Addresses, state papers and letters;

:,^

0 » o - .^J,^

^"-^.^

^

^<,

-^'" .-.^J^^, -^V

'^0'

.'?'*

.>"-^^

^v ; .^^^r„<>(,'^, <^ A

^' .1

t-o^

f .^"^ V^£:^^?l9'>° ^-^, 'J

.^ri^^^^-c;^;*- c^^:::^^.

.-C i

GROVER CLEVELAND

ADDRESSES, STATE PAPERS
AND LETTERS

EDITED BY

ALBERT ELLERY BERGH

NEW YORK
THE SUN DIAL CLASSICS CO.
PUBLISHERS
1909

Copyright, 1909, by
The Suk Dial Classics Co,

G U3

The Trow Press, New York

LIBRARY of CONGRESS

Two Cooies Received

APR 24 1809

CopyriKnt Entry
Cl'aSS C> XXc. no,

CONTENTS

PAGE

Addresses, State Papers, and Letters ...... 7

Life of Cleveland ^^q

The Story of the Book 452

Notes on the Text 4g7

List of Authorities 47g

Index 485

ADDRESSES, STATE PAPERS AND

LETTERS OF GROVER

CLEVELAND.

[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 hoiu*
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
incidents, I can truly say I never was so shocked and over-
whelmed as when I heard, on Friday night, of the death of
Oscar Folsom. I had an engagement with him that evening,
and was momentarily expecting him when I received the in-
telligence of his injury; and before I reached the scene of
the accident I was abruptly told of his death ; I shall not at-
tempt to describe 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

7

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

to me incongruous and out of place. And before I saw him
dead I found 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 admi-
ration 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 remarkable humor never had intentional sting; and
though impulsive and quick, he was always just. In the
practice of his profession and in the solution of legal ques-
tions 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 experi-
ence 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
afternoon Oscar Folsom, in the midday of life, was cher-
ishing bright anticipations for the future. Among them, he
had planned a home in an adjoining town, where he cal-
culated upon much retirement and quiet. He had already
partially perfected his arrangements, which were soon to
be fully consummated. Within forty-eight hours he reached
the town of his anticipated residence. But God had inter-
vened. 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! such quiet — in the grave. I know how fleeting

8

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

and how soon forgotten are the lessons taught by such ca-
lamities. " The gay will laugh, the solemn brow of care plod
on, and each one as before pursue his favorite phantom."
But it seems to me that long, long years will intervene be-
fore 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.

[Address before City Convention, Buffalo, N. Y.,
October 25, 1881.]

Gentlemen of the Convention: I am informed that you
have bestowed upon me the nomination for the office
of Mayor. It certainly is a great honor to be thought fit
to be the chief officer of a great and prosperous city like
ours, having such important and varied interests. I hoped
that your choice might fall 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 community. I also believe that some extrava-
gance in our city government may be corrected without in-
jury to the public service.

9

ADDRESSEES AND PAPERS

There is, or there should be, no reason wliy the affairs
of our city should not be managed with the same care and
the same economy as private interests. And when we con-
sider that public officials are the trustees of the people, and
hold their places and exercise their powers for the bene-
fit of the peojDle, 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, sincerely 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 m 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 im-
provement 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 ascend-
ency 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
citizens of Buffalo.

10

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Address at St. Stephens Hall, Buffalo, N. Y.,
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 gen-
eral way, that it is designed to secure to Ireland those just
and natural rights to which Irishmen are entitled. I under-
stand, also, that these are to be obtained by peaceful meas-
ures and "'it^iQut doing violence to any just law of the
land. This uld meet with the support and countenance
of every man who enjoys the privilege of American citizen-
ship and lives under American laws. Our sympathy is
drawn out by a bond of common manhood. We are here
to-night to welcome an .,>ostle of this cause, one who can,
from personal experience, recount the scenes of that
troubled isle; w^.l> can tell us the risks that are taken and
the pains th'.^ are sutiered by those who lead the van in
this grea* movement. I congratulate you upon having
Fathc" Sbcehy wilh -. ou, and I will not delay the pleasure
of ' s preseiita'tio) - you.

Inaugural Message as 31 ay or of Buffalo, N. Y.,
January 2, 1882.]

To the Honorable the Common Council: In presenting to
you my first official communication, I am by no means un-
mindful of the fact that I address a body, many of the mem-
bers of which have had large experience in municipal af-
fairs; and which is directly charged, more than any other

11

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 fel-
low-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 watch-
ful 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 mem-
bers of the mimicipality ; and it is quite apparent that when
any part of the funds 'nch the taxpayers have thus in-
trusted to us is diverted to other purposes, or when, by de-
sign or neglect, we allow ■•; gi eater sum to be applied to
any municipal pu, ;>ose than is ne-'essary, we have, to that
extent, violated our duty.. There sui'ly is no diiference in
his duties and obligations, xrhether a person is intrusted
with the money of one maii or manyy And yet it sometimes
appears as though the officeLokler ^.ssumes that a different
rule of fidelity prevails between him ari the taxpayers than
that which should regulate his con<; vet when, as an indi-
vidual, he holds the money of his neighbor.

It seems to me that a successful and faithful administra-
tion of the government of our city may be u •rxpMsh.ed^ by
bearing in mind that we are the trustees and a y*^ats of our
fellow-citizens, holding their funds in sacred trust, ' > be ex-
pended for their benefit; that we should at all tii'^e-: b^
prepared to render an honest account to them touching :''
manner of its expenditure, and that the affairs of the cit^
should be conducted, as far as possible, upon the same
principles as a good business man manages his private con-
cerns.

I am fully persuaded that in the performance of your
duties these rules will be observed. And I, perhaps, should

12

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 misap-
prehended. I understand that it has been supposed that he
does all that is required of him when he tests the correct-
ness of the extensions and footings of an account presented
to him, copies the same in a book and audits the same as
charged, if the extensions and footings are found correct.
This work is certainly not difficult, and might well be done
by a lad but slightly acquainted with figures. The charter
requires that this officer " shall examine and report upon all
unliquidated claims against the city, before the same shall
be audited by the common council." Is it not very plain
that the examination of a claim means something more than
the footing of the account by which that claim is repre-
sented .'' And is it not equally plain that the report provided
for includes more than the approval of all accounts which,
on their face, appear correct .'' There is no question but that
he should inquire into the merits of the claims presented to
him; and he should be fitted to do so by a familiarity with
the value of the articles and services embodied in the ac-
counts. 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

13

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 convenience of all our citizens should be consulted in
respect to the time during which they should remain open,

I suggest the passage of an ordinance, prescribing such
hours for the opening and closing of the city offices as
sliall subserve the public convenience.

It would be very desirable if some means could be de-
vised to stop the practice, so prevalent among our city em-
ployees, of selling or assigning in advance tlieir 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 humil-
iating 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 position. In this spirit the suggestions herein
contained are made. If you deem them worthy of consid-
eration, I shall still be anxious to aid the adoption and en-
forcement of any measures which you may inaugurate look-
ing to the advancement of the interests of the city and the
welfare of its inhabitants.

14

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Addreas at St. James' Hall, Buffalo^ at a Mass
Meeting to Protest against the Treatment
of American Citizens Imprisoned Abroad,
April 9, 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.

From the earliest civilization, to be a citizen has been to
be a free man, endowed with certain privileges and advan-
tages, and entitled to the full protection of the state. The
defense and protection of the personal rights of its citizens
have always been the paramoimt and most important duties
of a free, enlightened government.

And perhaps no government has this sacred trust more
in its keeping than this — the best and freest of them all;
for here the people who are to be protected are the source
of those powers which they delegate upon the express
compact that the citizen shall be protected. For this pur-
pose we choose those who, for the time being, shall man-
age 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 pro-
vided a mode by which those who sought a home among U3

15

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 in-
vited them to surrender the protection of their native land.

And what should be given them in return? Manifestly,
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 for-
eign lands are entitled to and shall receive from this gov-
ernment 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 fimdamental 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 naturalized citizen of ours, whether he be imprisoned by
order of the Czar of Russia or under the pretext of a laAi^
administered for the benefit of the landed aristocracy of
England.

16

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 speed-
ily administered. We have a right to say, and do say, that
mere suspicion, 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 impris-
oned. 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 o"
examination. Our law declares that the governrient shall
act in such cases. But the people are the creators of the
government.

The undaunted apostle of the Christian religion, impris-
oned and persecuted, appealing, centuries ago, to the Roman
law and the rights of Roman citizenship, boldly demanded:
"Is it lawful for j'ou to scourge a man that is a Roman,
and uncondemned .'' "

[Address 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 assume the part of quiet gratifi-
cation. But I cannot forbear expressing 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 experi-
ence in gazing with you upon the fair face of our Queen
City at the age of fifty. I am proud, with you, in con-

17

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

trasting what seem to us the small things of fifty years
ago, with the beauty, and the greatness, and the importance
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 an-
ticipations, 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 congratulations, 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 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 with-
out 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 list-
lesslj' linger upon the bank, and wait to cross, in the shade
of trees thej' have planted with their own hands. Let us
tenderly remember the deaJ 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

18

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 citizen-
ship brings with it duties not unlike those we owe our neigh-
bor and our God. There is no better time than this for
self-examination. 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 devote 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 adminis-
ters the government of his city, will find that he is living
falsely, and in the neglect 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 tlie
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

19

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

are left, in the centennial time, that we faithfully adminis-
tered the trust which we received from our fathers, and re-
ligiously performed our parts, in our day and generation,
toward making our city not only prosperous, but truly great.

[Serenade Speech from Balcony of Buffalo
Democratic Club upon his Nomination for
Governor of New Yorkj September 22y
1882.]

My Friends: I am sure there will be nothing for me to
do in the campaign 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 appreciation 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 fel-
low-citizens, I have gone on to receive more of their appre-
ciation than is my due, until I have been honored with more
distinction, 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 be-
fore 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 Buffalo and all their kindnesses to me
will ever have the warmest place in a grateful heart.

20

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

The event of to-day is an event which appeals to the locnl
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 alto-
gether 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 pros-
perity 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
Administration, 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
confident 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 ! We must labor as we never did

21

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

before, and not for personal preferences but for the great
cause in which we are enlisted.

[Letter Accepting Nomination for Governor,
Addressed to Hon. Thomas C. E. Eccle-
sine. Chairman, 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 m.y 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
im.press 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, luider or-
dinary 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

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 Avill upon them, and
the benefits and purposes of a truly representative govern-
ment will be attained.

Public officers are the servants and agents of the people
to execute laws which the people have made, and within
the limits of a constitution which they have established.

Hence the interference of officials of any degree, and
whether State or Federal, for the purpose of thwarting or
controlling the popular wish, should not be tolerated.

Subordinates in public place should be selected and re-
tained for their efficiency, and not because they may be used
to accomplish partisan ends. The people have a right to
demand, here, as in cases of private employment, that their
money be paid to those who will render the best service in
return, and that the appointment to, and tenure of, such
places should depend upon ability and merit. If the clerks
and assistants in public departments were paid the same
compensation and required to do the same amount of work
as those employed in prudently conducted private estab-
lishments, the anxiety to hold these public places would be
much diminished, and, it seems to me, the cause of civil
service reform materially aided.

The system of levying assessments, for partisan purposes,
on those holding office or place, cannot be too strongly con-
demned. Through the thin disguise of voluntary contri-
butions, this is seen to be naked extortion, reducing the
compensation which should be honestly earned and swell-
ing a fund used to debauch the people and defeat the
popular will.

I am unalterably opposed to the interference by the Leg-

23

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

islature 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 institu-
tions, and cannot be too strongly insisted upon.
/' Corporations are created by the law for certain defined
purposes, and are restricted in their operations by specific
limitations. Acting within their legitimate sphere they
should be protected; but when by combination, or by the
exercise of unwarranted power, they oppress the people,
the same authority which created should restrain them and
protect the rights of the citizen. The law lately passed
for the purpose of adjusting the relations between the peo-
ple 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 pop-
ulation. They should be protected in their efforts peace-
ably 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 argument is necessary to prove that it should be main-
tained in a state of efficiency, so that its usefulness shall
not be impaired.

Certain amendments to the constitution of our State, in-
volving 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;

24

OF GRO\'ER CLE\'ELAND

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 examine the merits of the subject,
and determine where the preponderance of interest lies.

The expenditure of money to influence the action of the
people at the polls, or to secure legislation, is calculated to
excite the gravest concern. When this pernicious agency
is successfully employed, a representative form of govern-
ment becomes a sham, and laws passed under its baleful
influence cease to protect, but are made the means by whicli
the rights of the people are sacrificed and the public treas-
ury despoiled. It is useless and foolish to shut our eyes
to the fact that this evil exists among us, and the party
which leads in an honest eiJ'ort to return to better and purer
methods will receive the confidence of our citizens and se-
cure 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 cor-
rupt practices. And it is well, for our country and for
the purification of politics, that the people, at times fully
roused to danger, remind tlieir 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 manage-
ment of public affairs cannot, I think, be overestimated. I
am convinced, however, that the perplexities and the mys-
tery often surrounding the administration of State concerns
grow, in a great measure, out of an attempt to serve par-
tisan 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 dra-wn from them by taxation.

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

I am profoundly conscious that the management of the
divers interests of a great State is not an easy matter, but
I believe, if undertaken in the proper spirit, all its real
difficulties will yield to watchfulness and care.

[Letter to the New York Civil Service Reform
Association, 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 nom-
ination for Governor, in which many of the matters re-
ferred 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 subject, and that I should be glad to aid in any prac-
tical legislation which would give them a place in the man-
agement 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 par-
ties are waged for the purpose of securing places for pro-
fessional 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

26

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

able to perform the duties for which they are paid with the
people's money, 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 neg-
lected 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 po-
litical action; this breeds the use of dishonest and repre-
hensible 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 opportunity 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 retain, and
no part of it should be exacted from them by way of polit-
ical 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 pos-
sible in the same manner 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 mismanagement in schools, asylums,
and institutions of charity and correction, and to the diffi-
culty 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 surrounding these
subjects, I believe they may be remedied and removed by

27

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

a due regard to the dictates of humanity and decency and
the application of the principles to which I have alluded.

[Letter to his Brother, Rev. William N. Cleve-
land, 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
success, so that I have been sure that I should assume the
duties of the high office for which I have been named. I
have tried hard, in the light of this fact, to appreciate prop-
erly the responsibilities that will rest upon me, and they
are much, too much underestimated. But the thought that
has troubled me is, can I well perform my duties, and in
such a manner as to do some good to the people of the
State? I know there is room for it, and I know that I am
honest and sincere in my desire to do well; but the ques-
tion is whether I know enough to accomplish what I desire.

The social life which seems to await me has also been a
subject of much anxious thought. I have a notion that I
can 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 between the people of
the State and myself, in which the obligation on my side is
to perform the duties assigned me with an eye single to
the interest of my employers. I shall have no idea of re-

28

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

election, or any higher political preferment in my head, bi:t
hz 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 expect you all to help me in that way. Give my
love to and to , if she is with you, and be-
lieve me, your aflectionate brother.

[Address at the Manhattan Club, New York
City, December 5, i5'5.?.]

It is not without considerable embarrassment that I
attempt to say a few words in response to those so weli
spoken, and to express my thanks for the kindness and
good will of which this occasion is an evidence. This scene
and these surroundings are new and strange to me, and,
notwithstanding all that is calculated to reassure and com-
fort me in the kindness of your welcome, when I am re-
minded of the circumstances Avhich give rise to this reunion,
a sense of grave responsibility weighs upon me and tempers
every other sentiment.

We stand to-night in the full glare of a grand and bril-
liant manifestation ~6f 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 will 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 perpetuity 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.

29

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 themselves and in their own interests. If we retain
their confidence 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 in-
struments 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
responsibility which has been cast upon me, and it is cer-
tainly predicated upon the fact that my majority was sg
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 appreciate 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 ma-
jority. In either event, he owes to the people who have
honored him his best endeavor to protect their rights and
further 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

30

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

outgrowth and result of party principles and methods. You
who lead and others who follow, should all strive to com-
mend 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 art
dear to me. If honestly applied in their purity I know the
aJGfairs of the government would be fittingly and honestly
administered, and I believe that all the wants of the peo-
ple 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 intelli-
gent, 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 de-
velopment 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 dominant party of the
future.

In conclusion, may I bespeak for myself your kind sup-
port and consideration? My only aspiration is to perform,
faithfully, 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.

[Address as Governor, at Albany, N. ¥.,
January 1, 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,

•SI

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

and no doubt you generously suppose what you have safely
encountered and overcome, ariH bther 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 peo-
ple of the State.

I cannot forbear at this time also to express my appre-
ciation of the hearty kindness and consideration with which
you have, at other times, sought to make easier my per-
formance 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 imos-
tentatious, 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 transferred 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 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
faithful to his trust.

This vigilance on the part of the citizen, and an active
interest and participation in political concerns, are the safe-
guards of his rights ; but sluggish indifference to political
privileges invites the machinations of those who wait to
betray the people's trust. Thus, when the conduct of pub-
lic 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 use-
Si^

OF GROVER CLE\'ELAND

fulness 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 de-
sign; and the forbearance of a just people, which, I trust,
will recognize a patriotic endeavor.

[From the First Message to the New York
Legislature, January 2, 188S.'\

k

The power of the State to exact from the citizen a part
of his earnings and income for the support of the govern-
ment, it is obvious, should be exercised with absolute fair-
ness and justice. When it is not so exercised, the people
are oppressed. This furnishes the highest and the best
reason why laws should be enacted and executed which will
subject all property — as all alike need the protection of the
State — to an equal share in the burdens of taxation, by
means of which the government is maintained. And yet it
is notoriously true that personal property, not less remu-
nerative 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 institu-

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

tions, in the conduct of the State, the source of undiscrim-
inating justice, which can give no pretext for discontent.

Let us enter upon the discharge of our duties, fully ap-
preciating 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
ajopropriation except for public needs. To this end all rni-
neccssary 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 fellow-citizens and increase
their prosperity, we shall merit and receive the approval
of those whose representatives we are, and, with the con-
sciousness of duty well performed, shall leave our impress
for good on the legislation of the State. . . .

[Serenade Speech at Albany _, N. Y,, October
12, 1883.1

Fellow-Citizens: I am very much gratified by this re-
membrance of me in the middle of the rejoicing whicli
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 demonstration 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

S4j

OF GROVER CLEVELAND .

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 glori-
ous trophies. This is not an idle boast, full of temporary
enthusiasm, 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
efi'ort, 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
convention which selected, for the Democratic party, the
men now presented to the people of the State for their
suffrages had before 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 determined 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 represen-
tatives who are not careful of their interests, they will

35

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

repudiate. We seek to put the affairs of the State in the
hands of men having the full confidence 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 peo-
ple 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 welcome them to share in the administration
of our State government.

[Address at Evacuation Day CelehratioUj New
York, November 26, 1883.~\

Mr. President and Gentlemen of the Chamber of Com-
merce: 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 practical 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 pres-
ence 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 " soimds very large to me; because,
whenever I 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 gate-
way of the commerce of our State; and while the uttermost

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 ajoprehended 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 SI, 1882, there were sliipped
from New Orleans to fifteen foreign ports 2, 744,5 81 bush-
els of wheat and 639,34:2 bushels of corn. This was trans-
ported 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 Avhcat and 7,1 6 1,1 68 bushels of corn, and this
was transported in 278 steamers and twenty-four sailing
vessels. We thus find an increase, during the year speci-
fied, 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 vol-
ume of New York commerce. Is there care enough taken
to have champions of this all-important interest in the halls
of legislation, and is it there distinctively enough repre-
sented.'' Bear in mind that you may labor and toil, in tlic
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, ignorant, negligent, or corrupt men
among jcuv lawmakers can easily and stealthily pull down.
Political duty and selfish interests lead in the same direc-
tion, and a neglect of this duty will, I believe, bring a sure
punishment.

37

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

I venture the opinion that the commerce of your port
should 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 insinua-
tion that there are legislators sent from here who are not
;aithf ul to this great interest ; but I see no reason why
they should not all be of that kind, nor why the commer-
cial interests of this great city should not be more regarded
in their selection.

The people of the State have lately taken it upon them-
selves to support the canals from funds raised by taxation,
thus freeing 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 indirect and remote ; but this increased taxation
he must meet. His land and farm buildings cannot be con-
cealed; and if, by chance, he is able to improve them, his
betterments are v/ithin the gaze of the tax-gatherer, and
bring a further increase of taxation. Are your 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 taxa-
tion? At any rate, cannot the city of New York afiford to
pay the expense necessary to the maintenance of its port —
thus securing its commercial supremacy and controlling,
free from State interference, this interest so directly impor-
tant 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

38

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 hundred
years ago.

[From the Second Message to the New York
Legislature, January 1, 188A,~\

The action of the Board of Railroad Commissioners in
requiring the filing of quarterly reports by the railroad
companies, exhibiting their financial condition, is a most
important step in advance, and should be abundantly sus-
tained. It would, in my opinion, be a most valuable protec-
tion to the people if other large corporations were obliged
to report to some department their transactions and finan-
cial 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 v/ith the seal of the
State, in some sense, upon them. They are permitted to
repTesent 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 peo-
ple will pay their money for stock in a corporation engaged
in enterprises in which they would refuse to invest if in
private hands.

It is a grave question whether the formation of these

S9

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

artificial bodies ought not to be checked, or better regu-
lated, and in some way supervised.

At 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 stock-
holders are the owners of the corporate property, notori-
ously they are oftentimes completely in the power of the
directors and managers who acquire a majority of the stock
and by this means perpetuate their control, using the cor-
porate property and franchises for their benefit and profit,
regardless of the interests and rights of the minority of
stockholders. Immense salaries are paid to officers ; trans-
actions are consummated by which the directors make
money, while the rank and file among the stockholders
lose it; the honest investor waits for dividends and the
directors grow rich. It is suspected, too, that large sums
are spent under various disguises in efforts to influence leg-
islation.

It is not consistent to claim that the citizen must pro-
tect himself by refusing to purchase stock. The law con-
stantly recognizes 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 existing statutes, the law's delay, perplexity and
uncertainty lead but to despair.

The State should either refuse to allow these corpora-
tions to exist under its authority or patronage, or acknowl-
edging 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
institutions are spent, and how their affairs are conducted.
It should, at the same time, provide a way by which the

40

OF G R O \' E R CLEVELAND

squandering or misuse of corporate funds would be made
good to the parties injured thereby.

This might well be accomplished by requiring corpora-
tions to iile reports frequently, made out with the utmost
detail, and 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 mak-
ing them, showing particularly the debts, liabilities, expen-
ditures, 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 expendi-
ture which shall be determined improper by the auditing
authority.

Such requirements might not be favorable to stock specu-
lation, but they would protect the innocent investors ; they
might make the management of corporations more trouble-
some, but this ought not to be considered when the protec-
tion of the people is the matter in hand. It would prevent
corporate efforts to influence legislation ; the honestly con-
ducted and strong corporations would have nothing to fear;
the badly managed and weak ought to be exposed.

[Address when presiding' over the New York
State Bar Association^ Albany, January 8,
1884.^

Gentlemen of the Association: At a late hour I was so-
licited 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 expected of me, and that
even a little speech, on assuming the chair, might be

41

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 atmosphere from which, for a twelve-
month, I have been excluded. I beg to assure yovi, gentle-
men, 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 apjDreciated more than ever the value and
usefulness of the legal profession. And, when I have seen
how generally my professional brethren have been faithful
to their public trusts, my pride has constantly increased.

And yet from the outside world I come within the grate-
ful 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 pro-
fessional brothers, who needed but the motive to do these
very things.

An association like this, to be really useful, must be

42

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

something 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 disagreeable. Those who steal our livery to aid them
in the commission of crime should be detected and exposed;
and this association, or branches of it, should have watch-
men 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 de-
clare the objects of this association to be " to elevate the
standard of integrity, honor, and courtesy in the legal pro-
fession " ; 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 congratu-
late the State Bar Association on all it has done, and for
one am determined to aid its work as well during my tem-
porary professional exile as when I shall again gladly min-
gle in the contests of the bar.

I Address at the Semi-Centennial of Rochester,
N. Y., June 10, 188J^.']

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 commonwealth.

43

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 diversi-
fied with mountains and valleys, streams and lakes, forests
and fields, and with farms where the wealth and variety of
crops tell the storj'^ of fertility and adaptation to the most
valuable products.

The State is not alone a busy workshop, with its con-
tinuous hum of machinery and its army of artisans and
workmen — though its manufactures exceed in worth, va-
riety, 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 trans-
port 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 peo-
ple— though its population exceeds that of any sister State,
amounting 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 deliglit to call our own.

Our cities, busy, thrifty, and prosperous, are constantly
increasing in population and wealth, and in the means to
ftirnish to their people all that pertains to refinement and
civilization.

Our villages, quiet, contented, and orderly, are every-
where; and by their growth and enterprise give proof of
proper and economical management.

Our colleges and seminaries on every hill, and our com-
mon schools on every hand, are evidences of the faith of
the people in popular and thorough education. Our nu-

44

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

merous charitable institutions enlist the care of the State
for the unfortunate poor. Our churches, and the tolerant
and almost uniA'crsal observance of religious duties by every
sect and creed, teach obedience to the law and prepare
our people for good citizenship. Our soldiery, well dis-
ciplined 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 outbreaks that arise
from the miscarriage of justice.

Surely we have enough to cause us to congratulate our-
selves 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 participa-
tion 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 determination to hold the
public servant to a strict accountability Avill teach him to
keep well in view the line between the peopleis 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 community,
still retaining the proud title of a citizen of the Empire
State.

\^Address at the G. A. JR. Banquet, in Buffalo,
N. v., July A, 188A.'\

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

45

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 remember 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 knov/ that I considered myself an important
factor, and that when, after weeks of planning and prepara-
tion, the day came and finally passed, I felt as much re-
lieved as if the greatest effort of my life had been a com-
plete 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
deeds, and its life is bound up with all that makes the na-
tion 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

46

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
seventeen 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 na-
tion's life.

When our monument, which should commemorate the suf-
ferings and death of their comrades, was begun, the vet-
erans of New York were here. To-day they come again
and view complete its fair proportions, Avhich in the years
to come shall be a token that the jiatriotic dead are not for-
gotten.

The State of New York is rich in her soldier dead, and
she is rich in her veterans of the war. Those who still sur-
vive, and the members of the Grand Army of the Republic,
hold in trust for the State the blessed memories which
connect her with her dead; and these memories Ave 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 remem-
brance. And as often as her greatness and her grandeur
are told, let these be called the chief jewels in her crown

47

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Serenade Speech in Albany, N. Y., July 10,
1884.]

Fellow-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 townsmen and neighbors.

On this occasion, I am, of course, aware that you pay no
compliment to a citizen, and present no personal tribute, but
that you have come to demonstrate your loyalty and devotion
to a cause in which you are heartily enlisted.

The American people are about to exercise, in its high-
est sense, their power of right and sovereignty. They are
to call in review before them their public servants and the
representatives of political parties, and demand of them an
account of their stewardship.

Parties may be so long in power, and may become so ar-
rogant 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 direct-
ed 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 princi-
ples will insure a better government, and greater happiness
^and prosperity to all the people.

To reach the sober thought of the nation, and to dis-
lodge an enemy intrenched behind spoils and patronage,
involve a struggle, which, if we under-estimate, we invite

48

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

defeat. I am profoundly impressed with the responsibil-
ity of the part assigned to me in this contest. ISIy heart,
I know, is in the cause, and I pledge you that no effort of
mine shall be wanting to secure the victory which I believe
to be within the achievement of the Democratic hosts.

Let us, then, enter upon the campaign, now fairly opened,
each one appreciating well the part he has to perform,
ready, with solid front, to do battle for better government,
confidently, courageously, always honorably, and with a
firm reliance upon the intelligence and patriotism of the
American people.

[Besponse to Official Notification at Albany,
N. Y., 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 lis-
ten 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 ad-
ministration of their government, and when I consider,
under the influence of the stern reality which present sur-
roundings create, that I have been chosen to represent the
plans, purposes, and the policy of the Democratic party, I
am profoimdly impressed by the solemnity of the occasion
and by the responsibility of my position.

Though I gratefully appreciate it, I do not at this mo-
ment congratulate myself upon the distinguished honor
which has been conferred upon me, because my mind is full
of an anxious desire to perform well tlie part which has
been assigned to me. Nor do I at this moment forget that

49

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the rights and interests of more than fifty millions of my
fellow-citizens are involved in our efforts to gain Demo-
cratic 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 in-
trusted, at the hands of the people, with the keeping of all
that concerns 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 Demo-
crat— because I believe that this truth lies at the founda-
tion of true Democracy. I have kept the faith — because I
believe, if rightly and fairly administered and applied.
Democratic doctrines and measures will insure the happi-
ness, contentment, and prosperity of the people.

If, in the contest upon which we now enter, we steadfastly
hold to the underlying principles of our party creed, and
at all times keep in view the people's good, we shall be
strong, 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 people'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
part}' 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

50

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 ac-
ceptance of the nomination which has been tendered to me.
In the meantime, I gladly greet you all as co-workers in a
noble cause.

[Letter Accepting Nomination for President,
Albany, N. Y., August 18, 1884.]

Gentlemen: I have received your communication, dated
July 28, 1884, informing me of my nomination to the office
of President of the United States by the National Demo-
cratic Convention, lately assembled at Chicago. I accept the
nomination witli a grateful appreciation of the supreme honor
conferred and a solemn sense of the responsibility which, in
its acceptance, I assume. I have carefully considered the
platform 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 principles, 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 sugges-
tion of certain well-known truths, so absolutely vital to the
safety and welfare of the nation that they cannot be too
often recalled or too seriously enforced.

We proudly call ours a government by the people. It is

51

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 nec-
essary outgrowths 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 be-
traying 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 b}'^ 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 suffrage shall be altogether free and uncorrupted, the
full realization 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 effective than an amendment to the
Constitution disqualifying the President from re-election.
When we consider the patronage of this great office, the al-
lurements of power, the temptations to retain public place
once gained, and, more than all, the availability a party finds
in an incumbent whom a horde of office-holders, with a zeal
born of benefits received and fostered by the hope of favors
yet to come, stand ready to aid with money and trained
litical service, we recognize in the eligibility of the Presi-
dent for re-election a most serious danger to that calm, de-
liberate, and intelligent political action which must char-
acterize 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
c'onstitutes the capital and the wage of labor the income
of a vast number of our population, and this interest should

OF G R O V E R C L E ^^ E L A N D

be jealously protected. Our workingmen are not asking un-
reasonable indulgence, but, as intelligent and manly citi-
zens, they seek the same consideration which those demand
mIio have other interests at stake. They should receive their
full share of the care and attention of those who make and
execute the laws, to the end that the wants and needs of the
employers and 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 acknowl-
edge allegiance to our government and add to our citizen
population, yet, as a means of protection to our working-
men, 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 state-
ment, 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 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 guard-
ing against any corrupting influences whch 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

53 '

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 peoj^le which are not offensive to the
moral sentiments of the civilized world, and which are con-
sistent with good citizenship and the public welfare, are un-
wise and vexatious.

The commerce of a nation, to a great extent, determines
its supremac}'. Cheap and easy transportation sliould there-
fore be liberally fostered. Within the limits of the Con-
stitution, the general government should so improve and
protect its natural water-M^ays as will enable the producers
of the country to reach a profitable miarket.

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 re-
tention of subordinates in government employment should
depend upon their ascertained fitness and the value of their
work, and they should be neither expected nor allowed to
do questionable party service. The interests of the people
will be better jsrotected; the estimate of jDublic labor and
duty will be immensely improved; public employment will
be open to all who can demonstrate their fitness to enter it;
the unseemly scramble for place under government, Avith
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 hon-

5'i

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

est, simple, and plain manner which is consistent with its
character and purposes. They have learned that mystery
and concealment in the management of tlieir affairs cover
tricks and betrayal. The statesmanship they require con-
sists in honesty and frugality, 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 fel-
low-citizens, I will assume tlie 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 sujDport of the Supreme Being, who, I believe,
will always bless honest human endeavor in the conscien-
tious discharge of public duty.

[Address at Newark, N. J., October 2G, 188^.1

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 not me. I do not wish to attempt any false pre-
tense 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 na-
tive State, but have ever kejDt 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 Jersey-
man.

55

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

If you will grant me this I shall not be too modest to as-
sume to share the pride which you all must feel in the posi-
tion the State of New Jersey and the County of Essex hold
in the country to-day. The history of the State dates be-
3'ond the time when our Union was formed. Its farm-
lands exceed in average value per acre those of any other
State, and it easily leads all the States in a number of im-
portant 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 pre-
tenses 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 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 government 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 government, and which tends to the in-
auguration of corrupt schemes and extravagant expendi-
"tures.

The Democratic party has declared that all taxation shall

56

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

be limited by the requirements of an economical govern-
ment. 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
successfully 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 rec-
ognizes in their labor something most valuable to the pros-
perity 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 unthink-
ing 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 prejudice, 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 delibera-
tion and a full appreciation 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 de-
pend upon unchanging party 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.

57

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Address at Bridgeport, Conn., October 30,
1884.^

I cannot forbear, at such a time as this, to express the
pleasure I experience in the sincere and heartfelt welcome
that the people of New Haven, Bridgeport, and the State
of Connecticut 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 tliat is the
same with you as with me, it is with a sense of responsi-
bility 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 po-
sition 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 increase 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 num-
bers, flanked by a vast army of oflice-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 ele-
ment of your country; to-morrow, they will endeavor to gain
the interest 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 olBce-holders whose business
it is to make money out of their positions. If you are to
go on forever choosing your rulers from this class, what will
be the end.'' This is a question every one of j^ou can an-

58

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

swer for himself. 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 private gain. Let us also feel that if the people give us
tlie power of government we hold from the people a sacred
trust.

[Inaugural Address as President^ Washington,
D. C, March A, 1885. '\

Fellow-Citizens : In the presence of this vast assemblage
of my countrymen I am about to supplement and seal, bj''
the oath which I shall take, the manifestation of the will of
a great and free people. In the exercise of their power anff^
right of self-government they have committed to one of
their fellow-citizens a supreme and sacred trust; and he
here consecrates himself to their service. "

This impressive ceremony adds little to the solemn sense
of responsibility with which I contemplate the duty I owe
to all the people of the land. Nothing can relieve me from
anxiety lest by any act of mine their interests may suffer,
and nothing is needed to strengthen my resolution to en-
gage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their wel-
fare.

Amid the din of party strife tlie people's choice was
made; but its attendant circumstances have demonstrated
anew the strength and safety of a government by the peo-
ple. 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 government.

59

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

But the best results in the operation of a government
wherein every citizen has a share, largelj'^ depend upon a
proper limitation of purely partisan zeal and effort, and a
correct appreciation of the time when the heat of the parti-
san 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 political 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 sec-
tional 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 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 vicis-
situdes.

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
administered, in order to promote the lasting welfare of the
country, and to secure the full measure of its priceless ben-
efits to us and to those who will succeed to the blessings of
our national life. The large variety of diverse and com-
peting interests subject to Federal control, persistently

60

OF G ROVER CLEVELAND

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 concession shall prevail in
which the Constitution had its birth. If this involves the
surrender or postponement of private interests and the
abandonment of local advantages, compensation will be
found in the assurance that the common interest is sub-
served 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 Con-
stitution, a careful observance of the distinction between the
powers granted to the Federal government and those re-
served to the State or to the people, and by a cautious ap-
preciation 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 as-
sumes 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
tlie town meeting to the State capitals and the national cap-
ital, are yours. Your every voter as surely as your Chiefs
Magistrate under the same high sanction, though in a dif-.
ferent 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 peo-
ple's will impressed upon the whole framework of our civil
polity — municipal. State and Federal; and this is the price

Gl

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

of our liberty and the inspiration of our faith in the re-
public.

I 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 opera-
tion of a republican form of government and most compat-
ible 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 home life, and the attention which is demanded for the
settlement and development of the resources of our vast
territory, 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 independence, favored by our position and de-
fended 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, rejecting any share in foreign broils
and ambitions upon other continents, and repelling their in-

, trusion here. It is the policy of Monroe and of Washington
and Jefferson: " Peace, commerce, and honest friendship
with all nations; entangling alliances with none."

A due regard for the interests and prosperity of all the
people demands that our finances shall be established upon
such a sound and sensible basis as shall secure the safety
and confidence of business interests and make the wage of

62

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

labor sure and steady ; and that our system of revenue shall
be so adjusted as to relieve the people of unnecessary tax-
ation, having a due regard to the interests of capital in-
vested and workingmen employed in American industries,
and preventing the accumulation of a surplus in the treas-
ury to tempt extravagance and waste.

Care for the property of the nation, and for the needs of
future settlers, requires that the public domain should be
protected from purloining schemes and unlawful occupation.

The conscience of the people demands that the Indians
within our boundaries shall be fairly and honestlj'^ treated
as wards of the government, and their education and civil-
ization promoted, with a view to their ultimate citizenship ;
and that poh'gamy in the Territories, destructive of the
family relation and offensive to the moral sense of the civil-
ized world, shall be repressed.

The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the
immigration of a servile class to compete with American la-
bor, with no intention of acquiring citizenship, and bringing
with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to
our civilization.

/ 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 em-
ployees who hold their places solely as the reward of parti-
san service, and from the corrupting influence of those who
promise and the vicious methods of those who expect such
rewards. And those who worthily seek public employment
have the right to insist that merit and competency shall be
recognized instead of party subserviency or the surrender
yof honest political belief.

In the administration of a government pledged to do
equal and exact justice to all men, there should be no pre-

63

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

text 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 fitnes-s for the place accorded to them
as American citizens is idle and unprofitable, except as it
suggests the necessity for tlieir improvement. The fact that
they are citizens entitles them to all the rights due to that
relation, and charges them vnth 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
execute 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 vouch-
safed to man. And let us not trust to human effort alone;
but humbly acknowledging the power and goodness of Al-
mighty God, who presides over the destiny of nations, and
who has at all times been revealed in our country's history,
let us invoke his aid and his blessing upon our labors.

{^Proclamation on the Death of General Ulysses
S. Grant, Washington, D. C, July 28,
1885.']

The President cf 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 pro-
long his life.

64

or GROVER CLEVELAND

In making this announcement to the people of the
United States, the President is impressed with the magni-
tude of the public loss of a great militarj' leader, who was
in the hour of victory magnanimous ; amid disaster serene
and self-sustained; who in every station, whether as a sol-
dier, or as a Chief Magistrate, twice called to power by
his fellow-countrymen, trod unswervingly the pathway of
duty, undeterred by doubts, single-minded, and straight-
forward.

The entire country has witnessed with deep emotion his
prolonged and patient struggle with painful disease, and
has watched by his couch of suffering with tearful sym-
pathy.

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, tenderly mindful of his virtues, his great patriotic
services, and of the loss occasioned by his death.

In testimon}^ of respect to the memory of General Grant,
it is ordered that the Executive Mansion and the several
Departments at Washington be draped in mourning for a
period of thirty days, and that all public business shall on
the day of the funeral be suspended; and the Secretaries
of War and of the Navy will cause orders to be issued for
appropriate military and naval honors to be rendered on
that day.

In witness whereof, I have hereunto set my hand and
caused the seal of the United States to be affixed.

Done at the city of Washington, this twenty-third day of
July, one thousand eight hundred and eighty-five,
[l. s.] and of the Independence of the United States the
one hmidred and tenth.

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Thanksgiving Proclamation as President of
the Uiiited States^ Washington^ D. C.j

November 2, 1885. '\

The American people have always abundant cause to be
thankful to Almighty God, whose watchful care and guid-
ing hand have been manifested in every stage of their na-
tional 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 ap-
pointed, publicly acknowledge the goodness of God, and re-
turn 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
public Thanksgiving and Prayer; and do invoke the ob-
servance 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 na-
tion's wealth; and for the contentment throughout our

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

borders which follows in the train of prosperity and abun-
dance.

And let there also be, on the day thus set apart, a re-
union of families, sanctified and chastened by tender mem-
ories and associations, and let the social intercourse of
friends, with pleasant reminiscence, renew the ties of affec-
tion 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 pleasures of our condition, and render our praise and
thanksgiving more acceptable in the sight of the Lord.

[^Executive Order on the Death of the Vice-
President, Washington, D. C, November
25, 1885.']

To the People of the United States: Thomas A. Hen-
dricks, Vice-President of the United States, died to-day at
five o'clock p. m., at Indianapolis, and it becomes my
mournful duty to announce the distressing fact to his fel-
low-countrymen.

In respect to the memory and the eminent and varied
services of this high official and patriotic public servant,
wliose long career was so full of usefulness and honor to
his State and to the United States, it is ordered that the
national flag be displayed at half-mast upon the public
buildings of the United States ; that the Executive Mansion
and the several Executive Departments in the city of Wash-
ington be closed on the day of the funeral, and be draped in
mourning for the period of thirty days ; that the usual and
appropriate military and naval honors be rendered, and

67

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

that on all the legations and consulates of the United States
in foreign countries the national flag shall be displayed at
half-mast on the reception of this order, and the usual em-
blems of mourning be adopted for thirty days.

[From First Annual Message^ Washington,
D. C, December 8, 1885.']

To the Congress of the United States: Your assembling
is clouded by a sense of public bereavement, caused by the
recent and sudden death of Thomas A. Hendricks, Vice-
President of the United States, His distinguished 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 mani-
fested by his election to offices of the most important trust
and highest dignity; and at length, full of years and hon-
ors, he has been laid at rest amid universal sorrow and bene-
diction.

The Constitution, which requires those chosen to legis-
late for the people to annually meet in the discharge of
their solemn trust, also requires the President to give to
Congress information of the state of the Union and recom-
mend to their consideration such measures as he shall deem
necessary and expedient. At the threshold of a compli-
ance with these constitutional directions it is well for us
to bear in mind that our usefulness to the people's interests
will be promoted by a constant appreciation of the scope
and character of our respective duties as they relate to
Federal legislation. While the Executive may recommend
such measures as he shall deem expedient, the responsibility

68

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

for legislative action must and should rest upon those se-
lected by the people to make their laws.

Contemplation of the grave and responsible functions as-
signed to the respecti\e branches of the Government under
the Constitution will disclose the partitions of power be-
tween our respective departments and their necessary inde-
pendence, and also the need for the exercise of all the power
intrusted to each in that spirit of comity and cooperation
which is essential to the proper fulfillment of the patriotic
obligations which rest upon us as faithful servants of the
people.

The jealous watchfulness of our constituencies, great and
small, supplements their suffrages, and before the tribunal
they establish every public servant should be judged.

It is gratifying to announce that the relations of the
United States with all foreign powers continue to be
friendly. Our position after nearly a century of successful
constitutional government, maintenance of good faith in all
our engagements, the avoidance of complications with other
nations, and our consistent and amicable attitude toward the
strong and weak alike furnish proof of a political dispo-.
sition which renders professions of good will unnecessary.
There are no questions of difficulty pending with any fqr-
eign government.

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
refrained from committing this Government to the results,
even by signing the recommendatory protocol adopted. The
interesting and important subject of international copyright
has been before you for several years. Action is certainly
desirable 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 treatv, the matured views of the

60

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Berne conference can not fail to aid your consideration of
the subject.

The inadequacy of existing legislation touching citizen-
ship and naturalization demands your consideration.

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 can not
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 responsibilities when attaining its privileges and bene-
fits. It should be withheld from those who merely go
through the forms of naturalization with the intent of es-
caping the duties of their original allegiance without taking
upon themselves those of their new status, or who may ac-
quire the rights of American citizenship for no other than a
liostile purpose toward their original governments. These
evils have had many flagrant illustrations.

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 in-
tention to become a citizen, are worthy of definition bj'^ stat-
ute. 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 pur-
pose to assume the responsibilities of citizenship, therebj''
gains an inchoate status which legislation may propei'ly de-
fine. The laws of certain States and Territories admits a

70

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
Federal naturalization.

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 artists residing abroad, and who receive gratui-
tously advantages and instruction, is visited upon our citi-
zens engaged in art culture in Europe, and has caused them
with practical unanimity to favor the abolition of such an
imgracious distinction; and in tlieir interest, and for otlier
obvious reasons, I strongly recommend it.

All must admit the importance of an effective navy to a
nation lilce ours, having such an extended seacoast to pro-
tect; and yet we have not a single vessel of war that could
keep the seas against a first-class vessel of any important
power. Such a condition ought not longer to continue.
The nation that can not resist aggression is constantly ex-
posed to it. Its foreign policy is of necessity weak and
its negotiations are conducted with disadvantage because it
is not in condition to enforce the terms dictated by its sense
of right and justice.

Inspired, as I am, by the hope, shared by all patriotic
citizens, that the day is not very far distant when our Navy
will be such as befits our standing among the nations of

71

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the earth, and rejoiced at every step that leads in the direc-
tion of such a consummation, I deem it my duty to espe-
cially direct the attention of Congress to the close of the
report of the Secretary of the Navy, in which the humiliat-
ing weakness of the present organization of his Department
is exhibited and the startling abuses and waste of its pres-
ent methods are exposed. The conviction is forced upon
us with the certainty of mathematical demonstration 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 $75,000,000
have been spent in the construction, repair, equipment, and
armament of vessels, and the further fact that instead of
an effective and creditable fleet we have only the discontent
and apprehension of a nation undefended by war vessels,
added to the disclosures now made, do not permit us to
doubt that every attempt to revive our Navy has thus far
for the most part been misdirected, and all our efforts in
that direction have been little better than blind gropings
v^and expensive, aimless follies.

Unquestionably if we are content with tlie maintenance
of a Navy Department simply as a shabby ornament to
the Government, a constant watchfulness may prevent some
of the scandal and abuse which have found their way into
our present organization, and its incurable waste may be
reduced to the minimum. But if we desire to build ships
for present usefulness instead of naval reminders of the
days that are past, we must have a Department organized
for the work, supplied with all the talent and ingenuity our
country affords, prepared to take advantage of the experi-
ence of other nations, systematized so that all effort shall
unite and lead in one direction, and fully imbued with the
conviction that war vessels, though new, are useless unless
they combine all that the ingenuity of man has up to tliis
day brought forth relating to their construction,

72

OF GROVEFv CLEVELAND

I earnestly commend the portion of the Secretary's re-
port devoted to this subject to the attention of Congress,
in the hope that liis suggestions touching the reorganiza-
tion of his Department may be adopted as the first step
toward the reconstruction of our Navy.

In the Territory of Utah the law of the United States
passed for the suppression of polygamy has been energet-
ically 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 bj^ the accused that they would
not again offend against the law, nor advise, counsel, aid,
or abet in any way its violation by others.

The Utah commissioners express the opinion, based upon
such information as they are able to obtain, that but few
polygamous marriages have taken place in the Territory
during the last year. They further report that while there
can not be found upon the registration lists of voters the
name of a man actually guilty of polygamy, and while
none of that class are holding ofHce, 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 mar-
riages 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 govern-
ment, to which they owe allegiance, sustaining 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 perpetuity, and the destiny of the na-
tion rest upon our homes, established by the law of God,

73

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

guarded by parental care, regulated by parental authority,
and sanctified 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 according to God's holy ordinances, and each, secure
and happy in the exclusive love of the father of her chil-
dren, 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 lav/s 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.

There should be no relaxation in the firm but just exe-
cution 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 name.

Since the people upholding polygamy in our Territories
are reenforced by immigration from other lands, I recom-
mend that a law be passed to prevent the importation of
^Mormons into the country.

The report of the Civil Service Commission, which will
be submitted, contains an account of the manner in which
the civil-service law has been executed during the last year

74

OF G R O V E 11 CLEVELAND

and much valuable information on this important sub-
ject.

I am inclined to think that there is no sentiment more
general in the minds of the people of our country than a
conviction of the correctness of the principle upon which
the law enforcing civil-service reform is based. In its pres-
ent condition the law regulates only a part of the subordi-
nate public positions throughout the country. It applies
the test of fitness to applicants for these places by means
of a competitive examination, and gives large discretion to
the Commissioners as to the character of the examination
and many other matters connected with its 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 possible. But of course no relaxation of the principle
which underlies it and no weakening of the safeguards
which surround it can be expected. Experience in its ad-
ministration will probably suggest amendment of the meth-
ods of its execution, but I venture to hope that we shall
never again be remitted to the system which distributes
public positions purely as rewards for partisan service.
Doubts may well be entertained whether our Government
could survive the strain of a continuance of this system,
which upon every change of Administration inspires an
immense army of claimants for office to lay siege to the
patronage of Government, engrossing the time of public
officers with their importunities, spreading abroad the con-
tagion of their disappointment, and filling the air with the
tumult of their discontent.

The allurements of an immense nimiber of offices and
places exhibited to the voters of the land, and the promise
of their bestowal in recognition of partisan activity, debauch

75

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the suffrage 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 confusion 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 office holding, which fol-
low party supremacy. While partisanship continues bitter
and pronounced and supplies so much of motive to senti-
ment and action, it is not fair to hold public officials in
charge of important trusts responsible for the best results
in the performance of their duties, and yet insist that they
shall rely in confidential and important places upon the
work of those not only opposed to them in political affilia-
tion, but so steeped in partisan 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 subordinate 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,

76

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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, rep-
resents an idea no less absurd than the clamor of the appli-
cant who claims the vacant position as his compensation 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 sup-
plying 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 v/ithout protest. Nor
are they unmindful of the fact that its full advantages can
only be gained through the complete good faith of those hav-
ing its execution in charge. And this they will insist upon.

The present condition of the law relating to the succes-
sion to tlie Presidency in the event of the death, disability,
or removal of both the President and Vice-President is such
as to require immediate amendment. This subject has re-
peatedly been considered by Congress, but no result has
been reached. The recent lamentable death of the Vice-
President, and vacancies at the same time in all other offices
the incumbents of which might immediately exercise the
functions of the Presidential office, has caused public anx-
iety and a just demand that a recurrence of such a condi-
tion of affairs should not be permitted.

In conclusion I commend to the wise care and thought-
ful attention of Congress the needs, the welfare, and the
aspirations of an intelligent and generous nation. To sub-
ordinate these to the narrow advantages of partisanship or
the accomplishment of selfish aims is to violate the people's
trust and betray the people's interests; but an individual
sense of responsibility on the part of each of us and a
stern determination to perform our duty well must give us

77

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

place among those who have added in their day and gen-
eration to the glory and prosperity of our beloved land.

[Letter to ^Allen G. Tlmrman, Washington^
D. C, January 4-j 1886.]

I aclcnowledge 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 or-
ganization, and I am convinced that it will be honestly and
faithfully performed by a close sympathy with the people
in their wants and needs, by a patriotic endeavor to quicken
their love and devotion for American institutions, and by
an earnest effort to enlarge their apprehensions and realiza-
tions of the benefits which the wise and unselfish adminis-
tration of a free government will secure to them.

78

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Executive Order on the Death of General
Hancock, 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 fimeral shall have taken place.

r

[Special Message Recommending Legislation ^
Providing for the Arbitrament of Disputes
between Laboring Men and Employers,
Washington, D. C, April 22, 1886. '\

To the Senate and the House of Representatives: The
Constitution imposes upon the President the duty of recom-
mending to the consideration of Congress from time to time
such measures as he shall judge necessary and expedient.

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, involv-
ing the settlement by arbitration of disputes arising between

79

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

our laboring men and their employers, that I am constrained
to recommend to Congress legislation upon this serious and
pressing subject.

Under our form of government the value of labor as an
element of national prosperity should be distinctly recog-
nized, and the welfare of the laboring man should be re-
garded as especially entitled to legislative care. In a coun-
try which offers to all its citizens the highest attainment
of social and political distinction its workingmen can not
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
contribution to our growth and progress, may well insist,
with manly courage and as a right, upon the same recog-
nition from those who make our laws as is accorded to
any other citizen having a valuable interest in charge; and
his reasonable demands should be met in such a spirit of
appreciation and fairness as to induce a contented and
patriotic co-operation in the achievement of a grand na-
tional 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 delib-
erately undertaken, with no purpose of satisfying unrea-
sonable demands or gaining partisan advantage.

The present condition of the relations between labor and
capital is far from satisfactory. The discontent of the
employed is due in a large degree to the grasping and
heedless exactions of employers, and the alleged discrim-
ination in favor of capital as an object of governmental

SO

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

attention. It must also be conceded that the laboring men
are not always careful to avoid causeless and unjustifiable
disturbance.

Though the importance o£ 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
greatly limited by constitutional restrictions. There are
many grievances which legislation by Congress can not re-
dress, and many conditions which can not 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 busi-
ness interests of the country; and in my opinion the proper
theory upon which to proceed is that of voluntary arbitra-
tion as the means of settling 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 tlie same, there be created
a Commission of Labor, consisting of three members, who
shall be regular 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
experience, would constantly improve in their ability to deal
intelligently and usefully with the questions which might
be submitted to them. If arbitrators are chosen for tem-
porary service as each case of dispute arises, experience
and familiarity with much that is involved in the question
will be lacking, extreme partisanship and bias will be the
qualifications sought on either side, and frequent complaints
of unfairness and partiality will be inevitable. The impo-
sition upon a Federal court of a duty so foreign to the

£1

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 relation to disturbances which interfered with transit
and commerce between the States, its existence would be
justified, under the provisions of the Constitution, which
gives to Congress the power " to regulate commerce with
foreign nations and among the several States." And in the
frequent disputes between the laboring men and their em-
ployers, 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 " protect " 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 inter-
ference 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 comi-
sel, 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 encour-
agement is derived from the conceded good that has been
accomplished by the railroad commissions which have been
organized in many of the States, which, having little more
than advisory powei', have exerted a most salutary influence
in the settlement of disputes between conflicting interests.

82

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 earnings of laboring men and women, and the
means of promoting their material, social, intellectual, csnd
moral prosperity."

The Commission which I suggest could easily be en-
grafted 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
fimctions as would permit the Commissioners to act as arbi-
trators when necessary 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 in-
formation may always be at hand to aid legislation on the
subject when necessary and desirable.

[From the Veto of the Andrew J. White Pen-
sion Bill J Washington, D. C, 31 ay 8, 1886.']

The policy of frequently reversing, by special enactment,
the decisions of the bureau invested by law with the exam-
ination of pension claims, fully equipped for such examina-
tion, and which ought not to be suspected of any lack of
liberality to our veteran soldiers, is exceedingly question-
able. It may well be doubted if a committee of Congress
has a better opportunity than such an agency to judge of
the merits of these claims. If, however, there is any lack
of power in the Pension Bureau for a full investigation it

83

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 re-
organized.

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
tendencies of the government in favor of worthy objects of
its care indulged under fixed rules. These conditions some-
times justify a resort to special legislation; but I am con-
vinced 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 invitation is offered for the presentation of
claims to Congress, which, upon their merits, could not sur-
vive the test of an examination by the Pension Bureau, and
whose only hope of success depends upon sympathy, often
misdirected, instead of right and justice. The instrumen-
tality 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 entitled 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
granting and increasing pensions, and restoring to the pen-
sion 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 necessary they have been returned to me within
a few hours of the limit constitutionally permitted for Ex-
ecutive action. Two hundred and thirty-two of these bills
are thus classified:

84

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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.

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 Pen-
sion Bureau, because the evidence produced tended to prove
that the alleged disability existed before the claimant's en-
listment; twenty-one cover claims which have been denied
by such bureau, because the evidence tended to show that
the disability, though contracted in the service, was not in-
curred in the line of duty; tliirty-three cover claims Avhich
have been denied, because the evidence tended to establish
that the disability originated after the soldier's discharge
from the army; forty-seven cover claims which have been
denied, because the general pension laws contain no pro-
visions under which they could be allowed; and twenty-
four of the claims have never been presented to the Pension
Bureau.

\_3Iessage E elating to the Accejjtance and In-
auguration of tJie Colossal Statue of " Lib-
ertif Enlightening the World" Washing-
ton, D. C, Ma2j 11, 1886.1

To the Senate and House of Representatives : By a joint
resolution of Congress, approved March 3, 1877, the Presi-
dent was authorized and directed to accept the colossal
statue of Liberty Enlightening the World when presented
by the citizens of the French Republic, and to designate
and set apart for the erection thereof a suitable site upon
either Governor's or Bedloe's Island, in the harbor of New

85

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

York, and upon tlie completion thereof to cause the statue
"to be inaugurated with such ceremonies as will serve. to
testify the gratitude of our people for this expressive and
felicitous memorial of the sympathy of the citizens of our
sister Republic."

The President was further thereby " authorized to cause
suitable regulations to be made for its future maintenance
as a beacon, and for tlie permanent care and preservation
thereof as a monument of art and the continued good-will
of the great nation which aided us in our struggle for
freedom."

Under the authority of this resolution, on the 4th day of
July, 1884, tlie minister of the United States to the French
Republic, by direction of the President of the United States,
accepted the statue and received a deed of presentation from
the Franco- American Union, which is now preserved in the
archives of the Department of State.

I now transmit to Congress a letter to the Secretary of
State from Joseph W. Drexel, Esq., chairman of the execu-
tive committee of " the American committee on the pedestal
of the great statue of * Liberty Enlightening the World,' "
dated the 27th of April, 1886, suggesting the propriety of
the further execution by the President of the joint resolu-
tion referred to, by prescribing the ceremonies of inaugu-
ration to be observed upon the complete erection of the
statue upon its site on Bedloe's Island, in the harbor of
New York.

