperity and happiness.

292 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
They will not revolt against their plan of government, for
its protection and preservadon supply every inspiradon of true
Americanism. But because they are free and independent
American citizens, they will, as long as their love and venera
tion for their government shall last, revolt against the domina
tion of any political party which, intrusted with power, sordidly
seeks only its continuance, and which, faithlessly violating its
plain and simple duty to the people, insults them with profes
sions of disinterested solicitude while it eats out their substance.
And yet, with all this, we should not in blind security deny
the existence of danger. The masses of our countrymen are
brave and therefore generous; they are strong and therefore
confident, and they are honest and therefore unsuspecting.
Our peril lies in the ease with which they may be deluded and
cajoled by those who would traffic with their interests.
No occasion is more opportune than the celebration of the
one hundred and fourteenth anniversary of American inde-
¦pendence to warn the American people of the present necessity
on their part of a vigilant watchfulness of their rights and a
jealous exaction of honest and unselfish performance of public
duty. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
Abram B. Tappen, Grand Sachem.

Buzzard's Bay, Mass., July i, 1891.
Dear Sir:
I am unable to accept your courteous invitation to be pres
ent at the celebration, by the Tammany Society, of the one
hundred and fifteenth anniversary of American independence.
I should be glad to participate in the celebration which youi
society contemplates, and I hope the design of its promoters
to make the occasion one "of exceptional significance and
extended effects," will be fully realized.
Our American holiday cannot be appropriately celebrated
without recalling the immense cost and the transcendent value

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 293
of our national independence, and awakening and reserving in
our hearts that spirit of patriotism which is the foundation of
our independence and the security of our life as a nation.
Every American citizen should, on that day, consecrate
himself anew to an unqualified allegiance to his government,
and should soberly realize that no social or political relation in
life can be worthily maintained unless it embraces an unselfish
love of country.
Your time-honored association justly claims a proud history
of devotion to a political party which has always insisted upon
the integrity of our free institutions, and which has at all times
professed to champion the rights of the people. I am, there
fore, certain that the Tammany Society, in its celebration of
Independence Day, will not fail to emphasize the truth that
political organizations can only be valuable, and party efforts
can only promise success, when they have for their purpose and
inspiration the broadest and purest patriotism.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
Thomas F. Gilroy, Grand Sachem.

XVIL
To the Young Men's Democratic Association, Canton, O.
New York, November 25, 1890.
I thank you for the invitation I have just received to meet
with the members of the Young Men's Democratic Club at
Canton to rejoice over the late Democratic victory. I am
sorry to say that it will be impossible for me to be present on
the occasion you contemplate, but I hope that it will be fuH of
enthusiasm and congratulation.
And yet may I not suggest one sober thought which should
constantly be in our minds? Our late success is, of course, the
triumph of Democradc principles, but that success was made
possible by the co-operation of many who are not to be con-

294 TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS.
sidered as irrevocably and under all circumstances members of
our party. They trusted us and allied themselves with us in
the late struggle because they saw that those with whom they
had acted politically were heedless of the interests of the coun
try and untrue to the people.
We have still to convince them that Democracy means some
thing more than mere management for party success and a
partisan distribution of benefits after success. This can only
be done by insisting that in the conduct of our party, principles
touching the public welfare shall be placed above spoils, and
this is the sentiment of the masses of the Democratic party to
day. They are disinterested and patriotic, and they should not
be misrepresented by the tricks of those who would not scruple
to use the party name for selfish purposes.
I do not say that there is danger of this; but I am convinced
that our duty to those who have trusted us consists in pushing
on, continually and vigorously, the principles in the advocacy
of which we have triumphed, and thus superseding all that is
ignoble and unworthy. In this way we shall place our party
on solid ground and confirm the people in the hope that we
strive for their welfare, and, following this course, we shall
deserve and achieve further success.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XVIII.
To the Cleveland Club, Atlanta, Ga.
New York, February 29, 1892.
My Dear Sir:
I will not attempt to conceal the gratification afforded me by
the message you transmit from the Cleveland Club of Atlanta.
I have received so many manifestations of friendliness from
the people of Atlanta that I cherish toward them the warmest
gratitude and liveliest affection.
I cannot say that I am certain I deserve all the laudation
contained in the resolutions of your club. I can say, however.

TO POLITICAL CLUBS AND ORGANIZATIONS. 295
that I find a sense of great satisfaction in the reflection that I
have been permitted to aid somewhat in restoring to the people,
in a large section of our country, their standing and position in
our common American citizenship, not nominally and barrenly,
but substantially and potentionally.
For whatever I have done in this direction I have abundant
reward in the prosperity of your people, which doubles our
national prosperity; in the cheerful co-operation of your peo
ple, which insures a lasting national brotherhood; and in the
appreciation by your people of all that has been done in their
behalf. After all, I look upon these beneficent accomplishments as
resulting frorn the appreciation of true Democratic doctrines,
and I believe that one who in public place submits himself to
their guidance will find it easy to do justice and to subserve
the interests of all his fellow-countrymen. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER XIL
speeches in political canvasses.
I.
Serenade Speech from Balcony of Buffalo Democratic Club upon
his Nomination for Governor, September 22, 1882.
My Friends :
I am sure there will be nothing for me to do in the cam
paign upon which we have just entered that will so appeal to
my feelings, and about which I will have to take so much
care, as in addressing you this evening. I must be careful
what I say, or the recollections of the past and the apprecia
tion of your esteem will quite overcome me.
I can but remember to-night the time when I came among
you, friendless, unknown, and poor. I can but remember
how, step by step, by the encouragement of my good fellow-
citizens, I have gone on to receive more of their appreciation
than is my due, until I have been honored with more distinc
tion, perhaps, than I deserve. The position of Mayor of this
great and proud city ought to be enough to satisfy the most
ambitious. The position of Mayor, backed and supported as
it is by every good citizen, I am sure, should satisfy any man,
and it would seem almost grasping to wish for a higher honor.
The promise of the future that is before me is somewhat
saddened and dimmed by the reflection that, if carried out,
I should have to leave my good friends of Buffalo to enter
upon another sphere of activity.
Bear in mind, gentlemen, that whatever may come in the
future, the people of JBuffalo and all their kindnesses to me
will ever have the warmest place in a grateful heart.
296

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 297
The event of to-day is an event which appeals to the local
pride of us all, and I should be too vain to live with — too
vain to be of any comfort to my friends — if I did not fully
appreciate the fact that this splendid ovation is not altogether
on account of personal preference. You are here to support
a cause — a great cause, and while you may fully appreciate
that a fellow-citizen is to bear aloft the banner of Democracy
in this campaign, you are to remember that he is the standard-
bearer in a cause that is dear to the people and in which all
their interests are involved. You are to support it because
you struggle for principles the ascendency of which will bring
happiness, peace, and prosperity to the people.
It is fitting that the campaign should begin here at these
club rooms, where, perhaps, more than in any other place, my
candidacy was started and has been fostered. I wish that
those valiant old soldiers — call them old men and old boys, if
you will — were here to-night to enjoy with us the fruit of our
labors. Here we begin ! Let us not believe that because local
pride and preference urge us on and the prospect looks
bright — let us not think that the battle is to be won without a
great struggle. On the one side we are to fight in the interest
of the people against a power upheld by a National Adminis
tration, and it will take the strongest effort to shake off its
vise-like grip.
Remember that all the means and money at the command
of the Administration are to be put into play against us.
Remember that New York is the battle ground of 1884.
Do not be cajoled into the belief that because we are confi
dent here — because my neighbors are enthusiastic in my
support — that this is going to win the day. Remember that
this is a large State and one which is regarded as the key to
an important position.
Off then with our coats ! AVe must labor as we never did
before, and not for personal preferences but for the great
cause in which we are enlisted.

298 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
II.
Serenade Speech at Albany, October 12, 1883.
Fellow-Citizens :
I am very much gratified by this remembrance of me in
the middle of the rejoicing which to-night gladdens the
hearts of the members of the party to which I am glad to
belong. I do not for a moment attribute this demonstra
tion and the compliment of the serenade to any other cause
than the inclination of my party friends, at such a time as this,
to congratulate each other on this occasion. Official place and
public position may be laid aside, for a moment, while, as
fellow-members of a party which has achieved a victory, we
mingle our joy and exultation. We celebrate to-night a
victory in a most important field, and a victory which gives us
an earnest of a much greater yet to come. We look with
pride and joy to the achievement of our brethren in a sister
State, and yield to them all the praise and admiration which
their gallantry and courage claim.
The first battle in the great campaign of 1884 has been
fought and won. Ohio in the van calls on us to follow.
What shall the answer be ? The Democracy of New York
sends back the ringing assurance that we are on the way, and
in a few short days will be at her side, bearing glorious
trophies. This is not an idle boast, full of temporary en
thusiasm, nor the voice of blind partisan zeal. We shall
succeed because we deserve success, because the people are
just, and because we bear high aloft the banner of their rights.
We know full well the need of watchfulness and effort, and we
shall not fail to appreciate that neglect and slothfulness are a
betrayal of our trust.
I congratulate most sincerely every true Democrat in the
State of New York that the cause in which he is enlisted is so
worthy of his best efforts, and that the candidates chosen to
lead in the contest so well represent his cause. The conven
tion which selected, for the Democratic party, the men now

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 299
presented to the people of the State for their suffrages had be
fore it other men, any of whom the party would have delighted
to honor ; but a choice was to be made, and that it was well
and fairly made I fully believe. The charge or insinuation in
any quarter that the choice was influenced improperly, or de
termined otherwise than by the judgment of those upon whom
the responsibility was cast, will not deceive and may be safely
left to the intelligence of the people of the State.
For myself, I shall claim the privilege of aiding in the cause.
This cannot be done by fault-finding and cavil. I know I can
aid by performing the duties of my public trust for the benefit
of the people, for I am sure that the party which does not keep
near to them, and the party representatives who are not care
ful of their interests, they will repudiate. We seek to put the
affairs of the State in the hands of men having the full confi
dence of the party. We seek to put in higher places those who
have shown fidelity to every private and public trust. We
present to the people of the State candidates all of whom
come accredited with the confidence and affection of their
neighbors, which are the best credentials. Their ability to
perform the duties of the offices is unquestioned, and, fresh
from the people, they understand and will care for their
wants. Believing these things, I am enlisted in their success, and I
hope that, through the hearty efforts of their party friends and
by the intelligent action of the voters of the State, I may wel
come them to share in the administration of our State govern
ment.

IIL
At Newark, N. J., October 26, 1884.
I am here to visit the county and State where I was born, in
response to the invitation of many political friends and a
number of those who, as neighbors, remember my family, if

300 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
not me. I do not wish to attempt any false pretense by
declaring that ever since the day when, a very small boy, I left
the State, I have languished in an enforced absence and longed
to tread again its soil ; and yet I may say, without affectation,
that, though the way of life has led me far from the place of
my birth, the names of Caldwell and Newark and the memories
connected with these places are as fresh as ever. I have never
been disloyal to my native State, but have ever kept a place
warm in my heart for the love I cherish for my birthplace.
I hope, then, that I shall not be regarded as a recreant son,
but that I may, without challenge, lay claim to my place as a
born Jerseyman.
If you will grant me this I shall not be too modest to assume
to share the pride which you all must feel in the position the
State of New Jersey and the county of Essex hold in the coun
try to-day. The history of the State dates beyond the time
when our Union was formed. Its farm-lands exceed in aver
age value per acre those of any other State, and it easily leads
all the States in a number of important industries. When we
consider the city of Newark, we find a municipality ranking as
the fourteenth in point of population among the cities of the
land. It leads every other city in three important industries ;
it is second in another, and third in still another.
Of course, all these industries necessitate the existence of a
large laboring population. This force, in my opinion, is a
further element of strength and greatness in the State ; no
part of the community should be more interested in a wise and
just administration of their government, none should be better
informed as to their needs and rights, and none should
guard more vigilantly against the smooth pretenses of false
friends. In common with other citizens they should desire an honest
and economical administration of public affairs. It is quite
plain, too, that the people have a right to demand that no more
money shall be taken from them, directly or indirectly, for
public use, than is necessary for this purpose. Indeed, the

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 301
right of the government to exact tribute from the citizen is
limited to its actual necessities, and every cent taken from the
people beyond that required for their protection by the govern
ment is no better than robbery. We surely must condemn,
then, a system which takes from the pockets of the people
millions of dollars not needed for the support of the govern
ment, and which tends to the inauguration of corrupt schemes
and extravagant expenditures.
The Democratic party has declared that all taxation shall be
limited by the requirements of an economical government.
This is plain and direct, and it distinctly recognized the value
of labor, and its right to governmental care, when it declared
that the necessary reduction in taxation, and the limitation
thereof to the country's needs, should be effected without
depriving American labor of the ability to compete success
fully with foreign labor and without injuring the interests of
our laboring population. At this time, when the suffrages of
the laboring men are so industriously sought, they should, by
careful inquiry, discover the party pledged to the protection of
their interests, and which recognizes in their labor something
most valuable to the prosperity of the country and primarily
entitled to its care and protection. An intelligent examination
will lead them to the exercise of their privileges as citizens in
furtherance of their interests and the welfare of the country.
An unthinking performance of their duty at the ballot-box
will result in their injury and betrayal.
No party and no candidate can have cause to complain of
the free and intelligent expression of the people's will. This
expression will be free when uninfluenced by appeals to preju
dice, or the senseless cry of danger selfishly raised by a party
that seeks the retention of power and patronage ; and it will be
intelligent when based upon calm deliberation and a full ap
preciation of the duty of good citizenship. In a government
of the people no party gains to itself all the patriotism which
the country contains. The perpetuity of our institutions and
the public welfare surely do not depend upon unchanging party

302 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
ascendency, but upon a simple businesslike administration of
the affairs of government and the appreciation by public officers
that they are the people's servants, not their masters.

IV.
At Bridgeport, Conn., October ^o, 1884.
I cannot forbear, at such a time as this, to express the pleas
ure I experience in the sincere and heartfelt welcome that the
people of New Haven, Bridgeport, and the State of Connecti
cut have accorded me. If this welcome was a tribute to me as
an individual, I could only express my gratitude ; but when I
find I represent an idea that is the same with you as with me,
it is with a sense of responsibility that I stand before you.
The world has not produced so grand a spectacle as a nation
of freemen determining its own cause. In that position you
stand to-night. At such a time a leader stands in a solemn
position, and the plaudits of his hearers can only serve to in
crease the feeling of responsibility — that is, if he is a man true
to his country and to the best interests of her people — which
pervades the contest.
Survey the field of the coming contest. See the forces
drawn up in array against you from a party strong in numbers,
flanked by a vast army of office-holders, long in power, rich in
resources, both of money and influence, but corrupt to the
core. To-day, they seek to control the religious element of
xiyour country; to-morrow, they will endeavor to gain the in
terest of your millionaire magnates for the purpose of raising
money to carry on their campaign.
There should be no mistake about this contest. It is an
attempt to break down the barrier between the people of the
United States and those that rule them. The people are
bound down by a class of office-holders whose business it is to
make money out of their positions. If you are to go on for
ever choosing your rulers from this class, what will be the

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 303
end ? This is a question every one of you can answer for him
self. Because it is the party of the people thousands are
flocking to our standard, for they love their fellow-countrymen
and their country more than they do their party.
Let us feel that the people are the rulers of the nation, and
not the office-holders, whose sole ambition and purpose is pri
vate gain. Let us also feel that if the people give us the
power of government we hold from the people a sacred
trust.

V.
As Chairman of the Democratic Ratification Meeting in
the Cooper Union, New York, October 9, 1891.
My Fellow-Citizens :
I acknowledge with much satisfaction the compliment paid
me by my selection as your presiding officer to-night. I am
glad to meet an assemblage of my fellow-townsmen on an
occasion when their thoughts turn to the political situation
which confronts them and at a time when their duty as
citizens, as well as members of a grand political organiza
tion, should be subject to their serious consideration.
If I may be indulged a few moments I shall occupy
that much of your time in presenting some suggestions touch
ing the condition and responsibilities of the Democracy to
the people of the country, and the obligations and duty at
this particular time of the Democracy of our State.
The Democratic party has been at all times.by profession
and by tradition, the party of the people. I say by pro
fession and tradition, but I by no means intend to hint, in
the use of this expression, that, in its conduct and action, it
has failed to justify its profession or been recreant to its
traditions. It must, however, be admitted that we have had
our seasons of revival, when the consciousness of what true
Democracy really means has been especially awakened, and

304 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
when we have been unusually aroused to a lively apprecia
tion of the aggressiveness and activity which conscience
exacts of those who profess the Democratic faith, and who are
thus enlisted in the people's cause.
We contemplate to-night such a revival and the stupen
dous results which have thus far attended it. In view of
these things we cannot be honest and sincere and fail to
see that a stern and inexorable duty is now at our door.
AVe saw the money of the people unnecessarily extorted
from them under the guise of taxation.
We saw that this was the result of a scheme perpetuated
for the purpose of exacting tribute from the poor for the
benefit of the rich.
We saw, growing out of this scheme, the wholesale de
bauchery and corruption of the people whom it impoverished.
We saw a party, which advocated and defended this wrong,
gaining and holding power in the government by the shame
less appeal to selfishness which it invited.
We saw the people actually burnishing the bonds of mis
representation and misconception which held them, and we
saw sordidness and the perversion of all that constitutes good
citizenship on every hand, and sturdy Americanism in jeopardy.
We saw a party planning to retain partisan ascendency by
throttling and destroying the freedom and integrity of the
suffrage through the most radical and reckless legislation.
We saw waste and extravagance raiding the public treasury,
and justified in official places, while economy in government
expenditures was ridiculed by those who held in trust the
people's money.
We saw the national assemblage of the people's representa
tives transformed to the mere semblance of a legislative assem
bly, by the brute force of a violently-created majority and by
unprecedented arbitrary rulings, while it was jeeringly declared,
by those who usurped its functions, to be no longer a delibera
tive body.
Then it was that the Democratic party, standing forth to do

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 305
determined battle against these abuses, which threatened the
welfare and happiness of the people, called upon them to trust
it, and promised them that the warfare should be relentless and
uncompromising. As results of the struggle then entered upon, never has the
resistless force of the awakened thought of our countrymen
been more completely demonstrated, and never has the irre
sistible strength of the principles of Democracy been more
fully exemplified. From the West and from the East came
tidings of victory. In the popular branch of the next Congress
the party which lately impudently arrogated to itself the dom
ination of that body, will fill hardly more than one-fourth of
its seats. Democratic Governors occupy the enemy's strong
holds in Iowa, Massachusetts, Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan.
In Pennsylvania, the election of a Democratic Governor pre
sented conclusive proof of Republican corruption exposed and
Republican dishonesty detected.
But with all these results of a just and fearless Democratic
policy, our work is not yet completely done ; and I want to
suggest to you that any relaxation of effort within the lines
established by the National Democracy will be a violation of
the pledges we gave the people when we invited their co
operation and undertook their cause.
I do not forget that we are gathered together to ratify State
nominations, and that we are immediately concerned with a
State campaign. It seems to me, however, that, while national
questions of the greatest import are yet unsettled, and when
we are on the eve of a national campaign in which they must
be again pressed upon the attention of the voters of the
country, the Democracy of the great State of New York
cannot and will not entirely ignore them. If we fail to retain
ascendency in the Empire State, no matter upon what issue it
is lost, and no matter how much our opponents may seek to
avoid great and important topics, it will be claimed as the
verdict of our people against the principles and platform of
the National Democracy.

3o6 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
It is evident that if our opponents are permitted to
choose the line of battle they will avoid all national issues.
Thus far this is plainly their policy. There is nothing strange
in this, for they may well calculate that, whatever maybe their
fate in other fields, they have been decisively beaten in the
discussion of national questions. It can hardly be expected
that they will come to the field of Waterloo again, unless forced
to do so.
I am very far from having any fear of the result of a full
discussion of the subjects which pertain to State affairs. We
have an abundance of reasons to furnish why on these issues
alone we should be further trusted with the State government;
.but it does not follow that it is wise to regard matters of national
concern as entirely foreign to the pending canvass, and espe
cially to follow the enemy in their lead entirely away from the
issues they most fear and which they have the best of reasons
to dread. This very fear and dread give in this particular
case strength and pertinency to the doctrine that a party should
at all times and in all places be made to feel the consequences
of their misdeeds as long as they have remaining any power
for harm and as long as they justify and defend their wrong
doing. Those who act with us merely because they approve the
present position of the National Democracy and the reforms we
have undertaken, and who oppose in national affairs Republi
can policy and methods, and who still think the State cam
paign we have in hand has no relation to the principles and
policy which they approve, are in danger of falling into a
grave error. Our opponents in the pending canvass, though
now striving hard to hide their identity in a cloud of dust
raised by their iteration of irrelevant things, constitute a large
factor in the party which, still far from harmless, seeks to per
petuate all the wrongs and abuses of Republican rule in
national affairs. Though they may strive to appear tame and
tractable in a State campaign, they but dissemble to gain a
new opportunity for harm.

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 307
In the present condition of affairs it is not to be supposed
that any consistent and thoughtful member of the Democratic
organization can fail to see it his duty to engage enthusiastic
ally and zealously in the support of the ticket and platform
which represent our party in this campaign. They are
abundantly worthy and deserving of support on their own
merits and for their own sake. We seek to place at the head
of our State government a man of affairs, who, in a long busi
ness career, has earned the good opinion and respect of all his
fellows, whose honesty and trustworthiness have never been
impeached, and who, I am sure, will administer the great office,
to which he will be called, independently, fearlessly, and for
the good of all the people of the State. We seek further to
secure the Empire State in her Democratic steadfastness, and
we seek to win a victory which shall redeem the pledges we
have made to regard constantly the interests of the people of
the land, and which shall give hope and confidence to the
National Democracy in the struggles yet to come.
AVith these incentives and with these purposes in view, I
cannot believe that any Democrat can be guilty of lukewarm-
ness or slothfulness.
With a party united and zealous; with no avoidance of any
legitimate issue ; with a refusal to be diverted from the consid
eration of great national and State questions to the discussion
of misleading things; and, with such a presentation of the issues
involved as will prove our faith in the intelligence of the peo
ple of the State, the result cannot be doubtful.

VI.

At the Brooklyn Ratification Meeting, October
14, 1891.
My Fellow-Citizens :
It does not need the cordial welcome you give me to-night
to convince me that I am among friends. The good will and
attachment of the people and the Democracy of Kings County

3o8 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
have been in times past repeatedly manifested toward me and
are remembered with constant gratitude. There was, therefore,
a potent and palpable reason why I should not decline an invi
tation to be with you to-night
Another reason not less strong why I am here is found in
the fact that this is a gathering of my political friends in the
interest of the Democratic cause and in token of their hearty
support of Democratic principles and candidates. In such an
a.ssemblage I always feel at home.
My extreme interest in the State campaign now pending
arises from a conception of its importance, which I do not
believe is at all exaggerated. The fact that it immediately
precedes a national campaign in which the vote of New York
maybe a controlling factor, is, of itself, sufficient to enlist the
activity of every man entitled to claim a place in Dem.ocratic
councils. Besides this, the failure on the part of the Democ
racy of the State to emphasize further its support of the reforms
to which the National Democracy is pledged, we must all con
fess would be a party humiliation.
There are, however, reasons beyond these, which are close
at home and have relation to State interests, quite sufficient
to arouse supreme Democratic efforts. There are dangers
clearly imminent, and schemes almost unconcealed, which affect
our State and which can only be avoided and defeated by the
strong and determined protest of the united Democracy of
New York.
The party we oppose, resting upon no fundamental princi
ples, sustaining a precarious existence upon distorted senti
ment, and depending for success upon the varying currents of
selfish interests and popular misconception, cannot endure the
sight of a community which is inclined to withstand its blan
dishments and which refuses to be led away by its misrepresen
tations. Thus, in its national management and methods it
boldly seeks to thwart the intention of voters, if they are Dem
ocratic, and to stifle the voice of the people, if they speak in
Democratic tones. I am sure it is not necessary to remind

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 309
you in proof of this of the latest effort of our opponents at
AVashington in this direction, nor to speak of the Democratic
congratulation which spread throughout the land when, by the
defeat of the Force Bill, our boasted American freedom of
suffrage was saved and constitutional rights preserved through
the combined efforts of a Democratic Senatorial minority
splendidly led and grandly sustained.
Is there a Democrat — nay, is there any man — so dull as to
suppose that the Republican party in this State is not of the
same disposition as the party in the nation ? Do not the atti
tude and conduct of its representatives from this State in
national affairs abundantly prove that the party in New York
can be implicitly trusted to aid any scheme of this sort that
promises partisan advantage ? If further proof is desired that
New York Republicans are thoroughly imbued with the pro
clivities that characterize the party in national affairs, it is
readily found. Under the positive requirements of our State
Constitution an enumeration of the inhabitants of the State
should have been made in 1885, and the Senatorial and Assem
bly districts newly adjusted in accordance with such an enu
meration. This has not yet been done, though our opponents
have had a majority in both branches of the legislature ever
since that year, except that- in the last session a Democratic
majority appeared in the assembly. A Republican reason for the
neglect of a plain duty in the matter of this enumeration is found
in the fact that, under such a new arrangement, localities which
have increased in population and at the same time in Demo
cratic voters, would be entitled to a larger representation in the
legislature than they now have, while the existing adjustment is
a very comfortable one from a Republican standpoint. In the
present condition, it is calculated that a Democratic majority in
the State must reach at least 50,000 in order to give us a major
ity in the assembly. In 1885 we elected our State ticket by more
than 11,000 majority, and yet but 50 Democratic members of
assembly were elected, while the defeated party elected 78.
In 1886 our majority was nearly 8000, but only 54 Democratic

3IO SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
assemblymen were elected, to 74 Republicans. In 1887 a
Democratic majority on our State ticket of more than 17,000
yielded only 56 Democratic assemblymen to 72 Republican.
In 1888, though the State ticket was carried by a majority not
much less, we had but 49 assemblymen to 79 for the defeated
opposition. In 1889 with a majority of over 20,000 on our
State ticket we elected but 57 assemblymen, while the defeated
party secured 71. In 1890 we carried the State on the con
gressional vote by more than 75,000 majority, and yet elected
but 68 members of assembly to 60 elected by the party so
largely in the minority.
AVhatever may be said about the quarrels between a Dem
ocratic Governor and a Republican Legislature over the man
ner in which a new enumeration should be made, there is no
difficulty in finding enough, in Republican disposition and
practices, to justify the suspicion that any pretext was wel
come, to the representatives of that party in the State, that
would serve to perpetuate the present condition. There is no
reason to hope for a better and more just representation of
the political sentiments of the people of the State except
through a complete dislodgment of those who have long
profited by this injustice. Its continuance is directly involved
in the present campaign, for not only a Governor, but a new
senate and assembly are to be elected. No election will soon
occur that will afford so good an opportunity to secure to our
party the share in State legislation to which it is entitled, nor
will the Democratic party soon have so good a chance to rec
tify a political wrong.
By way of further suggesting the importance of this cam
paign, I ask you not to forget that a new apportionment of
representatives in Congress is to be made on the basis of the
census just completed, and that it may devolve upon the next
legislature to readjust the congressional districts of the State.
Previous to 1883 these districts were so arranged that, though
in 1880 our opponents carried the State by only about twenty-
one thousand, they secured twenty congressman to thirteen

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 31 1
elected by the Democrats, while in 1882, though the Dem
ocratic candidate for Governor had a majority of more than
one hundred and ninety thousand, there were elected but
twenty-one Democratic congressmen, one being a citizen of
Brooklyn, elected at large, while the party in the minority
elected thirteen representatives. The change of congres
sional districts made in 1883, by a Democratic legislature and
approved by a Democratic Governor, may well be referred to
as an illustration of Democratic fairness. In the election of
1884, the first held under the new arrangement, our national
ticket carried the State by a small majority, but the congres
sional delegation was equally divided between the parties.
In both the elections of 1886 and 1888, though the Dem
ocratic State ticket was elected by moderate majorities,
our opponents elected nineteen congressmen, while only
fifteen were secured by the party having a majority of votes
in the State. It required a Democratic majority in the State
of 75,000 to secure at the last election only three congressmen
above the number elected by our opponents under the former
adjustment, when their State ticket had not much more than
one-fourth of that majority.
I am far from complaining of the present congressional ad
justment. On the contrary, I am glad that my party was
more than just and fair when it had the opportunity. But I
want to put the inquiry whether, judging from the past con
duct of our opponents in such matters, and from what seems
to be their natural disposition, there is the least chance of their
dealing fairly by the Democracy of the State if they have the
control of the next arrangement of congressional districts.
I purposely refrain from detaining you with the presenta
tion of other considerations which impress me with the im
portance at this time of Democratic activity, but I cannot
avoid recalling the fact that I am in an atmosphere where the
doctrine of home rule has especially flourished, and among a
community where this Democratic doctrine has been un
usually exemplified. Let me remind you that no Democratic

312 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
locality can exist without attracting to it the wistful gaze of
those who find an adherence to the doctrine of home rule and
an attachment to the Democratic faith, obstacles to the polit
ical advantage they seek to gain without scruple as to their
method of procedure.
I need not say that the safety of Democracy, in the State
and here at your home, is only to be preserved by Democratic
steadfastness. I do not forget how often and how effectively
you have displayed that steadfastness in the past, nor do I
forget your service to the State when you contributed to
places of trust in its government and administration the intel-
Hgence, fidelity, and ability of your fellow-townsman who
soon retires from the chief magistracy of your city ; and I will
stifle my complaint that, in selecting his successor, you have re
called a recent and most valuable contribution to the cause of
Democracy in national councils.
In your relation to the pending canvass, every Democrat
who loves his country and his party must acknowledge the
important service rendered by representatives of Kings
County in aiding the formulation of a declaration of financial
principles in the platform which the Democracy presents to
the voters of the State, which leaves no room to doubt our in-
sistance upon sound and honest money for all the people.
In conclusion, let me assure you that I have absolute con-
fidence, based upon what you are and what you have done in
the past, that in the campaign upon which we have entered,
the Democrats of Kings County will more than ever exhibit
their devotion to the Democratic cause.

VII.
Before the Business Men's Democratic Association in Madison
Square Garden, New York, October 27, 1891.
Fellow-Citizens :
I am glad to have the opportunity to be present on this
occasion, even though I am able to do but little more than

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 313
speak a word of greeting to the representatives of our business
interests who are here assembled.
You have heard much, and have doubtless reflected much,
concerning the important results which depend upon the polit
ical action of the people of our State at the coming election,
and I am glad to believe that the business men of the city of
New York understand that this political campaign is not only
important to them in common with all their fellow-citizens,
but that there are features in it which especially concern
them. It must be confessed that both here and in other parts of
the country, those engaged in business pursuits have kept too
much aloof from public affairs and have too generally acted
upon the theory that neither their duty as citizens nor their
personal interests required of them any habitual participation
in political movements. This indifference and inactivity have
resulted in a loss to our public service. I am firmly of the
belief that, if a few business men could be substituted for pro
fessional men in official places, the people would positively
gain by the exchange. And it is strange to me that our
business men have not been quicker to see that their neglect
of political duty is a constant danger to their personal and
especial interests. They may labor and plan, in their counting
houses or in their Exchanges, but, in the meantime, laws may
be passed by those ignorant of their business bearings, which,
in their operation, will counteract all this labor and defeat all
this planning.
I have expressed the belief that the business men of our
city are aroused to the fact that there are questions involved
in the campaign in this State which concern them and their
welfare in an unusual way. This is indicated by awakened
interest on every side and by this immense demonstration.
And it is difficult to see how it could be otherwise.
The city of New York as the center of all that makes ours
the Empire State, and as the great heart from which life-giving
currents flow to all parts of the country, cannot be indifferent

314 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
to the questions, both State and national, which have relation
to the State campaign now nearly closed.
Much has been said about the topics which should be dis
cussed in the prosecution of this campaign. It has been
contended that the canvass should be confined to State issues,
and it has been claimed that national issues should be most
prominently considered. I conceive the truth to be that both
are proper subjects of discussion at this time ; and, in the
presence of this assemblage, called together to consider the
business features of the contest, I am impressed with the fact
that the best test to employ, by way of discovering the legiti
macy of any topic in the pending campaign, is to inquire
whether it is connected with the good of the country and with
the business of the city and State, and whether it will be at all
influenced by the results of the canvass.
Can anyone doubt that the political verdict which the
people of New York will give in November next, will affect her
position in the general national engagement which will take
place one year hence ? In this view, the proper adjustment of
the tariff, which concerns so materially not only all our people,
but the commerce and the business of our city, should be
discussed. This, and the question of sound currency, cannot
be separated from the business interests of our State ; and
they should be put before our people now for the purpose of
inviting their thought and settling their opinions.
Applying this same test, it is entirely plain that an econom
ical administration of State affairs and the numerous other
subjects having reference to a just, honest, and beneficent
State government are, in a business' sense, important and
legitimate. On all these questions the New York Democracy is right ;
and we are willing and anxious to discuss them in any place
and at any time.
But our opponents, apparently seeking to avoid the dis
cussion of subjects legitimate to the canvass and affecting the
business of our city and State, and exhibiting such weakness

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 31S
and fear as certainly ought not to escape notice, are shrieking
throughout the State the demerits and dangerous proclivities
of a certain political organization whose members support the
principles and candidates of the Democratic party. It would
be quite easy to show that, even if all they allege against this
organization were true, the perils our opponents present to the
people are baseless and absurd. But it seems to me the argu
ment of such a question belittles an important situation.
Every man knows, or ought to satisfy himself whether the
principles and policy presented to the people by the Demo
cratic party are such as he approves. If they are, certainly
his duty as a citizen obliges him to indorse them. Every
man ought to satisfy himself whether the candidates of the
Democratic party are men of such character and ability that he is
willing to trust them in the administration of his State govern
ment. If he believes they are, he should not withhold his
support from them upon any frivolous and irrelevant pretext.
The exercise of the right of suffrage is a serious business ;
and a man's vote ought to express his opinion on the questions
at issue. This it utterly fails to do if the voter listens to the
ravings of our opponents, and allows his vote merely to record
the extent to which he has yielded to the misleading and
cunningly devised appeals to his prejudices, made in behalf of a
desperate and discredited minority. Such a vote does not
influence, in the least, the real settlement of any of the weighty
matters of policy and principle upon which the people are
called to pronounce judgment.
If enough such votes should be given to cause a false ver
dict in the State, those who should contribute to that result,
and thus become disloyal to their beliefs, would find every
thing but satisfaction in their self-reproach, and in their sense
of degradation which would follow the unconcealed contempt
of those partisans who had duped them forthe purpose of thus
gaining a party advantage not otherwise possible.
In conclusion, I desire to disclaim any fear that the business
men of New York can be thus deluded. They will not only

3i6 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
apprehend the questions at issue, and see their duty and
interest, in soberly passing upon them without prejudice or
passion, but they will also appreciate the fact that the ticket
they are asked by the Democratic party to support expressly
recognizes them. It is headed by a man of business, who is
certainly entitled to their confidence, and who is so creditable
as their representative, that I believe his business character
has escaped attack during a campaign in which every attack
having any pretext whatever has been made. I will not espe
cially refer by name to the remainder of our candidates — some
of whom are my old and near friends — because I think I ought
not to detain you longer than to say that they are all entirely
worthy of support, and that by the triumphant election of
every one of them the verdict of the people of the State ought
to be recorded in favor of good government and the advance
ment of business interests.

VIIL
In Tremont Temple, Boston, October 31, 1891.
My Fellow-Citizens :
I should be quite uncomfortable at this moment if I sup
posed you regarded me as a stranger in your State, and only
concerned as a Democratic spectator of the political campaign
which stirs the people of this commonwealth. I hope it is not
necessary to remind you that, by virtue of a sort of initiation
which I have recently undergone, I have a right to claim a
modified membership in the citizenship of Massachusetts ;
and though I am obliged to confess a limitation in the extent
of this citizenship I am somewhat compensated by what seems
to me to be its quality. So far as I have a residence among
you, it is the place where, amid quiet and peaceful surround
ings, I enjoy that home life I so much love, where relaxation
from labor and from care restores health and vigor, and where
recreation, in pleasing variety, teaches me the lesson that man's

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 317
duty and mission are not only to do the work which his rela
tions to his fellow-men impose upon him, but to appreciate the
things which the goodness of God supplies in nature for man's
delight. AVhile, therefore, no conditions could cause the least
abatement in the pride I feel as a fully qualified citizen of the
great State of New York, I cannot be insensible to the fact
that my relationship to Massachusetts connects your State
with the elements in my life which are full of delightful senti
ment and with those enjoyments which enlarge and cultivate
the heart and soul.
I have spent to-day at my Massachusetts home, and meet
you here pursuant to a promise that, on my way out of the
State, I would look in on this assemblage of those who are
enlisted in a grand and noble cause.
It is but natural that my errand to your State, and the in
spection of that part of its soil of which I am the self-satisfied
owner, should arouse all the Massachusetts feeling to which
this ownership entitles me, and should intensify that interest
in the political behavior of the State which rightfully belongs
to my semi-citizenship.
My relations to you are, perhaps, too new-fledged to shield
me from an accusation of affectation if I should dwell, with the
rapture others might more properly exhibit, upon the history,
traditions, and achievements of Massachusetts. I am sure,
however, that I may, with perfect propriety, remind you that
the people of Massachusetts have in their keeping certain
precious things which they hold in trust for all their country
men. They can no more appropriate Plymouth Rock and
Bunker Hill than they can confine within the limits of their
State the deeds, the example, and the fame of the men whom
Massachusetts contributed to the public service of the Nation
in the days when giants lived.
The influence of your State upon the politics of the country
has by no means been limited to the actual share she and her
representative men have taken in governmental management.
Her stake in the creation and the development of our country

3i8 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
took form in its embryonic days ; and this has given rise from
the beginning to the interested discussion among her people
of every public question, while the education and general in
formation of her population have made such discussion intel
ligent and forceful. Her schools and her institutions of learn
ing have sent to all parts of the land young and thoughtful
men, imbued with sentiments and opinions not learned in their
books. AVhen her feeling has been most aroused she has
challenged the respect of the country because, though uncom
promising, she has been habitually just, and, though radical,
she has been always great.
I cannot help recalling at this moment that you gave to the
Senate of the United States the man who is remembered by
all his countrymen as the best modern embodiment of Ameri
can greatness ; that Webster, though he loved freedom and
hated slavery, never consented to the infringement of constitu
tional rights, even for the sake of freedom ; that, though his
love for Massachusetts was his consuming sentiment, he
emphatically declared that in the discharge of public duty he
would neither regard her especial interests nor her desires as
against his conception of the general interests of the country,
and that his patriotism and his love for the Union were so
great that he constantly sought to check the first sign of
estrangement among our people.
I recall the love of Massachusetts for the memory of Sum
ner — the great Senator who unhesitatingly braved Executive
displeasure and party ostracism in loyalty to his sense of right;
who surprised and alienated a sentiment, born of patriotic
warmth, by advocating the obliteration of the reminders of the
triumphs of American soldiers over American soldiers ; and
who, throughout a long public career, illustrated his belief that
politics is but the application of moral principle to public
affairs. If, from the contemplation of these lofty precedents, you turn
to the manner in which the sentiment and feeling of Massachus
etts have of late been represented in both houses of Congress,

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 319
and if you thus find an unpleasing contrast, it is for you to say
whether you are satisfied ; but, if this feeling and sentiment,
genuine and unperverted, ought to bear the fruits of concilia
tion and trust among our countrymen, the avoidance of un
necessary irritation, and the abandonment of schemes which
promise no better result than party supremacy through forced
and unnatural suffrage, there certainly seems to be ground for
apprehension that there has lately been something awry in
your Federal representation. At any rate, it seems to me that
the people themselves, in the State of Massachusetts, are con
stantly giving proof that they are ready and willing, obedient
to a generous instinct and for the good of the entire country,
to aid in building up American fraternity based upon mutual
faith and confidence, and in restoring and reviving that unity
and heartiness of aim and purpose upon which alone our na
tional hope can securely rest.
We have fallen upon a time when especial interest is aroused
among our people in subjects which seem to be vital to the
welfare of the country. Our consumers, those of moderate
means and the poor of the land, are too much neglected in our
national policy; their life is made too hard for them, and too
much favor is shown to pampered manufactures and rich
monopolies. A condition of restlessness and irritation has
grown up throughout the country, born of prevailing inequality
and unfairness, which threatens an attack upon sound currency,
and which awakens the fear and anxious solicitude of thought
ful and patriotic men ; economy in public expenditure has
almost become a byword and jest; and partisanship in power
executes its will by methods unprecedented and ruthless.
I have believed that the Democratic party was right in its
position on all these subjects ; and I am willing to confess that
my belief is confirmed by the verdict of the people of Mas
sachusetts. AVhen I see the old Commonwealth break away
from party trammels in aid of right and honesty, when I see a
majority of her last elected representatives in Congress chosen
to enforce the principles we profess, and when I see her put at

320 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
the head of her State government one of her young sons, who
stands for these principles in the truest, cleanest, and most
vigorous way, I am prepared to see, following the lead of Mas
sachusetts, such a revival of moral sentiment in politics as will
insure the general acceptance, by our countrymen, of the truths
we preach.
Any man who fails to appreciate the immense motive power
of the conscience of Massachusetts has viewed to little purpose
the movements which have made their impress on our coun
try's history, and which have led our national destiny. On
the splendid roster of those here enlisted in our cause, and
among the thousands recorded there who have seen beyond
party lines the morals of political questions, are found the
names of Adams and Everett and Andrew and Quincy and
Garrison and Hlgginson and Pierce and Eliot and Hoar and
Codman and Williams — giving proof that the people's cause
has touched the conscience of Massachusetts.
The hearts of patriotic men in many States are warmed with
gratitude for the strong and able young men your Common
wealth has contributed to our public life in this time of her
awakening. Again, their eyes are turned to Massachusetts. Young and
vigorous Americanism has watched with pride and enthusiasm
its best representative at the head of your State government,
and those who love true Democracy have rejoiced far and wide
that one who embodies their principles so truly, and exemplifies
them so wisely, has borne himself so nobly. They look to the
people of Massachusetts to recognize the faithful services of
their young Governor and the manner in which he has upheld
the dignity and honor of their State before their countrymen
everywhere. They look to you, by his election and by the
election of all the good men and true who, with him, bear the
standard of your State Democracy, to demonstrate your stead
fastness in the Democratic cause. They look to you to give
to the national Democracy and the cause of the people, which

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 321
it has in charge, the powerful aid of the Still awakened con
science of Massachusetts.
Democrats' of Massachusetts — men of Massachusetts —
which shall your response be ?

IX.
In the Opera House at Providence, R. I., April 2, 1892.
My Fellow-Citizens :
I have found it impossible to decline the invitation you sent
me to meet here to-day the Democracy of Rhode Island. I
have come to look in the faces of the men who have been given
the place of honor in the advance of the vast army which
moves toward the decisive battlefield of next November. I
have not come to point the way to consolation in case of your
defeat, but I have come to share the enthusiasm which pre
sages victory. I have not come to condole with you upon the
difficulties which confront you, but to suggest that they will
only add to the glory of your triumph. I have come to remind
you that the intrenchments of spoils and patronage cannot
avail against the valor and determination of right ; that cor
ruption and bribery cannot smother and destroy the aroused
conscience of our countrymen, and that splendid achievements
await those who bravely, honestly, and stubbornly fight in the
people's cause.
Let us not for a moment miss the inspiration of those
words, " The People's Cause." They signify the defense
of the rights of every man, rich or poor, in every corner
of our land, who, by virtue of simple American manhood,
lays claim to the promises of our free government, and
they mean the promotion of the welfare and happiness of the
humblest American citizen who confidingly invokes the pro
tection of just and equal laws.
The covenant of our Democratic faith, as I understand it.

322 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
exacts constant effort in this cause, and its betrayal I conceive
to be a crime against the creed of true Democracy.
The struggle in which you are engaged arrests the attention
of your party brethren in every State ; and they pause in their
preparation for the general engagement, near at hand, in which
all will be in the field, and look toward Rhode Island with
hope and trust. They read the legends on your banners and
they hear your rallying cries, and know that your fight is in
the people's cause.
If you should be defeated there will be no discouragement
in this vast waiting army ; but you will earn their plaudits and
cover yourselves with glory by winning success.
Large and bright upon your banners are blazoned the words
" Tariff Reform " — the shibboleth of true Democracy and the
test of loyalty to the people's cause.
Those who oppose tariff reform delude themselves if they sup
pose that it rests wholly upon appeals to selfish considerations
and the promise of advantage, right or wrong ; or that our only
hope of winning depends upon arousing animosity between
different interests among our people. While we do not pro
pose that those whose welfare we champion shall be blind to
the advantages accruing to them from our plan of tariff reform,
and while we are determined that these advantages shall not
be surrendered to the blandishments of greed and avarice, we
still claim nothing that has not underlying it moral sentiment
and considerations of equity and good conscience.
Because our case rests upon such foundations, sordidness
and selfishness cannot destroy it. The fight for justice and
right is a clean and comforting one ; and because the Ameri
can people love justice and right, ours must be a winning
fight. " The government of the Union is a government of the
people ; it emanates from them ; its powers are granted by
them, and are to be exercised directly on them and for their
benefit." This is not the language of a political platform. It is a

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 323
declaration of the highest court in the land, whose mandates
all must obey, and whose definitions all partisans must accept.
In the light of this exposition of the duty the government
owes to the people, the Democratic party claims that when,
through Federal taxation, burdens are laid upon the daily Hfe
of the people, not necessary for the government's economical
administration, and intended, whatever be the pretext, to enrich
a few at the expense of the many, the governmental compact
is violated. A distinguished Justice of the Supreme Court, with no
Democratic affiliations, but loved and respected when living
by every American, and since his death universally lamented,
has characterized such a proceeding as " none the less a rob
bery because it is done under the forms of law and is called
taxation." Let us then appreciate the fact that we not only stand upon
sure and safe ground when we appeal to honesty and morality
in our championship of the interests of the masses of our
people as they are related to tariff taxation, but that ourmis-
sion is invested with the highest patriotism when we attempt
to preserve from perversion, distortion, and decay the justice,
equality, and moral integrity which are the constituent ele
ments of our scheme of popular government.
Those who believe in tariff reform, for the substantial good
it will bring to the multitude who are neglected when selfish
greed is in the ascendency ; those who believe that the legiti
mate motive of our government is to do equal and exact justice
to all our people, and grant especial privileges to none ; those
who believe that a nation, boasting that its foundation is in
honesty and conscience, cannot afford to discard moral senti
ment ; and those who would save our institutions from the un
dermining decay of sordidness and selfishness, can hardly
excuse themselves if they fail to join us in the crusade we have
undertaken. Certainly our sincerity cannot be questioned.
In the beginning of the struggle we were not only bitterly op
posed by a great party of avowed enemies, but were embar-

324 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
rassed by those in our own ranks who had become infected
with the unwholesome atmosphere our enemies had created.
We hesitated not a moment boldly to encounter both. We
unified our party, not by any surrender to the half-hearted
among our members, but by an honest appeal to Democratic
sentiment and conscience. We have never lowered our stand
ard. It surely was not policy nor expediency that induced us
defiantly to carry the banner of tariff reform as we went forth
to meet a well-organized and desperately determined army in
the disastrous field of 1888. A time-serving or expediency-
hunting party would hardly have been found, the day after
such a crushing defeat, undismayed, defiant, and determined :
still shouting the old war cry, and anxious to encounter again
in the people's cause our exultant enemy. We had not long
to wait. At the Waterloo of 1890, tariff reform had its vindi
cation, and principle and steadfast devotion to American fair
ness and good faith gloriously triumphed over plausible shifti
ness and attempted popular deception.
The Democratic party still champions the cause which de
feat could not induce it to surrender, which no success, short
of complete accomplishment, can tempt it to neglect. Its posi
tion has been from the first frankly and fairly stated, and no
one can honestly be misled concerning it. We invite the
strictest scrutiny of our conduct in dealing with this subject,
and we insist that our cause has been open, fair, and consist
ent. I believe this is not now soberly denied in any quar
ter. Our opponents, too, have a record on this question. Those
who still adhere to the doctrine that an important function of
the government is especially to aid them in their business ;
those who only see in the consumers of our land forced con
tributors to artificial benefits permitted by governmental
favoritism ; those who see in our workingmen only the tools
with which their shops and manufactories are to be supplied
at the cheapest possible cost, and those who believe there is no
moral question involved in the tariff taxation of the people, are

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 325
probably familiar with this record and abundantly satisfied
with it.
It may, however, be profitably reviewed by those who be
lieve that integrity and good faith have to do with govern
mental operations, and who honestly confess that present tariff
burdens are not justly and fairly distributed. Such a review
may also be of interest to those who believe that our con
sumers are entitled to be treated justly and honestly by the
government, and that the workingman should be allowed to
feel in his humble home, as he supplies his family's daily needs,
that his earnings are not unjustly extorted from him for the
benefit of the favored beneficiaries of unfair tariff laws.
This, then, is the record : When we began the contest for
tariff reform it was said by our Republican opponents, in the
face of our avowals and acts, that we were determined on free
trade. A long advance was made, in their insincerity and im
pudence, when they accused us of acting in the interests of
foreigners, and when they more than hinted that we had been
bought with British gold. Those who distrusted the effective
ness of these senseless appeals insulted the intelligence of our
people by claiming that an increase in the cost of articles to
the consumer caused by the tariff was not a tax paid by him,
but that it was paid by foreigners who sent their goods to our
markets. Sectional prejudice was invoked in the most out
rageous manner, and the people of the North were asked to
condemn the measure of tariff reform proposed by us because
members of Congress from the South had supported it.
These are fair samples of the arguments submitted to the
American people in the Presidential campaign of 1888.
It will be observed that the purpose of these amazing deliver
ances was to defeat entirely any reform in the tariff — though
it had been enacted at a time when the expense of a tre
mendous war justified the exaction of tribute from the people
which in time of peace became a grievous burden ; though it
had congested the Federal Treasury with a worse than useless
surplus, inviting reckless public waste and extravagance ; and

326 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
though, in many of its features, the only purpose of its con
tinuation was the bargaining it permitted for party sup
port. There were those, however, in the ranks of our opponents
who recognized the fact that we had so aroused popular atten
tion to the evils and injustice of such a tariff that it might not
be safe to rely for success upon a bald opposition to its reform.
These were the grave and sedate Republican statesmen who
declared that they never, never, could consent to subserve the
interests of England at the expense of their own country, as
the wicked Democrats proposed to do, and that they felt con
strained to insist upon a tariff, protective to the point of pro
hibition, because they devotedly loved our workingmen and
were determined that their employment should be constant
and that their wages should never sink to the disgusting level
of the pauper labor of Europe, but that, in view of the fact
that the war in which the tariff then existing originated had
been closed for more than twenty years, and in view of the
further fact that the public Treasury was overburdened, they
were willing to readjust the tariff, if it could only be done by
its friends instead of " rebel Brigadiers."
I will not refer to all the means by which our opponents
succeeded in that contest. Suffice it to say, they gained com
plete possession of the government in every branch, and the
tariff was reformed by its alleged friends. All must admit,
however, that either this was not done by the people's friends,
or that the effort in their behalf sadly miscarried or was un
gratefully remembered ; for a few weeks thereafter, a relega
tion to private life among those occupying seats in Congress
who had been active in reforming the tariff occurred, which
amounted to a political revolution. These victims claimed
that our voters failed to indorse their reform of the tariff be
cause they did not understand it. It is quite probable, how
ever, that if they did not understand it they felt it, and that,
because it made them uncomfortable, they emphatically said
such a reform was not what they wanted. At any rate, the

SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES. 327
consumer has found life harder since this reform than before,
and if there is a workingman anywhere who has had his
wages increased by virtue of its operation he has not yet made
himself known. Plenty of mills and factories have been closed,
thousands of men have thus lost employment, and we daily
hear of reduced wages ; but the benefits promised from this
reform, and its advantage to the people, who really need relief,
are not apparent. The provision it contains permitting reci
procity of trade in certain cases, depending on the action of
the President, is an admission, as far as it goes, against the
theory upon which this reform is predicated, and it lamely
limps in the direction of freer commercial exchanges. If
" hypocrisy is the homage vice pays to virtue," reciprocity may
be called the homage prohibitory protection pays to genuine
tariff reform.
The demand in your platform for free raw materials ought,
it seems to me, to be warmly seconded by the citizens of your
State. The advantages to the people of Rhode Island of such
a policy do not seem to be questionable, and I am not here to
discuss them in detail ; but all I have said, touching the con
duct and record of the Democratic party and its opponents in
regard to tariff legislation, is in support of the proposition that
all who desire the special relief referred to in your platform,
or any other improvement in our tariff laws in the general
interest of the people, must look to the Democratic party for
it. The manufacturer who sees in free raw materials a re
duced cost of his products, resulting in an increased consump
tion and an extension of his markets, and a constant activity
and return for his invested capital, can hardly trust the party
which first resisted any reform in the tariff, then juggled with
it, and at last flatly refused him the relief he still needs. The
workingman who has been deceived by the promise of higher
wages and better employment, and who now constantly fears
the closing of manufactories and the loss of work, ought cer
tainly to be no longer cajoled by a party whose performance
has so clearly given the lie to its professions. The consumer

328 SPEECHES IN POLITICAL CANVASSES.
who has trusted to a reformation of the tariff by its friends,
now that he feels the increased burden of taxation in his home,
ought to look in another direction for relief.
If the Democratic party does not give to the State of Rhode
Island, during the present session of Congress, the free raw
materials she needs, it will be because a Republican Senate or
Executive thwarts its design. At any rate, nothing shall
divert us from our purpose to reform the tariff in this regard,
as well as many others, be the time of its accomplishment
near or remote.
It doubtless would please our adversaries if we could be
allured from our watch and guard over the cause of tariff re
form to certain other objects, thus forfeiting the people's trust
and confidence. The national Democracy will hardly gratify
this wish and turn its back upon the people's cause, to wander
after false and unsteady lights in the wilderness of doubt and
danger. Our opponents must, in the coming national canvass, settle
accounts with us on the issue of tariff reform. It will not do
for them to say to us that this is an old and determined con
tention. The Ten Commandments are thousands of years old ;
but they and the doctrine of tariff reform will be taught and
preached until mankind and the Republican party shall heed
the injunction, "Thou shalt not steal."
As I leave you, let me say to you that your cause deserves
success ; and let me express the hope that the close of your
canvass will bring you no regrets on account of activity relaxed
or opportunities lost. Demonstrate to your people the merits
of your cause, and trust them. Above all things, banish every
personal feeling of discontent, and let every personal considera
tion be merged in a determination, pervading your ranks every
where, to win a victory. With a cause so just, and with activity,
vigilance, harmony, and determination on the part of Rhode
Island's stanch Democracy, I believe you will not fail.

