The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1909-04-17
New Secretary of Interior Was
WaShburn Student.
ADVISED BY INGALLS,
Went to Eastern School at Sem
atOr's Suggestion.
Worked Way Through School
and Became a Lawyer.

Washington, d. c., April 17.-When
a boy Richard A. Ballinger, the new
secretary of the interior, saw Kansas
In her palmy days. 1t was in the Sun
Flower state that he received part of
his education and grew up to man
hood. With his parents he lived in
the village of Larned. in later years
attended the State University at Law
renee and Washburn college at To-
peka. While in Topeka Mr.. Balm
ger came of age and cast his first
vote for James A. Garfield for presi-
dent.
After the civil war;" said Secretary
Ballinger, my family lived on a farm
at Nilwood III. My father bought
sheep, and I herded them on the
prairie, following them all day with a
dog as they fed upon the wild grass.
Late in the afternoon 1 drove them
home. 1 was then seven years old
However the low price of wool soon
caused my father to go out of the
sheep business. and to move to the
village of Virden, where he afterward
became postmaster by the appoint
ment of President Grant, under whom
he fought at the siege of Vicksburg.
He also had a newspaper in corner
of the postoffice, the care of which
largely fell to myself. Each day on
the arrival of the trains from st.
Louis and Chicago I sold papers in
the streets 1 went to a school now
and then, but during most of the time
We lived at Virden I had to work.
my father was an energetic and
vigorous man, but he lacked the pru-
dence and balance of my mother. One
of his numerous ventures was the pur-
chase of a little weekly newspaper.
7 f1IrI Ice cd to soft nd n
pull the cumbersome old hand press
Happily for me. at least, our circu-
lation was too small to brag about.
During our life at Virden my father
kicked a man named named Thomp-
son, editor of the Record, out of the
postoffice. There had been a violent
colloquy over some matter in poll
tics. Thompson afterwards tried to
shoot my father. The affray caused
great excitement in the town. and I
was very proud of the Ballinger fam
fly. as represented by the head of the
house.
Next. we went to live in Kansas,
settling on a soldiers HON estead. two
miles from the spot which later be-
came the site of the town of Larned.
Indeed, we helped to establish the
village. 1 was fifteen years old. In
dams, to the terror of my mother, |
were to the west of us, and large herds |
of buffalo could often be seen in the
distance. My father bought cattle, and |
1 passed three years on horseback in |
thcm, in reading the poems
of Robert Burns, many of which 1
committed to memory, and in trying
to study Greek and Latin.
81 recited in Latin to a hospital
steward at Fort Larned several miles
away, and in Greek to a clergyman
who lived in the vicinity After four
years on the farm, the Texas fever
having destroyed nearly all of our cat
tie, VIZ moved into the village of Larn- |
ed, where my father again became an
editor by the purchase of a weekly |
known as the Chronoscope |
81 clerked for two years in the Of |
ffces of the county clerk and treas |
urer. a former treasurer had embez- |
zled money belonging to the public. |
I discovered the crime and reported |
1t to the proper officials, but nothing |
was done. AS deputy clerk it was my |
duty to receive the skins of jack rab-
bits, on which there was a bounty of |
5 cents apiece, to swear the owners |
of the same that the rabbits were kill |
ed in Pawnee county, and to write |
them orders on the treasury. The job |
was a singular mixture of the magis- |
terial function and of banking. but it |
smelled like tannery.
Although my education had been |
much neglected" continued Secretary
Ballinger, 81 had planned all along
to be lawyer I lived in Kansas for
eight years, during five of which I |
had no schooling whatever. With the |
money L earned as a clerk 1 spent |
three years at the Kansas State Uni
versity at Lawrence and at Washburn
College at Topeka. While in Topeka
came of age, and voted for James
A. Garfield.
my ambition from the first was to
my education at some east
ern college. Through his son, who
was a student in Topeka, 1 formed |
the acquaintance of John J. ingalls,.
The senator in congress from Kansas,
ION writing to him for advice in the
matter. he replied that he had been
graduated from Williams and that he
could recommend it as being distinc-
lively poor boys college 1 had very
little money when I arrived at VIII
Jamestown, but my varied experience
n the west had taught me to be re-
and self-relant.
ct kept boarders for a time and
hen at the request of the president
IF the college. 1 helped to manage the
students restaurant. I also pumped
he college organ for two terms and
Turing one vacation was janitor of the
church. Notwithstand-
ng my want of preparation. I was
graduated at the age of twenty-six,