McCormick messenger. (McCormick, S.C.) 1902-current, March 09, 1939, Image 6
65 Years Ago Occurred the Death
Of "The President Nobody : Knows"
Encyclopedias and Dictionaries of Biography Give Little Space to Millard Fillmore Yet He
Was One of the Most Interesting Characters Who Ever Occupied the White House and
Many Important Measures Were Passed During His Administration.
C Western Newspaper Union.
By ELMO SCOTT WATSON
i i r | 'HE President No
body Knows! ”
That title could be
given, and not inappropriate
ly, to an American who died
65 years ago this month. He
was Millard Fillmore, 13th
President of the United States,
but he has been the subject
af fewer biographies and less
■pace is devoted to him in the
encyclopedias and diction
aries oiLiuography than has
been -the case with any other
of our Chief Executives. So
the average Artierican knows
very little, if anything, about
him as a man or as a President.
Yet he was one of the most
interesting characters who
ever occupied the White
House and during his Presi
dency occurred several events
af oustanding importance in
American history.
Fillmore was born in a log cab*
in on a farm in Cayuga county,
Hew York, a few miles southeast
ef the little city of Moravia, on
February 7, 1800. Opportunities
Joe an education were limited in
the primitive schools which ex
isted in Uiat region and which
'young Fillmore attended less than
three months of each year. There
were no newspapers or magazines
available and his father’s “li
brary” consisted of only two
books—the Bible and a collection
ef hymns. In fact, it is said that
young Fillmore never saw a his
tory of the United States nor a
map of his country until he was 19
years old! i
When Fillmore was 15, he was
apprenticed to a wool carder and
dothier and with his first wages
purchased a small English dic
tionary which he studied while
attending the carding machine.
By the time he was 19 he had
resolved to become a lawyer. His
term of apprenticeship had two
more years to run but he made
am arrangement with his employ
er whereby he agreed to relin-,
qnish his wages for the last
year’s services and also prom
ised to pay $30 for his time.
Next he made an arrangement
with Judge Wood of Moravia, a
retired country lawyer, by which
be was to receive his board in
payment for working in the of
fice. He began “reading law”
under the judge’s direction, and,
to supplement his income, he
taught school a part of the time.
By 1823 he had learned enough
taw to be admitted as an attorney
by the court of common pleas of
Erie county, even though he had
not completed the course of study
Statue of Fillmore in Buf
falo, N. T.
usually required. The influence
of several leading Buffalo law
yers, whose confidence he had
won, was mainly responsible for
that.
Fillmore’s father was then liv
ing in Aurora and he went there
to begin practice. He won his
first case and for doing so was
xewarded with a fee of $4! But
more important than that to his
foture career was an event which
took place in 1826.
During his term as an appren
tice, he had met and fallen in
love with a young schoolteacher
named Abigail Powers. They be
came engaged before Fillmore
moved to Erie county but he was
so poor that for three years he
could not afford to travel the 150
miles to see her. In February,
1826, he journeyed at last to Mo
ravia and they were married in
the home of her brother, Judge
Powers. Then Fillmore took his
bride back to the home he had
MILLARD FILLMORE
built for her with his own hands
and they began their struggle to
live on the meager earnings of
the young lawyer.
To help her husband continue
his studies, Abigail Fillmore went
back to school teaching. In 1827
Fillmore was admitted to the bar
as a full-fledged attorney-at-law
and the next year he was elected
to the state legislature. At that
time the anti-Mason excitement
was at its height, and Fillmore
was sent to Albany as the repre
sentative from Erie county of that
wing of the Whig party. In 1829
he was granted the right to plead
before the state Supreme court
and the next year he was re
elected to the legislature.
Fillmore distinguished himself
by drafting the bill, passed in
1831, which abolished imprison
mnent for debt in New York. The
next year he was elected to con
gress and after serving one term,
retired until 1836, when he was
re-elected. He was again re
turned to Washington in 1838 and
1840 but declined a renomination
in 1842.
In 1847 he was elected comp
troller of the state of New York
and in his annual report for 1848
suggested the establishment of a
national bank, with the stocks of
the United States as the sole ba
sis upon which to issue its cur
rency. Out of this suggestion
grew eventually our present sys
tem of national banks. During
this same year Fillmore again
entered the arena of national pol
itics. Conspicuous for his anti
slavery views, he was chosen by
the Whigs as their candidate for
vice president and running mate
for Gen. Zachary Taylor in the
campaign of 1848.
By virtue of his election to that
office Fillmore presided over the
United States senate* during the
heated debate in the session of
1849-50 over the slavery question.
