The Washington herald., 1913-02-23
by JAMES Il. MORROW.


Possible "reminiscences of Marcus A.
Hanna once took me 10 see James j.
Hill. He is 2 short man in stature, has
heavy lips a thick nose, ana dark.
searching, eyes l ventured TO ask him
n question about his own start in life
in a hope thar he would tell me OF his
unrromising beginning in the North
west
"A man makes his tracks and can't
change them. and the world must judge
him by the record" he said. Then he
tried to interest me in a long table of
figures showing the rates of freight per
ton mile on the Great Northern Rail
road.
"I became acquainted with Mark
Hanna in 1s7O,'' he had previously told
ne Went to Cleveland TO buy ship
Load IF Nodghioghney coal Seeing a
sign. walked into Hanna's Office. When
he learned what I wanted he called me
I" window and, pointing across the
street, said: The sales agent of the
Youshoghney mines Is over there You
can buy cheaper of him than you can
of me because I'd have TO charge you q
commission
We dill a great deal OF business with
each other after that. A small man
would have sold me the coal and failed
to have impressed his cha ra cter on the
memory Of CHARGE inquirer. ] often
went - Cleveland in those days for coal
and oil Would buy a cargo of kerosene
in the fall and ship it to Duluth, where
] would store il until spring and then
sell /; at good price. The stock of
oil would be low at that time and no
more could come in until the melting of
the ice. One autumn / tried to buy a
Load of oil from John D. and William
Rockefeller but their price was too
high. So l "alIed on Frank Rockefeller,
tn" third brother. who had little re-
iinery that was scarcely worth more
tran $50 He cut John D.'s quotation
and [ gave him the order
Yes. | am Il free trader" Mr. Hill
sad while taking about Mark Hanna's
protection principles We shall have to
10 business with the whole world sooner
or later Our surplus must go some
where. And when We begin competing
with other nations wages will have to
come down. otherwise W. cannpt meet
European prices.
Nor did | agree with Mr. Hanna in
some other directions. | never synpa-
thized with him in his views as to the
usefulness of the National Civic Fedora
'ion This country to-day is ruled by
men who don't pay taxes. When Powder
ly the seemingly had forgotten that Ter
"nce y. P"wderly is now a government
oh1cial and that the knights of Labor
long since went out of existence) goes
10 Washington more comment Is made
about his visit in the newspapers than
would be the case were he a large en-
ployer OF labor and paid out 500 900 900
year in wages"
How BIankenburg Made Fortune.
There is no strain upon the phrase or
the facts when Rudolph Blankenburg is |
called the grand old man of PhiIadel-
phia-" He fought bad government for |
thirty-five years, suffering defeat in !
nearly every campaign, and now, at the |
age of seventy, is mayor of the city |
Born in an ancient village. amid the |
forests of Germany, he listened to the !
reading of Uncle Toms Cabin was pro |
foundly impressed by the story and |
when he was twenty-five years old. emi- |
grated to America.
My father" he told me, hoped that
would follow him into the ministry but |
failed to hear feel a call In that |
direction, and. greatly to his sorrow, got |
a place in a bank and later was employed |
in commission house A tutor who had |
been in our family for six years came
I" the United States. settling in New |
Jersey. where he engaged in farming |
He wrote for me- and in 1865 / sailed for |
America Strange to say. ] found that he |
was a Democrat and a sympathizer with |
the South. | was Republican and an /
abolitionist. We had many fierce argu-
ments.
''One day We came to Philadelphia for !
seeds. The seed dealer took us to a |
restaurant for luncheon, and introduced |
me to merchant Asked about my |
plans, I said / meant to try my luck !
in New York. I'll give you a place
the merchant told me. and pay you s. |
A week I accepted his offer. My board |
cost me s., and my washing IS cents. I !
saved the balance. Fortunately, I had |
good working knowledge Of the English
language. having translated the Vicar of
Wakefield" into German when / was ten
Years old
In a few months my wages were in
creased to s12 a week. But ! saw that I
could make better headway on the road
BY and by / was given a chance to test
may capabilities a travelling sales
man. I was a Iappy young man. Many
'druulmers,' they were called in those