The Birmingham age-herald., 1903-04-21
From the Chicago Journal.

From the Chicago Journal.
 @H HE presidential junket was begun (0 under President Andrew Jack
 son. It was partially developed under President Harrison, and was brought to its present state of high de- velopment under President Mckinley. President Roosevelt Is following in the footsteps of his immediate predecessor. Prior to the days of Johnson, American presidents seldom left the capital city unless 1t was for flying trip of a purely personal nature to Philadelphia. New York or some other nearby point, and these trips were not attended by any special ceremony nor were they widely advertised.
 So new was the idea of a presidential tour that when Johnson proposed 1t and made his plans for what was afterward known as his Swing around the circle" the entire country talked about 1t. and opinion was pretty we'll divided as to the propriety of the thing, it being known that Johnson's purpose was to attempt to allay in some degree the bitter feeling which had grown out of his reconstruc- ton policy and which at length culminat- ed in an attempt at impeachment The idea that the President was at liberty to use the immense prestige of his high office for partisan or personal purposes did not set we'll on the average American mind.
 The opposition which Johnson encoun- tered in his violation of the proprieties, as they were understood in his day, pre- vented his immediate successors from fol- lowing his example. Grant made no trips. Hayes went for a trip to his old home in Ohio, and while there accepted an invi- address. Before returning to Washing ton he stopped at half dozen different places. making speeches and meeting the people, but all this was an afterthought. and was not in his mind when he left the White House.
 Garfield, during the few months he was in office was not out of Washington. He was at the Pennsylvania depot one morn ing in early July, 1881, to take a train for Baltimore when he fell by the assassins s bullet. Arthur, who succeeded him, left no record of tours of any sort, his ocea- sional absences from Washington being due to calls of a private business char acter to New York city.
 The first long trip ever made by a President was made by Cleveland in the fall of 1888. during his first term, shortly after his marriage. Johnson's swing around the circle was confined to the country east of the Alleghanies and north of Maryland and West Virginia. It last ed only a few days and the total mileage was very small, compared with what later Presidents have done. Cleveland went as far west as the Missouri river and as far north as the cities of Minneap- olis and St. Paul in Minnesota. He touched at Omaha, St. Joseph and Kan sas City on the Missouri and then cross ed the state to St. Louis. from which point he returned to Washington by the Ohio river route, making frequent stops. On the way west by the northerly route he visited Chicago. Milwaukee and the chief cities of Ohio and Indiana. He was away from Washington about three weeks and covered about 2500 miles.
 This one long trip was the only one of consequence made by him as President, during either of his terms. He went oc-