Thursday, the Sd of September, being the anniversary
of the signing of the treaty of peace of Paris by which th-^
independence of these United States was recognized and
secured, has been suggested by this committee, under whose
auspices and agencj' the pedestal for the statue has been
constructed, as an appropriate day for the ceremonies of
inauguration.

The international character which has been impressed

86

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

upon this work by the joint resolution of 1877, makes it
incumbent upon Congress to provide means to carry their
resolution into effect. Therefore I recommend the appro-
priation of such sum of money as in the judgment of Con-
gress shall be deemed adequate and proper to defray the
cost of the inauguration of this statue.

I have been informed by the committee that certain ex-
penses have been incurred in the care and custody of the
statue since it was deposited on Bedloe's Island, and the
phraseology of the joint resolution providing for " the per-
manent care and preservation thereof as a monument of
art," would seem to include the payment by the United
States of the expense so incurred since the reception of the
statue in this country.

The action of the French Government and people in
relation to the presentation of this statue to the United
States will, I hope, meet with hearty and responsive action
upon the part of Congress, in which the Executive will be
most happy to co-operate.

[Address at the Virginia State Fair, Richmond ,
October 12, ISSe.'X

Fellow-Citizens of Virginia: While I thank you most sin-
cerely for your kind reception and recognize in its hearti-
ness the hospitality for which the people of Virginia have
always been distinguished, I am fully aware that your dem-
onstration 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 INIother
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.

87

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

I congratulate myself that my first introduction to the
people of Virginia occurs at a time when they are sur-
roimded by the exhibits of the productiveness and pros-
perity of their State. Whatever there may be in honor in
her history, and however much of pride there may be in her
traditions, 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 intelligence 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 meas-
ured 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 manufactures, but they, at the same time, produce
rugged, self-reliant, 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.
Neither drought nor rain can injure it, for it takes root in
true hearts, enriched by love of country. There are no new
varieties 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 gov-
ernment 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 Amer-
ican citizenship has been interrupted, your enthusiastic wel-
come of to-day demonstrates that there is an end to such

88

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

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.

\_ Address at the Two Hundred and Fiftieth
Anniversary of Harvard College^ Novem-
ber 9, 1886.1

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 sonshija 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
predecessors in office had the advantage of a collegiate or
university 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 education and the way that leads to a polit-
ical place. Any disinclination on the part of the most

89

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

learned and cultured of our citizens to mingle in public
affairs^ and the consequent abandonment 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 ex-
tent, very recent events appear to indicate that the educa-
tion 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 prac-
tically in political affairs, and if the force and power of
their thought and learning shall be willingly or unwillingly
acknowledged in party management.

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 be-
tween President and people ought to leave but little room,
in popular judgment and conscience, for unjust and false
accusations and for malicious slanders invented for the pur-
pose of undermining the people's trust and confidence in
the administration of their government.

No public officer should desire to check the utmost free-
dom 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 Amer-
ican love of fair play and decency accords to every Amer-
ican citizen. This trait of our national character would not

90

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

encourage, if their extent and tendency were fully appre-
ciated, 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
altogether 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 appreciation of their mission among the na-
tions 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 have one and all a sacred mission to perform, and
your President, not more surely than any other citizen who
loves his country, must assume part of the responsibility
of the demonstration to the world of the success of popular
government. No man can hide his talent in a napkin, and
escape the condemnation which his slothfulness deserves, or
evade the stern sentence which his faithlessness invites.

Be assured, my friends, that the privilege of this duy, so
full of improvement, and the cnjojanents 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 institution which has honored them, and that no
man who forgets and neglects his duty to American citizen-
ship will find his alma mater here.

91

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Executive Proclamation on the Death of ex-
President Chester A. Arthur, Washington,
D. C, November 18, 1886.^

It is my painful duty to announce the death of Chester
Alan Arthur, lately the President of the United States,
which occurred after an illness of long duration, at an
early hour this morning, at his residence in the city of
New York.

Mr. Arthur was called 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, conspicuous graciousness, and patriotic fidelity will
long be cherished by his fellow-countrymen.

[From Second Annual Message, Washington,
D. C, December 6, 1886.]

To the Congress of the United States: In discharge of a
constitutional duty, and following a well-established prece-
dent in the Executive office, I herewith transmit to the
Congress at its reassembling certain information concern-
ing the state of the Union, together with such recommenda-
tions for legislative consideration as appear necessary and
expedient.

The drift of sentiment in civilized communities toward

92

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

full recognition of the rights of property in the creations
of the human intellect has brought about the adoption by
many important nations of an international copyright con-
vention, which was signed at Berne on the 18th of Sep-
tember, 1885.

Inasmuch as the Constitution gives to the Congress the
power " to promote the progress of science and useful arts
by securing for limited times to authors and inventors the
exclusive right to their respective writings and discov-
eries," this Government did not feel warranted in becoming
a signatory pending the action of Congress upon measures
of international copyright now before it ; but the right of
adhesion to the Berne convention hereafter has been re-
served. I trust the subject will receive at j'our 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 inju-
rious effect upon American artists studying abroad and hav-
ing free access to the art collections of foreign countries of
maintaining 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 aboli-
tion of that tax.

The American people, with a patriotic and grateful re-
gard for our ex-soldiers, too broad and too sacred to be
monopolized by any special advocates, are not only willing
but anxious that equal and exact justice should be done to
all honest claimants for pensions. In their sight the friend-
less 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 imder

93

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

our present plan upon any other grounds than actual serv-
ice and injury or disease incurred in such service, and
every instance of the many in which pensions are in-
creased on other groimds 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 gen-
eral laws.

There are far too many neighborhoods in which are found
glaring cases of inequality of treatment in the matter of
pensions, 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 re-
membrance.

Every consideration of fairness and justice to our ex-
soldiers and the protection of the patriotic instinct of our
citizens from perversion and violation point to the adoption
of a pension system broad and comprehensive enough to
cover every contingency, and v/hich shall make unnecessary
an objectionable volume of special legislation.

As long as we adhere to the principle of granting pen-
sions for service, and disability as the result of the service,
the allowance of pensions should be restricted to cases pre-
senting these features.

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 inci-
dent of their service, but with advancing age or through
sickness or misfortune. We are all tempted by the con-
templation of such a condition to supply relief, and are
often impatient of the limitations of public duty. Yield-
ing to no one in tlie desire to indulge this feeling of con-

94

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

sideration^ I can not 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 enactment under which re-
lief 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.

The discharged soldiers and sailors of the country are
our fellow-citizens, and interested with us in the passage
and faithful execution of wholesome laws. They can not
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 be-
half.

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, unjusti-
fiable claims are apt to be insisted upon by both interests,
and in the controversy which results the welfare of all and
the prosperity of the country are jeopardized. Any inter-
vention 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 arbitration in cases where differences arise between em-
ployer and employed. ^Vhen these differences reach such
a stage as to result in, the interruption of commerce be-
tween the States, the application of this remedy by the

95

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

General Government might be regarded as entirely within
its constitutional powers. And I think we might reason-
ably 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 settlement of controver-
sies of less extent and not necessarily within the domain of
Federal regulation.

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 solici-
tude, much more remains to be accomplished by the rein-
statement 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-oper-
ation on the part of all interests is the surest patli to na-
tional greatness and the happiness of all our people; that
capital should, in recognition of the brotherhood of our
citizenship and in a spirit of American fairness, generously
accord to labor its just compensation and consideration, and
that contented labor is capital's best protection and faithful
ally. It would teach, too, that the diverse situations 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 oppres-
sion of labor, and that violent disturbances and disorders
alienate from their promoters true American sympathy and
kindly feeling.

/^ The continued operation of the law relating to our civil
service has added the most convincing proofs of its neces-
sity and usefulness. It is a fact worthy of note that every
public officer who has a just idea of his duty to the people

96

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

testifies to the value of this reform. Its staunchest friends
are found among those who understand it best, and its
warmest supporters are those who are restrained and pro-
tected by its requirements.

The meaning of such restraint and protection is not ap-
preciated by those who want places under the Government
regardless of merit and efficiency, nor by those who insist
that the selection of such places should rest upon a proper,
credential showing active partisan work. They mean to
public officers, if not their lives, the only opportunity af-
forded 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.

It is exceedingly strange that the scope and nature of
this reform are so little 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
miscarry through mistake or willful intent; it may some-
times 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 underljdng principle from the operation of their
Government they will abandon the surest guaranty of the
safety and success of American institutions. I invoke for
this reform the cheerful and ungrudging support of the
Congress.

In conclusion I earnestly invoke such wise action on the
part of the people's legislators as will subserve the public
good and demonstrate during the remaining days of the

97

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Congress as at present organized its ability and inclination
to so meet the people's needs that it shall be gratefully re-
membered by an expectant constituency.

[To a Member of the Cardinal Gibbons Re-
ception Committee, Washington, D. C,
January 26, 1887.']

My Dear Sir: I have received from you, as one of the
Committee of the Catholic Club of Philadelphia, an invita-
tion to attend a banquet to be given by the club, on Tues-
day evening, February 8, in honor of His Eminence Cardi-
nal Gibbons. The thoughtfulness which prompted this
invitation is gratefully appreciated; and I regret that my
public duties here will prevent its acceptance. I should
be glad to join in the contemplated expression of respect
to be tendered to the distinguished head of the Catholic
Church in the United States, whose personal 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 necessitate 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 supple-
ment this noble sentiment by the expression of my convic-
tion that the same influence and result follow a sincere and
consistent devotion to the teachings of every religious creed
which is based upon Divine sanction.

98

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

A wholesome religious faith thus inures to the per-
petuity, the safety and the prosperity of our Republic, by
exacting the due observance 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 per-
sonal responsibility, which is of the greatest value in the
operation of the government by the people. 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.

[Letter to George Steele, Esq., President Amer-
ican Fishery Union, and Others, Gloucester,
Mass., Washington, D. C, April 7, 1887. '\

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 guarantees of international comity
and neighborly concession.

I sincerely trust the apprehension you express, of un-
just and unfriendly treatment of American fishermen law-
fully found in Canadian waters, will not be realized. But

99

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 1871 were termi-
nated, 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 ap-
propriate departments of the respective governments, with
which I am apprised by your letter you are entirely famil-
iar. 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 government.

The Act of Congress approved March 3, 1887, author-
izing a course of retaliation through Executive action, in
the event of a continuance on the part of the British Amer-
ican authorities of unfriendly conduct and treaty violations
affecting American fishermen, has devolved upon the Presi-
dent of the United States exceedingly grave and solemn
responsibilities, comprehending highly important conse-
quences to our national character and dignity, and involv-
ing extremely valuable commercial intercourse between the
British Possessions in North America and the people of the
United States.

I imderstand the main purpose of your letter is to sug-
gest that, in case recourse to the retaliatory measures au-
thorized by this Act should be invited by imjust 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."

100

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
particular interest, however meritorious or valuable, but to
maintain the national honor, and thus protect all our peo-
ple. In this view, the violation of American fishery rights,
and unjust or unfriendly acts toward a portion of our citi-
zens engaged in this business, are but the occasion for ac-
tion, 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 thor-
oughness and extent of its application ; and in the per-
formance of international duties, the enforcement of in-
ternational 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 result of re-
taliation 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
agricultural productions, and the marine tonnage and rail-
ways to which these have given activity, all largely the re-
sult of intercourse between the United States and British
America, and the natural growth of a full half century of
good neighborhood 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 in-
terests.

In the performance of the serious duty which the Con-

101

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

gress has imposed upon me, and in the exercise upon just
occasion of the power conferred imder 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, nev-
ertheless, be unflinchingly guided by a sense of what the
self-respect and dignity of the nation demand. In the main-
tenance of these, and in the support of the honor of the
government, beneath which every citizen may repose in
safety, no sacrifice of personal or private interests shall be
considered as against the general welfare.

I Address at the Unveiling of the Garfield
Statue, Washington, D. C, May 12, 1887.1

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.

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
expression 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 em-
blem of a brotherhood redeemed, and a token of a nation
restored.

Monuments and statues multiply throughout the land,
fittingly illustrative of the love and affection of our grate-
ful 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

102

J

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

government tliis 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 bat-
tle, 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 con-
dition, 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 fair proportions cannot fail to recall the tragedy of a
death which brought grief and mourning to every house-
hold in the land. But, wliile 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 iinnatural
things should be followed by a solemn resolve to purge for-
ever from our political methods and from the operation of
our government, the perversions and misconceptions which
gave birth to passionate and bloody thoughts.

103

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

If, from this hour, our admiration for the bravery and
nobility of American manhood, and our faith in the possi-
bilities and opportunities of American citizenship be re-
newed; if our appreciation 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.

ILetter to John W. Frazier, Secretary of the
Reunion of Union and ex-Confederate Sol-
diers held at Gettysburg, July 2y 1887,
Washington, June 2Ai 1887 J\

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 Gettysburg, and those of the Union
Army still living, by whom it was heroically resisted.

The fraternal meeting of these soldiers upon the battle-
field where twenty-four years ago, in deadly affray, they
fiercely sought each other's lives, where they saw their com-
rades fall, and where aU their thoughts were of vengeance
and destruction, will illustrate the generous impulse of
brave men and their honest desire for peace and reconcilia-
tion.

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 professions of kindness, the condemnation of frenzied

104

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

appeals to passion for unworthy purposes, and the beating
down of all that stands in the way of the destiny of our
united country.

While those who fought, and who have so much to for-
give, lead in the pleasant ways of peace, how wicked appear
the traffic in sectional hate and the betrayal of patriotic
sentiment !

It surely cannot be wrong to desire the settled quiet
which lights for our entire country the path to prosperity
and greatness ; 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.

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.

[Address at the Centennial of 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 too, though not entirely free
from somber coloring.

It was here, in the school at the foot of College Hill, that
I began my preparation for college life and enjoyed the an-
ticipation of a collegiate education. We had two teachers
in our school. One became afterward a judge in Chicago,

105

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 floundered through four books of the zEneid. 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 believe I have forgiven those
other boys for their persistent refusal to allow me the use
of the notes in tlieir 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 lawyer 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 Vir-
gil, which at first made up my daily task, are amusing as
remembered now ; but with them I am also forced to remem-
ber that, instead of being the beginning of the higher edu-
cation for which I honestly longed, they occurred near the
end of my school advantages. This suggests a disappoint-
ment which no lapse of time can alleviate, and a deprivation
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

106

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

horses; and for that reason I thought they must be ex-
tremely 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 pleas-
ing 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, nothwithstanding, I be-
lieve 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
village. Here it was that our family circle entire, parents
and children, lived day after day in loving and affectionate
converse; and here, for the last time, we met around the
family altar and thanked God that our household was un-
broken by death or separation. We never met together in
any other home after leaving this, and Death followed
closely our departure. And thus it is that, as with advanc-
ing years I survey the havoc Death has made, and as the
thoughts of my early home become more sacred, the remem-
brance 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.

I am inclined to content myself on this occasion with an
aclcnowledgment, 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 acknowl-

107

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

edgment suggests an idea which I cannot refrain from
dwelling upon for a moment.

That the office of President of the United States does
represent the sovereignty of sixty millions of free people,
is, to my mind, a statement full of solemnity; for this
sovereignty I conceive to be the working out or enforce-
ment 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
incumbency of this office, and the questionable methods
sometimes resorted to for its possession may not be in keep-
ing with this idea, and though the deceit practiced to mis-
lead the people in their choice, and its too frequent influ-
ence on their suffrage may surprise us, these things should
never lead us astray in our estimate of this exalted posi-
tion and its value and dignity.

And though your fellow-citizen who may be chosen to
perform 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 tur-
moil of partisan excitement, ought to prevent mischance to
the office which represents their sovereignty, and should re-
duce to a minimum the danger of harm to the State.

I by no means underestimate the importance of the ut-
most care and circumspection in the selection of the in-
cumbent. 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
entire people, the full exercise of the powers of the Chief
Magistracy 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 mani-

108

OF GROVER CLE \' ELAND

festation of a calm and enlightened public opinion. But
this should not be simulated by the mad clamor of disap-
pointed Interest, which, without regard for the general good,
or allowance for the exercise of official judgment, would de-
grade 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 posi-
tion, incapable of understanding the people's wants and/
careless of their desires. That he is one of the people im-
plies that he is subject to human frailty and error. But he
should be permitted to claim but little toleration for mis-
takes ; the generosity of his fellow-citizens should alone
decree how far good intentions should excuse his short-
comings.

Watch well, then, this high office, the most precious pos-
session of American citizenship. Demand for it the most
complete 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.

[Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone of
the Y. M. C. A. Building in Buffalo^ Sep-
tember 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 afternoon. An event is here marked
which I deem a most important one, and one well worthy of
the attention of all good citizens. We, this day, bring into
a prominent place an institution which, it seems to me, can-

109

AD DH ESSES AND PAPERS

not 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 comparatively
small part of our community has really known the full ex-
tent 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 superabundance of religious en-
thusiasm— doing, of course, no harm, and perhaps very lit-
tle good. Some have aided it by their contributions 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 insti-
tutions of this kind as entirely disconnected from any con-
siderations of municipal growth or prosperity, and have too
often considered splendid structures, active trade, increas-
ing commerce, and growing manufactures as the only things
worthy of our care as public-spirited citizens. A moment's
reflection 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 As-
sociation. But I assert that if it did no more than to im-
press some religious principles upon the business of our city,
it would be worthy of generous support. And when we
consider the difference, as a member of the community, be-
tween the young man who, under the influence 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 im-

110

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

portance 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
manner 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
without invoking the fullest measure of honor and consid-
eration 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 a
sure foundation. We all hope and expect that our city has
entered 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 congratu-
late all my fellow-citizens that to-day we lay the founda-
tion stone of an edifice which shall be a beautiful adorn-
ment, and, what is more important, shall inclose within its
walls such earnest Christian endeavors as must make easier
all our efforts to 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 be-
nign influence on generations yet to come.

Ill

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Address at the Banquet of the Hibernian
Society, Philadelphia, Pa., September 17,

1887.']

I should hardly think my participation in the centennial
celebration was satisfactory if I had not the opportunity of
meeting the representatives 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 gov-
ernment 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
certificate of its patriotic worth and character than you have,
and which is found in the words of Washington, who, in
1782, declared of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, of which
this association 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 Society 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
humanity, and how naturally such a benevolent purpose of
this society, 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

112

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

long may its benevolent and humane work be prosecuted.
And when another centennial of the Constitution is cele-
brated, may those who shall then form its membership be
as fully inspired with the patriotism of its history and tra-
ditions, and as ready to join in the general felicitation, as
the men I see about me here.

{^Address at the Constitution Centennial^ Phila-
delphia, Pa., September 17 , 1887.]

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 glit-
ter and the pomp that bedeck a monarch and dazzle abject
and servile subjects, for in his country the people them-
selves 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 gov-
ernment. 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 centuries to come.

We shall fail to be duly thankful for all that was done
for us one hundred years ago, unless we realize the diffi-

113

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

culties of the work then in hand^ and the dangers avoided
in the task of forming " a more perfect union " between dis-
jointed and inharmonious States, with interests and opinions
radically diverse 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 at-
tendance and continued reasonings with each other, our different senti-
ments 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 understanding. 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 dissolution, 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 oiu" understandings?

And this wise man, proposing to his fellows that the aid
and blessing of God should be invoked in their extremity,
declared :

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 Ijord build the house, they labor in vain that
build it." I firmly believe this; and I also believe that without his con-
curring aid we shall succeed in this political building no better than the
builders of Babel. We shall be divided by our little partial, local inter-
ests, our projects will be confounded, and we ourselves shall become a re-
proach and a byword 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.

114

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

In the face of all discouragements, the fathers of the re-
public labored on for four long, weary months, in alternate
hope and fear, but always with rugged resolve, never fal-
tering in a sturdy endeavor sanctified by a prophetic sense
of the value to posterity of their success, and always with
unflinching faith in the principles which make the founda-
tion 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 dele-
gates were signing the completed Constitution one of them
said : " I have often and often, in the course of the session,
and in the solicitude of my hopes and fears as to its issue,
looked at that sun behind the president without being able
to tell wliether 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 OAvn
bright meridian light we mark its glorious way. Clouds
have sometimes 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
Constitution, 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 reflection 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 sufBcient in the past; and in
all the future years it will be found sufficient, if the Amer-
ican people are true to their sacred trust.

115

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Another centennial day will come, and millions yet xm-
born will inquire concerning our stewardship and the safety
of their Constitution. God grant that they may find it un-
impaired; and as we rejoice in the patriotism and devo-
tion of those who lived a hundred years ago, so may others
who follow us rejoice in our fidelity and in our jealous love
for constitutional liberty.

[Address at the Dinner of the Historical and
Scientific Societies of. Philadelphia, Pa.,
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 creature of the Constitution, amid the impres-
sive scenes of this centennial occasion, by a rigid self-ex-
amination to be assured concerning his loyalty and obedi-
ence to the law of his existence. 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 solem-
nity of his situation, he cannot fail to find comfort and
encouragement in the success of the fathers of the Consti-
tution, 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 Con-

116

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

stitution life, will be sufficient for its successful operation
and the accomplishment of its beneficent purposes.

Because they are brought nearest the events and scenes
which marked the birth of American institutions, the peo-
ple of Philadelphia should, of all our citizens, be more im-
bued with the broadest patriotism. The first Continental
Congress and the Constitutional Convention met here, and
Philadelphia still has in her keeping Carpenter's Hall, In-
dependence 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
knowledge, 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-country-
men, and for mankind, the traditions and the incidents re-
lated 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 sol-
emnly remember that a nation exacts of you that these tra-
ditions 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

IFrom Address at the Laying of the Y. M, C. 14,

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 char-

117

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

acter. Among these, and challenging but little notice com-
pared with their valuable results, are the Young Men's
Christian Associations scattered throughout our country.
All will admit thf supreme importance of that honesty and
fixed principle which rest upon Christian motives and pur-
poses, and all will acknowledge the sad and increasing
temptations which beset our young men and lure them to
their destruction.

[Letter to the Committee of the New York
Chamher of Commerce, Washington, D. C,
November 4. 1887.]

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
certainly give me great pleasure to be present on that occa-
sion and meet those who, to a great extent, have in charge
the important business interests represented in your asso-
ciation. 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 familiarity 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
thoughtful 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 govern-

118

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

ment a business character and tendency free from the di-
version of passion, and unmoved by sudden gusts of excite-
ment.

But the most wholesome purpose of th^ir political action
will not be accomplished by an insistence upon their exclu-
sive 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 gen-
erous 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 express the
hope that the banquet may be a most enjoyable and inter-
esting occasion to those present.

[From Third Annual Message, Washington,
D. C, December 6, 1887.]

To the Congress of the United States: You are con-
fronted at the threshold of your legislative duties with a
condition of the national finances which imperatively de-
mands immediate and careful consideration.

The amount of money annually exacted, through the op-
eration of present laws, from the industries and necessities
of the people largely exceeds the sum necessary to meet th^,
expenses of the Government.

When we consider that the theory of our institutions
guarantees to every citizen the full enjoyment of all the
fruits of his industry and enterprise, with only such deduc-
tion as may be his share toward the careful and economical
maintenance of the Government which protects him, it is
plain that the exaction of more than this is indefensible
extortion and a culpable betrayal of American fairness and

119

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

justice. This wrong inflicted upon those who bear the bur-
den of national taxation, like other wrongs, multiplies a
brood of evil consequences. The public Treasury, which
should only exist as a conduit conveying the people's tribute
to its legitimate objects of expenditure, becomes a hoard-
ing place for money needlessly withdrawn from trade and
the people's use, thus crippling our national energies, sus-
pending our country's development, preventing investment
in productive enterprise, threatening financial disturbance,
and inviting schemes of public plunder.

This condition of our Treasury is not altogether new, and
it has more than once of late been submitted to the people's
representatives in the Congress, wlio alone can apply a rem-
edy. And yet the situation still continues, with aggravated
incidents, more than ever presaging financial convulsion and
widespread disaster.

It will not do to neglect this situation because its dangers
are not now palpably imminent and apparent. They exist
none the less certainly, and await the unforeseen and un-
expected occasion when suddenly they will be precipitated
upon us.

• ••••••

It has been suggested that the present bonded debt might
be refunded at a less rate of interest and the diflference 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 inducement which must be offered them would
result in more financial benefit to the Government than the
purchase of bonds, while the latter proposition would reduce
the principal of the debt by actual payment instead of ex-
tending it.

The proposition to deposit the money held by the Gov-
ernment in banks throughout the country for use by the

120

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

people is, it seems to me, exceedingly objectionable in prin-
ciple, 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 direction, and should have a
tendency to divorce, as much and as fast as can be safely
done, the Treasury Department from private enterprise.

Of course it is not expected that unnecessary and ex-
travagant appropriations will be made for the purpose of
avoiding the accumulation of an excess of revenue. Such
expenditure, besides the demoralization of all just concep-
tions of public duty which it entails, stimulates a habit of
reckless improvidence not in the least consistent with the
mission of our people or the high and beneficent purposes of
our Government.

I have deemed it my duty to thus bring to the knowledge
of my countrymen, as well as to the attention of their rep-
resentatives charged with the responsibility of legislative re-
lief, 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 produce caused a condition of financial dis-
tress and apprehension since your last adjournment which
taxed to the utmost all the authority and expedients within
executive control; and these appear now to be exhausted.
If disaster results from the continued inaction ©f 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 pre-
sents features of wrong to the people as well as peril to
the country, it is but a result growing out of a perfectly

121

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

palpable and apjDarent cause, constantly reproducing the
same alarming circumstances — a congested National Treas-
ury and a depleted monetary condition in the business of
the country. It need hardly be stated that while the pres-
ent situation demands a remedy, we can only be saved from
a like predicament in the future by the removal of its cause.

Our scheme of taxation, by means of which this needless
surplus is taken from the people and put into the public
Treasury, consists of a tariff or duty levied upon importa-
tions from abroad and internal-revenue taxes levied upon
the consumption of tobacco and spirituous and malt liquors.
It must be conceded that none of the things subjected to
internal-revenue taxation are, strictly speaking, necessaries.
There appears to be no just complaint of this taxation by
the consumers of these articles, and there seems to be noth-
ing 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 im-
ported 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 arti-
cles. !Many of these things, however, are raised or manu-
factured in our own country, and the duties now levied upon
foreign goods and products are called protection to these
home manufactures, because 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 de-
manded for the imported goods that have paid customs duty.
So it happens that while comparatively a few use the im-
ported articles, millions of our people, who never used and
never saw any of the foreign products, purchase and use
things of the same kind made in this country, and paid

122

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 Treasury, but
the great majority of our citizens, who buy domestic arti-
cles of the same class, pay a sum at least approximately
equal to this duty to the home manufacturer. This refer-
ence to the operation of our tariff laws is not made by way
of instruction, but in order that we may be constantly re-
minded of the manner in which they impose a burden upon
those who consume domestic products as well as those who
consume imported articles, and thus create a tax upon all
our people.

It is not proposed to entirely relieve the country of this
taxation. It must be extensively continued as the source
of the Government's income; and in a readjustment of our*
tariff the interests of American labor engaged in manufac-
ture should be carefully considered, as well as the preser-
vation of our manufacturers. It may be called protection or
by any other name, but relief from the hardships and dan-
gers of our present tariff laws should be devised with es-
pecial precaution against imperiling the existence of our
manufacturing interests. But this existence should not
mean a condition which, without regard to the public wel-
fare or a national exigency, must always insure the realiza-
tion of immense profits instead of moderately profitable
returns. As the volume and diversity of our national activ-
ities 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 organized combina-
tion all along the line to maintain their advantage.

We are in the midst of centennial celebrations, and with

123

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

becoming pride we rejoice in American skill and ingenuity,
in American energy and enterprise, and in the wonderful
natural advantages and resources developed by a century's
national growth. J Yet when an attempt is made to justify
a scheme which permits a tax to be laid upon every con-
sumer in the land for the benefit of our manufacturers,
quite beyond a reasonable demand for governmental regard,
it suits the purposes of advocacy to call our manufactures
infant industries still needing the highest and greatest de-
gree of favor and fostering 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
employed 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 com-
pensation of our laboring people. Our labor is honorable in
the eyes of CA'cry American citizen; and as it lies at the
foundation of our development and progress, it is entitled,
without affectation or hypocrisy, to the utmost regard. The
standard of our laborers' life should not be measured by
that of any other country less favored, and they are entitled
to their full share of all our advantages.

In speaking of the increased cost to the consumer of our
home manufactures resulting from a duty laid upon im-
ported articles of the same description, the fact is not over-
looked 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 commodities made and sold by mem-

124i

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

bers 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 par-
ticular dutiable article of home production below the limit
which it might otherwise reach under our tariff laws, and
if with such reduced price its manufacture continues to
thrive, it is entirely evident that one thing has been discov-
ered 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 pro-
duced 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
our tariff laws are intended only to enforce an earnest rec-
ommendation 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 accom-
plishing 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 un-
friendliness 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 furnisli the proud
proof of our country's progress. But if in the emergency
that presses upon us our manufacturers are asked to sur-
render something for the public good and to avert disaster,

125

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

their patriotism, as well as a grateful recognition of advan-
tages already afforded, should lead them to willing co-opera-
tion. No demand is made that they shall forego all the
benefits of governmental regard; but they can not 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 con-
dition tends, afford no greater shelter or protection to our
manufactures than to other important enterprises. Oppor-
tunity for safe, careful, and deliberate reform is now of-
fered; 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 rad-
ical 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 reckless of the welfare of the entire
country.

Under our present laws more than 4,000 articles are sub-
ject to duty. Many of these do not in any way compete
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 hard-
ship; 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 price
of these necessaries. It would not only relieve them from
the increased cost caused by the tariff on such material, but

" 126

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 im-
portation would serve besides to largely reduce the revenue.
It is not apparent how such a change can have any injurious
effect upon our manufacturers. On the contrary, it would
appear to give them a better chance in foreign markets
with the manufacturers of other countries, 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, in-
terruption in business, and loss caused by a glutted domes-
tic market and affording their employees more certain and
steady labor, with its resulting quiet and contentment.

The question thus imperatively presented for solution
should be approached in a spirit higher than partisanship
and considered 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 de-
clared party policy and principle is not wanting to urge
prompt and effective action. Both of the great political
parties now represented in the Government have by re-
peated and authoritative declarations condemned the condi-
tion of our laws which permit the collection from the people
of unnecessary revenue, and have in the most solemn man-
ner promised its correction, and neither as citizens nor par-
tisans are our countrymen in a mood to condone the delib-
erate violation of these pledges.

Our progress toward a wise conclusion will not be im-
proved by dAvelling upon the theories of protection and free
trade. This savors too much of bandying epithets. It is a
condition which confronts us, not a theory. Relief from this
condition may involve a slight reduction of the advantages
which we award our home productions, but the entire with-

127

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

drawal of such advantages should not be contemplated. The
question of free trade is absolutely irrelevant, and the persist-
ent claim made in certain quarters that all the efforts to
relieve the people from imjust and unnecessary taxation are
schemes of so-called free traders is mischievous and far re-
moved from any consideration for the public good.

The simple and plain duty which we owe the people is
to reduce taxation to the necessary expenses of an econom-
ical operation of the Government and to restore to the busi-
ness of the country the money which we hold in the Treas-
ury through the perversion of governmental powers. These
things can and should be done with safety to all our indus-
tries, without 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 custom of the Executive,
in compliance with this provision, to annually exhibit to the
Congress, at the opening of its session, the general condi-
tion of the country, and to detail with some particularity
the operations of the different Executive Departments. It
would be especially agreeable to follow this course at the
present time and to call attention to the valuable accom-
plishments of these Departments during the last fiscal year;
but I am so much impressed with the paramount impor-
tance of the subject to which this communication has thus
far been devoted that I shall forego the addition of any
other topic, and only urge upon your immediate consider-
ation the " state of the Union " as sho\vn in the present
condition of our Treasury and our general fiscal situation,
upon Avhich every element of our safety and prosperity
^depends.

The reports of the heads of Departments, which will be

128

OFGROVER CLEVELAND

submitted, contain full and explicit information touching
the transaction of the business intrusted to them and such
recommendations relating to legislation in the public interest
as they deem advisable. I ask for these reports and recom-
mendations the deliberate examination and action of the
legislative branch of the Government.

There are other subjects not embraced in the depart-
mental reports demanding legislative consideration, and
which I should be glad to submit. Some of them, however,
have been earnestly presented in previous messages, and
as to them I beg leave to repeat prior recommendations.

As the law makes no provision for any report from the
Department of State, a brief history of the transactions of
that important Department, together with other matters
which it may hereafter be deemed essential to commend to
the attention of the Congress, may furnish the occasion for
a future communication.

\_ Address to the Evangelical Alliance, Washing-
ton, D. C, December 9, 1887.^

Mr. President: I am glad to meet so large a delegation
from the Evangelical Alliance of the United States. I un-
derstand the purpose of this Alliance to be the application
of Christian rules of conduct to the problems and exigencies
of social and political life.

Such a movement cannot fail to produce the most valuable
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
citizenship. 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

129

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 brotherhood, and that the success of a gov-
ernment by the people depends upon the morality, the jus-
tice, 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. Man-
ifestly, if you seek to teach your countrymen toleration you
yourselves must be tolerant; if you would teach them lib-
erality 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 effi-
cacy of Christian teaching and practice.

Your noble mission, if undertaken in a broad and gener-
ous spirit, will surely arrest the attention and respectful
consideration of your fellow-citizens; and your endeavors,
consecrated by benevolence and patriotic love, must exert a
powerful influence in the enlightenment and improvement
of our people, in illustrating the strength and stability of
our institutions, and in advancing the prosperity and great-
ness of our beloved land.

[Letter to William A. Furey, Esq., Washing-
ton, D. C, Februanj 2, 1888. '\

My Dear Sir: I acknowledge with sincere thanks the in-
vitation extended to me, on behalf of the Kings County
Democratic Club, to attend a banquet to be given in the

130

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

City of Brooklyn on the 9th instant, in commemoration of
the birthday 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
Comity, 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 Avould
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 prevail-
ing spirit cannot fail to inspire every participant with new
strength and increased patriotism 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 these friends now remind all their fellow-
citizens of the patriotic 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 economy, the safety of a sound
currency, honesty in public place, the responsibility of pub-
lic servants to the people, care for those who toil with their
hands, a proper limitation of corporate privileges and a re-
form in the Civil Service.

His was true Democracy. It led him to meet boldly
every public issue as it rose. With his conception of polit-
ical duty, he thought it never too early and never too late
to give battle to vicious doctrines and corrupt practices. He

131

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

believed that pure and sound Democracy flourished and
grew in open, bold, and honest championship of the inter-
ests 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 courage-
ous struggle in their defense.

I should certainly join you in recalling the virtues and
achievements of this illustrious Democrat, on the anniver-
sary 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 ban-
quet. This necessarily detains me here.

I hope that your celebration will be very successful and
full of profitable enjoyment.

ILetter to Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher^ Wash-
ington, D. C, May 22, 1888.'\

My Dear Mrs. Beecher: I have been csked to furnish a
contribution to a proposed memorial of your late husband.

While I am by no means certain that anything I might
prepare 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 afiBiction and my appreciation of my own and the coun-
try's loss in the death of Mr. Beecher.

More than thirty years ago I repeatedly enjoyed the
opportunity of hearing him in his own pulpit. His warm
utterances, and the earnest interest he displayed in the
practical things related to useful living, the hopes he in-
spired, and the manner in which he relieved the precepts of

132

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 direction 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 re j oiced in their contentment and
comfort, and sympathized with them in their daily hard-
ships and trials. As their champion he advocated in all
things the utmost regulated and wholesome liberty and
freedom. His sublime faith in the success of popular gov-
ernment led him to trust the people, and to treat their errors
and misconceptions with generous toleration. An honorable
pride in American citizenship, when guided by the teach-
ings 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
magnitude and depth. But thousands wish that their sense
of loss might temper your grief, and that they, by sharing
your sorrow, might lighten it.

Such kindly assurances, and your realization of the high
and sacred mission accomplished in your husband's useful
life, furnish 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.

133

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Address before the Northern and Southern
Presbyterian Assemblies at Philadelphia,
Pa., 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 alle-
giance, are especially vivid, and perhaps the best remem-
bered. The attendance upon church service three times each
Sunday, and upon Sabbath school during the noon intermis-
sion, 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 stud-
ied and learned, was not, perhaps, at the time perfectly un-
derstood, and yet, in the stern labors and duties of after
life, 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

134

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

sacred recollection o£ 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 exj^ress the wish and hope that
the Presbyterian Church will always be at the front in
every movement 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 practical value to our people and our country of the
Cliurch organizations established among us, and the advan-
tage of Christian 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 conserva-
tive, without loss of spiritual strength, will soonest find the
way to the hearts and affections of the people. While we
may be pardoned 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 Assem-
blies of the Presbyterian Church. One is called " North "
and the other "South." The subject is too deep and in-
tricate 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 fra-
ternity and unity. This fraternity and unity are taught
and enjoined by our Church. When shall she herself be
united, with all the added strength and usefulness that har-
monv and union insure?

135

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Speech to the Committee on Notification^
Washington, D. C, June 26, 1888.]

Mr, Collins and Gentlemen of the Committee: I cannot
but be profoundly impressed when I see about me the mes-
sengers of the national Democracy, bearing its summons 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, because its trust is in the people, and
soberly, because it comprehends the obligations which suc-
cess imposes.

The message which you bring awakens within me the
liveliest 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
consecration demanded of him who assumes its immense re-
sponsibilities. It is the repository of the people's will and
power. Within its vision should be the protection and wel-
fare 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 peo-
ple he who holds this office of theirs should resist every
encroachment upon its legitimate functions, and, for the
sake of the integrity and usefulness of the office, it should

136

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

be kept near to the people and be administered in full sym-
pathy 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
wlien it is repeated now. Four years ago I knew that our
chief executive 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 loos-
ened.

I knew four years ago how well devised were the princi-
ples of true Democracy for the successful operation of a
government by the people and for the people; but I did
not know how absolutely necessary their application then
was for the restoration to the people 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 numerous forms, nor the tenacity of their grasp.
I knew then something of the bitterness of partisan ob-
struction; 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 gener-
ous they were.

I shall not dwell upon the acts and the policy of the
Administration 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 understanding God has given me,

137

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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, signify such acceptance in the usual formal manner.

[Special Message on the Death of Philip H.
Sheridan^ Washi7igton, D. C.j August 6,
1888.']

To the Senate and House of Representatives : It becomes
my painful duty to announce to the Congress and to the
people of the United States the death of Philip H. Sheri-
dan, General of the Army, which occurred at a late hour
last night at his summer home, in the State of Massachu-
setts.

The death of this valiant soldier and patriotic son of the
Republic, though his long illness has been regarded with
anxiety, has nevertheless shocked the country and caused
universal grief.

He had established for himself a strong hold in the hearts
of his fellow-countrymen, who soon caught the true mean-
ing and purpose of his soldierly devotion and heroic
temper.

His intrepid courage, his steadfast patriotism, and the
generosity of 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

138

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

can not be accorded to one who was so richly endowed with
all the qualities which make his death a national loss.

[Letter to Hon. Patrick A. Collins and Others^
Washington, D. C, Septenfiber 8, 1888.']

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 rela-
tion of such action to the American people, whose confidence
is thus invited, and to the political party to which I belong,
just entering upon a contest for continued supremacy.

The world does not afford a spectacle more sublime than
is furnished when millions of free and intelligent Amer-
ican citizens 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
forget 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 expe-
rience 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 tlie 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

139

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the nations of the earth ; but there is no people whose home
interests are so great, and whose numerous objects of do-
mestic concern deserve so much watchfubiess and care.

Among these are the regulation of a sound financial sys-
tem suited to our needs, thus securing an efficient agencj'
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 preservation for the settler and the pioneer of our mar-
velous growth ; a sensible and sincere recognition of the
value of American labor, leading to the scrupulous care and
just appreciation of the 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 laboring men in the
field of toil, and adds to our population an element 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 advan-
tages 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 encour-
agement in all things pertaining to that relation; a firm,
patient, and humane Indian policy, so that in peaceful re-
lations with the government the civilization of the Indian

140

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

may be promoted, with resulting quiet and safety to the
settlers on our frontiers ; and the curtailment of public ex-
pense by the introduction 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 ad-
vancement of these objects and insure good government —
the aspiration of every true American citizen, and the mo-
tive for every patriotic action and effort. In the conscious-
ness that much has been done in the direction of good gov-
ernment by the present administration, and submitting its
record to the fair inspection of my countrymen, I indorse
the platform thus presented, with the determination that,
if I am again called to the Chief Magistracy, there sh^ll be
a continuance of devoted endeavor to advance the interests
of the entire country.

Our scale of Federal taxation and its consequences
largely engross, at this time, the attention of our citizens,
and the people are soberly considering the necessity of
pleasures 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 unre-
stricted 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 public needs. It
seems perfectly clear that when the government, this in-
strumentality created and maintained by the people to do

141

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

their bidding, turns upon them, and, through an utter per-
version of its poAvers, extorts from their labor and capital
tribute 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 spir-
ituous 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 taxa-
tion is not limited to the consumers of imported articles, but
that the duties imposed upon such articles permit a corre-
sponding increase in price to be laid upon domestic produc-
tions of the same kind ; which increase, paid by all our peo-
ple as consumers of home productions and entering every
American home, 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 col-
lected at our custom houses for duties upon imported arti-
cles and paid into the public treasury, represents many
millions more wh.'ch, 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 ef-
fect of the operation of our plan for raising revenue, the
absolute duty of limiting the rate of tariff charges to the!
necessities of a fruQ-al and economical administration of the I

142

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

government seems to be perfectly plain. The continuance,
upon the pretext of meeting public expenditures, of such a
scale of tariff taxation as draws from the substance of the
people a sum largely in excess of public needs, is surely
something which, under a government 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 imcomplainingly 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 collect-
ing 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 two hundred and
thirty millions of dollars.

No better evidence could be furnished that the people
are exorbitantly taxed. The extent of the superfluous
burden indicated b}'^ this surplus will be better appreciated
when it is suggested that such surplus alone represents
taxation aggregating more than one hundred and eight
thousand dollars in a county containing fifty thousand
inhabitants.

Taxation has always been the feature of organized gov-
ernment the hardest to reconcile with the people's ideas of
freedom and happiness. When presented in a direct form,
nothing will arouse popular discontent more quickly and
profoundly than unjust and unnecessary taxation. Our
farmers, mechanics, laborers, and all our citizens, closely
scan the slightest increase in the taxes assessed upon their
lands and other property, and demand good reason for such
increase. And yet they seem to be expected, in some quar-
ters, to regard the unnecessary volume of insidious and in-

143

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

direct 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 prosperity 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
government of the currency of the people are not of imme-
diate importance to the mass of our citizens, and only con-
cern 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 pros-
perity to our citizens in every station and vocation. New
ventures, new investments in business and manufacture, the
construction of new and important works, and the enlarge-
ment of enterprises already established, depend largely
upon obtaining money upon easy terms with fair security;
and all these things are stimulated by an abundant volume
of circulating medium. Even the harvested grain of the
farmer remains without a market, unless money is forth-
coming for its movement and transportation to the sea-
board.

The first result of a scarcity of money among the people
is the exaction of severe terms for its use. Increasing dis-
trust and timidity are followed by a refusal to loan or ad-
vance 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 perfectly natural, if not inevitable,

144

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

stage is reached, depr3ssion 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 treas-
ury, our wage-earners, and others who rely upon their
labor for support, are most of all directly concerned in the
situation. Others, seeing the approach of danger, may pro-
vide against it, but it will find those depending upon their
daily toil for bread unprepared, 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 absolute 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 scandal-
ous 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 bur-
dens 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, by their reckless extravagance, the demoraliz-
ing influence of a great surplus of public money upon the
judgments of individuals.

While such efforts should be made as are consistent with
public duty, and sanctioned by sound judgment, to avoid
danger by the useful disposition of the surplus now remain-
ing in the treasury, it is evident that, if its distribution

145

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

were accomplished, 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 polit-
ical 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 promised in the guarantees of their free
government.

We believe that the same means which are adapted to re-
lieve the treasury of its present surplus and prevent its re-
currence, should cheapen to our people the cost of supplying
their daily wants. Both of these objects we seek in part to
gain by reducing 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 exist-
ing wrongs their maintenance and prosperity should be care-
fully and in a friendly spirit considered. Even such reliance
upon present revenue arrangements as has been invited or
encouraged 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 in-
,tended.

But we know the cost of our domestic manufactured prod-
ucts is increased, and their price to the consumer enhanced,
by the duty imposed upon the raw material used in their
manufacture. We know that this increased cost prevents
the sale of our productions at foreign markets in competition
with those countries which have the advantage of free raw
material. We know that, confined to a home market, our

146

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

manufacturing operations are curtailed, their demand for
labor irregular, and the rate of wages paid uncertain.

We propose, therefore, to stimulate our domestic indus^
trial enterprises by freeing from duty the imported raw
materials which, by the employment of labor, are use^in
our home manufactures, thus extending the markets for
their sale and permitting an increased and steady produc-
tion 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 working-
men. 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 encourage-
ment and advantage to the employers of domestic labor as
will easily compensate for any difference that may exist be-
tween the standard of wages which should be paid to our
laboring men and the rate allowed in other countries. We
propose, too, by extending the markets for our manufactur-
ers 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 modi-
fication of our tariff laws, an additional and more direct and
efficient protection to these interests would be afforded by
the restriction and prohibition of the immigration or impor-
tation of laborers from other countries, who swarm upon our
sliores, having no purpose or intent of becoming our fellow-
citizens, or acquiring any perjnanent interest in our country,
but who crowd every field of employment with unintelligent
labor at wages which ought not to satisfy those who make
claim to American citizenship.

147

P-

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 combina-
tions are permitted and fostered which, while unduly enrich-
ing the few that combine, rob the body of our citizens by
depriving them as purchasers of the benefits of natural com-
petition."

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 re-
sults of these devices to wrong the people. Under various
names they have been punished by the common law for hun-
dreds of years ; and they have lost none of their hateful fea-
tures 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, en-
larges the limit within which they may operate against the
people, and thus increases the extent of their power for
wrong-doing.

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
position 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 re-
form 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 de-
sire to relieve the country from the injustice and danger
which threaten evil to all the people of the land.

148

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

We are dealing with no imaginary danger. Its existence
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 re-
mitted 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 conven-
tion and flippantly declare in their party platform that our
conservative and careful effort to relieve the situation is de-
structive 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 inter-
ests of our country hj removing the internal revenue tax
from tobacco and from spirits used in the arts and for me-
chanical 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 prohibitory point, they confess themselves \villing
to travel backward 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 inter-
change of business, while they abandon our consumers to the
unrestrained oppression of the domestic trusts and combina-
tions which are in the same platform perfunctorily con-
demned.

UD

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

They propose further to release entirely from import du-
ties all articles of foreign production (except luxuries) the
like of which cannot be produced in this country. The plain
people 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
declaration, 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 pro-
tective system."

Our people ask relief from the undue and unnecessary
burden 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 sys-
tem, 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 covirse, in a coimtry as great as ours, with such a
wonderful variety of interests, often leading in entirely dif-
ferent directions, 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 reve-
nue involving the prohibition of importations and the re-
moval of the internal tax upon whisky. It can be better
and more safely done within the lines of granting actual rc-

150

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

lief to the people in their means of living, and at the same
time giving an impetus to our domestic enterprises and fur-
thering our National vrelfare.

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 accomplish revenue reform should not be likevv^ise attacked
and with like result. And yet no thoughtful man can fail
to see in the continuance of the present burdens of the peo-
ple, 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
coimtrymen, 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 vindication of our attempt to inaugurate a righteous and
beneficent reform.

[Address as Presiding Officer over Memorial

Meeting in the Cooper Union, New York
City, 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 sincere should flow from the hearts of his Con-
gressional 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 ex-

151

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

hibited 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 afflic-
tion of his death is nearer to them than 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 con-
stitute 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 bom of public spirit, and the motive
of his labor was the public good. 'He was never foimd
among those who cloak their efforts for personal gain and
advantage beneath the disguise of disinterested activity for
V 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 mem-
ory exacts from his fellow-citizens.

But while we thus contemplate the value of unselfish pub-
lic 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

152

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

general, .ire 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 inter-
est we have at 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.

[From Fourth Annual Message , Washington,
D. C, December 3, 1888.']

To the Congress of the United States: As you assemble
for the discharge of the duties you have assumed as the rep-
resentatives of a free and generous people, your meeting is
marked by an interesting and impressive incident. With
the expiration of the present session of the Congress the first
century of our constitutional existence as a nation will be
completed.

Our survival for one hundred years is not sufficient 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 to soberly 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 hap-
piness and perpetuity.

When the experiment of our Government was undertaken,
153

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 direction they indicate and
by restraint within the limitations they fix that we can fur-
nish proof to the world of the fitness of the American people
for self-government.

The equal and exact justice of which we boast as the un-
derlying principle of our institutions should not be con-
fined to the relations of our citizens to each other. The Gov-
ernment itself is under bond to the American people that in
the exercise of its functions and powers it will deal with the
body of our citizens in a manner scrupulously honest and
fair and absolutely just. It has agreed that American citi-
zenship 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 Government.

The citizen of our Republic in its early days rigidly in-
sisted 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 recom-
pense of his steady and contented toil. In those days the
frugality of the people was stamped upon their Govern-
ment, and was enforced by the free, thoughtful, and intelli-
gent suffrage of the citizen. Combinations, monopolies, and
aggregations of capital were either avoided or sternly regu-
lated 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.

154

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 busi-
ness men are madly striving in the race for riches, and im-
mense aggregations of capital outrim 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
scrutiny develops a somber shading. Upon more careful
inspection we find the wealth and luxury of our cities min-
gled with poverty and wretchedness and unremunerative
toil. A crowded and constantly increasing urban popula-
tion suggests the impoverishment of rural sections and dis-
content 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 manufac-
turers are no longer solely the reward of sturdy industry
and enlightened foresight, but that they result from the dis-
criminating favor of the Government and are largely built
upon undue exactions from the masses of our people. The
gulf between employers and the employed is constantly wid-
ening, and classes are rapidly forming, one comprising the
very rich and powerful, while in another are foimd the toil-
ing poor.

As we view the achievements of aggregated capital, we
discover the existence of trusts, combinations, and monop-
olies, while the citizen is struggling far in the rear or is
trampled to death beneath an iron heel. Corporations, which
should be the 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 pros-
perity of our country and complacently contemplating every
incident of change inseparable from these conditions, it is

155

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 Gov-
ernment persists in exacting from the substance of the peo-
ple 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 currency of the country from the legiti-
mate 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 consumers, 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 ex-
tent 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 permitted all patriotic love of coimtry, and substitutes
in its place selfish greed and grasping avarice. Devotion
to American citizenship for its o^vn sake and for what it
should accomplish as a motive to our nation's advancement
and the happiness of all our people is displaced by the
assumption that the Government, instead of being the em-
bodiment of equality, is but an instrumentality through which
especial and individual advantages arc to be gained.

156

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

The arrogance of this assumption is unconcealed. It ap-
pears in the sordid disregard of all but personal interests,
in the refusal to abate for the benefit of others one iota of
selfish advantage, and in combinations to perpetuate such
advantages through efforts to control legislation and im-
properly influence 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 luiremitting toil, will not fail to see, in spite of mis-
representations 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 enhanced prices for the things
they need that the scanty returns of the 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. Others of our citizens, whose comforts and expendi-
tures are measured 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-
crimination under our laws there shall be added the discon-
tent of -those who suffer from such discrimination, we will
realize the fact that the beneficent purposes of our Govern-

157

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

ment, dependent 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, exasper-
ated 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
American 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 unfairly 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 inter-
est, are the surest guaranty 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.

The necessity of the reduction of our revenues is so appar-
158

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

cnt 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 satisfactory by which the burdens of the people are only
apparently removed. Extravagant appropriations of publtc
money, with all their demoralizing consequences, should not
be tolerated, either as a means of relieving the Treasury of
its present surplus or as furnishing pretext for resisting a
proper reduction in tariff rates. Existing evils and injus-
tice should be honestly recognized, boldly met, and effect-
ively remedied. There should be no cessation of the strug-
gle until a plan is perfected, fair and conservative toward
existing industries, but which will reduce the cost to con-
sumers of the necessaries of life, while it provides for our
manufacturers the advantage of freer raw materials and per-
mits 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 compromised. It is the people's cause.

It can not 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 Gov-
ernment is the fountain of individual and private aid; that
it may be expected 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 bene-
fit of localities and individuals. Nor can it be denied that
there is a growing assumption that, as against the Govern-
ment and in favor of private claims and interests, the usual
rules and limitations of business principles and just deal-
ing should be waived.

150

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

These ideas have been tinhappily much encouraged by leg-
islative 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 wliicli the consideration of such matters
subordinate and postpone action upon subjects of great pub-
lic 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 may
be stated.

The crowded condition of the calendar of the Supreme
Court, and the delay to suitors and denial of justice result-
ing therefrom, has 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 eifective consideration, many
laws have been passed providing for the holding of terms
of inferior courts at places to suit the convenience of local-
ities, or to lay the foundation of an application for the erec-
tion 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
public lands and applications for their donation, in favor of
States and individuals, have been allowed.

160

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

A plan in aid of Indian management, recommended by
those well informed as containing valuable features in fur-
therance of the solution of the Indian problem, has thus far
failed of legislative sanction, while grants of doubtful ex-
pediency 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 dis-
puted. But these needs yet remain unanswered, while
scores of public 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 discrimina-
tion 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 asserted by responsible and experienced parties
that a bill appropriating money for public internal improve-
ment 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 examination develops such a motive power.

And yet the people wait and expect from their chosen
representatives 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

161

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

making and execution of our laws perfect devotion, above
all other things, to the public good.

This devotion will lead us to strongly resist all impatience
of constitutional limitations of Federal power and to per-
sistently check the increasing tendency to extend the scope
of Federal legislation into the domain of State and local
jurisdiction upon the plea of subserving the public welfare.
The preservation of the partitions between proper subjects
of Federal and local care and regulation is of such impor-
tance 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
imdertaken to discover 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 obliga-
tion to support and preserve the Constitution can find justifi-
cation or solace for disloyalty in the excuse that he wan-
dered 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 heiglit, 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 citizen-
ship, declared:

The ambition which leads me on is an anxious desire and a fixed
determination to restore to the people unimpaired the sacred trust they
have confided to raj^ charge; to heal the wounds of the Constitution and to
preserve it from further violation; to persuade my countrjmen, 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

162

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

or their liberties protection, but in a plain system, void of pomp, protecting
all and granting favors to none, dispensing its blessings like the dews of
heaven, unseen and unfelt save in the freshness and beauty they con-
tribute to produce. 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 imited, prosperous, and free.

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 102 different rates of pensions are paid can not,
in my opinion, be made consistent with justice to the pen-
sioners or to the Government; and the numerous private
pension bills that are passed, predicated upon the imperfec-
tion of general laws, while they increase in many cases ex-
isting inequality and injustice, lend additional force to the
recommendation for a revision of the general laws on this
sub j ect.

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 pen-
sions 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
establishment of vicious precedents be continued, if tlie
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 an-
other term for one who constantly clamors for the aid of the
Government, there is danger that injury will be done to the
fame and patriotism of many whom our citizens all delight
to honor, and that a prejudice will be aroused unjust to
meritorious applicants for pensions.

The consciousness that I have presented but an imperfect
163

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

statement of the condition of our country and its wants occa-
sions no fear that anything omitted is not known and apppre-
ciated by the Congress, upon whom rests the responsibility
of intelligent legislation in behalf of a great nation and a
confiding people.

As public servants we shall do our duty well if we con-
stantly guard the rectitude of our intentions, maintain unsul-
lied our love of country, and with unselfish purpose strive
for the public good.

ILetter to the Committee of the Massachusetts
Tariff Reform League, Washington, D. C,

December 2Jt-, 1888.']

Gentlemen: I am exceedingly sorry that I cannot be pres-
ent at the dinner of the Massachusetts Tariff Reform
League on the 28th inst. This is not merely a formal and
common expression of regret ; it truly indicates how much I
should enjoy meeting the members of your league, and how
glad I should be to express in person my appreciation of
their important services in a cause to which I am earnestly
attached, and to acknowledge at the same time their fre-
quent and encouraging manifestations of personal friend-
liness. I know, too, that it would be profitable and advan-
tageous to be, even for a brief period, within the inspiring
influence of the atmosphere surrounding patriotic and un-
selfish 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
purposes as the destiny of our country, and as broad in its
beneficence as the welfare of our entire people. It is be-
cause the efforts of its advocates are not discredited by any
sordid motives that they are able boldly and confidently to

164

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

attack the strongholds of selfishness and greed. Our insti-
tutions were constructed in purity of purpose and love for
humanity. Their operation is adjusted to the touch of na-
tional 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 appre-
ciate the sentiments in which our institutions had their ori-
gin, 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 service of their country,
temporary defeat brings no discouragement. It but proves
the stubbornness of the forces of combined 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 intel-
ligence, and free it from darkness and delusion, gives assur-
ance 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 everj'^
alluring overture and every deceptive compromise which
would betray their sacred trust, they themselves shall re-
gain and restore the patrimony of their countrymen, freed
from the trespass of grasping encroachment and safely se-
cured by the genius of American justice and equality.

