The Savannah morning news., 1902-06-29
ATTORNEY GENERAL KNOX.
AS A PRAoTICING LAWYER HE US
ED TO EARN $4,000 A YEAR.

DiscOncertfng Discovery - The
Present Cabinet Minister Was a
Inv student in the Office of III.
Bucher Swope, of Pittsburg-Came
10 the Front Along with National
Committeeman Guney, George IT.
oIiverA John II. Chambers and 9th
err PennsyIvanians Now on the
Crest OF the Wave-Is a TireIess
Worker-PIays Golf, Hunts and
Horses-Lowered the Worlds Pole
Record for GentIemen Drivers.
Copyright. 1902. By Alfred Alleyn.
Washington, D. c., June 27.-When
Philander Chase Knox, who as attor-
new general of the United States is
conducting the prosecution against the
beef trust. entered the cabinet he re-
linouished a private law practice of
s2OO. 900 a year. The firm of Knox &
Reed always demanded and received
large fees for their professional SER
vices.
This story of the Indianapolis street
railway case, the last great Argument
made Mr. Knox before he came to
Washington, is illustrative. He was
anxious to go to Europe for a rest when
the pressure upon him to argue this
case before the Supreme Court became
20 strong that, to rid himself of further
importantly, he named a fee to the
company which he believed would be
prohibitive. To his surprise it was
accepted instantly; he argued the case
in conjunction with the late EXPIRES
ident Benjamin Harrison. and won.
General Harrison evidently regarded
p. c. Knox as a secondary considera-
ton in the presentation of the case,
though the consensus of the opinion
was that Knox had carried the court
irresistibly by the masterful character
of the argument. Some time later Har-
rison and Knox met on the board walk
OF Atlandc City, and after an eX-
change of civilities, the ex-President in
a manner that was not altogether free
from a patronizing air, said:
by the way, Knox, how did you
come out in the settlement of your ac-
count with the Indianapolis Street
Railway Company? l got $4,000 out of
them for my services"
II am very glad to hear 1t, General"
replied Knox pleasantly. Then in a
modestly deferential way he contin-
ued: Il got S125, 000."
What" blurted the ex-President
overwhelmed with establishment. Then
approaching the embarrassment of the
situation he wheeled and continued his
walk without another word.
Knox Country Bankers SON.
Phil Knox as lie was known then
and as he is known to-day among his
intimates in Western Pennsylvania,
was 16 years of age when he left home
to attend Mt. Union College, Ohio. He
was born in Brownsville, Fayette coun-
ty, Pennsylvania, May 6, 1853. His
father was a country banker a boy
hood friend of James G. Blaine, who
sent his son to the public schools until
he was ready for college. He was grad
uated in 1872 and Immediately register
ed as a law student in the office of H.
Bucner Swope, Pittsburg. No two ma
lures were more dissimilar than pre-
ceptor and pupil Swope, then United
States District Attorney for the West
ern District of Pennsylvania, was ner-
vous, fiery, impetus, aggressive and
master of the greatest vocabulary, of
vitriolic adjectives that was ever ex-
hibited in a district court rom. At
all times. however, his diction was pol
ished, and in this respect his pupil
owes much to the master, though the
former was Swope's antitithesis cool,
selfrestrained, a natural logician, and
a rhetorician whose command of Ian
guage is still charminlgly exact.
p. C. Knox was admitted to the bar
IN 1875 and in 1877 formed a partner
ship with James H. Reed, another
young lawyer, the son of a Pittsburg
physician. The career of these young
men for the first few years gave no
hint of phenomenal success. They were
chaperoned by no advantageous cir
cumstances; they had no influential
friends in the background; they were
generally regarded as an energetic
pair who possessed no advantages
above other junior members of the
bar.
He "Grevv Up" With Pittsburg.
But Pittsburg was then heading for
international fame. Conditions were
shaping themselves for the men who
had wit and wisdom to mount the
crest of waiting advantage. In the
same class with Phil" Knox and
Jim" Reed in point of brains and en-
ergy, and equally as unknown, were
Henry Clay Prick, subsequently presi-
dent of the Carnegie Company; Con-
gresham John Dalzell James
Nj. Guffey. the phenomenally
successful oil producer and mil
llonaire. national committeeman from
Pennsylvania and head of the
Democratic party in that state; George
T. Oliver. then a small owner, now
a multi millionaire and director of a
papers, and John T. Chambers, the
largest individual glass producer in the
United States, at that period a
partner in a struggling concern on the
South Side, Pittsburg.
During his career in Pittsburg, phil
Knox was known as a tireless worker.
He frequently appeared at the Office
in the morning before any of the
others had arrived, when his sole COM
panion was the Office boy. This was
particularly true when he had a great
case on hand, for it was his unvarying
rule never to leave any of the prepare
ton of a great action to a subordinate
or Junior member Every document
letter. reference or scrap of information
on evidence was examined by himself
It was no uncommon thing for him to
spend eighteen of twenty hours a day
in the preparation of a case.
This has developed a rare faculty
of self control which invades even the
domain of sleep. Day or night the
Attorney General can awaken at any
hour, or at the end of any period Of
time which he may have determined
lie can take a half hour nap and
waken himself on the minute.
Knox an Early Riser.
In Washington the early rising habi
Is a feature of his daily life. He is VI
at six O'Clock and breakfasts with hi,
family at eight. The intervening TIVE
hours are spent behind his famous road
sters. Vert" and 3. &C" a team tina
cost $500 and which, driven by tn
Attorney General two years ago low