The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1908-09-18
MR.. TAFT'S BIG
RUNNING MATE
James SchO0lcraft Sherman, the
Original "Sunny JIM"
A Wise, Versatile, Experienced
Statesman Who Has Shaped
National Legislation.


been nominted by the Republican Con-
vention at Chicago, it is said that III
the vast throng of his home people who
turned out to meet him was an old
woman, bent with the burden of eighty
years She approached Mr.. Sherman,
whom she has known almost since his
birth, and declared to him that he had
been selected by Providence to his new
office of honor, in order to teach the
American people the gospel of good
cheer and sunshine of kindness for all
Americans.
1t is not definitely known that she
is in the confidence of Providence, and
so speaks by the card, but Shernmn's
career up to date has shown his capa-
bilities in that line. He is the original
sunny JIM" and wears ''the smile
that won't come off,
The Original "Sunny jim"
This is not a superficial attempt to
look pleasant. 1t does not sequester
itself in the wrinkles of his mouth or
the lines around his eyes. This gen
ial, expansive, irradiating smile speaks
of good digestion, sunny tempera-
ment and cOmplacent mind, possessed
by man who is pretty well satisfied
with the past, and reasonably sure Of
the future. A man of cheerful yeStar-
days and confident to-morrOws. He
has been laughing good humor for a
han half
the world laughs with him. His sun
shine and good cheer, as bread cast
upon the waters, returned to him
pound-cake, as Josh Billings would
say, and out of this and other assets
he has been enabled to rise, and be
nominated to the second highest posi-
ton within the gift of his cOuntrymen.
Sherman, Seymour, Conkling, Born
at Utica.
Sunny Jim" Sherman first appeared
on earth at the village of New Hart
ford, New York. a suburb of Utica, on
the night of October "A, 1855, two
years before Mr. Taft saw the light in
Cincinnati. Utica was already at that
time pointing with pride to one of her
illustrious sons in the person of HOr
alto Seymour, and was soon to point
with increasing pride to another still
more illustriOus son in the person of
Roscoe Conkling. Mr.. Sherman's faith
er was a lawyer of prominence in
Central New York and determined
that no ''pent-up Utica" should re-
strict the powers of his son, and so he
sent him at the proper time to Whites
town Seminary and Hamilton College.
He came out husky yOuth-he weigh
ed 100 pounds at sixteen years of age
with oratorical talent and a reputation
as a good student
Belongs to Old American Family.
His family runs back to Roger Sher-
man who was one of the signers of the
Declaration of Independence, and back
Of him for more than one hundred
years to 1860, when the first Sherman
came over from England to this cOun-
try, with a strain of StOlid Dutch in his
veins. John Sherman, the Ohio Sena-
tor, and William Tecumseh Sherman,
the great Civil War general, were from
the same original stock. Edward
Everett Hale is also a distant connec-
ton. SchOolcraft, the historian of the
American Indians, was Sunny jim"
Sherman's great-grandfather.
Gets Into Politics Early.
One of the first things the Vice
Presidential nominee did when he re-
turned from college was to accept the
nomina ton for State Senator ON the
Republican ticket, and was beaten by
only one vote. He was elected mayor
of Utica at the age of 30. He was the
youngest municipal head the city had
ever had. From that date politics has
wOoed him away from his profession
of law. He was elected to Congress,
and has served his constituency with
but one excepted term ever since. He
is now in his tenth congressional term.
There is a "big five" in the lower
house of Congress, who do things and
largely shape the legislation of the
country.
An Adept ParIiamentarian.
Mr.. Sherman was q particular friend
Of Thomas Bracket Reed, formerly
Speaker of the House, who considered
him the best parliamentarian on the
floor. He often turned over the gavel
to Sunny JIM" who occupied the
chair during some of our most import
ant legislation in recent years. He
presided frequently during the famous
debate on the Dingley Tariff Bill and
on the Cuban War Revenue Bill, each
of which occupied many weeks. Mr..
Reed appointed him chairman of the
Committee on Indian Affairs in the
55th Congress, a place he has since
filled with distinguished success, and
also to membership on the Committee
on Interstate and Foreign Commerce.
Mr.. Sherman's most important legis-
lative work has perhaps been done on
the Indian Affairs Committee. He is
credited with better understanding Of
the various questions connected with
the governments obligations to the In
dams and it's efforts to fulfill them.
than that of any other Congressman