The Washington herald., 1921-01-02

DEOPLE are much interest, in what Mr..
Woodrow Wilson will do with himself
after his departure from the White House
March 4.
The most wretched situation in the world
is that of an ex President" said Mr.. Cleve-
land, at the end of his first term. But this
view does not bear analysis. inasmuch as
a number of our Presidents have pursued
existence actively and usefully after leaving
the Office.
The specter of poverty has haunted Tn.
last days of four ex- Presidents-JeFerson
Monroe, Jackson and Grant; but spcb a
thing is impossible in these times. when
the mere fact Of being an ex President is
worth $4,000 a year to any man.
Consider the case of Benjamin Harrison.
He had never been financially successful a.
lawyer; but, after he left the White Honsa
ne could demand and get $40 900 for acting
as advocate in single case. The govern
ment paid him 100000 in a lump for one
job which he would have been glad to under
take few years earlier for a tventis,h
part Of that sum.
Cleveland was poor man when he ram.
to the White House. But when he Isft -
after his first term, one of the bigvsst ~
most prosperous law firms in New VT
onered him partnership, and refereesb;n,
gave rapid bulge to his bank account
A number Of eI Presidents have taksr
literature. John Adams, after his -e+i,o
ment, collected historical data CT
struggling in a lingering death agonv 80
his memoirs to furnish needed nonsv g..
his family. Harrison and Cleveland a.
magazine work at good prices s5Oo %
$1,000 an article. The stuff they f,-nt,haA
was worth the money, beccase they were .x-
Presidents, II not for any other rea.o,
Roosevelt was a skilled writer; ipdead
literature was his profession but it WAS also
for the sake Of the advertising that mar,-
dnes paid him large salaries.
The Leland Stanford University paid Ben
tsmin Harrison $4,000 a year for a done,
lectures annuany-not before, but after he
was President. When he died his estate
was worth 1915, 900. Roosevelt left half a
million.
Cleveland at the time OF his death was
worth considerably more than half a million.
Most Of his money, however, was made
through the ''unearned increment of land
values, he bought real estate in the out
skirts Of Washington; a boom in land ar
rived opportunely, and he sold at an immense
profit When Chicago gas was cheap he
bought a lot ot it by the advice of his
friend, E. @. Benedict, and gained a for
tune thereby.
TIGHT of our Presidents were men OF
Il wealth when they took the ofice-Wash-
inEton, Madison, John Quincy Adams, Van
Buren, Polk, Fillmore, Pierce and Bu-
chanan. Cleveland left the White House
rich at the end Of his second term; and
Roosevelt, who was always well of, having
inherited a fortune from his father, a glass
importer, became much wealthier before he
died
Washington left at least half a million,
being at the time of his death perhaps the
richest man in the United States. In his
day the Mount Vernon estate covered 5000
acres, or twelve and a half square miles,
and embraced a number of farms on which
grain, tobacco and blooded stock were pro-
duced. Its owner was a shrewd manager,
and extracted the largest possible money re-
turn from the property, rising every morning
at daybreak and riding many miles through
the plantations.
John Quincy Adams owned much valuable
real estate in Boston, and also in what Is
today the principal shopping center Of
Washington, on Pennsylvania avenue and F
street. He WIS nearly sixty years old when
be left the White House, and his intention
was to devote the rest of his life to bookish
pursuits; but the folks at home in Quincy
Mass, asked him IL he would not consent
to serve them as a representative in Con-
Eress, and be replied that he would consider
Il an honor to be chosen as selectman BY