IMMEL

CHAPTER X.

GOVERNOR OF NEW YORK.

MMEDIATELY upon his assumption of the position, Governor Cleveland instituted radical reforms in the management of the office. He regarded the power to pardon and reprieve as one of the most sacred vested in the Governor. Hitherto applications for pardons had been. passed upon by a pardon clerk, and generally the Governor's approval or disapproval was a mere formality, the actual investigation into the merits of the case having been conducted by a subordinate. But Governor Cleveland, in addition to the other duties of his position, examined personally the merits of all appeals for executive clemency. Still further, he established the custom of assigning for publication the reasons determining his action in each

case.

When these reasons first began to appear the impression went abroad that more pardons and reprieves than usual were being issued. A comparison with the number issued during previous years soon corrected this misapprehension, and, except in the case of partisan newspapers, which adopt the willful misrepresention of facts as a guiding principle, Governor Cleveland's action in pardon cases is now regarded as an instance of his conscientious devotion to his duty and his high conception of the responsibilities of the office he holds.

Democratic simplicity was introduced also throughout the Executive Chamber. Under previous administrations it had been necessary to run the gauntlet of several clerks, doorkeepers, and valets, to have one's card transmitted to the Governor's private secretary, and then, if one were

particularly favored, after waiting half an hour in the ante-room, he was granted an audience with that functionary, and generally given the vague promise that his business would be laid before the Governor, who would give it consideration in due time. As soon as Governor Cleveland entered office, he issued orders that such barriers to his presence should be at once removed, and declared that he was accessible at all times to any one who had business with him. The visitor to the Capitol now enters, without knocking, the ante-room of the Executive Chamber, where, if told that the Governor is within, he opens the door without any further ceremony and enters the Executive Chamber, one of the finest rooms in the new Capitol. At a large desk, between two of the wind which extend the whole height of the room, sits the Governor, ordinarily engaged in writing or examining papers. If his errand be one of business, the visitor is at once asked to take the vacant chair always at the side of the desk, and be he the humblest citizen, he can present his case directly to the Governor, and be assured of an attentive hearing.

Governor Cleveland's manner in conversation is uniformly frank, courteous, sincere and simple. He speaks directly and without any effort at concealment. Interpreting his office strictly as a public trust he has felt that the people should be allowed both to see how that trust is administered, and to know the reasons which have prompted any particular act. It need hardly be said that such methods have greatly facilitated the transaction of public business and have given more satisfaction than methods under which it was sought to surround the position with the "dignity that doth hedge a king," but which has no place about the servant and executive officer of a free people. The same simplicity is carried into all the details of Governor Cleveland's life. Both personal preference and his moderate means have always induced economy and

prevented luxury and ostentation in his surroundings. We have seen that up to 1863, he barely earned enough to support his mother and himself. As his law practice grew, his income from it of course increased slowly; but not until the firm of Bass, Cleveland and Bissell was formed in 1874, was he in receipt of anything but the most moderate returns for his labor. During the six years in which he was a member of that firm he succeeded in amassing some property. He is to-day worth about $50,000, independent of the salary of his office. While this sum enables him to live comfortably, it does not permit display or any but measured expenditure. Unlike many men in public life, however, he has steadily refused to accept free passes from railroads. Governor Cleveland does not keep a carriage or a retinue of servants as the wealthier men in his position always have done. In the morning he walks over from the Executive Mansion to the Capitol and reaches the office at about nine o'clock. After wishing the clerks good-morning, he at once sits down at his desk and perhaps glances casually over the morning papers, and at once begins the work of the day.

It would be impossible, of course, to enumerate the multifarious details of a great government, like that of the Empire State of New York, in which he must act, or concerning which he is consulted. At half past one he walks home to lunch and returns in an hour. By five o'clock in the afternoon the desk has been cleared, and for an hour the Governor converses with State officials, or Albany personal friends, who may happen to call at this time. If the subject of conversation is unfinished, the chances are that the caller, if he be at all well known to the Governor, will be asked to walk over to dinner with him. It is never an elaborate repast, simply the ordinary dinner of the well-to-do business or professional man. After dinner follows a cigar-smoking is strictly prohibited by him at the Executive Chamber during business

hours-and at eight o'clock he is back again at his desk. The hours from eight to eleven are devoted to work with his private secretary, Col. Daniel S. Lamont. At the latter hour papers are put away, sometimes with the jocose remark: "Well, I guess we'll quit now, and call it half a day," and the easy office chair is swung round on its swivel for an hour's conversation with the few who have learned that at this time the Governor's conversational powers are at their best. In person Grover Cleveland is somewhat above medium height, of large and powerful frame, conveying the impression of strength and vigor, even as he sits in comfortable repose in the big chair. This impression is intensified when he rises and walks with firm and deliberate, though not tardy step, across the room. His head is large and of a strong mold, with square, broad and high forehead, slightly furrowed with lines of thought. The eyebrows are heavily outlined above deep-set blue eyes, thoughtful and penetrating ordinarily, but in this evening's conversation lighted with humor. A short brown mustache shades his firm mouth, the lower part of the face being clean shaven. His coat is a loosely buttoned frock, disclosing a small expanse of shirt bosom with a black or white loose tie about a standing collar. His dress throughout is of conventional simplicity. National and State politics not infrequently form the natural topics at such times, which the Governor, who possesses in a high degree the gift of story-telling, enjoyed by so many men of note in American politics, occasionally enlivens with anecdote and reminiscence. Shortly before midnight he walks home, generally alone, though often with his private secretary, and the day is ended. One day is very much like another, except that the pressure of work is greater during the sessions of the Legislature than at other times.

When he came to Albany Governor Cleveland took a pew in the Fourth Presbyterian Church. In religious opinions, however, he is liberal and not restricted in his

beliefs to a sect. Sometimes, in the evening, he attends the Roman Catholic Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, which is but a step from the Executive Mansion. The Executive Mansion, on Eagle street, is a modest country gentleman's place. It is a yellow-brown house, with double turrets, half-covered with Virginia creepers, facing a beautiful stretch of green lawn. An arched porte cochere is in front of the main doorway, opening into a broad hall, with a suite of rooms on each side. At the left is a long parlor, with bay-windows overlooking the lawn. Opening by large double doors from this room is the dining-room. At the right of the main hall is the library, with well-filled book-cases ranged around the room. Back of the library is a small office, which the Governor uses whenever he has writing to do at home. Passing from this room through a small hall, one enters a small breakfast-room, which the Governor prefers to use as a dining-room. The house is well furnished with dark, comfortable looking furniture. The walls and ceilings are frescoed, and in some places show decided need of repairs. The sleeping-rooms are all up stairs.

Back of the house are fine flower and vegetable gardens. A gardener who has been on the place for over twenty years carefully tends this department. A greenhouse is filled with fine plants, which are used in decorating the mansion when guests are entertained. Fruit-trees and grape-vines fill one half of the grounds back of the house. The large grounds give the place much more the appearance of a country residence than of one in the center of a large city.

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Owing to the circumstances of his early life and the habits acquired then, there is little of the "society man Grover Cleveland. His position, of course, exacts a certain round of social duties, which is performed scrupulously; but outside of this his enjoyment is found in discharging the functions of his office. Once a year the Executive