Indianapolis Times, Volume 47, Number 299, Indianapolis, Marion County, 22 February 1936 — Page 9
It Seems to Me KEYMMN THE TV A decision will naturally have very considerable political consequences. I think one of its immediate effects is unfortunate. The Constitution is out of the curient campaign. By a majority of 8 to 1 the Supreme Court has granted itself a reprieve from criticism. I say this is unfortunate because one of the most promising opportunities modern American history has offered for debating our basic law has now gone over the sluiceways. Naturally, a great many peo-
pie are going to assume that the decision was actually influenced by the rapidly mounting protest of various public leaders against what they conceived to be a usurpation ofpporerw r er by the court. I believe this conception of the protesters was correct, and I am of the opinion that criticism did temper the judgment of the court. But, of course, that is surmise. No inquiring reporter sat within the brain of Brandeis or inside the mind of Mcßeynolds while the discussion was on. Indeed, there is a rumor that Mcßeynolds himself can not get in. He has
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Heywood Broun
locked himself out and the key is missing. Mcßeynolds has voted "No” on every New Deal case which has come before him. He has an unbroken string of eight negatives, and he has become, by his own appointment, psychoanalyst to the House and Senate. The subconscious mind of Mr. Justice Mcßeynolds ought to be very interesting territory. I seem to envisage it as a bleak and rocky terrain not unlike those mountainous regions of Ethiopia through which the Italians are making such slow progress. n u Al Embarrasses Judges BUT if the strategic retreat of the Supreme Court to previously prepared positions is to be treated from a psychological angle some consideration must be paid to a man no longer in public life. I think Alf E. Smythe saved TVA. That doesn’t look right. Os course, the man to whom I am referring is Alfred E. Smith. Mr. Smith’s defense of recent rulings turned out to be the most punishing blow against the prestige of the court which has been delivered. Even the Justices felt a little embarrassed when Alfred pulled the line about their all being directly inspired by God. Indeed, a member of the bench told a newspaper man an ancedote concerning his own experiences with the speech. "My wife and I listened to the Liberty League speech over the radio at the house of a friend," he said: "Just as we were getting out of the taxi on the way home my wife remarked, •That was a wonderful speech ex-Governor Smith made.’ The taxi driver turned around and said: ‘I thought it was a terrible speech. Tell me one thing he said.’ ” a a tt Taxi Drirer Unimpressed AND it was actually al’s overzealous defense of the ijupreme Court which set taxi drivers to talking, and coal miners and columnists and people on street corners and in smoking cars. Mr. Smith’s speech put the Constitution and the Supreme Court into politics. The court doesn't like to be in politics. It quickly moved out. Os course, it didn’t pass on all the aspects of TVA. The man who jumped from the top of the Empire State Building said, as he passed the sixtieth story: "Well, everything’s all right up till now.” That’s about all the court said. It was a we-can-talk-this-over-later kind of decision. But that's what has happened to the constitutional issue. Roosevelt luck has held. The President will not be compelled to run on any kind of revision plank, and I know at least one hard-working columnist who will have to find anew subject to write upon. The nine old men have gone down in their deep dugouts. (Copyright, 1936)
Townsendites Ask Much of Candidate BY RAYMOND CLAPPER WASHINGTON, Feb. 22.—Considering what a mild-mannered pair Dr. Townsend and his cofounder and sales manager, Robert E. Clements, seem to be, they know how to make a black-jack. Townsend h adqi.arters here has just prepaied a printed questionnaire to candidates for Congress and the Senate who are seeking the indorsement of the Townsend clubs. Upon examination, the questionnaire turns out to be a blank check by which the signing candidate
for public office forthwith surrenders up his life, liberty and the pursuit of his public duty to the men behind the Townsend plan. Here are some of the pledges the candidate for United States Senator or member of the House of Representatives, who seeks the support of the Townsend movement is asked to sign: 1. "If indorsed by the Townsend organization, will you make a pledge to support and vote for national legislation sponsored
