Atlanta semi-weekly journal. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1898-1920, 1909-03-09
OUR EX-PRESIDENTS
BY FREDERIC j. HAsKIN.

BY one of those strange condolences OF
life the two men who rode down Pennsyl-
vania avenue yesterday morning as presl-
dent and president-elect have Travelled
more miles than all of their predecessors
taken together, yet their ages are less
by ten years than the average age at
which the presidents OF the past have re-
tired from their high Office. If they con-
tinue to travel in the future in proper
ton as they have in the past, each Of
them will have travelled more than all OF
the presidents before Roosevelt. Mr.. TAFT
is the only globe trotter whose travels
have led him to the white house. Mr..
Roosevelt, with the single exception OF
General Grant, is the only man who has
ceased to be president to become globs
trotter.
1t is being said that the African expedi-
ton will not be the end of the Roosevelt
ian globe trotting, as the white house will
not be the end of Mr.. Taft's. In Mr..
Roosevelt we have a shining example OF
what the child admired, the youth en-
deavored, and the man acquired even II
seven years of presidential service had 10
be gone through with before the acquisi-
ton. 1t is said to have been the child
ambition of Theodore Roosevelt to be a
naturalist Now he is to be one, and the
scenes of "Africs sunny fountains" are
not the only places where nature stories
are to be gathered at dollar per word.
Mr.. Roosevelt is now Americas only liv-
ing ex-president. For the best part of a
year the nation has been without one.
Mr.. Cleveland was the only living one
from the time of Mr. Harrison's death,
and when the curtain was rung down on
his career, we had none until Mr.. Roose-
velts retirement yesterday Only once or
twice before in the nations history has
it been without living ex-president, and
then for but a brief period. Mr.. Roosevelt
has retired from the presidency at an ;ege
younger than that of most men when
they assumed it. Only Tyler Polk, Pierce,
Fillmore, Grant, Garfield and Cleveland
assumed the presidency under the age Of
ffty-one. Mr.. Roosevelt is younger even
than the man who succeeds him, and
nearly ten years younger than the aver
age age at which the presidents have
retired from the presidential chair.
If he lives as long as the average of
the lives of his predecessors-nearly sixty
seven years-he will see four more admin
istrations come and go. No president up
to Van Buren, went out of office before he
was sixty, and no president up to Polk
died below the age of sixty seven. Wash
ington and the elder Harrison were the
only two, up to the time of Polk, who
died under seventy-two. The elder
Adams, Jefferson Madison, Monroe and
the younger Adams all lived past the four
score to which man attains "by reason of
his strength" John Adams leads in
American presidential longevity, he hav-
ing reached the remarkable age of ninety
one years before he spoke his dying
words: "And Jefferson still lives Mad
ison was the next longest-lived, his age
being eighty-six.
One gets a most startling idea of the
shortening of human life under the stress
of presidential service by comparing the
ages of the earlier presidents with those
of the late ones. Taking the first eight,
at the time of death it is found that
they aggregate 645 years, or an average OF
nearly eight-one years to the man. The
aggregate ages of the eight who immedi-
ately preceded Mr.. Roosevelt amounts to
sol years, an average age OF less than
sixty-three years. This represents
shortening of eighteen years in the aver
age lives of men who have been presi-
dent General jackson and Mr.. Buchanan
are the only presidents who reached the
age of seventy before retiring from office.
Mr.. Roosevelt will probably give the
same answer to the question, What shall
we do with our ex-presidents?' that was
given by Mr. Cleveland. That answer
was to let them alone and allow them 20
attend to their own affairs. lie repre-
sents the greatest earning capacity that
has ever left the white house. His world
wide fame, his straight-from- the-shoui-
der. ll-a-spade-a-spade way of saying,
writing. and doing things have made him
reputation that can call forth a great