The Austin Statesman (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 50, No. 93, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 4, 1921 Page: 5 of 26
This newspaper is part of the collection entitled: Austin American-Statesman Newspaper Collection and was provided to The Portal to Texas History by the UNT Libraries.
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SUNDAY. SEPTEMBER 4,1921
THE AUSTIN STATESMAN
OUR STATE DEPARTMENTS AND
$
THOSE WHO CONDUCT THEM
BY MARY JIMPERIEFF.
I '
A 7 ,
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I
PEGGY PAIGE DRESSES
S
V
(
HOUSE OF YOUTH
Lon suttered
6^
A In
Alonzo Abner Smith
born in
$
SUITS AND COATS
PRINTZESS
a
।
SUITS AND COATS
A
V
MUNSINGWEAR
S
am
Being, as has
oldest of
MODART
children. it fell to his lot to play house-
CORSETS
He is proud of his
Proud of
WARNER BROS. CORSETS
*
And Headquarters For
188
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=
4
805 Congress
Phones: 6524-7508
^rnin&wick
4
1
ffielal report has It
ollera report haqued
Moreover the el
Antimates one who counts or accoounta, that The Compt
I
8 Bs
Ne
£
RECORDS
m**"
The Public is Always
the Final Judge
Woman Thinks She Is
Privileged to Talk
All who have heard The Brunswick
Phonograph and Records have endorsed
our choice.
, We were convinced, but the public
approval accorded The Brunswick
strengthens our faith in our judgment.
The most critical have come to satisfy
themselves that The Brunswick was all
that we said.
Come now and hear The Brunswick.
We are delighted to demonstrate it.
whether or not you are ready to buy.
All have agreed that it is the super-
instrument—that it brings finer tone—
that it affords advancements hitherto
unknown. Really — an extraordinary
phonograph.
All we ask is that before you buy a
phonograph you first hear The Bruns-
wick. For comparison sells The Bruns-
wick, not sales talk.
It gives us great satisfaction to know
that every Brunswick owner is delighted,
and that every Brunswick sold is win-
ning friends.
Our policy is to afford a phonograph
service of the first rank. And we believe
if you become acquainted with it you
will be one of our regular customers.
Photo by Jensen-Raymer
LON. A. SMITH
tunity to accomplish accidents with
china, too, for he was accustomed to
an apron about his person, a broom
-THE—
J. R. REED MUSIC CO.
or dish towel in hand,
been mentioned, the
or
ic
of
1g
Our New Fall Merchandise is
Rapidly Assembling In All
Departments
A curly head nestled on your breast.}
Why need I try to tell the rest?
A mother's heart was filled with joy
Because she nursed a bouncing boy.
CHENEY SILKS
MALLIN SONS SILKS
BOTANY DRESS GOODS
her, and marry her.
Kate."
Order Your Winter
COAL NOW!
We Have The
Best Grades Of
Deep Shaft
McAlester
m
e
It
:h
is
ha
We are exclusive agents in
Austin for
I
\
to
of
i-
te
ot
•y«,
We know
bought.
And gives
• There is a girl here that I want you
to meet, and you must fall in love with
Her name is
read.
After getting all he could from coun-
try school Lon taught school and went
to Summerhill Boys’ Select School in
---- In fact, that he takes pride
in happy things with all the freedom
PENNSYLVANIA
Red Ash Anthracite
ARKANSAS “BERNICE
Semi-Anthracite
I
l
r
11-
D-
y.
an
in
Il-
in
ng
to
no willing martyr, and every once in
a while dishes and mother would cry
out for his presence, while he would
be hidden away in the barn loft or
somewhere, reading and reading and
Kate, devoted himself to her through
the day, and did his valiant best to
fall in love with her. But he could
Anything to oblige. ---
the introduction to the brown-eyed
circulation and like that—
While Lon was busy with traces End
wettage and all, he was not too preoc-
cupied to make a wonderful observa-
tion, said observation being that blue-
eyed Kate sat there in the buggy,
neither squawking, screaming, pester-
ing him with advice nor I told you
bo’s." »ut simply sat there. Un alarmed
and calm and unoffending and unof-
t hough t."
