The Irish standard., 1904-12-03
city of Denver, after a $50 mile walk
behind the numbering beasts from

He tired of Denver, and in few
to Nebraska, discontinued, disappoint-
ed, disgruntled With the world and
with life in general, and with HIM
self, and his luck in particular. No
sooner had he unhitched his weary
oxen once more in Nebraska than he
took another sudden notion to go wan
dering again. This time the gold fields
of Montana We're the objective point,
and to get there it was necessary to re-
traverse the arid desert that lay be-
tween him and Denver. His provis-
ions giving out on this second journey,
and his funds having entirely disap-
peared, he re-entered Denver, again on
foot, but without his OK team.
Here he was, 4 rev New England
shoemaker, without money, without
prospects, without friends, more than
two thousand miles from home, and in
a country that had already more cob
blers than it could give work to. 1t
was the spectacle of young man
cone West to seek fortune while a
dazzling one was lying at home for
him, within twenty miles of the spot
where he was born.
Back at last he came to Plymouth,
after lapse Of four years. penniless
footsore and weary. Back to Ply
mouth he came, settled down once
more to the prosaic work of pegging
shoes, and before he had been pegging
very long he got married He had no
money. he had no particularly bright
prospects of ever having much more
money, but he got married all the
same to the young girl of his choice,
Miss Naomi Augusta Terry, from up
'Chiltonville way" as they express it
in that country.
81, From his wedding day luck changed
for "Bill' Douglas. There was for
him then no more wandering, no more
moments of indecision. \ shoemaker
he was and shoemaker he would
have to be, wlly-nlly, with young
wife to support. He not only grew
steady, but he began to save money
out Of his meagre earnings. He grad
ually attained to the rank Of fore
man, and in 1870 went to Brockton,
where he learned in the ensuing five
years the mastery Of every detail Of
the shoemaking business. In 1876 he
borrowed $3.50, hired Il room thirty by
sixty feet and started out as a manu-
fact,lrer on his own hook, and with
this amount of borrowed capital as Il
nucleus he has built up a fortune
which is conservatively estimated to
be in the neighborlOOd Of S17,O0O,0OO,
although the good management of Mr.
Buchanan did not permit too much
stress to be laid upon his candidates
large moneyed interests during the
stump speaking in the recent cam
paign.
But it is as governor-elect that Mr..
Douglas becomes power to be reck
oned with in the politics of the next
four years, or rather, perhaps, it is
his young man lieutenant, b.. r..
Buchanan, who has managed his cam
paign, who is the man to be looked to
for development. For to this young
man, who was several years ago Il
New York newspaper reporter, is laid
the credit of the victory.
1t was this young man who put the
"Douglas flying wedge in motion and
who organized the barbecues and
other spectacular features unprece-
denied in the conservative old Bay
State.
The first named feature was organ-
lied among the employees Of the cotton
cities and made a strong appeal to
their interests, securing a unanimous
vote for it's candidate. 1t was directed
against Governor Bates, who last year
vetoed the bill which prohibited the
employment Of women and children in
the cotton factories on the night shift.
The bill had been strongly fought for
by the labor unions and Mr.. Douglas
stepped in at the proper psychological
moment, at moment when sentiment
running high against Bates was just
awaiting some one to organize it into
political effort.
The Democratic nominee had, for
tunately for him, already won favor
able reputation as an employer and
as a substantial friend of labor
While serving as a state senator he
had fathered the law creating the
state board of arbitration and concila-
ton. He had been the first Massa-
chusetts manufacturer to join with
his employees in adopting arbitration.
In his factories, employing more than
5000 men, strikes are unknown.
His men are continuously employed.
No wheel has been stopped, no door
has been closed, no workman has been
laid off for sixteen years, and among
the working people of Massachusetts
that counts for a great deal when it
comes to getting their votes. The
consequence was that With five hun
dred thousand cotton employees out of
work in Fall River, Lynn and Lowell
the Douglas flying wedge swept the
Gel ,t1 ~ l,4~