South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-02-11
STATESMEN
REAL AND NEAR
BY FRED C. KELLY.


OF the aspirants 10 be senator from
that state. has been greatly handicap /
ped in going through life by a mania 4
for collecting all manner of histoT-
ical curios
When he was a youngster attend
ing college he worked on little
weekly newspaper TO pay his eX-
penses but as rapidly as he got a dol
lar or two ahead he was certain 70
bump into rare autograph or rare
brick from a rare building. Such
temptations in the path Of the young
man might have been his undOing. II
was a wonder that ne ever got
through college at all. for he had not
only to meet his regular expenses. but
pay tribute to his hobby Many was
the day that he stood nervously finger
ing his last dollar. trying to decide
whether TO eat food that day or buy
letter written by Abraham Lincoln.
At such times he would become as
nervous as a gold-cure alumnus pass
ing a saloon.
His young friends used to try to
reason with him.
All, think of your home and moth
er." said they. DO try to brace up
But twas no use. He squandered
his substance riOtOusly on relics and
studied on an empty stomach.
II he had taken the money he spent
+ on relics and invested IL in gold min
ing stock or Honduras rubber stock,
paving 900 or 400 per cent on the
dollar. Stringer might today be
muItimillionaire. AS it is he is a man
OF only modest means. Thus his
quest for political honors have been
Z all the more difficult. A poor man
may succeed in politics, of course,
but he is under just that much of a
handicap. Ii is like being subject
/ without a predicate. or an inside
without an outside.
However Stringer has one of the
finest collections of Lincoln docu-
ments in the country. and his layout
OF historic curiOs runs all the way
from bullets off famous battlefields to
pebbles from famous dooryards. Give
I Stringer a brick or a single from
/ building v here some great man made
a speech Of historic significance and
he will clutch il to his bosom with
4 much enthusiasm. He also goes in
for autographs of famous people from
I every cline. Some of the autographs
are perfectly legible, and others are
as undecipherable as the signature Of
a country bank cashier.
Asst. Secy. of the Treasury Byron
r. Newton was an accurate and pains
/
1 when he was a newspaper man in
stead Of a mere statesman. But there
| was one case in which he purposely
. and brazenly twisted the facts. He
had been sent by his paper out to
Oyster Bay TO write an account OF an
1 informal shooting match between L.
Roosevelt and his guest, a German
army officer noted as an expert
marksman.
T r. hit the bull's-eye twice out
of seven or eight shots. which was
reasonably good shooting, and the
German chap nit it about six times
out Of eight. But when Newton sat
down to write his story it occurred 10
him that il would read more accept
ably to all patriotic citizens If he had
T. r. putting it all over the visitor. So
he dasher off a graphic account of
how the German shooter fired at the
target three or four times without
hitting the bull's-eye once, even, and
how T. r. then leaped into position
and plugged the center of the target
Rsix times without coming up for air.
And the next day, tbs said, the
editor Of Newton's paper got letter
from T. K. commencing the close OBJ
servation and accuracy of their re-
porter.
Rep. James A. Hughes of West Vir-
/
a Washington apartment house that
adjoined a yard which was nightly
!, a convention place for cats. By
hundreds and even thousands they
/ came to that yard each night, so 1t
seemed to Hughes, and they kept him
= awake with their conversation. He
y threw away pretty much everything
that was loose about his apartment,
/ but il did good.
one evening he came home with
three or four dozen bars of sOap.
WHY so much soap" his wife in
CURED
40 hurI at the cats" cried Hughes.
why didn't you buy a few stones
or r!CCks of wood" asked his wife.
wouldn't that have been cheaper ?''
: Hughes opened his eyes in aston
: isbment.
Il might have done that" he con
fCssed. but a cake of soap was the
last thing L threw at the accursed
= things and IL was all could think Of -
Sen. ollie James has in his Wash
, ington apartments the table and chair
that he used when he presided over
the Baltimore convention ana de-
clared Woodrow Wilson. the nominee
j for president OF the United States.
= The articles were bought and present
ed TO James by Edwin .. Wood.
member Of the democratic national
committee, from Michigan, who is a
great James enthusiast.
81 hope the chairs strong. re-
Z marked the huge Ollie, when he saw
Il in his apartments. Half the chairs
meet aren't built for man my
size"
, well, this one held YOU all right
? at the convention, didn't it?" sug-
gested Wood.
Hum, let's see" unused Ollie; 4
don't remember Of sittin down that
week
Rep. Cooke OF Ohio got his start
: in life taking care OF a doctors horses.
WYATT.
E The teachers institute which was
, 10 have been held here Saturday. Feb.
T. was postponed one week on ac-
count Of the blizzard and drifted
. roads.