CHAPTER XIIL
on some social and economic questions.

THE publicity OF CORPORATIONS.
(From the First Message to the New York Legislature, January, 1884.)
The action of the Board of Railroad Commissioners in re
quiring the filing of quarterly reports by the railroad companies,
exhibiting their financial condition, is a most important step
in advance, and should be abundantly sustained. It would,
in my opinion, be a most valuable protection to the people if
other large corporations were obliged to report to some depart
ment their transactions and financial condition.
The State creates these corporations upon the theory that
some proper thing of benefit can be better done by them
than by private enterprise, and that the aggregation of
the funds of many individuals may be thus profitably
employed. They are launched upon the public with the
seal of the State, in some sense, upon them. They are
permitted to represent the advantages they possess and the
wealth sure to follow from admission to membership. In one
hand is held a charter from the State, and in the other is
held their preferred stock.
It is a fact, singular, though well-established, that people
will pay their money for stock in a corporation engaged in en
terprises in which they would refuse to invest if in private hands.
It is a grave question whether the formation of these artifi
cial bodies ought not to be checked, or better regulated, and
in some way supervised.

33° ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
-A.t any rate, they should always be kept well in hand, and
the funds of its citizens should be protected by the State which
has invited their investment. While the stockholders are
the owners of the corporate property, notoriously they are
oftentimes completely in the power of the directors and mana
gers who acquire a majority of the stock and by this means
perpetuate their control, using the corporate property and
franchises for their benefit and profit, regardless of the in
terests and rights of the minority of stockholders. Immense
salaries are paid to officers ; transactions are consummated by
which the directors make money, while the rank and file among
the stockholders lose it ; the honest investor waits for divi
dends and the directors grow rich. It is suspected, too, that
large sums are spent under various disguises in efforts to
influence legislation.
It is not consistent to claim that the citizen must protect him-
self by refusing to purchase stock. The law constantly recog
nizes the fact that people should be defended from false
representations and from their own folly and cupidity. It
punishes obtaining goods by false pretenses, gambling, and
lotteries. It is a hollow mockery to direct the owner of a small amount
of stock in one of these institutions to the courts. Under exist
ing statutes, the law's delay, perplexity and uncertainty lead
but to despair.
The State should either refuse to allow these corporations
to exist under its authority or patronage, or acknowledging
their paternity and its responsibility, should provide a simple,
easy way for its people whose money is invested, and the
public generally, to discover how the funds of these institu
tions are spent, and how their affairs are conducted. It should,
at the same time, provide a way by which the squandering or
misuse of corporate funds would be made good to the parties
injured thereby.
This might well be accomplished by requiring corporations
to file reports frequently, made out with the utmost detail, and

ON SO.VE SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 331
which would not allow lobby expenses to be hidden under the
pretext of legal services and counsel fees, accompanied by
vouchers and sworn to by the officers making them, showing
particularly the debts, liabilities, expenditures, and property
of the corporation. Let this report be delivered to some
appropriate department or officer, who shall audit and examine
the same ; provide that a false oath to such account shall be
perjury and make the directors liable to refund to the injured
stockholders any expenditure which shall be determined im
proper by the auditing authority.
Such requirements might not be favorable to stock specula
tion, but they would protect the innocent investors ; they
might make the management of corporations more troublesome,
but this ought not to be considered when the protection of
the people is the matter in hand. It would prevent corporate
efforts to influence legislation ; the honestly conducted and
strong corporations would have nothing to fear ; the badly
managed and weak ought to be exposed.

II.
legislative bills of A purely LOCAL CHARACTER.
(From the Second Message to the New York Legislature, January, 1884.)
Another evil which has a most pernicious influence in
legislation is the introduction and consideration of bills,
purely local in their character, affecting only special interests,
which ought not upon any pretext to be permitted to en
cumber the statutes of the State. Every consideration
of expediency, as well as the language and evident intent
of the Constitution, dictate the exclusion of such matters
from legislative consideration. The powers of Boards of
Supervisors and other local authorities have been enlarged,
for the express purpose of permitting them to deal intelligendy

332 ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
and properly with such subjects. But, notwithstanding this,
bills are introduced authorizing the building and repairing of
bridges and highways, the erection of engine houses and
soldiers' monuments, the establishment of libraries, the regu
lation or purchase of cemeteries, and other things of a like
nature. In many cases no better excuse exists for the presentation
of such bills than the dignity and force which are supposed to
be gained for their objects by legal enactment, the saving of
expense and trouble to those interested in their purposes, and
the local notoriety and popularity sought by the legislators
having them in charge. Their consideration retards the
business of the session and occupies time which should be
devoted to better purposes. And this is not the worst result
that may follow in their train. Such measures, there are
grounds to suspect, are frequently made the means of secur
ing, by a promise of aid in their passage, the votes of those
who introduce them, in favor of other and more vicious legis
lation.

III.
THE arbitration OF LABOR DISPUTES.
I.
To the Senate and House of Representatives :
The Constitution imposes upon the President the duty of
recommending to the consideration of Congress from time to
time such measures as he shall judge necessary and expe
dient. I am so deeply impressed with the importance of imme
diately and thoughtfully meeting the problem which recent
events and a present condition have thrust upon us, involving
the settlement by arbitration of disputes arising between our
laboring men and their employers, that I am constrained to
recommend to Congress legislation upon this serious and
pressing subject.

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 333
Under our form of government, the value of labor as an
element of national prosperity should be distinctly recognized,
and the welfare of the laboring man should be regarded as
especially entitled to legislative care. In a country which
offers to all its citizens the highest attainment of social and
political distinction, its workingmen cannot justly or safely be
considered as irrevocably consigned to the limits of a class
and entitled to no attention and allowed no protest against
neglect The laboring man, bearing in his hand an indispensable con
tribution to our growth and progress, may well insist, with
manly courage and as a right, upon the same recognition from
those who make our laws as is accorded to any other citizen
having a valuable interest in charge ; and his reasonable de
mands should be met in such a spirit of appreciation and fair
ness as to induce a contented and patriotic co-operation in the
achievement of a grand national destiny.
While the real interests of labor are not promoted by a
resort to threats and violent manifestations, and while those
who, under the pretext of an advocacy of the claims of labor,
wantonly attack the rights of capital, and for selfish purposes
or the love of disorder sow seeds of violence and discontent,
should neither be encouraged nor conciliated, all legislation
on the subject should be calmly and deliberately undertaken,
with no purpose of satisfying unreasonable demands or gaining
partisan advantage.
The present condition of the relations between labor and
capital is far from satisfactory. The discontent of the em
ployed is due, in a large degree, to the grasping and heed
less exactions of employers, and the alleged discrimination in
favor of capital as an object of governmental attention. It
must also be conceded that the laboring men are not always
careful to avoid causeless and unjustifiable disturbance.
Though the importance of a better accord between these
interests is apparent, it must be borne in mind that any effort
in that direction, by the Federal government, must be greaUy

334 ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
limited by constitutional restrictions. There are many griev
ances which legislation by Congress cannot redress, and many
conditions which cannot by such means be reformed.
I am satisfied, however, that something may be done under
Federal authority to prevent the disturbances which so often
arise from disputes between employers and the employed, and
which at times seriously threaten the business interests of the
country ; and in my opinion the proper theory upon which to
proceed is that of voluntary arbitration as the means of set
tling these difficulties.
But I suggest that instead of arbitrators chosen in the heat
of conflicting claims, and after each dispute shall arise, for the
purpose of determining the same, there be created a Commis
sion of Labor, consisting of three members, who shall be reg
ular officers of the government, charged among other duties
with the consideration and settlement, when possible, of all
controversies between labor and capital.
A commission thus organized would have the advantage of
being a stable body, and its members, as they gained expe
rience, would constantly improve in their ability to deal intel
ligently and usefully with the questions which might be sub
mitted to them. If arbitrators are chosen for temporary
service as each case of dispute arises, experience and famil
iarity with much that is involved in the question will be lack
ing, extreme partisanship and bias will be the qualifications
sought on either side, and frequent complaints of unfairness
and partiality will be inevitable. The imposition upon a
Federal court of a duty so foreign to the judicial function as
the selection of an arbitrator in such cases, is at least of
doubtful propriety.
The establishment by Federal authority of such a bureau
would be a just and sensible recognition of the value of labor,
and of its right to be represented in the departments of the
government. So far as its conciliatory offices shall have rela
tion to disturbance which interfered with transit and com
merce between the States, its existence would be justified.

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 335
under the provision of the Constitudon which gives to Con
gress the power " to regulate commerce with foreign nations
and among the several States." And in the frequent disputes
between the laboring men and their employers of less extent,
and the consequences of which are confined within State limits
and threaten domestic violence, the interposition of such a
commission might be tendered upon the application of the
legislature or executive of a State, under the constitutional
provision which requires the general government to " pro
tect" each of the States "against domestic violence."
If such a commission were fairly organized, the risk of a
loss of popular support and sympathy, resulting from a refusal
to submit to so peaceful an instrumentality, would constrain
both parties to such disputes to invoke its interference and
abide by its decisions. There would also be good reason to
hope that the very existence of such an agency would invite
application to it for advice and counsel, frequently resulting
in the avoidance of contention and misunderstanding.
If the usefulness of such a commission is doubted because
it might lack power to enforce its decisions, much encourage
ment is derived from the conceded good that has been accom
plished by the railroad commissions which have been organized
in many of the States, which, having little more than advisory
power, have exerted a most salutary influence in the settlement
of disputes between conflicting interests.
In July, 1884, by a law of Congress, a Bureau of Labor was
established and placed in charge of a Commissioner of Labor,
who is required to " collect information upon the subject of
labor, its relations to capital, the hours of labor and the earn
ings of laboring men and women, and the means of promoting
their material, social, intellectual, and moral prosperity."
The commission which I suggest could easily be engrafted
upon the bureau thus already organized, by the addition of
two more commissioners and by supplementing the duties now
imposed upon it by such other powers and functions as would
permit the commissioners to act as arbitrators, when necessary.

33^ ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
between labor and capital, under such limitations and upon
such occasions as should be deemed proper and useful.
Power should also be distinctly conferred upon this bureau
to investigate the causes of all disputes as they occur, whether
submitted for arbitration or not, so that information may
always be at hand to aid legislation on the subject when
necessary and desirable.
Grover Cleveland.
Executive Mansion,
April 22, 1886.

2.
(From the Second Annual Message to Congpress, December, 1886.)
The relations of labor to capital and of laboring men to their
employers are of the utmost concern to every patriotic citizen.
When these are strained and distorted, unjustifiable claims are
apt to be insisted upon by both interests, and in the contro
versy which results the welfare of all and the prosperity of
the country are jeopardized. Any intervention of the general
government, within the limits of its constitutional authority, to
avert such a condition should be willingly accorded.
In a special message transmitted to the Congress at its last
session I suggested the enlargement of our present Labor
Bureau and adding to its present functions the power of arbi
tration in cases where differences arise between employer and
employed. When these differences reach such a stage as to
result in the interruption of commerce between the States, the
application of this remedy by the general government might
be regarded as entirely within its constitutional powers. And
I think we might reasonably hope that such arbitrators, if
carefully selected, and if entitled to the confidence of the
parties to be affected, would be voluntarily called to the settle
ment of controversies of less extent and not necessarily within
the domain of Federal regulation.

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 337
I am of the opinion that this suggestion is worthy the
attention of the Congress.
But, after all has been done by the passage of laws, either
Federal or State, to relieve a situation full of solicitude, much
more remains to be accomplished by the reinstatement and
cultivation of a true American sentiment which recognizes the
equality of American citizenship. This, in the light of our
traditions and in loyalty to the spirit of our institutions, would
teach that a hearty co-operation on the part of all interests is
the surest path to national greatness and the happiness of all
our people, that capital should, in recognition of the brother
hood of our citizenship and in a spirit of American fairness,
generously accord to labor its just compensation and consid
eration, and that contented labor is capital's best protection
and faithful ally. It would teach, too, that the diverse situa
tions of our people are inseparable from our civilization, that
every citizen should, in his sphere, be a contributor to the
general good, that capital does not necessarily tend to the
oppression of labor, and that violent disturbances and disor
ders alienate from their promoters true American sympathy
and kindly feeling.

IV.
place-holding as a business.
Executive Mansion,
Albany, February 4, 1885.
My Dear Young Friend :
I cannot attempt to answer all the letters addressed to me by
those, both old and young, who ask for places. But, if you are
the boy I think you are, your letter is based upon a claim to
help your mother and others who are partly dependent upon
your exertions. I judge from what you write that you now
have a situation in a reputable business house. I cannot urge
you too strongly to give up all idea of employment in a public

338 ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
office, and to determine to win advancement and promotion
where you are.
There are no persons so forlorn and so much to be pitied as
those who have learned, in early life, to look to public posi
tions for a livelihood. It unfits a man or boy for any other
business, and is apt to make a kind of respectable vagrant of
him. If you do well in other occupations, and thus become
valuable to the people, they will find you out when they want
a good man for public service.
You may be sure that I am, as you say, the friend of every
boy willing to help himself ; but my experience teaches me that
I cannot do you a better service than to advise you not to join
the great army of office-seekers.
I never sought an office of any kind in my life ; and, if you
live and follow my advice, I am certain that you will thank
me for it some day. Yours truly,
Grover Cleveland.

V.
the homes of polygamy.
(First Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1885.)
In the Territory of Utah the law of the United States
passed for the suppression of polygamy has been energetically
and faithfully executed during the past year, with measurably
good results. A number of convictions have been secured for
unlawful cohabitation, and in some cases pleas of guilty have
been entered and a slight punishment imposed, upon a promise
by the accused that they would not again offend against the
law, nor advise, counsel, aid, or abet, in any way, its violadon
by others.
The Utah commissioners express the opinion, based upon
such information as they are able to obtain, that but few polyg
amous marriages have taken place in the Territory during the

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 339
last year. They further report that while there cannot be
found upon the registration lists of voters the name of a man
actually guilty of polygamy, and while none of that class is
holding office, yet at the last election in the Territory, all the
officers elected, except in one county, were men who, though
not actually living in the practice of polygamy, subscribe to
the doctrine of polygamous marriages as a divine revelation and
a law unto all, higher- and more binding upon the conscience
than any human law, local or national. Thus is the strange
spectacle presented of a community protected by a republican
form of government, to which they all owe allegiance, sustain
ing by their suffrages a principle and a belief which set at
naught that obligation of absolute obedience to the law of the
land which lies at the foundation of republican institutions.
The strength, the perpetuit)', 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 sancti
fied by parental love. These are not the homes of polygamy.
The mothers of our land, who rule the nation as they mold
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
country. The man who, undefiled with plural marriage, is
surrounded 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 defense. These are not the fathers
of polygamous families.
There is no feature of this practice, or the system which
sanctions it, which is not opposed to all that is of value in our
institutions.

34° ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
There should be no relaxation in the firm but just execution
of the law now in operation, and I should be glad to approve
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
re-enforced by immigration from other lands, I recommend
that a law be passed to prevent the importation of Mormons
into the country.

VI.

RECIPROCITY TREATIES AND THE REVENUE.
(From the First Annual Message, December, 1885.)
On taking office, I withdrew for re-examination the treaties
signed with Spain and Santo Domingo, then pending before the
Senate. The result has been to satisfy me of the inexpediency
of entering into engagements of this character not covering the
entire traffic.
These treaties contemplated the surrender by the United
States of large revenues for inadequate considerations. Upon
sugar alone duties were surrendered to an amount far exceed
ing all the advantages offered in exchange. Even were it in
tended to relieve our consumers, it was evident that, so long
as the exemption but partially covered our importation, such
relief would be illusory. To relinquish a revenue so essential
seemed highly improvident at a time when new and large
drains upon the Treasury were contemplated. Moreover, em
barrassing questions would have arisen under the favored-nation
clauses of treaties with other nations.
As a further objection, it is evident that tariff regulation by
treaty diminishes that independent control over its own rev
enues which is essential for the safety and welfare of any gov
ernment. Emergency calling for an increase of taxadon may
at any time arise, and no engagement with a foreign power
should exist to hamper the action of the government

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 341
VII.
INTERNATIONAL COPYRIGHT AND THE DUTY ON ART WORKS.
I.
(From the First Annual Message to Congress, December, 1885.)
An international copyright conference was held at Berne in
September, on the invitation of the Swiss Government. The
envoy of the United States attended as a delegate, but re
frained from commitdng this government to the results, even
by signing the recommendatory protocol adopted. The inter
esting and important subject of international copyright has
been before you for several years. Action is certainly desir
able to effect the object in view. And while there may be
question as to the relative advantage of treating it by legislation
or by specific treaty, the matured views of the Berne confer
ence cannot fail to aid your consideration of the subject.
Past Congresses have had under consideration the advis
ability of abolishing the discrimination made by the tariff laws
in favor of the works of American artists. The odium of the
policy which subjects to a high rate of duty the paintings of
foreign artists, and exempts the productions of American ar
tists residing abroad, and who receive gratuitously advantages
and instruction, is visited upon our citizens engaged in art cul
ture in Europe, and has caused them, with practical unanimity,
to favor the abolition of such an ungracious distinction ; and in
their interest, and for other obvious reasons, I strongly recom
mend it.

2.
(From the Second Annual Message to Congress, December, i886.)
The drift of sentiment in civilized communities toward full
recognition of the rights of property in the creations of the
human intellect has brought about the adoption, by many im
portant nations, of an international Copyright Convention,
which was signed at Berne on the i8th of September, 1885.

342 ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
Inasmuch as the Constitution gives to Congress the power
" to promote the progress of science and useful arts by secur
ing for limited times to authors and inventors the exclusive
right to their respective writings and discoveries," this govern
ment did not feel warranted in becoming a signatory, pending
the action of Congress upon measures of international copy
right now before it ; but the right of adhesion to the Berne
Convention hereafter has been reserved. I trust the subject
will receive at your hands the attention it deserves, and that
the just claims of authors, so urgently pressed, will be duly
heeded. Representations continue to be made to me of the injurious
effect upon American artists studying abroad and having free
access to the art collections of foreign countries, of maintain
ing a discriminating duty against the introduction of the works
of their brother" artists of other countries ; and I am induced
to repeat my recommendation for the abolition of that tax.

(To the American Copyright League.)
New York, December 6, 1889.
My Dear Mr. Johnson :
I hope that I need not assure you how much I regret my
inability to be with you and other friends and advocates of
international copyright in this hour. It seems to me very
strange that a movement having so much to recommend it to
the favor of just and honest men should languish in the hands
of our lawmakers.
It is not pleasant lo have forced upon one the reflecdon
that perhaps the fact that it is simply just and fair is to its
present disadvantage. And yet I believe, and I know you and
the others engaged in the cause believe, that ultimately and
with continued effort the friends of this reform will see their
hopes realized. Then it will be great satisfaction to know

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 343
and feel that success was achieved by force of fairness,*justice,
and morality. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
Mr. R. U. Johnson, Secretary.

VIIL
MORAL ISSUES IN POLITICS.
(Interview in the New York Commercial Advertiser, September 19, 1889.)
I am very much pleased, as every other true Democrat
should be, both with the utterances of their conventions in
Ohio and New Jersey, on national questions, and with the
nominees. The platforms and the candidates stand for sturdy
Democracy and for honest, wholesome tariff reform ; and they
indicate that the Democratic party is in no mood for time
serving, hand-to-mouth evasion.
The Democracy, believing in certain principles and satisfied
that the triumph of these principles involves the prosperity and
well-being of the people, boldly announce them in full reliance
on the sober thought and the intelligence of our countrymen.
Here is found the very essence of Democratic faith. This
undaunted courage, not born of expediency, and this devotion
to the people's cause, manifested not only in the action of
party organizations in certain States, but in Democratic utter
ances all over the land, are sufficient to make us all proud of
our party.
Nor do we fight a losing battle, with only the consciousness
of being right as our consolation in defeat. It seems to me
that there never has been such an advance in any political
question as there has lately been in favor of tariff reform. A
fair examination of the subject by the people is bearing fruit
and gives assurance that its triumph is at hand. So, if among
those counted as Democrats, there are found timid souls, not
well-grounded in the faith, who long for the fleshpots of
vacillating shifts and evasions, the answer to their fears should
be ; " Party honesty is party expediency."

344 ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
IX.
BALLOT REFORM — HOW THE SUFFRAGE IS DEBAUCHED.
(Inter-view in the Nashville American, February i, 1890.)
Honest government would profit by ballot reform, and so
would every worthy cause which depends upon honest and not
upon corrupt methods for success.
The franchise is not debauched in the interest of good laws
and honest government It is by those who have special
interests to subserve at the people's expense, and not by those
whose interests are in common with the masses, that the ballot
is corrupted. There are no rich and powerful corporations
interested in buying " floaters " or coercing employees to vote
for a reformation of our tariff laws.
The powers of corruption are employed upon the other side,
and tariff reform, as all other reforms, must depend upon the
unbought suffrage of the people. If the people are capable
of self-government, and are to remain so, there cannot be too
many safeguards about the expression of their will.

X.
THE EDUCATION OF THE COLORED PEOPLE.
8r6 Madison Avenue,
New York, January 14, 1891.
Isaiah T. Montgomery, Esq.
Mr. Henry F. Downing has put in my hands your letter to
him in relation to the school for the instruction of colored
children at your home. The condition you describe has ar
rested my attention, and the projects you have in hand for
the improvement of your people interest me so much that I
feel like aiding you, though it be but to a slight extent.
I have an idea that opportunities for education and practical
information among the colored population are most necessary
to the proper solution of the race question in the South. At

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 345
any rate, it seems to me to be of the utmost importance. If
our colored boys are to exercise in their mature years the right
of citizenship, they should be fitted to perform their duties
intelligently and thoroughly. I hope that, in the school you
seek to establish, the course of teaching will be directed to
this end.
Inclosed please find my check for $25, which I contribute
with hearty wishes for the success of your patriotic and praise
worthy undertaking. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

XL
the character of reporters.
(Interview in Daily Continent, New York, April 12, i8gl.)
I believe a large majority of reporters are decent and
honorable men, who would prefer to do clean and respectable
work. Of course there are some among them who are men
tally and morally cracked, and who never ought to be trusted
to report for the public anything they claim to have seen or
heard. Eliminate these, and I do not think any of the re
mainder would deliberately indulge in downright barefaced
falsehood ; but there is something connected with their work
that they appear to think is necessary to its complete finish,
which, for want of a better word, may be called embellishing.
This proceeds so far, sometimes, that, almost unknown to him
self, the reporter falls into mischievous and exasperating false
hood — sometimes lacking the intent to annoy and injure and
sometimes not. There ought to be much less of this. The
reporter who sends in these extravagant embellishments can
never know when they may constitute the most outrageous in
jury to the feelings of the innocent and defenseless.
But, as a general rule, the responsibility for all that is objec-

346 -ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS.
tionable in the reportorial occupation should be laid at the
doors of the managers and owners of newspapers. If they
wanted fair and truthful reports, they would be furnished
them with more alacrity than they are now supplied with the
trash so often demanded as a test of the reporter's skill and
ability. Good,clean journalism and a proper sense of newspaper re
sponsibility, prevailing at headquarters, would soon weed out
the bad among reporters, and would so raise the standard of
the duties of those remaining that they would not only be
gladly welcomed by all who have information interesting to
the public to impart, but would be received, without the sus
picion of intrusion, at any place where legitimate news could
be collected.

XII.
tribute to dr. OLIVER WENDELL HOLMES.
Upper Saranac Lake,
August 23, 1884.
To the Editors of "The Critic":
Your note suggesting a contribution to the Holmes number
of The Critic has just been forwarded to me. Though I am
not able to send you a word in time for its insertion in the
forthcoming number, and though I should almost fear to place
anything I might write in a collection which I know will be so
rich in precious tributes, yet I cannot refrain from the expres
sion of my hearty appreciation and admiration of your under
taking. Not only the works of such a man as Dr. Holmes, but his
life and years, belong to the country which they enrich and
make more illustrious. God is good in that he has spared
him thus long to his fellow-Americans ; but in a totally un
thinking and instinctive way, and as if our friend himself
willed his stay with us, we find ourselves cherishing a sense of

ON SOME SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC QUESTIONS. 347
gratitude to him for continuing to shed so kindly and benign
an influence upon our Nation's life.
The seventy-fifth birthday anniversary, which the Holmes
number of The Critic commemorates, should be the occasion
of hearty congratulation, not only to the man who has been
spared so long, but to every American citizen.
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER XIV.

L

Mr. President and Gentlemen :
It is sometimes said of us that we have too few holidays,
and this perhaps is true. We do not boast the antiquity nor
the long history which accumulates numerous days of national
civic observance; and the rush and activity of our people's life
are not favorable to that conservative and deliberate sentiment
which creates and establishes holidays. So far as such days
might commemorate the existence or achievements of some
conspicuous personage, their infrequency may be largely
attributed to our democratic spirit and the presumption arising
from our institutions. In this land of ours — owned, pos
sessed, and governed by the people — we, in theory at least,
demand and expect that every man will, in his sphere, be a
patriot, and that every faculty of greatness and usefulness with
which he is endowed will be devoted to his country and his
fellow-men. We have had no dearth of distinguished men, and
no better heroism has anywhere been seen than here. But
they belong so naturally to us, that we usually deem them
sufficiently noticed and commemorated when they are acknowl
edged as contributions to the common fund of our national
pride and glory.
Thus it happens that in this country but two birthdays are
publicly celebrated. We reverently speak of one as the day
when the Redeemer of Mankind appeared among men. On
* An address, before the Southern Society of New York, on Washington's
birthday, February 22, 1890, in response to the toast " The Birthday of
George Washington." 348

THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 349
the other the man was born whose mission it was to redeem the
American people from bondage and dependence and to display
to the world the possibility of popular self-government.
It would be strange, indeed, if this day should ever be neg
lected by our fellow-countrymen. It would be like a nation's
blotting out the history which cements its governmental edifice,
or expunging its traditions from which flow that patriotic love
and devotion of its people which are the best guarantees of
peaceful rule and popular contentment.
We certainly need at least one day which shall recall to our
minds the truth that the price of our country was unselfish
labor and sacrifice, that men fought and suffered that we might
be free, and that love and American brotherhood are necessary
elements to the full and continued enjoyment of American
freedom, prosperity, and happiness.
We are apt to forget these things in our engrossment with
the activities which attend the development of our country and
in the impetuous race after wealth which has become a charac
teristic of our people. There is danger that we may grow
heedless of the fact that our institutions are a precious legacy
which, for their own sake, should be jealously watched and
guarded, and there is danger that this condition may induce
selfishness and sordidness, followed by the idea that patriotism
and morality have no place in statecraft, and that a political
career may be entered upon like any other trade for private
profit and advantage.
This is a frightful departure from the doctrines upon which
our institutions rest; and surely it is the extreme of folly to
hope that our scheme of government will effect its purpose
and intent when every condition of its birth and life is
neglected. Point to your immense fortunes, if you will; point to your
national growth and prosperity; boast of the day of practical
politics, and discard as obsolete all sentiment and all concep
tion of morality and patriotism in public life, but do not for a
moment delude yourselves into the belief that you are navi-

35° THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
gating in the safe course marked out by those who launched
and blessed the Ship of State.
Is Washington accused even in these days of being a senti
mentalist ? Listen to the admonition he addressed "as an old
and affectionate friend" to his fellow-countrymen, whom he
loved so well and for whom he had labored so long, as he
retired from their service:
Of all the dispositions and habits which lead to political prosperity,
religion and morality are indispensable supports. In vain would that man
claim the tribute of patriotism who should labor to subvert these great pillars
of human happiness, these firmest props of the duties of men and citizens.
The mere politician, equally with the pious man, ought to respect and cherish
them. And all is summed up and applied directly to our situation
when he adds :
It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of
popular government.
When did we outgrow these sentiments? AVhen did we
advance so far in knowledge above our fathers as safely to cast
aside these beliefs? Let us be sober and thoughtful, and if we
find that these things have lost their hold on our minds and
hearts, let us take soundings, for the rocks are near.
We need in our public and private life such pure and
chastened sentiments as result from the sincere and heartfelt
observance of days like this, and we need such quickening of
our patriotism as the sedate contemplation of the life and char
acter of Washington creates.
Most of all, because it includes all, we need a better appre
ciation of true American citizenship. I do not mean by this,
that thoughtless pride of country which is everywhere assumed
sometimes without sincerity, nor the sordid attachment born
of benefits received or favors expected, but that deep and sen
timental love for our citizenship which flows from the con
sciousness that the blessing of Heaven was invoked at its birth;
that it was nurtured in the faith of God; and that it grew

THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 351
strong in the self-denying patriotism of our fathers and in their
love of mankind.
Such an apprehension of American citizenship will conse
crate us all to the disinterested service of our country and
incite us to drive from the temple of our liberties the money
changers and they who buy and sell.
Washington was the most thorough American that ever lived.
His sword was drawn to carve out American citizenship, and
his every act and public service was directed to its establish
ment. He contemptuously spurned the offer of kingly power,
and never faltered in his hope to make most honorable the
man who could justly call himself an American.
In the most solemn manner he warned his countrymen
against any attack upon the unity of the government, and
called upon them to frown indignantly upon any attempt to
alienate any portion of the country from the rest, or to enfeeble
the sacred ties that linked together the various parts.
His admonition reached the climax of its power and force
when he said:
Citizens by birth or choice of a common country, that country has a right
to concentrate your affections. The name of " American,'' which belongs
to you in your national capacity, must always exalt the just pride of patriot
ism more than any appellation derived from any local discriminations.
In an evil hour, and amid rage and resentment, the warning
of Washington was disregarded and the unity of our govern
ment was attacked. In blood and devastation it was saved,
and the name of "American," which belonged to all of us, was
rescued. From the gloom of desolation and estrangement all
our countrymen were drawn again to their places by the mystic
bond of American citizenship which, for all time to come, shall
hold and ennoble them as hearty co-workers in accomplishing
the national destiny which to the day of his death inspired the
faith and hope of Washington.
As we commemorate his birth to-night, we will invoke his
precious influence and renew our patriotic and disinterested
love of country. Let us thank God that he has lived, and

352 THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
that he has given to us the highest and best example of Ameri
can citizenship. And let us especially be grateful that we have
this sacred memory, which spanning time, vicissitude, and
unhappy aHenation, calls us together in sincere fellowship and
brotherly love on "The birthday of George Washington."

II.
SENTIMENT IN OUR NATIONAL LIFE.*
Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen:
Among the few holidays which the rush and hurry of Ameri
can life concede to us, surely no one of a secular character is
so suggestive and impressive as the day we celebrate on this
occasion. We not only commemorate the birth of the greatest
American who ever lived, but we recall, as inseparably con
nected with his career, all the events and incidents which led
up to the establishment of free institutions in this land of ours,
and culminated in the erection of our wondrous nation.
The University of Michigan, therefore, most appropriately
honors herself and does a fitting public service by especially
providing for such an observance of the day as is calculated
to turn to the contemplation of patriotic duty the thoughts of
the young men whom she is soon to send out to take places in
the ranks of American citizenship.
I hope it may not be out of place for me to express the
gratification it affords me as a member of the legal profession,
to know that the conduct of these exercises has been com
mitted to the classes of the Law Department of the University.
There seems to me to be a propriety in this, for I have always
thought the influences surrounding the practice and study of
the law should especially induce a patriotic feeling. The
business of the profession is related to the enforcement and
operation of the laws which govern our people; and its mem-
* An address before the students of the University of Michigan, at Ann
Arbor, February 22, 1892.

THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 353
bers, more often than those engaged in other occupations, are
called to a participation in making these laws. Besides, they
are constantly brought to the study of the fundamental law of
the land, and a famiHarity with its history. Such study and
familiarity should be sufficient of themselves to increase a
man's love of country; and they certainly cannot fail to arouse
his veneration for the men who laid the foundations of our
nation sure and steadfast in a written constitution, which has
been declared, by the greatest Hving English statesman, to be
"the most wonderful work ever struck off at a given time by
the brain and purpose of man."
Washington had more to do with the formation of the con
stitution than our enthusiasm for other phases of the great
work he did for his country usually makes prominent. He
fought the battles which cleared the way for it. He best knew
the need of consolidating under one government the colonies
he had made free, and he best knew that without this consoli
dation, a wasting war, the long and severe privations and
sufferings his countrymen had undergone and his own devoted
labor in the cause of freedom, were practically in vain. The
beginning of anything like a public sentiment looking to the
formation of our nation is traceable to his efforts. The
circular letter he sent to the governors of the States, as early
as the close of the War of the Revolution, contained the germ of
the constitution; and all this was recognized by his unanimous
choice to preside over the convention that framed it. His
spirit was in and through it all.
But whatever may be said of the argument presented in
support of the propriety of giving the law classes the manage
ment of this celebration, it is entirely clear that the University
herself furnishes to all her students a most useful lesson when,
by decreeing the observance 'of this day, she recognizes the
fact that the knowledge of books she imparts is not a complete
fulfillment of her duty, and concedes that the education with
which she so well equips her graduates for individual success
in life and for business and professional usefulness, may profit-

354 THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
ably be supplemented by the stimulation of their patriotism,
and by the direction of their thoughts to subjects relating to
their country's welfare. I do not know how generally such an
observance of Washington's birthday, as has been here estab
lished, prevails in our other universities and colleges; but I
am convinced that any institution of learning in our land which
neglects to provide for the instructive and improving observance
of this day within its walls, falls short of its attainable measure
of usefulness and omits a just and valuable contribution to the
general good. There is great need of educated men in our
public life, but it is the need of educated men with patriotism.
The college graduate may be, and frequently is, more unpatri
otic and less useful in public affairs than the man who, with
limited education, has spent the years when opinions are
formed in improving contact with the world instead of being
within college walls and confined to the study of books. If it
be true, as is often claimed, that the scholar in politics is gener
ally a failure, it may well be due to the fact that, during his
formative period when lasting impressions are easily received,
his intellect alone has been cultivated at the expense of whole
some and well-regulated sentiment.
I speak to-day in advocacy of this sentiment. If it is not
found in extreme and exclusive mental culture, neither is it
found in the busy marts of trade, nor in the confusion of bar
gaining, nor in the mad rush after wealth. Its home is in the
soul and memory of man. It has to do with the moral sense.
It reverences traditions, it loves ideas, it cherishes the names
and the deeds of heroes, and it worships at the shrine of patri
otism. I plead for it because there is a sentiment, which in
some features is distinctively American, that we should never
allow to languish.
When we are told that we are a practical and common sense
people, we are apt to receive the statement with approval and
applause. We are proud of its truth and naturally proud
because its truth is attributable to the hard work we have had
to do ever since our birth as a nation, and because of the stern

THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 355
labor we still see in our way before we reach our determined
destiny. There is cause to suspect, however, that another and
less creditable reason for our gratification arises from a feeling
that there is something heroically American in treating with
indifference or derision aU those things which, in our view, do
not directly and palpably pertain to what we caH, with much
satisfaction, practical affairs, but which, if we were entirely
frank, we should confess might be caHed money-getting and
the betterment of individual condition. Growing out of this
feeling, an increasing disposition is discernible among our
people, which begrudges to sentiment any time or attention
that might be given to business and which is apt to crowd out
of mind any thought not directly related to selfish plans and
purposes. A little reflection ought to convince us that this may be car
ried much too far. It is a mistake to regard sentiment as
merely something which, if indulged, has a tendency to tempt
to idle and useless contemplation or retrospection, thus weak
ening in a people the sturdiness of necessary endeavor and
diluting the capacity for national achievement.
The elements which make up the sentiment of a people
should not be counted as amiable weaknesses because they are
not at all times noisy and turbulent. The gentleness and
loveliness of woman do not cause us to forget that she can
inspire man to deeds of greatness and heroism; that as wife
she often makes man's career noble and grand, and that as
mother she builds and fashions in her son the strong pillars of
a State. So the sentiment of a people which, in peace and
contentment, decks with flowers the temple of their rule, may,
in rage and fury, thunder at its foundations. Sentiment is the
cement which keeps in place the granite blocks of govern
mental power, or the destructive agency whose explosion heaps
in ruins their scattered fragments. The monarch who cares
only for his sovereignty and safety, leads his subjects to fbrget-
fulness of oppression by a pretense of love for their traditions;
and the ruler who plans encroachments upon the liberties of

356 THE- CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
his people, shrewdly proceeds under the apparent sanction of
their sentiment. Appeals to sentiment have led nations to
bloody wars which have destroyed dynasties and changed the
lines of imperial territory. Such an appeal summoned our
fathers to the battlefields where American independence was
won, and such an appeal has scattered soldiers' graves all over
our land, which mutely give evidence of the power of our gov
ernment and the perpetuity of our free institutions.
I have thus far spoken of a people's sentiment as something
which may exist and be effective under any form of govern
ment, and in any national condition. But the thought natur
ally follows, that, if this sentiment may be so potent in coun
tries ruled by a power originating outside of popular will, how
vital must its existence and regulation be among our country
men, who rule themselves and make and administer their own
laws. In lands less free than ours, the control of the governed
may be more easily maintained if those who are set over them
see fit to make concession to their sentiment; yet, with or
without such concession, the strong hand of force may still
support the power to govern. But sentiment is the very life
blood of our nation. Our government was conceived amid
the thunders that echoed "All men are created equal," and
it was brought forth while free men shouted "We, the people
of the United States." The sentiment of our fathers, made
up of their patriotic intentions, their sincere beliefs, their
homely impulses and their noble aspirations, entered into the
government they established; and, unless it is constantly sup
ported and guarded by a sentiment as pure as theirs, our
scheme of popular rule will fail. Another and a different plan
may take its place ; but this which we hold in sacred trust, as
it originated in patriotism, is only fitted for patriotic and
honest uses and purposes, and can only be administered in its
integrity and intended beneficence, by honest and patriotic
men. It can no more be saved nor faithfully conducted by a
selfish, dishonest, and corrupt people, than a stream can rise
above its source or be better and purer than its fountain head.

THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 357
None of us can be ignorant of the ideas which constitute the
sentiment underlying our national structure. We know they
are a reverent beHef in God, a sincere recognition of the value
and power of moral principle and those qualities of heart which
make a noble manhood, devotion to unreserved patriotism, love
for man's equality, unquestioning trust in popular rule, the
exaction of civic virtue and honesty, faith in the saving quality
of universal education, protection of a free and unperverted
expression of the popular will, and an insistence upon a
strict accountability of public officers as servants of the
people. These are the elements of American sentiment; and all
these should be found deeply imbedded in the minds and
hearts of our countrymen. When anyone of them is displaced,
the time has come when a danger signal should be raised.
Their lack among the people of other nations — however
great and powerful they may be — can afford us no comfort nor
reassurance. We must work out our destiny unaided and
alone in full view of the truth that nowhere, so directly and
surely as here, does the destruction or degeneracy of the
people's sentiment undermine the foundations of governmental
rule. Let us not for a moment suppose that we can outgrow our
dependence upon this sentiment, nor that in any stage of
national advance and development it will be less important.
As the love of family and kindred remains to bless and
strengthen a man in all the vicissitudes of his mature and busy
life, so must our American sentiment remain with us as a peo
ple — a sure hope and reliance in every phase of our country's
growth. Nor will it suffice that the factors' which compose
this* sentiment have a sluggish existence in our minds, as arti
cles of an idle faith which we are willing perfunctorily to
profess. They must be cultivated as motive principles, stimu
lating us to effort in the cause of good government, and
constantly warning us against the danger and dishonor of
faithlessness to the sacred cause we have in charge and heed-

35 8 THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
lessness of the blessings vouchsafed to us and future genera
tions, under our free institutions.
These considerations emphasize the value which should be
placed upon every opportunity afforded us for the contempla
tion of the pure lives and patriotic services of those who have
been connected with the controlling incidents of our country's
history. Such contemplation cannot fail to re-enforce and
revive the sentiment absolutely essential to useful American
citizenship, nor fail to arouse within us a determinaton that
during our stewardship no harm shall come to the political
gifts we hold in trust from the fathers of the Republic.
It is because George Washington completely represented all
the elements of American sentiment that every incident of his
life, from his childhood to his death, is worth recalling —
whether it impresses the young with the beauty and value of
moral traits, or whether it exhibits to the wisest and oldest an
example of sublime accomplishment and the highest possible
public service. Even the anecdotes told of his boyhood have
their value. I have no sympathy with those who, in these latter
days, attempt to shake our faith in the authenticity of these
stories, because they are not satisfied with the evidence in their
support, or because they do not seem to accord with the con
duct of boys in this generation. It may well be, that the
stories should stand and the boys of the present day be pitied.
At any rate, these anecdotes have answered an important
purpose; and in the present state of the proofs, they should,
in my opinion, be believed. The cherry tree and hatchet
incident and its companion declaration that the Father of his
Country never told a lie, have indelibly fixed upon the mind
of many a boy'the importance of truthfulness. Of aH the
legends containing words of advice and encouragement which
hung upon the walls of the little district schoolhouse where a
large share of my education was gained, I remember but one,
which was in these words : ' ' George Washington had only a
common school education."
I will not plead guilty to the charge of dwelHng upon the

THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 359
little features of a great subject. I hope the day will never
come when American boys cannot know of some trait or some
condition in which they may feel that they ought to be or are
like AVashington. I am not afraid to assert that a multitude of
men can be found in every part of our land, respected for
their probity and worth, and most useful to the country and to
their fellow-men, who will confess their indebtedness to the
story of Washington and his hatchet; and many a man has won
his way to honor and fame, notwithstanding limited school
advantages, because he found hope and incentive in the high
mission Washington accomplished with only a common school
education. These are not Httle and trivial things. They
guide and influence the forces which make the character and
sentiment of a great people.
I should be ashamed of my country, if, in further speaking
of what Washington has done for the sentiment of his country
men, it was necessary to make any excuse for a reference
to his constant love and fond reverence, as boy and man, for
his mother. This filial love is an attribute of American man
hood, a badge which invites our trust and confidence, and an
indispensable element of American greatness. A man may
compass important enterprises, he may become famous, he may
win the applause of his fellows, he may even do public service
and deserve a measure of popular approval, but he is not right
at heart, and can never be truly great, if he forgets his mother.
In the latest biography of Washington we find the follow
ing statement concerning his mother: "That she was affec
tionate and loving cannot be doubted, for she retained to the
last a profound hold upon the reverential devotion of her son ;
and yet as he rose steadily to the pinnacle of human greatness,
she could only say that ' George had been a good boy, and she
was sure he would do his duty.' "
I cannot believe that the American people will consider
themselves called upon to share the deprecatory feeHng of the
biographer, when he writes that the mother of Washington
could only say of her son that she believed he would be

360 THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
faithful to the highest earthly trusts, because he had been
good ; nor that they will regard her words merely as an amiably
tolerated expression of a fond mother. If they are true to
American sentiment, they will recognize in this language the
announcement of the important truth that, under our institu
tions and scheme of government, goodness, such as Washing
ton's, is the best guarantee for the faithful discharge of public
duty. They will certainly do well for the country and for them
selves, if they adopt the standard the intuition of this noble
woman suggests, as the measure of their trust and confidence.
It means the exaction of moral principle and personal honor
and honesty and goodness as indispensable credentials to politi
cal preferment.
I have referred only incidentally to the immense influence
and service of Washington in forming our Constitution. I
.shall not dwell upon his lofty patriotism, his skill and fortitude
as the military commander who gained our independence, his
inspired wisdom, patriotism, and statesmanship as flrst President
of the republic, his constant love for his countrymen, and his
solicitude for their welfare at all times. The story has been
often told, and is familiar to all. If I should repeat it, I
should only seek to present further and probably unnecessary
proof of the fact that Washington embodied in his character,
and exemplified in his career, that American sentiment in
which our government had its origin, and which I believe to be
a condition necessary to our healthful national life.
I have not assumed to instruct you. I have merely yielded
to the influence of the occasion; and attempted to impress upon
you the importance of cultivating and maintaining true Ameri
can sentiment, suggesting that, as it has been planted and rooted
in the moral faculties of our countrymen, it can only flourish
in their love of truth and honesty and virtue and goodness. I
believe that God has so ordained it for the people he has
selected for his special favor ; and I know that the decrees of
God are never obsolete.
I beg you, therefore, to take with you, when you go forth to

THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON. 361
assume the obHgations of American citizenship, as one of the
best gifts of your Alma Mater, a strong and abiding faith in
the value and potency of a good conscience and a pure heart.
Never yield one iota to those who teach that these are weak
and childish things, not needed in the struggle of manhood
with the stern realities of life. Interest yourselves in public
affairs as a duty of citizenship; but do not surrender your faith
to those who discredit and debase politics by scoffing at senti
ment and principle, and whose political activity consists in
attempts to gain popular support by cunning devices and
shrewd manipulation. You will find plenty of these who will
smile at your profession of faith, and tell you that truth and
virtue and honesty and goodness were well enough in the old
days when Washington lived, but are not suited to the present
size and development of our country and the progress we have
made in the art of political management. Be steadfast. The
strong and sturdy oak stiU needs the support of its native
earth, and, as it grows in size and spreading branches, its roots
must strike deeper in the soil which warmed and fed its first
tender sprout. You will be told that the people have no
longer any desire for the things you profess. Be not deceived.
The people are not dead but sleeping. They will awaken in
good time, and scourge the money-changers from their sacred
temple. You may be chosen to public office. Do not shrink from it,
for holding office is also a duty of citizenship. But do not
leave your faith behind you. Every public office, small or
great, is held in trust for your fellow-citizens. They differ in
importance^ in responsibility, and in the labor they impose ;
but the duties of none of them san be well performed if the
mentorship of a good conscience and pure heart be discarded.
Of course, other equipment is necessary, but without this men
torship all else is insufficient. In times of gravest responsibil
ity it will solve your difficulties; in the most trying hour it will
lead you out of perplexities, and it wiH, at ad times, deliver you
from temptation.

362 THE CHARACTER OF GEORGE WASHINGTON.
In conclusion, let me remind you that we may all properly
learn the lesson appropriate to Washington's birthday, if we
will; and that we shall fortify ourselves against the danger of
falling short in the discharge of any duty pertaining to citizen
ship, if, being thoroughly imbued with true American sentiment
and the moral ideas which support it, we are honestly true to
ourselves. To thine own self be true,
And it must follow as the night the day :
Thou can'st not then be false to any man.

CHAPTER XV.
the coinage of silver.
I. Albany, February 24, 1885.
To the Hon. a. J. Warner and Others, Members of the
Forty-eighth Congress:
Gentlemen :
The letter which I have had the honor to receive from
you invites, and, indeed, obliges me to give expression to
some grave public necessities, although in advance of the
moment when they would become the objects of my official
care and partial responsibility. Your solicitude that my judg
ment shall have been carefully and deliberately formed is
entirely just, and I accept the suggestion in the same friendly
spirit in which it has been made. It is also fully justified by
the nature of the financial crisis, which, under the operation of
the act of Congress of February 28, 1878, is now close at hand.
By a compliance with the requirements of that law all the
vaults of the Federal Treasury have been and are heaped full
of silver coins, which are now worth less than 85 per cent, of
the gold dollar prescribed as " the unit of value " in section 14
of the act of February 12, 1873, ^"^ which, with the silver
certificates representing such coin, are receivable for all pub
lic dues. Being thus receivable, while also constantly increas
ing in quantity at the rate of $28,000,000 a year, it has fol
lowed, of necessity, that the flow of gold into the Treasury
has been steadily diminished. Silver and silver certificates
have displaced and are now displacing gold, and the sum of gold
in the Federal Treasury now available for the payment of the
gold obligations of the United States, and for the redemption
363

364 THE COINAGE OF SILVER.
of the United States notes called " greenbacks," if not already
encroached upon, is perilously near such encroachment.
These are facts which, as they do not admit of difference of
opinion, call for no argument. They have been forewarned
to us in the official reports of every Secretary of the Treasury
from 1878 till now. They are plainly affirmed in the last
December report of the present Secretary of the Treasury to
the Speaker of the present House of Representatives. They
appear in the official documents of this Congress and in the
records of the New York Clearing-house, of which the Treasury
is a member, and through which the bulk of the receipts and
payments of the Federal Government and of the country pass.
These being the facts of our present condition, our danger,
and our duty to avert that danger, would seem to be plain. I
hope that you concur with me, and with the great majority of
our fellow-citizens, in deeming it most desirable at the present
juncture to maintain and continue in use the mass of our gold
coin as well as the mass of silver already coined. This is pos
sible by a present suspension of the purchase and coinage of
silver. I am not aware that by any other method it is possible.
It is of momentous importance to prevent the two metals from
parting company ; to prevent the increasing displacement of
gold by the increasing coinage of silver ; to prevent the dis
use of gold in the custom-houses of the United States in the
daily business of the people ; to prevent the ultimate expulsion
of gold by silver.
Such a financial crisis as these events would certainly pre
cipitate, were it now to follow upon so long a period of com
mercial depression, would involve the people of every city and
every State in the Union in a prolonged and disastrous trouble.
The revival of business enterprise and prosperity, so ardently
desired and apparently so near, would be hopelessly postponed.
Gold would be withdrawn to its hoarding-places, and an un
precedented contraction in the actual volume of our currency
would speedily take place. Saddest of all, in every workshop,
mill, factory, store, and on every railroad and farm, the wages

THE COINAGE OF SILVER. 365
of labor, already depressed, would suffer still further depres
sion by a scaling down of the purchasing power of every so-
called dollar paid into the hand of toil. From these impend
ing calamities it is surely a most patriotic and grateful duty of
the representatives of the people to deliver them.
I am, gentlemen, with sincere respect, your fellow-citizen,
Grover Cleveland.

