Evening Republican, Volume 19, Number 217, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 13 September 1915 — POET SPENDS MILLIONS OF REAL DOLLARS [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

POET SPENDS MILLIONS OF REAL DOLLARS

By EDWARD B. CLARK.

YRON R. NEWTON is an *■ Blatant secretary of the ■ United States treaslury, a newspaper man, Ms M a watchman and a | P°etPoet comes last in h®l ul u a mat * ter of fact it ought to stand abreast of the

hames of Mr. Newton’s other occupations, and mayhap later it will lead them all. Perhaps some explanation is necessary in connection with the word that Mr. Newton is a watchman. He helps to guard the Interests of Uncle Sam, which means that he has a hand In the work of seeing to it that our unde does not spend his money foolishly or is not, as the saying goes, “done out of IL** Every conscientious assistant secretary of the treasury is a watchman. Business man was not included in the catalogue of Mr. Newton’s callings, but if he were not a business man he would not be where he is today. Some day when the whirligig of time or of politics whirls Mr. Newton out of his present Washington place he may find himself in a business position of high responsibility. Such things frequently happen to assistant secretaries of the treasury. Witness Frank A. Vanderllp, who from an assistant secretaryship in the treasury, went to undertake the responsibilities of the job of president of the great City National bank of New York. Also Witness Robert O. Bailey and several other former assistant treasury secretaries, who are pillars of some of the big private financial structures of these United States. Vanderlip, Bailey and Newton all were newspaper men, but it is not known that either Vanderlip or Bailey ever were poets. When Mr. Newton goes to some position of business responsibility other than that which he now occupies, it can be taken for granted that he will not forget that he is a poet, and the world probably will not forget that he is a good one. It is said that poets are born, not made. This means that a poet cannot help writing poetry. It is no harder for him to sing than as the old English saying has IL it is “difficile for a black bird to whistle." It is understood that Mr. Newton speaks rather lightly of his poetry. But it is recognized nevertheless as being worthy. When this assistant secretary of the treasury was only sixteen years old

he apostrophized Mb fiddle in verse. We had forgotten to say that Mr. Newton also is a musician. Here is what he said to his fiddle: TO MY FIDDLE. Queen of the Heavenly Muse, my magic shell. In every varying strain thy chords do swell. Whether in major joy or minor riddle. First, out doth come an oath, and then my fiddle. When mirth doth reign. I play the A or G. , For In this vole* thou well dost make a . spree; But If my mood demands the sadder clef. I drop thee down to solemn C or F. But sad or solemn, soft, or high or low. Thou art the same old catgut, pitch and bow: Entranced the world doth hear thee, great and small. In every cabin and in every hall. I would to God it were not aught of sin. I’d wish myself Remenyi’s violin. Now it must be remembered that this poem was written when Mr. Newton was only twice eight years old. It had more than a suggestion of promise of what he would do later. While he is assistant secretary of the treasury and is to a degree unforgetful of the fact that he is a poet. Mr. Newton is wholly unforgetful that he is by training a newspaper man. Every newspaper man knows tbe value of proper publicity for any worthy object, be it charitable, governmental or what not Some of the official bureaus of Uncle Sam’s government had been hiding their bright and shining lights un-

der bushels for many years. Take the public health service tor instance The work that the physicians of this service do for the people of the United States is conscientious, energetic, and wide-spread in its influence for good. Physicians, like many other professional men, are not given to talking about their deeds. The public health service lies within the control of the treasury department and it is one of the works over which in an official way Mr. Newton must exercise supervision. He knew that the country ought to know something of the work of the government’s physicians in order that the people might profit the more directly therefrom. It was this assistant secretary of the treasury who suggested a course of proper publicity for the work that was being done by Uncle Sam’s devoted doctors. Largely through his efforts the people today not only know of the means that are taken to safeguard their health but they know how, when and where to get the additional information which they need to help them safeguard themselves. More than this the interested people have found that they can be of assistance to the public health service by giving information concerning the necessities there. The government!officials do not like the use of the word publicity. “Information” is the in their eyes is proper and It is information which the people have been getting about several government activities through the newspaper sense of an assistant secretary of the treasury who for years was a newspaper man.

Byron R. Newton was born in New’ York state down in one of the southern tier of counties. For a while he was a farmer, a youthful farmer it is true, and if you want to, you may call him a plowboy. Now, plowboys, through all the centuries have been poets at heart. They have not always known their own gifts, but the instinct of poetry always has been in them. Not all the plowboys could w’rite Burns’ address to the daisy that was in danger of being crushed by the plowshare, but they could all feel for the fate of the flower, and feeling is what makes the poet. Mr. Newton for a while was a “cub

reporter.” Every good newspaper man has served his apprenticeship as a “cub.” The only managing editor who is good for anything and the .only editorial writer who gets there with the punch is the man who has reported fires, murders, accidents and street happenings and has written his share of human interest stories picked up from the boulevards and from the alleys of the slums. After he had made the ordinary run of newspaper work, Mr. Newton became what the profession calls a stflr reporter, and he was sent by a great press association to the Spanish-Amer-ican war. He reported the deeds of our warships off Havana and off Santiago. And it was he who secured the first story of the wonderful fight put up by the little ship Winslow against odds. It was Mr. Newton who first told the world of the death of Ensign Worth Bagley at his post of duty in the naval battle in which the Winslow was engaged. > One of Byron R. Newton’s poems has been printed and reprinted. He was a reporter on a great New York paper and he had witnessed the results of a great tragedy. He thought on the tragic event and then on the carelessness of the joyous crowds all unheeding of the sore troubles and the heartbreaks about them. Some people have said it is an awful poem. It is strong and very likely awful, bat it is doubtful if its truth is overdrawn. Here it is:

ODE TO NEW YORK. Vulgar of manner, overfed. Overdressed and underbred. Heartless, Godless, hell’s delight. RUde by day. and lewd by night: Bedwarfed the man, o’ergrown the brute. Ruled by boss and prostitute. Purple robed and pauper clad. Raving, rotting, money mad: A squirming herd in Mammon s mesh. A wilderness of human flesh: i Crazed with avarice, lust and rum. New York, thy name’s delirium. It falls to the lot of this assistant secretary of the treasury to see to it that the sites which have been recommended as proper for the erection of public buildings are all that they should be. In other words Mr. Newton has to see to it that someone is not putting one over on Uncle Sam. Congress appropriates money for public building sites and does it frequently without much care in selection. Just now the treasury department is hold* ing up more than two hundred authorizations made by the lawmakers for the purchase of sites for public buildings. A vast amount of money is involved and, more than this, the economy and efficiency of several departments of government are at stake. It is said that as the result of the watchfulness of the treasury officials the present system of haphazard appropriations for public buildings ultimately will be abandoned. Newspaper men have made good in Uncle Sam’s service. A newspaper man sometimes is practical and sometimes he is not. A poet never is thought of as practical, but Byron R. Newton seemingly has shown that a man can write good poetry and be perfectly sane in matters pertaining to proper business activities.