Evening journal., 1914-03-12
NEW NEWS OF YESTERDAY
The Magnate Who Began
Life as a Tinware Peddler
Il, Holland.

81 had an extraordinary experience
with the late Frank Jones, of New
Hampshire, only two or three years
before his DEATH" said Charles e.
Hail, Of New York, to me recently
Mr. Hall was associated for some
time editorially with the historians
OF the states Of California and Ore
gon. Later he was engaged for sew
eral years in the preparations of the
biographies Of men of large business
achievements which were to be in
corpOrated in an extensive biographi-
cal cyclopedia. II was the desire of
the editor OF this cyclopedia that an
especially careful bog Apply of
Frank S. Jones be prepared, for Mr..
Jones was esteemed one of the ablest
Of the Intellectual and busi-
ness forces of his time in New
England and he also was of high po-
litical authority, having served in
Congress as q Democrat from Re-
publican state and having been prom
inently associated some years with
the Democratic national committee.
al called by appointment upon Mr..
Jones at his apartments, which were
I'm the very fine hotel which he built
at Portsmouth, n. H." said Mr. Hall.
"That little city was his home. There
his principal business was carried on
outside of that associated with the
great corporations with which he was
also identified. / knew in a vague
way that he had been very influential
in the Improvement and development
of railway systems whose terminals
were at Boston. | knew also that he
had served I'm Congress and had been
esteemed as perhaps the most in
fluential Democrat I'm northern New
England.
81 was anxious to get from Mr..
Jones some facts associated with his
beginning Of active business life. I
had heard that he was a poor boy.
He received me very kindly, but he
said To ME that q man who was so
engrossed as ne was I'm many busi-
ness undertakings and who, besides
his manufacturing business. was
greatly occupied with railroad af-
fairs and to some extent with poll
tics, did not have the time to recall
what his early experiences were. He
lived in the present day and not in
the past. He said that he could re-
member how he got into railroads
and he had a very vivid recollection
of his initiation into active Demo-
cratic politics. but only the vaguest
recollection of his start in life. He
supposed that If he gave himself to
1t for a week or a month and talked
with some people who knew him as
a young man he might be able to
recall some Of the early incidents OF
his business career.
However. after rejecting for a few
moments. Mr.. Jones said: i do remcm-
her that began in business for myself
as tin peddlcr. DO YOU know what a
New England tin peddler wasy Well. he
wa. man who owned horse and
wagon lifted up with compartments that
held tmwarc and the simpler domestic
utensils OF the kitchen. He was u bar
nainer lie went around from farm
house To farmhouse and took in eX-
change for tinware, rage or old copper.
old lead pipes, used-up pewter utensils
and various things of that kind. That
was the way most of the farmers wives
in those davs rot their tin utensils.
Well. that was TIE way ! started. Now
I come To thing of it. tin peddlng was
the best training in business way for a
Young man that was possible in New
England. Il made him shrewd at bar
gain. but hc had TO be honest, for most
farmers WIVES mad TO bc rnfcNu IN lhurc
days Well. in that way he learned
human nature. He learned how to drive
bargains
When Mr.. Jones mind went back 70
Lis days as a tin peddler there gradually
was revived a. recollection of events long
forgotten. lie became intensely inter
csted a. he followed his own develop.
ment from his days of peddling until
he had accumulated capital sufficient to
start in business. He narrated these cN-
perences for am hour and he apparently
took delight IN rcclling things which
had long been burr N in his mcmry.
"Afterward when | showed him the
printed proof of the talk with ne he
read it over carefully and then said il
was all due to the awakening Of his
memory by the fact that he hal recalled
that Ia his early DAYS he had been n
New England tin peddler"
Copyright, 1914. by f. j. Edwards. All
rights reseryed.l
Tomorrow Mr.. Edwards will tell "How
a Successful Orator Grows in stature