The Washington herald., 1911-11-12
TYPE OF THE MERCHANT IN POLITICS

II lived with my grandmother in Fail
River, Mass" he said to me. My
mother came to the North every sum-
mer. She took me to the South. how
ever, when I was seven years old I rec
ollect a Harrison and Tyler meeting that
I attended in Fall River. was in New
Orleans when Gen. Zachary Taylor re-
turned from the Mexican war. Our school
went aboard a steamer and Joined the
procession OF ships up the river. Gen
Taylor, I recollect, brought along his
white charger"
Mark Hanna was tnen ten years old.
His father was a Whig and a physician,
and later a wholesale grocer. He, too,
heard political speeches, but in Ohio.
Also, he heard addresses on total absti-
hence, DR.. Hanna being the orator. Mr..
Hanna obtained an obscure place in ma
tIonal politics during the year 1880. He
raised campaign funds for Garfield. and
had begun to cultivate the acquaintance
Of Blaine, Foraker. Mckinley, Lawrence
Barrett, John Mccullough, and Joseph
Jefferson, mixing politics and the stage
with ships, coal. and pig iron. BY 1854
he was a growing man IN party affairs,
working for John Sherman that year and
contributing money.
Bliss Helps Chester A. Arthur.
simultaneously appeared Mr.. Bliss, who
came out from among his bales and
boxes, head Of a business mems commit
tee in New York City. to help Chester A
Arthur retain the Presidency. Thence
onward, so long as they lived, Hanna
and Bliss, strangers at first, were poten-
tial characters in politics. Mr.. Hanna
raised millions of dollars; Mr.. Bliss took
charge Of the funds so collected.
The fortune of Mr.. Bliss was made
with his own heart, hands, and head.
He told me that he went to work at the
age of fifteen in his stepfather's COM
mission house. But ne wanted to re-
turn TO Massachusetts and begin life in
Boston, where he imagined he would
have a better chance for success. His
stepfather promised to pay him so a
month II he would remain in New Or
leans.
''One morning I saw a ship at a wharf"
to quote his own words, land was in
formed that 1t would soon sail for Bos-
ton. The captain said he would take
me along as a passenger. I packed my
trunk, and, at o'clock that afternoon,
said farewell to my family. much to
the displeasure Of my stepfather, and
left home, never to return again eX-
cept as a visitor. We were on the ocean
seasick. Reaching Boston, found a place
in a wholesale dry goods establishment.
The first year I received $75, and had to
pay for my own board and lodging. In
those days. a boy went into a store just
as he went into a shop to learn a trade.
He picked up strings and carried bum
dies. I was paid 800 the second year.
After that had no trouble about money.
One of the members OF the firm for
which I worked was the father Of ].
Pierpont Morgan. That firm was sue
ceeded by another, and I was admitted
as a Junior partner. Then 1 establish
ed a branch Of our business in New
York City. The firm became Bliss, Fab
yam & Co. in 1881. dealing in cottons
entirely, in the goods made at the vari-
Gus New Englasd mills in which we
were interested as owners"
Thus humbly began. though in bold
spirit, the life OF one Of the greatest and
most honored merchants in the country.
Twice, Mr.. Bliss refused to be a candi-
date for governor of New York. But
for "a little woman, the daughter OF a
Presbyterian elder and hard as ada
mant," he might have been President of
the United States.
Copyright. 1911. by James B. Morruu)