Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 36, Number 77, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 20 May 1904 — HAS WON HIS WAY [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

HAS WON HIS WAY

Rise of J. Frsnk Hanly From Cabin to ! Governor’s Chair. I . ; BORN TO POVERTY AND PRIVATION His Steady Rise to Eminence the Re* suit of His Own Arduous and Unceasing Endeavor.

On the 4th of April forty-one years ago the Republican candidate for governor of the great state of Indiana was born. At that moment there was nothing to justify a prediction that he would ever be known beyond the narrow region in which he lived or that lie would ever rise beyond the limitations that extreme poverty' often axes to the aspirations of men. The father was a cooper; a tenant in a poor rural community known as “Shake Rag,” near St. Joseph, Champaign county, Illinois. One of the 1 neighbors very aptly expressed the j condition when he said that j a boy cube up out of the ground and i got great it was Frank lianly.” A mile from the cabin home was j Rowdy Bead schoolhouse. This the ; young lianly attended for six months. , This was the sum of Frank Hanly’s experience in what is crdmar.ly oal’.eJ ( schooling, hat the mental coast; tu- , tion, sag, kir-onted and sustained Ly . 'an exrci'.ont physique, matrb tilled , this boy .in the greatest of ail educa- , tional institutions, the university of ! life. In this ho has been always a faithful ar.d diligent worker, and out , of it ail he has acquired what few ac- i 1 quire from the institutions of learning that are supposed to lit young men for the battle of life. I “Frank took to books,” says a brother. He had set out to be a lawyer and an orator. Fortunately the father was in touch with the young man’s aspirations. Often, it is said, tlie father would take the boy by the hand and walk to Champaign, ten II miles away, in order that the boy | might hear the great orators of the day on the political platforms. I When Frank was sixteen years old I blindness came to the mother to add 1 to the other misfortunes of the famI ily. The father then sacrificed the 1 ; little that he had in the vain hope of 1 i restoring the mother'3 eyesight. The children, tour in number, were sepa-

rated. Frank went to Williamsport, Warren county, Indiana, to saw wood, for 76 cents a day, and soon his father and mother rented a farm In that neighborhood and settled upon it to be near the son. But Frank Hanly in those days was doing something besides sawing wood. Hla leisure hours were devoted to study. He bought books and read them with the avidity that only an eager, hungry mind can know. The preference was given, of course, to books of law, though he gave sufficient attention to school text-books to qual- , ify him for teaching school. At ninei teen he became the teacher of a country district school in Warren county. I Then In the summer he abandoned the saw-buck for the ditch. It Is said that ; he has dug more ditches in Warren county than any other man in It. Not only this, but he soon became known as the best ditch-digger In the county. In the meantime he had attended various debates in the neighborhood and soon had become known ns the ditchdlggiug orator and debater. After young Hanly became a teacher

he was married to Miss Eva Simmer, the daughter of a farmer. It is said that here he started his library with a second-hand copy of "The L,ife of Garfield," a very appropriate as well as a very inspiring volume for a young man fighting his way to fame and for-

tune against the handicap of extrema poverty. And here one is naturally reminded of a saying attributed to this same Garfield: “I always feel like lifting my hat,” said he, “when I see an American boy and think of the possibilities that are wrapped up in him." Xid never was there a boy i» a brave struggle against adversity that would be more appropriately recalled: when, this: sentence of Garfield’s is mentioned. One day young, Hanly went to* Judge Rabb, of the Warren Circuit Court and asked to be admitted to the bar. He was esamined and of course showed that he was qualified, better than many a one that had been years in the-prac-tice. Mr. Hanly recalls with both pride and gratitude the encourager ment that he received in more, than one instance from Judge Rabb. About this time the aspiring young man heard Will Cum&aek’s lecture on the "Possibilities of a Young .Mam” and from this he received additional inspiration.

One day in 1883, when he was teaching school and digging ditches, for he was still too poor to abandon these to begin the practise of law, he nvat Judge Rabb, v.ho suggested that tfaa young man quit this- employment and enter his law office. The offer was accepted and the young man abandoned the schoolroom and the ditch to measure strength with tbs other lawyers of. Williamsport.

The first year was one; of smuggle. After that his ability and his Industry and his sincerity of purpose were rscogmizod and appreciated, and since then Frank Hanly has been known as one of the best lawyers in the state. In 1890 Mr. Hanly formed a law partnership with Ela Stansbury, a representative from Warren county in the last legislfiture. In 1894 he was elected to congress, but was defeated for renomination by a very small majority He then removed to Lafayette, where he has since been engaged in the practice of law. In 1899 he made the race for the United States Senate and was defeated in the Republican legislative caucus only by a small majority. Mr. Hanly has a comfortable house in Lafayette. The family consists of himself, wife and a daughter. To these he is devoted, and of all his varied experiences it is the home life that he most enjoys.

When it was announced that Mr. Hanly would be a candidate for governor, those who had given attention to the life-work of the man, recalling the numerous visit* he had made to different parts of the state, predicted that the foundation of his utrength would be found in the impression he had left by his speeches —the Impression of both man and matter. These speeches were always interesting and the deflvery impressive, but In addition to this was the feeling that the speaker had mastered his subject, that he spoke only his convictions and that back of the speech was a full-grown, honest, masterful man. And the predictions proved to be correct. It was among the sturdy, thoughtful voters that was laid the foundation for a successful gubernatorial campaign. Of course Mr. Hanly will be heard from In the campaign In many effective speeches. There are always numerous demands for him. and this year they will increase in number. Requests have been coming from all over the state ever since the day he was nominated. He will respond to as many of these as it Is possible for a strong and willing worker to meet. This means a keen analysis of existing conditions, the unanswerable logic of the student and the thinker, the peculiar sway of the orator’s rich, natural endowments, supplemented and strengthened by rare attainments, and back of it all and underlying it all, the earnest convictions that have been woven into the fiber of the man In his determined struggle for the highest and the best that are to be wrung from life by persistent and conscientious effort.

HON. J. FRANK HAN???