Evening Star Newspaper, August 8, 1937, Page 48

GRAVEYARD LINK IN HISTORY Area Is Probably Last Resting Place of Some Prominent Citizens of Montgomery County—Well-Kept Garden in Present Condition—Early Takoma Park. By John Clagett Proctor. N THE early days there were many I Washington, which were here when the Capital was moved to these could be identified for a con- siderable number of vears afterward. the Burnes’ graveyard, which stood on the south side of H street, between is now the Printeraft Building, and here was the famous Van Ness removed to Oak Hill Cemetery. However, although so many of the known, still, occasionally suspicion of an unknown one bobs up, as was re- was being made in downtown Seventh street, and a human skull was un- record of a burial place in this par- ticular location, and it is quite prob- | spot from some nearby graveyard, or | it might have been just a part of a But once in a while a hitherto un- | known graveyard does show up, and writer recently investigated in re- sponse to a letter addressed to the author said: “Being a constant reader of The quite interested in unusual and quaint things and doings or customs of by- clipping I am inclosing with my letter in Thursday or Friday evening's Star. have in my care an old family burial plot, dating back many many years the graves have been done in the manner mentioned in this clipping, by sort of pastime or hobby, if it may be called that. When I came into | was covered with old brambles and | honeysuckle, weeds and. indeed, most | quarter acre; with great care and lots | of work I have made it over into a Mr. John Clagett Proctor might be interested. I read his writings every to me. T have the deed to the property and other information, should any one and see me. Most sincerely, “J. A. DAVIS, “Takoma Park, Md." The clipping referred to by M: “MARKING OLD GRAVES.” “There is a burying ground near are marked with field stones; large ones indicate old men and the small W . Davis, whose home and cemetery are at the corner of Prospect and north end of Takoma Park, Md, he found & man much fascinated by private burial plots in and around this location in 1800, and some of One of the most notable of these was Ninth and Tenth streets, about where Mausoleum until 1872, when it was early burial places hereabout are cently the case when an excavation earthed. In this case there was no able the skull was brought to this homo specimen. proves very interesting, as one the Editor of The Star, in which the Btar ever since I can remember, and gone days, my eye caught this little It is interesting to me, because I in the past, and all the markings of my ancestors. I am making this a possession of this piece of ground, it everything had covered the entire one- | pretty nice park. I thought maybe Sunday and they are quite interesting be interested and would like to call “901 Prospect avenue, Davis, as taken from The Star, follow. ‘Webster, Mass., in which the graves ones young men.” EN the writer called on Mr. Greenwood avenues, at the extreme the work he has been doing—in beau- | tory tifying and caring for the graves of some of his early ancestors. Mr. Davis is not an old man, or for this reason we might attribute his great reverence for the dead, but to him caring for this sacred plot ts a matter of sentiment, aroused, perhaps, by the fact that he inherited the one-quarter acre of ground, upon which also stands his home, from an uncle, who stipulated that this particular piece of land should always remain in the family. According to Mr. Davis, in all there are about 125 persons buried in this plot, and this includes his great-grandfather and great-grand- mother, Hezekiah Davis and wife. At an early date the farm here- about, which must have been of con- siderable acreage, was known as the Cecil Plantation, having been inherited by Anna Cecil, who, according to the family Bible, married James Davis, May 5, 1799, and Scharf, in his “His- of Western Maryland,” prac- tically substantiates this in his Mont- gomery County records, where he records the issuing of a marirage license to James Davis and Anney Cisell, April 25, 1799. The parents of Anna Cecil, who was born July 12, 1775, were. Gabriel and Mary Cecil, and beside Anna, the children of the latter included: Sam- uel Cecil, born October 4, Eleanor Cecil, born April 19, John Cecil, born October 9, James Cecil, born February 8, William Cecil, January 31, Mary Cecil, born January @1, Jemima Cecil, born November 25, 1766; Thomas Cecil, born March 20, 1771, and Anna, who married James Davis, HE age of this burial plot (there apparently being no records to g0 by) is believed to run back at least as far as 1734, and that the Cecil | family lived somewhere in this neigh- borhood at that time. Indeed, not long since, James A. Davis, who lives on the place, certificate issued to Mary Cecil during the year mentioned, by the then rector | of St. Paul's Church, more generally known as Rock Creek Church, and she was probably. the mother of Gabriel Cecil, who