Jasper County Democrat, Volume 11, Number 58, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 23 December 1908 — PEOPLE OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PEOPLE OF THE DAY

House Minority Leader. Champ Clark of Missouri, successor to John Sharp Williams, as floor leader of the bouse minority, is one of the' most picturesque figures in congress. He is an all around big man—big In size, big In heart, big of brain—and he ha* an abiding faith In the Democracy. Next to his party Mr. Clark loves Missouri best. A few years ago he was on the lecture platform in Kansas when lie became ill and was told he. had only an even ebance to live. ‘’What more does a man want?” he demanded. “Just put me in a car and

start me back to Missouri. Going back home is enough to make any man well.” Before the train reached Kansas City he was on the road to recovery. Mr. Clark is a native of Kentucky and will be fifty-eight years old next March. He has worked as a hired farm hand, clerked in country store, edited a country newspaper and practiced law. Before he moved to Missouri In 1875 he was president of Marshall college, West Virginia, and for many years held the record for being the youngest college president. The new minority leader is serving his seventh term in congress and was re-elected last November. He was permanent chairman of the Democratic national convention of 1904 and chairman of the committee to notify Judge Parker of bis nomination. Kipling Mad* Taft Bmit*. William H. Taft wasnkr bom to his famous smile. He didn’t have it while in college. A close friend of his declares it was formed from reading Kipling, says the New. York World. Mr. Taft was Very ill lu January, 1902, when he left Manila on the transport Grant for San Francisco. While confined to his stateroom he read Kipling. “The Naulakha—A Tale of tbe West and the East,” pleased him most, especially this verse: Now, it is not good for the Christian health to hustle the Aryan brown. For the Christian riles and the Aryan smiles and weareth the Christ Inn down. / And the end of the tight is a tombstone wtjite and the name of the late deceased And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies he're who tried to hustle the east." Besides Kipling. Mr. Taft has other hobbies. One is music, particularly mgtim'e—favorite tunes, “Rufus Rastus Johnson Brown" and "The Road to Mandalay.” Editor Smith of Indianapolis. Delarau Smith, the Indiana editor who recently figured at the receiving end of 'President Roosevelt’s big' stick, is the publisher of the Indianapolis News. Mr. Smith's offending was tbe publication of an editorial in his paper on the Panama canal charges. These charges, which figured somewhat in the campaign, connected Douglas Robinson, brother-in-law of President Roosevelt, and Charles P. Taft with an alleged deal in the Purchase of the canal from the French company. In 1904 Mr. Smith championed the cause of Mr. Roosevelt for president and went to Sagamore Hill to assure him that he would carry Indiana. As early as 1906 the Indianapolis News began to boom Vice President Fair-

CHAMP CLARK.