New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1908-03-11
FIGHTER OF GRAF TERS
Career of G. [. Lilley, Submarine
Boat Investigation Starter.
EARLY LIFE ONE OF HARDSHIP


EARLY LIFE ONE OF HARDSHIP
Made Spectacular Entry Into Politics.
Quick to Scent Graft and Give 1t
Battle-opposed Free Seed Abuse.
Downed Paper Trust
The farm of his father. John Lea
vens Lilley. near Oxford. Mass. was
the place. and Aug. 3, 1859. was the
date of the birth of George Leavens
Lilley. the member of the United
States house of representatives from
Connecticut whose insistence for a full
investigation into the submarine boat
scandal has attracted attention all over
the United States
His entire boyhood life was one of
hardship and toll. not play. While
still under the age of ten he had to
arise at 3 o'clock in the morning to
cover milk route and get through
with it in time to attend the country
tired on reaching school that he would
be found fast asleep at his desk on the
conclusion Of the Lords Prayer. with
which the school sessions were opened,
says the New York World. In spite Of
his handicap he reached the head of
his classes. -
When he was fourteen his parents
moved into Oxford. leaving him be-
hind to run his unce's farm. The
L1lleys next went to Middleboro, and
there the boy peddled meat from a
cart for his father, who occasionally
sent him to Boston to buy supplies.
On one Of these trips the lad, who was
not eighteen, learned that there was a
shortage OF potatoes in New England
and that there was On abundance of
them In Nova Scotia. He induced q
Boston merchant whom be knew to
lend him $4,000, with which he went
to Nova Scotia. chartered a schooner
| and brought a cargo of potatoes to
Boston, where he sold them at hand
| some profit.
| Three years later he was salesman.
with two rival concerns Offering him
partnership One Of these partnerships
resulted in the establishment in Water
| bury. Conn, of the firm of Lilley, Swift
| 4 Co. His entry into politics in 1900
was spectacular He entered a town
meeting at Waterbury which was pack
! ed with adherents Of controlling ring
| of grafters and denounced it's extrava-
gance- road repairing contract was
| about to be awarded for $4,000, and
he offered to do the work and live up
to all its specifications for $780, He
was not only howled down. but was
threatened with personal violence
That experience determined his fu-
| ture course in life. He announced him
self as a Republican candidate for the
legislature and as foe to all grafters
large or small. He was overwhelming
ly elected and made good from the day
| of his election. He served a second
| term and was then sent to congress.
! where before be was hardly warm in
his chair be defeated an attempt to ex-
tend an electric light company's fran
! chise In Hawaii upon terms that were
oppressive to consumers. 1t was hard
fight, for he was up against seasoned
congressman. but he won out.
His fight in the case of free seed dis
| tribution has not yet been forgotten
Members Of congress, with an eve to
| the support of the farmers. encouraged
| 1t until it became the practice for the
| mo 70
their districts not with rare and valua-
BILE seeds, but with old and common
| trash. because the other kind could not
be supplied in ''polticap' quantities.
! To attack this abuse on the floor of
| the house was to subject oneself to
being misunderstood as unfriendly to
| the cause of agriculture. but with his
usual courage Mr.. Lilley rose on the
floor and denounced the practice-not
| the distribution Of rare and valuable
| seeds, but the wholesale draft on the
agricultural department for cheap seeds
for purely political ends. He was told
he would lose the farmer vote" in
Connecticut, but he believed the farm
ers too intelligent to misunderstood,
| and anyway he was attacking wrong,
and that was the first thing to be
! thought of. He mustered only three
votes for his resolution to cut out the
practice. which showed contrasting
lack of courage among the other mem
bers. He tried it again at the succeed
ing session and was again defeated al
though he had increased his number of
supporters from three to hundred.
In the fall of 1904 Mr. LilIey intro
| duced the resolution that eventually
| resulted in the trial and conviction of
the General Paper company, popularity
known as the paper trust and the dis
solving of the combine. which had
artihcally advanced the price of print
paper to the newspapers of the cour-
try. These results were due almost
wholly to the Connecticut congress
man, who personally spurred the judi
l~s-