Democratic Sentinel, Volume 10, Number 16, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 21 May 1886 — Our Ex-Presidents. [ARTICLE]

Our Ex-Presidents.

The Drawer referred some time ago to the young man who is one day to be President of the United States, and the desirability of his fitting himself for this position. But on reflection the subject assumes a graver aspect. What the young man ought to be thinking of is his ability to become an ex-Presi-dent. Anybody can be President who gets votes enough; the ability to get the votes is quite distinct from the qualifications to fill the office. And when a man is in, thanks to the excellence of our machinery, he cannot do much injury in four years, except to himself and his party. Moderate ability will carry him through respectably. But it requires a great man to be a successful ex-President. The office of President is a very exalted one. And when the man lays it down and retires and stands alone, and people compare him with the position he has just left, he must have very large proportions to stand the comparison. This aspect of the case has not been enough considered. Men are very anxious to get the office, and their fr ends push them for it, without thinking of the figure the successful man may make when his term is over. The fact is, that in the contrast he may appear much more insignificant than if he had remained ia private life. There has been a great deal of talk lately about giving the exPresidents a pension in order to place them in a position of dignity, and enable them to maintain something of the state* the people have been accustomed to see them in. It has been often remarked that a king out of business becomes an object of compassion, even if he has invested money in foreign funds. Nothing but the possession of great qualities can save him from contempt. It is so with an ex-President. The practical suggestion to be made, therefore, is that the young man to whom we have alluded should fit himself to be an exPresident. If he cannot attain the character and the qualities needed for that, he may be sure that the office of President will be but a hollow satisfaction.— Charles Dudley Warner, in Harper's Magazine.