[Address at a Reception Given by the Demo-
cratic 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

165

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

arouse my appreciation 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 outdone itself in my welcome. The mem-
bers of my profession have, upon my return to its activities,
received me with fraternal greetings, and personal friends
have not permitted me to feel like a stranger in a strange
city.

And yet I can truly say to-night that none of these
things will be more vividly and gratefully remembered than
the opportunity 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 attach-
ment to Democratic faith and my obligation to the cardinal
principles of its party organization.

I have been honored by my party far beyond my
deserts; indeed, 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 pcr-

166

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

sonal resentment 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 be-
half 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 conscien-
tiously devoted his effort and his judgment to the people's
service.

I have deliberately placed in close connection loyalty to
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 obj ects and its purposes are the promotion of
the public good and the advancement and the welfare and^
prosperity of the entire country. There never was a party
platform 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 to-
gether proclaiming openly that their purpose was supremacy
in the government 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 indi-
viduals should be untruthful or dishonest.

Of course in the supremacy of party there are advan-
tages to its members — and this is not amiss. But when-
high party aims and professions are lost sight of and aban-
doned, and the interests of office holding and personal pelf
are all that remain to inspire party activity, not only is the

167

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

support expected 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 par-
ties, and should point to the field of their usefulness. The
study of these questions cannot fail to result in more valu-
able citizenship and more intelligent and better equipped
sjpartisans.

When we seek for the cause of the perpetuity of the
Democratic party and its survival througli every c?risis and
emergency, 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 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 shiftiness 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 disas-
ter 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
preservation, protection, and defense of the Constitution,
after presenting to his assembled countrymen the causes of
congratulation, 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,

168

OF GROVER CLE\^ ELAND

and shall not take from the mouth of labor tlie 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 situaiion.

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
standards, and in every phase of national development it will
be prepalfcd to meet as they arise every need of the people
and every popular want. True Democracy honestly advo-
cates national brotherhood, to the end that all our country-
men may aid in the achievement of the grand destiny which
awaits us as a nation ; and it condemns the pretext of liber-
ality and harmony 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 mul-
tiplication 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 government the lowest possible
tribute.

We know that we have espoused the cause of right and
j ustice. We know that we have not permitted duty to coun-
try to wait upon expediency. We know that we have not

169

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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
Democracy, 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 affilia-
tions and the supporters of the principles we profess are con-
stantly 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,
the day of our triumph will surely and quickly come, and
our victory shall be fairly, nobly won, through the invincible
spirit of the Democracy.

[Address ^at the Washington Inauguration Cen-
tennial^ New York, April SO, 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 be-
come 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
170

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

out to the world, " We, the people of the United States, in
order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure
domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, pro-
mote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty
to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this
Constitution for the United State 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 out-
strip every other people in national achievement and material
greatness.

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 benev-
olent 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 educa-
tion, 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 Magis-
trate 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.

171

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Let us, then, have an abiding faith in " our people." Let
petulance and discontent with popular action disappear be-
fore 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 may be
reached hj the spread of political intelligence and the re-
vival of unselfish and patriotic interest in public affairs.
Ill-natured complaints of popular incompetency, and self-
righteous assertions of superiority over the body of the peo-
ple, 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 j ust 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 manu-
factories and inhabit their own world of toil, or of the thou-
sands who labor in our mines. If representatives of every
element of our population and industries should be gathered
together, they would find but little of purely selfish and per-
sonal interest in common ; and upon a superficial glance but
little would be seen to denote that only one people was rep-
resented. Yet, in the spirit of our institutions, all these, so
separated in station and personal interest, are a common
brotherhood and are "our people"; all of equal value be-
fore the law ; all having, by their suffrage, the same voice in
governmental affairs ; all demanding with equal force protec-
tion and defense; and all, in their persons and property,
equally entitled to their government's scrupulous care.

172

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Address at the Fellowcraft Cluh, New York,
May U, 1889.1

Mr. President and Gentlemen: I think I should be glad
to depart to-night from what I suppose to be the custom here,
and say a few words to you without the least reference to the
occupations in which 1 understand the members of this club
are principally engaged, and without speaking of the news-
papers 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 are so interwoven with
our life that they can hardly be eliminated from the discus-
sion 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 wliy those connected
with newspapers should not be judged by the same rules as
are applied to the rest of us, nor why they are not charged
with certainly 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 vindication, I deny the proposition that they de-
liberately acknowledge fealty and devotion to tlieir newspa-
pers 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 managers of newspapers, as every-
where else, those whose personal resentments, or extreme and
misguided partisanship, lead them to pitiable conclusions;

173

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 citizen-
ship more prevalent, and the value of it better appreciated by
our people, arises in a great degree, I suppose, from my re-
cent experience 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 disinterested 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 devotion to the general and public welfare
in all branches of the government. But this is impossible if
the representatives 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 accom-
plishment of some purpose in aid of their own retention in
place. The man who enters upon a legislative career, having
charged himself especially 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 as-
sume 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 sub-
jects. Thus he furnishes no intelligent aid in legislation for
the public good, and it is fortunate for the people if he does

174-

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
performed 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
among the people themselves must give way to a sincere and
earnest desire for the preservation and increase of that sen-
timent of true American citizenship which recognizes in the
advancement of the entire country something more to be de-
sired 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 en-
livened, and they will not fail to receive encouraging re-
sponse to their efforts.

It M'ill 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

175

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

concerns 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
intimate 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
project now on foot to build in an appropriate location a
permanent and beautiful arch, to replace a temporary one
which added so much to our splendid Centennial display,
should not 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 con-
nected with our first President's inauguration, but will con-
stantly 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
integrity of our government, pledge ourselves to labor, each
in his own sphere, for the revival of pure and simple patriot-
ism 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 con-

176

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

stitute 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.

I Address at the Laying of the Corner Stone of
the New Academy of Jledicine^ 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 en-
ergy, and give proof of their devotion and attachment to
their chosen profession. To the members of this organiza-
tion the corner stone which we now lay is an honor, for it is
a monument which marks an important advance in the at-
tainment of the purpose of the Academy, as declared in its
constitution : " the promotion of the science and art of medi-
cine."

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 procure-
ment 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 groimd. The state-
ment is added with much apparent satisfaction that the

177

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

efforts put forth in this direction have culminated in
the purchase of a commodious building centrally situ-
ated, thus " providing a library, hall, and audience room,
which will, for some time, answer the Academy's wants and
those of the profession." It is already foimd that the com-
modious building which, three years ago, was deemed suffi-
cient 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
mission they have undertaken to promote the science and art
of medicine, and, seeing broader avenues leading to this
ob j ect, 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 nobil-
ity and sacred character of this mission have been often
dwelt upon. It is an old story, but it will never lose its in-
terest 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 satisfac-
tion to the soul of sympathy.

These reflections easily and naturally lead to the thought
that the members of the Academy of Medicine are not en-
titled to the absolute monopoly of congratulation to-day.
All your fellow-citizens may well claim a share, not only be-
cause 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 demonstrated, 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

178

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 destiny that none of us can be indifferent to an im-
portant 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 un-
derlying all that you have done and all that you have re-
ceived are our free American institutions, which encourage
and give scope to every worthy effort, and which offer fitting
rewards for intelligent and well-directed labor in every con-
dition of life.

You will not, therefore, I trust, deem it impertinent if I
remind you that none of us is absolved from the duty of aid-
ing in the maintenance in complete integrity of these free in-
stitutions, 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 profession ; 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
accomplishments.

I hope, when we shall celebrate here the discovery of our
country, that we may point out on this spot, in your com-
pleted 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 profes-
sion, 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.

179

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Address at the New York Chamber of Com-
merce 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 oppor-
tunity 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 nominally, to the vast business interests which
this organization has in its charge and keeping, and I think
and trust that I do not in the least underestimate the im-
provement 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 ac-
quainted with its operations and are able to discern the man-
ner 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 aspira-
tion 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
business of a country; nor should the narrow and circum-

180

OF GROVER CLE A^ ELAND

scribed success of such endeavor be recognized as evidence
of a beneficent government or of wholesome laws. The ac-
tive, strong impulse which, starting from important centers,
steadily permeates the entire land, giving to our tradesmen,
everywhere, healthy prosperity, to our toilers remunerative
labor, and to our homes comfort and contentment, consti-
tute 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 thus closely related to
government, it plainly follows that, if those intrusted with
public affairs were more identified with men like those form-
ing the active membership of this Chamber of Commerce, and
were better informed concerning the interest which such men
represent, the country would be the gainer. I do not hesi-
tate 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 suggested — 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 prac-
tical 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 before 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 interruption of your ordinary vocations,
but is it not your duty to suffer this for the sake of the good

181

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

you can accomplish? Nor is the subject devoid of an in-
ducement based upon self-interest, for you must agree with
me that business men upon Congressional committees, or
upon the floor of Congress, could accomplish much more in
the direction of their own protection than by periodically
seeking admission to committee rooms, or awaiting the con-
venience of legislators who need their instructions.

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 direc-
tion,

I hasten now to say that I have not forgotten the topic
with which I started. I am embarrassed in treating of it be-
cause, 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 acknowl-
edge my gratitude 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
disposition 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
recommendation 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 ques-
tion I would suggest that the best way to deal vrith your
troublesome ex-Presidents is to let them alone and give them

182

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 honorary membership of the New York Chamber of
Commerce.

[Letter to the Young 31 ens Democratic Club
at Canton^ O.j New York, November 22,
1889.]

Gentlemen : I am pleased with the invitation you extend to
Mrs. Cleveland and myself to be present at the anniversary
meeting of the Young Men's Democratic Club on the 5th
day of December. If the exercises you contemplate and out-
line 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 con-
stantly growing interest manifested by our young men in
the principles of the Democratic party constitute, in my opin-
ion, 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 allega-
tion 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 path-
way of good citizenship, can be safely trusted with polit-
ical responsibilities. I hope your meeting will be very
successful.

183

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Address at the Banquet of the Merchants' Asso-
ciation of Boston, December 12, 1889.1

Mr. Chairman and Gentlemen t When I see about me this
gathering of business men and merchants^ I find it impos-
sible 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 re-
sponsibility which this condition casts upon them — a re-
sponsibilitj' most exacting and invested with the seriousness
which always results from a just apprehension of man's re-
lation to his fellow-man and the obligation due from a citi-
zen to liis government. They can find no pretext for indif-
ference 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 govern-
ment in which they had no representation and from rulers
who looked upon their vocation with contempt. They can-
not absolve themselves from loyal duty to a government
which has, at all times, invited them to a high place in pub-
lic counsels and which has always ungrudgingly conceded
their indispensable value in the growth and progress of our
republic.

These considerations plainly point out your responsibility
and duty as members of the guild of business and as belong-
ing 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 Bos-

184

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

ton. The scene of your activity is the commercial reiiter
of a great and ancient commonwealth, rich in patritic tra-
ditions. It was upon the waters of 3'our harbor Jiat the
first active and physical defiance and opposition 'were made
to odious and unfair 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 tinist 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, inflexibly 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 tlie trade transactions of the world.
Abroad they gained willing confidence and credit by their
commercial integrity and probity, and at home they were the
pride of their countrymen.

These were the old Boston merchants. You, their busi-
ness 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 concede 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 inter-
ests 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

185

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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
tlie government upon which we have staked all our hopes
and aspirations, requires, for its successful maintenance, a
patriotic regard 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
section of our membership inevitably results in an encroach-
ment upon the benefits justly due to others. But these
things sit so lightly upon the consciences of many that a
spirit of selfishness is abroad in the land, which has bred
the habit of clamorous importunity for government aid in
behalf of special interests — 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 for-
merly prevailed concerning the just and wholesome relations
which should exist between the government and the business
of the country, and the present tendency toward a govern-
ment partnership in trade? And was there a hint in for-
mer days that especial advantages thus once secured, con-
stituted 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 gov-
ernment; it distorts every conception of the duty of good
citizenship, and creates an atmosphere in which iniquitous

186

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

purposes and designs lose their odious features. It begins
when a perverted judgment is won to the theory that polit-
ical action may be used solely for private gain and advan-
tage, and when a tender conscience is quieted by the ingen-
ious argument that such gain and advantage are identical
with the public welfare. / This stage having been reached,
and self-interest being now fully aroused, agencies are used
and practices permitted in the accomplishment of its pur-
poses, which, seen in the pure light of disinterested patriot-
ism, 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 sur-
face of our agitated political waters, and gleefully antici-
pate, 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
danger which threatens us from the intimidation and cor-
ruption 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 un-
selfish and patriotic, and if they sought in political action
only their share of the advantage accruing from the advance
of our country at all points toward her grand destiny, there
would be no place or occasion for the perversion of our suf-
frage. Thus the inauguration of the intimidation and cor-
ruption 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

187

adl'KESSes and papers

them r.3 only phases of shrewd political management, and
they have been actually encouraged by the honors which
havp been bestowed upon those who boast of their use of
such agencies in aid of party supremacy.

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 preserva-
tion of our national honor, and the perpetuity of our coun-
try. The condition annexed to the founding of our govern-
ment upon the suffrage of the people was that the suffrage
should be free and pure. We consented to abide by the
honest preponderance of political 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 unclean, 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 forget 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 pro-
ceed 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 birthright. But we know that when political selfish-
ness is destroyed our dangers will disappear; and though
the way to its stronghold 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

188

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

and corruption have not yet achieved a lasting triumph, and
their bold defiance will but hasten the day of their destruc-
tion.

As we struggle on, and confidently invite a direct con-
flict 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 bane-
ful results. It assures them, that, if political virtue and
rectitude cannot at once be thoroughly restored to the public,
the activity of baser elements may be discouraged. It in-
spires them with vigilant watchfulness and a determination
to prevent as far as possible their treacherous betrayal by
those who are false to their obligations 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 banking 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 partisan-
ship; and only the heedless, the sordid, and the depraved
refuse to join in the crusade.

This reform is predicated upon the cool deliberation of
political selfishness in its endeavor to prostitute our suffrage
to the purposes of private gain. It is rightly supposed that
corruption 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

189

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 aban-
donment.

The change demanded by this reform in the formalities
surrounding 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 inauguration of the new plan might en-
croach upon constitutional guarantees.

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 pre-
served. 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 convincing when urged against a measure
of reform, are dissipated by the test of trial, and how read-
ily 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 great-
est safeguard against the complete and disgraceful degrada-
tion of our public service. It had its enemies, and all of
them are not yet silenced. Those openly and secretly un-
friendly said in the beginning that the scheme was imprac-
ticable and unnecessary; that it created an office-holding

190

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 efficiency, scholastic ac-
quirements; that it limited the discretion of those charged
"with the selection of public employees, and that it was un-
constitutional. But its victory came, — wrought by tlie force
of enlightened public sentiment, — and upon its trial every
objection which had been urged against it was completely
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 fore-
most to adopt and demonstrate the practicability and useful-
ness 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 the invalidity of the objections made against it.
We thank Massachusetts to-night for all that she has done
for these reforms ; and we of New York hope that our Em-
pire 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
American people are not lost, and we shall find them suffi-
cient for us. If in too great confidence they slumber, they
will not always sleep. Let them but be aroused' from leth-
argy and indifference by tlie 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

191

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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.

[Address at the Cornell Alumni Society Meet-
ing, December 21, 1889.']

Mr, President and Gentlemen: I am confident that how-
ever 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 consideration
which had not before entered into his calculation.

If I am not the inventor of this weighty proposition I
may safely claim to be a striking and convincing illustration
of its truth.

When a committee having the arrangements for this occa-
sion 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 repre-
sentation 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 junctijre one of my visitors mentioned the fact that
I had been the only Governor of the State of New York,

192

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
understood 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 su-
periority, and by the additional importance which I imag-
ined it gave me, I was ready to acknowledge the character
of the obligation which was imposed by my relations thus
established to an important 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 exploit-
ing, in rather a patronizing way, my importance in that re-
lationship.

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 recall 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 sat-
isfaction I experience from the privilege of being with you
to-night, upon the interest which every citizen of our coun-
try and our State ought to feel in an institution wliich has
done so much, and which promises so much for the instruc-
tion 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 onlj' 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

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

that tlie institutions which sought the benefit of its benefac-
tion 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."

WTaen we consider the relations of the State to the uni-
versity, 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 additional branches of science and learning, her plan of
instruction. Nor should we overlook the fact that in her
charter the State required 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 with-
out 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 agriculture, and when we remember that the American
people surpass all others in ingenuity and mechanical fac-
ulty. They mean, too, the recognition of the fact that the
good of the nation and the State is subserved by the educa-
tion of all the people without distinction of rank or class,
thus keeping in view the principle, upon which our institu-
tions 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 bene-
ficiaries a compensating return of good citizenship.

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 compro-
mised. It is an obligation to realize thoughtfully and care-
fully 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 pro-
tecting 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 cer-
tainly no excuse for indifference; and most of all, the man
is derelict to his obligation who calls your university his
Alma Mater and yet fails to discharge his full duty of citi-
zenship. 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
everywhere, 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 ad-
vance 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
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

195

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 benefits 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 Uni-
versity."

I Address at the Ninth Annual Meeting of the
Actors' Fund of America, New York City,
January 3, 1890.]

Mr. President, and Ladies and Gentlemen: If my appear-
ance 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
apprehension of the duties and obligations of life. But
though still clinging to these with unabated faith and stead-
fastness, I meet and congratulate you on this occasion, not
only without the least vestige of moral compunction, but with
great pleasure and satisfaction.

196

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

It is not necessary to remind this audience that, whether
riglit or wrong, such a condition could not alwaj's be antici-
pated, for the time is within the remembrance of us all
when, in many quarters of our country, very little good was
acknowledged to exist in the dramatic profession. We are
certain there has been a change in the relation your profes-
sion 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 constant regard to the ethics of your calling, con-
tributed 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 Shakspeare 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 ray
position 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 kind-
ness and patience except at a play; and that perhaps when
you see your places on the stage occupied by those not of
your brotherhood, you may still be critical, but neither kind

197

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 mis-
givings as to what I may inflict upon you — if I have not rid
myself of anxiety — by the reflection that, however much
I may fall short of your approbation, I cannot possibly
take of you excessive 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 lim-
its 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 tlie
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 ex-
tended 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.

198

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 Gov-
ernor of the State, to attend an entertainment to be given
for its benefit ; and how it determined me to set aside my ob-
j actions and accept the invitation wliich was so cordially and
persuasively presented. I have always felt grateful to those
who tendered that invitation, not only for the enjoyment
which the entertainment afforded, but also because I was thus
introduced to a charity in which I have ever since taken a
lively interest. You at that time placed my name upon your
roll of honorary membership, and I am very proud of it — ■
all 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 accomplished and upon the promise
of extended usefulness in the future. The record of char-
itable 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 consciousness that you have in this way aided in alleviat-
ing the sorrow and the distress of your " forlorn and ship-
wrecked " 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 pro-
fession 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 professional experience and sympathy, are con-
versant 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

199

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

hope the day is not far distant when this important instru-
mentality will be added to your means of usefulness.

You will not, I trust, deem it amiss if, in conclusion, I
present a thought which is apt to be prominent in my mind
on occasions like this.

Considering, as I do, the dramatic profession as furnish-
ing 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 contact with the ordinary affairs of life.
These lead not only to 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 sentiment, 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 charitable 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, intelli-
gent, and honest citizen will directly interest himself in its
operation; and imless this is forthcoming, its best objects
and purposes will not be accomplished.

As the welfare of your country is dear to you, as you de-
sire an honest and wise administration of your government,
and as 3'^our 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 care-
ful political action.

200

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

\^Address at the Celebration of the Organhation
of the Supreme Court, February A, 1890.]

Ladies and Gentlemen : We are accustomed to express, on
every fit occasion, our reverence for the virtue and patriot-
ism in which the foundations of our republic were laid, and
to rejoice in the blessings vouchsafed to us under free in-
stitutions. Thus we have lately celebrated, with becoming
enthusiasm, the centennial of the completion of our Consti-
tution 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
American plan of government, and which, more than any
other, happily illustrated the wisdom and enlightened fore-
sight 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 in-
spiration of pure and disinterested patriotism. If, from these
elements, there had not been evolved that feature in our Fed-
eral system 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 semblance ; 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 en-
tirely from disputes of construction; and certainly diverse
constructions were apt to lurk in the diction of a constitu-
tion declared by the president of the convention which for-

201

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

mulated it, to be " the resiilt of a spirit of amity and of that
mutual deference and concession which the peculiarity of our
political situation rendered indispensable."

It is fairly plain and palpable, both from reason and a
review of events in our history, that without an arbiter to
determine, finally and conclusively, the rights and duties
embraced in the language of the Constitution, the union of
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 interpretation 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 cov-
eted rights and benefits, and absolve from irksome duties
and obligations. I

In the creatidn 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
disinterested patriotism and consecrated devotion which es-
tablished 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
themselves and their posterity. And yet, with all their
enthusiasm for this sentiment, they were willing to refer to
the tribunal which they devised all questions arising under
their newly formed Constitution, affecting the freedom and

g02

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

the protection and safety of the citizen. Though bitter ex-
perience had taught them that the instrumentalities of gov-
ernment might trespass upon freedom, and though they had
learned in a hard 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 dis-
tracting perturbation; and they calmly and deliberately es-
tablished, as a function of their government, a check upon
unauthorized freedom and a restraint upon dangerous lib-
erty. Their attachment and allegiance to the sovereignty
of their States were warm and unfaltering; but these did
not prevent them from contributing a fraction of that sover-
eignty to the creation of a Court which should guard and
protect their new nation, and save and perpetuate a govern-
ment 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 fit-
ting 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 felloAV-
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 institutions, 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.

203

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

\_Letter to E. Ellery Anderson, Chairman of the
Reform Club Meeting, New York, Febru-
ary 10, 1891.1

Dear Sir: I have this afternoon received your note in-
viting 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 can-
not be necessary for me to make a formal expression of my
agreement with those who believe that the greatest peril
would be invited by the adoption of the scheme, embraced in
the measure now pending in Congress, for the unlimited
coinage of silver at our mints.

If we have developed an unexpected capacity for the as-
similation of a largely increased volume of this currency, and
even if we have demonstrated the usefulness of such an in-
crease, these conditions fall far short of insuring us against
disaster if, in the present situation, we enter upon the dan-
gerous and reckless experiment of free, unlimited, and inde-
pendent silver coinage.

[Letter to Edgar A. Brown, Esq., President of
the Indiana Tariff Reform League, New
York, February 15, 1890.]

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

204

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

tariff reformers who will meet at the first annual convention
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 enlighten-
ment. This, if persistently carried out, cannot fail of suc-
cess. Of course, we do not approach the American people,
assuming 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 avo-
cations, they are too ready to rely upon the judgment and
avowed principles of the party with which they have affili-
ated as guides to their political actions. In this way they
have become slow to examine for themselves the questions of
tariff reform. If, in the lights of reasonable and simple
arguments and of such object-lessons as are being constantly
placed before them, our people can be induced to investigate
the subjects, there need be no fear as to their conclusion.

The Democratic party — as the party of the people, op-
posed to selfish schemes, which ignore the public good, and
pledged to the interests of all their countrymen instead of
furtherance of the interests of the few who seek to pervert
governmental powers for their enrichment — was never nearer
to its fundamental principles than it was in its contests for
tariff reform.

It certainly adds to the satisfaction with which we labor
in this cause to be assured that in our efforts we not only
serve our party, but all the people of the land.

205

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

^Address 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 oppor-
tunity 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-mak-
ing stage of this entertainment. I recognize in this favor
the utmost kindness, based, I have no doubt, upon your
knowledge of physical and mental conditions. You evidently
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 wliich exists between the professions
of medicine and law. At any rate I am quite proud in the
assumption 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-satisfac-
tion 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 moral-

206

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

ity, 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 representatives not engaged in active prac-
tice, 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 re-
tirement and seclusion.

Perhaps, in passing, I might also say with bated breath
that it is sometimes broadly hinted that even the clergy occa-
sionally 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 mod-
esty, and to introduce the declaration that I am prepared
now and here to disavow with you the claim of any special
goodness or 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
despitefully use us.

I have no doubt that it is very funny for people to cari-
cature doctors as playing into the hands of undertakers, and
to represent 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 people who have no lawsuits 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 re-
spectful 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 lawsuit they sit like
Mordecai at the lawyer's gate and are unwilling that he

207

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 indicating 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 lawsuit cannot be saved.
In such a case we must not overlook a difference in our situ-
ations, 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 swear-
ing at the Court, but also with full capacity to swear at his
lawyer. The defeated patient, on the contrary, is very
quiet indeed and can only swear at his doctor if he has left
his profanity in a phonograph to be ground out by his ex-
ecutor.

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 dangerous 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 desires. So the lawyer, safe and

208

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

wise when he counsels others, deals so poorh'^ with his OAm
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 for a lawyer to draw his own will in such
manner as not to yield a passage through it for a coach
and four

Anct'ier point of resemblance between the two profes-
sions consists in the disposition of the members of both to
quarrel with each other. I am bound to say, however, that
a difference 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 baseless 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 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 quar-
rel in squads, in sections, 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
acknowledgment of certain obligations we, as lawyers, often
OAve to the medical fraternity. ^\Tien, burdened with a trou-
blesome case, we feel that the facts are against us ; when we

209

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

languish in the chill darkness of adverse legal principles;
and when discouragement broods over our efforts, if we can
bring from afar and inject into our cause some question of
medical science, our drooping lawsuit immediately becomes
animated and interesting, for we know that whatever our
theory may be concerning this medical question, we shall
find generous and considerate 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 foimd
that culture and enlightened education which make them
learned professions ; and in both are found that dignity, in-
tegrity, and devotion which entitle them to be called honor-
able professions. Our membership should lead us to acknowl-
edge the responsibilities to our fellow-men, which our situa-
tions impose, and our obligation to our country, which we can-
not innocently evade. May I not suggest that our entire duty
is not done if we never look beyond our professional routine,
and if we limit our endeavor to strictly professional labor?
If our positions give us influence, that influence should be
exerted in every direction for the good of our fellow-country-
men. There are also maladies 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.

210

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Address before the Southern Society of New
York, February 22, 1890, in response to the
toast " The Birthday of George Washing-
ton."~\

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 accu-
mulates 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 es-
tablishes holidays. So far as such days might commemorate
the existence or achievements of some conspicuous personage,
their infrequency may be largely attributed to our demo-
cratic spirit and the presumption arising from our institu-
tions. In this land of ours — owned, possessed, 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 acknowledged 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
the other the man was born whose mission it was to redeem
the American people from bondage and dependence and to

211

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

display to the world the possibility of popular self-govern-
ment.

It would be strange, indeed, if this day should ever be
neglected by our fellow-countrymen. It would be like a
nation's blotting out the history which cements its govern-
mental 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 un-
selfish 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
characteristic 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 in-
duce 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-

212

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 sen-
timentalist? 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 humian 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 situa-
tion when he adds :

It is substantially true that virtue or morality is a necessary spring of
popular govermnent.

When did we outgrow these sentiments? When 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
character of Washington creates.

Most of all, because it includes all, we need a better ap-
preciation 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 attach-
ment born of benefits received or favors expected, but that

213

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

deep and sentimental love for our citizensliip which flows
from the consciousness that the blessing of Heaven was in-
voked at its birth ; that it was nurtured in the faith of God ;
and that it grew 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 draAvn to carve out American citizen-
ship, and his every act and public service was directed to its
establishment. He contemptuously spurned the oflfer of
kingly power, and never faltered in his hope to make most
honorable the man who could justly call himself an Amer-
ican.

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 en-
feeble 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 patriotism more than any appellation derived from any local discrimi-
nations.

In an evil hour, and amid rage and resentment, the warn-
ing of Washington was disregarded and the unity of our
government 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

214

OF G R O V E R CLEVELAND

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 \Yash-
ington.

As we commemorate his birth to-night, we will invoke
his precious influence and renew our patriotic and disinter-
ested love of country. Let us thank God that he has lived,
and that he has given to us the highest and best example of
American citizenship. And let us especially be grateful
that we have this sacred memory, which spanning time,
vicissitude, and vmhappy alienation, calls us together in sin-
cere fellowship and brotherly love on " The birthday of
George Washington."

I Address 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. I gladly
join, with the enthusiasm of a new convert, in the felicita-
tions of those who have done noble and effective work in the
establishment and maintenance in our city of a free circu-
lating library; and it seems to me they have abundant cause
for congratulation in a review of the good M'hich has already
been accomplished through their efforts, and in the contem-
plation of the further usefulness which awaits their contin-
ued endeavor.

In every enlightened country the value of popular educa-
tion is fully recognized, not only as a direct benefit to its

215

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

recipients, but as an element of strength and safety in or-
ganized society. Considered in these aspects, it should no-
where be better appreciated than in this land of free insti-
tutions, consecrated to the welfare and happiness of its
citizens, and deriving its sanction and its power from the
people. Here the character of the people is inevitably im-
pressed upon the government, 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
demonstrated 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 situation in life and fit them to take part intel-
ligently in the conduct 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 prof-
itable return to the state, when its beneficiaries shall repay
the educational 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 them-
selves to assume in the future their political obligations,
there are others upon whom these obligations 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 per-
haps 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 op-
portunity of gaining that additional knowledge and informa-

216

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

tion which can only be secured by access to useful and in-
structive 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 whicli 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 tesCch the young to read so that, both as
children and as men and women, they may read. Our teach-
ing 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 val-
uable.

Therefore, the same wise policy and intent which open
the doors of our free schools to our young also suggest the
completion of the plan thus entered upon, by placing books
in the hands of those who, in our schools, have been tauglit
to read.

A man or woman who never reads and is abandoned to
unthinking torpor, or who allows the entire mental life to be
boimded by the narrow lines of a daily recurring routine of
effort for mere existence, cannot escape a condition of bar-
renness of mind which not only causes the decay of individ-
ual 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.
It is not only of great importance that our youth and our
men and women should have the ability, the desire, and the
opportunity to read, but the kind of books they read is no
less important. Without guidance and without the invita-
tion and encouragement to read publications which will im-
prove as well as interest, there is danger that our people

217

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 imag-
inary 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
deprivation 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 doubt-
ful moral tendency, is herself in the way of becoming frivo-
lous and silly, if not of weak morality. If she escapes this
latter condition, she is almost certain to become utterly im-
fitted to bear patiently the burden of self-support, or to as-
sume the sacred duties of wife and mother.

Contemplating these truths, no one can doubt the impor-
tance 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 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.

218

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 con-
stantly 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
having the ability and inclination to read are unable to fur-
nish themselves with profitable and wholesome books, amply
justify the beneficent mission of our Free Circulating Li-
brary. 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 authori-
ties and commend it most fully to the support and gener-
osity of private benefaction.

The development which this good work has already
reached in our city has exhibited the broad field yet remain-
ing untouched, and the inadequacy of present operations. It
has brought to view also instances of noble individual philan-
thropy 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 nar-
row, 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
Circulating Library, and, while her people are much en-
grossed in business activity and enterprise, they have never

* '219

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 opera-
tion of the project you have in hand and the good it has
accomplished, 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 usefulness of free circulating libraries.

[Letter to J. A. Hill, Esq., Corresponding Sec-
retary of the Steubenville (O.) Lodge of
the Farmers' Alliance, New York, March
2A, 1890.1

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 in-
dorsed by any man who loves his country, who believes that
the object of our government should be the freedom, pros-
perity, and happiness of all our people, and who believes that
justice and fairness to all are necessary conditions to its
useful administration.

It has always seemed to me that the farmers of the coun-
try were especially interested in an equitable adjustment of
our tariff system. The indifference they have shown to that
question, 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

220

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

in cost by tariff regulations. Surely they have the right to
insist that this cost shall not be increased for the purpose of
collecting unnecessary revenue or to give imdue advantage
to domestic manufactures. The plea that our infant in-
dustries need the protection which thus impoverishes the
farmer and consumer 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 con-
ditions 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
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.

[Address at the Piano and Organ Manufacture
ers' Banquet, New York, April 2 A, 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 "

221

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

is very commonly used; and the furtherance of these in-
dustries is claimed to be the patriotic purpose of those
in both political parties who lead in such thought and
discussion.

Thus it happens that the announcement of " Our Amer-
ican 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 re-
form. 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 par-
ticular 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 vastness of my subject. It embraces the toil of the pio-
neer in the far West, the most delicate operations of manu-
facture, the most pronounced triumphs of art, and the most
startling results 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 "
suggests ?

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

222

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
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 manufactur-
ing 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 sol-
emnly 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 repre-
senting one of our industries which, so far as I know, is not
infected 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 wlio 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

223

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 en-
titled " A History of the American Pianoforte," which I
shall read with much interest.

In glancing through it my eye fell upon a passage which
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 institu-
tions of this country, in so far as they promote mental freedom, have a
stimulating and immediate influence upon the inventive faculties of per-
sons 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 Ameri-
can 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.

224

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

For it, 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.

W^hen the family circle is broken and its members are scat-
tered, Eappy is the son or daughter who can place among his
or her household goods the old piano.

[Letter to F. A. Herwig, President of the Ken-
sington Reform Club of Philadelpliiaj New
York, 3Iay 9, 1890.]

My Dear Sir: I desire through you to thank the Ken-
sington 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
Sd of June.

The terms in which the invitation is expressed convince
me that the question of tariff reform is receiving the atten-
tion 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 adjustment will be emphatically denied; that our
workingmen and our farmers will continue to agitate this
and all other questions involving their welfare with in-
creased zeal, and in the light of increased knowledge and

225

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

experience, until they are determined finally and in accord-
ance with the American sentiment of fair play.

I use no idle form of words when I say that I regret my
engagements and professional occupations will not permit me
to meet the members of your club on the occasion of their
mass meeting. I hope that those who are fortunate enough
to participate will find it to their profit, and that the meet-
ing will in all respects be a great success.

[Letter to John A. Holman, Indianapolis, Sec-
retary of the Monument Committee, Mariofi,
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 1st 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
distinguished 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 commemora-
tion 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 invi-
tation.

226

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Letter to Abraham B. Tappan, Grand Sachem
of the Tammany Society, 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 arrogant 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

227

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

badge of their freedom and independence, as well as their
security for continued prosperity and happiness.

They will not revolt against their plan of government, for
its protection and preservation supply every inspiration of
true Americanism. But because they are free and inde-
pendent American citizens, they will, as long as their love
and veneration for their government shall last, revolt against
the domination of any political party which, intrusted with
power, sordidly seeks only its continuance, and which, faith-
lessly violating its plain and simple duty to the people, in-
sults them with professions 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 country-
men are brave and therefore generous; they are strong and
therefore confident, and they are honest and therefore im-
suspecting. 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 neces-
sity on their part of a vigilant watchfulness of their rights
and a jealous exaction of honest and imselfish performance
of public duty.

[^Address 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

22B

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 con-
cerning dog-day politics and politicians, which I left behind
me, I 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 Ireland." 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 Coimty
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
meantime I declare my intention to be a good neighbor. No
quarrels can arise over my line fences, for I have none. I
keep no chickens, and my cattle do not run at large. I sup-
pose 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

229

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

encouragement in this particular locality. Notwithstanding,
however, m)-^ positive knowledge that the large majority of
my new neighbors are in a sad state of delusion politically, I
shall not quarrel with them on this subject, nor permit my-
self to become a political scold. I must be peaceful and
neighborly, even if I see my neighbors go to political de-
struction before my eyes. Besides, I think there are pru-
dential 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 per-
fectly well that I have politically fallen among those who
are too many for me, and that only my own peacefulness or
many conversions to my side in Barnstable County can se-
cure my immunity from being stripped of my political rai-
ment 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 hon-
est enough to follow where they lead. We shall thus ele-
vate 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 securing to ourselves and our fellow-
countrymen the happiness and prosperity due to all of us
Tinder a free government by the people. If our political en-
deavor is thus directed, we shall rid ourselves of the blind-
ness and bigotry which accept unreasoning party association
as a sufficient guide to political action, and which count the
spoils of partisan success the sole object of political strug-
gle. So, though we may differ in party affiliation, if we
thoughtfully and sincerely believe and act, we may still be
the best of neig;hbor3, bound together bj' an unselfish willing-

'230

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

ness 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 tlie lesson of
the parable with which I began. It teaches that a neighbor
is not necessarily one whose residence is near, and that kind-
ness and consideration make men neighbors. The Samari-
tan 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 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 fortxme in
being an almost fully fledged resident of Cape Cod and
Barnstable County, I prize my home here so much that I
actually 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 peojDle do not flock hither and attempt to take
possession of all our domain in true Oklahoma style. Let
us look for a moment at some of our suburbs and surround-
ings. 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 permit its children to dam-
age our cranberry bogs. Though we know that the Pilgrims
landed in Barnstable County, we see fit to maintain Plym-
outh 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

231

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 localities.
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 delightful healthful-
ness of our climate is so perfect that the practice of medicine
is the one occupation which never thrives. Recreation in
every sensible and wholesome variety crowds upon us, and,
free from vain and distracting care, we enjoy with thank-
fulness the peace and quietude which here have their abid-
ing-place.

With a heart full of gratitude for the cordiality and con-
sideration which you have at all times extended to me, I
have, with the utmost sincerity, attempted to demonstrate
my appreciation of all I enjoy among you, and to approve
myself in your sight as worthy to be admitted to free fellow-
ship 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 association and without severe condemna-
tion, be content with them and the companionship which
they impose, though such companionship be undesirable.
But when, after mature deliberation and in full view of the
importance and significance of his choice of neighbors, he
chooses an abode with complete knowledge of those by whom
he is to be surrounded, the adage I have quoted should be
applied to him with the utmost strictness. I have only to

232

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

add that so far as my case is related to the people of Barn-
stable 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 mak-
ing me the recipient of the greatest honor that can be be-
stowed upon any man; but what I remember most vividly
in connection with the great office of President is its respon-
sibilities 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 naturally supposed to attach to
high and exalted place. I am led to mention in this con-
nection, as a spur to official labor and as a sign of political
health, the watchfulness of the people and their exactions
from their chosen representative to whom they have con-
fided 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 con-
duct of public servants.

It has always seemed to me that, beyond the greatness of
the office and the supreme importance of its duties and re-
sponsibilities, the most impressive thing connected with the
Presidency is the fact that after its honor has been relin-
quished, 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 people, to resume at their side
the ordinary duties which pertain to everyday citizenship.

233

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Here, he is, or should be, subject to the same rules of
behavior which apply to his fellow-countrymen, and should
be accorded the same fair and decent treatment, 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-
Presidents ought to occupy, or the disposition which should
be made of them. Of course the subject would be relieved
of all uncertainty and embarrassment if every President
would die at the end of his term. This does not seem, how-
ever, to meet the views of those who under such an arrange-
ment 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 utiliza-
tion or disposition.

A very amusing class among these anxious souls make us
useful by laying upon our shoulders all sorts of political
conspiracies. If they are to be believed, we are constantly
engaged 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 popular liberty and utterly uproot our free Ameri-
can institutions. Others seem of the opinion that we should
be utilized 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 express 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 greatly disturbed 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 Amer-
ican people are, as usual, sound and sensible. They are self-

234

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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-Presidents, will gladly adopt, and these conditions
we can well afford to accept. In conclusion I desire to ex-
press the confident opinior, 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 Barnstable County. They are sure to
receive here all the Cape Cod hospitality and friendly treat-
ment 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 occa-
sion affords me chiefly consists in the cordiality with which
you have greeted me as your neighbor.

[Letter to John P. Adams, Brooklyn, N. Y,,
September 12, 1890.]

Dear Sir: It seems but a very short time ago that I par-
ticipated in the laying of the corner stone of the building
now ready for occupancy, and I recognize in the vigor with
which it has been pushed to completion the most gratify-
ing evidence of the zeal and sturdiness of your Democratic
organization.

235

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

The Kings County Democracy should certainly be con-
gratulated upon the possession of such beautiful headquar-
ters in a building whose name suggests the true Democratic
faith. In the Thomas Jefferson there should be found no r
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 main-
tain those principles of Jeffersonian Democracy, as old as
the Nation, which, if steadfastly upheld and honestly ap-
plied, are certain to insure the felicity and prosperity of our
coiintry.

[Address as Chairman of the Democratic Rati-
fication Meeting in the Cooper Union, New
York, October 9, 1891.]

My Fellow-Citizens : I acknowledge with much satisfac-
tion the compliment paid me by my selection as your presid-
ing 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 organization, should be subject to their serious con-
sideration.

If I may be indulged a few moments I shall occupy that
much of your time in presenting some suggestions touching
the condition and responsibilities of the Democracy to the
people of the country, and the obligations and duty at this
jjarticular time of the Democracy of our State.

The Democratic party has been at all times by profes-
236

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

sion and by tradition, the party of the people. I say by
profession 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 when we have been unusually aroused to a lively appre-
ciation 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 stupendous
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.

We 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
shameless 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
j eopardy.

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 legisla-
tion.

We saw waste and extravagance raiding the public treas-
237

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

ury, and justified in official places, while economy in gov-
ernment expenditures was ridiculed by those who held in
trust the people's money.

We saw the national assemblage of the people's repre-
sentatives transformed to the mere semblance of a legisla-
tive assembly, by the brute force of a violently created ma-
jority and by unprecedented arbitrary rulings, while it was
jeeringly declared, by those who usurped its functions, to be
no longer a deliberative body.

Then it was that the Democratic party, standing forth
to do determined battle against these abuses, which threat-
ened 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 country-
men been more completely demonstrated, and never has the
irresistible 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 domination of that body, will fill hardly more than
one-fourth of its seats. Democratic Governors occupy the
enemy's strongholds in Iowa, Massachusetts, Ohio, Wiscon-
sin, and Michigan. In Pennsylvania, the election of a
Democratic Governor presented conclusive proof of Repub-
lican corruption exposed and Republican dishonesty de-
tected.

But with all these results of a just and fearless Demo-
cratic 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 imdertook their cause.

I do not forget that we are gathered together to ratify
238

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

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 plat-
form of the National Democracy.

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 may be 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 govern-
ment ; but it does not follow that it is wise to regard matters
of national concern as entirely foreign to the pending can-
vass, and especially 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 wrongdoing.

Those who act with us merely because they approve the
239"

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

present position of the National Democracy and the reforms
we have undertaken, and who oppose in national affairs Re-
publican policy and methods, and who still think the State
campaign 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, consti-
tute a large factor in the party which, still far from harm-
less, seeks to perpetuate all the wrongs and abuses of Repub-
lican rule in national affairs. Though they may strive to
appear tame and tractable in a State campaign, they but dis-
semble to gain a new opportunity for harm.

In the present condition of affairs it is not to be sup-
posed that any consistent and thoughtful member of the
Democratic organization can fail to see it his duty to engage
enthusiastically 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 business 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 admin-
ister the great office, to which he will be called, indepen-
dently, 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.

With these incentives and with these purposes in view, I
cannot believe that any Democrat can be guilty of lukewarm-
ncss or slothfulness.

OF GRO\'ER CLEVELAND

With a party united and zealous; with no avoidance of
any legitimate issue; with a refusal to be diverted from the
consideration of great national and State questions to the
discussion of misleading things; and, with such a presenta-
tion of the issues involved as will prove our faith in the
intelligence of the people of the State, the result cannot be
doubtful.

[Address at the Ratification Meeting, Brooklyn,
N. v., October 14, 1891.']

My Fellow-Citizens : It docs 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 Democ-
racy of Kings County have been in times past repeatedly
manifested toward me and are remembered with constant
gratitude. There was, therefore, a potent and palpable rea-
son why I should not decline an invitation 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 assemblage 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
may be a controlling factor, is, of itself, sufficient to enlist
the activity of every man entitled to claim a place in Demo-
cratic coimcils. Besides this, the failure on the part of the
Democracy of the State to emphasize further its support of
the reforms to which the National Democracy is pledged, we
must all confess would be a party humiliation.

211

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 Democ-
racy of New York.

The party we oppose, resting upon no fundamental prin-
ciples, sustaining a precarious existence upon distorted sen-
timent, 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
blandishments and which refuses to be led away by its mis-
representations. Thus, in its national management and meth-
ods it boldly seeks to thwart the intention of voters, if they
are Democratic, and to stifle the voice of the people, if they
speak in Democratic tones. I am sure it is not necessary to
remind you in proof of this of the latest effort of our oppo-
nents at Washington 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
Amei'ican freedom of suffrage was saved and constitutional
rights preserved through the combined efforts of a Demo-
cratic Senatorial minority splendidly led and grandly sus-
tained.

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
attitude 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 proclivities that characterize the party in national
affairs, it is readily found. Under the positive requirements

242

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

of our State Constitution an enumeration of the inhabitants
of the State should have been made in 1885, and the Sena-
torial and Assembly districts newly adjusted in accordance
with such an enumeration. 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 Democratic voters, would
be entitled to a larger representation in the legislature than
they now have, while the existing adjustment is a very com-
fortable 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 mem-
bers of assembly were elected, while the defeated party
elected 78. In 1886 our majority was nearly 8000, but only
54 Democratic 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 assem-
blymen, while the defeated party secured 71. In 1890 we
carried the State on the congressional vote by more than
75,000 majority, and yet elected but 68 members of assem-
bly to 60 elected by the party so largely in the minority.

Whatever 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

243

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 prof-
ited 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 en-
titled, nor will the Democratic party soon have so good a
chance to rectify 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 ef 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 congressmen to
thirteen elected by the Democrats, while in 1882, though
the Democratic 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
congressional districts made in 1883, by a Democratic legis-
lature and approved by a Democratic Governor, may well be
referred to as an illustration of Democratic fairness. In the
election of 1884, the first lield under the new arrangement,
our national ticket carried the State by a small majority, but
the congressional delegation was equally divided between the
parties. In both the elections of 1886 and 1888, though the
Democratic State ticket was elected by moderate majorities,

244

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

our opponents elected nineteen congressmen, while only
fifteen were secured by the party having the 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 con-
gressmen 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
adjustment. 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
vmusually exemplified. Let me remind you that no Demo-
cratic 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 political 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 Demo-
cratic 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 contrib-
uted to places of trust in its government and administration
the intelligence, fidelity, and ability of your fellow-towns-

245

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

man who soon retires from the chief magistracy of your city;
and I will stifle my complaint that, in selecting his successor,
you have recalled a recent and most valuable contribution to
the cause of Democracj^ 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 finan-
cial principles in the platform which the Democracy presents
to the voters of the State, which leaves no room to doubt our
insistance 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.

{^Address 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 speak a word of greeting to the representa-
tives 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
political action of the people of our State at the coming elec-
tion, 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.

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
professional men in official places, the people "would posi-
tively 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 per-
sonal and especial interests. They may labor and plan in
their counting houses or in their Exchanges, but, in the mean-
time, 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 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

247

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 Avith
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 adjust-
ment 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 cur-
rency, 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 eco-
nomical administration of State affairs and the numerous
other subjects having reference to a just, honest, and benefi-
cent 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
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 op-
ponents present to the people are baseless and absurd.

248

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

But it seems to me the argument 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
government. 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 ques-
tions 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 mislead-
ing 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 imconcealed
contempt of those partisans who had duped them for the
purpose of thus gaining a party advantage not otherwise
possible.

In conclusion, I desire to disclaim any fear that the busi-
ness men of New York can be thus deluded. They will not
only 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

249

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

they are asked by the Democratic party to support ex-
pressly 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 especially 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 advancement of business interests.

{^Address in Tremont Temple, Boston, Mass.,
October 31, 1891.']

My Fellow-Citizens : I should be quite uncomfortable at
this moment if I supposed 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 Com-
monwealth. I hope it is not necessary to remind you that,
by virtue of a sort of initiation which I have recently under-
gone, 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 surroundings, 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 duty and
mission are not only to do the work which his relations to his

250

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

fellow-men impose upon him, but to api^reciate the things
"which the goodness of God supplies in nature for man's
delight. While, 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 delight-
ful sentiment 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-satis-
fied 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
3'ou that the people of Massachusetts have in their keeping
certain precious things which they hold in trust for all their
countrymen. 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 coun-
try has by no means been limited to the actual share she and
her representative men have taken in governmental manage-
ment. Her stake in the creation and the development of our

251

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

country 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 information of her population have made such dis-
cussion intelligent and forceful. Her schools and her insti-
tutions of learning have sent to all parts of the land young
and thoughtful men, imbued Vi'ith sentiments and opinions
not learned in their books, \\lien her feeling has been most
aroused she has challenged the respect of the country be-
cause, though uncompromising, 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
American greatness ; that Webster, though he loved freedom
and hated slavery, never consented to the infringement of
constitutional rights, even for the sake of freedom ; that,
though his love for Massachusetts was his consuming senti-
ment, he emphatically declared that in the discharge of pub-
lic 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
Sumner — the great Senator who unhesitatingly braved Ex-
ecutive 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

252

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

Massachusetts have of late been represented in both houses
of Congress, and if you thus find an unpleasing contrast, it
is for you to say whether you are satisfied ; but, if this feel-
ing and sentiment, genuine and unperverted, ought to bear
the fruits of conciliation and trust among our countrymen,
the avoidance of unnecessary irritation, and the abandonment
of schemes which promise no better result than party su-
premacy through forced and unnatural suffrage, there cer-
tainly 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 constantly 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 Amer-
ican fraternity based upon mutual faith and confidence, and
in restoring and reviving that unity and heartiness of aim
and purpose upon which alone our national hope can securely
rest.

We have fallen upon a time when especial interest is
aroused among our people in subj ccts which seem to be vital
to the welfare of the country. Our consumers, those of
moderate means and the poor of tlie land, are too much
neglected in our national policy; their life is made too hard
for them, and too much favor is sliown to pampered manu-
facturers 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 thoughtful 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 con-
fess that my belief is confirmed by the verdict of the people

253

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

cf Massachusetts. When I see the old Common-vvealth break
away from party trammels in aid of right and honesty, when
I see a majority of her last elected representatives in Con-
gress chosen to enforce the principles we profess, and when
I see her put at 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, fol-
lowing the lead of Massachusetts, 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 country'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 Higginson and Pierce and
Eliot and Hoar and Codman and Williams — giving proof
that the people's cause has touched the conscience of Massa-
chusetts.

The hearts of patriotic men in many States are warmed
with gratitude for the strong and able young men your
Commonwealth 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 en-
thusiasm its best representative at the head of your State
government, and those who love true Democracy have re-
joiced 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 recog-
nize the faithful services of their young Governor and the
manner in which he has upheld the dignity and honor of

254

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 steadfastness in the
Democratic cause. Th.ey look to you to give to the national
Democracy and the cause of the people, which it has in
charge, the powerful aid of the still awakened conscience of
Massachusetts.

Democrats of Massachusetts — men of Massachusetts —
which shall your response be?

[Letter to John McConvill, Esq., New York,
November 11, 1891.]

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 commem-
orate.

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 pur-
poses had their rise so completely in patriotism, and his un-
selfish love for his countrymen was so conspicuous and dis-
interested, that the reverence and devotion due to the mem-
ory 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.

255

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Address at the Thurman Birthday Banquet,
Columbus, O.J, November 13, 1890.1

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 com-
missioned 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 reno-vvn cannot be limited in ownership to the neigh-
bors and friends of any locality. We contest every exclusive
pretension to his fame and greatness, because he is a neigh-
bor 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 coun-
trymen.

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 states-
manship, the most unyielding and disinterested devotion to
the interests of the people, and the most valuable achieve-
ments in the cause of our country's welfare, all of which
have been stimulated and accomplished through the influence
and impulse of true, unperverted, sturdy Americanism. We
rejoice in the example afforded on this occasion of genuine
American 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 use-
fulness and fame.

256

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 indi-
vidual character of the subject; the splendor which dazzles
the popular eye and distracts the attention from abuses and
stifles discontent; the schemes of conquest and selfish ag-
grandizement 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 accom-
panied with the conditions that they should love their coun-
try, that they should jealously guard and protect its inter-
ests and fair fame, and that all the intelligence with which
they are endowed should be devoted to an imderstanding 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 comitry, 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-
tories of governmental power, and which has furnished the
surest guarantee of the strength and perpetuity of the re-

aKrf

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

public, has its source in the American home. Here our
patriotism 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 wholesome atmosphere of uncomplaining frugal-
ity 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 perma-
nency of its institutions depends upon its homes.

I have spoken of frugality and economy as important fac-
tors 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 econ-
omy. 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 econ-
omy within the homes of our people, and when the expendi-
tures of the government are reckless and wasteful, we may
be sure that something is wrong with us, and that a condi-
tion 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-

258

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

tion of their government; and when they are borne do^vn
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 re-
ligious convictions, 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, defi-
antly 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 merchandise
means cheap men, and cheap men mean a cheap country,"
we indignantly repudiate such an interpretation of Ameri-
can sentiment.

And when another one, high in party councils, who has
become notorious as the advocate of a contrivance to per-
petuate partisan supremacy by outrageous interference with
the suffrage, announces that the " cry for cheapness is un-
American," we scornfully reply that his speech does not
indicate the slightest conception of true Americanism.

I will not refer to other utterances of like import from
similar sources. I content myself with recalling the most
prominent and significant. The wonder is that these things
were addressed by Americans to Americans.

What was the occasion of tliese condemnations of cheap-
259

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

ness, and what had honest American men and women done,
or what were they likely to do, that they should be threat-
ened with the epithets " cheap/' " nasty," and " im-Ameri-
can? "

It is hard to speak patiently as we answer these questions.
Step by step a vast number of our people had been led on,
following blindly in the path of party. They had been
filled with hate and sectional prejudice; they had been ca-
joled with misrepresentations and false promises; they had
been corrupted with money and by appeals to their selfish-
ness. All these things led up to their final betrayal to sat-
isfy the demands of those who had supplied the fund for
their corruption.

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 govern-
ment, was but a scheme to pay the debt incurred by the pur-
chase of party success, while it further increased the impov-
erishment of the masses.

The people were at last aroused and demanded an expla-
nation. They had been taught for one hundred years that
in the distribution of benefits their government should be
administered 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 encour-
aged, 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 sim-
plicity 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 coimtry-
men whom they held in veneration. And thus these unso-

260

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

phisticated Americans, unconscious of their wrong-doing, de-
manded 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 caxight in the act of
robbery and which was arraigned by the people for a viola-
tion of its trust, were forced by their sad predicament to a
desperate expedient. To attempt to reverse the current of
true Americanism and discredit the most honorable senti-
ments 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 nasti-
ness, and to practice economy and frugality was un-Amer-
ican.

Thus do we plainly see that when the path pointed out
by patriotisni and American citizenship is forsaken by a
party in power for schemes of selfishness and for unscrupu-
lous conspiracies for partisan success, its course inevitably
leads to unjust favoritism, neglect of the interest of the
masses, entire perversion of the mission of republican insti-
tutions, and, in some form, to the most impudent and out-
rageous 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
demoralization 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 he fully re-established. The noise of a recent political
revolution is still heard throughout the land; the people have
just demonstrated 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 ques-

261

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

tions concerning their rights and their welfare. They have
unmercifully resented every attack upon true American
manhood, and have taught party leaders that, though slow
to anger, they take terrible 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 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 Amer-
ican 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-niglit the tri-
umph of a Democratic principle for which he fought and
fell but two short years ago; and to complete our joy and
his, we are permitted to indulge in true Democratic enthu-
siasm over the steadfastness and devotion to its creed ex-
hibited 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 consequences, 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 occa-
sion, 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

262

OF G R O V E R C L E \^ E L A N D

them if we stifle conscience and duty by ignoble partisan-
ship; but we shall meet every patriotic expectation if, in
all we do, we follow the guidance of true and honest
Democracy, illumined by the light of genuine American
citizenship.

[Address at the Chamber of Commerce Banquet,
New York, November 18, 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 ex-
tended to me. I do not believe it would be fair for me to
disturb the contentment which ouglit 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 reci-
procity ; and that is where my trouble comes in. We have
been told that it would be a grand thing to have reciprocity
with Spanish-speaking people. Now, if it is good for Span-
ish-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

263

ADDRESSES AND PxYPERS

is worth two in the bush, and that, perhaps, if you had a
market, it might be well to cultivate it, instead of trying to
manufacture another.

We have heard that England and France have within a
few days rushed to our rescue in a financial way, prompted
thereto by the noble sentiment of reciprocity. If they are
so willing and glad to extend to us the hand of reciprocity
in financial matters, 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 insti-
tution; and I have prized that distinction very highly in-
deed, 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 undigested and indigestible speech brings over a
man. I have almost accomplished it to-night, and as prog-
ress 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 whicli are,
perhaps, easy to you, and though I have not reached that
stage when I can confidently come here without being called

264>

OF GROVER CLE\ELAND

upon to make a speech, I am glad to believe that the promise
is favorable.

