Evening star., 1934-02-04

! 1PNohhi6 VA SAiS oPNohNA
The man who has discovered the
Fountain of Eternal Youth-Henry
T. Rainey. Speaker of the House in
the Seventy-thlrd Congress
If you will go into the Middle Wes.
| and into the beautiful little town of
Carrollton, III. and ask anybody. DEM
ocrat or Republican, male or female,
young or old:
What do you people, here in his
home town. think of Mr.. Rainey?' the
reply, prompt and enthusiastic. will be:
All of us love Henry T. Everybody
In Carrollton, everybody in Greene
County. in fact. calls him Henry T.
But it's more than love that We feel
for him. To us. he's a being set apart
great personality to be looked up TO-
model citizen"
One charming young woman strlk-
ingly intelligent told me:
| Among my earliest memories is the
i picture of the commanding figure OF
Henry T. riding into town on a big
| horse. throwing his bride reins over
| the same hitching post on the town S
! public square every morning. and Strid-
ing up the street to his law Office. With
his erect carriage, tremendous physique
| thick, wavy. silver-white hair. worn
long. and his benign expression. ne
seemed to me a duplicate of one of
| the wise men or patriarchs in the
Bible"
If you will come to Washington and
ask anybody familiar with politics
What sort of a fellow is Rainey?"
the answer 9 times out of 10. will be:
He first made his reputation n
the House as a hell-raiser. On the
tariff most particularly and emphat-
ically he was rip-roaring, pile driv-
| ing head Dustin hell-raiser OF late
years. however. he has developed also
a genius for diplomacy and wise COM
promise. That makes him a double
| barreled performer. He has way of
bewildering the opposition by shifting
swiftly from the hell-raisin' to the
diplomacy. And make no mistake
about this, he's still as good as he ever
was when 1t comes to bawling 'em
OUT
Those two pictures of the man
hero and model citizen in his home
town. hell-raiser and diplomat in his
countrvs Capital suggest eTa city
what he is versatile, many-s'ded. bril-
liant.
Gains Power and Glamour.
Above all, he is one whose power and
glamour have increased with the pass
,, ing years He believes, and proves in
his daily living, that when a man
ceases to grow in mental and spiritual
stature, he is, then and there. to all
intents and purposes down and out
finished.
Here's a story to show how he con-
tinually goes in for the novel and un-
tried and wakes bigger in stature,
strength and punch:
Henry T. was at the famous Madi-
son Square Garden Convention in 1924.
Henry T. was nearly 81 years young
II sat there" he told me. "and
watched my party engage in follies
that meant its certain defeat at the
polls in November 1 was disgusted,
sick of the whole business"
When it was all over. Rainey went
back to his hotel room and, in solitude
and bitterness of spirit, did some deep
and solemn thinking.
He wondered what he could do to
cleanse his mind refresh his mental
outlook and square himself with him.
self. He wondered what he could do
that he had never done before-some-
thing new and absorbing
He reflected that he had never
driven an automobile nor smoked a
cigar. AS boy he never smoked. be-
cause he thought it would hinder his
physical development; so he resolved
rot to smoke until he was 20. At 20
he postponed it until 80; at 80 until
40. and so the years went by with the
Rainey lips untouched by nicotine.
Eut now he was about to cut loose!
Going westward by train he stopped
in Toledo and took taxicab out to
an automobile plant. Selecting hve-
passenger model that appealed to him,
he asked for a demonstration and
driving instructor.
Two hours later-mind you. he had
never so much as put his hands on
steering wheel before in all his life
two hours later he drew up to the