GRANT’S SHREWDNESS AND THRIFTY MANAGEMENT.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXX, Issue 4354, 4 March 1875, Page 3

GRANT’S SHREWDNESS AND THRIFTY MANAGEMENT.

General Grant is unquestionably the most thrifty President who has occupied the Executive Mansion for years, not even excepting Jas. Buchanan. He will retire at the close of his term the richest of all our Presidents. His extraordinary and uniform good fortune has followed him in the investment of his money as in everything else, and every “ talent” has been made to yield a full harvest. Grant’s habits and tastes, like those of Mr. Lincoln, are very frugal and simple. He has one weakness which, in other men, might lead to extravagance—namely, an inordinate fondness for horseflesh. But, with his “ canny” Scotch shrewdness, he indulges this luxury at comparatively little expense to him Self. , He is a good judge of a horse, and has been known to make some very advantageous “trades” or “swaps.” It is said that that famous Michigander, who is the terror of the British lion—Zach. Chandler—once sold Grant a pair of hqrses which did not turn out as represented, and which he purchased on Chandler’s word, without having seen them. If the: Senator expected to “ sell” the President as well as the , horses, he was doomed to disappointment, for Grant did not drive them half a dozen times imtil he discovered their weak point, and he made Chandler take them back and refund. The President’s St. Louis farm, which is stocked with some of the best blooded animals in the country, furnishes him all the horses he needs at comparatively little cost. But for the fact that a regular annual sale of thoroughbreds at the St. Louis farm, such as takes place at the leading stock farms of Kentucky, might furnish a column or so of scandal for the New Yorh Sun and papers of that ilk, it is probable Grant could make as good a display of fine colts as McDaniel, Alexander, McGrath, or ‘the late John Harper. As it is, the surplus stock is quietly worked off at private sale, yielding, it is said, a good profit. Mrs. Grant, though not the handsomest woman in America, is perhaps one of the best managers. The fact of his having such a wife is only another illustration of Grant’s rare luck. If he knows how to-fight'a battle and drive a horse, she understands all about housekeeping, marketing, shopping, and how to. keep the buttons-on the children’s clothes.- These are excellent accomplishments in any woman, or rather they were so regarded when Mrs. Grant was.a girl. That was before it was considered the acme of a young lady’s glory to be able to “dance'the German,” and fritter away the hours of an evening with small talk to a vealy, brainless booby. Prom what I have said of the habits and tastes of ■ the President, and of the character of Mrs. Grant, you will not be surprised to learn that Grant saves more of his salary than any of his predecessors. The household of the Executive Mansion is run upon sensible, economical principles, and yet there is no -lack of hospitality. It is very seldom- it is without a guest dr two of some kind. In addition to the customary “State dinners” which consist of members of the Cabinet, of the Diplomatic Corps, Justices of.tlie Supreme Court, and mobs of Congressmen, the family or private dining-room is frequently the scene of quiet little dinners, composed of the President’s personal, friends. I have heard bon ' ■vivants say . that the President’s dinners are nothing to brag of, either in point of substance, or service. In his early days Grant lacked the training which would enable him to compete, in this line, with men like Sam Hooper or the late Charles Sumner. He is not much of a judge of wines, and his stock is mostly selected at random. Champagne is about the only, wine for which he has any. partiality, and his taste for it is father acquired than natural. —Washington correspondent of.the Boston Glohe.: .> ;