Typescript, heavily annotated, an address given at the Anniversary Banquet of the Reading Lodge, B. P. O. Elks, No. 115, recounting his time in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, the elk herds of Yellowstone, conservation and the vanishing frontier

Penrose, Boies

Edité par Reading, PA, 1914

A propos de cet article

9 pp typescript, heavily annotated by Penrose throughout. Folio. Penrose devotes much of this address, given at the 25th anniversary dinner of the Elks Lodge 115, to American frontier, relating his time spent in the Rockies, with particular attention describing the Elk herds of the Yellowstone and conservation efforts by the Order to prevent their slaughter by "tusk hunters": "It was my good fortune to visit this wonderful country as a hunter when it was accessible only by mountain trail, and was frequented by few persons other than the trapper or the Indian. I have seen 10,000 Elk in one herd in the fall of the year -- a noble and splendid spectacle. A perfect mountain climate, grand and beautiful scenery surrounded by snow-capped mountains, an abundance of large game animals, and of fish in lake and river, made this country a paradise. And now, although the untrammeled liberty and wildness has departed, it still retains, and always will retain owing to conservation by the National Government, its primeval features." "Magnificently coarse" and a formidable Philadelphia Boss and Senator, Boies Penrose (1860 1921), i.e. "Big Grizzly," dominated the Gilded Age world of Pennsylvania Republican politics for thirty years. Penrose was literally larger-than-life, at six foot four he was an enormously obese man with an extraordinary intellect and an even more extraordinary appetite. Purportedly, Penrose would routinely eat a dozen eggs for breakfast with twelve rolls, copious coffee and a huge slab of ham. Graduated from Harvard, the name of "Big Grizzly" stuck while hunting in Wyoming with his brother "the latter was badly mauled by a bear; [and] disregarding the advice of the guides, Boies carried him out of the wilderness on his shoulders." A big game hunting enthusiast, later in life he had to have a special horse and saddle because of his girth. Largely friendless, nationalistic, nativist, cynical, ethical yet corrupt ("One of his favorite schemes, the "squeeze bill," extracted large campaign contributions from wealthy industries by threatening them with punitive legislation near election time." ANB), Penrose was more interested in power than self-gain. He was a large figure on the national stage, promoting Big Business interests, knocking down labor rights, fighting against woman suffrage, Prohibition and the income tax, and helping to promote Theodore Roosevelt s nomination as vice president under McKinley. Yet he disliked Roosevelt ("a cock-eyed little runt") and Woodrow Wilson ("a schoolmarm") and he was rumored to have thrown the 1920 presidential nomination to Warren Harding. "Public office is the last refuge of a scoundrel" is perhaps the most famous Penrose quote. ANB observes: "The last of the big bosses, he valued political power above all else, including friendship and statesmanship.". 9 pp typescript, heavily annotated by Penrose throughout. Folio.

N° de réf. du vendeur 320238

Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: Typescript, heavily annotated, an address given at the Anniversary Banquet of the Reading Lodge, B. P. O. Elks, No. 115, recounting his time in Wyoming, Idaho and Montana, the elk herds of Yellowstone, conservation and the vanishing frontier
• Éditeur: Reading, PA
• Date de parution: 1914
• État de l'article: Old folds
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Sports & Games
  • Americana