Gloucester County Democrat. (Woodbury, N.J.) 1878-1932, 1908-06-25

1 liOll LUZ uiil. but uG NlS1leu till uASlC
in Buffalo on his way west and was
/ induced to remain in that city. Gro
yer's mother when he left home gave
him a little Bible Daniel Lamont,
who was private secretary to Governor
Cleveland and later member of Pres
ident Cleveland's cabinet, told high
ly interesting story Of this Bible.
II first saw it," said Mr.. Lamont, ION
table in Cleyelands law Office in
Buffalo When Mr.. Cleveland became
governor the little Bible was generally
to be seen on the bureau in his bed
room in Albany Just before his inau-
guration as president found the book
in his rooms at the Arlington hotel,
Washington, and l carried it to Chief
Justice Waite, requesting him to use
it wheA he swore the new chief mag
istrate into Office"
About 10000 witnesses saw Grover
Cleveland press his mothers gift to his
! lips on that memorable occasion.
Later the little Bible lay on Mr..
Clevelands writing table ia his library
at Princeton. On the outside cover is
inscribed i'll gilt letters the name S. G..
Cleveland, and on the fly leaf in his
mothers handwriting are the words,
MY son, Stephen Grover Cleveland,
from his loving mother"
Display of Sell Confidence.
The late Senator ingalls,, himself a
brilliant orator, once confessed that he
was stricken dumb with wonderment
/ by Mr.. Cleveland's display of self con-
fidence at his first Inauguration With
10000 people in hearing aud -70,000,000
waiting to read the words he was
about to utter, this man, altogether
new to Washington and TO the national
arena, stood forth to deliver his in
augural address ofland. He held in
the palm of his left hand scrap of
visiting card on which he had noted
the merest catehwords of his address.
The sight of this scrap of card caused
Senator Ingalls, to say:
Suppose his memory had failed him.
Such things happen to speakers skilled
| by lifetime of experience, and why
not to Cleveland, novice in the art?
Yet he stood there, with all the conf
dence of a prophet of old, aud without
manuscript spoke for an hour to TO-
100000 people!1
This courage, this self confidence,
characterized his entire career as pres
ident He seemed always prepared.
He had loaded his gun beforehand, and
when he got ready to fire he fred.
| During his first term he vetoed 413
| bills This unprecedented exercise OF
the veto power astounded congress and
caused the people to sit up and take
notice. No adverse criticism swerved
him. Among the bills vetoed were 297
private pensions. Cleveland, who help
! ed to support his mother during the
| war on a meager salary as assistant
prosecutor in Buffalo, had hired sub
stitute when he was drafted into the
army. This was brought up against
him by indignant Grand Army men,
but he believed that the pension bills
he was yetoing were improper under
the laws, and he ignored the insinua-
lions.
Mr. Cleveland devoted his entire con-
gressional message in 1887 to the tar
if. He characterized the then existing
tariff laws as vicious, inequitabIe and
Illogical His bold stand for a reduc-
ton of duties contributed largely to
his defeat for reelection the next year,
though he received a majority of the
popular vote.
1t was i'll his second term that Mr..
Cleyeland's policy or principle Of
standing pat with his own convictions
split his party wide open and made
him millions of political enemies. He
was unalterably in favor of the gold
standard. In the summer of 1893 he
called a special session of congress to
repeal the Sherman act requiring the
government to make large purchases
of silver bullion. Succeeding chapters
in the monetary struggle are OF such
recent history that it is unnecessary
to mention them.
Perhaps the one act of President
Cleveland which aroused the deepest
indignation in some quarters and
evoked the highest commentator from
other quarters was the sending of fed
eral troops to Chicago during the great
railroad strike of 1894 Ito prevent OBJ
struction OF United States mails"
against the protest of Governor Alt
geld OF Illinois, who held that his state
forces were adequate to cope with the
situation
Made Him National Hero.
His vigorous assertion of the Monroe
doctrine in the Venezuelan boundary
case, even to the extent OF inviting
war with Great Britain, swept away
partisan prejudiees for the time and
made President Cleveland national
hero.
"a public office Is public trust,s in
seven words, is Mr.. Cleyeland's noblest
literary creation.
Time softens even political asperi-
ties. 1t is yet too early for unbiased
history to be written around the Cleve-
land administrations, but one may
venture the prediction that, when the