Illinois News Index

McHenry Plaindealer (McHenry, IL), 5 Feb 1914, p. 7

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I* " dfe*; f--*Jl%*-%-iX'£. \y?: i i HEN Lincoln lived in Spring­ field, 111., and practiced law, •< he worked hard by fits and ? starts, and gave a consider- ' able portion of his office hours to newspapers, story- swapping, poetry, history, geometry--anytbing,but work. His house ^as near his of­ fice, but if it be true that "home is the Other person." iMs home wp,a not a place to turn to with glad re­ lief when the time came to put on his rickety plug ftuit and leave the office. ;> - ^Lincoln generally got to the office in the morning at 9 o'clock, and when it was later, Herndon, his partner, knew there had been trouble at home, for Lin­ coln then had no cheerful morn­ ing greeting, only a grunt, as he tell wolfishly. upon the morn­ ing's mall. He might have lunched, easily enough, at home* but he preferred crackers and cheese at the office, and ofte#- Stayed there until after dark. Sometimes he would "knock rfft" in the late afternoon and clean out the stable and saw wood, feed the horse and milk the cow. He had a pasBion for • ^chores" of his boyhood days- on his father's pitiful acres. He Was hiB own hired man until ana even after his election as presi­ dent. At midnight a neighbor saw him once chopping woodfor "his supper when his wife was away. In the evening, having no club, Lincoln would ordinarily go to the grocery store and Spellbind the cracker box habitues with some more of hi* t everlasting anecdotes--only two of which, he insisted, were hip pivn invention. If a ^minstrel ' Show came to town he was sure to be a front-row, first-night patron, and, next to blackface comedy, he was enamored of "magic- lantern" entertainments. He had a passion for probing into the mysteries of anything mechanical, and if he were alive today the automobile would have given him great joy. . When circuit riding in the ante-railway days he Would utilize the rest of the noon hour after lunch- een at some wayside farmhouse in crawling under and prowling over the harvest machinery, as full' of questions as a echoolboy, more insatiably curious than any of Eve's daughters. As he walked the streets of Springfield every vehicle he saw interested him, and tho interior economy of the kitchen clock pleased him unutterably. In the house he spent most of his time indulging his children, playing with the'cat, like Montaigne, or lying sprawled out, like CfiHban, on the floor of the hall reading. He didn't like the parlor, be- oause the haircloth chairs and marble table, the wsx flow or* under a glass bell, the portrait al­ bum and the family Bible, with their huge glass clasps, represented Mrs. Lincoln's ideas of mag­ nificence and not his own notion of solid comfort. He would be in his shirt sleeves, and if loud knocking at the front door disturbed his elegant leisure he would go to the door Just as he was and promise to "trot the women folks out" without delay. Mrs. Lincoln never forgave him for help­ ing himself to butter at the table with his own knife. Lincoln's favorite outer garb as he sallied forth In winter for his office was an ancient gray shawl; he took particular pains never to have his hat brushed or bis shoes blacked; his carpet bag threatened at the seams to disgorge its burthen of legal documents; his green cotton umbrella had no handle to speak of, and inside was the legend, "A. Lincoln," the letters cut out of white muslin and "sewed to the faded cloth. Altogether he looked like the advance agent of a Denman Thompson show. In 1856 a pair of spectacles cost him thirty-seven and one-half cents. The office was in character with the notorious indifference to appearances of the senior partner of the firm. Once a young law student attempted to blaze a trail through the accumulated rubbish, and found that some seeds given by a congress­ man had taken root and sprouted in the dirt. The mailbor. was Lincoln's old plug hat, as was formerly the case when he was postmaster at Itfew Salem. He also used the hat as a repository 'for legal papers of importance. Miscellaneous transactions were confided'to the safekeeping of a mammoth envelope, on which Lincoln had aerawled. "When you can't find IT anywhere else, look into this." When Lincoln went into court theire was none of the see-the-conquering-hero swagger about him. He would say, "Well, here I am, ain't you glad to see me?" and if in the course of the argument it Was necessary for him to concede a point to the other side he would remark, "I reckon it would be fair to let in that," and when overruled by the court would laugh and say, "Well, I reckon I must be