was the father of Anna, who married James Davis. This certificate is now one of the prized relics in the library of the ‘Washington Cathedral The family name, Cecil, is a very old one in Maryland history, and the writer was able to pick up random the name of Joshua Cecil, who is men- tioned as living in Calvert County as early as 1695, though it is likely the family was among the pioneer settlers, for there was a known friend- ship between the Calverts and the Cecils before the charter of Maryland was issued to George Calvert, the then Lord Baltimore, June 20, 1632. The friendship between these two families is said to have been increased when Sir Robert Cecil, Queen Eliza- beth's principal secretary of state, later recommended George Calvert as | clerk of the Privy Council of King James, and though George Calvert never came to America, having died before the execution of the patent to Maryland, named in honor of Queen Henrietta Maria, yet his son, Cecil Calvert—undoubtedly named in honor of his friend, Sir Robert Cecil—did found a confirmation | settle here as history so notably records. Of course, Cecil County, in the northeastern part of the State, is named either for some member of the Cecil family or for Cecil Calvert, Lord Baltimore. 5 In glancing over the first United States census, for 1790, but two heads of families of the name Cecil were found then living in Montgomery County, Md., these being Archibald Cecil and Kinsey Cecil. At this time the former was married and had two sons under 16 years of age and two daughters, while Kinsey Cecil was married and had one son under 16. At this time there were also living in Frederick County Willlam Cecil, sr., and Willilam Cecil, jr. John Cecil was then living in Queen Anne County. AS TO the Davis side of the Cecil and Davis families, the family Bible records the issue of James Davis and Anna Cecil as being Thomas Tru- man Cecil Davis, born March 10, 1800; John Briscoe Davis, born Janu- ary 14, 1802; Philip Sabret Cecil Davis, born October 14, 1806; Eliza Davis, | born January 10, 1809; Sabret Cecil Davis, born August 20. 1811: Hezekiah | Davis, born September 6, 1813; Sam- {uel Cecil Davis, born February, | 1816, and Benjamin Davis, born May 28, 1818. Among the Davises recorded as living in Montgomery County in 1790 are Griffith Davis Ephraim, Forrest, three persons by the name of Charles and Baxter, Jeremiah, William, John, John V., Joseph, Levi, Lodowick, Mary, Morris, Nathan, Robert, Thomas and Walter Davis. Benjamin Davis, who lived in the little log house which originally stood near Carroll and Garland avenues, died 35 or 40 years ago, when what was left of his farm. except the ceme- terial plot, was sold to Mr. Thomp- son, who removed the little house to Greenwood avenue, where it now stands near the old apple orchard | family. | over the logs, and rematns in this dis- guised way today. Early in his life Benjamin Davis, who was born in 1818, as stated, was a miller at the old Riggs mill, which is still standing on the Riggs road, and generally known by that name, though it is more correctly the Adel- phi Mill. It is a picturesque old struc- ture and received its supply of water, when in operation years ago, from the Northwest Branch of the Anacostia River, which crosses the road at this point. Today this stream compares with Rock Creek, though it was much larger a century ago—and so was Rock Creek. Sometime ago the writer referred to this old mill, but since it is just as interesting now as it was then, he has | no apology for repeating himself in this story. Indeed, it is well worth a | trip out there to see, and will be readily recognized by the State marker | which reads: “‘Adelphi Mill. “This old grist mill, built in the Summer of 1796, probably by two | | brothers, Issacher and Mahon Sco- | field. In 1811 the mill was also used | for wool carding. The miller's cottage is of the same period.” THE mill is about 50 feet front by 60 feet in depth. It is one story under ground and two stories above DOMESTIC CLASHES ON TOUR Family Disputes Over Routes to Be Taken Are Ended Usually After Time Lost Has Mounted to High Figure and Tem- pers Are Keyed to Breaking Point. By William A. Bell, Jr. Divorce lawyers join at this season the merry company of automobile, automobile accessory and gasoline salesmen and others to whom the call ©of the open road is & ringing of coin. ‘When John Motorist takes the wife and kiddies (the little dears) for a ride in the country, all roads lead to Reno, and it is a patient man or woman who can detour the rough highway of marital dissension, once the family automobile is beyond the eity limits. All may be sweetness and light in the home, but once a couple has for- saken their abode for the high road, let Harmony beware. A wife, a mother, & sweetheart or a maiden aunt may not be back seat drivers in the sense that they seek to regulate speed, to dictate destination or to give advige on the handling of the car. They may not even demand a turn at the wheel, for which the author, no suffragette, offers profound thanks. But let a problem of direction arise, a doubt as to route, and there will be savage words. No one knows quite why it is, but & woman in an automobile.is a waman in doubt. 