Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1907-01-07

contended could be accomplished, therefore
bis time has been spent In educating and
cleaning out his own party.
Speaker Nettleton takes one back to the
days of Abraham Lincoln In personal
characteristics he Is not unlike the mar
;yrcd president. lie Is long and slender and
angular Ills face r. an afidavit. II IL
wrlnkled and bony. He walks lame. a re-
minder constantly of the time n bullet was
sent through his body while he was de-
Tending the stars and stripes back in the
COS.
The speaker is a self-made man and the
Job could scarcely be improved upon He
came to America at the extremely early
age Of years from the northern part OF
ireland. and lived I'm Illinois until the
breaking out of the civil war, when he
Joined the troops Of the United States and
served throughout the war. Though he Is
thorough American he has ever possessed
that keen wit which has made the frtshman
famous, and that keen mind which one gets
through battling with the world. and these
things have made him a power in Nebraska
politics, respected by all men who know
him. His character can best be summed
up I'm q statement he made during the pre-
HmInary contest over the selection Of
speaker Of the house. paper had pub
lIshed an article to the effect that he was
tho special pet Of the state committee OFF,
GERS who had furnished him his head
quarters. He was asked about the matter:
It's a d-n lie," he quickly answered,
ana that was all the statement he made.
Those who knew che speaker knew he spoke
the truth without any further argument.
The speaker is thoroughly In earnest all
the time and Is a hard worker. He enjoys
n joke as well as anyone and frequently
tells them on himself. He Is not the least
BIZ sensitive about his afidavlt face, but It
Is told Of him he frequently related the
following in his speeches years ago:
There are three ugly men in this state"
he said. zone OF them is Lambertson and
I am the other two"
Attorney q. NJ. Lambertson resided in
Lincoln and had the reputation OF being
one OF the honeliest men III the entire
world -.,
Mr. Nettleton came. to Nebraska in 1872
and located in Clay county near Fairfield,
on q farm, and that has been his home
ever since. Ills family consists OF wife
and one daughter. He has represented
his county In the legislature twice, 10 1888
and again In 1885. In 1902 he was presi-
Dental elector and made the trip to Wash u.
ington as a messenger to take the vote
there. In 1896 he was nominated for state
senator. bu. was defeated In that tidal
wave Of Organism. from which the state is
just now Fighting itself
In the preliminary contest over the or
Kanization of the house the railroads and
other corporations wero lined up against
the Clay county man, and were willing to
accept any other rather than the one who
got the place. He made no compromise
with them. lie made no compromise with
the other candidates. one of them re-
I fnorlfHd dprinr tina conteaf,
NE, tletop makes mo mad. He just sits
In there as though he had the job and
won't say word"
And that was what he did. He sat back
and let the battle rage arornd him. He
kept his own counsel and was the only
really cool man in the race. When the
time came for him to speak, he spoke and
he spoke with no uncertain language.
An agreement had been made whereby all
OF the candidates were to go into caucus
and there should be ain open ballot and
q two-thirds vote would be necessary TO
elect. One of the candidates after signing
the agreement went into the lobby of the
hotel an made a speech against IL. Then
the Clay county man got busy. He pulled
his long length onto the table and he
explained about the agreement. He urged
the members Of the house to be open and
llcly and cast their votes as they desired
without outside direction. II was q bitter
fight and some hard Feelings were engen.
dered. But when II was all over Speaker
Nettleton again made a speech and this
time he said:
II shall forget all the ballots In which
the votes were divided. | shall remember
only the last ballot. which made my cleo
ton unanimous"
When the house was called to order and
began to grind he again showed he had not
stored up any feelings against any one
by requesting all of the members to file
their committee preferences with him, &c
that he could so far as possible accommo-
date them. His platform as speaker he
announced as IAN equal chance for every
one"
Mr.. Nettleton was born November 8, 1910
and after coming to this country he edu.
Gated himself He attended school wher
he could and he studied at his home, gradu,
ally accommodating a library, until now Il
libraries In the entire state. He has mad,
a special study Of political questions and
Is well Informed of the needs of Nebraska
He believes every dollar spent by tn,
state should bring in dollars worth Of
goods and he believes every employee of tn,
state should earn his. salary. He believe,
public Office Is a public trust,