by it?” 2. “Will you pledge your support to a bill enacting the Townsend Plan, leaving the detail of such legislation to the national organization of the Townsend Plan, which evolved the plan and presented it to the American people?” 3. “If already a candidate, will you sign a statemen agreeing to withdraw your candidacy in the interest of unity and success at the polls if someone other than yourself is indorsed for the position you seek?” 4. “If your answer is ‘Yes' will you. in that event, support the candidate indorsed by the organization?” 5. “On a separate sheet, set forth in a few words (not less than 200 nor more than 500) why you are in favor of the Townsend Plan, and what method you intend to use to convince others to support the Townsend Plan at the polls.” Then follows a dotted line for the victim's signature. And then—note this—is a blank space for witness of the signature by a notary’ public. The Townsend people are taking no chances. The candidate must not only take this pledge, but swear to it. If any one knows of a more brazen attempt to kidnap national legislators in advance and hold them signed, sealed and delivered, he would be doing a public service to come forward and expose it. ana MR. CLEMENTS, co-founder of the Townsend organization (Dr. Townsend formerly was employed as a real estate salesman by Clements), says, in preparing for the coming Congressional investigation, that the most important thing about the Townsend Plan is the 2 per cent transactions tax. He is willing, he says, to take the proceeds of that and pro-rate it among those over 60 whether it amounts to S2OO or not. He believes it will raise enougn. But that is the money-raising proposal he stands jn. Dr. Townsend, in an introduction to Sheridan Downey’s book “Why I Believe in the Townsend Plan,” Just published, says: “I am not, as many of my critics seem to believe irrevocably wedded to the transactions tax as the only method of raising money to finance the Townsend Plan. . . . “All that concerns me. and it is a fundamental on which I shall never give way, is that a revolving fund be created sufficient to pay S2OO to all American citizens over 60 who can qualify. Social dividends must be started and maintained at S2OO a month—not one cent less. And our opponents might just as well, first as last, get accustomed to this •mount,”
FLOGGED TO DEATH—FOR POLITICS U • • a a tt tt • tt tt a a a Letters to Newspaper Led to Fatal Whipping of Shoemaker
This 1* the third of m icries of di spatchei on the origins and consequences of Tampa's brutal and ir order. tt tt a tt . * BY DAVID E. SMILEY Editor of The Tampa Daily Times HpAMPA, Fla., Feb. 22.—Tampa has a dual form of government, the city on the one hand and Hillsborough County on the other. The City Police Department, under the mayor, is charged with enforcing the state criminal laws and the local police ordinances passed by a councilmanic chamber of 12, the City Board of Representatives. The county commissioners, five in number, wnduct county administrative affairs and the sheriff has countywide jurisdiction, of course, including the territory covered by the city police. Rivalry between groups of gambling bosses led naturally to recurring contests for control of the two branches of government. For the last four years the city government has been controlled by the Whitaker faction, the two leading figures in which are Pat and Tom Whitaker, attorneys with a large criminal law practice. Pat Whitaker was state Senator for eight years until he was defeated in 1934 by Henry
Tillman, lawyer and son of the famous United States Senator “Pitchfork” Ben Tillman of South Carolina. Pat Whitaker is an aggressive and persuasive speaker. He and his brother came to Tampa from Georgia as young men and Pat was taken up by the then political powers as an attractive political personality. State Senators until recently had unusual authority in the Legislature at Tallahassee. By senatorial courtesy they could {lass almost any bill they wished affecting their own districts.
IN the late twenties the Whitakers became ambitious to create a nclitical organization of their own. They set out to capture the city administration and, with the avowed purpose of obtaining honest elections, Senator Pat Whitaker had the Legislature pass a law in 1931 constituting a Tampa City Election Board which would control all election machinery in the mayoralty campaign later that year. It was the first and only board of the kind in the state. The Whitaker candidate for mayor was Pat Whitaker’s broth-er-in-law, Robert E. Lee Chancey, who had served several terms with reasonable satisfaction to the public as county solicitor. Chancey was opposed by an older faction which had long dominated both city and county affairs. There was an outcry from this faction against the new City Election Board on the ground that it was a self-perpet-uating body whose members had been named specifically in the act Whitaker had passed and that they were a law unto themselves.
