New national era. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1870-1874, 1873-02-13
4 Remarkable IIi>tOry.

Senator Henry Wilson, Vice President.
elect OF the United States made frank state
ment of his financial circumstances. yester-
day. In the course of his examination he.
fore Judge Poland's Special Committee, MIR.
wilson gave pretty clear outline of his his
tory In money matters. When he entered
the Senate he closed up the business, that of
shoemaking, sold his stock in hand, paid his
debts, and went to Washington in possession
ct a clear property of less than a thousand
dollars. a house which had cost him some
tour thousand dollars he had already settled
upon his wife, Tor whose benefit he had also
insured his life to tho amount of thirty-tiyo
hundred dollars. With this beginning of n
fortune and with firm resolve To own no
property that could be affected bv lcgisla-
ton, and by no means to initiate the easy
style OF action which he had observed to be
considered respectable among LAWYERS and
flch men, tins mechanic devoted himself To-
the dGties of his political position By steady
trugaiity he had accumulated some three
thousand dollars in 1861, when the war
opened; Tor six years he had laid by five
hundred year. The close of the war found
him in debt many hundred dollars but by
writing for the newspapers, he has managed.
win strict economy, To become Il free man
again. sum total of his labors, in a pcc,ni-
airy sense: lie will to-day take 81, 800 for all
ing to pay his debts. That is, be- is worth
about $500 clear of the world The story
covers many years, and deals with figure
tnat look very small, certainly, when the dig
nlty OF the official position of the man is con
sldered. But everybody will believe it, and
we are glad that the facts have hccn brourl,
out, IN the course of a rambling and very
loose investigation.
1t is not for the purpose Of wasting time
th..n a.,
litical celebrities, that we repeat the outline
OF Mr.. Wilson's financial history; neither
congressional committees nor the public were
entitled to this detailed knowledge We re-
Ter to the facts simply to show how n man
may reach his honor, and retain it. in this
country, with no more money than he can
Just live upon. The love Of money il indeed
widespread, and the haste to get rich leads
many men, in public lil,, as elsewhere, to
adopt questionable modas ofacquiring money.
liut The respect and affection OF the people ut
the United States, as well ia of the STATE
which gave us Mr. Wilson, are both within
The reach OF men who have neither wealth
nor the talent or taste for gaining it, The
life OF Henry Wilson will long be held in re-
mcmbrancc by the struggling classes of this
country. His advancement will encourage
the ambition OF many a young man who
thinks himself equal to greater things than
his own limited sphere can offer. II i. right
that this ambition should have the support ot
such career. But the indifference 10 money,
the disregard Of anything beyond his own
honest earnings and savings, is one Of the
most valuable parts Of such life. man in
Mr.. Wilson's position has many chances to
make money; in honest ways, that il, for the
character of the man forbids the mention OF
other ways. But he preferred to keep tho
safe path, and riches are further from him
than poverty is. Tho peace of mind which
springs from such a course, and the clearness
| which it gives to the judgment, are beyond
all valuation in money. And the popular re-
gard for Henry Wilson proves, no matter
what croakers or ill-nlormed people may say,
that character still rules the United States,
with Government against which money
may conspire, but which it cannot oyertuIn.-
| N. J. Commercial Adreytiser.