me in detail is an impossible
one for a number of reasons. We do not have all the facts of his
financial operations and even if we had there are other difficulties. A
farmer, unlike a salaried man, can not tell with any exactness what his
true income is. The salaried man can say, "This year I received four
thousand dollars," The farmer can only say--if he is the one in a
hundred who keeps accounts--"Last year I took in two thousand dollars or
five thousand dollars," as the case may be. From this sum he must deduct
expenses for labor, wear and tear of farm machinery, pro rata cost of
new tools and machinery, loss of soil fertility, must take into account
the fact that some of the stock sold has been growing for one, two or
more years, must allow for the butter and eggs bartered for groceries
and for the value of the two cows he traded for a horse, must add the
value of the rent of the house and grounds he and his family have
enjoyed, the value of the chickens, eggs, vegetables, fruit, milk, meat
and other produce of the farm consumed--as he proceeds the problem
becomes infinitely more complex until at last he gives it up
as hopeless.

This much, however, is plain--a farmer can handle much less money than a
salaried man and yet live infinitely better, for his rent, much of his
food and many other things cost him nothing.

In Washington's case the problem is further complicated by a number of
circumstances. As a result of his marriage he had some money upon bond.
For his military services in the French war he received large grants of
land and the payment during the Revolution of his personal expenses, and
as President he had a salary of twenty-five thousand dollars a year.

Yet another difficulty discloses itself when we come to examine his cash
accounts. We find, for example, that from August 3, 1775, to September,
1783, leaving out of the reckoning his military receipts, he took in a
total of about eighty thousand one hundred sixty-seven pounds. What then
more simple than to divide this sum by seven and ascertain his average
receipts during the years of the Revolution? But when we come to examine
some of the details more closely we are brought to pause. We discover
such facts as that in 1780 a small steer, supposed to weigh about three
hundred pounds, brought five hundred pounds in money! A sheep sold for
one hundred pounds; six thousand five hundred sixty-nine pounds of
dressed beef brought six thousand five hundred s