William E. Russell

“ If I should be called to the chief magistracy of the nation by the suffrages of my fellow-citizens, I will assume the duties of that high office with a solemn determination to dedicate every effort to the country's good, and with a humble reliance upon the favor and support of the Supreme Being, who I believe will always bless honest human endeavor in the conscientious discharge of public duty. ”

“ A man of true honor protects the unwritten word which binds his conscience more scrupulously, if possible, than he does the bond, a breach of which subjects him to legal liabilities; and the United States, in aiming to maintain itself as one of the most enlightened of nations, would do its citizens gross injustice if it applied to its international relations any other than a high standard of honor and morality. ”

“ If national honesty is to be disregarded and a desire for territorial extension or dissatisfaction with a form of government not our own ought to regulate our conduct, I have entirely misapprehended the mission and character of our government and the behavior which the conscience of our people demands of their public servants. ”

“ On that ground it can not allow itself to refuse to redress an injury inflicted through an abuse of power by officers clothed with its authority and wearing its uniform; and on the same ground, if a feeble but friendly state is in danger of being robbed of its independence and its sovereignty by a misuse of the name and power of the United States, the United States can not fail to vindicate its honor and its sense of justice by an earnest effort to make all possible reparation. ”

“ Manifestly, if we are to aid the people directly through tariff reform, one of its most obvious features should be a reduction in present tariff 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. . . .
“Not less closely related to our people's prosperity and well-being is the removal of restrictions upon the importation of the raw materials necessary to our manufactures. The world should be open to our national ingenuity and enterprise. ”

“ The knowledge in business circles among our own people that our government can not make its fiat equivalent to intrinsic value, nor keep inferior money on a parity with superior money by its own independent efforts, has resulted in such a lack of confidence at home in the stability of currency values that capital refuses its aid to new enterprises, while millions are actually with drawn from the channels of trade and commerce, to become idle and unproductive in the hands of timid owners. ”

“ 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. ”

“ By an act of war, committed with the participation of a diplomatic representative of the United States and without authority of congress, the government of a feeble but friendly and confiding people has been overthrown. ”

“ This commission was to report without delay. “When such report is made and accepted,” the message went on, “it will, in my opinion, be the duty of the United States to resist by every means in its power, as a wilful aggression upon its rights and interests, the appropriation by Great Britain of any lands or the exercise of governmental jurisdiction over any territory which, after investigation, we have determined of right to be long to Venezuela.” ”

“ So wide-spread became the trouble, involving constant acts of violence and lawlessness, and so grave was the crisis, that military force was necessary, especially in Chicago, to preserve the peace, enforce the laws, and protect property. The president, with commendable firmness and promptness, fully met the emergency. Acting under authority vested in him by law, he ordered a large force of U. S. troops to Chicago to remove obstructions to the mails and interstate commerce, and to enforce the laws of the United States and the process of the federal courts ”

“ The lessons of the past should be unlearned, and such officials, as well as their successors, should be taught that efficiency, fitness, and devotion to public duty are the conditions of their continuance in public place, and that the quiet and unobtrusive exercise of individual political rights is the reasonable measure of their party service. ”

“ In respect to appointments to office he said that the people demand the application of business principles to public affairs, and also that the people have a right to protection from the incompetency of public employés, who hold their places solely as a reward for partisan service, and those who worthily seek public employment have a right to insist that merit and competency shall be recognized, instead of party subserviency or the surrender of honest political belief. ”

“ I can find no warrant for such an appropriation in the constitution; and I do not believe that the power and duty of the general government ought to be extended to the relief of individual suffering which in no manner properly related to the public service or benefit. ”

“ In his speech of acceptance delivered to a great audience in Madison Square Garden, New York, and later in his formal letter of acceptance of September 26, 1892, he emphasized the need of tariff reform, and made it the leading issue be tween the parties. In his letter he said:
“Tariff reform is still our purpose. Though we oppose the theory that tariff laws may be passed having for their object the granting of discriminating and unfair governmental aid to private ventures, we wage no exterminating war against any American interests. ”

“ He insisted further that “the people of the United States are entitled to a sound and stable currency, and to money recognized as such on every exchange and in every market of the world. Their government has no right to injure them by financial experiments opposed to the policy and practice of other civilized states, nor is it justified in permit ting an exaggerated and unreasonable reliance on our national strength and ability to jeopardize the soundness of the people's money. ”

“ There is a class of government positions which are not within the letter of the civil-service statute, but which are so disconnected with the policy of an administration that the removal therefrom of present incumbents, in my opinion, should not be made during the terms for which they were appointed, solely on partisan grounds, and for the purpose of putting in their places those who are in political accord with the appointing power. ”

“ The commerce of a nation to a great extent determines its supremacy. Cheap and easy transportation should therefore be liberally fostered. Within the limits of the constitution, the general government should so improve and protect its natural water-ways as will enable the producers of the country to reach a profitable market. ”