There are six or eight more „ane-,
but he will lend you A copy if you
desire. He's real good that Way.
I
■ ,
maid back there in the log house with
the rock chimney. However, he was
visit with you. But he doesn't go to
trouble to even pretend that he wants
to seo you again, and only asks that
you return the poetry he is lending
you. If you can’t write poetry, he is
sorry (or you—in a way—and It you
can't appreciate poetry, there isn’t even
that much in the heart o( Lon (or you.
“It Jingles (or me. all right," he admits
---
Store Closed Monday Lp
KI
not get past those brown eyes. He
could not fall in love, try as he would
to slip. And in the evening he helped
the blue-eyed Kate into his buggy and
started home fast, against an oncoming
storm. But he could not make it. It
rained, and rained hard. When they
reached a stream which they had to
ford it was swollen, and just there and
then something broke. I think it was
the tongue of the buggy, whatever part
that is, and then the singletree fol-
lowed suit, and Lon got down to make
repairs, while the thunder and light-
ning and the pelting rain continued,
and maybe it wasn't so bad as all that.
■ -
he tells you that there are two things
that he wants you to put in whether
you want to or not. While you are
trying to adjust that one, he tells you
that you haven't bored him a bit, and
that he has really enjoyed the little
And dad's old heart was quite serene,
Because a vision he had seen
Of titles, honor, wealth untold,
Which some day baby's life would
bold.
%<
along with. Hla is not a acnttered In-
divluality by any means. Yet he seem»
none the less Comptroller (or that he
remembers his prize Jerweys back in
Hendorson. He seema none the less a
public man for that he is constantly
the hueband and father. “My over-
powering, overshadowing, all consum-
ing ambition in nfe is to educate my
boys and girls. Oh, then. « there is
time, for me a sequestered spot, a good
book, old author preterrca—* And he
seems none the less the worker, the
erriclent, the punctual, (or that he can
express himseir thus:
“When skies are fair and air is clear.
When flowers bloom and song birds
cheer-
•Tie th m we turn our thoughts to God,
As up and down the earth we plod. <
"And when on beds of pain we lie,
While wlistening tear drops dim the
and this somehow makes you think of I annually, contain valuable intorma-
to them His tend:
Smith county, where Professor A. W.
Orr, now living at Tyler. Texas, shook
the hickory stick. At 16 years o( age
he became a member ot ths Baptist
church.
He termed, he went to school, he
taught school, he tell in love, and then
he started all over again, and formed
and went to school and taught school
back to the buggy, be knew something
■ —the most w onderfu thing to know in
all lit.. Bald Kate-blue -eyed Kate,
as they drove on.
1 "What do you think of Kater mean.
leg the orown-eyea one.
“I love her," said Lon, not meaning
the brown eyed one.
“I thought you would," said Kate.
---,
reading. And to this day he likes to
his two lieutentant sons-in-law. And
You sat and rocked in the great armed
chair;
Your face was lovely, sweat and fair.
Tou held close up in your round white
arms
The tiniest bit of human forms.
He cares for those He
The title of the foregoing is "A
Dream,” and the author of it is Lon
Smith—our own Lon Smith. Would
you believe it? But I hasten to assure
everybody that outside of his poetry,
or aside from his poetry, he is quite
all right.
price in those days. And, of course,
he went to country school about three
months every year. But he fell in love
regardless of season. There was only
one proviso: the girl had to have blue
eyes and black hair. For such a one
he would go any lengths. And- he
tells me that he used to drop his
mother's chinaware on purpose just
to get the pieces to give to his many
sweethearts. He had plenty of oppor-
0
with the pride of utter sincerity.
