The Saint Paul globe. (St. Paul, Minn.) 1896-1905, 1904-07-24
GIRL MANAGES HER
LOVERS CAMPAIGN
Pretty Romance in Brilliant
Canvass for Railroad Conn
missioner in Missouri

Semble at Jefferson City, July 10, to
name candidates for state Offices many
will make it their first pleasure to look
up a gentle faced slip of girl with
whom they have exchanged many let
tiers during the ante-convention cam
paign, and who has aroused their in
terest a thousand times during the
period.
Miss Elizabeth Houts, of Warrens-
burg, will be one of the interesting fig
ures at the convention, for she is the
only Missouri woman who ever direct
ed the campaign of a candidate for
state office.
A school teacher, versatile, modest
and maidenly, this young woman en-
tered politics year ago, and in a few
weeks had SO mastered the details of
the work that the management of the
campaign of her friend, H. Rubbey
Oglesby, candidate for the nomination
for railroad commissioner, was put into
her hands. How faithfully she has
kept her trust, and how vigorously she
has prosecuted it, the delegates to the
Jefferson City convention will be able
to attest.
With rare tact and method that was
a constant source of wonder to those
who assisted her. Miss Houts has made
the candidacy of her friend known in
every one of the If counties of Mis-
souri,. From her home she has sent out
an average of 800 letters to every one
of these counties. When the nominat-
ing convention meets 1t is safe to say
that there will not be a delegate pres
ent who has not received a personal
appeal from Miss Elizabeth Houts, or
has not been spoken to by some one
VINO has received such an appeal
When Miss Houts undertook the
management of Mr.. Oglesby's campaign
she knew no more of typewriting than
she did of politics. A typewriter and
manIfolding outfit were installed in her
Doudolr-noW transformed into a den
and from here began to flow that steady
stream of letters to every nook AMI
corner of the state-a deluge of letters
that has made known the candidacy of
"Rube" Oglesby wherever there is g.
postoffice, and has imbued his friends
with steadfast confidence in his sue
cess at the state convention.
Sent DeIuge of Letters
Wherever Miss Houts knew a man
with vote, or wherever one of her
friends knew a man with vote, there
presently Uncle Sam laid down one Of
her envelopes containing one of her
personal appeals for support of Rube
Oglesby.
Gradually the work became more IA
miliar to her, she entered more thor
Oughly into its details and it was in
trusted to her in toto. She not only
assumed the responsibility of sending
out all the campaign literature, but she
received, opened and answered all of
Mr.. Oglesbys mail, and attended to all
inc t1-11f4
various counties to assist Mr.. Oglesby
and assumed the responsibility of get
ting his name placed on the ticket in
the counties in which primaries were
held.
She developed a rare talent for pol
itics, and Mr.. Oglesby says she won
him many a trick by a shrewd move
at the psychological moment. One
clever step adopted by Miss Houts, Mr.
Oglesby credits with giving him more
than one close county. In most coun-
ties Where primaries were held the
name of the first candidate to pay his
assessment was placed first on the
ticket. This position of priority was
much coveted by the candidate for rail-
road commissioner. Miss Houts dis
covered a way of obtaining it. With
out waiting for the county committee
TO name the amount of the assessment
she forwarded a blank signed check to
trusted friend in the county, with
instructions to fill it out and hand it
to the county committee the day the
assessment was fixed.
This plan worked like a charm and
explains why the name of Miss Houts'
friend so often was first on the county
primary ticket.
Enlisted Her Girl Friends
Miss Houts found a way to enlist the
aid of her girl friends in those crises of
her work when it seemed impossible
for her to accomplish given task
without help. Once when the sewing
society was called with Miss HoutS the
members were calmly informed that the
afternoons prize would be awarded.
not for sewing, but for addressing en-
velopes. Twelve hundred important
Oglesby letters were mailed by Miss
Houts that evening.
The amount of work ACCOMPLISHED nv
this young woman is one of the re-
markable features of her campaign. In
one week she spent fourteen hours in
the long distance telephone BOOTH
She has sent out several thousand let
tiers, spent an hour or more telephoning,
dispatched a score or more of tele-
grams, made dozen trips to the bank
the photographers, the printers and
the newspaper offices in one day, and
still found time to attend to her house
hold duties and take her daily ride.
During the winter, when Miss Houts
taught as principal of the Fourth Ward
school, she carried on the bulk of her
work in the interest of Mr.. Oglesby's
candidacy by night. Mr.. Oglesby in
sisted that she drop the work during
the school term, but, after a brief eX-
perience with paid assistants, he was as
willing for Miss Houts to take the
reins again as she was eager to resume
them.
Now her work is almost ended, and
she is looking forward with keenest
hope to her trip to Jefferson City and
the action of the Democratic council
there. No one perhaps, knows what
the result of her long and patient la
bors for the man she loves means to
her.
That the young man who is after the
railroad commissionership hopes to
make this young woman his wife if he
is elected is an open secret in Johnson
county. Perhaps that is the reason
that every man, woman and child in
Johnson county is interested in the
candidacy of "Rube" Oglesby and that
the slogan of the campaign in Johnson
county has been, "Oglesby first, last
and all the time.'
Five Hundred Thousand
Tess Il can't understand what he
saw in her. Her face is decidedly plain.
Jess-Yes, but the figure she has
makes up for all that.