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Show Frank Knox Public Citizen Services to Nation Make Him a Presidential Possibility. Oftentimes the people of this country refer to the government of the United State at "the biggest business In the world." it Is increasingly in-creasingly so since the World war. practically every Issue of consequence conse-quence affecting the welfare of the nation since 1G20 has been either economic or financial In character. One has only to recall the legislation, legisla-tion, mandates and dictum coming from Washington during the past two years to realize to what extent the government has entered Into the daily lives and busjness of all people. peo-ple. And yet up to this time the people of the United States have relied on office holders of renuta- Republicans, as governor of Michigan, Mich-igan, and himself became chairman of the Republican state committee. In 1912 Frank Knox supported hU old commander, Col. Theodore Roosevelt, for President. At the conclusion of that campaign Ire sold his Michigan paper at a handsome profit and, prompted by the urging of Gov. Robert Bass, another progressive pro-gressive governor, with his old partner part-ner Muehllng he bought the Manchester, Man-chester, N. H., Leader. This he combined with another local paper, and, together, they still own and operate the Union-Leader, two of the progressive newspapers of New England. Always constructive, always looking look-ing for some way In which to make things better, Publisher Knox became be-came aware of the difficulties In which agriculture and industry were finding themselves in the New England states. It was his Idea that, to protect their Interests, these states should act as a unit and to that end he took a leading part In forming the New England Council, one of the country's outstanding examples of Co-operation by a large group. It has survived economic stress and successfully fought off dictatorship from Washington. Over-age for the draft, able to command Influence If he wanted an officer's commission or a softer berth, Frank Knox enlisted as a "buck private" In the New Hampshire Hamp-shire militia in 1917 when the. United States became involved In the World War. No militarist, but a profound patriot when his country coun-try needed men, Knox, qualified by his previous service In Cuba, quickly quick-ly found himself In an officer's training camp over his protest. He served throughout the war with the artillery train of the 78th division, participating in the St. Mihlel and Argonne campaigns. He came home this time with his hearing slightly Impaired, although It was believed for weeks that an unexpected dls- tlon, politicians or military heroes to administer the office of President. They have never elected a business man to run the business of the United States. In Frank Knox, the Chicago publisher, pub-lisher, the Republicans of Illinois who have unanimously made him their "favorite son" candidate for the Republican nomination for President of the United States this year, have sought to fill this aching void. They know Knox is a budget balancer and a business builder, as his continuous success In business attests. They know he knows how to meet a payroll and has never had trouble with his employees, union or otherwise. They know he practices thrift and that his progress in life from a newsboy charge of artillery had deafened him for life. The first day home he reported for work in a long-tailed coat, all he had saved from his "civvies" before going to war a second sec-ond time. Knox's success In New Hampshire attracted the attention of Publisher William Randolph Hearst. When Invited by Mr. Hearst to take charge of his Boston papers, Enox, who was In no sense a candidate for the Job, fixed what he regarded regard-ed as a prohibitive price on his services. To his astonishment, Mr. Hearst agreed and Knox ran the papers for a year with such success that he was tendered the general managership of the entire Hearst chain of papers. In that Job Knox applied the same general rules of budget balancing and editorial integrity in-tegrity which he had followed all his life. Once again, Knox found himself traveling the length and breadth of the land, acquiring and applying a knowledge of local affairs, sectional section-al Interests and meeting the leading business men, statesmen and politicians politi-cians everywhere. When he retired from this post In 1923 he expected to settle down In Manchester with his wife In a new home especially adopted in design and site to a troublesome throat ailment from which Mrs. Knox had goffered for several years. But Knox found he was not the kind of a man who can retire until the last horn is blown. In 1929 Walter A. Strong, publisher publish-er of The Chicago Daily News, suddenly sud-denly died. The newsnaner was an to the head of one of the largest metropolitan newspapers In the country has been achieved on savings, sav-ings, character and ability alone. As a result, upon Frank Knox has been conferred the title of "public citizen." While never an office holder he has, nevertheless, been a student of and a contributor to government all his life. Backed