is administration. He opposed giving $500 of the
taxpayers' money to the Firemen's Benevolent Society on the ground
that such appropriation was not permissible under the terms of the
State constitution and the charter of the city. He vetoed a resolution
diverting $500 from the Fourth of July appropriations to the observance
of Decoration Day for the same reason, and immediately subscribed
one-tenth of the sum wanted for the purpose. His administration of the
office won tributes to his integrity and ability from the press and the
people irrespective of party. On the second day of the Democratic State
convention at Syracuse, September 22, 1882, on the third ballot, was
nominated for governor in opposition to the Republican candidate,
Charles J. Folger, then Secretary of the United States Treasury. He had
the united support of his own party, while the Republicans were not
united on his opponent, and at the election in November he received a
plurality over Mr. Folger of 192,854. His State administration was only
an expansion of the fundamental principles that controlled his official
action while mayor of Buffalo. In a letter written to his brother on
the day of his election he announced a policy he intended to adopt,
and afterwards carried out, "that is, to make the matter a business
engagement between the people of the State and myself, in which the
obligation on my side is to perform the duties assigned me with an
eye single to the interest of my employers." The Democratic national
convention met at Chicago July 8, 1884. On July 11 he was nominated as
their candidate for President. The Republicans made James G. Blaine
their candidate, while Benjamin F. Butler, of Massachusetts, was the
Labor and Greenback candidate, and John P. St. John, of Kansas, was
the Prohibition candidate. At the election, November 4, Mr. Cleveland
received 219 and Mr. Blaine 182 electoral votes. He was unanimously
renominated for the Presidency by the national Democratic convention
in St. Louis on June 6, 1888. At the election in November he received
168 electoral votes, while 233 were cast for Benjamin Harrison, the
Republican candidate. Of the popular vote, however, he received
5,540,329, and Mr. Harrison received 5,439,853. At the close of his
Administration, March 4, 1889, he retired to New York City, where he
reentered upon the practice of his profession. It soon became evident,
however, that he would be prominently urged as a candidate for
ren