I am very strongl)' tempted to say something in answer
to some remarks which my friend Depew made, but every-
body 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 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 perhaps 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, ac-
countability to the people of the country, and ambition, and,
Avhen I have done, I think you will agree with me, that per-
haps Mr. Depew was more to blame before the eyes of the
people than ]\Ir. 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 com-
pany, or something of that kind, and I was invited and went.
I was to make a speech. I prepared myself most elaborate-
ly, 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 occupied, and happy with the delusion that I
was doing something for the good of the State. Mr. Depew
arose — I shall repeat only what he said — and congratulated
those present that at last they had elected a Governor who
could do that most difficult of all things, make an after-
dinner speech. That made me very happy indeed. He sjjoke
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

265

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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
imagined, 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 statesmen whose name I have
no doubt rises to the lips of every man here present —
though it 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 statesmen, but subsequent events have
made me rather suspicious that at that moment our friend
was struck with a fit of extreme modestj'^. Doesn't that
excuse Mr. Springer? I think so. There was an adminis-
tration of the Federal Government with which I was con-
nected, and with which I had something to do — at all events,
I have been held to an accountability for all its shortcom-
ings— and I long ago made up my mind, that when the
opportunity came that I could do it without 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 selfishness 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 gen-
erous things, he said such complimentary things of me as
visited upon him, I am informed, the condemnation of mem-
bers 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

266

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 kind-
ness 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 with-
out 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 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 in-
crease in pleasure to those who are fortunate enough to be
their invited guests.

^Address at the Jewelers^ Association Animal
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 attemj^t 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 spontaneous-
ly 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

267

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 interpreter. 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 too narrow a limit upon the progress,
development, and greatness 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 countr^^, 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 declare
on every occasion, that America is the finest and the best
and the greatest countrj' 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

268

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

the pulpit. I, therefore, propose to say something about
the word " our " as related to the sentiment, " Our Coun-
try."

This is " our " country, because the people have estab-
lished it, because they rule it, because they have developed
it, because 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 school are
ours — to protect and defend, 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 cul-
tivate and encourage kindliness 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 ac-
corded an equal share in its benefits. It is so constructed
that its work is badly done and its operation perverted,
when special and exclusive advantages are awarded to any
particular class of our people. If we permit grasping self-
ishness 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 design-
ing 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 civiliza-

269

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

tion tliroughoiit the world imposes on us the duty of im-
proving the subject of our trust so that it may be trans-
mitted 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 Coun-
try " ; 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 sol-
emn meaning, our country is something which, as an exam-
ple and interpreter of freedom, belongs to the world, and
which, in its blessed mission, belongs to humanity.

[^Letter to the Young Men's Democratic Asso-
ciation of Canton, O., New York, Novem-
ber 25, 1890.1

Gentlemen: I thank you for the invitation I have just
received to meet with the members of the Yoimg Men's
Democratic Club at Canton to rejoice over the late Demo-
cratic 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 full 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 Democratic principles, but that suc-
cess was made possible by the co-operation of many who are

270

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

not to be considered as irrevocably and under all circum-
stances 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 country and untrue to the people.

We have still to convince them that Democracy means
something 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 Demo-
cratic 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 pur-
poses.

I do not say that there is danger of this ; but I am con-
vinced 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 super-
seding all that is ignoble and unworthy. In this way we
shall place our party on solid grmmd and confirm the people
in the hope that we strive for their welfare, and, following
this course, we shall deserve and achieve further success.

[Address in Response to tJie Toast, " The Cam-
paign of Education" Delivered at the Re-
form Club Dinner, New YorU, December
23y 1890.]

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

271

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

of the organization whose invitation brings us together to-
night. I may be permitted, I hope, to make this acknowl-
edgment as a citizen interested in all that promises the in-
creased prosperity of the country; and I shall also venture
to do so as a Democrat who recognizes, in the principle for
which the campaign has thus far proceeded, a cardinal and
vital doctrine of Democratic creed. If I thus acknowledge
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
indulgence in fairness and decency. I am, too, at all times
willing that the Democratic party should be enlarged; and,
as tending in that direction, I am willing to accept and ac-
knowledge in good faith honest help from any quarter when
a struggle is pending for the supremacy of Democratic
principles. Indeed, I have an idea that, in the campaign
of education, it was deemed important to appeal to the rea-
son and judgment of the American people, to the end that
the Democratic party 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.

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 purpose and, of course, subordinate and accessory to its
accomplishment, it became necessary, first of all, to arouse
the Democratic 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.

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 preju-
dice and selfish interests, into paths which avoided too much
the honest insistence upon definite and clearly defined prin-
ciple and fundamental Democratic doctrine. To be sure,
some earnest men in the party could but ill conceal their dis-
satisfaction with the manner in which cardinal principles
were relegated 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 g;ive 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,
courageous, devoted to its cause and heedless of discourage-
ment 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, bearing aloft the banner of tariff reform. If
any have wondered in the past at the tenacity and inde-
structibility of our party, their wonder should cease when,
in the light of the last three years, it is seen how gloriously it
springs to the front at the call of duty to the people, and in
obedience to fhe summons of party loyalty and obligation.

Thus tJie education of the campaign meant, as related to
the Democracy, its awakening in response to the signal for
its relurn to the propagandicm of Democratic doctrine.

27S

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 applied to those Avho were to be affected, must be con-
strued 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 Avith which they prepared
to meet and crush the issue presented, can fail to see how
useful a lesson has been taught them in our campaign of
education.

Within twent_y-four hours after the submission to Con-
gress of the question of tariff reform, sundry Senators and
Representatives belonging to the Rei^ublican party were re-
ported 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 remarkably 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 Avould carry this State by the largest majority ever
known if they could be given the platform proposed, the

274

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 Repub-
licans want nothing better with which to sweep the coun-
try," 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 " lie 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 thor-
oughly 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 re-
tirement from public life have suggested a modification of
his judgment, and caused him to suspect that j\Ir. Burchard
has at least one formidable 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 navigator has clambered off, and, in a frail bark, with

275

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the word " Reciprocity " painted on its stern, was last seen
hovering near, prepared to climb aboard again, or sail away,
as wind 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 discontented, short of provisions and of grog, are loudly
and angrily disputing as to whether bad seamanship or over-
loading is the cause of their wretched plight, while accusa-
tions of guilty responsibility 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 jus-
tified his course by declaring that he believed he had " wal-
loped saving grace into an impenitent soul."

Of course, we do not overlook the fact that before their
present predicament was reached, and in their first battle
with us, the enemy gained a victory over tariff reform. This
is confessed ; and we may here only refer to the methods by
which that victory was gained for the purpose of saying that
we tlioroughly 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 senti-
ment 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
mention another and a more important and gratifying fea-
ture of its progress. I refer to the manner in which access

276

OF G ROVER CLEVELAND

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.

The Democratic party is willing to trust the ordinary in-
telligence of our people for an understanding of its princi-
ples. It does not seat itself above the common feelings and
sympathies of humanity, and in an arrogant assumption of
superior learning formulate political doctrines suited only to
those favored with advanced educational opportunities. It
recognized the fact at the outset of the campaign of educa-
tion 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 occupa-
tions, and the consequent neglect of political subjects, and
partly to the rigidity of their party ties and their unques-
tioning 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 thej' 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 approached, 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 presentation of the impoverishment and distress of our

277

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 intimida-
tion, by selfish employers, of those dependent on them for
the wages of their toil.

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 imsubsidized 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 fel-
low-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 wel-
fare 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 selfishness is not easily overcome, and the hope of
private gain at the expense of the masses of our people is not

278

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

yet abandoned. It would be shameful, and a pitiable dis-
grace, if by over-confidence we should lose the groiund we
have gained, or if we should fail to push further our advan-
tage. The result of our labor thus far is, indeed, " a signal
tribute to the judgment of the American people." In full
faith in this judgment our work should continue upon the
lines thus far followed 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 wliere it has been
kindled let it be kept brightly burning, still showing the way
to better days for the people, and disclosing the plans of in-
sidious 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 de-
light us to remember every incident of discouragement as
well as of triumph in the i^eople'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."

\_Addirss in Response to the Toast: *' The Vrin-
dples of True Democracy" at the Banquet
of the Young Mens Democratic Associa-
tion, Philadelphia, January 8, 1891.~[

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 ray mind by the announcement of

279

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the words " True Democracy." I believe them to mean a
sober conviction or conclusion touching political 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 belief or creed are
such as imderlie our free institutions, and that they may be
urged upon our fellow-countrymen, because, in their purity
and integrity, 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 accept-
ance, 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 misconcep-
tions 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 prin-
ciples of true democracy.

These principles are not imcertain nor doubtful. The
illustrious founder of our party has plainly announced them.
They have been reasserted and followed by a long line of
great political leaders, and they are quite familiar. The}^
comprise: Equal and exact justice to all men; peace, com-
merce, and honest friendship with all nations — entangling
alliance with none ; the support of the State governments in
all their rights ; the preservation of the general government
in its whole constitutional vigor; a jealous care of the right
of election by the people ; absolute acquiescence in the deci-
sions of the majority; the supremacy of the civil over the
military authority; economy in the public expenses; the
honest payment of our debts and sacred preservation of the
public faith; the encouragement of agriculture, and com-
merce as its handmaid, and freedom of religion, freedom of
the press, and freedom of the person.

The great President and intrepid Democratic leader whom
280

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
inspiration 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, permitted him on his retirement to find satis-
faction in the declaration : " At the moment when I sur-
render my last public trust, I leave this great people pros-
perous 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 de-
stroys parties false to their trust.

Touched by thine
The extortioner's hard hand foregoes the gold
Wrung from the o'erwom 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
aggressive and prepared for heroic conflict. Not all who
have followed 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
coxmtry'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

281

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

could be tlie 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 vot-
ing 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 Jack-
son 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 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 sat-
isfaction in his Jacksonian Democracy.

Democratic steadfastness and enthusiasm, and the satisfac-
tion arising from our party history and traditions, certainly
ought not to be discouraged. But it is hardly safe for us be-
cause we profess the true faith, and can boast of distin-
guished political ancestry, to rely upon these things as guar-
antees of our present usefulness as a party organization, or
to regard their glorification 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
threatening 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 conditions and surroundings.

282

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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, wc
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 jDrofuse extravagance of the rich ; and when we
see in operation an imjust tariff which banishes from many
humble homes the comforts of life, in order that, in the pal-
aces of wealth, luxury may more abound, we turn to our
creed and find that it enjoins " equal and exact justice to all
men." , Then, if we are well grounded in our political faith,
we will not be deceived, nor will we permit others to be de-
ceived, by any plausible pretext or smooth sophistry excus-
ing the situation. For our answer to them all, we will point
to the words which condemn such inequality and injustice,
as we prepare for the encounter with 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 mismanage-
ment, 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
governmental care, we know that all this is far removed from
the " encouragement of agriculture " which our creed com-
mands. We will not violate our political duty by forgetting
liow 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 imdeserved
distribution of public money debauching its recipients, and

283

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 pas-
sage of a Federal law, with the scarcely denied purpose of
perpetuating partisan supremacy, which invades the States
with election machinery designed to promote Federal inter-
ference with the rights of the people in the localities con-
cerned, discrediting their honesty and fairness, and justly
arousing their jealousy of centralized power, we will stub-
bornly resist such a dangerous and revolutionary scheme, in
obedience to our pledge for " the support of the State gov-
ernments in all their rights."-.

Under anti-Democratic encouragement we have seen a
constantly increasing selfishness attach to our political af-
fairs. A 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 inter-
ests, through their willing agents in public place. Such an
abandonment of the idea of patriotic political action on the
])art of these interests, 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.
j\Ioney is invested in the purchase of votes with the deliber-
ate 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 De-
mocracy 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

284

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

the rectification of this terrible wrong. To fail in such sup-
port would be to violate that principle in the creed of true
Democracy which commands " 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 in-
timidation 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 institu-
tions, 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 peo-
ple's suffrage. In any event the Democracy of the State can
find no justification in party principle, nor in party tradi-
tions, 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 condi-
tions. 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 tlie words of the sen-
timent 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. Tliere is sometimes a dis-
couraging distance between what our fellow-countrymen be-
lieve and what they do, in such a ease; but their action in
accordance with their belief may always be confidently ex-
pected 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 par-

285

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

ticipation by all the people in the management of their gov-
ernment, and in the benefit and protection 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 con-
sistent with his membership in a 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 persist-
ently coveted by the selfish and designing. It is right that
efficiency and honesty in public service should not be sacri-
ficed 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
imiversal among our countrymen. We are mistaken if we
suppose the time is distant when the clouds of selfishness
and perversion will be dispelled and their conscientious be-
lief will become the chief motive force in the political action
of the people.

I understand all these truths to be included in the prin-
ciples 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 political action, or if we have not always relied
sufficiently 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 honestly
presented. In the campaign which has just closed with such
glorious results, while party managers were anticipating the

286

OF GR.OVER CLEVELAND

issue in the light of the continued illusion of the people, the
people themselves and for themselves were considering the
question of right and justice. 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 apprehension of the moral attributes of political
doctrine, I believe that if these features of the principles of
true Democracy are persistently advocated, the time will
speedily come when, as in a day, the patriotic hearts of the
people of your great Commonwealth 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
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 re-
sponsibilities await the part}^ 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."

:s7

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Address at a Meeting to Demand New Leg-
islation Concerning the Adirondack Park^
New York, January 2A, 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 progress 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 de-
struction of the Adirondack forests was jeopardizing our
rivers as means of transportation, and that their preserva-
tion was essential to the health and comfort of future gen-
erations.

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
preserved for a park. Something of that sort was done or
attempted through an act providing for a forest commis-
sion, 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 ycu have heard; but, ladies and gentlemen, I hava

28S

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

been on the edge of another great waste^ on the margin of
anotlier 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 nie a rather discouraging one to attempt. I was
full of sympathy, but not full of hope. Its warmest support-
ers hardly dared to predict that their hopes would be real-
ized, yet they were realized, and I will tell you how.

If we had then gone to the Legislature with a bill asking
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 proj ect. 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.

289

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 preservation. I would propose that we have a committee
of 128 able-bodied citizens, each of whom shall go to Al-
bany, 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, 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
Commission. That is but right and cannot antagonize any-
body. We must not ask that somebody be given a license to
go into the Adirondack region and blow up all the destruc-
tive 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

290

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 ex-
changing for State lands, the region under preservation
would be so much larger. I believe that it would be per-
fectly feasible to frame a law, agreeable to these clubs, that
would give the State a right to protect, not a title to, pri-
vate preserves adjoining 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 indi-
vidual 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 ulti-
mately want, we must remember that a little done now is
worth a great deal in the future. I move the adoption of the
resolution as offered.

^Address at the Banquet of the National Asso-
ciation of Builders, New York, Februari/
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. Evi-
dence is thus furnis)ied of the ever present love and affec-

291

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

tion 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 behest. Subjects of other lands, less free than ours,
and those who owe obedience to governments further re-
moved from popular control, may boast of their country, in
a spirit of natural 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 enthusiasm Avhich 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 gen-
erously conceded to us, nor with admiration of monarchical
pomp and splendor. The words, " Our Country," suggest
to us not only a broad domain which is ours, but also a gov-
ernment which is ours, based upon our will, protected and
guarded by our Ipve and affection, vouchsafing to us freedom
limited only by our self-imposed restraints, and securing
to us, as our right, absolute and impartial justice.

When we consider the extensive growth of our country —
its cities and villages, and all the physical features which
contribute so much to give to it a foremost place in the civ-
ilization of the age — we are bound to acknowledge that the
builders 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 existed, have, like us, been largely indebted, for

292

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

the grandeur and magnificence of which they could boast, to
those belonging 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 character 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
liuman 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 con-
struction he, fortunately for us, followed them implicitly.
The gopher wood was fuj*nished, the ark was pitched within
and without, it was built three hundred 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, sec-
end, 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 finished in
a good and workmanlike manner and actually occupied,
seven days before the waters of the flood were upon the
earth. If a feeling like paralysis steals over us when a

5293

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

long account for extra work is placed before our affrighted
ej'^es, 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 build-
ers, that it m.ay 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 ambitious 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 contemplates, he ought to
receive more definite and trustworthy figures than those
frequently submitted to him. I am inclined to think, how-
ever, 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 inci-
dents of building contracts, it is quite apparent that the
buildings 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 builders 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

294.

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
recognizes 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 adop-
tion of effective precautions against accident and injury to
employees, and for some provision for such as are injured
or incapacitated for work. And all our people ought espe-
cially to appreciate the efforts of your association to aid in
the establishment of trade schools for the education and
improvement of apprentices. 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 palpa-
ble 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.

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 responsibil-
ities and duties which its possession imposes, and when it

295

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

is guided and controlled by a pure conscience and by
thoughtful, intelligent, 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
c difices 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
contract of citizenship, they join with all their fellow-
countrymen in building and finishing in beautiful propor-
tions, the grandest and most commanding of all earthly
structures — " Our Country."

[Address at the Democratic Club, New York,
April 13, 1891.']

Mr. President and Gentlemen: I desire, first of all, to ex-
press 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 indica-
tion of prosperity and enterprise supplied by its ownership
of this beautiful and commodious house. The maintenance
of such a center for the cultivation and dissemination of
true Democratic principles, together with the activity and
earnestness of members of the club, furnish the most grati-
fying 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

296

OF G ROVER CLEVELAND

party principles. This sensation is most agreeable — for I
am glad to be called a partisan if my partisanship is patri-
otic. 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 par-
tisan, so long as the Democracy is true to its creed and tra-
ditions, and so long as conditions exist which, to my under-
standing, make adherence to its doctrines synonymous with
patriotism.

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 inspir-
ing thing to know that by virtue of our party membership
we are associated with those who resist the attempt of arro-
gant 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 expendi-
tures, and who test party purposes by their usefulness in
promoting the interests and welfare of all the people of the
land.

These considerations furnish to those who love their coun-
try 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 gov-
ernment 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 prin-
ciples of that Democracy which was established by Thomas
Jefferson.

297

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

These principles were not invented for the purpose of
gaining 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 ambi-
tions, nor merely for the purpose of catching the suffrages
of the people. They were laid as deep and broad as the
truths upon which tlie 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 gro^vth and development.

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 shouting of partisan bigotry and the refusal to
receive converts to the faith. No man believed more implic-
itly in the political instruction of the people than the great
founder of our party; and the first triumph of Democratic
jorinciples, under his leadership, 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 sup-
port 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 confessed opponents, or whether
tliey are traitors skulking within our camp.

It seems to me that this is peculiarly a time when the
Democratic party should be mindful of its relations to the
country, of its responsibilities as the guardian of sacred prin-
ciples, and of its duty to a confiding people. In the rejoic-
ing which success permits, let us remember that the mission
of our party is continued warfare. We cannot accomplish

298

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

what we promise to the people if we allow ourselves to be
diverted from the perils which are still in our way. Blind-
ness to danger, and neglect of party organization and disci-
pline, are invitations to defeat. We cannot win permanent
and substantial success by putting aside principle and grasp-
ing after temporary expedients. We shall court disaster if
we relax industry in commending to the intelligence of our
countrymen the creed Avhich we profess ; and we tempt humil-
iating failure and disgrace when Ave 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 tlie birthday of the father of
Democracy, let us reinforce our Democratic zeal and enthusi-
asm and renew our faith and trust in the aroused intelli-
gence of our countrymen. Let the reflections prompted by
the surroundings of this occasion, confirm us in the assur-
ance that we shall patriotically discharge our political duty
and well maintain our party loyalty, if in all we do as Demo-
crats we bravely and consistently hold fast to the truths
which illumine the path laid out by our great guide and
leader.

[xiddress at the Celebration of the Semi-Ccn-
tennial of the German Young 3Iens Asso-
ciation, Buffalo, N. Y.J May 11, 1891.]

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: I am glad to
meet here to-night so many old friends and acquaintances,
and to join them in the felicitations which have called us
together. At this moment I recall with perfect vividness
another evening nearly eight years ago, when, in a beau-
tiful building standing on this spot and then just com-

299

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

pleted, we inaugurated with songs and rejoicing a grand
national Sangerfest. 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 assem-
blage from many States, representing their national love
of music; and, at the same time, were permitted to exhibit
to their visitors, as a monument of the enterprise and ac-
tivity 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, in-
volving the destruction of their splendid building, brought
no discouragement 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 courage 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 progress 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 chron-
icler of its history 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 cul-
tivation 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 associ-

300

OF G ROVER CLEVELAND

ation in the direction mentioned are most praiseworthy and
patriotic, such an undertaking can by no means be monop-
olized 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 triumphs 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 ex-
tent 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 associa-
tion undertakes to cultivate is so interwoven with all the
growth and progress of our country that wc have a right
to include it among the factors which make up a sturdy and
thrifty Americanism. With our early settlers came the Ger-
mans. They suited themselves to every condition of our
new world. Many of them fought for American indepen-
dence, and many, who in the trade of war came to iight
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
assimilated 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 constant routine of American work, while, at the
same time, they abundantly proved that reasonable recreation
was entirely consistent with wholesome and conservative ac-
cumulation. They were found in every part of our land.
Among the pioneers of the far West, they struggled against

301

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 per-
sistent industry. In our cities and towns they were found
in the front ranks of successful 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 uncer-
tainty, 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 bap-
tism 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 val-
uable 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 ori-
gin; 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

302

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

foster, and they are essential to our country's safety and
prosperity.

I hardly think there is any city in the land that should
appreciate the value of German population better than Buf-
falo. On every side, within your limits, are seen the evi-
dences of the thrift of your German fellow-townsmen and
monuments of their industry and enterprise. No one can
dispute their contribution to your immense municipal growth,
and you do well to recognize it in the selection of those
charged with the administration of your city government.
Even now there stands at its head, performing his duties ac-
ceptably to the entire community, one who has won his way
to the confidence of his fellow-citizens solely by the German-
American traits of honesty, industry, and economy. I know
that he will forgive mc for saying that when I knew him
first, not many years ago, he was occupying an honorable,
but very humble position, and gave no symptom of his pres-
ent prominence. I will not dispute the right of anyone to
call him a German; but I claim the satisfaction of also call-
ing this old friend of mine a first-rate American.

In the light of the suggestions I have made, it is a pleas-
ant 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 re-
sponsibility 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 government was made by the peo-

303

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

pie; and by the people it must be constantly watched and
maintained. Like every other mechanism it requires guid-
ance and care. Without this, like m.any 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 Associa-
tion contemplate the steadfast love of country which be-
longs to the German character, let them enforce the lesson
that this sentiment is absolutely essential to the strength
and vigor of American institutions. If they find that Ger-
man industry and frugalit}^ lead to national happiness and
comfort, let them insist that these cliaracteristics 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 tlie American people, let
them demand from the government which they support a
scrupulous redemption of its pledges.

As this association crosses the threshold which lies mid-
way in the first century of its existence, its members may
well recall Avith pride and congratulation what it has thus
far done for the promotion of a knowledge of German litera-
ture and the cultivation of German character; and, as they
enter upon the second half century of organized effort, tliey
should be more than ever determined to pursue these pur-
poses, not only because they may thus keep alive a fond re-
membrance of the Fatherland, but because they may thus,
in a higher, better spirit, aid in the cultivation of those sen-
timents which purify and strengthen a genuine and patriotic
Americanism.

304

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

I Address before the Commercial Club, Provi-
dence, R. J., June 27, 1891.]

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 enterprises, and that its ob-
ject 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,
Avithout 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-
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 conduct of those who make and execute our laws. Yet,
in business circles we find but few men who are willing to
forego their ordinary work to engage in the business of legis-
lation. Indeed this unfortunate condition has reached such
a pass that our business men think. and often speak of poli-
tics as something 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 interfer-
ence of business interests in politics, spurred on by a selfish
desire to be aided, especially and exclusively through legisla-
tive action. Such interference, based upon such motives, is

305

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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
heedlessness of the duty resting upon every one of us as
American citizens, to participate thoughtfully and intelli-
gently in the general 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 whole-
some general laws and honest administration. This interest
is represented by the share to which each of us is entitled,
in the aggregate of advantage which such laws and such
administration 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 rep-
resented in our national councils. If they fail in this they
will be governed by those who simply make a trade of poli-
tics. If it is well that our legislation be influenced by the
enlightened and practical business sense of the people, our
business men must see to it that those they trust are chosen
as their lawmakers. If thqy 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
concededly, is private and special, and which engrosses far

306

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

too much of the time and attention of our lawmakers. The
people 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 pri-
vate bills, in which their immediate neighbors are exclusively
interested, and which they feel they must be diligent in ad-
vancing, 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 gen-
eral legislation. Nor does the pernicious effect of such spe-
cial 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 legislative corruption;
and thus the people at large lose not only 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
outline of some of the palpably bad accompaniments of
legislation, 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

307

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

creates and fosters, that legislation may be invoked for the
securing of individual 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
preserves 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 sup-
ply abundant incentive to popular watchfulness of legisla-
tive and executive methods. In the light of these considera-
tions, 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 extent to which they hope to realize
such benefit and favoritism, our popular government is in
dangerous hands and its entire perversion is alarmingly im-
minent.

These perils are not alone chargeable to legislation which
is confessedly special and private. Measures of a general
character, and apparently proposed for the public good, fre-
quently originate in selfish calculations, or so completely sub-
serve in their details selfish plans, that they also tend toward
the fatal 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 tlie
cry of protection to American interests, nor pretended solici-
tude 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
selfisli motives and purposes which may be hidden behind
the proposal of such legislation.

309

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

It is quite time that our business men, and all American
citizens 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.

[Address at the Annual Banquet of the New
England Society of Brooklyn , N. Y., De-
cember 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 hereto-
fore 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
7\Iassachusetts, down to the day of my advent, all the Clcve-
lands from whom I claim descent were born in New Eng-
land. 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 imputation that my birth in New
Jersey constitutes me a foreigner and an alien; and I have

309

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

never been able to see any humor in the suggestion that my
native State is not within the Union. To my mind the regu-
larity with which she votes the Democratic 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 demonstrating
that my very early love for her is not extinguished.

Assuming that you agree with me that my birth in New
Jersey has not stamped me with indelible ineligibility, and
anticipating your demand for affirmative support of my qual-
ification 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 country on the ground that he had permitted
his wife's relatives to join the army. At anj'^ rate, it seems
to me that the claim I make is entirely valid, with no em-
barrassment connected with it, except the admission by infer-
ence 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 something which should be credited to
me upon my own account, the fact that I have lately demon-
strated my preference for New England and ray love for
that section of our country where my ancestors lived and
died, by establishing a summer home in the State of Massa-
chusetts.

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

310

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
glorification of the Pilgrims." This would be notice to those
consulting 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 there 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
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, hav-
ing an early origin in American soil, shoiild be best suited
to American life everywhere, and should be the best guaran-
tees 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 popu-
lation 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 distant and unbroken soil and impressed upon
these new creations 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 un-
mindful of the benefits to be reasonably expected from the
maintenance and spread of tliese influences, a thought is sug-
gested which has furtlier 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

311

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

will naturally illustrate, in a practical way, the value of
education and moral sentiment in the foundations of social
life and the value of industry and economy as conditions of
thrift and contentment. But these Pilgrims and their de-
scendants and all those who, with sincere enthusiasm, cele-
brate Forefathers' Day, will fail in the discharge of their
highest duty if, yielding to the temptation of any un-Amer-
ican 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 neg-
lect 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 population from other lands as promise assimilation
with our conditions and co-operation in our aims and pur-
poses. It does, however, mean the insistence that every
transfer of allegiance from another government to our own,
should signify the taking on at the same time of an aggres-
sive and affirmative devotion to the spirit of American in-
stitutions. 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 un-
derlie 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-exami-
nation and self-correction as shall fit us to illustrate and
teach the lessons of true Americanism. When we here recall
the landing of the Pilgrims, let us remember that they not

312

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

only sought " Freedom to worsliip 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 solici-
tude 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
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, de-
fending all, and blessing all.

[Address before the Business Mens Democratic
Association, New York, Januarif S, 189,^']

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 cele-
brate on this occasion results from the fact that it is an
organization attached to the doctrines of true Democracy,
having a membership com}X)sed of business men, who, in a
disinterested way, devote themselves to honest party work,
and who labor for the growth and spread of the political
principles which they profess.

This anniversary has not gained its place as a festival day
313

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

in the calendar of Democracy by chance or through unmean-
ing caprice; nor is it observed by the Democratic party
merely because a battle was fought on the 8th day of Janu-
ary, 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 commemora-
tion.

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 tlie
steadfast courage, the honesty of purpose and the sturdy
persistency which characterized the man, that we willingly
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 unquestioned exam-
ple of the spirit in which our work should be undertaken.

It may not be unprofitable for us, at this time, to recall
some incidents in the career of Andrew Jackson, and note
their bearing upon the position of our party in its present
relations to the people. We may thus discover an incentive

314

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

for the cultivation and preservation of that Jacksonian spirit
vv'hich ouglit to belong to Democratic effort.

When General Jackson was sent with troops to protect
our border against disturbers of the peace wliose retreat was
in the Spanish province of Florida, he notified our govern-
ment 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 bur-
dens 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 deter-
mination 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 re-
spond fully to them, we have been dishonored from the be-
ginning. If we accepted them in good faith, disgrace and
humiliation await us if we relax our efforts before the prom-
ised 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
opportunity to defeat them would be promoted.

We, who are proud to call ourselves Jacksonian Demo-
crats have boldly and aggressively attacked a political heresy
opposed to the best interests of the people and defended by
an arrogant and unscrupulous party. The fight is still on.

31/5

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Who has the hardihood to say that we can lay claim to the
least Jacksonian spirit if in the struggle we turn our backs
to the enemy, or lower in the least our colors ?

President Jackson believed 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 re-
gardless 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 com-
plete triumph, he allowed 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 witli the
name of Jackson, has also attacked a monstrous evil, in-
trenched 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 abandonment of unjust favoritism. We have
thus adopted an issue great enough to deserve the undivided
efforts of our party, involving considerations which, we pro-
fess to believe, lie at the foundation of the justice and fair-
ness of popular rule.

I f we are to act upon our declared belief in the power of
that Jacksonian spirit which Avas 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 steadfastness we need will not permit a prema-
ture and distracting search for other and perplexing ques-
tions, 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 wc have outgrown the Democratic spirit

316

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

of Jackson'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 way which seemed to
promise easier and 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 stubbornly, 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 dis-
honor that would follow their violation, all we have to con-
sider. 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 polit-
ical 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 justifica-
tion for timidity and faint-heartedness. But with the suc-
cess 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 hesita-
tion 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 sec-
tions 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
insincere professions.

317

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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, political finesse should not lead us to
forget that, at the end of our plans, we must meet face to
face at the polls the voters of the land, with ballots 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, intelli-
gent, and thoughtful people.

lAddress before the Students of the University
of Michigan, at Ann Arbor, February 22 ,
1892.1

Mr. President, Ladies and Gentlemen: Among the few
holidays which the rush and hurry of American 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 Amer-
ican 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 appropri-
ately honors herself and does a fitting public service by
especially providing for such an observance of the day as

318

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 profes-
sion, to know that the conduct of these exercises has been
committed 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 re-
lated to the enforcement and operation of the laws which
govern our people; and its members, 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 famil-
iarity with its history. Such study and familiarity should
be sufficient of themselves to increase a man's love of coun-
try; 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 living English statesmen, 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 coRSclidaticn, a wasting war, the long and severe priva-
tions and sufferings his countrymen had xmdergone 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

319

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 con-
vention 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 man-
agement of this celebration, it is entirely clear that the Uni-
versity 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 profes-
sional usefulness, may profitably 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 Washing-
ton's birthday, as lias been here established, 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 sliort of its attainable measure of use-
fulness 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 patriot-
ism. The college graduate may be, and frequently is, more
unpatriotic and less useful in public affairs than the man
who, with limited education, has spent the years when opin-
ions 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 generally a failure, it may well be due to the
fact that, during his formative period when lasting impres-

5£0

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

sions are easily received, his intellect alone has been culti-
vated at the expense of wholesome and well-regulated senti-
ment.

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
bargaining, 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 cher-
ishes the names and the deeds of heroes, and it worships at
the shrine of patriotism. 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 natu-
rally proud because its truth is attributable to the hard work
we have had to do ever since our birth as a nation, and be-
cause of the stern labor we still see in our way before we
reach oux* 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,
all those things which, in our view, do not directly and pal-
pably pertain to what we call, with much satisfaction, prac-
tical affairs, but which, if we were entirely frank, we should
confess might be called money-getting and the betterment
of individual condition. Growing out of this feeling, an in-
creasing 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 pur-
poses.

A little reflection ought to convince us that this may be
carried much too far. It is a mistake to regard sentimenl as

O AJ 1

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

merely something which, if indulged, has a tendency to tempt
to idle and useless contemplation or retrospection, thus
weakening 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 governmental 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 forgetfulness of oppression by a pre-
tense of love for their traditions; and the ruler who plans
encroachments upon the liberties of his people, shrewdly pro-
ceeds under the apparent sanction of their sentiment. Ap-
peals to sentiment have led nations to bloody wars which have
destroyed dynasties and changed the lines of imperial terri-
tory. Such an appeal summoned our fathers to the battle-
fields 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 government and the
perpetuity of our free institutions.

I have thus far spoken of a people's sentiment as some-
thing which may exist and be effective under any form of
government, and in any national condition. But the thought
naturally follows that, if this sentiment may be so potent in
countries ruled by a power originating outside of popular
will, how vital must its ezistence and regulation be among

322

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

our countrymen, wlio rule tlicmsclvcs and make and admin-
ister their own laws. In lands less free than ours, the con-
trol 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 govern-
ment 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 sen-
timent of our fathers, made up of tlicir patriotic intentions,
their sincere beliefs, their homely impulses and their noble
aspirations, entered into the government they established;
and, unless it is constantly supported and guarded by a sen-
timent 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 patriot-
ism, 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.

None of us can be ignorant of the ideas which constitute
the sentiment underlying our national structure. We know
they are a reverent belief 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 xmreserved
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

S23

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

these should be found deeply imbedded m the minds and
hearts of our countrymen. When any one of them is dis-
placed, the time has come when a danger signal should be
raised. Their lack among the people of other nations — how-
ever great and powerful they may be — can afford us no com-
fort 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 govern-
mental rule.

Let us not for a moment suppose that we can outgrow our
dependence upon this sentiment, nor that in any stage of
national advancement and development it will be less impor-
tant. 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 people — a sure hope and reliance in every phase of
our country's gro^vth. Nor will it suffice that the factors
which compose this sentiment have a sluggish existence in
our minds, as articles of an idle faith which we are willing
perfunctorily to profess. They must be cultivated as motive
principles, stimulating us to effort in the cause of good gov-
ernment, and constantly warning us against the danger and
dishonor of faithlessness to the sacred cause we have in
charge and heedlessness of the blessings vouchsafed to us
and future generations, 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 coun-
try's history. Such contemplation cannot fail to re-enforce
and revive the sentiment absolutely essential to useful Amer-
ican citizenship, nor fail to arouse within us a determination
that during our stewardship no harm shall come to the polit-
ical gifts we hold in trust from the fathers of the Republic.

324

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 recall-
ing— 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 boy-
hood have their value. I have no sympathy with those who,
in these latter days, attempt to shake our faith in the au-
thenticity of these stories, because they are not satisfied with
the evidence in their support, or because they do not seem to
accord with the conduct 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 all 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 dwelling upon the
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 Washington. 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

325

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

school advantages, because he found hope and incentive in
the high mission Washington accomplished with only a com-
mon school education. These are not little and trivial things.
They guide and influence the forces which make the charac-
ter and sentiment of a great people.

I should be ashamed of my country, if, in further speak-
ing of what Washington has done for the sentiment of his
countrymen, it was necessary to make any excuse for a ref-
erence to his constant love and fond reverence, as boy and
man, for his mother. This filial love is an attribute of
American manhood, a badge which invites our trust and con-
fidence, 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 ap-
proval, 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 devQtion 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 feeling of
the biographer, when he writes that the mother of Washing-
ton could only say of her son that she believed he would be
faithful to the highest earthly trusts, because he had been
good; nor that they will regard her words merely as an ami-
ably 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
institutions and scheme of government, goodness, such as
Washington's, is the best guarantee for the faithful discharge

326

OF G R O V E R CLEVELAND

of public duty. They will certainly do well for the country
and for themselves, 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 indis-
pensable credentials to political preferment.

I have referred only incidentally to the immense influ-
ence and service of Washington in forming our Constitu-
tion. 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 states-
manship as first 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 govern-
ment 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
American 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 decries of God are never obsolete.

I beg you, therefore, to take with you, when you go forth
to assume the obligations of American citizenship, as one of
the best gifts of your Alma Mater, a strong and abiding
faith in the value and potency of a good conscience and a
pure heart. Never yield one iota to those who teach that
these are weak and childish things, not needed in the strug-

327

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

gle of manhood "vvith 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 sentiment and principle, and whose
political activity consists in attempts to gain popular sup-
port 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 Washing-
ton lived, but are not suited to the present size and develop-
ment of our country and the progress we have made in the
art of political management. Be steadfast. The strong and
sturdy oak still needs the support of its native earth, and,
as it grows in size and spreading branches, its roots must
strike deeper in the soil which warmed and fed its first tender
sprout. You will be told that the people have no longer any
desire for the things you profess. Be not deceived. The
people are not dead but sleeping. They will awaken in
good time, and scourge the money-changers from their sacred
temple.

You may be chosen to public office. Do not shrink from
it, for holding office is also a duty of citizenship. But do not
leave your faith behind you. Every public office, small or
great, is held in trust for your fellow-citizens. They differ
in importance, in responsibility, and in the labor they impose;
but the duties of none of them can be well performed if the
mentorship of a good conscience and pure heart be discarded.
Of course, other equipment is necessary, but without this
mentorship all else is insufficient. In times of gravest re-
sponsibility it will solve your difficulties ; in the most trying
hour it will lead you out of perplexities, and it will, at all
times, deliver you from temptation.

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

328

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

of falling short in the discharge of any duty pertaining to
citizenship, if, being thoroughly imbued with true American
sentiment and the moral ideas which support it, we are hon-
estly 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.

[Letter to the Hon. Edward S. Bragg, Lake-
wood, N. J., March 9, 189:2.]

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 fellow-citizen," and in your re-
lation 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 re-
lated to a duty I owe to the country and to my party, a con-
dition exists which makes such private and personal consid-
erations entirely irrelevant. I cannot, however, refrain frora^
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-asser?
tion.

I have also an idea that the Presidency is pre-eminently
the people's office, and I have been sincere in my constant
advocacy of the effective participation in political affairs on

329

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the part of all our citizens. Consequently, I believe the
people should be heard in the choice of their party candi-
dates, and that they themselves should make nominations as
directly as is consistent with open, fair, and full party or-
ganizations 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 Presidential nomination, even if I had a desire to be
again a candidate.

Believing that the complete supremacy of Democratic
principles means increased national prosperity and the in-
creased 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 Demo-
cratic thoughtfulness and deliberation, not only as to candi-
dates, but concerning party action upon questions of im-
mense 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.

^Address at the Opera House, Providence, R. I.,
April 2, 1892.1

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

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

the enthusiasm which presages 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 corruption and bribery cannot
smother and destroy the aroused conscience of our coun-
trymen, 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,
exacts constant effort in this cause, and its betrayal I con-
ceive to be a crime against the creed of true Democracy.

The struggle in which you are engaged arrests the atten-
tion 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
331

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

suppose that it rests wholly upon appeals to selfish consider-
ations and the promise of advantage, right or wrong; or
that our only hope of winning depends upon arousing ani-
mosity between different interests among our people. While
we do not propose 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 blandish-
ments of greed and avarice, we still claim nothing that has
not imderlying it moral sentiment and considerations of
equity and good conscience.

Because our case rests upon such foimdations, 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
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
life of the people, not necessary for the government's eco-
nomical administration, and intended, whatever be the pre-
text, to enrich a few at the expense of the many, the govern-
mental 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-

332

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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
our mission 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 con-
stituent elements 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
legitimate 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 sentiment; and those who would save our in-
stitutions from the undermining decay of sordidness and
selfishness, can hardly excuse themselves if they fail to join
us in the crusade we have undertaken. Certainly our sin-
cerity cannot be questioned. In the beginning of the strug-
gle we were not only bitterly opposed by a great party of
avowed enemies, but were embarrassed by those in our own
ranks who had become infected with the unwholesome atmos-
phere 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 standard. 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 disas-
trous field of 1888. A time-serving or expediency-hunting
party would hardly have been found, the day after such a

333

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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, tariiF reform had its vin-
dication, and principle and steadfast devotion to American
fairness and good faith gloriously triumphed over plausible
shiftiness and attempted popular deception.

The Democratic party still champions the cause which de-
feat could not induce it to surrender, which no success, short
or complete accomplishment, can tempt it to neglect. Its
position 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 sub-
ject, and we insist that our cause has been open, fair, and
consistent. I believe this is not now soberly denied in any
quarter.

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 busi-
ness ; those who only see in the consumers of our land forced
contributors 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 peo-
ple, are 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
consumers 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

S34>

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

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 impudence, when they accused us of acting in the inter-
ests of foreigners, and when they more than hinted that we
had been bought witli British gold. Those who distrusted
the effectiveness of these senseless appeals insulted the in-
telligence 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 in-
voked in the most outrageous 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
deliverances was to defeat entirely any reform in the tariff —
though it had been enacted at a time when the expense of a
tremendous 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 ex-
travagance; and though, in many of its features, the only
purpose of its continuation was the bargaining it permitted
for party support.

There were those, however, in the ranks of our opponents
who recognized the fact that we had so aroused popular at-
tention to the evils and injustice of such a tariff that it
might not be safe to rely for success upon a bald opposition

335

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

to its reform. These were the grave and sedate Republican
statesmen who declared that they never, never, could con-
sent to subserve the interests of England at the expense of
their own country, as the wicked Democrats proposed to do,
and that they felt constrained to insist upon a tariff, protective
to the point of prohibition, 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 exist-
ing 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 Briga-
diers."

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 ungratefully remembered; for a few weeks thereafter, a
relegation to private life among those occupying seats in
Congress who had been active in reforming the tariff oc-
curred, which amounted to a political revolution. These vic-
tims claimed that our voters failed to indorse their reform of
the tariff because thej^ did not understand it. It is quite
probable, however, that if they did not understand it they
felt it, and that, because it made them xmcomfortable, they
emphatically said such a reform was not what they wanted.
At any rate, the 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 kno^vn. Plenty of mills and
factories have been closed, thousands of men have thus lost

336

OF G 11 OVER CLEVELAND

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 pro-
vision it contains permitting reciprocity of trade in certain
cases, depending on the action of the President, is an admis-
sion, 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 polic}^ do not seem to be questionable, and I
am not here to discuss them in detail; but all I have said,
touching the conduct and record of the Democratic party
and its opponents in regard to tariff legislation, is in sup-
port 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 reduced cost of his products,
resulting in an increased consumption and an extension of
his markets, and a constant activity and return for his in-
vested capital, can hardly trust the party which first re-
sisted any reform in the tariff, then juggled with it, and at
last flatly refused him the relief he still needs. The work-
ingman 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
certainly to be no longer cajoled by a party whose perform-
ance has so clearly given the lie to its professions. The con-
sumer 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.

337

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

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 Republi-
can 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 ac-
complishment near or remote.

It doubtless would please our adversaries if we could be
allured from our watch and guard over the cause of tariff
reform 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 re-
laxed 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 consideration be merged in a determination, pervad-
ing your ranks everywhere, to win a victory. With a cause
so just, and with activity, vigilance, harmony, and determi-
nation on the part of Rhode Island's stanch Democracy, I
believe you will not fail.

338

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Address at the National Convention of the
Democratic League of Clubs, Academy of
Music, New York, October 4, 1892,]

Mr. President and Gentlemen: It affords me especial
pleasure to extend to you on this occasion a hearty welcome.
As a citizen of this proud municipality I am glad to assure
you that our hospitality is always open and generous. In
behalf of a community distinguished for its Americanism
and toleration in all matters of belief and judgment, I know
I may extend a cordial greeting to those who here represent
political thoughtfulness and sincerity.

As an unyielding and consistent believer in Democratic
principles, I trust I need not hesitate to pledge to the rep-
resentatives of organized Democracy the good-will and fra-
ternal sympathy of this Democratic city. Your meeting
is the council which precedes a decisive battle, and your
deliberations should be the preparation for stern conflict.
All your weapons and all your equipments are soon to be
tested. You have organized and labored and you have
watched and planned to insure your readiness for the final
engagement now near at hand.

This then is no holiday assemblage, but an impressive
convocation in furtherance of the designs and purposes for
the accomplishment of which you and those you represent
are banded together. These designs and purposes, as de-
clared by your association, are : The preservation of the Con-
stitution of the United States, the autonomy of the States,
local self-government and freedom of elections ; opposition
to the imposition of taxes beyond the necessities of the
government economically administered, and the promotion
of economy in all branches of the public service.

These professions embody the purest patriotism, and the
'339

t

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

loftiest aspirations of American citizenship. Though at all
times they should suggest to us the strongest obligation to
political effort, their motive force as incentives to political
activity and watchfulness, should be irresistible at a time
when the Constitution is held in light esteem as against the
accomplishment of selfish purposes, when State boundaries
are hardly a barrier to centralized power, and when local
self-government and freedom of elections are the scoff of
partisanship. Those who subscribe to the creed of this
association and make any claim to sincerity, can hardly ex-
cuse themselves for lack of effort, at a time when the neces-
sities of the Government, economically administered, have
but little relation to the taxation of the people and when
extravagance in the public service has become a contagious
plague.

To those who hope for better things this convention of
Democratic clubs is a bright promise of reform. Unorgan-
ized good intentions and idle patriotic aspirations cannot
successfully contend for mastery with the compact forces of
private interests and greed, nor is the organization always
the most useful which has the widest extent. The real
benefit of political organization is found in its nearness to
the people and in the directness of its action. Of course
harmony and unity of purpose are absolutely essential.

In this view your assembling together is most important,
in so far as it promises this harmony and unity by confer-
ence and a consideration of methods, and in so far as it
inspires that zeal and enthusiasm which will make more
effective your work at home. Therefore, I am sure that I can
say nothing better in taking my leave of you than to wish
that your convention may be a most profitable and encour-
aging one, and that at its conclusion, you may resume your
places in your home organizations, newly inspired to deter-
mined and zealous effort in the cause of true Democracy.

S40

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[^Address at the Banquet of the Chamber of
Commerce, New York, November 15, 1892. ]

Mr. President and Gentlemen: I am exceedingly gratified
by the kindness and warmth of your greeting. It does not
surprise me, however, for I have seen and felt on more than
one occasion the cordial hospitality and heartiness of those
who assemble at the annual dinner of our Chamber of Com-
merce. We all have noticed that many men, when they
seek to appear especially wise and impressive, speak of
" our business interests," as something awful and mysteri-
ous; and even when propositions are under consideration
their merits fade from the sight of those who consider them,
whose hair stands on end at the solemn suggestion that " our
business interests " are lying in wait with numerous vials
of wrath completely equipped for those who chance to arrive
at an unaccepted conclusion.

I am fortunate in being able to state that my relations to
the Chamber of Commerce of the State of New York,
though merely of a complimentary kind, arising from hon-
orary membership, has so familiarized me with " business
interests " that I no longer regard these words as meaning a
bloodthirsty beast, nor do I have constantly before my mind
those children in the Biblical story who were torn in pieces
by bears for discussing too much at random the baldness of
an ancient prophet.

It is entirely natural that my familiarity with business
interests, arising from the relation to which I have referred,
should be of a very pleasant sort, and free from fear and
trepidation, for the only meetings I have ever attended of
the Chamber of Commerce, have been precisely such as
this, when the very best things to eat and drink have been
exhaustively discussed. I am bound to say that on these

341

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

occasions the dreadful beings representing our business in-
terests are very human indeed. I know you will not do me
the very great injustice of supposing that I in the least
underrate the importance of the commercial and financial
interests here represented. On the contrary, no one appre-
ciates more fully than I that, while a proper adjustment of
all interests should be maintained, you represent those which
are utterly indispensable to our national growth and pros-
perity. I do not believe that any other interests should
be obliged to feed from the crumbs which fall from the
table of business, nor do I believe that table should be
robbed of the good things which are honestly and fairly
there, merely because some other tables are not so well
provided.

It comes to this : We are all interested as Americans in
a common pursuit. Our purpose is, or ought to be, in our
several spheres, to add to the general fund of national pros-
perity. From this fund we are all entitled to draw, perhaps
not equally, but justly, each receiving a fair portion of
individual prosperity. Let us avoid trampling on each
other in our anxiety to be first in the distribution of shares,
and let us not attempt to appropriate the shares of others.

As I close I cannot refrain from expressing my thanks
for the courtesies often extended to me by the organization
at whose hospitable board I have sat this evening. I beg to
assure you that though I may not soon meet you again on
an occasion like this, I shall remember, with peculiar pleas-
ure, the friends made among your membership, and shall
never allow myself to be heedless of the affairs you so
worthily hold in your keeping.

342

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

[Address at the Henry Villard Dinner, New
York, November 17, 1892.']

Mr. Villard and Gentlemen: I find it impossible to rid
myself at this moment of the conflicting emotions which stir
within me. I see here assembled good and stanch friends,
who have labored incessantly and devotedly for the success
which has crowned Democratic effort in the canvass just
closed, and I cannot forget how greatly these efforts have
been characterized by personal attachment and friendship for
the candidate selected to carry the Democratic banner. This
awakens a sense of gratitude which it is a great pleasure for
me to thankfully acknowledge. I confess, too, that I have
fully shared in the partisan satisfaction which our great vic-
tory is calculated to arouse in every heart so thoroughly
Democratic as mine. It is seldom given to any man to con-
template such a splendid campaign, so masterly arranged in
his behalf by such good friends, followed by such a stu-
pendous and complete triumph.

I should not, perhaps, introduce anything sombre on this
occasion, but I know you will forgive me when I say that
every feeling of jubilation, and even my sense of gratitude,
is so tempered as to be almost entirely obscured by a realiza-
tion, nearly painful, of the responsibility I have assumed in
the sight of the American peoj^le. My love of country, my
attachment to the principles of true Democracy, my appre-
ciation of the obligation I have entered into with the best
and most confiding people of the world, and a consciousness
of my own weakness and imperfections, all conspire to fill
my mind with sober and oppressing reflection.

When I consider all that we have to do as a party charged
with the control of the Government, I feel that our cam-
paign instead of being concluded is but just begim. What

343

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

shall our performance be of the contract we have made with
our countrymen, and how well shall we justify the trust
they have imposed in us? If we see nothing in our victory
but a license to revel in partisan spoils, we shall fail at
every point. If we merely profess to enter upon our work,
and if we make apparent endeavor to do it a cover for
seeking partisan advantage, we shall invite contempt and
disgrace. If we attempt to discharge our duty to the peo-
ple without complete party harmony in patriotic action, we
shall demonstrate our incompetency.

I thank God that far above all doubts and misgivings and
away beyond all difficulties we may constantly see the lights
of hope and safety. The light we see is the illumination
from the principles of true, honest and pure Democracy —
showing the way in all times of danger and leading us
to the fulfilment of political duty and the redemption of
all our pledges. The light is kindled in the love of justice,
and in devotion to the people's rights. It is bright in a
constant patriotism and in a nation's promise. Let us not
be misled to our undoing by other lights of false Democracy,
which may be kindled in broken faith and which, shining
in h3^pocrisy, will, if followed, lure us to the rocks of failure
and disgrace.

If we see stern labor ahead of us, and if difficulties loom
upon our horizon, let us remember that in the thickest
weather the mariner watches most anxiously for his true
light.

Who in our party charged with any responsibility to the
people has not pledged his devotion to the principles of true
Democracy; and who among us have made pledges with in-
tent to deceive ? I have faith in the manliness and truthful-
ness of the Democratic party.

My belief in our principles, and my faith in our party,
constitute my trust that we shall answer the expectations of
our coimtrymen, and shall raise high aloft the standard of

344

OF G R O V E R C L E \' E L A N D

true Democracy, to fix the gaze for many years to come of a
prosperous, a happy, and a contented people.

[Fro7n Address at the Banquet of the Reforin
Club at Assemhly Rooms, Madison Square
Garden, New York, December 10, 1892.']

The sentiment suggested by this occasion, which should
dwarf all others, has relation to the responsibility which
awaits those who now rejoice in victory. If we redeem the
promises we have made to the voters of our land, the diffi-
culty of our task can hardly be exaggerated. Conditions
involving most important interests must be reviewed and
modified, and perplexing problems menacing our safety must
be settled, above all, and as the ultimate object of all we do,
the rights and the welfare of our people in every condition
in life must be placed upon a more equal plane of opportu-
nity and advantage.

I am confident the wisdom of the Democratic party will
be equal to the emergency; and I base my confidence upon
the belief that it will be patriotically true to its principles
and traditions, and will follow the path marked out by true
American sentiment. We should not enter upon our work
in the least spirit of resentment nor in heedless disregard
of the welfare of any portion of our citizens. The mission
of our party, and the reforms we contemplate, do not in-
volve the encouragement of jealous animosities nor a de-
structive discrimination between American interests.

In order that we may begin with free hands, we should
vigorously oppose all delusions which have their origin in
undemocratic teachings or in demagogic attempts to deceive
the people. Mere catch words, which, if they mean any-
thing, have no relation to sound policy, and phrases invented
to please the ear of the victims of a cunning greed ought not

345

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

to stand in our way. Looking beyond all these things, we
shall find just principles furnishing a vantage ground from
which we can lay out a safe course of action.

We should strive to rid ourselves and our countrymen of
the idea that there is anything shabby or disgraceful in
economy, whether in public or private life; if extravagance
in expenditure has prevailed in the past it affords no excuse
for its continuance ; and -there is no breach of duty so palpa-
ble as the waste of money held by public servants for the
people's uses. Our Government was founded in a spirit of
frugality and economy, and its administration should not de-
part from those lines. We need no glitter nor show to
divert our people from turbulent thoughts. We have a more
substantial guarantee against discontent in a plain and sim-
ple plan of rule, in which every citizen has a share. In
order that this should do its perfect work it is essential that
there should exist among our people a wholesome and disin-
terested love for their government, for its own sake, and
because it is a heritage belonging to all. The cultivation of
such a sentiment is not only a high duty, but an absolute
necessity to the consummation of the reforms we enter
upon. We shall utterly and disgracefully fail if we attempt
these reforms under the influence of petty partisan schem-
ing or the fear of jeopardizing personal political fortunes.
They can only be accomplished when unselfish patriotism
guides the aspirations of our people and regulates the action
of their chosen servants.

We who are to be charged with the responsibility of mak-
ing and executing the laws should begin our preparation for
the task by a rigid self-examination, and by a self-purga-
tion from all ignoble and unworthy tendencies threatening
to enter into our motives and designs. Then may we enjoin
upon all our countrymen the same duty, and then may we
hope to perform faithfully and successfully the work in-
trusted to our hands by a confiding people.

34>6

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[^Inaugural Address {Second Presidential Term)^
Washington, D. C, March ^, 1893.']

My Fellow-Citizens : In obedience to the mandate of my
countrymen I am about to dedicate myself to their service
under the sanction of a solemn oath. Deeply moved by the
expression of confidence and personal attachment which has
called me to this service, I am sure my gratitude can make
no better return than the pledge I now give before God
and these witnesses of unreserved and complete devotion to
the interests and welfare of those who have honored me.

I deem it fitting on this occasion, while indicating the
opinions I hold concerning public questions of present im-
portance, to also briefly refer to the existence of certain con-
ditions and tendencies among our people which seem to
menace the integrity and usefulness of their Government.

While every American citizen must contemplate with the
utmost pride and enthusiasm the growth and expansion of
our country, the sufficiency of our institutions to stand
against the rudest shocks of violence, the wonderful thrift
and enterprise of our people, and the demonstrated supe-
riority of our free government, it behooves us to constantly
watch for every symptom of insidious infirmity that threat-
ens our national vigor.

The strong man who in the confidence of sturdy health
courts the sternest activities of life and rejoices in the hardi-
hood of constant labor may still have lurking near his vitals
the unheeded disease that dooms him to sudden collapse.

It can not be doubted that our stupendous achievements
as a people and our country's robust strength have given
rise to heedlessness of those laws governing our national
health which we can no more evade than human life can
escape the laws of God and nature.

317

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Manifestly nothing is more vital to our supremacy as a
nation and to the beneficent purposes of our Government
than a sound and stable currency. Its exposure to degra-
dation should at once arouse to activity the most enlight-
ened statesmanship, and the danger of depreciation in the
purchasing power of the wages paid to toil should furnish
the strongest incentive to prompt and conservative precau-
tion.

In dealing with our present embarrassing situation as re-
lated to this subject we will be wise if we temper our con-
fidence and faith in our national strength and resources with
the frank concession that even these will not permit us to
defy with impunity the inexorable laws of finance and trade.
At the same time, in our efforts to adjust differences of
opinion we should be free from intolerance or passion, and
our judgments should be unmoved by alluring phrases and
unvexed by selfish interests.

I am confident that such an approach to the subject will
result in prudent and effective remedial legislation. In the
meantime, so far as the executive branch of the Government
can intervene, none of the powers with which it is invested
will be withheld when their exercise is deemed necessary to
maintain our national credit or avert financial disaster.

Closely related to the exaggerated confidence in our coun-
try's greatness which tend^s to a disregard of the rules of
national safety, another danger confronts us not less seri-
ous. I refer to the prevalence of a popular disposition to
expect from the operation of the Government especial and
direct individual advantages.

