davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06
By JAMES B. MORROW.

A homely epigram from William Kent:
'Neighbor, you have tried to help;
brother, you have played fair"
Four personalities, not to mention any
more. have come together in William
kent-cowboy, collegian, financier, and
revolutionist. There is no stranger man
in the lower House of Congress; none
that is more humanity interesting
A multimillionaire, too young for pro-
fessional philanthropy, not old enough
for the efreminating influences of age,
he said to me. as he loIled in a chair.
smoking a pipe: THE day is past when
lords eat the chickens and the mob eat
the gizzards and the feathers
And later. his lean knees drawn up
until they almost touched his chin: Hon
est thinking, no matter what trail is
followed, will bring one out to the teach
ings of the Man of Nazareth
Nor must William Kent be overlooked
as a politician. Kentfield, in California,
where he gained a famous progressive"
victory, and the city of Chicago confess
his courage and admit his skill and
ability. So, too, he is a bold hunter
riding and stalking all through the West
in Canada, Mexico, the South, and New
England, killing grizzlies black bears
brown bears, Wildcats moose, and thirty
antlered bucks. Friend, also. of RQose-
Welt, Pinchot, Garfield. Heney, the ter
rible prosecutor, and Detective Burns.
He has $40 acres at Kentfield, not far
4 rSs- oiy1ir, r,tr
der and salmon streams.
But l am no suburban man." he ex-
claimed, showing his disdain for foun-
tains, flower beds, and planted shrubs.
Il prefer farm in the open country.
If not that. then / want the bricks the
lights. and the pavementS of a large
city" So spoke activity and simplicity,
sCorning nature trimmed and prinked
up.
Has Face Like Hammered Copper.
4 tall and gaunt person is William
Kent. and carelcssly dressed. He has
wiry hair. dark gray eyes ard a face
hammered by the weather like copper or
old brass. OUtfitted ,Titn a -ope, 4 nigh
saddle. pony. and some shecpsIIir on
the thighs and down the legs, he would
make Il consistent figure If the vanished
West.
Talking in jerks, now with drawl,
again with energy. mis- words are p:quant
and easy and occa sionally humorous
His bust, We're it well made. might be
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06
KENT, REFORMER WITH A MESSAGE

have brought up my family on the Il
lad and Odyssey. Also. 1 learned to
write at Yale, where I edited the college
won class honors."
You returned to Chicago in order to
manage your fathers business?'
Yes; he was Ill in California. We had
an agent, but he left us in six weeks.
kept the books, collected the rents. and
made the repairs on our real estate. I
was a boy just out of college, and men
swarmed my office in the hope Of pulling
my leg. but they found 1t anchored un-
der my desk. Thus got my first lesson
in business.
I'm three years I became q member
OF the firm. I thought I was making a
lot of money. but the panic of 1898
changed my opinion. have been a con-
servative ever since. Afterward 1 tried
to down the powder trust. Perhaps it IS
unnecessary to say that 1 failed. Then I
tackled the phonograph trust The mo-
nopoly bought me out and was willing
"The malemployed are a burden on civ
ilization. By malemployed. mean per-
sons who are doing things not needful.
that it should"
Since 1901" said, when your father
died, you have managed the Kent estate,
which is Jointly owned by your mother
and yourself
Yes. We have land and other prop
erty in a good many parts of the country.
No, am not a practical farmer, but I
know a good field when I see It, am
a dealer in land that is my principal
business but I do not speculate in land
because that is an indefensible occupa-
ton. Land is about the only investment
one can make and retain his independ
ence. unless one has capital enough TO
buy railroad.
IT liked banking and was the execu-
tive director of a Chicago bank for a
number of years. Selling the use of
money is not like selling dry goods. hard
ware, or anything else The banker, so
the borrower thinks, bestows the favor.
But the Chicago bank was combined
with another. and ! lost my interest in
the money-lendng business. Since then
I have gone more and more into land.
One can control ones land. No board OF
directors has any authority over the
crops. One can't he sold out
Thinks Lands Is Better Than Stocks.
If a man buys stocks. he surrenders
control of his money. He may attempt
to learn something about the steel works
or the railroad in which he has put his
capital, but unless he is one OF the in
siders' he will be turned down mighty
quick. Good bonds. of course. are mort
cages. and are desirable. but I prefer
land. not to hold but to develop.
II have a large tract in Nevada to
which I am bringing water and of which
am clearing of brush that It may he
sold to settlers. I bought some land
in North Carolina for $50 an acre. Twen-
ty miles away the same kind of land is
worth So an acre. Farmers down there
have learned TO plant fertilizer with cot
ton seed and thus to make worthless
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06

