Show written for this paper LOG CABIN SENATORS copyrighted Opy righted 1696 bv frank 0 carpenter washington D C april irth 1897 a WO of the mast di shed of 0 f the new united S states t a t e s senators V were born in in log babns cab ns in the ohio woods I 1 refer to charles W fairbanks the republican lican who now stands ads in dan voorhees democratic shoes as the new senator fr from 01 rn indiana and to joseph benson for foraker aker who is said to hold a big half of the state 0 of f ohio in his pantaloons pockets governor fourakers Fo log cabin was situated in highland county in the southern part of the state fairbanks was further north in union county in the center of ohio there is IB a tradition I 1 that both babies were rocked in m sugar troughs and I 1 happen to know that both have bad hard bard tussles to reach the high positions which they now hold hod S senator fourakers Fo father for ansta instance rice was a farmer fanner he had eleven ch children it dren and little benny was ony one of the six six boys in the family there were five g girls eirls in addition and money was none too plenty lenty I 1 the boys all worked on the lari farm m and the future governor and sena tor for was as taught to wash and iron to milk cook an and 4 spin and in addition to all these to pick the geese at the pt proper oper time of year his first schooling was gotten in a log schoolhouse and he had to fight as it were for his education it was at this time that he wore those famous coffee sack trousers of which you way may have heard he was only ten years old and school was in full blast when he met with a serious accident which ruined his breeches they were in fact so badly torn that they could not be patched there Ther ewas was no cloth for a ue new pair within miles and anait it looked for a time as though the school would have to be given up mrs foraker however brought out a ceffer sack and asked the boy whether he would wear a pair of trousers maee mace of it and continue his schooling or stay out a while and wait for a new pair As young foraker looked at the coffee sack he said 1 I 1 can wear them mother but I 1 dont like to if I 1 do the boys are sure to I 1 make fun of me never m and nd if they do said his mother if you become a useful man nobody will ask what kind of pantaloons you wore as a child the was that young ben put ut the them m on and a though the boys and 91 girls eirls di did ld laugh he be stuck to them until a new pair al ir came to hand today governor P foraker 0 aker wears as good a pair of breeches as any man in the united state senate and so far no one has made an any invidious remarks about the coffee sag sack trousers of his boyhood he got his reword reward for wear wearne ng them by the strength which they added to his character in the withstanding the laughter ot of his fellows and they formed a very pretty piece oil of capital pital too in getting the ane votes of the I 1 people when foraker became a candidate for governor of the state and just here I 1 want to tell you of a similar trouble that senator fairbanks had during his bis school day he gave the story to me last night as we e chat ted to together getLer in the arlington hotel I 1 had mentioned the bonde ful fill popularity mekin mckin mckiney kiney ey had gotten gotton as president through his little litile kindnesses and his unassuming ways this caused the conversation to turn to the importance of little things and how bow they affect ones life when senator fairbanks told in illustration the incident of his bis torn pantaloons it was said he when A ben I 1 was at college in delaware ohio I 1 was poor yo you know and only owned one good suit one saturday afternoon in wrestling vi ith my roommate room mate I 1 rip ripped ped one of my pantaloons legs from the dot bot om alm aust st to the top it was tot toi n so badly that I 1 could not mend it the next day was sunday and I 1 had bad to go to the chapel or be marked down tor for absence my parents lived some dis distance fance away and I 1 could not get money f om home for at least a week for a t me I 1 was in despair and then I 1 went out with my ro m mate having pinned up my trousers to get a pair of new ones on trust near where I 1 lived there was a jew clothier named frank we went into his bis store and asked to see some of his pantaloons he laid out a pair on the counter which he said would cost me 1350 ta 50 I 1 told him that they would suit me sn E rid d tl trat at I 1 woud bring the money in next week and pay for them upon this he took the pantaloons out of my hands and laid them upon the shelf saying my boy I 1 dont do business that way when you br bir ng the money you can have the pants I 1 1 I cant tell you how much that hurt me said senator fairbanks 1 I blushed like a girl I 1 was much humiliated end and vety angry there was however another tailor in the town I 1 re member the name of the man was Ph well I 1 went to him after I 1 left frank but before asking to see his trousers I 1 described my situation he gave me a pair at once and told me I 1 could have other ether clothes if I 1 wanted them I 1 cant tel you bow grateful I 1 felt to that man I 1 not only bou bought g ht my own clothes cf him aft afterward erard but I 1 tried to get my fellows to go to him I 1 levei never so go back to delaware but that I 1 call upon him and when I 1 enter his store he always wants to know if I 1 would like to have another pair b of f fro trousers users on credit now the trusting of a boy for a week we wes s a little thing but it gave that man a strong briend As to mckinley conti continued huEd senator fairbanks 1 I have often noticed notice d how bow careful he be is oi of the comforts of others I 1 remember being on the stump with him at one time we were to speak to gether at WaE washington hington courthouse mckinley was then a candi candidate daie for gover nor and he be was of course the ron lion cf the occasion when we arrived the committee of the town had a carriage for him and they were about to send me ff 11 with one of the lesser lights me mc inley however A not permit it ke took me in with him and I 1 shared ht ath h him in the honor of le the occasion I 1 how did you come to go to indianapolis senator 1 I thought the town was a good one I 1 was a member of the phi gamma delta college fraternity and my first visit to indianapolis was to attend a fraternity frater fraternity nit i convention I 1 also had friends there and an have never regretted that I 1 chose the to lo 10 cation 11 do you like the law senator yes indeed I 1 do was A aas the repty reply 1 I think it develops a man in an au ar around way better belter than any other profession fes sion it fits him for any place in ia which his lot may lall fall I 1 believe mo MC kink kinky y is a better president for having been a lawyer lawler and nd that harrison was the better fitt fitted edlor lor his career by his law practice 1 would you advise a 3 oung man manto to studa law yes I 1 think every man should study law it he is a business man he should know a great deal ot of the law the