The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1914-01-11

Some OF secretary WlsOu oSoeSu ~
NOR is found in the authors preface
which says:
IT have no intention of infiicting upon
the general public these few rhymes
written principally under the unnuence
Z of youthful exuberance. 1t could not De
expected to appreciate the circumstances
under which they came into existence or
overlook the defects they contain 1 am
looking for a more sympathetic audience
This little volume has been printed mot
published for circulation among those
Intimate friends of mine who can bury
its poetical, grammatical and structural
defects beneath their personal respect for
the author Ny friend Sam says: NO
man ever writes poetry except when MS
liver is out of order This may be true,
and, IL it is, 1 submit this book to my
friends as conclusive proof that my life
has been a reasonably healthy one.
Even the introduction" Is written In
poetic fashion. Here is a part:
No great. refined poetic powers claim;
No college learning smooths my humble muse;
Unknown to- fortune hidden far from fame.
simply sing. because to sing choose
Nor shah sing Of lords and ladies fair.
of kings or queens vaingiorious in might
OF priests or parsons bowed in holy prayer
Imploring grace to guide their nocks aright.
OF chiyalry gallant knights OF old.
Who rloried in their pruwess with the lance:
Who fought for ladies bright, for kings and gold.
For transient fame and pleasure, too, perchance-
But as I time my rude, uncultured Tyre
IN sing the praises Of the multitude
Whose tuiling Drawn and brain and hearts desire
Moves ever for their fellow beings good
Power for Common Veal.
In these lines, penned many years ago,
the new Secretary of Labor gave vent to
his ambitions to become leader among
those with whom he worked for their
betterment-"his waking dreams of COM
ting power used for the common veal
with the coming to the Land Of Hope
began his long and hard preparation Tor
the coveted place of power and wen
doing. Born in Blantyre, Scotland. April
3 1862 THE son of Adam Wilson and Helen
Nelson Bauchop Wilson, he came to this
country with his parents in 1870 and set
tiled in Arnot, Tioga County, Pa
What little early education he had was
attained in the public school of this little
Pennsylvania town, supplemented with
tutoring by Reuben Rowland, an old-time
schoolmaster. who was in charge OF the
Arnot schools.
The following year he began work in
the mines and attended night school after
his DAYS labor In 1873 ne became a half
member of the Mine Workers Union.
Although but youth, far from his ma
jority, the next few years found him as
ISOLATED with the elder men Of the COM
munity in establishing a reading room
and eagerly listening to the debates and
arguments of the men who nightly con-
gregated there. He soon Joined in these
debates and rapidly developed as an able
debater in this school of experience.
His interests in the welfare of his fell
low wage workers received recognition in
his selection as an official in the local
miners societies and afterward in the
district and later in the international or
ganization. In the latter he was interna-
tional secretary-treasurer from 1900 to
1908, being elected each year without op-
position.
Mr.. Wilson was nominated by the DEM
ocrats as their candidate for Congress in
1900. the district having chosen but one
Democratic Representative since the civil
war. He was elected member of the
Sixtieth. Sixty-frst, and Sixty-second
Congresses.
Work I'm Congress.
In the Sixty-second Congress Mr.. Will
son was chairman Of the Committee on
Labor and was chairman of the special
committee that investigated the "scien-
tific systems of shop management" his
associates being the new Secretary Of
Commerce, W. c. Redfield. and John Q.
TiIson. of Connecticut.
When the Department of Labor was
created in the closing days of the Taft
administration Mr.. Wilson was named
its first chief by President Wilson. To use
Secretary Wilson'S own words, he has
endeafored to make it Department of
industrial diplomacy"
In 1883 Mr.. Wilson married Miss Agnes
Williamson, of Arnot. They have been
blessed with nine children. Their home
is on the Avenue,o the Presidents in the !
Capital, but for the last twenty years
they lived on a farm located three miles
from Arnot, the scene of his laboring
ooyhood days The farm is on the Will |
hanson road in the limits of Blossburg