8igns mean nothing, maps mean nothing, printed instructions mean nothing. She is always sure . that you're going the wrong way, and she wants to stop at every third rev- olution of the motor to ask directions. The male motorist, on the other hand, believes he is omniscient. ‘When doubt creeps into his mind, he emothers it with another stab of his foot on the accelerator. Gases it to death with carbon monoxide, and goes blithely on his way—often the wrong ‘way. He simply will not pause to ask & question. However much of a Caspar Milquetoast he may be other- wise, behind the wheel of a car he is & creature of splendid and foolhardy self-confidence. S0 here we have a case of frre- sistible force meeting immovable ob- Ject, and the result is spontaneous combustion. * JOHN,” begins Mrs. Motorist, some- what timdly, “this doesn’t look like the road to Pumpkintown. I've been over it before, and I don't re- member any of this. That filling sta- tion we just passed—the one with the tourist cabins—there’s no place like that on the Pumpkintown road.” “Oh, we're all right,” says Mr. Know-it-all. “Probably that station’s been put up since you came by last.” “Well, that was only a month or so ago. It couldn’t have gone up that quickly—just couldn't have. There may have been a filling station along here, but it seems to me it was a red one. This one's white, Yes, I'm sure it was a red one.” *“Maybe they painted it.” *“Now, John, don’t be funny. I tell you I know the road, and this wsn’t e » “That sign back there sald it was.” “What did it say?” “To Pumpkintown—42 miles.” “I didn't see any sign.” “Well, it was there all right.” “Don’t you think we better stop and ask.” “Ask what?” “If this is the way to Pumpkin- town?" “Now, listen, dear, I know where I'm going. Take it easy. We're per- fectly O. K.” k) ““Well, just the same, I think we bet- ter ask.” “Now, what's the use of stopping | when I KNOW we're on the right| road?” John gives the pedal another push and the speedometer mounts from 40 to 45 to 50. “Oh, John, not so fast. We may be on the wrong road and going miles out of the way.” Silence for a total elapsed time of 3.2 minutes. “John. .. " “What?"” “Please ask.” “Good Lord! Ask what? Anyhow, there’s no one to ask, unless you want to call out to that clump of trees. They were here when you came along this road last. They’ll back me up.” “Now, John, I won't have you talk- ing to me that way. I just know this isn't right and we're going to be late for dinner and the children will be cross and we won't get back till 'way after dark.” T THIS, Mr. Sure-Thing turns on the radio, loud. His motive is understandable, but his mistake -is grave. After the closing bars of some particularly noisy swing music, which the wife abhors, anyhow, there comes the announcer’s voice: “This is Station WRVA, Richmond.” Mrs. Motorist pounces. “I knew it! I knew it! You fool! You've got us hudreds of miles some- where in the wrong direction. We couldn’t hear Richmond if we were on the road to Pumpkintown. You can only get Baltimore and Washington over in that direction. Now, atop, and do as I say! Ask some one how to get on the road to Pumpkintown. We'll probably have to go all the way back to the last crossroads, where you THOUGHT you saw some kind of sign. Probably your old sign—if there was one, and I don’t think there was, said | Or Pittsburgh or Philadelphia or ‘Pump- kins for Sale’.” “For the Lord’s sake, Jane, will you shut up! I know what I'm doing.” Down goes foot on gas pedal and up “Aw, he won't know anything. None of these dumb farmers can tell you anything. Anyhow, he's too far away— couldn’t hear us.” “You do as I say this instant!" The speedometer drops to 30. The man in the field is drawing abreast. Mrs. Motorist thrusts her head through the window. Her prospective informer is 50 yards from the road- side. “Oh, mister!” she screams, “ 'zis the way to Pumpkintown . . . Pumpkin- town . . . Pumpkintown?” SHE raises a finger, jabs it forward; raises querulous eyebrows as if the question were addressed to some one a foot away. Her words are flicked | away by the rush of air past the car. The farmer glances up, returns to his hoeing. “Wonder what she's yelling about?” he thinks. “John! I'm not going any farther unless you stop this car and ask di- rections. I'm going to get out right here. You went past so fast that man didn't even hear what I was saying. Now, listen to me. You can stop the car and let me out. Wait a minute, there's a house up ahead, or a filling station or something. Drive up and we'll ask.” “There won't be any one there. They're all out in the fields. Farmers don't just stay around the house all day waiting for people to ask them silly questions, you know.” “I don’t care. It's not a silly ques- tion, and you stop this darn car. This is the last time I'll ever