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Show P I A Sketch of robertx ir r 1 WIGXLFFE WOOLLEYAD1REC- A, . -. i 1 TOR OF THE MINT, BY EDWARDJA JAt ' I ..M'd 1 B. CLARK, HIS OLD I JOURNAjTIcifS; H tffMMfk' L SIDE PARTNERNQW DEAN OEgsv-l V. MMMfm i i I jj jj " !' J 1 ill 1 I flp i I X . T , & ink v?xfr t ii n 4 mtf$$i Is &J?t"ftstlJ$l For six months, which he has described as By EDWARD B. CLARK. $J;f$ f$lJ-& fyv "six eventful months," he was the editor of a fyNE of Washington's humorists de- VtJUT. 4 f 1 R newspaper in a southern . town, whose locality fiHh !) Clared nC6 UPn a Ume 1 rea' ifM "iW2!!!i ?t Ul I shall not give here, because of certain circum- ' son 80 many newspaper men are ap- && v ftj i stances connected with tUe case. There it was pointed to positions in the United WW y-f Mm another crusade agaiust a municipal ring and f& States treasury is that the scribes - ' JT i " J i j another case of being compelled to edit with a heart desire is for once m their lives p . "4f I J V'i h j revolver in the hand and also to walk with a gun to get next to a lot money One jets fEV 4 mi I ,0; exceedingly handy. The ring eventually was fcggi next to much money m the building f s J l j broken Into bits, but meanwhile Mr. Woolley had containing Uncle Sam's strong box f A Mh lost his newspaper. but he doesn 4 Eet hold o any Eyeat pm' W I '1 '? For a short time thereafter Mr. Woolley was amount of it, although the salaries paid are in a . I j j$& the editor of the San Antonio Light in Texas, general way more than fairly comfortable. l'2T- " 4 f A Then he went back to New York and entered Robert Wickliffe Woolley is one of the latest j 2 4 "Pon a really notable career as a magazine writer, of America's well-known newspuper men to be il feL- j He was sent on many assignments throughout . appointed to a position in the treasury depart- S , - 1 AYS M the country for some of the best magazines in - ment As someone else has put it, Woolley makes J LW the United States, and then he 'became one of more money than any other man in the United w,iis ,n,, ojn(, nf the New York t By EDWARD B. CLARK. NE of Washington's humorists de-g-Tv j j clared once upon a time that the rea-H rea-H i son 80 manv newspaper men are ap-s ap-s yj pointed to positions in the United States treasury is that the scribes' ! heart desire is for once in their lives '-,51 t0 Eet next to a lot money. One gets jgagSjl next to much money in the building k containing Uncle Sam's strong box, , . I ' but he doesn't get hold of any great amount of it, although the salaries paid are in a general way more than fairly comfortable. Robert Wickliffe Woolley is one of the latest of America's well-known newspuper men to be appointed to a position in the treasury department depart-ment As someone else has put it, Woolley makes more money than any other man in the United For six months, which he has described as "six eventful months," he was the editor of a newspaper in a southern town, whose locality I shall not give here, because of certain circumstances circum-stances connected with the case. There it was another crusade against a municipal ring and another case of being compelled to edit with a revolver in the hand and also to walk with a gun exceedingly handy. The ring eventually was broken into bits, but meanwhile Mr. Woolley had lost his newspaper. For a short time thereafter Mr. Woolley was the editor of the San Antonio Light in Texas. Then he went back to New York and entered upon a really notable career as a magazine writer. He was sent on many assignments throughout the country for Borne of the best magazines in the United States, and then he 'became one of the Washington correspondents of the New York World, a position which he held for about two years. Then again Mr. Woolley turned to magazine maga-zine work, and in the year 1911 he became the chief investigator of the congressional committee commit-tee appointed to look into the affairs of the United Unit-ed States Steel corporation. This committee was known as the Stanley committee. Because of its wide-reaching effects, it is probable prob-able that a magazine article entitled, "The Plunderers Plun-derers of Washington," was the most notable contribution to the "news and information of the day," which Mr. Woolley ever wrote. This article was preceded by an intimation that anyone mentioned men-tioned and who chose so to do might know that he had recourse in the courts. In other words, the information upon which the article was based was tested in advance. This article was called by the press of the time "fearless." It dealt with some of Washington's big bankers and real estate es-tate men and with a good many officials. Woolley was writing just as he wrote when he was attacking municipal