AFTER a bitter campaign and election in which there were many charges of fraudulent registrations, ballot-box stuffing and repeating, Chancey was declared nominated at the primary by this election board, which did the counting. Florida’s one-party primary system prevented effective opposition in the general election and Chan-' cey took office as Mayor. Since then the Whitakers have been credited with complete control of the city government. The older faction continued to run the county government. During Mayor Chancey’s first four-year term gambling continued along traditional lines, with little interference from either city or county government. * When Senator Whitaker had to stand for renomination in 1934 he was supported by the city administration under his brother-in-law, Mayor Chancey, and opposed by the county political machine, which backed Henry Tillman. TENSION MARKS PRIMARY THE primary was marked by high tension at the polls and slugging in some of the “hot” precincts, where crews of repeaters were reported in evidence. This time the county commission counted the returns. When it was announced that Tillman had won, the Whitaker faction declared the election had been stolen. But Senator Whitaker gulped the bitter Medicine and bided his time. Mayor Chancev ~ounced last spring that h* Jid stand for reelection. T..c county political organization backed D. B. McKay, newspaper publisher, who had been Mayor for several terms and resigned in 1931 to devote himself to business interests. The campaign began in late July, with many charges and countercharges. The primary, under the control once more of the Whitaker - created city election board, was to be held Sept. 3.
Clapper
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BATTLED FOR CONTROL
WHITAKERS RUN CITY
BENNY
The Indianapolis Times
Registration took place in early August. The city election board announced that some 34,000 citizens were entitled to vote. A howl of protest arose from the McKay camp, and Tampa’s two newspapers pointed out the absurdity of the figures, declaring that it indicated a purpose to steal the election. The registration of voters in the 1931 mayoralty campaign was only 22,000. An increase of 12,000 in our years was out of all reason. Civic * bodies became aroused. The President’s Round Table, consisting of the heads of various civic organizations, proposed a slate of five men, not prominently identified with factional politics, for election to the city election board. (Senator Tillman had put through the 1935 Legislature a law requiring board members to submit themselves to a vote of the people, instead of perpetuating themselves by their own authority as under the original Whitaker Act).
MILITIA CALLED OUT
FEELING rose to fever heights. W. C. Spencer, then sheriff, called on Gov. Schultz for the militia to help maintain order at the polls, declaring that the Chancey administration, through the Election Board, was hiring hundreds of special policemen under the pretense of guarding the polls. Sheriff Spencer revealed that he himself had engaged 600 special deputies "to maintain order” but said these were not enough. Gov. Sholtz sent the Adjutant General of the Florida National Guard to investigate. Asa result the 116th Field Artillery was called out for guard duty on election day. The primary was a farce. In front of each of the 29 polling places were crowds of armed huskies and plug-uglies. Beside the regular city police force of 105 members, there were 1124 special policemen sworn in by Police Chief Tittsworth. now under indictment; Sheriff Spencer had his 600 deputies, while some 300 soldiers patrolled the streets in trucks, hastening from polling place to polling place wherever disorders were reported.
CHANCEY NOMINATED
AS a result of the intimidation and terrorism only a small proportion of the electorate went to the polls at all. There were many clashes and many arrests. Each facton accused the other of violating the election laws. The jails were kept busy receiving prisoners, who were promptly bailed out. The Tampa Times commented the next day: “In the long and disgraceful history of fraudulent elections in Tampa, none probably surpassed this one in mismanagement if not deliberate illegal tampering with the machinery of the election.” Aftes canvassing the vote the election board announced that Mayor Chancey had been nominated by 9325 votes against 5084 for ex-Mayor McKay. Since 2129 special policemen and deputies and other guards were on duty that day, simple division shows that there was one “law enforcer” for each seven votes cast. The defeated faction talked of going to court, and appeals were made to Gov. Sholtz and Atty. Gen. Landis for intervention, but nothing came of it. County Solicitor Hardee—an opponent of the Whitaker faction —prosecuted a number of precinct officials accused of fraudulent practices. They were defended by the redoubtable Pat Whitaker, who appealed their convictions to the State Supreme Court and had them all released on a technicality. The one bright spot in the election was the fact that four of the
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 22, 1936
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Eugene P. Poulnot
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Sheriff J. R. McLeod
five men on the President’s round table slate obtained pluralities and are now serving. The Whitaker faction thus lost control of the board.
