"AMERICA'S KITCHENER."

Pukekohe & Waiuku Times, Volume 5, Issue 211, 22 September 1916, Page 1 (Supplement)

"AMERICA'S KITCHENER."

MR. JUSTICE HUGHES'S RISK To FAME. "I believe in work, hard work and long hours of work. I not : ce, too, that the most successful men are those whose minds are always cool; who are able to deliberate pronounce a calm, sober judgment in disturbng circumstances. It is not the man who reach.es the corner first who wins, but the man who "knows exactly what he js going to do when he readies the corner?"

Such are the views, regarding the qualities which make for success, held by Mr. Charles Evans Hughes, who has be nnominated as the Republican candidate for tho Presidency of the United States. He has been desciibed a.s "the Kitchener of American legal and political life," notably on account of his sphinxlike character and honesty and integrity of purpose. Gallant little Wales has more than a passing interest in Mr. Hughes, or this brilliant lawyer politician, who has ben twice Governor of New York, is i product of Monmouthshire. His father was a Welsh Baptist minister, but Mr. Hughes was born at Giens Fall, in the State of New York, fifty-four years ago. At first it was intended that ho should follow his father's example and become a minister, for when Charles was as young as seven he frequently wrote articles on religious subjects and submitted them for his father's approval. The latter nas told how they discussed theolog-ical matters together. But a change came over the boy's :n. clinations and' ambitions when he developed a great passion for mathematics, a passion which influenced him m his ntlimate choice of the profession of the law.

Mr. Hughes confesses, however, that ha owes almost everything to his mother, who was a Miss Conolly, with Irish, Scottish, and Dutch blood in her veins. She it was who took him in hand and taught him the lessons of his first years, whik his father instructed him in Latin and Greek, for Charles liad a strong antipathy to school. At five years of age he was anxious to go, and his w'shes were complied with. Two weeks later, however, h.e walked into lis father's study and handed him a paper, on which he had written, "Charles E. Hughes's plan of study." His lather asked him what this meant.

"Father," said Chavles, "I don't want to go to school any more. The scholars are very slow jn getting through their lessons, and the teacher goes over the same old thing time after time. I would like to study at home with you and mother, and I am 6ure 1 should have more time to play." And for six years Charles studied at home. Ut : mately he entered the Brown University, where he graduated. After studying for tha law, Mr. Hughes became a junior partner in one of the most famous law firms in New York His great chance came when in 1905 he was appointed as senior counsel by the committee to investigate the gas and electric lighting business or New York. The result of his cross-ex-amination was the complete exposure of methods whereby tba people were being grossly misled. The legislation which followed was drafted by Mr. Hughes himself, with the result that in the first year the municipality saved on its own light ; ng alone an amount estimated at £106,000. That case was the making of Hughes. He became known as the implacable foe of corrupt "bosses" and "rings" and the champon of all good citizenship, with the result that New York insisted on electing him Governor in 1906 and again in 1910. Personally Mr. Hughes i 9 a man 'if powerful phys : quo and of great physical and mental energy, who, because if his un-American habit of retaining his beard and moustache, is popularly known as "Whskers." He is a man of dry humour. When ho was first candidate for tho New York Governorship he dr,ow the line at some of the labours usually expected of candidates for office. When confronted with the. duty of kissing babies, ho flatly declined. "No, I will not make any appeal to the passions of the populace," was his droll refusal. Mr. Hughes firmly believes in the simple and regular life and the maxim, a healthy body ensures a steady mind Walking, golf, and mountaineering are his three hobbies, and Avhen unable to indulge in these outdoor recreations he retires to his library and finds solace in Irs be'oved books.