The Irish standard., 1896-08-15
WHERE THEY CONE FROM.
Presidential Timber Has Generally
Been Selected From the
Country.
fractional Differences Cause The
Chief Difficulty in our Largest
Cities.
The Ohio River Region the Chief
Source Of Supply for the Great
Z Office.

Source of Supply for the Great
Office.
There is an ancient. political proverh
which declares that the cities of the coun-
| try furnish unsuccessful candidates for
the presidency and small towns furnish
the presidents, says the New York Sun.
In this years canvass. as ID other ma
tional campaigns, it has been observed
that some of the city men-big city men
do not cut as much figure as those from
the minor towns Of the interior, and it is
recalled that Washington was from a
plantation in Virginia, far removed from
Mt. Vernon; Adams lived in the village
fof Quincy, Mass: Jefferson resided at
Monticello, Va; Madison was country
gentleman residing at Montpelier, in Vir-
ginia; Monroe lived at Oak HILL Va; the
younger Adams lived in Quincy; Jackson
was. a, Tennessee farmer, residing at his
country seat, the Hermitage, near Nash
vile; Van Buren lived in the village OF
Kinderhook, on the Hudson; the first Har-
! rison lived in North Bend; Polk resided
in Nashville; Taylor, retired army Off
Ger, made his home ait Baton Rouge;
Pierce can't from Concord, NIL; %Buch-
anan lived at wheatland, in. Rsnnsylva-
mia; Lincoln Hved;slns; ;sprinKdeldlH Grant
lived in Galena; Hayes liyed relhont,
small town in Ohio, and Garfield was
from the rural village of Mentor. Nor
We're the vice presidents who afterward
were elevated to the presidential office
through vacancies the representatives of
large cities. John Tyler, when elected
vice president, was a resident Of Will
iamsburg, Va. Andrew Johnson was a
resident Of a little mountain town of Ten
nessee, Greenville. If these were all the
facts of the record, however, it would be
perfectly fair and very reasonable to con-
;clui1e that there existed some prejudice
against the large cities when presidents
are to be nominated. The truth of the
ljldLICI, uOECNSlS lS tlldSs IAIO uulAOCA Va
large cities of the United States is now,
after more than 100 years of national ex-
istence. relatively small when compared
with the number of smaller places, and
in the earlier years Of the republic the
number of large cities was, Of course,
materially less. -s
BY the last census Of the United States
taken under federal authority there were
3.715 towns, cities, or villages of more
than ], 200 population, and only seven of
them had more than 100000 population
each. BY the same census it was seen
that of the total population of the country,
which was returned as 100000, more
than half, or 36,o00000 people, resided in
places Of less than 1000 inha bitants And
Of 26, ,000, 900 persons who reside in places
of more than 1000 inhabitants only 311aa
In other words, only a fraction. a small
Traction, of the people of the United
States live in what may be called first
class cities. The latter, Of course. have
a much larger floating, a much. larger
transient and much larger lien popula-
tion than do the smaller places: bl1t on
election day it is the permanent residents
only who count, and they do not seem to
count very much either when a president
Of the United States is to be elected, to
Judge from the previous records of such
elections. Nevertheless, and despite these
disadvantages, the present president of
| the United States was q resident of the
city of New York when chosen, and his
republican opponents and official prede-
cessor, Benjamin Harrison, was a. resi-
dent OF the city Of Indianapolis, which has
poulation considerably in excess Of l00,-
900, which is considerably more than the
city of New York had at the close of the
revolutionary war, while by the census of
1S10it was returned as having $4,000, 500
persons less than the city of Philadelphia
Mr.. Cleyoland's immediate predecessor at
the beginning of his frst term was Ches-
ter "A. Arthur, a resident of the city Of
New York.
While it is true that many Of the defeat
ed candidates for the presidency Of recent
years have been residents of the large
|rities (Mr.t Tlden, elected but not in
stalled, was;a resident OF New York city,
and Mr. Douglas, a resident of the city Of
Chicago, quite number Of defeated can
aidates for the presidency hailed, official
|ly at least. from small places. Mr. Blaine
was a resident of Augusta, Me-, a pretty
hut unprogressive town of 10000; Gen.
Hancock was from Norristown. Mr.. Sey-
nn,our from Deerfeld, N. z, and Mr.. Gree
{ley. from sChappaqua, Westchester county,
where he made his home, while In busi-
ness, Il ess ia this city. Like many other ira
ditions more honored in the breach than
I iii the observance, the tradition which re-
lates to the choice of a preside ential candi-
date applies with GREATER accuracy to
the: early days Of the republic, when big
cities were more rare than in the later
days Of political history.
Moreover, many residents Of large cites
have had country homes when candidates
FOR office. and they have appeared on the
lists as from the latter. Thus in the scer-
tificate of nonfination for governor filed
With the secretary of state at A albany. sit
(lsannaared that Levi 2. Morton was resi-
dent 81 Rhfneclitf 4, Duchess county and
isltfarledia iate sprade decessors ins Office was