Salt Lake evening Democrat. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1885-1887, 1885-10-30
OCTOBER 80. 1886
PEDAGOGUEs IN POLITICS.
Many of President ClevcIand,s Ap-
pointccs are from Heroes of
the Birch.

Any one who has closely watched the |
course Of the present Administration in |
the matter of appointments TO office must |
have noticed that many-in fact, ma |,
jority of the more important appointees
have at some period in their careers !,
figured as school teachers. Whether their /
classroom experience had anything to do |
with their selection by the President is, OF |
course, matter of surmise, but the know
ing ones say that Mr.. Cleveland has a
natural leaning towards those who began
life like himself. The President, as is
generally known, spent the first years of
his manhood at the school-desk and as
reader in an asylum for the blind,
educating himself and preparing for
the bar at the same time. II we go
back to the early days of the men who
have been lately honored by the Admin
istration we will find that many of them
will have similar history. Mr.. Phelps,
the Minister to England, presided over
small country school in Vermont when
he was not quite eighteen, and was q col
lege professor at the time of his APP
pointment to the diplomatic service.
Governor McLane, Minister TO the French
Government, earned enough money by
teaching TO keep himself two years in
university. Mr.. Kelly, who was appointed
representative to the Court of Vienna
and afterward resigned, passed four years
as vice principal OF his fathers academy
at Petersburg, and is very fond of refer
ring to the time thus spent, attributing to
it the requirement Of the patience and
industry which have given him success
in life.
Mr.. Lowthrop, Minister to Russia,
after graduating in the law department
OF Harvard, went to Michigan, to grow
up with the country. The profits OF his
profession did not, however, grow as fast
as his necessities, and he was obliged to
assume the duties of pedagogue for
about nine months in order to make both
ends meet. Every one has heard of
Minister Cox's failure in teaching the
youthful mind how to shoot Three
months in an Ohio school, devoted more
to pugilistic exercises with refractory
pupils than to class work, convinced the
young teacher that he had mistaken his
vocation. A request for his resignation
Endorsed unanimously by the boys
parents, had also something to do with
Mr.. CoX's retirement from the field of
pedagogsm. Rufus Magee, who has
gone to Sweden, instructed Catholic
youth in the parochial schools at Vim
cennes, Ind. l have heard that General
Jackson, Minister to Mexico, taught for
some time in Georgia military school,
but no mention is made of this in the
sketches OF his life which have recently
been published. Lower grades OF tie
diplomatic service, and Indeed the whole
list OF appointments, show the same pre-
dominance of whlom school teachers as
appears in the first and second-class mis-
| sions.
The heroes of the birch have gone up
even higher. Since 1880 we have seen
in the Executive chair three Presidents
who once occupied rostrums in country
school-houses. President Garfield left the
tow-path for the teachers desk, and was
all Of his life connected with educational
institutions in one capacity or another.
1t is said that he contemplated accepting
the presidency of a Massachusetts, college
when he was unexpectedly made the Re-
publican standard-bearer but, OF course,
he no longer considered the idea after
that event. President Arthur likewise
welded the rod before welding the execu-
tive authority. The particulars of the
teaching period of the ex-President's life
are not generally known. 1t is certain
that he caught the Western fever away
back in the SOS and set out for Iowa to
garner in the wealth which was
so scarce among the sterile noun
tains of Vermont. The garnering
was not so easy as he expected. Like
thousands OF other men who have gone
West with the idea that stray fortunes are
wandering around there, seeking con-
venient pocket in which to repose, he
found that work, and very hard work, too,
was the only key to natures treasure
chest. Having only smattering of law
and an indifferent general education, he
at first sought in vain u field where his
requirements might bring him fortune or
even u subsistence. 1t is said that he
tried the plowshare for awhile. Then he
drifted into Il country store as book
keeper, clerk, porter and sweeper.
Finally he conceived the happy idea Of
opening school during the winter
months. This plan was OF all his West
ern ventures the most productive finan'
cially, for in less than six months he
managed by close economy to lay aside
, enough money to bring him back to the
East, and forthwith left for home. Soon
afterward he was admitted to the bar in
New York, where he practiced his pro
( fession until he was appointed Collector
! of the Port. President Cleveland is the
, third OF the trio of teachers who have
gone up from the schoolhouse to tn,
i, White House. Had the Republicans
> been successful in the last campaign W,
would still have three successive Presi
dents who began life rs pedagogues. Mr.
Blaine's career rs professor in Ken
lucky military academy has been sketcheC
+ frequently within the last year-too fire.
y quently, in fact, for Mr.. Blaine's peace o
mind and success as Il Presidential can
didate,