Show CAPITAL GOSSIP Harrisons Recent Visit to Indianapolis Indi-anapolis OUR PRESIDENTS AS POLITICIANS now Washington Bought Votes with Whisky and Some of Jeffersons Political Tricks Hayes Gariield Johnson WASHINGTON Oct 21 1890Specia correspondence of THE HEIULD Preai dent Harrison believes that it is ever mans duty to cast his vote at the polls and he thinks that every American citizen should take part In the government Ho will if possible go to Indianapolis next Tuesday to cast his ballot and he has been a regular attendant at the polls on election I days since he became of age He is following follow-ing the example ol the Presidents of our latter days and it is now quite the thing for the President to leave Washington for the state and national elections President Arthur voted regularly in New York city while be was in the White house Cleveland Cleve-land not only went to Buffalo but gave his check for 10000 to pay a part of the expenses ex-penses of one ef the elections and Arthur not only gave liberally to tho campaign funds but he sometimes visited the state to regulate party nominations This was the case at the time of Judge Folgers nomination for governor in 18S2 and this act undoubtedly did Arthurs prospects for a renomination considerable injury The only President who went home to vote back of Arthur was Buchanan whose home was at Lancaster not so very far from the capital and who went there regularly to vote during his ad ministration President Lincoln never saw his home in Springfield after he was made President His career in the White House was such a busy one that he had not time to think of his own ballot though he un doubtedly kept his fingers on the political wires and manipulated them towards the great ends of preserving the Union which his genius largely aided in accomplishing rn1 uLL JLUUIO Una uuuuuuKuuuufcjiuay jonnsons politics He was a tempestuous partisan but he did not po to Tennessee to vote his ticket during his term General Grant never voted after I860 when he was a Breckinridge Democrat until 1880 when he voted in New York He never voted the Republican ticket until sixteen years after he was elected as the Republican can didate and Chief Justice Carter who had much to do with getting Grant to accept the Republican nomination said that the matter was pushed because the part feared that the Democrats would take up Grant and nominate him PRESIDENTS AS 1OLITICIANS There is nothing wrong in the President going home to vote and there is nothing wrong in his taking part in politics to a limited extent All of Presidents of the past have been more or less of politicians politi-cians George Washington was a first class politician and he did not scruple to use liquor in his elections When he was a candidate for the house of Burgesses Virginia he kept an account of his election expenses and among them was a hogshead of whisky and a barrel wine which were used at the polls Jefferson spent some thing like 10000 for wines iud liquors r tEa tE-a while he was President of the United States and a largo amount of this went to conciliate discontented voters Jefferson was always laying political wires and he was by no means scrupulous in his means of accomplishing his ends Even while ho was in Washingtons cabinet he bekcpt a man in the department under him whose chief duty was to write political articles against Washington These articles were published in the anti administration and Jefferson would mark them and paper send them to Washington Few people appre ciate how Washington was slandered dur ing his administration The papers then called him the stepfather of his country and the American Cccsar They accused him of wanting to become a king and in 179o the New York Journal bad an article on Washington as a thief This was writ ten by the clerIc of the House of Repre sentatives and it accused Washington of having overdrawn his salary 55150 It was Joha Randolph Roanoke who pro posed the toast at a dinner George Washington may he be damned and one of the leading writers ot the day even accusad Washington of having committed murder during the time that he was in Braddocks expedition It was at this time that that noted scene occurred in Wash ingtons private office which Jefferson re cords in his annals in which he got into a II towering and said rag said he had never repented but once of having slipped the I moment of resigning his office and that was every moment since and he went on By G he had rather be in his grave than in his present situation He would rather be on his farm thai the emperor of the world and yet they were charging him I with wanting to be a king Even Con gress went back on him during his last days and would not pass complimentary reso lutions to him and when he finally left the executive chair the opposition papers were full of rejoicing THE TWO ADAMSES The Adams family was made up of born politicians Old John Adams was a fussy little fellow as fat butter as and as vain asa as-a peacock He was very angry when ho I found that he had to leave the White house and he went away bas and baggage the night before Jeffersons inauguration say ing that he would not stay to see his enemies exalted Ho was very jealous of Washington andone day when one of his friendu in speaking of some occurrance that had lately happened referred to George Washington and John Adams as having taken part in it he interrupted the speaker and said Sir you should not say Ueorgo Washington and John Adams but you should say John Adams and George Washington for John Adams made George Washington It vas the same with John i umcy aaams tie started out as politician politi-cian before he was