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About Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 4, 1904)
Republican Candidate for the Yice Presidency m fOopyrlgM, 1304, by Frank O. Carpenter.! I ND I ANATOLI 3, Sept. L (Special, Correspondence of The Dee.) havo coma out hero to teU yoi something about tbe republican, candidate for vice president t have known him since bo came to the; , United States senate and have bad a pum hr of Chats with blm about hie early' Ufa, ' Jits boyhood struggles and the rungs of the; ladder up which he haa climbed to great Hess, X have aeon him here at hla horn ' and have Just had a talk with him about lom personal and publlo matter upon, Whtah he doee not wish to be Quoted. HlsJ position U different cow than It haa been In the past lie feela It reaponatblllty ana es not like to anewer personal -Questions! for fear he may be looked upon aa playing to the galleries. Ha la, however, a most Interesting oharacter, and I will sketch) him a beat I can. 1' Senator Fair bank haa spent tbe greater -part of hia professional life In Indianapolis.. He came here shortly after he graduated to attend a convention of his college fra ternlty and ao liked the town that he set-' tied In It when he had finished hi study of the law. lie had Influential frienda In the city and through them soon developed s large practice. He became Interested. In railroad matters, was made tbe receiver ot a railroad which was In a bad way, and rapidly rose to a good business position and a comfortable Income. For a number Of years he was one of the leading lawyers of this part of the country, and when h rave up the law to go to the United States senate he had perhapa the largest and most profitable practice In the west. He told ma once that he waa then at the top of the harvest time ot hla professional career; but that he out off hla practice to devote him. lf to the public. His Investment had, fcowever, been good and his fortune waa great enough, although It did not quite equal the million dollars -with which he la credited, to enable him to live comfortably, on hla Income. ( , - J once asked Senator Fairbanks whether1 be thought the law had helped him In hla political career. He replied that It had,, and apoke at length about the law aa a necessary part of every young man's edu cation. Said he: "Many people look upon tbe law as a - mysterious science, as something to be ap proached with fear and trembling. The truth Is the law Is merely the rule of com mon sense applied to the right or wrong In human conduct Every man should know something of It, and If he Is a business man he should know a great deal. I do not mean that he should be his own lowyer, for 'you know the old saying about the roan who Is his own lawyer having a fool for his client What I do mean is that - vrafyone should have a knowledge of the general principles of the law that he would almost intuitively know what the law ought to be. - I think the law develops a man In an all-around way better than almost any other profession. McKinley was a better president for having been a lawyer, and Harrison filled his place In the White House all the more faithfully through the training of his law practice." At that time I asked the senator whether the poor young man, of today had as much chance at the bar aa in the past He re- m pllod: "He haa If he Is the right man. Our law practice has to a certain extent been di vided up Into specialties, but the oppor tunities for success are as great, If not greater, than they have ever been." I understand that Senator Fairbanks haa tarried his belief aa to the law into the training of hla aona. Two of them have already read law. and a third Is now read- ln it One of the boys. who has studied law Is engaged' in other business. Senator Fairbanks lives at Washington la big house on the corner of Massachusetts avenue and Eighteenth street. HI home there was built by Senator Van Wyck of Nebraska and waa occupied, for a time after Van Wyck left Washington, by Chief. Justice Fuller, after which it came Into the hands of Fairbanks. The senator home here laa large two-atory and attlq cottage situated on North Meridian street Just across the way from the residence of Oovernor Durbln and within a abort dis tance of the old home of Benjamin Harrison,- The houae la surrounded by magnlD- ' cent trees, which evidently stood hre when Indianapolis waa a village cut out of the woods. It has a velvety lawn about It,, and, as the senator and myself sat upon the porch we could aee the red squirrel run- ' ring from tree to tree and hear the birds singing. The whole street In fact la one succession of lawn. It look like a great park shaded with forest tree and spotted 'With beautiful houses. The senator owns several large lots above - hi house and. therefore, - has about as much room as though he lived In the country. The interior of the houaeVIs well built ' hut simply furnished. It feels homelike . and looks as tho'igV people lived there. The library Interested me most It Is not . large, but It Is hung with, picture i and trailed With hooka, and both books and pic tures breathe forth Fairbanks. Tbe pln tnre arc ..photographs of hla frienda and -' " V---"- ' -"- - sr.'':- . . r. . f - '-'-.' , ' .. "- - -v r " ' v.