South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1914-12-14
Statesmen Real
and Near.
By Fred c. Kelly

NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. you were
born not only with golden spoon in
your mouth. but into aristocracy and
social position. Suppose, then. that
having wealth and aristocracy and So
cial position, your folks made you go
10 Harvard: that you had a famous
aunt and ended up by marrying ia
nous mans daughter. Let US suppose.
further that you became a champion
polo player and that because your
name happesied To be Augustus you
were commonly called "Gussie."
What chance would you have2
You might become the foremost
Onestep dancer OF your time, or with
a little coaching you might develop
into a fair night clerk But only an
exceptional person like Augustus +.
Gardner, for example, laboring under
such handicaps, would be able TO rise
above his environment.
Gardner is the Massachusetts, con-
gresham who is making a fight TO
have an investigation into our state
Of preparedness or unprepaTedness
for war. A man OF parts is Gardner
and an all-round teller; but only in
the last four or five years-and he Is
now about 80 years old-haye people
realized that Gardner has ability in
his own right
when L was youngster l was
known as Mrs. Jack Gardeners
nephew" says Gardner himself. And
since 1 got married / have been known
as sen. Lodges son-in-law
1t is possible that except for being
Sen. Lodges son-in-la w-and the fact
that men still call him "Gussie'-
Gardner might be a senator by this
time himself.
He is a thorough human being, a
deep thinker and a fighter Henry
Cabot Lodge himself can't blum Gard
ner. He was in the Spanish-Amerlcan
war is a ready catch-as-c atch-can
debater, and is never without some
one thing that he is fighting for In
1912 his fight was to prevent L. RoOse-
Welt from having the solid Massachu-
sets delegation at the Chicago con
vention, and he did it. Then he threw
himself into the fight for a greater
restriction of immigration, and just
now he is going into this UMPIRE
MISUNDERSTANDING thing.
Gardeners life, as we may readily
appreciate. has been struggle
against great odds. He does things
tor the JOY of achievement. For eX-
ample, his salary as congressman
barely pays his Office force in Wash
ingtOn. Though ne is not chairman
of any committees. he always has
three or four clerks in his office ana
paws them out of his own pocket be-
cause he thinks he can render better
service by doing so. The total cost
of employing these clerks is doubtless
$1,000 or so more than the govern
ments allowance of $1,000 year.
rI.e,.o q fo,- thousand dollars a
year for clerk hire does not worry
Gardner. He is a few times million
aire. and is in congress for the pure
sport OF accomplishing things. 1t is
said of him that ne keeps his salary
in a separate bank TO draw on Tor
pin money. and never knows WITHIN
$4,000 or $1,000 how much there is on
hand
Here is a sample of Gardeners moral
courage: In the first place, he has
been greatly veXed with himself fer
few years over the way he has been
putting on weight. At one time he
PLAYED on the Harvard baseball team,
and later was a member of the Myopla
polo team. He was athletic to de-
gree. Then he began to get fat one
day he saw a young man sitting on
stone fence near the capitol, and the /
young mans feet were also resting on
top of the fence.
81 would give year of my life
almost" said Gardner, IF | could sit
on a fence that way But the pre- I
tensiOusness of lis tummy VIII not
permit it.
But 10 get to our story:
Gardner started to reduce by sys- |
tematic exercise. He played golf. Then |
ne had a touch of something akin to
sunstroke from playing in the hot sun /
and the doctor told him that he 1
wouldn't dare go out i'm the hot sun |
again unless, as the doctor suggested /
iokingly. he carried a parasOl. So that /
is exactly what Gardner did. He got /
himself a large umbrella, white on the
outside and green inside. and with the /
thing clutched in his hand set out for |
the golf links. He had no desire TO be /
seen walking from one hole to another /
an umbrella, like an old lady /
going home from church, but he was 4
determined to get his needed exercise. |
do not, oh, do not do it," his |
friends advised him, You look aris- |
tOcratic and people call you Gussie, |
and now if this gets out on you, you /
might as well wear wooden wristlets /
end a wrist watch"
Il am not enough OF coward" re- /
torted Gardner, Ito miss my exercise /
because of anything anybody might |
say about me-"
And opening up his big parasOl he !
went bravely forth.
Copyright, 1914, BY Fred G. Kelly.) |
HI x-~Y~xy W.T. nm m III |