Every evening, Wilmington daily commercial., 1919-12-29
Palmer For President
BY Frederic j. Haskin


square, biocky, white-haired, ~ years oil
and horse for work has one decided nd
vantage over the host Of competitors fO
the Presidential nomination. He il 10 II
ofiicial position which is steadily keepin
him more in the spotlight than IL an
! other candidate While this is an advant
age from the standpoint Of that vita
thing, publicity, IL carries with it an ele
ment of great danger for, in the spotlight
any mis- step is revealed % the multitude
: The recent meeting of the Republican
National Committee, in Washington hal
3 called forth n large assortment of candi
dates of that party They are now in tht
open beating their torntoms each In hi.
peculiar way attempting 10 attract votes tC
himself. The Democrats are TO assemble
IN Washington carly In January at the
Jackson dinner which precedes each cam
paign, aqd all aspirants arc asked TO ap-
pear and each will be allowed 10 make bit
of a speech by way Of a workout But 20
far the Democratic entries are limited IN
number, Mchdoo, and Palmer being off in
the lead
The friends Of these two are already
pointing with pride The advocates of
McAdoo are urging him as the Roosevelt
OF Democracy, the man of proven punch
and executive ability IN fact MI the
candidates Of both parties are bearing
down hard ON this matter uf executive
ability Everybody seeus 70 have made
up his mind that the situation requires n
man Of proven administrative capacity
The a in the name of the attorney
general stands for Alexander II was the
name Of one-timc conqucror. - be sure.
and Mr. Palmer IA a Quaker and therefore
indisposed to the rsages Of force But hls
friends call him tho fighting Quaker and,
tp indicate the character of the man, re-
/ cite. like Othello. the adventures through
which be has passed.
or QUAKER STOCK
The ancestors If Palmer came WITH
William Penn from England IN 1852 The
tenacity OF the strain IL shown IN the fart
that the faith Of the Quaker II still intact
IN the Palmers of to-day When the at
torney general Is IN tho midst of MS family
the thee and thou of the old aect i
constantly used. Mrs Palmer is 2 Quaker
also, and glides constantly from onc form
II address 70 her husband TO another when
speaking fp non-Qnakcrs
Alexander Mitchell was born IN Moose +
head, Pennsylvania, which Is hard to Gnd +
On The map, but grew 4p AZ Stroudsbnrg
IN the For0no mountains IN northeastern .
Pennsylvania winch Is>one If those com
Portable towns Of three or four thousands
where everybody knows everybody else j
business. tie went to Swarthnnore C0IIegc
whero he WAS the room mate If G0vorno-
Bill Sproul, now the Republican chlef
executive Of Pennsylvania.
Palmer studied law and worked AZ
Stenographer to pay his way. He became
a court stenographer, which indicates
that he was pretty good in shorthand
Woodrow Wilson still makes pothooka IN
tbe transaction of hIs daily duties and ~
docs MIR. Palmer He sometimes hands his
notes N his secretary-a
1.-THE young man Daucd Robert r. Scott,
to transcrhe, and thereby creates an i'm
pas>c, for the shorthand of yesteryear Is
not like that of today
Over On that side Of Pennsyivania
which borders New jersey are the colin-
tics Of Pike, Monroe Carbon and North
arnpton. According to the friends If
Palmer there used 70 exist, among the l
machine Democrats Of that part of The
state, an agreement under which the 1
lght 10 furnish the Congressman from i
his district should rotate among these
'ounties. Palmer set out to smash this \
MACHINE agreement and got himself elect /
d IN 1905 and reelected in 1910 II was |
lis first grapplc with the machine.
now PALMER WON
Following that success. he tackled the 1
iuffey machine which WAS Statewide /
lie ran for national committeeman and. l
Fhen Guffey Wa declared elected pro- I
ested and tired 10 get himself seated bv /
ne national body. lie Was politely seated /
n tie sidewalk outside, but the next /
ear reappeared with the scalp Of GuTey /
his marked the passing Of the old order /
'ennsylyanla state Democratic politics /
He WAS national committee man when Il
be Democrats met at Baltimore 10 choose
candidate for the Presidency in 1912. Hc /
-as for Wilson, He led the chant, "Nc
ATT " llson. He would not quit Champ 1
lark had and held almost the necessary i
NO thirds. and Wilson asked that his Il
aTlle be VIZ fhdrawu. But tbs lighting Z
uaker Woald not quit. Ii be had there
ould have been no " oodrow Wilson in I
1e time of the world var
Wilson offered Palmer the place Of |
ecretary Of war which he declined oz !
luse OF his QuakerisIn He was ls,er I
1ered the place of chief justice u the L
ouyt OF Clalfn5, which he Also declined
hen N the Iuldst Of the var, be Vas offer
The post Of alien property custodian !
hIch he accepted
" hen Palmer came 70 Washington 70 /
/ tins post he went to the state Depart /
ent to take his oath That department /
fused to accept him, said there was no
ch officer under 1t lie went TO the Il
reas1,ry Department with the same re-
It, Finally he left his cath at the White i
ouse and VAS 8 igned a single room |
ek af = tsilor shop " hen he reached i
at room the next morning. the messenger /
10 had heea assigned 70 hun refused 70 4
lsit hlm Ths Two nen were not vet
4ai.Inted
IN hour later Ralph Stone d Detroit
rived tie and Palmer had coae 10 +
lool together Il ws4s Ralph and Mitch
between them Stoue brought an
sstfian catnttss with Hu and ths /
Isfs which delivered "a million dollars
nth af her property t. Palmer L w.sS
first act under the new assignment tAe
end was to recruit Stone as m SsSlst-
The Job Of the aHen property custodian l..
less competent hands, say the friends o
Inner. would have amounted to little -~-
le man msde the Job He took 10000
D away from Germans 2ud poured Ii -