The Wisconsin tobacco reporter. (Edgerton, Wis.) 1877-1950, 1900-04-06
STORIES OF SAWYER.
BIaine's Letter of Gratitude TO the
Oshkosh Man.
HOW HE FOOLED A sTOREKEEPER.


One Company's $7O,OO0,OOO New In
surance Business-Railroad Families
The New Census-Superior's Wonderful
Growth.
Madison, Wis, April 3.-The fol
lowing is story characteristic Of the
late Philetus Sawyer: For ten years
in congress Sawyer and Blaine were
close friends. In 1873 Blaine was
fighting to be president. He had APP
pointed MI. Sawyer chairman of the
committee Of commerce. Later he
found, when the cmmitteeS were an
nOunced, that William A. Wheeler had
been omitted from the important
chairmanships. His friends set up
howl and Blaine was in a peck Of trOu-
bic. He did not want to offend New
York. He turned to his friend Saw
yer for help. The following letter
tells how the great cOmmOner from
Maine felt towards the millionaire
lumberman from Wisconsin:
washington, d. c., Dec. 6, 1873
My Dear Sawyer: l desire to ex-
press to you with great earnestness
and great cordially my appreciation
of your heightened, unselfsh and mag
unanimous action in the matter of the
craftsmanship of the committee on
commerce. The place was yours by
seniority, by right of succession, by
honorable, conspicuous and able lead
erShip on the committee. And yet be-
cause i'll your judgment the house
could in another way be organized
with more personal harmony and less
sectional jealousy, you stepped aside,
voluntarily and heartily, Surrendering
your Undoubted right to promotion. L
should have been amazed at such a
display Of generosity had [ not been
for 55ars familiar with your readi
ness 20 sacrifice any mere personal
benefit for the good Of your party and
the qualification Of your friends.
"Nith sincere regard, most truly
yours, JAMES @. BLAINE.'
Wtan Sawyer Was Young in Business.
Another story suggests the shreWd
ness Of Mr.. Sawyer when in the early
COS he was getting together the pine
lanuS that later made him rich. He
owned a lot of pine land in OcOntO
county and it was the custom to pay
the taxes in county and town orders.
Money was scarce, times were hard,
and county orders frequently sold as
low as 40 cents on the dollar.
One year salOonkeeper at Oconto
worked up Il corner" on county or
derS, expecting to make some money
out of Mr.. Sawyer. He bought up ali
the county orders in the county at so
cents on the dollar and awaited de-
VelOpments. Mr. SaWyer's taxes
amounted to $1,000, and the corner"
was a serious matter to him. He
was notified of the salOOnkeeper's ac-
ton and be resolved to beat him if
he could. He had a county order for
SIT, which was left over from the
previous year, and with this in his
pocket one cold winter day, he drove
to OcOntO. He wore a big, heavy
OvercOat, head anG throat wrapped in
a shawl. Hitching his team in front
of the saloon, he went in and warmed
himself at the stove, keeping his face
concealed. After ne had become thor
Oughly warmed he carelessly stepped
up to the bar and asked for a drink
of whisky. The barkeeper handed him
the old black bottle and he helped
himself to a big glass of forty
Leaving it standing, with his face still
concealed by the heavy shawl, he
ly said, "HOW much are you paying
for these things?"
III give you 60 cents"
"But you won't sell at that?'
"NO but I'll sell at 621a cents"
"HOw many have you got?'
I'll give you all you want at that
price"
Still keeping mis- hat down over his
eyes and his face we'll wrapped up,
MI Sawyer slowly fshed from his in
side pocket a leather wallet from
which he took a paper containing
list of lands with the amount of taxes
due on each. This he handed over to
the astonished saloonkeeper with the
remark: "Well, I'll take that many"
The saloonkeeper came out from be-
hind the bar, walked up to Mr.. Saw
YER. pulled up the SLOUGH hat so he
could see his face, and then burst out,
"NVeu. I'll be D." Then he re-
covered himself ITS all right, Mr.
Sawyer. BY gravy, I'm a man Of my
word. You shall have them at that
price A bargains a bargain, but |
didn't know it vas you. | thought
you was a chopper from the woods.
But here, Mr.. Sawyer, don't drink that
rOt-gut."
And he went behind the counter and
produced another decanter. There's
something as fine as silk, something
I'd take myself, sir. Here's to your
Mr. Sawyer saved $500 by his strate-
gem.
Office-HoIding's Effect on Factionalists
What a conserving effect office-hold-
ing has on men! How instinctively they
cease to be radical and favor the per-
petuaton of the status quo! Under
the great white dome in the Capitol
park one finds men once sanguinarily
opposed to the Scof1eld administration
now strongly incline to the confden-
tial belief that the welfare Of the state
demands no change; that their old
friends would do we'll to lay aside am
bition, at least for awhile. These pub
lie servants, so recently bent on the
rehabilitation of conditions, are now
convinced that change means uncer-
tainty-let we'll enough alone. 1t is
all very amusing.
Good Practice in Medical Schools.
Many young men of Wisconsin are