Omaha daily bee., 1885-04-07
SHERIDAN ON A
How the "old Man" Talked About
Making aFortune-Not a
Politician.

The Philadelphia Ledger publishes by
permission the substance of remarks made
by General Sheridan at a diHner party In
Washington recently, In which he said;
ut Ia sad to think of Gen. Grant dying
under auch physical torture as Is Unlisted
by his terrible disease, and under such
mental anguish as l know he suffers in
consequence OF the unfortunate business
failure that overwhelmed him and his
family. / could never comprehend why
the old (all old soldiers cali General Grant
the odd man) went into business and
particularly why he set himself up in
Wall street. From the time he imblbed
this business notion i have always
thought General Grant was off his base
and had lost that abundance of caution
that had characterized all his previous
movements. | listened to his talk about
making money in perfect amszement.
He imagined that he had o talent for
making money aud that his sons possessed
the talent to a remarkable degree. He
seemed never to tire of talking about this
when we were so situated as to be free
from interruption, and when we could
talk with freedom of bygone days.
"Now | know very well that General
Grant did not possess the talent or gem
ius for making money. His nature is
too generous and contidipg for that. His
talent In connection with money was In
an opposite direction and caused him to
get clear of IL In q very short time. He
could never keep money before he set up
In Wall street and you know he Is a very
bright fellow who can keep money after
he gets there. What most surprised
me, however, was that the old man
should talk so much about this newly
discovered talent. He talked persist.
ently-and Grant always talked well
when he fell free to talk-about accumu-
lating a large fortune, and 1 noticed his
earneatness of manner. L sometimes
thought that | moderated him in this
particular. Still, l could not entirely
divest myself of the apprehension l felt
on his account and his very persistency
and earnestness added to my fears.
"Why l never knew Grant to talk
about the great abilities which he had
possessed and which the world has recog-
nized. Nobody ever heard him talk
about his great military talent or boast
about his splendid achievements in the
field and yet Grant knew of his extraor-
binary abilities, in this direction before
his successful movements, and the bril-
liant decisive results that attended them
showed him this. Indeed General Grant
had a greater talent for conducting cam.
paigns and fighting armies than he was
really aware of. Nobody, however, ever
heard him talk about what he possessed
In this direction.
"The simple fact that he descanted to
me with so much esrnestness and fire.
quency on his supposed money making
talents raised o suspicion In my mind
that bis previously strong mental forces
were breaking up and that he was rapidly
moving away from his previous we'll
lines of providence and
Later In the evening Sheridan spoke of
had left the army to become president of
the United States.
"You have seen a statement" said he,
eco the effect that the old man laid plans
to secure the nomination for the presl-
dency In 1868. There Ia no foundation
for such st atements, and | know whereof
l speak. | know what his feelings and
his desires were at that time touching his
failure. He wanted above all things to
remain with the army, which he loved
and whose idol he was and still is, and he
had no ambition whatever to become
president. He doubted his ability to
discharge the duties of president. But
above all he had no taste or inclination
for political Offices"