The Washington herald., 1909-04-18
INDIANA'S NEW ATOR
Benjamin ShiveIey Talks of Himself His Career YOUTH
and of the Democratic Party of Today.

lowing my eighteenth birthday, Bill
Whiteside and set of for the North
west to bind wheat We left home
dressed In frOck coats, linen busters and
white cotton neckties. Bill was a local
Methodist Episcopal preacher, but was
still going to school
ION the train boy sold us book for
$50. Noticing our linen busters. he
wanted 81 at first / succeeded in clos
ing the negotiations, however. at the
lower price. Bill WAS TO be a regular
preacher and had about concluded to
read law. and both OF US felt studious
and bookish. SchOol-teaching at $40
month and board, had discovered was
not as far as a man could 80. An at
mOsphere OF literature, so it seemed TO
BIZ and me. comported with our outlook.
together with our coats and neckties.
Nevertheless. the boy on the train soaked
US. While waiting in Chicago for a boat
we visited a secondhand store and saw
piles of the very same book We had
purchased plainly marked at . cents
apiece. Technically. II I include my
adventure in Michigan. the transaction
with the boy was my third financial
operation. After that Bill and did not
accept all we heard at 100 per cent.
I'VE went ashore in Wisconsin. Taking
slow train. buying tickets every few
stations. we sat on opposite sides OF the
day coach and watched the ripening
wheat fields. Pretty soon We got into a
country where the harvest was about
ready for cutting We left the train. re-
moved our busters. and started off on
foot. carpet-bags in hand, TO find work
{ I
ing houses that did not suit US and
farms al which. from general appear
| ances, we felt disinclined to stop. Occa-
sioually we would halt and bargain
Bill at one place and ] AT another-merely
as commercial exercise. as well as 10
ascertain the temper of the community
with respect TO wages and its general
attitude toward tinerant gentlemen in
the search of jobs.
Along about sundoWn we drew near
20 a large white house with green shut
! ters. I left Bill at the gate and stepped
upon the porch. A mighty pretty girl.
with dark eyes and nair. came to the
door. Wien / told her my business she
/ looked at my frOck coat and laughed
! The man you want 90 see she said, is
/ back Of the stable cutting grass.
AS I turned 20 go ! saw a lovely blonde
at the parlor window. Bill. ] almost
shouted when / Joined him at the gate.
/ -this-this is the place. Fine house
everything neat as a pin. and TWO charm
| ing and beautiful sisters. After the work
of the day is done we Will sit on the
J porch and talk. and maybe they have a
melodion and can sing.
We found the farmer working a
mower He was an immense man. with an
! eve Ike an eagle and the voice OF a
I bass druri. We stated our errand, and
! then he swore a blue streak In all prob
ability he yelled, you are a pair Of
/ swindlers- Honest men don't wear such
coats
Bill was & preacher, and could assume
! both dignity and authority SIR he
said. binding wheat IS our one particular
business. Moreover. We VIII match our
selves against any four men in the neigh
borhood.
In his eagerress 10 close with the
farmer Bill Overstated our capacity.
Furthermore, the farmer neld Bill 70 his
word. We entered upon d definite en-
gagement there In the grass. and then
went into the house. where we learned 10
our chagrin that the pretty brunette was
the fat farmers wife. and that The blond
beauty at the window was his hired girl
Besides, we soon discovered that we were
too tired in the evening TO sit on the
porch.
The farmer pat a seyen-foct McCo--
mick reaper into the wheat. and Bill. an
other man, and myself were expected TO
bind all the grain that it cut. We worked
like horses 10 keep our stations Up. At
the end of the second day we met for
consultation. We VIII settle down TO an
honest, steady gait Bill said. and not
attempt 10 do seven mems work Mean
while we were getting fat pork and po-
tatOes at every meal and nothing else.
The farmer ripped around his eighty
acres OF wheat. chewing the grain down
with his elephantine reaper. and swear
ing like a pirate. We bound all that we
could. and left the rest on the ground.
Naturally there was a rupture. The
farmer beat us out Of some OF our wages,
but we couldn't afford 10 wait and night
him. We walked six miles 70 a railway
station, and there finding butcher. gave
an order for a hind quarter Of veal 10
be sent IN a hurry. collect on delivery. 10
the farmer Anyway. Bill said. the
miserable hired hand whom we left be-
hind in the clutches Of that old skinfiint
viii have something else than fat side
meat for his supper
In Minnesota. where the wheat was
ripe for the cutting Bill and I were put
in charge OF men and paid 81 a day until
after threshing The following summer
Bill was preaching stately at a frontier
town in Kansas. and 1 went alone 20
the harvest fields OF the Northwest. He
was a fine. wholesome fellow. and only
Il 1s-T
useful service IN the Christian ministry.
made 81 a day during the second sea-
son. On the way home with $40 in my
pockets, ! saw great cranberry marshes
in Wisconsin. / bought cranberries for
81 bushel and shipped them TO Chicago.
The venture netted me 100 per cent profit
all Of which 1 spent at the old book
store that Bill and I had once visited.
Il worked in the fields and taught
school until ! was twenty-three years
old. going TO South Bend when there
We're teachers Institutes. and reading
books on economic questions. A commit
tee of anti-monopolists and sOft-mOney
men were printing a paper at South Bend.
for which ! wrote an article now and
then They finally asked me to take the
management Of the publication until they
could find a suitable editor. I didn't
know anything about printing, and
knew very little about writing. The COM
mittee owned some old type and other
junk Their press work was done et an
outside establishment
= =
Before ] fully realized the situation,
the committee had vanished, and I was
sole proprietor Of the Era. which. I neg
leeted TO say, was the name of the paper
was young man. and felt that would
be personally disgraced If the Era we're
to give up the ghost under my manage
ment Furthermore. I was deeply inter