The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1931-11-26

L "a E$33&:::3 l We'll St1ippCQ VI
sa their foliage. AS
- 49, ssssSSs / look across the
park and the rear lawn of the White
House, it is difficult to picture the
condition in which the presidents
house was in the time of Jefferson.
Now, all is spick and span, but in the
days of the third chief executive, the
| grounds surrounding the mansion
were pretty well run down, accord
| ing to comments on those times by
writers who have Investigated.
There is Henry Adams, for in
stance. He has the following, in
part, to say of Jefferson and his
times in the White House: "The
president was required to pay the ex-
penses of the house and grounds. In
consequence, the grounds were un-
cared for, the palings broken or
wanting, the paths underlined, and
the place waste, running impercep-
tibly into the barren fields about it."
Well, the country was young then;
so was the City of Washington.
Money was not so plentiful, either in
the treasury of the government or
in the pockets of private citizens Or
public officials. Adams says further:
,, within, the house was as simple as
without, after the usual style OF Vn-
ginia houses, when the scale was Of
ten extravagant but the details plain.
Only in his table did Jefferson
squander an unusual amount OF
money with excellent results for his
. political influence, for no president
ever understood better than Jefferson
the art of entertaining; yet his
table cost him no excessive sum. For
for best champagne he paid less than
dollar bottle; for his best Bor-
deaux he paid dollar; and the Ma
deira which was drunk with pipes in
the White House, cost between so
cents and 60 cents a bottle. His
French cook and cooks assistant,
were paid about $500 a year. On
such scale, his salary of $4,000 a
year was equivalent to fully $4,000
of modern money; and his accounts
showed that Tor the first and probably
the most expensive years of his presi-
dency, he spent only $16,800 which
could probably be charged to his pub
lie and official character. A mode of
life so simple and so easily controlled
should, in village like Washington,
have left no opening for arrears of
debt; but when Jefferson, about to
quit the White House forever, at
tempted to settle his accounts, he
discovered that he had exceeded his
income"
Well, as I have frequently said,
there are drawbacks to being presi-
dent Of the United States. At the
same time, there are drawbacks to
being an employee of the government
in Washington. 1t is pretty well as
sured now that every federal worker
here will be asked to give three days
salary into fund for the unemploy-
ed. Such request to government
employees is equivalent to the actual
performance of the thing asked.
President Hoover has set the example
by giving about one-fifteenth of his
yearly official income. The rest of
us, h place to eat, three square
meals day, and nice pleasant work,
should be willing to sacrifice three
DAYS, am sure.
Well, reverting to the White House
once more,-it may have been in a
sorry condition when jefferson was
there, but it has cost the United
States plenty of money since the per-
iod of the great exponent of states
rights. Apparently no truly accurate
account has ever been kept of the
expenditures entailed by the govern
ment's maintaining home for its
presidents, but from survey of vari-
GUS administrations, it appears that
the construction, reconstruction and
furnishing of the building, has run
into the not really Insignificant fig
ure of eight million dollars. Now
that sum is placed by those who are
conservative. With somewhat of a
1 knowledge of governmental expendi-
lures in other lines, am inclined to
think that, perhaps, double that
amount, would truly represent the
actual outlay.
However, those who appraise the
executive home and its ten-acre lot,
are of the opinion that the place is
worth no less than $25,000,0O0, so
apparently it has been a good invest
ment Now, that $25,O00,O00 is also
conservative. I'm sure that if the
place were sold by the front-foot
system tomorrow, it would easily
bring fifty million dollars.
Great fortunes have been put into
furniture going into this building on
Pennsylvania Avenue. For instance
President James Monroe took $50, 000
worth of things back from France
with him, and I am told that practic-
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