Connecticut western news., 1885-03-11
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
PRESIDENT CLEvELAND's FIRST OF-
 FICIAL UTTRRANCE.
Hints of His POlIcy-CIvIl-Serviee Reform The Traditional Foreign Policy to be Preserved.
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.

| great and free people. In the exercise of their power and right of self-government, they have | committed to one of their fellow citizens supreme and sacred trust; and he here conse- | crates himself to their service.
 | This impressive ceremony adds Rstle to the solemn sense of responsibility with which contemplate the duty 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 engage every faculty and effort in the promotion of their welfare.
 Amid the din of party strife the peoples | choice was made; but its attendant circum- stances have demonstrated anew the strength | and safety of government by the people. In | each succeeding year it more clearly appears l that our Democratic principle needs no apol- | ogy, and that in it's fearless and faithful appl- | cation is to be found the surest guaranty of | good government.
 But the best results in the operation of | Government wherein every citizen has share, | largely depend upon proper limitation of purely partisan zeal and effort, and 8 correct | appreciation of the time when the heat of the partisan should be merged in the patriotism | of the citizen.
 | To-day the executive branch of the Govern ment is transferred into new keeping. But | this is still the Government of all the people, | and it should be none the less an object of affectionate solicitude. At this hour, the sni- mosities of political strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat and the exultation of partisan | triumph should be supplanted by an ungrudg- ing acquiescence in the popular will, and sober, conscientious concern for the general veal. Moreover, if, from this hour, we cheer | fully and honestly abandon all sectional prej- udice and distrust, and determine, with manly confidence in one another, to work out har- moniously the achievements of our national | destiny we shall deserve to realize all the benefits which our happy form of government | can bestow.
 On this suspicious occasion we may well renew the pledge of our devotion to the Con- stituton, which, launched by the founders of | the Republic and consecrated by their prayers | and patriotic devotion, has for almost cen- | tury borne the hopes and the aspirations of | great people through prosperity and peace, and through the shock of foreign conflicts and the perils of domestic strife and vicissltudes. | By the Father of his Country our Constitu- | ton was commended for adoption ''the suit of spirit of amity and mutual conces- | sion." In that same spirit 1t should be ad- | ministered, in order to promote the lasting welfare of the country and to secure the full measure O. its priceless benefits to us and to those who will succeed to the | blessings of our national life. The | variety of diverse and competing in- terests subject to Federal control, per sistently seeking the recognition of their | claims, need give us no fear that ''the greatest good to the greatest nnmber' will fail to be accomplished if in the halls of national legis- | lation that spirit of amity and mutual conces- sion shall prevail, in which the Constitution had it's birth. If this involves the surrender | or postponement of private interests and the | abandonment of local advantages, compensa- | tion will be found in the assurance that thus | the common interest is subserved and the gen. | eral welfare is advanced.
 In the discharge of my official duty, shall | endeavor to be guided by just and unstrained | construction of the Constitution, careful ob- | servance of the distinction between the powers | granted 10 the Federal Government and those reserved to the States or to the people, and by 8 cautious appreciation 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 pre- serve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States only assumes the solemn | obligation which every patriotic citizen, on the farm, in the workshop, in the busy marts | of trade and everywhere, should share with l him. The Constitution which prescribes his oath, my countrymen, IS yours; the govern | ment you have chosen him to administer | for a time is yours, the suffrage which exc | cutes the will of freemen Is yours the laws | and the entire scheme of our civil rule, from | the town meeting to the State capitals and | National Capitol is yours. Your every voter, as surely as your chief magistrate, under the | same high sanction, though differ. mt | sphere exercises 8 public trust Nor | is this all. Every citizen owes to his country | vigilant watch and close scrutiny of it's pub | lie servants and fair and reasonable esti- mate of their fidelity and usefulness. Thus is the peoples will expressed upon the whole | framework of our civil pohcy-municipal, | State and federal-and this IS the price of our | liberty and the inspiration of our faith in the republic.
 | It is the duty of those serving the people in public places to closely limit public expendi- | lures to the actual needs of the Government, | economically administered because this | 6S ha 0f Government | tribute from the earnings of labor, or the | property of the citizen, and because | public extravaganza begets extravagance among the people. We should never be ashamed of the simplicity and prudential economies which are best suited to the opera ton of Republican form of government, and most compatible with the mission of the American people. Those who are selected, for 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 pros- perity.
 FOREIGN POLICY.
 The genius of our institutions, the needs of our people in their home life, and the atten- ton which is demanded for the settlement and development of the resources of our vast terri tory, dictate the scrupulous avoidance of any departure from that foreign policy, com- mended by the history, the traditions and the prosperity of our republic
 It is the policy of independence, favored by our position and defended 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 con- titents and repelling their intrusion here. It is the policy of Monroe and Washington and Jefferson, "Peace. Commerce and Honest Friendship with all Nations; entangling alli- ances with none."
 THE FINANCIAL QUESTION.
 A due regard for the interests and prosper ity of all the people demaud that our finances shall be established upon Auch 8 sound and sensible basis as shall secure the safety and confidence of business interests and make the wage of labor sure and steady, and that our system of revenue shal be SO adjusted as to relieve the people from unnecessary taxation, having 8 due regard to the interests of capital invested and working men employed in Amer ican industries, and preventing the accumula- ton of surplus in the treasury to tempt ex- travagance and waste.
 THE PURIIc DOMAIN.
 Care for the property of the nation and for the needs of future settlers requires that the public domain should be protected from pur- Joining schemes and unlawful occupation. The conscience of the people demands that the Indians within our boundaries shall be fairly and honestly treated as wards of the Government, and their education and civiliza- ton promoted, with a view to their ultimate citizenship; and that polygamy in the Territo- ries, destructive of the family relation and of Eensive to the moral sense of the civilized world, shall be repressed.
 sERyILE LABOR.
 The laws should be rigidly enforced which prohibit the immigration of servie class tC compete with American labor, with no inten. ton of acquiring citizenship and bringing with them and retaining habits and customs repugnant to our civilization.
 THE CIVIL SERVICE.
 The people demand reform in the admInis- tration of the Government and the application of business principles to public affairs To this end civil service reform should be in good faith enforced. Our citizens have the right to protection from the incom- potency of public employees to hold their places solely as the reward of par