tained for their efficiency, and not because they may be used to accomplish partisan ends. The people have a right to demand, here as in cases of private employment, that their money be paid to those who will render the best service in return, and that the appointment to and tenure of such places should depend upon ability and merit. If the clerks and assistants in public departments were paid the same compensation and required to do the same amount of work as those employed in prudently conducted private establishments, the anxiety to hold those public places would be much diminished, and it seems to me, the cause of civil service reform materially aided.

"The system of levying assessments for partisan purposes on those holding office or place, cannot be too strongly condemned. Through the thin disguise of voluntary contributions, this is seen to be naked extortion, reducing the compensation which should be honestly earned and swelling a fund used to debauch the people and defeat the popular will.

"I am unalterably opposed to the interference by the legislature with the government of municipalities. I believe in the intelligence of the people when left to an honest freedom in their choice, and that when the citizens of any section of the State have determined upon the details of a local government, they should be left in the undisturbed enjoyment of the same. The doctrine of home rule, as I understand it, lies at the foundation of republican institutions, and cannot be too strongly insisted upon.

"Corporations are created by the law for certain defined purposes and are restricted in their operations by specific limitations. Acting within their legitimate sphere, they should be protected; but when by combination or by the exercise of unwarranted power they oppress the people, the same authority which created, should restrain them and protect the rights of the citizens. The law lately passed

for the purpose of adjusting the relations between the people and corporations should be executed in good faith, with an honest design to effectuate its objects and with a due regard for the interests involved.

"The laboring classes constitute the main part of our population. They should be protected in their efforts peaceably to assert their rights when endangered by aggregated capital, and all statutes on this subject should recognize the care of the State for honest toil and be framed with a view of improving the condition of the workingman.

"We have so lately had a demonstration of the value of our citizen soldiery in time of peril, that it seems to me no argument is necessary to prove that it should be maintained in a state of efficiency, so that its usefulness shall not be impaired.

"Certain amendments to the constitution of our State, involving the management of our canals, are to be passed upon at the coming election. This subject affects diverse interests and of course gives rise to opposite opinions. It is in the hands of the sovereign people for final settlement; and as the question is thus removed from State legislation, any statement of my opinion in regard to it, at this time, would, I think, be out of place. I am confident that the people will intelligently examine the merits of the subject and determine where the preponderance of interest lies.

"The expenditure of money to influence the action of the people at the polls, or to secure legislation, is calculated to excite the gravest concern. When this pernicious agency is successfully employed a representative form of government becomes a sham; and laws passed under its baleful influence cease to protect, but are made the means by which the rights of the people are sacrificed, and the public treasury despoiled. It is useless and foolish to shut our eyes to the fact that this evil exists among us; and the party which

leads in an honest effort to return to better and purer methods will receive the confidence of our citizens and secure their support. It is willful blindness not to see that the people care but little for party obligations, when they are invoked to countenance and sustain fraudulent and corrupt practices. And it is well for our country and for the purification of politics that the people, at times fully roused to danger, remind their leaders that party methods should be something more than a means used to answer the purposes those who profit by political occupation.

of

"The importance of wise statesmanship in the management of public affairs can not, I think, be over estimated. I am convinced, however, that the perplexities and the mystery often surrounding the administration of State concerns grow in a great measure out of an attempt to serve partisan ends rather than the welfare of the citizen.

"We may, I think, reduce to quite simple elements the duty which public servants owe, by constantly bearing in mind that they are put in place to protect the rights of the people, to answer their needs as they arise and to expend for their benefit the money drawn from them by taxation. "I am profoundly conscious that the management of the diverse interests of a great State is not an easy matter, but I believe, if undertaken in the proper spirit, all its real difficulties will yield to watchfulness and care.

"Yours respectfully,

"GROVER CLEVELAND."

Thus boldly and clearly did the Democratic candidate proclaim reform. His letter of acceptance was in self a platform of high principles. A government honestly conducted upon the basis of the ideas which this letter set forth would be as nearly perfect as is permitted to things human. And this idea had more than the ordinary force, coming

from Grover Clevelend; for they were the ideas on which he had based his action as the executive of a great city, and he had conscientiously lived up to every principle which he proclaimed. No one could point to a single sentiment in this noble letter and say that in practice it was denied by its author. For every plank in the platform which he thus drew up, he had the record of official action as an indorsement. Instead of promises, it was a summary of acts performed.

CHAPTER XXI.

A Strong Popular Nomination.-Grover Cleveland as a Candidate. The Voice of the Independent Republican Press.— "The Right Man for the Right Place."-Speech of D. A. Ogden. He has Never Failed."-Rev. Dr. Cuyler's Opinion. "An Exceptionally Able and Upright Man."-Rev. Dr. Frazer's Indorsement. "Just as Square a Man as You Can Meet."-Comments upon His Letter of Acceptance.

The nomination of Grover Cleveland by the Democrats to be Governor of the State of New York, was clearly in obediance to the popular demand. The people wanted a strong, honest man for that office, and Cleveland had proved himself all that they asked, and much more. The Republican party disregarded the people's wish, and had continued its old methods in the old way with not even a promise of reform. As a result, the better portion of the Republican party, the Republicans who had thoughts and purposes above and beyond the mere division of the spoils of office, were compelled to indorse the Democratic nomination and approve the Democratic candidate whose character and principles they knew and admired.

On every hand, Republicans of character and influence hastened to approve Grover Cleveland's nomination. One of their chief organs, which had supported Cleveland for mayor of Buffalo, said:

"Mayor Cleveland's fellow-citizens were wise enough to elect him, and by such a potent majority that it became a serious factor in the Democratic problem of how to carry