=FIRST ADMINISTRATION OF CLEVELAND, 1885–1889.=
IMPORTANT MEASURES AND REFORMS.
=620. Character of the Administration.=—Ever since Grant’s
administrations the strength of the two great political parties had been
tending more and more to an equality. When Cleveland entered upon his
duties as President, the Democrats had a small majority in the House of
Representatives, the Republicans still had a majority in the Senate.
Legislation, therefore, was for the most part confined to non-partisan
measures. Cleveland surrounded himself with a good group of Cabinet
advisers, in which the South was allowed proportionate
representation.[286] The latter fact, together with his policy of
vetoing private pension bills, rendered the President unpopular with
many Union veterans; but his general firmness and honesty as an
executive were admitted by impartial observers. He was placed, however,
in the unfortunate situation of having to offend either the Democrats,
who demanded that all offices should be taken away from Republican
incumbents and given to Democrats, or the Independents, who thought that
removals from office should be made only in the case of unworthy
incumbents. Cleveland extended Civil Service reform, but at the same
time made some removals from office apparently on partisan grounds. Thus
he offended both Democratic politicians and Independent reformers; and
his administration, while on the whole successful, was not characterized
by thorough harmony.
[Illustration: GROVER CLEVELAND.]
=621. The Australian Ballot.=—Cleveland’s first administration was not
only marked by the improvement in the Civil Service consequent upon the
President’s extending the number of offices to be filled by persons who
had passed competitive examinations, but was also distinguished by a
reform which helped greatly to purify elections. In order to secure the
secret voting necessary to lessen intimidation and bribery of voters,
the Australian ballot was adopted in several of the states. The
essential principle of this ballot is that all the candidates’ names
shall be printed upon a single sheet of paper, and that the voter,
taking this official paper from the supervisor of the election, shall,
in a booth by himself, secretly mark the name of the person or persons
for whom he votes, and then, after folding the ballot, return it to the
officer to be inserted in the ballot box. The method met with popular
approval and was adopted, in the course of a few years, in nearly all
the states.
=622. The Presidential Succession Act, and the Electoral Count
Act.=—Two measures intended to obviate possible complications in
Presidential elections were adopted during this administration. Before
1886 there was no law to determine how the Presidency should be filled
in case of the death or disability of the President, the Vice President,
and the Acting President of the Senate.[287] It was now determined by
statute that the succession should pass from the Vice President to the
members of the Cabinet, eligible in the order in which the several
departments were created, beginning with the Secretary of State. The
following year (1887) the Electoral Count Act determined that disputes
relating to the validity of electoral votes should be settled by state
tribunals.
=623. Interstate Commerce Act.=—The rapid growth of individual and
corporate wealth in the country led to an impression on the part of very
many people that the profits of industry were not fairly distributed.
This feeling was greatly increased by the multiplication of corporations
and trusts. Railways were everywhere tending to combine into great lines
and to enter into agreements that were supposed to endanger competition
and sometimes even to prevent it. It was also in their power to make
such discriminating rates for freight between different manufacturing
corporations and between different towns and cities as to favor some and
injure others. This condition led to strikes and riots at various
points, and it became evident to the leaders of both parties that
remedial legislation was called for. The result was the passing of an
act for the better regulation of Interstate Commerce. Railroads
exclusively within an individual state could not, under the Constitution
of the United States, be interfered with; but the act forbade
discriminating rates and the pooling of earnings and rates on roads
running partly in one state and partly in another. It also created an
Interstate Commerce Commission of five members, with authority to decide
such questions under the act as might arise between the railroads and
their patrons, and to make an annual report on actual conditions. The
Commission, however, was not given power to enforce its decisions, and,
consequently, it failed to accomplish all the good that had been
anticipated; but many abuses were corrected. Individual states, also, in
many cases enacted laws limiting the rates for carrying freight and
passengers.
INDUSTRIAL AND FINANCIAL DISTURBANCES.
=624. Anti-Chinese Laws.=—The strikes and other disorders prevalent
during this period in many parts of the country were generally
attributed to ignorant foreigners, who had not yet become accustomed to
American laws. Immigration brought in a large number of discontented,
disheartened, and reckless people from Europe. Efforts were now made to
reduce the number of such persons; but little was done except to take
still harsher measures against a more or less inoffensive people from
Asia (§ 603). In 1885 twenty-seven Chinamen were murdered by miners in
Wyoming because they refused to join in a strike. As the Chinese could
not vote, nobody seemed afraid to favor a measure for their exclusion.