The verdict of our voters which condemned the injustice
of maintainmg protection for protection's sake enjoins upon
the people's servants the duty of exposing and destroying
the brood of kindred evils which are the unwholesome prog-
eny of paternalism. This is the bane of republican institu-
tions and the constant peril of our government by the people.

348

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

It degrades to the purposes of wily craft the plan of rule
our fathers established and bequeathed to us as an object
of our love and veneration. It perverts the patriotic senti-
ments of our countrymen and tempts them to pitiful calcu-
lation of the sordid gain to be derived from their Govern-
ment's maintenance. It undermines the self-reliance of our
people and substitutes in its place dependence upon govern-
mental favoritism. It stifles the spirit of true Americanism
and stupefies every ennobling trait of American citizenship.

The lessons of paternalism ought to be unlearned and the
better lesson taught that while the people should patriot-
ically and cheerfully support their Government 4ts functions
do not include the support of the people.

The acceptance of this principle leads to a refusal of
bounties and subsidies, which burden the labor and thrift of
a portion of our citizens to aid ill-advised or languishing
enterprises in which they have no concern. It leads also to
a challenge of wild and reckless pension expenditure, which
overleaps the bounds of grateful recognition of patriotic
service and prostitutes to vicious uses the people's prompt
and generous impulse to aid those disabled in their coun-
try's defense.

Every thoughtful American must realize the importance
of checking at its beginning any tendency in public or pri-
vate station to regard frugality and economy as virtues
which we may safely outgrow. The toleration of this idea
results in the waste of the people's money by their chosen
servants and encourages prodigality and extravagance in the
home life of our countrymen.

Under our scheme of government the waste of public
money is a crime against the citizen, and the contempt of
our people for economy and frugality in their personal af-
fairs deplorably saps the strength and sturdiness of our
national character.

It is a plain dictate of honesty and good government that
349

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

public expenditures should be limited by public necessity,
and that this should be measured by the rules of strict econ-
omy ; and it is equally clear that frugality among the people
is the best guaranty of a contented and strong support of
free institutions.

One mode of the misappropriation of public funds is
avoided when appointments to office, instead of being the
rewards of partisan activity, are awarded to those whose
efficiency promises a fair return of work for the compensa-
tion paid to them. To secure the fitness and competency
of appointees to office and removed from political action the
demoralizing madness for spoils, civil-service reform has
found a place in our public policy and laws. The benefits
already gained through this instrumentality and the further
usefulness it promises entitled it to the hearty support and
encouragement of all who desire to see our public service
well performed or who hope for the elevation of political
sentiment and the purification of political methods.

The existence of immense aggregations of kindred enter-
prises and combinations of business interests formed for the
purpose of limiting production and fixing prices is incon-
sistent with the fair field which ought to be open to every
independent activity. Legitimate strife in business should
not be superseded by an enforced concession to the demands
of combinations that have the power to destroy, nor should
-the people to be served lose the benefit of cheapness which
usually results from wholesome competition. These aggre-
gations and combinations frequently constitute conspiracies
against the interests of the people, and in all their phases
they are unnatural and opposed to our American sense of-
fairness. To the extent that they can be reached and re-
strained by Federal power the General Government should
relieve our citizens from their interference and exactions.

Loyalty to the principles upon which our Government
rests positively demands that the equality before the law

S50

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

which it guarantees to every citizen should be justly and in
good faith conceded in all parts of the land. The enjoyment
of this right follows the badge of citizenship wherever
foundj and, unimpaired by race or color, it appeals for recog-
nition to American manliness and fairness.

Our relations with the Indians located Avithin our border
impose upon us responsibilities we can not escape. Human-
ity and consistency require us to treat them with forbear-
ance and in our dealings with them to honestly and consid-
erately regard their rights and interests. Every effort
should be made to lead them, through the paths of civiliza-
tion and education, to self-supporting and independent citi-
zenship. In the meantime, as the nation's wards, they
should be promptly defended against the cupidity of design-
ing men and shielded from every influence or temptation that
retards their advancement.

The people of the United States have decreed that on this
day the control of their Government in its legislative and ex-
ecutive branches shall be given to a political party pledged
in the most positive terms to the accomplishment of tariff
reform. They have thus determined in favor of a more just
and equitable system of Federal taxation. The agents they
have chosen to carry out their purposes are bound by their
promises not less than by the command of their masters to
devote themselves unremittingly to this service.

While there should be no surrender of principle, our task
must be undertaken wisely and without heedless vindictive-
ness. Our mission is not punishment, but the rectification
of wrong. If in lifting burdens from the daily life of our
people we reduce inordinate and unequal advantages too
long enjoyed, this is but a necessary incident of our return
to right and justice. If we exact from unwilling minds ac-
quiescence in the theory of an honest distribution of the fund
of the governmental beneficence treasured up for all, we but
insist upon a principle which underlies our free institutions.

351

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

When we tear aside the delusions and misconceptions which
have blinded our countrymen to their condition under vicious
tariff laws, we but show them how far they have been led
away from the paths of contentment and prosperity. When
we proclaim that the necessity for revenue to support the
Government furnishes the only justification for taxing the
people, we announce a truth so plain that its denial would
seem to indicate the extent to which judgment may be influ-
enced by familiarity with perversions of the taxing power.
And when we seek to reinstate the self-confidence and busi-
ness enterprise of our citizens by discrediting an abject
dependence upon governmental favor, we strive to stimulate
those elements of American character which support the
hope of American achievement.

Anxiety for the redemption of the pledges which my
party has made and solicitude for the complete justification
of the trust the people have reposed in us constrain me to
remind those with whom I am to cooperate that we can suc-
ceed in doing the work which has been especially set before
us only by the most sincere, harmonious, and disinterested
effort. Even if insuperable obstacles and opposition prevent
the consummation of our task, we shall hardly be excused;
and if failure can be traced to our fault or neglect we may
be sure the people will hold us to a swift and exacting
accountability.

The oath I now take to preserve, protect, and defend the
Constitution of the United States not only impressively de-
fines the great responsibility I assume, but suggests obedi-
ence to constitutional commands as the rule by which my
official conduct must be guided. I shall to the best of my
ability and within my sphere of duty preserve the Consti-
tution by loyally protecting every grant of Federal power
it contains, by defending all its restraints when attacked by
impatience and restlessness, and by enforcing its limitations
and reservations in favor of the States and the people.

352

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

Fully impressed M'ith the gravity of the duties that con-
front me and mindful of my weakness, I should be appalled
if it were my lot to bear unaided the responsibilities which
await me. I am, however, saved from discouragement when
I remember that I shall have the support and the counsel
and cooperation of wise and patriotic men who will stand at
my side in Cabinet places or will represent the people in
their legislative halls.

I find also much comfort in remembering that my coxmtry-
men are just and generous and in the assurance that they will
not condemn those who by sincere devotion to their service
deserve their forbearance and approval.

Above all, I know there is a Supreme Being who rules the
affairs of men and whose goodness and mercy have always
followed the American people, and I know He will not turn
from us now if we humbly and reverently seek His power-
ful aid.

\_Lettej' to Hon, TV. J. Northen, Washington,
D. C, September 25, 1893.]

My Dear Sir: I hardly know how to reply to your letter
of the 15th inst. It seems to me that I am quite plainly on
record concerning the financial question. My letter accept-
ing the nomination to the Presidency when read in connec-
tion with the message lately sent to the Congress in extraor-
dinary session appears to me to be very explicit. 'I want a
currency that is stable and safe in the hands of our people.
I will not knowingly be implicated in a condition that will
justly make me in the least degree answerable to any
laborer or farmer in the United States for a shrinkage in
the purchasing power of the dollar he has received for a
f'lll dollar's worth of work, or for a good dollar's worth

r>53

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

of the product of his toil. I not only want our currency to
be of such a character that all kinds of dollars will be of
equal purchasing power at home, but I want it to be of
such a character as will demonstrate abroad our wisdom
and good faith, thus placing us upon a firm foundation and
credit among the nations of the earth. I want our financial
conditions and the laws relating to our currency safe and
reassuring, that those who have money will spend and in-
vest it in business and new enterprises instead of hoarding
it. You cannot cure fright by calling it foolish and imrea-
sonable, and you cannot prevent the frightened man from
hoarding his money. I want good, sound and stable money,
and a condition of confidence that will keep it in use.

Within the limits of what I have written, I am a friend
of silver, but I believe its proper place in our currency can
only be fixed by a readjustment of our currency legislation
and the inauguration of a consistent and comprehensive
financial scheme. I think such a thing can only be entered
upon profitably and hopefully after the repeal of the law
which is charged with all our financial woes. In the present
state of the public mind this law cannot be built upon nor
patched in such a way as to relieve the situation.^ 'I am
therefore opposed to the free and unlimited coinage of sil-
ver by this coxmtry alone and independently, and I am in
favor of the immediate and unconditional repeal of the pur-
chasing clause of the so-called Sherman law.

I confess I am astonished by the opposition in the Senate
to such prompt action as would relieve the present unfortu-
nate situation. My daily prayer is that the delay occasioned
by such opposition may not be the cause of plunging the
country into deeper depression than I have yet known, and
that the Democratic party may not be justly held responsible
for such a catastrophe.

S54>

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

lFro7?i First Annual Message (Second Presi-
dential Term), Wasliiiigton, December 4,

1893.]

To the Congress of the United States: The constitutional
duty which requires the President from time to time to give
to the Congress information of the state of the Union and
recommend to their consideration such measures as he shall
judge necessary and expedient is fittingly entered upon by
commending to the Congress a careful examination of the
detailed statements and well-supported recommendations
contained in the reports of the heads of Departments, who
are chiefly charged with the executive work of the Gov-
ernment. In an effort to abridge this communication as
much as is consistent with its purpose I shall supplement
a brief reference to the contents of these departmental re-
ports by the mention of such executive business and inci-
dents as are not embraced therein and by such recommenda-
tions as appear to be at this particular time appropriate.

While our foreign relations have not at all times during
the past year been entirely free from perplexity, no embar-
rassing situation remains that will not yield to the spirit of
fairness and love of justice which, joined with consistent
firmness, characterize a truly American foreign policy.

It is hardly necessary for me to state that the questions
arising from our relations with Hawaii have caused serioua
embarrassment. Just prior to the installation of the present
Administration the existing Government of Hawaii had been
suddenly overthrown and a treaty of annexation had been
negotiated between the Provisional Government of the
islands and the United States and submitted to the Senate
for ratification. This treaty I withdrew for examination

355

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

and dispatched Hon. James H. Blount, of Georgia, to
Honolulu as a special commissioner to make an impartial
investigation of the circumstances attending the change of
government and of all the conditions bearing upon the sub-
ject of the treaty. After a thorough and exhaustive exami-
nation Mr. Blount submitted to me his report, showing
beyond all question that the constitutional Government of
Hawaii had been subverted with the active aid of our rep-
resentative to that Government and through the intimida-
tion caused by the presence of an armed naval force of the
United States, which was landed for that purpose at the
instance of our minister. Upon the facts developed it seemed
to me the only honorable course for our Government to pur-
sue was to undo the wrong that had been done by those rep-
resenting us and to restore as far as practicable the status
existing at the time of our forcible intervention. With a
view of accomplishing this result within the constitutional
limits of executive power, and recognizing all our obligations
and responsibilities growing out of any changed conditions
brouglit about by our unjustifiable interference, our present
minister at Honolulu has received appropriate instructions
to that end. Thus far no information of the accomplishment
of any definite results has been received from him.

Additional advices are soon expected. When received
they will be promptly sent to the Congress, together with
all other information at hand, accompanied by a special Ex-
ecutive message fully detailing all the facts necessary to a
complete understanding of the case and presenting a history
of all the material events leading up to the present situation.

By a concurrent resolution passed by the Senate Febru-
ary 14, 1890, and by the House of Representatives on the
3d of April following the President was requested to " in-
vite from time to time, as fit occasions may arise, negotia-
tions with any government with which the United States
has or may have diplomatic relations, to the end that any

356

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

differences or disputes arising between the two governments
which can not be adjusted by diplomatic agency may be
referred to arbitration and be peaceably adjusted by such
means." April 18, 1890, the International American Con-
ference of Washington by resolution expressed the wish that
all controversies between the republics of America and the
nations of Europe might be settled by arbitration, and rec-
ommended that the government of each nation represented
in that conference should commimicate this wish to all
friendly powers. A favorable response has been received
from Great Britain in the shape of a resolution adopted by
Parliament July l6 last, cordially sympathizing with the
purpose in view and expressing the hope that Her Maj-
esty's Government will lend ready co-operation to the Gov-
ernment of the United States upon the basis of the concur-
rent resolution above quoted.

It affords me signal pleasure to lay this parliamentary
resolution before the Congress and to express my sincere
gratification that the sentiment of two great and kindred
nations is thus authoritatively manifested in favor of the
rational and peaceable settlement of international quarrels
by honorable resort to arbitration.

Since the passage of the act of March 3, 1 893, authorizing
the President to raise the grade of our envoys to correspond
with the rank in which foreign countries accredit their
agents here. Great Britain, France, Italy, and Germany
have conferred upon their representatives at this capital the
title of ambassador, and I have responded by accrediting
the agents of the United States in those countries with the
same title. A like elevation of mission is announced by
Russia, and when made will be similarly met. This step
fittingly comports with the position the United States hold
in the family of nations.

During my former Administration I took occasion to rec-
ommend a recast of the laws relating to the consular service,

357

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

in order that it might become a more efficient agency in the
promotion of the interests it was intended to subserve. The
duties and powers of consuls have been expanded with the
growing requirements of our foreign trade. Discharging
important duties affecting our commerce and American citi-
zens abroad, and in certain countries exercising judicial
functions, these officers should be men of character, intelli-
gence, and ability.

The continued intelligent execution of the civil-service
law and the increasing approval by the people of its oper-
ation are most gratifying. The recent extension of its limi-
tations and regulations to the employees at free-delivery
post-offices, which has been honestly and promptly accom-
plished by the Commission, with the hearty co-operation
of the Postmaster-General, is an immensely important
advance in the usefulness of the system.

I am, if possible, more than ever convinced of the incal-
culable benefits conferred by the civil-service law, not only
in its effects upon the public service, but also, what is even
more important, in its effect in elevating the tone of political
life generally.

The course of civil-service reform in this country in-
structively and interestingly illustrates how strong a hold a
movement gains upon our people which has imderlying it a
sentiment of justice and right and which at the same time
promises better administration of their Government.

The law embodying this reform found its way to our statute
book more from fear of the popular sentiment existing in
its favor than from any love for the reform itself on the
part of legislators, and it has lived and grown and flour-
ished in spite of the covert as well as open hostility of
spoilsmen and notwithstanding the querulous impracticabil-
ity of many self -constituted guardians. Beneath all the
vagaries and sublimated theories which are attracted to it

358

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

there underlies this reform a sturdy common-sense principle
not only suited to this mundane sphere, but whose applica-
tion our people are more and more recognizing to be abso-
lutely essential to the most successful operation of their
government, if not to its perpetuity.

It seems to me to be entirely inconsistent with the char-
acter of this reform, as well as with its best enforcement,
to oblige the Commission to rely for clerical assistance upon
clerks detailed from other Departments. There ought not
to be such a condition in any Department that clerks hired
to do work there can be spared to habitually work at an-
other place, and it does not accord with a sensible view of
civil-service reform that persons should be employed on the
theory that tlieir labor is necessary in one Department
when in point of fact their services are devoted to entirely
different work in another Department.

I earnestly urge that the clerks necessary to carry on the
work of the Commission be regularly put upon its roster
and that the system of obliging the Commissioners to rely
upon the services of clerks belonging to other Departments
be discontinued. This ought not to increase the expense to
the Government, while it would certainly be more consistent
and add greatly to the efficiency of the Commission.

Economy in public expenditure is a duty that can not inno-
cently be neglected by those intrusted with the control of
money drawn from the people for public uses. It must be
confessed that our apparently endless resources, the famil-
iarity of our people with immense accumulations of wealth,
the growing sentiment among them that the expenditure of
public money should in some manner be to their immediate
and personal advantage, the indirect and almost stealthy
manner in which a large part of our taxes is exacted, and
a degenerated sense of official accountability have led to
growing extravagance in governmental appropriations.

At this time, when a depleted public Treasury confronts
359

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

ws, when many of our people are engaged in a hard struggle
for the necessaries of life, and when enforced economy is
pressing upon the great mass of our countrymen, I desire
to urge with all the earnestness at my command that Con-
gressional legislation be so limited by strict economy as to
exhibit an appreciation of the condition of the Treasury
and a sympathy with the straitened circumstances of our
fellow-citizens.

The duty of public economy is also of immense impor-
tance in its intimate and necessary relation to the task now
in hand of providing revenue to meet Government expendi-
tures and yet reducing the people's burden of Federal
taxation.
/ After a hard struggle tariff reform is directly before us.
Nothing so important claims our attention and nothing so
clearly presents itself as both an opportunity and a duty
— an opportunity to deserve the gratitude of our fellow-
citizens and a duty imposed upon us by our oft-repeated
professions and by the emphatic mandate of the people.
After full discussion our countrymen have spoken in favor
of this reform, and they have confided the work of its
accomplishment to the hands of those who are solemnly
pledged to it.

If there is anything in the theory of a representation in
public places of the people and their desires, if public offi-
cers are really the servants of the people, and if political
promises and professions have any binding force, our failure
to give the relief so long awaited will be sheer recreancy.
Nothing should intervene to distract our attention or disturb
our effort until this reform is accomplished by wise and care-
ful legislation.

"VMiile we should stanchly adhere to the principle that
only the necessity of revenue justifies the imposition of tariff
duties and other Federal taxation and that they should be
limited by strict economy, we can not close our eyes to the

360

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

fact that conditions have grown up among us which in jus-
tice and fairness call for discriminating care in the distribu-
tion of such duties and taxation as the emergencies of our
Government actually demand.

Manifestly if we are to aid the people directly through
tariff reform, one of its most obvious features should be a
reduction in present tariil' charges upon the necessaries of
life. The benefits of such a reduction would be palpable
and substantial, seen and felt by thousands who would be
better fed and better clothed and better sheltered. These
gifts should be the willing benefactions of a Government
whose highest function is the promotion of the welfare of
the people.

Not less closely related to our people's prosperity and
well-being is the removal of restrictions upon the importa-
tion of the raw materials necessarj'^ to our manufactures.
The world should be open to our national ingenuity and en-
terprise. This can not be while Federal legislation through
the imposition of high tariff forbids to American manufac-
turers as cheap materials as those used by their competitors.
It is quite obvious that the enhancement of the price of our
manufactured products resulting from this policy not only
confines the market for these products within our own bor-
ders, to the direct disadvantage of our manufacturers, but
also increases their cost to our citizens.

The interests of labor are certainly, though indirectly,
involved in this feature of our tariff system. The sharp
competition and active struggle among our manufacturers to
supply the limited demand for their goods soon fill the nar-
row market to which they are confined. Then follows a
suspension of work in mills and factories, a discharge of
employees, and distress in the homes of our workingmen.

Even if the often-disproved assertion could be made good
that a lower rate of wages would result from free raw mate-
rials and low tariff duties, the intelligence of our workmen

S6l

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

leads them quickly to discover that their steady employment,
permitted by free raw materials, is the most important factor
in their relation to tariff legislation.

A measure has been prepared by the appropriate Con-
gressional committee embodying tariff reform on the lines
lierein suggested, which will be promptly submitted for leg-
islative action. It is the result of much patriotic and unself-
ish work, and I believe it deals with its subject consistently
and as thoroughly as existing conditions permit.

I am satisfied that the reduced tariff duties provided for
in the proposed legislation, added to existing internal-reve-
nue taxation, will in the near future, though perhaps not
immediately, produce sufficient revenue to meet the needs
of the Government,

The committee, after full consideration and to provide
against a temporary deficiency which may exist before the
business of the country adjusts itself to the new tariff
schedules, have wisely embraced in their plan a few addi-
tional internal-revenue taxes, including a small tax upon
incomes derived from certain corporate investments.

These new adjustments are not only absolutely just and
easily borne, but they have the further merit of being such
as can be remitted without unfavorable business disturbance
whenever the necessity of their imposition no longer exists.

In my great desire for the success of this measure I can
not restrain the suggestion that its success can only be
attained by means of unselfish coimsel on the part of the
friends of tariff reform and as a result of their willingness
to subordinate personal desires and ambitions to the general
good. The local interests affected by the proposed reform
are so numerous and so varied that if all are insisted upon
the legislation embodying the reforms must inevitably fail.

In conclusion my intense feeling of responsibility impels
me to invoke for the manifold interests of a generous and
confiding people the most scrupulous care and to pledge my

362

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

willing support to every legislative effort for the advance-
ment of the greatness and prosperity of our beloved country.

l^From Second Anntial Message {Second Presi-
dential Term), Washington, D. C, Decem-
ber 3, 1894.]

To the Congress of the United States: The assemblage
within the nation's legislative halls of those charged with
the duty of making laws for the benefit of a generous and
free people impressively suggests the exacting obligation
and inexorable responsibility involved in their task. At the
threshold of such labor now to be undertaken by the Con-
gress of the United States, and in the discharge of an ex-
ecutive duty enjoined by the Constitution, I submit this
communication, containing a brief statement of the condi-
tion of our national affairs and recommending such legisla-
tion as seems to me necessary and expedient.

The history of our recent dealings with other nations and
our peaceful relations with them at this time additionally
demonstrate the advantage of consistently adhering to a firm
but just foreign policy, free from envious or ambitious
national schemes and characterized by entire honesty and
sincerity.

With the advent of a new tariff policy not only calculated
to relieve the consumers of our land in the cost of their
daily life, but to invite a better development of American
thrift and create for us closer and more profitable commer-
cial relations with the rest of the world, it follows as a log-
ical and imperative necessity that we should at once remove
the chief if not the only obstacle which lias so long prevented
,our participation in the foreign carrying trade of the sea.

363

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

A tariff built upon the theory that it is well to check imports
and that a home market should bound the industry and effort
of American producers was fitly supplemented by a refusal
to allow American registry to vessels built abroad, though
owned and navigated by our people, thus exhibiting a will-
ingness to abandon all contest for the advantages of Ameri-
can transoceanic carriage. Our new tariff policy, built upon
the theory that it is well to encourage such importations as
our people need, and that our products and manufactures
should find markets in every part of the habitable globe, is
consistently supplemented by the greatest possible liberty to
our citizens in the ownership and navigation of ships in
which our products and manufactures may be transported.
The millions now paid to foreigners for carrying American
passengers and products across the sea should be turned into
American hands. Shipbuilding, which has been protected
to strangulation, should be revived by the prospect of profit-
able employment for ships when built, and the American
sailor should be resurrected and again take his place — a
sturdy and industrious citizen in time of peace and a patri-
otic and safe defender of American interests in the day of
conflict.

The ancient provision of our law denying American regis-
try to ships built abroad and owned by Americans appears
in the light of present conditions not only to be a failure
for good at every point, but to be nearer a relic of barbar-
ism than anything that exists under the permission of a
statute of the United States. I earnestly recommend its
prompt repeal.

36i

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

[Address at the Dedication of tJie Mary Wash-
ington Monument at Fredericksburg, Va.,
May 10, 1894.1

Governor O'Farrall, Mr. Mayor and Fellow-Citizens : I
speak for those who are to-day greeted as the official guests
of Virginia and Fredericksburg, when I return sincere
thanks for the hearty welcome that has been extended to us
in behalf of both the State and city. Our appreciation of
the warmth of your reception is not diminished by the
thought that in the light of the liighest meaning belonging
to this occasion there are no guests here. We have assem-
bled on equal terms to worship at a sacred National shrine.

Nothing can be more important to those who have as-
sumed the resjwnsibility of self-government than the cultiva-
tion and stimulation among themselves of sentiments which
ennoble and elevate and strengthen humanity. As a clear
and wholesome stream must have its flow from a pure foun-
tain head, so must a clean and beneficent popular government
have its source in pure and morally healthy men. This
purity and this moral health are in nothing better exempli-
fied than in a love and reverence for motherhood. The man
who said he cared not who made a people's laws if he
could write their songs might have said with more truth
that he could gauge the strength and honor of a people
and their fitness for self-government if he knew the depth
and steadfastness of their love for their mothers. I believe
that he who thinks it brave and manly to outgrow his care
and devotion for his mother is, more than he who has no
music in himself, fit for treason, stratagems and spoils, and
should not be trusted.

Let us recall to-day as conclusive proof of the close rela-
tion between American greatness and a lasting love and rev-

365

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

erence for our mothers the proud declaration of George
Washington, " All I am I owe to my mother " ; and let us
not forget that when his glory was greatest, and Avhen the
plaudits of his countrymen were loudest, he A'alued more
than these the blessing and approval of his aged mother.

While these exercises cannot fail to inspire us anew with
reverence for American motherhood, we will remember that
we are here to do honor to the woman who gave to our
Nation its greatest and best citizen, and that we have the
privilege of participating in the dedication of a monument
erected by the women of our land in loving and enduring
testimony to the virtues of the mother of Washington. Let
us be proud to-day that the nobility of this woman exacted
from a distinguished foreigner the admission, " If such are
the matrons of America, rhe may well boast of illustrious
sons " ; and that Lafayette, who had fought with her son
for American independence, declared after he had received
her blessing, " I have seen the only Roman matron living
at this day."

Remembering these things, let us leave this place with
our love of country strengthened, with a higher estimate of
the value of American citizenship, and with a prayer to
God that our people may hold fast to the sentiment that
grows out of a love and reverence for American mother-
hood.

\_ Address at the Masonic Banquet at the Opera
House, Fredericksburg, Va., May 10, 1894-}

I am not sure it is my fault, it is certainly my misfortune,
that I do not belong to the Masonic fraternity. It is an
order that has done much and magnificent work in the lines
of excellent and honorable endeavor. But I do belong to
another, if not a cabalistic order, whose grip is fidelity to the

366

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

interests of American prosperity, and whose password is the
supremacy of the American idea of popular and patriotic
free principles and constitutional rights. To this sacred
organization, with all of its patriotic sj^mbolism, I am proud
to belong, and I am to-day equally proud to recognize
those before me as being coadjutors and co-workers. The
name of this order is the Fraternity of Freemen, devoted
to the prevalence of the American idea of universal freedom
and independence.

{^Address at the Luncheon following the Launch
of the Steamship " St. Louis," Philadelphiaj
November 12, 1894.]

I would not be entirely frank if I did not acknowledge
the extreme personal satisfaction afforded me by the ref-
erence j ust made to the part which fell to me, as a high duty
and privilege, in the great work of creating an American
Navy, and at the same time stimulating American ship-
building.

I cannot, however, keep out of mind the feeling that the
gratification appropriately growing out of this occasion is
such as must be shared by every patriotic American, and
that the important event which has just now taken place is
of such National interest that it is fittingly witnessed by
the highest officials of our Government.

We shall fail to realize the full significance of what we
have seen to-day if we overlook the fact that the causes of
our congratulation reach beyond actual accomplishment, and
are not limited to the things already done and within our
sight. While we may well be proud because we have launched
the largest and most powerful steamship ever built in the
Western Hemisphere and, with two exceptions, the largest

367

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

and most powerful in the world, and while we may find rea-
son for additional pride in the fact that, notwithstanding
general economic conditions not encouraging to such achieve-
ments, this great vessel has been built on American plans,
by American mechanics, and of American materials, we
must not forget that our greatest cause of congratulation
is found in the hope and promise these incidents furnish
of the revival and development of American commerce, and
the renewed appearance of the American flag in foreign
ports.

I hope I shall not be accused of making a suggestion cal-
culated to mar the gratification which this occasion inspires
if I remind you that the ship we have just launched was
built in fulfillment of conditions imposed in consideration
of the relaxation of our registry laws, and that the con-
structive plant and machinery to build this ship " on Amer-
ican plans, by American mechanics and of American mate-
rials " originated in the necessity for the building of an
American navy.

There should be no more delay in the work of reinstating
American commerce, not only by the inspiration supplied
by such events as we have this day witnessed, but by such
legislation as will set free American mechanical industry
and excite American enterprise. Commerce is the life-blood
of a nation, and no country that loses or impoverishes it
can reach and maintain a commanding position among the
nations of the earth. Our flag not only tells of our existence,
but it is a symbol of glorious and patriotic duty to uphold
our flag, and to follow it and defend it, but it is also glori-
ous and patriotic to carry our flag to all parts of the world,
and to extend its defence and protection to American men
and American property in the ports of every nation. I am
not able to see why Americans owning ships, navigated by
Americans and carrying American cargoes, should in any
case be driven to the protection of a foreign flag, and It

368

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

seems to me tliat the Stars and Stripes entering a port of
the United States and spread over Americans and American
property should never be frowned upon and repelled by
American officials acting under the mandate of our navi-
gation laws.

In the interest of a revival of American commerce so much
needed, and for the honor of our flag, so dear to us all, I
am willing that the defence of our Government and flag
shall be accorded to all ships of American ownership, wher-
ever built. Make our flag a more familiar sight in the
ocean-carrying trade, and thus remind our citizens that a
large share of the carrying trade of the world is due them,
and we need have no fear that our shipbuilders, under laws
giving them a fair chance, will suffer from foreign com-
petition. Since my participation in rebuilding our navy
during a former official term has been so flatteringly re-
ferred to, I hope it is not amiss for me to say that I shall
deem myself especially fortunate if in time to come it can
be said that I have done something during my present in-
cumbency in aid of the freedom and extension of American
commerce and the consequent further growth of American
shipbuilding.

[Letter to John A. Mason, Esq., read at the
Annual Banquet of the Democratic Edi-
torial Association of the State of New
York, New York City, May 2i, 1895.]

My Dear Sir: I regret that my official duties oblige me
to decline the courteous invitation I liave received to attend
the annual banquet of the Democratic Editorial Association
on the 24th inst.

This reunion of Democratic editor^) will, I am sure, be
369

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

an enjoyable occasion to all who participate; but I shall
be much disappointed if the fellowship and interchange of
sentiment it will afford do not stimulate the zeal and effort
of the fraternity there assembled in behalf of the Democratic
cause and Democratic principles.

Our party is so much a party of principle, and its proper
action and usefulness are so dependent upon a constant
adherence to its doctrines and traditions, that no tendency
in our ranks to follow the misleading light of a temporary
popular misapprehension should go unchallenged. Our vic-
tories have all been won when we have closely followed the
banner of Democratic principle. We have always been
punished by defeat when, losing sight of our banner, we
have yielded to the blandishments of undemocratic ex-
pediency.

There is a temptation now vexing the people in different
sections of the country which assumes the disguise of
Democratic party principle, inasmuch as it presents a scheme
which is claimed to be a remedy for agricultural depression
and such other hardships as afflict our fellow-citizens.
Thus, because we are the friends of the people and profess
devotion to their interests, the help of the members of our
party is invoked in support of a plan to revolutionize the
monetary condition of the country, and embark upon an
experiment which is discredited by all reason and experience,
which invites trouble and disaster in every avenue of labor
and enterprise, and which must prove destructive to our
National prestige and character.

When a campaign is actively on foot to force the free,
unlimited and independent coinage of silver by the Govern-
ment at a ratio which will add to our circulation unre-
strained millions of so-called dollars, intrinsically worth but
half the amount they purport to represent, with no provision
or resource to make good the deficiency in value, and when
it is claimed that such a proposition has any relation to the

370

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

principles of Democracy, it is time for all who may in the
least degree influence Democratic thought to realize their
responsibility.

Our party is the party of the people, not because it is
wafted hither and thither by every sudden wave of popular
excitement and misconception, but because while it tests
every proposition by the doctrines which underlie its organ-
ization, it insists that all interests should be defended in
the administration of the Government, without especial favor
or discrimination.

Our party is the party of the people because in its care
for the welfare of all our countrymen, it resists dangerous
schemes born of discontent, advocated by appeals to sec-
tional or class prejudices, and reinforced by the insidious
aid of private selfishness and cupidity.

Above all, our party is the party of the people when it
recognizes the fact that sound and absolutely safe money
is the life-blood of our country's streng-th and prosperity,
and when it teaches that none of our fellow-citizens, rich or
poor, great or humble, can escape the consequences of a
degeneration of our currency.

Democratic care and conservatism dictate that if there
exists inconvenience and hardship, resulting from the con-
gestion or imperfect distribution of our circulating medium,
a remedy should be applied which will avoid the disaster
that must follow in the train of silver monometallism.

What I have written has not been prompted by any fear
that the Democracy of the State of New York wUl ever be
an accomplice in such an injury to their country as would
be entailed by the free, unlimited and independent coinage
of silver; nor do I believe they will ever be so heedless of
party interests as to support such a movement. I have re-
ferred to this subject in the belief that nothing more im-
portant can engage the attention of the American people or
the National Democracy, and in the conviction that the voice

871

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

of the Democrats of New York through its press, should
constantly be heard in every State.

[Third Annual Message {Second Presidential
Term)y Washington, D. C, December 2,
1895.']

To the Congress of the United States: The present assem-
blage of the legislative branch of our Government occurs at
a time when the interests of our people and the needs of the
country give especial prominence to the condition of our
foreign relations and the exigencies of our national finances.
The reports of the heads of the several administrative De-
partments of the Government fully and plainly exhibit what
has been accomplished within the scope of their respective
duties and present such recommendations for the betterment
of our country's condition as patriotic and intelligent labor
and observation suggest.

It being apparent that the boundary dispute between
Great Britain and the Republic of Venezuela concerning the
limits of British Guiana was approaching an acute stage, a
definite statement of the interest and policy of the United
States as regards the controversy seemed to be required both
on its own account and in view of its relations with the
friendly powers directly concerned. In July last, therefore,
a dispatch was addressed to our ambassador at London for
communication to the British Government in which the atti-
tude of the United States was fully and distinctly set forth.
The general conclusions therein reached and formulated are
in substance that the traditional and established policy of
this Government is firmly opposed to a forcible increase by
any European power of its territorial possessions on this

372

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

continent ; that this policy is as well founded in principle as
it is strongly supported by numerous precedents; that as a
consequence the United States is bound to protest against
the enlargement of the area of British Guiana in derogation
of the rights and against the will of Venezuela; that con-
sidering the disparity in strength of Great Britain and
Venezuela the territorial dispute between them can be rea-
sonably settled only by friendly and impartial arbitration,
and that the resort to such arbitration should include the
whole controversy, and is not satisfied if one of the powers
concerned is permitted to draw an arbitrary line through the
territory in debate and to declare that it will submit to arbi-
tration only the portion lying on one side of it. In view of
these conclusions, the dispatch in question called upon the
British Government for a definite answer to the question
whether it would or would not submit the territorial con-
troversy between itself and Venezuela in its entirety to im-
partial arbitration. The answer of the British Government
has not yet been received, but is expected shortly, when
further communication on the subject will probably be made
to the Congress.

The coronation of the Czar of Russia at Moscow in May
next invites the ceremonial participation of the United
States, and in accordance with usage and diplomatic pro-
priety our minister to the imperial court has been directed
to represent our Government on the occasion.

Correspondence is on foot touching the practice of Rus-
sian consuls within the jurisdiction of the United States to
interrogate citizens as to their race and religious faith, and
upon ascertainment thereof to deny to Jews authentication
of passports or legal documents for use in Russia. Inas-
much as such a proceeding imposes a disability which in the
case of succession to property in Russia may be found to
infringe the treaty rights of our citizens, and which is an

373

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

obnoxious invasion of our territorial jurisdiction, it has
elicited fitting remonstrance, the result of which, it is hoped,
will remove the cause of complaint. The pending claims of
sealing vessels of the United States seized in Russian waters
remain unadjusted. Our recent convention with Russia es-
tablishing a modus vivendi as to imperial jurisdiction in such
cases has prevented further difficulty of this nature.

The Russian Government has welcomed in principle our
suggestion for a modus vivendi, to embrace Great Britain
and Japan, looking to the better preservation of seal life in
the North Pacific and Bering Sea and the extension of the
protected area defined by the Paris Tribunal to all Pacific
waters north of the thirty-fifth parallel. It is especially
noticeable that Russia favors prohibition of the use of fire-
arms in seal hunting throughout the proposed area and a
longer closed season for pelagic sealing.

Cuba is again gravely disturbed. An insurrection in some
respects more active than the last preceding revolt, which
continued from 1868 to 1878, now exists in a large part of
the eastern interior of the island, menacing even some popu-
lations on the coast. Besides deranging the commercial ex-
changes of the island, of which our country takes the pre-
dominant share, this flagrant condition of hostilities, by
arousing sentimental sympathy and inciting adventurous
support among our people, has entailed earnest effort on
the part of this Government to enforce obedience to our
neutrality laws and to prevent the territory of the United
States from being abused as a vantage ground from which
to aid those in arms against Spanish sovereignty.

Whatever may be the traditional sympathy of our coun-
trymen as individuals with a people who seem to be strug-
gling for larger autonomy and greater freedom, deepened,
as such sympathy naturally must be, in behalf of our neigh-
bors, yet the plain duty of their Government is to observe in

874

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

good faith the recognized obligation of international rela-
tionship. The performance of this duty should not be made
more difficult by a disregard on the part of our citizens of
the obligations growing out of their allegiance to their coun-
try, which should restrain them from violating as individ-
uals the neutrality which the nation of which they are
members is bound to observe in its relations to friendly sov-
ereign states. Though neither the warmth of our people's
sympathy with the Cuban insurgents, nor our loss and mate-
rial damage consequent upon the futile endeavors thus far
made to restore peace and order, nor any shock our humane
sensibilities may have received from the cruelties which
appear to especially characterize this sanguinary and fiercely
conducted war, have in the least shaken the determination
of the Government to honestly fulfill every international
obligation, yet it is to be earnestly hoped on every ground
that the devastation of armed conflict may speedily be stayed
and order and quiet restored to the distracted island,
bringing in their train the activity and thrift of peaceful
pursuits.

One notable instance of interference by Spain with pass-
ing American ships has occurred. On March 8 last the
Allianca, while bound from Colon to New York, and fol-
lowing the customary track for vessels near the Cuban
shore, but outside the 3-mile limit, was fired upon by a
Spanish gunboat. Protest was promptly made by the United
States against this act as not being justified by a state of
war, nor permissible in respect of vessels on the usual paths
of commerce, nor tolerable in view of the wanton peril occa-
sioned to innocent life and property. The act was dis-
avowed, with full expression of regret and assurance of
nonrecurrence of such just cause of complaint, while the
offending officer was relieved of his command. Military
arrests of citizens of the United States in Cuba have occa-
sioned frequent reclamations. Where held on criminal

375

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

charges their delivery to the ordinary civil jurisdiction for
trial has been demanded and obtained in conformity with
treaty provisions, and where merely detained by way of
military precaution under a proclaimed state of siege, with-
our formulated accusation, their release or trial has been
insisted upon. The right of American consular officers in
the island to prefer protests and demands in such cases
having been questioned by the insular authority, their en-
joyment of the privilege stipulated by treaty for the con-
suls of Germany was claimed under the most-favored-
nation provision of our own convention and was promptly
recognized.

[Special Message on the Venezuela Boundary
Dispute, Washington, D. C, December 17,
1895.}

To the Congress : In my annual message addressed to the
Congress on the 3d instant I called attention to the pend-
ing boundary controversy between Great Britain and the
Republic of Venezuela and recited the substance of a rep-
resentation made by this Government to Her Britannic Maj-
esty's Government suggesting reasons why such dispute
should be submitted to arbitration for settlement and in-
quiring whether it would be so submitted.

The answer of the British Government, which was then
awaited, has since been received, and, together with the dis-
patch to which it is a reply, is hereto appended.

Such reply is embodied in two communications addressed
by the British prime minister to Sir Julian Paimcefote, the
British ambassador at this capital. It will be seen that
one of these communications is devoted exclusivelj'^ to obser-
vations upon the Monroe doctrine, and claims that in the

376

OF G R O V E R C L E ^' E L A N D

present instance a new and strange extension and develop-
ment of this doctrine is insisted on b}'^ the United States ;
that the reasons justifying an appeal to the doctrine enun-
ciated b}' President Monroe are generally inapplicable " to
the state of things in which we live at the present day,"
and especially inapplicable to a controversy involving the
boundary line between Great Britain and Venezuela.

Without attempting extended argument in reply to these
positions, it may not be amiss to suggest that the doctrine
upon which we stand is strong and sound, because its en-
forcement is important to our peace and safety as a nation
and is essential to the integrity of our free institutions and
the tranquil maintenance of our distinctive form of govern-
ment. It was intended to apply to every stage of our na-
tional life and can not become obsolete while our Republic
endures. If the balance of power is justly a cause for jeal-
ous anxiety among the Governments of the Old World and
a subject for our absolute noninterference, none the less is
an observance of the Monroe doctrine of vital concern to
our people and their Government.

Assuming, therefore, that we may properly insist upon
this doctrine without regard to " the state of things in which
we live " or any changed conditions here or elsewhere, it is
not apparent why its application may not be invoked in the
present controversy.

If a European power by an extension of its boundaries
takes possession of the territory of one of our neighboring
Republics against its will and in derogation of its rights,
it is difficult to see why to that extent such European power
does not thereby attempt to extend its system of govern-
ment to that portion of this continent which is thus taken.
This is the precise action which President Monroe declared
to be " dangerous to our peace and safety," and it can make
no difference whether the European system is extended by
an advance of frontier or otherwise.

877

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

It is also suggested in the British reply that we should
not seek to apply the Monroe doctrine to the pending dis-
pute because it does not embody any principle of interna-
tional law which " is founded on the general consent of
nations," and that " no statesmen, however eminent, and no
nation, however powerful, are competent to insert into the
code of international law a novel principle which was never
recognized before and which has not since been accepted by
the government of any other country."

Practically the principle for which we contend has pecul-
iar, if not exclusive, relation to the United States. It may
not have been admitted in so many words to the code of
international law, but since in international councils every
nation is entitled to the rights belonging to it, if the en-
forcement of the JNIonroe doctrine is something we may
justly claim it has its place in the code of international law
as certainly and as securely as if it were specifically men-
tioned; and when the United States is a suitor before the
high tribunal that administers international law the ques-
tion to be determined is whether or not we present claims
which the justice of that code of law can find to be right
and valid.

The Monroe doctrine finds its recognition in those prin-
ciples of international law which are based upon the theory
that every nation shall have its rights protected and its just
claims enforced.

Of course this Government is entirely confident that under
the sanction of this doctrine we have clear rights and un-
doubted claims. Nor is this ignored in the British reply.
The prime minister, while not admitting that the Monroe
doctrine is applicable to present conditions, states:

In declaring that the United States would resist any such enterprise
if it was contemplated, President Monroe adopted a policy which re-
ceived the entire sympathy of the English Government of that date.

378

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

He further declares :

Though the language of President Monroe is directed to the attain-
ment of objects which most Englishmen would agree to be salutary, it is
impossible to admit that they have been inscribed by any adequate
authority in the code of international law.

Again he says:

They [Her Majesty's Government] fully concur with the view which
President Monroe apparently entertained, that any disturbance of the
existing territorial distribution in that hemisphere by any fresh acquisi-
tions on the part of any European State would be a highly inexpedient
change.

In the belief that the doctrine for which we contend was
clear and definite, that it was founded upon substantial con-
siderations and involved our safety and welfare, that it
was fully applicable to our present conditions and to the
state of the world's progress, and that it was directly re-
lated to the pending controversy, and without any convic-
tion as to the final merits of the dispute, but anxious to
learn in a satisfactory and conclusive manner whether Great
Britain sought under a claim of boundary to extend her
possessions on this continent without right, or whether she
merely sought possession of territory fairly included within
her lines of ownership, this Government proposed to the
Government of Great Britain a resort to arbitration as the
proper means of settling the question, to the end that a
vexatious boimdary dispute between the two contestants
might be determined and our exact standing and relation in
respect to the controversy might be made clear.

It will be seen from the correspondence herewith sub-
mitted that this proposition has been declined by the British
Government upon groimds which in the circumstances seem
to me to be far from satisfactory. It is deeply disappoint-
ing that such an appeal, actuated by the most friendly feel-
ings toward both nations directly concerned, addressed to

379

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the sense of justice and to the magnanimity of one of the
great powers of the world, and touching its relations to one
comparatively weak and small, should have produced no
better results.

The course to be pursued by this Government in view of
the present condition does not appear to admit of serious
doubt. Having labored faithfully for many years to in-
duce Great Britain to submit this dispute to impartial arbi-
tration, and having been now finally apprised of her refusal
to do so, nothing remains but to accept the situation, to
recognize its plain requirements, and deal with it accord-
ingly. Great Britain's present proposition has never thus
far been regarded as admissible by Venezuela, though any
adjustment of the boundary which that country may deem
for her advantage and may enter into of her own free will
can not of course be objected to by the United States.

Assuming, however, that the attitude of Venezuela will
remain unchanged, the dispute has reached such a stage as
to make it now incumbent upon the United States to take
measures to determine with sufficient certainty for its justi-
fication what is the true divisional line between the Republic
of Venezuela and British Guiana. The inquiry to that end
should of course be conducted carefully and judicially, and
due weight should be given to all available evidence, records,
and facts in support of the claims of both parties.

In order that such an examination should be prosecuted
in a thorough and satisfactory manner, I suggest that the
Congress make an adequate appropriation for the expenses
of a commission, to be appointed by the Executive, who shall
make the necessary Investigation and report upon the matter
with the least possible delay. When such report is made
and accepted it will, in my opinion, be the duty of the
United States to resist by every means in its power, as a
willful aggression upon its rights and interests, the appro-
priation by Great Britain of any lands or the exercise of

380

OF GROVER CLE ^' ELAND

governmental jurisdiction over any territory which after
investigation we have determined of right belongs to
Venezuela.

In making these recommendations I am fully alive to the
responsibility incurred and keenly realize all the conse-
quences that may follow.

I am, nevertheless, firm in my conviction that while it is
a grievous thing to contemplate the two great English-
speaking peoples of the world as being otherwise than
friendly competitors in the onward march of civilization
and strenuous and worthy rivals in all the arts of peace,
there is no calamity which a great nation can invite which
equals that which follows a supine submission to wrong and
injustice and the consequent loss of national self-respect
and honor, beneath which are shielded and defended a peo-
ple's safety and greatness.

[Letter to Hon. George TV. Parher read at the
Annual Shakespeare Commemoration, Bir-
mingham, Engla7id, April 21, 1896.']

Dear Sir: Everything that tends to keep alive the mem-
ory of Shakespeare and preserves a proper appreciation of
his work challenges my earnest interest and ajDproval, and
though I cannot be with you on the occasion you contem-
plate, I am glad to know that our American people will
be prominently represented. There is much said and writ-
ten in these days concerning the relations that should exist,
bound close by the strongest ties, between English-speaking
peoples, and concerning the high destiny that awaits them
in concerted effort. I hope we shall never know the time
when these ennobling sentiments will be less often expressed
or in the least lose their potency and influence. Surely if

381

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

English speech supplies the token of united effort for the
good of mankind and the impulse of an exalted international
mission, we do well to honor fittingly the name and memory
of William Shakespeare.

[From Address delivered at the Su^quicenten-
nidi of the Founding of the College of
New Jersey, Princeton, N. J., October 23,
1896.']

I hasten to concede the good already accomplished by
our educated men in purifying and steadying political sen-
timent; but I hope I may be allowed to intimate my belief
that their work in these directions Avould be easier and
more useful if it were less spasmodic and occasional. The
disposition of our people is such that, while they may be
inclined to distrust those who only on rare occasions come
among them from an exclusiveness savoring of assumed
superiority, they readily listen to those who exhibit a real
fellowship and a friendly and habitual interest in all that
concerns the common welfare. Such a condition of intimacy
would, I believe, not only improve the general political
atmosphere, but would vastly increase the influence of our
universities and colleges in their efforts to prevent popular
delusions or correct them before they reach an acute and
dangerous stage. I am certain, therefore, that a more con-
stant and active participation in political affairs on the part
of our men of education would be of the greatest possible
value to our country.

It is exceedingly unfortunate that politics should be re-
garded in any quarter as an unclean thing, to be avoided
by those claiming to be educated or respectable. It would
be strange, indeed, if anything related to the administration

382

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

of our Government or the welfare of our nation should be
essentially degrading. I believe it is not a superstitious
sentiment that leads to the conviction that God has watched
over our National life from its beginning. Who will say that
the things worthy of God's regard and fostering care are
unworthy of the touch of the wisest and best of men?

I would have those sent out by our universities and col-
leges not only the counsellors of their fellow-countrymen,
but the tribunes of the people — fully appreciating every
condition that presses upon their daily life, sympathetic in
every untoward situation, quick and earnest in every effort
to advance their happiness and welfare, and prompt and
sturdy in the defence of all their rights.

I have but imperfectly expressed the thoughts to which
I had not been able to deny utterance on an occasion so full
of glad significance, and so pervaded by the atmosphere of
patriotic aspiration. Born of these surroundings, the hope
cannot be vain that the time is at hand when all our coun-
trymen will more deeply appreciate the blessings of Amer-
ican citizenship, when their disinterested love of their Gov-
ernment will be quickened, when fanaticism and passion
shall be banished from the field of politics, and when all
our people, discarding every difference of condition or
opportunity, will be seen under the banner of American
brotherhood, marching steadily and unfalteringly on toward
the bright heights of our National destiny.

[Fourth Annual Message (Second Presidential
Term), Washington, D. C, December 7,
1896.]

To the Congress of ihe United States: As representatives
of the people in the legislative branch of their Government,
3'ou have assembled at a time when the strength and excel-

S83

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

lence of our free institutions and the fitness of our citizens
to enjoy popular rule have been again made manifest. A
political contest involving momentous consequences, fraught
with feverish apprehension, and creating aggressiveness so
intense as to approach bitterness and passion has been waged
throughout our land and determined by the decree of free
and independent suffrage without disturbance of our tran-
quillity or the least sign of weakness in our national struc-
ture.

When we consider these incidents and contemplate the
peaceful obedience and manly submission which have suc-
ceeded a heated clash of political opinions, we discover
abundant evidence of a determination on the part of our
countrymen to abide by every verdict of the popular will
and to be controlled at all times by an abiding faith in the
agencies established for the direction of the affairs of their
Government.

Thus our people exhibit a patriotic disposition which en-
titles them to demand of those who undertake to make and
execute their laws such faithful and unselfish service in
their behalf as can only be prompted by a serious apprecia-
tion of the trust and confidence which the acceptance of
public duty invites.

The insurrection in Cuba still continues with all its per-
plexities. It is difficult to perceive that any progress has
thus far been made toward the pacification of the island or
that the situation of affairs as depicted in my last annual
message has m the least improved. If Spain still holds
Havana and the seaports and all the considerable towns, the
insurgents still roam at will over at least two-thirds of the
inland country. If the determination of Spain to put down
the insurrection seems but to strengthen with the lapse of
time and is evinced by her unhesitating devotion of largely
increased military and naval forces to the task, there is much

S84

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

reason to believe that the insurgents have gained in point
of numbers and character and resources and are none the
less inflexible in their resolve not to succumb without prac-
tically securing the great objects for which they took up
arms. If Spain has not yet reestablislied her authority,
neither have the insurgents yet made good their title to be
regarded as an independent state. Indeed, as the contest
has gone on the pretense that civil government exists on
the island, except so far as Spain is able to maintain it,
has been practically abandoned. Spain does keep on foot
such a government, more or less imperfectly, in the large
towns and their immediate suburbs ; but that exception being
made, the entire country is either given over to anarchy or
is subject to the military occupation of one or the other
party. It is reported^ indeed, on reliable authority that
at the demand of the commander in chief of the insurgent
army the putative Cuban government has now given up all
attempt to exercise its functions, leaving that government
confessedly (what there is the best reason for supposing it
always to have been in fact) a government merely on paper.

Many Cubans reside in this country, and indirectly pro-
mote the insurrection through the press, by public meetings,
by the purchase and shipment of arms, by the raising of
funds, and by other means which the spirit of our institu-
tions and the tenor of our laws do not permit to be made
the subject of criminal prosecutions. Some ofithera, though
Cubans at heart and in all their feelings and interests, have
taken out papers as naturalized citizens of the United States
— a proceeding resorted to with a view to possible protec-
tion by this Government, and not unnaturally regarded witli
much indignation by the country of their origin. The in-
surgents are undoubtedly encouraged and supported by the
widespread sj'mpathy the people of this country always
and instinctively feel for every struggle for better and

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

freer government, and which, in the case of the more ad-
venturous and restless elements of our population, leads in
only too many instances to active and personal participation
in the contest. The result is that this Government is con-
stantly called upon to protect American citizens, to claim
damages for injuries to persons and property, now estimated
at many millions of dollars, and to ask explanations and
apologies for the acts of Spanish officials whose zeal for the
repression of rebellion sometimes blinds them to the im-
munities belonging to the unoffending citizens of a friendly
power. It follows from the same causes that the United
States is compelled to actively police a long line of seacoast
against unlawful expeditions, the escape of which the utmost
vigilance will not always suffice to prevent.

These inevitable entanglements of the United States with
the rebellion in Cuba, the large American property interests
affected, and considerations of philanthropy and humanity
in general have led to a vehement demand in various quar-
ters for some sort of positive intervention on the part of the
United States. ^It was at first proposed that belligerent
rights should be accorded to the insurgents — a proposition
no longer urged because untimely and in practical operation
clearly perilous and injurious to our o-\vn interests. It has
since been and is now sometimes contended that the inde-
pendence of the insurgents should be recognized; but imper-
fect and restricted as the Spanish government of the island
may be, no other exists there, unless the will of the military
officer in temporary command of a particular district can
be dignified as a species of government. It is now also sug-
gested that the United States should buy the island — a sug-
gestion possibly worthy of consideration if there were any
evidence of a desire or willingness on the part of Spain to
entertain such a proposal. It is urged finally that, all other
methods failing, the existing internecine strife in Cuba
should be terminated by our intervention, even at the cost

386

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

of a war between the United States and Spain — a war which
its advocates confidently prophesy could neither be large in
its proportions nor doubtful in its issue.

The correctness of this forecast need be neither affirmed
nor denied. The United States has, nevertheless, a characterT

i

to maintain as a nation, which plainly dictates that right and j
not might should be the rule of its conduct. Further, J
though the United States is not a nation to which peace is a
necessity, it is in truth the most pacific of powers and de-
sires nothing so much as to live in amity with all the world.
Its own amjjle and diversified domains satisfy all possible
longings for territory, preclude all dreams of conquest, and
prevent any casting of covetous eyes upon neighboring re-
gions, however attractive. That our conduct toward Spain
and her dominions has constituted no exception to this na-
tional disposition is made manifest by the course of our
Government, not only thus far during the present insurrec-
tion, but during the ten years that followed the rising at
Yara in 1868. No other great power, it may safely be
said, under circumstances of similar perplexity, would have
manifested the same restraint and the same patient en-
durance. It may also be said that this persistent attitude?
of the United States toward Spain in connection with Cuba
unquestionably evinces no slight respect and regard for
Spain on the part of the American people. They in truth
do not forget her connection with the discovery of the West-
ern Hemisphere, nor do they underestimate the great quali-
ties of the Spanish people nor fail to fully recognize their
splendid patriotism and their chivalrous devotion to the
national honor.

Whatever circumstances may arise, our policy and our in-
terests would constrain us to object to the acquisition of
the island or an interference with its control by any other
power.

387

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

It should be added that it can not be reasonably assumed
that the hitherto expectant attitude of the United States will
be indefinitely maintained. While we are anxious to accord
all due respect to the sovereignty of Spain, we can not view
the pending conflict in all its features and properly appre-
hend our inevitably close relations to it and its possible re-
sults without considering that by the course of events we
may be drav/n into such an unusual and unprecedented con-
dition as will fix a limit to our patient waiting for Spain to
end the contest either alone and in her own way or with our
friendly cooperation.

When the inability of Spain to deal successfully with the
insurrection has become manifest and it is demonstrated that
her sovereignty is extinct in Cuba for all purposes of its
rightful existence, and when a hopeless struggle for its re-
establishment has degenerated into a strife which means
nothing more than the useless sacrifice of hum^n life and the
utter destruction of the very subject-matter of the conflict,
a situation will be presented in which our obligations to the
sovereignty of Spain will be superseded by higher obliga-
tions, which we can hardly hesitate to recognize and dis-
charge. Deferring the choice of ways and methods until
the time for action arrives, we should make them depend
upon the precise conditions then existing; and they should
not be determined upon without giving careful heed to every
consideration involving our honor and interest or the inter-
national duty we owe to Spain. Until we face the contin-
gencies suggested or the situation is by other incidents im-
peratively changed we should continue in the line of conduct
heretofore pursued, thus in all circumstances exhibiting our
obedience to the requirements of public law and our regard
for the duty enjoined upon us by the position we occupy in
the family of nations.

A contemplation of emergencies that may arise should
plainly lead us to avoid their creation, either through a care-

S88

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

less disregard of present duty or even an undue stimulation
^nd ill-timed expression of feeling. But I have deemed it
not amiss to remind the Congress that a time may arrive
when a correct policy and care for our interests, as well as
a regard for the interests of other nations and their citizens,
joined by considerations of humanity and a desire to see a
rich and fertile country intimately related to us saved from
complete devastation, will constrain our Government to such
action as will subserve the interests thus involved and at the
same time promise to Cuba and its inhabitants an oppor-
tunity to enjoy the blessings of peace.

