Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1908-05-13
FIGHTER OF GRAF TIERS
Career Of G. l.. LiIley, Submarine
Boat Investigation Starter.
EARLY LIFE ONE OF HARDSHIP

Made Spectacular Entry Into Politics.
Quick to Scent Graft and Give It
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 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 o'clock in the morning to
cover milk route and get through
with it in time to attend the country
school at 8 O'Clock. He was usually SO
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. g7s5....
When he was fourteen his parents
moved into Oxford, leaving him be-
hind to run his uncle's farm. The
Lilleys next went to Middleboro, and
there the boy peddled meat from
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 an abundance of
them in Nova Scotia He induced
Boston merchant whom he knew to
lend him $1,000, with which he went
to Nova Scotia, chartered q schooner
and brought 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
& Co. His entry into politics in 1900
was spectacular. He entered town
meeting at Waterbury which was pack
ed with adherents of a controlling ring
of grafters and denounced its extrava-
gance. A 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 $500. 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 Republican candidate for the
legislature and as foe to all grafters,
large or small. He was overwhelming
~ elected and made good from the day
Of his election. He served second
term and was then sent to congress,
where before he was hardly warm In
his chair he defeated an attempt to ex-
tend an electric light company's fran
chise in Hawaii upon terms that were
oppressive to consumers. It 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 eye to
the support of the farmers, encouraged
1t until it became the practice for the
members to food the rural parts Of
their districts not with rare and valua-
BILE seeds, but with old and common
trash, because the other kind could not
be supplied in political quantities.
To attack this abuse on the foor 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 q contrasting
lack of courage among the other men,
beers. 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.. Lilley 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
artifcally advanced the price Of print
paper to the newspapers Of the coup-
try. These results were due almost
wholly to the Connecticut congress-
man, who personally spurred the judi
ciary committee of the house and after
ward the legal department Of the gov
eminent to action.
"First Aid" Idea For Railroads.
Besides the customary az and crow
bar passengers have seen for years
In glass case In railroad coaches. DR..
Inslee 81. Berry urged the other day
nj hn e.