The Republican. [volume] (Oakland, Md.) 1877-current, 1924-07-03

business associates of years stand
ing, Brig.-Gen1 Charles G. Dawes,
running mate of Calvin Coolidge on
the Republican ticket, is not what one
would call q profane man. The nick
name, Hell and Maria" came from
Dawes using this expression when he
appeared before a Congressional in
vestigating committee which was
trying to ascertain whether certain
Army expenditures had been regular
or not. Dawes, noting that some
thing out of the ordinary had to be
done to arouse some of the committee
and the press to the fact that the
waste of government money was GO
ing on every day, adopted heroic
measures and shouted Hell and Ma
ria, If you men would spend more
time trying to stem the millions of
waste going on under your noses, in
stead of looking for flaws in the bril-
liant record Of the Army, we would
have a He'll and Maria of a lot bet
ter Government" The newspapermen
seeing a committeebeing told the
truth in a most emphatic manner
about the waste of the peoples mon
ey, seized upon his Hell and Maria"
exclamation as a good point on which
to hang news story and this secured
for Dawes the attention of the citi-
zens of the nation. The explosion
awakened the people and they sided
with Dawes in his demand to stop the
waste. This ''cuss" word undoubt-
eddy was the cause of the saving of
millions of dollars.
Dawes career has been most in
teresting one. He was born in Ohio
in 1865. His fatherwas General Rufus
r. Dawes, Commander of the famous
Iron Brigade of Wisconsin. Charley"
Dawes worked during his college
years as chief engineer on small
railroad in Ohio. He graduted from
Cincinnati Law School at the age of
81. In 1887 he moved to Lincoln, Ne
braska. A great stream of clients
did not come hurrying to the door of
his Office and odd jobs of engineering
during the intervals of clients afford
ed him money on which to live. The
majority of his meals were eaten at
a 15-cent lunch counter conducted by
a man named Don Cameron, who
catered to university students and
struggling young business and pro-
fessional men. Here Dawes met Gen
eral John J. Pershing, who had been
sent as a "shave-tail" from West
Point to drill cadets of the Nebraska
State University This friendship
has been further cemented as the
years have passed.
After builing up a fair law prac-
tice, he moved to Wisconsin in 1894,
where he became president of the La
Crosse Gas Light Company, later
moving to Illinois. He was very ac-
tive in behalf of President Mckinley
during the campaign of 1896 and later
became Comptroller of the Currency
under the Ohio President. In 1902 he
organized the Central Trust Company
of Illinois and it was largely through
his personal efforts that many farm
ers throughout the middle and the
Northwest were helped through fnan-
cial stringencies. He served with dis
tinction in France as chairman of the
General Purchasing Board and show
ed Europe how American business
men can handle things. He enlisted
in the Army, was made a Major of
Engineers and came out Of the serv-
ice a Brigadier General. In June, 1921,
General Dawes was named as Direc
tor of the Budget, accepting the place
with the understanding that he could
resign at the end Of year His first
year in office resulted in a saving for
the year 1922 of 81 ,60O,00O,0OO of the
peoples money. Useless expendi-
lures were stopped, superfuous clerks
were let go and some heads of de-
pdItiHGHCS were pIDliCly tdhell " JdSh
for their slack cooperation in behalf
of economy in government affairs.
He headed what is known as the
Dawes Committee of experts to see if
order could not be brought out of eco
nomic chaos in Europe. His report
met with the favor Of the German
people. 1t disclosed way by which
they could meet due obligations and
yet not be condemned to a life of eco
nomic slavery. Strangely enough, the
French did not look with disfavor up
on his plan and if Germany regains
her place in the industrial world it
will be largely because of the calm,
sensible, business-like plan worked
While Dawes is dynamic, hard-hit-
ting and forceful to the extreme there