Page:The Presidents of the United States, 1789-1914, v. III.djvu/296

 246 LIVES OF THE PRESIDENTS eral administration. What were called the &quot;half- breeds&quot; largely stayed away from the polls, and in a total vote of 918,894 Cleveland received a plural ity of 192,854 over Folger, and a majority over all, including greenback, prohibition, and scattering, of 151,742. He entered upon his office, January 1, 1883, in the words of his inaugural address, &quot;fully appreciating his relations to the people, and deter mined to serve them faithfully and well.&quot; With very limited private means, Gov. Cleveland lived upon and within his official salary, simply and un ostentatiously, keeping no carriage, and daily walk ing to and from his duties at the capitol. Among the salient acts of his administration were his approval of a bill to submit to the people a proposition to abolish contract labor in the pris ons, which they adopted by an overwhelming ma jority; his veto of a bill that permitted wide lati tude in the investments of savings banks; and the veto of a similar bill allowing like latitude in the investment of securities of fire insurance compa nies. He vetoed a bill that was a bold effort to es tablish a monopoly by limiting the right to con struct certain street railways to companies hereto fore organized, to the exclusion of such as should hereafter obtain the consent of property-owners and local authorities. His much-criticised veto of the &quot;five-cent-fare&quot; bill, which proposed to reduce the rates of fare on the elevated roads in New York