wrong." ; When a lawyer asked him if an attachment had the force of a summons his confession of ignor­ ance was cheerfully frank, "Damfino." On a long palavering letter requesting his legal service ̂ he wrote laconically, "Count me in. A. Lincoln." The accounts of the firm never bothered him-- jyarcozzr* he left all that to Herndon. never disfigured the account book himself with a reckoning. When anybody gave him money for legal services he would divide with Herndon, if the latter was in the office, and when Herndon was not there hft would wrap the money up In a piece of paper, mark it in pencil, "Case of Smith vs. Jones-- Herndon's half," and leave it in a drawer of hit partner's desk. When they made him president and.he was Just about to take the train for Washington he went to the old office for the last time and found Hern­ don there. "Billy," he said, "you and I have been together for mord than 20 ..years, and in all that time we've never had a hard word. Will you let my name stay on the old sign till I get back from Washington?" The tears came into Herndon's eyes. He took the bony, prehensile hand of the "rail splitter" In his own. "Abe," he said, "I'll never have another partner while you live," and until the day of Lincoln's as­ sassination the dingy "Bhingle" before the office bore the name "Lincoln & Herndon." On January 9, 1863, with the aftermath of Fred­ ericksburg on his hands, and the mooted appoint­ ment of Hooker to chief command and a thousand and one other things obsessing his mind and his heart, Llncbln telegraphed his wife at Philadel­ phia: & "Mrs. Lincoln, Philadelphia, Pa. "Think you had better put Tad's pistol away. I had an ugly dream about hlia. .£" "A. LINCOLN." In August of the same year, the month after the surrender of Vicksburg, we find Lincoln writing to his wife: "Tell dear Tad poor 'Nanny Goat' is lost, and Mrs. Cuthbert and I are in distress about it. The day you left Nanny was found resting herself and chewing her little cud on the middle of Tad's bed; but now she's gone! The gardener kept com- plainting that she destroyed the flowers, till it was concluded to bring her down to the White House. This was done, and the second day she had disap­ peared, and has not been heard of since. This is the last we know of poor Nanny." The next year there were two goats, and Lin­ coln incurred the cordial displeasure of his en­ tourage by his fondness for the society of these animals. It seemed to be Lincoln's peculiar misfortune to be surrounded ̂ gnost of the time by people who knew not the meaning of the expression, "The sav­ ing sense of humor." The mere hint of an appro­ priate parable, or a quotation from Artemus Ward, was enough to excite Secretary Stanton. * Senator Wade strode in one day like a rotary 4nowplow and wanted Grant dismissed. Grant had been winning victories, sleeping on the' ground with no overcoat or blanket and with a toothbrush for his entire baggage. Halleck and McClellan had had him arrested for "drunken­ ness;" Lincoln had often been asked to remove him, and had replied, "I can't spare that man; he lights." So when Wade came in with the demand that Grant should be deposed Lincoln caught eagerly at a chance remark of the irate and pompous sen­ ator and said. "Senator, that reminds me of -a story." "Yes, yes," retorted Wade, "of course; with you it's always a story? You are the father of every military blunder that has been made during the war. You are on your road to hell, sir, with this government, by your obstinacy; and you are not a mile off this minute." "Senator," said Lincoln very mildly, "that is Just about the distance from here to the Capitol, isn't itr* Wade, In speechless indignation--to use Lin- coin's words--"grabbed up his hat and cane and went away." &ZKXI Secretary Chase's am­ bition to sup­ plant LI n- colfl in the presidential chatr did not worry Lincoln half so much as It did the Job's comforters who surrounded him. To one of theee Lincoln said, "You were brought tip (to a farmer, wem't you? Then you know what a chinfly 1b. My brother and I were once plowing corn on a farm, I driving the horse and he holding the plow. The horse was lazy, but on one occasion rushed across the fields so that I, with my long legs, could scarcely keep pace with him. On reaching the end of the fur­ row I found an enormous chinfly fastened upon him and knocked him off. My brother asked me what I did that for. I told him I didn't want the old horse bitten in that way. 