FACTS ABOUT PRESIDENTS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XLII, Issue XLII, 11 September 1908, Page 1

FACTS ABOUT PRESIDENTS

I Remarkable testimony to the genius for government of the British race is I (says the "Westminster Gazette") the fact that among the 25 men who have . been Presidents of the United States since the Revolution, all but two were of I English, Scottish, or Scottish-Irish blood. The two exceptions are President RooseI velt and President Roosevelt and President Van Buren (who held office in the ! period 1837-41), both being of Dutch ' origin. As might be expected in a coun- _ try where the legal profession is the : great rocruiting ground for Congress, the majority of United States Presidents were lawyers — 19 out of the 25. Four were teachers, and one a tailor, before they became lawyers. Both Presidents I Johnson and Fillmore were tailors" in early life ; the army contributed three ; President Washington was first ft-sur--1 veyor and then a planter! and President j Lincoln commenced life as a farm-hand,, afterwards becoming a lawyer. The number of Presidents who were never at college is surprising, namely, nine. Harvard University sent three, and Yale none. It is a curious fact, that although there are nearly 11,000,000 Roman Catholics and one and a quarter million Jews in the United States, neither religion has ever been represented at the WTiite House. Eight Presidents were Episcopalians, six were Presbyterians, and four were Methodists. Of the Reformed Dutch Church there were two members, and of Congregationalists two. One was a Unitarian, one a member of the "Disciples," and one an unsectarian Christian. Although one President lived to the age of 90, and two passed the age of 80, they were not, on the whole, longlived men.