The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1920-06-21

MARION Ohio, June z1.-A nghtsr
for his honest convictions tsome call
him a "fence-straddling opportunr
ist").
The friend of everybody In his
home town (some call him a stuck
up aristocrat'D.
The farthest thing In the world
from his heart Is bossins anybody
(some say he's one OF the canniest
bosses Marion county ever has had)'
Thus they are talking today about
senator Warren Gamaliel Harding In
this, his own home town, says Ray
mond' s. TompkIns in a dispatch 10
the Baltimore Sun. All his life he
has lived within a radius OF twenty
five miles of this city OF something
more than 10000 people. Sometimes
he has lived closer, sometimes farther'
from the front porch that will be inc
heart of the Republican party In the
United States until the November
election. But never has he lived more
than twenty-five miles away.
EVERYBODY KNOWS HIM.
So everybody knows him or knows
something about him. They know
his father, the doctor, a little white
haired, white-mustached man OF sew
enty-six, who always wears a stand
up collar and black bow tie and still
hobbies every day to his office In the
building of the Marion star tsenator
Harding's paper). and smashes up an
automobile about twice year.
They know his sister, |.iss Abigail
Harding. who has taught English in
the Marion high school for nine or
ten years. and still TALKS about the
time went abroad" which was
seven years ago.
They know he used to have a big
mastiff named Jumbo and that some :
body poisoned IL. They know he had
a Boston bulldog later and some body
poisoned that too. They know his
father-in-law, old Amos Killing. one
of the chiefest of Marion's chief citi-
Gems in his time, used to cross the
street whenever he saw wv. G." COM
ing toward him on the same side.
They know he owns stock in nearly
every enterprise in Marion. includ-
ing a brewery that is now no more
And they know "a few of them)
that he is a member of the "Conca-
tenated Order of Hoo-Hoos," whose
badge is a lapel button bearing a
black cat whose tail is coiled in the
form of q figure 9.
In short. they know him as an emf
nent citizen with a large front porch
pretty lawn that somebody keeps well
moved while the family is away In
Washington, and the finest stock OF
table silver, cut glass. china, and linen
in Marion county. Affable, jolly
good company" a prince of enter.
tanners. A member of the Marion
Club, dedicated to the social instincts
of Marion's elite.
ALWAYS READY TO HELP.
Men are found everywhere in Ma
rion who are mellifuous and eloquent
in their praise of Senator Harding
and his qualities. Is he a stock buyer
a seeker for financial control when
ever big business shows it's head In
the home town? Not at all. He hap
pens to have enough stock certificates
to paper the walls of the Marion Star
office simply because he. cannot find
it in his heart to turn down mar
who is trying to get ahead.
"Why," said George Fl. Van Fleet
managing editor of the Harding news.
paper, with fine frankness, "he still
has those shares of brewery stock
Not a bit Of good to him-never were
But whenever a man needs money tt
start out in business he just naturally
gravitates to Harding. and Harding
is always good for a little subscrip'
ton"
Van Fleets fine frankness has beer
apparent ever since newspaper mer
began dropping in to Marion to dis
up Senator Harding's past, which has
been since the morning after his nom
nation was announced. Twenty-Five
OF them have come and gone, some
from Boston, where the people are in
terested in Governor Coolidge's run