'Why,' said my broth­ er, 'that's all that made him go.' Now, If Mr. Chase has a presidential chinfly biting him I am not going to knock him off if it will only make his department go." Edward Dicey, in the Spectator, gives the im­ pression made by Lincoln's outward appearance on the mind of a typical cultivated Englishman. "To say that he is ugly is nothing; to add that his figure is grotesque Is to convey no adequate impression. Fancy a man 6 feet high and thin, bony arms and legB, which, somehow, seem to be always in the way, with large rugged hands which grasp you like a vice when shaking yours, with a long, scraggy neck, and a chest too narrow for the great arms hanging by his side; add to this figure a head, cocoanut-shaped and somewhat too small for such a stature, covered with "rough un­ combed and uncombable lank, dark hair, that stands out In every direction at once; a face fur­ rowed, wrinkled and indented as though It had been scarred by vitriol; a high narrow forehead, and sunk deep beneath bushy eyebrows, two bright, somewhat dreamy eyes, that seemed to gaze through you without looking-at you; a few. irregular blotches of black, bristly hair in the place where beard and whiskers ought to grow; a close set, thin lipped stern mouth, with two rows of large white teeth; and a nose and ears which have been taken by mistake from a head of twice the size. Clothe this figure, then, in a long; tight, badly fitting, suit of black, creased, soiled and puckered up. at every salient point of the figure--and every point of this figure is salient- put on large, ill-fitting boots, gloves too long for the long bony fingers, and a fluffy hat, covered to the top with dusty, puffy crape; and then add to all this an air of strength, physical as well as moral, and a strange look of dignity coupled with all this grotesqueness, and you will have the imr pression left upon me by Abraham Lincoln. You would never say he was a gentleman. You would still less say he was not one ... there are men to whom the epithet . . . appears ut­ terly incongruous, and of such the president is one. Still there is about him a complete lack of pretension, and an evident desire to be courte­ ous to everybody, which is the essence if not the outward form of high breeding. There is a soft­ ness, too, about his smile, and a sparkle of dry humor about his eye, which redeem the expres­ sion of his face and remind one more of the late Dr. Arnold, as a child's recollection recalls him to me, than ^ny other face I can recall to memory. . . . He is a humorist, not a buffon. . . ." Novel Point of the LAW A unique ease involving the old pre­ sumption of "marital coercion"* fn criminal cases is reported by the Lon­ don Law Journal in Rex. vs. Mary Ann Green, in which it appeared that the prisoner and a man named Rus- •§11 were Jointly indicted for stealing two suits of clothes from a pawn­ broker's shop. The prisoners were undefended, and when the case against them was presented there was no suggestion that they were con­ nected with each other, but it was pre­ sumed that they nrere accidentally in the shop at the same time. After both had been found guilty a detec­ tive said he believed there was some relationship between them, but Rus- •ell objected to this evidence and It was shut out. After they were sen­ tenced it was discovered that they were husband and wife. The female prisoner appealed from conviction, and not only did she fail to raise the point of marital coercion, but she in­ sisted that she didn't know the co- defendant. In spite 6t this the court of criminal appeals felt bound to quash her conviction on the ground of the woman's relationship with Rus­ sell, probably for the reason that the woman was undefended and 'wife un­ aware of her legal rights. Just Acting Natural. We were playing bridge the other night (confesses a correspondent) and played a game that was just a little rottener than my ordinary game. If such a thing might be conceived to be possible. When 'he held the post­ mortem T was impelled to remark: "I'm afraid I made a fool of myeelf In that hand." My partner, with an evident wish to console me, hastened to answer: \ "Oh, I dog't see how you could hare done anything else!" F. C. FERGUSON IS ELECTED PRES­ IDENT OF THE ILLINOIS FEDERATION. OTHER OFFICERS ARE CHOSEN •ustness Men Plan to Hold Two State Meetings Every Year--Matters of Importance Discussed at Springfield Meeting. Springfield.