go for a drive with you. Why, I wouldn't even go around to the corner drug store witn you driving. You'd have us up somewhere on the north side of the city.” With reluctance & million times | which once belonged to the Davis | Later it was weatherboarded | | height, but at the time of the Civil greater than that of the schoolboy “creeping like snail unwilling to school,” John pulls alongside a frame structure that is filling station, resi- dence and store. There is no one in sight. “Blow the horn, Jahn.” “What for? I don't want any- thing.” N Mrs. Motorist reaches over and glves the horn a punch, wishing it were her husband’s nose. No re- sponse. “I told you s0. They're all away. asleep.” The motor is running and John begins to engage the gears. “Now you wait a minute! I don't care if there's no one here. I'm getting out. You.don't give any one goes speedometer to 55, to 60. A solitary individual is seen several hundred yards ahead, hoeing in a tobacco field. Mrs. Motorist bolts for- ward as if struck by an electric cur- rent, “John, stop! 8top, do you hear me? Stop! Don't you see that man up there. We can ask him.” Mr. Motorist, slows down o 40. half a chance.” MRA MOTORIST opens the door and starts to get out. John grasps her wrist and pulls her back to the seat. She atruggles. “AW, pipe down, and get back in. The breese’ll cool you off. We'll be in Pumpkintown in' 8 minutes and I'll buy you & champagne eocktail or maybe & nice m’am sundss or Garden adjoining the home of James A. Davis in North Takoma Park where some of Montgomery Ci lies are buried. ounty's early fami- the level, and the walls, which time | has failed to destroy, are still fairly well intact. Above the walls there was originally a superstructure of wood, covered by a hip roof containing one full story and an attic beneath the | sloping shingle roof and the ridgepole. “The Rambler,” the writer's prede- cessor in writing these stories for The Star, who died February 12, 1928, and whose real name was J. Harry Shan- non, visited this old mill in the Spring of 1914, and then met H. T. Freeman, who was residing in an old brick house nearby. The interview between “The | Rambler” and Mr. Freeman brought | out the following interesting com- | ments: “That he was born there in 1857 | and had lived there all the years since. His father, Willlam H. Free- | man, lived there all his life, and his grandfather, Thomas Scheckles, lived there before him. He said that he understood that the mill was built about 150 years ago. The date of the | erection of the mill had been rudely cut in the stone of the foundation, but a long while ago it had been so mutilated by some boys from the Agri- cultural College that it could not now be deciphered. “He had learned from his father, who got it from his father and mother, that an English family named Scofield moved into that part of the country a good many years before the Ameri- can Revolution and built the brick house on the hill, the stone house op- posite the mill, and then the mill. It was cperated as Beofield's mill. Then | another English family the name | of Logan acquired the property, and the place was long known as Logan's | Mill. The property was next taken | over by the Riggs family, and some- time before the Civil War it came to be known as Rizgs Mill. The milling | business in that part of the country | began to languish with the develop- | ment of the great milling industry in the West, but the mill continued to | struggle on for existence until a few years since.” lN 1790 there was a Mrs. Casandra Chew, lwing in Montgomery County, who had two daughters and four slaves. At that time there were also residing in the same county Abraham Sheckles, two John Sheckles and two Richard Sheckles. Samuel Sheckles was then a resident of Prince Georges County, as were Joseph | Schoolfield, his wife, six sons and | two daughters. Any of these might | have been related to the early settlers around the Adelphi Mill mentioned by “The Rambler.” Naturally, there were not a large number of residents in this part of Montgomery County when operations at the Adelphi Mill were at their | | | War the population of Bladensburg distriet, in which it was located, showed a decided increase, and by 1879, according to Hopkins' plat book, & considerable population was noted, and we find residing near thé mill, or owning property in that neighbor- hood, John Tomey, William H. Free- man, Columbus Chew and George, K W. | Bonifant, Hy. Nolton, N. Tyler, Ben- { jamin Schuder, Riggs, and those who were interested in the land lying west of the North- west Branch, to the District of Columbia and Montgomery County lines, in the general vicinity of “Green Hill,” were William Metzerott, P. P. Gross, B. L. and W. B. Jackson, L. H. Brown's store, Johnson, John Powell, Albert Charles, John Steiner (near another old mill), Andrew Powell, George Neitzey, Robert Brown, James Brown, Canfield, John Joy (manager for Mr. Riggs), Thomas Brown, J. E. Ray, Albert Gleason, William Sibley, Thomas