The Canon City record with which is consolidated the Canon City cannon., 1920-07-15
From Farm Boy to Presldent-Warren
G. Harding Was Regular" Boy.

That's true. Jack All right. III
tell you all / can, but there are so
many things to tell about Mr.. Harding
that / can't possibly tell them all %
night. Now sit real quiet and don't
ask too many questions:
Warren G. Harding was born on
his erandfather's farm not far from
the little village OF Blooming Grove,
Morrow county, o., on November 2,
1855. There were eight children N
the family, and Senator Harding was
the Oldest His father, George T.
Harding. was the village doctor in
those days and is still practicing med
icine in the city of Marion, o., the
present home of the senator. The
original Harding family came from
Scotland and settled first in Connec-
ticut. and later moved TO Wyoming
Valley, Pa, where many OF them
fought in the Revolutionary War
Warren's mother, for ne was Warren
Jack. just as you are Jack today, was
Phoebe Dickerson, descended from the
Van Kinks, an old Holland Dutch fam
lily. So you see our next president
has the strong blood of the Holland
bulCu Oil Oht S2ut anu AAlF ItoA AtSo'
alert and Nberty-lovi1g Scotch blood
on the other.
LAS Warren grew up on mis- grand
fathers farm he had to learn to cut
down trees, chop wood split rails,
plant and hoe corn and al Those things
that had to be done when to raise
crops meant raising them between the
roots and stumps of trees. Every
thing was done by hand, for there was
no expensive farm machinery. Your
father knows, Jack, what hard work
it was those in those days"
Didn't he ever play?" asked Ruth,
you bet he did, Ruth. He was
healthy big boy, and like all healthy
boys. he enjoyed the sports of the
country and village. He loved the old
swimming hole, and no boy could dive
deeper and swim farther than War
rem. He had a sunny disposition and
was the real leader OF the gang of his
school-mates When he was 16 he
looked like man and had the
strength of a man, and there was no
old boy who dared gully him. And
he always protected the younger boys
Up until he was IA years old he went
to the village school, and then he en-
tered the Ohio Central College of
Iberia. He was graduated high in
scholarship. 1t was while there that
he showed a talent for newspaper
work, for he was made editor of the
college paper. But the boys in those
day couldn't afford TO go right through
college. He had to stop for a time
nd r1
to go ahead and finish. During these
times he worked at many things. He
painted his neishbors' barns, cut corn
and drove q team TO grade the roadbed
of railroad. He taught school when
he was II and played horn in the
village brass band.
But after he had try at many
things he still longed to be a news
paper man, and at odd times he was
employed in the little printing office
He learned to set type by hand and
later run a linotype machine, which
is usde today in setting one line of
newspaper type at once. In fact, he
learned from the ground up every
thing there was to know about a news
paper. and to this day he carries in
nothing more or less than the old
printers rule he used years ago when
he was setting type.
"All of Senator Harding's newspa-
per ambitions were realized, for he
finally became the owner and pub
Usher of the Marion (O.) Star. The
Star is his pet. When Warren was
10, his father moved to Marion. where
the Star was a struggling daily paper
in town of about 1000 people. War
len could think of nothing else but
that he wanted to own that paper. His
father finally helped him to take il
over, and then followed months and
months of struggle and hard work 10
keep it going. At times he had to do
everything from setting type to writ
ing the news and printing the paper
on press that had to be turned BY
hand. But that story is too long to
tell tonight. The result OF his hard
work has been that the Star today is
"a big money-making plant and could
not be bought at any price. There
are more than 10000 people in Marion
today and the Star has larger circu-
lation than any other paper in a city
of that size in the Middle West
Il will tell you something that hap.
pened in the office of that paper one
New Years morning that shows the
character of our next president. a
friend entered the office and found
the senator making up the form OF
the paper. A great senator you are.
said the visitor. I'd be a great sena.
tor if l didn't know ANYTHING else, he