Middletown transcript., 1922-04-29
CHORE BOY TO CHAIRMAN

"How wonderful it would be if, after
having passed the halfway house, we
could journey back to our childhood
days and once more travel the path of
life, mused Hon. Joseph Fordney.
Chairman of the Ways and Means Com
mittee, when caught by an interviewer
recently in a reminiscent mood. Mr..
Fordney is one of the outstanding types
of Americanism who stood at the head
of his class in the University of Hard
Knocks. At l6 he was a poverty
stricken chore boy in lumber camp.
At So he is Chairman of the most pow
erful committee in Congress, while his
success in private life has been marked.
Wealth and power have not changed
him.
Joseph W. Fordney was born Nov. 5,
1853, the youngest of 13 children, His
birthplace was log cabin three miles
west of Hartford, Indiana, to which his
parents had removed from Pennsylvania
in l848. Ways of communication were
exceedingly crude in those days, libra
ries were unknown and school houses
few and far between. At the age of l3
young Fordney's schooling was limited
to three months, only sufficient to learn
the alphabet, but having learned it,
like Lincoln he read omnivorously be-
fore the fItful blaze of the hearth, and
the Lincolnian purity of his diction is
proof that he read well.
In June, 1869, the family moved to
Saginaw, Michigan, where his home
has since been. His mother died the
following year. Meanwhile, young
Fordney had taken job in logging
camp as aide-de-camp to the cook peel
ing potatoes, washing dishes, bringing
wood and water, and waiting on the
jacks. He kept his eye on his boss to
such good advantage that the following
season, and for the three successive
seasons he was cook himself at from
$50 to $50 month. During those
early days in the lumber woods, | saw
the value of the magnificent pine tim
ber then growing in The forests and
had great desire to own some of it,,
said Mr.. Fordney. 1.-The very choicest
stands of pine timber were offered in
those days at price as low as 81. 25 an
acre.. In his fourth season, knowing
little of mathematics or the rudiments
of surveying, he became helper to a
timber estimator, or LAND locker" as
they were called. He made an inten-
sive study of this work and since his
mind was uncIogged with impractical
knowledge his specialization in timber
was accelerated so that he soon attract
ed the attention of the great timber
men of the Northwest and he was con-
tinuously employed in estimating in
various parts of the country. With a
few dollars saved, he induced a group
of timber men to join him in purchasing
large tracts in Michigan. Operations
gradually extended to Mississippi,
Louisiana, California, and Washington
The Fordney interests to-day do not
manufacture lumber, but purchase
lands and sell logs to surrounding mills.
The annual output in Washington alone
is estimated at 200, 900, 900 board feet
season.
81 look back to the days of my boy
hood, when used to visit the city and
envy the young men behind the counter
In the dry-goods or grocery store, said
Mr.. Fordney. .If the opportunity had
presented itself, perhaps | would have
followed the occupation of a merchant;
as it was, was forced into such occu-
pations as | could obtain and fill Life
in the woods was a rough h-and-tumble,
bard-knock life. and became post
graduate in that school,. If Fordney
had become merchant he would un-
doubtedly have become merchant
prince, since he had the driving power
and shrewdness and honesty to succeed
in any line of business. Would he, like
certain department store magnates
have now been working for free trade
Probably not. He is too essentially
American The interviewer looked at
Mr.. Fordney's hat as he went out. Yes,
1t was ''made in America. Fordney
used to ?all the late Ebenezer Hill "Mr.
Danbury Hats" and Hill would retort
with 'Mr. Canadian Logs Two great
cronies and both self-made man