Miller, Mrs. Morrell, John Morrell Lewis Maurath, William R. McChesney, Amos W. Souder, Thomas Murphy, John Miller, John T. Barnes, Washington E. Nalley, John Miller, James Miller H. Hiden, Daniel Mehrl- ing, Arthur Cosack and John Sauls- man, lN SEEKING information about the Cecil Plantation, the old estate of the Davis family, the writer con- | cluded this was probably the land | surveyed for Col. Henry Darnall in 1688, and called Girls portion, or that it was carved out of the vast Carroll estate. The Darnall tract, according | to early records, extended from Rock | Creek, eastward to O. H.. P. Clark's farm, 3% miles, and we are told “the Ashton and Sligo Turnpike passes through the estate, and that the | Brookville and Washington turnpike crosses it The Blair estate, known | as “Silver Spring” was included in this survey. Sligo Branch apparently passed through the Davis property, and the | writer found that, in 1878, the follow- | ing persons owned 'property between this stream and the Burnt Mill road | to the north. and from the old Ashton and Colesville turnpike, to the east, to the Prince Georges County line to the west. namely: Olive P. Clark, Mrs. Clark, Montgomery Blair, Colum- | bus Joy, Charles Montgomery, Samuel | Filius, William Beall. Frank Gettings, John Montgomery, Samuel R. Priest and Benjamin Davis. At this same period from the south | side of Sligo Branch to the District line were the following property hold- ers: William H. Thompson, J. L Dorsey, Charles Stewart, Washington Montgomery Blair, Samuel Fenton, C. H. Breshear, Wil- | llam Talbott, Perry Cellins, Mrs. M | Blair, Thomas Jones and Daniel | Mehrling. The wav Washington is developing ' in every ilable direction makes it most interesting to those who are old enough to look backward for just a few decades over this whole region, and in this respect Takoma Park is no exception, for it is really hard to real- | ize what vast changes have taken | place in this area in what seems to | be only a brief space of time. ACCORDING to Guy Clinton, who has written of the site of Ta- koma Park before that town was laid out, in this neighborhood lived the Bladens, the Hagens and the Cock- erilles, and there were the farms of the Jones, the Naughtons and Hodges. 27 7 J0WN? Tw { ISNT THE ROAD To PUMPKINTOWN 7 maybe a ‘coke,’ or a drink of water. “The devil we will—and let go o’ me, darn you—don't you see, you idiot—that we've been 162 miles from Washington and Pumpkintown is only 135? Look at the speedometer! Look at it1” An unshaved, unkept man in over- alls and greasy felt hat strolls from behind the house, walks to the back of the car and sticks the gas pump hose into the tank opening. “Hey, there,” Mr. Motorist calls. “We don't want any gas.” “Whatcha want, then?” “Go on, now, ask him,” says Mrs. M. i “You ask him. You've got your voice raised so high he can hear you better.” “Very well, then, I'll get out. And, what's more I won’t come back.” ‘Oh, for goodness sake, ask him and get it over with.” mufm “Oan you tell us, v G 15 P 17 15/ THAT LAS SI6N SAi SO P e 3 f 4 5 please, is this the way to Pumpkin- town?” “Pumpkintown? back.” Mrs. Motorist looks daggers at hus- band. “Back where?” . “Back the road you come along. It ain’t much—just a few signs at a crossroads. There’s a flag station ‘long the railroad a-plece back in the woods and a store 'bout half a mile down the road. Can't miss it.” “Oh, ho!” says John. “So you've been to Pumpkintown before! Know all about it. Know all about the road. I told you there was a sign at that crossroad.” “You oertainly read it cock-eyed, then. ‘Pumpkintown—42 miles!” Hah! Forty miles out of our way, just be- cause you're so darn stubborn you won't stop and ask. Always the wise suy!” And g0, far, far into the night. Naw, that'’s miles M R This old farm house on Greenwood avenue, Takoma Park, formerly stood near the intersection of Carroll and Garland avenues. It was then occupied by Benjamin Davis, one of Maryland’s early settlers. He also further {dentifies the Bla- dens by saying that they had a mar- ket garden and tells us that Dr. Cockerille was a Washington dentist. He also speaks particularly of Gen. 8. B. Carroll and of the blacksmith shop of the Rapleys over beyond the Sligo. In the early days of Washington | the streams that were formed in lhe‘ District of Columbia, as well as those | which entered the District by way | of Maryland, were far more en- chanting and majestic than they are | today. The beautiful Tiber and its | tributaries have long since been con- | verted into sewers—that is, what re- mains of them. Piney Branch has suffered the same fate, while the sup- | ply of water flowing into Rock Creek | has been considerably reduced. Sligo Branch or Sligo Run, as it is also | called, and which flows through a part of Takoma, still retains much of its beauty, but even here its vol- ume has been greatly reduced, and the stream is gradually becoming smaller all the time as the country adjacent to it is being built up and whom I was named—a tall, strong- looking