Angered by the bitter language
used by the senators, Fillmore
made a forcible speech announc
ing his determination to maintain
order and declaring that he would
rescind the rule, established by
Vice President Calhoun in 1826,
which deprived the vice presi-
. dent of authority to call senators
to order. Instead of resenting
this encroachment upon their
procedure by an executive order,
the senators cheered Fillmore at
the conclusion of his speech and
directed that his remarks be en
tered in full on the pages of the
senate journal.
Fillmore presided with equal
firmness during the exciting de
bate over Henry Clay’s “omni
bus bill” which dragged on for
weeks. Then the controversy
/ended abruptly when President
Taylor died on July 9, 1850, and
Millard Fillmore left the senate
to take up his new duties as Pres
ident at the other end of Penn
sylvania avenue. In accordance
with his wishes, the severest sim
plicity marked his inauguration.
Fillmore faced one of the most
difficult tasks ever undertaken by
a President. Already the United
States was a “house divided
against itself” over the issue of
slavery and his concilia.ory poli
cies won him the condemnation
of both sides and the whole
hearted approval of neither. Due
to the fact that his party was in
the minority in both houses of
congress, many wise measures
which he recommended failed to
pass. However, the United States
is indebted to him for cheap post
age, for the extension of the na
tional capitol, the cornerstone of
which he laid on July 4, 1851; and
for extension of contemporary
knowledge of the West through
various exploring expeditions
which he authorized.
Even more notable than do
mestic affairs were the interna
tional relations developed during
the Fillmore administration. He
sent Perry on the famous expedi
tion which opened the ports of
Japan to the world and estab
lished diplomatic relations with
that country. Carrying out a
strict, policy of non-intervention
in the affairs of foreign nations,
he used stern measures to sup
press filibustering expeditions to
the Latin American countries and
with equal firmness exacted from
other countries respect for our
flag.
But so unpopular did he make
himself with the anti-slavery ele
ment in the North by his signing
the bill which admitted Califor
nia, thus virtually abrogating the
Missouri Compromise, and more
especially by his signing the Fu
gitive Slave law and his attempts
to have it enforced, that the
Whigs denied him a renomina
tion in 1852.
During all his ^ career as a
statesman in Washington, his
“right hand” had been his wife,
who has been described as “per
haps the most remarkable of the
wives of our Presidents” and
“the wings by which her hus
band soared so high.” Finding
the White House destitute of
books when she became the
“First Lady of the Land,” Mrs;
Fillmore prevailed upon her hus
band to 'obtain an appropriation
from congress fdr a library in
the executive mansion. So the
famous collection of books in the
White House today is a perpet
ual memorial to Abigail Fill
more.
\
Mrs. Fillmore died soon after
the inauguration of her husband’s
successor—on March 30, 1853. A
year later their only daughter
also died and in 1855 the*lonely
ex-President took a trip to Eng
land where he received numerous
attentions from Queen Victoria
and her cabinet ihinisters. Re
turning to the United States the
next year he became a “third
party candidate” for the Presi
dency when he was nominated
by the American or “Know Noth
ing” party. In the election he
received the electoral vote of only
ABIGAIL FILLMORE
one state, Maryland, and after
that retired from public life to his
law practice in Buffalo.
In 1858 he married again, this
time a widow, Mrs. Caroline C.
McIntosh. As the first citizen of
Buffalo, he was frequently called
upon to welcome distinguished
visitors to his city, including
Abraham Lincoln when he wa&on
his way to Washington in 1861 to
become President. He helped es
tablish the Buffalo HistoricaVso-
ciety and, although he took'no
active part in the Civil war, he
gave his support to the cause of
preserving the Union.
Fillmore died in Buffalo on
March 8, 1874, and was buried in
Forest Hill cemetery in that city.
His fame somewhat eclipsed by
that of another President whom
Buffalo had given to the nation—
Grover Cleveland—, it was not
until recent years that its citi
zens honored him by erecting a
statue of him within its bounda
ries.
But it is different in the little
city of Moravia. It is prouder of
the fact that it can call Millard
Fillmore its own than of the fact
that it was the childhood home
of John D. Rockefeller. Old tim
ers there will tell you the tra
dition of how the ambitious young
lawyer, not yet 21, first attracted
attention by his delivery of a
Fourth of July oration which
caused some of his hearers to
prophesy that he “would make
his mark and perhaps become a
judge.” Apparently, though, no
one was so brash as to predict
that he would become President
of the United States!
They will show you the old-
fashioned home on Smith street,
marked by a tablet erected by
the D. A. R., which tells you
that “In this house the thirteenth
President, Millard Fillmore, and
Abigail Powers were married on
February 5, 1826.” And they will
take you outside the town to a
scenic spot which bears the name
of Fillmore Glen, now a state
park, where rushing streams that
come tumbling down flower-stud
ded, forest clad slopes and flow
across green-carpeted meadows
keep fresh the memory of Mil
lard Fillmore. For in Cayuga
county, at least, he is not the
‘‘President Nobody Knows”!