IL
From the First Annual Message to Congress, December 8, 1885.
The very limited amount of circulating notes issued by our
national banks compared with the amount the law permits
them to issue, upon a deposit of bonds for their redemption,
indicates that the volume of our circulating medium may be
largely increased through this instrumentality.
Nothing more important than the present condition of our
currency and coinage can claim your attention.
Since February, 1878, the government has, under the com
pulsory provisions of law, purchased silver bullion and coined
the same at the rate of more than two millions of dollars every
month. By this process, up to the present date, 215,759,431
silver dollars have been coined.
A reasonable appreciation of a delegation of power to the
general government would limit its exercise, without express
restrictive words, to the people's needs and the requirements
of the public welfare.
Upon this theory, the authority to " coin money " given to
Congress by the Constitution, if it permits the purchase by the
government of bullion for coinage in any event, does not justify
such purchase and coinage to an extent beyond the amount
needed for a sufficient circulating medium.
The desire to utilize the silver product of the country should
not lead to a misuse or the perversion of this power.
The necessity for such an addition to the silver currency of

366 THE COINAGE OF SILVER.
the nation as is compelled by the silver coinage act, is nega
tived by the fact that up to the present time only about fifty
millions of the silver dollars so coined have actually found
their way into circulation, leaving more than one hundred and
sixty-five millions in the possession of the government, the
custody of which has entailed a considerable expense for the
construction of vaults for its deposit. Against this latter
amount there are outstanding silver certificates amounting to
about ninety-three millions of dollars.
Every month two millions of gold in the public Treasury
are paid out for two millions or more of silver dollars, to be
added to the idle mass already accumulated.
If continued long enough, this operation will result in the
substitution of silver for all the gold the government owns
applicable to its general purposes. It will not do to rely upon
the customs receipts of the government to make good this
drain of gold, because — the silver thus coined having been
made legal tender for all debts and dues, public and private,
at times during the last six months fifty-eight per cent, of the
receipts for duties has been in silver or silver certificates, while
the average within that period has been twenty per cent. The
proportion of silver and its certificates received by the govern
ment will probably increase as time goes on, for the reason
that, the nearer the period approaches when it will be obliged
to offer silver in payment of its obligations, the greater
inducement there will be to hoard gold against depreciation in
the value of silver, or for the purpose of speculating.
This hoarding of gold has already begun.
When the time comes that gold has been withdrawn frorn
circulation, then will be apparent the difference between the
real value of the silver dollar and a dollar in, gold, and the two
coins will part company. Gold, still the standard of value,
and necessary in our dealings with other countries, will be at a
premium over silver ; banks, which have substituted gold for
the deposits of their customers, may pay them with silver
bought with such gold, thus making a handsome profit ; rich

THE COINAGE OF SILVER. 367
speculators will sell their hoarded gold to their neighbors who
need it to liquidate their foreign debts, at a ruinous premium
over silver, and the laboring men and women of the land, most
defenseless of all, will find that the dollar, received for the wage
of their toil, has sadly shrunk in its purchasing power. It may
be said that the latter result will be but temporary, and that
ultimately the price of labor will be adjusted to the change ;
but even if this takes place the wage worker cannot possibly
gain, but must inevitably lose, since the price he is compelled
to pay for his living will not only be measured in a coin heavily
depreciated, and fluctuating and uncertain in its value, but
this uncertainty in the value of the purchasing medium will be
made the pretext for an advance in prices beyond that justified
by actual depreciation.
The words uttered in 1834 by Daniel Webster, in the Senate
of the United States, are true to-day : " The very man of all
others who has the deepest interest in a sound currency, and
who suffers most by mischievous legislation in money matters,
is the man who earns his daily bread by his daily toil."
The most distinguished advocate of bi-metallism, discussing
our silver coinage, has lately written : " No American citi
zen's hand has yet felt the sensation of cheapness, either in
receiving or expending the Silver Act dollars."
And those who live by labor or legitimate trade never will
feel that sensation of cheapness. However plenty silver dol
lars may become, they will not be distributed as gifts among
the people ; and if the laboring man should receive four
depreciated dollars where he now receives but two, he will pay
in the depreciated coin more than double the price he now
pays for all the necessaries and comforts of life.
Those who do not fear any disastrous consequences arising
from the continued compulsory coinage of silver as now
directed by law, and who suppose that the addition to the cur
rency of the country intended as its result will be a public
benefit, are reminded that history demonstrates that the point
is easily reached in the attempt to float at the same time two

368 THE COINAGE OF SILVER.
sorts of money of different excellence, when the better will
cease to be in general circulation. The hoarding of gold,
which has already taken place, indicates that we shall not
escape the usual experience in such cases. So, if this silver
coinage be continued, we may reasonably expect that gold and
its equivalent will abandon the field of circulation to silver
alone. This, of course, must produce a severe contraction of
our circulating medium, instead of adding to it.
It will not be disputed that any attempt on the part of the
government to cause the circulation of silver dollars worth
eighty cents, side by side with gold dollars worth one hundred
cents, even within the limit that legislation does not run
counter to the laws of trade, to be successful must be seconded
by the confidence of the people that both coins will retain the
same purchasing power and be interchangeable at will. A
special effort has been made by the Secretary of the Treasury
to increase the amount of our silver coin in circulation ; but
the fact that a large share of the limited amount thus put out
has soon returned to the public treasury in payment of duties,
leads to the belief that the people do not now desire to keep
it in hand ; and this, with the evident disposition to hoard
gold, gives rise to the suspicion that there already exists a lack
of confidence among the people touching our financial proc
esses. There is certainly not enough silver now in circula
tion to cause uneasiness ; and the whole amount coined and
now on hand might, after a time, be absorbed by the people
without apprehension ; but it is the ceaseless stream that
threatens to overflow the land which causes fear and uncer
tainty. What has been thus far submitted upon this subject relates
almost entirely to considerations of a home nature, uncon
nected with the bearing which the policies of other nations
have upon the question. But it is perfectly apparent that a
line of action in regard to our currency cannot wisely be
settled upon or persisted in, without considering the attitude,
on the subject, of other countries with whom we maintain

THE COINAGE OF SILVER. 369
intercourse through commerce, trade, and travel. An
acknowledgment of this fact is found in the Act by virtue of
which our silver is compulsorily coined. It provides that " the
President shall invite the governments of the countries com
posing the Latin Union, so called, and of such other European
nations as he may deem advisable, to join the United States in
a conference to adopt a common ratio between gold and silver
for the purpose of establishing internationally the use of
bi-metallic money and securing fixity of relative value between
these metals."
This conference absolutely failed, and a similar fate has
awaited all subsequent efforts in the same direction. And
still we continue our coinage of silver at a ratio different from
that of any other nation. The most vital part of the silver-
coinage Act remains inoperative and unexecuted, and without
an ally or friend, we battle upon the silver field in an illogical
and losing contest.
To give full effect to the design of Congress on this subject
I have made careful and earnest endeavor since the adjourn
ment of the last Congress.
To this end I delegated a gentleman, well instructed in fiscal
science, to proceed to the financial centers of Europe, and, in
conjunction with our Ministers to England, France, and Ger
many, to obtain a full knowledge of the attitude and intent of
those governments in respect of the establishment of such an
international ratio as would procure free coinage of both metals
at the mints of those countries and our own. By my direction
our Consul General at Paris has given close attention to the
proceedings of the congress of the Latin Union, in order to in
dicate our interest in its object and report its action.
It may be said, in brief, as the result of these efforts, that the
attitude of the leading powers remains substantially unchanged
since the monetary conference of 1881, nor is it to be ques
tioned that the views of these governments are, in each instance,.
supported by the weight of public opinion.
The steps thus taken have therefore only more fully demon-

370 THE COINAGE OF SILVER.
Strated the uselessness of further attempts, at present, to arrive
at any agreement on the subject with other nations.
In the meantime we are accumulating silver coin, based upon
our own peculiar ratio, to such an extent, and assuming so
heavy a burden to be provided for in any international negoti
ations, as will render us an undesirable party to any future
monetary conference of nations.
It is. a significant fact that four of the five countries compos
ing the Latin Union, mentioned in our coinage Act, embarrassed
with their silver currency, have just completed an agreement
among themselves that no more silver shall be coined by their
respective governments, and that such as has been already
coined, and in circulation, shall be redeemed in gold by the
country of its coinage. The resort to this expedient by these
countries may well arrest the attention of those who suppose
that we can succeed, without shock or injury, in the attempt to
circulate, upon its merits, all the silver we may coin under the
provisions of our silver coinage Act.
The condition in which our Treasury may be placed by a per
sistence in our present course, is a matter of concern to every
patriotic citizen who does not desire his government to pay in
silver such of its obligations as should be paid in gold. Nor
should our condition be such as to oblige us, in a prudent man
agement of our affairs, to discontinue the calling in and pay
ment of interest-bearing obligations, which we have the right
now to discharge, and thus avoid the payment of further inter
est thereon.
The so-called debtor class, for whose benefit the continued
compulsory coinage of silver is insisted upon, are not dishonest
because they are in debt ; and- they should not be suspected of
a desire to jeopardize the financial safety of the country, in
order that they may cancel their present debts by paying the
same in depreciated dollars. Nor should it be forgotten that
it is not the rich nor the money-lender alone that must submit
to such a readjustment enforced by the government and their
debtors. The pittance of the widow and the orphan, and the

THE COINAGE OF SILVER. 371
income of helpless beneficiaries of all kinds, would be dis
astrously reduced. The depositors in savings banks and in other
institutions which hold in trust the savings of the poor, when
their little accumulations are scaled down to meet the new order
of things, would, in their distress, painfully realize the delusion
of the promise made to them that plentiful money would im
prove their condition.
We have now on hand all the silver dollars necessary to
supply the present needs of the people and to satisfy those who
from sentiment wish to see them in circulation ; and if their
coinage is suspended they can be readily obtained by all who
desire them. If the need of more is at any time apparent their
coinage may be renewed.
That disaster has not already overtaken us furnishes no proof
that danger does not wait upon a continuation of the present
silver coinage. We have been saved by the most careful man
agement and unusual expedients, by a combination of fortunate
conditions, and by a confident expectation that the course of
the government in regard to silver coinage would be speedily
changed by the action of Congress.
Prosperity hesitates upon the threshold because of the dan
gers and uncertainties surrounding this question. Capital
timidly shrinks from trade, and investors are unwilling to take
the chance of the questionable shape in which their money will
be returned to them, while enterprise halts at a risk against
which care and sagacious management do not protect.
As a necessary consequence labor lacks employment, and
suffering and distress are visited upon a portion of our fellow-
citizens especially entitled to the careful consideration of those
charged with the duties of legislation. No interest appeals to
us so strongly for a safe and stable currency as the vast army
of the unemployed.
I recommend the suspension of the compulsory coinage of
silver dollars, directed by the law passed in February, 1878.

372 THE COINAGE OF SILVER.
III.
From the Second Annual Message to Congress, December 6, 1886.
During the fiscal year ended June 30, 1886, there were
coined, under the compulsory silver-coinage Act of 1878, 29,-
838,905 silver dollars, and the cost of the silver used in such
coinage was $23,448,960.01. There had been coined up to the
close of the previous fiscal year, under the provisions of the
law, 203,882,554 silver dollars, and on the ist day of December,
1886, the total amount of such coinage was $247,131,549.
The Director of the Mint reports that at the time of the pas
sage of the law of 1878 directing this coinage, the intrinsic
value of the dollars thus coined was ninety-four and one-fourth
cents each, and that on the 31st day of July, 1886, the price of
silver reached the lowest stage ever known, so that the intrinsic
or bullion price of our standard silver dollar at that date was
less than seventy-two cents. The price of silver on the 30th
day of November last was such as to make these dollars intrin
sically worth seventy-eight cents each.
These differences in value of the coins represent the fluctua
tions in the price of silver, and they certainly do not indicate
that compulsory coinage by the government enhances the
price of that commodity or secures uniformity in its value.
Every fair and legal effort has been made by the Treasury
Department to distribute this currency among the people. The
withdrawal of the United States Treasury notes of small de
nominations, and the issuing of small silver certificates, have
been resorted to in the endeavor to accomplish this result, in
obedience to the will and sentiments of the representatives of
the people in the Congress. On the 27th day of November,
1886, the people held of these coins, or certificates representing
them, the nominal sum of $166,873,041, and we still had
$79,464,345 in the Treasury, as against about $142,894,055 in
the hands of the people, and $72,865,376 remaining in the
Treasury one year ago. The Director of the Mint again
urges the necessity of more vault room for the purpose of

THE COINAGE OF SILVER. 373
storing these silver dollars, which are not needed for circulation
by the people.
I have seen no reason to change the views expressed in my
last annual message on the subject of this compulsory coin
age ; and I again urge its suspension on all the grounds con
tained in my former recommendation, re-enforced by the sig
nificant increase of our gold exportations during the last year,
as appears by the comparative statement herewith presented,
and for the further reasons that the more this currency is dis
tributed among the people the greater becomes our duty to
protect it from disaster ; that we now have abundance for all
our needs ; and that there seems but little propriety in build
ing vaults to store such currency when the only pretense for
its coinage is the necessity of its use by the people as a circu
lating medium.

IV.
From Fourth Annual Message to Congress, December 3, 1888.
At the close of the fiscal year ended June 30, 1887, there
had been coined under the compulsory silver-coinage Act $266,-
988,280 in silver dollars, $55,504,310 of which were in the
hands of the people.
On the 30th day of June, 1888, there had been coined $299,-
708,790 ; and of this $55,829,303 was in circulation in coin,
and $200,387,376 in silver certificates, for the redemption of
which silver dollars to that amount were held by the govern
ment. On the 30th day of November, 1888, $312,570,990 had been
coined, $60,970,990 of the silver dollars were actually in circu
lation, and $237,418,346 in certificates.
The Secretary recommends the suspension of the further
coinage of silver, and in such recommendation I earnestly
concur.

374 THE COINAGE OF SILVER.
V.
Letter to the Reform Club Meeting, February lo, 1891.
E. Ellery Anderson, Chairman :
Dear Sir : I have this afternoon received your note inviting
me to attend to-morrow evening the meeting called for the
purpose of voicing the opposition of the business men of our
city to " the free coinage of silver in the United States."
I shall not be able to attend and address the meeting as you
request, but I am. glad that the business interests of New York
are at last to be heard on this subject. It surely cannot be
necessary for me to make a formal expression of my agree
ment with those who believe that the greatest peril would be
invited by the adoption of the scheme, embraced in the meas
ure now pending in Congress, for the unlimited coinage of
silver at our mints.
If we have developed an unexpected capacity for the assimi
lation of a largely increased volume of this currency, and even
if we have demonstrated the usefulness of such an increase,
these conditions fall far short of insuring us against disaster
if, in the present situation, we enter upon the dangerous and
reckless experiment of free, unlimited,' and independent silver
coinage. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER XVI.
on pensions and to soldiers' organizations.
I.
At the G. A. R. Banquet, in Buffalo, July 4, 1884.
I AM almost inclined to complain because the sentiment to
which I am requested to respond is not one which permits me to
speak at length of the city which, for more than twenty-nine
years, has been my home. You bid me speak of the State,
while everything that surrounds me, and all that has been
done to-day, remind me of other things. I cannot fail to re
member most vividly, to-night, that exactly two years ago I
felt that much of the responsibility of a certain celebration
rested on my shoulders. I suppose there were others who did
more than I to make the occasion a success, but I know that I
considered myself an important factor, and that when, after
weeks of planning and preparation, the day came and finally
passed, I felt as much relieved as if the greatest effort of my
life had been a complete success.
On that day we laid the corner stone of the monument
which has to-day been unveiled in token of its completion.
We celebrated, too, the semi-centennial of our city's life. I
was proud then to be its chief executive, and everything con
nected with its interests and prosperity was dear to me. To
night I am still proud to be a citizen of Buffalo, and my fellow-
townsmen cannot, if they will, prevent the affection I feel for
my city and its people. But my theme is a broader one, and
one that stirs the heart of every citizen of the State.
The State of New York, in all that is great, is easily the
leader of all the States. Its history is filled with glorious

376 ON PENSIONS AND
deeds, and its life is bound up with all that makes the nation
great. From the first of the nation's existence our State has
been the constant and generous contributor to its life and
growth and vigor.
But to the exclusion of every other thought to-night, there is
one passage in the history of the State that crowds upon my
mind. There came a time when discord reached the family circle
of States, threatening the nation's life. Can we forget how
wildly New York sprang forward to protect and preserve
what she had done so much to create and build up. Four
hundred and fifty thousand men left her borders to stay the
tide of destruction.
During the bloody affray which followed, nearly fourteen
thousand and five hundred of her sons were killed in battle or
died of wounds. Their bones lie in every State where the
war for the Union was waged. Add to these nearly seven
teen thousand and five hundred of her soldiers, who, within
that sad time, died of disease, and then contemplate the
pledges of New York's devotion to a united country, and the
proofs of her faith in the supreme destiny of the sisterhood of
States. And there returned to her thousands of her sons who fought
and came home laden with the honors of patriotism, many of
whom still survive, and, like the minstrels of old, tell us of
heroic deeds and battles won which saved the nation's
life. When our monument, which should commemorate the suf
ferings and death of their comrades, was begun, the veterans
of New York were here. To-day they come again and view
complete its fair proportions, which in the years to come shall
be a token that the patriotic dead are not forgotten.
The State of New York is rich in her soldier dead, and she
is rich in her veterans of the war. Those who still survive,
and the members of the Grand Army of the Republic, hold in
trust for the State the blessed memories which connect her

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 377
with her dead ; and these memories we know will be kept
alive and green.
Long may the State have her veterans of the war ; and long
may she hold them in grateful and chastened remembrance.
And as often as her greatness and her grandeur are told, let
these be called the chief jewels in her crown.

II.
From the First Annual Message to Congress, December, 1885.
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 introduc
tion of any fraudulent practices. Therefore, it is fully as im
portant 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.

III.

From the Veto of the Andrew J. White Pension Bill,
May 8, 1886.
The policy of frequently reversing, by special enactment,
the decisions of the bureau invested by law with the examina
tion of pension claims, fully equipped for such examination,
and which ought not to be suspected of any lack of liberality
to our veteran soldiers, is exceedingly questionable. It may
well be doubted if a committee of Congress has a better op
portunity than such an agency to judge of the merits of these
claims. If, however, there is any lack of power in the Pension

378 ON PENSIONS AND
Bureau for a full investigation it should be supplied ; if the
system adopted is inadequate to do full justice to claimants, it
should be corrected ; and if there is a want of sympathy and
consideration for the defenders of our government the bureau
should be reorganized.
The disposition to concede the most generous treatment to
the disabled, aged, and needy among our veterans ought not
to be restrained ; and it must be admitted that, in some cases,
justice and equity cannot be done nor the charitable tenden
cies of the government in favor of worthy objects of its care
indulged under fixed rules. These conditions sometimes
justify a resort to special legislation ; but I am convinced
that the interposition by special enactment in the granting of
pensions should be rare and exceptional. In the nature of
things, if this is lightly done and upon slight occasion, an invi
tation is offered for the presentation of claims to Congress,
which, upon their merits, could not survive the test of an ex
amination by the Pension Bureau, and whose only hope of
success depends upon sympathy, often misdirected, instead of
right and justice. The instrumentality organized by law for
the determination of pension claims is thus often overruled
and discredited, and there is danger that in the end popular
prejudice will be created against those who are worthily en
titled to the bounty of the government.
There have lately been presented to me on the same day,
for approval, nearly two hundred and forty special bills grant
ing and increasing pensions, and restoring to the pension list
the names of parties which for cause have been dropped. To
aid Executive duty they were referred to the Pension Bureau
for examination and report. After a delay absolutely neces
sary they have been returned to me within a few hours of the
limit constitutionally permitted for Executive action. Two
hundred and thirty-two of these bills are thus classified :
Eighty-one cover cases in which favorable action by the
Pension Bureau was denied by reason of the insufficiency of
the testimony filed to prove the facts alleged.

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 379
These bills I have approved on the assumption that the
claims were meritorious, and that by the passage of the bills
the government has waived full proof of the facts.
Twenty-six of the bills cover claims rejected by the Pension
Bureau, because the evidence produced tended to prove that
the alleged disability existed before the claimant's enlistment ;
twenty-one cover claims which have been denied by such
bureau, because the evidence tended to show that the dis
ability, though contracted in the service, was not incurred in
the line of duty ; thirty-three cover claims which have been
denied, because the evidence tended to establish that the dis
ability originated after the soldier's discharge from the army ;
forty-seven cover claims which have been denied, because the
general pension laws contain no provisions under which they
could be allowed ; and twenty-four of the claims have never
been presented to the Pension Bureau.

IV.

From the Message Vetoing the Elizabeth S. De Krafft
Pension Bill, June 21, 1886.
I am so thoroughly tired of disapproving gifts of public
money to individuals who, in my view, have no right or claim
to the same, notwithstanding apparent Congressional sanction,
that I interpose, with a feeHng of relief, a veto in a case where
I find it unnecessary to determine the merits of the application.
In speaking of the promiscuous and ill-advised grants of pen
sions which have lately been presented to me for approval,
I have spoken of their " apparent Congressional sanction " in
recognition of the fact that a large proportion of these bills
have never been submitted to a majority of either branch of
Congress, but are the results of nominal sessions held for the
express purpose of their consideration and attended by a
small minority of the members of the respective houses of the
legislative branch of government

380 ON PENSIONS AND
Thus, in considering these bills, I have not felt that I was
aided by the deliberate judgment of the Congress ; and when
I have deemed it my duty to disapprove many of the bills
presented, I have hardly regarded my action as a dissent from
the conclusions of the people's representatives.
I have not been insensible to the suggestions which should
influence every citizen, either in private station or official place,
to exhibit not only a just but a generous appreciation of the
services of our country's defenders. In reviewing the pension
legislation presented to me, many bills have been approved
upon the theory that every doubt should be resolved in favor
of the proposed beneficiary. I have not, however, been able
to divest myself entirely of the idea that the public money
appropriated for pensions is the soldiers' fund, which should
be devoted to the indemnification of those who, in the defense
of the Union and in the nation's service, have worthily suffered,
and who, in the day of their dependence, resulting from such
suffering, are entitled to the benefaction of their government.
This reflection lends to the bestowal of pensions a kind of
sacredness which invites the adoption of such principles and
regulations as will exclude perversion as well as insure a lib
eral and generous application of grateful and benevolent designs.
Heedlessness and a disregard of the principle which underlies
the granting of pensions are unfair to the wounded, crippled
soldier, who is honored in the just recognition of his govern
ment. Such a man should never find himself side by side on
the pension-roll with those who have been tempted to attribute
the natural ills to which humanity is heir to service in the
army. Every relaxation of principle in the granting of pen
sions invites applications without merit, and encourages those
who, for gain, urge honest men to become dishonest Thus is
the demoralizing lesson taught the people that, as against the
public Treasury, the most questionable expedients are allow
able.

To SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 381
V.
From the Message Vetoing the Francis Deming Pension Bill,
July 5, 1886.
None of us is entitled to credit for extreme tenderness and
consideration toward those who fought their country's battles ;
these are sentiments common to all good citizens ; they lead
to the most benevolent care on the part of the government
and deeds of charity and mercy in private life. The blatant
and noisy self-assertion of those who, from motives that may
well be suspected, declare themselves above all others friends
of the soldier, cannot discredit or belittle the calm, steady,
and affectionate regard of a grateful nation.
An appropriation has just been passed setting apart seventy-
six millions of dollars of the public money for distribution as
pensions, under laws liberally constructed, with a view of meet
ing every meritorious case ; more than a million of dollars
was added to maintain the Pension Bureau, which is charged
with the duty of a fair, just, and liberal apportionment of this
fund. Legislation has been at the present session of Congress per
fected, considerably increasing the rate of pension in certain
cases. Appropriations have also been made of large sums for
the support of national homes where sick, disabled, or needy
soldiers are cared for ; and within a few days a liberal sum
has been appropriated for the enlargement and increased ac
commodation and convenience of these institutions.
AU this is no more than should be done.
But with all this, and with the hundreds of special acts which
have been passed, granting pensions in cases where, for my
part, I am willing to confess that sympathy rather than judg
ment has often led to the discovery of a relation between injury
or death and military service, I am constrained by a sense of
public duty to interpose against establishing a principle and
setting a precedent which must result in unregulated, partial.

382 ON PENSIONS AND
and unjust gifts of public money under the pretext of indem
nifying those who suffered in their means of support as an
incident of military service.

VL
From the Second Annual Message, December, 1886.
The American people, with a patriotic and grateful regard
for our ex-soldiers — too broad and too sacred to be monop
olized 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 destitute 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 friendless soldier, who is entirely neglected or who
must be content with the smallest sum allowed under general
laws. There are far too many neighborhoods in which are found
glaring cases of inequality of treatment in the matter of pen
sions ; and they are largely due to a yielding in the Pension
Bureau to importunity on the part of those, other than the
pensioner, who are especially interested, or they arise from
special acts passed for the benefit of individuals.
The men who fought side by side should stand side by side
when they participate in a grateful nation's kind remembrance.
Every consideration of fairness and justice to our ex-
soldiers, and the protection of the patriotic instinct of our cit
izens from perversion and violation, point to the adoption of a

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 383
pension system, broad and comprehensive enough to cover
every contingency, and which shall make unnecessary an
objectionable volume of special legislation.
As long as we adhere to the principle of granting pensions
for service, and disability as the result of the service, the
allowance of pensions should be restricted to cases presenting
these features.
Every patriotic heart responds to a tender consideration for
those who, having served their country long and well, are re
duced to destitution and dependence, not as an incident of
their service, but with advancing age or through sickness or
misfortune. We are all tempted by the contemplation of such
a condition to supply relief, and are often impatient of the
limitations of publip duty. Yielding to no one in the desire
to indulge this feeling of consideration, I cannot rid myself
of the conviction that if these ex-soldiers are to be relieved,
they and their cause are entitled to the benefit of an enact
ment, under which relief may be claimed as a right, and that
such relief should be granted under the sanction of law, not
in evasion of it ; nor should such worthy objects of care, all
equally entitled, be remitted to the unequal operation of sym
pathy, or the tender mercies of social and political influence
with their unjust discriminations.
The discharged soldiers and sailors of the country are our
fellow-citizens, and interested with us in the passage and faith
ful execution of wholesome laws! They cannot be swerved
from their duty of citizenship by artful appeals to their spirit
of brotherhood, born of common peril and suffering, nor will
they exact, as a test of devotion to their welfare, a willingness
to neglect public duty in their behalf.

384 ON PENSIONS AND
VII.
Veto of the Dependent Pension Bill.
To the House of Representatives :
I herewith return without my approval House Bill No.
10,457, entitied " An act for the relief of dependent parents
and honorably discharged soldiers and sailors who are now
disabled and dependent upon their own labor for support."
This is the first general bill that has been sanctioned by the
Congress, since the close of the late Civil War, permitting a
pension to the soldiers and sailors who served in that war upon
the ground of service and present disability alone, and in the
entire absence of any injuries received by the casualties or
incidents of such service.
AVhile by almost constant legislation since the close of this
war there has been compensation awarded for every possible
injury received as a result of military service in the Union
Army, and while a great number of laws passed for that pur
pose have been administered with great liberality, and have
been supplemented by numerous private acts to reach special
cases, there has not, until now, been an avowed departure
from the principle, thus far adhered to respecting Union
soldiers, that the bounty of the government, in the way of
pensions, is generally bestowed, when granted, on those who, in
their military service and in the line of military duty, have, to
a greater or less extent, been disabled.
But it is a mistake to suppose that service pensions, such
as are permitted by the second section of the bill under con
sideration, are new to our legislation. In 1818, thirty-five
years after the close of the Revolutionary war, they were
granted to the soldiers engaged in that struggle, conditional
upon service until the end of the war, or for a term not less
than nine months, and requiring every beneficiary under the
act to be one " who is, or hereafter by reason of his reduced
circumstances in life shall be, in need of assistance from his
country for support." Another law of a like character was

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 385
passed in 1828, requiring service until the close of the Rev
olutionary war ; and still another, passed in 1832, provided
for those persons not included in the previous statute, but who
served two years at some time during the war, and giving a
proportionate sum to those who had served not less than six
months. A service pension law was passed for the benefit of the
soldiers of 1812 in the year 1871 — fifty-six years after the
close of that war — which required only sixty days' service ;
and another was passed in 1878 — sixty-three years after the
war — requiring only fourteen days' service.
The service pension bill passed at this session of Congress,
thirty-nine years after the close of the Mexican war, for the
benefit of the soldiers of that war, requires either some degree
of disability or dependency, or that the claimant under its
provisions should be sixty-two years of age ; and in either
case that he should have served sixty days or been actually
engaged in a battle.
It will be seen that the bill of 1818 and the Mexican pen
sion bill, being thus passed nearer the close of the wars in
which their beneficiaries were engaged than the others — one
thirty-five years and the other thirty-nine years after the ter
mination of such wars — embraced persons who were quite ad
vanced in age, assumed to be comparatively few in number,
and whose circumstances, dependence, and disabilities were
clearly defined and could be quite easily fixed.
The other laws referred to appear to have been passed at a
time so remote from the military service of the persons which
they embraced, that their extreme age alone was deemed to
supply a presumption of dependency and need.
The number of enlistments in the Revolutionary war is
stated to be 309,791, and in the war of 1812, 576,622 ; but it
is estimated that, on account of repeated re-enlistments, the
number of individuals engaged in these wars did not exceed
one-half of the number represented by these figures. In the
war with Mexico the number of enlistments is reported to be

386 ON PENSIONS AND
112,230, which represents a greater proportion of individuals
engaged than the reported enlistments in the two previous
wars. The number of pensions granted under all laws to soldiers
of the Revolution is given at 62,069 ; to soldiers of the war of
1812 and their widows, 60,178 ; and to soldiers of the Mexican
war and their widows, up to June 30, 1885, 7619. The latter
pensions were granted to the soldiers of a war involving much
hardship, for disabilities incurred as a result of such service ;
and it was not till within the last month that the few remain
ing survivors were awarded a service pension.
The war of the rebellion terminated nearly twenty-two
years ago ; the number of men furnished for its prosecution is
stated to be 2,772,408. No corresponding number of statutes
have ever been passed to cover every kind of injury or disa
bility incurred in the military service of any war. Under
these statutes 561,576 pensions have been granted from the
year 1861 to June 30, 1886, and more than 2600 pensioners
have been added to the rolls by private acts passed to meet
cases, many of them of questionable merit, which the general
laws did not cover.
On the ist day of July, 1886, 365,763 pensioners of all
classes were upon the pension rolls, of whom 305,605 were
survivors of the war of the rebellion, and their widows and
dependents. For the year ending June 30, 1887, $75,000,000
have been appropriated for the payment of pensions, and the
amount expended for that purpose from 1861 to July i, 1886,
is $808,624,811.51.
While annually paying out such a vast sum for pensions
already granted, it is now proposed, by the bill under consider
ation, to award a service pension to the soldiers of all wars in
which the United States has been engaged, including, of
course, the war of the rebellion, and to pay those entitled to
the benefits of the act the sum of twelve dollars per month.
So far as it relates to the soldiers of the late Civil War, the
bounty it affords them is given thirteen years earlier than it

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 387
has been furnished to the soldiers of any other war, and before
a large majority of its beneficiaries have advanced in age
beyond the strength and vigor of the prime of life.
It exacts a military or naval service of only three months,
without any requirement or actual engagement with an enemy
in- battle, and without a subjection to any of the actual dangers
of war.
The pension it awards is allowed to enlisted men who have
not suffered the least injury, disability, loss, or damage of any
kind, incurred in or in any degree referable to their military
service, including those who never reached the front at all,
and those discharged from rendezvous at the close of the war,
if discharged three months after enlistment. Under the last
call of the President for troops, in December, 1864, 11,303
men were furnished who were thus discharged.
The section allowing this pension does, however, require,
besides a service of three months and an honorable discharge,
that those seeking the benefit of the act shall be such as "are
now or may hereafter be suffering from mental or physical
disability, not the result of their own vicious habits or gross
carelessness, which incapacitates them for the performance of
labor in such a degree as to render them unable to earn a
support, and who are dependent upon their daily labor for
support." It provides further that such persons shall, upon making
proof of the fact, " be placed on the list of invalid pensioners
of the United States, and be entitled to receive, for such total
inability to procure their subsistence by daily labor, twelve
dollars per month ; and such pension shall commence from the
date of the filing of the application in the Pension Office,
upon proof that the disability then existed, and continue
during the existence of the same in the degree herein provided ;
provided that persons who are now receiving pensions under ex
isting laws, or whose claims are pending in the Pension Office,
may, by application to the Commissioner of Pensions, in such
form as he may prescribe, receive the benefit of this act."

388 ON PENSIONS AND
It is manifestly of the utmost importance that statutes
which, like pension laws, should be liberally administered as
measures of benevolence in behalf of worthy beneficiaries
should admit of no uncertainty as to their general objects and
consequences. Upon a careful consideration of the language of the section
of this bill above given, it seems to me to be so uncertain and
liable to such conflicting constructions, and to be subject to
such unjust and mischievous application, as to furnish alone
sufficient ground for disapproving the proposed legislation.
Persons seeking to obtain the pension provided by this
section must be now or hereafter :
I. " Suffering from mental or physical disability.''
2. Such disability must not be " the result of their own
vicious habits or gross carelessness."
3. Such disability must be such as " incapacitates them for
the performance of labor in such a degree as to render them
unable to earn a support."
4. They must be " dependent upon their daily labor for
support." 5. Upon proof of these conditions they shall " be placed on
the lists of invalid pensioners of the United States, and be
entitled to receive, for such total inability to procure their
subsistence by daily labor, twelve dollars per month."
It is not probable that the words last quoted, " such total
inability to procure their subsistence by daily labor," at all
qualify the conditions prescribed in the preceding language of
the section. The " total inability " spoken of must be " such"
inability — that is, the inability already described and con
stituted by the conditions already detailed in the previous
parts of the section.
It thus becomes important to consider the meaning and the
scope of these last mentioned conditions.
The mental and physical disability spoken of has a distinct
meaning in the practice of the Pension Bureau, and includes
every impairment of bodily or mental strength and vigor. For

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 389
such disabilities there are now paid one hundred and thirty-
one different rates of pension, ranging from $1 to $100 per
month. This disability must not be the result of the applicant's
"vicious habits or gross carelessness." Practically, this divi
sion is not important. The attempt of the government to
escape the payment of a pension, on such a plea, would, of
course, in a very large majority of instances, and regardless of
the merits of the case, prove a failure. There would be that
strange but nearly universal willingness to help the individual
as between him and the public Treasury which goes very far
to insure a state of proof in favor of the claimant.
The disability of applicants must be such as to " incapaci
tate them for the performance of labor in such a degree as to
render them unable to earn a support."
It will be observed that there is no limitation or definition
of the incapacitating injury or ailment itself. It need only be
such a degree of disability from any cause as renders the
claimant unable to earn a support by labor, It seems to me
that the " support " here mentioned as One which cannot be
earned, is a complete and entire support, with no diminution
on account of the least impairment of physical or mental con
dition. If it had been intended to embrace only those who
by disease or injury were totally unable to labor, it would have
been very easy to express that idea, instead of recognizing, as
is done, a " degree " of such inability.
AVhat is a support ? Who is to determine whether a man
earns it, or has it, or has it not ? Is the government to enter
the homes of claimants for pension, and after an examination
of their surroundings and circumstances settle those questions ?
Shall the government say to one man that his manner of sub
sistence by his earnings is a support, and to another that the
things his earnings furnish are not a support ? Any attempt,
however honest, to administer this law in such a manner would
necessarily produce more unfairness and unjust discrimination
and give more scope for partisan partiality, and would result

390 ON PENSIONS AND
in more perversion of the government's benevolent intentions,
than the execution of any statute ought to permit.
If, in the effort to carry out the proposed law, the degree of
disability, as related to earnings, be considered for the purpose
of discovering if in any way it curtails the support which the
applicant if entirely sound would earn, and to which he is en
titled, we enter the broad field long occupied by the Pension
Bureau, and we recognize as the only difference between the
proposed legislation and previous laws passed for the benefit
of the surviving soldiers of the civil war, the incurrence in one
case of disabilities in military service, and in the other disa
bilities existing, but in no way connected with or resulting
from such service.
It must be borne in mind that in no case is there any grad
ing of this proposed pension. Under the operation of the rule
first suggested, if there is a lack in any degree, great or small,
of the ability to earn such a support as the government deter
mines the claimant should have, and by the application of the
rule secondly suggested, if there is a reduction in any degree
of the support which he might earn if sound, he is entitled to
a pension of $12.
In the latter case, and under the proviso of the proposed
bill, permitting persons now receiving pensions to be admitted
to the benefits of the act, I do not see how those now on the
pension roll for disabilities incurred in the service, and which
diminish their earning capacity, can be denied the pension
provided in this bill.
Of course none will apply who are now receiving $12 or
more per month. But on the 30th day of June, 1886, there
were on the pension rolls 202,621 persons who were receiving
fifty-eight different rates of pension from $1 to $11.75 P^r
month. Of these, 28,142 were receiving $2 per month; 63,116,
$4 per month ; 37,254, $6 per month ; and 50,274, whose dis
abilities were rated as total, $8 per month.
As to the meaning of the section of the bill under considera
tion there appears to have been quite a difference of opinion

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 391
among its advocates in the Congress. The chairman of the
Committee on Pensions in the House of Representatives who
reported the blH, declared that there was in it no provision for
pensioning anyone who has a less disability than a total ina
bility to labor, and that it was a charity measure. The chair
man of the Committee on Pensions in the Senate, having
charge of the bill in that body, dissented from the construc
tion of the bill announced in the House of Representatives,
and declared that it not only embraced all soldiers totally dis
abled, but in his judgment all who are disabled to any consid
erable extent; and such a construction was substantially given
to the bill by another distinguished Senator who, as a former
Secretary of the Interior, had imposed upon him the duty of
executing pension laws and determining their intent and
meaning. Another condition, required of claimants under this act, is
that they shall be " dependent upon their daily labor for sup
port." This language, which may be said to assume that there
exists within the reach of the persons mentioned " labor," or
the ability in some degree to work, is more aptly used in a
statute describing those not wholly deprived of this ability,
than in one which deals with those utterly unable to work.
I am of the opinion that it may fairly be contended that
under the provisions of this section any soldier, whose facul
ties of mind or body have become impaired by accident, dis
ease, or age, irrespective of his service in the army as a cause,
and who, by his labor only, is left incapable of gaining the fair
support he might with unimpaired powers have provided for
himself, and who is not .so well endowed with this world's
goods as to live without work, may claim to participate in its
bounty ; that it is not required that he should be without
property, but only that labo-r should be necessary to his sup
port in some degree ; nor is it required that he should be now
receiving support from others.
Believing this to be the proper interpretation of the bill, I

392 ON PENSIONS AND
cannot but remember that the soldiers of our Civil AVar, in their
pay and bounty, received such compensation for military serv
ice as had never been received by soldiers before, since man
kind first went to war ; that nevgr before, on behalf of any
soldiery, have so many and such generous laws been passed to
relieve against the incidents of war ; that statutes have been
passed giving them a preference in all public employments ;
that the really needy and homeless Union soldiers of the
rebellion have been, to a large extent, provided for at soldiers'
homes, instituted and supported by the government, where
they are maintained together, free from the sense of degrada
tion which attaches to the usual support of charity ; and that
never before in the history of the country has it been proposed
to render government aid toward the support of any of its
soldiers based alone upon a military service so recent, and
where age and circumstances appeared so little to demand
such aid.
Hitherto such relief has been granted to surviving soldiers
few in number, venerable in age, after a long lapse of time
since their military service, and as a parting benefaction
tendered by a grateful people.
I cannot believe that the vast peaceful army of Union
soldiers, who, having contentedly resumed their places in the
ordinary avocations of life, cherish as sacred the memory of
patriotic service, or who, having been disabled by the casualties
of war, justly regard the present pension-roll, on which appear
their names, as a roll of honor, desire, at this time and in the
present exigency, to be confounded with those who, through
such a bill as this, are willing to be objects of simple charity
and to gain a place upon the pension roll through alleged
dependence. Recent personal observation and experience constrain me
to refer to another result which will inevitably follow the
passage of this bill. It is sad, but nevertheless true, that
already in the matter of procuring pensions there exists a
widespread disregard of truth and good faith, stimulated by

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 393
these who as agents undertake to establish claims for pensions,
heedlessly entered upon by the expectant beneficiary, and
encouraged or at least not condemned by those unwilling to
obstruct a neighbor's plans.
In the execution of this proposed law, under any interpreta
tion, a wide field of inquiry would be opened for the establish
ment of facts largely within the knowledge of the claimants
alone ; and there can be no doubt that the race after the pen
sions offered by this bill would not only stimulate weakness
and pretended incapacity for labor, but put a further premium
on dishonesty and mendacity.
The effect of new invitations to apply for pensions, or of
new advantages added to causes for pensions already existing,
is sometimes startling.
Thus ia March, 1879, large arrearages of pensions were
allowed to be added to all claims filed prior to July i, 1880.
For the year from July 1, 1879, to July i, 1880, there were
filed 110,673 claims, though in the year immediately previous
there were but 36,832 filed, and in the year following but
1 8,45 5-
While cost should not be set against a patriotic duty or the
recognition of a right, still, when a measure proposed is based
upon generosity or motives of charity, it is not amiss to meditate
somewhat upon the expense which it involves. Experience
has demonstrated, I believe, that all estimates concerning the
probable future cost of a pension list are uncertain and un
reliable, and always fall far below actual realization.
The chairman of the House Committee on Pensions calcu
lates that the number of pensioners under this bill would be
33,105, and the increased cost $4,767,120; this is upon the
theory that only those who are entirely unable to work would
be its beneficiaries. Such was the principle of the Revolu
tionary pension law of 1818, much more clearly stated, it
seems to me, than in this bill. When the law of 1818 was up
on its passage in Congress the number of pensioners to be
benefited thereby was thought to be 374 ; but the number of

394 ON PENSIONS AND
applicants under the act was 22,297, and the number of pen
sions actually allowed 20,485, costing, it is reported, for the
first year, $1,847,900, instead of $40,000, the estimated expense
for that period.
A law was passed in 1853 for the benefit of the surviving
widows of Revolutionary soldiers who were married after
January i, 1800. It was estimated that they numbered 300 at
the time of the passage of the act ; but the number of pensions
allowed was 3742, and the amount paid for such pensions,
during the first year of the operation of the act, was $180,000
instead of $24,000, as had been estimated.
I have made no search for other illustrations, and the above,
being at hand, are given as tending to show that estimates can
not be relied upon in such cases.
If none should be pensioned under this bill except those
utterly unable to work, I am satisfied that the cost stated in
the estimate referred to would be many times multiplied, and
with a constant increase from year to year ; and if those
partially unable to earn their support should be admitted to
the privileges of this bill, the probable increase of expense
would be almost appalling.
I think it may be said that at the close of the AVar of the
Rebellion, every Northern State and a great majority of North
ern counties and cities were burdened with taxation on
account of the large bounties paid our soldiers ; and the
bonded debt, thereby created, still constitutes a large item in
the account of the tax-gatherer against the people. Federal
taxation, no less borne by the people than that directly levied
upon their property, is still maintained at the rate made nec
essary by the exigencies of war. If this bill should become a
law, with its tremendous addition to our pension obligation, I
am thoroughly convinced that further efforts to reduce the
Federal revenue and restore some part of it to our people, will
and perhaps should be seriously questioned.
It has constantly been a cause of pride and congratulation

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 395
to the American citizen that his country is not put to the
charge of maintaining a large standing army in time of peace.
Yet we are now living under a war tax which has been tolerated
in peaceful times to meet the obligations incurred in war. But
for years past, in all parts of the country, the demand for the
reduction of the burdens of taxation upon our labor and pro
duction has increased in volume and urgency.
I am not willing to approve a measure presenting the objec
tions to which this bill is subject, and which, moreover, will
have the effect of disappointing the expectation of the people
and their desire and hope for relief from war taxation in time
of peace.
In my last annual message the follov(?ing language was
used :
Every patriotic heart responds to a tender consideration for those who,
having served their country long and well, are reduced to destitution and
dependence, not as an incident of their service, but with advancing age or
through sickness or misfortune. We are all tempted by the contemplation of
such a condition to supply relief, and are often impatient of the limitation of
public duty. Yielding to no one in the desire to indulge this feeling of con
sideration, I cannot rid myself of the conviction that if these ex-soldiers are
to be relieved, they and their cause are entitled to the benefit of an enact
ment, under which relief may be claimed as a right, and that such relief
should be granted under the sanction of law, not in evasion of it ; nor should
such worthy objects of care, all equally entitled, be remitted to the unequal
operation of sympathy, or the tender mercies of social and political influence
with their unjust discriminations.
I do not think that the objects, the conditions, and the
limitations thus suggested are contained in the bill under
consideration. I adhere to the sentiments thus heretofore expressed. But
the evil threatened by this bill is, in my opinion, such that,
charged with a great responsibility in behalf of the people, I
cannot do otherwise than to bring to the consideration of this
measure my best efforts of thought and judgment, and perform

396 ON PENSIONS AND
my constitutional duty in relation thereto, regardless of all
consequences, except such as appear to me to be related to the
best and highest interests of the country.
Grover Cleveland.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, February 11, 1887.

VIIL

From the Message Vetoing the Lor en Burritt Pension Bill,
February 21, 1887.
This bill was reported upon adversely by the House Com
mittee on Pensions ; and they, while fully acknowledging the
distressing circumstances surrounding the case, felt constrained
to adverse action, on the ground, as stated in the language of
their report, that "there are many cases just as helpless and
requiring as much attention as this one, and were the relief
asked for granted in this instance it might reasonably be
looked for in all."
No man can check, if he would, the feeling of sympathy and
pity aroused by fhe contemplation of utter helplessness as the
result of patriotic and faithful military service. But in the
midst of all this, I cannot put out of mind the soldiers in this
condition who were privates in the ranks, who sustained the
utmost hardships of war, but who, because they were privates,
and in the humble walks of life, are not so apt to share in
special favors of Congressional action. I find no reason why
this beneficiary should be singled out from his class, except it
be that he was a lieutenant-colonel instead of a private.
I am aware of a precedent for the legislation proposed,
which is furnished by an enactment of the last session of Con
gress, to which I assented, as I think improvidently; but I am
certain that exact equality and fairness in the treatment of our
veterans is after all more just, beneficent, and useful than un
fair discrimination in favor of officers, or the special benefit,
born of sympathy, in individual cases.

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 397
IX.
Letter to the Reunion of Union and ex-Confederate Soldiers held
at Gettysburg, July 2, 1887.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, June 24, 1887.
My Dear Sir :
I have received your invitation to attend, as a guest of the
Philadelphia Brigade, a reunion of ex-Confederate soldiers of
Pickett's Division who survived their terrible charge at Get
tysburg, and those of the Union Army still living, by whom it
was heroically resisted.
The fraternal meeting of these soldiers upon the battlefield
where twenty-four years ago, in deadly affray, they fiercely
sought each other's lives, where they saw their comrades fall,
and where all their thoughts were of vengeance and destruc
tion, will illustrate the generous impulse of brave men and
their honest desire for peace and reconciliation.
The friendly assault there to be made will be resistless,
because inspired by American chivalry; and its results will be
glorious, because conquered hearts will be its trophies of
success. Thereafter this battlefield will be consecrated by a
victory which shall presage the end of the bitterness of strife,
the exposure of the insincerity which conceals hatred by pro
fessions of kindness, the condemnation of frenzied appeals to
passion for unworthy purposes, and the beating down of all
that stands in the way of the destiny of our united country.
AVhile those who fought, and who have so much to forgive,
lead in the pleasant ways of peace, how wicked appear the
traffic in sectional hate and the betrayal of patriotic senti
ment !
It surely cannot be wrong to desire the settled quiet which
lights for our entire country the path to prosperity and great
ness ; nor need the lessons of the war be forgotten and its
results jeopardized in the wish for that genuine fraternity
which insures national pride and glory.

398 ON PENSIONS AND
I should be very glad to accept your invitation and be with
you at that interesting reunion, but other arrangements already
made and my official duties here will prevent my doing so.
Hoping that the occasion will be as successful and useful as
its promoters can desire, I am, yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.
Mr. John W. Frazier, Secretary, etc.

X.
Letter to the Mayor of St. Louis, Mo.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, July 4, 1887.
Hon. David R. Francis, Mayor and Chairman.
My Dear Sir : AVhen I received the extremely cordial and
gratifying invitation from the citizens of St. Louis, tendered
by a number of her representative men, to visit that city during
the national encampment of the Grand Army of the Republic,
I had been contemplating for some time the acceptance of an
invitation from that organization to the same effect, and had
considered the pleasure which it would afford me, if it should
be possible, to meet not only members of the Grand Army, but
the people of St. Louis, and other cities in the West, which the
occasion would give me an opportunity to visit. The exac
tions of my public duties I felt to be so uncertain, however,
that, when first confronted by the delegation of which you
were the head, I expected to do no more at that time than to
promise the consideration of the double invitation tendered
me, and express the pleasure it would give me to accept the
same thereafter, if possible. But the cordiality and sincerity
of your presentation, reinforced by the heartiness of the good
people who surrounded you, so impressed me that I could not
resist the feeling which prompted me to assure you on the
spot that I would be with you and the Grand Army of the

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 399
Republic at the time designated, if nothing happened in the
meantime absolutely to prevent my leaving Washington.
Immediately upon the public announcement of this conclu
sion, expressions emanating from certain important members
of the Grand Army of the Republic, and increasing in volume
and virulence, constrained me to review my acceptance of
these invitations.
The expressions referred to go to the extent of declaring
that I would be an unwelcome guest at the time and place of
the national encampment. This statement is based, as well as
I can judge, upon certain official acts of mine, involving im
portant public interests, done under the restraints and obliga
tions of my oath of office, which do not appear to accord with
the wishes of some members of the Grand Army of the Re
public. I refuse to believe that this organization, founded upon
patriotic ideas, composed very largely of men entitled to lasting
honor and consideration, and whose crowning glory it should
be that they are American citizens as well as veteran soldiers,
deems it a part of its mission to compass any object or pur
pose by attempting to intimidate the Executive or coerce those
charged with making and executing the laws. And yet the
expressions to which I have referred indicate such a preva
lence of unfriendly feeling and such a menace to an occasion
which should be harmonious, peaceful, and cordial, that they
cannot be ignored.
I beg you to understand that I am not conscious of any act
of mine which should make me fear to meet the Grand Army
of the Republic, or any other assemblage of my fellow-citizens.
The account of my official stewardship is always ready for
presentation to my countrymen.
I should not be frank if I failed to confess, while disclaiming
all resentment, that I have been hurt by the unworthy and
wanton attacks upon me growing out of this matter, and the
reckless manner in which my actions and motives have been
misrepresented both publicly and privately, for which, how-

400 ON PENSIONS AND
ever, the Grand Army of the Republic, as a body, is by no
means responsible.
The threats of personal violence and harm, in case I under
took the trip in question, which scores of misguided, unbal
anced men under the stimulation of excited feeling have made,
are not even considered.
Rather than abandon my visit to the West and disappoint
your citizens, I might, if I alone were concerned, submit to
the insults to which, it is quite openly asserted, I would be
helplessly subjected if present at the encampment; but I
should bear with me there the people's highest office, the
dignity of which I must protect ; and I believe that neither
the Grand Army of the Republic as an organization, nor any
thing like a majority of its members, would ever encourage
any scandalous attacks upon it.
If, however, among the membership of this body there are
some, as certainly seems to be the case, determined to de
nounce me and my official acts at the national encampment, I
believe they should be permitted to do so, unrestrained by my
presence as a guest of their organization, or as a guest of the
hospitable city in which their meeting is held.
A number of Grand Army posts have signified their inten
tion, I am informed, to remain away from the encampment in
case I visit the city at that time. AVithout considering the
merits of such an excuse, I feel that I ought not to be the
cause of such non-attendance. The time and place of the en
campment were fixed long before my invitations were received.
Those desiring to participate in its proceedings should be first
regarded, and nothing should be permitted to interfere with
their intentions.
Another consideration of more importance than all others
remains to be noticed. The fact was referred to by you when
you verbally presented the invitation of the citizens of St.
Louis, that the coming encampment of the Grand Army of the
Republic would be the first held in a Southern State. I sup
pose this fact was mentioned as a pleasing indication of the

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 401
fraternal feeling fast gaining ground throughout the entire
land and hailed by every patriotic citizen as an earnest that
the Union has really and in fact been saved in sentiment and
in spirit, with all the benefits it vouchsafes to a united people.
I cannot rid myself of the belief that the least discord on
this propitious occasion might retard the progress of the senti
ment of the common brotherhood which the Grand Army of
the Republic has so good an opportunity to increase and
foster. I certainly ought not to be the cause of such discord
in any event or upon any pretext.
It seems to me that you and the citizens of St. Louis are
entitled to this unreserved statement of the conditions which
have constrained me to forego my contemplated visit, and to
withdraw my acceptance of your invitation. My presence in
your city, at the time you have indicated, can be of but little
moment compared with the importance of a cordial and har
monious entertainment of your other guests.
I assure you that I abandon my plan without the least per
sonal feeling, except regret, constrained thereto by a sense of
duty, actuated by a desire to save any embarrassment to the
people of St. Louis or their expected guests, and with a
heart full of grateful appreciation of the sincere and unaffected
kindness of your citizens.
Hoping the encampment may be an occasion of much use
fulness, and that its proceedings may illustrate tfie highest
patriotism of American citizenship,
I am. Yours very sincerely,
Grover Cleveland.

XL

From the Message Vetoing the Mary Ann Dougherty Pension
Bill, July 5, 1888.
I cannot spell out any principle upon which the bounty of
the government is bestowed through the instrumentality of

402 ON PENSIONS AND
the flood of private pension bills that reach me. The theory
seems to have been adopted that no man who served in the
army can be the subject of death or impaired health except
they are chargeable to his service. Medical theories are set
at naught and the most startling relation is claimed between
alleged incidents of military service and disability or death.
Fatal apoplexy is admitted as the result of quite insignificant
wounds, heart disease is attributed to chronic diarrhea, con
sumption to hernia, and suicide is traced to army service in a
wonderfully devious and curious way.
Adjudications of the Pension Bureau are overruled in the
most peremptory fashion by the special acts of Congress, since
nearly all the beneficiaries named in these bills have unsuccess
fully applied to that Bureau for relief.
This course of special legislation operates very unfairly.
Those with certain influence or friends to push their claims
procure pensions, and those who have neither friends nor in
fluence must be content with their fate under general laws.
It operates unfairly by increasing, in numerous instances, the
pensions of those already on the rolls, while many other more
deserving cases, from the lack of fortunate advocacy, are
obliged to be content with the sum provided by general laws.
The apprehension may well be entertained that the freedom
with which these private pension bills are passed furnishes an
inducement to fraud and imposition, while it certainly teaches
the vicious lesson to our people that the treasury of the Na
tional Government invites the approach of private need.
None of us should be in the least wanting in regard for the
veteran soldier, and I will yield to no man in a desire to see
those who defended the government when it needed defenders
liberally treated. Unfriendliness to our veterans is a charge
easily and sometimes dishonestly made.
I insist that the true soldier is a good citizen, and that he
will be satisfied with generous, fair, and equal consideration
for those who are worthily entitled to help.
I have considered the pension list of the Republic a roll of

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 403
honor, bearing names inscribed by national gratitude, and not
by improvident and indiscriminate alms-giving.
I have conceived the prevention of the complete discredit
which must ensue from the unreasonable, unfair, and reckless
granting of pensions by special acts to be the best service I
can render our veterans.
In the discharge of what has seemed to me my duty as related
to legislation and in the interests of all the veterans of the
Union Army, I have attempted to stem the tide of improvi
dent pension enactments, though I confess to a full share of
responsibility for some of these laws that should not have been
passed. I am far from denying that there are cases of merit which
cannot be reached except by special enactment ; but I do not
believe there is a member of either House of Congress who will
not admit that this kind of legislation has been carried too far.
I have now before me more than one hundred special pen
sion bills which can hardly be examined within the time allowed
for that purpose.
My aim has been at all times, in dealing with bills of this
character, to give the applicant for a pension the benefit of
any doubt that might arise and which balanced the propriety
of granting a pension, if there seemed any just foundation for
the application ; but when it seemed entirely outside of every
rule, in its nature or the proof supporting it, I have supposed
I only did my duty in interposing an objection.
It seems to me that it would be well if our general pension
laws should be revised with a view of meeting every meritor
ious case that can arise. Our experience and knowledge of
any existing deficiencies ought to make the enactment of a
complete pension code possible. In the absence of such a
revision, and if pensions are to be granted upon equitable
grounds and without regard to general laws, the present
methods would be greatly improved by the establishment of
some tribunal to examine the facts in every case and determine
upon the merits of the application.

404 ON PENSIONS AND
XII.
From the Message Vetoing the Theresa Herbst Pension Bill,
July 17, 1888,
John Herbst, the husband of the beneficiary named in this
bill, enlisted August 26, 1862. He was wounded in the
head at the battle of Gettysburg, July 2, 1863. He re
covered from this wound, and on the 19th day of August,
1864, was captured by the enemy. After his capture he
joined the Confederate forces, and in 1865 was captured by
General Stoneman, while in arms against the United States
Government. He was imprisoned and voluntarily made known
the fact that he formerly belonged to the Union Army. Upon
taking the oath of allegiance and explaining that he deserted
to the enemy to escape the hardship and starvation of prison
life, he was released and mustered out of the service on the
nth day of October, 1865.
He was regularly borne on the Confederate muster-rolls for
probably nine or ten months. No record is furnished of the
number of battles in which he fought against the soldiers of
the Union, and we shall never know the death and the wounds
which he inflicted upon his former comrades in arms. He
never applied for a pension, though it is claimed now that at
the time of his discharge he was suffering from rheumatism
and dropsy, and that he died in 1868 of heart disease. If such
disabilities were incurred in military service they were likely
the result of exposure in the Confederate Army ; but it is not
improbable that this soldier never asked a pension because he
considered that the generosity of his government had been
sufficiently taxed when the full forfeit of his desertion was not
exacted. The greatest possible sympathy and consideration are due
to those who bravely fought, and, being captured, as bravely
languished in rebel prisons. But I will take no part in putting
a name upon our pension-roll which represents a Union soldier
found fighting against a cause he swore he would uphold ;

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 405
nor should it be for a moment admitted that such desertion
and treachery are excused when they avoid the rigors of
honorable capture and confinement It would have been a
sad condition of affairs if every captured Union soldier had
deemed himself justified in fighting against his government
rather than to undergo the privations of capture.

XIIL

From the Fourth Annual Message to Congress,
December, 1888.
I am thoroughly convinced that our general pension laws
should be revised and adjusted to meet, as far as possible in
the light of our experience, all meritorious cases. The fact
that one hundred and two different rates of pensions are paid
cannot, in my opinion, be made consistent with justice to the
pensioners or to the government ; and the numerous private
pension bills that are passed, predicated upon the imperfection
of general laws, while they increase in many cases existing
inequality and injustice, lend additional force to the recom
mendation for a revision of the general laws on this subject.
The laxity of ideas prevailing among a large number of our
people regarding pensions is becoming every day more marked.
The principles upon which they should be granted are in
danger of being altogether ignored, and already pensions are
often claimed because the applicants are as much entitled as
other successful applicants, rather than upon any disability
reasonably attributable to military service. If the establish
ment of vicious precedents be continued, if the granting of
pensions be not divorced from partisan and other unworthy
and irrelevant considerations, and if the honorable name of
veteran unfairly becomes by these means but another term
for one who constantly clamors for the aid of the Government,
there is danger that injury will be done to the fame and

4o6 ON PENSIONS AND
patriotism of many whom our citizens all delight to honor,
and that a prejudice will be aroused unjust to meritorious
applicants for pensions.

