Wichita eagle., 1890-02-25

!
and another rule is that the men of charac-
ter who retire from the army have ambitions
beyond the wearing of uniform and carry
ing Of club.
''We haveon our force" said Commissioner
Hine, IAN officer whose case has aroused my
interest, and I intend keeping close watch Of
him. When we employed him ne stipulated
that he should not be asked to perform day
duty. This condition we readily acceded to,
because most men desire day assignments.
He was given beat in the division, the law
less part Of the city, and did mis- work well.
He was faithful and vigilant About a
month ago he assisted other officers in raid
ing disreputable house, and one Of the men
there arrested, an ex-congressman, came to
me and told me secret. Ny officer is him
self an ex-congressman. He served here one
term eight or ten years ago. Bad habits and
associations were even then dragging him
down. After leaving congress he went from
bad to wor.e, and finally In sheer desperation
enlisted in the regular army. He was dis
charged with others at our request, and see-
ing no other opening came here and accepted
employment on the police force"
Two members of the present house-Judge
Peters, of Kansas, and Ben Butterworth, of
to retire from public life because they can
not afford to continue. The expenses of life
in Washington and of the biennial campaign
at home eat up their income, and more 1t
is the experience of the average congressman
who has nothing but his salary to depend
upon that the longer he remains In the house
the poorer he gets, and this sort of financial
progression finally reaches climax in which
| ia hoe To ho
universal complaint of people vino keep house
in Washington is that they are robbed by the
shop keepers. A common saying here is: Il
am not able to keep house, have to board"
1t was one of the recognized wits of the
house, Dolliver, of Iowa, who sized up Wash
ington life as an organized conspiracy against
the solvency Of man and the virtue OF woman.
One must have either a long purse or abun-
! dant self denial to enable him to keep house
! in Washington and at the same time to
maintain his complacency. Politics is at
| best an expensive luxury. One can find in
| Washington hundreds of instances of this,
| but none more striking than the case of ex-
| Governor Gear, Of Iowa. Twenty-Five years
ago Mr.. Gear was wholesale grocer in Bur-
| lington, and worth $50, 600 or S100, ,000 He
was attracted toward public life, and has
been very successful, serving as mayor of his
city, member of the legislature, speaker of
the house, governor of the state and member
of congress. But his comfortable fortune of q
hundred thousand dollars has entirely diSap-
peared 1t has been laid upon the altar of
politics
A man who will never come to want is
Representative Morse, of Massachusetts,, who
is generally known as ''Rising Sun" or ''Stove
Polish" Morse. Mr.. Morse is an able tinan-
cier, and is continually adding to his store
Evidence of this found in Mr.. Morses
disposition Of his public documents. When
he came 10 congress he found that his care
less predecessor had left on hand several
thousand volumes from the fruitful govern
ment printing office. Mr.. Morse promptly
hunted up pLowdermilk, the second hand book
man, and sold out the whole lot at seven
cents a volume. In great number of little
ways like this the Rising Sun" statesman
has shown his financial ability.
The story Of the manner in which Morse
laid the foundation of his fortune is an inter-
eSting one. Just after the war he expert
mented with stove polish, and finally discov-
cred a compound which seemed to fill the
bill. After making up small quantity of
this stuff Morse equipped himself with rag
and brush and started out. Entering stores.
offices or residences he pointed to the heating
or cook stove and said:
''I'd like to polish up your stove for you.
No charge for the work or the polish You
don't have to buy anything. Doesn't cost
you cent"
OF course the storekeeper, lawyer or house
wife could not deny SO liberal request as
that, and in twinkling Morse had his coat
off and was polishing up the stove till he
could see his own smile reflected in it. After
finishing his job he put on his coat, packed
his traps and departed, though not before
leaving one Of bis advertising cards, and say
ing;
Il simply wanted to show you what this
stove polish will do. Here is my address.
Good day"
Morse kept on polishing up stoves and sinil-
ing at himself in the glossy surface of his
handiwork, till orders came pouring in and
all mis- energies were demanded in the manu-
factory. From that time forward Morse
grew rapidly rich, and now he is one of the
millionaires of the house.
Senator Farwell was telling me the other
day how he laid the foundation of his large
fortune A farm boy in Illinois, he decided
one day to so up to Chicago and try his luck
in that busting, growing metropolis. He
reached Chicago with 81 in his pocket, but
before this was exhausted succeeded in get
ting a situation in bank at 800 year.
The second year his salary was doubled, and
the third year was doubled again. The fourth
year he was made teller, with a salary Of
81 800 All this time the young man had
been making friends and taking 4 lively in
terest III local politics, with the result that
he was able to secure nomination and election |
as county clerk.
This wGs very profitable Office at that |
time, and Farwell managed to hold on to it |
for eight years. At the expiration of this /
time he found himself the possessor of a cool /
100000. This sum he invested in the dry |
goods house which had been established by his !
brother John V, and the hundred thousand |
has grown to several millions. This wasa case |
in which politics paid, but on the strength of |
tolerably close acquaintance with the careers
sf pubic men, / sm free TO say that it is one
of the very few cases OF the sort to be found |
at the present day.
There Is now in the treasury department,
as clerk at 81 200 year. man who many
years ago loaned William Window $50 with
which to make MS first campaign for Office
This William Window was then poor and uu-
known; now he is rich and the secretary of
the treasury. But he did not make his money
in politics. As for the man who lent the $50,
he got his money back long ago, and has
more than once been helped out of uncom-
Portable places by Mr. Window Sad luck
has followed this man for many years. and he
-~ivaS ~, oct,va br,-i,,as>S orr, /