Perth Amboy evening news., 1920-04-06
Fine Minutes A Day
With Our Presidents

ny JAMES MORGAN.

dency almost deserved 20 be called
the third American revelation. The
first IN 1T7s left TIE country still
uuder The rule Of the colonial aris-
tooraey. whichs though. liberty low
ing. distrusted the republic and hated
a democracy The Jeffers0niau reeo-
tuition Of 1900 called the masses into
the u o. public opinion, but the
old governing class remained in OK
elusive possession Of the Offices
everywkere, from president to select
The JacksoBtan Revolution Of
inant party from Republican to
Democratic, threw open to all the
doors OF the government, and adj
mAted Tom, Dick and Harry indis-
crfminately to the sacred precincts OF
public honof and political power.
b change Logically came in tho
course OF the nations growth. For
now there were eight or nine new
states on the western frontier, where
there was no a~ristocracy Of birth or
wealth., and where men we're start
Ing even In the race. This democra-
tic spirit spread even to the old
states, and In New England the VII
lage artisan and the poor farmer rose
up In town meeting to challenge the
squire and the parson.
really was the first presi-
dent to be popularity chosen. His
was the first presidential election to
arouse the interest of the multitude.
the people In nearly every village
setting up a hickory pole and around
IL rallying to the support Of "Old
Hfickory." At his Inauguration. ac-
cording to Justice story. ne reign
OF King mob seemed triumphant"
and the Jurist saw with horror the
White House invaded by crowds Of
all sorts OF people, from the highest
and most polished down OF tho most
vulgar n gross In tho nation"
Although the government no long
er was In good society, this first
frontiersman In the presidency was
no social boor. He felt free to relax
by stretching himself under the trees
pm the White House lawn, n corncob
pipe in his mouth; but on prope
occasion his manners were as courtly
as those of any predecessor or sue
cessor.
James Buchanan, who once es-
corted an English lady to sec Jack
son. took the liberty of advising him
to slick vi "a ~little," and received
this sharp rebuke: "Buck-hannan. /
knew a Teller what got rich a mindin'
his ~business!" When the Pres
ident came down to receive the visi-
by n gracious and stately gentleman
In a ruffled shirt and swallow tail
coat. which had been quickly substi-
tutcd for n faded dressing gown.
1t was derision of It's fallen dignity
In the eyes OF the aristocrats that the
Presidents Mansion" or "Presl-
dents Palace" was nicknamed The
White House" by Jackson's critics.
To them IL was no longer Il mansion
or a palace. but merely a house-and
a w~hitowashed house at thatl
Unfortunately. the JackSonian rev.
olution imported from Europe the
| aristocratic system OF official favor
itlsm and patronage, which does not
belong In q democracy. Adopting
the slogan ITO the vlctors belong the
| spoils," the new administration made
/ moro removals from office in its first
month than were made altogether by
the six administrations which had
l gone before.
In n simple. young country, still
| without big cities or railroads. with
| out great industries, mines. corpora
tions and m~onopolies and with I'm
| abundance OF virgin soil. tho Ameri-
| can people needed little and asked
nothing from their government in
| Jackson's day. Having no new
| measures to propose. his followers
| gratified their sense of power chiefly
| by turning out tho old odlce-holding
caste and by installing In the seats
| OF inc mlBDLy new men OF tIelT own
sort. Straightaway our politics de-
generated into furious and often
meaningless struggle between the ms
and outs, an evil from which we have
yet to ~ecove
In the passion OF the hour for pun
ishing enemies and rewarding friends
Jackson himself pushed the spirit of
favoritsm to an absurd extreme in
his championship OF Peggy O'Neal-
J.nno hafaPa this INV and i~nlnrIldQnt
daughter of a Washington tavern
keeper became the bride of the sec
rotary of war. Gen. Eaton. h had
been the gossip Of the capital, and
the President attempted in vain to
shut the mouth of Nine. Grundy. In
his gallant but u~navailing efforts to
force the wives of his other secre-
| taries to receive her into the official
circle, he broke up his cabinet. sent
homo his niece. Mrs. Andrew jack
| son Donaldson, who was the mistress
of the White House. n made the
social recognition of Mrs. Eaton a
test Of loyalty to his administration.
The Presidents sympathies were
all the more easily aroused by the
| plight of Peg" as he called her,
because his own good wife had been
tho target of the scandal mongers,
whose poisoned shafts at last, as he
believed. had pierced her heart. After
a campaign In which her name had
been unjustly and shamefully drag
ged in the mire, she died between the
election m the Inauguration.
Jackson's hour of triumph was
turned to a time of mourning for this
devoted, faithful companion-'a be
ing so gentle and so virtuous." as he
recorded in her epitaph, Islander
might wound but could not dlshon-
or" Broken beneath the burden OF
his heavy loss-'twenty years older
in a night"-he entered the White
House a shattered and lonely ole
man, but yet with a zeal and n cour'
age which were to crown his life
with a great service to his country.
Copyright, 1920. by James Morgan
published by special arrangement
with The Mcclure Newspaper Syn
d~icate).