The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1898-02-27

ington. So does Vice President Hobart,
and so also nearly every member of the
present cabinet, except John Sherman.
Secretary Sherman has seldom paid
rent. When he first came to Washing
ten, forty odd years ago, he boarded
for a time at Wizards hotel Then
he lived down below the capitol, in
what was the old, fashionable part of
Washington. One day he told Mrs.
Sherman that he had bought a house
near Franklin square. This square
was then playground for the boys of
Washington. 1t had an Old board fence
about it, and Mrs. Sherman felt as
though she were going out into the
country to live. AS Washington grew,
however, the best houses were built
in that neighborhood, and Sherman's
property became very valuable. He
bought several lots on each side of him,
and after a time, he put up the build
ing now occupied by the Chilean lega-
ton and moved into it. This was the
structure built when he was secretary
Of the treasury under Hayes. AS time
went on the lot which he had left be-
came so much more valuable that he
could not afford to lose the interests
en- the money in it, and he erected the
big marble mansion in which he now
lives. l don't know what it cost him,
but 1t would, [ judge. sell for at least
$75,0 900 under the hammer Secretary
Sherman likes nothing better than a
good speculation. and I doubt whether
he has ever made a bad one. 1t was
he who aided largely in starting the
suburban development of Washington.
Together with others, he bought the
Stone estate, the old homestead which
Mrs. John A. Logan now owns. He
bought this land by the acre and sold
it by the foot. The land first brought
from 10 to 25 cents a square foot, but
it so increased in value that much of
ii is worth 50 a foot The gossips say
that the secretary made something like
$1,000 out of that investment, and I
should say that the estimate was a
very low one. The secretary has some
valuable property at Mansfield, O., but
I am told that he has recently offered
his house there for sale. and that his
home in the future will be Washing
ton.
Where the Vice President Lives.
I should not be surprised if Vice
President Hobart buys a house here be-
fore he has finished his term. He is,
you know, a rich man, and both he
and Mrs. Hobart are very fond of So
ciety. The Cameron house, which they
have rented, is one of the celebrated
mansions of the capital. If it's walls
stories of Henry Clay, Daniel Webster
end Winfield Scott. This house was
once owned by Ogle Tayloe, who was
one Of the great entertainers of the
capital many years ago. 1t is just next
to the Lafayette theater, which stands
on the site of the attempted assassina-
ton of Seward, and where Blaine lived
hn a Of Ct.afn
it is the Cosmos club, in the house in
which Mrs President Madison lived af-
ter her husbands death. | don't know
what rent Vice President Hobart pays
but he will have to give Don Cameron
more than $4,000 year, if Cameron is
to net per cent on his investment.
The house cost him SGT. 900 some years
ago, and he has put a great many i'm
provements upon it.
Don Gamer n is exceedingly thrifty.
Old Simon Cameron used to say that
Don could make more money In a week
that he could in a month and Senator
Simon Cameron was a ShreWd Specu-
lator. Don Cameron made, / am told,
about $4,000 off Of the house which he
sold on Scott Circle some years ago.
and he has real estate holdings in the
suburbs which will some time be very
valuable. One of his properties Is a big
farm out on the Seventh street road
about five miles from the White house
Fourteenth street, will, I judge, some
time pass through it, and it will be
covered with fine houses.
Gossip About John Mclean.
Another thrifty man whom you all
know is the Hon. John Mclean, who
owns perhaps as much real estate as
any man in Washington. He has the
titles to nearly every piece of property
in the square opposite the Arlington
hotel with the exception of Levi P.
Morton's big fiat, the Shoreham, and
one or two other small holdings Mr.
McLeans house is one Of the finest
here. 1t is old-fashioned, but large and
roomy, and the yard about it, which is
shut in by high brick wall, Is worth so
much that you would have to carpet
it with money to buy it. When Nc
Lean sets his foot down in his back
yard he knows that there is at least
$40 worth of ground under it, and he
could stand on the roof of his house. I
venture. and see full half-million dol
lars worth Of property which belongs
to him.
The big Normandie flats form a part
of the Mclean estate. He has all those
stores on the northeast corner of this
square looking out toward Lafayette