Kansas City journal. [volume] (Kansas City, Mo.) 1897-1928, 1898-02-20
THE KANSAS CITY JOURNAL, SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 20, 1898.

$50, 900, and his included a vast amount
| of tobacco, large numbers of cattle. sheep
| and horses, nearly all of which he willed
/ to his wife. This will is now kept In a
wooden box. 1t was torn in two some time
ago by SOM careless sightseer. and since
then no one has been allowed to handle it.
The account books which are kept here In
the state department show that Washing
ton was very careful about keeping a rec
ord of his expenditures. He put down
everything: and among other items you see
at cards. In April, 1772. he lost 500 in this
way at the house of Rev. Mr.. Bouscher.
and a little further on there Is an item
others, at a little jamboree near the Drum
mond lake, five pounds. During the time
he was candidate for the house of bur-
whisky above spoken of, his losses at cards
and at the horse races are frequent The
curious thing about his accounts is that
there was almost always a deficiency at
the end of the year which he could not ac-
count for. This made no difference, how
ever, with his starting the new year with
is as follows: by cash, either lost. stolen
or neglected to charge. la pounds. 8 shil-
lings and II pence" In other words. he
was short that year over 500.
Economical. but Not StinEy.
Through his letters now owned by the
government you see here and there cor
| r~espondence which shows that he was very
NdTu up DIT tlIIleS LII 1ioo Lc NlOlC tllal liz
could get no wheat on credit, and that he
had no cash to pay for it. Three years
later he urges a man to pay the $1,000
which he ives him, and says he has put
off the sheriff three times already, and that
he needs This money to pay his taxes. He
said to have been one of the
dealers among the planters of his time.
He was always preaching, economy to his
servants, as, for instance, he employed one
man, a carpenter, making a contract with
him for a year and providing therein he
was to ave four days in which he might
was economical, but not stingy. He could
not endure waste of any kind, and he went
about over his estate doing, his best to stop
the leaks. In one of his letters home he
urges that the greatest economy be used in
feeding the hay at the mansion house. He
writes: .
81 enjoin upon you to particularly guard
against Mrs. L. Washington's Charles and
her boy in the stables, both of whom are
impudent and seif-willed and care not how
eXtravagantly they feed or even waste. for
1 have caught the boy several times litter
ing his horses with hay. l see no sort of
necessity for feeding the horses either grain
or hay when they are not used or any horse
that is at liberty and able to provide for
itself. I can plainly perceive that in a lit
tie time there will be nothing either for my
negroes or horses to eat without buying it,
which will neither compOrt with my inter-
est or inclination. BY Stuart's report 1 find
he still continues to feed horses with corn
instead of cut oats. as I directed. What
two saddle horses are those which stand in
the mansion house report? 1 know of none
but the one Mr.. Whiting used to ride"
The planter who demanded reports like that
must have been a good business man.
Speaking of Washington as a farmer,
from an almanac of 1880 comes the fol-
General Washington possesses 10000 acres
of and where he lives. He employs 250
hands and keeps twenty-four ploughs 60;
permit. In 1887 he sowed 600 bushels Of
oats. 700 acres of wheat and a large guam
tity Of corn, barley and potatoes. He
and great fields of peas and beans. He
visits his farms every day unless the
weather is stormy. and he is making ex-
tensive experiments toward the improve
80 hogs. weighing 1850 pounds. for his
family use, which was made into bacon"
How Washington Was Slandered.
From the above it will be seen hat
Washington had by no means an easy life.
He had many troubles outside of those
connected with his estate. He had as
many enemies as our leading politicians
nave to-day and he. was accused Of all
kinds of crimes and misdemeanors. The
Philadelphia Aurora charged him with
having committed murder during his cam
paign with Braddock. Griswold, in his re-
publican court, states that an attempt
was made to poison Washington when he
was president, and it was John Randolph
of Roanoke who during a dinner at Alex
andria rose and proposed the toast:
George Washington, may he be ID"
When his birthday was first celebrated.
in 1883. there was a great deal of criti-
| cism on the part of his enemies, and the
Aurora, one of the opposition newspapers
of Philadelphia, published long poems de-
scribing him as the worst of men. He was
nicknamed the American Caesar and
the stepfather of his country. The house
of representatives was asked to adjourn
for half an hour on the ed of February,
1876, to pay it's respects to President
| Washington on the occasion of his BIRTH
day. This practice had been in vogue
since Washington was first inaugurated.
| The house, however, refused to adjourn, on
the ground that it was the duty Of con-
| gress to attend to Legislative business and
not to pay foolish compliments. When
Washington delivered his farewell address
he was reviled by the opposite party. All
| sorts of libels were uttered against him,
and the Aurora said there ought to be e
jubilee in the United States because WASH
ingtonian administrations were at an end.
Notwithstanding all this. the character of
| Washington shines brighter to-day than
ever before. With his little weaknesses,
which historians have done their best to
hide, he is. taking him altogether, perhaps
the greatest American our country has
| ever produced, and the false charges
| against him were but drops of moisture on
the mirror of his fame, which time has
long since wiped away.
FRANK G.. CARPENTER.