The Venezuelan boundary question has ceased to be a mat-
ter of difference between Great Britain and the United
States, their respective Governments having agreed upon the
substantial provisions of a treaty between Great Britain and
Venezuela submitting the whole controversy to arbitration.
The provisions of the treaty are so eminently just and fair
that the assent of Venezuela thereto may confidently be^
anticipated.

Negotiations for a treaty of general arbitration for all
differences between Great Britain and the United States are
far advanced and promise to reach a successful consumma-
tion at an early date.

The civil-service rules as amended during the last year
provide for a sensible and uniform method of promotion,
basing eligibility to better positions upon demonstrated effi-
ciency and faithfulness. The absence of fixed rules on this
subject has been an infirmity in the system more and more
apparent as its other benefits have been better appreciated.

The advantages of civil-service methods in their business
aspects are too well understood to require argument. Their
application has become a necessity to the executive work of
the Government. But those who gain positions through the

389

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

operation of these methods should be made to understand
that the nonpartisan scheme through which they receive their
appointments demands from them by way of reciprocity non-
partisan and faithful performance of duty under every
Administration and cheerful fidelity to every chief. While
they should be encouraged to decently exercise their rights
of citizenship and to support through their suffrages the
political beliefs they honestly profess, the noisy, pestilent,
and partisan employee, who loves political turmoil and con-
tention, or who renders lax and grudging service to an Ad-
ministration not representing his political views, should be
promptly and fearlessly dealt with in such a way as to fur-
nish a warning to others who may be likewise disposed.

Another topic in which our people rightfully take a deep
interest may be here briefly considered. I refer to the
existence of trusts and other huge aggregations of capital
the object of which is to secure the monopoly of some par-
ticular branch of trade, industry, or commerce and to stifle
wliolcsome competition. When these are defended, it is usu-
ally on the ground that though they increase profits they
also reduce prices, and thus may benefit the public. It
must be remembered, however, that a reduction of prices to
the people is not one of the real objects of these organiza-
tions, nor is their tendency necessarily in that direction.
If it occurs in a particular case it is only because it accords
with the purposes or interests of those managing the scheme.

Such occasional results fall far short of compensating the
palpable evils charged to the account of trusts and monop-
olies. Their tendency is to crush out individual inde-
pendence and to hinder or prevent the free use of human
faculties and the full development of human character.
Through them the farmer, the artisan, and the small trader
is in danger of dislodgment from the proud position of being
his own master, watchful of all that touches his country's

390

OF G R O V E R C L E \ E L A N D

prosperity, in which he has an individual lot, and interested
in all that affects the advantages of business of which he
is a factoi*, to be relegated to the level of a mere appurte-
nance to a great machine, with little free will, with no duty
but that of passive obedience, and with little hope or oppor-
tunity of rising in the scale of responsible and helpful citi-
zenship.

To the instinctive belief that such is the inevitable trend
of trusts and monopolies is due the widespread and deep-
seated popular aversion in which they are held and the not
unreasonable insistence that, whatever may be their inci-
dental economic advantages, their general effect upon per-
sonal character, prospects, and usefulness can not be other-
wise than injurious.

Though Congress has attempted to deal with this matter
by legislation, the laws passed for that purpose thus far have
proved ineffective, not because of any lack of disposition or
attempt to enforce them, but simpl}^ because the laws them-
selves as interpreted by the courts do not reach the diffi-
culty. If the insufficiencies of existing laws can be reme-
died by further legislation, it should be done. The fact
must be recognized, however, that all Federal legislation on
this subject may fall short of its purpose because of inherent
obstacles and also because of the complex character of our
governmental system, which, while making the Federal au-
thority supreme within its sphere, has carefully limited that
sphere by metes and bounds that can not be transgressed.
The decision of our highest court on this precise question
renders it quite doubtful whether the evils of trusts and
monopolies can be adequately treated through Federal action
unless they seek directly and purposely to include in their
objects transportation or intercourse between States or be-
tween the United States and foreign countries.

It does not follew, however, that this is the limit of the
remedy that may be applied. Even though it may be found

391

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

that Federal authority is not broad enough to fully reach
the case, there can be no doubt of the power of the several
States to act effectively in the premises, and there should
be no reason to doubt their willingness to judiciously exer-
cise such power.

In concluding this communication its last words shall be
an appeal to the Congress for the most rigid economy in the
expenditure of the money it holds in trust for the people.
'The way to perplexing extravagance is easy, but a return to
frugality is difficult. When, however, it is considered that
those who bear the burdens of taxation have no guaranty of
honest care save in the fidelity of their public servants, the
duty of all possible retrenchment is plainly manifest.

When our differences are forgotten and our contests of
political opinion are no longer remembered, nothing in the
retrospect of our public service will be as fortunate and
comforting as the recollection of official duty well performed
and the memory of a constant devotion to the interests of our
confiding fellow-countrymen.

[Message on Arbitration Treaty between United
States and Great Britain, Washington,
D. C, January 11, 1897.']

To the Senate : I transmit herewith a treaty for the arbi-
tration of all matters in difference between the United States
and Great Britain.

The provisions of the treaty are the result of long and
patient deliberation and represent concessions made by each
part for the sake of agreement upon the general scheme.

Though the result reached may not meet the views of the
advocates of immediate, unlimited, and irrevocable arbitra-
tion of all international controversies, it is nevertheless con-

392

OF G R O ^^ E R C L E A' E L A N D

fidently believed that the treaty can not fail to be everywhere
recognized as making a long step in the right direction and
as embodying a practical working plan by which disputes
between the two countries will reach a peaceful adjustment
as matter of course and in ordinary routine.

In the initiation of such an important movement it must
be expected that some of its features will assume a tentative
character looking to a further advance, and yet it is appar-
ent that the treaty which has been formulated not only makes
war between the parties to it a remote possibility, but pre-
cludes those fears and rumors of war which of themselves
too often assume the proportions of national disaster.

It is eminently fitting as well as fortunate that the at-
tempts to accomplish results so beneficent should be initiated
by kindred peoples, speaking the same tongue and joined
together by all the ties of common traditions, common insti-
tutions, and common aspirations. The experiment of sub-
stituting civilized methods for brute force as the means of
settling international questions of right will thus be tried
under the happiest auspices. Its success ought not to be
doubtful, and the fact that its ultimate ensuing benefits are
not likely to be limited to the two countries immediately con-
cerned should cause it to be promoted all the more eagerly.
The examples set and the lesson furnished by the success-
ful operation of this treaty are sure to be felt and taken
to heart sooner or later by other nations, and will thus mark
the beginning of a new epoch in civilization.

Profoundly impressed as I am, therefore, by the promise
of transcendent good which this treaty affords, I do not
hesitate to accompany its transmission with an expression
of my earnest hope that it may commend itself to the favor-
able consideration of the Senate.

393

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

^rom Address at the Semicentennial Anni-
versary of the New York Academy of
Medicine, Carnegie Hall, New York City,
January 29, 1897. '\

We begin by conceding most heartily, and without the
least reservation, the learning and skill of those now con-
stituting the medical profession, and the wonderful advance
that has been made through their untiring labors and inves-
tigations in the alleviation of human suffering and the sav-
ing of human life.

It may be that this seems to you an acknowledgment so
much your due as to be hardly worth making. You should,
however, value it because it is sincerely made by those who
were not born yesterday, but who hold in lasting and tender
memory the ministrations of the village doctor of fifty years
ago and are now the living monuments of his faithful care !
He, too, alleviated suffering and saved human lif5. We know
that it was not given to him to see the bright lights that
now mark the path of medicine and surgery, but you cannot
convince us that he groped entirely in the dark. We remem-
ber without abhorrence his ever-ready lancet and the scars
of his blood-letting found in every household. We endure
with complacency the recollection of his awful medicine-
case, containing bottles, powders and pills which, whatever
might be thought of them now, seemed then to be sufficient
for all emergencies, to say nothing of the tooth-pulling tools
and other shiver-breeding instruments sometimes exposed to
view. If he was ignorant of many of the remedies and
appliances now in use, he in a large measure supplied the
deficiency by hard-headed judgment, well-observed experi-
ence and careful nursing. Besides, it was in his favor that
he did not have to bother his head with many of the newly

S94

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

invented and refined diseases that afflict mankind to-day.
He had no allotted hours for his patients, but was always
on duty, and we knew the sound of his gig as it rattled past
in the night.

Your ways are better than his ; but we desire you to re-
gard this admission as all the more valuable because it is
carved out of our loyalty to our old village doctor, who
brought us through the diseases of childhood without re-
lapse; who saved from death our parents and our brothers
and our sisters in many a hard combat with illness, and who,
when vanquished and forced to surrender, was present in the
last scene to close the eyes of his dying patient and sympa-
thize with those who wept.

I hasten to say that we do not for a moment suppose that
advancement in the science of medicine and surgery has
smothered the faithfulness and tender consideration which
characterized the practitioner of former days. If we seek
charitable service to the sick and suffering, a noble appre-
ciation of obligation to humanity and self-abnegation in the
discharge of professional duty, we must look for them
among our physicians and surgeons of to-day.

[From Address at the Banquet of the Reform
Club, Hotel Waldorf, New York, April U,
1897.]

We are gathered here to-night as patriotic citizens, anx-
ious to do something toward reinstating prosperity to our
fellow-countrymen and protecting the fair fame of our
nation against shame and scandal. On every side we are
confronted with popular depression and complaint. These
are largely due to causes of natural and certain recurrence,
as the inevitable accompaniment of all human endeavor, and

395

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

perhaps they are as largely due to the work of agitators and
demagogues who have busily sowed the seeds of discontent,
in order that in the harvest they may reap personal advan-
tage. Distressing ills, real and imaginary, have been so
constantly and luridly presented to the minds of honest men
that they are tempted to accept, without taking counsel of
reason or judgment, any nostrum cunningly offered as a
remedy for their low condition. But even so promising a
field as this has not satisfied the designs of ruthless agi-
tators. While scattering the seeds of discontent, they have
also cultivated a growth of sectional and class suspicion and
distrust which threatens to choke or destroy that fraternal
feeling which leads to considerate counsel in the day of
common misfortune, and which is absolutely essential to the
success of our plan of government.

The fundamental truth that our free institutions offer
opportunities to all within their influence for the advance-
ment and improvement of their condition has been so far
denied that honest accumulation is called a crime, and the
necessity and habit of individual effort and struggle, which
are the mainsprings of sturdy Americanism, are decried as
unjustifiable burdens, while unwholesome paternalism is pre-
sented in handsome and inviting garb. Those enlisted in ■
this crusade of discontent and passion, proclaiming them-
selves the friends of the people, exclude from that list all
their countrymen except those most unfortunate or unrea-
sonable, and those whom they themselves have made the most
discontented and credulous.

These forces and conditions have for years with greater
or less distinctness hovered about our National life, lacking
effective organization and concentration, neglected by those
who deprecated their existence and unheeded even by those
who partially appreciated their dangerous tendency. In the
meantime there has laid in wait behind them all an impa-
tient power, ready to marshal them in effective activity,

296

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

when depression, misfortune, neglect and passion had done
their work. This power, born of sordid greed and main-
tained by selfish interest and partisan ambition, has at last
assumed command, and has largely recruited its waiting
forces by inflaming those inclined to be patient with talks
of an ancient crime against their rights to be avenged, by
encouraging the restless and turbulent with hints of greater
license, and by offering to the poor as a smooth road to
wealth, and to those in debt as a plan for easy payment,
and to those who from any cause are unfortunate and dis-
couraged, as a remedy for all their ills, the free and unlim-
ited and independent coinage of silver at the rate of 16 to 1,
with a depreciated currency and cheap money.

It was a rude awakening for the negligent and overcon-
fident, and a day of terror for sober and patriotic men, when
the bold promoters of this reckless creed captured the organ-
ization of a powerful political party, and, seizing its banners,
shouted defiance to the astonished conscience and conserva-
tism of the country. Hosts of honest men, in blind loyalty,
gathered behind the party flag they had been accustomed to
follow, failing to discover that their party legends had been
effaced. None can forget the doubt and fear of that boister-
ous and passionate campaign, when the fate of the Nation
seemed in the balance. The danger of the situation arose
from the hasty impulse of those whose misfortunes had been
cruelly played upon, and from the enthusiasm of unquestion-
ing, thoughtless party fealty. The deliverance came through
the action of those who saw the trick, and loved the princi-
ples of their party too well to follow its stolen banners in
an attack upon those National safeguards which party as
well as patriotism should at all times defend.

I do not fear that I sliall be accused of sinister designs,
unfitted to the atmosphere of this occasion, if I insist that
the paths of duty and the best hope of safety lie in an
immediate and earnest attempt to accomplish the rehabil-

397

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

itation and regeneration of the Democratic party and its
return to the principles of true Democracy. In a large
part of the country, where financial error is most gen-
eral, the democratic name can best arouse the political senti-
ment of the people; and there, as everywhere in our land,
the people can be trusted to arrive at a correct conclusion if
they have adequate opportunity for examination and infor-
mation. Let us devise means to break through tlie influence
of the mischievous leadership that surrounds them and
without arrogantly assuming that no wrongs or hardships
afflict them, and that no ref ortas in their condition are needed,
let us meet our countrymen face to face in argument and
counsel. We shall find in every locality able, heroic men,
willing to struggle against the tide of misconception. Let
us hold up their hands by organized effort and timely assist-
ance. Let true Democrats meet the passion and bitterness
of their former associates who have assumed the leadership
of anti-Democratic wanderings, with firm expostulations, re-
minding them that Democratic convictions and Democratic
conscience cannot be forced to follow false liglits, however
held aloft; and let us at the same time entreat them in the
name of honorable political comradeship and in the memory
of glorious victories won by a united Democracy to turn
from the way that leads to party defeat and destruction.

The task is not an easy one, but surelj' it is not hopeless.
The better we appreciate its magnitude the less will be the
danger of ineffective and misguided effort. The work has
already been inaugurated by the creation of an organization,
founded upon a declaration of Democratic principles so
sound, so clear and so patriotic, that they should rally to
their support every true Democrat and sujiply an inspiration
forbidding defeat. With such a beginning, and with the
incentive to zealous effort which the transcendent impor-
tance of our case affords, we should confidently look to the
approaching dawn when true Democracy, " redeemed, re-

S98

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

generated and disenthralled," will bring us peace and Na-
tional safety. But if relief under the restored flag of true
Democracy is late in coming, we will not despair, but will
remember that a just cause is never lost; and on our camp-
ing ground we will work and wait, with approving con-
science and constant faith declaring like the sturdy old un-
recanting German reformers: " Here we stand — we cannot
do otherwise — God help us ! "

lFro7n Address on Commemoration Day at
Princeton University, Princeton, N. J.,
October 2A, 1897. '\

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: In the few
words I shall speak to-day there will be no attempt to lead
you into untrodden fields of thought or point out new truths.
I not only believe that if I should enter upon such an under-
taking I would be guilty of bold presumption, but it seems
to me we can quite as profitably improve the time we spend
together in renewing our acquaintance with some old truths
and recalling their relationship to human life and effort. In
following this suggestion we shall manifestly find it easier
if we start from familiar ground, and take our departure
from some well-known landmark. With this introduction I
hope I may be tolerated in the announcement that I propose
to submit on this occasion some simple reflections concerning
the self-made man. There has been so much said of him
at random, and he has been so often presented as an alto-
gether wonderful being, that it is not strange if there exists
in some quarters an entire misapprehension of the manner
of his creation and an exaggerated idea of his nature and
mission. A romantic and sentimental glamour has envel-
oped him, magnifying his proportions and causing him to

399

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

appear much larger and in every way greater than other
men; and the notion seems to be current that his size and
greatness are the direct results of the frowns of fortune
which deprived him of educational advantages an,d doomed
him to travel to success by a road rugged with obstacles
and difficulties.

Of course, in this view success is a necessary factor in the
existence of this self-made man ; for, unless he accomplishes
something not altogether commonplace and usual, he is
deemed unworthy of the name. Indeed, it ought not to sur-
prise us to find that success alone, if reached after a fierce
struggle with difficulties and disadvantages, should lead by
familiarity and easy association to a sort of hazy conception
that these difficulties and disadvantages were not merely in-
cidents, but positive aids to such success.

I desire here explicitly and emphatically to express my
respect and admiration for those who have won honorable
success in spite of discouraging surroundings, and who have
made themselves great and useful in their day and generation
through the sheer force of indomitable will and courage.
Nothing can be more noble and heroic than their struggles,
and nothing can be more inspiring and valuable than their
example and achievements, and whatever may be their meas-
ure of success, their willingness to undergo hardships to win
it demonstrates that they have in their nature the fibre and
lasting qualities that make strong men. But while we thus
pay a deserved tribute to true manliness, we by no means
admit the fanciful notion that the difficulties that stood in
the way of these self-made men were essential to their suc-
cess. They were obstacles which they overcame, and thus
won distinction and honor.

The truth is, the merit of the successful man who has
struggled with difficulties and disadvantages, must be judged
by the kind of success he has achieved, b}'^ the use he makes
of it, and by its effect upon his character and life. If his

400

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

success is clean and wholesome, if he uses it to make his fel-
lows better and happier, and if he faithfully responds to all
the obligations of a liberal, public spirited and useful citizen,
his struggles should add immensely to the honor and con-
sideration he deserves. If, on the other hand, his success
is of the grasping, sordid kind ; if he clutches it closely for
his selfish gratification, and if with success he's bankrupt
in character, sordidly mean, useless as a citizen, or of evil
influence in his relations with his fellow-men, his struggles
should not save him from contempt. Those included in
either of these classes may, in the ordinary acceptation, be
termed self-made men ; but it is quite evident that there are
so-called self-made men not worth the making. Let us ex-
clude these from further consideration.

[Letter read at tlie Joseph Jefferson Dinner,
New York, March 29, 1898.']

My Dear Mr. Gilder: I am very sorry that I cannot be
present on the 29th inst. at the dinner in honor of Mr. Jef-
ferson, to which you invite me. The honored guest of this
occasion is amply entitled to the love and respect of his
countrymen because of the kindly way in which he has
bestowed his genius and skill among them, for their im-
provement and amusement; but he is not less entitled to
their love and respect for the thoroughly American manner
of his life and for his characteristic triumph over early
obstacles and difficulties.

Since I came to know him as a most agreeable neighbor,
and have thus learned his qualities as a good citizen, a genial
and thoughtful friend, and a cultivated and refined man, it
has often seemed to me that those who only admire Mr.

401

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

Jefferson as a rare and accomplished actor miss much that
should immensely increase their admiration.

But whether we know him as the actor or the friend, all
wish that many years may be added to his useful and kindly
life.

[Letter to A. H. Eastmondj Esq., read at the
Brooklyn Democratic Club Dinner , Argyle
Hotel, Brooklyn, N. Y., April 16, 1898.']

Dear Sir: I have received your letter asking for a word
of encouragement and sympathy, to be read at the dinner
to be given by the Brooklyn Democratic Club, when, as you
say, it will " proclaim anew its faith in the old Democratic
principles."

I am far from assuming that the repetition of my belief
that a strict adherence to those principles in their unadulter-
ated strength and integrity constitutes the best hope for
National safety, and the only hope for Democratic party
success, can exert an important influence in present con-
ditions.

I am, however, so deeply interested in every effort tend-
ing toward the restoration of the integrity of our party, and
its reinstatement in popular confidence, that I cannot refrain
from expressing the hope that the occasion contemplated by
your club may usefully contribute to this result.

The Democratic party has a history too grand, a cause too
glorious, a mission too exalted, and triumphs too inspiring,
to permit in this time of promise and confidence its sub-
mergence beneath a new, strange and un-Democratic combi-
nation.

402

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

IFrom Founder's Day Address at the Law-
renceville School, Lawrenceville , N. J.,
June 21, 1898.]

American citizenship means more than any other citizen-
ship— not only because it lives and flourishes beneath the
protection of the freest and best institutions in the world,
but because it has the perpetuity and success of those insti-
tutions absolutely in its keeping and control. Our Govern-
ment is not and never was in outside proprietorship, which
could determine or set limits to our right of occupancy.
American citizenship has built its own habitation, and is the
tenant of no superior. It must, however, be plainly appar-
ent that this independence in the enjoyment of privileges
is not all that is involved in our relations to the Govern-
ment we proudly call our own. As one who is the owner
of the house in which he lives cannot look to another
for its care and preservation, so American citizenship as-
sumes the responsibility of maintaining, unaltered and unim-
paired, the Government which shelters it and which has thus
far been its protection against wind and storm. A just
apprehension of the seriousness of this responsibility is the
test of true American citizenship.

The existence of the highest type of American citizenship
depends largely, of course, upon the cultivation of the best
and most patriotic sentiment among our people. It is never-
theless true that it depends to an equal if not greater degree
upon a constant steadiness of sound American judgment
and an uncompromising ability among our citizens to resist
temptation. The American people are tempted every day
and every hour to abandon their accustomed way and enter
upon a course of new and strange adventure. Never before
in our history have we been beset with temptations so dan-

403

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

gerous as those which now whisper in our ears alluring
words of conquests and expansion, and point out to us fields
bright with the glory of war.

At the outset I beg you never to harbor the thought that
an active participation in political affairs is inconsistent
with the largest possible degree of culture and education.
Do not fail to gain by study and reflection a just appre-
hension of the purposes and objects for which our Govern-
ment was established, to the end that you may detect any
proposed departure from such purposes and objects, and be
able to form an opinion as to its justification or desirability.
You will probably be led by your study and reflection to
the conclusion that our Government was formed for the
express purpose of creating in a new world a new nation,
the formation of which should be man's self-government,
whose safety and prosperity should be secure in its absolute
freedom from Old World complications, and in its renun-
ciation of all schemes of foreign conquest, and whose mis-
sion should be the subjection of civilization and industrial
occupation of the vast domain on which it has taken root.

In our present predicament of war we need have no fear
that American courage in battle will fail to bring us victory.
But I pray you not to forget that when the clash of arms is
stilled, and the courage of the soldier has done its work, we
shall greatly need, in dealing with the problems that will
then confront us, a steady and uncompromising moral cour-
age, which, unmoved by clamor and undisturbed by the ex-
citement of triumph, will demand the things that true Amer-
ican citizenship decrees to be right and just and safe.

404

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

ILetter to Gustav H. Schwab, Esq., read at the
Carl Schurz Dinner, Delmonico's, New
York, March 2, 1899. '\

My Dear Sir: I regret exceedingly that I cannot promise
myself the pleasure of participating in the celebration of
iMr. Schurz's seventieth birthday. I find that an engage-
ment which I had hoped might be postponed, will prevent
my attendance.

My disappointment is measured by the extreme gratifica-
tion it would afford me to contribute my testimony to the
volume that will be presented on the occasion you have
arranged, in grateful support of Mr. Schurz's usefulness
and patriotic citizenship.

His life and career teach lessons that cannot be too often
or too impressively emphasized. They illustrate the moral
grandeur of disinterested public service, and the nobility
of a fearless advocacy of the things that are right and just
•and safe. It will be a sad day for our country when, in the
light of such an example, our people refuse to see the best
statesmanship in steadfast adherence to conscience and hon-
esty, in storm as well as in sunshine.

I believe that the most confident hope of tlie permanency
and continued beneficence of our free institutions rests upon
the cultivation by those intrusted with public duty, and
among the ranks of our countrymen, of the trusts which have
distinguished the man whom you propose to honor.

405

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Letter to Rev. G. H. Hepworth, Buzzard's
Bay, Mass., August 26, 1900.']

My Dear Mr. Hepworth: Your letter is received. I am
quite sure you wrongly estimate the value of any expression
I might make concerning the political situation.

Besides, I am by no means free from the perplexity
which now afflicts thousands of those who love the princi-
ples of true Democracy, In these circumstances I am not
inclined to advise others as to their present political duty.
A crisis has arisen when each man's conscience and in-
formed patriotic sense should be his guide.

Inasmuch, therefore, as neither the certainty of my abil-
ity to rightly advise nor any call of obligation prompts me
to discuss political conditions, I think I ought to be per-
mitted, in my retirement to avoid the irritation and abuse
which my interference at this time would inevitably invite.

[From Address at the Holland Society Dinner,
Waldorf-Astoria, New York, January 17,
1901.]

The cordial welcome you extend to me is exceedingly
grateful and comforting, for it gives me a grain of satis-
faction in the ordeal that confronts me. I am convinced
that the art of making an after-dinner speech without dis-
tress is for me a sealed book, and as the years pass I am only
saved from complete wretchedness in my efforts in that
direction by the kindness and toleration of those who are
good enough to listen to me. I cannot resent the charge
that I am apt to preach a sermon on occasions of this kind;
for I am afraid this accusation is justified. It has been

406

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

my lot to be much on the sober side of life and to feel the
pressure of great responsibilities. Besides, I believe it
sometimes happens that an excess of light-hearted gayety
creates a condition of popular thought and impulse that
may profitably be steadied by sedate suggestions and the
expression of conservative sentiment — even though it may
be called sermonizing.

At any rate, I am quite willing to take an humble place
among the sermonizers, in this time of headlong National
heedlessness, and to invoke the cultivation and saving grace
of Dutch conservatism. This is the kind of conservatism
that counts the cost, but for the sake of principle and
freedom will disregard the cost ; that lays out a voyage by
chart and compass and follows chart and compass to the
end; that loves the liberty and national happiness which
rest upon tried and sure foundations ; that teaches rever-
ence for national traditions and encourages the people's
satisfaction with their country's mission. It is the kind of
conservatism in which our Constitution had its birth, and
which has thus far been the source of our Nation's safety
and strength — the conservatism of justice, of honor, of hon-
esty, of industry, of frugality and of contented homes.

[On hearing of the Death of Ex-President
Harrison, Princeton, N. J., March 13, 1901.1

I am exceedingly moved by the sad intelligence of Mr.
Harrison's death, for, notwithstanding the late discourag-
ing reports for his condition, I hoped his life might yet be
spared. Not one of our countrymen should for a moment
fail to realize the services which have been performed in
their behalf by the distinguished dead. In high public
office he was guided by patriotism and devotion to duty,

407

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

often at the sacrifice of temporary popularity^ and in pri-
vate station his influence and example were always in the
direction of decencj'^ and good citizenship. Such a career
and the incidents related to it should leave a deep and
useful impression upon every selection of our national life.

[From First Lecture on the Venezuela Bound-
ary Dispute^ Princeton^ N. J., May 27,

In 1876, thirty-two years after the discontinuance of
efforts on the part of Great Britain and Venezuela to fix
by agreement a line which should divide their possessions,
Venezuela was confronted, upon the renewal of negotiations
for that purpose, by the following conditions:

A line proposed by her, founded upon her conception of strict right,
which her powerful opponent had insisted could not in any way be
plausibly supported, and which therefore she would in no event accept.

An indefiniteness in the linaits claimed by Great Britain, so great that
of two boundary lines indicated or suggested by her one had been plainly
declared to be "merely a preliminary measure ojjen to future discussion
between the governments of Great Britain and Venezuela, and the other
was distinctly claimed to be based upon generous concessions and a
"desire to avoid all cause of serious controversies between the two
countries."

A controversy growing out of this situation impossible of friendly
settlement except by such arrangement and accommodation as would
be satisfactory to Great Britain, or by submission of the dispute to
arbitration.

A constant danger of such an extension of settlements in the disputed
territory as would necessarily complicate the situation, and furnish a
convenient pretext for the refusal of any concession respecting the lands
containing such settlements.

A continual profession on the part of Great Britain of her present readi-
ness to make benevolent concessions, and of her willingness to co-operate
in a speedy adjustment, while not substantially reducing her pretensions,
and certainly not attempting in a conspicuous manner to hasten negotia-
tions to a conclusion.

408

OF G R 0 V E R CLEVELAND

A tremendous disparity in power and strength between Venezuela and
her adversary, which gave her no hope, in case the extremity of force
or war was reached, or defending her territory or preventing its annexa-
tion to the possessions of Great Britain.

It was in 1876 that Venezuela appealed to the United
States, begging our Government " to give the subject its kind
consideration and take an interest in having due justice
done to Venezuela." This appears to be the first communi-
cation addressed to our Government on the subj ect of a con-
troversy in which we afterward became very seriously con-
cerned.

England alone had treated the territory as part of British
Guiana; her immense power had enabled her to do this, and
her own decrees seemed to promise greater advantages as
against her weak adversary than arbitration could possibly
assure.

The British Government at one time offered a plan of
arbitration which did not cover the entire disputed terri-
tory, but never consented to arbitration such as proposed
by Venezuela, and which would include the entire territory
in dispute.

Here [September, 1893] closed a period in this dispute,
fifty-two years in duration, vexed with agitation, and per-
turbed by irritating and repeated failures to reach a peace-
ful adjustment. Instead of progress in the direction of a
settlement of their boundaries, the contestants could only
contemplate, as results of their action, increased obstacles
to fair discussion, intensified feelings of injury, extended
assertion of title, ruthless appropriation of the territory in
controversy, and an unhealed breach in diplomatic relations.

409

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

IFrom Second Lecture on the Venezuela Bound-
ary Dispute, Princeton, N. J., May 28,
1901.1

It now [1893] became plainly apparent that a new stage
had been reached in the progress of our intervention, and
that the ominous happenings of a few months had hastened
the day when we were challenged to take our exact bearings,
lest we should miss the course of honor and national duty.
The more direct tone that had been given to our dispatches
concerning the dispute, our more insistent and emphatic sug-
gestion of arbitration, the serious reference to the subject in
the President's message, the significant resolution passed by
Congress earnesth'^ recommending arbitration, all portended
a growth of conviction on the part of our Government con-
cerning this controversy, which grew to pronounced disap-
pointment and anxiety when Great Britain, concurrently
with these apprising incidents, repeated in direct and posi-
tive terms her refusal to submit to arbitration except on
condition that a portion of the disputed territory which
Venezuela had always claimed to be hers should at the out-
set be irrevocably conceded to England.

Recreancy to a principle so fundamentally American as
the Monroe Doctrine on the part of those charged with the
administration of our Government was, of course, out of the
question. Inasmuch, therefore, as all our efforts to avoid
its assertion had miscarried, there was nothing left for us
to do, consistently with national honor, but to take the place
of Venezuela in the controversy, so far as that was necessary
in vindication of our American doctrine. Our mild and
amiable proffers of good offices, and the hopes we indulged

410

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

that at last they might be the means of securing to a weak
sister republic peace and justice, and to ourselves immunity
from sterner interposition, were not suited to the new emer-
gency. In our advanced position sympathy for Venezuela
and solicitude for her distressed condition were no longer
to be the motive power of our conduct, but were to give way
to the duty and obligation to protect our own national rights.

In 1895 Mr. Olney, at the suggestion of the President,
began, with characteristic energy and vigor, to make prepa-
ration for the decisive step which it seemed to our Govern-
ment could not longer be delayed.

Whatever our beliefs or convictions might be, as derived
from the examination we had thus far given the case, and
however strongly we might be persuaded that Great Brit-
ain's pretensions, if allowed, must result in such European
colonization as would violate the Monroe doctrine, it would
nevertheless have been manifestly improper and heedless on
our part to find conclusively against Great Britain, before
soliciting her again and in new circumstances to give us an
opportunity to judge of the merits of her claims through
her submission of them to arbitration.

My own surprise and disappointment have arisen more
from the honest misunderstanding and the dishonest and
insincere misrepresentation on the part of many of our people
regarding the motives and purposes of the interference of
the Government of the United States in this affair.

I hope there are but few of our fellow-citizens who, in
their retrospects, do not now acknowledge the good that has
come to our nation through this episode in our history. It
has established the Monroe doctrine on lasting foundations
before the eyes of the world; it has given us a better place

411

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

in the respect and consideration of the people of all nations,
and especially of Great Britain; it has again confirmed our
confidence in the overwhelming prevalence among our citi-
zens of disinterested devotion to American honor, and last,
but by no means least, it has taught us where to look in the
ranks of our countrymen for the best patriotism.

[Address at the McKinley Memorial Services,
Alexander Hall, Princeton, N. J., Septem-
ber 13, 1901.']

To-day the grave closes over the dead body of the man
but lately chosen by the people of the United States from
among their number to represent their nationality, preserve,
protect and defend their Constitution, to faithfully execute
the laws ordained for their welfare and to safely hold and
keep the honor and integrity of the republic. His time of
service is ended, not by the lapse of time, but by the tragedy
of assassination. He has passed from the public sight, not
joyously bearing the garlands and wreaths of his country-
men's approving acclaim, but amid the sobs and tears of
a mourning nation. He has gone to his home, not the habi-
tation of earthly peace and quiet night, with domestic com-
fort and joy, but to the dark and narrow home appointed
for all the sons of men and there to rest until the morning
light of the resurrection shall gleam in the east.

All our people loved their dead President. His kindly
nature and lovable traits of character and his amiable con-
sideration for all about him will long live in the minds and
hearts of his countrymen. He loved them in return with
such patriotism and unselfishness that in this hour of their
grief and humiliation he would say to them: "It is God's
will; I am content. If there is a lesson in my life or death,

412

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

let it be taught to those who still live and have the destiny of
their country in their keeping." Let us, then, as our dead
is buried out of our sight, seek for the lessons and the admo-
nitions that may be suggested by the life and death which
constitute our theme.

First in my thoughts are the lessons to be learned from
the career of William McKinley by the young men who
make up the student body of our university. These lessons
are not obscure or difficult. They teach the value of study
and mental training, but they teach more impressively th.it
the road to usefulness and to the only success worth havhig
will be missed or lost except it is sought and kept by tlie
light of those qualities of the heart, which it is sometimes
supposed may safely be neglected or subordinated in uni-
versity surroundings. This is a great mistake. Study and
study hard, but never let the thought enter your mind that
study alone or the greatest possible accumulation of learn-
ing alone will lead you to the heights of usefulness and
success.

The man who is universally mourned to-day achieved the
highest distinction which his great country can confer on any
man, and he lived a useful life. He was not deficient in
education, but with all you will hear of his grand career
and his services to his country and to his fellow-citizens,
you will not hear that the high plane he reached or what
he accomplished was due entirely to his education. You will
instead constantly hear as accounting for his great success
that he was obedient and affectionate as a son, patriotic and
faithful as a soldier, honest and upright as a citizen, tender
and devoted as a husband, and truthful, generous, unselfisli,
moral and clean in every relation of life. He never thought
any of those things too weak for his manliness. Make no
mistake. Here was a most distinguished man, a great man,
a useful man — who became distinguished, great and usefid
because he had, and retained unimpaired, qualities of heart

413

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

which I fear university students sometimes feel like keeping
in the background or abandoning.

There is' a most serious lesson for all of us in the tragedy
of our late President's death. The shock of it is so great
that it is hard at this time to read this lesson calmly. We
can hardly fail to see, however, behind the bloody deed of
the assassin, horrible figures and faces from which it will
not do to turn away. If we are to escape further attack
upon our peace and security, we must boldly and reso-
lutely grapple with the monster of anarchy. It is not a
thing that we can safely leave to be dealt with by party or
partisanship. ^Nothing can guarantee us against its menace
except the teaching and the practice of the best citizenship,
the exposure of the ends and aims of the gospel of discon-
tent and hatred of social order, and the brave CHactment
and execution of repressive laws.

The universities and colleges cannot refuse to join in the
battle against the tendencies of anarchy. Their help in
discovering and warring against the relationship between
the vicious councils and deeds of blood, and their steadying
influence upon the elements of xinrest, cannot fail to be of
inestimable value.

By the memory of our murdered President, let us resolve
to cultivate and preserve the qualities that made him great
and useful, and let us determine to meet any call of patriotic
duty in any time of our country's danger and need.

[JP'rom Founder's Day Address at the Carnegie
Institute, Pittsburg, Pa., November 7,
1901.}

Ladies and Gentlemen: When I yielded to the persuasive
request of the founder of the Carnegie Institute and con-
sented to appear here to day and address you I waived a

414

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

resolution I had deliberately made to do all I could by-
resisting such persuasion, to bring about my retirement from
service as a speaker on occasions like this. I found it im-
possible to escape the conviction that something had been
done in this city by your founder which demonstrated such
generosity and such disinterested public spirit that no good
citizen should refuse to respond when called on to testify
in recognition and apjjreciation of his noble work.

A most impressive exhibition is here laid before us of the
immense accomplishments of patient, persistent work and
intelligent industrial enterprise; and by their side are seen
splendid evidences of the free dedication of millions of the
wealth gained as a reward of such work and enterprise
to the education, the improvement and the elevation of the
people without distinction or discrimination. The real
impressiveness of this exhibition, however, consists in the
fact that the hands and brain and heart of one man may
have done substantially all this — ^thus demonstrating how
surely in this land of ours the greatest material success
in business follows industry and resolute effort, and at the
same time suggesting that such success and the accumu-
lation or possession of a large fortune, create obligations
of beneficence which ought to be neither forgotten nor
neglected. In point of fact the career of Andrew Car-
negie and what he has done for himself and given to others
constitute a most valuable object lesson, illustrating all the
opportunities our country profusely offers, the invincibility
of well-directed endeavors and the meaning of American
good citizenship.

415

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

lFro7}i Address at the Pierce School of Business,
Academy of MiLsic^ Philadelphia^ Pa.^ De-
cember 21, 1901.]

It is good to start out in life with the idea firmly in one's
mind that the world owes you a living. Of course, you are
not to give this the highwayman's meaning nor act upon it
in a highwayman fashion. Neither should the proposition
that the Avorld owes you a living be construed as giving
license for all sorts of sharp practices involving work only
with the wits and a disregard for the Golden Rule and every
other precept which maintains and cultivates haman brother-
hood.

There seems to be an inclination in these days to adopt
the version of the Golden Rule proclaimed by the horse-trad-
ing, money-lending character portrayed in a late popular
novel — " Do unto the other fellow the way he'd like to do
unto you, and do it first." This interpretation of the rule,
if seriously proposed, would arouse loud and extended pro-
test, and yet thousands and thousands of those who would
protest the loudest are daily and hourly acting in precise
accordance with such interpretation. The true Golden Rule
lies at the foundation of all that makes life worth living,
and is the parent of every success worth gaining.

\_Address at the Augustinian College of St.
Thomas of Villanova, Philadelphia, Pa.,
Jmie 17, 1902.]

Mr. President : I desire to express in a few words my ap-
preciation of the honor just conferred on me by the College
of St. Thomas of Villanova. It is certainly a great gratifi-
cation to be deemed worthy of such notice by the governing

416

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

body of an institution of learning within whose walls are
found in a marked degree opportunities for a thorough, sub-
stantial and useful education.

This incident prominently suggests to my mind the im-
perious edict of education, which forbids the hindrance or
disturbance of its high mission by religious discrimination,
social intolerance or any of the barriers that to a greater
or less extent separate civilized humanity. The republic of
education is based upon identical aim, equal rights in its
opportunity and impartiality in the distribution of its re-
wards and honors. This, it seems to me, is impressively
illustrated when the severely Catholic College of St. Thomas
of Villanova bestows its highest honorary degree upon one
connected with the management and holding an honorary
degree in the severely Protestant Princeton University.

The processes of education as they exist in this country
have, or always should have, in addition to other character-
istics an especial harmony of purpose and design, as they
are related to our government; and this should constitute
between our institutions of learning a bond of close fra-
ternity. Whatever other objects and purposes may be in-
volved in educational efforts among us, one of its constant
and prominent aims should be the cultivation and main-
tenance of a high standard of American citizenship. When
we recall the fact that the beneficence of our scheme of gov-
ernment depends upon the virtue and education of the units
of our citizenship, it is at once apparent that an important
and common duty rests upon every agency that undertakes
the instruction of the youth of our land.

It will be a sad day for our nation when the force of edu-
cation and the teachers of moral living shall cease to strive
in unity to leaven the entire mass of our citizenship, or when
their influence in that direction shall be divided and circum-
scribed by religious and sectarian differences.

I hope I may be allowed to say in conclusion a word to
417

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

you who to-day complete your college course and receive
from those who have taught and guided you a certificate
of good scholarship. This is indeed an honorable decora-
tion and indorsement, and one of which you may well be
proud. But it means more than this. It involves a solemn
and exacting trust; and it imparts a pledge on your part
that the education you may have here received shall neither
be hid in a napkin nor held tightly to your breast as a means
of self-glorification and self-enjoyment. Your graduation is
merely the entrance upon your life's work and your diploma
may be regarded as only a muniment of title by which you
are invested by your Alma Mater with the ownership and
possession of an outfit placed in your hands to the end that
you may fittingly discharge the service to which you are
bound. Selfishness in the use of education, and its sordid
possession as an instrument of self-indulgence, is as sinful
and should be as strongly resisted as any other form of sel-
fishness. Some of you will find careers in the duties and
ministrations of your church ; and I suppose others will enter
in the busy and bustling arena of worldly activity. But
whether in the church or in the world, none of you will avoid
the compact with your fellow men which brings with it a
grave responsibility to American citizenship — a responsibil-
ity infinitely more grave and serious as your influence over
others is increased by your education — or holy calling, and
more ever present and exacting as you appreciate the obliga-
tions of the trust you have assumed.

You may be siwe that you will fail to meet these obliga-
tions if you are not constantly and solemnly impressed with
the conviction that your educational advantages are only
valuable as they better fit you to do your duty to your God,
to your coimtry and to your fellow men.

418

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Address at Alexander Hall, Princeton, N. J.,
October 25, 1902.]

Great changes have marked the life of the College of
New Jersey since her second president was inaugurated, 154
years ago. The infant college has grown to strong and
beautiful maturity. Her roll of graduates is resplendent
with great names; her trophies are bright and countless;
while the hosts of her alumni hedge her about with love
and devotion tirelessly generous, and with a defending care
constant and vigilant. And yet to-day she still holds fast
to her democratic tendencies, as under a new and greater
name she inaugurates her thirteenth president — again with
exercises whose external solemnity and decorum tend to
please even the unlearned^ again with the hope that in her
university advancement she will meet with due encourage-
ment from all public spirited and generous minds, and again
hoping that the lovers of mankind will wish prosperity and
contribute to her support.

These inauguration ceremonies can hardly fail to es-
pecially impress by their sober significance those who as
trustees of Princeton University are charged with the con-
trol and management of her affairs. To-day is revived the
regretful memory of severed ties, which with genuine affec-
tion and admiration bound them to the president who has
just retired after long and distinguished service; and to-day
the comfort they have found in the hopeful promise of con-
tinued university usefulness and prosjDcrity under a new
administration is renewed. They realize in the atmosphere
of this occasion, more actually than on other days, that it is
a serious thing to be a trustee of Princeton University, and
they are not unmindful of the admonition here given them,
to seek with sincere endeavor the path that leads to duty

419

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

and to a just and happy acquittance from the obligations of
their trust. If in this endeavor they remember that their
trusteeship cannot arise above the source of its creation, they
will turn for guidance to the mandates of the deed or grant
under which they hold.

My concluding words shall be those of congratulation and
assurance. How can Princeton's trustees do otherwise than
to heartily congratulate themselves and the university upon
the inauguration as her president of one of her sons (Wood-
row Wilson), whose career has constantly reflected honor
upon his Alma ]\Iater, and whose notable successes and
achievements have all been won under the inspiration of the
true Princeton spirit. Charged by the mandate of the char-
ter of the College of New Jersey with " the immediate care
of the education and government of such students as shall be
sent to and admitted into said college," we are certain that
the oath by which he binds his conscience will furnish no
better pledge than his high character and acute moral sense,
that he will " faithfully and impartially perform the duties
of his office." Our measure of hope and confidence is more
completely filled when to all other reassuring conditions is
happily added his extended experience as one of Princeton's
most important teachers, and his familiarity with her ideals
and aspirations.

It only remains for me to pledge to our newly chosen
president the united, willing and effective co-operation of the
trustees of Princeton University in all his labors for her
prosperity and advancement. His success as president will
be our joy as trustees, and neither he nor we can desire a
wider opportunity for pride and satisfaction than the con-
sciousness that we are sincerely and faithfully laboring
together to accomplish Princeton's mission, and have appre-
ciated the high duty and impressive significance of instruct-
ing the youth of our land in the learned languages, in the
liberal arts and sciences and in religious truth.

4^0

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[From Address at Dedication of the New Home
of the Chamber of Commerce, New York
City, November 11, 1902.']

It is a curious fact that, although the Chamber of Com-
merce of the State of New York has sturdily and usefully
lived for more than a hundred and thirty years, we are cele-
brating to-day its first possession of a permanent home.
This circumstance has, however, a meaning and significance
quite in keeping with the disposition and methods of the
organization. Its purposes have been practical, and the
occasions for its useful and beneficial work have been so con-
stant, that it has been abundantly content to make a career
and add lustre to its name before providing for itself a local
habitation ; but no architectural finish and no ornate decora-
tion befits this beautiful edifice so well as the bright color-
ing reflected from the splendid achievements proudly borne
by those who now enter upon its occupancy.

It need not surprise us if the popular estimate of this
business organization should fail to take into account all
that it had done to promote high and patriotic purposes not
always related, in a narrow sense, to commerce. No asso-
ciated body of our citizens felt more deeply and effectively
the throbbing of patriotism and devotion to country when
our government was threatened by armed rebellion ; its pro-
test and aid were immediately forthcoming when, afterward,
an insidious attack was made upon our financial integrity
through an attempted debasement or our currency; from no
quarter has a more earnest and insistent demand been heard
for the adjustment of international disputes by arbitration;
its espousal of the cause of business education among our
people has been hearty and practical; it has advocated en-
larged reciprocity of business relations between nations, and

421

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

the removal of their vexatious hindrances; and last, but by
no means least, it has promptly and with an open hand re-
lieved distress and alleviated disaster.

Such incidents as these illustrate the organization's benefi-
cent accomplishments in the advancement of civilization and
in furtherance of the improvement of humanity. This occa-
sion most palpably and prominently suggests the stupendous
evolution of the enormous commerce of to-day from the be-
ginnings of trade, when the brothers of Joseph went down
into Egypt to buy corn, and since Tyre and Sidon rose and
fell. From the littleness of trade and barter, limited to
man's narrow necessities, or often arising from the needs of
aggressive or subjugating war, there has been developed an
agency which has not only made the activities of business
as wide as the world in scope and volume, but which peace-
fully leads the way to brotherhood among the most distantly
separated peoples, points out the path of universal civiliza-
tion, and fixes for the nations of the earth the standard of
national greatness.

What I have said must not be understood as in the least
intimating that commerce should be an altruistic or a benevo-
lent affair, managed on lines of amiability and concession.
Such a conception would be absurdly at fault. Commerce is
born of enterprise, and enterprise in this busy, bustling age,
is born of struggle and competition. But the struggle and
competition need not be to the death. Alertness and keen-
ness in securing business opportunities do not by any means
import unmindfulness of all else save ruthfulness and
ravenous snatching.

I have attempted to suggest how practicable business
activity can be mingled with enlightenment and social bet-
terment, and how commercial organizations have already
woven them together. They are estopped from disclaiming
their obligation to continue the work. It rests with them

422

OF GROVE R CLEVELAND

not only to enlarge and strengthen by increased enterprise
the fabric they have thus produced, but to make it brighter
and more beautiful by adding to it a larger infusion of that
"vvhich touches the welfare of mankind in every moral and
social phase and condition.

\_From Address to Southern Educational Asso-
ciation^ New York City, April 14, 1903.']

I have come here to-night as a sincere friend of the negro,
and I should be very sorry to suppose that my good and reg-
ular standing in such company needed support at this late
day either from certificate or confession of faith. Inasmuch,
however, as there may be some diiferences of thought and
sentiment among those who profess to be friends of the
negro, I desire to declare myself as belonging to the ^ooker
Washington-Tuskegee section of the organization, I believe
that the days of " Uncle Tom's Cabin " are passed. I be-
lieve that neither the decree that made the slaves free, nor
the enactment that suddenly invested them with the rights
of citizenship any more purged them of their racial and
slavery-bred imperfections and deficiencies than it changed
the color of their skins.

I believe that among the nearly nine millions of negroes
who have intermixed with our citizenship there is still a
grievous amount of ignorance, a sad amount of viciousness
and a tremendous amount of laziness and thriftlessness. I
believe that these conditions inexorably present to the white
people of the United States — to each in his environment and
under the mandate of good citizenship — a problem, which
neither enlightened self-interest nor the higher motive of
human sympathy will permit them to put aside.

I believe our fellow-countrymen in the Southern and late
423

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

slave-holding States, surrounded by about nine-tenths, or
nearly eight millions, of this entire negro population, and
who regard their material prosperity, their peace, and even
the safety of their civilization, interwoven with the negro
problem, are entitled to our utmost consideration and sym-
jiathetic fellowship. I am thoroughly convinced that the
efforts of Booker Washington and the methods of Tuskegee
Institute point the way to a safe and beneficent solution of
the vexatious negro problem at the South; and I know that
the good people at the North, who have aided these efforts
and methods, have illustrated the highest and best citizen-
ship and the most Christian and enlightened philanthropy.

I cannot, however, keep out of my mind to-night the
thought that, with all we of the North may do, the realiza-
tion of our hopes for the negro must, after all, mainly de-
pend, except so far as it rests with the negroes themselves,
upon the sentiment and conduct of the leading and respon-
sible white men of the South, and upon the maintenance of
a kindly and helpful feeling on their part toward those in
their midst who so much need their aid and encouragement.

I do not know how it may be with other Northern friends
of the negro, but I have faith in the honor and sincerity
of the respectable white people of the South in their rela-
tions with the negro and his improvement and well being.
They do not believe in the social equality of the race, and
they make no false pretence in regard to it. That this does
not grow out of hatred of the negro is very plain. It seems
to me that there are abundant sentiment and abundant
behavior among the Southern whites toward the negro to
make us doubt the justice of charging this denial of social
equality to prejudice, as we usually understand the word.
Perhaps it is born of something so much deeper and more
imperious than prejudice as to amount to a radical instinct.
Whatever it is, let us remember that it had condoned the
negro's share in the humiliation and spoliation of the white

424

OF G R 0 V E R C L E ^ E L A N D

men of the South during the saturnalia of reconstruction
days, and has allowed a kindly feeling for the negro to
survive the time when the South was deluged by the peril-
ous flood of indiscriminate, unintelligent and blighting ne-
gro suffrage. Whatever it is, let us try to be tolerant and
considerate of the feelings and even the prejudice or radi-
cal instinct of our white fellow-countrymen of the South
who, in the solution of the negro problem must, amid their
own surroundings, bear the heat of the day and stagger
under the weight of the white man's burden.

In summing up the whole matter, there is one thing of
which we can be absohitely and unreservedly certain. When
we aid Tuskegee Institute and agencies like it, striving
for the mental and manual education of the negro at the
South, we are in every point of view rendering him the
best possible service. Whatever may be his ultimate des-
tiny, we are thus helping to fit him for filling his place
and bearing its responsibilities. We are sowing well in
the soil at " the bottom of life " tlie seeds of the black
man's development and usefulness. These seeds will not
die, but will sprout and grow, and, if it be within the wise
purposes of God, the hardened surface of no untoward
sentiment or prejudice can prevent the bursting forth of
the blade and plant of the negro's appointed opportunity
into the bright sunlight of a cloudless day.

^From Address at Dedication of Buildings of
the Louisiana Purchase Ex position j St.
Louis, April 30, 1903.']

Mr. President and Ladies and Gentlemen: The impres-
siveness of this occasion is greatly enhanced by reason of
an atmosphere of prophecy's fulfilment which surrounds it.

* 425

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

The thought is in our minds that we are amid awe-inspiring
surroundings, where we may see and feel things foretold
a centurj^ ago. We are here in recognition of the one
hundredth anniversary of an event which doubled the area
of the young American nation, and dedicated a new and
wide domain to American progress and achievement. The
treaty whose completion we to-day commemorate was itself
a prophecy of our youthful nation's mighty growth and
development. At its birth prophets in waiting joyously
foretold the happiness which its future promised. He who
was the chief actor for the United States in its negotiation,
as he signed the perfected instrument, thus declared its
effect and far-reaching consequence: " The instrument
which we have just signed will cause no blood to be shed.
It prejoares ages of happiness for innumerable generations
of human creatures. The Mississippi and the Missouri
will see them succeed one another — truly worthy of the
regard and care of Providence in the bosom of equality
under just laws — freed from the errors of superstition and
the scourges of bad government."

He who represented the nation with whom we negotiated,
when he afterward gave to the world his account of the
transaction, declared: " The consequences of the cession of
Louisiana will extend to the most distant posterity. It
interests vast regions that will become by their civilization
and power the rivals of Europe before another century
commences," and, warmed to enthusiasm by the develop-
ments already in view, and greater ones promised, he added:
" Who can contemplate without vivid emotions this spec-
tacle of the happiness of the present generation and the
certain pledges of the prosperity of numberless generations
that will follow .f* At these magnificent prospects the heart
beats with joy in the breasts of those who were permitted
to see the dawn of these bright days, and who are assured
that so many happy passages wiU be accomplished."

426

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

There was anotlier prophet, greater than all — prophet
and priest — who, higher up the mount than others, heard
more distinctly the voice of destiny, whose heart and soul
were full of prophecy, and whose every faculty was tense
and strong as he wrought for our nation's advancement and
for the peace and contentment of his fellow-countrymen.
From the fulness of gratitude and joy he thus wrote to
one who had assisted in the consummation of this great
treaty: " For myself and my coimtry, I thank you for the
aid you have given in it; and I congratulate you on having
lived to give you these aids in a transaction replete with
blessings to unborn millions of men, and which will mark
the face of a portion of the globe as extensive as that which
now composes the United States of America," and when,
as President, he gave notice in a message to Congress of
the actual occupancy by the government of its new acquisi-
tion, he happily presaged the future, and gave assurance
of his complete faith and confidence in the beneficent result
of our nation's extension in these words :

" On this important acquisition, so favorable to the im-
mediate interests of our Western citizens, so auspicious to
the peace and security of the nation in general, which adds
to our country territories so extensive and fertile, and to
our citizens new brethren to partake of the blessings of free-
dom and self-government, I offer to Congress and our
country my sincere congratulations."

Our prophets do not live forever. They are not here to
see how stupendously the growth and development of the
American nation on the domain newly acquired in their day
have during a short century outrun their anticipations and
predictions. Almost within the limits of the territory
gained by the Louisiana Purchase we have already carved
out twelve great States — leaving still a large residue, whose
occupants are even now loudly clamoring for Statehood.
Instead of the five thousand white settlers who occupied

427

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

this domain in 1803, it now contains fifteen millions of
industrious, enterprising, intelligent Americans, constitut-
ing about one-fifth of the population of all our States;
and these are defiantly contesting for premiership in wealth
and material success with the oldest of our States, and are
their equals in every phase of advanced intelligence and
refined civilization.

The States which composed the Union when its posses-
sions were so greatly extended have since that time seen
the centre of the nation's population carried more than
five hundred miles westward by the swift and constant
current of settlement toward this new domain, and the
citizens of those States have seen flocking thither " new
brethren to partake of the blessings of freedom and self-
government " in multitudes greater than even Jefferson
would have dared to foretell.

I shall not enter the field of statistics for the purpose
of giving details of the development of the territory ac-
quired under the treaty we commemorate. I have referred
to such development in some of its general features, by
way of suggesting how distinctly the century just ended
gives assurance of a startling and superabundant final ful-
fillment of the prophecies of its beginning.

Thus we may well recall in these surroundings the won-
derful measure of prophecy's fulfillment within the span
of a short century, the spirit, the patriotism and the civic
virtue of Americans who lived a hundred years ago, and
God's overruling of the wrath of man and His devious
ways for the blessing of our nation.

We are all proud of our American citizenship. Let us
leave this place with this feeling stimulated by the senti-
ments born of this occasion. Let us appreciate more keenly
than ever how vitally necessary it is to our country's weal
that every one within its citizenship should be clean minded

428

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

in political aim and aspiration, sincere and honest in his
conception of our country's mission, and aroused to higher
and more responsive patriotism by the reflection that it is
a solemn thing to belong to people favored of God.

[From Address at Carnegie Hall, New York,
Mat) 27, 1903.]

We and all our countrymen protest in the strongest lan-
guage at our command and vs^ith all the moral force which
our American citizenship gives us against these murders
and outrages, and we insist that swift and condign punish-
ment ought to be visited^ upon their barbarous perpetrators.
Nor is this all. We will, in a fashion quite American,
and with an openhandedness always displayed when hu-
man distress appeals to us, assist the families made headless
and robbed of support by murder, and those who, wounded
and terrorized, and in hunger and want, have been driven
from their homes.

I know how easily our indignation prompts us to the use
of strong language; and I know how naturally we are
tempted to indulge in overdrawn statements and extrava-
gant demands on such occasions as this; but I am sure
tliat in our characterization of the crimes we here contem-
plate, and in expressing our detestation of the criminals,
we cannot go too far.

I desire to avoid soimding a discordant note; but yet I
cannot refrain from the suggestion that the moral effect of
our protest and the usefulness of this demonstration will
not be lessened if we require indubitable proof before we
accuse the government of Russia of guilty complicity in
the crimes committed within her borders ; and it seems to
me we may well consider the proper relationship between

429

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

nations before we demand too pronounced interference on
the part of our own government.

