The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1909-04-18

Copyright, 1909. by John Elfrcth Watkins
The new "baby of the house, has
been discovered at last. Ho is Polite
Elvins-Elvins of Elvins, Mo. ST. Pat
rick s day eve he reached the tender
age of thirty-one, which, however, is
not so tender az it might be, inasmuch
rs the constitutional age limit for n
member Of the house is twenty-five.
Nevertheless there is no representative
younger.
Young Elvins has been hustler since
ne was boy, Taking care not to lose
gwen day on the calendar of youth,
he bad himself licensed by the state
snprene court within twcnty-four hours
after his graduation from law school.
rms was the year of his majority, and
when only twenty-siX he had been chos-
en- rs the presidential clector of his
dIstrlct. After he had cast his elcc.
toral vote for Roosevelt and Fairbanks
ne was chosen by the other electors to
carry the state ballots to Washing
Ton Ihon at the age OF thirty he got
inc congressional nomination mt the
general state primary He represents
the district in which ne was born. and
thus has administered Jolt To the old
. adagc about the prophet in his own
rountIy.
Iwo dozen other men in the fresh.
man class of the house arc still in their
thirties. Carl Anderson Of Fostoria,
", who is close second to Mr.. III.
ylns tor the honor Of being the 'sbabv
OF the house, is older by only Two
months and half He, too. was only
thirty when elected
Began as Bootblack.
Anderson has had a meteoric career
as elf.made man. When ten he was
bootbiack at Fremont, At sixteen he
mad saved enough to buy Il little home
Tor his mother, and. after working as
galway conductor, bin clerk and drum
mcr the next nine years, he packed off
TO Eostoria with a Young bride and
enough cash III his pocket TO open an
underwear factory. He now operates
three of these plants and since he has
been in their midst, these past five
him mayor As 4 happy coincidence,
MS young wife presented him with a
eon on the same day that tho Demo.
Gratis of the thirteenth district present.
ed him with the nomination to congress.
This date also happened to be tho young
mother IS birthday,
Another Buckeye self-made of the
house freshman class is James M. Cox
OF Dayton. After working as plough
boy on farm near Jacksonburg he be-
came newsboy at Amanda and then
g printers devil on Dayton paper.
Soon he was a reporter. and soon again
he was owner and editor Of two Ohio
dailies. the Dayton News and the
Springfeld News. And he, too, is only
Al his thirties,
Common Laborer Who Came Up
e Still another Ohio farm boy who
worked his way to the infant class OF
this tariff congress is Adna Romulus
johnson Of Ironton. His widowed mo-
ther brought him from Missouri when
he was an infant OF four Between the
short terms at the district school he
did odd jobs as ploughboy, and then
as common laborer on the turnpikes, |
on the railroads and in an iron furnace.
This was in the long school vacations,
both while he was pupil and teacher, !
for he welded the rod in winter be- |
tween the ages of seventeen and twenty
four. Thus he saved enough to 90 |
through law school, after leaving which |
ne became prosecuting attorney.
But Ohio does not furnish all of the
self-made members of the freshmen |
class of the present house. There is
Tom Gallagher, for instance. OF Chi.