law comes into every act of a mans lie li e and the education which leaves the law out oat is deficient then I 1 you ou believe in every man being his own lawyer senator no not that for you know it is said that the man who is his own lawyer has a fool for or his client I 1 mean that every deverr man should have a knowledge of thet the general principles of the law and should so study that he fie would almost intuitively know what the law ought to be II if he no should have a law case on hand however he ought to get a good lawyer to help him do you think there is as much chance of success at the bar as ever yes every bit for the right woo mao the practice has to a certain extent beem divided up into specialties but there is as much chance for young yoking men as in the past ij i how about the farmer boys senator do you think they have as good a chance to succeed in the world as the richer boys bos of the city yes better replied senator fairbanks it needs hard knocks and hard work to develop character the boy of the city does not have enough difficulties to contend with the rich father cap can not give them to him I 1 dont think it any advantage for a boy to be born rich I 1 remember hearing or a party ot of sue men who were telling how they became rich and famous one after another described the trials he had had and the steps by which he had climb climbed from nothing to success at last a time daie came for the story of the most eminent ot of them all he said 1 I think I 1 am ero en titled to more credit than any of I 1 was born rich and have succeeded in im spite ot of my riches I 1 here asked senator fairbanks to th me something about his bis family saying I 1 supposed he be was related to the pe fairbanks jr people he replied that he did not know that his ancee ancestors tors came from england to massachusetts and thence to vermont said he my father was born in vermont but when he was a boy he dived to lowell lowel massachusetts where he ha a brother who was a wagon maker he wora worked lor for some time at lowell in a woolen mill but at sixteen years of age he be strode out for ohio he did there what he could find to do cutting timber and aad other work ot of that kind his wagiem agm were 37 cents a day he saw that in the then new state of ohio there was a good demand for wagons and aga 1 91 concluded to go back to massachusetts learn to be a wagon maker in his brothers shop and again come west to practice his trade he did this and when he returned to ohio he got work as an employed under a wagon maker in union county he served his master so well that he was soon taken into partnership and the old wagon maker gave him his aughter daughter in marriage the young couple lived together with the old folks in their log cabin home it was in that log cabin that I 1 was born and near there I 1 spent my boyhood father stopped making wagons alter a time and bought some land I 1 think he had acres at first it was all amber and he had to clear it As I 1 grew older I 1 helped him and I 1 thus learned to do all kinds of farm work my father taught me also how to handle tools tool and later on I 1 found this of great value it helped me to get through college for I 1 was able to put in my saturdays in doing carpenter work for which I 1 got i 11 25 a day I 1 did you work your way through school senator I 1 yes and no was the reply my father gave me some of the money I 1 needed and I 1 earned some I 1 made some as I 1 told you on saturdays and I 1 earned something during my vacations delaware at that time was a cheap place to go to school I 1 remember one term cost me just about 42 i how could you live so cheaply chea oly senator well the tuition was very low in the first place then I 1 had bad a room mate and together we paid only i so 50 a week for our room we did our own cooking our homes were about twenty miles away and we could bring our supplies from our own farms we had plenty of bread which our mothers baked and we learned how bow to make mush we could boil potatoes and when some one started our batter for buckwheat cakes we could add to the batter from day to day and keep it alive so that we bad fresh eat every ry morning all this cost very littles little and still we lived fairly well how old were you when you graduated 1 I was twenty I 1 entered college at sixteen and graduated in 1872 senator fairbanks is one of the lead ing lawyers of the west though he is only forty div he has made a fortune at toe the law and his practice has for man many years been worth many times as MUCK much as he will receive as his senatorial salary As I 1 thought of this I 1 asked him how he came to study law he replied the law was my first ambition I 1 studied blackstone while I 1 was in college and I 1 got through law school by studying between the hours of news paper work while I 1 was at delaware taper 1 become became the editor of the college paper and alter I 1 ae left jt there I 1 got an appoint ment as associated press agent at pittsburg burg at sa 82 a month I 1 did this thinking 1 1 could go to the law school there but when I 1 learned that in pennsylvania a man has to study law three years before he can be admitted I 1 had bad myself transferred to cleveland it was there that I 1 was admitted to the bar P 1 then if you were to be bort born again senator and had bad the choice of the toca tion you would choose to be born upon a farm yes I 1 should emphatically replied senator fairbanks 1 I believe in it it was As upon the farm that I 1 learned how to work and such as I 1 have had bad has come from hard work it is from the farm that are to come the successful men of the future the great writers lawyers and business men of the next gen generation aeration are among the farmers farm boys of today it is true that a few may come from the city but the maio majority rity will come from the country returning to senator foraker it i is wonderful wonder lul how the lines of his life and that of benatar fairbanks have run along side by side both had to struggle during their boyhood both went to school at the same college for at least a part of their education and both have made great success as law lawyers vers and both are now influential men i in f n the united states senate Foraker like fairbanks learned to work on the farm and his ambition to do well came to him in his cradle when he was not yet in his bis teens h father says that thai he thought he was able to do anything that any of the other boys could do one day so the old gentleman says bens elder brother burch put up thirty three shocks of corn for wh which I 1 ch I 1 paid him i and ben thought he ought to earn some money moneva as swell well I 1 told ibold hambe himbe him he was too small to do such hard work but he said he was going to try I 1 went to the fair and when I 1 came back I 1 found that he had put up his bis thirty three shocks he was riot cot tall enough to tie them so he got his little sister to stand on a chair and do it while he held the stalks in place it was a big days wok for a boy and I 1 dont see how he did it CV W CAW |