WROTE LETTER TO FORUM
JOSEPH A. SHOEMAKER had arrived in Tampa from Vermont some six months before the city primary of last Sept. 3. He had been a Socialist Party worker in Vermont. A week or so after the primary he began appearing in the local newspaper offices, explaining that he was executive secretary of a new political party called the Modern Democrats. He talked a lot of vague and unorthodox theories about government but expressed admiration for President Roosevelt. His central idea was that the millenium could be brought about overnight if Congress would pass an income tax law levying 100 per cent on all incomes above SSOOO a year. One day Shoemaker announced that the Modern Democrats would run an independent candidate in the November general election against Mayor Chancey. The candidate selected was Miller A. Stephens. Few persons in Tampa had ever heard of Mr. Stephens, although he was a native of the city. The modern Democrats held a few curbstone meetings at which speechse were made by Shoemaker, Eugene F. Poulnot and Sam D. Rogerst—he three future flogging victims —attacking municipal conditions under the Chancey regime. Shoemaker wrote a series of letters to the public forum column
Washington Merry-Go-Round BY DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. ALLEN
Til ASHINGTON, Feb. 22.—Sup- ’ * porters of Gov. Alf Landon are claiming that Ogden Mills, Secretary of the Treasury under Hoover, has parted with his onetime chief and climbed on the Kansan’s bandwagon. ... When Hoover began his political comeback last year, the inside word in Republican circles was that he had the moral and financial backing of Mills. . . . Lowest political temperature of the current blustery winter was reached at Springfield, 111., on Lincoln’s birthday when Secretary Ickes and Gov. Gene Talmadge met for the first time. Outside of an icy “how-do-you-do” the two men said nothing to each other. . . . Sullivan and Cromwell, leading New York law firm which received a $75,000 fee to oppose the holding company act, is counsel in the important Sugar Institute case now pending in the Supreme Court. A number of leading industries seek an interpretation from the court legalizing the anti-trust statutes. . . . Senator Lester J. Dickinson, lowa’s presidential aspirant, was the butt of much good-natured cloakroom railery following the TVA decision. Dickinson is a strong foe of TVA, and the day before the court’s decision he declared: “If there had to be a choice between thd Senate and the Supreme Court I would rather see the Senate abolished.” Next day the court upheld the TVA. tt tt tt Increased Need WASHINGTON headquarters of the Conference of Mayors has notified Federal relief authorities that as a result of the
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Pat Whitaker
of the Tribune outlining his "plan” for the salvation of the country. His outgivings were not actually communistic or subversive of the American form of government, but they were more or less “crack-brained.” Little attention was paid to them by the rank and file of Tampa voters, but the temerity of this newcomer in daring to challenge the city machine apparently did not escape notice among some of the officeholders. ALL TAMPA SHOCKED AT the general election the City Election Board reported Mayor Chancey received 10,768 votes and Stephens 919. But Shoemaker was not daunted. He said the public had not been fully aroused, and he continue dto write about his “plan” several days a week in the Tribune. His last letter was published on Nov. 27, three days before he was fatally flogged. Tampa was shocked by that episode as it never had been shocked before. There are black incidents in the more or less remote past when floggings were common in various parts of Florida. But those were mostly of the old-style holier-than-thou punishments administered to moral delinquents. In the first few days after the flogging it was freely whispered around \tfhere political handymen congregated that these three floggings were only the beginning of a series that would "put the fear of God” into political and sociaj agitators and deter them from attempting to interfere with machine politics in next June’s primary when important state
severe and protracted cold spell, cities in all parts of the country report a marked increase in relief demands. So heavy is the unanticipated drain on local resources that the Mayors’ Conference is revising its estimates for Federal aid next year, and is planning to ask Congress for a $3,000,000,000 appropriation. . . . Chairman William Connery Jr. of The House Labor Committee is putting his bonus money to a novel use. He plans to establish a trust fund for his 11-year-old daughter. . . . Aubrey Williams, one of Harry Hopkins’ five assistant administrators, has been elevated to No. 3 man in the WPA organization. He has been given the title of deputy administrator, thus officially ranking him above Corrington Gill, Jacob Baker, Lawrence Westbrook and Mrs. Ellen S. Woodward. ... So far only nine states have enacted unemploymen insurance acts to conform with the Federal Social Security law. . . .Virginia’s Democratic Rep. Howard Smith has introduced a bill for the printing of 11C,900 copies of a government publication entitled “Diseases of the Horse.” He proposes to distribute them, 80,000 to members of the House, 30,000 to the Senate. a a Hull Statement SECRETARY OF STATE HULL will make a major political declaration in Baltimore* in early March. He will not deal with foreign affairs. . . . Enrique Bordenave, Paraguayan minister, is half-brother of the deposed president of Paraguay. (Copyright. 1936. by United Feature Syndicate, Inc.)