I do not say that the Russian Government may not, by
sins of omission or commission, be justly deserving of our
condemnation; but we should not be swift to assume this,
when we remember that we ourselves have found it impos-
sible to prevent mob violence and murderous assaults upon
the Chinese in Wyoming and the Italians in Louisiana. I
am distinctly and unequivocally in favor of informing our
government in unmistakable terms of our indignant and deep
condemnation of the late outrages upon the Jews in Russia ;
but I hope that, in obedience to the dictates of American
conservatism and moderation, which are never long ob-
scured, we may be even now just and fair, and that we will
be content to forego perplexing and- extreme demands upon
our government for violent action.

Our public servants should hear us speak, but we certainly
ought to be justified in trusting the care of our national
honor and duty in the premises, and the enforcement of
the humane instincts of our people, so far as this may
be within governmental action, to those charged with the
responsibilities of managing our public affairs.

In tlie mean time, let the people of the United States,
gathered together in such assemblages as this, in every part
of the land, fearlessly speak to the civilized world protest-
ing against every pretence of civilization that permits me-
diaeval persecution, against every bigoted creed that forbids
religious toleration and freedom of conscience, against all
false enlightenment that excuses hatred and cruelty toward
any race of men, and against all spurious forms of govern-
ment protection that withhold from any human being the
right to live in safety and toil in peace.

4S0

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

[Letter to Hon. E. Y. Webb, Princeton, N. J.,

31 arch 2, 1904.]

Dear Sir: It is a small concern to me that a Mr. Scott
has seen fit to use my name in a display of his evil pro-
pensities on the floor of the House of Representatives.

In answer to your inquiry, however, I have to say of his
statement that a colored man, C. H. J. Taylor, took luncheon
with me at the White House, that it is a deliberate fabrica-
tion out of the whole cloth.

As far as Mr. Taylor is concerned, I understand, prior to
his appointment as Registrar of Deeds at Washington, that
he had served as an assistant in the office of the City Attor-
ney at Kansas City. His nomination as Registrar was
confirmed by the Senate, and he served in that place with
intelligence and efficiency. He has since died. Some peo-
ple restrain themselves from abusing the dead.
' My inquiries concerning Mr. Taylor before his appoint-
ment, my observation of him during his incumbency, and
the little I have known of him since satisfy me that his
character is very unjustly attacked in the diatribe of Mr.
Scott.

One charge is made against Mr. Taylor by Mr. Scott
which he doubly clinches with truth when he declares : " He
was a black negro." I am led, however, to doubt his
familiarity with his subject when he adds, "as black as
you ever saw."

431

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[Letter to Hon. Charles L. Bartlett, Princeton,
N. J., March 14. 1904.]

My Dear Mr. Bartlett: I have received a number of
inquiries similar to yours touching my invitation to Fred
Douglass to a wedding reception and signing, while Gov-
ernor of New York, a bill providing for mixed schools.

I do not suppose that Mr. Thomas E. Watson believed
or had any reason to believe either of the allegations when
he made them. At any rate, they are both utterly and
absolutely false.

I cannot afford to devote a great deal of time in denying
such foolish tales. I shall, therefore, attempt to cover
every phase of the subject once and for all. It so happens
that I have never in my official position, either when sleep-
ing or waking, alive or dead, on my head or on my heels,
dined, lunched, or supped, or invited to a wedding reception
any colored man, woman, or child. If, however, I have
decided to do any of these things, neither the fear of Mr.«
Watson nor any one else would have prevented me.

When I was Governor a movement was made in the Legis-
lature to abolish separate colored schools in New York City.
I opposed the measure and it failed. I do not find that I
interposed a veto, and have forgotten the course the matter
took; but I know that whatever I did was in favor of main-
taining separate colored schools instead of having them
mixed.

IFrom Lecture on the Chicago Strike, Prince-
ton, N. J., May 2, 1904.]

In the last days of June, 1894, a very determined and
ugly labor disturbance broke out in the City of Chicago.
Almost in a niglit it grew to full proportions of malevolence

432

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

and danger. Eioting and violence were its early accom-
paniments, and it spread so swiftly that within a few days
it had reached nearly the entire Western and Southwestern
sections of the country. Railroad transportation was espe-
cially involved in its attacks. The carriage of United States
mail was interrupted, Inter-State commerce was obstructed,
and railroad property was riotously destroyed, Attorney-
General Olney, in his official report, correctly defined the
purpose and design of this outbreak in these words: "To
compel a settlement of disputes between the Pullman Com-
pany and a portion of its employees, nothing else was medi-
tated or aimed at than a complete stoppage of all the rail-
road transportation of the country. State and Inter-State,
and freight as well as passenger."

The widespread trouble had its inception in a strike b}'^
the employees of the Pullman Palace Car Company, which
began on the 11th day of May, 1894, and was provoked
by a reduction of wages. The cause of the Pullman strikers
was taken up by the American Railway Union, an associa-
tion designed to include the great mass of unorganized
railway employees of all classes. Members of the American
Railway Union refused to handle Pullman cars or trains
bearing them. At that time three-fourths of the railroad
mileage of the country was imder contract to use Pullman
cars.

The same railroad companies which had contracted to
use these Pullman cars upon their lines had contracts with
the United States Government for the carriage of mails,
and were, of course, also largely engaged in Inter-State
commerce. It need hardly be said that of necessity the
trains which observed the purpose of Intcr-Statc commerce,
were, as a general rule, those to which the Pullman cars
were also attached.

The officers of the railway Union established headquar-
ters in the City of Chicago, and from there gave directions

433

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

for the maintenance and management of the strike. Reports
soon came from various quarters that the mails were com-
pletely obstructed, trains were seized and destroyed, and
other violent disorders committed. Thereupon the Attorney
General immediately sent a dispatch to the United States
District Attorneys instructing them to see that the passage
of regular trains, carrying United States mails in the usual
and ordinary way, be not obstructed.

Wherever there was interference with the mails or re-
straint of commerce the United States courts were appealed
to for relief. In Chicago the United States Marshal was
authorized to employ special deputies and special counsel
for the Government.

In a letter to this special counsel, the Attorney General
in making suggestions concerning legal proceedings, wrote:
" It has seemed to me that if the rights of the United States
were vigorously asserted in Chicago, the origin and center
of the demonstration, the result would be to make it a
failure everywhere else, and to prevent its spread over the
entire country."

The desperate and far-reaching character of this disturb-
ance was not in the least underestimated by executive offi-
cials at Washington, and it must be borne in mind that,
while menacing conditions were moving swiftly and accu-
mulating at Chicago, like conditions, inspired and supported
from that central point, existed in many other places within
the area of the strike's contagion.

Of course, it was hoped by those charged with the respon-
sibility of dealing with the situation that a direct assertion
of authority by the Marshal or a resort to the restraining
power of the courts would prove sufficient for the emer-
gency. Notwithstanding, however, an anxious desire to
avoid measiu'cs more radical, the fact had not been over-
looked that a contingency might occur which would comj^el

434

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

a resort to military force. The key to dispatches to the
Federal officers at Chicago from the Attorney General may
be found in the self-defensive authority of our nation to
directly overcome resistance to the exercise of the legiti-
mate and Constitutional functions as related to the trans-
portation of mails, the operation of Inter-State commerce,
and the preservation of the property of the United States,
and in certain constitutional and statutory provisions. It
was the intention of the Attorney General to suggest in
these dispatches that immediate and authoritative informa-
tion should be given to the Washington authorities if a time
should arrive when under the sanction of general executive
authority, or the Constitutional provisions, a military force
would be necessary at the scene of disturbance.

The strike situation grew rapidly worse. Utter defiance
of court orders, lawlessness, and rioting culminated in the
formal request of the United States ^Marshal, suj^ported by
the Judge and attorneys of the Federal court, for Federal
troops. This request was at once met by orders to the
War Department, and soldiers from Fort Sheridan were
soon on the scene. The dispatch containing the direction
of this procedure concluded as follows:

" The mere preservation of peace and good order in the
city is of course the province of the City and State author-
ities."

An executive proclamation issued by the President call-
ing upon all to refrain from unlawful obstruction, com-
binations, and assemblages, together with the wise use of
, Federal troops and the enforcement of the processes of the
Federal courts resulting in the arrest of the officers of the
American Railway Union stopped the rioting, the strike
ended, and commerce and the mails proceeded unobstructed.

I hope I have been thus far successful in my effort to
satisfactorily exhibit the extensive reach and perilous tend-

435

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

ency of the convulsion under consideration, the careful
promptness which characterized the interference of the
Government, the constant desire of the National Adminis-
tration to avoid extreme measures, the careful limitations
of its interference to purposes which clearly seemed to be
within its Constitutional competency and duty, and the
gratifying and important results of its conservative but
stern activity.

The Supreme Court of the United States has written the
concluding words of this history, tragical in many of its
details, and in every page provoking sober reflection. Nev-
ertheless, even those most nearly related by executive re-
sponsibility to the troublous days whose story is told, may
at this time congratulate themselves that they have had to
do with the marking out the way and clearing the path,
now unchangeably established, that shall hereafter guide
our Nation safely and surely in the exercise of all the
functions belonging to it which represent the people's trust.

[From Address at Installation of Dr. John
Huston Finley as President of the College
of the City of New York, Carnegie Hall,
September 29, 1904.]

It is altogether appropriate that the advantages of a free
collegiate education offered to the youth of every grade and
condition in life should be first exhibited in the metropolis
of our nation. By reason of the cosmopolitan character of
its population the project has here the widest possible
scope ; and, as all look to the City of New York for leader-
ship in the largest enterprises, as well as for the greatest
generosity in every noble work, its free college, seen from

436

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

every direction, should serve as an example, an inspiration
to every city in the land. It is well, too, that such an in-
stitution, founded to educate the poor on entire equality
^vith the rich, should be supported by the wealth accumu-
lated in the center of our country's trade and business —
thus affording a constant denial of the accusations of those
who seek to teach the tlioughtless that the sport of wealth
is the oppression of the jjoor.

I hope it will not be deemed ungracious if I suggest,
in conclusion, that with all the city's generous appropria-
tion of money for its free college, the duty the citizens of
New York owe to it will not be fully met until they give
absolute proof that in the highest sense " where their treas-
ure is there will their heart be also." That this free col-
lege is a New York institution, in which is centered the
hope and pride of every citizen of New York, will not be
demonstrated by liberal city appropriations for its support,
or by the voluntary service of public-spirited citizens to its
management. In addition to these things there should be
stimulated in every quarter a growing desire to secure its
advantages to the end that the youth of New York, from
every social plane and in every condition of life, shall crowd
the largest structure that may be built for its use, and there,
within its walls, the College of the City of New York, with
all else it may impart, should constantly teach the democ-
racy of American education.

[From Address at Carnegie Hall, New York
City, October 21, 1904.'\

A party may indulge in self-congratulation when it has
effectively defended the people in their daily life from the
rapacity of trusts and combinations which thrive as private

437

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

enterprise is strangled^ and which grow fat, as, by their
control of the cost of living, they cause the homes of our
land to grow lean; but the people will hardly approve the
vociferous pride which claims that a successful attack upon
the merger of the stock of certain competing railroads has
rescued them from their oppressors.

They will not fail to observe that the huge combinations
which directly injure them still flourish, and they may
also recall how the consternation among those implicated
in such schemes who once feared a general pursuit was qui-
eted when the soothing assurance reached them that the
government did not intend to " run amuck." Nor will they
probably accept the suggestion that repentance or a change
of heart accounts for the manner by which the threats and
animosity of many powerful trust magnates have been dis-
placed by their approval and substantial support of the
party which seeks to convince the people of its trust-
destroying proclivities.

This item of the account will not be passed over without
a reference to the platform statement that " protection,
which guards and develops our industries, is a cardinal
policy of the Republican Party," nor without noting the
declaration of the candidate standing on this platform that
the protective tariff policy ought now to be considered as
definitely established." The question will be asked, Which
are the American industries that at this time are in need
of the shelter of such a tariff as that now in force; and is
there never to be a time when American enterprise, Amer-
ican ingenuity and American opportunity will free our in-
dustries from their stage of infancy, and permit American
aspiration and American self-reliance to cast away the lead-
ing strings of a " definitely established " protective policy?

The people know that this policy has given rise to reckless
greed and to a worship of gain menacing patriotic senti-
ment and our love for high standards of national greatness,

438

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

and tliey know that at best it lays burdens on the consumers
of our land.

With these tendencies and these burdens in mind they will
ask the party professing its anxiety to restrain or destroy
harmful combinations why a protective tariff policy should
be considered definitely established which, in addition to its
other sins, contributes to a situation that permits a combina-
tion or monopoly to sell abroad articles of our manufacture
at lower prices than are exacted from our own citizens at
home. They will see the sheer wrongfulness of this condi-
tion so clearly, and they will so firmly believe that in this
way they are made to bear tariff burdens in order that they
may be discriminated against in favor of foreign consumers,
that they will not be satisfied with the assurance that the
tariff has nothing to do with trusts.

They will consign such an explanation to the limbo of
negation, to take its place with the outworn deception that
the foreign exporter pays our tariff taxes, and with two other
sadly weak pretences — one that the tariff should be re-
formed only by its friends, and the other that the party
which believes that a protective tariff policy ought to be
considered as definitely established loves reciprocity in
trade.

When the platform boast is made that " in the Philippines
we have suppressed insurrection, established order and given
to life and property a security never known there before,"
the confession will be extorted that the insurrection sup-
pressed was no more than the crushing out of resistance
to the army of the United States while engaged in the
subjugation of a people thousands of miles from our shores,
whom an incident of a war undertaken by us in aid of
those struggling for liberty and independence in another
quarter had put within our power; and the people will ask
under what sanction was this subjugation entered upon by
a nation pledged to the doctrine that all just powers of

439

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

government are derived from the consent of the governed,
and they will deny that imperialism and our forcible rule
of foreign people have any place among the purposes of
our national life.

When credit is claimed for securing a route for a long-
desired interoceanic waterway, it will not be in a carping
spirit that the people will look at the incidents accompany-
ing this achievement. They do not undervalue the object
gained, but they keenly appreciate the importance and value
of our national honor, our national good name and, above
all, our national morality. Not even the great worth of the
thing accomplished will close the eyes of thoughtful Amer-
icans to the fact that in reaching the result we have ex-
hibited such international ruthlessness and such selfish in-
ternational immorality as have lastingly debilitated our repu-
tation for good faith and established a precedent which, in
time to come, may be invoked to justify the most startling
and reprehensible abandonment of the high ideals which
have made us an example of the best civilization — a people,
happy as we are intelligently free, strong as we are scrupu-
lously just, and everywhere trusted and honored as we
undeviatingly follow in the way of uprightness and rec-
titude.

^Letter to Thomas F. Ryan, Esq., Accepting'
Trusteeship in the Equitable Life Society,
Princeton^ N. J., June 12, 1905.1

I have this morning received your letter asking me to
act as one of three trustees to hold the stock of the Equitable
Life Assurance Society, which has lately been acquired by
you and certain associates, and to use the voting power of
such stock in the selection of directors of said society.
After a little reflection, I have determined I ought to accept

440

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

this service. 1 assume this duty upon the express condition
that, so far as the trustees are to be vested discretion in
the selection of directors, they are to be absolutely free and
undisturbed in the exercise of their judgment; and that, so
far as they are to act formally in voting for the directors
conceded to policy-holders, a fair and undoubted exjiression
of policy-holding choice will be forthcoming.

The very general anxiety aroused by the recent unliappy
dissensions in the management of the Equitable Society fur-
nishes proof of the near relationship of our people to life
insurance. These dissensions have not only injured the fair
fame of the company immediately affected, but have im-
paired popular faith and confidence in the security of life
insurance itself as a provision for those who, in thousands
of cases, would be otherwise helpless against the afflictive
visitations of fate.

The character of this business is such that those who
manage and direct it are charged with a grave trust for those
who, necessarily, must rely on their fidelity. In these cir-
cumstances they have no right to regard the places they
hold as ornamental, but rather as positions of work and
duty and watchfulness. Above all things they have no
right to deal with the interests intrusted to them in such
a way as to subserve or become confused or complicated
with their personal transactions or ventures.

While the hope that I might aid in improving tlie plight
of the Equitable Society has led me to accept the trustee-
ship you tender, I cannot rid myself of the belief that what
has overtaken this company is liable to happen to other
insurance companies and fiduciary organizations as long as
lax ideas of responsibility in places of trust are tolerated
by our people. The high pressure of speculation, the
madness of inordinate business scheming, and the chances
taken in new and uncertain enterprises are constantly pres-
ent temptations, too often successful in leading managers

441

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

and directors away from scru^Dulous loyalty and fidelity to
the interests of others confided to their care.

We can better afford to slacken our pace than to abandon
our old, simple, American standards of honesty; and we
shall be safer if we regain our old habit of looking at the
appropriation to personal uses of property and interests
held in trust, in the same light as other forms of stealing.

[From Address at Unveiling of the J. Stirling
Morton Statue at Nebraska City, Neb.,
October 28, 1905.']

None of us should go from this place untouched by the
lesson whicli this statue teaches. Here we should learn
that character, uncorrupted by the contagion of ignoble
things and unweakened by the corrosion of sordidness and
money madness, is the cornerstone of every truly useful life
and of every genuinely noble achievement.

We have fallen upon days when our people are more
than ever turning away from their old faith in the sav-
ing grace of character and flocking to the worship of
money-making idols. Daily and hourly, in the light of in-
vestigation and exposure, characterless lives are seen in
appalling numbers, without chart or compass, crowded upon
the rocks and shoals of faithlessness and breach of trust.
How ill have these wrecked lives exchanged the safe course
and the harbor of honor and usefulness which character
and rectitude point out for a wild and headlong rush over
unknown seas in a consuming search for pelf.

If our people ever return again to their trust in character
as a steadying force in our restless enterprise and immense
material growth, it will be when they take to heart the full
significance of such a commemoration as this. We memo-

442

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

rialize a man who not only earned the lasting honor of his
countrymen, but whose life, in all things worthy of high
endeavor, was abundantly successful.

As a pioneer, who labored to improve the new country
of his home, he lived to see it blossom as the rose; as a
scholar he cultivated his own mental powers and acquired
knowledge, in order that he might be able to instruct and
benefit others; as a statesman he left the impress of high
aspiration upon our citizenship and of usefulness and fidel-
ity upon our public life, and as the father of tree planting
he gained the grateful remembrance of the old and the
young of the present generation and that of generations
yet miborn. All these things he wrought out through the
power of a strong, wholesome, patriotic and beautiful char-
acter.

Let those of us who were his fellow citizens and knew
his life, heed his example, to the end that our work may
be more unselfish and more loyal to the purposes of God
and the betterment of our fellow men.

Let his sons, in whom was centred all his worldly pride,
remember that the only success that is satisfying and hon-
orable is that achieved in their father's spirit and high re-
solve. It is fitting that this monument should recall memo-
ries that must not die. It is well that it should arouse the
living to noble endeavor. But to the dead it avails not.
He has reared his own monument " more durable than
brass or stone."

[From Address at Carnegie Hall, New York
City, November 30, 1905.']

We join to-day in " the celebration of the 250th anni-
versary of the settlement of the Jews in the United States."
This event created such an important epoch in our coun-

443

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

try's development, and its relationship to our nation's evo-
lution is so clearly seen in light of present conditions, that
every thoughtful American citizen must recognize the fit-
ness and usefulness of its commemoration. To those of
the Jewish faith it recalls a foothold gained that meant for
them a home and peaceful security after centuries of home-
lessness and ruthless persecution. To those of us profess-
ing a different religious faith it brings to mind the landing
upon our soil of an element of population whose wonderful
increase and marked traits of character have added a power-
ful factor to our national progress and achievement.

All nationalities have contributed to the composite popu-
lation of the United States — many of them in greater num-
ber than the Jews. And yet I believe that it can be safely
claimed that few, if any, of those contributing nationalities
have directly and indirectly been more influential in giving
shape and direction to the Americanism of to-day.

What our Jewish fellow citizens have done to increase
the material advancement of the United States is apparent
on every hand, and must stand confessed. But the best
and highest Americanism is something more than material-
istic. Its spirit, which should make it imperishable and
immortal, exists in its patriotic aspirations and exalting tra-
ditions. On this higher plane of our nationality and in
the atmosphere of ennobling sentiment we feel also the
touch of Jewish relationship.

If the discovery of America prophesied the coming of
our nation, and fixed the place of its birth, let us not forget
that Columbus on his voyage in search of a new world was
aided in a most important way by Jewish support and
comradeship.

If tlie people of the United States glory in their free
institutions, as the crown of man's aspiration for self-
government, let them not be unmindful of the fact that
the Jews among us have in their care and keeping the his-

444,

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

tory and traditions of an ancient Jewish commonwealth
astonishingly like our own republic in its democracy and
underlying intention.

When we recall the story of the war for our independence
and rejoice in the indomitable courage and fortitude of our
revolutionary heroes, we should not fail to remember how
well the Jews of America performed their part in the strug-
gle. Nor can we overlook the valuable aid cheerfully con-
tributed by our Jewish fellow countrymen in every national
emergency that has since overtaken us.

We have to-day only to look about us to discover that
in every phase of present American enterprise and effort the
Jews of the United States, with unrestricted toleration and
equality, are making their impress more and more deep and
permanent upon our citizenship. They accumulate wealth
without exhibiting or encouraging harmful extravagance and
business recklessness. They especially care for their poor,
but they do it sensibly and in a way that avoids pauper-
making.

On every side are seen monuments of their charitable
work and evidences of their determination to furnish their
children and youth equipment for usefulness and self-
support.

It is time for the unreserved acknowledgment that the
toleration and equal opportunity accorded to the Jews of
the United States have been abundantly repaid to us. And
in making up the accounts let us not omit to put to their
credit the occasion presented to us through our concession
to them of toleration and equality of strengthening by
wholesome exercise the spirit of broadrainded justice and
consideration, which, as long as we are true to ourselves,
we must inflexibly pronounce as the distinguishing and
saving trait of our nationality.

I know that human prejudice — especially that growing
out of race or religion — is cruelly inveterate and lasting.

445

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

But^ wherever in the world prejudice against the Jews still
exists, there can be no place for it among the people of
the United States, unless they are heedless of good faith,
government and insensible to every pledge involved in
their boasted equality of citizenship.

We celebrate an event in the history of our country
fraught with important results, deeply concerning us all
as citizens of the United States. In the spirit of true
Americanism let us all rejoice in the good which the settle-
ment we commemorate has brought to the nation in which
we all find safety and protection; and uninterrupted by
differences in religious faith, let us, under the guidance
of the genius of Toleration and Equality, here consecrate
ourselves more fully than ever to united and devoted labor
in the field of our common nation's advancement and
exaltation.

IFrom Address at Centennial Meeting of the
Medical Society of tJie State of New Torh,
Albany, January 30, 1906.']

For the purpose of our argument, let us divide humanity
into two sections — one composed of a few doctors, and the
other embracing the many millions of their actual or pros-
pective patients.

I appear for myself and these millions, and I claim at
the outset that, notwithstanding our large majority, the
medical section of mankind has in one way or another cur-
tailed the opportunity of freedom of thought and con-
siderate hearing, to which we are entitled by the laws of
nature and of nature's God. We acknowledge that the
world owes this minority a living. With a generous deli-
cacy which reaches sublimity, we are, on their account not

448

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

overobedient to the laws of health : and we sometimes pay
their bills. When sick we submit with more or less
humility to their orders. If we recover it is only to take
our place on the waiting list still subject to further advice.
If we do not recover it is left to us to do the dying.

We have come to think of ourselves as worthy of confi-
dence in the treatment of our ailments; and we believe if
this was accorded to us in greater measure it would be
better for the treatment and better for us. We do not
claim that we should be called in consultation in all our
illnesses, but we would be glad to have a little more explana-
tion of the things done to us. We do not like to think
of our doctors as veiled prophets or mysterious attendants,
shut out from all sick-bed comradeship except through cold
professional ministrations, and all the time irresponsive to
our utmost needs of sympathetic assurance. Nor should
it be considered strange if thousands among us, influenced
by a sentiment just now astonishingly prevalent, should
allow themselves to be disturbed by the spectre of a medi-
cal trust in mystery and like all who are trust affrighted
should cry out for greater publicity between physician and
patient.

[Fwm Address at Annual Banquet of the Peri-
odical Publishers' Association^ Atlantic City,
N. J., May 4. 1906.]

I don't like the introduction of the chairman. He twitted
me of my age, and there comes a time in a man's life when
the reading of the burial service is no joke. I am simply
here to give you a greeting, and accordingly I extend a
hearty greeting to the publishers and their guests, and
wish for them all the happiness and good fortune they

4.1.7

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

respectively deserve. You can divide that up as you think
best.

I hope I may be allowed to gain the better of my mod-
esty and trespass sufficiently beyond my limit of speech
to express a thought and a desire which I believe are shared
by thousands of our countrymen who read the daily news-
papers as well as the periodicals. We feel that in the
present circumstances these should in scope and purpose
be distinctly separated. AVe mean by this that so long as
our newspapers keep the field they seem to have chosen
for themselves nothing should tempt our periodicals to
follow them. We read daily papers in the hope of keeping
pace with the daily news and for the opportunity they
furnish for the cultivation of our alertness of judgment
in attempting to determine the truth and falsity of their
contents.

However good or however bad they may be^ I suppose
we must abide the daily newspapers as they are. Perhaps
luider the laws of their environment, the most of them do
the best they can.

If, supplementary to the daily news, there is presented
to us as often as once a week or once a month, a com-
prehensive view of passing events, with the deliberate
judicial and helpful suggestions of those who by study and
experience are fitted to interpret current conditions, no
thoughtful open-minded citizen who reads need lack either
valuable information or stimulating instruction.

I beg to conclude with one other thought touching the
relation of our periodicals to certain tendencies now dis-
tinctly apparent in both our private and public life. We
have fallen upon a time of such unrest and awakening
that a disposition to tear down, to uproot, seems to prevail
on every side. This has grown to be a manifestation of
intense resentment on the part of our people, aroused by
a situation challenging their love of our good name and

448

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

their devotion to the purposes of our free institutions. I
believe there is a danger that stands opposite this passion-
ate temper that should be carefully watched. I refer to
our liability to forget in the heat of our righteous indigna-
tion that whatever may be pulled down or uprooted some-
thing better must be put in its place.

We cannot act safely or hope for reformatory results
unless we look beyond the confusion and rubbish and un-
sightly waste of demolishing activity. The ultimate conse-
quence of demolition and precisely what should be built and
planted when the stage of pulling down and uprooting has
been passed, should be clearly in the minds of those who
assume to lead in the crusade against existing evils.

[From Address at the National Conference of
Charities and Correction, Academy of Mu-
sic, Philadelphia, Pa., May 9, 1906.']

This national conference of charities and correction in
view of the object it seeks to accomplish, may well be
described as a general clearing house of charitable and
benevolent work. Through its constituent agencies it
touches the individual, and through the betterment of the
individual it serves the nation.

As often as the poor and needy are wisely and properly
fed and clothed, not only is human want and misery
relieved and God's law of charity obeyed, but the grateful
sentiment and the renewed interest in life aroused among
the beneficiaries together with the stimulation of sym-
pathetic feeling among the benefactors, brings them all
within a closer brotherhood of good citizenship.

As often as the sordidness of emploj^ers or the reckless
selfishness and indifference of parents are routed in the

4i.O

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

battle against the wicked abuses of child labor, not only
are careless mirth and cheerful health, the gifts of God,
stolen from childhood, restored to the children of our land,
but the nation regains the assurance that the embryo citizens
thus redeemed will in due time be found among its sturdy,
wholesome and contented supporters.

As often as sad-faced and forlorn orphans are gladdened
by tenderness and wisely fostered and cared for, not only
is the Father of the fatherless well pleased, but our country
gains by so much as the promise of future thrift and
usefulness is better than the degradation and vice threat-
ened by the neglect of evilly surrounded orphans.

As often as the dependent insane and mentally defective
are humanely and kindly restrained, not only is the require-
ment placed upon those who have the least claim to
charitable disposition fulfilled, and these unfortunates saved
from the hopelessness of incurability, but society is pro-
tected against irresponsible tragedy, and the country is
given the only chance it can have for the improvement and
restoration of submerged reason to sanity and mental
strength.

As often as those who for transgression of the law have
become convicted criminals are made to feel that they have
not been inexorably condemned to lifelong ostracism and
resentment, and that a kindly hand awaits any effort of
theirs for self-reformation, not only will those who benevo-
lently aid and encourage them to be rewarded by an
approving conscience, but they will save to the state many
who can serve it well and will protect from those who,
once disgraced, are easily driven by intolerance and angry
neglect to a continuance in evil doing.

My thoughts dwell upon the duty of individual charity.
In a sense all that is done in discharge of this duty, whether
done by individuals or through governmental agencies,,
representing us all, may be said to rest in personal respon-

4.50

OF GROVER CLEVELAND

sibility and may be traced to one source — a recognition of
the fact that in the field of charity we are our brothers'
keepers. The field is so large and the labor so delicate
that none of us can secure acquittance without personal
service. It is this element of personal service represented
in this national conference that gives the occasion its
greatest importance and significance.

I have sometimes wondered if those active in charitable
woj-k fully appreciate how extensively, under the guise
of charity, schemes are put on foot that are either so
illegitimately related to it or so unimportant and impracti-
cable as to abundantly excuse a denial of their appeal for
aid; and I often fear it is not realized as it should be
in charitable circles that these schemes are presented so
constantly and with such importunity and so often prove
to be unworthy, disappointing or faddish as to perplex and
discourage those willing to give us sensible and properly
organized charity. It is thus that quite frequently all
charitable movements are discredited or prejudiced.

I hope I will not be misunderstood when I say that
better assurance to those willing to give to charity, and
consequently the interests of the cause, seem to be involved
in the establishment somewhere and under some responsible
auspices of an agency for the sifting and testing of enter-
prises claiming to be charitable — to the end that the
benevolent may have reliable guidance in determining how
and where they can wisely and usefully give.

451

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

[From Address at First Annual Meeting of the
Association of Life Insurance Presidents,
Hotel Belmont, New York City, December
6, 1907.]

You who manage life insurance companies cannot afford
to risk weakness in a single of its threads. Their disin-
tegration through breaches of good faith, through broken
promises or through delusive misrepresentation, means a
loss of strength which no actuarial mystery or managerial
calculation can repair. Nor can you, with any pretence
of conscientious susceptibility, overlook the fact that, as
a direct consequence of this popular conception of life
insurance and of your responsible connection with its
management, your fellow citizens, whose confidence you
have invited, have put upon you a trust, made sacred by
the pathos of its purposes, and more unescapable in morals
and good conscience than any that the law can create.

Of course you do not need the least reminder that life
insurance has sadly suffered, and still suffers, from a dis-
location of such ideal accompaniments, and it would be
folly to avoid the disgraceful fact that this dislocation
began in faithlessness of those occupying places of the
greatest influence in life insurance circles and the self-
invited . discredit and humiliation of some of the largest
and strongest companies in life insurance leadership.
Much has been done by way of repairing damages. The
companies have purged themselves of those directly respon-
sible for wrongdoing. Economies have been introduced,
vigor and industry have been stimulated, and an enlarged
study of the conditions that make for the safest, cleanest
and best life insurance is more than ever deemed essential.

The upheaval of investigation which exposed life insur-
452

OF, GROVER CLEVELAND

ance abuses in high places has also been followed by the
avalanche of legislation which inevitably results from vio-
lently aroused public sentiment. Some of this legislation
is so palpably remedial and so wisely restrictive that all
life insurance companies who really desire the reform of
abuses should welcome it as in aid of their o^vn efforts
in that direction. Some of it, while more drastic and
not so plainly necessary, make obedience not impossible,
and perhaps should be patiently borne.

But this is not the entire story. Sometimes, when
uprisings, beginning with a moral awakening, passing from
stage to stage, reach a hand-to-hand conflict of violence and
deadly blows, there appears on the scene the noisy adven-
turer, who seeks leadership in the confusion and clamor
of the fight, while in his wake others more quiet and
stealthy, but not less diligent, filch from the wounded and
helpless.

Life insurance companies not accused of wrongdoing but
caught in the storm of virulent and indiscriminate attack
have, as well as the guilty, failed to find friends in quar-
ters where they should have found them; and their policy-
holders, who should have been their allies and defenders,
have, by thousands, been quite willing to join the ranks
of their enemies.

[Letter to Hon. Jolm Fox, read at Jackson Day
Dinner of the National Democratic Club,
New York City, January 8, 1908.^

My Dear Sir: I very much regret that I am inexorably
obliged to decline the courteous invitation I have received
to attend the Jackson Day dinner to be given by the
National Democratic Club on the 8th.

453

ADDRESSES AND PAPERS

I am intensely interested in every effort to revive genu-
ine and effective Democmtic sentiment and to restore the
Democratic courage, consistency, and confidence, whose
necessity to our party's success and usefuhiess has been
so often demonstrated in the past. It is but natural that
those who have followed all their lives the Democratic
standard should longingly desire their party's success ;
but this success cannot be gained by either shouting our
party name or attempting undemocratic experiments.

I am profoundly impressed by the conviction that the
situation now confronting the people of our land has
directed their attention more to their relief from conditions
that alarm and startle them than to the empty satisfaction
of partisan supremacy. Our country needs conservatism,
recuperation from nervous prostration, reinstatement of
constitutional observance, buoyant but none the less safe
and prudent Americanism; scrupulous care of every person
and every interest entitled to care, and a " square deal "
that means exact and honest equality before the law and
under constitutional guarantee.

These things are still among the possessions of true
Democracy, and Democratic patriotism, sincerity and wis-
dom demand that our party in this time of need should
unitedly offer them to our countrymen.

My regret that I must be absent from a Jackson Day
dinner, where the atmosphere must be so thoroughly Demo-
cratic, is intensified by my close friendship and admiration
for the guest whom your club will especially honor on the
occasion. It would be an unusually and memorable gratifi-
cation if I could add my tribute of praise to one who
by nature, by conviction, by clean party service and by
clear understanding of party doctrine has so well earned
Democratic confidence and devotion as Morgan J. O'Brien.

454

OE GROVER CLEVELANQ

[Letter to the Editor of the New York World,
Princeton, N. J., 31 arch 14, 1908.1

[Dear Sir: I have received your letter asking me to make
a response to the following question: "What is the best
principle and what is the best policy to give the Democratic
party new life? "

As a general proposition I might answer this question
by saying that in my opinion this could be most surely
brought about by a return to genuine Democratic doctrine
and a close adherence to the Democratic policies which in
times past gave our party success and benefited our people.

To be more speciMc in my reply, I should say that more
than ever just at this time the Democratic party should
display honest and sincere conservatism, a regard for con-
stitutional limitations and a determination not to be swept
from our moorings by temporary clamor or spectacular
exploitation. /

Our people need rest and peace and reassurance; and
it will be quite in line with true Democracy and successful
policy to impress upon our fellow-countrymen the fact that
Democracy still stands for those things.

455

LIFE OF CLEVELAND

Grover Cleveland was born on March 18, 1837, at Cald-
well, Essex County, N. J. The first Cleveland to settle
in this country was Moses Cleveland, who emigrated from
Ipswich, England, in 1635, and settled at Woburn, Mass.
William Cleveland, one of his descendants, was a silver-
smith and watchmaker at Norwich, Conn.

Dr. Aaron Cleveland was the grandfather of Grover
Cleveland's grandfather. He was an Episcopal minister at
Philadelphia, and Benjamin Franklin wrote in eulogistic
terms of his career in recording his death in the Pennsyl-
vania Gazette in 1737. Politics and the clerical profession
seem to have alternately attracted the intellectual repre-
sentatives of the family. The father of Grover Cleveland
was the Rev. Richard Talley Cleveland, who was a graduate
of Yale, and entered the Presbyterian ministry in 1829.
In the same year he married Anne Neale, who was the
daughter of a prosperous Baltimore bookseller of Irish
descent, while her mother, whose maiden name was Real,
was of German extraction, and a member of the Society of
Friends.

Thus Grover Cleveland's ancestors were of English, Irish,
and German origin. He was christened Stephen Grover
Cleveland in honor of the Rev. Stephen Grover, the first
occupant of the parsonage at Caldwell, but the name of
Stephen was dropped, and he signed his name as Grover
Cleveland.

In 1841 his father accepted a call to Fayetteville, near
Syracuse, N. Y., and it was there that the future President
received whatever education the place afforded, and served
for a short time as a clerk in a country store. The removal

456

LIFE OF CLEVELAND

of the family in 1850 to Clinton, N. Y., gave hira tlie op-
portunity to enjoy the educational advantages of the local
academy. When his father died at Holland Patent, Oneida
County, N. Y., in 1853, he became an assistant teacher in
the New York Institution of the Blind, in New York City,
obtaining that position through the influence of his elder
brother. Rev. William Cleveland, who was a teacher in the
same institution.

In 1855, after returning for a short time to Holland
Patent, where his motlier resided, he started for the West
in search of employment. While on his way West he
stopped at Black Rock, now a part of tlie city of Buffalo,
and his uncle, Lewis F. Allen, who resided there, engaged
him to assist in the compilation of a volume of the " Amer-
ican Herd Book." Subsequently, he assisted in the compila-
tion of several other volumes of this work.

During the summer of 1855 he secured a position as clerk
and copyist for the law firm of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers in
Buffalo at a salary of $4 per week. After he was admitted
to the bar he became managing clerk for this firm at a
salary of $600 a year, a part of which he contributed to
the support of his mother, who died in 1882. From 1863
to 1866 he was assistant district attorney of Erie County.
In 1868 he was the Democratic candidate for district attor-
ney, but was defeated by his friend, Lyman K. Bass,
who ran for the same office on the Republican ticket. He
then formed a law partnership with Isaac V. Vanderpoel,
and in 1869 became a member of the law firm of Lanning,
Cleveland & Bissell. He continued to practise law with
marked success till 1870, when he was elected sheriff of
Erie County. He held that office for three years, and then
resumed his law practice as a member of the firm of Bass,
Cleveland & Bissell. After the retirement of Lyman K.
Bass, owing to failing health, the firm was known as Cleve-
land & Bissell.

457

LIFE OF CLEVELAND

In 1881 Mr. Cleveland was nominated on the Democratic
ticket for mayor of Buffalo^ and was elected by the largest
majority ever given to a candidate in that city. Owing to
his fearlessness in checking illegal and extravagant appro-
priations and unwise expenditures he became widely known
as the " veto mayor." His integrity and ability, of which
he gave ample evidence as mayor of Buffalo, made him
known all over the State of New York, and led to his being
nominated for governor at the Democratic State Convention
in Syracuse on September 22, 1882, in opposition to the
Republican candidate, Charles J. Folger, then Secretary of
the Treasury. At the election in November he received a
plurality of 192,854' over Mr. Folger. As governor of New
York he continued to exhibit the same efficiency and to
apply the same principles of probity that had controlled his
administration as mayor of Buffalo, thereby attracting at-
tention from the press and people all over the United
States.

It was owing to the national reputation he thus acquired
that he was nominated for the presidency by the Demo-
cratic National Convention in Cliicago on July 11, 1884.
James G. Blaine was the Republican candidate. At the
ensuing election Mr. Cleveland received 219 and Mr.
Blaine 182 electoral votes. On June 6, 1888, Mr. Cleve-
land was renominated for the presidency at the National
Democratic Convention in St. Louis. Benjamin Harrison
was the Republican candidate. At the November election
Mr. Cleveland was defeated, as he only received 168
electoral votes, while 233 were cast for Mr. Harrison. This
defeat was by no means an indication of his decline in per-
sonal popularity, as he received 5,540,329 of the popular
vote, against 5,439,853 votes cast for Mr, Harrison.

After completing his presidential term, March 4, 1889,
he resumed the practice of law in New York City. On
June 11, 1892, he was again placed in nomination for the

458

LIFE OF CLEVELAND

presidency at the National Democratic Convention which
met in Chicago, receiving more than two-thirds of the votes
on the first ballot. The November election proved the wis-
dom of the delegates in deciding on his nomination, as Mr.
Harrison, who had been renominated by the Republicans,
only received 145 electoral votes against 277 cast for Mr.
Cleveland. James B. Weaver, the candidate of the People's
Party, received 22 electoral votes. It may be noted as a
remarkable circumstance in connection with this election
that Mr. Cleveland was the first President to be elected to
a second term without being elected as his own immediate
successor.

It may also be noted that Mr. Cleveland's marriage, on
June 2, 1886, to Frances Folsom, daughter of his deceased
friend and law partner, Oscar Folsom, was the first instance
of a President becoming a Benedict during his term of
office. In fact, James Buchanan, the last Democratic Presi-
dent before the Civil War, and Grover Cleveland were the
only bachelors elected to the presidency. Mrs. Cleveland,
who was born in Buffalo in 1864, was one of the youngest
of the various " ladies " who had hitherto presided at the
White House. She was the only one to give birth to a child
in the White House, her daughter, Esther, having been born
there in 1893. The first child of Mr. and Mrs. Cleveland,
"Baby" Ruth, was born in 1891, and died in 1906. The
other children are Marion, Richard, and Francis Grover.

In the campaign of 1896 Mr. Cleveland supported the
Palmer and Buckner ticket, as his political views were not
in accordance with those of William Jennings Bryan, the
candidate of the other section of the Democratic party.

After the close of his second term on March 4, 1897, Mr.
Cleveland took up his residence at Princeton, N. J., spend-
ing his summers for a number of years at Gray Gables,
Buzzard's Bay, and in later years at Tamworth, N. H., in
the White Mountains. During the last ten years of his life

459

LIFE OF CLEVELAND

he delivered public addresses from time to time, including
two lectures a year for several years at Princeton. In 1897
he received the degree of LL.D. from Princeton University,
and was also a trustee of that institution.

In 1904 he delivered a notable address at the St. Louis
Purchase Exposition. In the same year he supported Judge
Alton B. Parker for the Democratic presidential nomina-
tion. After the memorable investigation of the Equitable
Life Assurance Society, Mr. Cleveland was made one of the
trustees to hold the majority of the stock of that cor-
poration.

Mr. Cleveland died on the morning of June 24, 1908, at
his home in Princeton, with his wife and three physicians
at his bedside. His children were away at his New England
summer home. He had been in ill health since the previous
fall. His grave is in Princeton cemetery alongside of the
grave of his favorite child, " Baby " Ruth, for whom, it is
said, he called repeatedly in the delirium of his last illness.
A number of prominent men have headed a subscription
fund to erect a Cleveland monument in Princeton.

The development of Mr. Cleveland as one of the greatest
factors in American politics between the years 1882 and
1896 presents a most singular case. He was comparatively
vmtrained in statesmanship and important public affairs
when he assumed the office of governor. He was almost
overwhelmed by the magnitude and difficulties of the office
of President. To the duties of both offices he addressed him-
self with unremitting industry, and from the country politi-
cian he developed to be a statesman who ignored political
methods, who rose above his party, and who endeared him-
self to the public by the manner in which he overrode State
bosses and organization machinery. He was one of the few
great characters remaining in American politics at the be-
ginning of the twentieth century, and he won a place for
himself as one of the great figures in the nation's history.

460

LIFE OF CLEVELAND

He was greatly beloved and admired, irrespective of party
opinion.

William H. Taft, afterwards elected to the presidency
on the Republican ticket, said at the time of Mr. Cleveland's
death : " He was one of the really great men of the country.
He was a great man and a great President."

In the proclamation which he issued on June 24, 1908,
on hearing of Mr. Cleveland's death. President Roosevelt
said: " Grover Cleveland, President of the United States
from 1885 to 1889, and again from 1893 to 1897, died at
8 :40 o'clock this morning at his home in Princeton, N. J.
In his death the nation has been deprived of one of its
greatest citizens. By profession a lawyer, his chief services
to his country were rendered during a long, varied, and
honorable career in public life. As mayor of his city, as
governor of his State, and twice as President, he showed
signal powers as an administrator, coupled with entire de-
votion to the country's good, and a courage that quailed
before no hostility when once he was convinced where his
duty lay. Since his retirement from the presidency he has
continued well and faithfully to serve his countrymen by the
simplicity, dignity, and uprightness of his private life. In
testimony of the respect in which his memory is held by
the Government and people of the United States, I do
hereby direct that the flags of the White House and the
several departmental buildings be displayed at half mast
for a period of thirty days, and that suitable military and
naval honors, under the orders of the Secretaries of War
and of the Navy, be rendered on the day of the funeral."

46r

THE STORY OF THE BOOK

Although Grover Cleveland had the gift of literary ex-
pression he never posed as a professional author. He was
essentially a lawyer and statesman, and cared more for
lucidity of expression than for any rhetorical polish of
style. Nevertheless, in his political writings and addresses
he frequently gave utterance to epigrammatic phrases that
have since been added to the list of standard quotations.

Most of the addresses collected in the present volume
were delivered after Mr. Cleveland was elected to the Presi-
dency, and they were invariably the outcome of careful
preparation. He knew just what ideas he wished to present
to the public, and knew also how to present these ideas
with telling effect. Thus he never made speeches for the
sake of public applause, but because he believed that he
had something of importance to communicate. While mak-
ing no pretension of being an orator, he certainly may be
classed as an effective public speaker.

In 1892 Mr. George F. Parker issued an authorized edi-
tion of " The Writings and Speeches of Grover Cleveland,"
which were classified under twenty-five chapter headings,
but there has hitherto been no collection embodying the
writings and speeches of Mr. Cleveland from 1892 to the
time of his death.

In the present collection, the " Addresses, State Papers,
and Letters " are arranged in chronological sequence, and
those who desire to read the various utterances or writings
of Mr. Cleveland on any particular subject, are referred for
the classification thereof to the index at the end of the
volume.

462

STORY OF THE BOOK

Those who desire to consult other volumes written by or
about Mr. Cleveland are referred to the bibliographical list
of authorities carefully prepared by Mr. A. P. C. Griffin,
the Chief Bibliographer of the Library of Congress. Ac-
knowledgment is due to Mr. Griffin and to Mr. Herbert
Putnam, Librarian of Congress, for their courteous co-opera-
tion in supplying this bibliography for the present work.
iSIost of the publications cited in this bibliographical list
may be found in the larger libraries of the United States.

The present volume, however, will suffice for those who
are in search of a representative collection of the " Ad-
dresses, State Papers, and Letters " of Grover Cleveland.
It will give the reader a correct conception of the great
democratic President as reflected both in his public and
private utterances. It embodies his opinions on all impor-
tant topics upon which he has written or spoken.

Especially interesting are the extracts from the annual
messages he sent to Congress during his occupancy of the
Presidential chair. These extracts contain his criticisms and
recommendations on Naturalization, Civil Service reform,
Taxation, Tariff reform. Capital and Labor, the National
Finances, and many other subjects of equal importance. It
would have been manifestly impossible to have given the
messages complete within the scope of the present volume,
but care has been taken to select the passages that, in the
opinion of the editor, would prove of general interest to the
reading public.

The exigencies of space also made it prohibitive to give
all of the speeches in full. Those who desire to peruse the
portions omitted here from some of the public addresses
delivered by Mr. Cleveland from the time he was renom-
inated for the Presidency in 1892 down to the year 1908
are referred to the annual indexes of the New York Tribune.
These indexes, under the heading of " Cleveland," give the
dates when these speeches were delivered, thus enabling the

463

STORY OF THE BOOK

reader in most cases to find a full report of them in the
files of the Tribune and other daily papers.

The truth of the maxim that " the style is the man " was
never more in evidence than in the style of Grover Cleve-
land. The keynote of his writings and speeches was ex-
pressed in his famous epigram, " Public office is a public
trust." Again and again he dwells on the necessity for
patriotic effort, and insists that the welfare of the citizens
either of a city like Buffalo, of a State like New York, or
of a great nation like the United States, should be the guid-
ing principle of the men entrusted with public office. He
lays particular stress on the duty of public economy and
private thrift, and insists that every man in office ought to
apply to every public question the same moral principles
and the same good judgment and discretion that ought to
govern men in their private business relations.

An examination of his speeches, however, will show that
he does not confine himself to a didactic presentation of his
ideas. Mr. Cleveland had a keen sense of humor, and knew
how to wield the sharp weapon of ridicule in exposing the
unworthy motives of degraded politicians. In his occa-
sional addresses there are frequent flashes of wit and hu-
mour, and he was by no means averse to the introduction
of an apt anecdote or a fimny story to offset any political
sermonizing he might resort to in the course of an after-
dinner speech.

One of his most famous speeches was in response to the
toast, " The Principles of True Democracy." In this speech
he defined true democracy to mean a sober conviction or
conclusion touching political topics, which, formulated into
a political belief or creed, inspires a patriotic performance
of the duties of citizenship. The address is a serious and
statesmanlike effort that was widely circulated in the public
press as an important presentation of Mr. Cleveland's
political doctrines. In the course of this address, Mr. Cleve-

46i

STORY OF THE BOOK

land showed a sentimental vein by quoting poetry, and a
humorous vein by introducing an anecdote of a confirmed
Jacksonian Democrat who, becoming involved in a dispute
as to whether his hero had gone to heaven or not, was
prompted by Democratic instinct to dispose 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."

As a rule, however, Mr. Cleveland was too intensely in
earnest to care much for anything but a straightforward
presentation of the points at issue, and his writings and
speeches will prove of signal interest to those who delight
in the discussion of political topics that affect the welfare
of our great republic.

In an after-dinner speech at the Holland Society dinner
of 1901 Mr. Cleveland said: "I cannot resent the charge
that I am apt to preach a sermon on occasions of this kind,
for I am afraid this accusation is justified. It has been
my lot to be much on the sober side of life and to feel the
pressure of great responsibilities. Besides, I believe it
sometimes happens that an excess of light-hearted gayety
creates a condition of popular thought and impulse that
may profitably be steadied by sedate suggestions and the
expression of conservative sentiment — even though it may
be called sermonizing."

Mr. Cleveland believed that principle as well as policy
was to be considered whenever he was called upon to ex-
press an opinion on any important question. He was re-
lentless in denouncing the abuse of the taxing power. He
was constantly exhorting to watchfulness and economy in
the public service, and was tireless in his efforts to bring
about civil service reform.

He seldom lost an opportimity to denounce insolent par-
tisanship. He was a partisan in the best sense of the word.
He believed that " party honesty is party expediency," and

465

STORY OF THE BOOK

that the adherents of the Democratic party ought at all
times to be true to the ideals and principles of the loftiest
patriotism.

His moral courage was one of his most striking charac-
teristics. After once making up his mind that he was right,
he had the courage to stick to his conviction. His famous
Venezuela message is a notable instance of this character-
istic. The message sent a thrill through the civilized world.
It read, as most persons thought at the time, like a direct
invitation to war with Great Britain; but, as a matter of
fact, by this bold stroke of statesmanship Mr. Cleveland
prevented war, and established a precedent for the su-
premacy of the ISfonroe doctrine.

Grover Cleveland had the highest civic and patriotic
ideals, which he knew how to expound with a lucidity and
felicity of style and an epigrammatic vigor of expression
that entitle his writings and speeches to rank as a most
valuable contribution to the political literature of his period.

4-66

NOTES ON THE TEXT

11 Veto Mayor. It was Mr. Cleveland's vigorous use
of his veto power against the Common Council of Buffalo
which first attracted attention to him, at a time when com-
plaints of jobbery were heard from nearly every city in the
Eastern States. It was thus he became known as the " Veto
Mayor," and the capacity shown by him in the administra-
tion of the city of Buffalo soon convinced the public that
such rare qualities ought to be given a larger sphere of
exercise.

22 Nomination for Governor. On the second day of the
Democratic State Convention at Syracuse in 1882 Mr.
Cleveland was nominated on the third ballot for Governor,
receiving 211 votes out of 382. The Republican nominee
was Charles J. Folger, then Secretary of the Treasury in
President Arthur's Cabinet. The election in November was
one of the most remarkable in the annals of New York.
Mr. Folger had honorably filled high State and Federal
offices, and there was no opposition to him personally among
Republicans, but there was widespread dissatisfaction in the
party because of a belief that his nomination was accom-
plished by improper practices in the convention and by the
interference of the Federal administration. The result was
the election of Mr. Cleveland by a very large majority, indi-
cating the extent to which Republicans stayed at home or
voted the Democratic ticket to rebuke certain phases of party
management. In a total vote of 9 1 8,894, Cleveland received a
plurality of 192,854 over Folger, and a majority over all, in-
cluding Greenback, Prohibition, and scattering, of 151,742.

26 Civil Service Reform. Mr. Cleveland was one of the
first to advocate publicly civil-service reform by the adop-

467

NOTES ON THE TEXT

tion of the merit system, and he was no sooner in office than
he took steps to put his ideas into practice. He recom-
mended in his first annual message to the New York Legis-
lature that a State Civil Service Commission be created, that
the competitive system be extended to all incorporated
cities, and that the political assessment of public officers be
prohibited. His personal efforts aided materially in putting
these reforms on the statute books. When he became Presi-
dent he was no less a firm upholder of reform in the making
of appointments. In 1896 he signed an order adding 44,004
posts to the civil-service lists, making the total number of
competitive places 86,932. When he began his first term in
1885, only 13,000 out of 130,000 appointments were on the
civil service lists.

41 Legal Career. Mr. Cleveland laid the foundation of
his legal acquirements in the law offices of Messrs. Brown
& Rogers, where he was employed for some time after his
arrival in Buffalo in 1855. In 1857 he was called to the
bar. In 1863 he became Assistant District Attorney for
Erie County, and after the expiration of his term of office
he became a member of the firm of Laning, Cleveland
& Folsom. Subsequently he was head of the firm of
Cleveland, Bissell & Sicard. His success as a lawyer was
due principally to his grasp of facts and lucidity of state-
ment.

49 Election to the Presidency, 188^.. The Democratic
National Convention of 1884 was held at Chicago, on July
1 1th. Grover Cleveland was nominated on the second ballot.
Of the 820 votes of the whole number of delegates, he re-
ceived 683, a two-thirds vote being necessary for a nomina-
tion. James G. Blaine was the nominee of the Republican
National Convention. After a vigorous campaign Mr.
Cleveland was elected by a majority of 37 electoral votes.
In a total popular vote of 10,067,610, Cleveland received
4,874,986 and Blaine 4,851,981. New York proved to be

4CS

NOTES ON THE TEXT

the pivotal State and gave Cleveland a small plurality.
Its 36 electoral votes thus decided the contest in his favor.
Cleveland and Hendricks were elected respectively Presi-
dent and Vice-President by 219 votes aginst 182 for Blaine
and Logan. Of the 38 States then voting, 20 were carried
by Cleveland, including New York, Connecticut, New Jer-
sey, Delaware, Indiana, and Kentucky.

59 Inaugural Address. When Cleveland entered on his
first term of the Presidency he had not yet completed his
forty-eighth year. On March 4, 1885, innumerable crowds
attended him to the Capitol at Washington, where he took
the oath of office prescribed by the Constitution. He deliv-
ered his Inaugural Address from the steps of the Capitol.
This impressive function had special significance from the
fact that it symbolized the conclusion of the fierce conflict
of a generation. From North and South the victors and the
vanquished met under the leadership of the Democratic
party, which, largely owing to its historic affiliation with
the seceding South, had been excluded from office for more
than twenty years. !Mr. Cleveland took advantage of his
professional experience as a speaker to adopt a course which
various political orators who had preceded him in office may
have thought beneath the dignity of the occasion. Instead
of a written address, he delivered a brief speech in which
he expressed his sense of his great responsibilities and his
faith in a system of " government by the people."

64< Grant. General U. S. Grant was born at Point
Pleasant, Ohio, April 27, 1822, and died at Mount Mac-
Gregor, near Saratoga, N. Y., July 23, 1885. His body
rests in a magnificent tomb in Riverside Park, New York
City, overlooking the Hudson River.

68 First Annual Message. Nearly a third of this mes-
sage is devoted to a review of the business of the State De-
partment. The President treats at considerable length
important questions concerning foreign relations, currency,

469

NOTES ON THE TEXT

and the revenue^ and civil-service reform. He recommends
a reorganization of the Federal judiciary, a complete recon-
struction of the Navy Department, land-law legislation to
restrict excessive ownership of large areas by single indi-
viduals, a new Indian policy, and the prohibition of Mor-
mon immigration.

78 Thurman. Allen Granbery Thurman was born at
Lynchburg, Va., November 13, 1813; died at Columbus,
Ohio, December 12, 1895. He served as United States
Senator from Ohio, 1869-1881, and was the Democratic
nominee for vice-president in 1888 on the Cleveland ticket,
which was defeated by Harrison and Morton.

79 Hancock. General Winfield Scott Hancock was born
February 14, 1824, at Montgomery Square, Pa., and died
at Governor's Island, February 9, 1886. In 1880 he was
made the Democratic nominee for President, but was de-
feated by the Republican candidate, James A. Garfield.

92 Arthur. Chester Alan Arthur was elected Vice-
President on the Garfield ticket. On the death of President
Garfield, September 19, 1881, he became the twenty-first
President of the United States. He was born at Fairfield,
Vt., October 5, 1830, and died in New York City, Novem-
ber 18, 1886.