steer to pieces that some customer may
have the fillet.
THE multiplicity Of retail dealers, the
cost of doing a retail business, high
rentals, clerks, delivery wagons, and so
on, and the credit system, by which the
cash buyers pay the bills OF those who
cheat the merchants, are responsible, in
large degree, for the high price of
meat. The time is coming when most
OF the middlemen will be eliminated,
when food will be sold for cash. and
when the producer will get more for what
he has to sell and the consumer will get
more than he does now for the Same
amount of money"
What personal experiences or mental
processes started you on the rocky road
Of reform?''
L saw the graft that business men In
Chicago We're getting in public utilities
and land, and II made me tired. They
laughed about It among themselves.
Maybe 1 smiled, too, at first. My father
had been in California for a number of
years, and practices had come in that he
didn't know about. The gougine 1 saw
wasn't a shock, for the reason that I
gradually learned what was going on
Shocks are sudden. My knowledge was
gained piecemeaL
Begins to Hunt Crooked Aldermen.
presently I got into the Civil Service
Association. That, thought, was a step
in the right direction. Next, l ran for
alderman. / knew there were grafters in
the city council. That was the reason
determined to be a candidate. After
had learned the names OF all the crooked
aldermen. 1 became connected with the
Municipal Voters League. an organfza-
ton of nine men that keeps a record
OF those in public office and prints the
same in bulletin.
II went directly to the league with the
Information 1 gained as an alderman. I
named the grafters and told what they
had done. 1t was not a particularly
pleasant occupation. Moreover, the graft
ers understood that was on their trail
and was keeping tab on all their acts.
l was president of the league for two
years.
When an election in the city was COM
ing on, I would not go to my Own-office
more than once a week. l worked every
night, writing out what I knew, and
could learn about the candidates running
was threatened with damage suits, but
that made no difference. We We're nom
partisan, exposing all thieves. no matter
to what party they belonged, and the
voters came to believe what we said 1
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06

I scheme was TO make q scale with 4
platform. but the difficulty was that the
position of the burden on this platform
always interfered with the recorded
weight. His problem was to evolve a
series of leveS so arranged that the
correct weight would be recorded regard
less of the position of the load on tn"
scales.
The solution, the arrangement OF the
levers, came to him in the dead of night.
while he lay meditatively in bed. Next
day he worked it out. and soon the pls.-
form scale was on the market. Fair
banks scales have since gone around the
world, and have even the Fairbanks
cocktail beaten in their hold on the pub
lie mind. The Fairbanks family has
waXed immensely wealthy. Sons and
grandsons, cousins and nephews, are
owners of country homes and private
yachts. All owe their wealth TO the
fact that old Thaddeus lay on his back
and thought of levers one dark night
generation ago. up in St Johnsbury, VT.
Typewriter Patents Lay Dormant.
The patents for a typewriter lay dor
mant for half century in France be-
fore it ever came into general use Then
man by the name of Sholes made a
machine in this country and called II
Remington Another man by the
name of Brown made a different kind
of Typewriter and called it the smith"
The makers immortalized other men
through their handiwork They made
millions, but whether these were for
themselves or other men is not stipu-
lated in the record. A Briton by the
name of Pincus invented an electric
a generation too early and never
lived to see 1t work-another example Of
the impracticability of the inventor.
De Quillfeldt invented stopper for a
bottle. the one that pulls up over the
mouth, and is frightened by pushing down
a clamp. 1t was the newest and most
practical thing in bottles in it's way.
Its owner is alleged to have made $15,-
o0OO out OF it.
But William II. Painter, Of Baltimore,
invented the Crown Bottle Seal, which
nowadays has to be pulled off OF every
bottle of hard or soft fizzy water that
the nation drinks. 1t is so common that
no key ring is complete without an open
er for II. Painter is still big man in
the company that makes his stopper,
and his money is mounting up every
minute. Poor DE Quillfeldt got another
when some advocate of SIM
plicity fitted a piece OF cardboard into
the mouth of a milk bottle. II seems
hard to simplify this.
If you are tbirty-five you were born
early enough to wear a shoe with brass
tip on It. The Silverthorn brass tip was
the making Of a shoe in which the boys
Of our age were won't to take pride. In
ridentally It was the making OF Silver
thorn.
The Father OF Chewing Gum.
Chewing gum was put on the market
n the early seventies. Before that the
youth who sought to waste their saliva
had to resort to the sweetgum tree
iown by the old spring. But Adams
.ook out his patents In 1s7l and has been
he power behind million active jaws
,vcry day since. He and his are also
lmong the private yacht crowd, and tho
raeht output must needs be Increased
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06
"A dinner fit for a King

