The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-03-19
MANY DISTINGUISHED PERSONS SPEAK OF
 CLEvELAND'S ABILITY
President Taft Delivers Eloquent Ad- dress Upon the Statesmanship and the Great Qualities of
 the Democratic
 Leader.

New York, March 1S.-Tributes in poem, song and speech were rendered today in honor of the I'd birthday anniversary of the late President Grover Cleveland, at memorial exercises in which President Taft. Governor Hughes, Chief Justice Fuller and Mayor Mcclellan made ad- dresses and several hundred of New Yorks most prominent citizens attended. Mrs Cleveland, with a party of friends, occupied a box in Carnegie hall, where the memorial was held
 A second memorial was held tonight at the College of the City of New York, at which speeches were made by Governor Hughes Senator Root, Mayor Mcclellan, Judge Gray of Delaware, William B. Hornblower and Edward M. Shepard.
 Carnegie hall was tastefully decorated with palms, French smilax. which was set along the front of the stage and pots of roses and daisies, while from the tiers of boxes were festooned large silk American flags
 The brilliant audience tendered hearty cheer when President Taft, Gov ernor Hughes Chief Justice Fuller, Mayor Mcclellan, together with former Secretary of State Richard Olney. Judge Gray, President Woodrow Wilson, Andrew Car negie, Dr. Lyman Abbot and men prom inent in society took their places on the stage
 President Taft was introduced by Mayor Mcclellan, who called to the audience to rise and be presented to the President
 Mr Qnnlya with unusual fervor in his eulogy on MT. Cleveland, and frequently in the course of his address was greeted by applause.
 President Taft said:
 Taft's Address.
 "Groyer Cleveland was as completely American in his character as Lincoln. Without a college education he prepared himself for the bar. His life was con- fined to western New York. His vision of government and of society was not widened by foreign travel. He was a pure product of the village and town life of the middle stages affected by New England ancestry and the atmosphere of a clergyman home. His chief charac- teristics were simplicity and honesty, courage of his convictions with a sense of public duty that has been exceeded by no statesman within my knowledge. It was so strong in him that he rarely wrote anything, whether in the form of a private or public communication that the obligation of all men to observe the public interest was not his chief theme.
 His career was a remarkable one. By his administration of the affairs of his city as it's mayor he showed his power of resistance to, and of overcoming the in- 1uences that made for corruption and negligence In city government, both in his own party and in the party of his opponents. His reputation in this regard spread over his native state of New York at a time when such attitude of his seemed exceptional, and his standing be- fore the community became a public as- set for the democratic party that even those who had but little sympathy with his principles were glad to seize upon as a means of getting into power. Accord ingly he was nominated for the governor ship and was elected by the votes of not only his own party but of hundreds of thousands of the republican party.
 ''The discharge of his duties as gov ernor confirmed and strengthened the reputation that he had acquired as mayor Before he had ceased his office as mayor he had been elected governor. Before he had ceased his office as governor he had been elected Presidnt of the United States
 Abusive Campaign.
 "The presidential campaign of 1884 de- generated into one of slander scandal and abuse, but MT. Cleveland came through it retaining the confidence of the Amer can people in his courage and honesty and his single purpose to better the pub lie service.
 MT. Cleveland was a democrat. He was a partisan. He believed in parties as all men must who understand the ma chinery essential to the success and ef- fciency of popular government. His lm- pulses were all toward the merit system of appointments in the public service against the spells system; but he had a practical common sense view of the prob lems before him. He dealt with the in struments which he had and he not in- frequently was obliged, in order to ac- complish greater objects to yield to the den. lands of those who had no ideals and who were impatient of anything but the use of government offices as a purely political reward Every time that oppor- tunity offered, however and there was not some greater object in immediate view, he Strengthened and assisted the movement toward the merit system.
 Political Career.
 .'Mr Clevelands political career was SD short that he had a great advantage over the prominent men of his party whose records reached back into and were gov erned by the bitter quarrels of the civil war As political quantity his history began during the corruption and demor- alization of the republican party which were a necessary result of continued pow CT during the war and the decade suc- ceeded it. He represented in sense a new democracy, about which all the older clements rallied both those strongly in
 A--~---~---~---
 CONTINUED ON PAGE A)