--The executive commit- t*e of the Illinois Commercial Federa­ tion gathered at Springfield for the purpose of electing officers and bring­ ing the organization to bear on mat­ ters that relate to the interests of the state. The conference was declared by President E. C. Ferguson of Chicago to be the most effective of Its kind dur­ ing the life of the federation. Tho officer# elected were as follows: •- President--E. C. Ferguson, Chicago. Firm vice-president--C. A, Kiler, Champaign. Second vice-president---William F. Stiller, Sterling. Third vice-president--A. J- Hartman, Alton. Secretary-treasurer -^Willis Evans, Beoria. The position of state secretary was created to look after the interests of the organizatloin and contributions were made by various local associa­ tions to guarantee his .salary and the expenses incidental to the creation of the office, until the matter of defraying the expense stiall be disposed of in regular manner. A new division of the state was put into the hands of the executive com­ mittee, whereby the state will be divided into ten districts, for the sake of facilitating the business of the or­ ganization. One meeting will be held in each district every year. It waB also provided that two state meetings shall hereafter be held every year. One of the significant results of the gathering was the projected establish­ ment of a bureau of information for all asssociations in small towns, who are not able to have expert informa­ tion In regard to paving, sewerage, etc. This bureau will be placed in the hands of a competent head, who will administer the affairs of the state as­ sociation in the matter of dispensing information to members of the federa­ tion. The federation put itself on record as favoring a constitutional conven­ tion to consider the redrafting of a constitution for Illinois. There was some opposition to this action by mem­ bers from Chicago. The civic and industrial committee urged that manufacturing concerns in Illinois be earnestly requested to stamp their goods to show the city, State and country in which the com­ modity was manufactured in order that this commonwealth might get credit •for its real output. The committee uu agriculture and vocational education, of which Dr. Qeorge Fellows, president of Milllkln university of Decatur Is chairman, ap­ pealed to the federation to secure lec­ turers to go about through the state to impress upon the people the necessity of progressive agricultural methods. Dean Kinley, head of the school of commerce at the University of Illinois, is a member of thiB committee. The foreign and domestic commerce committee, for the purpose of opening up trade relations with South Ameri­ can and oriental ports, was created, and the president was authorized to make appointments to fill the commit- tee to five members. Bank Report Issued. A statement of - the (condition of the 706 state banks in Illinois at the opening for business on January 15 was made by State Auditor James J. Brady. There is an*increase of 20 in the number of banks, compared to the number on October 22, the date of the last previous statement. The statement shows a total capital, surplus contingent fund and undivided profits of $143,820,666.51, an increase of $1,145,626.09, Total deposits, including due to bankB. are $724,028,639.12, an increase of $9,739,233.21. Total cash and due from banks is $185,325,057.73, an hfcrease of $6,483,- 489.12. The certificates to^al $67,188,386.89, a decrease of $1,952,301.61. All other forms of deposits show substantial in­ creases. The stringency in the money market is Indicated in the statement of loans, other than real estate and collateral, which sbows a decrease of $2,836,- 066.90. There is also a decrease of $263,500.74 in overdrafts. The per cent, of reserve to deposits (including due to banks) is 25.69. Urges Hate on Stat*--., Newly appointed and old members of the Illinois Art commission, in a meeting in the office of Governor Dunne, organized the commission and agreed, upon the suggestion of the governor, to hasten plans looking to­ ward the erection in the capitol grounds as soon as possible of the proposed Lincoln and Douglas bronze statues. In the organization of the commission Martin Roche of Chicago was elected chairman and Hugh S. Maglll of this city secretary. Commission to Start Work Soon. Within a few weeks the new state utilities commission expects to begin its real work of investigation and is­ suance of mandatory orders. Since the commission's appointment and or­ ganization, the members have been engaged mainly in the establishment of a system of working. In this re­ spect, they have been advised by F- W. Doolittle, investigator and a mem­ ber of the Btaff of the railroad com­ mission at Madison, a state body in many respects larger thaw thi soope of the Illinois body. J • 'ir? * * • • ' ' - * • " - 7 *;& i. i &S£&£bt'r' Grain Dealers Hear Woods. Fifty representatives of Illinois Grain Dealers at Decatur heard an address by Secretary of State Harry Woods and adopted resolutions of pro­ test against the proposed increase in grain rates of one cent In this state. The meeting was held for the pur­ pose ,of stirring up sentiment against the increase and to secure a good rep­ resentation of the grain dealers' side of the question before the state utili­ ties commission, which will consider the question at a public hearing in Springfield February 3. A copy of the resolution w|ll be for­ warded to every member of the com­ mission. They base the protest on the fact that no other state is being asked for an Increase in rates, and that Illinois grain shipments are more remunerative to the railroads than those of any other state. The poor crops and effect the in­ crease would have on the incomes of farmers are also referred to. Secretary Woods, in his address, said that the railroads are demanding big dividends on watered stock, as well as upon the capital actually in­ vested. He said: "Circumstances were such that 1 was a business boy instead of a play boy. and naturally am nothing but a busi­ ness man. As you know, my business had always been the grain business until the people decided to make the secretary of state's office a business office. "The freight rate question is a busi­ ness question. Every business must be run at a profit to succeed. The rail­ roads are.no exception. If an advance in freight rates is made the increase must be borne by the producers and consumers. "The question of the high cost of liv­ ing has been agitating our people so long that an additional advance to cover increased freight rates would seem almost impossible. Upon the other hand, the farmer, when he con­ siders the interest upon his capital in­ vested, which is enormous, figuring the machinery and equipment necessary to run an up-to-date farm, as well as the amount invested in the land, whether it be classed as Interest lost or rent paid, is* hot in a position to voluntarily lower prices. However, If the rail­ roads cannot pay Interest on actual capital invested, they must be relieved. Therefore to prove the justice of the contention they should prove what actual capital they have invested. In other words, divide the real from the water, as production, consumption and distribution absolutely refuse to longer pay interest upon watered stock." State Commission Plans Work. The new state utilities commission expects to begin Its real work of inves­ tigation and issuance of mandatory or­ ders within a few weeks. Since the commission's appointment and organization, the members have been engaged mainly In the establish ment of a system of working. In this reBpect they have been ad­ vised by F. W. Doolittle, investigator and a member of the staff of the Wis­ consin railroad commission at Madi­ son, a state body which has jurisdic­ tion proportionately as large, and in many respects larger, than the scope of the Illinois body. Mr. Doolittle, on a leave of absence from the Wisconsin state board, will remain in Springfield indefinitely, in which time he will assist in establish­ ing the Illinois commission's working system. Mr. Doolittle believes the Illinois body, when it gets Into full operation, will have a tremendous volume of work, necessitating the attention prob­ ably of 1,500 or more pieces of mail a day. Plan to Educate Public. The State Food Commission has or­ ganized a moving picture show and traveling museum which is to be sent all over Illinois to give free exhibi­ tions for the purpose of educating the public and cleaning up the state. W. Scott Matthews, state food com­ missioner, has* Inaugurated this work after consulting with Dr. Wiley, Food Commissioner Crumblne of Kansas, Bernard of Indiana and others of the most progressive workers In the food Inspection field of the nation. He has engaged Dr. John Owens, who resign­ ed the position of educational secre­ tary of the Indiana state board of health to Inaugurate the work in Jilt nois. . An exhibit has been collected con­ sisting of foodB, good and bad, prop­ erly and improperly handled, charts, banners and pictures, showing the good and bad In food industries, and sanitary devices for food shops and the home. Additions will be made to this exhibit In the different commu­ nities visited by samples of food prod­ ucts collected in open market and by photographs showing sanitary and In­ sanitary conditions In those localities. Moving picture films will be used showing graphically the perils of the fly pest, proper and Improper methods of handling milk and other food prod­ ucts, the necessity for a clean, whole­ some food supply, especially as a means towards safeguarding the health of the children, and other im­ portant facta in relation to food indus­ try. mm Am X, , i w The little thlr.es that make up this liftWt With All Its grief and gladness; The little question got your wtffc" Or left'you nursing sadness. y: • I*?