old lady—rode horseback every morning until a few days before her death, when she was 82, and her apirit should linger along that winding road- way which follows Sligo Branch, now where the Seventh-day Adventists have a great sanitarium. This was opened for her to ride horseback through these woods long before the Civil War and extended about 7 miles, almost entirely on the Silver Spring property.” For years the old Sligo Mill was one of the landmarks of Takoma Park. From 1824 to 1826 it was rented to Charles King. Tubman rented it previous to 1831, when it was rented by Faw. In 1833 Pearce Pumphrey rented it, and John Briscoe Davis leased it in 1839, and until 1845, and likely afterward. NE of the earliest and most im- portant improvements made in Takoma Park was the sanitarium erected there in 1889, of which The Star said: “One of the most important of the the water from the surrounding coun- try finds its way into sewers instead of flowing into this stream. Hence it | Is not the same Sligo the early set- tlers of Takoma knew it to be nor does it retain the same charm as in days of yore. R,I.\J. GIST BLAIR, in his “An- nals of Silver Spring,” tells us of the road his grandfather built for his grandmother along this stream, for the Blairs were of the earliest settlers of this vicinity, and their property included a part of Takoma Park. Maj. Blair sa many improvements now under way is the sanitarium soon to be erected by R. C. Plower of Boston. “Its location will be on the higher grounds in the northern end of the park, and so situated that the Sligo will wind around the foot of the ele- vation on which the main building will be placed.” In 1908 Prof. Louis Denton Bliss pur- chased the North Takoma Hotel prop- erty, containing 160 rooms. This build- Ing was erected in 1892 and after it had been remodeled and equipped to suit the purposes of the school, it was oc- cupied and work begun there as a Tesidence institution for the Bliss “My grandmother, Violet Gist, for Electrical School. However, on the night of November 6, 1908, when tna school had occuplied the structure but a few months, the entire plant was wiped out by fire, one of the moss costly conflagrations Takoma ever had. New quarters were soon begin, | and the following year one wing of tha | present administration building was | erected. | This institution had its beginnin | in 1893, when Prof. Bliss opened h electrical school in the Warder Build | ing, at the southeast corner of Nint and F streets northwi where stocd in the early days the home of Georz C. Whiting, for whom a Mason lodge in this city was named. At first there was a small class | but 20 students, mostly from the Ce | sus Office. From this building tr school moved to 219 G street, wher it remained until it moved to Takom Park. Among the more celebrated grard uates of this school was the late C, | Francis Jenkins, who graduated in tha | second class. From the very first this inventive genius believed a ma- | chine could be produced which could project a life-size picture His facilities were limited, but | soon built a small machine in a washstand, while the school was still being conducted at the Ninth and P street address. Soon afterward, the | machine being perfected, he was ar to throw upon the wall of the school | a fife-sized motion picture of a | dancing girl. His inventions became | fundamental to the industry and his | patents most valuable. | Another institution which has had | much to do with the development of Takoma Park is that of the Seventh- day Adventists, who in the Summer | of 1903 purchased some 46 acres nf land, through which ran the Sligo. a BARKLEY’S RISE TO LEADERSHIP (Continued From First Page.) ware through the Georgia country- | side. He has worked in a livery stable, | and he has taken down shorthand as | a court reporter. Time was when his yearning ambition was to possess a complete suit of store clothes, for his own were sticky with the tobacco gum from the crops on his father's farm | in Graves County. For five years he swept floors, made fires, took out ashes and cut kindlings, to pay his way through a little Meth- odist institution of learning—Marvin College. He read up, while there, on What men like Clay, Webster and Jef- ferson had done in Washington. After five years at Marvin College Barkley went to Emory College in Atlants, and he secured the county rights to earthen kitchenware to help defray expenses. He secured, as well, a black horse, with flowing mane and tail, and, balanced between saddlebags filled with kitchen utensils, went about earning his tuition. Later he decided to attend the law school of the University of Virginia, and off he rode. He had taken up the study of shorthand and that gave him an opportunity to serve in the circuit courts as & reporter. He read for his bar examinations in the office of Judge W. S. Bishop of Paducah, Ky.