The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1902-04-12


~.
| Half n century eco 4 vOuth of soy
antcen entered A bank at Oneida. n
Y. as Office boy and cencral utility
clerk, at the salary OF 800 g. year
He came OF 9 poor family. and his
education could not Eo carried bavora
village acadcmv. 1t was a period
when Horace Greeley was enioining
the young man Of the Tast to go
West" and.tho idea so IMPRESSED the
clerk in the Oneida bank that at nine
teen he made his vav to Chicago. then
city OF only about 1000 people
! Taking the first lob he could get, he
went to wor, in lumber ward and
planning mill, sometimes acting as a
| bookkecper, but more frequently help
ing in loading lumber and in teaming.
Here he STAYED till the hard times"
after the panic of 1897 forced his dis
charge-thOueh he was able to stay
few weeks longer as night Watcbman.
| Then came an openjng as b00kkeencr
in a Trust cCmnanv. which led in three
wears to the place of cashier. Here
| the volIng man made rpnutatio1
! which at the are Of tfirtv-+vO gave
him the cashiershin Of p hank that
was TO become ono of the most now
nrful in the citv. In the course of
| fourteen years he WAS nrorotod tn tho
| Vice Presidency of the institution and
!
recognized as an authority in tho
world Of finance
| A dozen voars after tho birth of tha
! futura Cbicaro han1zar bov cama in
70 a Vermont family which not long
afterward shared the imnrleo If that
| dav toward tho wnst and moved to
Iowa II was = family of tho nionoar
| type, and could give the boy no furti-
er educational advantages than those
| of the common school. But he was
ambitious, and he resolved to go to
college il he had to work his way
| through. This he did and then he
taught school and labored in the har
vest field to earn money While he
spent his leisure time in studying law
Once admitted to the bar he devoted
his energies to practice in a small
town with sCch zeal that he soon came
to be known as rising young lawyer
in that part of his State He had a
taste for business, and became inter
ested in local bank. He continued
to work hard, studied questions of
ho nj : n Of q
the occasion demanded a man able to
grapple with great financial issue
that was submitted to the people, he
met the exigency so successfully that
the people of his State turned to him
Tor leacoishlp. and he became Govern
or for TOUR years, and a figure known
to the nation.
Lyman ]. Gage and Leslie NJ. Shaw.
the one retiring from the Treasury De
partment and the other su .ceeding to
it at the beginning of the twentieth
century, illustrate the great truth that
the United States still remains the
land of opportunity for the poor young
man. When Gage and Shaw were
boys they read how 'the Mill Boy of
th' Slashes, Henry Clay, had made
his way from the poorest nome envl-
ronment to the highest place In ma
tlonal Legislation and political leader
snip. 1t had been the common path
way OF ambitious youth, and enc who
became office boy in country bank.
fifty years ago. felt that he had before
him the same possibilities OF future
prominence-and the event has prov
ed that he was justified In his confi-
dence. The 1ankee-born boy who
grew us IN Iowa while 1t was still the
lar west saw that the leaders IN the
young commonwealth were men OF
the same type, and he worked along
such Hnes TO III hlmset Tor hleh
place "hen ne should reach middle
llie-and the result mas Vihdlcated MS
lalth. IL "ould De aosurd 10 argue
with the people VINO know the car
GERS ol the Chlcaso banker ana the
iowa Governor, ana VINO see younger
men 10" lollo"ih8 IN thelr lootsteps'
that there IS no chance 1or the young
man IN the heart oL the country
How is it in New York City? 1sidOr