XIV.
To a Pennsylvania Grand Army Post.
New York, October 24, 1889.
E. W. Fosnot, Esq.
Dear Sir : Applications such as you make in your letter of
the 22d instant are so numerous that it is impossible to comply
with them all. You ask that Mrs. Cleveland or I shall contribute
something to be " voted off " at the coming fair to be held by
Post 176, of the Grand Army of the Republic, Department of
Pennsylvania, and you state that the purpose of the fair is to in
crease the charity fund of the Post.
I do not know what your idea is as to the thing which we
should send, and do not care to assume that anything which
we might contribute to be " voted off " would be of especial
value to the cause for which the fair is to be held. But it is so
refreshing, in these days when the good that is in the Grand
Army of the Republic is often prostituted to the worst pur
poses, to know that at least one Post proposes, by its efforts,
to increase its efficiency as a charitable institution, that I
gladly send a small money contribution in aid of this object.
No one can deny that the Grand Army of the Republic has
been played upon by demagogues for partisan purposes, and
has yielded to insidious blandishments to such an extent that
it is regarded by many good citizens, whose patriotism and
fairness cannot be questioned, as an organization which has
wandered a long way from its avowed design. Whether this
idea is absolutely correct or not, such a sentiment not only
exists, but will grow and spread, unless within the organization.

TO SOLDIERS' ORGANIZATIONS. 407
something is done to prove that its objects are not partisan,
unjust and selfish.
In this country, where the success of our form of govern
ment depends upon the patriotism of all our people, the best
soldier should be the best citizen. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER XVIL
the INDIAN PROBLEM.
I.
From the First Annual Message to Congress, December, 1885.
It is useless to dilate upon the wrongs of the Indians, and as
useless to indulge in the heartless belief that, because their
wrongs are revenged in their own atrocious manner, therefore
they should be exterminated. They are within the care of our
government, and their rights are, or should be, protected from
invasion by the most solemn obHgations. They are properly
enough called the wards of the government; and it should be
borne in mind that this guardianship involves, on our part,
efforts for the improvement of their condition and the enforce
ment of their rights. There seems to be general concurrence
in the proposition that the ultimate object of their treatment
should be their civiHzation and citizenship. Fitted by these
to keep pace in the march of progress with the advanced civil
ization about them, they will readily assimilate with the mass
of our population, assuming the responsibilities and receiving
the protection incident to this condition. The difficulty
appears to be in the selection of the means to be at present
employed toward the attainment of this result.
Our Indian population, exclusive of that in Alaska, is
reported as numbering 260,000, nearly all being located on
lands set apart for their use and occupation, aggregating over
134,000,000 of acres. These lands are included in the boun
daries of 171 reservations of different dimensions, scattered in
twenty-one States and Territories, presenting great variations
in climate and in the kind and quality of their soils. Among
408

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 409
the Indians upon these several reservations there exist the most
marked differences in natural traits and disposition and in
their progress toward civilization. While some are lazy,
vicious, and stupid, others are industrious, peaceful, and
intelHgent; while a portion of them are self-supporting and
independent, and have so far advanced in civilization that they
make their own laws, administered through officers of their
own choice, and educate their children in schools of their own
establishment and maintenance, others still retain, in squalor
and dependence, almost the savagery of their natural state.
In dealing with this question the desires manifested by the
Indians should not be ignored. Here, again, we find a great
diversity. With some the tribal relation is cherished with the
utmost tenacity, while its hold upon others is considerably
relaxed ; the love of home is strong with all, and yet there are
those whose attachment to a particular locality is by no means
unyielding; the ownership of their lands in severalty is much
desired by some, while by others, and sometimes among the
most civilized, such a distribution would be bitterly opposed.
The variation of their wants, growing out of and connected
with the character of their several locations, should be
regarded. Some are upon reservations most fit for grazing,
but without flocks or herds; and some, on arable land, have
no agricultural implements; while some of the reservations are
double the size necessary to maintain the number of Indians
now upon them; in a few cases, perhaps, they should be
enlarged. Add to all this the difference in the administration of the
agencies. While the same duties are devolved upon ad, the
disposition of the agents, and the manner of their contact with
the Indians, have much to do with their condition and welfare.
The agent who perfunctorily performs his duty and slothfully
neglects all opportunity to advance their moral and physical
improvement, and fails to inspire them with a desire for better
things, win accompHsh nothing in the direction of their civili
zation, while he who feels the burden of an important trust.

410 THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
and has an interest in his work, will, by consistent example,
firm, yet considerate treatment, and well-directed aid and
encouragement, constantly lead those under his charge toward
the light of their enfranchisement.
The history of all the progress which has been made in the
civilization of the Indian, I think will disclose the fact that the
beginning has been religious teaching, followed by or accom
panying secular education. While the self-sacrificing and
pious men and women who have aided in this good work, by
their independent endeavor, have for their reward the benefi
cent results of their labor and the consciousness of Christian
duty well performed, their valuable services should be fully
acknowledged by all who, under the law, are charged with the
control and management of our Indian wards.
What has been said indicates that, in the present condition of
the Indians, no attempt should be made to apply a fixed and
unyielding plan of action to their varied and varying needs
and circumstances.
The Indian Bureau, burdened as it is with their general
oversight and with the details of the establishment, can hardly
possess itself of the minute phases of the particular cases need
ing treatment; and thus the propriety of creating an instru
mentality auxiliary to those already established for the care of
the Indians suggests itself.
I recommend the passage of a law authorizing the appoint
ment of six commissioners, three of whom shall be detailed
from the Army, to be charged with the duty of a careful
inspection from time to time of all the Indians upon our reser
vations or subject to the care and control of the government,
with a \i&N of discovering their exact condition and needs,
and determining what steps shall be taken on behalf of the
government to improve their situation in the direction of their
self-support and complete civilization; that they ascertain from
such inspection what, if any, of the reservations may be
reduced in area, and in such cases what part, not needed for
Indian occupation, may be purchased by the government from

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 411
the Indians, and disposed of for their benefit ; what, if any,
Indians may, with their consent, be removed to other reserva
tions, with a view of their concentration and the sale on their
behalf of their abandoned reservations; what Indian lands now
held in common should be allotted in severalty; in what man
ner and to what extent the Indians upon the reservations can
be placed under the protection of our laws and subjected to
their penalties; and which, if any, Indians should be invested
with the right of citizenship. The powers and functions of the
commissioners in regard to these subjects should be clearly
defined, though they should, in conjunction with the Secre
tary of the Interior, be given all the authority to deal defi
nitely with the questions presented, deemed safe and consis
tent. They should be also charged with the duty of ascertaining
the Indians who might properly be furnished with implements
of agriculture, and of what kind; in what cases the support of
the government should be withdrawn ; where the present plan
of distributing Indian supplies should be changed; where
schools may be established and where discontirfued; the con
duct, methods, and fitness of agents in charge of reservations;
the extent to which such reservations are occupied or intruded
upon by unauthorized persons; and generally all matters re
lated to the welfare and improvement of the Indian.
They should advise with the Secretary of the Interior con
cerning these matters of detail in management, and he should
be given power to deal with them fully, if he is not now
invested with such power.
This plan contemplates the selection of persons for commis
sioners who are interested in the Indian question, and who
have practical ideas upon the subject of their treatment.
The expense of the Indian Bureau during the last fiscal year
was more than $6,500,000. I believe much of this expendi
ture might be saved under the plan proposed ; that its econom
ical effects would be increased with its continuance; that the
safety of our frontier setUers would be subserved under its

412 THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
operation, and that the nation would be saved through its
results from the imputation of inhumanity, injustice, and mis
management.

IL
From the Second Annual Message, December, 1886.
The present system of agencies, while absolutely necessary
and well adapted for the management of our Indian affairs and
for the ends in view when it was adopted, is, in the present
stage of Indian management, inadequate, standing alone, for
the accomplishment of an object which has become pressing
in its importance — the more rapid transition from tribal organ
izations to citizenship of such portions of the Indians as are
capable of civilized life.
When the existing system was adopted the Indian race was
outside of the limits of organized States and Territories, and
beyond the immediate reach and operation of civilization; and
all efforts were mainly directed to the maintenance of friendly
relations and the preservation of peace and quiet on the fron
tier. All this is now changed. There is no such thing as the
Indian frontier. Civilization, with the busy hum of industry
and the influences of Christianity, surrounds these people at
every point. None of the tribes is outside of the bounds of
organized government and society, except that the territorial
system has not been extended over that portion of the country
known as the Indian Territory. As a race the Indians are no
longer hostile, but may be considered as submissive to the con
trol of the government; few of them only are troublesome.
Except the fragments of several bands, all are now gathered
upon reservations.
It is no longer possible for them to subsist by the chase and
the spontaneous productions of the earth. With an abundance
of land, if furnished with the means and implements for profit
able husbandry, their life of entire dependence upon govern-

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 413
ment rations from day to day is no longer defensible. Their
inclination, long fostered by a defective system of control, is
to cling to the habits and customs of their ancestors and strug
gle with persistence against the change of life which their
altered circumstances press upon them. But barbarism and
civilization cannot live together. It is impossible that such
incongruous conditions should coexist on the same soil.
They are a portion of our people, are under the authority of
our government, and have a peculiar claim upon, and are
entitled to, the fostering care and protection of the nation.
The government cannot relieve itself of this responsibility until
they are so far trained and civilized as to be able wholly to
manage and care for themselves. The paths in which they
should walk must be clearly marked out for them, and- they
must be led or guided until they are familiar with the way and
competent to assume the duties and responsibilities of our citi
zenship. Progress in this great work will continue only at the present
slow pace and at great expense, unless the system and methods
of management are improved to meet the changed conditions
and urgent demands of the service.
The agents having general charge and supervision in many
cases of more than 5000 Indians, scattered over large reserva
tions, and burdened with the details of accountability for funds
and supplies, have time to look after the industrial training and
. improvement of a few Indians only; the many are neglected
and remain idle and dependent — conditions not favorable for
progress in civilization.
The compensation allowed these agents and the conditions
of the service are not calculated to secure for the work men
who are fitted by abiHty and skill to plan properly and direct
intelHgently the methods best adapted to produce the most
speedy results and permanent benefits. Hence the necessity
for a supplemental agency or system, directed to the end of pro
moting the general and more rapid transition of the tribes from
habits and customs of barbarism to the ways of civiHzation.

414 THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
With an anxious desire to devise some plan of operation by
which to secure the welfare of the Indians, and to relieve the
Treasury as far as possible from the support of an idle and
dependent population, I recommended in my previous annual
message the passage of a law authorizing the appointment of a
commission, as an instrumentality auxiliary to those already
established, for the care of the Indians. It was designed that
this commission should be composed of six intelligent and
capable persons— three to be detailed from the Army— having
practical ideas upon the subject of the treatment of Indians,
and interested in their welfare ; and that it should be charged,
under the direction of the Secretary of the Interior, with the
management of such matters of detail as cannot, with the pres
ent organization, be properly and successfully conducted, and
which present different phases, as the Indians themselves
differ, in their progress, needs, disposition, and capacity for
improvement or immediate self-support.
By the aid of such a commission much unwise and useless
expenditure of money, waste of materials, and unavailing
effort might be avoided; and it is hoped that this, or some
measure which the wisdom of Congress may better devise to
supply the deficiency of the present system, may receive your
consideration, and the appropriate legislation be provided.
The time is ripe for the work of such an agency. There is
less opposition to the education and training of the Indian
youth, as shown by the increased attendance upon the 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

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 415
making aHotments on some of the reservations, and on others
the aUotments provided for are so smaU that the Indians,
though ready and desiring to setde down, are not wilHng 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.
These inequaHties of existing special laws and treaties should
be corrected, and some general legislation on the subject
should be provided, so that the more progressive members of
the different tribes may be settled upon homesteads, and by
their example lead others to follow, breaking away from tribal
customs and substituting therefor the love of home, the inter
est of the famdy, and the rule of the State.
The Indian character and nature are such that they are not
easily led while brooding over unadjusted wrongs. This is
especially so regarding their lands. Matters arising from the
construction and operation of railroads across some of the
reservations, and claims of title and right of occupancy set up
by white persons to some of the best land within other reserva
tions, require legislation for their final adjustment.
The settlement of these matters will remove many embar-
rassmaits to progress in the work of leading the Indians to the
adoption of our institutions and bringing them under the oper
ation, the influence, and the protection of the universal laws
of our country.

III.
Text-books in Indian Schools.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 29, 1888.
Rev. James Morrow, D. D. :
My Dear Sir: I have received from you certain resolutions
passed at the Annual Conference of the Methodist Episcopal
Church held at Philadelphia on. the 20th instant. I am not
informed how to address a response to the officers of the con-

41 6 THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
ference who have signed these resolutions, and for that reason
I transmit my reply to you.
The action taken by this assemblage of Christian men has
greatly surprised and disappointed me. They declare "that
this conference earnestly protests against the recent action of
the government excluding the use of native languages in the
education of the Indians, and especially the exclusion of the
Dakota Bible among those tribes where it was formerly used.
That, while admitting that there are advantages in teaching
English to the Indians, to compel them to receive all religious
instruction in that language would practically hinder their re
ceiving it in the most effective way, as the line of power travels
with the human heart, and the heart of the Indian is in his lan
guage. That it is in harmony with the genius of our country
— a free church in a free state — that the operations of all
missionary societies should be untrammeled by state inter
ferences." The rules of the Indian Bureau upon the subject referred
to are as follows :
First. No text-books in the vernacular will be allowed in
any school where children are placed under contract or where
the government contributes in any manner whatever 'to the
support of the school. No oral instruction in the vernacular
will be allowed at such schools. The entire curriculum must
be in the English language.
Second. The vernacular may be used in missionary schools
only for oral instruction in morals and religion, where it is
deemed to be an auxiliary to the English language in convey
ing such instruction ; and only native Indian teachers will be
permitted to teach otherwise in any Indian vernacular ; and
these native teachers will only be allowed so to teach in
schools not supported in whole or in part by the government,
and at remote points, where there are no government or con
tract schools where the English language is taught These
native teachers are only allowed to teach in the vernacular
with a view of reaching those Indians who cannot have the

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 417
advantages of instruction in English, and such instruction
must give way to the English-teaching schools as soon as they
are established where the Indians can have access to them.
Third. A limited theological class of Indian young men may
be trained in the vernacular at any purely missionary school
supported exclusively by missionary societies, the object
being to prepare them for the ministry, whose subsequent
work shall be confined to preaching, unless they are employed
as teachers in remote settlements where English schools are
inaccessible. Fourth. These rules are not intended to prevent the posses
sion or use by any Indian of the Bible published in the ver
nacular, but such possession or use shall not interfere with the
teachers of the English language to the extent and in the manner
herein before directed.
The government seeks, in its management of the Indians,
to civilize them, and to prepare them for that contact with the
world which necessarily accompanies civilization. Manifestly,
nothing is more important to the Indian, from this point of
view, than a knowledge of the English language. All the
efforts of those having the matter in charge tend to the
ultimate mixture of the Indians with our other people, thus
making one community equal in all those things which pertain
to American citizenship.
But this ought not to be done while the Indians are entirely
ignorant of the English language. It seems to me it would be
a cruel mockery to send them out into the world without this
shield from imposition and without this weapon to force their
way to self-support and independence.
Nothing can be more consistent, then, than to insist upon
the teaching of English in our Indian schools. It will not do
to permit these wards of the nation, in their preparation to
become their own masters, to indulge .in their barbarous lan
guage because it is easier for them or because it pleases them.
The action of the conference, therefore, surprises me, if by it
they mean to protest against such exclusion as is prescribed in

41 8 THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
the order. It will be observed that "text-books in the vernac
ular" are what are prohibited, and "oral instruction"; the
' 'entire curriculum" must be in English. These are the terms
used to define the elements of an ordinary secular education
and do not refer to religious or moral teaching. Secular
teaching is the object of the ordinary government schools; but
surely there can be no objection to reading a chapter in the
Bible in English, or in Dakota if English could not be under
stood, at the daily opening of those schools, as is done in very
many other well-regulated secular schools. It may be, too,
that the use of words in the vernacular may be sometimes nec
essary to aid in communicating a knowledge of the English
language ; but the use of the vernacular should not be encour
aged or continued beyond the limit of such necessity; and the
"text-books," the "oral instruction" in a general sense, and
the "curriculum" certainly should be in English. In mission
ary schools moral and religious instruction may be given in the
vernacular ' as an auxiliary to English in conveying such
instruction. Here, while the desirability of some instruction
in morals and religion is recognized, the extreme value of
learning the English language is not lost sight of. And the
provision which follows, that only native teachers shall "other
wise" — that is, except for moral or religious instruction —
teach the vernacular, and onlydn remote places and until gov
ernment or contract schools are established, is in exact keeping
with the purpose of the government to exclude the Indian
languages from the schools so far as is consistent with a due
regard for the continuance of moral and religious teaching in
the missionary schools, and except in such cases as the exclu
sion would result in the entire neglect of secular for other
instruction. Provision is made in the rules for the theological training of
young men in missionary schools to fit them as Indian preach
ers, and the possession and use of the Bible, so far as they do
not interfere with the secular English teaching insisted upon,
are especially secured.

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 419
I cannot believe that these rules of the Indian Bureau were
at hand when the resolutions before me were adopted. If
they were I think they were strangely misunderstood, though
the mild admission that "there are advantages in teaching
English to the Indians" indicates that there is a wide differ
ence between those who appear cautiously to make such an
admission and the many others interested in Indian improve
ment who deem such teaching the paramount object of imme
diate effort.
The rules referred to have been modified and changed in
their phraseology, to meet the views of good men who seek to aid
the government in its benevolent intentions, until it was sup
posed their meaning was quite plain and their purpose satis
factory. There need be no fear that in their execution they will
at all interfere with the plans of those who sensibly desire the
improvement and welfare of the Indians. At any rate, until
it is demonstrated that these rules operate as impediments to
Indian advancement they will be adhered to, while the govern
ment will continue to invoke the assistance of all Christian
people and organizations in this very important and interesting
part of labor intrusted to it.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

IV.
From the Fourth Annual Message, December, 1888.
The condition of our Indian population continues to
improve, and the proofs multiply that the transforming change,
so much to be desired, which shall substitute for barbarism
enlightenment and civilizing education, is in favorable prog
ress. Our relations with these people during the year have
been disturbed by no serious disorders, but rather marked by
a better realization of their true interests, and increasing con
fidence and good-will. These conditions testify to the value

420 THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
of the higher tone of consideration and humanity which has
governed the later methods of dealing with them, and com
mend its continued observance.
Allotments in severalty have been made on some reserva
tions until all those entitled to land thereon Jiave had their
shares assigned, and the work is still continued. In directing
the execution of this duty I have not aimed so much at rapid
dispatch as to secure just and fair arrangements which shall
best conduce to the objects of the law, by producing satisfac
tion with the results of the allotments made. No measure of
general effect has ever been entered on from which more may
be fairly hoped, if it shall be discreetly administered. It
proffers opportunity and inducement to that independence of
spirit and life which the Indian peculiarly needs, while at
the same time the inalienability of title affords security against
the risks his inexperience of affairs or weakness of character
may expose him to in dealing with others. AA^lienever begun
upon any reservation it should be made complete, so that all
are brought to the same condition, and, as soon as possible,
community in lands should cease by opening such as remain
unallotted to settlement. Contact with the ways of industrious
and successful farmers will, perhaps, add a healthy emulation
which will both instruct and stimulate.
But no agency for the amelioration of this people appears to
me so promising as the extension, urged by the Secretary, of
such complete facilities of education as shall, at the earliest
possible day, embrace the teachable Indian youth, of both
sexes, and retain them with a kindly and beneficent hold until
their characters are formed and their faculties and dispositions
trained to the sure pursuit of some form of useful industry.
Capacity of the Indian no longer needs demonstration. It is
established. It remains to make the most of it, and when
that shall be done the curse will be lifted, the Indian race
saved, and the sin of their oppression redeemed. The time of
its accomplishment depends upon the spirit and justice with

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 421
which it shall be prosecuted. It cannot be too soon for the
Indian, nor for the interests and good name of the nation.
The average attendance of Indian pupils on the schools
increased by over 900 during the year, and the total enrollment
reached 15,212. The cost of maintenance was not materially
raised. The number of teachable Indian youth is now esti
mated at 40,000, or nearly three times the enrollment of the
schools. It is believed that the obstacles in the way of instruct
ing are all surmountable, and that the necessary expenditure
would be a measure of economy.
The Sioux tribes on the great reservation of Dakota refused
to assent to the act passed by the Congress at its last session
for opening a portion of their lands to settlement, notwith
standing modification of the terms was suggested which met
most of their objections. Their demand is for immediate pay
ment of the full price of $1.25 per acre for the entire body of
land the occupancy of which they are asked to relinqiiish.
The manner of submission insured their fair understanding
of the law, and their action was undoubtedly as thoroughly
intelHgent as their capacity admitted. It is at least gratifying
that no reproach of overreaching can in any manner lie against
the government, however advisable the favorable completion
of the negotiation may have been esteemed.
I concur in the suggestions of the Secretary regarding the
Turtle Mountain Indians, the two reservations in California,
and the Crees. They should, in my opinion, receive immediate
attention. The Apache Indians, whose removal from their reservation
in Arizona followed the capture of those of their number who
engaged in a bloody and murderous raid during a part of the
years 1885 and 1886, are now held as prisoners of war at
Mount Vernon barracks, in the State of Alabama. They
numbered, on the 31st day of October, the date of the last re
port, 83 men, 1 70 women, 70 boys, and 59 girls, in all 382 persons.
The commanding officer states that they are in good health

422 THE INDIAN PROBLEM.
and contented, and that they are kept employed as fully as is
possible in the circumstances. The children, as they arrive
at a suitable age, are sent to the Indian schools at Carlisle
and Hampton. Last summer some charitable and kind peo
ple asked permission to send two teachers to these Indians, for
the purpose of instructing the adults as well as such children
as should be found there. Such permission was readily
granted, accommodations were provided for the teachers, and
some portions of the buildings at the barracks were made
available for school purposes. The good work contemplated
has been commenced, and the teachers engaged are paid by
the ladies with whom the plan originated.
I am not at all in sympathy with those benevolent but in
judicious people who are constantl)'' insisting that these Indians
should be returned to their reservation. Their removal was an
absolute necessity if the lives and property of citizens upon
the frontier are to be at all regarded by the government.
Their continued restraint, at a distance from the scene of their
repeated and cruel murders and outrages, is still necessary. It
isamistaken philanthropy, every way injurious, which prompts
the desire to see these savages returned to their old haunts.
They are in their present location as the result of the best
judgment of those having official responsibility in the matter,
and who are by no means lacking in kind consideration for
the Indians. A number of these prisoners have forfeited their
lives to outraged law and humanity. Experience has proved
that they are dangerous and cannot be trusted. This is true
not only of those who, on the warpath, have heretofore actually
been guilty of atrocious murder, but of their kindred and
friends, who, while they remained upon their reservation, fur
nished aid and comfort to those absent with bloody in
tent ?
These prisoners should be treated kindly and kept in re
straint far from the locality of their former reservation ; they
should be subjected to efforts calculated to lead to their im
provement and the softening of their savage and cruel instincts,

THE INDIAN PROBLEM. 423
but their return to their old home should be persistently
restricted. The Secretary in his report gives a graphic history of these
Indians, and recites with painful vividness their bloody deeds
and the unhappy failure of the government to manage them
by peaceful means. It will be amazing if a perusal of this
history will allow the survival of a desire forthe return of these
prisoners to their reservation upon sentimental or any other
grounds.

CHAPTER XVIII.
THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
I.
From the First Annual Message, December, 1885.
The public domain had its origin in cessions of land by the
States to the general government. The first cession was
made by the State of New York, and the largest, which in
area exceeded all the others, by the State of Virginia. The
territory, the proprietorship of which became thus vested in
the general government, extended from the western line of
Pennsylvania to the Mississippi River. These patriotic dona
tions of the States were encumbered with no condition, except
that they should be held and used ' 'for the common benefit of
the United States." By purchase, with the common fund of
all the people, additions were made to this domain until it
extended to the northern line of Mexico, the Pacific Ocean,
and the Polar Sea. The original trust, "for the common
benefit of the United States, ' ' attached to all. In the execu
tion of that trust the policy of many homes, rather than large
estates, was adopted by the government. That these might be
easily obtained, and be the abode of security and contentment,
the laws for their acquisition were few, easily understood, and
general in their character. But the pressure of local interests,
combined with a speculative spirit, has in many instances
procured the passage of laws which marred the harmony of
the general plan, and encumbered the system with a multitude
of general and special enactments, which render the land laws
complicated, subject the titles to uncertainty, and the purchas
ers often to oppression and wrong. Laws which were intended

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 425
for the "common benefit" have been perverted so that large
quantities of land are vesting in single ownerships. From the
multitude and character of the laws, this consequence seems
incapable of correction by mere administration.
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 orig
inal policy, which encouraged many purchasers of these lands
for homes and discouraged the massing of large areas. Exclu
sive of Alaska, about three-fifths of the national domain have
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.

IL
From the Second Annual Message, December, 1886.
The recommendations of the Secretary of the Interior and
the Commissioner of the General Land Office looking to the
better protection of public lands and of the pubHc surveys, the
preservation of national forests, the adjudication of grants to
States and corporations and of private land claims, and the
increased efficiency of the public-land service, are commended
to the attention of Congress. To secure the widest distribu
tion of public lands in limited quantities among setders for

426 THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
residence and cultivation, and thus make the greatest number
of individual homes, was the primary object of the public-land
legislation in the early days of the republic. This system was
a simple one. It commenced with an admirable scheme of
public surveys, by which the humblest citizen could identify
the tract upon which he wished to establish his home. The
price of lands was placed within the reach of all the enterpris
ing, industrious, and honest pioneer citizens of the country.
It was soon, however, found that the object of the laws was
perverted, under the system of cash sales, from a distribution
of land among the people to an accumulation of land capital
by wealthy and speculative persons. To check this tendency
a preference right of purchase was given to settlers on the land,
a plan which culminated in the general Pre-emption Act of 1841.
The foundation of this system was actual residence and
cultivation. Twenty years later the homestead law was devised
more surely to place actual homes in the possession of actual
cultivators of the soil. The land was given without price, the
sole conditions being residence, improvement, and cultivation.
Other laws have followed, each designed to encourage the
acquirement and use of land in limited individual quantities.
But in later years these laws, through vicious administrative
methods and under changed conditions of communication and
transportation, have been so evaded and violated that their
beneficent purpose is threatened with entire defeat. The
methods of such evasions and violations are set forth in detail
in the reports of the Secretary of the Interior and Commissioner
of the General Land Office. The rapid appropriation of our
public lands without bona fide settlement or cultivation, and
not only without intention of residence, but for the purpose
of their aggregation in large holdings, in many cases in the
hands of foreigners, invites the serious and immediate attention
of Congress.
The energies of the land department have been devoted,
during the present administration, to remedy defects and cor
rect abuses in the public-land service. The results of these

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 427
efforts are so largely in the nature of reforms in the processes
and methods of our land system as to prevent adequate esti
mate; but it appears, by a compilation from the reports of the
Commissioner of the General Land Office, that the immediate
effect in leading cases, which have come to a final termination,
has been the restoration to the mass of public lands of
2,750,000 acres; that 2, 370, 000 "acres are embraced in investi
gations now pending before the Departments or the courts, and
that the action of Congress has been asked to effect the res
toration of 2,790,000 acres additional; besides which four
million acres have been withheld from reservation, and the
rights of entry thereon maintained.
I recommend the repeal of the Pre-emption and Timber-
culture Acts, and that the homestead laws be so amended as
better to secure compliance with their requirements of resi
dence, improvement, and cultivation for the period of five years
from date of entry, without commutation or provision for
speculative relinquishment. I also recommend the repeal of
the desert-land laws unless it shall be the pleasure of the Con
gress so to amend these laws as to render them less liable to
abuses. As the chief motive for an evasion of the laws, and
the principal cause of their result in land accumulation instead
of land distribution, is the facility with which transfers are
made of the right intended to be secured to settlers, it may be
deemed advisable to provide by legislation some guards and
checks upon the alienation of homestead rights and lands cov
ered thereby until patents issue.

III.
The Rights of Settlers.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, Aprd 25, 1887.
To THE Secretary of the Interior:
Dear Sir : I have examined with much care and interest
the questions involved in the conflicting claims of Guilford

428 THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
Miller and the Northern Pacific Railroad Company to certain
public land in Washington Territory. The legal aspects of
the case have been examined and passed upon by several offi
cers' of the government, who do not agree in their conclu
sions. Miller claims to be a settler upon the land in question,
whose possession dates from 1878. He alleges that he has
made substantial improvements upon this land and cultivated
the same, and it appears that he filed his claim to the same,
under the homestead law, on the 29th day of December, 1884.
The railroad company contends that this land is within the
territory or area from which it was entitled to select such a
quantity of public land as might be necessary to supply any
deficiency that should be found to exist in the specific land
mentioned in a grant by the government to said company in
aid of the construction of its road, such deficiency being con
templated as likely to arise from the paramount right of private
parties and settlers within the territory embracing said granted
lands, and that the land in dispute was thus selected by the
company on the 19th day of December, 1883.
A large tract, including this land, was withdrawn, by an
order of the Interior Department, from sale and from pre
emption and homestead entry in 1872, in anticipation of the
construction of said railroad and a deficiency in its granted
lands. In 1880, upon the filing of a map of definite location
of the road, the land in controversy, and much more which
had been so withdrawn, was found to lie outside of the limits
which included the granted land ; but its withdrawal and reser
vation from settlement and entry under our land laws was
continued upon the theory that it was within the limits of
indemnity lands which might be selected by the company, as
provided in the law making the grant.
The legal points in this controversy turned upon the validity
and effect of the withdrawal and reservation of this land and
the continuance thereof. The Attorney-General is of the
opinion that such withdrawal and reservation were at all times

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 429
effectual, and that they operated to prevent Miller from ac
quiring any interest in or right to the land claimed by
him. With this interpretation of the law and the former orders
and action of the Interior Department, it will be seen that their
effect has been the withdrawal and reservation since 1872 of
thousands, if not millions, of acres of these lands from the
operation of the land laws of the United States, thus placing
them beyond the reach of our citizens desiring under such laws
to settle and make homes upon the same, and that this has
been done for the benefit of a railroad company having no
fixed, certain, or definite interests in such lands. In this
manner the beneficent policy and intention of the government
in relation to the public domain have for all these years to that
extent been thwarted.
There seems to be no evidence presented showing how
much, if any, of this vast tract is necessary for the fulfillment
of the grant to the railroad company, nor does there appear to
be any limitation of the time within which this fact should be
made known and the corporation obliged to make its selection.
After a lapse of fifteen years this large body of the public
domain is still held in reserve, to the exclusion of settlers, for
the convenience of a corporate beneficiary of the government,
and awaiting its selection, though it is entirely certain that
much of this reserved land can never be honestly claimed by
such corporation.
Such a condition of the public lands should no longer con
tinue. So far as it is the result of executive rules and meth
ods, these should be abandoned, and so far as it is a conse
quence of improvident laws, these should be repealed or
amended. Our public domain is our national wealth, the earnest of our
growth and the heritage of our people. It should promise
limitless development and riches, reHef to a crowding popula
tion, and homes to thrift and industry.
These inestimable advantages should be jealously guarded,

430 THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
and a careful and enlightened poHcy on the part of the govern
ment should secure them to the people.
In the case under consideration I assume that there is an
abundance of land within the area which has been reserved for
indemnity, in which no citizen or settler has a legal or equita
ble interest, for all purposes of such indemnification to this
railroad company, if its grant has not already been satisfied.
I understand, too, that selections made by such corporation
are not complete and effectual until the same have been
approved by the Secretary of the Interior, or unless they are
made, in the words of the statute, under his direction.
You have thus far taken no action in this matter, and it
seems to me that you are in a condition to deal with the sub
ject in such a manner as to protect this settler from hardship
and loss.
I transmit herewith the papers and documents relating to the
case, which were submitted to me at my request.
I suggest that you exercise the power and authority you have
in the premises, upon equitable considerations, with every
presumption and intendment in favor of the settler; and in
case you find this corporation is entitled to select any more of
these lands than it has already acquired, that you direct it to
select, in lieu of the land upon which Mr. Miller has settled,
other land within the limits of this indemnity reservation, upon
which neither he nor any other citizen has in good faith settled
or made improvements.
I call your attention to sections 2450 and 2451 of the
Revised Statutes of the United States, as pointing out a mode
of procedure which may, perhaps, be resorted to, if necessary,
for the purpose of reaching a just and equitable disposition of
the case.
The suggestions herein contained can, I' believe, be adopted
without disregarding or calling in question the opinion of the
Attorney-General upon the purely legal propositions which were
submitted to him. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

THE PUBLIC DOMAIN. 431
IV.
From the Fourth Annual Message, December, 1888.
I cannot too strenuously insist upon the importance of
proper measures to insure a right disposition of our public
lands, not only as a matter of present justice, but in forecast
of the consequences to future generations. The broad rich
acres of our agricultural plains have been long preserved by
nature to become her untrammeled gift to a people civiHzed
and free, upon which should rest, in weH-distributed owner
ship, the numerous homes of enlightened, equal, and frater
nal citizens. They came to national possession with the
warning example in our eyes of the entail of iniquities in
landed proprietorship which other countries have permitted
and still suffer. We have no excuse for the violation of prin
ciples, cogently taught by reason and example, nor for the
allowance of pretexts which have sometimes exposed our lands
to colossal greed. Laws which open a door to fraudulent
acquisition, or administration which permits favor to rapacious
seizure by a favored few of expanded areas that many should
enjoy, are accessory to offenses against our national welfare
and humanitj'', not to be too severely condemned or punished.
It is gratifying to know that something has been done at last
to redress the injuries to our people and check the perilous
tendency of the reckless waste of the national domain. That
over eighty million acres have been arrested from illegal
usurpation, improvident grants, and fraudulent entries and
claims, to be taken for the homesteads" of honest industry —
although less than the greater areas thus unjustly lost — must
afford a profound gratification to right-feeling citizens as it is a
recompense for the labors and struggles of the recovery. Our
dear experience ought sufficiently to urge the speedy enact
ment of measures of legislation which will confine the future
disposition of our remaining agricultural lands to the uses of
actual husbandry and genuine homes.
Nor should our vast tracts of so-called desert lands be
yielded up to the monopoly of corporations or grasping indi-

432 THE PUBLIC DOMAIN.
viduals, as appears to be much the tendency under the existing
statute. These lands require but the supply of water to
become fertile and productive. It is a problem of great
moment how most wisely for the public good that factor shall
be furnished. I cannot but think it perilous to suffer either
these lands or the sources of their irrigation to fall into the
hands of monopolies, which, by such means, may exercise lord
ship over the areas dependent on their treatment for pro
ductiveness. Already steps have been taken to secure accu
rate and scientific information of the conditions, which are the
prime basis of intelligent action. Until this shall be gained,
the course of wisdom appears clearly to lie in a suspension of
further disposal, which only promises to create rights antago
nistic to the common interest. No. harm can follow this
cautionary conduct. The land will remain, and the public
good presents no demand for hasty dispossession of national
ownership and control.

CHAPTER XIX.
some notable vetoes.
I.
Of an Appropriation for Celebrating Decoration Day*
Buffalo, May 8, 1882.
To THE Common Council :
At the last session of your honorable body a resolution was
adopted directing the city clerk to draw a warrant for five hun
dred dollars in the favor of the Firemen's Benevolent Associa
tion. This action is not only clearly unauthorized, but it is dis
tinctly prohibited by the following clause of the State Con
stitution :
No county, city, town or village shall hereafter give any money or prop
erty, or loan its money or credit to, or in aid of any individual, association
or corporation, or become directly or indirectly the owner of stock in or bonds
of any association or corporation ; nor shall any such county, city, town, or

* While the ordinance making this appropriation was still pending Mr.
Cleveland wrote the following letter to the Chairman of the Committee hav
ing the matter in charge : Buffalo, May 7, 1882.
John M. Farquhar, Esq.
Dear Sir : I have tried very hard, but failed to find a way, consistently to
approve the resolution of the Common Council appropriating $500 for the
observance of Decoration day.
If my action has the effect of stopping the payment of this sum for the
purpose, and you attempt to raise the necessary sum by subscription, you
may call on me for $50. Yours very truly, Grover Cleveland.

434 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
village be allowed to incur any indebtedness, except for county, city, town, or
village purposes.
At the same meeting of your honorable body the following
resolution was passed :
That the City Clerk be and is hereby directed to draw a warrant on the
Fourth of July Fund for five hundred dollars, to the order of J. S. Edwards,
Chairman of the Decoration Day Committee of the Grand Army of the Repub
lic, for the purpose of defraying the expenses attending a proper observance
of Decoration day.
I have taxed my ingenuity to discover a way consistently to
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
section of the charter of the city which makes it a misdemeanor
to appropriate money raised for one purpose to any other ob
ject. 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 memory of
their fallen comrades certainly deserve the aid and encourage
ment of their fellow-citizens. We should all, I think, feel it a
duty and a privilege to contribute to the funds necessary to
carry out such a purpose. And I should be much disappointed
if an appeal to our citizens for voluntary subscription for this
patriotic object should be in vain.
But the money so contributed should be a free gift of the
citizens and taxpayers, and should not be extorted from them
by taxation. This is so, because the purpose for which this
money is asked does not involve their protection or interest as
members of the community, and it may or may not be approved
by them.
The people are forced to pay taxes into the city treasury
only upon the theory that such money shall be expended for

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 435
public purposes, or purposes in which they all have a direct
and practical interest.
The logic of this position leads directly to the conclusion
that, if the people are forced to pay their money into the pub
Hc fund and it is spent by their servants and agents for piirposes
in which the people as taxpayers have no interest, the exaction
of such taxes from them is oppressive and unjust
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 put into our hands to be conducted on business prin
ciples. 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
referred to without my approval.
Grover Cleveland.

II.
Of a Street Cleaning Contract, as Mayor of Buffalo,
June 26, 1882.
To THE Common Council :
I return without my approval the resolution of your honor
able body, passed at its last meeting, awarding the contract
for cleaning the paved streets and alleys of the city for the
ensuing five years to George Talbot at his bid of four hundred
and twenty-two thousand and five hundred dollars.
The bid thus accepted by your honorable body is more than
one hundred thousand dollars higher than that of another per
fectly responsible party for the same work ; and a worse and
more suspicious feature in this transaction is that the bid now
accepted is fifty thousand dollars more than that made by
Talbot himself within a very few weeks, openly and publicly,
to your honorable body, for performing precisely the same
services. This latter circumstance is to my mind the manifes-

436 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
tation on the part of the contractor of a reliance upon the
forbearance and generosity of your honorable body, which
would be more creditable if it were less expensive to the tax
payers. I am' not aware that any excuse is offered for the acceptance
of this proposal, thus increased, except the very flimsy one
that the lower bidders cannot afford to do the work for the
sums they name.
This extreme tenderness and consideration for those who
desire to contract with the city, and this touching and paternal
solicitude lest they should be improvidently led into a bad
bargain is, I am sure, an exception to general business rules,
and seems to have no place in this selfish, sordid world, except
as found in the administration of municipal affairs.
The charter of your city requires that the Mayor, when he
disapproves any resolution of your honorable body, shall return
the same with his objections.
This is a time for plain speech, and my objection to the
action of your honorable body now under consideration shall
be plainly stated. I withhold my assent from the same,
because I regard it as the culmination of a most barefaced,
impudent, and shameless scheme to betray the interests of the
people and worse than to squander the public money.
I will not be misunderstood in this matter. There are
those whose votes were given for this resolution whom I
cannot and will not suspect of a willful neglect of the interests
they are sworn to protect ; but it has been fully demon
strated that there are influences, both in and about your
honorable body, which it behooves every honest man to
watch and avoid with the greatest care.
When cool judgment rules the hour, the people will, I hope
and believe, have no reason to complain of the action of your
honorable body. But clumsy appeals to prejudice or passion,
insinuations, with a kind of a low, cheap cunning, as to the
motives and purposes of others, and the mock heroism of brazen
effrontery, which openly declare that a wholesome public senti-

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 437
ment is to be set at naught, sometimes deceive and lead honest
men to aid in the consummation of schemes which, if exposed,
they would look upon with abhorrence.
If the scandal in connection with this street cleaning con
tract, which has so aroused our citizens, shall cause them to
select and watch with more care those to whom they intrust
their interests, and if it serves to make aU of us who are
charged with official duties more careful in their performance,
it will not be an unmitigated evil.
We are fast gaining positions in the grades of public stew
ardships. There is no middle ground. Those who are not
for the people either in or out of your honorable body are
against them and should be treated accordingly.
Grover Cleveland,
Mayor.
IIL
Of a Bill for the Purchase of Land by the Supervisors of
Chautauqua County. Executive Chamber,
Albany, February 12, 1883.
To the Assembly :
Assembly bill No. 88, entitled " An Act authorizing the
Board of Supervisors of Chautauqua County to appropriate
money for the purchase " of land upon which to erect a soldiers'
and sailors' monument, is herewith returned without approval.
It is not an agreeable duty to refuse to give sanction to the
appropriation of money for such a worthy and patriotic object ;
but I cannot forget that the money proposed to be appropri
ated is public money to be raised by taxation, and that all that
justifies its exaction from the people is the necessity of its use
for purposes connected with the safety and substantial welfare
of the taxpayers.
The application of this principle furnishes, I think, a suffi
cient reason why this bill should not be approved.

438 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
I am of the opinion, too, that the appropriation of this
money by the Board of Supervisors would constitute the in
curring of an indebtedness by the county to be thereafter met
by taxation. If this be true, the proposed legislation is for
bidden by section eleven of article eight of the Constitution,
which provides that no county, city, town, or village shall be
allowed to incur any indebtedness except for county, city,
town, or village purposes.
Before this prohibition became a part of the Constitution, a
statute was passed permitting monuments to be erected to
fallen soldiers at the expense of the inhabitants of the county
v/ithin which they were located ; but the expenditure of money
raised by taxation for such a purpose was only allowed when
especially sanctioned by the vote of a majority of all the
electors of the county. In the bill under consideration the
taxpayers are not permitted to be heard on the subject.
It is thus evident that the legislation proposed guards less
the rights and interests of the people than the statute passed
before the Constitutional amendment prohibited all enactments
of this description.
I may, perhaps, be permitted to express the hope that a due
regard to fundamental principles, and a strict adherence to the
letter and spirit of the Constitution, which furnish the limit as
well as the guide to legislation, will prevent the passage of
bills of this nature in the future.
Grover Cleveland.

IV.
Of the Elevated Railroad Five Cent Fare Bill.
Executive Chamber,
Albany, March 2, 1883.
To the Assembly :
Assembly bill No. 58, entitled " An Act to regulate the fare
to be charged and collected by persons or corporations operat
ing elevated railroads in the city of New York," is herewith
returned without approval.

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 439
This bill prohibits the collection or receipt of move than five
cents fare on any elevated railroad in the city of New York,
for any distance between the Battery and Harlem River, and
provides that, if any person or corporation operating such
elevated railroads shall charge, demand, collect or receive any
higher rate of fare, such person or corporation shall, in addi
tion to all other penalties imposed by law, forfeit and pay to
any person aggrieved fifty dollars for each offense, to be re
covered by such person in any court of competent jurisdiction.
The importance of this measure and the interest which it
has excited have impressed me with my responsibility, and led
me to examine, with as much care as has been possible, the
considerations involved.
I am convinced that in all cases the share which falls upon
the Executive regarding the legislation of the State should be
in no manner evaded, but fairly met by the expression of his
carefully guarded and unbiased judgment. In this conclusion
he may err, but, if he has fairly and honestly acted, he has per
formed his duty and given to the people of the State his best
endeavor. The elevated railroads in the city of New York are now
operated by the Manhattan Railway Company, as the lessee of
the New York Elevated Railway Company and the Metropolitan
Elevated Railway Company.
Of course, whatever rights the lessee companies have in re
lation to the running and operation of their respective roads
passed to the Manhattan Company under its lease.
The New York Elevated Railway Company is the successor
of the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Company.
The latter company was formed under and in pursuance of
an act passed on the 20th day of April, 1866.
The third section of that act provides that companies formed
under its provisions " may fix and coHect rates of fare on their
respective roads, not exceeding five cents for each mile or any
fraction of a mile for each passenger, and with right to a mini
mum fare of ten cents.

440 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
On the 22d day of April, 1867, an act was passed in relation
to this corporation, which provides for the manner of construct
ing its road, the eighth section of which act reads as follows :
The said company shall be authorized to demand and receive from each
passenger within the limits of the city of New York rates of fare not exceed
ing, for any distance less than two miles, five cents ; for every mile or frac
tional part of a mile in addition thereto, one cent. Provided that when said
railway is completed and in operation between Battery Place and the vicinity
of Harlem River, the said company may, at its option, adopt a uniform rate not
exceeding ten cents for all distances upon Manhattan Island, and may also
collect said last named rate for a period of five years from and after the
passage of this act.
It was further provided by section 9 of this act that the
said company should pay a sum not exceeding five per cent, of
the net income of said railway from passenger traffic upon
Manhattan Island, into the treasury of the city of New York,
in such manner as the Legislature might thereafter direct, as a
compensation for the use of the streets of the city.
In 1868 a law was passed supplementary to the act last re
ferred to, by which the said company was authorized to adopt
such form of motor as certain commissioners should, after due
experiment, recommend or approve.
Specific provision was made in the act to carry out section 9
of the law of 1867, in relation to the payment of the five per
cent, of the net income of the company into the treasury of the
city. Section 3 of this act contains the following provision :
It shall be the duty of the constructing company aforesaid, before opening
its railway to public use, to file with the comptroller of the city of New York,
in form to be approved by the mayor of the city of New York, its bond in the
penal sum of $100,000, conditioned upon the true and faithful payment of the
revenue in amount and manner specified in the preceding section ; and the
payment thereof shall be the legal compensation in full for the use and occu
pancy of the streets by said railway as provided by law, and shall constitute an
agreement in the nature of a contract between said city and constructing com
pany entitling the latter or its successors to the privileges and rates of fare
heretofore or herein legalized, which shall not be changed without the mutual

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 441
consent of the parties thereto as aforesaid ; and the mayor on behalf of said
city may, in case of default in payments as aforesaid, sue for and collect at
law any arrearages in such payment, and the claims of the city, therefore, shall
constitute a lien on the railway of said company, having priority over all
others. The use of what are called dummy engines was afterward
authorized in the operation of said road by the commissioners
above referred to.
The New York Elevated Railroad Company was organized
under the general railroad law passed in 1850, and the lavifs
amendatory thereof and supplementary thereto.
Within a short time thereafter the last named company be
came the purchaser, under a foreclosure and by other transfers
of the railway and all the rights, privileges, easements and
franchises of the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railw,ay Com
pany (the name of which had in the meantime been changed to
the West Side Elevated Patented Railway Company of New
York City).
AVe have now reached a point where the New York Elevated
Railway Company, one of the lessors of the Manhattan Rail
road Company, has succeeded to all the rights and prop
erty of the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Com
pany. By a law passed on the 17th day of June, 1875 (the railway
still b'eing unfinished), it is declared that the New York Ele
vated Railroad Company having acquired, by purchase, under
mortgage foreclosure and sale and other transfer, all the rights,
powers, privileges, and franchises which were conferred upon
the West Side and Yonkers Patent Railway Company by the
acts above referred to, is " hereby confirmed in the possession
and enjoyments of the said rights, powers, privileges, and fran
chises as fully and as large as they were so granted in and by
the acts aforesaid to the said West Side and Yonkers Patent
Railway Company.
The Court of Appeals, speaking of this law, uses the follow
ing language :

442 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
The effect of this act was to secure to the Elevated Railroad Company all
the rights, privileges, and franchises of the West Side and Yonkers Patent
Railway Company under the purchase by and transfer to it.
By the sixth section of this act, it is provided that the New
York Elevated Railroad Company might demand and receive,
from each passenger on its railroad, not exceeding ten cents
for any distance of five miles or less, and with the assent
required by section 3 of the act of 1868, hereinbefore referred
to, not exceeding two cents for each additional mile or frac
tional part thereof.
Another act was passed in 1875, commonly called the Rapid
Transit Act, which provided for the appointment of commis
sioners, who, among other things, were authorized to fix and
determine the time within which roads subject to the pro
visions of the act should be completed, together with the max^
imum rates to be paid for transportation and conveyance over
said railways, and the hours during which special cars should
be run at reduced rates of fare.
Commissioners were duly appointed by the mayor of the
city of New York, as provided by this act, who fixed and deter
mined the route of the road of the New York Elevated Rail
road Company, and prescribed with the utmost particularity
the manner of its construction, and thereupon deliberately
agreed with said company that it should charge as fare upon
trains and cars other than what were called by the parties
commission trains and cars, for all distances under five miles
not to exceed ten cents, and not to exceed two cents for
each mile or fraction of a mile over five miles, until the fare
should amount to not exceeding fifteen cents for a through
passenger from and between the Battery and intersection of
Third avenue and One Hundred and Twenty-ninth street, and
from and between the Battery and High Bridge not to exceed
seventeen cents for a through passenger, and that for the entire
distance from and between the Battery and Fifty-ninth street
the fare should not exceed ten cents per passenger.
It was further agreed, between the said company and the com-

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 443
missioners, that commission trains should be run, during certain
hours in the morning and evening, for the accommodation of
the public and the laboring classes, upon which the fare should
not exceed five cents from and between the Battery and Fifty-
ninth street, nor any greater sum for any distance not exceed
ing five miles ; that it should not exceed seven cents for a
through passenger from and between the Battery, or any point
south thereof, and the Harlem River, and that such fare should
not exceed eight cents on such commission cars and trains
from and between the Battery and High Bridge.
And it was further agreed by said company that when the
net income of the road, after all expenditures, taxes, and
charges are paid, should amount to a sum sufficient to pay
exceeding ten per cent, per annum on the capital stock of the
company, that in such case and within six months thereafter,
and so long as said net earnings amount to a sum sufficient to
pay more than ten per cent, as aforesaid, the said company
would run commission trains on its road at all hours during
which it should be operated, at the rates of fare last mentioned.
Having thus completed an agreement with this company, the
commissioners transmitted the same to the mayor of the City
of New York, accompanied by a very congratulatory report of
their proceedings, whereupon the mayor submitted the same
to the Board of Aldermen, by whom it was approved; This
was in the latter part of 1875.
Since that time the New York Elevated Railroad Company,
upon the faith of the laws which have been recited, and its pro
ceedings with the commissioners, at a very large expense, has
completed its road from the Battery to the Harlem River, a dis
tance of about ten miles.
The bill before me provides that, notwithstanding all the
statutes that have been passed and all that has been done there
under, passengers shall be carried the whole length of this
road for five cents, a sum much less than is provided for in
any of such statutes or stipulated in the proceedings of the
commissioners.

444 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
I am of the opinion that, in the legislation and proceedings
which I have detailed, and in the fact that pursuant thereto
the road of the company was constructed and finished, there
exists a contract in favor of this company, which is protected
by that clause of the Constitution of the United States which
prohibits the passage of a law by any State impairing the obH-
gation of contracts.
But let it be supposed that this is not so, and that neither of
these lessor companies is, in any way, protected from inter
ference with their rates of fare, but that, on the contrary, they
are subject to all the provisions of the general railroad act,
under which they are both organized.
Section 33 of that act reads as follows :
The legislature may, when any such railroad shall be opened for use,
from time to time alter or reduce the rate of freight, fare, or other profits
upon said road ; but the same shall not, without the consent of the company,
be so reduced as to produce with said profits less than ten per centum per
annum on the capital actually expended ; nor unless on an examination of
the amount received or expended, to be made by the State Engineer and
Surveyor and the Comptroller, they shall ascertain that the net income de
rived by the company from all sources, for the year then last past, shall have
exceeded an annual income of ten per cent, upon the capital of the corpora
tion actually expended.
Even if the State has the power to reduce the fare on these
roads, it has promised not to do so except under certain circum
stances and after a certain examination.
I am not satisfied that these circumstances exist, and it is
conceded that no such examination has been made.
The constitutional objections which I have suggested to the
bill under consideration are not, I think, removed by the claim
that the proposed legislation is in the nature of an alteration of
the charters of these companies, and that this is permitted by
the State Constitution and by the provisions of some of the
laws to which I have referred.
I suppose that, while the charters of corporations may be
altered or repealed, it must be done in subordination to the

SOME NOTABLE VETOES.

445

Constitution of the United States, which is the supreme law of
the land. This leads to the conclusion that the alteration of a
charter cannot be made the pretext for the passage of a law
which impairs the obligation of a contract.
If I am mistaken in supposing that there are legal objec
tions to this bill, there is another consideration which furnishes
to my mind a sufficient reason why I should not give it ray
approval. It seems to me that to reduce these fares arbitrarily, at this
time and under existing circumstances, involves a breach of
faith on the part of the State, and a betrayal of confidence
which the State has invited.
The fact is notorious that, for many years, rapid transit was
the great need of the inhabitants of the city of New York, and
was of direct importance to the citizens of the State. Projects
which promised to answer the people's wants in this direction
failed and were abandoned. The Legislature, appreciating the
situation, willingly passed statute after statute calculated to
aid and encourage a solution of the problem. Capital was
timid, and hesitated to enter a new field full of risks and dan
gers. By the promise of liberal fares, as will be seen in all the
acts passed on the subject, and through other concessions gladly
made, capitalists were induced to invest their money in the en
terprise, and rapid transit but lately became an accomplished
fact. But much of the risk, expense, and burden attending the
maintenance of these roads are yet unknown and threatening.
In the meantime, the people of the city of New York are re
ceiving the full benefit of their construction, a great enhance
ment of the value of the taxable property of the city has re
sulted, and, in addition to taxes, more than $120,000, being
five per cent, in increase, pursuant to the law of 1868, has been
paid by the companies into the city treasury, on the faith that
the rate of fare agreed upon was secured to them. I am not
aware that the corporations have, by any default, forfeited any
of their rights ; and if they have, the remedy is at hand under
existing laws. Their stock and their bonds are held by a large

446 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
number of citizens, and the income of these roads depends en
tirely upon fares received from passengers. The reduction
proposed is a large one, and it is claimed will permit no divi
dends to investors. This may not be true, but we should be
satisfied it is not, before the proposed law takes effect.
It is manifestly important that invested capital should be
protected, and that its necessity and usefulness in the devel
opment of enterprises ¦ valuable to the people should be
recognized by conservative conduct on the part of the State
government. 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 common
wealth. The State should not only be strictly just, but scrupu
lously fair, and in its relations to the citizen every legal and
moral obligation should be recognized. This can only be done
by legislating without vindictiveness or prejudice, and with a
firm 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
employment and their homes, and I realize fully the desirabil
ity 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 hard
ship which must surely follow when these limits are ignored.
Grover Cleveland,
Governor.

