CHAPTER XX.

PRESIDENT GROVER CLEVELAND (Continued).

IN 1882 the Republican Party brought forward as a candidate for the governorship of New York State, Mr. Charles J. Folger. The governor for the previous term, Mr. Cornell, had not proved himself as plastic in the hands of the professional politicians as they would like, and they concluded to prevent his renomination for office. Mr. Folger was selected as he was known to be a strong partisan and at the same time a man of flawless character. At the time of his nomination he was Secretary of the Treasury to President Arthur and his introduction into State affairs was to many an evidence that the Federal politicians were endeavouring to run the State along Federal lines. There was at this time in the Federal government a great deal of corruption and many of the best men in New York State feared that the election of Mr. Folger would mean even greater corruption in the State than was at that time existing.

The Democratic party took advantage of the pecul iar situation to select a man who was no active politician, one on whom the Democrats could unite with the best element in the Republican party. Several prominent Democrats such as Roswell B. Flower and General B. Slocum were much spoken about, but

they were both pronounced Democrats, active politicians, for whom it would be difficult to secure any part of the Republican vote of the State.

At this juncture the name of Grover Cleveland, Mayor of Buffalo, was brought forward. The splendid manner in which he had conducted the affairs of his city, his integrity of purpose, his fearlessness, his opposition to every form of corruption, his earnestness in the direction of Civil Service Reform and his freedom from partisan bias, had all given him something more than a local reputation. Indeed, the good work he had done in Buffalo had made him favourably known to the nation. At first, he was merely spoken about as the future governor among his Buffalo friends, but as the time for the meeting of the State Convention drew nigh it was evident that he would have a strong following at Syracuse.

The New York Sun was most energetic in its advocacy. It eulogised him as a man possessed of the "highest qualities of a public man, sound principles, of administrative duty, luminous intelligence and courage to do what is right no matter who may be pleased or displeased thereby." It declared him to be a man on whom any honest citizen no matter of what political faith could put his trust, and maintained that the interests of the Empire State would be entirely safe in his hands. Mr. Manning who proposed his name at the Convention gave the reason why he was acceptable to the Democratic party, when he said, "he was a man who could command not only the votes of his own party, but also a large proportion of the independent voters of the State." There was little doubt from the first of Mr. Cleveland's

nomination, and he was nominated on the third ballot.

The campaign which followed was one of the most stirring in the history of New York State. It was a struggle for more than State domination; if the Democrats were successful in electing Grover Cleveland for Governor they would stand an excellent chance of getting into power at the next Presidential election. They had a decided triumph, and their candidate was elected by a majority of 192,000, a vote which showed very clearly the attitude of the best members of the Republican party to the professional politicians.

Mr. Cleveland began his term as governor well. He was a Democrat of the Democrats and in order to show that he was a simple plain citizen, although at the head of a State as large and influential and more wealthy than some of the European monarchies, he walked to the government buildings to the inaugural ceremonies, and as soon as they were over began to work industriously in the governor's offices. During his term as governor he kept no carriage, and in private life was in no way different from what he had been as a citizen of Buffalo.

He had been a people's mayor, he was now a people's governor, and took the first opportunity which presented itself of showing how fully he recognised that his election was due to the popular will and that it was his intention to have ever before him the needs and wishes of the people. At a banquet given in his honour at the Manhattan Club of New York city on December 6, he said:

"He must be blind who cannot see that the people well understand their power and are determined to use it when their rights and interests are threatened.

There should be no skepticism to-night as to the strength and perpetuity of our government. Partisan leaders have learned, too, that the people will not unwittingly and blindly follow, and that something more than wavering devotion to party is necessary to secure their allegiance. I am quite certain that the late demonstration did not spring from any preexisting love for the party which was called to power, nor did the people put the affairs of the 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 instruments through which the people work out their will, and that when they become less or more, the people desert or destroy them......It has seemed to me that a citizen who has been chosen by his fellows to discharge public duties owes no less nor more to them whether he is selected by a small or a large majority. In either event he owes to the people who honour him his best endeavours to carefully protect their rights and further their interests. An administration is only successful in a partisan sense when it appears to be an outgrowth and result of party principles and methods. These honoured doctrines of the Democratic party are dear to me. If honestly applied in their purity I know that the affairs of the government will be fittingly and honestly administered, and I believe that all the wants and needs of the people would be met. They have survived all changes, and good patriotic men have clung to them through all disasters as the hope of political salvation. Let us hold them as a sacred

trust, and not forget that the intelligent, thinking, reading people will look to a party which they put in power to supply all their various needs and wants, and that the party which keeps pace with the developments and progress of the times, which keeps in sight its landmarks and yet observes the 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. My only aspiration is to faithfully perform the duties of the office to which the people of my State have called me, and I hope and trust that proud endeavour will light the way to a successful administration."

He expressed himself in this speech in a more strongly partisan manner than he had possibly ever spoken before, but at the same time he made it clear that truth and duty would come before party. It was naturally expected by many of those who had been most active in securing his election that they would receive their reward. He pointed out to his party, however, that political services alone would not be sufficient to secure an office or to secure the passing of any measure. "I am unwilling," he said, in speaking of the general public, "knowingly to give my assent to measures purely partisan which will sacrifice or endanger their interests."

While he was a people's governor he at the same time showed that he was fair to capital. Vested interest had to be respected, and in several of his vetoes he placed himself in a position opposed to the popular will. One of the most striking of these instances was his veto on a bill which had passed the legislature reducing all fares on the line of the Manhattan Railway Company between the Battery and Harlem River to five cents. The company was a