GROVER CLEVELAND.

G

ROVER CLEVELAND, twenty-second President of the United States, and the first representative of the Democratic party to occupy that high position since James Buchanan retired in the dark and threatening spring of 1861, was born in Caldwell, Essex county, New Jersey, on March 18, 1837. His ancestry was of a prominent and honored English family, one member of which, Moses Cleveland, emigrated from Ipswich, county of Suffolk, in 1635, and settled at Woburn, Massachusetts. Among his descendants was Richard Falley Cleveland, who graduated at Yale college in 1824, was ordained to the Presbyterian ministry in 1829, and was soon after married to Anne Neal, the daughter of a merchant of Baltimore, of Irish descent. To this couple was born the future President of the United States. When the latter was but four years of age his father took charge of a church at Fayetteville, near Syracuse, New York, where the son received an academic education, and afterward served for some time in a country store. When the father accepted still another call and made his home at Clinton, Oneida county, the boy was given still further educational advantages in an academy there located. Little has been placed upon record concerning those early days, and the practical, unsentimental disposition of the President himself, has stood in the way of the biographer in the search for material, as he attaches no moment to any of his early adventures and seldom enters into any relation concerning them. It is known that he was a sturdy, active lad, given to the practical side of things, willing to work, and doing thoroughly and well any task to which his hand was set. When seventeen years of age he was engaged as a clerk and assistant teacher in the New York Institution for the Blind, in New York city, where an elder brother was a member of the faculty. In 1855, when eighteen years of age, he set out for the west to seek employment, and for the purpose of making his own way in the world. On his way towards the rapidly filling lands of Ohio and the farther west, he halted for a visit to an uncle at Black Rock, then near Buffalo but now a part of it, and by the chance for employment held out to him, eventually

made it his home. He assisted the uncle in the compilation of the "American Herd-Book," and in August secured a position as clerk and copyist for the law firm of Rogers, Bowen & Rogers, where the leisure time in his intervals of work was given to the study of law. He was admitted to the bar in 1859, but during the three succeeding years remained with the firm with which his legal apprenticeship had been served, as managing clerk. He had from early years been a Democrat, firmly adhering to the old-time principles of that party, and in his mature life gave no little time and attention to the advancement of its interests in local affairs. His first personal appearance in official life was as assistant district attorney for Erie county, to which position he was appointed on January 1, 1863, and where he remained for three years. In 1865, when but twenty-eight years of age, he had so far advanced in the confidence of his party that he was made its candidate for district attorney, but was defeated. He soon after formed a law partnership with Isaac V. Vanderpool, ex-treasurer of New York, and continued in practice until 1870, when he was nominated and elected sheriff of Erie county. He served in that capacity for three years, filling the position with an honesty and executive ability that won the respect of the public. Upon his return to civil life he formed a law partnership with Lyman K. Bass and Mr. Bissell, the firm's name being Bass, Cleveland & Bissell. The senior partner was soon after compelled to retire because of ill health, when the name was changed to Cleveland & Bissell. The firm was actively employed in many directions, and Mr. Cleveland was soon recognized as a sound and able lawyer, noted for his logical reasoning and sound business understanding rather than for his rhetoric or display as an orator, and marked by the courage and tenacity with which he advanced and defended that which he believed to be the right.

The test of a man's standing in his own home is generally correctly given when he aspires to any local or municipal office over which contention arises; and when the Democrats of Buffalo in the fall of 1881, nominated Grover Cleveland for mayor, and he was elected by a majority of over three thousand, it was a guarantee of commendable qualities that was difficult to gainsay. He entered upon the discharge of his new duties on January 1, 1882, and from the first proved himself upon the side of the people against those who would make municipal office a means of enrichment or self-advancement, and fearless in the discharge of any obligation involved in his official oath. The spirit in which he entered upon the administration of the mayoralty office, can be learned somewhat from the following, taken from his inaugural address: "It seems to me that a successful and faithful administration of the government of our city may be accomplished by constantly bearing in mind that we are the trustees and agents of our fellow-citizens, holding their funds in sacred trust, to be expended for their benefit; that we should at all times be prepared to ren

der an honest account of them, touching the manner of their expendi ture; and that the affairs of the city should be conducted, as far as possible, upon the same principles as a good business man manages his private concerns." The record of his work in that department has been outlined briefly in the following words: "It was not long before he became known as the 'veto mayor,' using that prerogative fearlessly in checking unwise, illegal or extravagant expenditure of the public money, and enforcing strict compliance with the requirements of the state constitution. and the city charter. By vetoing extravagant appropriations he saved the city one million dollars in the first six months of his administration. He opposed giving five hundred dollars of the tax-payers' money to the Fireman's Benevolent society, on the ground that such appropriation was not permissible under the terms of the state constitution and the charter of the city. He vetoed a resolution diverting five hundred dollars from the Fourth of July appropriation to the observance of Decoration day for the same reason, and immediately subscribed one-tenth of the sum wanted for the purpose. In brief, he vetoed every exorbitant or illegal appropriation. During his mayoralty the city celebrated the semi-centenary of its corporate existence. His admirable, impartial administration during his entire term of office won tributes to his integrity and ability from the press and people, irrespective of party."