Falls in Fillmore Glen state
park, near Moravia, N. Y.
A few years ago there came to
light in the musty files of the
state department at Washington
a document which was an inter
esting echo of the foreign policy
of President Fillmore. It was a
letter which he sent in 1851 to
Seyed Syeed Bin, sultan of Mus
cat, at Zanzibar in protest
against the Sultan’s closing the
harbors of his country to Ameri
can commerce. Written in the
flowery style of the Orient, the
letter pictured the United States
with all the extravaganza of an
Arabian Nights’ Tale.
The letter opens with President
Fillmore explaining that he is
Chief Executive of the 31 United
States of America, and enumer
ating each of the states. The
message, the President says, he
is sending by an officer of high
rank in the United States navy,
on the “steam ship Susquehanna,
one of the many hundreds of
ships belonging to this great na
tion, which now float over all
seas, bearing to all nations offers
of peace and good will and serv
ing also as means of defense and
national power.”
Of the size of his country the
President tells the Sultan:
“From the region of ice which
bounds the United States on the
north to the flowery land of the
orange on the south is a journey
of 100 days, and from the east
ern shores, which receive the
first beams of the rising sun, to
those on the west, where rest his
setting rays, is 150 days’ journey,
and this immense country is not
a sandy waste, but filled with
populous cities, traversed by
mighty rivers and crowned with
lofty mountains. By railroads or
in steamboats the citizens of this
immense country pass from one
place to another with inconceiv
able rapidity.
“From the seat of government
at Washington I send my com
mands in a few minutes by the
Lightning Telegraph, to all parts
of the United States; and they
are obeyed. I speak of these
things not for the sake of boast
ing; but in the Spirit of Friend
ship and Peace, and that you
may know that all parts of this
country are open to you and your
Ships and your people for the
purposes of Commerce and
Trade. I shall welcome in all
our ports the Ships which bear
your flag.
Having thus extended full hos
pitality to the Sultan’s ships the
President then chides his “Great
and Good Friend” for not being
so generous.
“How can you think to be just,”
the President writes, “that while
we open so many hundred ports
to you, you should wish to confine
us to a single port, or prevent
our ships from going to all parts
of your dominions. Great and
Good Friend, this cannot be.
Free trade everywhere is desir
able, for so can the various pro
ductions of different countries
best be distributed throughout the
world. I hope the traffic of our
country with yours is mutually
beneficial. I hope it will continue
and increase.”
“The flag of this country,” he
says, “was treated by you and i
your people with disrespect, I
therefore, Consul Charles Ward
left your court. In this matter he
acted rightly and I approve his
course. He has shown me your
letters in which you promise to
listen to my wishes. If I send
another Consul to Zanzibar, I ex
pect that\he shall be treated with
equal honor as the consuls of oth
er nations, and that the flag
which he hoists, and which is his
protection, shall have the same
honors paid to it, as the flags of
the most-favored nations. In
these respects I ask for no su
periority over other nations, on
the part of United States, neither
can I admit any inferiority.”
With these business matters
out of the way, the President re
turns again to pleasanter affairs.
He commends and congratulates
the Sultan on his enlightened sup
pression of the slave trade, elab
orately extends his best wishes
and promises to write him fre
quently. The letter ends thus:
“I have caused the great seal
of these United States, the signal
of truth and stamp of honor to be
placed on this letter by the offi
cer who is entrusted to hold it,
and to use it on great and solemn
occasions.
“Your good friend,
“MILLARD FILLMORE.”
“By the President
Daniel Webster,
Secretary of State.”
What to Eat and Why
C. Houston Goudiss Recommends Generous Use of
Eggs; Shows How This Protective Food
Helps to Balance the Diet
By C. HOUSTON GOUDISS
A NY experienced homemaker knows the many cookery
uses of eggs. Indeed, she is likely to feel that she could
not keep house without this indispensable ingredient, which
a French chef once described as “the cement that holds the
castles of cookery together. n It is true that we should have
to do without some of our most delectable dishes if eggs were
not available to use as thickening, leavening, coating, binder,
clarifier, stabilizer or garnish.
But even more significant than egg. In certain parts of the coun-
their contribution to good try, homemakers will pay a pre
cooking are their splendid nu- m i um f° r with white shells.
tritional values. !“ oth " sections, brown eggs are
in greater demand, and therefore
sell at a higher price. There is
no justification for attaching any
importance to the color of the
shell.
A Notable Protective Food
Eggs rank next to milk in that
group of mineral—and vitamin-
rich foods that we
call “protective.”