®? The Httte minutes make the htrdDT, J The little brooks the river; • ' 4 * The little sweets that you devour At last knock out your liver. •'< The little things you get by heart 1 Com pose your store of le&rntnp; The little Jabs that sting and sn|setv^f Bet all your being burning. . *•_ • • : *M' The atoms make the lofty hills, s The snowflakes make the sleighing! ,1^5$ The little debts compose the bills "' £$* : t Tou get so weary paying. The little petals make the rose, J' The little hoars the season; Vt The little Jealousies compose »"• The hate that knows no reason. The little bricks make up the wall# The little strands the cable; The little sips are, after all, < What put you 'neath the table,.^ * Why He Was Sad. "This Is a great morning, teat ltftf J: "Ofc, I have seen better ones." •-.> "But it's fine for this time of tfeftf year." "Nothing extra. We ought to havo fine mornings at this season." -- * "The air seems so bracing. BhretJ: breath of It Is like a draught of wine." "I'm not a wine-blbber, so I dont know anything about the bracing pow» era of the draughts you mention." "It seems to me that the wort®, never looks so beautiful as It does: when the leaves are turning crime©*! and gold and the autumn haze hang?: over the hills." "How can you see any hills fMMk/ here? What you mistake for a ham- la probably smoke from some tory." "Say, 111 tell you #hat yw to do." "What?" "Take a good hot bath and see tf you can't sweat it out of your sy»-' tern." "I know what you think. Tou hare an idea that I'm a grouch--a pawl mist" , "Well, you certainly tat mmm tjK be very cheerful." "Do you Want to know what's tUr- matter With me?" "Oh, no, not if it is going to bo dis­ agreeable for you to tell--or if Itfte anything I have no business to know." "I've been trying to think of somo way to break It to you, because lft something you ought to know. It was the thought that I'd have to tell y®* some time which made be feel bad." "For heaven's sake, what la tt? O® ahead and tell me." "Teaterday I bought tho you're living la, and Tm going |o; your rent." 1 ,-vr v Her Trust. "I don't believe that there Is enough in the world to tempt my band to do wrong." "It must be splendid to bo marriedi to a man. whom you can trust Ijfe- plicitly." "Oh, I dont trust him at all whea there's a pretty woman preMpt** ' 'Hi*#! ^ •- , Hope fer Him. "1 came of a long line of iUuutitairi' ancestors." 1 r > "Oh, well, don't let that discodr* age you. There have been «M>.3es te; which people who come of Illustrious ancestors become pretty good av< themselves." .jJ'-tiip mm . ^: • Joy. She might have come from Kankakee Or Kokomo or Keokuk: She might have drifted from Blind-- Or Saugerties or Saugatuck; She might have come from Fond du Or Hackensask or some such place; She's Just got back from Reno, though^ And wears a smile that hurts her ft<3ii» Illinois Incorporations. Secretary of 8tate Woods issued certificates of Incorporation to the following: American Vault and Casket com­ pany, Chicago; capital, $50,000. In­ corporators--John G. Massie, H. O. Carroll, Massie and Menry Baum- barth. The Commercial Motor Car com­ pany of Illinois, Chicago; capital. |5,000. Incorporators--Albert W. Da Latour. Ella Mayer and Charles Ru dolph. Plney Ridge Farm, Chicago; capita!. $30,000. Incorporators--Albert E. Lu­ cius, Gustave Wittmeyer, Jr.. and Wil­ liam J. Matthews. Robinson Amusement company. Chi­ cago; capital, $2,500. Incorporators-- Charles Rudolph, Albert W. De Latour apd E. P. Whelen. Aerothrust Engine company. Chi­ cago; directors increased from throe to five. Societa Sorana Atillo Regolo, Chi­ cago. Incorporators--Romolo Pisani, Alcnzo Atilio, Bioacchine Pisani, Alon- zo Kicodemo, Giuseppe Coral, fiance* co Ponton and Achilla Rosa. Eaay- . "How do you manage to keep tndt -'vf . of all the men who are paying you alt- ' ' ' mony?" "Oh, I have a card Index. Tou hai*i ; : no Idea how it simplifies things *! •' A Trying Moment. "Didnt you feel awfully when the earl proposed to your^ ^ "Yes, awfully. It was a bank h©l|» * day and I was afraid he might waai . a million to bind the bargain." Alwaya. When a man begins by 8ayla#s>M'X want to tell you a good joke on my­ self," you may be sure that he ie going * to try to make somebody elae aft?. , ridiculous. ̂ ^' Courage. A good many people who think thqgp. have the courage of thetr convictions reverse the decision when they dt|» cover that their opinions may cott moaay.' " ':k Hope is a good-staff to tbanit ̂tiMfc it is a poor thing with which to mattery nay turn a womaa'a or empty a ssM*a pm* 1\ * t \ - * - -V • "• . < ' ,,

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