Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1911-09-20
GRANT COUNTY MAN
HAS BECOME FAMOUS
w. S. U'Ren, Father of the mi
tiative and Referendum.
Was Born at British Hollow and Learn.
ed the Blacksmith Trade With
His Father.

C0an page devoted TO geographical
sketch of w. S. u Rem, who is known
as fadher of the initiative and re-
ferendum feature in politics, and a
history of the movement. which first
took practical form under Mr.. U'Ren's
personal direction, in Oregon, and
has since been taken up with varied
degrees of success in a number of
the other states. From the New
York papers article we make the
following excerpts, which may prove
of interest to Herald readers, largely
from the fact that Mr.. U'Ren was
born in this county, at British
Hollow:
What do you want to know 50
asked U'Ren, as he seated himself
comfortably, his thin, angular figure
occupying little room on the car
seat.
GIVE been trying to guess your ma.
tionality from your name, and I'm
stumped. / replied.
Its Dutch name-HolIand
DUTCH said U Ren-he would rather
be called that than to have a
''mister, tackled on to it. It's
the same as the German name
'Uhren. which means hours. My
fathers ancestors came from Holland
good many generations ago and
settled in England. And my mothers
father was a Cornishman of the old
blood.
They knew each other in Corn
wall, whele my father was a black
smith in the mines. continued
U'Ren. 'MY father came to America
when he was a young fellow and
settled in Wisconsin. A little later
my mothers people brought her over
and settled near by. They renewed
their old acquaintance and we're mar
ried. I was born fifty years ago in
Wisconsin. British Hollow. Grant
Co.. and my father and mother are
still alive. Father has a sheep ranch
in Eastern Oregon now and is doing
nicely. He was a wanderer, though,
as young mar, and my boyhood was
lived in many States We farmed in
Western Nebraska for a while, then
in Wyoming. learned the black
smiths trade as a boy and went UP
into the Colorado mining country to
work at it. i got little schooling
not much. because there weren't
many schools where we were-but
learned to read and always liked to
read.
''Up in Colorado became i'll;
think now it was the altitude. Any
way. couldn't work at my trade
any longer. I'd saved a little money
and I studied Law in Denver. Then
I was admitted to the bar. hung
out my single. but my health con-
tinued bad I went down into Cali
fornia and worked on a ranch. Still
my health was bad. My doctor ordered
a sea voyage and I tried to get pas
sage to the. Hawaiian islands.
Several captains refused to take me
because they thoUghS I would die be-
fore the voyage finished. Finally |
found a man who was taking out
laborers to, work on the Hawaiian
sugar plantations, and l got him to
take me along. | didn't know
whether could work or NOT, but /
tried it, found that I could, and
pretty soon / was a foreman. ]
didn't like that, though, and came
back.
81 hadn't any definite idea of what
I was going to dc, but I'd heard that
things were better further up the coast
and I concluded to see how the
climate of Oregon would suit me.
All my friends thought l would
not live to be thirty -five-and some
times ! didn't either.
II can see now that things were
working out all right, for I was
bringing an idea into country that
was ripe for new ideas, bat l didn't
know that at the time. =
"What was the idea ?" I inquired.
The single tax. :" replied U'Ren.
THAT is what the initiative and re-
ferendum movement out there is work
ing toward-th taxation of land
values alone.
I was working in the little min
ing camp of lineup, Cal, when
got hold of Henry Georges great
book. Progress and Poverty. | read
it, and like almost every one else
who has read it became an enthusiast
on the subject of the single tax. 1t
bit me with especial force, for I had