Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1885-03-04
EXTRA.
THE INAUGURAL ADDRESS.
A BRIEF AND PITHY GRAFTON.


In the presence of this vast assemblageo
countrymen, am about to supplement- and
sea- by the oath which 1 shall take, the
manifestation of the will of great and free
people. In the exercise of their power and
right of self-government, they have committed
TO one of their fellow citizens a supreme and
sacred trust and he here consecrates himself
to their service
This impressive ceremony adds little 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
iest py 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
ana safety of a government by the people. In
each succeeding year t more clearly appears
that our democratic principle needs apology,
and that in its fearless ald faithful application
Is to be found the surest guaranty of good gov
ernment.
But the best results in the operation of n gov
ernment, wherein every citizen has share,
largely depend upon a proper limitation of
purely partisan zeal and effort, and a 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 government
is transferred to new keeping. But this is still
the government of all the people, and it should
be none the less object of their affectionate
solicitude. At this hour the animoSities of po-
litfcal strife, the bitterness of partisan defeat
and the exultation of partisan triumph should
be supplanted by an ungrudging acquiescence
in the popular will, and a sober, conscientious
concern for the general veal. Moreover, if,
from this hour, we cheerfully and honestly
Qh0n oil li-trr
and determine with manly confidence in one
another, to work out harmoniously the achieve
ments of our national destiny, we shall deserve
to realize all the benefits which our happy form
Of government can bestow.
On this auspicious occasion we may we'll re-
new the pledge of our devotion to the Constitu-
ton, which, launched by the founders of the
Republic, and consecrated by their prayers and
patriotic devotion, has for almost century
borne the hopes and the aspirations of a great
people through prosperity and peace, and
through the shock of foreign conflicts and the
perils of domestic strife and vicisstudes.
By the Father of his Country our Constitution
was commended for adption as 1.-The resulto ofa
spirit of amity and mutual concession" In that
same spirit it should be administered, in order
to promote the lasting welfare of the country,
and to secure the full measure of it's price
less benefits to us and to those who will sue
ceed to the blessings of our national life. The
large variety of diverse and competing inter-
ests subject to federal CONTROL persistently seek
ing the recognition of their claims, need give us
no fear that "the greatest good to the
greatest number" will fail to be accomplished
it, in the halls of national legislation that spirit
of amity and mutual concession shall prevail
in which the Constitution had its birth. If this
involves the surrender or postponement of
private interests and the abandonment of
local advantages, compensation will be found
in the assurance that thus the common interest
is subse rved and the general welfare advanced.
In the discharge of my official duty shall en-
deavor to be guided by just and unstrained
construction of the constitution, a careful OBJ
servance of the distinction between the powers
granted to the federal government and those
reserved to the state or to the people, and by a
cautious appreciation of those functions which,
by the constitution and laws, have been especi-
ally assigned to the executive branch of the
government.
But he who takes the oath to-day to preserve,
protect and defend the Constitution of the
United States, only assumes the solemn obliga-
tion which every patriotic citizen, on the farm
In the workshop, in the busy marts of trade,
and everywhere, should share with him. The
Constitution which prescribes his oath, my
countrymen, is yours; the government you
have chosen him to administer for
time is yours; the suffrage which
executes the will of freemen is yours; the laws
and the entire scheme of our civil rule from the
| town meeting to the State capitols and the Ma
tional capitol is yours. Your every voter, as
surely as your chief magistrate, under the
same high sanction, though in a different
sphere, exercises public trust. Nor
is this all. Every citizen owes to the
country vigilant watch and close
scrutiny of its public servants, and fair and
reasonable estimate of their fidelity and useful
ness. Thus is the peoples will impressed upon
the whole framework of our civil polity-muni-
cpal, State and federal-and this is the price of
our liberty and the inspiration OF our faith in
the Republic.
1t is the duty of those serving the people in
public place to closely limit public expendi-
lures to the actual needs of the government
economically administered; because this bounds
the right Of the government to aXact tribute
from the earnings of labor, or the property of
the citizen, and because public extravaganza
begets extravaganza among the people. We
should never be ashamed of the simplicity
and prudential economies, which are best
suited to the operation of republican form of
government and most compatible with the mis-
sion of tie 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-citi-
zens aids integrity and promotes thrift and
prosperity.
The genius of our institutions, the needs of our
people in their home life, and the attention
which is demanded for the settlement and de-
velopment of the resources of our vast territory,
dictate the scrupulous avoidance Of any de
parture from that foreign policy, commended
by the history, the traditions and the prosperity
of our republic. 1t is the policy of independ-
ence, favored by our position and defended by
our known love of justice and by our power.
It is the policy of peace suitable to interests
1t is the policy Of neutrality, rejecting any share
in foreign broils and ambitions upon other con-
tinents, and repelling their intrusion here. It
is the policy of Monroe and of Washington and
Jeferson-"Peace, commerce and honest friend
ship with all nations; entangling alliance with
none"
A due regard for the interests and prosperity
of all the people demand that our finances shall
be established upon such o 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 shall be SO adjusted as to relieve the
people from unnecessary taxation, having
due regard to the interests of capital
invested and workingmen employed in Ameri- |
can industries, and preventing the accumula- |
ton Of q surplus in the treasury to tempt ex- |
travagance and waste. Care for the property Of |
the nation, and for the needs of future settlers
require that the public domain should be pro-