The Washington herald., 1921-07-31
By William Atherton Du Puy

THE man in Congress Of most striking ap-
1 pearance, now that Jim Ham Lewis i.
gone, is Philip Pitt Campbell, of Kansas.
If be sits in q box at the theater, and he
often does every eye in the house Is sure
to stop in its wanderings when it comes to
him. His identity is more often inquired
into from the House galleries than that Of
any other member. ff
When i first saw Representative Camp
bell. his neck swsthed in q high stock, his
hands crossed on his cane, 1 thought him
the perfect type of the Irish squire. When
j came to know more Of him found that
Scotehmen said he bore a striking resem-
blance to the pict ires of Bobby Burns. Then
an lrishman told me that he was the living
likeness Of Tom Moore. Later sat near a
group Of Jewish people and they were point
ing him out as bearing a striking resem-
blance to Disraeli. 1 considered him from
all these standpoints and, strangely, he
seemed to make good from each.
Ones passing interest in the appearance
Of man would not 60 far, of course, uhless
there were other reasons for giving him at
tention. In this case one finds that Phil
Campbell is chairman Of the committee Of
rules of the House of Representatives and
that as such he is one of that small group Of
men which has most to do with the grinding
Of that mill on Capitol Hill which gives the
nation its laws
Now. being given this man of striking ap-
pearance and immaculate dress who presides
over this powerful committee. would you not
De interested in knowing whence he came
and how? Viewing this finished product
would you not like to run back through the
past and know the conditions that deyeloped
him?
Here is a flash before we start his story
that is quite upsetting to those who hold
10 the theory that elegance. refinement. poise,
is the outgrowth of generations of good living
and OF cultural environment. Phil Camp-
bell, at the age of twenty, was a crude.
unlettered, work hardened country bov so
poor that it had been impossible for him to
give up his job at eight dollars q month
that he might attend school.
But Mr.. Campbell himself tells the story
best. went to see him in the rooms of the
committee on rules in the Capitol. b office
In the corner looking out in one direction
over the spacious grounds - that most
splendid of American buildings, the Con-
Eressional Library, and in the other dow,
the sweep of the historic Potomac helm,
the most attractive room in all the solemn
structure.
can never be President of the United
o'a'es' said MIR. Campbell. because I was
Oorn IN Nova Scotia. Others who .ail tba,
distinction may not have my alibi. There
win rest upon them the implication that a
lack OF ability had something to do with
their stopping short of the White House
My father and mother were both of
scotch origin. They lived on a farm whore
cape Breton projects into an inbosnitob,o
sea. Crop returns were poor and the call
o, tne sea was the prospect for the bovs
VINO were growing up. There were five of No
tnen and later two more came NV parents
oecided that the chances would he he te, a.,
'ne prairie lands of the United States
"WE CAME by boat and train to Ona.go.
ILL.,, and there bought a wagon and
team and Travelled overland for six weeks.
We traversed the whole state of Missouri.
1t was in 1867 and the James boys were still
abroad. Often We were stopped and ques-
toned by armed bands of men on horseback.
but we were never molested
We finally came to Usage Mission, down
in southeast Kansas, where Indian lands
were open to settlement My father selected
quarter section, lifted the bed of the wagon
from the wheels and converted it into a home
for mother and the five of us. / was the
second in the brood and then four years old
We lived in this wagon bed alone on the
great prairie while father took the team and
did freighting to earn a living for u.s.
Later we built the first house in that
region-a one room structure with a lean-to
kitchen. 1t was our home for ten years.
Il was ten years old when my fathe,
died, leaving US with a half-developed farm
and the little shack. There was litigation
over the land. the railroad. which BY that
time had reached Kansas. claiming it.
Finally the settlers won out and We would be
given title upon payment of $50 year for
four years. That to US was a frightful sum
Of money. My brother, two years older than
I. ran the farm, put in what crops a boy of
his age could, and 1 was hired out to a
neighbor farmer to earn the money that
would pay out the land. For two years
worked for eight dollars a month and for
two years got ten dollars. This money
saved the farm, and / was able to get the
farmers team upon occasion for plowing
my brothers corn.
The corn husking was usually done by
the first Of January. From that date to the
middle Of February there was little posi-
bility Of doing farm work. For six weeks
each year we went to school. We always
started at addition and got as far as frac-
tions. The little schoolteacher, who got S25
month, taught all the grades and lived
around, could not do much for such irregu-
lar pupils.
The town Of Pittsburgh was nine miles
away. A business man in that town con-
yinced US that there were great possibilities