Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-04-09
Fiue Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents

BY JANfEs MoRGAN.


Martin Van Buren, was the first ma
chine made politician in the Presi-
dency, and he was more than that
when put to the test; he was the hrsl
of the Presidents to have been born.
under the American flag, rather than
under the British, and he and Roose-
welt are the only Presidents not wholly
descended from Inhabitants of tbs
United Kingdom.
Sprung from Dutch families on both
sides. Van Buren, married into "a Dutch
family, and was able to speak the
Language OF his ancestors. He was
born and he died in a little Rip Van
Wrinkle village on the east bank of
the Hudson. where his father was a
farmer and incidentally a tavern keep
or. Leaving school and entering a
law Office in his native town at IA,
after the name of most American
leaders from Jackson to Lincoln, he
picked up as he went along sucn edu-
cation as he gained. Yet not one OF
our many lawyer Presidents has won
q higher rank in his profession. While
only a boy so small that he had to
stand on a bench to address the jury,
The scored his first success at the bar.
AT 40, he retired from practice with
money enough for a man with a Dutch
thrift, which vas mistaken for stingi-
ness by the less prudent Anglo
Americans around him.
Equally p~recocious in politics, Van
Buren, vas chosen a delegate to a po-
litjca1 convention before he was Of
age; vas appointed a county surrogate
at rs; elected to the State Senat at
80; appointed attorney general of the
State at 80 and at 80 he was elected
a senator of the United States. AL
ready he was at the head of the Al
bany Regency" which continued to
run the Democratic machine in New
York and to dominate the national
counsels of that party for so years to
His skill in political m~anipula-
ton made him known all owe the
country as the Little Magician"
which a French traveller translated into
a more doubtful compliment when
he named him the american Talley-
rand"
Playing the game of politics only
as a New Yorker can n as all New
Workers in public life do. Van Buren,
was the first to IA his way into
the White House in gumshoes. Per-
haps his caution as a politician has
lost hin the credit due him for his
craftsmanship. which he displayed in
more than one a emergency. A
popular story reflected the general
impression of his artful lodging. Once
Win uo was u pdSSeuStE On q id0
son River o an anti-Van Buren,
man said to a Van Buren, man:
"TH bet you the price of the pas
sage that you can't go to him Q
and get a straight answer to the
simplest question hat you can ask"
The challenged man, confidently
taking the bet, went up to his favor
tie and inquired If he did not think
the weather was fine.
WELL" was the careful measured
reply, that is a relative term and :"
by thunderi" the Van Burenite
broke in, as he turned to his chal-
|ienger, you've won"
Van Buren, became the pioneer~Nat-
ional campaign manager when he
made an extended electioneering tour
for Jackson. Webster declared that
he did more for the election of "Old
Hickory than any other 10 men.
Does the old gentleman have
prayers in his house?" 1t was more
as an adroit suggestion than as an
inquiry that this propaganda of 80
Years ago wrote to a man who was
writing up Jackskon for the campaign,
"If so, mention it modestly."
In that fierce Jackson campaign,
Van Buren, took the party nomination
for Governor of New York. Being
elected. he resigned from the Senate,
land then, after only two months in
the Governorship, he resigned again
to be Secretary of State in the new
Cabinet. Thus he held within IL
weeks three of the highest prizes in
| public life and at the same time was
heir-apparent to the Presidency itself.
| Copyright, 1920. by James Morgan;
published by special arrangement with
| The Mcclure Newspaper Syndicate.