Evening star., 1926-12-17
)OHN A. STEWART
DIES At AGE OF 1O4
Wall Street FinanCier Was
Adviser to Presidents Lin
coin and Cleveland.

BY the Associated Press.
NEW YORK, December 17.--Johr
| Aikman Stewart, 104 years old, Wal
Street financier and once Assistant
Secretary of the United States Treas
ury. died at his home in this city
early today of pneumonia.
When he discontinued making regu
| lar trips to his office in Wall street
several months after he had passed
! his Goth birthday anniversary, Johr
| Altman Stewart insisted that he hat
not retired, but merely was acting
upon the advice of his physician. For
several years previous to that time
| he had gone by automobile three
times each week from his home al
Morristown, \. j., TO attend to his
duties as chairman of the board OF
/ the United States Trust Co. He was
suffering no physical ailments at the
time, and the discontinuance of the
! trips to his Office was suggested by
| his physician as a means of cOnSerV
| ing his strength. Emphasizing his
declaration that he had not retired
Mr.. Stewart continued to go through
! regular daily routine almost to the
time of his death, keeping in touch
! with the affairs Of his Office and with
the general news of the world by
reading two newspapers daily.
The fact that Mr.. Stewart had been
making regular trips to his Office
when nearing the century mark had
been generally overlooked, except by
his close associates, until in 1921 at
tentfon was called to it by John D.
Rockefeller when he was receiving
congratulations on his own birthday
anniversary that year. The oil king
declining to regard his own case as
out of the ordinary or remarkable
| said: II have a friend 81 years old
who, living in Morristown, goes to his
bank three times a week" He 70
| fused to divulge the name, but later
it was learned that Mr.. Stewart was
| the friend to whom he referred, and
| it also was discovered that Mr.. Rocke
feller was in error by two years re-
garding his friends age. Mr.. Stew
art was the Oldest active financier in
Wall Street, and perhaps in the coun.
try. He contended there was no
secret about the good health he had
enjoyed so many years and attributed
it TO abstemious habits since his
youth. He had not used tobacco in
any fOfm since ne was ~.
Only Rule Was Moderation.
II believe that is one of the rea.
sons l have kept my health" he de.
clared. The only rule l have is
moderation in everything. Eating
too much is just as bad as drinking
| too much. I do not live differently
from other people, but l eat and drink
carefully"
Mr. Stewart often recalled, with ap
parent pleasure the intimate friend
ship he enjoyed with many Presidents
of the United States. Born during
the administration of James Monroe
he would recall the first President he
saw was Andrew Jackson on an oc
casion when the President delivered
an address at the City Hall in New
York. From Jackson's time he had
seen nearly all the Presidents and
was personally acquainted with most
of them. He was one of Lincoln's
close advisers during the Civil War
| and entered the service of his country
in 1854 as assistant treasurer of the
United States. Afterward he took part
in the councils Of leading fina anciers
and participated in plans to fund the
national debt.
He came to the Governments aid
again in 1894 during the second admin
istration of Grover Cleveland, at a
time when the country's gold reserve
was dangerously near depletion He
was influential in obtaining the re
| sumption of specie payments, and took
leading part in financing the needs
of the Government. President Cleve
land, in his book Presidential Prob
! lems," said of him: HE rendered mos,
f,Y1 ,,I f,.tN
this and the previous offer of bonds
successful"
Brother Was Admiral.
Mr.. Stewart was born in New York
August 27, 1922. the son of John and
Mary Aikman Stewart. His father
was native of the Island of Lewis
one of the Hebrides group, and his
mother was born in New York. 4
brother, Rear Admiral Edwin Stewart
born in 1887. was for MANY wears
payma ster general of the Navy. Grad
uated from Columbia University in
1870, John A. Stewart at the time OF
! his death was the oldest living grad
uate of that institution. For several
| years after graduation he engaged in
civil engineering and had been a clerk
| in the Board of Education in New
York and actuary of the United States
! Life Insurance Co.
| In 1858 Mr.. Stewart organized and
| became secretary of the United States
/ Trust Co., with which he remained
until his death. He was made presi
| dent of the company in 1865 and re
tanned that office until 1902, when he
| resigned 10 become chairman of the
board of trustees. He was the last
survivor of the original board OF
trustees, which included Peter Cooper
| John Jacob Astor, Joseph Lawrence
| John j. Phelps, John j. Cisco, William
f. Dodge. Royal Phelps and William
! II. Macy.
Was Princeton Trustee.
| Mp. Stewart took IA great interest,"
! in Princeton University, an interes
| that was second only to that he man
| ifested in the United States Trust Co
He had been a trustee and counselor
| of Princeton since 1868 and was large
! " instrumental in having the call sen
to President McCosh, whose admins
tration marked the beginning OF tn,
modern Princeton. He served as pres
ident pro TEN. Of Princeton during tn,
period between the resignation o
| Woodrow Wilson to become governo
of New Jersey and the installation o
| John Grier Hibben.
Mr. Stewart was at his desk within
100 feet of the scene of the Wall Stree
eyulcSfoO In Ssptunfhpr In2O and NJ