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 447
V.
Of the Amendments to the Charter of Buffalo.
Executive Chamber,
Albany, April 9, 1883.
To the Assembly :
Assembly bill No. 553, entitled " An Act to amend chapter
five hundred and nineteen of the laws of eighteen hundred
and seventy, entitled ' An Act to amend the charter of the city
of Buffalo,' passed April twenty-eight, eighteen hundred and
seventy," is herewith returned without approval.
The object of this bill is to reorganize entirely the fire de
partment of the city of Buffalo.
The' present department was established in 1880, under
chapter 271 of the laws of that year, and its management and
control are vested in three commissioners, who, pursuant to
said law, were appointed by the mayor of the city.
The gentlemen thus appointed are citizens of unquestioned
probity, intelligence, and executive ability, and enjoy and de
serve the respect and confidence of all their fellow-townsmen.
Having very recently had official relations with this depart
ment, I cannot but testify to its efficiency and good manage
ment, and the economy with which its affairs are conducted.
And yet, before it has been three years in operation, it is pro
posed, by»the bill under consideration, to uproot and sweep
away the present administration of this important department,
and venture upon another experiment. This new scheme pro
vides for the appointment, by the mayor, on the first Monday
in May, 1883, of a chief of the fire department, one assistant
chief, and two district chiefs ; the city is divided into two fire
districts, and it is made the duty of the district chiefs to take
the charge and management of all fires in their respective dis
tricts until the arrival of the chief or assistant chiefs.
I can see no reason for dividing, by law, the city into fire
districts, unless it be to make new places to be filled by the
city executive.

448 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
The provision that the district chief shall have charge and
management of a fire in his district, until the arrival of his
superior, gives excuse forthe chief of another district, though
first on the ground, to refrain from interference.
A fire department should be organized with a view to prompt
and effective action upon a sudden emergency. Every mem
ber of the department should be, at all times, ready for service,
and there should be no mischief invited, by rules too inflexible,
as to who should have charge and management in time of dan
ger to life and property.
Although the mayor of the city, under the provisions of the
bill, has the absolute power of appointment to these offices, he
may, in case of vacancy by death, resignation, removal, or other
wise, make special appointments, until permanent appoint
ments are made. This was evidently copied from the charter
of 1870, which aljowed the mayor to appoint fire superintend
ents, by and with the advice and consent of the common coun
cil. It was intended to permit the filling of a vacancy by the
mayor during the time which should elapse before a successor
could be confirmed by the council. But in a case where no
confirmation is necessary, such a provision is needless, incon
gruous, and mischievous. The mayor should be as well pre
pared to make a permanent appointment under this bill, in
case of a vacancy, al'a temporary one. This provision would
seem to give him the power, by calling an appointment a tem
porary one, to retain the appointee as long as he sees fit,
and, under the pretext of a permanent appointment, displace
him by another without charges or an opportunity to be
heard. By section six of the bill an appeal is permitted from the
decision of the mayor, upon the trial of any of these officers, to
the Supreme Court of Buffalo. There is no such court in
existence. But waiving further criticism of details, my attention is
directed to section twenty of the bill, which, to the promoters
of this measure, is undoubtedly its most important feature.

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 449
It provides that immediately upon the appointment and quali
fication of the chief, the terms of the present commissioners
shall cease and determine, and that the terms of office of all
the other officers, firemen, and employees shall also cease and
determine ten days thereafter. Great care is exercised to
provide that the chiefs and all the firemen and employees, ap
pointed under the new scheme, shall be discharged only for
cause, and after due hearing and an opportunity for defense ;
but to those now in the service, numbering about two hundred
drilled and experienced men, no such privileges are accorded.
The purpose of the bill is too apparent to be mistaken. A
tried, economical, and efficient administration of an important
department in a large city is to be destroyed, upon partisan
grounds or to satisfy personal animosities, in order that the
places and patronage attached thereto may be used for party
advancement. I believe in an open and sturdy partisanship, which secures
the legitimate advantages of party supremacy ; but parties
were made for the people, and I am unwilling, knowingly, to
give my assent to measures purely partisan, which will sacrifice
or endanger their interests.
Grover Cleveland.

VI.
Of the Texas Seed Bill.
Executive Mansion,
AVashington, February 16, 1887.
To THE House of Representatives :
I return without my approval House bill number ten thou
sand two hundred and three, entitied " An Act to enable the
Commissioner of Agriculture to make a special distribution of
seeds in drought-stricken counties of Texas, and making an
appropriation therefor."
It is represented that a long-continued and extensive drought

450 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
has existed in certain portions of the State of Texas, resulting
in a failure of crops and consequent distress and destitution.
Though there has been some difference in statements con
cerning the extent of the people's needs in the localities thus
affected, there seems to be no doubt that there has existed
a condition calling for relief ; and I am wiUing to believe that,
notwithstanding the aid already furnished, a donation of seed-
grain to the farmers located in this region, to enable them to
put in new crops, would serve to avert a continuance or return
of an unfortunate blight.
And yet I feel obliged to withhold my approval of the plan
as proposed by this bill, to indulge a benevolent and chari
table sentiment through the appropriation of public funds for
that purpose.
I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the Con
stitution, and I do not believe that the power and duty of the
general government ought to be extended to the relief of in
dividual suffering which is in no manner properly related to
the public service or benefit. A prevalent tendency to disre
gard the limited mission of this power and duty should, I
think, be steadfastly resisted, to the end that the lesson should
be constantly enforced that, though the people support the
government, the government should not support the people.
The friendliness and charity of our countrymen can always
be relied upon to relieve their fellow-citizens in misfortune.
This has been repeatedly and quite lately demonstrated.
Federal aid in such cases encourages the expectation of pater
nal care on the part of the government and weakens the stur
diness of our national character, while it prevents the in
dulgence among our people of that kindly sentiment and
conduct which strengthen the bonds of a common brother
hood. It is within my personal knowledge that individual aid has, to
some extent, already been extended to the sufferers mentioned
in this bill. The failure of the proposed appropriation of ten
thousand dollars additional, to meet their remaining wants, will

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 45l
not necessarily result in continued distress if the emergency is
fully made known to the people of the country.
It is here suggested that the Commissioner of Agriculture is
annually directed to expend a large sum of money for the pur
chase, propagation, and distribution of seeds and other things
of this description, two-thirds of which are, upon the request
of senators, representatives, and delegates in Congress, sup
plied to them for distribution among their constituents.
The appropriation of the current year for this purpose is
one hundred thousand dollars, and it will probably be no less
in the appropriation for the ensuing year. I understand that
a large quantity of grain is furnished for such distribution,
and it is supposed that this free apportionment among their
neighbors is a privilege which may be waived by our senators
and representatives.
If sufficient of them should request the Commissioner of
Agriculture to send their shares of the grain thus allowed them,
to the suffering farmers of Texas, they might be enabled to
sow their crops ; the constituents, for whom in theory this grain
is intended, could well bear the temporary deprivation, and the
donors would experience the satisfaction attending deeds of
charity.
Grover Cleveland.

VIL
Of the Direct Tax Bill.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March 2, 1889.
To the Senate :
I herewith return without approval Senate biH number one
hundred and thirty-nine, entitled " An Act to credit and pay
to the several States and Territories and the District of Col
umbia all moneys collected under the direct tax levied by the
Act of Congress approved August fifth, eighteen hundred and
sixty-one."

452 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
The object of this bill is quite clearly indicated in its title.
Its provisions have been much discussed in both branches of
Congress and have received emphatic legislative sanction. I
fully appreciate the interest which it has excited, and have
by no means failed to recognize the persuasive presentation
made in its favor. I know, too, that the interposition of Exec
utive disapproval in this case is likely to arouse irritation
and cause complaint and earnest criticism. Since, however,
my judgment will not permit me to assent to the legislation
proposed, I can find no way of turning aside from what appears
to be the plain course of official duty.
On the 5th day of August, 1861, a Federal statute was passed
entitled " An Act to provide increased revenue from imports,
to pay interest on the public debt, and for other purposes."
This law was passed at a time when immense sums of money
were needed by the government for the prosecution of a war
for the Union ; and the purpose of the law was to increase in
almost every possible way the Federal revenues. The first
seven sections of the statute were devoted to advancing very
largely the rates of duties on imports ; and to supplement this
the eighth section provided that a direct tax of twenty millions
of dollars should be annually laid, and that certain amounts
therein specified should be apportioned to the respective
States. The remainder of the law, consisting of fifty sections,
contained the most particular and detailed provisions for the
collection of the tax through Federal machinery.
It was declared, among other things, that the tax should be
assessed and laid on all lands and lots of ground with their
improvements and dwelling-houses ; that the annual amount
of said taxes should be a lien upon all lands and real estate of
the individuals assessed for the same, and that, in default of
payment, the said taxes might be collected by distraint and sale
of the goods, chattels, and effects of the delinquent persons.
This tax was laid in execution of the power conferred upon
the general government for that purpose by the Constitution.
It was an exercise of the right of the government to tax its

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 453
citizens. It dealt with individuals, and the strong arm of Fed
eral power was stretched out to exact from those who owed it
support and allegiance their just share of the sum it had de
creed should be raised by direct taxation for the general good.
The lien created by this tax was upon the land and real estate
of the "individuals assessed for the same," and for its collection
the distraint and sale of personal property of the " persons
delinquent " were permitted.
But, while the direct relationship and responsibility between
the individuals taxed and the Federal government were thus
created by the exercise of the highest attribute of sovereignty,
it was provided in the statute that any State or Territory and
the District of Columbia might lawfully " assume, assess,
coUect, and ,pay into the Treasury of the United States " its
quota of said tax in its own way and manner, and by and
through its own officers, assessors, and collectors ; and it was
further provided that such States or Territories as should give
notice of their intention to thus assume and pay, or to assess,
coHect, and pay, into the Treasury of the United States such
direct tax, should be entitled, in Hen of the compensation, pay,
per diem, and percentage in said act prescribed and allowed to
assessors, assistant assessors, and collectors of the United
States, to a deduction of fifteen per centum of the quota of
direct tax apportioned to such States or Territories and levied
and collected through their officers.
It was also provided by this law and another passed the
next year that certain claims of the States and Territories
against the United States might be applied in payment of such
quotas. Whatever may be said as to the effect of these pro
visions of the law, it can hardly be claimed that, by virtue
thereof or any proceedings under them, the apportioned
quotas of this tax became debts against the several States and
Territories, or that they were liable to the general government
therefor, in every event, and as principal debtors bound by an
enforceable obligation.
In the forty-sixth section of the law it is provided that in

454 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
case any State, Territory, or the District of Columbia, after
notice given of its intention to assume and pay, or to levy,
collect and pay said direct tax apportioned to it, should fail
to pay the amount of said direct tax, or any part thereof, it
should be lawful for the Secretary of the Treasury to appoint
United States officers as in the act provided, whose duty it
should be to proceed forthwith to collect all or any part of
said direct tax, " the same as though said State, Territory, or
District had not given notice nor assumed to levy, collect, and
pay said taxes or any part thereof."
A majority of the States undertook the collection of their
quotas and accounted for the amount thereof to the general
government, by the payment pf money or by setting off claims
in their favor, against the tax. Fifteen per cent, of the amount
of their respective quotas was retained as the allowance for
collection and payment. In the Northern, or such as were then
called the loyal States, nearly the entire quotas were collected
and paid through the State agencies. The money necessary
for this purpose was generally collected from the citizens of
the States with their other taxes, and in whatever manner their
quotas may have been cancelled, whether by the payment of
money or setting off claims against the government, it is safe
to say, as a general proposition, that the people of these States
have individually been obliged to pay the assessments made
upon them on account of this direct tax, and have intrusted it to
their several States to be transmitted to the Federal Treasury.
In the Southern States, then in insurrection, whatever
¦was actually realized in money upon this tax was collected
directly by Federal officers without the interposition of State
machinery ; and a part of its quota has been credited to each
of these States.
The entire amount applied upon this tax, including the
fifteen per cent, for collection, was credited to the several
States and Territories upon the books of the Treasury, whether
collected through their instrumentality or by Federal officers.
The sum credited to all the States was $17,359,685.51, which

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 455
includes more than two millions of dollars on account of the
fifteen per cent, allowed for collecting. Of the amount cred
ited, only about two millions and three hundred thousand
dollars is credited to the insurrectionary States. The amount
uncollected, of the twenty millions directed to be raised by this
tax, was $2,646,314.49, and nearly this entire sum remained
due upon the quotas apportioned to these States.
In this condition of affairs the bill under consideration
directs the Secretary of the Treasury " to credit to each State
and Territory of the United States and the District of Columbia
a sum equal to all collections, by set-off or otherwise, made
from said States and Territories and the District of Columbia,
or from any of the citizens or inhabitants thereof or other per
sons, under the act of Congress approved August fifth, eighteen
hundred and sixty-one, and the amendatory acts thereto."
An appropriation is also made of such a sum as may be neces
sary to reimburse each State, Territory, and the District of
Columbia for all money found due to it under the provisions
of the bill, and it is provided that all money, still due to the
United States on said direct tax, shall be remitted and relin
quished. The conceded effect of this bill is to take from the money
now in the Treasury the sum of more than seventeen millions
of dollars, or if the percentage allowed is not included, more
than fifteen millions of dollars, and pay back to the respective
States and Territories the sums they or their citizens paid more
than twenty-five years ago upon a direct tax levied by the
government of the United States for its defense and safety.
It is my beHef that this appropriation of the public funds is
not within the constitutional power of the Congress. Under
the limited and delegated authority, conferred by the Constitu
tion upon the general government, the statement of the pur
poses for which money may be lawfully raised, by taxation in
any form, declares also the limit of the objects for which it
may be expended.
AU must agree that the direct tax was lawfully and constitu-

456 SOME NOTABLE VETOES
tionally laid, and that it was rightfuHy and correctly collected.
It cannot be claimed, therefore, nor is it pretended, that any
debt arose against the government and in favor of any State or
individual by the exaction of this tax. Surely, then, the ap
propriation directed by this bill cannot be justified as a pay
ment of a debt of the United States.
The disbursement of this money clearly has no relation to
the common defense. On the contrary, it is the repayment of
money raised and long ago expended by the government to pro
vide for the common defense.
The expenditure can not properly be advocated on the
ground that the general welfare of the United States is thereby
provided for or promoted. This " general welfare of the
United States," as used in the Constitution, can only justify
appropriations for national objects and for purposes which
have to do with the prosperity, the growth, the honor, or the
peace and dignity of the nation.
A sheer, bald gratuity bestowed either upon States or indi
viduals, based upon no better reason than supports the gift
proposed in this bill, has never been claimed to be a provision
for the general welfare. More than fifty years ago a surplus of
public money in the Treasury was distributed among the
States ; but the unconstitutionality of such distribution, con
sidered as a gift of money, appears to have been conceded, for
it was put into the State treasuries under the guise of a de
posit or loan, subject to the demand of the government.
If it was proposed to raise by assessment upon the people the
sum necessary to refund the money collected upon this direct
tax, I am sure many who are now silent would insist upon the
limitations of the Constitution in opposition to such a scheme.
A large surplus in the Treasury is the parent of many ills, and
among them is found a tendency to an extremely liberal, if not
loose, construction of the Constitution. It also attracts the gaze
of States and individuals with a kind of fascination, and gives
rise to plans and pretensions that an uncongested Treasury
never could excite.

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 457
But, if the constitutional question involved in the considera
tion of this bill should be determined in its favor, there are
other objections remaining which prevent my assent to its pro
visions. There should be a certainty and stability about the enforce
ment of taxation which should teach the citizen that the govern
ment will only use the power to tax in cases where its necessity
and justice are not doubtful, and which should also discourage
the disturbing idea that the exercise of this power may be re
voked by reimbursement of taxes once collected. Any other
theory cheapens and in a measure discredits a process which
more than any other is a manifestation of sovereign author
ity. A government is not only kind, but performs its highest duty,
when it restores to the citizen taxes unlawfully collected or
which have been erroneously or oppressively extorted by its
agents or officers ; but aside from these incidents, the people
should not be familiarized with the spectacle of their govern
ment repenting the collection of taxes and restoring them.
The direct tax levied in 1861 is not even suspected of in
validity ; there never was a tax levied which was more needed,
and its justice cannot be questioned. Why, then, should it be
returned ?
The fact that the entire tax was not paid furnishes no reason
that would not apply to nearly every case where taxes are laid.
There are always delinquents, and while the more thorough and
complete collection of taxes is a troublesome problem of
government, the failure to solve the problem has never been
held to call for the return of taxes actually collected.
The deficiency in the collection of this tax is found almost
entirely in the insurrectionary States, while the quotas appor
tioned to the other States were, as a general rule, fully paid ;
and three-fourths or four-fifths of the money which it is pro
posed in this bill to return would be paid into the treasuries of
the loyal States. But no valid reason for such payment is
found in the fact that the government at first could not, and

458 SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
afterward, for reasons probably perfectly valid, did not, enforce
collection in the other States.
There were many Federal taxes which were not paid by the
people in the rebeHious States ; and if the non-payment by
them of this direct tax entitles the other States to a donation
of the share of said taxes paid by their citizens, why should
not the income tax and many other internal taxes paid entirely
by the citizens of loyal States be also paid into the treasuries
of these States ? Considerations which recognize sectional
divisions, or the loyalty of the different States at the time this
tax was laid, should not enter into the discussion of the merits
of this measure.
The loyal States should not be paid the large sums of money
promised them by this bill because they were loyal and other
States were not, nor should the States which rebelled against
the government be paid the smaller sum promised them be
cause they were in rebellion and thus prevented the collection
of their entire quotas, nor because this concession to them is
necessary to justify the proposed larger gifts to the other
States. The people of the loyal States paid this direct tax as they
bore other burdens in support of the government ; and I be
lieve the tax-payers themselves are content. In the light of
these considerations I am opposed to the payment of money
from the Federal Treasury to enrich the treasuries of the States.
Their funds should be furnished by their own citizens, and thus
should be fostered the tax-payers' watchfulness of State ex
penditures and the tax-payers' jealous insistence upon the strict
accountability of State officials. These elements of purity and
strength in a State are not safely exchanged for the threatened
demoralization and carelessness attending the custody and
management of large gifts from the Federal Treasury.
The baneful effect of a surplus, in the Treasury of the gen
eral government, is daily seen and felt. I do not think, how
ever, that this surplus should be reduced or its contagion spread

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 459
throughout the States by methods such as are provided in this
bill. There is still another objection to the bill, arising from what
seems to me its unfairness and unjust discrimination.
In the case of proposed legislation, of at least doubtful con
stitutionality and based upon no legal right, the equities which
recommend it should always be definite and clear.
The money appropriated by this bill is to be paid to the
Governors of the respective States and Territories in which it
was collected, whether the same was derived through said
States and Territories or directly " from any of the citizens or
inhabitants thereof or other persons"; and it is further pro
vided that such sums as were collected in payment of this Fed
eral tax through the instrumentality of the State or Territorial
officials, and accounted for to the general government by such
States and Territories, are to be paid unconditionally to their
Governors, while the same collected in payment of said tax by
the United States, or, in other words, by the Federal ma
chinery created for that purpose, are to be held in trust by
said States or Territories for the benefit of those paying the
same. I am unable to understand how this discrimination in favor
of those who have made payment of this tax directly to the
officers of the Federal Government, and against those who
made such payments through State or Territorial agencies,
can be defended upon fair and equitable principles. It was
the general government in every case which exacted this tax
from its citizens and people in the different States and Terri
tories ; and to provide for reimbursement to a part of its
citizens by the creation of a trust for their benefit, while the
money exacted in payment of this tax from a far greater num
ber is paid unconditionally into the State and Territorial treas
uries, is an unjust and unfair proceeding, in which the gov
ernment should not be implicated.
It will hardly do to say that the States and Territories who

46o SOME NOTABLE VETOES.
are the recipients of these large gifts may be trusted to do
justice to its citizens who originally paid the money. This can
not be relied upon, nor should the government lose sight of
the equality of which it boasts, and, having entered upon the
plan of reimbursement, abandon to other agencies the duty
of just distribution, and thus incur the risk of becoming ac
cessory to actual inequality and injustice.
If, in defense of the plan proposed, it is claimed that exact
equaHty cannot be reached in the premises, this may be readily
conceded. The money raised by this direct tax was collected
and expended twenty-seven years ago. Nearly a generation
has passed away since that time. Even if distribution should
be attempted by the States and Territories, as well as by the
government, the taxpayers in many cases are neither alive
nor represented, and in many other cases, if alive, they cannot
be found. Fraudulent claims would often outrun honest ap
plications, and innumerable and bitter contests would arise be
tween claimants.
Another difficulty in the way of doing perfect justice in the
operation of this plan of reimbursement is found in the fact
that the money to be appropriated therefor was contributed to
the Federal Treasury for entirely different purposes, by a gen
eration many of whom were not born when the direct tax was
levied and paid, who have no relation to said tax, and cannot
share in its distribution. While they stand by and see the
money they have been obliged to pay into the public Treasury,
professedly to meet present necessities, expended to reimburse
taxation long ago fairly, legally, and justly collected from
others, they cannot fail to see the unfairness of the transaction.
The existence of a surplus in the Treasury is no ans^ver to
these objections. It is still the people's money, and better use
can be found for it than the distribution of it upon the plea of
the reimbursement of ancient taxation. A more desirable plan
to reduce and prevent the recurrence of a large surplus can
easily be adopted — one that, instead of creating injustice and in
equality, promotes justice and equality by leaving in the hands

SOME NOTABLE VETOES. 461
of the people and for their use the money not needed by the
government " to pay the debts and provide for the common
defense and general welfare of the United States."
The difficulties in the way of making a just reimbursement
of this direct tax, instead of excusing the imperfections of the
bill under consideration, furnish reasons why the scheme it
proposes should not be entered upon.
I am constrained, upon the considerations herein presented,
to withhold my assent from the bill herewith returned, because
I believe it to be without constitutional warrant, because I am
of the opinion that there exist no adequate reasons either in
right or equity for the return of the tax in said bill mentioned,
and because I believe its execution would cause actual injus
tice and unfairness.
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER XX.
characteristic messages.
I.
Concerning the Immigration Commissioner.
Albany, May 4, 1883.
To the Senate:
I DEEM it my duty to remind you of the importance of giving
effect to the law lately passed by the legislature "to amend
the law relating to alien immigrants, and to secure an improved
administration of alien immigration."
This statute was the result of investigation which demon
strated that the present management of this very important
department is a scandal and a reproach to civilization. The
money of the State is apparently expended with no regard to
economy, the most disgraceful dissensions prevail among those
having the matter in charge, barefaced jobbery has been per
mitted, and the poor immigrant who looks to the institution for
protection, finds that his helplessness and forlorn condition
afford the readily seized opportunity for imposition and
swindling. These facts lift the efforts to reform the management above
partisan considerations, and make the cause one in which every
right-minded man should be enlisted, and one in which those
chosen to protect the rights and the honor of the people of the
State should gladly co-operate.
The law lately passed, it is admitted, seeks in a practical
way to remedy the evils referred to.
In the enforcement of this law, it became my duty to send
to the Senate, for its confirmation, the name of a person who
462

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 463
should act as commissioner, and who should have charge of
the important matters provided for.
This I have done. In the. discharge of this duty I was
fortunate enough to be able to present the name of a citizen of
the State, of conceded integrity, abiHty, and administrative
capacity, who enjoys the respect and , esteem of all who know
him, and whose benevolent nature would insure the protection
and kind care of the destitute and friendless strangers who
should be put in his charge.
But the unmistakable indications are that, in its closing hours,
the Senate will refuse to confirm his appointment, and thus
continue the present scandal and abuses.
Some of those now in charge of this department and their
beneficiaries are on the ground and about the halls of legislation,
seeking to retain their control and their abused advantages.
The refusal to confirm the appointee is not based upon any
allegation of unfitness, nor has such a thing been suggested.
It has its rise, as I understand the situation, concededly and
openly, in an overweening greed for the patronage which may
attach to the place, and which will not be promised in advance,
and in questionable partisanship, which is insisted on, at the
expense of important interests.
There has not been a reason suggested why the name of the
appointee should be withdrawn, and I should be unjust and
derelict in my duty if I should pursue that course. The Sen
ate is reminded, too, that the present situation of affairs pre
cludes my submitting another name if I desired.
I am profoundly sensible of the absolute power and right of
the Senate in the premises, and do not seek to question it even
in this case. Every member knows the motives for his con
duct, and must justify them to his constituents.
The fact remains, however, that a captious opposition to the
execution of the best remedial law of the present session of
the legislature perpetuates the oppression of the immigrant and
the practice of unblushing peculation. I have endeavored to
co-operate with the Senate in supplementing the passage of the

464 CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES.
law, by putting the machinery in motion for its execution; and
I may, perhaps, be allowed to express the hope that its opera
tion may not be defeated. If it is, the responsibility must rest
where it belongs.
Grover Cleveland.

IL
On Giving Reasons for Removals from Office.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, March i, 1886.
To THE Senate:
Ever since the beginning of the present session of the
Senate, the different heads of the Departments attached to the
executive branch of the government have been plied with various
requests and demands from committees of the Senate, from
members of such committees, and at last from the Senate itself,
requiring the transmission of reason for the suspension of certain
officials during the recess of that body, or for the papers touch
ing the conduct of such officials, or for all papers and documents
relating to such suspensions, or for all documents and papers
filed in such Departments in relation to the management and
conduct of the offices held by such suspended officials.
The different terms from time to time adopted in making
these requests and demands, the order in which they succeeded
each other, and the fact that when made by the Senate the
resolution for that purpose was passed in executive session,
have led to a presumption, the correctness of which will, I
suppose, be candidly admitted, that, from first to last, the
information thus sought and the papers thus demanded were
desired for use by the Senate and its committees in consider
ing the propriety of the suspensions referred to.
Though these suspensions are my executive acts, based upon
considerations addressed to me alone, and for which I am
wholly responsible, I have had no invitation from the Senate
to state the position which I have felt constrained to assume

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 465
in relation to the same, or to interpret for myself my acts and
motives in the premises.
In this condition of affairs, I have forborne addressing the
Senate upon the subject, lest I might be accused of thrusting
myself unbidden upon the attention of that body.
But the report of the Committee on the Judiciary of the
Senate, lately presented and published, which censures the
Attorney- General of the United States for his refusal to trans
mit certain papers relating to a suspension from office, and
which also, if I correctly interpret it, evinces a misapprehen
sion of the position of the Executive upon the question of such
suspensions, will, I hope, justify this communication.
This report is predicated upon a resolution of the Senate
directed to the Attorney-General and his reply to the same.
This resolution was adopted in executive session devoted
entirely to business connected with the consideration of nom
inations for office. It required the Attorney- General "to trans
mit to the Senate copies of all documents and papers that have
been filed in the Department of Justice since the ist day of
January, 1885, in relation to the management and conduct of
the office of district attorney of the United States of the
southern district of Alabama. ' '
The incumbent of this office on the ist day of January,
1885, and until the 17th day of July ensuing, was George M.
Duskin, who, on the day last mentioned, was suspended by an
Executive order, and John D. Burnett designated to perform
the duties of said office. At the time of the passage of the
resolution above referred to, the nomination of Burnett for
said office was pending before the Senate, and all the papers
relating to said nomination were before that body for its
inspection and information.
In reply to this resolution, the Attorney-General, after refer
ring to the fact that the papers relating to the nomination of
Burnett had already been sent to the Senate, stated that he
was directed by the President to say that "the papers and
documents which are mentioned in said resolution and still

466 CHARACTERISTIC MESSA^GES.
remaining in the custody of this Department, having exclusive
reference to the suspension by the President of George M.
Duskin, the late incumbent of the office of district attorney for
the southern district of Alabama, it is not considered that the
public interests will be promoted by a compliance with said
resolution and the transmission of the papers and documents
therein mentioned to the Senate in executive session."
Upon this resolution and the answer thereto the issue is thus
stated by the Committee on the Judiciary at the outset of the
report: The important question, then, is whether it is within the constitutional
competence of either house of Congress to have access to the official papers
and documents in the various public offices of the United States created by
laws enacted by themselves.
I do not suppose that "the public offices of the United
States" are regulated or controlled in their relations to either
house of Congress by the fact that they were "created by laws
enacted by themselves." It must be that these instrumentali
ties were created for the benefit of the people and to answer
the general purposes of government under the Constitution
and the laws, and that they are unincumbered by any Hen in
favor of either branch of Congress growing out of their con
struction, and unembarrassed by any obligation to the Senate
as the price of their creation.
The complaint of the committee, that access to official
papers in the public offices is denied the Senate, is met by the
statement that at no time has it been the disposition or the
intention of the President or any Department of the executive
branch of the government to withhold from the Senate official
documents or papers filed in any of the public offices. While
it is by no means conceded that the Senate has the right, in any
case, to review the act of the Executive in removing or sus
pending a public officer upon official documents or otherwise,
it is considered that documents and papers of that nature
should, because they are official, be freely transmitted to the

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 467
Senate upon its demand, trusting the use of the same for
proper and legitimate purposes to the good faith of that body.
And though no such paper or document has been specifically
demanded^ in any of the numerous requests and demands made
upon the Departments, yet, as often as they were found in the
public offices, they have been furnished in answer to such
applications. The letter of the Attorney-General in response to the resolu
tion of the Senate, in the particular case mentioned in the com
mittee's report, was written at my suggestion and by my direc
tion. There had been no official papers or documents filed in
this Department relating to the case, within the period specified
in the resolution. The letter was intended, by its description
of the papers and documents remaining in the custody of the
Department, to convey the idea that they were not official;
and it was assumed that the resolution called for information,
papers, and documents of the same character as were required
by the requests and demands which preceded it.
Everything that had been written or done on behalf of the
Senate, from the beginning, pointed to all letters and papers of
a private and unofficial nature as the objects of search, if they
were to be found in the Departments, and provided that they
had been presented to the Executive with a view to their con
sideration upon the question of suspension from office.
Against the transmission of such papers and documents
I have interposed my advice and direction. This has not
been done, as is suggested in the committee's report, upon the
assumption on my part that the Attorney-General or any other
head of a Department "is the servant of the President, and
is to give or withhold copies of documents in his office accord
ing to the win of the Executive and not otherwise," but
because I regard the papers and documents withheld and
addressed to me, or intended for my use and action, purely
unofficial and private, not infrequendy confidential, and having
reference to the performance of a duty exclusively mine. I
consider them in no proper sense as upon the files of the

468 CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES.
Department, but as deposited there for my convenience,
remaining still completely under my control. I suppose if I
desired to take them into my custody I might do so with entire
propriety, and if I saw fit to destroy them no one could
complain. Even the committee in its report appears to concede that
there may be, with the President or in the Departments, papers
and documents which, on account of their unofficial character,
are not subject to the inspection of the Congress. A reference
in the report to instances where the House of Representatives
ought not to succeed in a call for the production of papers is
immediately followed by. this statement:
The committee feels authorized to state, after a somewhat careful re
search, that within the foregoing limits there is scarcely in the history of this
government,until now, any instance of a refusal by a head of a Department,
or even of the President himself, to communicate official facts and informa
tion as distinguished from private and unofficial papers, motions, views,
reasons, and opinions, to either house of Congress when unconditionally de
manded. To which of the classes thus recognized do the papers and
documents belong that are now the objects of the Senate's
quest? They consist of letters and representations addressed to the
Executive or intended for his inspection ; they are voluntarily
written and presented by private citizens who are not in the
least instigated thereto by any official invitation or at all sub
ject to official control. While some of them are entitled to
Executive consideration, many of them are so irrelevant, or in
the light of other facts so worthless, that they have not been
given the least weight in determining the question to which
they are supposed to relate.
Are all these, simply because they are preserved, to be con
sidered official documents and subject to the inspection of the
Senate? If not, who is to determine which belong to this
class? Are the motives and purposes of the Senate, as they
are day by day developed, such as would be satisfied with my

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 469
selection? Am I to submit to theirs at the risk of being
charged with making a suspension from office upon evidence
which was not even considered?
Are these papers to be regarded official because they have
not only been presented but preserved in the public offices?
Their nature and character remain the same, whether they
are kept in the Executive Mansion or deposited in the Depart
ments. There is no mysterious power of transmutation in
departmental custody, nor is there magic in the undefined and
sacred solemnity of Department files. If the presence of
these papers in the pubHc offices is a stumbHng-block in the
way of the performance of senatorial duty, it can be easily
removed. The papers and documents which have been described derive
no official character from any constitutional, statutory, or other
requirement making them necessary to the performance of the
official duty of the Executive.
It will not be denied, I suppose, that the President may
suspend a public officer in the entire absence of any papers or
documents to aid his official judgment and discretion. And I
am quite prepared to avow that the cases are not few in which
suspensions from office have depended more upon oral repre
sentations made to me by citizens of known good repute, and
by members of the House of Representatives and Senators of
the United States, than upon any letters and documents pre
sented for my examination. I have not felt justified in sus
pecting the veracity, integrity, and patriotism of Senators, or
ignoring their representations, because they were not in party
affiliation with the majority of their associates; and I recall a
few suspensions which bear the approval of individual mem
bers identified politically with the majority in the Senate.
While, therefore, I am constrained to deny the right of the
Senate to the papers and documents described, so far as the
right to the same is based upon the claim that they are in any
view of the subject official, I am also led unequivocally to
dispute the right of the Senate, by the aid of any documents

470 CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES.
whatever, or in any way save through the judicial process of
trial on impeachment, to review or reverse the acts of the
Executive in the suspension, during the recess of the Senate,
of Federal officials.
I believe the power to remove or suspend such officials is
vested in the President alone by the Constitution, which in
express terms provides that "the executive power shaH be
vested in a President of the United States of America," and
that "he shall take care that the laws be faithfully executed."
The Senate belongs to the legislative branch of the govern
ment. When the Constitution, by express provision, super
added to its legislative duties the right to advise and consent to
appointments to office and to sit as a court of impeachment, it
conferred upon that body all the control and regulation of
Executive action supposed to be necessary for the safety of the
people; and this express and special grant of such extraor
dinary powers, not in any way related to or growing out of
general senatorial duty, and in itself a departure from the gen
eral plan of our government, should be held, under a familiar
maxim of construction, to exclude every other right of inter
ference with Executive functions.
In the first Congress which assembled after the adoption of
the Constitution, comprising many who aided in its prepara
tion, a legislative construction was given to that instrument in
which the independence of the Executive in the matter of
removals from office was fully sustained.
I think it will be found that in the subsequent discussions of
this question there was generally, if not at all times, a proposi
tion pending in some way to curtail this power of the Presi
dent by legislation, which furnishes evidence that to limit such
power it was supposed to be necessary to supplement the Con
stitution by such legislation.
The first enactment of this description was passed under a
stress of partisanship and political bitterness which culminated
in the President's impeachment.
This law provided that the Federal officers to which it

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 471
applied could only be suspended during the recess of the Sen
ate when shown by evidence satisfactory to the President to be
guilty of misconduct in office, or crime, or when incapable or
disqualified to perform their duties, and that within twenty
days after the next meeting of the Senate it should be the duty
of the President "to report to the Senate such suspension, with
the evidence and reasons for his action in the case."
This statute, passed in 1867, when Congress was over
whelmingly and bitterly opposed politically to the President,
may be regarded as an indication that even then it was thought
necessary by a Congress, determined upon the subjugation of
the Executive to legislative will, to furnish itself a law for that
purpose, instead of attempting to reach the object intended by
an invocation of any pretended constitutional right.
The law which thus found its way to our statute book was
plain in its terms, and its intent needed no avowal. If validi
and now in operation, it would justify the present course of
the Senate and command the obedience of the Executive to
its demands. It may, however, be remarked in passing, that,
under this law, the President had the privilege of presenting to
the body which assumed to review his executive acts his
reasons therefor, instead of being excluded from explanation
or judged by papers found in the Departments.
Two years after the law of 1867 was passed, and within less
than five weeks after the inauguration of a President in poHt
ical accord with both branches of Congress, the sections of the
act regulating suspensions from office during the recess of the
Senate were entirely repealed and in their place were substi
tuted provisions which, instead of limiting the causes of
suspension to misconduct, crime, disability, or disqualification,
expressly permitted such suspension by the President "in his
discretion," and completely abandoned the requirement oblig
ing him to report to the Senate "the evidence and reasons"
for his action.
With these modifications, and with aH branches of the gov
ernment in political harmony, and in the absence of partisan

472 CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES.
incentive to captious obstruction, the law, as it was left by the
amendment of 1869, was much less destructive of Executive
discretion. And yet the great general and patriotic citizen
who, on the 4th day of March, 1869, assumed the duties of
Chief Executive, and for whose freer administration of his high
office the most hateful restraints of the law of 1867 were, on
the 5 th day of April, 1869, removed, mindful of his obligation
to defend and protect every prerogative of his great trust, and
apprehensive of the injury threatened the public service in the
continued operation of these statutes even in their modified
form, in his first message to Congress advised their repeal and
set forth their unconstitutional character and hurtful tendency
in the following language :
It may be well to mention here the embarrassment possible to arise
from leaving on the statute books the so-called " tenure-of-office acts" and to
recommend earnestly their total repeal. It could not have been the inten
tion of the framers of the Constitution, when providing that appointments
made by the President should receive the consent of the Senate, that the
latter should have the power to retain in office persons placed there by Fed
eral appointment against the will of the President. The law is inconsistent
with a faithful and efficient administration of the government. What faith
can an Executive put in officials forced upon him, and those, too, whom he
has suspended for reason ? How will such officials be likely to serve an ad
ministration which they know does not trust them ?
I am unable to state whether or not this recommendation for
a repeal of these laws has been since repeated. If it has not,
the reason can probably be found in the experience which
demonstrated the fact that the necessities of the political situa
tion but rarely developed their vicious character.
And so it happens that, after an existence of nearly twenty
years of almost innocuous desuetude, these laws are brought
forth — apparently the repealed as well as the unrepealed — and
put in the way of an Executive who is willing, if permitted,
to attempt an improvement in the methods of administration.
The constitutionality of these laws is by no means admitted.
But why should the provisions of the repealed law, which

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 473
required specific cause for suspension and a report to the Sen
ate of "evidence and reasons," be now, in effect, applied to
the present Executive instead of the law, afterward passed,
and unrepealed, which distinctly permits suspensions by the
President "in his discretion," and carefully omits the require
ment that "evidence and reasons for his actions in the case"
shall be reported to the Senate?
The requests and demands which, by the score, have, for
nearly three months, been presented to the different Depart
ments of the government, whatever may be their form, have
but one complexion. They assume the right of the Senate to
sit in judgment upon the exercise of my exclusive discretion
and executive function, for which I am solely responsible to
the people from whom I have so lately received the sacred
trust of office. My oath to support and defend the Constitu
tion, my duty to the people, who have chosen me to execute
the powers of their great office and not to relinquish them, and
my duty to the Chief Magistracy, which I must preserve unim
paired in all its dignity and vigor, compel me to refuse com
pliance with these demands.
To the end that the service may be improved, the Senate is
invited to the fuHest scrutiny of the persons submitted to them
for public office, in recognition of the constitutional power of
that body to advise and consent to their appointment. I shall
continue, as I have thus far done, to furnish, at the request of
the confirming body, all the information I possess touching the
fitness of the nominees placed before them for their action,
both when they are proposed to fill vacancies and to take the
place of suspended officials. Upon a refusal to confirm I
shaU not assume the right to ask the reasons for the action of
the Senate nor question its determination. I cannot think
that anything more is required to secure worthy incumbents in
public office than a careful and independent discharge of our
respective duties within their well-defined limits.
Though the propriety of suspensions might be better assured
if the action of the President was subject to review by the

474 CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES.
Senate, yet if the Constitution and the laws have placed this
responsibihty upon the executive branch of the government, it
should not be divided nor the discretion which it involves
relinquished. It has been claimed that the present Executive having
pledged himself not to remove officials except for cause, the
fact of their suspension implies such misconduct on the part of
a suspended official as injures his character and reputation,
and therefore the Senate should review the case for his vindi
cation. I have said that certain officials should not, in my opinion,
be removed during the continuance of the term for which they
-were appointed solely for the purpose of putting in their place
those in political affiliation with the appointing power; and
this declaration was immediately followed by a description of
offensive partisanship which ought not to entitle those in whom
it was exhibited to consideration. It is not apparent how an
adherence to the course thus announced carries with it the
consequences described. If in any degree the suggestion is
worthy of consideration, it is to be hoped that there may be
a defense against unjust suspension in the justice of the
Executive. Every pledge which I have made, by which I have placed a
limitation upon my exercise of executive power, has been faith
fully redeemed. Of course the pretense is not put forth that
no mistakes have been committed; but not a suspension has
been made except it appeared to my satisfaction that the pub
lic welfare would be improved thereby. Many applications for
suspension have been denied, and the adherence to the rule
laid down to govern my action as to such suspensions has
caused much irritation and impatience on the part of those
who have insisted upon more changes in the offices.
The pledges I have made were made to the people, and to
them I am responsible for the manner in which they have been
redeemed. I am not responsible to the Senate, and I am

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 475
tinwilling to submit my actions and official conduct to them
for judgment.
There are no grounds for an allegation that the fear of being
found false to my professions influences me in declining to
submit to the demands of the Senate. I have not constantly
refused to suspend officials, and thus incurred the displeas
ure of political friends, and yet willfully broken faith with the
people for the sake of being false to them.
Neither the discontent of party friends nor the allurements
constantly offered of confirmations of appointees conditioned
upon the avowal that suspensions have been made on party
grounds alone, nor the threat proposed in the resolutions now
before the Senate that no confirmation will be made unless
the demands of that body be complied with, are sufficient to
discourage or deter me from following in the way which I am
convinced leads to better government for the people.
Grover Cleveland.

IIL
Suggesting Certain Amendments to the Oleomargarine Act.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 2, 1886.
To the Congress:
I have this day approved a bill originating in the House of
Representatives, entitied, "An Act defining butter, also impos
ing a tax upon and regulating the manufacture, sale, importa
tion, and exportation of oleomargarine."
This legislation has awakened much interest among the peo
ple of the country, and earnest argument has been addressed
to the Executive for the purpose of influencing his action
thereupon. Many, in opposition, have urged its dangerous
character as tending to break down the boundaries between
the proper exercise of legislative power by Federal and State
authority; many, in favor of the enactment, have represented
that it promised great advantages to a large portion of our

476 CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES.
population who sadly need relief; and those, on both sides of
the question, whose advocacy or opposition is based upon no
broader foundation than local or personal interest, have out
numbered all the others.
This, upon its face and in its main features, is a revenue bill,
and was first introduced in the House of Representatives,
wherein the Constitution declares that all bills for raising
revenue shall originate.
The Constitution has invested Congress with a very wide
legislative discretion both as to the necessity of taxation and
the selection of the objects of its burdens. And though, if the
question was presented to me as an original proposition, I might
doubt the present need of increased taxation, I deem it my
duty in this instance to defer to the judgment of the legislative
branch of the government, which has been so emphatically
announced in both Houses of Congress upon the passage of
this bill.
Moreover, those who desire to see removed the weight of
taxation, now pressing upon the people from other directions,
may well be justified in the hope and expectation that the
selection of an additional subject of internal taxation, so well
able to bear it, will in consistency be followed by legislation
relieving our citizens from other revenue burdens, rendered by
the passage of this bill even more than heretofore unnecessary
and needlessly oppressive.
It has been urged as an objection to this measure that, while
purporting to be legislation for revenue, its real purpose is to
destroy, by the use of the taxing power, one industry of our
people for the protection and benefit of another.
If entitled to indulge in such a suspicion, as a basis of
official action in this case, and if entirely satisfied that the
consequences indicated would ensue, I should doubtless feel
constrained to interpose Executive dissent.
But I do not feel called upon to interpret the motives of
Congress otherwise than by the apparent character of the bill
which has been presented to me, and I am convinced that the

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 477
taxes which it creates cannot possibly destroy the open and
legitimate manufacture and sale of the thing upon which it is
levied. If this article has the merit which its friends claim for
it, and if the people of the land, with fuH knowledge of its real
character, desire to purchase and use it, the taxes exacted by
this bill will permit a fair profit to both manufacturer and
dealer. If the existence of the commodity taxed, and the
profits of its manufacture and sale, depend upon disposing of it
to the people for something else which it deceitfully imitates,
the entire enterprise is a fraud and not an industry; and if it
cannot endure the exhibition of its real character which will be
effected by the inspection, supervision, and stamping which
this bill directs, the sooner it is destroyed the better, in the
interest of fair dealing.
Such a result would not furnish the first instance in the his
tory of legislation in which a revenue bill produced a benefit
which was merely incidental to its main purpose.
There is certainly no industry better entitled to the inci
dental advantages which may follow this legislation than our
farming and dairy interests; and to none of our people should
they be less begrudged than our farmers and dairymen. The
present depression of their occupations, the hard, steady, and
often unremunerative toil which such occupations exact, and
the burdens of taxation which our agriculturists necessarily
bear, entitle them to every legitimate consideration.
Nor should there 'be opposition to the incidental effect of
this legislation on the part of those who profess to be engaged
honestly and fairly in the manufacture and sale of a wholesome
and valuable article of food, which by its provisions may be
subject to taxation. As long as their business is carried on
under cover and by false pretenses, such men have bad com
panions in those whose manufactures, however vile and harm
ful, take their place without challenge with the better sort, in
a common crusade of deceit against the public. But if this
occupation and its methods are forced into the light, — and all
these manufactures must thus either stand upon their merits or

478 CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES.
fall — the good and bad must soon part company, and the' fittest
only will survive.
Not the least important incident related to this legislation is
the defense afforded to the consumer against the fraudulent
substitution and sale of an imitation for a genuine article of
food, of very general household use. Notwithstanding the
immense quantity of the article described in this bill which is
sold to the people for their consumption as food, and notwith
standing the claim made that its manufacture supplies a cheap
substitute for butter, I venture to say that hardly a pound ever
entered a poor man's house under its real name and in its true
character. While, in its relation to an article of this description, there
should be no governmental regulation of what the citizen shall
eat, it is certainly not a cause of regret if, by legislation of this
character, he is afforded a means by which he may better pro
tect himself against imposition in meeting the needs and wants
of his daily Hfe.
Having entered upon this legislation, it is manifestly a duty
to render it as effective as possible in the accompHshment of
all the good which should legitimately follow in its train.
This leads to the suggestion that the article proposed to be
taxed, and the circumstances which subject it thereto, should be
clearly and with great distinctness defined in the statute. It
seems to me that this object has not been completely attained
in the phraseology of the second section of the bill, and that
question may well arise as to the precise condition the article
to be taxed must assume in order to be regarded as "made in
imitation or semblance of butter, or, when so made, calculated
or intended to be sold as butter or for butter."
The fourteenth and fifteenth sections of the bill in my opin
ion are in danger of being construed as an interference with
the police power of the States. Not being entirely satisfied of
the unconstitutionality of these provisions, and regarding them
as not being so connected and interwoven with the other
sections as, if found invalid, to vitiate the entire measure, I

CHARACTERISTIC MESSAGES. 479
have determined to commend them to the attention of the
House with a view to an immediate amendment of the bill if it
should be deemed necessary, and if it is practicable at this late
day in the session of Congress.
The fact, too, that the bill does not take effect by its terms
until ninety days have elapsed after its approval, thus leaving
it but one month in operation before the next session of Con
gress, when, if time does not now permit, the safety and effi
ciency of the measure may be abundantly protected by remedial
legislative action, and the desire to see realized the beneficial
results which it is expected will immediately follow the inau
guration of this legislation have had their influence in determin
ing my official action.
The considerations which have been referred to will, I
hope, justify this communication and the suggestions which it
contains.
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER XXL
estimates of public men.

the principles of THOMAS JEFFERSON.
I.
(Letter to John P. Adams, Brooklyn, N. Y., September 12, 1890.)
It seems but a very short time ago that I participated in the
laying of the cornerstone of the building now ready for occu
pancy, and I recognize in the vigor with which it has been
pushed to completion the most gratifying evidence of the zeal
and sturdiness of your Democratic organization.
The Kings County Democracy should certainly be congrat
ulated upon the possession of such beautiful headquarters in
a building whose name suggests the true Democratic faith. In
the Thomas Jefferson there should be found no room for
counsels in the least regardless of the value of pure and honest
government, or lacking in sympathy with the highest and
greatest good of the people.
I feel that I can wish nothing better for your association
than that their new home may be long continued to them,
and that they may take with them there and always maintain
those principles of Jeffersonian Democracy, as old as the
Nation, which, if steadfastly upheld and honestly applied, are
certain to insure the felicity and prosperity of our country.

(Letter to William E. Burnett, Springfield, O., February 3, 1891.)
The Democracy of Ohio is deserving of the utmost regard
of its party friends everywhere on account of its stead-

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 481
fastness to a party creed and loyalty. This reflection but adds
to my perplexity, as I see insurmountable obstacles in the way
of my meeting those who will gather at your contemplated
banquet These are days above all others in our generation when the
memory of Jefferson's patriotism, conservatism, wisdom, and
devotion to everything American should be kept warm in the
hearts and minds of his countrymen, and especially of his
political followers. The contemplation of these things should
serve to check every tendency to follow false and delusive
lights, and to tread untried and unsafe paths.
It is most fitting and useful, therefore, that your club, which
bears the name of this illustrious man, should properly cele
brate every anniversary of his birth.

(Letter to Dethlef C. Hansen, Tacoma, Wash., March 26, 1891.)
It would afford me great satisfaction if I could accept your
invitation to join the Democracy of the State of Washington
in their celebration of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson, on
the 13th day of April next.
It seems to me that there never was a time in our history
when the American people could with so much profit recall
the character and teachings of this illustrious man. The peril
of our day lies in an inclination to disregard the virtue of patri
otism — absolutely necessary to the success of free institutions —
and the acceptance of the vicious lessons of selfishness, and in
an ignoble toleration of the idea that the operations of our
government may be used as aids in the advancement of special
interests. Jefferson has warned us that these things are all opposed to
the principles upon which our scheme of popular rule is
founded. He has admonished us that the requisites of success
in the plan of government which we exhibit to the world are

482 ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
our united determination to reach the national destiny our in
stitutions promise, a patriotic, unselfish care of every interest
affecting the general prosperity of our people, and the scrupu
lous cultivation and preservation of that genuine Americanism
which is considerate of all our conditions, tolerant of all our
varied interests, and free from unworthy suspicion or
jealousy. It follows that, if there are dangerous political tendencies
abroad in the land, they should not be found among those who
profess the faith of true Democracy. We, who acknowledge
Jefferson as the founder of our party, should never for a mo
ment discredit the wisdom or devotion to principle of our
great leader, who knew so well the essentials of our coun
try's perpetuation and welfare, nor should we ever doubt
that he has left to us a safe guide to the way of political
duty.

4.
(Letter to E. O. Graves, Seattle, Wash., April 2, 1891.)
I very much regret that I am unable to accept the invitation
thus courteously extended to me, for I believe that those who
profess the political faith of Thomas Jefferson cannot too often
contemplate his life and services, and all that he has done for
our country and for the American name.
Every Democrat should be proud to claim that the services
he rendered in the cause of freedom and humanity were ren
dered under the sanction of Democratic principles. Nor should
we forget that the honest and fearless application of these
principles is of no less importance now than when our great
leader announced them.
The occasion which you contemplate should not, therefore,
be allowed to pass without leaving, on the minds of those who
participate, the conviction that, as followers of Thomas Jeffer
son, they assume a responsibility to their fellow-countrymen

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 483
which exacts not only loyalty to party organization, but the
intelHgent and sturdy advocacy of Democratic doctrines in
their purity and integrity.
If these doctrines are fairly and frankly taught, we need
have no apprehension that the absolute reliance upon the de
liberate thought of the American people, which Jefferson in
sisted upon, will disappoint us — either as members of the
Democratic party or as patriotic American citizens.

5-
(Letter to Iroquois Club, Chicago, March 25, 1892.)
I am in receipt of the courteous invitation tendered me by
the Iroquois Club, of Chicago, to attend its annual banquet in
commemoration of the birthday of Thomas Jefferson on the
2d day of April. The fact that I have been obliged to de
cline other invitations of the club to meet its members and
guests on similar occasions causes me especially to regret that
I cannot accept this, but the work I have to do and the en
gagements I have made enforce another declination.
A contemplation of Jefferson's life and services, and a review
of his political expressions, cannot fail to be improving and
profitable to the Democracy of the present day. If entered
upon in a proper spirit, Jefferson's teachings ought to increase
the tenacity of our hold upon the simple truths which made
up his political faith, and should satisfy us with the standards
of Democracy which he established. In these days, when the
Democratic party is beset with temptation, and when on every
side false lights are set up for its destruction, its safety will be
found in steadfastly and trustingly following the way which
principle points out and shunning the allurements of temporary
expedients, and resisting the seductions of popular miscon
ceptions.

484 ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
II.
THE CHARACTER OF ANDREW JACKSON.
I.
(Letter to Allen G. Thurman, January 4, 1886.)
I acknowledge with thanks the receipt of an invitation to be
present at the annual reunion of the Jackson Club, of the city
of Columbus, on the evening of the 8th inst.
My official duties here will prevent my acceptance of the
invitation so kindly tendered, and I beg to assure the Club
that the objects and purposes of the reunion, which are
expressed in the note of the committee, meet with my cordial
and sincere approval.
I should be most pleased to be one of those who, on that
occasion, will congratulate the friends of good government on
the success of the Democratic party, for I believe that the
application of the true and pure principles of that political
faith must result in the welfare of the country.
It is also proposed, I learn, to consult together as to the
manner in which the accomplishment of " the greatest good to
our people " can best be aided and assisted. No higher or
more sacred mission was ever intrusted to a party organization,
and I am convinced that it will be honestly and faithfully per
formed by a close sympathy with the people in their wants and
needs, by a patriotic endeavor to quicken their love and devo
tion for American institutions, and by an earnest effort to
enlarge their apprehensions and realizations of the benefits
which the wise and unselfish administration of a free govern
ment will secure to them.