a ulIlHeT III lot hlHS.
That is a stereotyped form OF con-
graduation that a hostess often hears
But how many really stop to consider
how much luxury is really attached to
a nonarch's meal? In King George
households for instance, the dishes OF
gold plate are of great value. and it
would be hard indeed to find their equal.
II would be even foolish to try to give
an approximate value, for much of the
plate is OF old gold and could not be re-
placed. Some of the plate was part of
the treasure of Tippoo Sahib. while por-
tions of 1t still bear the arms of the
Iudor kings. On very great occasions a
special service is brought into use. This
is or massive gold, with 5000 forks and
spoons 10 match
Dinner at Windsor Castle or Bucking-
nam Falaee is always a stately AFFAIR.
whe'her guests are present or not When
there are visitors they, together with
nlenpers OF the household, assemble in
the grand reception room q few min
utes before the appointed hour They
iorm- an avenue, ladies on one side and
gentlemen on the other, and the King
and Queen pass through, returning the
greetings Of their guests,
For years the royal menus have not
been published. The pi esent King holds
the views of his father, that the custom
is somewhat ostentatious So the xen-
eral public does not know what the King
and Queen eat. But Il IL known that
they are light eaters. Rnd show n mark
ed preference for plain dishes. Wine is
very hparingiy used al their table But
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06
GERMANS SCORN
RUMORS OF WAR
Calls for Army Men for Reg
ular Summer Training.

Nothing is known by the ofncers Vi
the Society of German Soldiers anu
Veterans. of which Otto Lechner Is
president and commanding officer OF
German soldiers on furlough in this
country receiving summons from the
Berlin war Office to report for duty III
their respective posts in Germany.
There was q report recently to the
effect that Germany is calling In sol
diers on account of the Morocco crisis.
1t is admitted by Mr. Lechner that all
those who formerly served in the Ger
man army and are still under obliga-
ton to serve a certain period every
year, in order to keep up with the drill
manual, had received summons to take
part in the great maneuvers which take
place every year at this time. and to
which Invitations had been extended to
number of officers of the American
army.
Mr.. Lechner denies that the Morocco
question had anything to do with the
calling home OF those who are yet com
pelied to give part Of their time every
year TO the Kaiser and his army to
keep abreast with the latest Develop
ment In military science ana tactios
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06

or the chewing gum money will soon get
rusty.
The see that hump" hook and eye
people are making millions to-day from
the simplest invention of them all. There
IS not a husband IN the land who does
not know all about hooks and eyes. Yet
not one OF these hookers-up thought OF
putting n hump in the hook to keep it
from coming unlocked. Had any one
of them gotten the idea and patented it.
he would have controlled the hook and
eye business. All that was necessary
was to make bend in the hook. This
was the hump. a hump may. under GER
tain circumstances. be patented. The De
Longs patented theirs.
4 Blind Mans Invention.
Harry Hardwick invented an ingram
carpet. There was a new interwinding
OF the threads of it that kept It from
wrinkling Hardwick became 100000
the better for the interwinding. Charles
Edward Mccarthy was blind man. He
devised a manner of attaching mule
power to a cotton gin. He came up from
South Carolina and got his patents. Then
he Travelled among the farmers Of the
South and sold them his mule attach
ment He became independent. A man
by the name of Daley, by nature an ad-
venturer. came into patent attorneys
office in Washington some years ago and
said he wanted to make an application
for a patent on maple sugar. The man
was shabby and unkempt, and the pat
ent did not appear in a favorable light
to the attorney. He advised against
making the application, which dealt
chiefly with glucose and hickory bark
The man insisted. the application was
made out, and, to the surprise of the at
torney, granted. The shabby man ap-
peared at the same office year later
and was not recognized. for he was no
longer shabby. far from it. He intro
duced himself and asked the attorney
to file some contracts for him. They call
ed for various State rights for his maple
sugar, and represented many thousands
of dollars.
A cast-iron tombstone is an Invention
that has met with popular response
1t covers the graves and saves money
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06