by his newspaper he has helped elect good men to office and to defeat de-feat bad ones. He has been "backstage" "back-stage" of many public policies, national, na-tional, state and local, for which the office holders got all the credit. Always on the progressive and liberal side of any Issue, he has fought hard for fairness and equality equal-ity for the farmer, for labor, for racial and religious groups suffering suffer-ing from discrimination, and for Individuals who stood for good principles prin-ciples with clean hands. Knox was a child of depression. He came to manhood In depression. He learned In other depressions of lesser magnitude a few fundamentals funda-mentals of success; pay your debts; never spend more than you can earn; don't make promises you can't keep and keep-the promises you make. He was born In Boston In 1874 when his country was doing a bad Job recovering from the panic of 1879. His parents, sound Scotch-English Scotch-English folks, like their forebears, when confronted with an insurmountable insur-mountable obstacle, moved to Orand Rapids, Mich., when Frank was six years of age. At 11 years of age Knox was delivering newspapers for $3.75 a week. This was not , enough to help the family. At 15 , years of age he quit school to j go to work and soon became a traveling salesman at $15 a week. The depression of 1893 cost him his Job. At the urging of friends, 'including his pastor, he went to ,Alu)a College, Alma, Mich., and worked his way through doing any Job thr came to hand. There he met his future wife, Annie Reld. Two months before gtaduatlon the Spanish-American war broke , out. Knox enlisted as a private and ; took twenty of his college mates into the army with him. While on leave attending the funeral of a relative, the Michigan regiment was tilled up and Knox arrived In Tampa, Fla., in uniform but without with-out definite assignment to any outfit. out-fit. There he met Lieut. David M. Goodrich, former Harvard oarsman, who introduced him to Theodore Roosevelt. The colonel looked him over carefully, asked him If he would care to Join the Rough Riders and personally administered the oath of a soldier to Knox. Trooper Knox returned to Orand Rapids to find' himself face to face with the newspaper business. During Dur-ing his absence, many of his letters let-ters to his mother, setting forth the lighter side of the Cuban campaign, cam-paign, had been published in the local newspapers. "You have a nose for news. I'll put you on at $10 a week," said one f the editors. Thus Frank Knox found the pro-fession pro-fession which was to be his life work. On his meaner salary, he married Annie Reld, "the girl he left behind him" when he marched off to war. In three years he became be-came city editor and circulation manager of the paper. Then, with $500 as capital, another thousand of borrowed money, and a partner, John A. Muehllng, with a like' amount, he bought the Sault Ste. Marie. Mich., News. In ten years on that Job Knox "cleaned" up one of the toughest towns In the country, helped nominate nom-inate and elect Chase Osborn, one of the first of the old progressiva institution in the city of Chicago, devoted to the public service, Independent, Inde-pendent, read and believed in by the citizens of that city. Knox, without enough money of his own to buy such an expensive property, came into the picture with Theodore T. Ellis, a successful manufacturer of press accessories. It was sold to them after the executors execu-tors and directors had canvassed the country for a mnn of character eligible to conduct a newspaper on the high standards It had acquired. The principal editors and publish-era publish-era of the country Individually assured as-sured all inquirers that in Knox the right man for the Jbb had been found. Knox has run The Chicago Dally News on- the same principles that made him successful at the Soo and in Manchester. He has stood manfully man-fully behind the forces of law and order which have brought the underworld under-world In Chicago to Its knees the same old fight he fought at Sault Ste. Marie In his earlier days. His campaign for a new political conscience, con-science, In which courage and common com-mon honesty stand but as its chief characteristics, Is showlug results. He has Improved the financial position posi-tion of his newspaper, retiring in the first four years, over $4,000,000 In bonds and preferred stock. This, too, Is a throwback on his life-long ability to balance budgets, save money and, at the same time, give quality service. He has continuously fought the "New Deal" as contrary to some of the things he found to be fundamental funda-mental American principles: You pay your debts; you don't spend more than you earn; you make no promises you cannot keep; you keep the promises you make, and you tell the truth unsparingly about things as they are. Illinois Republicans agree with Knox and believe In him. They think he is the type best suited to present day needs a business man with a statesman's viewpoint and experience; a fresh, up-to-date "public citizen" fully qualified to apply the homely virtues and fundamentals fun-damentals to modern condition. - |