Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1916-05-04

Looking at myself impersonally, l am inclined
to think / have a very patient mind. / mean by
that a mind which moves slowly, which plods for
ward instead of dashing or leaping. There is moth
ing brilliant about it. A brilliant mind, 1t strikes
me, is like a thoroughbred horse, good for a race
but afterward needing to be stabbed for a day or
two. My mind is like a pillow horse. 1t cannot
squirt, but it can go on turning furrow after fur.
row. That let's me get through a lot of work.
"By a patient mind" he went on, 81 also mean
a mind which does not leap to attitudes and deci
sions, but feels its way. And a mind which does
not get its back UP easily. Opposition does not
make my mind bristle. A difference of opinion is
not a personal thing with me.
"And l think" he said, his dark eyes t~winkling
and his wide lips quirking with fun, 1T has been a
very decided advantage to me to be so little and
to look so young. / really mean that" he fastened
to add and cited two instances in illustration. One
was his argument before the Supreme court of the
United States in the Cleveland traction cases, an
argument which attracted the ~dattering favorable
comment of the learned justices. The other was a
speech which was one of the outstanding features
of the Baltimore convention which nominated
President Wilson.
Neither of those" he commented, could by
any stretching of words be called a great speech.
The natural fairmindedness Of men was what
pulled me through in both cases. l looked SO
handicapped that my hearers said instincttvely,
Give the BOY a cnance!
Such cool, almost academic self-analysis led
me to ask him how life struck him, SO to speak
what ambitions it stirred in him. I'D like to prac.
tice law" he said. "That is my one ambition.
There is no Office or position that l care for. But
I'd like to practice and practice and practice law"
Further talk along that line developed the rather
interesting fact that the new secretary of war is
one of those men who seem to have been moved
forward by the urgings and propulsion Of their
a. - - - Al $4,000 - Al1su 1--n
accord in response to an inner impulse. Post
master General Wilson all but dragged him from
his brieflessness in Martinsburg to get his first
taste Of cabinet ways and duties and responsible
ties. Martin Foran dragged him to Cleveland to
become a trial lawyer. Tom Johnson dragged him
into politics. And Woodrow Wilson has Just
dragged him to the war department.
The circumstances of the Foran case are I'M
usual enough to partake of the romantic. In 1897,
when the young and still younger looking attorney
was returning from his first visit to Europe, he
was table mate of the late W. 7. Stead and a mild
hammered, retiring English barrister. One day
Baker came on deck to find the barrister in q peck
of trouble. A stalwart, lawyerish, six-foot Irish
man, full Of Gaelic fire, had waylaid him and was
charging him, in his own person, with all the
wrongs England had ever perpetrated on the dis
tressful country. II happened to be rather ia
miliar with the Irish land laws" SO Mr.. Baker
Lcllb III Huu COuIIlV6u " 5uUoLlIut0 mybclL LOL
the b~arrister in the argument. The upshot Of II
was that my opponent and | became good friends
and spent the rest Of the voyage playing chess
together. We parted in New York. / went back
to Martinsburg, and no word passed between us
for two years. Then the Foran-
wrote me the firms business had SO increased that
another partner was required and that he wanted
me. | had long felt l should be in a larger com
munity than Martinsburg, and / liked Cleveland
but l knew they wanted a trial lawyer, which
was not, So / went on full Of excuses, prepared
to thank him and be dismissed in friendliness
Before / could get my first excuse out Mr.. Foran
had ushered me into an office and said, Here's
yours and before | caught my breath he had sent
some clients in for me to talk with. l stayed In
Cleveland and learned to be a trial lawyer
His enlistment as an active fighter in the John
son camp was equally casual. tom" was sicl
one night, and the young lawyer was pressed into
service to fill his place at a rally. "Tom's SICK
said the man who introduced him. This is New
ton D. Baker, who's going to speak in his place