The Montgomery advertiser., 1908-03-06
PRINCETON'S BIG DAY
THE CELEBRATTON OF MIR. crrvn-
 LANDS BIRTH.
Seventy-arst Amniversary of Eex.pre.. fdent on March 1a wiIl Re s Nes.
 able Occasion in the College

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 Princeton. N. J March 6-fspecial. !,
 --Asiae from football games ana
 othex athletic contests there ie only one day in the yaar when this aieepv old town rouses from its lethargy and lets itself loose. That Is the 18th of March the birthday of Princeton's most Ala. tlnguished resident. Grover Cleveland.
 On that day everybody who is any
 oody m Princeton calls at the big whitA house which Is the Cleveland family nouse.s to pay his respects: there ia A steady procession Of messenger bovr deilRerinE teleRrams of conRratula- lions. the postman makes extra calls to deliver the letters addressed to the ex-Fresfdent, and a crowd of college
 boys marches over to the front lawn Of the Cleveland house singing songs honor.
 The noteworthy thing about this de- monstration of respect in honor of the only living ex-President is that ft grows in volume with every recurring anniversary. Every year the number of visitors. telegrarns and letters grows larger, and this year. when Mir. cleve- land will be q years old 1t Is expected that the observance of the day will be more general than ever
 The Sage of Princeton, as he has coma to be called. therefore presents the striking figure of an ex-President who instead of dropping into comparative obscurity after leaving ofi zee. has steadily bnlked larger and larger in the public eye At the present time there is probably no man in the coun. try whose opinions are so treauentIv sought by the newspapers or who receives so many requests for the en- dorsements of all sorts of reforms and faddists movements. not even excepting President Roosevelt himself.
 There have been some ex- Presidents who have been followed into retirement by the plaudits of the country and who were looked up to even more after leaving offlce than ever before Wash ington, Jefferson, John Quincy Adams and Grant were examples In point. There have been others like Tyler, Fillmore and Hayes who dropped into compara- tive obscurity as soon as they left the White House. Cieveland's case ia unique in that when he quilted the Chief Magistracy after having been twice elected and a third time reeeiv- ing a majority of the popular vote he was tone of the best-hated men in tho country. His own party had practical ly disowned him; he had been made the target of violent personal abuse. and he was held responsible for the panic of 1893, just as a great many people are AN00gCNRAN ble for the panic of 1907. Since that time. however. the public attitude to ward Mir. Cleveland has changed until he is now fairly deserving of the title given him last year as "the most dis private citizen in the world"
 A review of the fluctuations in the popularity of Mir. Cleveland is given in the March number of Appleton'a Magazine by John T. McCutcheon. who sums it up in the rather striking title ''Tho Rise. Fall and Rehabilitation of Grover Cleveland" The article points | out that Americans are often more l fckle in their treatment of popular | idols than the so-called mercurial | Latin races. that after crowding honors | upon 8 man. naming cigars, babies and | 1oRs after him and shouting ourselves | hoaTse in his praise we suddenly turn | ,ur backs on him and leave him won' 1sring what has happened.
 "It isn't often given to a man to live through a rise NapOieonic in it's swift | oess." says the Appleton article, "to |