The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-03-30
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

ago when Secretaries Baker, Houston and Lane made their tour of observa- tion on a government boat of the Ten nessee river at flood time.
 He was standing at the rail, and his manner. dress and physique set him apart as a "somebody" worth knowing, and I never lose a chance to talk to people (either alone or in groups) though I dare say it's hardly necessary for me to make such an admission as my friends are aware of the fact
 I sidled up to him and soon got &C., quainted, for I instinctively felt that he knew much about the river and the country through which skirted it's banks. I found him full of just the kind of Information which I like to pick up as I go up and down the state. He knew the value of the lands, the style of farming. the worth of the crops, the amount of live stock, etc.
 It wasn't long before Secretary Lane, pipe in mouth, hands in pockets, with his old slouch hat pulled down over his eyes, joined us. He and the colonel hit 1t off from the moment they met. The cabinet officer realized that he was up against a real man. I do mot know if the colonel at first knew the high position of the man with whom he was talking If so. he never gave any signs of it, but conversed as naturally as though he had met one of his neighbors casually and was telling about neighborhood affairs.
 His straightforward manliness and lack of toadyism got next to the man who was so toasted and looked up to by the flunkey kind as to have 8 longing to meet his fellow man on the level of manhood and not as cab inet official. Believe it or not, but I let them do most of the talking, for the colonel was telling the Secretary just the things he wanted to learn, the homely things, the manner of life of the people. It had the flavor of the soil.
 
 Before they parted the Secretary had given the colonel a cordial invitation to visit him when he was next in Washington, not merely at his office but in his home. It was no perfunctory invitation but backed up by a real de- sire to see more of him, and after the colonel walked away he remarked to me, q am really desirous of knowing him better, for he is the type of man that America can depend on to see the country through when the need arises"
 All of this and 11nore came to me the other night at the depot in Decatur, when looked up at the six-four-foot giant of man without an ounce Of surplus flesh on his 1.-the body, al- though he is in his sixty seventh year, who asked me, When have you seen our friend Secretary Lane?" It was Colonel Gibson. I told him I had just seen Secretary Houston in Birming- home but that I hadn't had the pleas- ure of seeing the Secretary of the In terior since the boat trip. but that had had letter from him which l greatly appreciated. I rode with the colonel as far as IIillsboro, where he lives, and got out of him some per sonal "reminiscences which l feel sure he will pardon me for setting down here. for it's my business to write about Men, Women and Things"
 A
 had just supposed that he was typi- cal north Alabamian. but I learned that his father, tiring of the feuds of Breathitt county, Kentucky. way back in 1920, put his little family and what few household goods he had in an OK wagon and trav- eled and travelled until he landed near Courtland He took root and his son after him, who laughingly said: "Mr. Bar. nett up to the time I was 21 years olei I had never been 20 miles away from home" He has made up for it since.
 
 I met his daughter, who drives g big touring car, for the colonel has typical southern home. with broad acres, and can take life easy I got to thinking of the wonderful way in which Amer jeans progress. His father made a. pill grimage slowly across states drawn by oxen The colonel for years had his carriage and spick-and-span horses. Now comes along his only child, who spins up and down the bikes in high powered machine. In the three genera tions we sec the road by which the off
 
 fluence and culture.
 With merry twinkle the colonel said. "I came too late to own an automobile, so I had to compromise with a Ford. have turned the big car over to the girl, and I farm in the small car. which after all is the best machine for my purposes, for when anything gets the matted with it I just yell for one of the negroes, and he comes and fixes it, and off we go.' He seemed to be real Believer in the blessings that come from the use of car that did not require a high-priced mechanic to mend it when | it got out of order He is a good road enthusiast and wants highway from Decatur to the Tri-Cities
 was sorry to learn that the cholera got in among the hogs last season. and that meat is scarce in his section, but glad to know that the raisers have not given up, but are calling on the govern ment for hog serum and going to keep trying to raise their own bacon. He told me that quite lot of cotton was