The Caledonian-record. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1920-current, 1922-12-11

fenng him his board and lodging
for his extra time in the mornings
and evenings, and adding dollar
for his Saturday activity This
was pretty soft for Husband; easy
hours and good money, SO to speak,
But all soft snaps must end
sooner or later. Having declared
himself educated, he secured the
lob of assistant postmaster. THIS
failed to stir his. pulses to any no
ticeable extent, so he decided to
see the world. For a year and Il
half he travelled out through the
Middle West and in the South,
pausing occasionally to earn more
railroad fare. Then he went back
to St. Johnsbury and worked as a
reporter on the st. Johnsbury Cal
edonian for the gratifying salary
of eight dollars week. 1t was the
st. Johnsbury Caledonian on
which, George Brinton Mcclellan
Harvey, of Peacham, Vermont,
now Ambassador to the Court Of
St. James, received his first jour
nalistic experience, though he has
carelessly neglected to note this
fact in the pages of Who's Who.
From the CALIFORNIAN Hush0nf
went to the Montpelier Daily
Journal as comblna,lOn nan;. ,...e
editor, star reporter and head
proof reader. While acting in this
triangular capacity he wrote
pieces in the paper about Senator
William P. Dillingham;, who lived
in Montpelier, and who was chair
man OF the Senate Immigration
Committee. The pieces pleased the
senator, so he sent for Husband
and asked him whether he would
be interested in going to Wash
ington as clerk OF the Senate Com
mittee on immigration. Husband
laughed a hoarsef depressed New
England laugh and asked how
soon he could start. That was in
1903.
Soon after he arrived in Wash
ington a peculiar political whirl-
pool made the Senate and the
House immigration Committee de-
eide to study the immigration laws
with unusual care The law was
rewritten, and provision was made
for an immigration commission
composed of three senators. three
representative and three men APP
pointed by the President to study
every phase of the immigration
question. Husband was named exc
cutive secretary of this commis-
sion. He accompanied it to Europe
and made exhaustive examinations
of peoples that neither he nUl any
other members of the commission
Of the immigration Commission
had heard of before. The reports
are contained in folty-one pom
derous volumes. OF these, Hus-
band wrote the two volumes deal
ing with Immigration Conditions
in Europe and the immigration
Situation in Canada. He also took
a year off and edited the thirty
nine other volumes. Thus he has
read all of them. which is a thing
that probably no one else has ever
done, and that no one else is apt
to do. These forty-one volumes
have become a standard reference
work for all writers on economic
questions. They are mines of in
formation on industrial conditions
and living conditions in the United
States. They contain no propI2
ganda; no hearsay testimony from
persons who might possibly be in
phases of any subject under in
vestigation. They are filled with
the results of original investiga-
tons in the field by the commits
sion and its employees. Husband
sifted, sorted and edited all this
information, in addition to collect
ing a lot Of it himself. He knew
the immigration laws OF ever
European country, the story of
emigration from every country,
and the history of all the different
races and peoples who were emf
grating to America. He was the
original information bureau on the
subject of immigration.
When he had finished his Job
with the immigration Commits
sion in 1911, he was asked by
Charles Nagel, Secretary Of Com
merce and Labor, to take charge
of the Division of Contract Labor.
He did this with 30 much enthus-
iasm that the Government began
to collect large sums Of money
from corporations that had viola
ted the Contract Labor Law. II
one case over which band had
supervision the Government col
lected fifty thousand dollars. In
another it collected thirty-fiye
thou sand dollars
In 1913 the Democrats came
back to power, and one of the lob
that was urgently needed for de-
serving Democrats was Husband S
job. Several applicants were turn
ed down. but finally an influential
Southern congressman got the lob
for one of hi, constituents. There
upon Secretary Of Labor Wilson
assigned Husband to the congenial
task of going to Eastern Europe
to make additional immigration
Investigations for the department.
He is one of the few known Re
publicans that lost his job under a
Democratic Administration and
had better one handed to him at