Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1903-05-04
PRESIDENTS JOURNEYS
GROWTH OF CUSTOM SINCE JOHN
SON SWUNG AROUND CIRCLE.
Prior to 1865 the Chief Magistrate of
the United States Seldom Left
the Capital.
From the Chicago Journal.

From the Chicago Journal.
The presidential tour was begun under
President Andrew Johnson; 1t was partially
developed under President Harrison and
was brought to its present state of high
development 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 I'M
less it was for flying trip of purely per-
sonal 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 presidential tour
that when Johnson proposed it and made
his plans for what was afterward known
as his swing around the circle, the entire
country talked about it, and opinion was
pretty we'll divided as to the propriety of
the thing, it being known that Johnsons
purpose was to attempt to allay in some de-
gree the bitter feeling which had grown
out of his reconstruction policy and which
at length eliminated in an attempt at i'm
parchment. 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 well on the average
American mind.
Grant Made No Trips.
The opposition which Johnson encoun-
tered in his violation of the proprieties, as
they were understood in his day, prevented
his immediate successors from following
his example Grant made no trips. Hayes
went for a trip to his old home in Ohio, and
while there accepted an invitation to visit
Detroit, where he made address. Be-
fore returning to Washington he stopped
at half a 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 morning
in early July, 1881, to take train for Bal
timore when he fell by the asSaSsin's but
let. Arthur, who succeeded him, left no
record of tours of any sort, his occasional
absences from Washington being due to
calls of a private business character to New
York city.
Cleveland's Tour.
The first long trip ever made by a Presi-
dent was made by Cleveland in the fall of
1883, during his first term, shortly after his
marriage. Johnson's Swing Ground the
circle was confined to the country east of
the Alleghanies and north of Maryland and
West Virginia 1t lasted only few days
and the total mileage was very small, COM
pared with what later Presidents have
done. Cleveland went as far west the
cities of Minneapolis and st. Paul in Min
nesota. He touched at Omaha st. Joseph
and Kansas City on the Missouri, and then
crossed 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 $500 miles.
This one long trip was the only one OF
consequence made by him as President,
during either of his terms. He went occa-
sionally on hunting and fishing trips to the
rivers and bays near the coast and within
easy reach of Washington, but on these oc-
casions he was invisible to the public and
away from the scrutinizing gaze of the
correspondents.
President Harrison.
President Harrison took up the presiden-
tial touring where 1t had been left off by
Cleveland during the latter's first term,
and added to 1t both in the number of
miles travelled and in the number and i'm
portance of speeches made. The Harrison
trip-there was but one of them-was a
memorable one in several ways. In the first
place, 1t revealed the President to the couT-
try as one of the most eloquent, forceful
anu tactful short-speech makers of Its en-
tire history The speeches of Harrison
were models Of style and their subject mat
ter dfscloses much of the culture and polish
of Harrisons splendid mind. In book form
they constitute the most popular volume of
his collected writings. In the second place
this trip revealed to the country a new de-
sire, namely to see the President OCCASION
ally in person, and to hear from his own
lips bipartisan discussion Of the Ques-
tons of the day. radical change in public
sentiment it had existed at the time of
Johnson came about, seemingly in a single
day, and the country accepted as a mat
ter of course and one of it's rights that
which had been so severely criticised in the
days just after the great civil war.
President Mckinley.
It is to President Mckinley as already
suggested, that credit 10 due for the fuN