Morris tribune. [volume] (Morris, Minn.) 1880-2000, 1907-11-02

A face enough like Bismarck's tt
make the resemblance startling, q
slender, wiry, boyish figure topped by
a, white head, a manner self-assured
get never coarsely aggressive. There
in nutshell, is the personality OF one
.of the most picturesque, interesting
figures in all New England-that of w
L. Douglas, Ex-Governor of Massachu-
sets.
But it is not chiefly as Ex-Governor
or indeed as statesman at all, that the
world at large knows Mr.. Douglas. A
quarter-mile of factories, a yearly out
put of something over three million
pairs of shoes, and face that looks
cut from the advertising columns OF
eight thousand newspapers-these are
the outward attributes that have made
the name of w. L. Douglas so familiar
from Maine to California.
The story of the man who could make
himself so we'll known; his secret OF
achievement, his life history and his
hints on business success will not only
/, be Of interest, but of profit to every
class of reader.
For the description. of a hard climb,
of a winning fight against circum-
stances and the climbers" rules for
victory are always worth hearing. The
world loves fighter and takes an in
terest in his battles.
And w. L. Douglas is a fighter, as
even the most casual student OF human
nature could CLEAN from one glance at
the strong, prominent jaw, the level
brows, the firm set of the lips.
That cast of features set Bismarck
to topping European thrones. The same
physiognomy with gentler mould Of
eye and MOUTH has caused Douglas to
revolutionize business, to wiring wealth
= from poverty and political power from
a State peopled by majority that diff
fers from him in politics.
Bismarck tore down. Douglas has
built up. That is where the nilder eye
and mouth come in.
There is a keyword to Douglass sue
cess, Of course. Several of them, in
fact. The foremost is advertising"
His Life Motto.
Newspaper Advertising is his life
motto in BUSINESS. First, be sure you
fn o1u
Something just as good as you say it
is. Struggle to keep it as good, and
then advertise it constantly. The
newspaper is the field in which my ad-
vertising has brought me the only per-
fectly satisfactory returns. And I have
tried many lines before settling down
exclusively to that theory
The same cradle served for New
England and for the man who was one
day to be Governor of its Oldest State.
Fer it was in ancient Plymouth, scene
of the Pilgrims landing, that Douglas
was born, in 1S45. His was as pathetic
and hopeless childhood as ever Dick
ems pictured for David Copperfield or
other of his luckless boy heroes. That
Douglas rose from it to any later posi-
ton whatever speaks volumes for the
stuff he was made of.
In 1850 news came to a Plymouth
woman that her husband, the bread
winner of their large family, had been
drowned at sea. All the children were
young. The mother was almost with
out means. So two years later she
verbally bound OUT one of the brood
"a precocious boy of seven-to his
uncle, shoemaker. The child's life
from then on became one long era of
drudgery and hardship. His uncle set
him at once to pegging shoes by hand.
This was task for grown workers,
but the baby fingers were kept at the
ancessant toll of it from dawn to dark
No holiday, no let-up of any sort, and,
worst Of all, no wages.
The seven-year-old boy was carrying
unduly heavy weapons in his life-bat-
tie. He has been carrying them ever
since His ability to do SO explains
why he became Governor William L.
Douglas, instead of merely Journeyman
Bill Douglas.
Apart from the shoe-pegging, the child
was Sd4lSd UPON ~ d SCOl0 VI
equally severe duties. Among them
was the twice-a-day journey into the
woods, in bitterest New England
winter weather, to cut and drag in
wood for the shops fires.
Only at rare intervals was he allowed
to leave his workbench for the school
room. But at such periods he proved
so apt a scholar as to make up for the
dong lapses He was greedy for educa-
ton and seemed to absorb his scanty
portion of it without effort It was
only by this strange proficiency that he
CLEANED any learning at all.
For four years the slavery went on.
Then Douglas returned to his mother.
But so valuable had he become in the
shop that his uncle induced him to
come back to him at the munificent
wage OF S. month. Until he was fif-
teen he continued to work thus, all the
time busy with new ideas along his
own line These ideas were one day to
bear fruit.
Once, seeking to better himself, he
went to work in a Plymouth cotton
min at SO cents a day. This meant fully
IS month, and the s. raise Seemed
not unlike dream of wealth. But fate