New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1914-08-09
SUNDAY MAGAZINE FOR AUGUST 9. 1914

president Of the Portland concern that he
considered it breach OF courtesy tor one
firm to take an employee Of another. He
said he had taken a great deal OF trouble
to train Miss Hobbs for the work OF his
office, and asked the Portland banker 20
write her that her services were not needed.
This protest was responsible for the girl
being made the presidents private stenog-
raphcr.
She was with the company just year
before the panic Of 1907 forced It TO close
its doors When a receiver was appointed,
she was retained at a good salary % help
settle the concerns affairs, and for ten
months she watched the procedure OF the
federal court and the workings Of the bank
ruptCv law. The last receiver was assistant
cashier of the Ladd & Tilton Bank, another
concern in which the girls former employer
was interested, and he secured her a posi-
ton in that institution.
She worked there until three years ago,
when BENJAMIN ". OlcOtt, a prominent
politician, who had seen her in the Office Of
one Of the receivers for the Title Company,
recommended her to Governor West as
suitable girl to become his private stenog-
rapher. The Governor liked OlcOtt's de-
scription of the girl, and asked him 20 bring
her to the capitol building. When She
arrived it took him about two minutes %
decide that she was the girl for the job
Miss Hobbs went to work with all the
zeal and enthusiasm that a young woman
could possess, and it was not long before
the Governor began to give her tasks that
called for executive ability. In 1912 Gov
ernOr West launched a Statewide antivICe
crusade, and it became necessary for him
TO open an office in Portland, where the
fight centered. Miss Hobbs was given
charge Of the Portland office. There was
much excitement, and scores of men and
women, from prominent church workers
down to divekecpers, bcsicged the office.
The girl had to match wits with all OF them.
Sometimes they came Singly, sometimes in
crowds, and she dealt with them as diplo-
matically as if she had been in the heat OF
such fights for twenty years. Now you can
understand why Governor West sent her
to Copperiield.
The Oregon executive has instituted
many reforms, notably the humanization
of the prison methods, the revision of the
revenue laws, the simplificatlOn Of law-en-
forcement processes, and the moderniza-
ton of all the States public institutions
Miss Hobbs has helped him in all this work,
and has been on the firing line during two
sessions Of the Legislature.
She has found time during these busy
years to study law, and last spring She re-
ceivcd an Ii. b. degree from Willamette
University. She was admitted TO the bar
last summer, just after her appointment as
private secretary to the Governor. She Is
pretty, charming, and a social favorite
among a large circle Of friends at Salem and
Portland.
1t is safe 20 say that no woman in Amer
lea has had better all-round training. Her
friends at Salem and Portland say she
would make a frst-rate Governor; but her
ambitions DO not run in that direction. She
hopes 70 devote most of her life 20 child
reform work, either in juvenile court or
rctOrmatory.
CIT END MA TEDTk