The Washington herald., 1910-02-13
DAVID ROWLAND FRANCIS.
Woodworking. Good -natured Mis-
sourian Candidate for senate.

From the New York Globe.
David Rowland Francis-knOWn to all
the crowned heads as plain 'Dave'-is
a candidate for the Senatorial toga which
has been draped around the more or less
ornate form Of William Warner. And
plain Dave is raising a blister on his
upper lip bussing babies, and his right
hand involuutarilv opens and clenches
at sighting one of the honest yeomanry.
Tie is the designer, sole patentee, and
only user Of the emotional or Zaza
handshake. Il is as temperamental as
painter iu Paris. once he gets the
warm, passionate clutch upon the stur-
Gy voters paw. the sturdy voter win
throw up his hat with his other hand,
and begin 10 holler for good old Dave.
It would be improper and untrue %
say that Francis has hand-shaken his
way 10 Missouri eminence. But it
wouldn't be so far out Of the way at
that. Misunderstanding has ceased to be a
mere form Of courtesy with him Long
years ago he elevated * 10 the dignity
Of a science and now Il has become an
emotion. He has large soft hand. for
one thing. that curves and curls around
the other fellows hand with the mel
lowing effect of one Of those oid-fashiou-
ed toddes with a roast apple init. And
Dawes blue eyes gaze souIfully into the
eyes Of the party Of the second part
and Dawes tall form bends over. and
Dawes murmuous voice melifutes his
utter happiness at this long-dreamed-of
pleasure And by and by he lets go and
the other party stumbles away smiling
fooIishly and hoping il isn't time 70
wake Up. That handshake has the
supplying effect on the other fellow
that catnip has on a cat Il Is conceiv-
able that a cat might be morally certain
that catnip Is iniurious-but he figures
thai one more nip won't hurt
Francis has the One-msn graphing
record OF the world. lie shook hands
with every voter I'm St Louis when he
was elected mayor Of that city-being
but thirty-one years old at the time
And then he shook hands with every
voter in Missouri at least twice on the
two occasions when he was elected gov
ernor Of the State. And then President
Cleveland made him Secretary Of the In
terror, and he did his best to shake
hands with every Democratic voter.
Then he became president Of the Louis
lana Purchase Exposition Company.
which held a near-worid's fair in st,
Louis, and he shook hands with every
man OF prominence that came to the fair.
and diued with every civic organization
in the United States-and did his diges-
tive share at each board. too. And then
he made a tour Of Europe, and got the
crowned heads by the elbow, while he
told EN- how old Mizzoo appreciated the
exhibit Of horned t0ads said crowned
heads mad sent to the show. And now
he'll either shake his way into the SEN
ate or the members Of Missouri's legis-
lature viii get cOTns on their fingers.
Born nfty-nine years ago in Richmond,
kyp Francis went to st. Louis where
he had rich relatives, when he was six
teen years old. Graduating from Wash
ington University. he fell in love. chang
ed his plan of studying law, and became
a grocer in order to marry. The grocery
promptly failed, but Francis went into
the grain commission business and piled
up fortune that has continued to grow.
A large part OF the success OF the st.
Louis Exposition was due to his untir-
ing work, for he gave his time TO 1t ut
terly for months on end-not to speak
of good many thousand dollars. He
IS suave, smooth, and courteous, can and
does work all day and all night when he
takes a job; is a clever speaker and a
good business man. He always likes 10
do things the polite way. but when that
IS barred he does them the other way.
One of the things that Missouri likes
about him is that he likes all the good
things Of life. A year or so after he
swung around the royal circle in Europe
some American met the late King Leo
pold Of Belgium.
''How's Dave?" asked Leopold.