and county officials, including a Governor, are to be nominated. But when the Tampa newspapers daily reflected in news columns and editorials the widespread and growin gpublic indignation, such talk ceased. EDITOR NAMED SHERIFF SHORTLY after the disorderly September primary Gov. Sholtz removed Sheriff Spencer for failude to do his duty and appointed in his place Jerome R. McLeod, a newspaper man who had been managing editor of The Times. A native of Florida in his middle 30s, with years of experience as a political writer, McLeod’s selection tourned out to be a particularly happy one. When Poulnot returned to Tampa aobut 4 a. m. on Sunday after being flogged, he called Sheriff McLeod at his home and told him what had hapepned. The sheriff went into action. He sent deputies to the scene of the flogging and obtained some valuable pieces of evidence which are expected to figure in the trials to come. He went quietly but doggedly about the business of running down the floggers. Mayor Chancey was in Georgia attending his father’s funeral. Police Chief Tittsworth said he knew nothing about orders for the raid. Sergt. Brown declared it had been made on a telephone tip that Communists were meeting, and that he acted on his own responsibility. REWARD PUT UP ON Dec. 2 the American Civil Liberties Union offered SIOOO reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the floggers. The next day, on his return to the city, the Mayor ordered Chief Tittsworth to conduct an investigation. Two days later Tittsworth announced that he had investigated and that the police were clear of blame. On Dec. 10 the city board of representatives offered a reward of $2500. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labor, threatened to remove the A. F. of L. national convention, scheduled to meet in Tampa next fall. Clergymen held a mass meeting at the Municipal Auditorium. Norman Thomas, leader of the Socialist Party, telegraphed protests and issued statements blaming the KpKlux Kdan. In the meantime Sheriff McLeod, working with State Attorney J. Rex Farrior, a Sholtz appointee and therefore opposed to the Whitaker machine, and his assistant, R. M. Huntly, began to bring the tangled ends together. On Dec. 16 the Hillsborough County grand jury was called into special session and the same day Mayor Chancey suspended Sergt. Brown and the other policemen who conducted the raid. The next day Moyor Chancey took charge of the police department himself and gave Tittsworth of leave of absence. STINGING CHANGE MADE ANOTHER bombshell was exploded when the two judges of the local Circuit Court, Judges Parks and Sandler, delivered a stinging charge to the Grand Jury. Denouncing the flogging case, they said: “It does not require this court t oinlorm you that it has been and is common talk of not a few of our law-respecting and lawabiding citizens that both county and city elections for several years have generally been ‘crooked,” and little attention paid to the law regulating such elections. "In some instances, so it is said, election officials of notoriously unsavory reputation were appointed to responsible places of trust in the conduct of elections, by those having the power of appointment; that election officials have been corrupted by bribery; that the issue in one campaign was none other than that of who would get control of the gambling concessions or privileges within the city and county, which are said to be highly valuable, because of graft collected from those conducting the gambling houses; that officials themselves have participated in the graft extorted from these establishments; that the ‘take’ by only one set of offcials amounted to S2OOO per week. “Worst of all, it has been said that the people of this city and this county do not want fair, honest and legal elections; that our law enforcement officers, upon whom falls the responsibility for the lawful conduct of elections, do not want honest elections, and that they will not enforce the laws relating to elections and gambling and incident forms of vice accompaying such violations of law; that they have connived at flagrant violations os uch laws, and corruptly employed the powers of their offices to continue themselves in office.” Next: Arrests and a Suicide.
By J. Carver Pusey
Second Section
Entered as Second-Class Matter at PostofCice. Indianapolis. Ind.