out of school and at the age of fifteen was drawing a government salary as secretary of our legation at St Petersburg He fed off the public pap dur ing the whole of his life and the salaries which he receive from Uncle Sam amounted to about a half a million dollars His election was brought about it is said by a political bargain which he made with Henry Clay and after he left the White house ha again entered politics and came back to Congress JACKSON AND VAX BUKEN During the days of Jackson and Van Buren the government had no use for any man who was not a Democrat Jackson was one of the most violent partisans who I ever sat in the White houseand he schemed for the success of his party during the whole of bis two administrations He helped Van Buren to become his successor because he considered him a firstclass Democrat and it was during his adminis tration that the famous doctrine was brought forth which is embodied In the catch words to the victors oelong the spoils ethnic POLITICAL PIIESIDEKTS President Harrisons grandfather was a 1l 4 I politician and he was holding a petty polit icalofflno at the time he was nominated for I the presidency Polk slumped the state of Tennessee for a candidate for governor several times and was noted as a hand shaker and a baby kisser long before he was thought of for the presidency He never had any idea that he would be nominated nomi-nated at Baltimore and when he received the news of his nomination be was trying a ten dollar justice of the peace case His brother communicated the fact to him but he would nut believe it and it wa sometime some-time efole he would be persuaded that the fact was a genuine one Fillmore was a politician and Frank Pierce had had a long political career before he was nominated for the Presidency Taking the Presidents all in all they have done their duty in keep ing up the politics of the country and after all it is only the Mugwumps who think that such actions are anything to tneir discredit dis-credit A CHAT WITU GAIUIELDS STEWARD Another of Garfields attendants during his last illness is very near to death Mr W T Crump who acted as the steward of the White House during the Hayes and Garfield administration is the man Dur ing the illness of Garfield he was constantly con-stantly by his side both day and night and his nervous system at this time underwent such a strain that he has not been wen since then A part of his duty was the lifting of Garfield about in bed as the I i I doctors suggested and in doing this he hurt his back so that he has not been tible to bend over since then For a long tune he wore a wide band ot leather around his waist as a back supporter and for the past ten years he has been in such a nervous condition that tho least over exertion has made him sick Garfields illness was avery a-very poor job for him The committee that revised the bills recommended that he be paid 53000 in addition to his salary for his extra work Tho treasury cut down this amount to 300 and this is all he ever received re-ceived He was getting 1SOO as steward of the White House but he was not able to fill hia position after the death of Gar field and President Arthur had to choose anew a-new steward He opened a lunch room in Washington for a time but this did not succeed and he has not been doing well since GARFIELD AS A PATIENT Garfield was by no means a mascot to those who were employed about his bedside bed-side He ruined Crump and his sickness was the death blow to Dr Bliss health and prosperity Bliss had the biggest practice in Washington at the time Gar field was shot He was making between twentyfive and fifty thousand dollars a year He gate up his practice to devote nimsen to tae iresiaont ana for months did nothing but attend to him After the death ho asked for 15000 as his fees but the auditing board cut him down to G000 and he left the White house with a broken constitntion to find that his splendid practice had almost gone and that he had to go to work again to build it up He had to go to Europe for his health and after months of doing nothing he came back to Washington looking twenty years older than ho did before the assassination His hair was gray and his shoulders were bent After a time he began to falloff fall-off mentally and he died a year or so ago a disappointed man I have had many talks with Dr Bliss as to that terrible sickness and I dont think the world understands what a strain it was upon his attendants I chatted with Steward Crump about it not long ago He tells me that Garfield thought he was going to get well as long as Mrs Garfield had any I hopes of it As soon as she gave up he felt that all was lost and he began to fail Ho I was very quiet and very resigned throughout through-out the whole sickness and he was at times quite facetious in talking about himself and his case He once said to Crump that ho could not see why Guiteau shot him and j 1 thought he might have waited until he roJ J s I turned from his little vacation Dr Bliss I was not a great friend of Mr Garfield The two did not get along well together and their views sometimes came into conflict with one another GAUriELUS GASTRONOMIC TASTES I talked with Mr Crump as to Garfields table He said President Garfield had the dyspepsia when he was inaugurated and all the time he was in the white house ho ate nothing but the plainest of food He was very particular about his hours I and he ate his breakfast always at 830 his dinner at 3 and a light tea at 7 pm He was very lend of a good beefst3al and he always had baked potatoes for breakfast He hail a way of his own for fixing these He would have tho potatoes broken open as soon as they came