The Washington herald., 1907-10-09

OUCe now suTNlNe-1neOuOFe Roosevelt
and Grover Cleveland. No one doubts but
the White House loomed large in the eyes
Of the boy Theodore for he has been
hard at politics all his life But Nj
Cleveland, whose tastes are so different.
and who entered national politics only
when nominated for President might not
be expected 10 look upon the Presidency
so young. no doubt his visions were only
those tieeting ones OF the everyday school
boy, inspired by schoolbook precepts
Nevertheless, il is interesting TO read an
essay written by stephen Grover Cleve-
land when he was nine years old, pupil
OF The Fayetteville Academy. Here 1t is
Time is divided into seconds. minutes
hours, days, weeks, months, years, and
centuries. IL We expect 70 become great
We must improve our time when we are
young George Washington improved his
time when he was a boy, and he was not
sorry when he was at the head of large
army fighting for his country. jackson
was a poor boy. but he was placed in
school and by improving his time he
found himself President Of the United
States, guiding and directing a powerful
nation. If we wish TO become great and
useful (sic) in the world we must i'm
prove our time in school" This essay on
Time Is preserved in the manuscript
and is signed 5. G. Cleveland"
Mr. Cleveland dropped the use Of the
name 'Stephen" early in life, but 1t chung
10 him until after his first successful cam
paign for the Presidency. The first time
Mr. Cleveland's name appeared in print
was when his uncle Lewis +. Alien Of
Buffalo, save credit in the preface of the
American ShOrthOrn Yearbook Of 1861 for
valuable assistance rendered by Grover
Cleveland. Esq. Of Buffalo, a gentleman
OF the lagai profession" Young Cleye-
land had worked several years on that
annual herd book while studying law I'm
Buffalo, and IL was the prospect Of that
work which induced him TO stop at Buff
falO when on his way West 10 Cleve-
land, Ohio, 10 make his fortune School
boy essays are generally made up Of
plautudinous precepts, but no one may
say that the Grover Cleveland Of nine
years preached what the Grover Cleve-
land Of manhood failed to practice.
Among the leading railroad lawyers Of
the United States Is Judge Ed Baxter
or Nashville. Tenn. He practices almost
exclusively before the Interstate Com
merce Commission in Washington. and is
regarded as the highest authority on in
terstate commerce law at the bar. The
names Of seventeen railroad systems are
inscribed upon the door Of his Office. AS
newspaper reporter. soldier in the Con-
1ederate army, politician, lawyer. Judge,
and teacher, he has been prominent I'm
Tennessee for half a century. although
for several years ne has devoted himself
entirely To his speciality. As a lecturer
in the Law School OF Vanderbilt Univer-
sity be impaired instruction to many
young men, and one of them was Joseph
Ningate Folk, now governor Of Missouri
AT The recent homecoming celebration in |
tennessee. Gov. Folk was the guest Of
Judge Baxter at a luncheon in Nash |
vile, which was really a reunion Of Bax-
tors old law pupils on that occasion.
Gov. Folk paid the highest of tributes 10
his old precept0r, and thanked him for
his success.
The striking characteristic of Ed Rax-
ter as a lawyer is that he thinks he
doesn't know anything While others be-
Neve that he knows more railroad law
than anybody, Baxter is doubtful Thus
Il is that he never relies on his own
memory; the most minute details are
carefully looked up and verified and
therefore there are no Baxter mistakes
And as for interstate commerce law
Judge Baxter cOnfesses he doesn't know
1t. despite the seventeen railroads who
think be knows IL all. IN the building
Of the commission I'm Washington there
are two elevators. On each is a placard
which furnishes the information that the
car stationed above viii carry passen-
gers down and the car stationed below
viii carry passengers up No one of the
elevators has been known TO be where
prospective passenger imagines il TO De. /
The other day Judge Baxter looked at
the placard long and carefully. and then
remarked TO "a friend. That sign IS
about as Ineligible TO me as the inter
state commerce act"
There recently died in Washington a
man who had "cussed out" more printers
than any other man who ever held office
under the government. That man had
only a surname and two letters for the
rest Of it. He wrote it W. J. Rhees. If
any one put a period after that W or J, !
Prof Rhees. would almost throw a fit. /
His family called him W J. and nothing |
else. These two letters did not stand for |
anything but themselves. And he held I
that when period or any sort of mark |
went after either of them It killed the in 1
ilviduality OF his name. And more often /!
than not the period went after them at /
The hands OF printers and his correspond /
snts, who did not understand.
Prof Rhees was for years connected |
with the Smithsonian Institution When 4
he died the Washington papers managed /
10 print his name right but IL is a hun /
dred TO one shot that nearly every other /
paper In the country got it wrong.
That Gen. Frederic Dent Grant is no tin /
soldier is shown by the fact that he was /
In a measure responsible for the troubles /
that have come down to the captains, /
the majors. and the colOnels, as we'll as 4
10 some Of the lower officers, in the order /
that they must learn ID ride. His dis |
tinguished father, while not the graceful |
man on horseback that Gen. Lee was. was /
pet a pretty fair horseman. Gen. Grant |
had a contempt for the fellow who could 4
not ride And so with his son. The sec
ond Gen. Grant has grown tired OF seeing /
men who ought TO be graceful horsemen /
looking like bags of wool. with a string |
lied around them, in the saddle And so /
ne recommended that army officers be re
1uired to learn over again the lessons of
horseback riding and forget some of the
veranda rocking-chair lessons. Hence the |
order.
Then, TOO, he had something TO do with
getting the young officers who had been
5oing the society stunt at the White
House out on active duty. He grew tired
of seeing his son. Z. S. Grant III, grow
ng up into a tin soldier instead of the
real thing. and since that the young Off
,ers that have come around the White