Evening star., 1924-11-04
Do,oes Well Qualified to Take
Presidency If Called to Office
Experience in National and International
affairs More Comprehensive
Than That of Predecessors

1
If it should befali that he is som.
day called TO the office OF Chief Ex
ecutlVe he ought to enter upon il bet
ter qualified by proved executive
ability and ractical experience in bis
national and international affairs thar
any of his predecessors. And when al
is said and done that is why we hav,
Vice Prfsident-as a man ready Il
step in If the need arises
! Gen. Dawes has been intrusted b,
three Presidents with responsible
ties involving autocratic powers. II,
served as controller of the currency
as first director of the Bureau of tn,
Budget and as general purchasi sin s
| agent for the A. T.. r. before he wa
chairman OF the interalIied commit.
tee which drafted the plan TO rescu.
German finances. He quit the prac
tice of law for business and made
bowling success of il.
But that is not all. Gen. Dawes ha.
| also made a name for himself as
banker, engineer and musician
hard-boiled and hard hitting. but o
! d vivid and intensely human person.
| ality. He has had a career of kaleido
scopic brilliancy beginning Angus
! "a, 1865. in modest home in Ma
| rietta, Ohio. He thus Carries on
! from puritan and patriotic ancestry
| His father. Rufus g. Dawes was bre.
vetted brigadier general after -four
years of fighting with the Iron Bri-
| gade" in the civil war, and one of hi:
forebears. it is related, accompanied
! Paul Revere on that historic ride be,
fore the battle of Lexington.
Hell and Maria" Dawes.
But Gen. Dawes. widely heraldec
| as Hell and Maria" and the mar
who astounded the Germans h!
! smoking his pipe upside down . die
! not worship longer at the altar ot
| ancestry than to gain from il his
| qualities of hard work and brilliant
/ application. For he branched out
| into a character so distinctively. sc
| sharply his own, that his reputation
| has been builded. not alone upon tho
| merit of his achievements, sound anC
| common sense as they are, but alsC
! upon the originality of his methods
! and the breeZiness with which he has
sailed through what to others al
| times have seemed insurmountabls
, obstacles. The anecdotes on Hell
and Maria are legion.
In many ha bits of mind and dispo'
| sition Gen. Dawes is t1e foil 10 his
chief. Calvin Coolidge. each setting
off the other to advantage Social
lively, full of good humor and funny
| stories, Dawes contrasts with the
silent" man in the White House
Graduated at Marietta.
"charley Dawes went to school a
Marietta, Ohio. until he had gradual
ed from Marietta College as civi
! engineer. or, as he described himself
| "a fair second-rate civil engineer.
II was not his ultimate dream to fol
low that profession, but his expert.
hel I,
Cincinnati Law School. where. at 81
he took his LII. 3. in 1886.
During those early college wears
he gained Valuab BILE experience anC
| funds as well. from a little railroad
now part Of the Toledo and Ohio
Central. for which his uncle was re.
| ceiVer.
The engineering experience came il
| well a few years later, one biogra pin
relates, when he established himsel
in Lincoln. Neb-. newly fledget
lawyer without influence and with t.;
VERY few clients.
| - Lackeu Profess ionaI Prestige.
At this time il is said. "a brother
of his father had been Governor o
Nebra ska. but this gave him NOR,
social than professional prestige. Ode
| jobs of engineering in the interval.
of law practice gave him d living
that is, including board at the pala
tial lj-cent lunch counter run by on,
/ Don Cameron for the benefit of uni.
iversity students and struse Cling youns
business and professional men.
A good many men of substance
and renown remember that luncl
counter Of Don Cameron. where foo,
of excellence and abundance unbe
lievable in these days was dispensed
Two of the greatest of these men ar,
! Charles G.. Dawes and Gen. John ]
Pershins. who likewise began hi:
career in Lincoln. having gone ther,
on his first detail from West Poin
TO drill cadets of the Nebraska Stat,
University. The lifelong intimat,
friendship between the two began il
the Don Cameron lunch. and Dave:
never let Pershing forget it. In hi:
Journal of the Great War Dave:
records his first meeting with tn,
COMMUNICATIVE chief of the A. T. r
in the beautiful house lent Pershins
for a Paris residence by Ogden Mills
Spoofs Gen. PerShing
John, said Dawes solemIy roll
ing his eyes around the stately draw
ing room in which they sat. when
contrast these barren surrounding!
with the luXuriouSnesS of our earl,
life in Lincoln. Nebr.. it does seem tha
a good man has no real chance in tn,
world And Pershing replied char
acteristically: Don't il beat hell?'
The commander-in-ch chief was NOR,
at a loss for a reply on another occa
sion when he was host at a dinnel
party in the Paris residence. Dave:
leaned across the table and begged
him to give the lady on his right.
parsonage in Paris society. some rem.
iniscenses of the splendid old Span
ish grandee. Don Cameron Will
whom in their early days they hac
| so often dined.
! AT Lincoln. however, Dawes launch,
ed successfully into his legal career
leaving the Don Cameron lunchroou
Gays behind. and becoming. as a part
ner in the law firm of Dawes, Coff
roth K Cunningham. a leader among
public utility counselors in the State
| He later acquired interests in gas
! plants throughout the West. develop.
ing large holdings in several States
Dawes was personally popular il
Lincoln, although he hotly opposed
the towns idol. William Jennins:
Bryan then at the apex of his fame
as boy orator of the Platte anC
apostle of the free-silv movement
| These two men debated publicly OF
the free-silver question. and out o.
the debates grew the earliest o.
Dawes books, THE Banking System
of the United States" in 1894.
Moved to Wisconsin.
Moving to Wisconsin in 1894 h,
! became president of the La Cross.
Gas Light Company. and later a move
to the South brought him to tn,
| presidency of the Northwestern Gas
Light and Coke Company of Evans
t.h