The independent. [volume] (Lincoln, Neb.) 1902-1907, 1906-11-08

grounds; they are still carried on the
appropriation bills, however, as /;
White House affair.
The president is thus relieved O
the cost of furnishing and caring fol
the White House, heating it, or sup
plying it with flowers. A second ap
preparation bill carries $4,000 fol
lighting, and this includes everything
from his lamp on his study table t
the arc lights outside, which are {
part of the illumination in Pennsyl
vania avenue. 1t is even specified il
the statute that this grant shall pay
for the White House matches, as wei
as stoves and fuel for the watchman's
lodge Another item carries $4,000
for the contingent expenses of the
White House. This covers the tele
phone and telegraph service and sta
tionery, and provides for ''the officia
from the presidents stable, although
the two may occupy the same build
ing. A fourth item of $4,000 pays
for the White House employees, most
of whom are on official duty, although
a few, like the steward and four OF
the upstairs maids, may be regarded
as personal in their obligations II
is very hard to separate a presidents
personal relations from his official
and the appropriation bills wisely
make no serious attempt to do SO.
This roundabout system of coMpen-
sating a president doubtless accords
with the American conservatism much
better than would one direct payment
covering the whole sum. But the
present arrangement gives rise to
many anomalies For example, the
government provides four horses for
Mr.. Loeb, the presidents secretary
and pays the wages of the driver and
the groom. But the president himself
must buy his own horses and car
riages, pay for the grain which they
eat and compensate the men who take
care of them. The government does
furnish, however, the president
driver" one of the offices most COW
eted by the colored population OF
Washington. 1t also furnishes the
stable lighted and supplied with water
and feed. The chief cost of being
president comes in the entertaining,
for which the government furnishes
only the fuel and flowers, and the SER
vices of a few helpers.
This travelling expense appropria-
ton settles one of the most diff
cult questions with which the occu-
pants of the White House have had to
deal. They ought not to go as dead
heads" accepting favors from the
great transportation companies, and
they can not afford to make such
trips in the manner that custom pre-
scribes, at their own expense Unlike
minor officers of various grades, they
can not discover official business call
ing them to places that they want to
go at various times. They must go
across the continent as ION trips"
and congress has done we'll to pay for
these. The new union station in
Washington has been built with a spe-
cial entrance for the president of the
United States, to save him the risk
and trouble of going through the pub
lie waiting rooms with their attend
ant crowds. This means that the peo-
pie intend keeping him travelling.
Few men save anything in the pres
idential Office, and this latest addition
to the presidents income will make
little difference in this respect. The
standards of entertaining are constant
ly rising, and this is what entails the
largest expense. Most of the presi-
dents have died poor, if indeed they
were not made SO by occupying that
office. 1t is not unlikely, in spite of
The extraordinary changes of a CEN