92 Second Annual Message. The central idea of this
message is the recognition and enforcement of American
labor. Devotion to this great object controls the recom-
mendations regarding traffic and taxation, agriculture and
the public courts, as well as the suggestions made for legis-
lation having for its direct purpose the passage of labor-
protection laws and the adjustment of disputes between the
workingmen and the emjjloyers. The portions of the mes-
sage which proved of special interest to the general public
relate to the reform of the pension system, the reform of
the civil service, the maintenance of a sound currency, and
the reduction of taxation.

470

NOTES ON THE TEXT

119 Third Annual Message. In this message Mr.
Cleveland made reduction of the tariif the principal topic.
The message, it was felt, was addressed to the country at
large in view of the coming election, and produced almost
as much dismay among the wire-pullers of his own party
as in the ranks of the Republican protectionists. The mes-
sage, however, recalled the Democrats to the old principle
of the party, " taxation for the purpose of revenue only."
A tariff reduction bill was carried through the House of
Representatives, with only four Democrats voting in the
minority, but in the Senate where the Republicans still had
a majority, a bill was introduced changing the tariff in the
direction of increased protection. Both schemes were in-
tended as declarations of policy to influence the coming elec-
tion. The Republicans, who won the election, were wise
enough to know that the tariff reform fight was not over,
and put through the famous McKinley bill in their endeavor
to give some appearance of symmetry and logical strength
to their tariff system.

132 Beecher, Henry Ward Beecher was born at Litch-
field, Conn., June 24, 1813, and died at Brooklyn, N. Y.,
March 8, 1887. Although he had always been a Republi-
can, he made campaign speeches in behalf of Mr. Cleveland
during the Presidential campaign of 1884.

136 Campaign of 1888. The Democratic National Con-
vention at St. Louis in June, 1888, nominated Grover Cleve-
land by acclamation for a second term, an honor of which no
one except General Grant had been the recipient since the
second nomination of Jackson. The defeat of James G.
Blaine in 1884 made the Republicans imwilling to risk their
cause vmder his leadership a second time. The convention
finally adopted General Benjamin Harrison, of Indiana, as
the Republican candidate. Mr. Cleveland's position pre-
vented him from taking any direct part in the campaign.
General Harrison made ninety-four speeches in the course

471

NOTES ON THE TEXT

of the campaign, and devoting special attention to his own
State, succeeded in securing its fifteen electoral votes. The
victory in Indiana, coupled with the success of the Republi-
cans in New York, Cleveland's own State, restored the
Republicans to power. The defection of New York from
Mr. Cleveland was accounted for in various ways. Some
attributed it to the discontent of the independents at the
failure of Mr. Cleveland to carry out their opinions in con-
nection with civil-service reform. Others attributed the loss
of New York to the hostility of Tammany Hall. It was
alleged that Tammany Hall had instructed their supporters
to vote for General Harrison in exchange for Republican
votes for certain State offices. The real explanation, how-
ever, seems to be that the Republicans showed in defence
of their interests great energy and ability, backed by a
lavish expenditure of money for campaign purposes, while
the Democrats were over-confident and lacked organization.
Of the total electoral vote of 401, Harrison received 233 and
Cleveland l68. Of the popular vote Cleveland had a plu-
rality of 98,017, having received 5,538,233 votes against
5,4'40,2l6 for Harrison.

138 Sheridan. General Philip H. Sheridan was born at
Albany, N. Y., March 6, 1831, and died at Nonquitt, Mass.,
August 5, 1888.

151 Cox. Samuel Sullivan Cox, American statesman,
humorist, and author, was born at Zanesville, Ohio, Septem-
ber 30, 1824, and died at New York, September 10, 1889.
He served many years in Congress, and was for a short time
the United States Minister to Turkey. He was familiarly
known as " Sunset " Cox, owing to an exuberant article he
wrote, entitled " The Great Sunset," and this sobriquet
stuck to him through his career, as the word " Sunset "
chanced to correspond with his two initials.

153 Fourth Annual Message. Outside of the revenue-
reform argument, the most striking portion of this message

472

NOTES ON THE TEXT

is that which sharply criticises Congress for permitting the
consideration of private interests and claims to subordinate
and postpone action upon subjects of great public impor-
tance, but involving no special, private, or partisan interest.
In accordance with the recommendation of this message the
Mills bill was introduced, which removed duties aggregating
$50,000,000 per annum. The bill passed the House, but
was defeated in the Senate. A new tariff bill, known as the
Wilson bill, was introduced December 19, 1893, during
Mr. Cleveland's second administration. The bill reduced
the duties on many articles in the existing schedules. It
was passed both by the House of Representatives and the
Senate, and the President allowed it to become a law with-
out his signature.

226 Hendricks. Thomas Andrews Hendricks was born
near Lanesville, Ohio, in 1819, and died on November 25,
1885. He ran for vice-president on the imsuccessful Tilden
ticket in 1876, but was elected to that office on the Cleve-
land ticket in 1884.

355 First Annual Message (Second Term). The
President in this message commends the moderate Wilson
bill and he insists that only the necessity of revenue justifies
the imposition of tariff duties. Foreign relations are fully
reviewed, and attention is called to leading questions then
occupying public attention, with certain recommendations in
reference to the various departmental reports.

363 Second Annual Message (Second Term). This
message gives considerable information on the standing of
the United States Government and its relations with other
nations. It also gives a concise presentation of the condi-
tion of every department of the Government.

372 Third Annual Message (Second Term). Of this
message one half is devoted to foreign relations and the
other half to the national finances. The Cuban question is
duly considered, but the portion of the message that at-

473

NOTES ON THE TEXT

tracted wide attention was the position President Cleveland
took on the Venezuelan boimdary dispute and his emphatic
endorsement of the Monroe Doctrine that there shall be
no European encroachment on the American hemisphere.
This was subsequently still further emphasized in his spe-
cial message on the Venezuelan question.

376 Venezuelan Message. The United States had
striven for some time to get Great Britain and Venezuela
to arbitrate a boundary dispute, when in July, 1895, matters
came to a crisis. The Secretary of State, Richard Olney,
authorized Thomas F. Bayard, the American Ambassador
to Great Britain, to inform Lord Salisbury that Great
Britain's occupation of the territory in question would be
considered by the United States a violation of the Monroe
Doctrine. In November, Lord Salisbury replied that Great
Britain did not consider the Monroe Doctrine applicable
to the case and would not arbitrate. On December 17th,
President Cleveland sent a message to Congress asking for
an appropriation to pay the expenses of a commission which
should determine what action should be taken. In both
Great Britain and the United States this message was re-
garded as equivalent to a threat that war would follow the
insistence by England on the course she had outlined. The
commission was appointed, but before it was ready to report
Great Britain and Venezuela agreed to arbitrate. Nearly
four years later, on January 15, 1899, the tribunal met in
Paris, and on October 3d of the same year rendered what
is said to have been a unanimous decision, which, in the
main, was favorable to the Venezuelan claims.

381 Parker. Hon. George W. Parker was the American
Consul, and President of the Birmingham Dramatic and
Literary Club. The letter from Mr. Cleveland was read at
the thirty-second annual Shakespeare commemoration of the
club. The Daily News of London maintained that Mr.
Cleveland's letter to Consul Parker was written with the

474,

NOTES ON THE TEXT

deliberate intention of facilitating the closing of an unpleas-
ant episode [the Venezuela boundary dispute] in the rela-
tions between Great Britain and the United States. The
Daily News added that it reciprocated the intentions.

383 Fourth Annual Message (Second Term). The por-
tion of this message which referred to Cuba received the
largest measure of attention from the public press, and was
eagerly read throughout the country. The President gives
excellent reasons why the United States Government should
move with caution and wisdom until Spain had shown be-
yond cavil her inability to cope with the Cuban situation.

389 Presidential Election of 1892. The majority of
Democrats were in favor of Grover Cleveland as the Presi-
dential candidate for 1892 even before the preparations for
the National Convention at Chicago on June 23d were be-
gun. Tradition, on the other hand, discouraged the nomi-
nation of a candidate who had once suffered defeat. This
consideration, however, had no weight with the mass of the
delegates, and Cleveland was nominated on the first ballot
by an overwhelming majority. Benjamin Harrison was
nominated for a second term by the Republican National
Convention. Mr. Cleveland was elected by a larger major-
ity than that which he had secured in 1884. Of the total
number of electoral votes (444) Cleveland received 277,
Harrison had 145, and Weaver, the Populist candidate, had
22. Of the popular vote Cleveland received 5,553,808 votes;
Harrison 5,180,911; Weaver, 1,035,572; and Wing, the So-
cialist candidate, 21,145.

401 Jefferson. Joseph Jefferson, the famous American
comedian referred to here, was born at Philadelphia, Febru-
ary 20, 1829, and died at Palm Beach, Florida, April 3,
1905. Grover Cleveland and Joseph Jefferson were great
friends and frequent companions on fishing excursions at
Buzzard's Bay and elsewhere.

405 Schurz. Carl Schurz, the German-American statcs-
475

A.

NOTES ON THE TEXT

man, editor, and author, was born at Liblar, near Cologne,
Prussia, March 2, 1829, and died on May 14, I906. He
was Secretary of the Interior in the Cabinet of President
Playes. In the canvasses of 1884, 1888, and 1892 he sup-
ported Cleveland.

407 Harrison. Benjamin Harrison, the twenty-third
President of the United States, was born at North Bend,
Ohio, August 20, 1833, and died at Indianapolis, March
13, 1901.

412 McKinley. William McKinley, the twenty-fifth
President of the United States, was born at Niles, Ohio,
January 29, 1843, and was shot by an assassin, Czolgosz,
while holding a public reception at the Pan-American Expo-
sition in Buffalo, N. Y., on September 6, 190I. It was
thought, after the wound had been operated on, that he
might survive, but the wound proved fatal and he died on
September 14th.

416 Doctor of Jurisprudence. On this occasion the
honorary degree of doctor of jurisprudence was conferred
for the first time in the United States. The recipient was
ex-President Cleveland, who had already received the degree
of LL.D. from Princeton University. The ceremony of con-
ferring the degree upon Mr. Cleveland was a part of the
commencement exercises of the college. Archbishop Ryan
presiding.

420 Wilson. Woodrow Wilson, the American educator
and historian, was born at Staunton, Va. He graduated at
Princeton in 1879- In 1890 he becanae Professor of Juris-
prudence and Politics at Princeton, and upon the resignation
of President Patton in June, 1902, Dr. Wilson was elected
President of Princeton University by the unanimous votes
of the trustees, and on October 25th he was formally in-
augurated.

429 KisJiineff. On April 23, 1903, twenty-five Jews
were killed and several hundred were wounded, many of

476

NOTES ON THE TEXT

them fatally, during the anti-Semitic riots at Kishineff in
Russia, when a number of workmen organized an attack on
the Jewish inhabitants. The houses of the Jews were
wrecked, their shops were sacked, and thousands of them
were made homeless and destitute.

432 Chicago Strike. The conflict with the American
Railway Union at Chicago was started by a dispute between
the Pullman Car Company and their employees. The em-
ployees struck and their places were filled by others. Then
the union of railway men, on the advice of their president
(Debs), took up the question and demanded that the rail-
ways should boycott the Pullman Company. When this
edict was not complied with they not only went on strike
themselves, but stopped the working of the railway lines by
others. Governor Altgeld, of Illinois, had already attracted
attention by pardoning some of the individuals who were
undergoing imprisonment for the Anarchist outrages of
1880. In this instance he refused to take the necessary
measures to enable the companies to carry on their business.
The postmasters in Chicago, as Federal officers, appealed to
Washington for help to distribute the mails, and Mr. Cleve-
land at once sent troops to Chicago, which brought about
the collapse of the strike. In the case of several similar
conflicts elsewhere the troops of the United States had been
called in during the summer, but in each of these instances
they entered the State at the request of the governor. They
were sent to Chicago, however, not only without Governor
Altgeld's consent, but against his protest. This dispatch
of an armed force would have involved a serious constitu-
tional question if acts had not been passed since I860 which
authorize the President to send troops into any State where
he has reason to believe that Federal business is not ade-
quately protected, or that the lives or property of American
citizens are exposed to danger which the local authorities
fail to avert.

477

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Cleveland, Grover, President United States.

Fishing and Shooting Sketches. Illustrated by Henry
S. Watson. New York: The Outing Publishing Com-
pany, 1906. 209 pp. Frontispiece. Illustrations.
Plates. 12mo.

The Independence of the Executive. Boston and New
York: Houghton, Mifflin & Co., 190O. 27 pp. 8vo.

Presidential Problems. New York : The Century Com-
pany, 1904. 281 pp. Svo.

Principles and Purposes of our Form of Government
as set forth in Public Papers of Grover Cleveland.
Comp. by Francis Gottsberger. New York: G. G.
Peck, 1892. 187 pp. 8vo.

The Writings and Speeches of Grover Cleveland, se-
lected and edited with an Introduction by George F.
Parker. Authorized edition. New York: Cassell Pub-
lishing Company, 1892. 571 pp. Portrait. Svo.

New York Times.

The Venezuela Dispute. Prof. McMaster's History of
the Monroe Doctrine. The President's Message and
the other Official Documents. New York: The New
York Times, 1896. 35 pp. Map. Svo.

United States, Department of State.

Correspondence in Relation to the Boundary Contro-

47s

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

versy between Great Britain and Venezuela, being a
reprint of Senate Executive Document No. 226, Fif-
tieth Congress, first session, and Senate Document No.
31, Fifty-fourth Congress, first session. Washington:
Government Printing Office, 1896. Map. 8vo.

President.

A Compilation of the Messages and Papers of the
Presidents, 1789-1897. Published by authority of
Congress. Washington: Government Printing Office,
1896-99. 10 vols. Plates. Portraits. 8vo. Issued
also as House Miscellaneous Document No. 210, Fifty-
third Congress, second session. Vol. VIII, Grover
Cleveland, 1885-1889, pp. 296-852. Vol. IX, Grover
Cleveland, 1893-1897, pp. 387-801.

President, 1893-1897 (Cleveland).

President's Message relating to the Hawaiian Islands.
December 18, 1893. Accompanied by Commissioner
Blount's Report, the evidence taken by him at Hono-
lulu, the instructions given to both Commissioner
Blount and Minister Willis, and correspondence con-
nected with the affair. Washington: Government Print-
ing Office, 1893. 684 pp. Map. 8vo. Fifty-third
Congress, second session. House Executive Docu-
ment No. 47.

Biery, James S.

King Grover. Chronicles of His Reign, according to
Simonides, the scribe of the tribe of Lechay. First
book. Allentown, Pa. : Published by the author, 1 894.
128 pp. 12mo. In scriptural style.

Boyd, James Penny.

Biographies of President Grover Cleveland and Hon.
Allen G. Thurman, with full Proceedings of the St.
Louis Convention and authorized text of the National
479

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Platform. Philadelphia: Franklin News Company,
1888. Portraits. 8vo.

Men and Issues of '92. A grand national portrait
gallery, containing photographs of leading men of all
parties; with a full and fair presentation of the great
national questions of the day. Also the lives of Repub-
lican and Democratic candidates for President and
Vice-President, with national platforms. Philadel-
phia: Publishers' Union, 1892. 656 pp. Portraits. 8vo.

Dieck, Herman.

The Life and Public Services of our Great Reform
President, Grover Cleveland, to which is added the
Life and Public Services of Allen G. Thurman. Phila-
delphia: S. L Bell & Co., 1888. Sdi pp. Illustrations.
Plates. Portraits. 1 2mo.

Goodrich, Frederick E.

The Life and Public Services of Grover Cleveland,
with incidents of his boyhood and an account of his
rise to eminence in his profession; also containing his
addresses and official documents as Mayor of the City
of Buffalo and Governor of the State of New York.
Portland, Me.: H. Hallett & Co., 1884. 504 pp.
Plates. Portraits. 12mo.

Handford, Thomas W.

Early Life and Public Services of Hon. Grover Cleve-
land, the fearless and independent Governor of the
Empire State, and candidate for President of the
United States, reciting the annals of his successful
career from obscurity to the eminent position which he
now holds in the admiration of the people. Also the
Life of Hon. Thomas A. Hendricks, candidate for
Vice-President. Including a history of the Democratic
party, and life sketches of prominent Democratic
480

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

statesmen. Together with the platforms of both par-
ties and a mass of useful political information. Chi-
cago and New York: Caxton Publishing Company,
1884. 510 pp. Plates. Portraits. Facsimiles. 12mo.

Harlow, Louis K.

At Gray Gables and Walks Along the Shore of Buz-
zard's Bay. With illustrations from water-colors and
sketches by L. K. Harlow, and with an historical and
descriptive sketch of Buzzard's Bay and poems by
well-known writers illustrative of the scenery. New
York: R. Tuck & Sons, 1895. 15 pp. Illustrations.
Plates. 12mo.

Hensel, William Uhler.

Life and Public Services of Grover Cleveland, twenty-
second President of the United States, and Democratic
nominee for re-election, 1888. An introductory sketch
by the late William Dorsheimer, enlarged and con-
tinued through the present administrations to the date
of publication. Together •with a sketch of the Life of
Allen G. Thurman, ex-United States Senator from
Ohio and Democratic nominee for Vice-President. An
accoimt of the Democratic National Convention, St.
Louis, 1888; statement of Democratic principles, and
a handbook of useful political information. Phila-
delphia and Chicago: Hubbard Brothers. Boston:
Guernsey Publishing Company, 1888. 588 pp. Plates.
Portraits. 12mo.

Life and Public Services of Grover Cleveland, twenty-
second President of the United States, and Democratic
nominee for re-election in 1892. An introductory
sketch by the late Hon. William Dorsheimer, enlarged
and continued through his administration, with a state-
ment of the Democratic principles and a handbook of
481

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

useful political information. Also a sketch of the Life
and Services of Hon. Adlai E. Stevenson, Vice-Presi-
dential nominee, by Prof. Charles Morris. Philadel-
phia: Edgewood Publishing Company, 1892. 556 pp.
Plates. Portraits. 8vo.

King, Pendleton.

Life and Public Services of Grover Cleveland. New
York and London: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1884. 224 pp.
Plates. l6mo.

Kintz, Henry J.

The Inauguration of Grover Cleveland, the President-
elect. March 4, 1885. A book for fifty million people.
Alexandria, Va. [Philadelphia: W. F. Fell & Co.,
Printers], 1885. 159 pp. Plates. Portraits. 12mo.

Le Fevre, Benjamin.

Campaign of '84. Biographies of S. Grover Cleve-
land, the Democratic candidate for President, and
Thomas A. Hendricks, the Democratic candidate for
Vice-President, with a description of the leading issues
and the proceedings of the National Convention, to-
gether with a history of the political parties of the
United States, comparisons of platforms on all im-
portant questions, and political tables for ready refer-
ence. Philadelphia: Fireside Publishing Company,
1884. Portraits. 8vo.

Norton, Charles Benjamin.

The President and his Cabinet, indicating the progress
of the government of the United States under the ad-
ministration of Grover Cleveland. Boston: Cupples &
Hurd, 1888. 249 pp. Plates. Portraits. 12mo.

Parker, George Frederick.

A Life of Grover Cleveland ; with a Sketch of Adlai E.
Stevenson. New York: Cassell Publishing Company,
1892. SSS pp. 12mo.

482

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

Perry, Frances M.

Four Great American Presidents. Garfield, McKinley,
Cleveland, Roosevelt; a book for American readers.
New York: J. M. Stradling & Co., 1903. 309 pp. Il-
lustration s . 1 2 mo.

Schreiber, Bessie Rhoda.

An Acrostic to President Grover Cleveland on his In-
auguration. Containing the names of all the newspa-
pers in New York State. New York: H. Seibert &
Brother, Lithographers, 1885. Broadside. Folio.

Stoddard, William Osborn.

Grover Cleveland. New York: F. A. Stokes & Brother,
1888. 263 pp. Frontispiece. Plates. 12mo.

Watkins, Walter Kendall.

New England Ancestry of Grover Cleveland, President
of the United States of America. Privately printed.
Salem, Mass.: The Salem Press, 1892. 25 pp. Charts.
Frontispiece. Folio.

Welch, Deshler.

Stephen Grover Cleveland. A sketch of his life, to
which is appended a short account of the Life of
Thomas Andrews Hendricks. New York: J. W. Lovell
Company, 1884. 222 pp. Plates. Facsimiles. 12mo.

Whittle, James Lowry.

Grover Cleveland. London: Bliss, Sands & Co., 1896.
240 pp. Portraits. 12mo.

These histories of the United States covering President
Cleveland's administration may also be consulted:

Andrews, E. B. History of the Last Quarter Century in

the United States, 1870-1895.
Dewey, D. R, National Problems, 1885-1897.
» Peck, H. T. Twenty Years of the Republic, 1885-1905.
Wilson, Woodrow. A History of the American People.

<!83

LIST OF AUTHORITIES

The usual indexes will guide to the articles about Mr.
Cleveland as follows:

Fletcher, W. I. (A. L. A.). Index to General Literature,
second edition, 1901. Followed by Annual Library In-
dex, edited by W. I. Fletcher, 1902-1907.

Poole's Index to Periodical Literature.

Reader's Guide to Periodical Literature.

4§4

INDEX

Academy of Medicine, New York,
address at the laying of the
corner stone of, 177-179.

Actors' Home, 199.

Adams, John P., letter to (Septem-
ber 12, 1890), 235.

Addresses: at Albany, N.Y., 31-33,
34-36, 41-43, 48, 49, 49-51, 446,
447; at Ann Arbor, Mich., 318-
329; at Atlantic City, N. J., 447-
449; at Boston, Mass., 184-192;
at Brooklyn, N. ¥., 241-246,
309-313; at BufTalo, N. Y., 9, 10,
11, 15-17, 17-20, 20-22, 45-47,
109-111, 299-304; at Cambridge
Mass. (Harvard University), 89-
91; at Clinton, N. Y., 105-109;
at Columbus, Ohio, 256-263; at
Fredericksburg, Va., 365, 367; at
Ithaca, N. Y. (Cornell Univer-
sity), 192-196; at Kansas City,
Mo., 117, 118; at Lawrenceville,
N. J., 403, 404; at Nebraska
City, Neb., 442, 443; at Newark,
N. J., 55-57; at New York City,
29-31, 36-39, 151-153, 165-170,
170-172, 173, 177, 180-183, 196-
200, 206-210, 211-215, 215-220,
221-225, 236-241. 246-250. 263-
267, 267-270, 271-279. 288-291.
291-296, 313-318, 339, 340, 341,
342, 343-345, 394, 395, 395-399,

406, 407, 421-423, 423-425, 429,
436, 437-440, 443-446, 452-453,
453, 454; at Philadelphia, Pa.,
112, 113, 113-116, 116, 117, 134,
135, 279-287, 367-369, 416, 416-
418, 449-451; at Pittsburgh, Pa.,
414, 415; at Princeton, N. J.,
382, 383, 399-401, 408. 409, 410-
412, 412-414, 419, 432; at Provi-
dence, R. I., 305-309, 330-338;
at Richmond, Va., 87-89; at
Rochester, N. Y., 43-45; at
Sandwich, Mass., 228-235; at
St. Louis, Mo., 425-429; at
Washington, D. C. 59-64, 102-
105, 129, 130, 136-138, 201-
203, 347-353.

Adirondack Park, address in re-
gard to, 288-291.

Agricultural Fair, Richmond, Va.,
87-89.

Albany, N. Y., addresses at, 31-33,
34-36, 41-43, 48, 49. 49-51,
446, 447; needed reforms at the
Capitol, 289, 290.

"Allianca" incident, 375.

Ambassador, conferring the title of,
on U. S. envoys to Great Britain,
France, Italy and Germany, 357.

American artists, unjust discrimi-
nation in favor of, 71.

American character, 102.

485

INDEX

American citizens imprisoned
abroad, protest against the treat-
ment of, 15-17.

American citizenship, 214, 256-
263, 403, 404.

American commerce, revival of,
369.

American Fishery Union, letter to
(April 7, 1885), 99-102.

American flag, 368, 369.

American home, 258, 260.

American industries, 221-225.

American Jews, celebration of the
250th anniversary of settlement
of, 443; as patriots, 445.

American life, important factors
in, 257.

American motherhood, 366.

American progress and achieve-
ment within a century, 426.

American Railway Union, 433.

American sentiment of fair play,
225.

Ann Arbor, Mich., address at, 318-
329.

Auderson, E. Ellery, 204.

Andrew, John F., 254.

Arbitration between the republics
of America and Europe, 357.

Arbitration of labor disputes, 79-
83.

Arbitration treaty between the
United States and Great Britain,
392, 393.

Army of the Cumberland, 102.

Arthur, Chester Alan, executive
proclamation on the death of ex-
President (November 18, 1886),
92.

Assessments for partisan purposes,
23.

Atlantic City, N. J., address at,
447-449.

Ballot reform, necessity of, 188-
192.

Barnstable County, 229, 230, 232,
233, 235.

Bartlett, Charles L., letter to
(March 14, 1904), 432.

Bean Hill, 310.

Bedloe's Island, 87.

Beecher, Henry Ward, tribute to,
132, 133.

Beecher, Mrs. Henry Ward, letter
to (May 22, 1888), 132, 133.

Berne, international copyright con-
ference at, 69.

Birmingham, England, 381.

Bissell, Dr., 106.

Blount, James H., 355.

Boston, Mass., address at, 184-192. ,

Boston commerce, 185. j

Boston merchants, 185, 186. ^

Boston Tea Party, 185.

Boyhood. Cleveland's, 105-107.

Bragg, Edward S., letter to (March
9, 1892), 329, 330.

Bridgeport, Conn., address at, 58,
59.

British Guiana, 372, 373.

Brooklyn, N. Y., address at, 241-
246, 309-313.

Brooklyn Democratic Club, letter
to (April 16, 1898), 402.

Brown, Edgar A., 204.

Buffalo, N. Y., addresses at, 9, 10,
11, 15-17, 17-20, 20-22, 45-47,
109-111, 299-304; inaugural
message as Mayor of (January 2,
1882), 11-13; position of City
Auditor in, 13; Sacngerfest, SOO.

486

INDEX

Builders, address at banquet of
New York National Association
of, 296.

Building contracts, 294, 29.'5.

Building trade, antiquity and im-
portance of, 293.

Bunker Hill, 251.

Business Men's Democratic Associ-
ation of New York, addresses
before, 246-250, 313-318.

Business methods in government,
181.

Butler, Benoni, 106.

Buzzards Bay, 231, 406.

Caldwell, N. J., 55.

Cambridge, Mass. (Harvard Uni-
versity), address at, 89-91.

"Campaign of Education," the,
271-279.

Canton, Ohio, letters to the Young
Men's Democratic Club at
(November 22, 1889), 183; (No-
vember 25, 1890), 270, 271.

Cape Cod, 229, 231, 232, 235.

Cape Cod Canal, 232.

Capital and Labor, relations of,
95, 96.

Carnegie, Andrew, 414, 415.

Carnegie Hall, N. Y., address at,
443-446.

Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pa.,
414.

Carpenter's Hall, Philadelphia, Pa.,
117.

Catholic Club, Philadelphia, Pa.,
98, 99.

Centennial of Clinton, N. Y., ad-
dress at the. 105-109.

Centennial of Constitution, Phila-

delphia, Pa., address at the, 113-
116.

Chamber of Commerce of the State
of New York, letter to the Com-
mitteeof the (November4, 1887),
118, 119; address at the dedica-
tion of the new home of, 421-423.

Charities and Correction, address
at the national conference of,
449-451.

Charity and charitable work, 449-
451.

"Cheap merchandise, cheap men,
cheap country," 258-262.

Chicago labor disturbances, 432.

Chicago strike, lecture on (iMay 2,
1904). 432-436; attitude of Gov-
ernment in, 434, 435.

Citizens, duties of, 19, 59. 96. 103,
110, 113, 184, 180, 188-190, 192.

Citizenship, American, 96, 173-
177, 256-263.

Citizenship and naturalization, 70,
71.

Ci\'il Ser\ace and Civil Service Re-
form, 26-28, 74-76, 96, 97, 191,
358, 359.

Ci\dl Ser\-ice Commission, report
of, 74.

Civil Service Reform Association of
New York, letter to (October
28, 1882), 26-28.

Civil Service rules amended, 389,
390.

Civil War, the, 46, 47; Germans in,
302.

Classes, formation of two widely
opposite, 155.

Cleveland family, 309.

Cleveland. Rev. William N., letter
to (November 7, 1882), 28, 29.

487

INDEX

Clinton, N. Y., address at Cen-
tennial of, 105-109.

Codman, Charles R., 254.

Coinage of silver, 204.

College of the City of New York,
address at, 43G, 437.

Collins, Hon. P. A.. 136, 139.

Columbus, Ohio, address at, 256-
263.

Commerce, necessity of freedom of,
38; reflections on, 422.

Committee on Notification, address
before, 136, 137.

Communism, views on, 158.

Constitution Centennial, Philadel-
phia, Pa., address at the, 113-116.

Consular ser\ace, recast of laws re-
lating to, 357, 358.

Continental Congress, 117.

Co-operation of capital and labor,
96.

Cooper Union, New York, ad-
dresses at, 151-153, 236-241.

Copyright. See International
copyright.

Corn, shipments of, from New
Orleans, 37.

Cornell Alumni Society, address
before, 192-196.

Cornell, Governor, 31.

Cornell University, address at,
193-196.

Coronation of Czar of Russia, 373-

Corporations, 24; stockholders in,
40, 41.

Cox, Samuel S., tribute to, 151-153.

Cuba, disturbances in, 374, 375;
insurrection in, and policy as to,
384-388.

Cumberland, survivors of the
Army of the, 102.

Currency, a stable and safe, 348,

353; depreciated, 397.
Czar of Russia, coronation of the,

373.

Declaration of Independence, 227,
228.

Democracy, Democratic Party, or
Democrats, references to, 10,
35. 50, 56. 57, 78, 132, 147. 151.
165-170, 205, 206, 237, 241-246,
246-250, 250-255, 258, 271-279,
281-287, 296-299, 314-318, 337-
340, 343-345. 354, 369-372, 395-
399, 402, 406.

Democratic Club, New York, ad-
dress at, 296-299.

Democratic Editorial Association,
letter read at banquet of (May
24, 1895), 369-372.

Democratic Government. 62, 63.

Democratic League of Clubs, ad-
dress at, 339, 340.

Depew. Chauncey M., 265-267.

Depreciated currency, 397.

Diplomatic service, 357.

Douglass, Fred., 432.

Dramatic profession. See Actors'
Fund.

Drexel, Joseph W., 86.

Dutch conservatism, 407.

Eastmond, A. H., 402.
Economy, public and private, 258,

et seq.
Education, relation to politics, 89.
Educational processes, 417.
Election frauds, 22, 23.
Elections, primary, 22, 23.
Eliot, Charles W., 254.
488

I X D E X

Employers, arbitration of disputes
between laboring men and, 79-
83.

Employers, to laboring men, re-
lations of, 95, 96.

England, recijirocity with, 264.

Equitable Life Assurance Society,
trusteeship, 440.

Erie County Bar Association meet-
ing, memorial tribute to Oscar
Folsom before the. 7-9.

Evacuation-Day celebration, New
York, address at, 36-39.

Evangelical Alliance, address to the
129, 130.

Everett, Dr. William, 254.

Expatriation, right of, 70.

Ex-Presidents, concerning the dis-
position of, 182, 183; rights of,
and popular ideas concerning,
234, 235.

Extravagance, public, 297.

Farmers' Alliance, letter to Steu-
benville Lodge of the (March
24, 1890), 220, 221.

Farmers and the trusts, 390.

Farmers, position with regard to
New York canals, 38; effect of
protective tariff on, 144; their in-
terest in taxation, 143; move-
ment of crops, 144; decrease of
interest In life of, 157.

Federal system, 201-203.

Federal taxation, 141, 351.

Fellowcraft Club, New Y'ork, ad-
dress before, 173-177.

Finances, condition of the national,
119-128.

Financial policy, 140.

Finley, Dr. John Huston, 436.

Fishery disputes, 99-102.

Folsom, Oscar, memorial tribute

to, 7-9.
Foreign policy, 62, 63.
Foreign relations, perplexity in,

355.
Founder's Day at Lawrence\'ille

School, address at, 403, 404.
Fox, Hon. John, 453.
France, reciprocity with, 264.
Franklin, Benjamin, 116, 117.
Fraudulent and corrupt practices,

25,
Frazier, John W., 104.
Fredericksburg, Va., addresses at,

365-367.
Free library movement, 215-220.
Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, 112.
Frugality in home and government,

258-260.
Furey, William A., letter to (Febru-
ary 2, 1888), 130-132.

G. A. R. banquet in Buffalo, ad-
dress at, 45-49.

Garfield, James A., tribute to, 103.

Garfield statue, address at the un-
veiling of the, 102-104.

Garrison, William Lloyd, 254.

German- Americans, 299-304.

German character, 300-302.

German citizens, 300-304.

German literature, 300, 301.

Crerman reformers, 399.

German Young Men's Association,
BuiTalo, address at the semi-
centennial of, 299-304.

Gettysburg, letter to reunion of
Union and ex-Confederate sol-
diers at (June 24, 1887), 104,
105.

489

INDEX

Gibbons, Cardinal, 98; letter to a
member of the Cardinal Gibbons
reception committee (January
26. 1887), 98, 99.

Gilder, Richard Watson, 401.

Gloucester, Mass., letter to Ameri-
can Fishery Union at (April 7,
1885), 99-102.

Golden rule, 416.

Governor, serenade speech at Buf-
falo upon nomination for, 20-
22; letter accepting nomination
for (October 7, 1882), 22-26;
policy to be adopted as, 28; ad-
dress as, at Albany, N.Y., 31-33.

Governorship, letter to his brother,
on being elected to (November
7, 1882). 28, 29; address at the
Manhattan Club, New York,
after election to. 29-31.

Grant, Gen. U. S., proclamation on
the death of (July 23, 1885). 64.
65.

Great Britain, arbitration treaty.
392. 393.

Hancock. Gen. Winfield Scott,
executive order on the death of
(February 9, 1886). 79.

Harrison, Benjamin, tribute to ex-
President, 407, 408.

Harvard College, address at the
two hundred and fiftieth anniver-
sary of, 89-91.

Havana, 384.

Hawaii, treaty and relations with,
355, 356.

Hendricks, Thomas A., executive
order on the death of Vice-Presi-
dent (November 25, 1885). 67.
68; monument to. 226.

Hepworth. Rev. G. H., letter to

(August 26, 1900). 406.
Herwig. A.. 225.
Hibernian Society. Philadelphia,

Pa., address at the banquet of.

112. 113.
Higginson, Thomas Wentworth,

254.
Hill, J. A., 220.
Historical and Scientific Societies of

Philadelphia, Pa., address at the

dinner of the. 116, 117.
Hoar, Sherman. 254.
Holman, John A.. 226.
Holland Society dinner, address at,

406.
Home Rule, 255.

Immigration, views on, 63.

Inaugural addresses: first to Con-
gress (March 4, 1885), 59-64;
second to Congress (March 4,
1893), 347-352.

Independence, American, 62, 227.

Independence Hall. Philadelphia,
Pa., 117.

Indian policy. 63.

Indian problem, 161.

Indiana Tariff Reform League,
letter to (February 15, 1890),
204, 205.

Indians, relations with the. 351.

Indianapolis (Hendricks) Monu-
ment Committee, letter to
(June 18, 1890), 226.

Indi\adual rights, 53, 54.

Industries, American, 221-225.

Insurance investigation, 452, 453.

International Anierican conference
at Washington, D. C, 357.

490

INDEX

International copyright, 69, 70.
Ithaca, N. Y.. 192.

Jackson, Andrew, 162, 282, 314-

316.
Jackson Club, Columbus, Ohio,

78.
Jackson Day, dinner of the Na-
tional Democratic Club, letter

read at, 453, 454.
Jefferson, Joseph, 401.
Jefferson, Thomas, 62, 168, 236,

280, 281, 297.
Jewelers' Association of New York,

address before, 267-270.
Jewish character, 445.
Jewish charity, 445.
Jews in Russia, protest against

murder and persecution of the,

429, 430.
Jews in the United States, address

at the 250th anniversary of the

settlement of the, 443-446.

Kansas City, Mo., address at, 117,
118.

Kensington Reform Club, letter to
(May 9, 1890), 225.

Kings County, Democratic Club,
letter to (February 2, 1888), 130-
132; Democratic headquarters,
235; loyal Democracy of, 241,
242.

Kishineff Massacre, 429, 430.

Labor, dignity of, 53; the strength
of a State, 56; protection of, 57,
163, 190; arbitration of disputes,
79-83.

Labor and capital, 80, 81, 95. 96.

Labor Bureau established, 82, 83;
enlargement of, 95.

Laboring men to employers, re-
lations of, 95, 96.

Lafayette, Marquis de, 366.

Land League, Irish, 11.

Lands, laws relating to public. 1 60.

Launch of steamship St. Louis,
address at, 367-369.

Law, practice of, as an incitement
to patriotism, 319.

Lawrence ville, N. J., address at
403. 404.

Lecture, first, on the Venezuela
boundary dispute (May 27,
1901), 408, 409; second, on the
Venezuela boundary dispute
(May 28, 1901), 410-412.

liCgal profession, importance and
responsibility of, 41, 42.

Legislation, unduly influenced, 25.

Legislative interference with mu-
nicipalities, 23, 24.

Ijcslie, P'rank, 28.

Letters: to Thomas C. E. Ecclesine,
accepting nomination for Gov-
ernor, 22-26; to New York Civil
Ser\ice Reform Association, 26-
28; to Rev. William N. Cleve-
land, 28, 29; accepting nomina-
tion for President, 51-55; to
Allen G. Thurman, 78; to mem-
ber of the Cardinal Gibbons re-
ception committee, 98, 99; to
George Steele, President Ameri-
can Fishery Union, 99-102; to
John W. Frazier, Secretary of
Reunion of Union and ex-Con-
federate soldiers, 104, 105; to
Committee of New York Cham-
ber of Conunerce, 118, 119; to
William A. Fvirey, 1.30-132; to
Mrs. Henry Ward Beecher, 132,

191

INDEX

133; to Hon. Patrick A. Collins
and others, 139-151; to Com-
mittee of Massachusetts Tariff
Reform League, 164, 165; to
Young Men's Democratic Club
at Canton, Ohio, 183, 270, 271;
to Edgar A. Brown, President
Indiana Tariff Reform League,
204, 205; to J. A. Hill, Secretary
Steubenville Lodge of the Farm-
ers' Alliance, 220, 221; to F.
A. Herwig, 225, 226; to John
A. Holman, Secretary of the
Thomas A. Hendricks Monu-
ment Committee, 226; to
Abraham B. Tappan, Grand
Sachem of the Tammany Society,
227, 228; to John P. Adams,
235, 236; to John McConvill,
255; to Hon. Edward S. Bragg,
Lakewood, N. J., 329, 330; to
Hon. W. J. Northen, 353, 354;
to John A. Mason, 369-372; to
Hon. (Jeorge W. Parker, 381,
382; to Richard Watson Gilder,
401, 402; to A. H. Eastmond,
402; to Gustav H. Schwab, 405;
to Rev. G. H. Hepworth, 406;
to Hon. E. Y. Webb, 431; to
Hon. Charles L. Bartlett, 432;
to Thomas F. Ryan, accepting
trusteeship in Equitable Life
Society, 440-442; to Hon. John
Fox, 453, 454; to the editor of
the New York World, 455.

" Liberty Enlightening the World,"
message relating to acceptance
and inauguration of the statue
of (May 11, 1886), 85-87.

Libraries, free, 215-220.

Life-Insurance Presidents, 452.

Literature, pernicious, 218.

Log-rolling system, 307.

Louisiana Purchase Exposition,
address at dedication of build-
ings of, 425-428.

Luther, Martin, 259, 399.

McCon^dll, John, letter to (Novem-
ber 11, 1891), 255.

McKinley memorial services, ad-
dress at, 412-414.

McKinley, William, tribute to,
412-414.

Manhattan Club, New York City,
address at the, 29-31.

Mason, John A., 369.

Masonic banquet at Fredericks-
burg, Va., address at, 366, 367.

Massachusetts, patriotism of, 85;
leadership in civil service and
ballot reform, 191, 192; residence
in, 250; history, tradition, achiev-
ments, 251; education in, 252;
independence of party trammels,
254; Tariff Reform League,
letter to (December 24, 1888),
164, 165.

Mayor of Buffalo, address ac-
cepting nomination for, 9-10;
inaugural message as (January
2, 1882), 11-13.

Medical Alumni Association of
New York, address before, 206-
210.

Medical profession, importance of,
178, 179; fifty years ago, and to-
day, 394, 395.

Merchants' Association of Boston,
address before, 184-192.

Misappropriation of public funds,
350.

49:.

INDEX

Memorial services for President
McKinley at Princeton, N. J.,
412-414.

Messages: as Mayor of Buffalo
(January 2, 1882), 11-14; first,
to New York Legislature (Janu-
ary 2, 1883), 33, 34; second, to
New York Legislature (January
1, 1884), 39-41; first annual, to
Congress (December 8, 1885),
68-78; special, on arbitration of
labor disputes (April 12, 1887).
79-83; relating to Statue of
" Liberty Enlightening the
World" (May 11, 1886), 85-87;
second annual, to Congress (De-
cember 6, 1886), 92-98; third
annual, to Congress (Decem-
ber 6, 1887), 119-129; special, on
death of Gen. Philip H. Sheri-
dan (August 6, 1888), 138, 139;
fourth annual to Congress
(December 3, 1888), 153-164;
first annual, to Congress (second
term, December 4, 1893), 355-
363; second annual, to Congress
(second term, December 3,
1894), 363, 364; third annual, to
Congress (second term, Decem-
ber 2, 1895), 372-376; special, on
Venezuela boundary dispute
(December 17, 1895), 376-381;
fourth annual, to Congress (sec-
ond term, December 7, 1896),
383-392; on arbitration treaty
(January 11, 1897), 392, 393.

Michigan, University of, 318.

Militia, 24.

Mississippi River, 426.

Missouri River, 426.

Monroe doctrine, 62, 376-381.

Monroe, James, 377.
Mormons, importation of, 74.
Morton, J. Stirling, address at un-
veiling of statue of, 442, 443.

National Democratic Club of
New York, letter to (January 8,
1908), 453, 454.

National prosperity, 342.

Naturalization and citizenship, 70,
71.

Navy, reconstruction of the, 71-73;
Department, reflections on, 71-
73.

Nebraska City, Neb., address at
unveiling of the J. Stirling
Morton statue, 442, 443.

Negro problem, 423-425; 431, 432.

Newark, N. J., address at, 55-57;
population and industries of, 56.

New England, love for, 310; farm-
ing in, 311; principles, 311.

New England Society of Brooklyn,
address before, 309-313.

New Jersey, farming and manu-
facturing interests of, 56.

New Orleans, battle of, 314, 315.

New York, address before Southern
Society of, 211-215; address at
College of the City of, 436,437.

New York Academy of Medicine,
addresses before, 177-179, 394,
395.

New York Business Men's Demo-
cratic Association, addresses
before, 246-250, 313-318.

New York Chamber of Commerce,
letter to (November 4, 1887),
118, 119; addresses at, 180-183,
341, 342, 421-423.

New York City, addresses at, 29-

493

INDEX

31, 36-39, 151-153, 165-170,
170-172, 173-177, 180-183, 196-
200, 206-210, 211-215, 215-220,
221-225, 236-241, 246-250, 263-
267, 267-270, 271-279, 288-291,
291-296, 313-318, 339, 340, 341,
342, 343-345, 394, 395, 395-399,
406-407, 421-423, 423-425, 429,
436, 437-440, 443-446, 452-453,
453, 454; necessity of caring for
commerce of, 36; Evacuation
Day celebration, 36-39; im-
portance of maritime position,
36, 37; Statue of Liberty, 85-87;
Washington Inauguration Cen-
tennial, 170-172; letter read at
Joseph Jefferson dinner (March
29, 1898), 401, 402; letter read
at Carl Schurz dinner (March 2,
1899), 405; National Democratic
Club, letter read at the Jackson
Day dinner (January 8, 1908),
453, 454.

New York Civil Service Reform
Association, letter to (October
28, 1882), 26-28.

New York Democratic Club, ad-
dresses at, 165-170, 296-299.

New York Democratic Editorial
Association, letter to (May 24,
1895), 369-372.

New York Equitable Life Assur-
ance Society, letter to (June 12,
1905), 440-442.

New York Holland Society, ad-
dress at, 406, 407.

New York Legislature, first mes-
sage to, 33, 34; second message
to, 39-41.

New York Reform Club, letter to
(February 10, 1891), 204; ad-

dresses before, 271-279, 345,
346, 395-399.

New York State, importance of,
44; population, 44; administra-
tion of justice, 45; leader of all
the States, 46; greatness and
grandeur of, 47.

New York State Bar Association,
address before, 41-43.

New York State Medical Society,
address at centennial meeting of,
446, 447.

New York World, letter to (March
14, 1908), 455.

Niagara Falls Park, 289, 290.

Noah, pioneer in building, 293,294.

Nomination for Governor, speech
at Buffalo upon, 20-22; letter
accepting (October 7, 1882), 22-
26.

Nomination for President, response
to official notification of first,
(July 29, 1884), 49-51; letter
accepting first, (August 18, 1884)
51-55.

Northen, Hon. W. J., letter to
(September 25, 1893), 353, 354,

Norwich, Conn., 310.

Northern and Southern Presbyte-
rian Assemblies, address before,
134, 135.

O'Brien, Morgan J., 454.

O'Farrall, Governor, 365.

Officeholders, conscience of, 12,
13.

Ofiice holding a duty of citizen-
ship, 328.

Olney, Richard, 433.

Organ, the, in American families,
224.

'i9'i

INDEX

Organization of Supreme Court,
1201-203.

Panama Canal, 440.

Parnell, Charles S., tribute to, 255.

Partisanship, 26, 27, 29, 76, 296.

Pauncefote, Sir Julian, 376.

Pendleton bill. Civil Ser\4ce re-
form principles in, 26.

Pension bill, veto of the Andrew
J. White (May 8, 1886), 83-85.

Pension bills, reasons for signing
and for disallowing, 84, 85.

Pension Bureau, reforms in, 83,
84.

Pension laws, revision of, 161, 163.

Pensions, liberality in granting,
should not be tempered with
fraud, 83; inexpediency of special
legislation for, 84; reflections
concerning, 93-95.

Periodical I^ublishers' AssociatioQ,
address at annual banquet of,
447-449.

PerpJexity in foreign relations, 355.

Personal preferences, 21.

Personal property, laws of taxation
in regard to, 33.

Philadelphia, Pa., addresses at,
112, 113-116, 110, 117, 134, 135,
279-287, 367-369, 416, 416-
418, 449-451; letter to Catholic
Club (January 26, 1887), 98, 99;
Constitution Centennial, 113-
116; letter to Kensington Re-
form Club (May 9, 1890), 225,
226.

Philadelphia Brigade, 104.

Philadelphia Young Men's Demo-
cratic Association, address be-
fore, 279-287.

Philippines, suppressed in; 'rrec-
tion in the, 439, 440.

Physicians and patients, 44( 447.

Piano, the, in American fa iite,
224, 225.

Piano and Organ Manufac ."crs,
address at banquet of, 22 i25.

Pickett's Division, reunion o !04.

Pierce, Henry L., 254.

Pierce School of Business, uila-
delphia, Pa., address at, 4 ;.

Pilgrim Fathers, 311, 312.

Pittsburg, Pa., address at 414,
415.

Plymouth Rock, 231, 251.

Polygamy, suppression of, in rfah,
73, 74.

Presbyterian Assemblies at Phila-
delphia, address before, 1.34,
135.

Presbyterianism. 134, 135, '96,
197.

President, response to offici? not-
ification of nomination fo . 49-
51; letter accepting nomi ation
for (August 18, 1884), .'l-.5^-
inaugural addresses as, ,■'(-64,
347-353.

Presidency, law relating tr the
succession to the, 77.

Presidential office, estimate o , i08,
109, 233-235, 329, 330.

Press, the, 173, 174, 177, 445

Primaries, protection of, 22.

Princeton, N. J., addresses a1 182,
383, 399-401, 408, 409, 41( -412,
412-414, 419, 420, 432-43 .

Princeton Universitj', addre •; on
Commemoration Day at, 399-
401; inauguration of Wo<drow
Wilson as President of, 420.

■19;"'

INDEX

Principles of true democracy, 279-
284.

Proclamation, on the death of
Gen. U. S. Grant, ex-President,
64, 65; on the death of Vice-
President Thomas A. Hendricks,
67; on the death of Gen. W. S,
Hancock, 79; on the death of ex-
President Chester A. Arthur, 92.

Protection, a cardinal policy of the
Republican Party, 438.

Providence, R. I., addresses at,
305-309, 330-338.

Public anxiety in regard to the
succession to the Presidency, 77.

Public expenditures, 9.

Public lands, reforms in regard to,
160.

Public ofBce to be held as a public
trust, 328.

"Public officers are the people's
Servants," 12, 23.

Public officials considered as the
trustees of the people, 10.

Publishers, 447.

Pulitzer, Joseph, letter to, 455.

oilman Palace Car Company,
433.

Quincy, Josiah, 254.

Railroad commissioners, action of,
on filing of quarterly reports by
railroad companies, 39.

Ratification meeting, Brooklyn,
N. Y., address at, 241-246.

Reciprocity, 276.

Reform Club, New York, letter to
(February 10, 1891), 204; ad-
dres.'ies at, 271-279, 345-346,
395-399.

Religious teaching, 171.

Religious toleration, 171.

Republican Party, protection a
cardinal policy of the, 438.

Response to official notification at
Albany, N. Y., 49-51.

Revenue, reduction of, 158, 159.

Rhode Island, address to Democ-
racy of, 330-338; demand for free
raw material, 337, 338.

Richmond, Va., address at, 87-
89.

Rights and protection of American
citizens, 15-17.

Rochester, N. Y., address at semi-
centennial of, 43-45.

Roman Catholic Church, 98.

Rules for conducting municipal
affairs, 12.

Russia, coronation of the Czar of,
374.

Russian Jews, massacre of, 429,
430.

Ryan, Thomas F., letter to, accept-
ing trusteeship in Equitable Life
Society (June 12, 1905), 440-
442.

Sandwich, Mass., address at, 228-
235.

St. Louis, Mo., Louisiana Purchase
Exposition, address at, 425-
429.

St. Thomas of Villanova, Phila-
delphia, Pa., address at Augus-
tine College of, 416, 417.

Schurz, Carl, 265; dinner to,
405.

Schwab, Gustav H., 405.

Scollard, Dr., 106.

Scott, Congressman, 431.

V

fi D-

496"

12 4

INDEX

Self-made man, reflections con-
cerning the, 399-401.

Semi-centennial, Buffalo, N. Y.,
address at the, 17-20; Roches-
ter, N. Y., address at the, 43-45;
New York Academy of INIedi-
cine, address at the, 394, 395.

Serenade speeches at Albany, N.
Y., 34-36, 48-49.

Shakespeare Commemoration, Bir-
mingham, England, letter read
at (April 21, 1896), 381, 382.

Shakespeare, William, 197, 381,
382.

Sheehy, Father, 11.

Sheridan, Fort, 435.

Sheridan, Gen. Philip H., tribute
to, 138, 139.

Silver, free coinage of, "16 to 1,"
397.

Southern Educational Association,
address to, 423.

Southern Society of New York,
address before, 211-215.

Spanish-American War, 404.

Spanish interference with Ameri-
can ships, 375.

Spanish-speaking people, reci-
procity with, 263.

Stage, influence of the, 197-199.

State Papers; inaugural message
as mayor of Buffalo, 11-14; mes-
sages to New York Legislature,
33, 34, 39-41; first annual mes-
sage to Congress, 68-78; special
message on arbitrament of dis-
putes between laboring men and
employers, 79-83; veto of pen-
sion bill, 83-85; message on ac-
ceptance of statue of "T.n-.oi-+"

87; second annual me
Congress, 92-98; third
message to Congress, '
special message on deatl
Philip H. Sheridan, l;
fourth annual message
gress, 153-164; first ann
sage to Congress (secon
355-363; second annu
sage to Congress (secon
363, 364; third annual
to Congress (second
372-376; special messagi
nezuela boundary dispui
381; fourth annual messj
ond term), 383-392; me;
arbitration treaty betwa
ed States and Creat
392-393.

Steele, George, letter to (
1887), 99-102.

SteubenWlle, Ohio, letter
ers' iUliance Lodge
1890), 220, 221.

Suffrage, right of, ^

Supreme Court
States, addre.^
celebration c .\

the, 201-2^
on Chicaf

Surplus,
plus.

Tammar
30, 18i

Tappan,
Tariff, r

122; ir

sidere<

iarin laws, cuii3nacia.i,.vy..-^ ^- —

isting. 122-128, 156-160.
Tariff policy, new, 363, 364.
Tariff question, 142, et seq.
Tariff reform, interest of farmers
in, 142, 143; benefits to labor
from, 157; advocacy of, 158; ex-
tent of benefit of, 164; activity in,
205; advocated by Democratic
Party, 272; Republican hilarity
over message on, 274; advocat-
ing the cause of, 278; the shib-
boleth of true democracy, 331;
vindicated in 1890, 334; Repub-
Ucan ideas of, 335, 336; how the
people understand, 335, 336; the
Democratic Party pledged to,
351; considered in first annual
message to Congress (second
term% 360-363.
Tariff taxation, 141-151.
taxation, municipal, 9; existing
scheme of, 122, 156; federal, 141;
Democratic principle in regard
"^^o, 315.
^lor, C. H. J., 431.
-ksgiving proclamation (No-
- 2, 1885), 66, 67.

^rson Building, Brook-
'5, 236.

., letter to (Jan-
birthday ban-
Ohio, address

1.

., 54.
,' 120.

ifluence and
e, 145.
iston, Mass.,

olies, 148, 155, 350, 390 f^O'!.

437-439.
Trusts and the artisan, 390. ^

Trusts and the farmers, 390.
Trusts and the small trader, 390.
Tuskegee Institute, 425.
Tyre and Sidon, 422.

Uncle Tom's Cabin, days of, 473 .
United States Bank, Jackson S po-
sition in regard to, 316.
United States Congress. See Mes- ^ ^

sages.
United States Consuls, 357, -S.
United States Constitution, (.'«, 6i,

170, 171, 201, 202, 339, 340.
United States Constitution Cen-
tennial, Philadelphia, Pa.. 113-
118.
United States Navy, rebuilding of,

71-73. ' ,,

United States Supreme ^-ouH.

crowded condition of calendar

of, 160; address at centennial of "^

organization of, 201-203. .'

United States Treasury, p.^ ^ '

functions of, 120.
University, relations of the E tat .

the, 194.
University of Michigan, A;m .Sr-

bor, address at, 318-329.
Utah, suppression of polygamy in, ■

73, 74.

Venezuela, boundary dispute, .acute
stage of, 372, 373; special mes-
sage on (December 17, 1895).
376-381; submitted to arbitra-
"tion, 389; first lecture on (]Ma\

498

INDEX

27, 1901), 408, 409; second lec-
ture on (May 28, 1901), 410-
412.

eto of the Andrew J. White pen-
sion bill (May 8, ISSR), 83-85.
,'illard, Henry, dinner, address at,

343-345.
^irginia, agriculture in, 87-89.
^Virginia State Fair, Richmond,
address at, 87-89.

^^ashington, D. C, addresses at,

59-04, 102-105, 129, ISO, 136-

138, 201-203, 347-353; Inter-
I national American Conference

at, 357.
Washington, Booker T., 423.
Washington, George, 60, 62, 112,

115, 176, 201, 211-215, 318-

329.
Washington, Mary, dedication of

monimentto, at Fredericksburg,

Va., 365, 366.

Washington Inauguration Cen-
tennial, address at, 170-172.

Waste of public moneys, 349.

Watson, Thomas E., 432.

Webb, E. Y., letter to (March 2,
1904), 431.

White, Andrew J., pension bill,
veto of, 83-85.

Williams, George Fred., 254.

Woman, sphere of, 218.

Workingmen's Tariff Reform As-
sociation, 225.

Young INIen's Christian Associa-
tions, addresses before, 109-111,
117, 118.

Young Men's Democratic Asso-
ciation of Philadelphia, Pa., ad-
dress before, 279-287.

Young Men's Democratic Club,
Canton, Ohio, letters to (No-
vember 12, 1889), 183; (Novem-
ber 25, 1890), 270, 271.

499

APR 24t'i;09

^

APR ':B34

^

^^

^^

^^^^ ^^^% ^.

.^

o * o « o ' ,0 ^

O^ j' ^K>*%*

$^^ -^ V

?• .■^'\

4.'

t* .H o^

'^0^

o
o

• aV O * o « 0 ' .

^.

• .V

,0

■^ .r

*^' "*.

^o

DOBBSBROS. -f^^ .-{y ►

<S>.

0'

c. XT' 7. ^ , V^

,% FLA ^'^ <^ •'?'.''" ,G^ ^^ '"•''' V^ ^

-» o

^^-^'^'
.^^-v.

^ ^ - - -