The morning call., 1893-07-23

| the ground is now covered IN every uiIec-
tion with buildings which have cost for
tunes. Within a stone throw OF Blaine's
is the house Of Senator Hearsts widow.
rhch. with its interior furnishings. Is salti
| 10 have cost more than a quarter OF mll-
| lion dollars. Ex-senator Sawyer's brown
stone mansion cost more than SlOo:-
| 600, and the new house which Levi Il
LIE ter is building stands upon ground tor
which he paid 100000. Mrs. Sunset Cox
owns house IN this vicinity which is
worth about $4,000. and one of the green
stone mansions which looks out upon Du-
pont circle was bought by Sunset Cox Just
before he wen To Turkey. and he told me
a short time after this that he had SOLD II
for $4,000 aud had made just S20.OOO OH
Of 1t.
There are, venture fifty men in Con-
gress who have made and are making
more money out of bricks and mortar than
from law-making. James G. Blaine added
materially TO his fortune by his real estate
investments, and Mrs. Blaine is one OF the
big taxpayers of Washington. Blaine's
house on Dupont circle cost hlm about
SS0.0oO. and it has netted more than II per
cent during the past ten years from the
reports are correct its rent has brought In
during this time to the Blaine family be-
tween hundred aud hundred a'd
twenty-five thousand dollars. The land
on which stands the house in which
Blaine died was bought by him. | un-
derstand. for $40 square foot. The
ground upon which it is located must be
Blaine's house is the yellow old-fashIoned
brick Of Don Cameron, for which he
paid $4,000 six or seven years ago, and
which you could not buy now for 100000.
1t has wide frontage, and like that
of Blaine. would be just the place
/ Co. aot ho Ton
erOn owns great deal OF property
| about Washington. He has large amount
Of suburban real estate and it seems that
all he has to do is to stick the spade OF his
speculative brain into the ground and the
earth straight tway turns into gold. Shrewd
as was his father Smon Don is said to
surpass him, and he has made gold galore
here in houses and lands. He built big
red brick manson on Dupont circle. which
cost him, am told, some thing like $40, 600,
and he sold it in 1885 for $4,000 IL cash.
This house was bought by d. Z. Morgan,
New York banker, aud is now owned DV
his widow. Just across IrOm it is the OLD
Window house, in which Blaine wrote
the first part OF his book and which prac-
tically ruined its owner politically, photo
graphs of it being made and distributed
with the question as to how a man could
build house Of that kind out of $1,000
year. Cameron has place along the Sew
enth-street ROAD for which he paid some
thing like $50 an acre. but which, it Is
said, you cannot now buy for $1,000
On the other side of this house is the
home of the ex-Vice-P President. Levi ?.
Morton, which cost him a fortune, and on
which he spent another fortune in i'm
provements. Mir. Morton bought this
house from Telephone Bell, and it was in
connection with Telephone Bell that Don
Cameron made one Of the few mistakes of
thOnpht
when Bell lived in this big red brick house
with him. for which he paid $780, 900. The
mistake that Cameron made was in not GO
ing into the Bell Telephone Company.
Shortly after Bell had made the invention.
and when the people as yet had no faith In
il, he called upon Don Cameron and Of
tered him controlling interest In his COM
pany for $4,000. Cameron hesitaJed for
time aud finally refused. and Bell left his
house disappointed man. He got the
money from other quarters and made his
fortune without the aid of CamerOn's
money. Had Cameron given him that
$4,000, it would have brought him in the
neigh borhood of 81 ,000. 900 year. so l am
told, fer nun Der Of years. In talking of
1t some time ago he said to one of his
friends: Il would have advanced the
money if l hadn't been hard up at the
time. l believed that the investment
would prove remunerative, but l did not
like to risk ii.
Some of the richest statesmen here at
Washington pay rent for their homes, and
it is wonderful how much money they put
on In improvements Oh rented property.
Secretary Whitney spent more than
10000 ON the old FrelinghuysPn mansion
when he went into it, and John Wana-
maker tore down a number of Whitney's
improvements and made others. Cal Brice
has during the past year spent half of the
salary of his six years Senatorial term on
the improvements of the millionaire Cor
coran's mansion, and it is not uncommon
for rich man to spend more in max
ing improvements on his house here than
the rent he pays for 1t. Chief Justice Fuller
nveS In Zen ted house OH the corner OF Elgh-
teenth street and Massachusetts avenue.
l. is Senator Van Wyck's mansion. which
the Nebraska man built when lie was here
N Congress at cost Of something like
100000. and which understand he would
be glad TO sell for less than that amount to-
day. Senator Palmer of Michigan still
owns his Big brownstOne front on Nc
Pherson squire, which cost him in the
ne GLIB 'rhoud Of SS5. 600. 1t was for some
years on the market, and | suppose, now
that Secretary ElkIns is going to leave it.
that it will be for sale again this. summer.
Senator Mcmillan Of Detroit paid some
thing like $4,000 for the house which he
lives in on Vermont avenue, and just
above him is Senator Allison's home.
which is worth about $500 One of the
finest houses at the capital is that of Sen
ator Hale, which was hujit with the money
from the estate of Zach Chandler. and
which cost con siderably more than S150000.
Both Senator Teller ana Senator WolcGtt
rent their houses and so does Senator Man.
derson, who has fine residence next to
the house Of General Sheridan. Senator
VOORHEES, owns house here which cost
him something like $4,000, ami Senator
Washburn lives il the prisOn-iike mansi2n
OF Senator Edmunds, at the corner of Q
street and Mass achusetts avenue. Ex-
Senator Bayard owns a house here which
il worth perhaps $4,000. and for which
Senator CuIlom pays good round rent.
Cusip Davis of Minnesota has a house on
Massachusetts avenue just across the
street from Culinm's, and a little above
this is the big hOuse in which Secretary
Window was living al the time Of his dea h.
Il cost something like $4,000 to build and
it has had For Sale" sign in front of it
for the past year.
The late George Pendleton's house is also
for sale. 1t is on Sixteenth street, above
Scott circle. and is worth $4,000. Next to
II is mansion which has just been bought
by the Episcopal preacher of ST. Johns
Church Tor 100000. and a little further up
is Bourke Cockran's Washington home,
which was built by SecOr Robeson, and for
no no III comouhoro hot CTS 0OO