The Wichita daily eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1890-1906, 1892-05-25


milton when this meeting took place at the
race track He passed Smith as if he had
never seen him.
A few minutes later Smith went IN tc
Shaw and said to him, II beg your pardon
but you are Mr.. Shaw, the newspaper cor
respondent, are you not?" Il am, sir. u
We'll, have just come on from Arizona
and am trying to find Mark Smith, the del
egaue from our territory, and / am told be
is out here. don't know him by sight
and as | am told you know him well
would be under great obligations TO you il
you would point him out to me in the
crowd" 'Yes, | know Mark Smith very
WE'LL" replied Shaw, but | don't think he
is out here today. At any rate, haven't
seen him If he is here at all you go and
stand down there by the bar and wait till
you see man come up and say TO the bar
keeper, Here, give me some gentleman's
whisky and you'll know that's Smith.
You won't have 10 wait more than ten min.
utes at the outside. If he isn't here you
go down to Chamberlin's tonight and
you'll find him there getting full But if
you have any business with him. and it is
business of Importance, would advise you
to go early. After o'clock in the eveKng
O1iIbL ISL OlIcu III d 10 attend
TO anything of serious nature" This is
the story which Smith tells on himself,
and to this day he doesn't know whether
Shaw recognized him and said these things
by way of joke or whether he was really
ignorant of the identity of the man to
whom he was talking and gave the sup
posed stranger this description of the dele
gate from Arizona in good faith.
President Harrison does not go to the
races, though he is almost as fond of horses
as General Grant was As said in my last
letter he is great admirer of baseball and
occasionally attends the games, but / am
told be never yet went to horse race, ex-
cepting only the races which take place at
the agricultural fairs in Indiana. The
president does not believe in encouraging
by his attendance a sport which depends
so much for its success upon gambling as
does the modern sport of horse racing
While speaking of the president | will
give you an interesting bit of gossip which
came to me the other day on very good au-
thority. 1t was that President Harrison
has saved out of his salary since he came
to the White House, a little more than
three years ago. the snug sum of S100,000
He expects to save $50, eco more during the
current year, and if he should be so for
tunate as to be elected to another term,
and to serve it out, his total savings on the
eight years will amount to something like
quarter of a million of dollars This
sum well invested will make the president
independent in financial way during the
remainder of his life.
The presidents housekeeping expenses
are not very heavy. He has free house
rent, a steward and one or two other serv-
ants paid by the government, stable to
keep his horses in and some other ad-
vantages which private citizen or other
officials of the government do not enjoy. 1t
is true he has to keep eight or ten servants
in the White House, but this is the heavi-
est Of his extraordinary items of expense.
His receptions do not cost him anything.
The government band furnishes the music
and government employees take care of the
crowds, who are not given anything to eat
or drink. The flowers come from the con-
servatory of the executive mansion, which
is maintained by public appropriate
The only costly social entertainments
which the president gives are the state
dinners, and they do not cost more than
S., 900 or s., 900 year.
President Harrison spends good deal
of money in travel each year, as he always
declines to accept free transportation from
the railroads. Whenever he makes jour
ney he buys a first class ticket for each
member of his party, though he does &C
cept the use of sleeping and private cars
when rendered by railway managers. 1t
costs the president about $4,000 year TO
keep up the White House and clothe his
family: leaving So 200 year for travelling
and extraordinary expenses, charity, ETC.,
he finds it comparatively easy matter to
save three-fifths of his salary, or S30,0 900 a
year. So from the financial standpoint the
presidency is an Office worth having after
all.
Mention of the fondness our statesmen
are showingf for the great national game Of
baseball prompts me to record the fact
that the only statue of Christopher Column
bus we have at the chief capital of the
world discovered by that bold navigator is
one which stands at the main entrance to
the Capitol, and which represents him as
looking more like baseball pitcher than
anything else. He stands on one foot with
his body leaning forward, and in his out
stretched hand is a marble globe intended
to represent the sphere on which we live,
but which very small flight of imagina-
ton transforms into a baseball which
Columbus attitude indicates he is about
to pitch 10 an imaginary batter. A hun
dred yards or so away stands the Green
ough statue of Washington, which, by
curious coincident, represents the Father
of his Country with hands outstretched as
if he were the catcher of the Christopher
Columbus nine eagerly awaiting the ball.
As may be easily imagined, both of these
statues are somewhat farcical as works Of
art, and while no one has the harlihood TO
suggest the removal of George Washington
it is proposed TO take this absurd Columbus
away and put something worthy in its
place. Coupled with this proposition is
one TO erect a noble monument 70 Colum-
bus, with a statue surrounding, at the
foot of the walk leading to the terrace on
the west front of the Capitol 1t is here
that the so called Peace monument now
stands, conglomerate collection Of weep
ing women, so sad in its treatment as TO
suggest its removal to cemetery. Evi-
lence that this is Columbus year may be
found in the fact that a number Of sugges-
ions for new statues and monuments in
his honor have been made in congress this
winter, and in the additional fact that for
Inc first time since it was put up the base
ball statue TO the great discoverer is now
being carefully washed and made to shine
-orth in all its original marble whitenesS
ROBERT GRAVES
A balance Of three cents claimed by the