Los Angeles herald., 1906-12-04
i !. / lEE q ssJEssss i !. {.

A FARMERS, son, born and brought
~ up on farm, eattending the COM
mon schools during the winter
but getting the more valuable part OF
his real education in the grinding work
which nuts iron into the muscles and
steel into the will of the right kind
of farmers boy; at 49, well enough
developed in both mind and character
to become a teacher in The schools in
which he had been taught;4 at, 23 COM
mencing to read law while earning his
living as teacher. and two years later
admitted to the ,bar--that is a hasty
summary Of the early life i'of' the next
mayor of Los Angeles, Lee c. Gates
Judging by the national records of
the last half century, no, other method
or training tends more strongly than
this toward efficiency, since the SEN
tence above would describe with rea-
sonable correctness the early lives of
more men who have within that time
earned distinction in public service
than any other form of words.
Then followed three years of strenu-
Gus work to which he surrendered him
self so utterly that at the end of three
years his health was broken. and he
abandoned the practice of the law,
never expecting to return to it. UP
Ohio (Mother Of StateSmen) and In
diana, but now he heard he call of the
west and obeyed it.
In 1885 he removed to Butler county,
Kas., taking with him his young wife
and infant daughter, and there, on the
unbrOken sod of the prairie, set HIM
self to the establishment of stock
ranch and farm.
For four years he was rancher and
stock breeder, doing most of the work
Qncluding the building of a housefand
barn) with his own hands.
This period Of four years out of the
very prime of his young manhood
Qrom 29 to 33)-four years of such long
houred and breaking labor as
many who call themselves working
men" never kneW-was one of the most
potent influences in molding his char
acter and fitting him for the high posi-
tion to which the citizens of Los An
geles are about to call him.
No man in Los Angels knows better
than he, what it is to win bread for
himself and family, at the cost of
dripping brows, aching muscles and
ealloused hands. No, man knows bet
ter than he that loyalty and courage
and integrity and civic pride are at
least as common among the men in
overalls as among those in evening
dress. No man is more justly entitled
fto be called the wOrkingman's candi-
date than Lee Gates.
Ranch work did another great thing
for him.. 1t gave him back his health,
and in 1889 he again entered the
practice of law in a Kansas town.
Three years later he was summoned to
Los Angeles by the officers of the COM
pany which has since become the Title
Insurance and Trust company and
with that institution he has remained
ever since, having been its chief coun-
sci since 1894. AS the company has
grown with the city and the burden of
work and responsibility upon Mr.. Gates
has become overweighted, his salary
has also increased until today he can
exchange II for the salary of the mayor
OF Los Angeles only at serious tinan-
cial sacrifice-a sacrifice over which
most of us would hesitate long.
There has been much nonsense writ
ten and spoken during the campaign
Just drawing to close about the need
of a plain business man" for a pro-
mloter Of manifold business enterprises
(more or less successfully at the head
Of the great corporation which we call
the city of Los Angeles in preference to