upon the table and press the white mealy mass out upon his plate and pour cream over them He liked this dish so well that he often made a wholemeal whole-meal out of it and he once told me that it was fur better and more digestible than potatoes with butte He was also fond of a piece of nice bacon fried to a crisp Ho I ate beefsteak for dinner but neither honor I ho-nor Mrs Garfield ever cured for much of I anything and his table was by no means so elaborate as that of President Haves WHAT HAYES LIKED TO EAT What wore President Hayes favorite dishes I asked President Hayes replied Steward Crump had a very tasty stomach He liKed good steak or mutton chops for break fast and he always ate a very good break fast IIo began with fruit followed this up with somo oatmeal or grits and then atter his meat he always bad some kind of I cakes He was very fond of cake of In dian meal and he tnousht a breakfast was I not complete without the best of coffee He I used a mixture of fine mocha and java This breakfast usually took place in the private dining room at 8 oclock At 1 oclock I served his lunch This consisted I of cold meats roast turkey duck or beef cut down in slices and a salad This with bread and butter coffee and tea constituted consti-tuted the noon meal Our biggest meal was at dinner which was served at 0 p in It was served in courses first there were the oysters on the half shell then a fillet or roast of lamb with some kind of croquettes cro-quettes and vegetables Following this we usually had a course of game and then dessert consisting of cakes fruit candy and nuts There was always cake on the table awl Mrs Hayes dearly loved angels food cake We finished tho dinner with a cup of after inner coffee and the first part of it was always washed down with Apollinaris water President Hayes was very fond of candy He dearly doted on duck and he had a special aversion to pork in any shape HATES WHITE HOUSE LIBERALITY I here referred to the charge that Hayes saved a great deal of money while he was in the White house and that he watched every penny Steward Crump denied tbat this was true and said I believe that President Hayes spent as much in the White house as any President has ever done Some of his state dinners cost him S17 per plate I was instructed to get the best I could in the market without regard to price and Hayes never criticised my accounts ac-counts I never found any niggardliness about him and I dont believe he saved a cent of his salary He always had lots of people to dinner and during the last part of his term there was an average of thirty seven every day to dinner and we always had a house full of guests He did not use any wine it is true but he made up for it in other ways He was a much nicer man to work for than Arthur and kept decent hours Arthur never had his dinner before 8 oclock and his friends often sat at the table as late as 12 or 1 This would run the dish washing away on into the night and I found I could not stand the pressure Gar field always had wine at his meals HAl juever HA-l ate anything but acracker and a cup i 17 hdPlk of coffee for breakfast and he took this often as late as 10 oclock in the morning THE PRESIDENTS AS WINE DRINKERS President Hayes had wine only once on his table while he was in the White House and this was when the Grand Duke Alexis was here Garfield gave no State dinners while he was in the White House but Ar thurs dinners were noted for the fineness of their wines and Andrew Johnson had a special brand of sherry which was very popular Johnson was very fond of whisky and kept a jug of old Bourbon always near him He was drunk at his inauguration as yiccpresiddnt and he became be-came so from having been on a spree the night before and going to the capitol on an empty stomach When he got there ho found himself very faint and asked John W Forney if he couid give him a drink Forney was I think the clerk of the Senate Sen-ate and he went to one of the cupboards pulled out whole bottlo of rye whisky and handed it to Andy Johnson Johnson took a goblet and poured it i full of the ambsrcolored liquid and drank the whole of it in three swallows scared Forney to see him do so and as the burning burn-ing fluid swashed around in his empty stomach it was no wonder that it marie him drunk About ten minutes after this he stood up to be inaugurated VicePresi dent and to the sorrow of all began to make a speech Everyone could see that ho was drunker than the traditional boiled owl and though there was an atttempt to hush the matter up it was all in vain One of the greatest items of Ar thurs dinners was the cost of his wines and the last nine dinners ho gave while in the White house cost him neary i > Jefferson always used the finest fin-est of wines Washington generally drank two glasses of old Miidcria while at inner and Jackson on the night of his inauguration inaugura-tion spoiled the cast room carpet with the barrels of punch which he had brought into in-to treat his guests John Tyler imported his own wines from Madtria and he got his rum at four dollars a gallon from Norfolk Nor-folk Frank Pierce was addicted to dring ing a little too much before he was elected president and he set a good table while he was in the White House Martin Van Buren liked French wines Both the Adams economical as tho were about other matters served wine at their state dinners and Madison and Monroe Mon-roe were wine drinkers In a cosmopolitan society like that of Washington it is impossible impos-sible to get along without the use of wine and the President who serves them creates less comment and does quite as much good as he who does not notFRANK FRANK G CARPENTER |