2.
(Letter to C. Kinney Smith, New York, December 26, 1890.)
It is with much disappointment and regret that I feel obliged
to forego, on account of another engagement, the pleasure of
meeting the Business Men's Association at its celebration of

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 485
the battle of New Orleans, on the evening of the 8th of Janu
ary next.
I hope the time will never come when the day your club
proposes to celebrate will be neglected by the Democracy of
our land. It seems to me that you appropriately caU it " Jack
son's Day," and I wish that designation might become universal
among those who love the Democratic faith and believe in its
fearless advocacy.
Especially at this particular time ought the celebration of
this day to be enthusiastic. The fact that our party is united
in its devotion to the professions and doctrines which have
made it great, for which Jackson stood, and in the inspiration
of which he led the Democracy of his time to victory, is enough
to furnish abundant cause for congratulation. When we add
to this the fact that we are permitted to celebrate on the
" Jackson's Day " now at hand a recent sweeping triumph of
Democratic principle, we are justified in the indulgence of
unrestrained and hearty rejoicing.

3-
(Letter to Samuel Gustine Thompson, Philadelphia, January 3, 1892.)
I hope the Democracy of the country will generally observe
this day, and that their observance will serve to stimulate a
real genuine Democratic sentiment, which recognizes the
responsibility of our party to the people, and the duty we owe
to those who have reposed confidence in our professions. We
will thus be constrained to a steady and persistent advocacy
of the principles which are concededly Democratic, and will
be prepared to resist the temptation to attempt to win party
supremacy by the support of theories challenged as to their
Democratic character, and certainly dangerous and distracting
to the harmony of our party.
Temporary shifts and reckless expedients do not accord with
the nature and policy of true Democracy. Its best hope and

486 ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
reliance have always been and must continue to be in a constant
adherence to its acknowledged principles and a plain and per
sistent presentation of those principles to the intelligence and
thoughtfulness of the American people.

in.
TRIBUTES TO SAMUEL J. TILDEN.
I. Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, February 2, 1888.
William A. Furey, Esq., Chairman, etc.
My Dear Sir : I acknowledge with sincere thanks the in
vitation extended to me, on behalf of the Kings County Demo
cratic Club, to attend a banquet to be given in the City of
Brooklyn on the 9th instant, in commemoration of the birth
day of Samuel J. Tilden.
I indulge, with the utmost pleasure and satisfaction, the belief
that this invitation is not a mere formal compliment tendered
to me in fulfillment of customary propriety, but that it is an
additional evidence of the genuine kindness of the people and
my political friends of Brooklyn and Kings County, which has
more than once during my public life been heartily manifested.
Entertaining this belief, I know that its expression will make
it unnecessary for me to assure you that I would gladly accept
your invitation if it were possible. I am not only certain that
at your banquet I should be among true and steadfast friends,
but that the occasion and its prevailing spirit cannot fail to in
spire every participant with new strength and increased patri
otism and courage.
The birthday of Samuel J. Tilden is fittingly celebrated by
the Democracy of Kings County, for he found there in all his
efforts to reform the public service and to reinstate his party in
the confidence of the American people firm and stanch friends,
never wavering in their willing and effective support. Let

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 487
these friends now remind all their fellow-citizens of the patri
otic and useful career of their honored and trusted leader, and
let everyone professing his political faith proclaim the value
of his teachings. He taught the limitation of Federal power
under the Constitution, the absolute necessity of public econ
omy, the safety of a sound currency, honesty in public place,
the responsibility of public servants to the people, care for
those who toil with their hands, a proper limitation of corpo
rate privileges and a reform in the Civil Service.
His was true Democracy. It led him to meet boldly every
public issue as it rose. With his conception of political duty,
he thought it never too early and never too late to give battle
to vicious doctrines and corrupt practices. He believed that
pure and sound Democracy flourished and grew in open, bold,
and honest championship of the interests of the people, and
that it but feebly lived upon deceit, false pretenses, and fear.
And he was right. His success proved him right, and
proved, too, that the> American people appreciate a courageous
struggle in their defense.
I should certainly join you in recalling the virtues and
achievements of this illustrious Democrat, on the anniversary of
his birth, if, in the arrangement of the social events connected
with my official life, an important one had not been appointed
to take place on the evening of your banquet. This neces
sarily detains me here.
Hoping that your celebration will be very successful and full
of profitable enjoyment, I am. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

(Letter to the Greystone Club, February, 1890.)
It seems to me that the celebration of that day should give
rise to inspiring thoughts in the minds of all true Democrats
and stimulate them in their efforts for reform and their insist-

488 ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
ence upon better care for the interests of the people. The
faith of Mr. Tilden in the Democratic party is vindicated by
the manner in which it has rushed to the front in the struggle
for the accomplishment of more valuable, practical results than
the loaves and fishes of party. It ought to delight every
member of the party to see how readily and how eagerly it
seized upon a political principle when it was presented, and how
naturally and easily it espoused, in discussing it, the cause of the
people, instead of the selfish and sordid side of the question.
After all, this is but being true to the Democratic faith and
profession. No member of the party who appreciates the
advantage of honesty and consistency, and who fairly values
the constantly growing acceptance of our principles, can fail to
congratulate himself upon his right to a place in the brother
hood to which Jefferson and Jackson and Tilden belonged.

3-
(Letter to A. B. McKinley, Denver, Col., February 5, 1892.)
This is a most excellent and appropriate time to recall the
virtues and attributes of Samuel J. Tilden, the late great leader
of the Democracy of the land. In these days our party may
remember with extreme profit his pure patriotism, his ambition
permeated with a desire for the welfare of his fellow-country
men, his splendid organizing ability, stimulated by his love of
country and untainted with ignoble motives, his unyielding
resistance to all that was undemocratic and unsafe, and his
stubborn insistence upon everything which had the clear sanc
tion of party principles. These characteristics, combined with
his love for the people and his unfaltering trust in their intelli
gence and fair-mindedness, made him a great Democrat, and we
cannot go amiss if we accept him as our political example.
I hope the banquet contemplated by your club will be an
occasion full of invigoration to those who, in the celebration of
the 9th of February, demonstrate their devotion to the political

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 489
honesty and sincerity which characterized Samuel J. Tilden,
and that those who are fortunate enough to participate will see
plainer than ever their duty and mission in resistance within
their party to all that is not safely and surely in accord with
Democratic doctrine and in the bold advocacy, at all times and
in all places, of the saving qualities of the true Democratic
faith.

IV.
death of GENERAL U. S. GRANT.
(Presidential Proclamation, July 23, 1885.)
The President of the United States has just received the sad
tidings of the death of that illustrious citizen and ex-President
of the United States, General Ulysses S. Grant, at Mount
McGregor, in the State of New York, to which place he had
lately been removed in the endeavor to prolong his life.
In making this announcement to the people of the United
States, the President is impressed with the magnitude of the
public loss of a great military leader, who was, in the hour of
victory, magnanimous ; amid disaster, serene and self-sustained;
who, in every station, whether as a soldier, or as a Chief Magis
trate, twice called to power by his fellow-cotintrymen, trod
unswervingly the pathway of duty, undeterred by doubts,
single-minded, and straightforward.
The entire country has witnessed with deep emotion his pro
longed and patient struggle with painful disease, and has
watched by his couch of suffering with tearful sympathy.
The destined end has come at last, and his spirit has re
turned to the Creator who sent it forth.
The great heart of the nation, that followed him when living
with love and pride, bows now in sorrow above him dead, ten
derly mindful of his virtues, his great patriotic services, and of
the loss occasioned by his death.

49° ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
V.
VICE-PRESIDENT THOMAS A. HENDRICKS.
I.
(Opening Sentence of First Annual Message, December, 1885.)
Your assembling is clouded by a sense of public bereave
ment caused by the recent and sudden death of Thomas A.
Hendricks, Vice President of the United States. His dis
tinguished public services, his complete integrity and devotion
to every duty, and his personal virtues will find honorable
record in his country's history.
Ample and repeated proofs of the esteem and confidence in
which he was held by his fellow-countrymen were manifested
by his election to offices of the most important trust and highest
dignity ; and at length, full of years and honors, he has been
laid at rest amid universal sorrow and benediction.

(To John A. Holman, Indianapolis, Secretary of the Monument Committee.)
Marion, Mass., June 18, 1890.
Dear Sir :
I acknowledge with thanks the invitation I have just received
to be present at the unveiling of the monument to the memory
of the late Thomas A. Hendricks, on the ist day of July next.
It is useless, I hope, to assure you of the satisfaction it would
afford me to testify my respect and affection for your dis
tinguished fellow-townsman by joining those who will gather
to honor his memory on the occasion you contemplate. His
eminent public service, and his faithful discharge of many and
important official duties, render the commemoration of his
public and private virtues most fitting and proper. I sincerely
regret that a positive engagement, for the day appointed for the
unveiling of the monument erected to his memory, makes it
impossible for me to accept your invitation.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 491
VL
THE DEATH OF GENERAL HANCOCK.
(Executive Order, February 9, 1886.)
Tidings of the death of Winfield Scott Hancock, the senior
Major-General of the Army of the United States, have just
been received.
A patriotic and valiant defender of his country ; an able and
heroic soldier ; a spotless and accomplished gentleman —
crowned alike with the laurels of military renown and the
highest tribute of his fellow-countrymen to his worth as a
citizen — he has gone to his reward.
It is fitting that every mark of public respect should be paid
to his memory. Therefore it is now ordered by the President
that the national flag be displayed at half-mast upon all the
buildings of the Executive Departments in this city until after
his funeral shall have taken place.

VIL
EX-PRESIDENT CHESTER A. ARTHUR.
(Executive Proclamation, November 18, 1886.)
It is my painful duty to announce the death of Chester Alan
Arthur, lately the President of the United States, which oc
curred after an illness of long duration, at an early hour this
morning, at his residence in the city of New York.
Mr. Arthur was caHed to the chair of Chief Magistrate of
the nation by a tragedy which cast its shadow over the entire
government. His assumption of the grave duties was marked by an evident
and conscientious sense of his responsibilities, and an earnest
desire to meet them in a patriotic and benevolent spirit.
With dignity and ability he sustained the important duties
of his station, and the reputation of his personal worth, con
spicuous graciousness, and patriotic fidelity wiU long be
cherished by his fellow-countrymen.

492 ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
VIIL
THE CAREER OF HENRY WARD BEECKER.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, D. C, May 22, 1888.
My Dear Mrs. Beecher :
I have been asked to furnish a contribution to a proposed
memorial of your late husband."
While I am by no means certain that anything I might pre
pare would be worthy of a place among the eloquent and
beautiful tributes which are sure to be presented, this request
spurs to action my desire and intention to express to you,
more fully than I have yet done, my sympathy in your afflic
tion and my appreciation of my own and the country's loss in
the death of Mr. Beecher.
More than thirty years ago I repeatedly enjoyed the oppor
tunity of hearing him in his own pulpit. His warm utterances,
and the earnest interest he displayed in the practical things re
lated to useful living, the hopes he inspired, and the manner in
which he relieved the precepts of Christianity from gloom and
cheerlessness, made me feel that, though a stranger, he was
my friend. Many years afterward we came to know each
other ; and since that time my belief in his friendship, based
upon acquaintance and personal contact, has been to me a
source of the greatest satisfaction.
His goodness and kindness of heart, so far as they were
manifested in his personal life and in his home, are sacred to
you and to your grief ; but, so far as they gave color and direc
tion to his teachings and opinions, they are proper subjects for
gratitude and congratulation on the part of every American
citizen. They caused him to take the side of the common
people in every discussion. He loved his fellows in their
homes ; he rejoiced in their contentment and comfort, and
sympathized with them in their daily hardships and trials.
As their champion he advocated in all things the utmost reg
ulated and wholesome liberty and freedom. His sublime faith

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 493
in the success of popular government led him to trust the
people, and to treat their errors and misconceptions with gen
erous toleration. An honorable pride in American citizenship,
when guided by the teachings of religion, he believed to be a
sure guarantee of a splendid national destiny. I never met
him without gaining something from his broad views and wise
reflections. Your personal affliction in his death stands alone, in its mag
nitude and depth. But thousands wish that their sense of loss
might temper your grief, and that they, by sharing your sor
row, might lighten it.
Such kindly assurances, and your realization of the high and
sacred mission accomplished in your husband's useful life, fur
nish all this world can supply of comfort ; but your faith and
piety will not fail to lead you to a higher and better source of
consolation. Yours very sincerely,
Grover Cleveland.

IX.
death of GENERAL P. H. SHERIDAN.

(Special Message to Congress, August 6, 1888.)
It becomes my painful duty to announce to the Congress and
to the people of the United States the death of Philip H.
Sheridan, General of the Army, which occurred at a late hour
last night at his summer home, in the State of Massachusetts.
The death of this valiant soldier and patriotic son of the repub
lic, though his long illness has been regarded with anxiety, has
nevertheless shocked the country and caused universal grief.
He had established for himself a stronghold in the hearts of
his fellow-countrymen, who soon caught the true meaning and
purpose of his soldierly devotion and heroic temper. His in
trepid courage, his steadfast patriotism, and the generosity of

494 ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
his nature inspired with peculiar warmth the admiration of all
the people. Above his grave affection for the man and pride
in his achievements will struggle for mastery, and too much
honor cannot be accorded to one who was so richly endowed
with all the qualities which make his death a national loss.

(Paragraph in the Fourth Annual Message, December, 1888.)
The death of General Sheridan in August last was a national
affliction. The Army then lost the grandest of its chiefs.
The country lost a brave and experienced soldier, a wise and
discreet counselor, and a modest and sensible man. Those
who, in any manner, came within the range of his personal as
sociation will never fail to pay deserved and willing homage
to his greatness and the glory of his career ; but they will
cherish with more tender sensibility the loving memory of his
simple, generous, and considerate nature.

X.
THE CHARACTER OF SAMUEL S. COX.
(Speech as Presiding Officer Over Memorial Meeting in the Cooper Union,
October 9, 1889.)
It is peculiarly fit and proper that among the tributes paid to
the worth and usefulness of Samuel S.Cox the most hearty and sin
cere should flow from the hearts of his Congressional constituents.
These he served faithfully and well ; and they were honored
by the honor of his life. It was as their chosen public servant
that he gathered fame, and exhibited to the entire country the
strength and the brightness of true American statesmanship.
It was while he still served them that he died. All his fellow-
citizens mourn his death, and speak in praise of his character
and his achievements in public life ; but his constituents may
well feel that the affliction of his death is nearer to them than

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 495
to others, by so much that they are entitled to a greater share
of pride in all that he wrought.
I should not suit the part allotted to me on this occasion if I
were to speak at length of the many traits of character within
my personal knowledge that made your friend and mine the
wise and efficient legislator, the useful and patriotic citizen,
and the kind and generous man. These things constitute a
theme upon which his fellow-countrymen love to dwell, and
they will be presented to you to-night in more eloquent terms
than I can command.
I shall not, however, forbear mentioning the fact that your
representative, in all his public career, and in his relations to
legislation, was never actuated by a corrupt or selfish interest.
His zeal was born of public spirit, and the motive of his labor
was the public good. He was never found among those who
cloak their efforts for personal gain and advantage beneath
the disguise of disinterested activity for the welfare of the
people. These are pleasant things for his friends to remember to
night, and they are without doubt the things upon which rest
the greatest share of the honor and respect which his memory
exacts from his fellow-citizens.
But while we thus contemplate the value of unselfish public
usefulness, we cannot restrain a reflection which has a somber
coloring. What is the condition of the times when we may
justly and fairly exalt the memory of a deceased public servant
because he was true and honest and faithful to his trust ? Are we
maintaining a safe standard of public duty when the existence of
these virtues, instead of being general, are exceptional enough
to cause congratulation ? All public servants should be as
true and honest and faithful as the man whom we mourn to
night I beg you to take home with you among the reflections which
this occasion shall awaken, an appreciation of the truth that
if we are to secure for ourselves all the blessings of our free
institutions we must better apprehend the interest we have at

496 ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN.
stake in their scrupulous maintenance, and must exact of
those whom we trust in public office a more rigid adherence to
the demands of public duty.
I congratulate you and myself upon the fact that we are to
be addressed to-night by one whose eloquence and ability, as
well as his warm friendship for Mr. Cox, eminently fit him to
be the orator of the occasion.

XI.
A TRIBUTE TO WILLIAM L. SCOTT.
(Written for the Erie [Pa.] Herald, of September 26, 1891.)
My acquaintance with Mr. Scott dates no further back than
his prominence in public life. That acquaintance, however,
rapidly grew to a close intimacy, which was only interrupted
by his death. I learned to love him for his sincerity and for
his steadfastness in his relations to his friends. His preference
for people was based upon something he saw in them of sturdy
usefulness, and upon qualities of independent strength that
commanded his respect; and, having once selected a friend, he
remained a friend in all circumstances and without a shadow
of turning.
But there was another phase of his character which should
endear his memory not only to his personal friends but to every
true American. As a public servant he was patriotic, disinter
ested, honest, and sincere. As a member of Congress he spent
his efforts and his thought in advancing those measures and
objects which he deemed for the good of the entire country,
and he never belittled his position, nor diminished his useful
ness by seeking to accomplish legislation which had relation to
his own benefits or to interests merely local and circumscribed.
It was certainly true of him that, having determined that a cer
tain course of conduct led to the promotion of the public good,
his private interests and all personal considerations were set
aside as he followed in the way of public duty.

ESTIMATES OF PUBLIC MEN. 497
If his life had only been valuable for the example he set for
the faithful performance of the trust the people repose in their
public servants, he should be remembered with gratitude and
affection, and, when we recall his other traits of mind and heart,
those who loved him cannot fail to be comforted by the precious
memories he has left to them.

XII.
THE CHARACTER OF CHARLES STEWART PARNELL.
No. 8i6 Madison Avenue,
November 11, 1891.
John McConvill, Esq., Chairman, etc.
Dear Sir : I am a stanch believer in the doctrine of home
rule, and have not failed to appreciate the labors in the cause,
of the man whose services you propose to commemorate.
For what he accomplished and sought to accomplish for
home rule, he deserves to be honored by all those who love
a free and representative government, but his aim and purposes
had their rise so completely in patriotism, and- his unselfish
love for his countrymen was so conspicuous and disinterested,
that the reverence and devotion due to the memory of a
patriot must always be associated with his name.
The influence of his example surely ought not to be lost
upon those who take up his work, to which he so thoroughly
consecrated all his efforts and aspirations.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

CHAPTER XXII.
THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR.
I.
To the President of the American Fishery Union.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, April 7, 1887.
George Steele, Esq., President American Fishery Union, and
others, Gloucester, Mass.
Gentlemen : I have received your letter lately addressed
to me, and have given full consideration to the expression of the
views and wishes therein contained, in relation to the existing
differences between the governments of Great Britain and the
United States, growing out of the refusal to award to our
citizens, engaged in fishing enterprises, the privileges to which
they are entitled, either under treaty stipulations or the guar
antees of international comity and neighborly concession.
I sincerely trust the apprehension you express, of unjust and
unfriendly treatment of American fishermen lawfully found in
Canadian waters, will not be realized. But if such apprehension
should prove to be well founded, I earnestly hope that no fault
or inconsiderate action of any of our citizens will in the least
weaken the just position of our government, or deprive us of
the universal sympathy and support to which we should be
entitled. The action of this administration since June, 1885, when the
fishing articles of the treaty of 187 1 were terminated, under
the notification which had two years before been given to our
government, has been fully disclosed by the correspondence
between the representatives and the appropriate departments
498

THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR. 499
of the respective governments, with which I am apprised
by your letter you are entirely familiar. An examination
of this correspondence has doubtless satisfied you that in no
case have the rights or privileges of American fishermen been
overlooked or neglected, but that, on the contrary they have
been sedulously insisted upon and cared for by every means
within the control of the Executive branch of the govern
ment The Act of Congress approved March 3, 1887, authorizing
a course of retaliation through Executive action, in the event of
a continuance on the part of the British American authorities
of unfriendly conduct and treaty violations affecting American
fishermen, has devolved upon the President of the United
States exceedingly grave and solemn responsibilities, compre
hending highly important consequences to our national charac
ter and dignity, and involving extremely valuable commercial
intercourse between the British Possessions in North America
and the people of the United States.
I understand the main purpose of your letter is to suggest
that, in case recourse to the retaliatory measures authorized by
this Act should be invited by unjust treatment of our fishermen
in the future, the object of such retaliation might be fully
accomplished by " prohibiting Canadian-caught fish from entry
into the ports of the United States."
The existing controversy is one in which two nations are the
parties concerned. The retaliation contemplated by the Act
of Congress is to be enforced, not to protect solely any partic
ular interest, however meritorious or valuable, but to main
tain the national honor, and thus protect all our people. In
this view, the violation of American fishery rights, and unjust or
unfriendly acts toward a portion of our citizens engaged in this
business, are but the occasion for action, and constitute a
national affront which gives birth to or may justify retaliation.
This measure, once resorted to, its effectiveness and value
may well depend upon the thoroughness and extent of its
application ; and in the performance of international duties.

500 THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR.
the enforcement of international rights, and the protection of
our citizens, this government and the people of the United
States must act as a unit — all intent upon attaining the best re
sult of retaliation upon the basis of a maintenance of national
honor and dignity.
A nation seeking by any means to maintain its honor, dignity,
and integrity is engaged in protecting the rights of its people ;
and if in such efforts particular interests are injured and special
-advantages forfeited, these things should be patriotically borne
for the public good.
An immense volume of population, manufactures, and agri
cultural productions, and the marine tonnage and railways
to which these have given activity, all largely the result of
intercourse between the United States and British America,
and the natural growth of a full half century of good neighbor
hood and friendly communication, form an aggregate of material
wealth and incidental relations of most impressive magnitude.
I fully appreciate these things, and am not unmindful of the
great number of our people who are concerned in such vast
and diversified interests.
In the performance of the serious duty which the Congress
has imposed upon me, and in the exercise upon just occasion
of the power conferred under the Act referred to, I shall deem
myself bound to inflict no unnecessary damage or injury upon
any portion of our people ; but I shall, nevertheless, be un
flinchingly guided by a sense of what the self-respect and
dignity of the nation demand. In the maintenance of these,
and in the support of the honor of the government, beneath
which every citizen may repose in safety, no sacrifice of per
sonal or private interests shall be considered as against the
general welfare. Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR. 501
IL
Concerning Retaliation on Canada.
To THE Congress :
The rejection by the Senate of the treaty lately negotiated
for the settlement and adjustment of the differences existing
between the United States and Great Britain concerning the
rights and privileges of American fishermen in the ports and
waters of British North America, seems to justify a survey of
the condition to which the pending question is thus remitted.
The treaty upon this subject concluded in 1818, through
disagreements as to the meaning of its terms, has been a fruit
ful source of irritation and trouble. Our citizens engaged in
fishing enterprises in waters adjacent to Canada have been
subjected to numerous vexatious interferences and annoy
ances, their vessels have been seized upon pretexts which
appeared to be entirely inadmissible, and they have been other
wise treated by the Canadian authorities and officials in a
manner inexcusably harsh and oppressive.
This conduct has been justified by Great Britain and
Canada, by the claim that the treaty of 181 8 permitted it, and
upon the ground that it was necessary to the proper protection
of Canadian interests. We deny that treaty agreements justify
these acts, and we further maintain that, aside from any treaty
restraints of disputed interpretation, the relative positions of
the United States and Canada as near neighbors, the growth of
our joint commerce, the development and prosperity of bo^h
countries, which amicable relations surely guarantee, and above
all, the liberality always extended by the United States to the
people of Canada, furnished motives for kindness and consid
eration higher and better than treaty covenants.
While keenly sensitive to all that was exasperating in the
condition, and by no means indisposed to support the just
complaints of our injured citizens, I still deemed it my duty,
for the preservation of important American interests which
were directly involved, and in view of all the details of the

502 THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR.
situation, to attempt by negotiation to remedy existing wrongs
and to terminate, finally, by a fair and just treaty, these ever-
recurring causes of difficulty.
I fully believe that the treaty just rejected by the Senate
was well suited to the exigency, and that its provisions were
adequate for our security, in the future, from vexatious inci
dents and for the promotion of friendly neighborhood and
intimacy, without sacrificing in the least our national pride or
dignity. I am quite conscious that neither my opinion of the value of
the rejected treaty nor the motives which prompted its nego
tiation are of importance in the light of the judgment of the
Senate thereupon. But it is of importance to note that this
treaty has been rejected without any apparent disposition on
the part of the Senate to alter or amend its provisions, and
with the evident intention, not wanting expression, that no
negotiation should at present be concluded touching the matter
at issue.
The co-operation necessary for the adjustment of the long
standing national differences with which we have to deal, by
methods of conference and agreement, having thus been
declined, I am by no means disposed to abandon the interests
and the rights of our people in the premises, or to neglect
their grievances ; and I therefore turn to the contemplation of
a plan of retaliation as a mode, which still remains, of treating
the situation.
I am not unmindful of the gravity of the responsibility
assumed in adopting this line of conduct, nor do I fail in the
least to appreciate its serious consequences. It will be impossi
ble to injure our Canadian neighbors by retaliatory measures
without inflicting some damage upon our own citizens. This
results from our proximity, our community of interests, and
the inevitable commingling of the business enterprises which
have been developed by mutual activity.
Plainly stated, the policy of national retaliation manifestly
embraces the infliction of the greatest harm upon those who

THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR. 503
have injured us, with the least possible damage to ourselves.
There is also an evident propriety as well as an invitation to
moral support, found in visiting upon the offending party the
same measure or kind of treatment of which we complain, and
as far as possible within the same limes. And above all things
the plan of retaliation, if entered upon, should be thorough and
vigorous. These considerations lead me at this time to invoke the aid
and counsel of the Congress and its support in such a further
grant of power as seems to me necessary and desirable to
render effective the policy I have indicated.
The Congress has already passed a law, which received
Executive assent on the 3^ day of March, 1887, providing that
in case American fishing vessels being or visiting in the waters,
or at any of the ports of the British dominions of North
America, should be, or lately had been, deprived of the rights
to which they were entitled by treaty or law, or if they were
denied certain other privileges therein specified, or vexed and
harassed in the enjoyment of the same, the President might
deny to vessels and. their masters and crews of the British
dominions of North America any entrance into the waters,
ports, or harbors of the United States, and also deny entry into
any port or place of the United States of any product of said
dominions, or other goods coming from said dominions to the
United States.
While I shall not hesitate upon proper occasion to enforce
this Act, it would seem to be unnecessary to suggest that if
such enforcement is limited in such a manner as shall result
in the least possible injury to our own people the effect would
probably be entirely inadequate to the accomplishment of the
purpose desired.
I deem it my duty, therefore, to call the attention of the Con
gress to certain particulars in the action of the authorities of
the Dominion of Canada, in addition to the general allegations
already made, which appear to be in such marked contrast to
the liberal and friendly disposition of our country as in my

504 THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR.
opinion to caU for such legislation as will, upon the principles
already stated, properly supplement the power to inaugurate
retaliation, already vested in the Executive.
Actuated by the generous and neighborly spirit which has
characterized our legislation, our tariff laws have, since 1866,
been so far waived in favor of Canada as to allow free of duty
the transit across the territory of the United States of property
arriving at our ports and destined to Canada, or exported from
Canada to other foreign countries.
When the treaty of Washington was negotiated in 187 1,
between the United States and Great Britain, having for its
object very largely the modification of the treaty of 1818, the
privileges above referred to were made reciprocal and given in
return by Canada to the United States in the following lan
guage, contained in the twenty-ninth article of said treaty :
It is agreed i:hat, for the term of years mentioned in article thirty-three of
this treaty, goods, wares, or merchandise arriving at the ports of New York,
Boston, and Portland, and any other ports in the United States which have
been or may, from time to time, be specially designated by the President of
the United States, and destined for Her Britannic Majesty's possessions in
North America, may be entered at the proper customhouse and conveyed in
transit, without the payment of duties, through the territory of the United
States, under such rules, regulations, and conditions for the protection of the
revenue as the Government of the United States may from time to time pre
scribe ; and, under like rules, regulations, and conditions, goods, wares, or
merchandise may be conveyed in transit, without the payment of duties,
from such possessions through the territory of the United States, for export
from the said ports of the United States.
It is further agreed that, for the like period, goods, wares, or merchandise
arriving at any of the ports of Her Britannic Majesty's possessions in North
America, and destined for the United States, may be entered at the proper
customhouse and conveyed in transit, without the payment of duties,
through the said possessions, under such rules and regulations and condi
tions for the protection of the revenue, as the governments of the said pos
sessions may from time to time prescribe ; and, under like rules, and regula
tions, and conditions, goods, wares, or merchandise may be conveyed, in
transit, without payment of duties, from the United States through the said
possessions to other places in the United States, or for export from ports in
the said possessions.

THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR. 505
In the year 1886 notice was received by the representatives
of our government that our fishermen would no longer be
allowed to ship their fish in bond and free of duty through
Canadian territory to this country ; and ever since that time
such shipment has been denied.
The privilege of such shipment, which had been extended to
our fishermen, was a most important one, allowing them to
spend the time upon the fishing-grounds, which would other
wise be devoted to a voyage home with their catch, and
doubling their opportunities for profitably prosecuting their
avocation. In forbidding the transit of the catch of our fishermen over
their territory, in bond and free of duty, the Canadian authori
ties deprived us of the only facility dependent upon their con
cession, and for which we could supply no substitute.
The value to the Dominion of Canada of the privilege of
transit for their exports and imports, across our territory, to
and from our ports, though great in every respect, will be
better appreciated when it is remembered that, for a consider
able portion of each year, the St. Lawrence River, which con
stitutes the direct avenue of foreign commerce leading to
Canada, is closed by ice.
During the last six years the imports and exports of British
Canadian provinces, carried across our territory under the
privileges granted by our laws, amounted in value to about
two hundred and seventy-five millions of dollars, nearly all of
which were goods dutiable under our tariff laws, by far the
larger part of this traffic consisting of exchanges of goods be
tween Great Britain and her American provinces, brought to
and carried from our ports in their own vessels.
The treaty stipulation entered into by our government was
in harmony with laws which were then on our statute book
and are still in force.
I recommend immediate legislative action conferring upon
the Executive the power to suspend by proclamation the opera
tion of all laws and regulations permitting the transit of goods.

5o6 THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR.
wares, and merchandise in bond across or over the territory of
the United States to or from Canada.
There need be no hesitation in suspending these laws, arising
from the supposition that their continuation is secured by
treaty obligations, for it seems quite plain that article twenty-
nine of the treaty of 187 1, which was the only article incor
porating such laws, terminated the ist day of July, 1885.
The article itself declares that its provisions shall be in
force " for the term of years mentioned in article thirty-three
of this treaty." Turning to article thirty-three, we find no
mention of the twenty-ninth article, but only a provision
that articles eighteen to twenty-five, inclusive, and article
thirty shall take effect as soon as the laws required to carry
them into operation shall be passed by the legislative bodies of
the different countries concerned, and that " they shall remain
in force for the period of ten years from the date at which
they may come into operation, and further until the expiration
of two years after either of the high contracting parties shall
have given notice to the other of its wish to terminate the
same." I am of the opinion that the " term of years mentioned in
article thirty-three," referred to in article twenty-nine as the
limit of its duration, means the period during which articles
eighteen to twenty-five inclusive, and article thirty, commonly
called the " fishery articles," should continue in force under
the language of said article thirty-three.
That the Joint High Commissioners who negotiated the
treaty so understood and intended the phrase is certain ; for in
a statement containing an account of their negotiations, pre
pared under their supervision and approved by them, we find
the following entry on the subject :
The transit question was discussed, and it was agreed that any settlement
that might be made should include a reciprocal arrangement in that respect
for the period for which the fishery articles should be in force.
In addition to this very satisfactory evidence, supporting this
construction of the language of article twenty-nine, it will be

THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR. 507
found that the law passed by Congress to carry the treaty into
effect furnishes conclusive proof of the correctness of such
construction. This law was passed March i, 1873, and is entitied " An Act
to carry into effect the provisions of the treaty between the
United States and Great Britain, signed in the city of Washing
ton the eighth day of May, eighteen hundred and seventy-one,
relating to the fisheries." After providing in its first and
second sections for putting in operation articles eighteen to
twenty-five, inclusive, and article thirty of the treaty, the third
section is devoted to article twenty-nine as follows :
Section 3. That from the date of the President's proclamation author
ized by the first section of this Act, and so long as the articles eighteenth to
twenty-fifth, inclusive, and article thirtieth of said treaty shall remain in force
according to the terms and conditions of article thirty-third of said treaty, all
goods, wares, and merchandise arriving, etc., etc.
following in the remainder of the section the precise words of
the stipulation on the part of the United States as contained
in article twenty-nine which I have already fully quoted.
Here, then, is a distinct enactment of the Congress limiting
the duration of this article of the treaty to the time that articles
eighteen to twenty-five inclusive, and article thirty, should con
tinue in force. That in fixing such limitation it but gave the
meaning of the treaty itself, is indicated by the fact that its
purpose is declared to be to carry into effect the provisions of
the treaty, and by the further fact that this law appears to
have been submitted before the promulgation of the treaty to
certain members of the Joint High Commission representing
both countries, and met with no objection or dissent.
There appearing to be no conflict or inconsistency between
the treaty and the Act of Congress last cited, it is not necessary
to invoke the well-settled principle that in case of such con
flict the statute governs the question.
In any event, and whether the law of 1873 construes the
treaty or governs it, section twenty-nine of such treaty, I have
no doubt, terminated with the proceedings taken by our gov
ernment to terminate articles eighteen to twenty-five, inclusive

5o8 THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR.
and article thirty of the treaty. These proceedings had their
inception in a joint resolution of Congress passed May 3, 1883,
declaring that, in the judgment of Congress, these articles ought
to be terminated, and directing the President to give the notice
to the government of Great Britain provided for in article
thirty-three of the treaty. Such notice having been given two
years prior to the ist day of July, 1885, the articles mentioned
were absolutely terminated on the last-named day, and with
them article twenty-nine was also terminated.
If by any language used in the joint resolution it was
intended to relieve section three of the Act of 1873, embodying
article twenty-nine of the treaty, from its own limitations, or to
save the article itself, I am entirely satisfied that the intention
miscarried. But statutes granting to the people of Canada the valuable
privileges of transit for their goods from our ports and over
our soil, which had been passed prior to the making of the
treaty of 1871, and independently of it, remained in force ; and
ever since the abrogation of the treaty, and notwithstanding
the refusal of Canada to permit our fishermen to send their
fish to their home market through her territory in bond, the
people of that Dominion have enjoyed without diminution the
advantages of our liberal and generous laws.
Without basing our complaint upon a violation of treaty
obligations, it is nevertheless true that such refusal of transit,
and the other injurious acts which have been recited, constitute
a provoking insistence upon rights neither mitigated by the
amenities of national intercourse nor modified by the recog
nition of our liberality and generous consideration.
The history of events connected with this subject makes it
manifest that the Canadian Government can, if so disposed,
administer its laws and protect the interest of its people with
out manifestation of unfriendliness, and without the unneigh-
borly treatment of our fishing-vessels of which we have justly
complained ; and whatever is done on our part should be done
in the hope that the disposition of the Canadian Government

THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR. 509
may remove the occasion of a resort to the additional executive
power now sought through legislative action.
I am satisfied that, upon the principles which should govern
retaliation, our intercourse and relations with the Dominion of
Canada furnish no better opportunity for its application than
are suggested by the conditions herein presented ; and that
it could not be more effectively inaugurated than under the
power of suspension recommended.
While I have expressed my clear conviction upon the ques
tion of the continuance of section twenty-nine of the treaty of
187 1, I, of course, fully concede the power and the duty of
the Congress, in contemplating legislative action, to construe
the terms of any treaty stipulation which might, upon any pos
sible consideration of good faith, limit such action ; and like
wise, the peculiar propriety, in the case here presented of its
interpretation of its own language as contained in the laws of
1873 putting in operation said treaty, and of 1883 directing
the termination thereof ; and if, in the deliberate judgment of
Congress, any restraint to the proposed legislation exists, it is
to be hoped that the expediency of its early removal will be
recognized. I desire, also, to call the attention of the Congress to
another subject involving such wrongs and unfair treatment to
our citizens as, in my opinion, require prompt action.
The navigation of the Great Lakes, and the immense busi
ness and carrying trade growing out of the same, have been
treated broadly and liberally by the United States Govern
ment, and made free to all mankind, while Canadian railroads
and navigation companies share in our country's transporta
tion upon terms as favorable as are accorded to our own
citizens. The canals and other public works built and maintained by
the government along the line of the Lakes are made free to
aU. In contrast to this condition, and evincing a narrow and un
generous commercial spirit, every lock and canal which is

510 THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR.
a public work of the Dominion of Canada is subject to tolls
and charges.
By article twenty-seven of the treaty of 1871 provision was
made to secure to the citizens of the United States the use of
the Welland, St. Lawrence, and other canals in the Dominion
of Canada, on terms of equality with the inhabitants of the
.Dominion, and also to secure to the subjects of Great Britain
the use of the St. Clair Flats Canal on terms of equality with
the inhabitants of the United States.
The equality with the inhabitants of the Dominion, wfiich
we were promised in the use of the canals of Canada, did not
secure to us freedom from tolls in their navigation, but we had
a right to expect that we, being Americans and interested in
American commerce, would be no more burdened in regard to
the same than Canadians engaged in their own trade ; and the
whole spirit of the concession made was, or should have been,
that merchandise and property transported to an American
market through these canals should not be enhanced in its cost
by tolls many times higher than such as were carried to an ad
joining Canadian market. All our citizens, producers and
consumers as well as vessel-owners, were to enjoy the equaHty
promised. And yet evidence has for some time been before the Con
gress, furnished by the Secretary of the Treasury, showing that
while the tolls charged in the first instance are the same to all,
such vessels and cargoes as are destined to certain Canadian
ports are allowed a refund of nearly the entire tolls, while those
bound for American ports are not allowed any such advantage.
To promise equality, and then in practice make it conditional
upon our vessels doing Canadian business instead of their own,
is to fulfill a promise with a shadow of performance.
I recommend that such legislative action be taken as will
give Canadian vessels navigating our canals, and their cargoes,
precisely the advantages granted to our vessels and cargoes
upon Canadian canals, and that the same be measured by
exactly the same rule of discrimination.

THE MAINTENANCE OF NATIONAL HONOR. 511
The course which I have outlined, and the recommendations
made, relate to the honor and dignity of our country, and the
protection and preservation of the rights and interests of all
our people. A government does but half its duty when it
protects its citizens at home and permits them to be imposed
upon and humiliated by the unfair and over-reaching dispo
sition of other nations. If we invite our people to rely upon
arrangements made for their benefit abroad, we should see
to it that they are not deceived ; and if we are generous
and liberal to a neighboring country our people should reap
the advantage of it by a return of liberality and generosity.
These are subjects which partisanship should not disturb or
confuse. Let us survey the ground calmly and moderately,
and having put aside other means of settlement, if we enter
upon the policy of retaliation let us pursue it firmly, with a
determination only to subserve the interests of our people and
maintain the high standard and the becoming pride of Ameri
can citizenship.
Grover Cleveland.
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August 23, 1888.

CHAPTER XXIIL
miscellaneous recommendations.

THE rebuilding OF THE NAVY.
(From the First Annual Message, December. 1885.)
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 no longer to continue. The nation that
cannot resist aggression is constantly exposed to it. Its for
eign policy is of necessity weak, and its negotiations are con
ducted with disadvantage, because it is not in condition to
enforce the terms dictated by its sense of right and justice.
Inspired, as I am, by the hope, shared by all patriotic citi
zens, 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 rejoiced at every step that leads in the direction of such a
consummation, I deem it my duty especially to 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
organization 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
demonstrations, that before we proceed 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.

RECOMMENDA TIONS. 5 1 3
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 organ
ization, and its incurable waste may be reduced to the mini
mum. 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 efforts 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.

II.
THE AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT AND ITS WORK.
I.
(From the First Annual Message, December, 1885.)
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

514 MISCELLANEOUS
of its steady toil, and bears its full share of the burden of tax
ation without complaints. Our agriculturists have but sHght
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 are
appreciated, 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.
The Department of Agriculture was created for the purpose
of acquiring and diffusing among the people useful informa
tion respecting the subjects it has in charge, and aiding in the
cause of intelligent and progressive farming, by the collection
of statistics, by testing the value and usefulness of new seeds
and plants, and distributing such as are found desirable
among agriculturists. This and other powers and duties with
which this Department is invested are of the utmost impor
tance, and, if wisely exercised, must be of great benefit to the
country. The aim of our beneficent government is the im
provement of the people in every station, and the ameliora
tion of their condition. Surely our agriculturists should not
be neglected. The instrumentality established in aid of the
farmers of the land should not only be well equipped for the
accomplishment of its purpose, but those for whose benefit it
has been adopted should be encouraged to avail themselves
fully of its advantages.
The prohibition of the importation into several countries of
certain of our animals and their products, based upon the
suspicion that health is endangered in their use and consump
tion, suggests the importance of such precautions, for the pro
tection of our stock of all kinds against disease, as will disarm
suspicion of danger and cause the removal of such an injurious
prohibition. If the laws now in operation are insufficient to acomplish
this protection, I recommend their amendment to meet the

RECOMMENDATIONS. 515
necessities of the situation, and I commend to the consider
ation of Congress the suggestions contained in the report
of the Commissioner of Agriculture calculated to increase the
value and efficiency of this Department

(From the Second Annual Message, December, 1886.)
The Department of Agriculture, representing the oldest and
largest of our national industries, is subserving well the pur
poses of its organization. By the introduction of new subjects
of farming enterprise, and by opening new sources of agricul
tural wealth, and the dissemination of early information con
cerning production and prices, it has contributed largely to the
country's prosperity. Through this agency advanced thought
and investigation, touching the subjects it has in charge, should,
among other things, be practically applied to the home pro
duction 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 intelligent
experiment; and the subject in every stage should receive all
possible encouragement from the government.
The interests of midions of our citizens engaged in agricul
ture are involved in an enlargement and improvement of the
results of their labor; and a zealous regard for their welfare
should be a willing tribute to those whose productive returns
are a main source of our progress and power.
The existence of pleuro-pneumonia among the cattle of
various States has led to burdensome and in some cases disas
trous restrictions in an important branch of our commerce,
threatening to affect the quantity and quaHty of our food
supply. This is a matter of such importance, and of such far-
reaching consequences, that I hope it will engage the serious
attention of the Congress, to the end that such a remedy may
be applied as the limits of a constitutional delegation of power
to the general government will permit.

5 1 6 MISCELLANEO US
III.
REFORMS IN THE DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE.
(From the First Annual Message, December, 1885.)
The present mode of compensating United States marshals
and district attorneys should in my opinion be changed. They
are allowed to charge against the government certain fees for
services, their income being measured by the amount of such
fees within a fixed limit as to their annual aggregate. This is
a direct inducement for them to make their fees in criminal
cases as large as possible in an effort to reach the maximum sum
permitted. As an entirely natural consequence, unscrupulous
marshals are found encouraging frivolous prosecutions, arrest
ing people on petty charges of crime and transporting them to
distant places for examination and trial, for the purpose of
earning mileage and other fees. And district attorneys use
lessly attend criminal examinations far from their places of
residence, for the express purpose of swelling their accounts
against the government. The actual expenses incurred in
these transactions are also charged against the government.
Thus the rights and freedom of our citizens are outraged
and public expenditures increased, for the purpose of furnish
ing public officers pretexts for increasing the measure of their
compensation. I think marshals and district attorneys should be paid sala
ries, adjusted by a rule which will make them commensurate
with services fairly rendered.
In connection with this subject I desire to suggest the advis
ability, if it be found not obnoxious to constitutional objection,
of investing United States commissioners with the power to
try and determine certain violations of law within the grade of
misdemeanors. Such trials might be made to depend upon the
option of the accused. The multiplication of smaU and
technical offenses, especially under the provisions of our
internal revenue law, renders some change in our present
system very desirable, in the interests of humanity as wed as

RECOMMENDA TIONS. 5 1 7
economy. The district courts are now crowded with petty
prosecutions, involving a punishment, in cases of conviction,
of only a slight fine, while the parties accused are harassed by
an enforced attendance upon courts held hundreds of miles
from their homes. If poor and friendless they are obliged to
remain in jail during months, perhaps, that elapse before a
session of the court is held, and are finally brought to trial
surrounded by strangers and with but little real opportunity
for defense. In the meantime, frequently, the marshal has
charged against the government his fees for an arrest, the
transportation of the accused and the expense of the same, and
for summoning witnesses before a commissioner, a grand jury,
and a court ; the witnesses have been paid from the public
funds large fees and traveling expenses; and the commissioner
and district attorney have also made their charges against the
government. This abuse in the administration of our criminal law should
be remedied; and if the plan above suggested is not practica
ble, some other should be devised.

IV.
LANDS GRANTED TO THE PACIFIC RAILROADS.
(From the First Annual Message to Congress, December, 1885.)
The nation has made princely grants and subsidies to a
system of railroads projected as great national highways to
connect the Pacific States with the East. It has been charged
that these donations from the people have been diverted to
private gain and corrupt uses, and thus public indignation has
been aroused and suspicion engendered. Our great nation
does not begrudge its generosity, but it abhors peculation and
fraud; and the favorable regard of our people for the great
corporations to which these grants were made, can only be
revived by a restoration of confidence, to be secured by their
constant, unequivocal, and clearly manifested integrity.

Si8 MISCELLANEOUS
A faithful application of the undiminished proceeds of the
grants to the construction and perfecting of their roads, an
honest discharge of their obligations, and entire justice to all
the people in the enjoyment of their rights on these highways
of travel are all the public asks, and it will be content with no
less. To secure these things should be the common purpose
of the officers of the government, as well as of the corporations.
With this accomplishment, prosperity would be permanently
secured to the roads, and national pride would take the place
of national complaint.

V.
VETOES OF PUBLIC BUILDING BILLS.

(At Zanesville, O., June 19, 1886.)
So far as I am informed the patrons of the post office are
fairly well accommodated in a building which is rented by the
government at the rate of eight hundred dollars per annum;
and though the postmaster naturally certifies that he and his
fourteen employees require much more spacious surroundings,
I have no doubt he and they can be induced to continue to
serve the government in its present quarters.
The public buildings now in process of construction, num
bering eighty, involving constant supervision, are all the build
ing projects which the government ought to have on hand at
one time, unless a very palpable necessity exists for an increase
in the number. The multiplication of these structures
involves not only the appropriations made for their comple
tion, but great expense in their care and preservation there
after. While a fine government building is a desirable ornament to
any town or city, and while the securing of an appropriation
therefor is often considered as an illustration of zeal and activ
ity in the interest of a constituency, I am of the opinion that

RECOMMENDA TIONS. 5 1 9
the expenditure of public money for such a purpose should
depend upon the necessity of such a building for pubHc uses.

(At Portsmouth, O., February 26, 1887.)
It is further stated, in a communication from the promoter of
this bill, that "there is not a Federal public building in the
State of Ohio east of the line drawn on the accompanying map
from Cleveland through Columbus to Cincinnati; and when
wealth and population and the needs of the pubHc service are
considered, the distribution of public buildings in the State is
an unfair one."
Here is disclosed a theory of expenditure for public build
ings which I can hardly think should be adopted. If an appli
cation for the erection of such a building is to be determined
by the distance between its proposed location and another
public building, or upon the allegation that a certain division
of a State is without a government building, or that the distri
bution of these buildings in a particular State is unfair, we
shall rapidly be led to an entire disregard of the considerations
of necessity and public need which, it seems to me, should
alone justify the expenditure of public funds for such a
purpose. The care and protection which the government owes to the
people do not embrace the grant of public buildings to deco
rate thriving and prosperous cities and villages, nor should
such buildings be erected upon any principle of fair distribu
tions among localities. The government is not an almoner of
gifts among the people, but an instrumentality by which the
people's affairs should be conducted upon business principles,
regulated by the public needs.

520 MISCELLANEOUS 3-
(At AUentown, Pa., May 9, 1888.)
The usual statement is made in support of this bill, setting
forth the growth of the city where it is proposed to locate the
building and the amount and variety of the business which is
there transacted. And the postmaster in stereotyped phrase
represents the desirability of increased accommodation for the
transaction of the business under his charge.
But I am thoroughly convinced that there is no present
necessity for the expenditure of one hundred thousand dollars
for any purpose connected with the public business at this place.
The annual rent now paid for the post office is thirteen hundred
dollars. The interest, at three per cent., upon the amount
now asked for this new building is three thousand dollars
As soon as it is undertaken, the pay of a superintendent of its
construction will begin, and after its completion the compen
sation of janitors and other expenses of its maintenance will
follow. The plan now pursued for the erection of public buildings is,
in my opinion, very objectionable. They are often built where
they are not needed, of dimensions and at a cost entirely dis
proportionate to any public use to which they can be applied,
and, as a consequence, they frequently serve more to demon
strate the activity and pertinency of those who represent local
ities desiring this kind of decoration at public expense, than
to meet any necessity of the government.

4-
(At Youngstown, O., May 28, 1888.)
I have listened to an unusual amount of personal representa
tion in favor of this bill from parties whose desires I should be
glad to meet on this or any other question. But none of them
has insisted that there is any present governmental need of
the proposed new building even for postal purposes. On the

RECOMMENDA TIONS. 5 2 1
contrary, I am informed that the post office is at present well
accommodated in quarters held under a lease which does not
expire, I believe, until 1892. A letter addressed to the post
master at Youngstown, containing certain questions bearing
upon the necessity of a new building, failed to elicit a reply.
This fact is very unusual and extraordinary, for the postmaster
can almost always be relied upon to make an exhibit of the
great necessity of larger quarters when a new public building
is in prospect.
The fact was communicated to me, early in the present ses
sion of the Congress, that the aggregate sum of the appropria
tions, contained in bills for the erection and extension of public
buildings which had up to that time been referred to the House
Committee on Public Buildings and Grounds, was about
thirty-seven millions of dollars. Of course this fact would have
no particular relevancy if all the buildings asked for were
necessary for the transaction of public business, as long as we
have the money to pay for them. But inasmuch as a large
number of the buildings proposed are unnecessary, and their
erection would be wasteful and extravagant, besides furnishing
precedents for further and more extended reckless expendi
tures of a like character, it seems to me that applications for
new and expensive public buildings should be carefuHy
scrutinized.

VI.
THE TEHUANTEPEC CANAL ROUTE.
(From First Annual Message, December, 1885.)
The interest of the United States in a practical transit for
ships across the strip of land separating the Atlantic from the
Pacific has been repeatedly manifested during the last half
century. My immediate predecessor caused to be negotiated with
Nicaragua a treaty for the construction, by and at the sole
cost of the United States, of a canal through Nicaraguan

522 MISCELLANEOUS
territory, and laid it before the Senate. Pending the action
of that body thereon, I withdrew the treaty for re-examination.
Attentive consideration of its provisions leads me to withhold
it from resubmission to the Senate.
Maintaining, as I do, the tenets of a line of precedents from
Washington's day, which proscribe entangling aUiances with
foreign states, I do not favor a policy of acquisition of new
and distant territory or the incorporation of remote interests
with our own.
The laws of progress are vital and organic, and we must be
conscious of that irresistible tide of commercial expansion
which, as the concomitant of our active civilization, day by day,
is being urged onward by those increasing facilities of produc
tion, transportation, and communication to which steam and
electricity have given birth ; but our duty in the present in
structs us to address ourselves mainly to the development of
the vast resources of the great area committed to our charge,
and to the cultivation of the arts of peace within our own
borders, though jealously alert in preventing the American
hemisphere from being involved in the political problems and
complications of distant governments. Therefore I am un
able to recommend propositions involving paramount privileges
of ownership or right outside of our own territory, when
coupled with absolute and unlimited engagements to defend
the territorial integrity of the state where such interests lie.
While the general project of connecting the two oceans by
means of a canal is to be encouraged, I am of opinion that any
scheme to that end, to be considered with favor, should be free
from the features alluded to.
The Tehuantepec route is declared by engineers of the
highest repute, and by competent scientists, to afford an en
tirely practicable transit for vessels and cargoes by means of
a ship railway from the Atlantic to the Pacific. The obvious
advantages of such a route, if feasible, over others more re
mote from the axial lines of traffic between Europe and the
Pacific, and particularly between the valley of the Mississippi

RECOMMENDA TIONS. 523
and the western coast of North and South America, are de
serving of consideration.
Whatever highway may be constructed across the barrier
dividing the two greatest maritime areas of the world must be
for the world's benefit, a trust for mankind, to be removed
from the chance of domination by any single power, nor be
come a point of invitation for hostilities or a prize for warlike
ambition. An engagement combining the construction, owner
ship, and operation of such a work by this government, with
an offensive and defensive alliance for its protection, with the
foreign state whose responsibilities and rights we would share,
is, in my judgment, inconsistent with such dedication to uni
versal and neutral use, and would moreover entail meas
ures for its realization beyond the scope of our national polity
or present means.
The lapse of years has abundantly confirmed the wisdom
and foresight of those earlier administrations which, long be
fore the conditions of maritime intercourse were changed and
enlarged by the progress of the age, proclaimed the vital need
of interoceanic transit across the American isthmus and con
secrated it in advance to the common use of mankind by their
positive declarations and through the formal obligation of
treaties. Toward such realization the efforts of my adminis
tration will be applied, ever bearing in mind the principles on
which it must rest, and which were declared in no uncertain
tones by Mr. Cass, who, while Secretary of State, in 1858,
announced that " What the United States want in Central
America, next to the happiness of its people, is the security
and neutrality of the interoceanic routes which lead
through it."
The construction of three transcontinental lines of railway,
all in successful operation, wholly within our territory and
uniting the Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, has been accom
panied by results of a most interesting and impressive nature,
and has created new conditions, not in the routes of commerce
only, but in political geography, which powerfully affect our

524 MISCELLA NEO US
relations toward and necessarily increase our interests in any
transisthmian route which may be opened and employed for
the ends of peace and traffic, or, in other contingencies, for
uses inimical to both.
Transportation is a factor in the cost of commodities scarcely
second to that of their production, and weighs as heavily upon
the consumer.
Our experience already has proved the great importance of
having the competition between land carriage and water car
riage fully developed, each acting as a protection to the pub
lic against the tendencies to monopoly which are inherent in
the consolidation of wealth and power in the hands of vast
corporations. These suggestions may serve to emphasize what I have
already said on the score of the necessity of a neutralization
of any interoceanic transit ; and this can only be accomplished
by making the uses of the route open to all nations and subject
to the ambitions and warlike necessities of none.

