The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1898-08-12
WHITE HOUSE IN SUMMER

This year President Mckinley will do
what even the humblest government
clerk breads to contemplate-spend the
month of August in Washington. Even
in time of peace the taking of the presi-
Dental vacation is generally the occa-
ton for grumbling from some quarter.
We accept this as no more than natural
when we consider that the chief ex-
ecutive, whomsoever he may be, is
the common servant of about 70, 600, 900
exacting empolyes, thousands of whom
preferred another to serve them.
The announcement of any presidential
vacation plans just now would not only
signal a doWnpour of harsh criticisms,
but cause a concentration of inquisitive
individuals in the direction selected.
Lincoln was ultrascientious concerning
his vacation, especially during the war,
when he removed himself no further
than his cottage in the soldiers home
grounds. Cleveland was abused be-
he started on a cunning tour just
at the time the Venezuelan controversy
promised a crisis. Grant was greatly
dCuoSu OSCduoS III Welt OlIcu ~ IOHS
Branch, and Buchanan because he
spent frequent intervals of rest at his
favorite resort, Bedford Springs.
Yet in the olden time Washington
spent his summer at Mount Vernon,
practically out of touch with the seat
of government, hen at New York,
while Adams, Jefferson, Monroe, Jack
son and Van Buren, retired to their
country estates usually as soon as con
gress adjourned each year and there
remained until its assemblage.
When not in Washington the presi-
dent is always in the saddle. There
is no one who can be left as acting
president except in case of death or
inability, m to the exacting public
inability in the presidential sense of
the word means something far more
serious than fatigue. Mr.. Cleveland
could sit at Gray Gables and transact
executive business almost as well as
he could in the White house. Mr.. Har-
rison was also accompanied by a corps
of clerks to his Cape May cottage.
After all, the White house is not
the most uncomfortable place in sum-
mer. It's south front, reserved for the
private use and enjoyment of the presi-
Dental family, faces the picturesque
Potomac. The space intervening is
not filled with blocks of city houses,
breathing out heat and shutting out
ventilation, but by an expanse of velvet
lawns and hard rolled driveways form
ing the magnificent Nall. Across this
are waited nightly and as a usual thing
daily south breezes from the shady
Virginia side of the river, cooled by the
Malls grove and bubbling fountains
and scented banks of rare flowers. The
valley of the Potomac is geographically
situated to form an excellent channel
for these cool currents.
The south piazza of the White house
is reserved exclusively for the McKin-
ley family. No private citizen is al
lowed to walk through the presidential
back yard-really the private front
yard. Here the president can enjoy
greater privacy han may be offered
by q summer hotel or cottage. He may
doff his waistcoat Of an evening without
finding a sketch Of himself SO clad
in the next days papers. In the ven
ing the summer breezes enter those of
the five White house bedrooms which
face the south and command the view
Of the river, one of which the pres1-
dent occupies. But during these busy
of the victorious American army and
navy has little time for sleep in his
bedchamber or repose upon his piazza.
He confers with his war secretaries
and military advisers often until long