— the Judge Bishop who was immortal- ized as “Old Judge Priest” by Irvin S. Cobb. In 1901 Barkley was admitted to the Paducah bar and four years later was elected prosecuting attorney for Mc- Cracken County. In 1909 he was chosen judge of the county court. DURING the great Wilson wave of | 1912 Barkley was swept into the House of Representatives, taking the seat of Ollie M. James, who went to | the Senate. He won & place in the | Interstate Commerce Committee and, as a member of that body, took pari in framing war-time legislation that authorized the Government to take over the railroads. He helped to pass the famous Adamson eight-hour rail- road law, and when the carriers were turned back under the transportation act, he assisted in fashioning that act. Later, as an improvement over the transportation act, he fought for the liberalizing Howell-Barkley bill, a measure that started a great fight. So great a fight, in fact, that for the first time in legislative history Bark- ley and his colleagues invoked the rule under which, by petition, 218 House members may discharge a com- mittee from consideration of a bill This was because it had proved diffi- cult to extricate the measure from committee. While the measure was defeated for that session by a filibuster, railroad executives and workers were brought together during the Summer and Fall and won to an agreement that led to almost unanimous passage of the bill | in the December session. As a result, when Barkley ran for the Senate in 1926 against Richard F. Ernst railroad unions gave him strong | backing. Barkley was also interested in high- way improvement and introduced the first Federal aid law for roads. In 1913 he introduced & measure that Benator George W. Norris later suc- ceeded in getting through Congress— for the abolition of “lame duck” ses- sions. During his days in the House and also in the Senate Barkley was known a8 an outstanding “dry” on the liquor question. He was a stanch supporter of prohibition for years, but in 1932, at the Democratic National Convention at Chicago, at the nomination of Franklin D. Roosevelt for the first time, Barkley, as keynoter and tem- rary chairman, declared for sub- mission of the repeal amendment, cre- ating thereby a sensation in the con- vention. 4 In 1930, during the administration of President Hoover, Barkley took the lead in a fight on many of the sched- ules of the Hawley-Smoot tariff bill, ALWAYB 8 liberal, Barkley stead- fastly supported President Roose- velt's New Deal program from the be. ginning. In fact, he was a promi. 1 nent figure during that “first one hundred days,” when the Roosevelt march started. He helped to bring about the stock market investigation that finally led to the Securities and Exchange Commission, and he assisted in writing the emergency banking act of 1933 and subsequent legislation. In 1935 he wrote the “death sentence” clause in the utility holding company act. He supported Federal housing, home owners’ loan and bank deposit guarantee legislation, also N. R. A. and A. A. A. The only time he de- parted from the program of the Presi- dent on a major issue was when he voted to override the soldier bonus veto. On one notable occasion the gentle- | man from Kentucky differed from the late Senate leader when Robinson took {an independent stand against the White House over the relief bill. Rob- inson urged that the Byrnes amend- ment for requiring contributions of 25 | per cent for local communities be passed. But on that occasion Barkley was administration spokesman, arguing that the proposal was a gesture which could not be put into practical effect, and Robinson was defeated when it came to a vote. | Barkley was probably the first to | advance the belief that the Supreme | Court was not too sacred to be dis- agreed with him that it was as fitting to discuss that body's faults and vir- tues as it was to discuss the faults and virtues of the Congress or the President. At the convention in Philadelphia in 1936, Barkley asked right out in meet- ing: “May the Supreme Court be re- garded as too sacred to be disagreed | with? Thomas Jeflerson did not think 50,” he added, “He did not hesitate to denounce a decision of John Marshall and the majority he led. Andrew Jack- son did not think so. In 1832, speak- ing of a decision of the Supreme Court, he said: ‘John Marshall has made his decision. Now let him enforce it!" In Chicago he later declared that the time has come to discard the old Amer- ican custom of regarding our Chief Justices as ‘superior oracles, immune from public criticism.’ ” N DISCUSSING the accomplish- ments of the present administra- tion Senator Barkley stressed what the President has called the “social aims of the administration.” He recalled the informal explanation of these aims given by the President at a White House press conference, reviewing them as “to try to increase the security and happiness of a larger number of | people in all occupations of life and in all parts of the country; to give them more of the good things of life; to give them a greater distribution, not only of wealth in the narrow terms but of wealth in the wider terms; to give them places to go in the Summer- time—recreation; to give them assur- ance that they are not going to starve in their old age; to give honest busi- ness a chance to go ahead and make a reasonable profit and to give every one & chance to earn a living.” The majority leader of the Senate expressed the belief that much of this has already been accomplished. “In order to study logically and in- telligently the wisdom of the remedies which have been administered, we should first diagnose the ailments from which the country suffered when this administration came into power,” declared Senator Barkley. “Consider agriculture. The farm credit system which had completely collapsed was restored. Farmers’ incomes have in- creased by hundreds of thousands of dollars. Consider banking. The fi- nancial situation was desperate, but the bank holiday and the emergency banking act pulled us up onto our feet again. By the creation of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. the Federal Government for the first time under- took to guarantee the return of de- posits in both State and national banks to their depositors, in the event of & bank’'s failure, at the same time safeguarding the bank against such fallure. The controller of the cur- rency has been able to announce an | all-time peak in bank deposits, | | “(C'ONSIDER industry. In 1929 | commerce with foreign nations amounted to $9.500.000,000. In 1932 it had dropped to $3,100.000.000 and the loss of this trade meant the lnss of ‘Pmplo_vanl to more than 3,000.000 American workers. This trade decline was caused in part by the erection of ‘mdeanmble trade barriers, which led to retaliation against us by nearly | every other nation in the world. This administration has attempted to re- ih-\'p and improve this situatian the negotiation of trade agreements ‘wnh other nations, through whieh we are finding an outlet for some of o surplus agricultural and industrial products. “Loss of our foreign trade, however, Was not so serious as the deciine of our domestic industrial production and resulting unemployment. Early in 1832 there were nearly 13,800,000 unem- ployed in this country—a staggering total, for it can be conservatively mated that each of these idle workers | represented a family of three, includ- ing himself—or more than 40,000,000 | Americans without visible means of support. In order to cope with the sit- | uation the national recovery act was | passed, intended to assist in the re- | vival of business, and despite rcontro- | versial issues in connection, it did | eliminate some of the unethjcal meth- ods that had prevailed in business and spread employment. “Also as part of the recovery pro- gram the Public Works Administration was set up, with billions appropriated by Congress to set the wheels of in- dustry turning again and provide em- ployment. Not only have these ends | been achieved but useful projects have been constructed throughout the country, of perrnanent value to their | communities. Expenditure of this vast | sum of money has been free from sus- | picion of corruption or misappropria- | tion., | N there is the matter of Fed- eral relief, with Governors of States, mayors of cities and officers of counties coming to Washington with burdens they could no longer bear, laying them on the Federal doorstep. But it was a call to service that thera was no honorable way to escape, and the Relief Administration met the emergency, feeding the hungry, eloth- ing the naked and giving shelter to the homeless on a scale never before un- dertaken by any Government. “When Franklin Roosevelt entered the presidency nearly 1,000,000 homes in the towns and cities of the countrv were on the verge of foreclosure and dispossession and home owners wers unable to meet their obligations to money-lending agencies. Here the Home Owners' Loan Corp. came to the rescue, placing $3,000,000,000 at the service of home owners throughout the Nation for refinancing of their mortgages on longer terms of pay- ment and at lower rates of interest “Through Federal Housing, the Reconstruction Finance OCorp., and other agencies set up under this ad- ministration, the good work has gone on, re-establishing the morale and prosperity of the American peaple. It is a recital that could be continued in- definitely. “In order to carry through these projects it has been necessary in cer- tain cases to depart from precedent. But, as I have already said, the Dem- ocratic party has always been & party of liberalism. And it should set, I repeat, as its goal and objective the advancement of liberalism. “By the same token, these definite accomplishments and this aggressive, constructive program have set a stand- ard of activity for the American peo- ple. That is why I say that the Re« publican party can no longer hope to exist or gain adherents simply by op- position to the liberal principles of the Democratic party. If they insist upon criticism, they will be called upon to offer some substitute. Construction, not destruction, the Nation now de- ,mands of its leaders "