Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1898-02-26
Senator FOraker's House.

and Fl streets, for which he pays more per
month, l venture, than he earned in tho
first six years of his working life. He has
pictures which are worth more than a con-
Cheeseman's salary, and some of his rugs
have cost more than his whole housekeep-
ing outfit with which he began his married
life. Levi Il. Letter, the multi-millionaire.
whose son has been cornering the wheat OF
the United States in Chicago cIerked dur
ing part of his boyhood for a few dol
lars week in Columbus, Ohio, living in d
cheap boarding house. He began his ca
reer in Chicago as a bookkeeper and his
circumstances We're such that he dared not
kick if the potatoes were soggy or the but
ter was strong. Today he has palace
here which surpasses the White House in
its grandeur 1t stands on ground which
cost 500, 600, and the cream-white Milwau
kee brick of which it was made came here
in individual packages, each brick being
wrapped up in brown paper. There is ne
chance for the Letter butter to get strong.
for there is ice house in the mansioD
in which you can store away enough ice to
last for month, and the cold storage
rooms are such that the beeves, sheep and
game which are served up on the table can
be kept there for weeks without spelling.
Young Letter had to eat what was set be-
fore him. The millionaire Letter of today
raises his own beef and mutton on his farm
in Wisconsin 1t is killed there by his own
butcher and shipped here for use. A clerk
in boarding house seldom kicks at cold
plates The apparatus in the Letter man
sion to keep the plates warm cost almost
as much as its owner used to make in
year when he was clerking 1t is a boiler
Of heavy iron big around as a two-bushel
basket, SO heated by gas that 1t warns the
buffers pantry overhead by keeping the
pipes running through the pantry filled
with hot water
Levi p. Morton began his life by clerking
at s1.25 a week. / went past the house
which he owaed in Washington when he
was Vice President the other day. 1t cost
him hundred thousand dollars, and was
then not good enough to suit his luxurious
tastes. He added dining room which cos.
him twenty TO thirty thousand dollars
more. He had his kitchen walled with tiles
of white china, and the ashes from the
range and the furnace were carried out o
the house in little cars on a railway. Ex-
Senator Brice spent $4,000 on a dinner.
and many an evening entertainment at his
house here consumed more money than
Uncle Sam paid him as his senatorial sal
airy for year. Still, when Brice went [,
colege his expenses were not more than So
week, and when he got married he has
to borrow enough money on his note from
his friends to pay the expenses of his wed.
ding journey. 1 could cite other instance.
OF the same kind.
Rich Statesmen Property Owners.
Mr.. Brice rented his house in Washing
ten. So does Vice President Hobart. and
SO also nearly every member of the pres
ent cabinet, except John Sherman. Score
tary Sherman has seldom paid rent. When
he first came to Washington, forty ode
years ago, he boarded for time at Will
iard's Hotel Then he lived down below
the Capitol, in what was the old. fashion
able 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 Wash
ington. 1t had an old board fence about it
ana MRS. sherman felt as though she were
N fhA
washington grew, however, the best
houses were built in that neighborhood.
ana Sherman's property became very valu-
able He bought several lots on each side
OF MN. and. after time. he put up tn,
building now occupied by the Chilean lega
tfon and moved into it. This was the struc.
ture built when he was Secretary of the
treasury under Hayes. AS time went on
the lot which he had left became so much
more valuable that he could not afforf7 I,
lose the interest on the money I'm n ans
he erected the big marble mansion in which
ne now lives I don't know what II cost
MIN. but It would. judge. sell for at least
$4,000 under the hammer. Secretary Sher
man likes nothing better than a good snec
ulatton, and doubt whether he has ever
made bad one. It was he who aided
,assey IN s.arang the suburban develop
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 1t BY the
foot. The land first brought from 10 10 y
cents a square foot but 1t SO increased
In value that much Of II Is worth ID q
foot The gossips say that the Secretary
made something Hike 100000 out OF thai
investment and I should say that the
estimate was avery low one. The Secre-
tary has some valuable property at Mans
field, Ohio, but am told that he has re-
Gently offered his house there for sale. and
that his home in the future will be Wash
ingtoa-
Where the Vice President Lives.
should not he surprised il Vice Presi-
dent Hobart buys . house here before he
has finished bis term. He Is. you know.
rich man. and both be ard Nrs. Ho-