The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1892-06-05
PRESIDENTS HOUSE
The White House as a Home and
Business Place.
WHAT 1T Is WORTH PER ANNUM
: Has cost Two E'sisose-1 word About
Some Odd Things in the Mansion Of
Which People Never Hear.

AOopto NcftL AthIs
WAsHISeToS, June !, 1892. - Especial
correspondence of The HERALD. "A great
presidential battle IS at hand, and tho White
House is the medal 10 be awarded to the
winner. Tor the next six months 1t will
be the most important OF all the buildings
OF the United States in the eyes OF the pub
nc, AID il is interesting TO know just what
Il is. Public men say the house is entirely
too small. but 1 notice those who get IN
seldom want to get out, and all who are out
are mighty anxious to get in. David Hill,
bachelor as he is, thinks that Harrison s
bed, which is six feet wide, would just suit
him. and lis frugal bachelor meal could be
as well cooked on the great ranges of the
White House kitchens as upon those of the
Arlington hotel, where be is stopping.
Mrs. Harrison says the house ought to have
double the number Of rooms it has now,
but she has not yet persuaded the presi-
dent to give it up at the close Of his term,
and as for Cullom, Mckinley, Tom Reed
and John Sherman, they are boiling their
brains day and night to see if they cannot
four years. It is the same with the lead
ing Democratic candidates ia all parts of
the country. Boies of Iowa is ready to
throw up his farm. Palmer of Illinois
would resign from the senate, and Gray Of
Indiana thinks the White House would
just fit him. 1t is the same with Grover
Cleveland, and he knows all about it, for
he spent his honeymoon there, and his wife
knows the establishment from the kitchen
to the attic.
WHAT THE PRESIDENCY AMOUNTS TO.
The presidency Of the United States is
worth more than most people suppose.
They look upon the fat salary of $4,000
year which our chief executive gets as
his sole revenue and every now and then
some newspaper states that 1t costs all of
this and more to keep up the establishment.
don't believe word OF it. Nearly every
president saves money while he is in the
White House, and the extras which the
president gets are nearly equal to his salary
every year. He pays no rent, in the first
place, and he has furnished house free.
He has nothing to lay out on light and heat,
for Uncle Sam pays his gas bills, and be can
have wood fire in every room in his house
from morning till midnight and it will not
cost him cent. He has grand conserve
tory for nothing, and the choicest of
flowers are cut and placed in his room and
his tables are decorated with roses in the
middle of winter The country keeps up
his library, and he has as many servants
as he can use. He never needs to write q
letter himself, and he has stenographers
aud ~ rrlrr y fe 81. Ill
needs to open his door, and il be wishes 10
shave II will be strange if one of the colored
boys about the executive mansion cannot
sklllfuly handle the razor. The stables
which Uncle Sam has built for him are as
line IS many a house, and his kitchens are
supplied with copper cooking utensils; and
his laundry has stationary tubs and patent
washing machines. The cost of keeping up
the White House, including the presidents
salary, is more than $4,000 q year, and
Notwithstanding the official troubles of his
position, its occupants ought to be happy.
MAGNIFICENT MANSION.
have seen many of the fine houses Of
the United States, but the White House
has some advantages over all, and it ought
to make very comfortable home Its
rooms are all large, and the ceilings Of the
first hoor must be nearly twenty feet high
TIE windows are big and the house is per-
fectly well ventilated, and though there
Gre said to be rats in the basement, there Is
no damp or musty smell about it. The
grounds surrounding ii are filled with old
forest trees, IN which the birds are now
singing their spring songs, and the back
yard, which contains so many acres. is
rolling and II has all the natural beauties
Of hill and hollow, and in the centre of a
wide stretch OF velvety lawn there is
beautiful fountain which casts up u spray
OF silver and diamonds into the face Of the
Washington sun, and the view from the
rear of tho mansion is one of the finest in
the United States. Looking over beRuti-
1u park you see the siIvery Potomac wind
ing in and out OF its islands of green, and
beyond il rise the hills CT Virginia already
covered with verdule. To the left the
great obelisk known as the Washington
monument touches the sky with the alum
mum nail Of its massive white marble
finger, and across the river are the flags of
Fort Myer and the old yellow house Of
Arlington, where Washington lived with
the widow Curtis before this White House
was built.
THE WHITE HOUSE AS TT Is.
But let me give you description of the
White House in plain common words. The
people really know but little about it. and
tho pictures published Of it gives only its
outlines II stands, you know, in front of
q beautiful park which, when Washington
City was a village was used as a race track
bat which IS now full Of inc old forest
trees. There is big iron fence fully ten
feet high between the front yard and the
street. and the drive-ways, which lead up
10 the front door, are OF the shape of half
moon, and pavements CT flag as vide as the
ordinary city sidewalks run along these to
the porte cocherc.n This pavement is
well kept, but the asphalt is cracked in
places and in the summer it almost blisters
your feet under the sun. The White House
itself covers about one-third of an acre IL
IS a long, low, two-story building with
basement which at the front is almost flush
with tho sidewalk and which at the back is
level with the lawn and forms almost q
third story TO the mansion. You all know
that the White House is of o dazzling,
CHASTITY white, but il has not that rich. mel
low tint of white marble, and its color is
produced by white lead. The building is
made OF sandstone. and it has been painted
again and again until in some places it is
said that the white lead upon it is actually
q quarter Of en- inch thick. The building
was modelled after a castle ia Dublin, and
when il was first built it cost S309, 600: and
s nee then about 81, 100000 have been spent
upon it. so the total cost of it today is some
thing like 81 600, 900. This seems great
deal of money, but as you 90 in it you see
that but little was wasted.
now ToU CIT INTO TIE WHITE HOUSE.
The entrance to the mansion is worth
description. The porte cochere has a roof
upheld by great stone columns, each as big
around as q -four barrel, and il covers 3
stone platform or porch so large that it
would furnish the foundation or tue ordin-
arv seaside cottage. In the middle of this
rorch between two great windows are the
front doors Of the White House. These
- - ,
and into each door Is set an oval piece OF
III e plaea with nnnels of Mnsai. glass