With the family installed, President Cleveland and his wife readily settled to their respective tasks. Mrs. Cleveland slipped into place as easily as if she had never left it, and began again her regular Saturday afternoon receptions, which had become so popular in the first term. The President also resumed his semi-weekly public receptions, which he came to enjoy so much, since it gave him the opportunity to meet people and talk to those who wished to talk to him.
The selection of the Cabinet was a momentous task. The group finally comprised the following: Secretary of State, Walter Q. Gresham of Illinois; Secretary of the Treasury, John G. Carlisle of Kentucky; Secretary of War, Daniel S. Lamont of New York; Attorney General, Richard Olney of Massachusetts; Postmaster General, Wilson S. Bissell of New York; Secretary of the Navy, Hilary A. Herbert of Alabama; Secretary of the Interior, Hoke Smith of Georgia; Secretary of Agriculture, Julius Sterling Morton of Nebraska.
This was regarded as a good Cabinet, though not so strong as the President’s first one.
The issues brought forth so prominently in the campaign now thrust themselves forward for attention; almost immediately came rumblings of the impending money panic. Naturally, the trouble-making came from both Republican and Populist ranks.
In the spring of 1893, on May 1st, President Cleveland opened the great World’s Columbian Exposition, commemorating the five hundredth anniversary of the discovery of America by Columbus. It continued for six months. The exhibits displayed were a demonstration of the world’s progress in arts, industries, inventions, and natural products. To it came distinguished tourists from all over the world, and notwithstanding the money depression, twenty-seven million people were admitted to the exposition.
The money stringency, which the Democrats attributed to the Republican extravagance of the previous administration in the great increase of pensioners, which they claim was not offset by the McKinley Tariff Protection Law, increased as firms failed and industries closed their shops. In addition to a growing army of unemployed came coal-mine and railroad strikes.
The nation was brought to the point where the integrity of the dollar, whether greenback, silver, or gold, had to be maintained. President Cleveland determined to maintain the gold reserve, for he was convinced that the safety of the nation depended upon it, and therefore sold bonds to keep up the reserve. The President also called a special session of Congress, which repealed the Sherman Silver Purchase and Coinage Act of 1890, as he was satisfied that the purchasing of the silver was harmful to the nation’s best interests.
This move, unpopular from the Southern and Western points of view, naturally put a stop to further buying of silver in huge quantities and also checked the mintage of silver dollars.
President Cleveland’s second administration found him with a different attitude toward the purely social features of his position. In the beginning of his Presidency, he had been more or less impatient at the necessity for devoting valuable time to receptions. By the time he had watched his charming wife handle the vast crowds that clamoured to see her, he caught a new meaning from the contact of the masses with their Chief Magistrate and First Lady and adapted himself to enjoy the people. He was particular that no one should be crowded out or rushed through, and soon made it a rule to give his whole attention for the brief part of the minute of his contact to the person before him. He cultivated appropriate responses, and as he began to enjoy these daily handshaking periods, he responded to greetings with a spontaneity that evidenced his pleasure and also made him seem more the friendly man than the exalted exclusive leader. Should, for instance, a man in passing, ask, “Where is Mrs. Cleveland? Why isn’t she here too?” instantly, with the twinkle of the eye and the smile his friends loved, he would answer, “Why, somebody might carry her off.”
Mrs. Cleveland and the President drove together most pleasant afternoons. Their equipages were more pretentious than those of any of their predecessors, and were the latest and best examples of carriage building. Five handsome vehicles made up the presidential stable equipment—a black landau with green trimmings that had cost $2,000; a smart brougham, whose value was $1,000; a victoria; also a phaëton that had been made to order at a cost of $1,000, with a coachman’s rumble behind; and a surrey. This last was most used by the President.