The Houston daily post. [volume] (Houston, Tex.) 1886-1903, 1899-04-23

arc discussed Some OF tho most eminent
speakers OF the country have Addressed
the people In Golden Rule Park. among
them Prof. Demis Of Chicago. n. o. Nell
son OF ST. Louis, Henry d. Lloyd and
scores OF others. During the week the
park is turned over to the children for
their recreation, and there are no signs
tackled up. Keep of the Grass"
~
In personal appearance Mr.. Jones 10
large Of stature and an agreeable man.
He is SO years OF age and has fought his
way through the world alone and unaided
against hard knocks, and from expert
cnce declares that conditions are not right
and that the first duty is to correct mani
fest evils. Mr.. Jones is man VINO weighs
r,I,v 200 hounds. He looks person
squarely in the face out of his big piue
eyes, and reads your character clearly
through, as though It were an open DOOR,
and II be thinks you honest he taxes you
directly into his warm heart and conn
dence A person can not help feeling the
honesty OF purpose, integrity OF character
and frank open heartedness he possesses
after you have spoken with the man Two
minutes, When young man he was an
alI-round expert athlete, and many are
the stories told of Sam Jones feats OF
prowess and muscle in the Pennsylvania
oil fields twenty-five years ago. Then
'Big Sam JONES'" as he was called, was
second TO none In any place he might fnd
himself. He was always peaceable and
lnoifensive, never quarrelsome. but an
unsafe man to trife with and always
ready to raise his strong right arm and
voice In defense of the weak and OPP
pressed, as he still is today.
This story is no pipe DREAM" but the
straight truth as got it from man who
knows MIR. Jones well and admires him
immensely. as may be inferred from the
many kind things said OF him In the tell
ing.
Mr.. Jones has Jumped suddenly from
practical local obscurlty into National
character and we will hear much more
CT him during the next twelve months.
He is the strongest man in the State of
Ohio with the labor element and is going
to cause the politicians of both old par
ties some seepless nights before the State
campaign is over.
| brief autobiography OF Mayor Jones
was recently printed and given out, and
it serves 10 show the character of the
man, as he earnestly and honestly tells in
his own words the story of his life. /
append it, as follows.
II was born in Wales in 1916, and came
to America with my parents when | was 3
years old, The poverty of the family was
| 50 stringent 1t was necessary for me to
go to work at an early age, and l bear
on my body today the marks of the
wrongs of child labor.
At the age Of Is years l heard of the
opportunities in the oil regions of Penn
sylvania, and went to Titusvile. | land
ed there with 10 cents and without an ac-
quaintance In the State. For three days
went through the trying experience OF
living without money and seeking work
among strangers. But 1 was in land Of
opportunities. l soon found work in a
business that was TO my taste; bust
ness, too, that the good Providence has
removed, in part. at least, from the do
main of the competitive destroyer-the
business of producing crude petroleum
from the earth. Since 1870 l have been
more or less an oil producer. In 1886 !
came to the Ohio oil fields. Since that
time have followed the business both in
Ohio and Indiana, and to some extent in
Pennsylvania, Texas and West Virginia.
In 1898 invented some important i'm
provement in appliances for producing oil
and, finding manufacturers unwilling to
make the article, ! concluded TO manufac-
ture 1t myself This brought me in con-
tapt Ial@~ "a.
| time In my life. As rule, labor in the oil
fields had enjoyed large wages compared
to similar classes outside found men
working in Toledo for a fraction of a
dollar day. l began to wonder how it
was possible for men to live on such a
! small sum OF money as citizens of a free
republic. studied social conditions. and
these led me to feel very keenly the
| degradation of my fellow men, and | at
once declared that the so-called going
wages rule should not govern the Acme
| sucker Rod company, which is the firm
name of our business. said the rule
that every man is entitled to such share
OF the products of his toll as will enable
him to live decently and in such a way
that he and his children may be fitted
TO be citizens of free republic, should
be the rule governing the wages OF our
| establishment.
Il soon discovered that the men were
lacking In something else besides wages.
The men were conscious OF social infe-
riority, and I could not understand how
a. man who had done no wrong could or
should feel Inferior to any other man
simply because he worked with his hands.
without any organized plan for the pur-
pose or without hardly knowing II nv
SELF what | was doing, determined that
no such feeling should exist. To break
down the feeling of social inequality we
negan TO get together Is. we had
little excursions down the bay. We in
Vited our workmen and their families and
also some other people who live In big
houses, and who do no work with their
hands We sought to mix them. To lei
them understand that we are all peonIe--
Just people, you know.
AS our business increased we took IN
new men. We made no special effort to
select We asked no questions as to their
naolts, morals, their religion or irreligIon.
we were Ignoring the sacred rule OF
business, getting along in a free-and -easv
way occasionally giving the BOYS a word
OF caution Printed on the nay envelopes.
men perhaps little later expressing good
WIN aud fellowship Then we came 10 feel
sue need or rule to govern the nIac,.
we thought 10 that extent we ought IN he
IKE other people. So we had the follow
ing printed on a piece OF tin ana nailed
70 the wall. 1t Is there today. The r,le