rings in smaller towns of the country. It is not too much to say, perhaps, per-haps, that the article largely was responsible for a complete change in the manner of men appointed ap-pointed to positions of high trust in the municipal muni-cipal government of the city of Washington, for Washington in" a way has municipal government, being under the rule, of course, of congress, but having a board of District commissioners ae responsible heads. In the year 1912 Mr. Woolley was the editor and compiler of the "Democratic Text Book," and wae chief of the campaign of publicity bureau of the Democratic national committee. He also compiled com-piled the text book of 1914. His political affiliations affilia-tions at this time, however, newspaper men believe, be-lieve, did not have anything to do with his appointment ap-pointment to office. His efforts along liberal and progressive lines had attracted the attention of Woodrow Wilson. Mr. Woolley was appointed first as auditor for the interior department, an office which, despite its name, is under the control of the treasury department. Then he was given his present position as director of the mint. He is filling it. I am writing this article with feelings of personal per-sonal admiration and liking, perhaps even of affection, af-fection, for I have known Woolley for years. Ho is a tried man. He is one of the newspaper fra ternity, and after nearly a quarter of a century of close acquaintance I know that I can say that he is an honor to it. Robert Wickliffe Woolley lives just outside of Washington in Fairfax, Va. It is this little town which has possession of the wills of George and Martha Washington, and some parts of the bill of rights of George Mason. It is a good place for a Democrat of strongly progressive pro-gressive tendencies to live. Mr. Woolley married Marguerite Treholm of Winchester, Virginia. They have four children, all girls. The family life is of the kind accounted ac-counted ideal. In the books Mr. Woolley is put down as Robert Wickliffe Woolley, but newspaper men from coast to coast and from the Canada line to the Gulf know him much better as "Bob." States, but the personal difficulty s that he Is not allowed to keep the proceeds of his manufacture. manu-facture. He is the director of the mint, and everybody every-body knows that the province of the mint is to turn out money for the multitudinous uses of the people of these United States, There are not many newspaper men in the c6untry who are better. known than this present official of Uncle Sam's government. Woolley looks about thirty years old, but he can add quite a number of years on to that and givu no lie to the date of his birth. He haB been a reporter, a sporting editor, a managing editor, an editor, and a writer of magazine articles, and today he can pick up any one of his old jobs and do it justice, and if the whirligig of politics in time shall thmst him forth from the portals of the treasury department, de-partment, he probably and very naturally will turn to tread in the old accustomed ways. I The writer of this has known Woolley for a good many years, and worked with him Bide by " side for a considerable length of time on a great Chicago daily. Woolley was then a sporting editor. edi-tor. He is an outdoor man, who loves the things which all full-blooded Americans love, and, moreover, more-over, he knows how to write about them, whether it be as a close finish on a Kentucky track or a 14 innings "so far" 0 to 0 at the National league grounds in New York city. Woolley loves sport for sport's sake, but it must not be supposed for a minute that sport ever occupied the major part of his time. I From boyhood until this day the present director direc-tor of the mint has been a student of sociological conditions, of economics and of the ways and means of legislation to get for the people what seems to the progressive-minded the things which they ought to have. Convictions that certain lines of procedure were the right ones to follow, and a determination to follow them, have given Robert W. Woolley many strenuous and exciting hours during his long newspaper career. It is not necessary to explain to the people of the United States what a political ring is, nor is it necessary to explain what an invisible government govern-ment is. Certain brave spirits in newspaperdom have been fighting rings and invisible government for years, and it has made no difference to the courageous ones whether the ring was composed of men of their own party, or whether the invisible in-visible government likewise was. tinged with a partisan color of a hue ordinarily deemed admirable ad-mirable by the crusaders. The director of the mint is a Democrat, but he has fought Democrats when they were trying