Morning Appeal

VALUE PETITION

President Cleveland is developing as a story teller. He has dismissed 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 large number of citizens that when he saw the petition the Mayor thought probably that he ought to be appointed. He stated this conclusion to two of his friends who came 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 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 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. Cleveland says he has not had a high opinion of signatures to petitions relative to offices.