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Show if EARLE V. HODGES Mew President For Lions Clubs Denver, July 18. Earle W. Hodges Hod-ges of New York City, head of the Department of Public Relations for Henry L. Doherty and the Cities Ci-ties Service Company inerests, was his afternoon elected president of the Intei naional Associaion of Lions Clubs, a service organization of more than 22Q0 clubs and 80 000 members all over the United States and Canada. Mr. Hodges was first vice president presi-dent of the Lions in 1929-30, and now succeeds Ray L. Riley, who is comptroller of the State of California. Cali-fornia. Farm boy, printer's devil, printing office foreman, newspaper owner and publisher, state printing clerk, deputy State Auditor, Secretary oi State of Arkansas, director of public pub-lic utilities for his state, and finally director of public relations for the great Henry L. Doherty interests that is Earle W. Hodges, the new president of Lions International. He is one of the best known public speakers in the country, and hai visited and delivered addresses many times in every state of the Union. He began his public career early. While he was yet in the grade and high school of Salem, Ark., near which town he was born in 1832, he says he was "dabbling in ink in a country printing office." His experience ex-perience was that of thousands of others that once you get well smeared with printer's ink you never ne-ver get far away from a printing plant. When he left high school he became foreman of the composiug room of the composing room or the Mammoth Spring Monitor, and neid the job for a year. By that time he considered himself him-self ripe for a journalistic career, so he went to Imboden, Ark., bought a newspaper on credit, "A dollar down and a dollar a week" as he afterward af-terward expressed it, and became owner, editor and publisher Then at the ripe age of nineteen, Earl W Hodges married Miss Nell Gamel, daughter of a pioneer merch ant of that section. She was just eighteen. The bride went to work in her hubsand's office, and he still says she was the best hand he ever had and he was able to pay her in promises. But they succeeded. They paid for the paper, and later moved to Pocahontas, Ark., where Mr. Hodges owned and edited a newspaper for three' years. Then came his first public office. He was appointed state printing clerk, and held the position for six years. During these years he became be-came a 32d Degree Mason and Shriner an Elk, a Knight of Pythias, a Woodman, an A. O. U. W., and a, inrmber of other orders Also he was elected secretary of the Arkansas Ar-kansas Press Association and served ten years in this position. Then Mr. Hodges mads his first bid for an elective public office. He made the race for secretary of state of Arkansas, and was triumphantly trium-phantly elected, the youngest man to hold that office in the hisory of Arkansas, and, his friends claim, in he United States. He was twice re-elected and later he made the race for the governorship, but was defeated by a small plurality. After that he entered war work, first as chairman of the Arkansas State Exemption Board, and later for four years with the Jewish Relief Re-lief Committee in New York, raising rais-ing funds all over the country for war-ridden peoples of Europe, mak ing his headquarters in and San Francisco. ,,.; Then the public utilities of Arkansas Ar-kansas called Mr. Hodges into their service as direcTor of publicity. In this capacity he traveled and I spoke all over the state, making fndo for the company, and becoming the buffer between the public and his employer. Alwavs a read ami witty speaker, able to sway his audiences aud-iences with his stories no less toon by his native eloquence, he was very successful. It happened that Henry L Do-viortv Do-viortv of Denver, and later or new York was in one of his audiences one dav and he determined at once to have that young man in his employ The Doherty oil, gas and povvef interests needed J man to make friends with the pub Uc So with a financial offjr wChiche Arkansas people cou d not ofToi-d to meet, "e wnrtFPs could not afToid to reiust, gSSty Sok 01. yoiM, or.tor to any interests. In Lionism Mr. Hodges has been Qmte as successful as in hi? bu" - : ITn'- t He was twi pres -dei t ot the Little Rock, Ark club end homed P,ake it ,', ; b Lions Club in the world . As I !i,P1?SM nt he established "Thf I it tin t? t leTwe0kly bulletin f the Little Rock Lions Club, which gained gain-ed a bigger circulation than manv a newspaper, and won the editoi ?n?l S ? 10ng, e members of Lions nnrtni 0nal by his clever articl unde the name of "The Jungle y- Mr. Hodges was three times elected district governor oi Arkansas, was elected a director of Lions International in 1925 and two years later was advanced to a vice pire-oency. At the 1929 convention conven-tion at Louisville he was promoted U)e llrst vice preskieney, wme.ii has come to be considered the inevitable inev-itable stepping stone to the presidency presi-dency itself. All through his career car-eer Mr. Hodges has been a favorite speaker among Lions clubs everywhere. every-where. He has been in great demand, de-mand, not only at sectional meetings meet-ings and district conventions, but at meetings of Lions International as well as public events of every kind. Clark Hodges, only son is in his fourth year in New York University, studying electrical engineering. |