I didn’t ask him if he likes folks. 1
know he does, and appreciates them
in a (Ine way. There is something of
the Apostolic attitude in his conduct
with others, “Let each esteem another
better thud himself." I don't believe
Lon has ever taken the time to make
sure just how much he does amount to,
nor to measure the girth of his accom-
plishments.
Is his health good? Well, he has
not had a headache, an ache of any
other sort, nor a pain of any descrip-
tion for more than twenty years. He
will leave it to you whether he has
good health, and he sits back and waits
for you to make your deduction.
That Happy Number.
After they wece married, Lon and
Kate. Lon kept on teaching until he
had accomplishea thirteen years of it.
and then he quit just to keep from
spoiling the record, I do believe. He
llkee his thirteen. Then he was elected
country clerk, and he clerked for eix
years. Immediately after that he was
elected state senator, and he put in
six years at that.
And now his first year as comptroler
numbers his thirteen in public office.
Incidentally he amounce for the of.
fice he low holds -on the 13th of last
March, which as may be recalled, is
his birthday. Thiiteen and Fr day hold
no terrors for Alonzo Abner.
He lived in Austin while he was
senator here, of course, but separated
from his family so much that it
threatened unhappiikss—the unhap-
piness of loneliness. Lon would be
worrying about Kate and the kids, and
Kato would lie worrying about Lon,
who is the biggest kid of all I'll ven-
ture to say for Kate. Even reading,
his loved and perpetual occupation,
could not allay the pull of the situation,
so Lon went househunting. Now you
know Lon loves his flock, don’t you?
If he would go househuting in Austin
for them. In order to have a place
to house them here, he found he had to
buy a place, and he bought the home
of the Baptist preacher who has gone
to Jerusalem. Dr. Hamlett. On West
Avenue, that is. 110. But hs dtd not
dispose of his home in Henderson Jin
order to close the deal here. And
guess why. \
The comptroller has a hobby. Jersey
cattle. He doesynot care for a dog or
a horse, but ho likes "rows. Nice, gen-
tle. thoroughbred ones—Jersey* There
are fourteen rooms in the Henderson
home, and acres and acres of pasture
for the select Jerseys.
"What de you think of tick eradica-
tion?" I asked.
“I started dipping my cattle six or
eight years before the federal dipping
law came into effect It is the only
means available for tick eradication,
and the tick must be eradicated. I lost
one or two head with tick fever before
I started dipping."
Poet, farmer, school teacher, catthe
raiser, poiitizin, financier—all this he
is a ) r he is one very great thing-
two. rathe-, husband and father. When
a senator and his wife strolled int the
office for a moment, and Lon proceed-
ed to issue an Inv tation to them to call
at his home, he observed that a morn-
ing he | would be too early because
the chores of the day would not be
out of the way enough to make a caller
just exactly opportune. His heart is
in his home in beautiful fulfillment of
the words, "For where your treasure is
there will your heart be also.”
And then and thereafter, he is in
order: Deacon in the Baptist Church.
Supreme Auditor of the Fraternal Aid
Union, this being a national office.
Has been Chancellor Commander of the
Knight of Pythias; Consul Commander
of the Woodmen of the World, and is
now Commander of the local order of
the Mac*bees. Moreover he is a mem-
ber of the Pretorians. But about ten
hours a day Lon is Comptroller.
His duties are comprised of the gen-
eral supervision of the entire comp-
troller department, employing fifty-one
assistants. They used to number sixty-
one, but since Lon has had the running
of things, beginning last January, he
has reduced the force down to the
fifty-one mentioned. The offices spread
over ten rooms on the first floor of
the capitol, and the word comptroller
"Yes, I do," said Lon. “I love Kats
—but you are the Kate.”
Then guess what ? No, not that
She wouldn't take his word for it.
