The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1892-01-08

y0'is ueIore his nomination ne nad Deen
living on $1,000 year, and two years
before that had been peddling cord wood
IN the streets of st. Louis Mr. Hayes
was comparatively well off when he was
nominated, his fortune being estimated
at about 100000, and he was the
wealtniest man, with two exceptions,
nominated by either party in more than
Sixty years, and probably the wealthiest
president elected since General Wash
ington.
General Garfield was poor man when
nom'nat&t. He owned house IN Wash
mgton, but it was mortgaged, and he
had some slight investments. After his
deatn his property was so well handled
that 1t was said to yield his widow some
thing like $4,000. General Arthur and
Grover Cleveland were each worth about
$oo,ooo when they entered the White
House. Each Of them had made fortu-
nate real estate investments, which in
the course of few years increased their
wealth. Arthur's fortune at the time
OF his death was estimated to be
$150.O0O, due almost entirely to appreci-
atlon OF real estate which he owned in
New York city Cleveland is estimated
now to be worth about $500, 900. while
his wlfes fortune is considerably more
than that sum. President Harrison had
a very small property when he was nom
mated, and those who knew his circum-
stances az that time declared that all his
possessions would not amount to $40. 900.
Only twice, perhaps three times,
In the past sixty years have men who
were rich in the modern meaning of
that word been nominated for the presi-
dency Mr.. Tilden at the time of his
nomination was called millionaire,
but the greater part of his wealth did not
come to him until year after the presi-
Dental election of 1876. Through GER
tain investments in railway stocks, and
especially by the enormous appreciation
in the value OF. the stock of the elevated
railway in New York, Mr.. Tilden vastly
increased his estate. and when he died
his executors estimated his wealth at
about $5.000.000 Another wealthy man
nominated for the presidency was Hora-
ito Seymour. He had large possessions
In lands and stocks. but he was SO char
liable in the use of his property, so wise
In the administration of it, that his
wealth was not considered detriment.
Moreover, the leading candidate for
the nomination against him, George Ell.
Pendleton, was also wealthy man. He
was not so rich as Governor Seymour,
but he was one of the few prominent
Democrats whose wealth made him con-
spicuous as well as his abilities. In 1s48
the candidate of the Democratic party,
Lewis Cass, was a man OF wealth. He
was, however, so conspicuous as states
man and leader in his party that but
little attention was paid to the fact that
he had accumulated great possessions,
mainly by the rise in value of property
IN Detroit, which he had years before
bought for very small sum.
Many OF those who were candidates
or were prominently mentioned in con-
nection with the presidency and two or
three who served as president died in
poverty. Stephen.A. Douglas after his
brilliant career was practically penni-
less when he died, although had he lived
few years some land which he owned
in the then suburbs of Chicago would
have brought him a fair sum. James
Monroe died in almost absolute poverty
in New York city. John Tyler was a
poor man after he left the presidency.
Daniel Webster did not have much prop
erty, except his estate at Marshfeld, and
Henry Clay's place, called Ashland, was
about all he left to his heirs. Jefferson's
struggles with poverty furnish the sad
dest episode in his career, and John G.
Breckenridge struggled hard in his prac-
tice at the bar to support his family.
A change in the disposition of conven-
tons respecting the age of candidates
has been noticed. Formerly the ten
dency was to select men who were well
on in years. jackson and Buchanan
and William Henry Harrison were old
men when they were elected to the pres
idency. The average age up to 1850 of
candidates and presidents when elected
was about sixty-two years. With the
war era, however, the tendency to choose
younger men began to be very marked.
Stephen A. Douglas was only forty
seven when he was nominated. FIRE.
mont was nominated when only forty
three, but he was the first candidate of
a new party. John q. Breckenridge was
barely forty years of age when he was
nominated in 1860, and he had scarcely
passed the constitutional limit when he
was nominated and elected vice presi-
dent in 1856. Gray hairs have not been
the rule with candidates whether de-
feated or elected since 1850. Mcclellan,
who was the youngest candidate ever
nominated to the presidency and who
was of most youthful appearance, was
associated with another young man,
George FL. Pendleton, who was only
forty-two years of age while Mcclellan
was thirty-nine. Grant was only forty
Six when he was first elected, Garfield
was forty-eight and Cleveland forty
seven.
In the earlier days it would have been
esteemed rash thing to think of choos-
ing president who had not passed fifty
years, although Henry Clay was only
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