The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1920-05-21
ON SECOND THOUGHT
BY JAY e. HOUSE.
(From Philadelphia Public Ledgsr)
The Low Down ON Henry.


One of the columns editorial CO.
adjutors recently has projected long
distance view of Gov. Henry Allen, of
Kansas. Having emerged from the
ruck of affairs, Governor Allen rolls
idly and at ease upon the waves o.
chance, potential figure in his
country's destiny. He may be his
party's candidate for the presidency.
1t is unlikely, but he may be. At the
least, he is most interesting person.
atty. AS one who, upon OCCASION has
slept under the same blanket with the
governor and who, before the advent
of billy Sunday into Wichita, drank
not infreqdently from the, same can
teen-we say, as one who thru q
stretch OF years fought Governor Allen
backward and forward acfoss the field
or Armageddon from hades to break
fast and from White Cloud to Cool
idge-~e have thought it worth while
to fit CLOSE up to our eadiutor,s
long-distanee view. In compliance
with which Governor Allen will here
after, and for the purposes of this
narration be known as Henry"
That is what they cali him. Neither
the sovereign voters of his clientele
nor his more or less Intimate friends
refer to him as Governor Allen nor as
Henry Allen. They speak of him as
Henry. Kansas is informal 1t is to
language what Hart Schaffner & Marx
are to sartorisl investture 1t calls its
most DISTINGUISHED and widely known
citizen bill"
speaking to an audience of fellow
citizens, Henry ence EXPRESSED the
opinion that this writer lacked
savoir faire- We cannot repay the
compliment in kind. ! Henry was sa-
Voir faire. Placed end to END his sa =
W0Illn n
to san Francisco. And that, perhaps,
Is The least of his qualities and at
tflbutes. His is a silvery tongue He
is little giant on the hustings, an
eloquent and impeceable figure on the
rostrum. He has the unusual quality
OF writing about as we'll as he talks.
Henry, when in the mood, coaxes a.
RELIGIOUS and expressive writing ma
chine. He has the gift of burying a
stinger in every drop of phraseological
ambrosia his machine exudes. The
writer has many large red welts upon
his body Some of them have endured
for dozen years. Henry was the au-
| thor, of not few of them. And he is
keen. suave, gracious. approachable.
Many rugged characters have hewed
themselves out of the Middle West
| Most of them revealed the origin of
| their sculpture to the end of their
days. Like many another, Henry was
Der. With him, however, tonsorial art
was means, not an end 1t was an
adventure rather than a career. He
shaved and massaged his way thru
Baker university. Then he became a
reporter. 1t is enough to say he was
good reporter. And he is a good bust
ness man. Instances of those who ran
a sbeestring into a tannery are
numerous enough. But Henry didn't
have the shoestring. He started on a
eobWeb and has fashioned it into a
fur-lined coat The main peint, how
ever, is that Henry does not reveal the
origin of his sculpture. He is polished,
Travelled, cosmopolitan. not to say Gull
tured. And he has the most redeem
ing attribute of all, sense of humor.
OF raw morning in April, 1904,
Henry and the writer unloaded stimuli
taneously from the dark recesses of a
Pullman car to the platform of the
railway station in Wichita. The OBJ
jective was the Republican state con-
vention. Each shivered in the chill
wind as he beckeped a hack Henry
had just lost the nomination for con-
gress in the Second Kansas district.
He seemed less jaunty and debonair
than was his wont. His tan overcoat
was wrinkled and detected. He caught
and Interpreted the glance the writer
directed at his half-shabby apparel.
A smile broke thru the clouds upon
his countenance. IF 1 hadn't run for
congress-" he said. Il could have had
a $1,000 overcoat."
Those of US who sat in judgment on
Henry were wont to say he had a
lump in his throat" Which was an
other way of saying he was emotional
and unsteady in his cerebrum. He
seemed always in a state of flux, paus-
ing a moment here to denounee q
knave, halting there to weep over a
wrong. fancied or real. Mort Albaugh
was talking once. Mort is dead now,
these two years, God rest his soul, but
In life he was the god of the Kansas
machine-the keenest, squarest, kind
Hest and most far-seeing politician the
state has known. 1t was in the state
Campaign of 1914.
The Progressives were rallying a
shattered and frasmentary party
around a dying ideal. They wanted
Henry n RIM for Henry