And he had to take lima oft from his
farming and school teaching to team
a whole lot of poetry by heart so as
to recite it to her, poetry from Byron
and Shakespearo and other chaps. And
as though that were not enough he
had to delve in the Bible for further
and sufficient evidence of his actual 1
activa love. And linally she consented, }
just as though she had not been plan- |
ning to take him all along—but I’d ’
better not put thnt in. She might seel
it and come down to pull some of my .
hair out. Anyway, they were married*
the following June, which occurred In
1896.
And to date they have eleven chil-
dren, which makes thirteen in the fam-
ily. and Lon is hapi y. Give him thir-
teen of anything, and he is content.
The first child, Mary Kate is now Mrs.
W. L. Nolan, while Anna Louise is Mrs.
J. L. Beard. And the rest of them are
still Smith*
Lillian Florence. James landrum.
Joseph Gordon, and oh, I must tell you
that Jos:ph Gordon is named for a dis-
tinguished relative, General John B.
Gordon, who was Governor of Georgia,
United States Senator and above all a
Confederate. ‘Then the sixth is Frank
Anderson, named for both of his great
grandfather* and then Virginia Evelyn,
William I angston, Miriam Frances.
Juanita Ruth and last of all—the thir-
teenth in the family, though the elev-
enth child, is Lor. A. Smith, Jr.
Lon Senior confided to me that he
exhaustad the Bible, current literature
and ancient history in his search for
names appropriate and befitting for
the children. "Confided" I said. But
Lon does not confide. Not even his
poetry. A thing is for publication or
it isn't. And of the latter he has none.
Henderson. Rusk county, Texas, on the
11th day of March, 1869. His father
was—and is—Joseph Alonzo Smith, a
farmer then and a farmer now in
Henderson. The mother, Anna Ryntha
Long Smith, died just last February—
also in Henderson. Alonzo was the
oldest of nine children, which makes
it that the family totalled eleven, and
Lon sits there regretting that it was
not thirteen—same as his own. He is
all taken up with thirteen.
Lon’s early home was in a log house
with a rock chimney. And now maybe
you think I'm going to relate how he
earned his first dime picking cherries
—only boys don't get paid for picking
cherries. do they? Well, cotton, then.
But nothing of the sort. Lon wasn't
born on the 11th for nothing. He
earned his first money when he was
7 years old, and this is how come it.
“Thirteen."
There was a school exhibition. Reci-
tations and declamhations and orations
and tribulations, too, were in Order,
and Lon got up on the stage to de-
liver "The Boy Stood on the Burning
Deck." His oral depiction of the boy's
plight was so realistic that the folks
who listened thought it was a "drive"
and dove down in their pockets for the
American iea of relief. Dollars—not
dimes, not quarters—dollars—rolled on
the stage at Lon's stubby toed feet,
and he was the object of envy for the
rest of the season.
But he had to come down to cotton.
That was just "to prove that he was
a Southerner. Fifty cents a hundred.
That seems to have been the standard
His clza", deep blue eyes look straight
---- a---------g— ahead. in frank directness He is re-
but it was pretty wet, anyway, -0n । markably innocent of pride. So free
nine ‘ had to wade into the stream breast from pride, •-4
I high pretty near for to make repairs. in happy _______
Kate sat up in the buggy and watched of a happy child. u 2 a
the mere man struggle with the ele. great Confederate relative,
ments and equipage. But he mastered
the breakage and the situation nobly,
and got back into the buggy beside the
blue-eyed Kate, wrapped himself in a
buggy robe, because, you see, this was
in October and it was rather chilly.
But Lon was not as chilly as, you
might expect. A new and wonderful
realization glowed in hts neart, and
since it is the heart that regulates the
money. But tke only money in the
com ptroller’s office is some Republic
of Texas paper certificates, and that
isn’t there now, seeing he sent It away
to someone that wanted it yesterday.
There is no money in the department,
no checks even, only warrants. I don’t
believe I‛d like to work there, for I’d
feel all the time as though a sheriff
were after me. He was out distribu-
ting when I called but everyone seemed
so I guess his wararnts are all right
and of the right order
Some More Thirtcens.
