Democratic Sentinel, Volume 9, Number 13, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 April 1885 — Mr. Cleveland’s Opinion of Petitions. [ARTICLE]

Mr. Cleveland’s Opinion of Petitions.

President Cleveland is developing as a story teller. He has diminished the value of petitions for office a good deal by a story which he told an office-seeking Senator. He said that when he was Mayor of Buffalo there was a sharp contest for the position of Chief of Police. One candidate in particular was indorsed by such a very large number of citizens that when he saw the petition the Mayor felt that probably he was the man who ought to be appointed. He stated this conclusion to two of his friends who called to see him, but they informed him that, in their opinion, the appointment would not be a good one, and should not be made. He thereupon showed them the papers signed by such a large number of leading citizens, and said he did not see how he could ignore it. They thereupon asked him to delay action for two days, in order that they might present a paper to him, and went away. At the end of the time they returned, bringing another petition signed by a long list of Buffalo people, some of them prominent in the city, and a number of them his friends. It was not a petition for the place of Chief of Police, but was addressed to the Governor of New York, and stated that Grover Cleveland, Mayor of Buffalo, had been guilty of embezzlement of the public funds, was unfit to hold the office and ought to be removed. It simply showed how easily reputable people could ■ be got to sign a petition without reading it. Since that time Mr. Clevelard says he has not had a high opinion of signatures to petitions relative to the offices.— Washington Correspondence Boston Herald.