They contain sub
stances that are
very efficient for
growth and devel
opment. And in the
opinion of nutri
tionists, they are
more nearly inter
changeable with
milk than any oth
er food.
Eggs are among
the first foods to be added to the
milk diet of infants. And home
makers who desire to give their
families well-balanced meals
should provide an egg daily for
every individual.
This requirement can be re
duced, if necessary, to four eggs
weekly. But luckily, as we head
toward spring, eggs become more
plentiful, and lower in price. And
it is usually possible for every
family to obtain a full quota of
this splendid food ... so rich in
the elements that help to build
muscle, bone and blood.
Avoid "Same Old Thing"
Occasionally homemakers tell
me that some member of their
family doesn’t like eggs. It is
true that some people have an al
lergy to eggs, that is, they cannot
eat them without having some ab
normal reaction. But more often,
any antipathy to eggs is due to
the fact that they have been
served in the same way, day in
and day out. There is no excuse
for that, for eggs are so versatile
that they may be served in dozens
of different ways, and in some
dishes, their identity can be en
tirely concealed.
“Sunny side up” may be the
most popular method of preparing
eggs. But don’t get into a menu
rut, whether you are serving them
for breakfast, dinner, lunch or
supper. Cook them soft. Cook
them hard. Transform them into
omelets and souffles. Scramble
them, plain, or dressed up with
cheese, diced bacon, frizzled dried
beef or sausages.
A Fine Body Builder
Eggs contain proteins of high
quality, and their proteins seem
to be particularly well adapted to
building body tissue. That is one
reason why this food is so desir
able in the child’s diet ... so
useful in constructing the diet for
adults who need “building up.”
It also makes eggs a logical
choice as a main dish for Lenten
meals.
It’s interesting to note that the
proteins of the white and yolk of
an egg are quite different in their
properties. Egg white is almost
pure protein and water, while the
protein of the yolk is composed
of a different assortment of amino
acids, or building stones.
The yolk also contains fat . . .
in a finely emulsified form, so that
like milk fat, it is comparatively
easy to digest. And it is the yolk
which is highly prized for its
rich store of minerals and vita
mins. It is therefore considered
the most important part of the
egg for young children, and the
white is often withheld and only
the grated yolk given.
Rich in Iron and Phosphorus
Eggs are notable as a source of
Iron and phosphorus. Iron is
necessary for the formation of the
hemoglobin or red pigment of the
blood, and the iron in eggs is
valuable for this' purpose. Phos
phorus is the mineral that pairs
with calcium in building teeth and
bones. It also plays an important
part in regulating the neutrality
of the blood. The, phosphorus in
eggs occurs in a form that is par
ticularly well adapted to the needs
of the growing body.
Four Important Vitamins
As our knowledge of vitamins
has increased, nutritionists have
urged that eggs be accorded a
wider place in the diet, for they
supply four of these vital factors—
vitamins A, B, D and G. They
are an important source of vita
min A, which promotes growth
and helps build resistance to dis
ease. The appetite-promoting vi
tamin B occurs in lesser amounts
than A, but its presence helps to
increase the quantity of this es
sential substance included in the
daily diet.
Eggs are one of the few foods
naturally containing vitamin D,
sometimes called the sunshine vi
tamin. And it has been deter
mined that they are rich in vita
min G, which is required for
health and vitality at all ages.
Raw Eggs vs. Cooked
Eggs are one of the foods that
digest most satisfactorily, about
97 to 98 per cent of their protein
being digested and absorbed.
Moreover, the thoroughness of di
gestion does not seem to be af
fected by the method of cooking,
and a hard-cooked egg, when well
masticated, is as completely di
gested as one that is soft-cooked.
Raw egg white on the other hand
is not as completely utilized as
when slightly cooked. This shows
the fallacy of the old-fashioned
idea that raw eggs were more
desirable for invalids than cooked
eggs.
Brown Eggs vs. White
Some people have an idea that
the color of the shell has a bear
ing upon the nutritive value of an
Eggs for Lenten Meal
As a main dish for a Lenten
meal, hard-cooked eggs may be
creamed and served alone, or
combined with cooked vegetables
or fresh or canned fish. Use them
as a binder in croquettes and loaf
mixtures, as a coating for deep-
fried foods.
French toast is a simple lunch
eon dish, combining the energy
values of bread with the fine nu
tritive values of eggs. Hearty
luncheon salads or sandwiches
can be made by combining
chopped or sliced hard-cooked
eggs with fresh or cooked vege
tables.
Since eggs admirably supple
ment the food values of milk,
puddings made from milk and
eggs are an ideal dessert for chil
dren, and help to balance the diet
of adults. Custard pies, fruit
whips and cakes are also delight
ful dishes that bring to the diet
the protective values of eggs.
©—WNU—C. Houston Goudiss—1939—53