Lon and his fifty-one assistants—
which makes fifty-two and which is
just fou- times thirteen—by the way,
I do believe that’s why he reduced the
force, so that as to make sure of plenty
of thirtcens. And while we think of
it, he being just fitty-two years old,
makes him four times thirteen years
old, doesn't it? Well, to get back to
business; Lon and his assistants re-
ceive reports from tax collectors, and
they audit same. They receive reports
also from oil. gas. telephone and Pull-
man companies. And audit same. They
look after collection of occupation and
inheritaace taxes, and they direct en-
forcement of prohibition laws. But I
don't think they aduit same. They is-
sue warrants on the state treasurer for
the payment of salaries, fees, and ex-
penses for the maintenance of the state
government.
They receive and register all bonds;
state, county, mnunicipnl, drainage,
school. road .and any other bond that
you ean think of that is issued in the
state of Texas. They receive all tax
assessments—or at least reports from
the chaps that make assessment* And
adult same. Reports also from sheriffs,
district attorneys, district judges, dis-
trict clerks, and if there is district
anything* else, from that, too. And
audit same.
The way to audit Is—You sit down
to a mess of acounts rendered, and
you look st them bodily, but that is not
enough. 4 You have to take up each one
of them, one at a time, and check
off all the little figures on it as they
match or fall to match th® vouchers,
and the vouchers have no match—
match the budget. I believe, and the
budget has to match the appropriation,
and the appropriation has to match the
need, but most often’ it doesn’t. Like
for instance the Confederate soldiers'
pension. You see, there is a pension
department in Lon’s office, where sol-
diers anl goldiers’ widows draw their
warrant* There are seventeen thous-
and of them in Texas, and they have
been getting only twenty-four dollars
four times a year, but now they will
get a little more because the tax has
been raised from five cents to seven
cent* Lon feels peculiar interest in
this department, because he I« the son
of a Confederate veteran, and at the
beginning of this year, Comptroller
Smith was appointed state commander
of the Bone of Confederte Veterans by
General N. B. Forrest, National Com-
mander of the same organizalion. This
general is the son of the famous head
of the ol Ku Klux Klan.
A record is kept of all delinquent
taxes. That's the vay the official ex-
planation of Lon's office has it, but
permit me to inform Y:u that there is
another side to this delinquent tax
record. It is the Redemption Depart-
ment. That's where a chap has a
twelve months* chance to reclaim his
lost bit of this world by paying the
delinquent smount and ton per coat of
that amount in addition.
tended, and-ah, well, the sweetest
thing that ever happened, to be con-
cise in the matter. When Lon climbed
1
and fell in love. And this he did year
after year without mishap or any other
kind of hap, until he was 26 years old.
And then there were two girls and a
picnic. Lon was in love with neither
one of them, but the name of each
was Kate. Kate.
One Kate had blue eyes and black
hair. according to requirements, and
the other Kate had brown eyes and hair
to match . Lon had known the blue-
eyed Kate nearly all his life, but she
was a little girl while he had been one
of the big boys at school, and it was
with her sister* rather than with her,
that Lon had to do. Six years younger
than he, and what does any big boy
want with a little girl of that age?
But by the time they went to this
picnic she had sort o' outgrown her
little girlness, and Lon took her to th®
picnic. Somehow it had never occurred
• to him to fall in love with her. Sort
: o’ overlooked her. But she must have
had some regard for Lon's future, for
as they drove to the picnic grounds
she said to Lon:
• Prices Are Lower Now
tion."
Did you ever make the acquaintance
of Alphunso and Clacton—that super-
latively polito pair? Thia le a cnee ot
Alonzo and Clacton. Alonzo always
gets tee first—at least here’s hoping
he'e first, tor it Gaston got, there be-
fore Alonzo does, he hie to deep there
and be Jone with it. W. T. Gaston is I
Lon’s chief clerk. And a busy chap.
