The Savannah morning news. (Savannah, Ga.) 1900-current, 1901-06-23
Ex.-eov. HoGe of TEXAS.
He Becomes the Most Picturesque
Figure In the OIL Fields.

he looms up as a great organizer, pro
moter. and developer of business enter
prises. In the first two callings Gov.
Hogg was not shining success, and
when it is reflected that a printer aud
school teacher are very rarely good
fnanciers, later events would explain
youthful failures.
1t is as a politician that Col Hogs first
made reputation. When he was Attor-
ney General the Populist movement was
just beginning to get strong. He was one
of the first advocates of a coalition of all
the forces which claimed to be making
for reform. He was a candidate for Gov
ernor and received the unanimous nomina
ton of the Democratic party at San An
tonic in 1880, He had scarcely taken the
oath of office before opposition, bitter and
intense, began to show its head. He was
the center of a maelstfom for two years,
and then the party was split wide open,
but he managed to pull through and was
reelected. He quilted office in 1894 with
Just $50 in cash and a strong constltu-
ton to begin the making of a fortune.
In seven years he has accumulated ST.
100000, and he will make another $1,00o0tO
before he winds up his operations here,
The man is a continual surprise. The
metamorphosis of the politician to The
financier and capitalist was accomplished
by an apparently natural process of evo-
luton. There was no coaching, no
course of training, but he who had never
been in a counting house except for the
purpose of getting a check cashed or a
note discounted, drifted in the money
making business as easily as bird learns
to fly. AS in politics, there were no in
termediate stations In his commercial ca
reer. He went to the top at a single
bound, making hundreds of thousands as
easily as ordinary men make hundreds
of dollars And this was accomplished
by a complete reversion of methods which
first made this man famous or notorious.
The politician sought publicity, got his
speeches printed, used the newspapers,
but when the change came avoided all
manner of publicity and went calmly
about the gathering OF the dollars. once
in a while the news of his ventures was
noised abroad, but the news did not or
iginate with him. He sawed wood, and
by strict attention to the work in hand
mana ged generally to keep the butt cut
for himself. The butt cut is the best part
OF the timber. In other words, he got
the sugar, while the other fellow got the
bagasse Now he is successful, rich, in
the prime of life, with prospect as al
Turing as the future can well hold for any
mortal
he. Mr.. Cleveland made a success OF
business and politics Senator Hanna
shines as the great business politician OF
America Senator Elkins and Senator
Quay have made fortunes while attend
ing to their political aspirations. But all
of these had advantages, social, educa-
tional or geographical. They had help
ing hands in gloomy hours. Hogg had
none OF these. All the education he has
he got from continual contact with the
rough edges of life. If he knows the
pleasures of af1iuence now, he has had
acquaintance with the grinding pangs Of
utter poverty. Life has been one con-
tinual battle with the man. There have
been few armistices and truces in the
Journey He has had no sham battle, no
mere skirmish, but the rough and tumble
order of fighting, the last ditch struggle.
And he has won it all by logged persis-
tence, by indomitable courage, by brute
strength.
Appearance and Temperament.
There is nothing attractive in the first
glimpse of Hogg. He lacks the graces
which charm the general run of men. He
is uncouth in manner, grotesque in ges-
ture, ungainly in all his great bulk He
is all mastim. There is not one of the
feline qualities in his making which are
usually found in men who have given
their lives to the getting of money. He
is not soft of speech, has little patience,
and less tact, win no earthly use foi
time servers or hangers on. Yet he is
not unkind, far from it, and best of all,
ne is a slayer. He fights losing game
just as hard, and perhaps a little more
fiercely, than a winning one, and he new
err turns his back on friend. He has few
confidants, but is the recipient OF many
Aapnps Nnfffr1a1lxy IL
has made him selfish, and these are an
effective bar to that degree OF friendship
which generally obtains. But those men
he believes In he trusts implicitly. There
is no hesitation or drawing back. When
he gives his confidence. he gives It alb
solutely and to the limit. Once or twice
he has made mistakes in the choice of
friends, but very rarely. He takes no
mans advice unless II comedies with his
preconceived ideas. HIS plans are always
all his own, whether 1t is lining out a po-
ltical campaign or the organization of an
oil company.
Hogg is so terribly in earnest about
everything so intense that he frequently
appears Quixotic, and he is So He Is as
sincere in his bitter opposition to trusts
and monopolies as the Knight Of La Man
cha in the memorable contest with the
windmill. AT all times he is unconscious
~ spectacular, because the very siren
uousness OF his nature makes a seat at
the back Of the stage impossible for him.
lie must be the whole show or he can't
play. And people who laugh at his SEEM
ingiy wild and incoherent speeches come
and see and hear him and 20 away be-
lieving that, wrong though he often IS
extreme as he always is, the man be-
lieves what he says. Therein is the dam
ger from Hogg. With the power to do ali
he would like to do he would make this
old country OF ours go around mighty
fast for while, for he has no respect for
custom or tradition, and very little for
courts when their decisions are not ac-
cording to his way of thinking He fire.
quently gets men and principles mixed
and IN his impetuosity mistakes personal
abuse for the advocacy of issues. but this
arises more largely from lack Of intel
lectual training, from inability to make
fine distinction in statecraft.
Personally Hogs character is without
blemish. No faint of scandal has ever
touched him. He used to drink out OF 4
pitcher and ate his pie with a knife even
after he had reached high places and
for these practices was denounced as a
cheap demagogue, but II was really a
lapse into old ways, the ways OF other
days once IN great while he has been
known to drink glass OF light wine but
this Is not habitual. He does not smoke.
and never uses profanity beyond such ex-
pressions as by Gartins" by Ganny.'
or Col darn" The pleasant vices OF the
world have no charm for him, nor has
he ever demonstrated the least ihclins-