But waste is our greatest iniquity,.
William Kent said with darkened face.
Take dinky allotment in a city, six
miles out. past vacant lands. Gas and
water pipes are laid in front Of corn
fields. That Is waste and the people pay
for it. We have ore, COAL and limestone
They are assembled at furnaces by
means Of the best transportation system
on earth. Then we sell the pig iron more
cheaply abroad than at home. That is
waste. We specialize in transportation,
but our methods of distribution are OBJ
solete and unscientific. That is waste.
Behold the Astor estate in New York,
with its high rents based on its monop-
oily Of buildings-a dead weight on busi-
ness. That is an example of waste in
an American city. In Mexico We see the
TereZzas' estate of 100000 acres. The
owners supply the live stock and seed and
take half the crops. Thousands of poems
are prevented from becoming self-re-'
specting and independent land, owners.
That Is shameful waste. There Is much
of the same kind in this country.
The professions are choked with men
who should be farmers or something
else. We have too many retailers, many
of whom break up annually. The stock
exchanges in New York and other large
places are crowded with nonproducers.
Waste-all waste-of time and money.
Then, consider the idle land owners, the
leisure classes of cities, the manufac-
turers OF and dealers in liquors and to-
bacco. and the tramps and criminals, all
living upon the men and women who
W. Nd MISUNDERSTANDING
up the prices OF bread and meat.
The manufacture of champagne is an ex-
treme illustrations waste of land. la
bor, transportation, and money in adver-
tizing and selling What for to the con-
sumer? A bad taste in the morning and
a headache. The malemployed OF a ma
ton cost the people more than stand
ing army" |
You also deal in cattle" said. why
has meat been so high TO the consumer
Tells why Reef Is Dear.
II feed cattle in Nebraska with part !
ner-that is to say. l fatten steers for |
market. Beef Is dear because We are not |
buying corn any more for 20 cents |
bushel. 1t cost US 60 cents last year and |
is costing us 45 cents this Eear. Cattle |
are now Improbable. We pay si5 for |
lean steer and feed it so worth of corn, |
s. worth of hay, and $ worth of cotton |
seed meal Freight to market and other
expenses amount to about $5.75. Thus |
the steer stands us $3.50 at the packing |
house.
The packers are said TO be robbing
the consumers. an accusation that can
not be sustained. They make only a rea-
sOnable profit on standard steers. Their
large gains come from cows, bulls, and
other stock for which there is no retail
demand, and which is worked up into
fancy food products. l have gone to fine
where Iarded fillet of beef was
served. Knowing where it came from
ancient cows and tough bulls-1 have
passed it up. No butcher will tear a fine
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06

old turpentine clearings into farms of
great value. Shares are trifiing when
icompared with such opportunities"
| Have you tenantsT'
mot many. I don't believe in tenants.
When I bargain with q renter I do so in
the hope that he will soon be a pur-
chaser. Money cannot be made under
the tenant system unless cooperative re-
lations are established. A prosperous
renter is a happy renter, and will keep
the weeds down and the soil up. Skin
a tenant. and the land owner skins him.
self"
What do you think Of the back to
| the farm movement"
'"rhe waste in the world is the first of
all problems Getting back to the land,
in this country, at least, comes next The
army of eaters is increasing faster than
the army of food producers. Yet when
a carpenter or a clerk leaves the city to
buy land he finds It in the hands of
spectators. That is another of the live
| problems OF the day. I have no remedy
because I am more Of a critic than a
constructor, but 1 construct occasionally.
Ny suggestion is that all land be taxed
into use.
Would Tax Idle Land Into Use.
millions Of acres and hundreds of
! thousands OF town and city lots are be-
ing held for an advance in prices That
is speculation. Unproductive land is
taxed down on the theory that the owner
should be favored. inasmuch as he is
getting no income. That doctrine is a
d swindle on industry and enter
prise. Men sit tight on what they have
and let the community grow UP all
around them.
while other men create values and
pay taxes, the spectators wait and block
progress. By and by they sell out and
pocket their unearned profits. l would
tax wild land, uncultivated land, and
stagnant land into business I would
make the gambling owners feel that they
either had TO sell or put their land to
use. Prices then would fall and the
back-to-the-farm movement would be-
come practicable.
Historians give various reasons for
the fall of Rome and Athens. There
was, however. only one fundamental
cause.-the need of food. Ancient cities.
nations in themselves, consumed more
than they produced. and SO they main
tained standing armies that they might
go forth and steal the necessary grub.
Now, in the twentieth century and in
the United States, we are swarming
into cities and leaving the fields neg
l"cted We are either d fols or d
sluggards
Enthusiastically and commercially. we are
overdeveioped. AGriculturally. we are
underdeveloped. Every farmer almost
wants to send his boy to town so that
he can clerk in a store or be a con-
ductor on a street car, read the posters
on the billboards. smell the smoke OF
automobiles. and live from hand TO
mouth. It's Rome over again. and
Athens. Historians will say that we
were d idiots
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06
Brilliant "Insurgent" from the Golden Gate
Is Wealthy, But Hell Working Hard
for the Under Dog"

