The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1908-10-08

GOVERNOR HUGHES
Interesting Sketch of the Man
of the Hour
Who Is Touring Through Kan
sas Today And
is VISITING TOPEKA.
How He Became Famous as an
"InquisitOr."
The Governors Chair Coming
to Him Naturally.

York the following is an interesting
sketch of him written before he was
governor by Clement H. Congdon, at
the time he was known as Inquisitor
Hughes and was making the insurance
magnates writhe over the exposure of
their wrong doings:
Il had to go and see this man
Hughes, the Inquisitor who, deaf to
the applause of the world and blind
to what many men would consider
an opportunity. has routed the graf
tiers who were after billions. and who
has paved the way to a complete re-
organization of the life insurance bust
ness OF the world.
II saw him. The man is grear-put
his work is the thing. Who cares to
know that he is thin--so thin that he
looks quite six feet tall when, as
matter of fact. he is fully two inches
shorter. What does it matter whether
he be tall or short? He is fighting a
great battle for the right against the
most powerful, cruel. INSCRIPTIONS
and contemplate combination of en-
inently respecta BILE criminals that ever
escaped Imprisonment. He is fighting
q magnificent, If unequal. battle for
the widows and the orphans of the
land. and he and his personality are,
after all but incidental to his achieve
ments.
His Grasp of Insurance.
"Just think of a quiet. modest and
most unassuming lawyer, who never
tried an insurance case in his life.
grasping all the intricate details of
the insurance business within a month
and pitting the technical knowledge
thus gained against that of the very
men who perfected that colossal
scheme to steal and called it mutual
life insurance. Think of this mild
hammered chap forcing these princely
grafters to make criminal confessions
and to tell the innermost secrets of
their business lives!
Little known even in New York,
where he has done much good work
and some really great work, Mr..
Hughes comes into the public eye al
most a total stranger. True, he made
It possible for the city of New York
to collect taxes on more than $17.-
100000 of property owned by the
gas trust; true he once gave battle to
John ID. Rockefeller. with whom he
was serving upon board of trustees,
and won because he was right He
sees nothing ahead of him but his
duty. His way is forward-his goal
the very end of all the wrong
Tears Secrets From Big Men.
'Inauisitor Hughes tearing secrets
from the very souls of men like Rich
ard A. McCurdy. George w. Perkins,
Frederick Cromwell. and John A. Nc
Call. who are all accustomed to COM
manding rather than obeying, is a
very different person from Mr..
Charles E. Hughes. who soothes him
self to drowsiness with music pedaled
out of an automatic piano. which
occupies conspicuous place in his
modest home. at No. $40 West End
avenue.
an his professional work Mr.
Hughes is as methodical, as steady as
the governor of an engine. In his
home life he Just loafs around doing
pretty much nothing, and then again
he does as he pleases.'
Left to follow his own inclina-
tons Mr. Hughes would teach a
selected class in a small college off
somewhere and others could win or
lose the great legal battles ofthe coun-
try without disturbing him in any
way. 1t is the student Hughes. not
the lawyer. that cuts into the heart of
the problem with a single sentence.
IT heard him calmly say: -
and them to George w. Perkins,
partner of j. Pierpont Morgan, and
Mr.. Perkins is still explaining the mat
ter to those who care to listen. He
talked all day but did not explain
away the proposition suggested by the
two words uttered by Mr.. Hughes.
Richard A. McCurdy. the highest
salaried man in America, writhed
and twisted and turned, clustered,
bullied and bluffed all through seven
awful hours, but at no time did he
cause Mr.. Hughes to do more than
as to this?'
"McCurdy. Mccall and Perkins have
each brushed aside thousand men
bigger, stronger and perhaps brighter
enough, they took no liberties with him.
They looked up to the honest man.
His Professional Receipts.
"Mr Hughes makes as much as he
likes in the practice of his profession
Just now he could get retainers in al
porations doing business in the state
OF New York. Like the law money
does not interest Mr.. Hughes, nor does
politics. Only a few weeks ago he de-
clined the Republican nomination for
mayor of Greater New York. No little
fellow could bring himself to refuse
such an honor. 1t is almost a certain
ty that Mr. Hughes would have been
elected to succeed Mayor McClelland
had he permitted his name to go upon
the ticket.
''Mr. Hughes was graduated from
Brown in 1881. Finding that no COL
lege would employ boyish looking
youth upon personal application, he
sought employment by letter He was
finally engaged by the trustees of Del
aware college, Delhi. N. Y, who rather
rued the bargain when they first saw
his youthful face md his hundred
pounds of flesh and bone. mostly bone
The problem was one of discipline. The
weakest student in the class could
have thrown the new professor over a
FIVE rail fence without straining. The
feat was never tried. The new teacher
won the respect and confidence of the
students by merit. 1t is still his meth
cd.
In Cornell Faculty
"In 1882 Professor Hughes surren-
dered his class and entered Columbia
law school. In 1884 he was admitted
to the bar, but the idea that he was
better qualified to teach classes than
to practice Law never left him for a
second. In 1890 he abandoned his
offices in New York and accepted a
chair in Cornell university where he