Los Angeles herald., 1909-08-05
NEW FIGURE IN
OLD DEMOCRACY
CHAMP CLARK WILL HEAD HIS
PARTY
CLOSE RANGE STUDY OF GIANT
MISSOURI POLITICIAN
Interesting Series of Facts Concerning
Man Who Probably viii Be
Democratic Standard
Bearer in 1912
BY JOHN HUBERT GREUsEL

BY JOHN HUBERT GREUSEL
WASHINGTON, July SO.-Champ
ClOEk, by all the signs, will be his par
ty't stndard bearer in 1912. jefferson
and jackson are Champ Clark's ideals,
and he can "argufy till he is diZzy,'
but this is only a mere incident. Some
picture him as the grizzly bear OF ma
tional politics. and he has been charac-
terlzed as a Pike county provincial, but
the real question is, Do you know
big man when you see him? Human
nature, writ large, is always INTEREST,"
ing.
Is Physical Giant
AS this is a study in the results of
heredity, we find interest not only IN
Clark's body, but in his brain. AS a
small boy he was a weakling, and his
father made him climb pole and take
other violent exercises. He grew to be
feet 2, with a 171s-inch collar, 44-inch
chest and to weigh about 220. And in
the years that passed he constantly ex-
ercsed his brains by hard, serious
books.
He came UP along the rough path of
the farm hand picked limestones off
the field to make fences and went
through the rest of 1t. He was the
champion wheat GRADER of his county,
and the last money he earned in the
fields was $12 for binding wheat six
days at 81 a day.
Champ put 500 in paper money in n
knothole for safekeeping, and when
the proprietor asked for the money
Champ found that the rats had
gnawed 1t to bits. This cost him 500
of the hardest earned wages, sweating
in the harvest fields.
Brought Up Strictly
When a boy Champ ran away from
school to attend celebrated murder
trial, at which the renowned advocate,
j. Proctor Knott, was to speak, and
for playing truant. 1t was, you see,
part of the family discipline. Clark s
father was serious~minded, austere and
purtanlcal in his social tyranny.
He brought UP Champ with Spartan
coldness. Exceedingly critical, as
though there was no natural affection
in his heart, the old man used to say
that to suppress all emotion was the
only true way to deal with children;
that on his wife's side there was too
much affection and family clannish-
ness, and altogether too much intel
lectual pride about nothing.
Years afterward when Champ Clark
had become famous and his speeches
were printed in all the newspapers the
old gentleman, who lived to be 81, read
every word, it is since known, but
never permitted himself a whisper of
UldiSGt anu dlLHOuBn ldlIly DuTSllIS
with pride, never let Champ know.
This harsh discipline, as was but
natural in the evolution of Champ
character, set him fiXedly in the op-
posite direction when he, in turn, came
to attempt to apply some rule of life
with his own children. Almost fool
ishly fond, he always excuses every
thing In his children. makes all sorts
of concessions to them, regards them as
the pure gold of this earth-is in every
respect the ideally indulgent father
and it is clear that thus his starved
love of the earlier time blossoms into
full flower
Some years ago, when Little
Champ" died. it is known this most
tender of fathers did not shed a tear,
although his heart was broken. For
days he went about like one in dream,
but the amazing strength of his in
dividuality schooled him to show no
conventional grief.
In the biography of Champ Clark, by
himself, in the Red Book of Congress is
a fieetng line to Little Champ. And
that is all. 1t is, you see, the strong
mans way; and If from this simple
incident you do not understand one
phase of this big man Champ Clark,
then you will never grasp it in this
life.
Father'Was a Character
You remember how Socrates wan
dered about, imparting knowledge by
the interview-method, the very one, in
fact, that is now used with so much
success by American newspaper repor-
ters? often, Socrates showed the wis
dom of the wise to be but the boastful
utterances of the intellectual fool.
There is a sharp parallel In Champ
Clark's bringing up. His father was a
sort of modern Socrates, who lived, 1t
seemed. solely to counsel his fellow
f.1 Xo, oh nfNftf fNV.kxy
odd years ago. ostensibly a dentist and
psalm singer, in reality he was indulg-
ing life's grand passion to give
knowledge. His son Champ went along,
was his fathers eager listener, and
doubtless in those days was laying the
foundation for his present-day readi-
ness in debate. Smaller men fear him
when on the floor of congress he lifts
his big bulk and bellows at the opposi-
ton. The crash of his lightning. the
roll of his thunder, has it's way; and
men hasten to shelter from the al
mighty storm.
Master of lnVectiVe
Old man Clark talked, argued and
counseled, year after year, till at last
his time slipped away and he died
financially poor, in fact at no time of
his life was he worth $500. But his
educational work played its important
was king. And while old man Clark
talked for nothing except his hearts
desire it has come about, in the strange
unfolding of things. that the former
little boy, who went along, now spends
his summers lecturing to vast audi
ences, and the pay is $1,000 a week.
Whatever mastery of invective
Champ Clark possesses is said to be but
a shadow of his fathers magnificent
readiness; for the old man, if the pro-
vocation seemed to warrant. tore his
victim limb from limb and broke his
bones and men feared him, as they do
Champ today.
CIarks All "Bad Men"
In short, the Champ Clark family is
of fighting stock and in Kentucky in
the early days were known as men
quick to anger, ready also with the
dueIing pistols. At least one of the
Clarks met death on the gallows for his
part on the bloody field. Jerobeam o.
Clark killed Colonel Sharp to avenge
Miss Cooper and the jury, strange to
say, found him guilty, and in the warm
discussions that grew out of the case.
for years afterward, pistols were often
drawn and heads knocked together.
Those were raw days in old Kentucky,
filled with personal feuds, in which
Clark and anti-Clark was often a local
issue.