-" i ..: V;' Wf . V ' v ; " v. . - " . v. i . CIIARLE3 W. FAIRBANKS, the booka are those he likes best and studies most. As you enter you tee the Napoleonic features of Fresldent McKin ley and the sturdy, strenuous face of Pres ident Roosevelt looking down upon you. At the right of Roosevelt Is Abraham Lincoln, taken without the beard, and further over the smooth-shaven, kind face of Marcus A. Hanna. Below Hanna on the mantelpiece stands an autograph portrait of John Hay, while further over are sim ilar photos of Tom Tlatt and Cornelius Bliss. There are photographs .here of the capltol at Washington, of the senate cham ber and of the -national conventions and other great bodies of which Fairbanks has been a part Everything In the room Is connected with the senator and his life as a statesman. But let me add the soul of the picture. I mean Senator Fairbanks himself. He stands before me as I make these notes on the tablet of my brain. Tall and thin and Just a trifle stooped, he is six feet four in his patent leather shoes, a big man with a big frame fairly well padded with muscular flesh. His head Is large and full at the top. The forehead Is high and broad and the eyes bright changing from hazel to black as ne grows earnest In his talk. The nose Is straight the mouth and- Jaws firm and his complexion rosy with health. He has black hair, a trifle thin at the top. a dark mustache and short black- chin whiskers with a fringe ot black on each cbegk Just la front ot the . ears. He Impresses you as a strong man, a level-headed man and an extremely con servative and- wary man. - And all these he Is. ' v Senator Fairbanks Is younger than most people think. He Is only a few years older than President Roosevelt,' and he tells me that he feels a strong, today as when he entered college at the age of fif teen. Senator Fairbanks' mother Is still living at the age of 75 or 76, hale and hearty and as bright as la the days of her youth. His father died at 78, only four years ago, and he thought his life was shortened by hardship. As I remembered these fact I thought of Fair banks' future, and wondered if the front door of tire White House may not soma . day open to him. With such an ancestry, added to his careful habits and easy work ing mind, he ought to be In good mental and physical shape for twenty years to come. H ha a good record, he halls from a pivotal state and stands well with the politicians snd with the rank and file of his party. Indeed, .If I were asked to pick out a man from the middle west with possibilities I could not find one with better prospects than Fairbanks. Senator Fairbanks will probably be tha last of our log-cabin candidates. The for ests have been so cleaned up that the future great man cannot hope to start life rocked In a sugar trough and learning his letters by the light ot pine knots. """The log cabin In which Fairbaaka was bora . V. A - i : r w fna situated not far from Columbus ta tare l Chen wilda of Ohio. - His fatner'was avagon maker who bought 200 acres of Tlr rain forest snd turned It Into a farm. Ha bunt a log- cabin with his own hands, sad ,1a that cabin the republican candidate for Ice.. president was born, I ones oak eg .Senator Fairbanks if ho remembered tha cabin. He replied: t f "I am ho draftsman, but Z could make sf picture of It today. It had but one largw room and loft over It There was a stone chimney outside at one end and a. fireplace within, where the cooking- waa done over a crane. There were two beds In the room, and we had two beds aim ,ln the attic These sufficed for the famlls; Until my father bad made enough to build larger house." ' Z asked what became ot the cabin and the senator told me that It waa destroyed shortly after the larger house was bullC It had been moved asida and turned Into) a carpenter shop for use in constructing? the larger building. It was at this time that Senator Fair hanks had the narrowest escape of his life. Tbe'work on the new house was going1 on In the winter and a fire had been built In .the old cabin carpenter shop. Tbe family and workmen had gone to dinner In tha , new house when the future vice presiden tial candidate, then a little black-haired toe. In black skirt and apron, tried to replenish y ithe fire by putting- in soma shavings. As he opened the door some coals dropped out and. within a few seconds the cabin .was ablaze. The fire -was between him and cme door, and he tried to force his war out the other door, which was Jammed up with lumber. He was burned slightly before ho succeeded In getting through. He was, however, more frightened than hurt, and, polo as the snow on the ground, he made hj way into the room where the family were dining and said: "Mamma, X g-uees the carpenter shop will burn down." The men Jumped to their feet and looked out of the window. The whole house was in flames and an hour later this prospec tive vice president's birthplace was in ashes. I had chat with Mr. Fairbanks when he was first elected to the senate about his TnnH .nr in ttifkaa ...!.. ,n.. it. . . told me that hla -work as a farmer's boy had been of service to him all his life, and he said he thought it paid a boy to b born on a farm. Said he: . "It was upon the farm that I learned how to work, and such success as I bavo had has come from hard work. It Is the farm that willproduce the successful men of the futureT The great writers, lawyers and business men of the next generation aro now among the farmers' boys of today. A few. It is true; may come from tbe city, but the majority will be from the country." "It la hard knocks and hard work that develop character." continued the senator, "and the boy who has these is better off than he who has them not Th city boy has too few difficulties to contend with, and I doubt whether it is an advantage for- a V.A . A 1. I V- . ' iw m uuru ncn. i. rememoer once near ing a party of famous men telling of their success in life. One after another de scribed the trials he had had and the steps up which he had climbed to fame and for tune. At last spoke the most eminent of -them all, saying: 'I am entitled to mora credit than any of you, for I was born rich and I have succeeded, In spits of my riches.' At that time Senator Fairbanks sold mo bow he got his education, saying that ha had largely worked his way through col- ( Continued on Page FlfteanJ i. J' I J ? rr,. ; VMM z i -, ... - y-r -' - '-r HOME OF SENATOR FAIRBANKS ON NORTTI MERIDIAN STREET, IND1 ANAPOXJ3. V