Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-08-23
~ HERBERT COREY.

MARION, Ohio, August 23.-Harding
made just as many false starts in
business as the average youngster
does. There is cheer in that thought
for many fathers who have almost
cea sed doting on sons who fail to
start their engines readily in the
morning of life.
Il hardly knew what I wanted to
do" he said once. My father wanted
me tc be a lawyer.
Meanwhile there was the daily bread
to earn. During his stay at the Ohio
Central College at Iberia he had lived
at a college boarding house-board
and room cost two dollars and
half a week-after he had so es-
tablished himself as a house. sign and
door painter that he could earn the
money. Prior to that he and CARRIER
and Daily had boarded themselves IN
Mrs Lambs house.
How Larder Was Kept Stocked.
Every third Monday morning We
would see Harding walking into town
with a huge sack over his shoulder"
his classmates say. In 1t were the
pies and cakes and chicken and ham
and bacon and butter and bread and
the other foods necessary to sustain
three hungry young men for one week.
IL Was up 10 tne otHeT lNo " PioNiuc
the sustenance for the next two
weeks
But when he graduated as bachelor
of science in class of four he step
ped naturally into position as school
teacher. Every young man or woman
who had some education taught school
in those days while looking around
for the right angle from which to
conquer the world. The school was
two miles from Marion. and he used
to walk in and out each day, carry
ing his lunch in tin pail. Many
time he has been given big red APP
pies by admiring pupils. There seemed
no particular goal ahead in school
teaching, however, and at the end OF
the year he got foot inside the door
of Journalism.
Editing and Insurance.
His father was then part owner of
the Star. a weekly gossip paper IN
Marion of the most uncertain finances.
1t usually came out once week. but
it sometimes missed few weeks
without occasioning any commotion.
Young Harding settled down to read
law and edit the Star. He liked
the law, too, and if fate had kept her
scissors off he might have become
successful lawyer. But his income
was not sufficient to meet his needs,
and his father suggested that he be-
come an insurance solicitor on the
side. In those days the average coun-
try town lawyer also represented
line of insurance companies
Now things began to happen. Be
ing quite guiitless of any knowledge
of the insurance business-unaware
even of the fact that there was a
board of underwriters in town which
fixed rates and protected the insur-
ance buyer from saving any money
when he bought-Harding wrote the
was the big prize on which all the
other agents had fixed their eyes.
Harding quoted what he thought was
fair price and got the business. 1t
netted him 800. This was the first
time that he had ever suspected that
money could be made in such enor-
nous sums. !
Underwriters Indignant.
But he had undersold the local
board of underwriters and they
seethed with Indignation. In the end
he had to give the 500 back and the |
board took the business away from /
him. But he had seen the wealth.
producing possibilities of the insur- |
ance business and persuaded his ia |
ther to buy him a half interest in AMI
established insurance agency.
Now he was fairly launched
though his bark seemed to be drift
ing in three different directions. He
was reading law. trying to write in
surance, and semi-occa sionally editing
the mi-occasional Star Being an
ardent Blaine man and this being the
Blaine year, he determined to go to
the Chicago convention at which
Blaine was later nominated. In those
days railroads furnished transporta-
tion gladly to all persons who could
establish a more or less actual con-
nection with a newspaper He man
aged to scare up a few dollars. filled
his pockets with railroad passes and
set off gayly for the convention
He did not get to see the Plumed
Knight nominated. He was a boy of