The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1920-06-24

Though he always has been a resi-
dent of Ohio-that state which in
modern years has well-nigh robbed
Virginia of her old-time glory as the
Mother of Presidents-Warren G..
Harding is n stranger to the party.
or to the nation at large. Since 1914
he has represented his commonwealth
in the United States Senate with
ability and distinction. His gift of
eloquence has caused him to be much
in demand on public occasions, not
only in his home state, but in all seq
tons of the country
1t was he who in 1912 was chosen
to place in nomination for the Pres
idency William H. Taft, and again,
in 1916, it was Senator Harding, who,
as chairman of the nominating con-
vention of that year, delivered the So
called keynote speech of the occa-
sion. So it may he said that he has
come finally to find himself cast for
the star role in national convention
after having played many a minor
part to the generous acclaim of his
party comrades.
Senator Harding, when he enters
the White House as President Hard
ing, will create precedent. By pro-
fession he is neither primarily lawyer
nor soldier. He is and always has
been during his adult years a pre-
eminently practical newspaper man.
He knows the publicists' game from
the printing case and the linotype
machine to the publishers office, and
with that particular breed of ability
the White House has not been IA
miliar.
Harding AS An Editor.
The senator and nominee is the pro-
prietor of the Marion Star, the prin-
cipal newspaper of Marion, Ohio, a
progressive city of about 10000, and
he is one of those Americans of whom
it must be justly said that whatever
of good fortune has come to him in
life is the product of his sterling quail
tiles.
The Ohio editor, of whom his fell
lows in the Buckeye state delight to
say that in many ways he is like their
lamented Mckinley, was born on a
farm, near the village of Blooming
Grove, Morrow county, Ohio, Novem-
Der 2, 1865, the eldest of eight chill.
dren, member of one of those old
fashioned families, the magnitude of
which Roosevelt used to extol, but
which were more popular a genera
ton ago than later. lie. is a product
Of staunch old Scottish stock, for his
father, George T. Harding, was a
country doctor whose forebears hailed
from Scotland.
Before they plucked up their house
hold goods and went West" the
Hardings had been residents of Penn
sylvania, where some of their ances-
try in Colonial and Revolutionary
days had been massacred by Indians.
Others of this fine old stock had
fought in the war for independence.
On the mothers side of the family
tree is that other strain-the Dutch
the strain of which Roosevelt was
justly proud and one which had
pulsed in the veins of many of Ameri-
cas- best progeny. Mrs. Phoebe Dick
erson, Senator Harding's mother, was
descended from an old-time Holland
family-the Van Kinks.
Warren Harding in his youth lived
the conventional life of farmer boy.
Until he was IA years old he attended
village school. Then he etnered the
Ohio Central College at Iberia, from
which he was graduated
Youth Who Made His Own Way
Although his father was a man of
moderate means, the lad to a great
extent paid his own way through
school and college by doing farm
work, teaching and doing odd jobs of
house and sign painting. 1t was as
editor of the college paper that he
first displayed a taste and bent for
journalism, and before he won his
sheepskin he had learned how to
"stick" type and had mastered the
mysteries of the linotype machine.
In order to pay his way through
to graduation day, he had to take an
unscheduled vacation every now and
then to earn money. Sometimes he
cut corn. Again he worked in the
village printing office, where he be-
came practical pressman and job
printer and qualified as a makeup"
man. The Senator is so fond of the
memories of the old days when the
aroma of printers ink was a part of
his daily diet that even after he went
to the United States Senate he car
ried habitually in his pocket as a
lucky mascot, the cid printers rule
he used when at work over the forms.
1t was in 1884 that DR.. Harding
moved his family to Marion, Ohio.
Soon after he bought for his son, War
rem, the Star, then a small and I'M
pretentious newspaper. The young
man gloried in his new opportunity.
On the paper, which instantly became
his pet toy, he gladly performed every
function from that of printers devip