The Ocala evening star. [volume] (Ocala, Fla.) 1895-1943, 1908-03-23
DEMOCRATS
DESIRE DOUGLAS
Millionaire Shoemaker and Ex- Cover
nor of Massachusetts to Take
Second Place in the Ma
tionaI Ticket

an will be tn" democratic candidate.
more and more there is talk heard
among leading democrats at the CAPT
tai OF Ex-Governor William l.. Doug
las of Massachusetts being his run
ming mate II Mr.. Douglas should be
nominated ii is the opinion of some
democrats that ii would make MaSsa-
chusetts fighting ground.
In this connection there is an in
t"resting story current to the effect
that should the democrats nominate
Nh Douglas the labor vote will be
cast for that party. Mr.. Douglas is
the proprietor of large shoe factories
in the Bay state. and has the reputa-
ton of h.ing Il friend of the work.
ingmcn. according to the statement
of one Of the high officials of the
American Federation of Labor, for
mer Governor Douglas rings true,
and during his gubcrnatorial incum-
bency he showed his friendship for
organized labor by his deeds rather
than by words
In addition To his reputation as Il
friend of labor. MI. Douglas possesses
other qualities calculated to make
him a suitable candidate for the vice
presidency. He is looked upon as
typical American and. what is fully
as much to the point. he has the
barrel Of money which it is GUS
tomary to associate with the second
place on a presidential ticket
The life story of Mr.. Douglas is
a story possible nowhere but in
America. Yesterday he was poverty
yfr no jc,o +,
aire. Yesterday he worked from day
light until dark for five dollars a
month at the shoemaker's bench, toll
ed in a cottOn-mill for thirty three
cents a day. tramped sturdily behind
fOur-oX team and prairie schooner
across the plains of the great west,
toiled as a common laborer about a
lime kiln: today he manages a bust
ness employing 5000 men and women,
with several large factories and up
wards of one hundred retail stores, is
bank president and a director in
other large enterprises.
Mr.. Douglas is rated today as being
worth millions of dollars, but his
friends declare it hasn't spoiled him
in the least. He is said to be as ap-
proachable today at his Offices in his
great factories at BrOcktOn as he was
when he had a little two-by-fo four shop
in the same city. His whole life is
transformations, comfortable. demo-
cratic, American.
1t is probable that more individual
people of the world know the face of
Mr.. Douglas than that of any other
living man, be he king, statesman,
author or scientist, PersiStently, for
more than quarter Of Il century, Mr..
Douglas has advertised his line of
manufactures by his portrait, and the
result of this policy. combined with
marvellous executive ability. is that
today he ranks as one of the wealth.
est men of New England
A Washington friend tells an in
teresting story concerning Mr.. Doug
las and his advertising methods. They
didn't publish pictures in the daily
paners when Mr.. Douglas first en-
tered business for himself. in 1876.
No advertiser had ever made a prac-
tice of printing his portrait Mr.
; Douglas business was small. He had
begun it on a borrowed capital of
$S75, and he believed that the way
to increase it was to advertise He
was "a clever ad. writer in the days
when there We're few men following
that as a business. He thought out
some good idous-and others copied
them.
one night he was walking home
from his factory with his head bowel
in thought. He had concluded that
there was no use to put originality in
his advertising. 50 long as it was of q
sort that other and larger manufac-
turers could copy. And as he pom
derrd his eyes CHANGED to light upon
long billboard. blazing from one
+ end to the other with Iurid and invit-
ing descriptions Of the glOrioS of Bar
NUNS circus. In the center of the
board. occupying the space from the
ture of Z. II. Barnum.
They can't copy Barnum's adver-
tising SO long rs he has his picture
in it, was his thought. and the idea
that has since contributed 50 largely
To his business success followed like
a flash. The next morning he set out
to put into effect the combination of
picture and attractive wording in add
vertiSing. He then and since. how
paper advertising was better in its
results than the billboardS Today
the face and wares of Mr.. DOugla :
could not be more diSaSSociated than
could be the Kaiser and his NOUS
/ tache. The Kaiser could shave his;
mOuStache but no one would believe