New Britain herald., 1925-02-28

tailor. He attended the elementary schools, but never found time or finances to enable him to attend the Heidelberg University. Early in life he became an apprentice in sad. dler's shop and although he worked | l2 and IA hours day, he read and | | studied a great deal at night. He | acquired the habits of industry and | hard work as youth and never for got them. As president of the re- public he was said to have been ono l of the hardest working men In tho | country, and usualyswas astir before official Berlin was sipplng it's morn- ing coffee.
 After he had learned his trade as saddler, President Ebert began ml- grating from one town to another until he finally settled in Bremen. There he became intensely interest," ed in the Socialistc movement. In an effort to help improve the condi- tions of the working classes he took an active part in cooperative bakery movement and regularly was up at o'clock in the morning mall- Ing deliveries of bread. And all the time he kept expanding his knowl-
 edge by reading books by the best authors.
 Wrote Books
 Ebert wrote several books detail-
 ing the circumstances under which l 1n aI i,N ba in
 dustrial centers. These literary ef-
 forts attracted attention in his own
 country and led to his acceptance , of a reportorial position on the q Bremen Bergerzeitung in 1891. He 6 covered police and court news and n In that way received a training that N stood him well in after years.
 In 1900 Ebert became a trade
 union secretary and a little later
 was chosen a member of the local I governing assemblage of Bremen ~ Five years later he was elected @ '. member of the presiding board Of the Social Democratic party and in 70 1912 was elected deputy in the Reichstag. There he gradually ,, forged to the front as a political 4t leader and became head of his party " for all Germany. In 1918 he was
 chosen head of the Main committee
 of the Reichstag.
 When Ebert became president of ~ the republic he declared that if hard C work. plus loyalty and application to ' details, political and otherwise would e hold the republic together there T would be no doubt as to it's success. . How he has kept that pledge is ~ shown by the fact that no matter S how his enemies have criticized him, :. none have accused him of loafing on v the presidential job.
 ' That Ebert accepted the presi- dency in the interestsof the country and not for personal gain is shown by the manner in which he has since lived. His salary has been a meagre . one as head of a nation and when
 the government made him an al
 lowance for special functions he re- :, turned 1t to the treasury to be used
 for other purposes. State dinners and other social functions at the , executive mansion were unknown during his incumbency. The only
 social activities, and they were few,
 were when the president desired to . receive a few friends. At these the , only rcfreshment served was beer. :, Horseback riding and walking
 were the principal recreations Of , President Ebert He cared little for z automobiles and seldom went to the
 theater. He was stern and fat, but
 not particularly good-natured. He z seldom joked and scarcely ever :, more than smiled at the jokes of v others.
 ! President Ebert had a unique
 method of handling politicians, es- pecially those who were his enemies
 or critics. Under fire he always held , his temper and permitted his op- ponents to talk themselves out. Then s he would step in and have his say, z which usually was final. In this + manner he was credited with having n patched up innumerable party con troverses which had reached the breaking point.
 President Ebert married in 1894 ', and was the father of four children.