Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 69, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 30 March 1918 — ASPIRES TO STATE OFFICE [ARTICLE]

ASPIRES TO STATE OFFICE

CHAS. S. PRESTON, OF MONTICELLO, IN RACE FOR CLERK OF SUPREME COURT. Monon News of March 8, 1918. Chas. S. Preston, our efficient clerk of the White circuit court, has announced his candidacy for Clerk of the 'Supreme Court of Indiana on the Republican ticket, to be nominated at the next state convention. Those who know his ability to go “over the top” in his political undertaking will concede the favorable outcome of his campaign, now well under way. He is a big frother of ours in the local newspaper field and we are interested in his welfare and advancement. We have a peculiar reason outside of politics for being interested in his success. He is manager of the Monticella Herald, over which we presided many.years and which is now showing marvelous improvement under his capable and energetic direction. Mr. Preston was born in Putnam county, March 28, 1881, and in that county he received his education, graduating from DePauw University in 1904. Soon after he became principal of the Monticello high school and taught five years. In 1910 he became the choice of the Republican party for county clerk and here his genius for politics loomed. It was an easy thing to get the nomination that year, for pitted against him was Wallace Atkins, one of the most popular clerks who had ever held office and he was running for his second term. While the most sanguine friends of the Republican candidate were willing to admit that he had a hard row to hoe, the general impression was that Atkins would win hands down. But he didn’t and when the votes were counted in November, Preston was elected by a comfortable majority and one of the biggest political surprises the county had ever known' was recorded. After such a signal triumph in 1910, his • re-election by a large majority naturally followed in 1914.

Mr. Preston embaked in the newspaper business in 1915, by taking over the Monticello Herald, since which time that paper has steadily grown bigger and better, the equipment of the office having been added to as occasion required. He is a fraternity man and a member of the Methodist church pnd withal has the personal magnetism that extends the glad hand with a cordiality that makes friends coextensive with his acquaintance. In view of the foregoing, it is not difficult to guess who will be the nominee for .clerk of the Indiana supreme court.