The morning news., 1888-11-01
OWNED BY THE PRESIDENT.
But Few Presidents Before Mr.. Cleve-
land Who Acquired properly IN
Washing ton.

From the Boston Globe.
.sMr Cleveland is the twenty-second
President. it seems. But he is the first
President to have built himself a home
while President within this capital city.
He is. therefore, Cleveland the First among
the denizens of Washington. One looks at
his clean, little, transformed house beyond
GEORGETOWN with a curious sense of recogni-
+;op that this man hethought himself OF the
a imsiness of history and magistratedom
a,,d remarked: We'll, this is pretty good
town. and here l will set up my pillar
The President very probably made good
,r,,,astment when he bought this piece of
Ground. some twenty acres, understand,
more If this city should extend in the
s1,,rar manner and seek the high plateaus
lIa,.,ord the west where the prospects are
Grand and the tops of the distant mountains
come into view, every one OF Clevelands
acres will become building lots, and
,'erbaps when his wife has become aSold a
Il,'or,1an as Mrs. Polk or Mrs. Tyler. who are
IN living. she will begin to realize upon her
s'arI, and have some alternate lots to disp sc
r. for Washington, while il has come to
I;aId of stop. is unquestionably to be a very
Ia-rro CITY. and Mr.. Cleveland has put him
III !, the axis of its development. He
+ool, n large stone house ana had an archi-
.ect transform it in the well-known style
,,a sec. of a kind of U-shaped gable chimney
and with verandas suspended along the front,
the whole house taking..a cool look and being
bint to this government to provide for its
nacistrate some place where he can hide
himself at times and feel that be is near
lie duty vet out of observation. The Presi-
Japt should have some resort within an
bonr,s reach of Washington, where the
altituIe is high and the views picturesque,
and where he can lose himself from the
rnhlic gaze and still be talked to by tele-
phone or telegraph whenever anything
comes to pass in this hot city during the
GUNNER months. This summer Mr.. Cleve-
land has had the benefit of remar kably fine
weather in Washington, wet and cold
Weather rather than hot and dry, but fire.
onentlv the summer climate here is ex-
aenerating, though the planting of innumer-
abe trees in this city, which are now well
crown has probably altered all the condi-
tons of the atmosphere, and the sewering
of the town and the channellng of the Po-
tomac river and filling it up have created
here out of a modern Babylon something of
a modern Paris
WHAT OTHER PRESIDENTS HAVE DONE
Our previous Presidents have all consid-
cred the propriety of making some in
vestment at Washington. but few of them
have done so. 1t is, indeed, surprising to
see what an immense caravan of wealthy
prominent persons have passed through this
town in the last ninety years and taken no
lot in its fortunes. You can almost count
the individuals of public station who de-
nosited any money in Washington.
Gen. Washington bought some bits of
ground here and there, but they were of no
value, I think, 10 him nor his wife after he
died. John Quincy Adams, think, pur-
chased house here in the vicinity of Cor
corans residence. near the white house, and
if am not mistaken, it is still in thefam
iy's possession; and within few rods of
it Henry Adams, the historian, built his
house as an appendage of Mr.. John Hays
large mansion, and the house was hardly
built when Mr. Adams lost his wife. The
Adams family had particular reason to be
friendly TO Washington city, since tue wife
Of John Quincy Adams was Maryland
woman, reared at no great distance from
this capital, and quite connection still ex-
sts here of Mrs. Adams family, such as the
Johnsons of whom is the confederate Gen.
Bradley johnson, and the Hellens and
others. Connected with the Johnsons were
the Keys, of whom was Mrs. Pendleton, who
died from a frightful accident in Central
park, New York. Her husband, who is
still living, though he has had slight
stroke of paralysis, was one OF the first per-
ions to build handsomely in the city of
Washington in very recent times, and the
house he put up has become the center of a
series of fine houses facing the executive
mansion, and only few squares separated
from it. Continuing with Presidents who
have
PAID SOME ATTENTION TO WASHINGTON
it is to be observed that nearly all the other
ones were impecunious men, except Wash
ington, who was q strict business man, iiv-
ing under declining conditions in his COM
monwealth, the land running down and the
climate becoming impaired, while the
strength and lustiness of the country were
going to the far west to settle-in Kentucky
and elsewhere Mr.. Jefferson owned moth
ing here that / have heard of. Mr.. Madison
did have house in Washington, or his wife
had succeeding him, in the vicinity of the
white house square, and it is now occupied
by club called the Cosmos. Local tradi-
tlon says that Mrs. Madison had to abandon
this house and go to the country on account
OF the persecution of her son by her first
husband, who was an habitual spendthrift.
and who went to his grave at the congress
slonal cemetery with only one carriage be-
hind the hearse, and one of the two mourn
egs in that carriage died in this city only a
few weeks ago-James c.. McGuire-leaving
fortune of about $300,000.
Mr.. Monroe has some posterity or connec-
tionS in Washington city, but | think he
never ACQUIRED property here, having been
himself in most silly condition of impecG-
mostly for man who was never out OF a
salaried situation for about forty years. He
has descendants now in the public service.
think none of the early Vice Presidents
acquired any property here, though two of
them have six feet of soil in The old ceme-
terry by the Eastern Branch, namely
george Clinton of New York, and Elbridge
Uerry of Massachusetts. Gen. jackson had
no property in Washington city, and after
he had retired from the presidency, was
compelled to accept present of $10,0 900
Homh his editors and printers, Blair & Rives.
FROM WASHINGTON TO CLEVELAND.
D, From the review | have made" Mr..
townsend concludes, land from other in
formation, it is clear that no person acquired
property as the President of the United
States in this district beween Gen. Wash
'gton and Grover Cleveland. Gen. Grant
Iook lot here and was about to build
Iesilence, but he never carried his idea into
Suect, AS he was decoyed off to New York
ny the financial set, and there he purchased
III what he supposed TO be his day of pros
4e'Ny, handsome residence, which is now
us wfe's home. He did not even delegate
ms oody to this district, and it lies among a
people quite foreign to everything in his
.ul''vory except his so-caled financial life and
.ne term he spent at the West Point Mill