GROVER CLEVELAND DEAD

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 234, 26 June 1908, Page 9

GROVER CLEVELAND DEAD

. HIS CAREER. 8Y TELEGRAPH—*riIESS ..SSOCIATION —COPYRIGITI ■ : (Rec.. Juno 25, 10.25 p.m.) •New York, Juno 25. The Hon. Grovor Cleveland, twice President of the United States, died suddonly of hoart failure. Tho funeral will take place on Friday. . President' Roosevelt eulogises tho honourable careor of tho lato ex-Prcsidont. A SELF-MADE LAWYER-POLITICIAN. ' HIS VENEZUELAN ..OUTBURST.",'''" Tho Hon. ,Grover Cleveland was Presidont of the : United States, from 1885 to 1889,' and again held office from 1893 to 1897:' Ho was born'in tho village of Caldwell, New Jersey, on March 18, 1837, his father, being a Presbyterian clergyman at that place/ Grovor was tho fifth in a family of nino children. They.removed to Fayettvillo, and afterwards to Clinton, New York, whore it was intended that Grovor should be educated at Hamilton Collego,. but, his. father's death' in 1852 prcventS this. -A.fow years' later ho went westward; and in 1855 secured .a position in a law office, .where, ho was -.privileged to use the books in.the library and pick up knowledgo :by obsorving what was going on around him. ■ This was the ,customary way at that time for a young , man to equip himself for the ; legal < profession... Four years later ho.passed tho required examination for admission to tho Bar. In 1863 ho was appointed Assistant District Attorney, or Public Prosecutor, -of ■ Erio County, of which Buffalo. is the chief city. This was his first public office, and it came to him,.like all later preferments, without any solicitation, of his own. ,In 1869 Mr. Cloveland was nominated .;by <his party- for tho position ,of Sheriff; and was elected. In 1881 he was returned as Mayor of Buffalo, and in'tho following year, was elected Governor of New.. York, receiving a majority of nearly two hundred ' thousand votes. As Governor, Mr., Cleveland's course was marked by tho sterling qualities v that; lie had dis-. played in his other public positions. .; His appointees; .were / chosen for,, their business qualifications, and the • denrands of partyleaders .were made subordinate to public interests. The Democratic Party had been out of; power in national affairs more than , twenty years, during the interval a great civil war had been fought', slavery had been abolished; arid the .union' reconstructed. Serious abuses had crept into the Civil Service, and some scandals of considerable magnitude had been'exposed'from time to time, pointing to the necessity :.for radical measures of .reform;" ■;

He Uses the Veto, , Whilo tho public mind was in a sensir ' tive [state on this subject (1884)j the Re'publicah Party nominated James G. Blaine' for President, and the Democrats nominated Mr.:- Cleveland. The latter, was , elected gaining tho voto of tho. ; State of New York by, a plurality of 1017 in a total of 1,17i;263. ' Mr. Cleveland had never been in' Washington City in a pub- ' lie capacity: before,; yet it: was noticed that although surrounded, by strangers,, he enter ed: upon his ; new- duties with: the ■ same equipoiso that he:had shown in the humbler x stations ho had filled. When his brief ' inaugural speech was finished,; the ■-older statesmen present felt that no apologies were needed for his : being.- there,' and that the executive branch of, the . Government was in , safe hands. '■ Mr, Cleveland's first term r.f four years was uneventful, but'was marked by firmness, justice,, and steady adherenco on , his part to, ; tho . principles which he deemed', salutary,.to-the nation. He made large uso of the veto power upon Bills passed by Congress. ' . The most important one was the • Dependent Tension Bill,'-a measure of ' extreme profligacy, opening the door, by tin vagueness of its terms, to enormous fraud? upon,,tlio..Treasury ,"-,• In: 1887..there' was a large and growing; surplus in tlip,Treasury., 'About; ofj,tho'ppblicV revenue, was,' , derived, from' duties on '.imports,/'in ~tlio adjustment of. which;• the ;doctrino. of. protection to native industry had .a . large place.; Mr.' : Cleveland attacked - the system with great • vigour in his . annual message'of 1887.; vHo . did .not,propose the adoption', of: free, trado, yet- he alarmed and exasperated tho pro- - tected classes', ; among whom" were, many , Democrats, and spurred them to extraordinary efforts, to . prevent his . re-election. . In the following. year (1888)' the Democrats renominated. Mr. Cleveland, -and .the Republicans nominated - Benjamin Harrison of. Indiana. The ...latter- received a, majority, 'and accord- ' ingly- became President. Mr. Cleveland; retired into private life , and resumed the practice, of the legal profession in the city of Now,-York.

His Third Nomination. , ■In ■' 1892 ho was' again' ' 'nominated for President athird time m succession; the onty other man in the nation's history thus distinguished beiiig General Jackson. Mr. Cleveland -was: nominated against the';unanimous %ote and protest of the delegates in the Democratic National' Convention from his own state, New" York; ; . This was • something quite unprecedented. Mr. Harrison was the opposing candidate,., Mr. Cleveland received'277,electoral votes, and Mr: Harrison ■lio.'. - Mr. -Cleveland's second term embraced some." notablo. events, tho '.most important being the repeal of the silver legislation,-' which- passed the : Seriate on October 30, 1893. ' The suppression of tlio Deb riots, in which many lives were. . .lost, ' gained him great .. .popularity; :',On December, .17, 1895, President' Cleveland astounded / the . country and the civilised world by sending a special message' to Congress, virtually. recommending - war against Groat Britain,-. unless-., she should _ accept his views, respecting an 'undetermined boundary lino botweeii Venezuela: and' British Guiana. His foreign policy hithorto had been marked by prudence, conservatism, and a scrupulous regard for tho Rights, of,- other peoples. On! November 12, . 1896, an agreement 1 was made for arbitration of the Venezuelan controversy,', in which the contention of Great Britain was safeguarded by a clauso that sidverso holding during -a period -of - fifty -years- should mako a good title. It has been said that Mr. Cleveland was vindicated by tho rbsult, but this view overlooks two- facts of importance, viz., that war was avoided only by the calmness of tho. British Ministry and tho British public; and that Mr. Clovoland gave tlio greatest spur and impetus to tho war spirit among his countrymen that tho present generation has > known. Oil January 1897, Mr. Cleveland transmitted to the ■ Senate' a treaty for tho arbitration of all futuro differences between tho United Statos and Great Britain, < earnestly recommending its approval. The Sonato did not ratify this treatv, but its'aims, have been partially it not wholly accomplished by the agreements of the Haguie'Conference, and by tho recent Anglo-American Arbitration Convention. Mr; Cleveland's - second term expired on March; 4,-1897, and lie-then retired into private'-life •'••in' the university town of Princetown, New Jersey.