VII.
the RIGHT OF EXPATRIATION.
(From the First Annual Message, December, 1885.)
While recognizing the right of expatriation, no statutory
provision exists providing means for renouncing citizenship
by an American citizen, native-born or naturalized, nor for
terminating and vacating an improper acquisition of citizen
ship. Even a fraudulent decree of naturalization cannot
now be canceled. The privilege and franchise of American
citizenship should be granted with care, and extended to those
only who intend in good faith to assume its duties and respon
sibilities when attaining its privileges and benefits ; it should
be withheld from those who merely go through the forms of
naturalization with the intent of escaping the duties of their
original allegiance without taking upon themselves those of

RECOMMENDA TIONS. 525
their new status, or who may acquire the rights of American
citizenship for no other than a hostile purpose toward their
original governments. These evils have had many flagrant
idustrations. I regard with favor the suggestion, put forth by one of my
predecessors, that provision be made for a central bureau of
record of the decrees of naturalization granted by the various
courts throughout the United States now invested with that
power. The rights which spring from domicile in the United States,
especially when coupled with a declaration of intention to
become a citizen, are worthy of definition by statute. The
stranger coming hither with intent to remain, establishing his
residence in our midst, contributing to the general welfare,
and, by his voluntary act, declaring his purpose to assume the
responsibilities of citizenship, thereby gains an inchoate status
which legislation may properly define. The laws of certain
States and Territories admit a domiciled alien to the local
franchise, conferring on him the rights of citizenship to a
degree which places him in the anomalous position of being a
citizen of a State and yet not of the United States within the
purview of Federal and international law.
It is important, within the scope of national legislation, to
define this right of alien domicile as distinguished from Fed
eral naturalization.

CHAPTER XXIV.
THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS.
I.
As Governor of New York, October 29, 1883.
The people of our State should continually be mindful of
their dependence upon the Supreme Ruler of the universe, and
grateful for his goodness and mercy. Without his guidance,
the efforts of man are in vain ; and from his forbearance and
kindness comes every good gift
And while they should thus hold in constant remembrance
the debt of gratitude they owe, it is fit and proper, and in ac
cordance with established custom, that a day should be annually
set apart for their special and public acknowledgment of the
goodness of God.
We cannot fail to recall, at this time, abundant cause for
thankfulness. During the year just passed, we have been pro
tected against pestilence and dire calamity; peace and quiet
have reigned within our borders ; the supremacy of law and
order has been complete ; plenteous crops have rewarded the
toil of the husbandman ; the hum of busy manufacture has
been uninterrupted ; industry in every department of labor
has brought its just reward ; enterprises of great magnitude have
been completed, adding wealth and greatness to the State ;
and we have advanced in all that pertains to the material,
social, and educational interests of our people.
I, therefore, hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the
29th day of November, 1883, to be observed by the people of
this State as a day of Thanksgiving to God for all his mercies,
526

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS. 527
and humble supplication to the Throne of Grace for a contin
uance of Divine favor.
On that day let all within the State put aside their business
cares and ordinary employments, and assemble in their places
of worship and join in prayer and praise.
And let us be prompted to deeds of charity, by the acknowl
edgment of the gifts of God ; and while we ask of him, let us
not close our hearts to the appeals of poverty and distress.

II.
As Governor of New York, November 8, 1 884.
The people of the State of New York should permit neither
their ordinary occupations and cares, nor any unusual cause of
excitement, to divert their minds from a sober and humble
acknowledgment of their dependence upon Almighty God for
all that contributes to their happiness and contentment, and
for all that secures greatness and prosperity to our proud com
monwealth. In accordance with a long-continued custom, I hereby ap
point and designate Thursday, the 27th day of November, 1884,
to be specially observed as a day of thanksgiving and praise.
Let all the people of the State, at that time, forego their usual
business and employments, and in their several places of wor
ship, give thanks to Almighty God for all that he has done for
them. Let the cheer of family reunions be hallowed by a
tender remembrance of the love and watchful care of our
Heavenly Father ; and in the social gatherings of friends and
neighbors, let hearty good will and fellowship be chastened by a
confession of the kindness and mercy of God.

528 THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS.
IIL
As President of the United States, November 2, 1885.
The American people have always abundant cause to be
thankful to Almighty God, whose watchful care and guiding
hand have been manifested in every stage of their national life
— guarding and protecting them in time of peril, and safely
leading them in the hour of darkness and of danger.
It is fitting and proper that a nation thus favored should, on
one day in every year, for that purpose especially appointed,
publicly acknowledge the goodness of God, and return thanks
to him for all his gracious gifts.
Therefore I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United
States of America, do hereby designate and set apart Thurs
day, the twenty-sixth day of November instant, as a day of
pubHc Thanksgiving and Prayer ; and do invoke the observ
ance of the same by all the people of the land.
On that day let all secular business be suspended ; and let
the people assemble in their usual places of worship, and with
prayer and songs of praise devoutly testify their gratitude to
the Giver of every good and perfect gift for all that he has
done for us in the year that has passed ; for our preservation
as a nation and for our deliverance from the shock and danger
of political convulsion ; for the blessings of peace and for our
safety and quiet, while wars and rumors of wars have agitated
and afflicted other nations of the earth ; for our security against
the scourge of pestilence, which in other lands has claimed its
dead by thousands and filled the streets with mourners ; for
plenteous crops which reward the labor of the husbandman and
increase our nation's wealth ; and for the contentment through
out our borders which follows in the train of prosperity and
abundance. And let there also be, on the day thus set apart, a reunion
of families, sanctified and chastened by tender memories and
associations-; and let the social intercourse of friends, with

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS. 529
pleasant reminiscence, renew the ties of affection and strengthen
the bonds of kindly feeling.
And let us by no means forget, while we give thanks and
enjoy the comforts which have crowned our lives, that truly
grateful hearts are inclined to deeds of charity ; and that a kind
and thoughtful remembrance of the poor will double the pleas
ures of our condition, and render our praise and thanksgiving
more acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

IV.
As President of the United States, November i, 1886.
It has long been the custom of the people of the United
States, on a day in each year especially set apart for that pur
pose by their Chief Executive, to acknowledge the goodness
and mercy of God, and to invoke his continued care and pro
tection. In observance of such custom, I, Grover Cleveland, Presi
dent of the United States, do hereby designate and set apart
Thursday, the twenty-fifth day of November instant, to be ob
served and kept as a day of Thanksgiving and Prayer.
On that day let all our people forego their accustomed em
ployments and assemble in their usual places of worship, to
give thanks to the Ruler of the Universe for our continued
enjoyment of the blessings of a free government, for a renewal
of business prosperity throughout our land, for the return
which has rewarded the labor of those who till the soil, and
for our progress as a people in all that makes a nation great.
And while -we contemplate the infinite power of God in
earthquake, flood, and storm, let the grateful hearts of those
who have been shielded from harm through his mercy, be
turned in sympathy and kindness toward those who have suf
fered through his visitations.
Let us also in the midst of our thanksgiving remember the

53° THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS.
poor and needy with cheerful gifts and alms, so that our serv
ice may, by deeds of charity, be made acceptable in the sight
of the Lord.

V.
As President of the United States, October 25, 1887.
The goodness and the mercy of God which have followed
the American people during all the days of the past year claim
their grateful recognition and humble acknowledgment. By
his omnipotent power he has protected us from war and pes
tilence, and from every national calamity ; by his gracious
favor the earth has yielded a generous return to the labor of
the husbandman, and every path of honest toil has led to com
fort and contentment ; by his loving-kindness the hearts of
our people have been replenished with fraternal sentiment and
patriotic endeavor, and by his unerring guidance we have been
directed in the way of national prosperity.
To the end that we may, with one accord, testify our grati
tude for all these blessings, I, Grover Cleveland, President of
the United States, do hereby designate and set apart Thursday,
the twenty-fourth day of November next, as a day of thanks
giving and prayer, to be observed by all the people of the
land. On that day let all secular work and employment be sus
pended, and let our people assemble in their accustomed places
of worship and, with prayer and songs of praise, give thanks to
our heavenly Father for all that he has done for us, while we
humbly implore the forgiveness of our sins and a continuance
of his mercy.
Let families and kindred be reunited on that day, and let
their hearts, filled with kindly cheer and affectionate remi
niscence, be turned in thankfulness to the Source of all their
pleasures and the Giver of all that makes the day glad and
joyous.

THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS. 531
And in the midst of our worship and our happiness, let us
remember the poor, the needy, and the unfortunate, and by
our gifts of charity and ready benevolence let us increase the
number of those who with grateful hearts shall join in our
thanksgiving.

VI.
As President of the United States, November i, 1888.
Constant thanksgiving and gratitude are due from the Amer
ican people to Almighty God for his goodness and mercy
which have followed them since the day he made them a nation
and vouchsafed to them a free government. With loving-
kindness he has constantly led us in the way of prosperity and
greatness. He has not visited with swift punishment our short
comings, but with gracious care he has warned us of our
dependence upon his forbearance, and has taught us that
obedience to his holy law is the price of a continuance of his
precious gifts.
In acknowledgment of all that God has done for us as a
nation, and to the end that on an appointed day, the united
prayers and praise of a grateful country may reach the Throne
of Grace, I, Grover Cleveland, President of the United States,
do hereby designate and set apart Thursday, the twenty-ninth
day of November instant, as a day of thanksgiving and prayer,
to be kept and Observed throughout the land.
On that day let all our people suspend their ordinary work
and occupations, and, in their accustomed places of worship,
with prayer and songs of praise, render thanks to God for all
his mercies, for the abundant harvests which have rewarded
the toil of the husbandman during the year that has passed,
and for the rich rewards that have followed the labors of our
people in their shops and their marts of trade and traffic. Let
us give thanks for peace and for social order and contentment
within our borders, and for our advancement in all that adds
to national greatness.

532 THANKSGIVING PROCLAMATIONS.
And, mindful of the afflictive dispensation with which a por
tion of our land has been visited, let us, while we humble our
selves before the power of God, acknowledge his mercy in
setting bounds to the deadly march of pestilence, and let our
hearts be chastened by sympathy with our fellow-countrymen
who have suffered and who mourn.
And as we return thanks for all the blessings which we have
received from the hands of our heavenly Father, let us not
forget that he has enjoined upon us cliarity ;* and on this day
of thanksgiving let us generously remember the poor and
needy, so that our tribute of praise and gratitude may be
acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

CHAPTER XXV.
LETTERS AND SPEECHES OF A PERSONAL NATURE.
I.
Upon his Election as Governor of New York.
Mayor's Office,
Buffalo, N. Y., November 7, 1882.
My Dear Brother :
I have just voted. I sit here in the mayor's office alone,
with the exception of an artist from Frank Leslie's Newspaper,
who is sketching the office. If mother was here I should be
writing to her, and I feel as if it were time for me to write to
someone who will believe what I write.
I have been for some time in the atmosphere of certain suc
cess, so that I have been sure that I should assume the duties
of the high office for which I have been named. I have tried
hard, in the light of this fact, to appreciate properly the re
sponsibilities that will rest upon me, and they are much,
too much underestimated. But the thought that has troubled
me is, can I well perform my duties, and in such a manner as
to do some good to the people of the State ? I know there is
room for it, and I know that I am honest and sincere in my
desire to do well ; but the question is whether I know enough
to accomplish what I desire.
The social life which seems to await me has also been a sub
ject of much anxious thought. I have a notion that I can
regulate that very much as I desire; and, if I can, I shall spend
very little time in the purely ornamental part of the office. In
point of fact, I will tell you, first of all others, the policy I intend
to adopt, and that is, to make the matter a business engagement
S33

534 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
between the people of the State and myself, in which the obliga
tion on my side is to perform the duties assigned me with an
eye single to the interest of my employers. I shall have no
idea of re-election, or any higher political preferment in my
head, but be very thankful and happy if I can well serve one
term as the people's Governor. Do you know that if mother
were alive, I should feel so much safer? I have always thought
that her prayers had much to do with my success. I shall ex
pect you all to help me in that way. Give my love to 
and to  , if she is with you, and believe me.
Your affectionate brother,
Grover Cleveland.
Rev. William N. Cleveland.

II.
On a Visit to Buffalo, October 2, 1884.
I can hardly tell the people of Buffalo how I rejoice to-night,
and how grateful I am for this demonstration of the confidence
and esteem of my friends and fellow-citizens. I have resided
among you, and in the city where all my success in private life
has been achieved, for nearly thirty years. To-night I come to
you, after the longest absence that has occurred in all that
time, and yet within the few weeks that have passed since I
saw you last, an event has happened of supreme importance to
me, and that places me within the nation's gaze.
The honor it has brought me I ask my fellow-townsmen to
share, while I acknowledge with grateful heart all that they
have in the past done for me. But tv/o short years ago you
stood steadily by my side in every effort of mine, as the Chief
Executive of our city, to advance its interests and welfare.
Whatever I was able to accomplish of value to this community
was largely due to your strong and intelligent support, nor can
I ever forget the generous indorsement you gave my candidacy

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. 535
for the high office I now hold in the State, and I assure you
that in its administration I have received no greater encour
agement than the approval of friends at home.
What I have seen and heard to-night has touched me deeply.
It tells me that my neighbors are still my friends, and as
sures me that I have not been altogether unsuccessful in my
efforts to deserve their confidence and attachment. In years
to come I shall deem myself not far wrong if I still retain their
good opinion ; and if surrounding cares and perplexities
bring anxiety and vexation, I shall find solace and comfort in
the memory of the days spent here and in recalling the kind
ness of my Buffalo friends.
But other friends are here to-night, and to all who tender me
their kindly welcome I extend a heartfelt greeting as citizens
with me of the greatest commonwealth in the sisterhood of
States, and one immensely interested in the general weal. Be
cause I love my State and her people, I cannot refrain from re
minding you that she should be in the van of every movement
which promises a safer and better administration of the general
government, so closely related to her prosperity and greatness.
And let me leave you with the thought that your safety lies in
impressing upon the endeavor of those intrusted with tha
guardianship of your rights and interests, a pure, patriotic, and
exacting popular sentiment. The character of the government
can hardly rise higher than the source from which it springs,
and the integrity and faithfulness of public servants are not
apt to be greater than the public demand.

536 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
IIL
To a Politician who had Deceived Him*
Executive Mansion,
Washington, August i, 1885.
Dear Sir :
I have read your letter with amazement and indignation.
There is one — but one — mitigation to the perfidy which your
letter discloses, and that is found in the fact you confess your
share in it. I don't know whether you are a Democrat or not,
but if you are the crime which you confess is the more un
pardonable. The idea that this administration, pledged to give the people
better officers and engaged in a hand-to-hand fight with the
bad elements of both parties, should be betrayed by those who
ought to be worthy of implicit trust, is atrocious, and such
treason to the people and to the party ought to be punished by
imprisonment. Your confession comes too late to be of immediate use to
the public service, and I can only say that, while this is not the
first time I have been deceived and misled by lying and treach
erous representations, you are the first one that has so frankly
* The indignant letter of Mr. Cleveland's here given was written in an
swer to one sent him by a prominent politician in one of the States of the
Pacific Coast. In order to make clearer his cause of indignation the letter
to which the above is an answer is given herewith, only concealing the names
of persons still living. To THE President, Washington, D. C.
Dear Sir :
This community read the announcement of  to the  judgeship with
astonishment and regret, if not pain ; and none were more astonished than those who had
signed his petition, and I regret to say that my name is to be found upon it. I have re
fused several whom I knew to be unfit, but I signed this one, thinking it would never be
considered, and not for one moment believing the appointment was possible. When first
presented to me I put him off and hoped to escape, but he came again with it ; and, with
others, I signed it, thinking there was no chance of its reaching even a consideration. It
was signed by many prominent men, who hated to refuse, and hoped and thought it would
result in nothing. Yours very respectfully,

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. 537
owned his grievous fault. If any comfort is to be extracted
from this assurance you are welcome to it.
Grover Cleveland.

IV.
At his Boyhood Home, Clinton, N. Y., July 13, 1887.
I am by no means certain of my standing here among those
who celebrate the centennial of Clinton's existence as a village.
My recollections of the place reach backward but about
thirty-six years, and my residence here covered a very brief
period. But these recollections are fresh and distinct to-day,
and pleasant loo, though not entirely free from somber color
ing. It was here, in the school at the foot of College Hill, that I
began my preparation for college life and enjoyed the antici
pation of a collegiate education. We had two teachers in our
school. One became afterward a judge in Chicago, and the
other passed through the legal profession to the ministry, and
within the last two years was living farther West. I read a
little Latin with two other boys in the class. I think I floun
dered through four books of the .^neid. The other boys had
nice large modern editions of Virgil, with big print and plenty
of notes to help one over the hard places. Mine was a little
old-fashioned copy which my father used before me, with no
notes, and which was only translated by hard knocks. I be
lieve I have forgiven those other boys for their persistent re
fusal to allow me the use of the notes in their books. At any
rate, they do not seem to have been overtaken by any dire
retribution, for one of them is now a rich and prosperous law
yer in Buffalo, and the other is a professor in your college and
the orator of to-day's celebration. The struggles with ten
lines of Virgil, which at first made up my daily task, are amus
ing as remembered now ; but with them I am also forced to
remember that, instead of being the .beginning of the higher

538 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
education for which I honesUy longed, they occurred near the
end of my school advantages. This suggests a disappoint
ment which no lapse of time can alleviate, and a depri
vation I have sadly felt with every passing year.
I remember Benoni Butler and his store. I don't know
whether he was an habitual poet or not, but I heard him
recite one poem of his own manufacture which embodied an
account of a travel to or from Clinton in the early days. I can
recall but two lines of this poem, as follows :
Paris Hill next came in sight ;
And there we tarried overnight.
I remember the next-door neighbors, Doctors Bissell and
Scollard — and good, kind neighbors they were, too — not your
cross, crabbed kind who could not bear to see a boy about
It always seemed to me that they drove very fine horses ; and
for that reason I thought they must be extremely rich.
I don't know that I should indulge further recollections
that must seem very little like centennial history ; but I want
to establish as well as I can my right to be here. I might
speak of the college faculty, who cast such a pleasing though
sober shade of dignity over the place, and who, with other
educated and substantial citizens, made up the best of social
life. I was a boy then, and slightly felt the atmosphere of this
condition ; but, notwithstanding, I believe I absorbed a lasting
appreciation of the intelligence and refinement which made
this a delightful home.
I know that you will bear with me, my friends, if I yield to
the impulse which the mention of home creates, and speak of
my own home here, and how through the memories which
cluster about it I may claim a tender relationship to your vil
lage. Here it was that our family circle entire, parents and
children, lived day after day in loving and affectionate con
verse ; and here, for the last time, we met around the family
altar and thanked God that our household was unbroken by
death or separation. We never met together in any other

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. 539
home after leaving this, and Death followed closely our de
parture. And thus it is that, as with advancing years I survey
the havoc Death has made, and as the thoughts of my early
home become more sacred, the remembrance of this pleasant
spot, so related, is revived and chastened.
I can only add my thanks for the privilege of being with
you to-day, and wish for the village of Clinton in the future a
continuation and increase of the blessing of the past.

V.
At a Reception given by Early Friends and Associates at
Buffalo, N. Y., May 11, 1892.
My Friends :
I have been striving for several years to believe that I am
still on the bright and sunny side of the time which separates
middle age from the last declivity of life ; but now and here,
amid the memories of early manhood, and recalling the scenes
of thirty-five years ago, I yield the struggle and enroll myself
among those who are no longer young.
You need have no fear from this introduction, that I intend
to indulge in the tedious garrulity which is sometimes kindly
tolerated on account of the privileges and immunities which are
accorded to old age. I do, however, intend to hint that I have
reached the time in life when I begin to enjoy the compensation
of advancing years which is born of retrospection ; when it dis
cards all past irritations, and dwells only upon the things in
memory's keeping that are pleasant and consoling.
My mind at this moment is full of the recollection of experi
ences connected with my early life in Buffalo. Some of these
experiences were rugged, but they were healthful ; and they
appear to me novir robbed of everything save the features that
make them welcome memories. I recall, too, hosts of the good
friends who were about me in those days. The living attach
ments of many of them I still cherish as priceless possessions ;

540 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
and many others I loved until inexorable death decreed our se
parations. I often look at a picture, among my keepsakes, now
more than thirty years old, which represents a group composed
of seven of Buffalo's young men — all close companions, all full
of the hopes and ambitions of manhood's early days, and all
having in full sight the high aims and purposes that beckon to
success. Of this group of friends five are dead — only one of
them survives with me. I shall not trust myself to speak of
these dead friends, nor will I attempt to express all that their
friendship meant to me ; but you will not wonder that this
picture makes me feel that I have lived a long time.
As I turn from these saddening reflections and glance over
this company, I am still further and more cheerfully reminded
of the years which have passed since my life in Buffalo began.
I see here Mr. Bissell. I remember well the day he called
at the law office where I was a partner, and in which he ex
pected to begin the study of his profession, and modestly said
he had called to learn something of the work expected of him
as a clerk and student He wrote a good hand, and was a very
obedient, industrious young man. I am glad to know that he
has grown to be a very fair lawyer, and is a respectable citizen.
I understand he has lately married, which is something that for
the last five or six years I have thought was a very proper thing
for a man of his age — or even my age — to do.
When I look at Mr. Locke and think of the position he now
occupies in your community, I am reminded of his terrible disap
pointment when he failed to secure the place of assistant district
attorney of this county. I am pleased to know that he has
done fairly well without it, and I believe he is entirely cured of
his thirst for political office.
I remember when Mr. Milburn, the gentleman who so grace
fully presides on this occasion, was admitted to practice as a
lawyer. He was a handsome young man, and I observe he has
not altogether outgrown it. He usually had a law book under
his arm in the street, and I used to wonder if he was trying to
absorb law through his armpits. It is quite clear that he has

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. 541
managed to get a good deal of it into his head through some
channel. Just at this point it occurs to me that I have allowed myself
to get on a wrong tack, and that I should have presented these
latter recollections as illustrating how rapidly Buffalo's soil and
atmosphere develop its young men, instead of referring to them
as proofs of my own longevity. I am almost sorry that I have
assumed to speak as though I was entitled to be regarded as an
old citizen of Buffalo ; for, to be frank with you, I do not remem
ber Joseph Ellicott nor the first Mayor of the city, who held
that office in 1832. I recall distinctly, however, the celebration
of the city's semi-centennial fifty years afterward, and the work
George Hayward did to make it a success ought to make him
remember it, too. I was very well acquainted with the man
who was Mayor at that time. I believe he dabbled a little
afterward in State and National politics. At any rate, I know
he had a job for four years in government employ, and then,
like many others in public position, when there came a change
of Administration he lost his place. He was accused, I am
told, of talking too much about the tariff, and was charged with
attempting to ruin the country in sundry and divers ways. In
point of fact, however, I am convinced that, notwithstanding all
we hear of civil service reform, he was discharged for purely
partisan reasons, and because someone else wanted his place.
He did a great deal of hard work and was much perplexed and
troubled ; but I know that his greatest trial was his alienation of
many personal and political friends in making appointments to
office. It was impossible to avoid this, and it will continue to
be impossible in all like cases so long as the applicant for office
and the man who is charged with the responsibility of appoint
ment occupy such entirely different points of observation — and
just so long as public duty may sometimes stand in the way of
personal friendship.
I cannot forbear saying to you before I conclude that I have
never forgotten the assurance I gave in the presence of thousands
of my Buffalo friends, during the Presidential campaign of 1884,

542 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
to the effect that, whatever the future might have in store for me,
I should endeavor so to perform my duty as to merit their ap
proval and friendship. As I visit these friends again, self-ex
amination brings home to me no reproacffes. I know that I
have done no violence to the sentiments and resolutions
which, when I lived among you, received your approval and
indorsement. I feel that I can but feebly express my appreciation of the
courtesy of this occasion — because language is weak. You
must know how I have enjoyed the kindly greeting of my old
friends ; and I hope I need not tell you how it delights me to
witness the growth and increased beauty of my old home. I
assure you that from the fullness of a grateful heart, I wish for
the City of Buffalo boundless prosperity and advancement,
and, for the people of Buffalo, Heaven's choicest blessings and
the happiness and contentment which find their abiding-place in
generous and unselfish hearts.

VI.
On being Received into Fellowship by his Neighbors, at
Sandwich, Mass., July 25, 1891.
Mr. Chairman and Ladies and Gentlemen:
More than eighteen hundred years ago a lawyer pertly asked
the Divine Teacher, "And who is my neighbor?" The answer
given to this question is quite familiar to us, and is embodied
in the parable of the Good Samaritan. I hasten to assure you
that this parable is here introduced for the lesson it teaches
rather than for the purpose of suggesting that its incidents
have any appropriateness to this occasion or its surroundings.
I see no similarity between my situation and that of the man
who went down from Jerusalem to Jericho and fell among
thieves. Whatever unfavorable impression may be prevalent concern
ing dog-day politics and poHticians, which I left behind me, I

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. 543
am convinced that if there were a chapter written about the
thieves of Cape Cod, it would be as short and as much to the
point as the chapter on the snakes of Ireland, which began and
ended in the single sentence, "There are no snakes in Ire
land." I confess I have occasionally in my journeying seen a
Levite pass by on the other side, but that was before I reached
Barnstable County, and at a time when I cared but little
whether he came on my side of the road or the other. But in
the parable only one Good Samaritan is mentioned as having
compassion on the man who went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho, while the man who came down from New York to
Cape Cod and Barnstable County has been surrounded by
them ever since he started.
I suppose that when you greet me as your neighbor, to-day,
you have in mind the fact that I have come among you to
spend at least a large part of each year, and that I intend to
maintain this sort of residence here as long as the expense of
farming and fishing enables me, from a slender purse, to meet
your rate of taxation and the cost of provisions. In the mean
time I declare my intention to be a good neighbor. No quar
rels can arise over my line fences, for I have none. I keep no
chickens, and my cattle do not run at large. I suppose I have
pretty decided political opinions, and I judge from the election
returns of this county that they are not such as have heretofore
received the utmost sympathy and encouragement in this
particular locality. Notwithstanding, however, my positive
knowledge that the large majority of my new neighbors are in
a sad state of delusion politically, I shaU not quarrel with
them on this subject, nor permit myself to become a political
scold. I must be peaceful and neighborly, even if I see my
neighbors go to political destruction before my eyes. Besides,
I think there are prudential reasons why I should, in present
circumstances, be politically docile. To be sure I have not,
like the man who started for Jericho, fallen among thieves;
but I know perfectly well that I have politically fallen among
those who are too many for me, and that only my own peace-

544 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
fulness or many conversions to my side in Barnstable County
can secure my immunity from being stripped of my political
raiment and wounded and left half dead, as was the case with
the man from Jerusalem. While I do not want to tempt such
a fate, I confess that my political convictions are so fixed that
I can hardly avoid dwelling upon them even here. Some
things we can certainly do safely and properly. We can be
tolerant of one another. We can constantly test our political
beliefs by the light of patriotism, good citizenship, and true
Americanism, and we can be brave enough and honest enough
to follow where they lead. We shall thus elevate our political
efforts and find incentives to activity in a determination to aid
in making our country as great as it ought to be, and in secur
ing to ourselves and our fellow-countrymen the happiness and
prosperity due to all of us under a free government by the
people. If our political endeavor is thus directed, we shall
rid ourselves of the blindness and bigotry which accept unrea
soning party association as a sufficient guide to political action,
and which count the spoils of partisan success the sole object
of political struggle. So, though we may differ in party affilia
tion, if we thoughtfully and sincerely believe and act, we may
still be the best of neighbors, bound together by an unselfish
willingness to forego special advantages which can only be
gained at the expense of our fellows, and all engage, with
hearty co-operation, in the achievement of our country's high
destiny. I am inclined at this point to suggest to you the lesson of
the parable with which I began. It teaches that a neighbor is
not necessarily one whose residence is near, and that kindness
and consideration make men neighbors. The Samaritan was
the neighbor of his robbed and wounded fellow-man, not
because he lived near him, but because in his need he had
compassion on him and bound up his wounds and cared for
him. Indeed, we all know that the worst quarrels often arise
and the most bitter malice and resentment often rage, among
those whose homes are adjoining. These are sometimes called

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. 545
bad neighbors; but in my opinion they ought not to be called
neighbors at all.
You are by no means to suppose, from what has been said,
that I in the least fail to appreciate my good fortune in being
an almost fully fledged resident of Cape Cod and Barnstable
County. I prize my home here so much that I actuaHy look
forward, with trepidation, to the time when I shall temporarily
leave it, fearing that in my absence some envious mortal from
a distant and benighted quarter may, in some manner, rob me
of it. The wonder is that the entire American people do not
flock hither and attempt to take possession of aH our domain
in true Oklahoma style. Let us look for a moment at some of
our suburbs and surroundings. We have located Boston just
far enough away to be a convenient trading-place, and yet not
near enough to annoy us with its noise and dirt, nor to per
mit its children to damage our cranberry bogs. Though we
know that the Pilgrims landed in Barnstable County, we see fit
to maintain Plymouth Rock just far enough outside to serve
as a stimulus to our patriotism without being bothered by the
strangers who visit the spot. We keep the waters of Buzzard's
Bay clean and pure for fishing purposes, and do not propose to
have our preserve stirred up and contaminated by the inflow
of other waters through the Cape Cod Canal.
We pity the deluded men and women who know nothing of
Barnstable County, and who have doubts regarding the fertility
and productiveness of our soil. Cape Cod never fails to
respond to intelligent husbandry, though we do not expect
immunity from the depression in farming occupations which
afflicts our agricultural brethren in other locaHties. We make
no complaint at such times, for it is easy to beat our plow
shares into fishing-hooks, and we know that when farming does
not pay, neither drouth nor destructive insects will prevent the
fish from biting. The deHghtful healthfulness of our cHmate
is so perfect that the practice of medicine is the one occupa
tion which never thrives. Recreation in every sensible and
wholesome variety crowds upon us, and, free from vain and

546 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
distracting care, we enjoy with thankfulness the peace and
quietude which here have their abiding-place.
With a heart full of gratitude for the cordiality and consid
eration which you have at all times extended to me, I have,
with the utmost sincerity, attempted to demonstrate my appre
ciation of all I enjoy among you, and to approve myself in your
sight as worthy to be admitted to free fellowship in the Cape
Cod community. If more is needed to prove my complete
devotion to the guild, let me remind you of the saying, "A
man is known by the company he keeps." If he is born and
reared amid certain conditions he may, from habit and associa
tion and without severe condemnation, be content with them
and the companionship which they impose, though such com
panionship be undesirable. But when, after mature delibera
tion and in full view of the importance and significance of his
choice of neighbors, he chooses an abode with complete knowl
edge of those by whom he is to be surrounded, the adage I
have quoted should be applied to him with the utmost strict
ness. I have only to add that so far as my case is related to
the people of Barnstable County, I am entirely content to be
thus judged.
I must remember that you have not only kindly spoken of
me as your neighbor, but have also referred to me as an
ex-President. I have never failed to be profoundly sensible
of the generosity and confidence of my countrymen in making
me the recipient of the greatest honor that can be bestowed
upon any man; but what I remember most vividly in connec
tion with the great office of President is its responsibilities and
the labor and anxiety attending an attempt to do the work
which the people had intrusted to me. The impress made
upon the mind and heart of one who stands daily face to face
with the American people, charged with the protection of their
rights and the advancement of their varied interests, can never
be effaced, and scarcely gives room for the gratification natu
rally supposed to attach to high and exalted place. I am led
to mention in this connection, as a spur to official labor and as

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. 547
a sign of political health, the watchfulness of the people and
their exactions from their chosen representative to whom they
have confided their highest trust. If they are exacting and
critical, sometimes almost. to the point of injustice, this is
better than popular heedlessness and indifference concerning
the conduct of public servants.
It has always seemed to me that, beyond the greatness of the
office and the supreme importance of its duties and responsi
bilities, the most impressive thing connected with the Presi
dency-is the fact that after its honor has been relinquished, and
after its labor and responsibility are past, we simply see that a
citizen whom the people had selected from their ranks to do
their bidding for a time and to be their agent in the discharge
of public duty, has laid aside the honor and the work of the
highest office in the world and has returned again to the peo
ple, to resume at their side the ordinary duties which pertain
to everyday citizenship. Here, he is, or should be, subject to
the same rules of behavior which apply to his fellow-country
men, and should be accorded the same fair and decent treat
ment, unless he has in some way forfeited it.
But it must be admitted that our people are by no means
united in their ideas concerning the place which our ex-Presi
dents ought to occupy, or the disposition which should be made
of them. Of course the subject would be relieved of all un
certainty and embarrassment if every President would die at
the end of his term. This does not seem, however, to meet
the views of those who under such an arrangement would be
called on to do the dying; and so some of them continue to
live, and thus perpetuate the perplexity of those who burden
themselves with plans for their utilization or disposition.
A very amusing class among these anxious souls make us
useful by laying upon our shoulders all sorts of political con
spiracies. If they are to be believed, we are constantly en
gaged in plotting for our own benefit and advancement, and
are quite willing, for the sake of reaching our ends, not only
to destroy the party to which we belong, but to subvert popu-

548 LETTERS AND SPEECHES
lar liberty and utterly uproot our free American institutions.
Others seem of the opinion that we should be utiHzed as
orators at county fairs and other occasions of all sorts and at
all sorts of places. Some think we should interfere in every
political contest, and should be constantly in readiness to ex
press an opinion on every subject of a political character that
anybody has the ingenuity to suggest. Others still regard it
as simply dreadful for us to do these things, and are gready dis
turbed every time an ex-President ventures to express an opinion
on any subject. Not a few appear to think we should simply
exist and be blind, deaf, and dumb the remainder of our days.
In the midst of all this a vast majority of the plain American
people are, as usual, sound and sensible. They are self-
respecting enough and have dignity enough to appreciate the
fact that their respect and confidence as neighbors is something
which an ex-President may well covet, and which, like any
other man, he ought to earn. They will measure the regard
and consideration due to him by his usefulness and worth as
a private citizen. They will not agree that the fact of his
having been President gives him any license for bad behavior,
nor that it burdens him with an unfavorable presumption.
These are sentiments which we, on the side of the ex-Presi
dents, will gladly adopt, and these conditions we can well
afford to accept. In conclusion I desire to express the confi
dent opinion, based upon a short experience, and supplemented
by the kindness which characterizes this occasion, that no better
place can be found as a retreat for ex-Presidents than Barn
stable County. They are sure to receive here all the Cape
Cod hospitality and friendly treatment they deserve, with a
great many other things thrown in.
From the bottom of my heart I say to you, that while I do
not mean in the least to detract from the honor arising from
the incumbency of high official place, nor undervalue the
designation of ex- President, the pleasure which this occasion
affords me chiefly consists in the cordiality with which you
have greeted me as your neighbor.

OF A PERSONAL NATURE. ' 549
VIL
Concerning a Renomination for President.
Lakewood, N. J., March 9, 1892.
The Hon. Edward S. Bragg:
My Dear Sir: Your letter of the 5th inst. is received. I
have thought until now that I might continue silent on the
subject which, under the high sanction of your position as my
"fellow-Democrat and fedow-citizen," and in your relation as
a true and trusted friend, you present to me. If, in answering
your questions, I might only consider my personal desires
and my individual ease and comfort, my response would be
promptly made, and without the least reservation or difficulty.
But if you are right in supposing that the subject is related
to a duty I owe to the country and to my party, a condition
exists which makes such private and personal considerations
entirely irrelevant. I cannot, however, refrain from declaring
to you that my experience in the great office of President of
the United States has so impressed me with the solemnity of
the trust, and its awful responsibilities, that I cannot bring
myself to regard a candidacy for the place as something to be
won by personal strife and active self-assertion.
I have also an idea that the Presidency is pre-eminently the
people's office, and I have been sincere in my constant advo
cacy of the effective participation in political affairs on the
part of all our citizens. Consequently, I believe the people
should be heard in the choice of their party candidates, and that
they themselves should make nominations as directly as is consis
tent with open, fair, and full party organizations and methods.
I speak of these things solely for the purpose of advising
you that my conception of the nature of the Presidential office,
and my conviction that the voters of our party should be free
in the selection of their candidates, preclude the possibility of
my leading and pushing a self-seeking canvass for the Presi
dential nomination, even if I had a desire to be again a
candidate.

55° LETTERS AND SPEECHES.
Believing that the complete supremacy of Democratic prin
ciples means increased national prosperity and the increased
happiness of our people, I am earnestly anxious for the success
of the party. I am confident success is still within our reach,
but I believe this is a time for Democratic thoughtfulness and
deliberation, not only as to candidates, but concerning party
action upon questions of immense interest to the patriotic and
intelligent voters of the land, who watch for an assurance of
safety as the price of their confidence and support.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

VIIL
To James H. Bible, Chattanooga, Tenn.
Lakewood, N. J., April 8, 1892.
My Dear Sir:
I desire to thank you for the report of the meeting at Chat
tanooga, which you so kindly sent me, and for the friendly
words you spoke of me on that occasion.
I am exceedingly anxious to have our party do exactiy the
right thing at the Chicago Convention, and I hope that the
delegates will be guarded by judgment and actuated by true
Democratic spirit and the single desire to succeed on principle.
I should not be frank if I did not say to you that I often
fear I do not deserve all the kind things such friends as you
say of me, and I have frequent misgivings as to the wisdom of
again putting me in nomination.
I, therefore, am anxious that sentiment and too unmeasured
personal devotion should be checked when the delegates to
the convention reach the period of deliberation. In any event
there will be no disappointment for me in the result.
Yours very truly,
Grover Cleveland.

INDEX,

Academies. See Education.
Actors' Fund of America, speech be
fore, Jan. 3, l8go, 193-197
Actors' Home, ig6
Adams, John P., letters to, Oct. 30,
i88g, 2go ; Sept. 12, i8go, 480
Adirondack Park, speech in regard to,
New York, Jan. 24, 1891, 233-237
Agricultural Department. See Bu
reau OF Agriculture.
Agricultural fairs, 134, 135, 137, 141
Agricultural implements, 8i
Agriculture, census returns, 80 ; im
portance of, 231, 513-515. See also
Farmers.
Agriculture, Commissioner of, distribu
tion of seeds by, 451.
Alabama, office of District Attorney of
Southern District of, 465
Albany, N, Y., needed reforms at the
Capitol, 234, 235 ; speeches at, 6-8,
3t, 32, 205,206, 218-220, 2g8, 2gg
Aliens, anomalous position of certain
domiciled, 525
AUentown, Pa., veto of public-building
bill, 520
American artists, unjust discrimination
in favor of, 341, 342
" American," pride in the name, 351
American character, 223, 224, 24g-
255
American chivalry, 3g7
American citizens, rights and protec
tion of, 16, 215-218. See also Citi
zens.
American citizens imprisoned abroad,
address on, 215-218
American citizenship, 118 ; true, 228,
350. 351 ; Washington's share in the
creation of, 351. See also Citizen
ship.

American commerce, means of res
toration of, g4
American Copyright League, letter to,
Dec. 5, i88g, 342, 343
American eagle, climatic conditions
for, 166
American energy and enterprise, 7g
American families, the piano and or
gan in, 161, 162
American Fishery Union, letter to,
April 7, 1887, 4g8-500
American freedom, price of, 34g
American homes, 251, 253, 26g
American industries, speech on, 158-
162
American ingenuity, yg, 159
American institutions, i6, 161, l6g,
208, 2og, 23g, 240, 263, 278, 337,
352, 356. 358, 482, 484
Americanism, 23g-24i, 247, 251, 252,
254, 255, 262, 26g, 304, 320, 482,
544
American life, important factors in, 251
American manufacturers, unjust bene
fits of protection to, 78
American patriotism. See Patriotism.
American people, slowness to inves
tigate public questions, loi
American pianoforte, history of
the, 160, 161
American sentiment, 350, 354-360, 362
American skill, yg, I5g
American traits, 130, 131
Anderson, E. Ellery, 374
Andrew, J'ohn F., 320
Ann Arbor, Mich., address at, 352-362.
See Speeches.
Appointment to office, as reward for
party services, 4, 38, 3g, 43, 45, 47,
48, 53, 60, 224, 246, 285, 294, 3og,
488 ; difficulties in regard to, 541

552

INDEX.

Appropriation bills, selfish measures
introduced into, 97
Arbitration of labor disputes, 332-336.
See also Labor.
Army of the Cumberland, 223
Art, revision of the tariff laws in rela
tion to works of, 341, 342
Arthur, Chester A., tribute to, 4gl
Assembly districts, readjustment of,30g
Assessments for partisan purposes, 4
Assessors, duties of local, 65
Atlanta, Ga., letter to the Cleveland
Club at, Feb. 2g, i8g2, 2g4, 2g5 ,
Attorney - General. See United
States Attorney-General.
Authors. See International Copy
right.
Bakers, census returns, 80
Ballot-box, purity of, 151-154, 173,
344. See also Ballot Reform.
Ballot reform, necessity of, 151-155,
268, 344 ; how the suffrage is de
bauched, 344
Banks, proposition to deposit Trea
sury surplus in, 76
Barnstable County, 543-546, 548
Bartholdi statue, address accepting,
Oct. 28, 1886, 222
Bean Hill, 238
Beecher, Henry Ward, tribute to,
492, 493
Benevolent institutions. See Charit
able Institutions ; Charities.
Benton, M. E., 51
Berne, international copyright con
ference at, 341
Bible, James H., letter to, April 8,
i8g2, 550
Billion Dollar Congress, pension ex
travagance in, 276
Bissell, Dr., 538
Bissell, Herbert P., 285, 540
Black, Chauncey F., 285, 287
Blacksmiths, census returns, 80
Boston, commerce of, 149 ; speeches
at, 148-155. 316-321
Boston Tea Party, 149
Boyhood, 537-53g
Bragg, Edward S. , letter to, March g,
1S82, 54g, 550
Bribery, 4, 5, 10, 36, 151, 152, 253,
268, 277, 321

Bridgeport, Conn., speech at, 302, 303
Bridges, improper legislation regard
ing, 332
British gold, demagogiccry of, 261, 325
Brooklyn, headquarters of Kings
County Democracy, 480 ; speeches
in, 237-241, 307-312
Brown, Edgar A., 100
Buffalo, inaugural message as mayor
of, 28-31 ; office of City Auditor in,
2g, 30 ; Semi-centennial German
Young Men's Association, 127-132;
Sangerfest, 128, 220 ; Music Hall,
128 ; German population of, 128-
132; Fitch Institute, 178-180;
message to Common Council, June
5, 1882, 180, 182 ; Young Men's
Christian Association, 181-1S3 ;
letter to Cleveland Democracy,
Sept. 30, 1885, 284, 285 ; Semi
centennial of, 107-iog, 375,
541 ; veto of amendments to charter
of, April 9, 1883, 447-449 ; proposed
re-organization of fire department
of, 447-449 ; veto of appropriation
for celebrating Decoration Day,
May 8, 1882, 433-435; speeches at,
I, 2, 107-109, 127-132, 178-183,
203-205, 215-218, 220, 221, 274-
278, 296, 2g7, 375-377. 534, 539-542
Builders, speech at banquet of New
York National Association, Feb. 12,
l8gi, 169-173
Building contracts, 171, 172
Building trade, antiquity and impor
tance of, 170
Bunker Hill, 317
Bureau of Agriculture, classification of
employees in, 56 ; its work, 451,
513-515
Bureau of Labor, establishment of,
335. 336
Burnett, John D., 465
Burnett, William E., letter to, Feb. 3,
l8gi, 480, 481
Burritt, Loren, veto of pension bill for,
396
Business men, duties to share in
government, 313
Business Men's Democratic Association
of New York, speech before, Jan. 8,
i8g2, 278-283 ; Oct. 27, i8gi, 312-
316

INDEX.

553

Business methods in government. See
Government, Right Principles
OF.
Butchers, census returns, 80
Butler, Benoni, 538
Butter. See Oleomargarine.
Buzzard's Bay, 545
Caldweli, N. J., 300
California Indians. See Indians.
'¦ Campaign of Education," the, 256-
263
Canada, commerce wiih, 4gg-5ii ;
retaliation on, 4g9-5il ; canals of,
50g. 510
Canals, legislation regarding, 5 ; pres
ervation of, 65 ; State policy with re
gard to. III ; Canadian, 5og, 510
Candidates for office, qualifications
for, 315
Canton, O. , letters to Young Men's
Democratic Club at, Nov. 27, i8go,
105-106 ; Nov. 22, 1889, 290; Nov.
25, i8go, 293-2g4
Cape Cod, 543. 545, 54^. 548
Cape Cod Canal, 545
Capital, relations between labor and, 5,
124. 333. 336. 337 ; regard for in
terests of, 36 ; effect of Federal
taxation on, 69 ; unjust exercise of
power by, 94 ; effect of tariff reform
on, 327 ; alleged discrimination in
favor of, 333
Cardinal Gibbons Reception Commit
tee, letter to, Jan. 26, 1887, 183, 184
Carlisle, John G., 63
Carlisle Indian school, 422
Carpenters, census returns, 80
Carpenters' Plall. Philadelphia, 122
Cass, Lewis, 523
Catholic Club of Philadelphia, letter to,
Jan. 26, 1887, 183, 184
Caucus, protection of, 3
Cemeteries, improper legislation re
garding, 332
Census, returns of industrial pursuits,
80 ; Republican neglect of Constitu
tional provisions for, 3og, 310
Centennial and anniversary celebra
tions, speeches, etc., at, 107-132.
See also Speeches.
Central America, needs of, 523
' Characteristic messages," 462-479

"Character of Andrew Jackson,'' 484-
486
" Character of reporters," 345, 346
Charitable institutions, mismanage
ment of, 3g, 200 ; care of, 113
Charity, 123, 195, ig6. See also Re
ligious and Charitable Organ
izations ; State Charity A id
Association.
Chautauqua County, veto of bill for
purchase of land by, Feb. 12, 1883,
437, 438
" Cheap and nasty," 252-254
" Cheap merchandise, cheap men,
cheap country," 252-254
Chicago platform of 1884, 10
Children, protection of , 180,181
Christmas Day, 348
Church and state, union of, 183,184
Churches, 113
Cities, admixture of luxury and
squalor in, gl
Citizens, duties of, 32, 33, 35, 135,
136, 138-140, 146, 148, 150-
152, 155. 173. 174. 182-184, i8g,
igo, ig7, 209, 216, 218, 2ig, 226-
22g, 232, 233, 261, 263, 301, 303,
304. 307, 313, 315, 316, 337, 345,
351, 361, 362. 383, 549; rights of,
215-218 ; recruiting the ranks of,
352. See also American Citizens;
American Citizenship ; Citizen
ship.
Citizenship, effect of teachings of
Christianity on, 186 ; equality of
American, 337 ; renunciation of,
524
City Auditor of Buffalo, office of, 2g,
30
Civil Service Commission, reports of,
48, 4g, 57-61 ; advice to, 56, 57
Civil Service reform, 4, 12, 13, 17, 36,
37, 154, 486, 487, 541 ; letters,
messages, etc. , relating to, 3S-61 ;
difficulties attending its introduction,
44 ; co-operation of the Cabinet in
the matter of, 45 ; belief in, 45 ;
first annual message to Congress
on, 46-48 ; benefit of, 48, 49,
53, 54; second annual message,
Dec. 6, 1886, 53, 54 ; promotion
of officers without competitive ex
amination, 54, 55 ; growth and

554

INDEX.

progress of, 57-61 ; change of rules
and regulations of, 5g ; difficulties in
the path of, 60 ; civil-service rules,
subdivision C. of General Rule 3,
54 ; Civil Service Reform Act, gist
of, 55 ; evasions of, 55 ; classifica
tion of employees under, 55, 56
Civil War, the, 351, 376. 377 ;
Germans in, 130 ; Sumner's efforts
to obliterate reminder of, 318
Civil War pensions. See Pensions.
Civis Rontanits Sum, 218
Claims against government, popular
opinion in regard to, g6
Classes, formation of two widely op
posite, gi
Cleveland, Rev. William N., letter to,
Nov. 7, 1882, 533, 534
Cleveland Club, Atlanta. Ga., letter to,
Feb 2g, T8g2, 2g4, 295
Cleveland Democracy of Buffalo, 274-
278, 284, 285.
Cleveland family, 237
Clinton, N. Y., centennial of , 116-118,
537-539-
Codman, Chas. R., 320
Coinage of silver. See Silver.
Colleges. See Education.
Collins, Hon. P. A., 13, 15
Colored people. See Negro.
Columbus, O., letter to political
rally in, Sept. 24 , 1884, 283, 284 ;
speech at Thurman banquet, Nov.
13, i8go, 249-255
Combination, of corporations, 5 ; as
indication of competition, 83
Combinations, creatures of recent
birth, gl ; improper, g3. See also
Trusts.
Commerce, to be fostered. 12 ; neces
sity of freedom of. 65, 66; effect of
unnecessary taxation on, 73, 314;
importance of, log, 11 1, 156; rela
tion to government, 147,156, 174-
177 ; reciprocity in, 162, 163.
Commercial and business associations,
letters and addresses to. 144-177.
See also Letters ; Speeches.
Commission of Labor, proposed, 334
Commissioner of Labor, appointment
of, 335
Communism, views on, g4
Competition, healthy, 83, 134

Congressional districts. Democratic
fairness in readjustment of, 311
Conspiracies. See Trusts.-
Constitutional amendments, 5
Constitutional Convention, 122
Constitutional limitations, 4
Consumers, burdens of unnecessary
taxation on, g2
Continental Congress, loi.
Contracts, popular ideas in regard to
government, 96
Cooper Union, speeches at, 303-307,
494-496
Copyright. See International
CopyRiGHT.
Corn, shipments of, from New Or
leans, no
Cornell, Governor, 31
Cornell Alumni Society, address be
fore, Dec. 21, 1889, 22g-233
Cornell University, 230-233
Corporate funds, misuse of, 330
Corporations, rights, privileges, and
liabilities of, 4, 5 ; increasing power
of, g2 ; unjust grants to, 97 ; raisoii
d'etre, 329 ; publicity of, 32g-33i ;
limitation of privileges of, 4S7
Correctional institutions, mismanage
ment of, 3g
Corruption, 5, 6,12, 302, 304, 305, 321,
344
Cox, S. S., tribute to, 494-4g6
Crees. See Indians.
Critic. The, tribute to Oliver Wendell
Holmes in, 346, 347
Crops, movement of, 21
Cruelty in charitable institutions, 200
Currency, necessity of a sound, 314,
487 ; dangers to, 3ig ; contraction
of, 364, 365
Curtis, George William, 41
Custom Cutters' National Convention,
letter to. Jan. 20, i8gi, 103
Custom Foremen Tailors' Association,
103
Customs duties, revenue from, 18, ig ;
indirect taxation through, 67-69 ;
recommendation of reduction of, 84 ;
who pays, 325 ; payment of, in sil
ver, 366, 368. See also Federal
Taxation ; Revenue ; Tariff.
Customs service, appointments to, and
vacancies in, 58

INDEX.

555

Dakota Bible, exclusion of, among
Indians, 416
Deceit, condemnation of, 536, 537
Declaration of Independence, 29i-2g3
Decoration Day, veto of appropriation
for celebrating at Buffalo, 433-435
De Krafft, Elizabeth S.. veto of pen
s-ion bill for, 279, 280
Democracy, true, 8, 14, loi, 102, 245-
249, 251, 263-275, 288, 303, 322,
485, 487-489 ; historical associa
tions, 272 ; full meaning of, 294 ;
condition, responsibilities, and duty
of, 303 ; secret of safety of, 312 ;
steadfastness in the people's cause,
312, 328 ; essence of its faith, 343 ;
root of national prosperity, 550
Democracy of Kings County, N. Y.,
letter to, Oct. 30, 1889, 288-290
" Democrat, I am a." See " I AM A
De.mocrat."
Democratic clubs, importance of, 285-
288 ; letter to National Association
of, Sept. 14, 1888, 285, 286 ; letter
to New York Convention of, Oct.
21, 1889, 287, 288
Democratic government, 34, 35
Democratic Party, honesty of, 2 ; plat
form of 1884, lo ; platform of 1888,
17 ; principles in regard lo trusts
and combinations, 24 ; position on
revision of revenue laws, 63 ; tariff
reform principal issue before, 104 ;
principles of, 243, 244, 256, 279, 297,
304, 305, 315 ; freedom of opinion
in, 245 ; position with regard to the
people, 261, 262 ; necessities of,
266 ; duties of, 273 ; circumstances
attending birth of, 273 ; position in
regard to taxation, 280, 301 ; position
on tariff reform, 281, 327, 328 ; se
cret of success of, 2go ; position in
regard to labor, 301 ; pledged to
reform, 308 ; sincerity of, 323, 324
Democratic Societies of Pennsylvania,
letter to, Oct. Ii, 1889, 286, 287
Democratic State Convention, meeting
at Syracuse, 3
Departmental service, appointments
to, 57—59 ; vacancies in, 58
Department of Justice, classification
of employees in, 56 ; reforms in,
516, 517

Department of State, classification of
employees in, 56 ; transactions of,
87
Dependent pension bill, veto of, 384-
396
Depew, Chauncey M., 163-165
Desert land laws, repeal of, recom
mended, 427
Desert lands, protection of, 431,
432
Direct-tax bill, veto of, March 2, 1889,
451-461
Domestic industries, 18, 26
Domestic manufactures, consumers
taxed for, 78 ; unnecessary fostering
of, 79 ; enhancement of cost to con
sumers of, by high tariff, 81-83 ;
healthy competition in, 83 ; element
of national greatness, 84 ; reduc
tion of duties on raw material, 85 ;
stifling of production, 8g ; prosper
ity of, 91 ; secret of their success,
91 ; reformation of tariff as regards,
95
Domestic servants, census returns, 80
Domicile, definition of rights spring
ing from, 525
Dougherty, Mary Ann, veto of pen
sion bill for, 401-403
Douglas, H. K., loi
Downing, I-Ienry F., 344
Dramatic profession. See AcrORs'
Fund.
Dressmakers, census returns, 80
Duskin, George M., 465, 466
Eaton, Dorman B., letter accepting
resignation of, 43-46
Economic and social questions, mes
sages and speeches, etc., on, 329-
347. See also Messages; Speeches.
Economy, private, 35, 251-253, 278
Economy, public, 35, 88, 251-25-3,
267, 269, 278, 300, 314, 319, 487
Edison, Thomas A., 150
Education, system in New York State,
113; relation to politics, 114;
public estimate of. 123, i8g, 357 ;
care to be exercised in, i8g-ig2 ;
addresses on, 215-241 ; national
progress in, 2i8 ; value of, 239 ; of
colored people, 344, 345 ; necessity
of combining patriotism with, 354

556

INDEX.

