Evening journal., 1913-09-20
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Impression Made by ex-
President Martin Van Buren,
BY Holland.

1T has been my good fortune to see
and upon several occasions to hold con
versation with many Of the ex- Presi-
dents Of the United states. As a bov /
saw and shoook hands with Martin Van
buren That was in the second year of
ms presidential term. met him twenty
years after he retired. J saw and shook
hands with John Quincy Adams at
time when he visited one who was near
OF kin who lived in Utica. \. y Mr.
Adams had been at that time about ff-
teen years out Of the presidential office
I often met Milard Fillmore after he re
tired from the Presidency, and / saw
James Buchanan once. although I did
not have opportunity to speak with him.
But All of tho presidents from the time
Of Andrew johnson down to Theodore
Roosevelt it mas been my privilege to
meet and to know several Of them some
what intimately, and some of them /
had opportunity 10 see many times after
they retired TO private life
So said ex- Postmaster General Thomas
J.. James, who served in the cabinets of
President Garfield and President Arthur,
at a time when he was speaking to me
Of the lonely life General Arthur led
after he retired from the Presidency and
returned 20 his home in New York city
Il have often thought that there
must be something in the Presiden-
tial office, some powerful influence
due to the vast responsibility which
a President always powerfully feels,
which serves to impart certain dig
nifty and an unaccustomed but very
admirable quality to these men after
they have gone into the retirement
of private life. II may be that II is
due to my sense Of the great dignity
and the majestic power of the Presi-
Dental office. characteristic of which
] was not fully conscious until | had
served in the cabinets Of two Presi-
dents which tended to give a sort Of
exclusive glamor to the men who
have served as Presidents.
IN every instnce all the men who
served in the Presidential Office took
up the vocations of life quietly and
resumed. without any pride of past
Office. the attitude of private citizens.
] think that tells story of the great
ness Of the true democratic and re-
publican influences of our form of
government.
81 used to see General Grant fire.
quently after his retirement from the
Presidency. and | was always inn
pressed by the simple unostentatious,
unassuming manner of the man who
had commanded in the Civil War as
the great general of the Union
armies.
when I chatted with ex-President
Grant 7 found that he was greatly in
terested in the common. everyday af-
fairs Of life ! never heard him re-
fer to any of his experiences while
serving as President
This perect simplicity Of conduct
was also characteristic of ex-Presi-
dent Hayes. / occasionally saw him
when he visited New York and while
there seemed ia be about him. as with
all of the other ex-presidents that
knew. a certain atmosphere which
cannot be described in words, but
which was a reflection of his sense
of the dignity and responsibility Of the
Presidents Office nevertheless I used
TO think that he was about as unas-
suming a man as could be found any
where In the country. That, also, was
a characteristic of the life Of Grover
Cleveland. both times when he was
once more private citizen II would
have been also of william Mckinley
had he lived long enough to be an ex-
president
Yet, ] may say that | have never
seen anyone who served as President
who impressed me in quite the way in
which Martin Van Buren, did after he
became an ex-President. All of the
incidental attributes OF his high
Office seemed still to be associated
with his personality. or all our
Presidents. he was in personal ap-
pearance and in the exquisite grace
and courtesy OF his manners. the
equal OF the high cultivated aris-
tocracy Of Great Britain. and yet we
never had President who was more
simply and perfectly democratic In
his relations with neighbors and ac-
quaintances than Van Buren was"
Copyright 1913. by r. J. Edwards
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