The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1912-01-29

Day 1luD.
serving a second term as club secre-
tary- He seems to wear well. That
treasurer job is hard to hold. You
have to make good there to stay
through one administration. They
won't stand for any monkey business
on that job. nor incompetency nor lax
work You have to be there with the
English on the ball to keep the chief
in a good humor. But Payne is a fix
ture in the office and this year he is
making a bid for the chiefs job.
Eight years ago Payne was deputy
county clerk for Douglas county. He
resigned that place to come to Topeka
and enter the state treasurer's office
He was postmaster at Clinton, Douglas
county. before he was appointed
deputy county clerk. Payne. be it
known, was born in Douglas county
about 4 years ago and he spent the
first two score years of life in the old
home county. You would hardly call
Payne erratic or changeable or tickle
The moral about the rolling stone and
the moss does not apply to him. He
fights the battle of life like Grant be
fore Richmond. He pounds eternally
on one spot until something gives
way Forty years in Douglas and
eight in a row in Shawnee. With a
total of forty-eight to draw from.
The only side issue with Walter dur
ing the eight years of grind in the
state treaSurer'S office was that Kan
sas Day club job and he took it with
the understanding that the banquets
We're to be held always in Topeka He
has his tentacles on that job now and
may hold it another term or two. Does
he attend to business Attention ought
to have been his middle name. instead
of Levi Mighty few people knew what
that L stood for. Payne will never
part his name in the middle, so the I.
serves a good purpose.
Payne Is Not GarruIOus
This man Payne is worth writing
about. He is different from the aver
age run of politicians. 1t has been said
that Mark Tulley, who garnered three
terms as state treasurer, is the silent
man of the state house family. But
Mark is lOquacious compared to
Payne. Payne ought to make a worthy
successor to his present chief. They
work the same kind of political game
They saw wood all the time only stop
ping to kick away the sawdust for foot
room. The system is simple and there
fore hard and seldom used success
fully. They talk to the point when
they do speak. They are good ma
tured, courteous, pay attention to de-
tails, are always on the job, put bust
ness away ahead of pleasure, are good
listeners in crowd and good takers
when with friend Neither Tully or
Payne ever played in a band. They
couldn't get a job selling tickets for a
band concert. But they have lots
of friends to bear witness to their
work in the world and their eternal
vigilance and activity
Payne graduated from a country
school into that postmaster job at
Clinton. He absorbed bookkeeping
from the county clerk Of Douglas ten
wears ago. He is now finishing a post
graduate course under Tutor Tulley.
Eight years is a long time to work in
steel vaults sorting bonds. and tying
tame and wearing out adding machines
It tends to ossify a men, But Payne
is as pleasant and lively as the master
of ceremonies at clam bake He has
absorbed enough figures to number
the sands of the sea shore. and vet he
can still laugh at a simple joke. He
handles an adding machine like a
illeRler throws vanishing coin in the
air. He reads bonds by day and wan
ders through the state funds by
night His hair is turning gray at the
temple and wrinkles are creeping with
invisible but relentless pace across his
face. But his eye is bright and kind
". and his greetings to his friends as
hearty as though he did not have
care in the world Instead of becom-
ing cross-g grained from eight years in
fhe vault he has been polished into the
finished product, quarter sawed and
all oak He's a fine fellow and has
All kinds of friends if he does live like
. mole every day in the year without
--zrations or holidays or sickness or
<a6e Good man to have charge of
state securities. He keeps his head
cool and his feet and heart warm.
therefore he does not make mistakes:
therefore he does not make Tuiley
mad.
a hall. nor the band at picnic He
~sro1lld not be worth expenses to the
state committee as a spellbinder- He
never won a prize fight nor acted as
fhe Judge at a baby show. But during
+be last year he received and dis
Ss.,.rsed more than a million dollars in
~esl, for Kansas municipalities for
their interest and bonded Indebtedness.