Chapter 27

MR. CLEVELAND AGAIN PRESIDENT

In the special session beginning August 7, 1893, a Democratic Congress met under a Democratic President for the first time since 1859. The results were disappointing. Divided, leaderless, in large part at bitter variance with the Administration, the Democrats trooped to their overthrow two years later.

During his second Administration Mr. Cleveland considerably extended the merit system in the civil service. Candidates for consulships were subjected to (non-competitive) examination. Public opinion commended these moves, as it did the President's prompt signing of the Anti-Lottery Bill, introduced in Congress when it was learned that the expatriated Louisiana Lottery from its seat under Honduras jurisdiction was operating in the United States through the express companies. The bill prohibiting this abuse was passed at three in the morning on the last day of the Congressional session, and received the President's signature barely five minutes before the Congress expired.