Educational and patriotic questions,
addresses on, 215-241
Election frauds, 3. See also Ballot
Box ; Bribery ; Corruption.
Elections, Federal interference in, 4 ;
State interference in, 4. See also
Ballot-Box Reform.
Elevated Railroad Commissioners, 442,
443
Elevated Railroad Five-cent Fare Bill,
veto of, March 2, 1883, 438-446
EUicott, Joseph, 541
Elliot, Charles W., 320
Elmira State Fair, 137-139
Employers and employed, relations of,
II, 12
Enforcement of laws, 42
Engine-houses, improper legislation
regarding, 332
England, reciprocity with, 162, 163 ;
a Republican bugbear, 326 ; posi
tion in regard to silver coinage, 369
English syndicates, 160
Entangling alliances, 340, 520
Equality, 90
Erie canal, 65
Erie County Bar Association, tribute
to Oscar Folsom before, 203-205
Essex County, N. J., 300
" Estimates of pubhc men," 480-
497
" Eternal vigilance the price of liberty,"
292
Europe, competition with pauper labor
of, 79, 326 ; America's challenge to,
159, 160
Evacuation Day Celebration, Nov. 26,
1883, log-iii
Evangelical Alliance, address to, Dec.
g, 1887, 185, 186
Everett, Dr. Wm,, 320
Executive order on death of General
Hancock, Feb. 9, 1886, 491
Expatriation, right of, 524, 525
Expediency, weakness of doctrine of,
257
Ex-Presidents, method of disposal of,
158 ; rights of, and popular ideas
concerning, 547, 548
Extortion from public officers, 4
Extravagance, pubHc, 21, 35, 36, 68,
77, 95, 267, 272 276-278, 288, 304,
325

Farmers, interest in taxation, 20 ;
effect of protective tariff on, 20, 69-
72, 81 ; movement of crops, 21 ;
census returns, 80 ; decrease of in
terest in life of, 91 ; best policy for,
105 ; position with regard to New
York canals, in; industries fostered
by State, 134-138 ; an independent
class, 137, 138 ; letter to Grange Pic
nic at Williams Grove, Pa., Aug. 27,
1888, 140, 141 ; duty of Democratic
party to, 267 ; protection for, 477 ;
government encouragment of, 514,
515.
Farmers' Alliance, letter to Steuben
ville Lodge, March 24, 1890, 142,
143
Farmers' organizations, addresses and
letters to, 133-143
Farming, personal experience in, 134 ;
dignity of, 134 ; importance of, 134-
139. 141
Farquhar, John M., 433
Favored-nation clauses of treaties, 340
Favoritism in advancement of em
ployees, 59
Federal government, foundation of,
35 ; popular opinion of, 95, g6 ;
protection of inter-state commerce
by, in labor disputes, 336 ; inter
ference of, in questions between
labor and capital, 336, 337
Federal legislation in regard to labor
questions, 333, 334
Federal offices, distribution of, 51
Federal patronage, 34
Federal power, constitutional limita
tions of, g8, 487
Federal system, 125-127
Federal taxation, wrongs of the sys
tem, 68, 6g ; war rates in time of
peace, 70 ; readjustment of, 70 ;
veto of the direct-tax bill, 451-
461 ; payment by States in gross,
453. 454; non-payment by rebellious
States, 457, 458. See also Customs
Duties ; Revenue ; Tariff ;
Taxation
Federal union, Washington's prin
ciples of, 351, 353
Fellowcraft Club, New York, speech
before. May 14, 1889, 225-229
Filial affection, 359

INDEX.

557

Financial policy, 16, 36, 312
Fire Department of Buffalo, proposed
reorganization of, 447-44g
Fishery disputes, 498-511
Fitch,  , 178-180
Fitch Institute, Buffalo, speech at.
May 10, 1882, 178-180
Flack, James A., 88
Floaters, 344
Florida, Jackson's occupation of, 280
Flower, Roswell P., 307, 316
Folsom, Oscar, memorial tribute to,
203-205
Food production, 138
Food supply, frauds in, 477, 478
Force Bill, defeat of, 309
Forefathers' Day, 236-241
Foreign alliances, 520
Foreign markets, competition in, 23,
69, 70, 85, 93, 142, 143 ; exclusion
from, 89 ; forcing our goods into,
160 ; cultivation of, 162 ; effect of
tariff reform on, 327
Foreign policy, 35, 36 ; of a weak
nation, 512
Forest Commission, 236
Forests, preservation of, 65, 233-237,
425
Fosnot, E. W., 406
Fourth of July speeches, 166
France, reciprocity with, 162, 163 ;
presentation of Bartholdi's statue,
222 ; position in regard to silver
coinage, 369
Francis, David R., 398
Franklin, Benjamin, 120, 122
Frauds. See Ballot Box ; Ballot
Reform ; Bribery ; Corruption ;
Election.
Fraudulent and corrupt practices, 5, 6
Frazier, John W., 3g8
Freedmen. See Negroes.
Freedom, human yearnings for, 122,
126
Free library movement, 188-193
Free trade, Democratic position in
regard to, 24 ; relation to question
of reduction of revenue, 67 ; action
toward tariff reform preferable to
theorizing about, 86 ; Republican
sneers about, 325, See also Tariff.
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, 225
Frontier settlers, safety of, 411

Frugality in home and government,
251-253, 278
Furey, William A., letter to, Feb. 2,
1888, 486, 487
Garfield, James A., 253; unveiling of
statue at Washington, May 12, 1887,
222-224
Garland, A. H., 50
Garrison, William Lloyd, 320
General Railroad Act, 444
German character, 220, 221
German citizens, 128-132, 220, 221
German literature, 128, 129
Germany, position in regard to silver
coinage, 369
German Young Men's Association,
semi-centennial of, 127-132
Gettysburg, letter to reunion of Union
and ex-Confederate soldiers at, June
24. 1887, 397, 398
Ghoulish glee, 115
Gibbons, Cardinal, 183 ; letter to Car
dinal Gibbons Reception Com
mittee, Jan. 26, 1887, 183, 184
Gilroy, Thomas F., 293
Gloucester, Mass., letter to American
Fishery Union at, April 7, 1887,
4g8-5oo
Gold, displaced by silver, 363, 364,
366, 368, 373 ; hoarding of, 366-
368 ; increase in exportation of,
373
Government, right principles of, 13,
39, 63-67, 86, 186, 216 ; proper
suppoit of, g2
Government bonds, redemption of, be
fore maturity, 73-76 ; premiums on,
74-76
Government by the people. See Pop
ular Government.
Government patronage. See Patron
age.
Governor, letter accepting nomination
for, 3-6 ; inaugural speech as, 31,
32
Governorship, duties and responsi
bilities of, 3, 32, 133, 533, 534
Grand Army of the Republic, speech
at banquet in Buffalo, 375-377 ; mis
sion of, 376, 377 ; comments on
invitation to visit national encamp
ment of, at St. Louis, 3g8-40i ;

5S8

INDEX.

letter to Po^t 176, Department of
Pennsylvania, Oct. 24, i88g, 406,
407 ; the good and bad in, 406,
407-
Grangers, letter to Picnic, Pennsyl
vania, Aug. 27, 1888, 140, 141
Grant, General fj. S., 471, 472 ; tri
bute to, 489
Graves, E. O., letter to, April 2, i8gi,
482," 4S3
Great Britain, fishery disputes with,
4g8-5 I r
Great Lakes, navigation of, 509, 510
Greystone Club, letter to, Feb., 1890,
487, 488
Hagerstown, Md., letter to Tariff
Reform Club, April 29, i8go, loi,
102
Hancock, Gen. W. S., tribute to,
Feb. g, 1886. 4gi
Hansen, Dethlef C, letter to, March
26, i8gi, 481, 482
Harvard College, speech at two hun
dred and fiftieth anniversary, Nov.
9, 1886, 114-H6
Hayward, George, 541
Heads of Departments, orders to, 49,
50
Health, public, 235
Hendricks, Thomas A., tribute to,
490
Hentz, Henry, 146
Herbst, John. 404
Herbst, Theresa, veto of pension bill
for, 404, 405
Herwig, F. A., 102
Hibernian Society, speech before, at
Philadelphia, Sept. 17, 1887, 224,
225
Higginson, T. W., 320
Highways, improper legislation re
garding, 332
Hill, J. A., 142
Historical and scientific societies of
Philadelphia, speech before, 121
Hoar, Sherman, 99, 320
Holidays, national, 348, 349
Holman, John A., letter to, June 18,
i8go. 490
Holmes, Oliver Wendell, tribute to,
Aug. 23, 1884, 346, 347
Home life, 316

Home Rule, 4, 98, 311, 312, 497
Homes, the strength of the nation,.
339
Homes of polygamy, 338-340
Honlestead law, 426 ; amendment of,
427
Homestead rights, alienation of, 427
I-lonesty, 487
Honor lies in honest toil, 1 1
Hospitals, ill-treatment in, 200
House of Representatives, action on
revenue reform, 25
Hudson River, 235
Huntoon, G. H., 103
" I Am a Democrat," i, 8, 41, 256
Immigration, views on, 11, 17, 23,
36, 216, 221, 239, 240 ; German,
I2g ; restriction of Mormon, 340 ;
message to N. Y. Senate on, May 4,
1883, 462-464
Immigration, Bureau of, 65
Immigration commissioner, message
to N. Y. senate concerning, May
4, 1884, 462-464
Impeachment, reviewal of Presidential
acts by, 470
Imports, principle of taxes upon, 70
Inaugural messages and speeches,
28-37
Independence, American, 35
Independence Hall, Philadelphia, 122
Indiana Tariff Reform League, letters
to, Feb. 15, i8go, 100, 101 ; March
i8gi, 104, 105
Indian Agencies, inadequacy of, 412,
413
Indian agents, difference in, 4og,
410 ; inquiry into methods of, 411 ;
compensation of, 413
Indianapolis Monument Committee,
letter to, June 18, 1890, 490
Indian Bureau, difficulties in manage
ment of, 410; expense of, 411; rules
a-^ to education, 4i6-4ig
Indian commissioners, recommenda
tion of, 410, 411, 414
Indian frontier, disappearance of,
412
Indian lands, allotted in severalty, 411
Indian policy, 17, 36
Indian problem, the, 96, 97, 408-
423

INDEX.

559

Indian reservations, inequality of,
4og, 411 ; purchase of, by U. S.
government, 410 ; intrusions upon,
411 ; railroads across, 415 ; legisla
tion regarding, 415
Indians, wrongs of, 408 ; atrocities
of, 40S ; rights of, 40S ; ultimate
object of treatment of, 408 ; assimi
lation of, 408 ; population, 408 ;
reservations for, 408 ; differences
in natural traits, 4og ; civilization of,
409, 410, 417, 419, 420 ; education
among, 409,410,411,414,416-422;
savagely among, 409 ; tribal rela
tions, 409 ; love of home, 4og ;
ownership of lands in severalty by,
4og ; consideration for, 407, in
equality of reservations, 4og ; reli
gious teaching among, 410 ; removal
of, 41 1 ; question of citizenship of,
41 1 ; supply of agricultural imple
ments to, 411 ; government sup
port for, 411, 412, 413 ; transition
from tribal organizations to citizen
ship, 412-415 ; wards of the nation,
413, 417 ; allotment of land in
severalty, 414, 415, 420 ; character,
415 ; exclusion of Dakota Bible
among, 416 ; capacity of, 420 ;
opening of Sioux lands, 421 ; Tur
tle Mountain Indians. 421 ; Crees,
421 ; reservations in California, 421 ;
Apache prisoners, 421, 422 ; agen
cies, see Indian Agencies; Indian
Agents.
Indian schools, text-books in, 415-419 ;
use of English language in, 416-
419
Indian Territory, 412
Individual rights, 12
Innocuous desuetude, 472
Insane, ill treatment of, 200
Interior Department, classification of
employees in, 56
Internal revenue law, proposed reform,
in trial of offenses under, 516, 517
Internal revenue reform. Republican
schemes for, 25
Internal revenue system, Republican
propositions in regard to, 26
Internal revenue taxes, 18, ig, 77,
78
International copyright, 341-343

Interstate commerce, relations of pro
posed Labor Bureau to, 334, 335 ;
duties of Federal government when
interfered with by labor disputes, 336
Interviews, Nashville Ameiican, Feb.
1. l8go, 344; New York Commercial
Advertiser, Sept. ig, i8Sg, 343 ;
New York Daily Continent, April 12,
i8gi, 345, 346 ; New York Herald.
Dec. )0, 1883, 63
Interviewing, how rendered easy, 346
Intimidation. See Voters.
Invention, progress of, ig2
Iowa, Democratic victory in, 305
Ireland, 215, 225
Iroquois Club, Chicago, letter to,
March 25, 1892, 483
Jackson, Andrew, g8, 265, 279-281,
283, 484-486, 488
Jacksi.n Club, Columbus, letterto, Jan.
4, 1886, 484
Jacksonian Democracy. 266
" Jackson's Day," 4S5, 488
Jefferson, Thomas, 36, 247, 264, 272,
480-483
Jewelers' Association of New York,
speech at annual dinner, i66-i6g
Johnson, Andrew, impeachment of, 470
Johnson, R. U., 342
Joiners, census returns, 80
Joint high commissioners, 506-507
Kansas City, Mo., address before
Young Men's Christian Association,
184,185
Kings County, N. Y., letter to Demo
cracy of, Oct. 30, i88g, 288-2go ;
loyal Democracy of , 307, 308; Demo
cratic headquarters, 480
Kings County Democratic Club, letter
to, Feb. 2, 1888, 406, 407
Krichbaum, Charles, 105
Labor, protection of, 5, 11,12, 16, 17,
36, 67, 79, 95, 153. 247. 301, 325
dignity of, 11 ; interest in taxation
questions, 20 ; effect of stagnation
of trade on, 21 ; effect of revenue
laws upon, 22, 23, 6g, 71, 89, 93,
327 ; regard for in readjustment of
revenue laws, 23, 71, 72, 78 ; Dem
ocratic policy in regard to, 23, 24 ;

56°

INDEX.

importance in the Republic, 71, 333;
as a consumer, 71 ; necessaries of
life and luxuries for, 71 (see also
Necessaries of Life); foundation
of our development and progress, 79;
supposed necessityof tariff legislation
• for protection of, 79, 81 ; improve
ment in condition by reduction of
taxation on raw material. 85; increas
ing gulf between employers and, gi ;
benefits to, from tariff reform, g3 ; re
lations of the building trade to. 172 ;
intimidation of, at the polls, 268 ; the
strength of a State, 300 ; Re[jubli-
can idea of protection of, 326 ; com
petition with pauper labor of Europe,
326 ; where its interest lies; 327,
arbitration of disputes, 332-336 ;
rights of, 333 ; establishment of
Bureau of Labor, 335, 336; effects of
contraction of currency on, 364, 365;
effects of unlimited coinage of silver
on, 367 ; effects of Silver Coinage
Act upon, 371 ; Tilden's estimate of,
487
Labor and capital, relations of, 5, gi,
124, 336, 337
Labor Bureau, proposed establishment
of. 334, 335 ; established, 335, 336
Labor the capital of our workingmen, 71
Laborers, appointment of Department,
to clerical duty, 59, 60 ; census re
turns, 80
Land, taxation of, 20
Land laws, complications in, 424, 425
Land League, 215
Land system, reforms in, 426, 427
Latin IJnion, conference of the, 369,
37"
Law, to be used for the protection of
citizens, 330 ; practice of, as incite
ment to patriotism, 352
Law's delay, 330
Learned professions, 210
Legal profession, importance and re
sponsibilities of, 205-206 ; things
in common with the medical pro
fession, 210-213
Legislation, unduly influenced, 5,
330, 331 ; private and special, 175-
177 ; how to secure necessary,
236, 237 ; necessity of enlisting
business men in, 313

Legislative bills of a purely local
character, 331-332
Legislative interference with munici
palities, 4
Letters, accepting nomination for
Governor, Oct. 7, 1882, 3-6 ; ac
cepting nomination for President,
Aug. 18, 1884, 9-13 ; accepting re
nomination for President, Sept. S,
18S8, 15-27 ; accepting resignation
of Dorman B. Eaton, Sept. 11,
1885, 43-46 ; on removal of William
A. Stone, Nov. 23, 1886, 50-53 ;
to a deceiving politician, Aug. I,
1885, 536
Liberty, the genius of, 222
Libraries, improper legislation regard
ing. 332
Lincoln, Abraham, 253
Literature, pernicious, 191
Live-stock, health regulations con
cerning, 514
Local government, 4
Local legislation, 331, 332
Locke, Franklin D., 540
Log-rolling, 175
Lunatic asylums, ill treatment in, 200
Luther. Martin, 252
Luxuries, taxation of, 85
McConvill, John, letter to, Nov. ii,
1891, 497
McKinley, A. B., letter to, Feb. 5,
1892, 488, 489
Magical hand of labor, the, 69
Maine, Democracy in, 259
"Maintenance of national honor,"
498-511
Makeshifts and temporary expedients,
287
Malt liquors, taxation of, 77
Manhattan Club, New York, speech
at, 242-244
Manhattan Railway Company, veto
of Five-Cent Fare Bill, 438-446
Manufactures, influence of tariff on,
22, 23'; protection of American, 78, 79
Manufacturers, suspected combina
tions among, 79
Manufacturing pursuits, census re
turns, 80
Masons, census returns, 80
Massachusetts, patriotism of, 149 ;

INDEX.

561

leadership in civil-service and ballot
reform, 154, 155 ; love for, 238 ;
Democratic victory in, 305 ; resi
dence in, 316 ; history, tradition,
and achievements of, 317 ; educa
tion in, 318 ; independence of party
trammels, 319 ; motive power of the
conscience of, 320
Massachusetts Tariff Reform League,
letter to, Dec. 24, 1888, 99-100
Mayor, letter accepting nomination at
Buffalo, I, 2 ; inaugural message
to Common Council of Buffalo, 28-
31
Mayoralty, estimate of office, 296
Mechanic arts, education in, 231
Medical Alumni Association of New
York, speech before, 2og-2i4
Medical profession, importance of,
208-209 I things in common with
lawyers, 210-213
Merchants' Association of Boston,
address to, 148-155
Merchants' Association of Milwaukee,
speech before, 145, 146
Messages : first to New York
Legislature, Jan. 2, 1883, 62, 63 ;
second to New York Legislature,
Jan. I, 1884, 63-67, 329-332 ; first
annual, to Congress, Dec. 8, 1885,
67, 68, 338-341, 365-371, 377, 408-
412, 424, 425, 490, 512-518, 521-
342 ; second annual to Congress,
Dec. 6, 1886, 68, 336, 337, 341,
342, 372, 373, 382, 383, 412-415,
425-427,, 515 ; third annual to Con
gress, Dec. 6, 1887, 72-87 ; fourth
annual to Congress, Dec. 3, 1888,
88-g8, 373, 405, 406, 419-423, 431,
432, 494 ; to Buffalo Common
Council, June 5, 1882, 180, 181 ; to
Congress, on labor questions, April
22 and Dec, 1886, 332-337 I on
Elizabeth S. De Krafft Pension Bill,
June 21, 1886, 37g, 380 ; on Fran
cis Deeming Pension Bill, July 5,
1886, 381, 382 ; on the Loren
Burritt Pension Bill, Feb. 21,
1887, 3g6 ; on the Mary Ann
Dougherty Pension Bill, July 5,
1888, 401-403 ; . on the Theresa
Herbst Pension Bill, July 17, 1888,
404, 405 ; on Oleomargarine Act,

Aug. 2, 1889, 475-479 ; on death
of Gen. P. H. Sheridan, Aug. 6,
1888, 493, 494 ; to U. S. Senate,
on giving reasons for removal from
office, March i, 1886, 464-475 ; to
New York Senate, on Immigration
Commissioner, May 4, 1883, 462-
464 ; raison d 'Hre for Presidential,
86, 87 ; United States Constitu
tional provision in regard to, 332
Messengers, appointment of Depart
ment, to clerical duty, 59, 60
Methodist Episcopal Church, resolu
tions at annual conference, 1888,
415
Metropolitan Elevated Railway Co.,
439
Mexican War pensions. See Pen
sions.
Michigan, Democratic victory in, 305
Milburn, John G., 540
Militia, 5, 113
Miller, Guilford, claim to public land,
427-430
Milliners, census returns, 80
Milwaukee, speech at, 145, 146
Mining pursuits, census returns, 80
Miscellaneous recommendations, 512-
525
Missionary societies, claims for, 416
Monetary Conference of 1881, 369
Money, free circulation of, 20, 21
Money-getting, 355
MonopoHes, 17, 91, 319, 524
Monroe doctrine, 36, 522
Montclair, N. J., letter to Tariff Re
form Club, Feb. 3, 1891, 104
Montgomery, Isaiah T., letter to, Jan.
14, 1891, 344, 345
Moral issues in politics, 343
Mormons, restriction of immigration
of, 340
Morrow, Rev. James, letter to, March
29, 1888, 415-419
Mortgages, laws of taxation in regard
to, 64
Municipal employees, sale of claims
by, 30. See also Public Ser
vants.
Municipal government, reform in, i,
2 ; home rule in, 4 ; economy in,
28 ; true principles of, 2g, 108, 109,
183, 434-436 ; foundation of, 35

562

INDEX.

Municipal offices, hours of work in, 30
Municipal reform, i, 2
Music, 128, 129, 220, 221
Nashville American, interview in, Feb.
I, 1890, 344
Nation, the home the strength of,
339
National Association of Clubs, letter
to, Sept. 14, 1888, 285, 286
National banks, increase of circulating-
medium through, 365
National character, instrumentalities
in molding, 184, 185
National Civil-Service Reform League,
letterto, Dec. 25, 1884, 41-43
National debt, proposition for pay
ment of, 76
National defense, 16
National domain, l6
National growth, 159, 160, 170, 349
National honor, maintenance of, 498-
511
National issues, Republican defeats on,
306 ; close connection with State
issues, 314
National progress, 208, 209
National prosperity, foundation of,
319, 350, 425, 550
National revenue. See Revenue ;
Tariff ; Taxation.
National wealth, what constitutes, 429
Naturalization of immigrants, n, 216,
217, 240 ; cancellation of, 524, 525;
safeguards in granting, 524 ; pro
posed central bureau of record of,
525
Navy Department, classification of
employees in, 56 ; reorganization of,
512, 513
Nebraska, Democracy in, 258
Necessaries of life, taxation of, 22, 23,
68, 70-72, 77, 78, 85, 89, 92, 93, 95;
Republican ideas in regard to, 26,
252 ; relation of cost of to price of
labor, 80 ; benefit to the people by
cheapening, 86 ; enhanced cost of,
89 ; justice of reform of duties on,
93, 253, 319, 325; necessitj' of re
duction of cost of, 95
Negro, education of the, 344, 345 ;
rights of, 17, 37
Neutrality, American, 35, 36

Newark, N. J., speech at, 299-302 ;
population and industries of, 300
New England, love for, 238 ; farm
ing in, 239
New England principles, 239
New England Society of Brooklyn,
speech before, 237-241
New Hampshire, Democracy in, 259
New Jersey, position in the Union, 237;
farming and manufacturing interests
of, 300; position of the Democracy
in, 343
New Orleans, exports of, no; battle
of, 279, 280, 484, 485
Newspapers. See Press.
New York Academy of Medicine, ad
dress before, 207-209
New York Business Men's Associa
tion, letterto, Dec. 26, 1890, 484, 4S5
New York Chamber of Commerce,
letter to, Nov. 4, 1887, 146, 147 ;
banquets of, 155-158, 162-166
New York City, civil-service reform in,
39; Evacuation Day celebration, log
in : importance of maritime position,
no ; necessity of caring for com
merce of, no; importance of main
taining its port, in ; Washington
Inauguration Centennial, 122-124,
Washington Arch, 228-229 ; cloie
interests with State and National
questions, 313, 314 ; position of
Democracy on leading State and
National affairs, 314 ; veto of Ele
vated Railroad Five-Cent Fare Bill,
438-446; Rapid Transit in, 442-446;
speeches in, 109-1 1 1, 155-173, ig8-
202, 207-214, 225-229, 233-237,
242-249, 256-263, 271-274, 278-
283, 303-307
New York Civil-Service Reform Asso
ciation, letters to, Oct. 28, 1882, 38,
39; Oct. 24, 1884, 41
New York Clearing House, connec
tion of U. S. Treasury with, 364
New York Commercial Advertiser, in
terview in, Sept. 19, 1889, 343
New York Constitution, census pro
visions of, 309 ; provisions in regard
to local legislation, 331 ; provision
as to county, etc., expenditures, 433,
434, 438 ; alteration of charters un
der, 444

INDEX.

563

New York Convention of Democratic
Clubs, letter to, Oct. 21, 1889, 287,
288
New York Daily Continent, inter
view in, April 12, 1891, 345, 346
New York Democratic Club, speeches
before, April 27, i88g, 244-249 ;
April 13, i8gi, 271-274
New York Elevated Railway Co.,
439, 441-443
New York Herald, interview in, Dec.
10, 1883, 63
New York Legislature, difficulties at
tending legislation by, 234-237; mes
sages to. See Messages.
New York Reform Club meeting,
letterto, Feb. 10. 1891, 374
New York Reform Club, speech before,
Dec. 23, 1890, 256-263
N. Y. Senate, power and rights of,
463
New York Southern Society, speech
before, Feb. 22, 1890, 348-352
New York State, leadership among
States, 65, 375, 376, 535 ; impor
tance of, 112; population, 112; ad
ministration of justice, 113 ; agri
culture, 133-139 ; Democracy, 259;
key to an important political posi
tion, 2g7; importance of Democratic
supremacy in, 305 ; reasons for
Democratic government in, 306 ; im
portance of vote in national cam
paign, 308 ; unity of Republican
Party in, with Republican govern
ment at Washington, 3og ; Demo
cratic majorities in 1885, 3og ; in
1886, 30g-3n ; in 1887,310; in
1888, 310,311; in 1889, 310; in
1890, 310 ; readjustment of Con
gressional districts, 310 ; cession of
public domain to U. S., 424
New York State Bar Association, ad
dress before, Jan. 8, 1884, 205, 206
Niagara Falls Park, 234, 235
Nicaragua Canal, 521, 522
New York State Charities Aid Associa
tion, speech before, 197-202
Noah, pioneer in building, 170, 171
Nominating conventions, Federal
officers in, 50
Nominations, letters and speeches ac
cepting, 1-27

Northern and Southern Presbyterian
Assemblies, address before, 187,
188.
Northern Pacific Railroad Co., claim
to public land, 428-430
Norwich, Conn., 238
Noyes, Alex. D., 104
Obstruction, 15, 25
Offensive partisanship, 12, 13, 41, 42,
49, 51-53, 304. See also Partisan
ship.
Officeholders, power of, 11, 302, 303 ;
conscience of, 28, 29 ; formation of
class of, 39, 154, 283 ; temptations
for, 47 ; civil-service reform in re
lation to, 48 ; warning to, 49, 50 ;
rights of, 49, 50 ; influence of Fed
eral, 50 ; honorable obligations of,
52
Officeholding, mania for, 47 ; as a
business, 337, 338 ; a .duty of citi
zenship, 361
Offices, abolition of unnecessary, 62
Office-seekers and office-seeking, 146,
338
Official papers, what are, 469
Officials as trustees. See Public
Office is a Public Trust.
Ogdensburg, speech at, 133-136
Ohio, Democratic victories in, 298,
305
Ohio Democracy, 259, 343, 480, 481
Oleomargarine Act, message to Con
gress suggesting certain amend
ments to, Aug. 2, 475-476
Organ , the, in American families, 161
Organization of Supreme Court,
speech at celebration of, 125-127
Oswegatchie Fair, speech at, 133-
136
Pacific Railroads, land-grants to,
517, 518
Panama ship canals and railways,
521-524
Panic, threatened, 74, 77, 84
Paris Exposition, 160
Parnell, Charles S., tribute to, 497
Partisanship, 4, 6, 15, 33, 36, 41,
44, 45, 47, 48, 51, 53, 85, 113, 224,
226, 242, 246, 248, 254, 255, 267,
269, 271, 277, 283, 291, 309, 319,

564

INDEX.

333, 334, 405-407, 449- 462, 463,
470, 511, 541, 544 ; should not in
terfere with tariff legislation, 85 ;
patriotic, 271 ; offensive, see Of
fensive Partisanship.
Party corruption, 9
"Party courage is party expediency,"
283
" Party faithlessness is party dishonor,"
282 ,
Party feeling, 3
" Party honesty is party duty," 283
"Party honesty is party expediency,"
343 .
Party lines, obliteration of, 52
Party machinery futile against popular
will, 242
Party organization, true purpose of, 9
Party tyranny, 9, 10
Paternal government, 177
Patriotic questions, addresses on, 215-
241
Patriotism, 15, 125-127, 130, 131, 139,
140, 144, 146, 147, E149, 151, 155,
157, l66-l6g, 174, 177, 186, 226,
227, 22g, 250, 251, 262, 263,
268, 271, 286, 287, 293, 318, 323,
339. 345, 349-352, 354, 356-358,
376, 382, 383, 393, 406, 407, 425,
481-484, 486, 488, 496, 497, 500,
512, 535, 544, 545
Patronage, 11, 42, 47, 321 ; greed for,
301, 463. See also Appointment
TO Office as Reward for Party
Service.
Paupers, ill treatment of, 100
Peace policy, 35
Pendleton bill, 38
Pennsylvania, letter to Annual Grange
Picnic of, Aug. 27, 1888, 140, 141 ;
Democracy in, 270 ; letter to Demo
cratic Societies of, Oct. n, 1889,
285, 287 ; Democratic victory in,
305
Pensions, proper grounds for allow
ance of, 17 ; false grounds for allow
ance of, 96 ; injustice in legislation,
97 ; liberality in granting should not
be tempered with fraud, 377 ; inex
pediency of special legislation for,
378 ; grounds for allowing, 380, 383 ;
frauds in application for, 380 ; in
crease of, 381 ; American idea in

regard to, 382, 383 ; for injuries
received in service, 384 ; service pen
sions, 384 et seq. ; Revolutionary
War pensions, 384-386 ; War of
1812 pensions, 385 ; Mexican War
pensions, 385, 386 ; what is a sup
port, 389 ; Civil War pensions, sta
tistics of, 386, 390, 393, 394 ;
arrearages of, 393 ; the pension list
a roll of honor, 402, 403
Pension agents, 392, 393
Pension bills, reasons for signing and
for disallowing, 378-380, 384-396,
400-405
Pension Bureau, reforms in, 377, 378 ;
reversal of decisions of, by Con
gressional committee, 377 ; appro
priation for, 381 ; weakness in, 382 ;
adjudications of, overruled by spe
cial acts of Congress, 402, 403
Pension laws, needed revision of, 405
" People's Cause, The," 321, 322, 328,
Pernicious activity, 50
Pernicious literature, 191
Personal feelings, i
Personal property, laws of taxation in
regard to, 62, 64
Philadelphia, patriotism in, 121; let
ter to Kensington Reform Club,
May 9, 1890, 102, 103 ; Constitu
tion Centennial, 118-121 ; dinner of
Historical and Scientific Societies,
121, 122 ; letter to Catholic Club,
Jan. 26, 1887, 183, 184 ; speeches
at, 144, 145, 187, 188, 224, 225, 263-
271
Philadelphia Brigade, 397
Philadelphia Young Men's Demo
cratic Association, speech before,
Jan. 8, l8gl, 263-271
Piano, the, in American families, 161,
162
Piano and Organ Manufacturers' ban
quet, speech at, April 24, i8go, 158-
162
Piano manufacture, 160, l6l
Pickett's Division, reunion of, 3g7
Pierce, Henry L., 320
Pilgrim Fathers, 238-240
Pioneers, 16, 17, 108
Place-holding as a business, 337, 338
Plain speech, 436
Plasterers, census returns, 80

INDEX.

565

Pleuro-pneumonia, 51S
Plymouth Rock, 317, 545
Political action, necessity of freedom
in, 50
Political activity, false, 361
Political ancestry, pride in, 272
Political assessments, 3g
Political campaigns, Federal officers
in, 50
Political canvasses, speeches in, 2g6-
328
Political clubs, brief Hfe of, 288
Political clubs and organizations,
speeches and letters to, 242-295
Political conventions, Federal officers
in, 50
Political preferment, indispensable cre
dentials for, 360
Political prosperity, the supports of,
350
Political selfishness and its anti
dotes, 148-155.. See also Selfish
ness IN Politics.
Politics, relationtoeducation, Ii4;mis-
conception of, 135, 174 ; true, 275 ;
moral issues in, 343 ; danger of
making a trade of, 349; deceit in,
536, 537
Polygamy, suppression of, in Utah,
¦ 36, 338-340
Poorhouses, management of, 200
Popular government, 3, 10, 14, 18, 33,
67, 88, 94, 115, n8, 120-127, 131,
135, 136, 142, 144-148, 150, 152,
153. 155. 156, 167-170, 174, 186,
l8g, lg7, 209, 216, 217, 222, 226,
227, 240, 242, 243, 250, 251, 253,
262, 269, 270, 272, 277, 283, 291,
301-303, 322, 323, 348-350, 356,
357. 493. 497 ; economy and main
tenance of, 90 ; retrospection re
garding, 90, 91. See also Govern
ment BY the People.
Popular will, 242
Portsmouth, O., veto of public build
ing bill, 519
Postal service, vacancies in, and ap
pointments to, 58
Post Office Department, classification
of employees in, 56
Poverty driven to desperation, 94
Presbyterian Assemblies, address be
fore, 187

Presbyterianism, 187, 188, 193, ig4
Pre-emption Act, 426 ; repeal recom
mended, 427
President, Constitutional provision in
regard to his duties, 86
President, power of suspension of
officers, 469-471
Presidential campaigns, reaction after,
289
Presidential office, estimate of, 10, 14-
16, 32-35, 37, 115-118, 121-123.
139. 145, 146. 223, 247, 464, 465,
467-475, 546-54g ; re-election to, n
Press, the, 225, 226, 229 ; as educator
of the people, 262 ; need of cleanli
ness in editing and reporting, 345,
346 _
Primaries, protection of, 3 ; Federal
officers in, 50
Principles of Thomas Jefferson, 480-
483
Principles of true Democracy, 263-
271
Private interests and public welfare,
34
Private land claims, 425
Private legislation, 175-177
Private pension bills, 377-382, 396,
401-405
Proclamations, on death of General
Grant, July 23, 1885, 489 ; on death
of ex-President Arthur, Nov. l8,
1886, 491 -
Professional bodies, addresses before,
203-214
Professional pursuits, census returns,
80
Protection, cry of, 25, 177 ; Repub
lican doctrine of, 26, 326 ; relation
to reduction of revenue, 67 ; effect
of growth of the nation on necessity
for, 70 ; effect of policy on con
sumers, 78, 319, 324 ; action toward
tariff reform preferable to theorizing
about, 86 ; effect on farmers, 142
Providence, R. I., speeches at, 173-
177. 321-328
Public affairs, management of, 6
Public-building bills, vetoes of, 518-
521
Public buildings, wrongful appropria
tions for, g6
Public debt, reduction of, 68

566

INDEX.

Public documents. Senatorial access to,
466, 467
Public domain, 36, 424-432
Public expenditures, i, 17, 18, 35
Public extravagance. See Extrava
gance.
Public funds, misappropriation of,
433-435. 437, 438, 450 ; squander
ing of, 462, 463
Public health, 235
Publicity of corporations, 329-331
Public lands, reform in regard to, 96 ;
railroad grants, 317, 518. See also
Public Domain.
" Public office is a public trust," 2, 3,
4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 28, 29, 33, 35, 39,
42, 50, 67, 90, 97, 109, 113, 115,
120, 121, 123, 136, 145, 147, 156,
167, 168, 186, 216, 227, 242-
245, 251, 253, 264, 265, 275,
277, 281-283, 292, 299, 302, 303,
357, 358, 361, 395, 399. 400, 435,
437, 473, 487, 495, 497, 534, 546,
549
Public officers are the People's serv
ants, 302
Public schools. See Education.
Public servants, 12, 35, 36, 38-41
Public surveys, 426
Quincy, Josiah, 320
Race question, solution of the
Southern, 344, 345
Railroad commissioners, action on
filing of quarterly reports by rail
road companies, 329-331
Railroad commissions, usefulness of,
335
Railroad companies, filing of quar
terly reports by, 329-331
Railroad land grants, 97, 428-430,
517, 518
Railroads, 160 ; importance of, 112
Rapid Transit Act, 442
Raw materials, demand for free entry
of. 327, 328. See also Domestic
Manufactures ; Tariff.
Real property, laws of taxation in
regard to, 64, 65
" Rebel Brigadiers," a Republican bug
bear, 326
Rebuilding of the navy, 512, 513

Reciprocity, 162, 163, 259, 357
" Reciprocity Treaties and the Rev-
enue," 340
Reed, T. B., 259
Reform, tariff. See Tariff Reform.
Reform Club, New York, speech at,
256-263; letter to, Feb. 10, 1891,
374
Religion, benefits of true, 183, 184;
foundation of our national structure,
357
Religious and charitable organizations,
speeches and letters to, 178-202
Religious teaching, 123
Religious toleration, 123
Removal from office, on giving reasons
for, 464, 475 ; early construction of
the Constitution in regard to, 470 ;
removal for cause, 474. See also
Civil Service Reform.
Renomination to Presidency in 1888,
speech to committee, 13-15 ; letters
concerning, 549, 550
Reporters, character of, 345, 346
Representative government, 3
Republican corruption and dishonesty,
305
Republican form of government, meth
ods of, 35
Republican institutions, foundations
of, 4 ; perversion of, 254
Republican Party, schemes for internal
revenue and tariff reform, 25 ; sneers
at tariff reform, 258 ; election
schemes of , 267 ; precarious existence
of, 308 ; efforts to nullify popular
suffrage, 308, 309 ; questionable
honesty in readjustment of Congres
sional districts, 311 ; weakness of,
in State campaign of 1891, 314, 315 :
lesson of the eighth commandment
for, 328
Republican rule, abuses of national
affairs, 306
Republics, kinships of, 222
Retaliation, policy of, 499-511 ;
' ' boomerang " action of, 502, 503
Revenue, adjustment of laws in favor
of labor, 23 ; excess of, over expend
iture, 67 ; reduction of, 67, 68, 95 ;
Act to provide, Aug. 5, 1861, 452,
453
Revenue and reciprocity treaties, 340

INDEX.

567

Revenue laws, revision of, 63 ; rela
tions towages, 71 ; proposed amend
ment to, 72
Revenue reform, 24, 136, 141, 142 ;
Democratic position in regard 10,24-
27
Revolutionary War pensions. See
Pensions.
Rhode Island, address to Democracy
of, 321-328 ; demand of free raw
material, 327, 328
Richmond, Va., speech at State Fair,
139. 140
River and harbor bills, 276
Rivers, effects of forests on, 234-236
Rochester, semi-centennial of, 112-113
Roll of honor, a, 392, 402
Roman Catholic Church, 183
Russell, William A., 320
Sailors, 17 ; their widows and
orphans, 17
Sandwich, Mass., speech at, 542-548
Sangerfest, Buffalo, 128, 220, 221
Santo Domingo, reciprocity treaty
with, 340
Savings banks, effect of the Silver
Coinage Act on, 371
Schools, mismanagement of, 39
Schurz, Carl, 163
Scollard, Dr., 538
Scott, William L., tribute to, 496,
497
Sea coast, protection of, 512
Seamstresses, census returns, 80
Seattle, Wash., letter to Democracy
of, April 2, 1891, 482, 483
Second terms in Presidential chair, 11
Secretary of the Interior, powers with
regard to Indians, 411
Secretary of the Treasury, powers of,
in regard to surplus, 75, 76
Sectional prejudice, 325
Semi-centennials, Buffalo, 107-109 ;
Rochester, 112, 113
Selfishness in politics, 148-155, 227-
22g, 240, 253, 254, 262, 267, 268,
276, 277, 283, 294, 355, 481. See
also Political Selfishness.
Senatorial districts, readjustment of,
309
Sentiment, American, 352, 354-360,
362

"Sentiment in our National Life,"
352-362
Service pensions. See Pensions.
Settlers, 16, 17, 36 ; rights of, 427-
430
Sheehy, Father, 215
Sheep. See Wool.
Sheridan, Gen. P. H., tribute to, 493,
494
Ship canals, 521-524
Shipping, prosperity and decline of,
66
Ship railway, 522
Silver, coinage of, letters, mes
sages, etc. , on, 363-374 ; deprecia
tion in, 363, 365-368, 372 ; limita
tions on amount, 365 ; increase
of coinage over circulation, 366;
suspension of coinage of, 364, 371,
373
Silver Coinage Act, effect upon trade,
371
Sinking-fund, contributions to, 73-75
Sinking-Fund Act, 73
Sioux Indians. See Indians.
Smith, C. Kinney, letter to, Dec. 26,
1890, 484, 485
Social and economic questions, mes
sages, speeches, etc., on, 329-347
Society for the Prevention of Cruelty
to Children, 180, 181
Soldier, the true, is a good citizen,
402
Soldiers, 17 ; their widows and
orphans, 17 ; the best, should be
the best citizens, 407
Soldiers' homes, 381, 392
Soldiers' monuments, improper legis
lation regarding, 332
South, solution of the race question in
the, 344, 345
Southern Society of New York, ad
dress before, 348-352
Spain, reciprocity treaty with, 340
Spanish-speaking people, reciprocity
with, 162
Special legislation, 175-177
Speculation, 138
Spirits, internal-revenue tax on, 25,
26
Spirituous liquors, taxation of, 77
Spoils system, 42, 44, 45, 48, 224,
246, 294, 321, 544

568

INDEX.

Springfield, O., letter to Democracy
of, Feb. 3, 1891, 480, 481
St. Clair Flats Canal, 510
St. James's Hall, Buffalo, address at,
215-218
St. Lawrence Canal, 510
St. Lawrence County, 133
St. Lawrence River, 505
St. Louis, letter to Mayor of, July 4,
1887, 398-401
St. Stephen's Hall, Buffalo, address
at, 215
Stage, influence of the, 194-196
State, power to exact taxation, 62 ;
protection to property the basis of
taxation by, 62 ; relation to corpora
tions, 329-331 ; duties of citizens
to. See Citizens, Duties of.
State campaigns, importance to na
tional government, 289 ; correct
principles of, 306
State Charities Aid Association, ad
dress before, 197-202
State farm, 134
State government, foundation of, 35
State issues, close connection with na
tional issues, 314
State rights, 98, 125, 127, 475, 478
Steele, George, letterto, April 7, 18S7,
498-500
Steubenville, O., letter to Farmers'
Alliance Lodge, March 24, 1890,
142, 143
Stone, William A., reasons for re
moval of, 50-53
Street-cleaning contract in Buffalo,
veto of, 435-437
Strikes. See Labor.
Subsidies, 276
Suffrage, proper exercise of, 10, 34 ;
crimes against, 304 ; right of, 309,
315. See also Popular Govern
ment.
Sugar, contemplated change in duties
on, 340
Sumner, Charles, 318
Supervisors, boards of, powers, 331,
332
Supreme Court. See United States
Supreme Court.
Surplus. See Treasury Surplus.
Syracuse, nomination for Governor
at, 3

Syracuse Convention platform, 3
Tacoma, Wash., letter to Democracy
of, March 26, 1891, 481, 482
Tailors, census returns, 80
Tammany Society, letters to, June 29,
1888, 88, 89 ; June 30, 1890, 291,
292 ; July I, 1891, 292, 293
Tappen, Abram B., 292
Tariff, war rates in time of peace, 21,
70 ; effects of a protective, on labor,
22, 23 ; influence on trusts, 24 ;
principal source of revenue, 77 ;
necessity for revision of, 78 ; inter
ests of labor to be considered in re
adjustment of, 78 ; recommendation
of reduction of, 84 ; difficulty at
tending revision of, 84, 95 ; num
ber of dutiable articles under, 85 ;
unjustness of, 266 ; plunderings, ef
fects of, 276 ; essentials for reform
of, 277 ; regulation of, by treaty,
340 ; revision in regard to works of
art, 341, 342. See also Customs
Duties, Federal Taxation.
Tariff laws, precautions in reforma
tion of, 79, 81 ; waiver of, in favor
of Canada, 504, 505
Tariff question, 18-23, 25, 26
Tariff reform, 36, 159, 323, 325, 326 ;
Republican schemes for, 25 ; diffi
culties attending, 26, 27, 88 ; the
demand for, 26 ; slurs on advocates
of, 8g ; benefits to labor from, 93 ;
advocacy of, g4 ; extent of benefit
of, gg ; slowness of people to inves
tigate questions of, loi ; activity in,
loi, 102, 105, 106 ; widespread in
terest in, 102, 103 ; growth of cause
in New Jersey, 104 ; interest of
farmers in, 142, 143 ; advocated by
Democratic Party, 257; Republican
victory over, 260 ; advocating the
cause, 2bi ; Democratic principle
of, 281 ; prominence of question,
314 ; the shibboleth of tiue Democ
racy, 322; vindicated in 1890, 324;
Republican ideas of, 326, 327 ; how
the people understand it, 326, 327 ;
advance toward, 343 ; position of
Ohio and New Jersey in regard to,
343
Tariff Reform Club of Hagerstown,
Md., letter to, April 291,890, 101,102

INDEX.

569

Taxation, municipal, 1 ; proper appli
cation of funds arising from,' 6 ;
Federal, 18-20, 22; Federal, wrong
ful principles of. 323 ; direct, 20 ;
reform in, 36 ; power of State to
exact, 62, 301 ; discussed in mes
sage to New York Legislature,
63-67 ; rightsof taxpayers, 64 ; ad
vantages of personal property, 64 ;
oppression of real estate, 64 ; true
theory of, 65, 72, 73, 434, 435, 437,
457 ; influence upon shipping, 66 ;
proper limitations of, 67 ; Demo
cratic principles in regard to, 248,
280, 301 ; robbery under the name
of, 304, 323 ; on account of
Civil War bounties, 394 ; Federal
taxation at war rates, 394 ; Consti
tutional provisions in regard to, 476
Taxation and revenue, documentsi on,
62-106
Tehuantepec canal route, 521-524
Tenure of Office Acts, 472
Texas Seed Bill, veto of, Feb. 16,
1887, 449-451
" Text-books in Indian schools," 415-
419
Thanksgiving proclamations : As
Governor of New York, Oct.
2g, 1883, 526, 527 ; Nov. 8,
1884, 527. As President of the
United States, Nov. 2, 1885,
528, 529; Nov. 1, 1886, 529,
530 ; Oct. 25, 1887, 530, 5'3i ;
Nov. I, 1888, 531, 532
" The office should seek the man," 4
Thompson, Samuel G., letterto, Jan.
3, 1891, 485, 486
Thurman, Allen G., birthday banquet
for, Nov. 13, 1890, 249-255 ;
letter to, Jan. 4, 1886. 484
Tilden, Samuel J., tributes to, 486-
489
Timber Culture Act, repeal of, recom
mended, 427
Tobacco, taxation of, 25, 26, 77
Trade, stagnation in, 20, 21
Trade schools, 172
Transit, provision for shipment of
Canadian goods in, 504-508
Transportation, important factor in
cost of commodities, 524
Transportation facilities, 12

Treasury Department, classification of
employees in, 56 ; restrictions on
connection with private enterprise,
76
Treasury surplus, 19-22, 105, 325 ;
avoidance of, 36 ; growth of, 68 ;
the tale it tells, 69, 88 ; increase of,
72-77 ; magnitude and injustice
of, 92 ; popular opinion with regard
to, 95 ; evils of, 456, 458
Treaty, inexpediency of regulating
tariff by, 340
Treaty of 1818, 501, 504
Treaty of Washington, 504, 506, 5og,
510
Tremont Temple, Boston, speech at,
Oct. 31, 1891, 316-321
Trusts, views on, 24, 83 ; creatures of
recent birth, gr ; influence of the
tariff on, 24 ; Republican position
in regard to. 25 ; public. See Pub
lic Office.
Truthfulness, importance of, 358
Turtle Mountain Indians. See In
dians.
Unequal laws, 304
Uniform classification in the Depart
ments, order for, 54-57
United States, maritime possibilities of,
66; natural advantages and resources
of, 7g ; birth of the nation, 125-127;
contemplated reciprocity treaties
with Spain and Santo Domingo,
340
United States Attorney-General, Sen
ate demands upon, 465-467
United States Bank, Jackson's posi
tion with regard to, 281
United States Commissioners, pro
posed additional powers for, 51b
United States Congress, need of busi
ness men in, 157, 174 ; Speaker's
ruHngs in, 304 ; messages to, 332-
342; action of, in regard to pension
bills, 378-381 ; Pension Bureau
overruled by, 402, 403
United States Constitution, 121, 122,
123, 125, 126, 145 ; strength of, 33,
34 ; its widespread influence, 34 ;
provision in regard to Presidential
duties, 86 ; the chart for guidance
of our government, go ; foundation

57°

INDEX.

of our government, 98 ; stability of,
118 ; difficulties attending construc
tion of, iig-120 ; Centennial cele
bration of, 118-121, 125, 224, 225 ;
Webster's love for, 318 ; provision in
regard to Presidential messages, 332;
provision in regard to domestic vio
lence, 335 ; provisions in regard to
authors and inventors, 342 ; an
English opinion of, 353 ; Washing
ton's share in the formation of, 353,
360 ; grant of authority to coin
money, 365 ; prohibition of the im
pairment of the obligation of con
tracts, 444, 445 ; expenditure of
money under, for the general wel
fare of the United States, 456 ;
powers granted to the President by,
470 ; provision as to revenue bills,
476 ; limitations of Federal power
under, 487
United States district attorneys, com
pensation of, 516, 517
United States government, foundation
of, 356
United States marshals, compensation
of, 516, 517
United States navy, rebuilding of, 512,
513
United States prisons, 97
United States Senate, right to call for
documents, 464-469 ; message to,
March i, 1 886, 464-475 ; p6wers
and duties of, 470 ; power in re
gard to appointments to office, 473 ;
rejection of fishery treaty by, 501, 502
United States Supreme Court,
crowded condition of calendar of,
96 ; speech at Centennial of organ
ization, 125-127
United States Treasury, proper func
tions of, 75 ; Republican raids on,
304 ; overcrowding of the vaults
with silver, 363, 366, 370, 372,
373 ; depletion of gold and increase
of silver, 366 ; evils of a large sur
plus in, 456, 458
Universities. See Education.
University of Michigan, address be
fore, Feb. 22, 1S92, 352-362
Utah, suppression of polygamy in,
338-340
Vested interests, protection of , 67, 70

Vetoes : of Andrew J. White pension
bill, 377-379 I some notable, 433-
461 ; of appropriation for celebrat
ing Decoration Day in Buffalo, May
8, 1882, 433-435 ; of a street-clean
ing contract in Buffalo, June 26,
1882, 435-437 ; of a bill for pur
chase of land by Chautauqua
County, 437, 438 ; of the Elevated
Railroad Five Cent Fare Bill, March
2, 1883, 438-446 ; of the amend
ments to the charter of Buffalo,
April 9, 1883, 447-449 ; of the
Texas seed bill, Feb. 16, 1887,
449-451; of the direct-tax bill,
March 2, i88g, 451-461 ; of pub
lic-building bills, 518-521
Virginia, speech at State Fair, Rich
mond, Oct. 12, 1886, 139, 140 ;
agriculture in, 139, 140 ; cession of
public domain to United States, 424
Visitation, right of, 201
Voters, intimidation of, 3, 151, 152 ¦
corruption of, 151, 152
Vox Popiili, vox Dei, 122
Wages, how influenced by revenue
laws, 71. See Labor.
War Department, classification of em
ployees in, 56
Warner, A. J., letters to, Feb. 24,
1885, 363, 365.
War of 181 2 pensions. See Pensions.
War tariff, 326.
War tariff in time of peace, 21. See
also Tariff.
¦yVar taxation, 452
Washington, Geo., 34, 36, 120, 125,
225, 22g ; character of, 348-362 ;
value of the history of his life, 358 ;
education of, 358, 359 ; filial affec
tion of, 359
Washington, D. C, inaugural speech
at, March 4, 1885, 32-37 : new
postoffice for, 97 ; address to Evan
gelical Alliance, Dec. g, 1887, 185,
186 ; speech at unveiling of Gar
field statue. May 12, 1887, 222-224
Washington Inauguration Centennial,
speech at New York, April 30,
i88g, 122-124
Washington State, Democracy of,
481, 482

INDEX.

571

Washington, Treaty of, 504, 506,
509, 510
Watchmen, appointment of, to clerical
duty, 59, 60
Waterways, 12, 65, 112. See also
Canals.
Watrous, Chas., 146
Wealth, American race for, 349
Webster, Daniel, 318 ; statement by,
in regard to benefits of a sound cur
rency to labor, 367
Welland Canal, 510
West Side and Yonkers Patent Rail
way Co., 439, 441, 442
West Side Elevated Patented Railway
Co. of New York City, 441
Wheat, shipments of, from New Or
leans, no
Wheat fields, 160
Whisky. See Spirits.
White, Andrew J-, veto of pension
bill for, 377-379
Widows of Revolutionary soldiers, ex
cess of pensioners over estimates,
394
Williams, George Fred, 320
Williams Grove, Pa., Grangers' Picnic
at, 140, 141

Wisconsin, Democracy in, 259 ; Dem
ocratic victory in, 305
Woman, her sphere, 191 ; influence
of, 355
Women, education of, 219
Wool, effect of protective tariff on
wool-raising and wool-consumption,
81-83
Workingmen. See Labor.
Workingmen's Tariff Reform Associa
tion, 102
Young Men's Christian Associa
tions, speeches before, 181, 184
Young Men's Democratic Association
of Philadelphia, speech before, Jan.
8, iSgi, 263-271
Young Men's Democratic Association,
Canton, O., letter to, Nov. 25, i8go,
293, 294
Young Men's Democratic Club, Can
ton, O., letters to, Nov. 27, 1891,
105, 106 ; Nov. 22, 1889, 290
Youngstown, O., veto of public-build
ing bill, 520, 521
Zanesville, O., veto of public-build
ing bill, June 19, 1886, 518, 519

3 9002 00814 8778

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