Tombstone epitaph., 1916-02-06

l NudI dCttElStlC IS COuCtIutu' buh eASsS
 are times when the fires break loose
 ani expend their flames on the head
 of the offender It is said that one
 or two such things have happened In
 the career of Joseph F Davies. There
 are good many men in public life
 and in business If, who are likely to
 become offenders against the proper
 ties Of government and business. and
 on such as these the Celtic temper
 sometimes breaks
 There IS one thing that is certain,
 Joseph E. Davies loves his home state.
 and he has an abiding affection for his educational alma mater. He attended
 the public schools of Watertown, Wis.
 graduated from the high school in
 1894 with a class of which he was the
 valedictorian. He at once entered the | University Of Wisconsin and was l chosen president of the freshman class. On graduation he was both class day and commencement orator. While he was attending the university he was made athletic instructor. He was one of the winning team in the Illinois Wisconsin intercollegiate de | bate. He graduated in law in 1901, and in the year following he was made | temporary chairman of the Democrat | ic state convention.
 At the beginning of his administra- ! ton President Wilson gave Mir. Davies an opportunity to accept or decline ! two high offices of government. the ! assistant secretaryship of war and ! the governor generalshiP cf the Phil. ippines. Both of these offices the Wis consin man declined, Later, however. ! he accepted the position of commis- sioner of corporations, a place which his record in the law made him seem peculiarly fit
 | Into the campaign of 1912 in behalf ] of Woodrow Wilson Mir. Davies en- tered as a battling figure. He was as l prominent in the Wilson movement in the middle West and the West as
 was the Princeton man, William H. McCombs, in the East. Mir. Davies
 was a Wilson follower prior to the nomination of the present president at Baltimore. At the convention he ! struggle which finally was successful in securing the presidents nomination. During the election campaign MT. Davies directed the Democratic forces in virtually all the western and mid die western states.
 Hero is MT. Davies definition of the government body over which ho pre- sides as chairman:
 We might put 1t this way" nc said. The trade commission is the traffic police force to see that the rules Of the road on what we may term the industrial highways of the nation are maintained. It is to com pei the big touring car. in the use of those highways. not to disregard the rights of the little one. but to accord it it's due share of the road"
 Washington men have characterized this as a rather striking characteriza- ton of the functions of the trade com mission. Of course the big touring ca. is big business" and the small touring car is little business
 The government. ever since men began to think progressively. has been trying to get fair trade condi- tions. Joseph E. Davies of Wisconsin today is. at the head of the commis- sion which has this work in large part in hand. He has not been long in the present office The future is ahead of him and it Is up to him to make as good in his new office as the records show beyong cavil that he has made good in other walks of life.