Evening star., 1921-03-04
Czassiffes SeFas
Editor and
Publisher:
Ne,u President Is of
Dutch and Scotch
Ancestry.

Whatever else he may be. Warren
G. Harding, today inaugurated frest-
dent of the United States, always
classifies himself as an editor. pup
Usher and printer. proud of his pro-
fessional accomplishments and train
ing. His luck-charm and most sacred
possession is a printers rule. carried
in his pocket, wherever he goes. ana
his close friends say he would rather
set a stick of type any day than grant
an audience to an ambassador.
For more than thirty years Mr..
Harding's bread and butter has been
earned by the Marion Star. whose re-
sponsibilities he assumed under heaVy
mortgage. and whose early years ne
nourished at the expense OF solhs
hungry more than once hlInseii.
Since his nomination for the presi-
dency he has faced only one puoiic
ordeal that aroused emotions ne couio
not master. That was the temporary
severance of the ties that plnd nun
to the Star. On election night, when
a rroup of his employees came to con-
graduate him, his voice broke ana
his big frame was shaken by sobs
when he undertook to speak of the
separation that must be the price OF
his triumph.
Elected on Birth Anniversary.
Election day was Mr.. Harding S
ffty-fifth birthday anniversary. and
all the interests of his lifetime had
been rooted in the immediate vicinity
of Marion. He was born at Blooming
Grove, Ohio, in an adjoining county
the son of a country doctor, George
T. Harding, who still visits his pa
tients about Marion in the one-h horse
carriage of the old-school practtioh-
er, The new Presidents mother mas
been dead for many. years and MS
father is remarked.
Although it was pioneer news
paper age. Mr.. Harding's mind ran 10
progressive notions even in the Gay
when the Star still was a liability. ne
broke with his first partner over the
question of installing a telephone IN
the newspaper office. a proposal which
the partner held to be lmpracticai :
extrayagant and revolutionary. Al
though he retains a controlling nhan-
ciaI interest in the Star. now a sue
cessful newspaper. Mr.. Harding Will
occupy but a titular relationship 10
it during his presidency.
Three times before he has held
public Office He served in the ONO
legislature and as lieutenant governor
of the state and six years ago he was
elected to the United States Senate.
where he became member OF the
foreign relations committee. In 1916
he was chairman of the republican
national convention.
His Personal Chnrncteristics.
In personal appearance the new
President is man to attract a sec
ond look in any crowd. He carries
his 210 pounds without a hint of
obesity. althougt, he is not quite six
feet tall: and his massive features
round out an impression Of force
and distinction. His hair is iron
gray-almost silver gray-making
sharp contrast with the unusually
heavy black eyebrows that almost
mask a pair of calm gray eyes. 1t
is only in repose that his face takes
on the aspect of severity seen SO
often in his photographs. When he
talks or listens the lines are broken
by a smile that radiates cordiality.
President Harding walks slowly.
slowly: but he gives the impression
of polished deliberation. rather than
of overcaution or abashment. He is
a good conversationalfst and a good
listener. and has a faculty of getting
through embarrassing situations with
little show of encouragement.
AS an orator Mr. Harding never
has rated himself as witty or elO-
quent though he attained consider
able success A few years ago on the
chautauqua platform. He seldom at
tempts fine word pictures or humor-
Gus passages. but cultivates de-
liberate. unembellished utterance.
IYA ho nTa q n
stilted dignity. He likes to know
men we'll enough to call them by
their first names and to slap them
on the back when he meets them.
He likes to shake hands and make
conversation about the weather and
ally lapses into the vernacular of an
Ohio countryman.
It is Mr.. Harding's affability that
has made for officials close to him
some of their hardest problems. He
never likes to refuse an audience or
visitor has talked himself out. On
his first campaign trip his managers
ruled that time and endurance would
not permit him to appear at wayside
stations, but after the train had
whizzed past the first waiting crowd
he ordered that stop be made
wherever the people had come out
expecting to see him.
The new President is unusually
fond of children, though he has none
of his own. He Is a lifelong Bap-
tist and a trustee Of his home church
in Marion. He has been member
of the Elk and Moose fraternities for
years. and since his election to the
presidency has become a thirty-sec
ond degree Mason and a Shriner.
Golf is his favorite recreation, and
he likes to fish. but does not hunt.
He plays hard, and possesses the
faculty Of putting all his worries out
of his mind during vacation hours.
Likened to Mckinley.
OF all the Presidents. Mr.. Harding's
close friends hken him most often
to Mckinley. with whom he has in
common a predominant passion for OBJ
liberation OF class and sectional lines
President Harding was born on his
grandfather'S farm, where his father
then resided, just outside the village
of Blooming Grove. Morrow county.
Ohio. November 2, 1868. He was the
eldest of eight children. some Of
whom have achieved more than or
binary distinction: one in medicine.
one as Il public school instructor and
one as missionary in a foreign
field.
He is the son of George T. Hard
ing, then the young village doctor,
who found no night too dark and
dreary and no journey too long to
travel the almost impossible roads of
that day to go to the relief of
suffering patient. however poor and
unable to pay for the Services rem.
dered.
The Hardings are of good old CO.
lonial stock. coming. originally from
Scotland, settling first in Connecticut,
removing later to the Wyoming val
ley. Pennsylvania. where some Of
them were massacred and others
fought in the revolutionary war. The
mother of Warren. Phoebe Dicker-
son. was descended from an old time
Holland Dutch family. the Van Kinks;
so that in Warren G. Harding 10
ho hlanAiHxx ~