The San Juan County index. (Aztec, N.M.) 1890-19??, 1900-07-06

-Ahre NOW Living
As a general rule, the health Of the
men chosen to be president Of the
United States has been good during
their term Of ONCE, and they have al
most without exception been strong
and robust, Polk being the only un-
fortunate. OF the remainder Of the
twenty-five p~residents-or perhaps it
would be better TO say tw~enty-four,
bearing In mind the fact that Grover
Cleveland counts twice, that Is, as the
twenty-secon6 and the tw~enty-fourth
president-there was not one who did
not enjoy robust health up to and be-
yond middle life, and most Of them
continued to do 80 up to a good old
age. II will surprise many TO know
that the average age Of the twenty
one presidents who have died, from
Washington to Arthur, inclusive, -
the allotted three score and ten, or, to
be more exact, seventy years, three
months and sixteen days. The presi-
dents lived longer in the early days
than in more recent times. The aver
age age Of the FIRST ten, from Washing
ton to Tyler, inclusive, Is seventy
seven years, ten months and three
days. That OF the eleven from Polk
to Arthur inclusive, Is siXty-three
years, Eve months and seven days.
This great difference is accounted for
In part by the circumstance that two
OK the eleven presidents, Lincoln and
Garfield, were stricken down by an
assassin, at the comparatively early
ages Of hfty-six and f%orty-nine respec-
lively. OF the FIRST ten presidents,
Washington was the youngest to die,
and yet he reached the considerable
age OF sixty-seven. Only three Of the
eleven presidents from Polk to Arthur
attained a greater age. These were
Fillmore, Buchanan and Hayes. John
Adams, one OF the sturdiest OF all the
presidents, reached the most advanced
age. He lived to be ninety, and is the
only nonagenarian among them. Curl
ously enough, the second in longevity
was Madison, though at the age Of
tw~enty-one, shortly after he was
graduated from Princeton college, he
was In so poor health that he wrote to
a friend %intimating that he did not
expect a long or healthy life, Yet
Madison grew stronger in due time,
and lived to the ripe old age Of eighty
five. Next in longevity comes Madi-
sons life long friend and counselor,
Thomas Jefferson, who lived to be
eighty-three. John Quincy Adams
reached eighty. The youngest Of all
the presidents to die was Garfield, who
was cut down in the prime Of life by
an assassin's bullet. Had he lived just
two months more he would have reach
ed fifty. The youngest Of the presi-
dents to die a natural death was Polk,
who lived to be ffty-three. Next to
him came Arthur, who died at fifty
six. The ages Of all the dead presi-
dents, arranged in the order Of long
evity are: John Adams ninety. Madi-
son elghty-hve, Jefferson eighty-tnree
John Quincy Adams eighty. Van Buren,
sevuaty-nine3 JaolasSn seventy eight
Buchanan seYenty-seven, Fillmore sew
enty-four, Monroe seventy-three. Tyler
Beventy-one, Hayes seventy, William
Henry Harrison sixty-eight, Washing
ton sixty-seyen, Johnson sixty-six
Taylor ~slxty-hve, Pierce sixty-fourI
Grant sixty-three, Lincoln dfty-six
Garfield forty-nine. It viii be seen that
no two Of the presidents died at the
same age except Lincoln and Arthur
The most remarkable coincidence re-
lating to the deaths Of the presidents
is the circumstance that John Adams
and Thomas Jefferson died on the
same day, July 4, 1926. Washington
was the only president to pass his life
entirely in the last century, and Pierce
was the first to be born during tbs
present century.
-Four Of the presidents died in office
William Henry Harrison, who served
only one month; Zachary Taylor, whit
served one year and four months; Lin
coin, who served one full term anC
about six weeks OF his second term
and Garfield, who died after he haC
held the office six months. OF thu
three presidents now living Benjamin
Harrison is sixty-six, and resides a
Indianapolis; Grover Cleveland is six
ty-three, and lives at Princeton; Presi
dent Mckinley is ffty-seven. Buffalo
enjoys the distinction Of being tn,
only city in the country that has fur
nished two presidents. They are Fill
more and Cleveland. Each Of the i'm
portant wars of the United States haI
given one or more presidents to til
country. The war Of the revolution
gave Washington, the war Of 181.
Jackson and Harrison. Taylor ant
Pierce went to the White House OF
the strength Of their records durinl
the Mexican war. while every p~residen
chosen since the civil war excep
Cleveland took part In that struggle
Since Van Buren, no vice president ha
been chosen to the presidency, and 81
far from the vice presidency being re
garded as in line Of promotion TO tn
presidency, the less important ONCE /
now looked upon by some politician
as a convenient shelf upon which u
place an inconvenient candidate 70
higher hOnors.
Town Plants . Forest.