The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1930-02-20
Washington Keen
Man Of Business

How does It come about that george
Washington, a member of an agricul'
tural family. living in an agricultural
state, and concerned primarily with
the occupation and use Of land. may be
styled with absolute truth as the best
and the most farsighted business man
of his time?
1t has been my fortune during the
last three summers to search out the
family history of Washington's ances-
tors. writes Albert Bushnell Hart, pro-
lessor emeritus of history. Harvard
university, in the Nations Business.
From William de Washington. who
settled in the town Of Washington.
Palatinate of Durham, in 1855. we
think we have straight strain of %
generations of Washingtons behind our
George Washington that can be sub
stantiated; and in that set of ances-
tors. father to son, among men of va
ried talents and intellectual powers.
have as yet failed to find single
scalawag. In that line you find the
lawyer strain. You find judges. You
find for the most part landowners,
holders of considerable estates. which
they administered successfully.
Line Of Successful Men.
There Is in the Washington line a
strong strain Of practical and highly
successful business men. Otherwise 1t
would be impossible to account for the
manner in which Washington reached
out beyond his immediate field as a
landowner to greater enterprises; and
how eventually he became the first
practical transportation man in the
United States.
Washington, of course, was land.
owner. That is, his prime business
was to run landed estates. It was
declining business when he took it up.
when by the death of his father and
then of his two brothers he came into
possession of very large properties, in
Guiding the Mount Vernon estate and
a number of adjacent plantations. AL
together he had 1900 acres Of land.
Potomac, including Mount Vernon.
That land he carried on as bust
ness enterprise. as you would do if
you were charged with such a respon-
sibility, to make 1900 acres of land
pay If you could. He was the first
virginian to see that tobacco was
played out because the land was worn
out; that the land would not stand
the pressure of continued tobacco
crops. So he turned to the culture Of
wheat. He built mill to utilize that
wheat and he sent it to market. He
had his own brand.
Kept Accounts Faithfully.
According to the customs of the time,
he put up distillery in order to make
a different disposition Of part of his
product. That is to say, Washington
sought all the different kinds of agri'
culture that could he maintained on
his farm. He raised blooded stock
of a superior kind. The king of Spain
made him present Of very valuable
lack, and he raised mules and appar-
emily raised them to advantage.
Furthermore, Washington was a
natural accountant, and the proof is in
his diaries and in his account books.
Almost the last thing that he put on
paper was little bit Of bookkeeping.
He kept his records in a clear. legible
hand. He kept them according to the
customs Of the times. That is, he re-
corded whatever went on. His diaries
have been published in four volumes
hut they tell you nothing of what
Washington thought. He put down
not what he thought but what he did,
who his visitors were, If he went to
church or stayed at home. That is.
he kept a record to which he could
refer to show very nearly where he
was every day and what he was do
ing.
He was an analytic bookkeeper, and
| suspect one of the first in America.
Hence we find his accounts very care
fully subdivided. We find an account
for each plantation, general account,
how much he gained out of wheat.
how much from tobacco, how many
slaves he had, what the expense had
been, and so on. He had that mex
tinguishable love of figures that af-
fects some men.
Even Gambling Losses Listed.
Washington loved to keep books.
One of his biographers has calculated
his losses in gaming. He lost rs
pounds in year. and he kept the ac-