“ The popular vote for Cleveland numbered 5,540,329, that for Harrison 5,439,853.
At the close of his administration, on March 4, 1889, Mr. Cleveland retired to New York city, where he re-entered upon the practice of his profession. As a private citizen he continued to exert a powerful influence upon his party and public sentiment by frequent expression of his opinions on important public questions. These expressions were always based upon an implicit belief that the integrity and justice of the people would not tolerate demagogism, but demanded of any leader the truth fearlessly spoken. ”

“ We believe that the advantages of freer raw material should be accorded to our manufacturers, and we contemplate a fair and careful distribution of necessary tariff burdens, rather than the precipitation of free trade. ”

“ As related to this subject, while we should not discourage the immigration of those who come to acknowledge allegiance to our government, and add to our citizen population, yet, as a means of protection to our 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 free country the curtailment of the absolute rights of the individual should only be such as is essential to the peace and good order of the community. The limit between the proper subjects of governmental control, and those which can be more fittingly left to the moral sense and self-imposed restraint of the citizen, should be carefully kept in view. ”

“ In February, 1895, the gold reserve had fallen to $41,000,000, and Mr. Cleveland asked congress for permission to issue three-per-cent bonds payable in gold. This being denied him, he issued four-per-cent thirty-year bonds redeemable in coin, to the amount of $62,000,000. In June, 1895, the supreme court decided by a majority of one that the income tax that had been imposed by the Wilson bill was unconstitutional, and the treasury thus lost a source of revenue that it had been estimated would yield $30,000,000 yearly. ”

“ But many now holding such positions have forfeited all just claim to retention, because they have used their places for party purposes in disregard of their duty to the people, and because, instead of being decent public servants, they have proved themselves offensive partisans, and unscrupulous manipulators of local party management. ”

“ Thus, laws unnecessarily interfering with the habits and customs of any of our people which are not offensive to the moral sentiments of the civilized world, and which are consistent with good citizenship and the public welfare, are unwise and vexatious. ”

“ Some minor events in the relations of the administration with foreign governments were as follows: In 1896 great sympathy was excited throughout the country by the Armenian massacres, and in congress many efforts were made to bring about the active interference of the United States in Turkish affairs, either on broad humanitarian grounds or because of specific cases of injuries suffered by American missionaries. ”

“ Such repeal the president strongly recommended, declaring that “our unfortunate financial plight is not the result of untoward events, nor of conditions related to our natural resources; nor is it traceable to any of the afflictions which frequently check natural growth and prosperity,” but is “principally chargeable to congressional legislation touching the purchase and coinage of silver by the general government.” ”

“ Cleveland's last annual message, after declaring that the agreement between Great Britain and the United States regarding the Venezuela boundary question had practically removed that question from the field of controversy, he added that “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 consummation at an early date.” ”

“ They should receive their full share of the care and attention of those who make and execute the laws, to the end that the wants and needs of the employers and the employed shall alike be subserved, and the prosperity of the country, the common heritage of both, be advanced. ”

“ Miss Cleveland is a lawyer and political speaker, and has published a volume of lectures and essays under the title “George Eliot's Poetry, and other Studies” (New York, 1885) ; “The Long Run,” a novel (1886) ; “See Saw” (1887) ; and “His Honor” (1889) .
↑ Except Grover Cleveland, no president has been re-elected unless he was a military man, or held a chief executive office during a war period. Washington was a soldier of the Revolution; Jefferson, governor of Virginia during that war; Madison, president during the second war with Great Britain; Monroe, a revolutionary officer ”

“ At the first regular session of the fifty-third congress, opened December 4, 1893, the question of tariff revision was at once considered. In his message of that date the president, after reviewing the work and needs of the various departments of government, dwelt with special emphasis on the necessity of immediately undertaking this important reform. “After a hard struggle,” he said, “tariff reform is directly before us. ”

“ Selections for office not embraced within the civil-service rules will be based upon sufficient inquiry as to fitness, instituted by those charged with that duty, rather than upon persistent importunity or self-solicited recommendations on behalf of candidates for appointment.”
When the New York legislature assembled, January 6, 1885, Mr. Cleveland resigned the governorship of the state. ”

“ He urged the adoption of liberal general pension laws to meet all possible cases, and protested against legislation for a favored few, as an injustice to the many who were equally deserving. He approved a bill to regulate the questions arising between the railroads and the people, and appointed an interstate commerce commission under its provisions. ”

“ The trusts and combinations — the communism of pelf — whose machinations have prevented us from reaching the success we deserve, should not be forgotten nor forgiven.”
The close of the year 1894 was marked by financial depression, by a larger deficit than had been expected, and by a decline in the revenue. Although the Sherman act had been repealed, no progress had been made with the scheme presented by Secretary Carlisle for reducing the paper currency and providing for an adequate reserve. ”