Lon eigne only hie pergonal mall, and
the polite Gaston has to’ ‘tend to the
other. I’ll pet he has a little something
to do. But then, I venture to wager
turther that everyone has Hint same
in lain’, office.
To begin with Lon gets there about
seven-thirty, and you know how sleep-
ing people look to you when you hap-
pen to wake up tarly some morning?
W ell, it's the same way when you get'
to the office early, only worse, I know
because I went to work early once by
mistake, and the contempt I felt for
the strasiers who meandered in after
me would have withered a candidate
until I saw the girl that I usually got
to work with hastening in last of all.
and then I woke up. And then after
you get to work and start to and pro-
esa to actually work, you know how
folks look to yo t when they stand on
first one foot and then the other while
they dtacues last night's chow? None
of that for Lon.
When That Thirteen Operates on the
Other.
"Everybody is kept busy," nays he,
"not rushed, but buny, and the work
gets done. Each day's mall is ans-
wered each day, and the work of each
day accomplished before we leave the
otrice,"
An wpm’ting of leaving, he is the
last one to leave. He must like his
Job—or womething.
That's Lon's hobby in the office.
His hobny outside is Jerseys, of course.
But in the ottice, it’s punctuality.
Punctuality coupled up to efficiency.
Now then, I dare you fill out your
application for a Job in his office.
While he talked about the foregoing.
I had such a gone feeling, I thought
I'd faint if I didn't eight a chicken
or a kitten or—or—even an egg might
have helped.
Lon’s fame is far reahing. He re-
ceived a letter from a lady the other
day requesting a pension for herself.
And to substantiate her claim thereto,
she eent along ber departed husband's
diary.
It co vine four years of ths war period
end makes very Interesting reading.
Now although Lon issues warrants for
the payment of pensions, ths power to
grant penslona is not vested in him but
in the—the legislature, isn't it? Yet,
the fame of him han eo spread abroad
that folks turn to him as to a Hngue
tribunal.
Perhaps it la because ho has a
Whlsk’y Permit D!vinlon that he re-
ceived one letter. It was from a man
who addresmod the Comptroller as “My
dearest friend,” and complained that
his family was atnlteted with chills
and fever, to allay which, be wought
permtnsion to manufacture one gallon
of liquor a month. Twelve gallons a
year. Now Lon's permits in regard to
liquor are for physicians to prescribe,
foe druggists to manufacture, and for
ranwayn to transport. Beyond that he
cannot go, and he seems to have no
desire to go even that far. I don't
know just how strictly prohibition he
is, but I know that buttermilk is the
strong drink of himself and family.
There is a dearness and directness
about the Comptroller of Texas which
la sort o’ enay-to-cet-1
McAlest
PHO?
T. H. WILLIAMS &
You sang a lullaby, joyous, glad.
You were th® mother, and I the dad.
And beneath the folds of baby clothes
There were peepin* out ten tiny toe* !
« ’•
"If anygone ever had a miserable
stomach, I surely had. It was growing
worse, tob, all ths time. Had sever
pains and -attacks every ten days or
two weeks and had to call a doctor,
who could only relieve me for a short
while. Two years ago last February
I took a treatment of Mayr's Wonder-
ful Remedy and I have not had a spell
of pain or misery alnce. My friends
just wonder that I am looking co wcIL
I feel that I am privileged to talk
about It” it is a simple, harmless
preparation that removes the catarrhal \
mucus from the intestinal tract and \
allays the inflammation which causes
practically all stomach, liver and in-
testinal ailments. Including append-
citla One dose will convince or money
refunded. At all druggists—(Adv.)
....... s
.........
PHONOGRAPHS AND
I
P o )
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The Austin Statesman (Austin, Tex.), Vol. 50, No. 93, Ed. 1 Sunday, September 4, 1921, newspaper, September 4, 1921; Austin, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth1534535/m1/5/?q=%22Alonzo+Abner+Smith%22: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; .