Republican news item. [volume] (Laport, Pa.) 1896-19??, 1910-08-05


of the State. too. I'm mere to stay.
And l want that my towns-folks and
my fellow-residents of the Mountain
State should know me. Many of 'em
do. There's a full halfmillion folks
In this city and State that know all
about Caleb Conover. They know he's
on the square, that he'll look after
their interests, that he's a white man.
They know he's man they can trust
In their public life and welcome in
their homes. And, as l said,, there's
lot Of these people here tonight.
"But there's lot of other folks here
who only know me by what slander
and jokes they've picked up around
town or in the out-of-State newspa-
pers. It's these latter folks I'm talk
ing to now. l want them to know the
real me; not the uneducated crook
and illiterate feller my p'litical enc
mics have made me out. They can't
think I'm all bad or they wouldn't be
my guests. Would they now? And
a little frankness ought to do the
rest
Some people say I've risen from
the gutter. Well. I've risen from it,
haven't 1? A lot of men on Pompton
Avenue and in the big clubs are just
where they started when they were
born. Not a step in advance of where
their fathers left 'em. Swell chance
they'd have had If their parents had
started 'em in the gutter as mine did,
wouldn't they? Where'd they be now?
What does the start amount to-?
The finish lines where the scores
counted. Gutter or palace.
"a mans a man for a that says
a poet by the name of r. Burns. And
he was right even if he did waste his
time on verse-stringing. Only it al
ways seemed a pity to me those words
wasn't said by someone bigger'n a
measly poet. Someone whose name
carried weight and whose words
would be quoted more. Because then
more folks might hear of it and be-
lieve it, ! don't suppose one person
in fifty's ever heard of this r. Burns
person. U never did myself, till
bought a Famous Quotation book to
use in one of my campaigns. That's
how | got familiar with the writings
of r. Burns and Ibid and Byron and
all those rhymer people.) Now, If
some public character like Tom Platt,
or Matt Quay, or someone else that
everybody's heard Of had said that
quotation about a man being a man"
Caleb paused to gather up the loose
threads of his discourse. This caused
him moment of dull bewilderment,
for he was not accustomed to digress,
either in mind or talk, and the phe-
nomenon puzzled him. He rallied and
went on:
But that isn't the point. l was
telling you about myself. | started
in the gutter, just as the knockers
say l did. Or down by the freight
yards. and that's about the same
thing. My mother took in washing
when she could get it My father
went to the penitentiary for freight
lifting when | was ten-he was a
stevedore-an he died there. | was
brought up on street where the fell
ler-man or boy-who couldn't fight
had to stay indoors And indoors was
one place | never stayed. | began as
coal boy in the c. G. G. X. elevators;
then l got a job firing on a fast
freight, and from that | took to brak-
ing on a local passenger run. Then i
was yardmaster, and then in the sup
'rintendent's office. and then came the
job of superintendent and after that
general manager. and | worked my
way up till ran the c. G. & \. road
single-handed. Meantime | was look
ing after your city's interests. Three
times as Alderman and then once as
Mayor, for the boys knew they could
bank on me. got hold o. interests