Fair Enough HKHOIft ']%>*' UNICH, Feb. 22.—Much personal incor.vienca would be avoided if Americans coming to Germany realized that they can not insist on the same privileges here which Germans enjoy in the United States. In New York, for example, there is an aggressive Nazi group which hold political meetings hostile to a large element of native-born American citizens and sometimes conducts rifle practice on the out-
skirts of the city. Americans coming to Germany, however, are subject to the German laws, and these laws to not permit political assemblies comparable to the Nazi meetings in New York. And, of course, it would be absurd for any American group in this country to think of organizing a “shoot” on the order of the Nazi outings at home. The explanation is that the Germans in America are subject to American law, while Americans in Germany must live within the restrictions imposed by the Nazi regime. Most Americans under-
stand this, but a few seem to to think that their passports guarantee them all the rights which are theirs at home and are surprised and hurt when they find themselves in trouble with the political police. There was a case in the People’s Court in Munich which is of interest in this connection. The defendant was Karl Nisselback, aged 36, who was born in Bavaria and naturalized in Brooklyn, but returned here to go into the export and import trade. A Case in Point TTE was arrested last May, and his difficulty might A have remained a secret for some time but for the fact that his wife, also of German birth, reported immediately to Mr. Hathaway, American consul. Nisselback was alleged to have conspired with Otto Strasser, political exile living in Prague. Tfie latter was once a political colleague of Adolf Hitler but broke with him and ran away. Nisselback also charged with importing copies of Strasser’s revolutionary publications. Found guilty he was sentenced to two years imprisonment, thus demonstrating that an American in Germany can not claim the same indulgent treatment that a Nazi residing in New York receives. It is the German who has been naturalized as an American and then returns to Germany who gives most of the trouble. The explanation, obviously, is that such people are unable to suppress their interest in German political controversies and either sound off too vehemently or find themselves tempted to take sides. Nowadays if a naturalized American returns to his fatherland for more than two years he must convince the nearest consul that he is still a loyal American in order to retain his passport. a a Saves Much Trouble was adopted at a time when many Central A Americans were going to the United States to study in the universities, acquiring citizenship in the meantime, and then returning to their homes to take part in political intrigues. It is a useful law now, because otherwise the American government would be meeting constant calls to assist nominal Americans in trouble with various European governments. In a recent case which Mr. Hathaway handled the defendant, a born German but a naturalized American, had lived in Germany for 15 years and had not even troubled to present himself to the consulate. Nevertheless, when he got into trouble he yelled for help, and the Germans, for some reason, let him wriggle away. After he had left Germany, Mr. Hathaway received word that the man’s American citizenship had been written off in 1921, but he was on his way by that time, and the Nazis may have regarded his escape as good riddance. Os course, there is an important question of manners involved. Nazis residing in American cities who hold meetings to harass native-born Americans may be acting within their rights, but they can hardly be called good guests. On the other hand, Americans have no choice. They must keep out of political movements and arguments, or else .
Art in Indianapolis BY ANTON SCHERRER 'T'HE collection of early American silver, loaned by Yale University and now on display at the Herron, recalls the extraordinary behavior of John Hull on the occasion of his daughter’s marriage. John Hull was the first Boston smith of whom we have any record. A native of England, he was made master of the Massachusetts mint —a hazardous job, at the time, because of England's rather definite notion as to whose business it was to coin money. Hull went ahead, however, and produced the famous Pine Tree shillings. It was Hull’s daughter, Hannah, who was placed in the mint scale that her weight in these shillings might be given her as a dowry. It is fairly certain, now, that Father Hull was talked into the scheme by his own family. Be that as it may, all Boston was agog with curiosity because Hannah's bulk and beam were the talk of the town. When the result was announced, it was learned that Hannah’s dowry was exactly 500 pounds, or the equivalent of only 125 pounds of flesh. Father Hull’s chicanery went even further. Among other things, he took his own time to hand over the dowry. Asa matter of fact, he paid it after the wedring—and in installments. a a tt r I''HE Yale collection, to be sure, has no example of Hull’s work, but it has the next best thing—a “salt” by Paul Revere Jr., whose work represents a second and more developed phase. Paul Revere Jr. came by his talent honestly enough. His father, a one-time apprentice of famed John Coney, made his mark as a smith before Paul was born. Son Paul was only 19 when his father died and left him to run the business. Immediately, Paul began running everything else in Boston, too. Quite apart from his activities as a patriotic smith, he became engraver and publisher of political cartoons, many of which he designed himself. He was a manufacturer of gun-powder and of church bells; he made frames for the Copley portraits and he ran a hardware store in which, among other things, he sold false teeth. He continued fooling with false teeth until he got them perfected to the point of advertising in the “Boston Gazette.” In 1770, readers learned that Paul Revere’s false teeth would be not only an ornament but a real help in speaking and in eating as well. a a a EARLY American silver, made before 1820, can hold its own with the fine examples of English plate. It betrays English influence, of course, but it has merits all its own. Our pieces are, as a whole, far simpler. They are more ingenious in design, more definitely concerned with shape and less with ornament. They show plainly that they were made for ifce rather than for display and they have, as a result, a beauty that stays within the scope of its own resources. Curiously enough. Early American silver and Early American architecture, in intent and content, had ti e same goal and achieved it in very much tb, same way. *
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Westbrook Pegler