to exploit the people for selfish ends. Not long after he entered newspaper work the director of the mint had a "time of it," which tested his courage and the sincerity of his convictions. convic-tions. I am not going to mention the name of the place where a certain thing happened, but unquestionably the scene of It will be recognized by many and the details will be remembered by men who have not yet arrived on the borders of middle age. Down in the South, and not very far in the South, either, Robert W. Woolley was once managing editor of a newspaper of prominence in a city of considerable size. The chief editor of his paper and the mayor of the town were engaged in a row, for the mayor, it was believed, was connected with a municipal political combination combi-nation which, as the editor viewed it, was far from being an institution intended to benefit the people of the community. Finally the lie was passed, and the lie is, or was, anyway, a sure fighting word in certain communities. One morning Mr. Woolley went down to the newspaper office and found the mayor of the town and his son, each with a gun in hand, holding the The Building Is Uncle Sam's New Money Factory, Fac-tory, and Below Are Employees Counting His Millions. entire business office force of the newspaper prisoners behind their counters. The intruders were threatening to shoot anybody who attempted to leave. Woolley had no gun. He entered the office and proceeded to address some remarks made up of words ordinarily considered of the fighting kind to the armed intruders. Woolley reached for a telephone, took it off the receiver and was laughed at by the gunmen, who told him that they had cut the wire. Woolley stood there with the receiver in his hand for a minute while red-hot verbiage was exchanged. Then Woolley walked straight by the two armed men and went out of the door, and neither one cared or dared to interfere with him. Later it developed that while the receiver was off, although the wire had been cut, the chief editor of the aper at his home had taken off his own receiver to call up the office, and found he could l. Ti get it. But as only one wire was severed he heard a large part of the conversation conversa-tion in the office by means of the uncut wire connected with the office telephone. What he heard afterwards was used in evidence, for court proceedings were brought. Now, it is just here that an ordinary newspaper man would have become disgusted with the profession pro-fession which he was trying to follow and would have thought that the whole world was out of joint. The mayor of the town and his son were editors of a rival newspaper. This rival stood, of course, for the municipal ring', and it was things which appeared in its columns which had caused the other editor, Mr. Woolley's chief, to put the lie in print. While things seemingly were still at white heat between the two camps the mayor and his rival editor, whom he was ready to shoot, or be thot by, made up their differences, combined the' two papers, and thus Woolley, who had dared everything for his chief, was forced out, and in the parlance of the street, was "left to hold the bag." In other words. Bob Woolley stood for right and principle and then lost his job. There was a celebrated law case in Kentucky that attracted world-wide attention. After the municipal ring episode and Mr. Woolley had lost his place as managing editor, he became a reporter re-porter and he handled this case. There came down from Chicago at this time two newspaper men who since have become widely known Eugene Eu-gene Bertrand, now of the New York Herald, and William E. Lewis, the editor of the New York Telegraph. They had been sent down from Chicago Chi-cago to work on the matter Woolley had in hand, and they became acquainted with him. They found out a lot of things about him which appealed ap-pealed to their newspaper sense. They also discovered dis-covered that he was fond of American sports. They went back to Chicago and a short time thereafter Woolley. who knew nothing about their interest in him, received an offer from the Chicago Chi-cago Tribune to become a reporter in the sporting sport-ing department of that paper. He went to Chicago, Chi-cago, and it was not long before he became the sporting editor of the newspaper whose staff he joined. From Ctiicago the present director of the mint went to New York, and for a long time was employed em-ployed on the New York World. A little later, as somebody else has put it. "he yielded to the temptation temp-tation of a beautiful fruit plantation in Texas." The fruit was not altogether golden, as far as the proceeds from the sale of the crops were concerned, con-cerned, and Mr. Woolley went back into the newspaper news-paper profession. |