Next he became Governor of New York State. As Governor he continued
his same fearless path, vetoing everything which he considered
dishonest or in any way harmful.
And as President, Cleveland was just as fearless and honest as
before. During the four years of his presidency he used his power
of veto more than three hundred times.
As one would expect from such a man Cleveland stood firm on the
question of civil service reform. "The people pay for the government,"
he said, "and it is only right that government work should be well
done. Posts should be given to those who are fit to fill them, and
not merely to those who have friends to push them into notice."
President Cleveland also tried to get the tariffs on imported goods
reduced. He discovered that there was more money in the treasury
than the country required. During the war, duties had been made
high because the Government required a great deal of money. But
after the war was over, and there was no need for so much money
these high duties had still been kept on. The consequence was that
millions of dollars were being heaped up in the Treasury, and were
lying idle. The president therefore thought that the tariffs should
be reduced, and he said so. But there were so many people in the
country who thought that a high tariff was good that, when in the
next presidency, a new tariff bill was introduced, the duties were
made higher than ever.
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