Saturday news. (Watertown, S.D.) 19??-19??, 1914-06-11
Jacob A. Riis, the
Most Useful Citizen.
From Literary Digest.

$3.50 S1AT3 CD |lnS Na6HaA llOWt VI w. HIS
closest friends and his family has
gone, and with his going the poor and
the ignorant and the oppras sed ri
New York and other great cities have
lost a friend whose life was devotsd
to their needs and whose first thought,
was for their welfare. Jacob A, Riis,
q Dane by birth but an American by
adoption, was spoken of by ex-Prasi-
dent Roosevelt once as THE most
useful citizen in New York" In the
United States he is said to have
added, II never knew a more useful
nor a stancher citizen On another
occasion, ONE years ago, the Colonel
was quoted as saying of his old friend:
He is a man who acts squarely,
works hard, e nc sour yisage, and
not only holds high ideals, but fights
for them" This little man, who de-
serves all the honor and none of the
stigma ofth name of freformer,"
came to this country in 1879, when
was not yet quite ~twenty-one. Already
In his native town Of Ribe. Denmark,
he had begun in a decided way the
fight against ignorance, vice, filth, and
careless and unjust oppression that he
was to continue his whole life long.
For his first few years here he served
in many capacities -coal-mining,
b~rick-makfng, peddling, anything he
could turn his hand to %honorably. The
New York Tribune tells a story of the
turn of Riis's life that led him into
his lifework by way of journalism.
In Buffalo he was a carpenter, a
lumber yard hand, and a travelling
salesman for a furniture house. Therel
too, he made UP his mind to be a
newspaper man. Of his efforts to
break into that profession he after
ward said:
81 thought l would make a good
reporter. My father had edited our
local newspaper, and such little help
as I had often been of to him had
given me a taste for the business.
Being of that mind, | went to the
Courier office one morning and asked
for the editor. He was not in. Ap-
parently nobody was in. l wandered
through after room, all empty,
till at last | anne to one in which sat
a man with a paste-pot and a pair OF
long shears. This must be the editor.
He had the implements Of his trade.
| told him my errand while he clipped
away. n,
{ What is it you want?' he asked,
when / had ceased speaking and
waited for an answer.
Work, l said.
Work. said he, waving me away
with the shears. We don't work
here. This is a newspaper office
= went, abashed. I tried The Elk
press next. This time / had the edit
or pointed out to me. He was jus
looming through the business office
At the door | stopped him and prefer
red my request. He looked me over
a lad fresh from the shipyard, will
horny hands and a rough coat, an,
asked:
What are you?
"A carpenter ! said.
THE man turned upon his heel wit
a loud, rasping laugh and shut tn
door in my face. For a moment
stood there, stunned. His ascendini
steps on the stairs brough back IN,
senses. / ran to the door and flung !
open, You taught I shouted, shakin
my fist at him, standing halfway u
the stairs. You laugh now but wal
And then l got the grip of m,
temper and slammed the door in m,
turn. All the same in that hour
was settled that / was to be a repor,
er. knew it as ! went out in tn
street
Soon afterWard Riis came to NeN
York and became a reporter on TIL
Tribune. It was while he was ther
and as police reporter on the Evenin
Sun that he studied New York's III
derworld and laid his first plans fo
the rescue Of those whom it hel
chained in vice and poverty Hi
first view Of these conditions wa
some years before on his arrival j
America poor and friendless. Tn
New York Times relates the story an
its sequel:
Riis had his first experienc
with the police lodging-hauses 500
after he arrived in New York q homs
less immigrant twenty-one years I
age. For days he had trudged th
streets looking for a Job but Their
was no work for him. One night Ii
terly worn out and brooding on hi
miseries he went down to- the rive
He had made up his mind that Lii