Douglas daily dispatch., 1926-10-12

The congressman was on his way to
the, party convention but he wasn't
interested in it. Only because he was
the last of his clan did he go. 1t would
never do to have the district unrepre-
sented by the one man left who bore
the family name So he sat in his
chair on the convention special talking
not of nominations and platforms, but
OF the golden past, when he sat at tho
feet of his masterful kinsmen and
learned the ways of politics from them.
You wouldn't remember my Uncle
Aloysius," he said. "It was far, far
back. A genius he was, so much ahead
OF his day that it never caught up
with him. All kinds of schemes he
had for making fortune, and my
brother, who owned She district in
those days, believed in him and put
his power behind him. But it all came
to nothing. The age hadn't progressed
enough yet.
ct was when those little street
wagon merry-go-rounds came to the
district that my uncle got one of his
great ideas. Such things few of the
kids in the district had seen except
In Central Park, which was too far
for them to go in those days, except
of May walks given by the alderman
"Uncle Aloysius allowed that if he
could have one of those merry-go-
rounds right in the district all the time
Ia big one on a lot of it's own-he
would soon be a millionaire.
$50 my brother got vacant lot and
a permit for him, and lent him enough
money to make a payment on a swell
big carrousel, with eamels and giraffs
and lions and tigers on it instead OF
horses. 1t was set up amid the admira
tion and enthusiasm of a couple of
thousand children, and no sooner was
it ready to run than every wild animal
had six kids on top of it, and the plat
form beside the beasts was black with
them.
But when it began to go there was
trouble. For all the power was sup
piled by two buns, who had been hired
to turn the crank, and their combined
strength was just about enough to
move the thing.
''Well, it was plain to be seen that
If the icarrousel was to make my uncle's
fortune, there would have to be some
pep put into it. No kids would pat
roni2ea thing like that; with the music
even going like funeral march. Be-
sides the buns that were supplying
the power quit after Is minutes, saying
the job broke their backs and untitled
them for leaning up against the, bar to
spend their wages.
$50 Uncle began to set his mechan-
ical mind to work to figure how he
could run the machine with electric
power, which up to then was something
which had never been done. My brother
called up one of the power companies
and asked him to hook in a line, but
the nearest trunk line was mile
away, and it would cost $4,000 to bring
it to our district, setting up poles and
all. My brother told my uncle what
he had found out and advised him to
get discouraged and quit.
But quitting was the last thing my
uncle ever did. He had been cooking
his eye at the arc light on the corner,
and couldn't see why the power to run
the carrousel shouldn't be taken off
that. My brother, whose word, as l
was telling you, always went, gave
him the permission without consulting
the lighting company. A boy who
worked in a plumbers shop tapped the
current of the arc light, and it. was
hitched the next morning to a motor
that was to turn the merry go-round