The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1910-08-13

WAMENMS ~Nw
Charles Gibbs, Governor stubbs' Con-
fidential Man.
rected the battle from afar, but the
names of the privates are never seen
except in the printed lists of the
killed and wounded. In our recent
war with Spain the enterprising news
paper correspondents had a lot to
say about the man behind the gun,
and this article, dealing with politics,
which is not unlike war, has mostly
to do with the man behind the gun
in the recent primary campaign.
Nearly every day of the campaign
just finished, the newspapers printed
the names of Governor Stubs and ].
N. Dolley and Dave Leahy and Will
lam Allen White and others of the
square deal chiefs and devoted col
umns to their sayings and speeches
and letters and "defies" and ulti-
matums and comings and goings, so
that the people came to think gener-
ally that the Stubs campaign hinged
alone upon the work of these men.
But it is not so. Charlie Gibbs, per-
sonal secretary to the governor, was
the man behind the gun in the Stubs
primary campaign The others planned
the work, but Gibbs did the work.
They directed the battle and picked
the ground and assigned the regiment
to position, but Gibbs did the fight
ing.
The governor went forth to make
campaign speeches like Bonaparte
crossing the Alps, but Gibbs framed
his railroad schedule and arranged his
dates and acted as a transformer for
the circuit between the campaign
headquarters and every locality visited
by his chief. And when Stubs start
| ed out with a Gibbs schedule in his
pocket he did not have to worry about
anything but possible earthquakes or
the end of the world and even in the
face of these cataclySmS the governor
| would have gone sublimeIy forward
with the Gibbs schedule in his hand,
| expecting to arrive safely at his desti-
nation.
They all depended upon Gibbs.
Whether it was primary petition, or
| letters to answer, or band to hire
| for rally, or the poll of a county, or
| literature to have printed and sent
| out, no one worried the least bit, for
| 1t was taken as a matter of course
| that Gibbs would see to these things.
And he did. Not the slightest detail
that went to make the whole of the
campaign was left unattended to-.
Gibbs missed his dinner and forgot
his breakfast, he worked twelve or
fifteen hours in one day, fourteen the
next, but he kept his desk clean and
the machinery of the campaign never
missed a clutch; it worked like but
ter in a calf's ear.
Graduated From a Bank.
Gibbs is an Englishman and he
wears a pleasant smile for men and
a blush for women and takes things
seriously, especially his work. He has
been with Stubs for matter of seven
or eight years, coming to him from
the Bank of Commerce of Kansas City,
where he had been working as a clerk.
Stubs was in the railroad construc-
ton business when he got hold of
Gibbs, and Stubs, being a good Judge
of men, soon found that Gibbs was
just the man he was looking for and
he turned over the details of his i'm
mense business to the faithful,
methodical, hardworking and imper-
turbable Englishman. The world is
half full of men of talent, brilliant
men, but there is always a dearth of
men who are faithful and cool and
patient and persistent. Gibbs had the
English on the ball when it came to
these things and Stubs gave him
full swing for the further develop
ment of these qualifications.
1t is a safe bet that to this day
Gibbs knows how many cattle there
are on a Stubs farm in some other
state, how many sheep on certain
ranch, how many bushels of corn to
the acre a certain bottom farm yield
ed, how many pounds of meat a GER
tain railroad crew consumed for din
ner such and such a day, whether it
rained or not in the month of July
five years ago during the progress of
the work on certain stretch of en-
bankment, the amount of the paving
tax on piece of property in Kan
sas City, the typography of a mining
property in Mexico, or any other old
thing connected with the Stubs bust
ness enterprises.
Charge of Speakers Bureau.
Gibbs worked like a galley slave in
the primary campaign and general
election of two years ago. He had
charge of the speakers bureau and
did three mems work for a couple of
months, according to Dolley, who had
charge of those memorable campaigns.
Dolley has seen Gibbs at work in three
campaigns and he sizes him up as fol-
lows: HE is a wonder. Given all
the complicate details of a campaign
and he will work them out as surely
and quickly and safely as any three
men I know Of"
Gibbs is mathematician and follows
strict rules of mechanics and pro2or-.
tions in doing his work. He never