PRESIDENT CLEVELAND’S INAUGURAL.

Evening Star, Issue 9124, 3 May 1893, Page 1

PRESIDENT CLEVELAND’S INAUGURAL.

The inaugural address of President Cleveland has excited very general interest, "not by any means confined to the people of the United States. Thq reason for this is sufficiently obvious, and is to be ascribed to the decisive expression of public opinion which gave Mr Cleveland his substantial majority, and had, it may be inferred, two chief purposes. First, to denounce and change the policy of special protection for favored industries; and next, to grapple with the dangerous difficulty of the currency question. Both these matters affect foreign countries almost as nearly as the Republic itself. The protection tariffs have most severely affected the producing nations which send goods to the. States. In England, Germany, and Austria, for instance, these iwriffs have wellnigh killed formerly flourishing trades. The Americans, however, would have

cared little for tiffs ; but the mischief came directly homo to them in the realisation that the system, of which the M'Kinley tariff was the consummation, was most injuriously touching the working man, as he found everything he required for living growing dearer and dearer, whilst millionaire manufacturers made huge profits at the expense of the industrious classes—the artisans and the farmers. This was the secret of the decisive defeat of the Republican party. There were, of course, many side issues, but they did not affect the result.

Mr Cleveland did not, nor would it have been according to precedent that he should, on the occasion make any declaration of how his Government proposed to set about the indicated reforms. He limited himself to distinct condemnation of the policy of the Republican party as carried out under his predecessor, and to an enunciation in general terms of the principles which would guide the present Administration. Ho will, no doubt, be more definite in his first Message to Congress. Whilst altogether avoiding details, and thus failing to satisfy curiosity, the address was a very remarkable one, and most certainly indicates that the new President has the courage of his opinions, and will be by no means a “ King Log” in the hands of his party ; whilst it was entirely free from the glorification and spread-eagleism which ordinarily characterises such orations. Mr Cleveland commenced by saying that he deemed it fitting on the occasion to refer briefly to the existence of certain conditions and tendencies among the people of the United States which seemed to menace the integrity and usefulness of their Government. “While every American citizen “ must contemplate with the utmost pride “ and enthusiasm the growth and expan- “ sion of our country, the sufficiency of our “ institutions to stand against the rudest “ shocks, the wonderful enterprise of our “ people, and the demonstrated superiority “of our free government, it behoves us “ constantly to watch for every symptom of insidious infirmity that threatens our “national vigor. It cannot be doubted “ that our stupendous achievements as a “ people, and oiir country’s robust strength, “ have given rise to a heedlessness of those “ laws governing our national health, “which we can no more evade than “ human life can escape the laws of God “and Nature.” Closely related, lie went on to say, to exaggerated confidence in the greatness of the country another danger not less serious exists—namely, the prevalence of a popular disposition to expect from the operation of the Government special and direct individual advantages. The verdict of tho country, which condemned the injustice of maintaining protection for protection’s sake, enjoins, he declares, on statesmen the duty of exposing and, destroying the brood of kindred evils “ wliich are the unwholesome progeny of “paternalism. This is the bane of Re- “ publican institutions, and a constant “peril of our Government by the people. “ i t degrades to purposes of wily craft the “plan, of rule which our fathers estab- “ lislied and bequeathed to us as an object “ of our love and veneration. It perverts “the patriotic sentiment of our coimtry- “ men, and tempts them to a pitiful calcu- “ lation of the sordid gain to be derived “from their Government’s maintenance. “ It undermines the self-reliance of our “ people, and substitutes in its place de- “ pendence upon Governmental favoritism. “ It stifles the spirit of true Americanism, “and stupifies every ennobling trait of “ American citizenship.” The lessons of paternalism—an excellent and expressive word he goes on to say, ought to be unlearned, and the better lesson taught: that while the people should patriotically and cheerfully support the Government, their functions do not include support of the people. The acceptance of this principle, he affirms, leads to the rejection of a policy which burdens the labor and thrift of a large portion of the community to aid ill-advised or languishing enterprises, in which they have no concern. He urges the importance of checking at the beginning any tendency to regard frugality and economy as, virtues, which mav safely he ignored. “ The toleration “ of this idea results in the waste oi the “people’s money by their chosen servants, and encourages prodigality and “extravagance in the home-life of our “countrymen. Under our scheme of “government the waste of public “ money is a crime against tho citizens, “and the contempt of our people for “economy and frugality in their personal affairs deplorably saps the “strength and sturdiness of our national “ character. It is the plain dictate ‘of honesty and good government that “ the public expenditure should be “limited by the public necessity, and “that this should be measured by the “ rules of strict economy ; and it is equally “ clear that frugality among the people is “ the best guarantee of a contented and “ strong support of free institutions, One “ mode of misappropriation of public “ funds is avoided when appointments to “office, instead of being rewards of par- “ tisan activity, are awarded to those whose “ efficiency promises a fair return of work “ for the compensation paid to them.” Mr Cleveland instances, among other flagrant extravagances, the gross abuse of tho pension system; and he states that, beginning with little grants, the expenditure under this has increased to so vast an annual charge that the last year’s payment was over £40,0Q0,000. In other words, there was paid to the patriots of the Civil War, or those who pretended to be such, a sum considerably exceeding the whole Array and Navy expenditure of Great Britain! The people of the United States, the President said in conclusion, bad decreed that the control of their Government should be given to the political party pledged in the most positive terms to the accomplishment of tariff reform. “They “have thus determined in favor of a

“ more just and equitable system of taxa- “ tion.” The agents they nave chosen to carry out their purposes are bound to devote themselves unremittingly to this service. “ While there should be no sur- “ renderof principle,ourtask mustbeunder- “ taken wisely, without vindictiveness.” “ Our mission is not punishment, but the “ rectification of wrongs. If, in lifting the “ burdens from the daily life of our people, “we reduce inordinate and unequal advantages, too long enjoyed, this is but a “ necessary incident of our return to right “ and justice. If we exact from unwilling “ minds acquiescence in the theory of an “ honest distribution of the fund of “Governmental beneficence treasured up “ for all, we but insist upon the principle “which underlies our free institutions. “When wo tear aside the delusions “ and misconceptions which have blinded “ our countrymen to their condition under “vicious tariff laws, we but show them “ how far they have been led away from the “paths of contentment and prosperity. “ When we proclaim that necessity for “ revenue to support Government furnishes “the only justification for taxing the “people, we announce a truth so plain “ that its denial would seem to indicate the “ extent to which judgment may be influ- “ enced by familiarity with perversions of “ taxing power; and when we seek to reinstate the self-confidence and business “enterprise of our citizens by discrediting “abject dependence upon Governmental “ favor, we strive to stimulate those cle- “ rnents of American character which sup- “ port the hope'of American achievement.” The words of Mr Cleveland are worthy of close consideration by the people of New Zealand.