ing 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. 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. . . . 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.”
The canvass that followed was more remarkable for the discussion of the personal characters and qualifications of the candidates than for the prominent presentation of political issues. In the election (4 Nov.) four candidates were in the field, viz.: Grover Cleveland, of New York, democratic; James G. Blaine, of Maine, republican; Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, labor and greenback; John P. St. John, of Kansas, prohibition. The total popular vote was 10,067,610, divided as follows: Cleveland, 4,874,986; Blaine, 4,851,981; Butler, 175,370; St. John, 150,369; blank, defective, and scattering, 14,904. Of the 401 electoral votes, Cleveland received 219, and Blaine, 182.
In December the executive committee of the national civil service reform league addressed a letter to President-elect Cleveland commending to his care the interest of civil-service reform. In his reply, dated 25 Dec., he declared that “a practical reform in the civil service was demanded”; that to it he was pledged by his “conception of true democratic faith and public duty,” as well as by his past utterances. He added: “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. 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. 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. . . . 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, 6 Jan., 1885, Mr. Cleveland resigned the governorship of the state. On 27 Feb. was published a letter of the president-elect in answer to one signed by several members of congress, in which he indicated his opposition to an increased coinage of silver, and suggested a suspension of the purchase and coinage of that metal as a measure of safety, in order to prevent a financial crisis and the ultimate expulsion of gold by silver. His inaugural address was written during the ten days previous to his setting out for Washington. On 4 March he went to the capital in company with President Arthur, and after the usual preliminaries had been completed he delivered his inaugural address from the eastern steps of the capitol. in the presence of a vast concourse. At its conclusion the oath of office was administered by Chief-Justice Waite. He then reviewed from the White House the inaugural parade, a procession numbering more than 100,000 men. In the address he urged the people of all parties to lay aside political animosities in order to sustain the government. He declared his approval of the Monroe doctrine as a guide in foreign relations, of strict economy in the administration of the finances, of the protection of the Indians and their elevation to citizenship, of the security of the freedmen in their rights, and of the laws against Mormon polygamy and the importation of a servile class of foreign laborers. 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 employees, 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. On the following day he sent to the senate the nominations for his cabinet officers as follows: Secretary of State, Thomas F. Bayard, of Delaware; secretary of the treasury, Daniel Manning, of New York; secretary of war, William C. Endicott, of Massachusetts; secretary of the navy, William C. Whitney, of New York; postmaster-general, William F. Vilas, of Wisconsin; attorney-general, Augustus H. Garland, of Arkansas; secretary of the interior, Lucius Q. C. Lamar, of Mississippi. The nominations were promptly confirmed. On 12 March, 1885, President Cleveland withdrew from the senate, which met in extra session to take action on appointments and other business connected with the new administration, the Spanish reciprocity and Nicaragua canal treaties, in order that they might be considered by the new executive. On 13 March he issued a proclamation announcing the intention of the government to remove from the Oklahoma country, in Indian territory, the white intruders who sought to settle there, which was done shortly afterward by a detachment of soldiers. By his refusal at once to remove certain officials for the purpose of putting in their place members of his own party, he came into conflict with many influential men, who advocated the speedy removal of republican office-holders and the appointment of democrats, in order to strengthen the party as a political organization. At the same time the republicans and some of the civil-service reformers complained of other appointments as not being in accord with the professions of the president. “Offensive partisanship” was declared by the president to be a ground for removal, and numerous republican functionaries were displaced under that rule, while the term became a common phrase in political nomenclature. When disturbances threatened to
