Page:Cambridge Modern History Volume 7.djvu/687

 CHAPTER XXI. THE UNITED STATES AS A WORLD-POWER. (18851902.) ALTHOUGH the inauguration on March 4, 1885, of Grover Cleveland, the nominee of the Democratic party, as President, marked the end of twenty-four years of continuous Republican administration, the transition was not attended by symptoms of radical change. An eminent orator, who afterwards declined to support Elaine for the Presi- dency, had, in a speech at the Republican National Convention of 1884, described the Democratic party as "very hungry and very thirsty. 11 The implication that the Federal offices were then held almost ex- clusively by Republicans was quite true. It had been the practice of the great political parties, when in power, to fill vacancies in office with their own adherents, there being no marked difference of opinion except as to the extent to which vacancies should be created by removals on political grounds. But the Act of January 16, 1883, " to regulate and improve the civil service of the United States," laid the foundation of a system designed to place the bulk of Federal posts beyond the reach of political contests; and with this system the new President was known to be entirely in accord. His declaration that " public office is a public trust" was one of the watchwords of the campaign; and his practical application of the principle, first as mayor of Buffalo, and then as governor of the State of New York, had helped to win for him as a national candidate the support of many leading men who were devoted to the cause of Civil Service Reform. While, therefore, the political transition was necessarily accompanied by many changes in office, it was distinguished by an obvious effort to observe the provisions of the law in spirit as well as in letter. Nor was there any sudden and violent rupture in matters of policy. In his first annual message to Congress (December 8, 1885), President Cleveland stated that there were "no questions of difficulty pending with any foreign government." In his review of foreign affairs, the CII. XXI.