Evening star., 1925-08-09
W. B. HIBBS, BUSINESS LEADER,
PROCLAIMED "CANNY'' PROPHET
Prominent Washington Stock Broker, Familiarly
known as Billy Is Subject of Compliment
tary Sketch in Saturday Evening Post
BY CHAS. p. SHAEFFER.

the Saturday Evening Post is read.
Billy" as he is affectionately
termed by his admirers, has been "vic
timiZed"-or at least that is what he
would call it. Ever refusing the spot
light, never presuming to make him
self conspicuous, always asking that
he be spared when prospective good
copy" makers shed light upon a man
as his legion of friends know him
some unnamed writer has nullified all
these efforts, has taken the bit in his
teeth and literally told the world. -
and told it well, all about William e.
Hibbs. Washington stock broker. Re-
suit, Nationwide character has been
deservingly created
The article appears in the Saturday
Evening Post as of August /, 1925, in
that hallowed niche, Who's Who
And Why" devoted to serious and
frivolous facts about the great and the
near-great 1t is doubtful if Mr.. Hibbs
himself knows the identity of the au-
thor of the personal sketch. but he
could probably trace its origin to one
or triumvirate of leading contribu-
tors, each of whom is frequently seen
In and around his offices.
Inc article, made conspicuous by a
one-column halftone picture of its sub
1ect and captioned William b. Hibbs.
purveyor to Wall Street of the low
the category of those who know a
great deal but divulge little.
"Cncanny" as Prognosticator.
Mr.. Hibbs could undoubtedly be
measured by half a dozen standards
ana rise TO greatness by them all. but
the author of the article gives as the
reason for his effort the formers nm.
CannY qualities as a prognosticator of
future events. 1t is then of Billy the
scout that we are to hear about.
Inc subject, the article saws. NAV
oe recognized by his pink cheeks. his
white hair, his neat white mustacbe
and his immaculate necktie. His as.
soclatlon with Washingtonians for so
many years has made of him a con.
nolSSeur OF humans on their source.
PIooaple value, purchase price, if any.
ueplh OF veneer and patina period of
manufacture, school of Thought and
architecture, and probable ultimate
destinatlon, continues the story.
his early boyhood DAYS are then
sketched. beginning with the never
to.be-forgotten period when he first
soiu newspapers on the site now oc-
cupled by the handsome l0-storv
business edifice which houses his
oHlces. together with his apartment
on the top floor, and concluding when
ne actively took up his present busi-
ness as boardroom chalk boy at the
princely salary of So per week.
But let the Saturday Evening Post
finish the story:
Presidents, cabinet officers, commits
sion heads. financiers. bureau chiefs.
EDITORS, admirals, generals, Senators,
newspaper correspondents, ambassa
dors, consuls, authors, representatives,
governors. railroad presidents, labor
leaders. manuf;3 Of aud po+
nave sat in his big front room, 10
stories above Fifteenth street, and un-
burdened themselves of various i'm
portant pieces of information while
wrapping themselves appreciativelv
around his terrapin Maryland or drop
ping the ashes of his Metropolitan
Club cigarettes on the rug; and as Il
result almost any chair in the room
could be sold at a staggering price
as the chair in which Senator Firbolg
wrote his famous attack on Senator
Crumbel in Which Henry G.. Blank
first told the complete story of the
manner in which he received the pres
fdential nomination, in which Secre-
tary Beeler drafted section thirteen of
the income tax law, in which Samuel
q. Blythe, at pm, on March 4, 1872
took his last drink of hard Ticker
and SO on, and so forth
fefIect score III POllfiCat Predictions
LAS a further result he has been able
to piece two and two together and
get four, after a series of visitors
have concluded their remarks. instead
of getting three or five. as most of
the rest of official Washington is
apt to do with great regularity. Until
the last presidential election any
such statement as the foregoing
would have been purely a matter of
opinion. Prior to the last election
however. there was great anguish in
New York financial circles over the
prospect of the election being thrown
into the House of Representatives
and the possible naming of Brother
charley Bryan as President of these
United States. The La Toilette
crowd claimed this and that; the
Davis crowd claimed thus and so;
the Coolidge crowd with slight
tremors in their voices. claimed these
and those. Wall Street, not knowing
whom to believe, but half convinced
by the fierce bellowings of the La
Folletteites as to the large number
of Western States they were going
10 carry, moaned like a stricken
thing and feared a panic.
"At this juncture it occurred to the
New York correspondents of William
b. Hibbs' banking house to cry
cry of distress to Hibbs himself.
"On receipt of the cry he accumu-
lated information from number of
prominent sources, added them to-
gether and telegraphed his quaking
New York correspondents that La
Toilette and Wheeler in spite of
their claims, would be unable to
carry more than three States. Wall
street reporters got hold of the tele-
gram and blithely sent it to all parts
of the country
He telegraphed his Wall Street cor.
respondents what the vote of the
electoral college would be-and, it
might be added, he called the vote
10 a man-and the Wall street re-
porters got the information and
spread ii abroad
He telegraphed further that the Re-
pubHcans would carry several border
States that had been generally con-
ceded to the Democrats, and when
this telegram arrived in the New
York Office the Wall Street reporters
were waiting to get it.
Hibbs Quickly Responds.
Telegraphic queries from New York
concerning the chances of John w.
Davis caused Hibbs to seize a tele-
graph blank and reply tersely that
John w. Davis would be unable to
carry his own State of West Vir-
ginia-a reply that was particularly
noteworthy because of the fact that
William B. Hibbs himself was born
i'll Virginia, and no Virginian is ever
supposed to admit defeat for a
native son until after the defeat has
taken place, and frequently not even
then.
Prior to the publication of these
dispatches contributors to the Repub-
1can campaign fund had dwindled to