Early life
178. A Man Who Was Twice President.Grover Cleveland saw the light of day in the old state of New Jersey in 1837. While he was yet a boy his parents moved to central New York. Here he received a common school education. He was a good pupil and made friends with boys who loved honesty and fair play. His parents were poor and could not send him to college. He was always sorry for this and tried to make up for it by hard study. The lives of men great in history and literature were what he liked best to read.
GROVER CLEVELANDFrom a photograph by Bell
GROVER CLEVELANDFrom a photograph by Bell
GROVER CLEVELAND
From a photograph by Bell
After going to Buffalo, young Cleveland entered uponthe study of law. He studied long upon the fine points of the law. In time he became one of the ablest lawyers, not only in Buffalo, but in the State of New York. The fact that young Cleveland was chosen sheriff of Erie County shows that a great many people already looked upon him as a courageous man.
Lawyer, mayor, and governor
When Buffalo needed a mayor who was not afraid to do his duty, the people elected this man who had been a good sheriff.
The people of the State of New York wanted a man of the Cleveland type for governor. He carried the state by a great majority. He was a great governor as he had been a great mayor. He was honest and straightforward, and treated all men alike. Long before his time as governor was up, the people began to talk of him for president.
Runs against Blaine
Cleveland ran against a widely known and popular man, James G. Blaine of Maine. But the Republicans split and Cleveland won. The Democrats were happy over the result, for this was the first time they had elected a president since 1856.
The Republicans had kept a high tariff ever since the Civil War. The result was that our treasury at Washington was full of money. Cleveland sent a message to Congress asking that the tariff be cut down, but the high-tariff Democrats joined the Republicans in supporting it.
Cleveland had made many enemies in his own party by refusing to appoint unfit men to office. When, therefore, he ran for president again in 1888, he was beaten by Senator Harrison of Indiana.
But four years later, in 1892, he defeated Harrison and again became president.
The panic of 1893
179. The Panic of 1893.Cleveland had hardly taken his seat as President when hard times struck the country. Business men and laborers suffered greatly. They could not pay their debts. Men, women, and children suffered for want of bread.
The great railroad strike
The Pullman Car Company of Chicago cut down the wages of its workmen. The men called a strike which finally extended over half the states of the Union.
Chicago was the center of the strike. Hundreds of cars were burned and lives were threatened. It was impossible to carry the United States mail or freight from one state to another. Grover Cleveland ordered United States soldiers to Chicago to keep the mails going and the freight running. This broke the back of the strike. Cleveland had shown how to settle strikes in a new way.
Cleveland served twice as President and after his second term of office he moved to Princeton, New Jersey, the seat of Princeton University. Here he became famous for his lectures given before the student body.