The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1897-04-30
PRESIDENTS AFTER
THEIR RETIREMENT
How They Spend Their Lives After
Going Out OF Office.
THE EX.HEADS OF THE NATION
Some Play at Politics, an Active Bus
iness Life for Several, Well Earned
Rest for Others, and Poverty for n
Few--The Examples of General
Harrison and MIR. Cleveland Have
Had Many Imitators.
From the New York Times.

From the New York Times.
AS Mr.. Cleveland was about to leave
the white house in 1888, he was asked
by a friend regarding his plans for the
future. He replied that he was going
to practice law, just as he would have
done If he had not been president. Il
think" he said, "the most appropriate
thing a man can do after he has re-
tired from public office is to take up his
private business again, unless, of
course, he is too old"
1t is well remembered how industri-
ously Grover Cleveland, the lawyer,
held to his purpose, and with what
unostentatious dignity he pursued his
vocation in New York, as he had done
years before in Buffalo, in the practice
of his profession. His mental activ-
tiles and his natural energy impelled
him to work as a plain citizen.
But now, after the turmoil of a sec
ond eventful administration, Mr.. Cleve-
land appears to have less incentive to
engage in active professional toll than
he had eight years ago. Doubtless he
does not consider himself too old to
take up his private business again.
But the necessity for it is surely alb
sent. Mr. Cleveland has passed through
a long and laborious career of respon-
sibility. Therefore, in retiring to
Princeton, he is but satisfying that
worthy ambition which every man
feels, to enjoy a well-earned rest.
Ample wealth makes it possible for him
to indulge in the recreations and light
8 loic
like Washington at Mount Vernon,
Cleveland seems to have sought out
ideal retirement in which to pass the
remaining years of his life.
GENERAL HARRISON.
Benjamin Harrison followed Mr..
Cleveland's example four years ago, by
returning to his home in Indianapolis
and entering once more upon the duties
of his profession. He left the White
House under the shadow of domestic
misfortune, but neither that nor the
fact that he was a retiring president
made any difference with his resolute
determination to engage in useful pur-
suits. Since leaving Washington he
has been particularly active as a lee
turer as an advocate and as political
orator.
An opinion has prevailed at times
that it was not consistent with the dig
nifty of the nation that an eX-presi-
dent should engage in professional
work or should be active as a poll
tician. Consequently, it has been sug-
gested that these high officials should
either be pensioned by the government
so as to permit them to retire without
financial embarrassment or that they
should be made honorary members of
the senate, in order that their expert
ence and wisdom might be made per-
cmanently available to the public inter-
ests. This feeling may have been in
Cspired by the opinions expressed by
Washington, and by his example when
he retired from the presidency. He re-
fused to become a candidate for third
term, as he had declined to wear the
crown, and he told his countrymeh that
1T would be wise to limit the presi-
Dental term by custom, if not by con-
stitutio9al provision.
But the Father of his Country" had
grown weary of carrying the burdens
republic, and to take such a part in the
political movements around him as oc-
casion offered. N
JOHN ADAMS.
John Adams was &C years old when,
as the representative of the Federalist
party, he was defeated by Thomas JEFF
ferson in the electoral college. He re-
tired from the presidency under a
cloud, and lived for a quarter of a
century, afterward to see his political
opponents discredited by the people,
when his son was elevated to the presi-
Dental Office. On the same day that
his successor was inaugurated, Mr.. Ad-
ans left Washington for his home in
Quincy, Mass. He entered his library
and practically lived in it to the day of
his death. Surrounded by his books
and papers, he took the keenest interest
in public affairs, and through a volum-
inous correspondence with statesmen
in Washington and elsewhere the elder
Adams, as he was called, continued for
many years to have a large influence
upon the political destinies of the coun-
try. He died in the peaceful retreat to
which he retired July A, 1926, and, by
a singular coincidence, Thomas Jeffer-
son passed away on the same day in
his home at Monticello.
AT the close of his second presidential
term Thomas jefferson, like Wash
ington, declined election for the third
time, and withdrew from public life to
his estate in Virginia. Though he had
been associated with the government
from it's beginning, and had been twice
president, jefferson was poor man,
and was burdened by financial difficult
ties, from which he seemed unable to
eXtricate himself. OF course, his en-
barrassing position was aggravated, if
not caused, by spendthrift habits, for
he kept open house at Monticello, the
hospitalities of the mansion being at
times strained to accommodate as many
as fifty guests. He supervised the plan
tation and made it as profitable as pos
sible, but his embarrassments finally
became known. and he was compelled
to go through the humiliating expert
ence of making an appeal to congress
to buy his library. The response was
a generous one, Jefferson receiving
$2S, 900 for his library treasures. But
this sum sufficed barely to pay his
debts, and in a brief time he was again
in the tolls of poverty.
.HrrN