called "solemnity," yet he is not without
smiles William Kent is a type-a rich
man turned politician, as rich men be-
came agitators before the Revolution
Thomas Jefferson among the rest-and
fighters at the Revolution, notably George
Washington.
Social justice" is a Kentish phrase.
THE equality Of opportunity often slips
into his discourse. Damn is a privileged
eXpletive, but is not so overused as to
be weakened in its emphasis. Other
/ items, to complete his personal history
and description, include his age, which Is
forty-seven; his children, who number
seven, and his business, which he says is
dealing in lands and live stock
The master Of Kentf1eld was graduated
from Yale, as was his father before him.
II might be said that riches came into
the family accidentally and through pork.
A. E. Kent, leaving Yale, read law in
Binghamton, n. Y. He moved to Chicago
and opened an office. Having tried one
case" the son told me, 'he left the pro-
fession because it had become distaste-
full
Then my father turned to French as
living" the son continued, teaching
the language for So a week, which was
just the price of his board. His father
had bought furs in Connecticut of the In
dians. He turned to that business himself
trading for the skins of buffaloes, wolves
raccoons, and skunks. One day a man
came into is little warehouse, saying
there ought to be large profits in picked
pork.
My father gave the man the money
for one hog. which was brought to a
butcher shop across the street and cut
up-the man being the demonstrator, my
father being the student. So A E Kent
became a packer, and at the outbreak Of
the civil war had the largest meat estab-
lishment in Chicago, with branches in
other cities and clear across the country
to New York. He was a busy, success
full and intellectual man, keeping up his
Latin and Greek and studying German
and Spanish after he lost his health. We
moved TO California when 1 was seven
years old
Sumner Taught Him to Think
What did you bring away from Yale"
l asked, that was helpful to you after
wards?''
"A fondness for Greek and the teach
ings of Billy Sumner 1 have rejected
some of Prof. Summers principles. but
when to start and to follow the trail TO
a logical conclusion. Greek gave me a
knowledge of the worlds best literature.
The Washington herald., 1911-08-06
She Lacked Experience.

From the Philadelphia Evening Times.
story which dates back to the last
Bryn Mawr horse show is being told of a
very popular young woman. She is an
excellent tennis player, and can paddle a
canoe most gracefully; but the Bryn
Mawr show was her first attendance at
an exhibition of thoroughbreds.
Are you a good Judge Of horse fesh?"
inquired one of her friends from New
York.
"Oh, my dear, I don't know; 1 should
say not. 1 never tasted any," she said.
The Virginia enterprise. [volume] (Virginia, St. Louis County, Minn.) 1893-19??, 1911-08-04
BROKE WITH ONE
-,~,=*'''s~e3AME EACH

In the ball games with Hibbine
on Saturday and Sunday, Virginia
booked Sunday winning by a
score of 4 to 3, Silverstein making
a safe hit in the ninth bringing in
the winning run.
In Saturdays game, Hibbing
won by a score Of 8 to l, the
single score by Virginia being
brought in at the last moment by
Mccormick, on drive by Meehan
and errors by the Hibbing infeld
In the Saturday game Hibbing
was accredited with 3 errors and
Virginia with 6, and in the Sunday
game Hibbing showed up with but
l error while Virginia had 7 black
marks to her credit.
The attendance at either game
was good, but had the local team
won the Saturday game it is not
doubted the Sunday attendance
would have been greatly increas-
ed.
1t is understood Virginia plays
Hibbing at the Hibbing Park on
Sunday next.