In 1888, therefore, a more stringent law was passed prohibiting their
immigration into the country. It was not very perfectly drawn, however,
and was easily evaded by immigration through Canada and in other
ways.[288]
=625. The Chicago Anarchists.=—Unmistakable evidences of discontent
among the laboring classes continued to alarm the country. Various
organizations of workmen were formed, the most conspicuous of which was
the “Knights of Labor,” with upwards of a million members. A great
strike took place in St. Louis in the Spring of 1886, but the most
violent outbreak occurred in Chicago, May 4, 1886. A riot of anarchists,
mostly foreigners, resulted in the killing of a number of policemen by
bombs thrown in Haymarket Square. Four leading rioters were executed.
Others were imprisoned, but were pardoned in 1893 by Governor Altgeld of
Illinois. Though a reaction immediately took place against violence of
an anarchistic kind, discontent throughout the country went on
increasing. Perhaps the lessons taught by the Chicago tragedy were best
taken to heart by those philanthropists who began establishing
“settlements” among the poor of the great cities and in other ways
labored to improve their condition.
=626. Pension Vetoes.=—Both political parties had been inclined to
pursue a liberal policy in regard to military pensions. The debt of
gratitude to the old soldiers and sailors was so generally felt that
whenever a proposition to extend the pension list was made, very few
politicians seemed willing to oppose it. The consequence was, that the
liberality of Congress seemed to many persons, including the President,
to be running into folly and extravagance. The pension list was costing
the Treasury about one hundred million dollars a year, and Cleveland
determined to resist its increase. He vetoed so large a number of
pension bills, including a specially liberal one known as the Dependent
Pension Bill (1887), that efforts to extend the lists were discouraged.
=627. Accumulation in the Treasury.=—In the course of Cleveland’s
administration the silver coined under the Bland-Allison law (§ 604) was
but slightly circulated, and the income of the government from tariff
and internal revenue largely exceeded the expenses. All the bonds that
were due had been paid, and the interest on the national debt had been
greatly reduced. In consequence there was an accumulation of a very
large sum of money in the Treasury. The President was strongly of the
opinion that financial distress would result from continuance of a
tariff producing a surplus that kept so much money from circulation and
tempted congressmen to make large appropriations for pensions and for
less worthy objects. Accordingly, in a special message of December,
1887, he recommended a policy of tariff reform in the interests of freer
trade. As the Senate was still Republican, he could not have hoped that
Congress would at once pass such a measure as he recommended and as the
House agreed to when it passed a reduced tariff act, known as the “Mills
Bill,” from its chief framer, Roger Q. Mills of Texas. Cleveland’s
message was designed to place the matter before the country in such a
way that it would become the main issue at the next Presidential
election. In this purpose he was successful, although the “Mills Bill”
failed in the Senate.
=628. Election of Harrison and Morton.=—The Republicans at their
convention held at Chicago in 1888, nominated, for President, Benjamin
Harrison[289] of Indiana, a grandson of President William Henry
Harrison, and for Vice President, Levi P. Morton of New York. The
Democrats met at St. Louis and renominated Cleveland, who was strong
with the masses of the party, although unpopular with the politicians.
Allen G. Thurman, formerly senator from Ohio, was nominated for Vice
President. At the end of a vigorous campaign, conducted almost
exclusively on the tariff issue, but marked by the circulation of
misleading statements and the corrupt use of money,[290] Harrison had
two hundred and thirty-three electoral votes, and Cleveland one hundred
and sixty-eight. As in 1884, the election was decided by the thirty-five
electoral votes of the state of New York.
* * * * *
REFERENCES.—See bibliographical note to Chapter XXXIV. Add:
Appleton’s _Annual Cyclopædia_ for the years under
consideration.
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[286] That the North and South were forgetting their differences was
proved during Cleveland’s administration in two striking ways. In 1885
ex-Confederate generals attended Grant’s funeral; the next year, the
sufferings of the people of Charleston, South Carolina, on account of
the earthquake that so damaged the city, called forth great sympathy and
help from the people of the North and West.
[287] President Arthur had urged the necessity of such a law, and the
death of Vice President Hendricks in 1885 made the need of it still more
impressive.
[288] In 1892 the “Geary Act” authorized the expulsion from the country
of any Chinese who could not show that they had been admitted without
violation of law. The government, however, did not strictly enforce this
act.
[289] Born in Ohio, 1833; died, 1899. Graduated at Miami University,
1852; settled in Indianapolis as a lawyer; volunteered in 1862 and was
advanced to brevet brigadier general; elected to the United States
Senate, where he served from 1881 to 1887; nominated and elected
President in 1888; renominated in 1892, but was defeated at the polls by
Cleveland; retired, at the end of his term, to the practice of the law
at Indianapolis.
[290] There was a large amount of money raised and used by the
Republicans for campaign purposes, and it was charged by the Democrats
that much of this fund was employed in purchasing votes, especially in
Indiana. Counter charges of a similar nature were brought against the
Democrats; and it is clear that the people at large believed the
election to have been a discreditable one to both parties, since the
adoption of better ballot laws by the states was accelerated (§ 621).