The San Francisco call., 1910-03-09

AWE like to see a man in earnest and
M we love consistency. We say so,
w some of us, half a dozen times a
day, and we say it as if sincerity and
consistency were our own familiar SIDE
partners We know them personally
and just dote on their charms We ap-
prove of reform until somebody tries 1t
on US and we love consistency until
its exercise. by the other fellow. makes
us pay our fare or poll tax or do some
thing else disagreeable.
Take Andrew Furuseth. for instance.
There was never anybody more in earn
est, and consistency is his middle name;
and yet of all the uncomfortable chaps
to have around, Andrew is the limit.
particularly If you are a ship owner
who thinks, that the high cost of living
problem could be solved by cutting
down the sailors pay. Andrew is the
original thorn in the flesh. He is the
best hated. most sincerely respected
and possibly the homeliest figure in the
field of organized labor today.
Comment on the personal appearance
of any but an Adonis is barred under
ordinary circumstances by good taste
In the case of Furuseth. however. he.
g1ories in his own ungainliness, and
the fact that in his lighter moments he
makes his lack of pulchritude subject
of jest gives the other fellow some
excuse for assuming a task that usually
may be left to the brutal frankness of a
mirror. There is further reason for
this liberty in the fact that this un-
1oveliness had not a little to do with
winning for Furuseth the leadership to
which ne has attained.
He is tall and thin, sallow of COM
plexion and awkward in his move
ments as the first flying machines He
affects baggy clothes, and habit OF
carrying his right hand in high cut
trouser pocket gives his loose jointed
frame a heavy list to port. His long.
shrewd face is Illuminated by a pair of
piercing eyes, and his voice, particu-
larly under stress of excitement, has
the shrillness of a police whistle. He
is an omnivorous reader, a heavy
smoker and has a Uranium chock full
of brains with which he gives
continuous performance of purpOseful
thinking In the world of organized
labor he is as we'll known as Samuel
Gompers, but there is probably no
man in the United States known to
so many people of whom less is known
Furuseth was born in Norway 55
years ago and was the son of we'll to do
parents of the middle class. He re-
ceived a good school education and
began the battle of life clerk in
grocery store /. Young Andrew. how
ever. had too much imagination to
h hal a q n
after a few years he bade good by to
the bacon and sugar and became
sailor. He arrived here in 1884 as a
member of the crew of a big British
sailing ship from Calcutta. He quit
the ship at this port and has made his
home on this coast ever since. He
spent two seasons as a fisherman on
the Columbia river and early mani
tested an interest in the coast seamen's
union, which was formed about that
time. His peculiar appearance and his
shrilI voice-shrilIer then. say those
who knew him, by several degrees
than it is today-attracted the atten-
tion of his fellow workers, who forgot
to laugh at his appearance when they
found that the shrill voice was the
carrier of wise counsel.
In 1886 he was elected secretary of
the union. The organization was poor
in those days and although the work
of it's officers took all their time their
compensation was just enough to buy
the necessaries of life. Anxious to
save up a few hundred dollars. but find
ing that impossible on salary that
was sometimes only So week. Furu
seth resigned the secretaryship and
went fishing again on the Columbia
river.
His successor got the. affairs of the
union into a bad tangle and when he
skipped out between two days Furu
seth was called in to straighten out
the records. After serving as secre-
tary for a time he resigned and once
more went to the Columbia river. The
man who succeeded him found the work
too hard and was succeeded by MEM
ber of the union who had more than
once severely criticised Furuseth's
methods. He lasted just one week
and was among the first TO join in the