The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1919-04-24
Mr.. BURLESON AS
A BUSINESS MAN
Haryey's Weekly.

Inc weekly ldS ulleH CIltlCioSu
Mr.. Burleson for errors he has COM
mitted in the execution of the heavy
responsibilities which the President
has thrust upon him. But the
criticism has invariably been specific
and constructive-never general. OF
late part of tie press has shown
marked tendency tc criticise Mr..
Burleson in the most general man
ner. All sorts Of charges, as irrele-
want as they we're destructive, have
been made. Some writer's have stated
bluntly that Mr.. Burleson was al
together without business experience
and that the errors charged against
him are the result of the lack of
such training rather than of political
mania or personal idiosyncrasies.
Nothing better could be expected OF
one whose life mas been spent upon
public affairs, t. the exclusion of bus
lutSb, lucg hhhuS III 10.
All of this is to be deprecated. 1t
is untrue and unfair. Politics has
been an avoca tion-a side line-in
Mr.. Burleson's career. Business has
really been his principal interest in
life. He has psospered. He is rich.
His success as business man has
been far greater than as politician.
Compare, for example, the creation
of personal fortune-variously
estimated at a million and upwards-
out of Texas farm lands as a sample
of his business acumen, with, let US
say, the results Of the last Congress
ional campaign, which he helped to
direct.
AS an evidence of his thoroughly
developed business ability--his capa-
city for getting a dollars worth tor
every dollar paid--Consider the man
ner in which Mr. Burleson developed
1000 acres of Indifferent land into
the most profitable plantations in
Hill and Bosque Counties, Texas.
Take. for example, the contract
made by and between the Texas
State Penitentiaries" and Mr.. BGrle-
son and his brother-in-law. This con-
tract is an extremely long document
and cannot be reproduced in full, but
a few of the more importont sections
will satisfy any fair-minded person
that it represents the handiwork OF
no business novice.
It Is provided that the State would
furnish Mr.. Burleson and his brother
in-law with 125 convicts, whites and
Mexicans. who would work the
plantations en- the share system,
whereby the State would receive sixty
per cent of the profits and the broth
ers-in-law the remaining forty per
cent
In specifying the detailed financial
arrangements, the contract provided
that any moneys the brothers-in-law
advanced for running expenses would
be repQid to the parties of the
second part with interest at the rate
of eight per cent" and that they
shall pay 70 cents per day for each
man who might be employed solely
by the brothers-inlaW, on work IN
which the State had no share.
These arrangements indicate an
uncommon degree of business acu-
men. Which of Mr. Burleson's critics
can show contract that compares
with the document in question?
But this was not ali Anyone
might sign up for bargain, but 1t is
the wise business man who takes
precautions to insure its coLsumma-
tion. Mr.. Burleson and his brother
in-law saw to it that the men they
hired would do their work honestly
and faithfully--there was to be no
chance for shirkers. Section 10 of
the agreement guarantees that "the
guards in charge require each and
every convict, when physically able,
to do and perform good and
sufficient work and in such manner
as shall be required by the party of
the second part
-