Show T CHAT WITH STANFORD The Richest Senator and His Home in Washington HOTT the Californian Talks and Acts I His Univfcrsity Vfhj Stanford Went to California His Keminlscenses or President Lincoln Special Correspondence THE DEMOCRAT WASHINGTON bob 24 I called upon Senator Leland Stanford of I California last night He lives in a big white stone house in the heart of fashionable Washington It is within four or five squares of the White House and the big mansion of the British legation is about as far distant in the opposite direction The house faces Far I ragut square with its bronze statue of the noted admiral and it adjoins the house occupied occu-pied by the millionaire congressman Scott j of Pennsylvania Stanford is by all odds the richest man in the senate Scott is the richest rich-est man in the house of representatives and thus these two richest men live side by side Scott however is put down at 12000000 while Stanford has been estimated as high us six timos this amount Senator Stanfords Washington home is a magnificent one but it is by no means the finest fin-est at the capital Its front door is reached liy wide steps and a generous vestibule admits ad-mits you to a hall of like proportions Large pnrlors open into this hallway and stairways with broad steps and with several landings lend to a second story The furnishing of the 11all is very rich and the portieres leading into the parlor are or Japanese silk richly I 1 embroidered The parlor is i big enough for a I oIlty council chamber It is divided in half liy a rich Japanese portiere and it is lighted with chandeliers and lamps of carved brass Beautiful pictures which Senator Stanford lies picked up here and there over the world I bang upon the wall and all the surroundings t uo those of culture and beauty There is no attempt at an extravagant display of wealth though the furniture is of the richest and best It is selected with good taste and it looks as though its owners were accustomed L to use it It has connected with its beauty and richness an air of home like every day friendliness about it the which you better appreciate ap-preciate when you come into contact with Senator Stanford himself Senator Stanford is the example of a millionaire mil-lionaire whom riches have not spoiled He is ns plain in his manners and as democratic in his views as he was when as a young lawyer he made his first fight for fortune in a Wisconsin Wis-consin village There is nothing snobbish SKT about him You feel that he is a gentleman and that he considers you one He is a man of broad views of wide reading and extended extend-ed travel He talks well is interested in all public matters and has an opinion on most of them I chatted with him about his new university univer-sity and he grew enthusiastic in talking about its possibilities He is anxious that his fortune should accomplish some good in this world while he lives and that it should go on working after his death He told me that the j provisions of the university were such that he 1 thought it would have a good income for in my years to come The benuest isso worded word-ed that the incomeof the large extent of lam surrounding it is to be devoted to it alone and so that the lands cannot be sold It R ownership is perpetuated in the university afar a-far as it is possible to vest such rights in this country The land which Senator Stanford gives to this university is noted for its fertility and it is has a reservoir which will supply 3000000 gallons of water daily throughout the year I even if there is no rain fall This will insur the thorough irrigation of the land during al ITV 1 seasons and it will probably be the mode farming land of California A town wil 1 grow up in connection with the university T Y t and it is Senator Stanfords idea to give such 1 students as desire it all the facilities for P I complete agricultural education The scheme of the university is not entirely formulated as yet but the ground will b + broken for the buildings next spring and tin plans are now being made The buildings will be of one story well up from the ground and the present intention is to have a number of arcades like those of Turin or Paris running run-ning from one part of the university to the other Everything will be of the most substantial sub-stantial nature and approved character and L a the buildings will be erected with the idea that they are to last for generations Senator Stanford told me that he wished to furnish a complete educational system and that there would probably be two divisions an acud emy or preparatory school and the college proper It is his idea to make no distinction dis-tinction between the professors of the academy and the college that is he does not wish the professors of one to feel that they have a V higher rank than those of the other The S college will have complete mechanical and a chemical laboratories It will have the best professors that can be secured and it wil furnish education at a very moderate costa S cost-a Senator Stanford does not believe that it would be wise to furnish educational advantages advan-tages for nothing He says That which V costs nothing is estimated as being worth 7 nothing and he believes there is such a cents thing as educating children to be paupers JJe tells me there will probably be some pro I i vision for the education of needy children 4 who either through their fathers or themselves them-selves are deserving of assistance but he says the rule will be to put the tuition and board so low that almost any one can pay it Said he The actual necessities of life cost but little and it is the nicknacks which count If a man or boy chooses to eat that which is nourishing and good he can get it for a very small sum and my idea is that board could be furnished amid the rich farming facilities which will surround this university at the same prices that used to be paid in the country coun-try where 1 was brought up in New York TB At the academies there our tuition cost only f 8 or 9 J a quarter and we could get good board for ten or twelve shillings a week A man can supply his necessities if he has to on 150 a week and in this universitycom nmnity everything will be cheap Milk ought not to cost here more than two cents n t quart and vegetables and fruits will be very cheap The rates will be such as to both tuition and board that no poor boy or girl who is willing to work for an education will need to do without it II 1 asked Senator Stanford as to the extra va gan stables which the newspapers said hew he-w i building in Washington He replied The oeecriptiont of my stables have been greatly overdrawn There is little extraor dinary and yand nothing magnificent about them BS They will have good brick walls and will he fitted up as C01Ilortably asiS required for tile needs of the horses and not more so The walls of the interior wju be unplastered and I am building them ifl with a view of selling when I am through to some livery man I have none of my fastest horses at Washing ton and have as yet brought here only the teams I require for my daily use The conversation here drifted to the law and I asked Senator Stanford how he hap paned to go to California Said he I had studied Jaw in New York and had one w f t to Port Washington Wis to practice I opened a law office there and did very well considering I made 1200 the first year and I had the finest law library north of Milwaukee I had at this time five brothers in California and I received letters from them from time to time urging me to come further west I did not decide to go until one night a fire broke out in the building in which I had my office and burned it with all its contents to the ground When I saw the blaze eating up my library and my papers I knew that the California question ques-tion was a settled one for me and as soon as the fire was over I began to settle my accounts with a view to going west In the fire I had many papers which were connected con-nected with my business thirteen mortgages and several sets of accounts which I had the charge of It was in fact the beginning of a good business and I thought at the time thaI tha-I was doing very well I went away from Wisconsin with 800 as the sum of my possessions pos-sessions and my intention then was to go to California to make some money there and after a year or so to come back to Wisconsin I to live I held this idea for some time after I I got to California but at the end of three years I found myself so involved in business there that I gave up all idea of returning I have been back to Port Washington several times since but never with any idea of giving giv-ing up my California residence t I see senator that a great many reminiscences remi-niscences are being published about President Presi-dent Lincoln You were governor of Cull foruia during his presidency were you not I met President Lincoln said Senator Stanford at his inauguration and had a number of interviews with him in regard to California The state was largely Democratic Demo-cratic at this time and it had many southern sympathizers During my visit to the east I left Washington and went to New York Here I received a telegram from President Lincoln to return to Washington and I came back and spent several weeks there I had many talks with Lincoln and I con sidiv I hill a great man He grew upon you as VMI lime to know him and though he was plain t 1i i5 manners lIP impressed you with the bt > Uiics < > of his views as a btatosuian ama am-a politician He understood politicians ag well as statesmen and he could deal as well with a politician from a village as with one from the city He was very kind to me and he gave me such appointments for my friends as I asked for Upon my return to California Cali-fornia I was elected governor and I kept up a correspondence with the president as such I organized the state for the Union I put in none but loyal men as officers and I called out the state militia to the service of the government gov-ernment FRANK G CARPENTER |