Evening star., 1924-09-23

Democra tic party. Plainly. they are
both dear to this clear-eyed. clean
cut man of 81. with his fine mind.
| warm heart. breadth of vision, brill
liant record. sound philosophy and
sense of humor. He let's YOU see he
toveS them both.
There never was" he said. any
doubt about my entering the law.
| did not have the struggle most
boys have of deciding what | would
be when l grew up. When I was
ten years old my father took me
with him one day to court and the
Judge. who was his friend, let me
sit up on the bench beside him while
he heard the case. | never VIII for
get the thrill of it. From that mo-
ment there ceased to be any question
as to what I would be
His interest and activity in poll
tics was direct heritage. Mr.. Davis
father had two great passions-the
PreSby yterian Church and the Demo-
cratic party. He practiced law as a
means of living but. as Mr.. Davis
says. did not greatly bother about
collecting his fees. He rather left
that to the ravens. and if the ravens
failed to collect, the family was out
of luck, but IL was not anybodyS S
fault. He did. however, collect enough
to send his son through college.
Father stands Democratic.
When | came home" said Mr. Davis,
the Democrats in Harrison county
naturally looked to me to carry on
my fathers fight. For years he had
been making speeches and writing
political pamphlets and educating
the Democrats of the county on the
subject of the tariff. He had them
we'll educated and enthusiastic on
the subject. too. but it was a Repub-
lican county and fathers minority
never changed into d majority.
When I came back from college,
while there were plenty of hghtlng
Democrats in the county, they had no
organization. / took the county chair
manship and started in to build one
up After while We succeeded in
splitting the Republicans into two
factions and then our game was to
keep them split and play in between.
Gradually we began to elect. can
didate here and there until the time
finally came when we cleaned the
courthouse out and had real Demo-
cratic administration in the county.
They elected me to the Legislature
when I was 26. against my Will |
was so green it is a wonder the cows
did not eat me when 1 got to Charles
ton They made me chairman of the
with it the floor leadership of the
Democrats | did not know a thing
about legislation and / was badly
scared. but there was nothing to do
but go to it-and | did"
Alwayl BE John"
That is the way Mr.. Davis became
interested in politics. and he has
never lost his interest. Nor has he
ever lost the devoted regard Of those
West Virginia Harrison County
Democrats with whom he played
politics 25 years ago. To them he is.
always has been and always will be
John" He was John" to them when
he was county chairman years ago:
he was John" when he was Ambas-
sador to Great Britain, and he will
still be John" to them if he is elect
ed President of the United States.
No higher tribute has ever been
paid Mr.. Davis than the feeling to-
ward him, unchanged in a generation,
of the men who know him in West
Virginia. No one can tell them he is
a "reactionary" or that he will be
tool of Wall Street. They know
better-these men who have known
him all their lives and have followed
him at home and abroad with an un-
diminished affection and confidence
that never shakes. To them John
is the most progressive Democrat in
the country. That was why, without