It was this record as mayor of Buffalo that commended him to the attention of the Democrats of New York, as a suitable nominee for the important gubernatorial race to be made in 1882. A man was needed who had taken little part in the old-time discussions and dissensions with which the party had been burdened, and who could not only hold the entire strength of his party, but receive the support of the independent voter, and the respect of the Republican as well. The state convention met at Syracuse in September, and on the second day of its deliberations-the twentysecond-he was made the nominee for governor, on the third ballot, by 211 votes out of 382. This choice was received with general satisfaction by the Democrats of the state and Nation. Charles J. Folger, then secretary of the United States treasury in the cabinet of President Arthur, was made the nominee of the Republicans. In his letter of acceptance Mr. Cleveland showed that he was all the more firmly settled in the views of the duties of a public officer, as set forth in the above, saying, among other things of like character: "Public officers are the servants and agents of the people, to execute the laws which the people have made, and within the limits of a Constitution which they have established. We may, I think, reduce to quite simple elements the duty which public servants owe, by constantly bearing in mind that they are put in place to protect the rights of the people, to answer their needs as they arise, and to expend for their benefit the money drawn from them by taxation."

The contest was carried forward with a degree of interest seldom exhibited, and with some accompanying features that had a decided bearing upon the result. Mr. Cleveland had not only the support of a united Democracy, but of the independent press of the state as well, while Judge Folger was met by an opposition within his party that must have been fatal to his chances in any case. It was declared by many leading Republicans that the nominee of their party had obtained the position by fraudulent practices in the nominating convention, and that he had used the patronage and aid of the National administration too freely in his own behalf. The result was that very many of the party remained at home on election day, while others voted for Cleveland, giving him one of the largest majorities ever polled in the state. Out of a total of 918,894 he received a plurality of 192,854 over Folger; and a majority over all, including Greenback, Prohibition and scattering, of 151,742.

He prevented all display upon the day of his inauguration, and entered immediately upon the discharge of the duties of chief magistrate of the first state in the Union, with the same direct business methods and practical insight that he had displayed in the less important office from which he had recently come. Among the features of his administration that won for him a still higher position in the popular regard was his approval of a bill to submit to the people a proposition to abolish contract labor in the state prisons, and when thus submitted the system was abolished by a very large majority; and also his veto of a bill that permitted wide latitude in the investments in which directors of savings banks might put the deposits, and also the veto of a similar bill affecting life insurance companies. Among the other vetoes set down to his credit by the people of New York, were the following: One of a bill that had for its purpose the establishing of a monopoly, by limiting the right to construct certain street railways to companies then already organized; of the bill which proposed to reduce the rates of fare on the elevated roads in New York city from ten cents to five cents for all hours of the day, basing his objection upon the sole ground that he considered the enactment illegal and a breach of the plighted faith of the state; of the Buffalo Fire Department bill, because he believed its provisions would "prevent the economical and efficient administration of an important department in a large city," and make it subject to partisan and personal influences. During the second year of his gubernatorial term he approved a bill enacting important reforms in the appointments and administration of certain important offices in New York city. His administration of his office from the first was upon such sound business principles, and so far away from the course pursued by some who conceive that the party shall be served first and the people afterward, that he won recognition and approbation from all parts of the land; and the thought began to permeate through the Democratic party of the

Nation, that one who could so ably and courageously preside over the destinies of the Empire state, would be a strong and able man to present as a candidate for the Chief Magistracy of the Nation.

This idea had worked its way to the front with such persistency, and when suggested to the public was received with so many marks of favor, that when the Democratic National convention opened its deliberations at Chicago on July 8, 1884, Grover Cleveland was recognized as standing in the front rank of possible nominees. On the second day the following gentlemen were formally presented as Presidential candidates: Thomas F. Bayard of Delaware; Joseph E. McDonald of Indiana; John G. Carlisle of Kentucky; Grover Cleveland of New York; Allen G. Thurman of Ohio; George Hoadly of Ohio; Samuel J. Randall of Pennsylvania. A vote was taken on the evening of the tenth, in which Governor Cleveland received 392 votes out of a total of 820; and it was clearly evident that the favor of the party was pointing fixedly in his direction. On the morning of July 11 the second ballot was taken, giving Cleveland 475; while on the third his nomination was made secure by the expressive total of 683. The choice was immediately made unanimous amid great enthusiasm; while Thomas A. Hendricks of Indiana, who had served his party in a like capacity upon the National ticket of 1876, was named the vice-presidential nominee.

The news was officially conveyed to Governor Cleveland on July 29, and was received with a brief and modest acknowledgment, in which he signified his purpose of replying more at length at some future day. Under date of August 18, he wrote his letter of acceptance, which was characterized by the sound doctrine, good business sense and undoubted patriotism that were features of all the documents which he had penned since the beginning of his official career. As embodying and explaining his views, and as furnishing light upon his after-course when at the head of National affairs, copious extracts from that letter seem demanded at this point. After formal acknowledgment of the communication conveying the news of his nomination, he said: "I accept the nomination with 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 approved 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