Evening journal., 1913-02-17
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
When Grover Cleveland
Made a Lucky Choice
By Holland.

was chatting one afternoon with
Senator Chauncey NJ. Depew about
some of the men of great public dis
tinction with whom he had been as
sociated and the conversation turned
by chance to the career of Grover
Cleveland ! told the Senator that a
former justice of the court of appeals
of New York state who had known
Mr.. Cleveland at the time when his
law practice at Buffalo was at its
highest point had said to me that he
was certain that no lawyer in New
York state ever prepared cases with
such thoroughness. patience and care
as Mr.. Cleveland did While he did
not regard Mr. Cleveland as having
the especial abilities which made a
very great lawyer he was confident
that had Cleveland not been diverted
from law practice to politics he would
have gained high reputation as a
painstaSing and very thorough law
yer
have often thought" said Sem
ator Depew in reply. "of an incident
which ] think was the, turning point
in the career of Grover Cleveland.
presume in some respects it resem-
bled incidents in the careers of other
men who have become Presidents OF
the United States / am certain thar
in many cases what seemed almost
like chance, or a happy and fortuitous
combination of circumstances, was
certainly the indirect and probably
the direct influence which started
these men upon careers which brought
them to the White House
"A very interesting book could bc
written on the chances, deemed at the
time trivial, which unexpectedly
served to bring the Presidency, or the
nomination to the Presidency. to many
Of those who in the past have gained
these high honors.
Let me illustrate this by an ex-
perience I had with Grover Cleveland.
had heard of Mr. Cleveland as a
young and promising lawyer in Erie
/ county, New York, at a time when 7
( was in control of the legal affairs OF
the New York Central and the Hud-
son River Railroad.
Our company had some embar-
RAISING or difficult matters to handle
/ i'm Erie county Among them, re-
member, was the rate OF fare which
should be charged over our lines rum
ming from Buffalo TO Niagara Falls.
'lt occurred TO me that it would be
/ TO the advantage of the railroad com
! pany The advantage of the railroad
company il We retained Grover Cleve-
land as our attorney in Erie county
/ ] made some inquiries and was sat.
isiicd that We would be amply iusti.
fed in Offering him service OF that
kind
- did make the offer to Mr.. Cleye-
land of the position of attorney for
the New York Central in Erie county
don't believe there was any lawyer
under fifty years OF age in Erie coun-
ty who would not have rejoiced at
the offer.
'Mr. Cleveland. however. while ex-
pressing his warm appreciation OF
kthc compliment which the offer in
yolyed. nevertheless wrote me that
after due consideration he felt COM
PEELED TO decline IT, He said his law
practice was bringing him sufficient
income for his modest needs. and FOR
that reason he did not want to tie
himself up with permanent obligations
Of that kind.
Now what would have happened
had Cleveland accepted that offer? He
would have succeeded splendidly ss
our attorney in Erie county and prob
ably more highly remunerative pro-
fessional associations would have fol-
lowed. Inevitably, then. his whole
career would have been that of law
yer and to some extent that Of a rail-
road LAWYER IL is very doubtful
whether, had he been attorney for our
own or any other railroad company,
he could have been nominated Cover
nor OF New York.
sIIe certainly could not have been
nominated az that time by the De-
mocracy for the Presidency if it we're
. known that the he were a salaried at
torney of a great railway company.
I am certain that in making the de-
cision Grover Cleveland did he un
consciously opened the door OF the
path which ultimately led him to the
Presidency
(Copyrightcd, 1913, by f. }. Edwards.
All rights reserved