The daily morning journal and courier., 1907-06-28
A COWBOY BECOMES FAMOUS.
Christopher ElIerbe and His Speech at
 Denver.


 Fresh from ninety-day roundup, Christopher Ellerbe, an Arizona cow boy, is said to have made the most eff fective speech that was made before the recent land convention at Denver. He had no thought of saying anything, and doubtless would have kept silent had he not been challenged For two days he had sat listening to the criti- cisms of the administration land poli- cy, a policy which he knew to be right, and when "portly old judge" who was one of the critics, offered to give any one on the other side fifteen min- utes of his time, Mr. Ellerbe said "AhH just take that"
 Thus it was that the speech was born. It was wholly unpremeditated, and was all the more effective for that reason. He spoke for the small cattle men, and insisted that the forest re- 1 serve policy was a good thing, inas- much as it prevented the big cattle companies from running the little peo- pie out of business. Under the old reg ulations everything favored the com- panles They permitted their cattle to roam the great ranges almost unat- tended and when the water failed and the grass dried up they shipped them to other big ranges owned by them. The little cowman, on the other hand, took care of his cattle because he had no other range to ship them to- By charg- ing grazing fees and by restricting the big companies, the government afford el needed protection to the small cattle owner Those big fellows" Mr. Eller- be said, "oan always get cars to ship their cattle away in, but us po cowmen cant. And as they ride away in the cars the old cows of the big cattlemen wave us a farewell with their tails" He said further:
 "Ah'm one of the little men O nah kentry Ah'm a DO man. An sets nah own saddle and Ah knows what Ah'm a-talkin' about Ah respect you gentle men foh holdin' to yo' opinions, an Ah'm a-goin to hold on to mine, l whether you respect me or not"
 All sorts of reports were current about this man. It was said that he was a Yale graduate, a lawyer and an actor. He, after his speech, denied that he was either lawyer or an actor. But he did not deny that he was a Yale graduate. We find that there was a Christopher F. Ellerbe, Jr., in the Yale | class of 1900, and that his home at that time was in Los Angeles. Whether this Is the man who so impressed the con- vention, we do not know. He bears the same name, and he is a westerner. These facts, taken in connection with l the rumor that the cowboy was pro- duct of the New Haven university, rather tend to support the conclusion that we have in this remarkable man
 a son of old Eli.
 To be sure, his speech does not have
 the academic flavor, and yet in our
 dispatch it was said that "Ellerbe knows good English even though he does not use the English of the class { room. But whatever he is or is not, he assuredly is a forceful man. He is, too, natural unartiflclal personality
 with, apparently, no trace of self-con- | seiousness In considering his case we seem to find another reason for the re- markable popularity of President l Roosevelt In spite of his faults and failings, he somehow seems instinctlve- ly to get on the side of such men as Ellerbe, men who too often are unrep- resented at Washington and wholly
 without friends at court. He too, is prone to take the natural, unconven- ticnal view of public questions. With him statesmanship is something more than combination of frock coat and high hat So, though stuffy judges, big cattlemen and rich land thieves may oppose him, he is supported enthusias- tically by the man who "sets" his town saddle,"-Indianapo News.