Jasper County Democrat, Volume 12, Number 9, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 1 May 1909 — PEOPLE OF THE DAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

PEOPLE OF THE DAY

Pennsylvania’s Naw Senator. Conspicuous among the new arrival* to the United States senate is George Tener Oliver of Pennsylvania, who takes the seat vacated by Philander C. Knox, now secretary of state. While he has never held a political office, Mr. Oliver has been prominently identified with political affairs in Pittsburg all his life and has several times been a delegate to national conventions. On two different occasions in his life opponents of the late M. S. Quay induced Oliver to stand against him, and it is said that Oliver could have won had he remained in the field, but Quay was his bosom friend, and he refused to have any part in his downfall. Senator Oliver was born in Ireland in 1848 while his parents were there on a visit. He studied law, was admitted to the bar and practiced his pro-

session for several years. Most of his time, however, has been devoted to the iron and steel business, at which he amassed a large enough fortune to place him in the multimillionaire class. Senator Oliver is the owner of the Pittsburg Gazette-Times and the Pittsburg Chronicle-Telegraph, papers of Influence throughout Pennsylvania. In the senate Mr- Oliver is expected to be a conservative. He is a good speaker and is rated a man of excellent political judgment. Home, Sweet Home. Senator McLaurin of Mississippi tells a story to illustrate his conception of the difference between the treatment of the colored brother up north and down south. A Mississippi darky went up to Kansas and shortly got stranded. He begged for food and shelter from door to door and got neither. Finally he wandered back to Mississippi and knocked. “What are you doing at my front door, you black rascal?" “I want something to eat” “Well, go around to the back door and get it, then, you rascal,” said the white man. Then the old negro, remembering the polite way In which his requests had been refused in Kansas, threw up his hands and exclaimed: “Bless Gawd, I’s among my own people at last!”—Washington Star. Dean of the Cabinet. With one exception James Wilson of lo\ya, secretary of agriculture since March 4, ISO", holds the record for consecutive service in the cabinet, and he will soon reach the period when he will have served longer than any cabinet minister in the country’s history. Although seventy-four years old, he is hale and hearty. Albert Gallatin, secretary of the treasury under Presidents Jefferson and Madison from 1801 to 1814, has been the only cabinet officer to surpass Mr. 'Wilson’s present record. A native of Scotland, Mr. Wilson came to this country with fils parents when a boy of seventeen.settling in Connecticut Three years later he re-

GEORGE T. OLIVER.