PAGE, Robert Newton, a Representative from North Carolina; born in Cary, Wake County, N.C., October 26, 1859; attended the Cary High School and Bingham Military School, Mebane, N.C.; moved to Aberdeen, Moore County, N.C., in 1880 and engaged in the lumber business near Aberdeen until 1900; mayor of Aberdeen 1890-1898; treasurer of the Aberdeen & Asheboro Railroad Co. 1894-1902; moved to Biscoe, Montgomery County, N.C., in 1897; member of the State house of representatives in 1901 and 1902; elected as a Democrat to the Fifty-eighth and to the six succeeding Congresses (March 4, 1903-March 3, 1917); was not a candidate for renomination in 1916; returned to Aberdeen in 1920; engaged in banking, and was president of the Page Trust Co.; died in Aberdeen, N.C., October 3, 1933; interment in Old Bethesda Cemetery.
(Source: Biographical Directory of the United States 1774-present.)
ROBERT NEWTON PAGE
DURING the past few years the terms Old South and New South have been on many lips. They have been the subjects of many newspaper articles, and often around them have waged battles, if not so fatal and tragic, at least as bitter as those waged several decades ago between the Old South and the Old North.
They have been the shibboleths by which one's loyalty to his native land has been tested, and have determined whether he was to rank as patriot or traitor.
There have been those who thought to be true to the one was to be false to the other, and no quarter was to be asked or given.
Happily for both, the Old and the New, men's visions have become clearer, their prejudices diminished and their hearts kinder and more fraternal.
It can be truthfully said that Robert Newton Page belongs to both—to the Old, with its never diminishing but ever increasing glory, which no man shall take away from her, and to the New, which, with its face to the future, without apologies for the past, marches to its throne to await its coronation "in the parliament of mankind."
The blood of the mighty men of those old days courses through his veins; nor could he be what he is were he not an heir of those brave and chivalrous souls whose acts of prowess are writ in blood. It would be impossible for him to belittle either their ideals or their deeds.
The lessons he has learned in his study of those historic days have not tended toward the paralyzing of his faculties, but rather to the increase of his faith and hope; for with true philosophic spirit he has not stood looking at the past, but to it, for whatever of chivalry, of inspiration, of manhood, it had to give him, and with face to the future, he has sought nobly and earnestly not to fall behind the men of the past in his contribution of head and heart which go to make a State.
It was the boast of Benjamin Franklin that he was the youngest son of the youngest son for five generations back. While Mr. Page has not this magic number with which to conjure, yet it can be claimed for him that he is a worthy son of a noble sire—of this fact he has given ample proof.
He was born at Cary, Wake County, North Carolina, on the 26th day of October, 1859.
His father was Allison Francis Page, better known as Frank Page, as he was called the State over. His mother before marriage was Miss Catherine Frances Raboteau of Fayetteville, North Carolina.
No one will ever know how to draw the line between what he inherited and what he afterward acquired. A very simple problem as it relates to things material, but very difficult, yea, impossible, as it relates to one's spiritual possession. That the inherited was great no one will deny, and certainly the acquired no one will despise; for he has wrought in unison with their high purposes and lofty ideals, and few things would grieve him more than to know that in any of his undertakings he had been actuated by motives unworthy of them.
At a very early age he was taught that boyhood days were not at all to be spent in play or idleness, so he was given tasks commensurate with his ability, and made to understand that only by performing these duties could he hope to be excused. And who will say that this lesson to lay to till the work was done has little to do with shaping and molding the fine character?
Some one has said that God hates a quitter. If this be true, then Mr. Page's name should stand high on the list of those whom he loves; for perseverance and tenacity are characteristic of the man. In the first place, he believes that a man should be convinced that the cause he espouses is a right and worthy one, and therefore deserving of the best that is in him, and that not for an hour only, but so long as is needful. This accounts for his few failures and his many successes. Right cause, right motive, adequate strength and power, and you have the mainspring of all his actions.
His early school days were spent at the high school in his native town—Cary. Afterward he attended the famous Bingham School at Mebane, North Carolina. He has always had a fondness for reading, and, fortunately, for those books that have added to his fund of useful knowledge.
He has the happy faculty of making friends, and more important still, of retaining them, and every year does but add to the long list. This is but in keeping with that saying of the wise man: "He that hath friends must show himself friendly." There are none more friendly than he and none more sincere therein. But friends are not all that he has asked of Heaven nor not all that has been given.
On the 20th of June, 1888, he was married to Miss Flora Shaw of Manly, North Carolina. These two together, with three boys and one girl, form a charming and happy family. Into this sacred place we dare not come, even though we approach it with bare feet and bowed head. It is holy ground, for over its portals we read their prayer, their chief desire: "That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth; that our daughters may be as cornerstones polished after the similitude of a palace." Full well they know: "Happy is that people that is such a case; yea, happy is that people whose God is the Lord."
Having known and shared in the blessings of two good homes, that of his parents and of his own, Mr. Page stands ready to champion the cause of this divine institution, and believes that in no other field could he so well conserve the highest interest and welfare of his native land. He believes in and works for its inviolability, its stability and perpetuity. To the home he gives precedence of all those sources of influence which go to the making of manhood. High above all the clamors, the tumults and strifes incident to a life spent in making sweeter, clearer, better the conditions surrounding those whose highest interest he has ever sought, there has sounded for his encouragement and strengthening the one clear, sweet note of his mother's voice. And for its message he has had an open ear and a willing hand.
Whatever he has touched he has made better; for his faith has been that upon every man there rests the responsibility to recover, to redeem, so far as in him lies, the waste and barren places, and to make smooth and safe the highways over which human feet are to pass.
He is a pronounced optimist, not because he himself has succeeded, but because his mind is sound and his heart is in the right place. Believing in men as he does, he is seldom discouraged in his services for them, and therefore is enabled to accomplish much for their betterment.
Long ago Mr. Page learned that success in any sphere of life is impossible unless one gives strict attention to details, however small or trivial they might seem. Therefore he has sought to learn not only the main facts of the business in hand, but all the facts. In this he has saved himself and others much trouble and loss. He has dignified and exalted the small things, knowing that they go to constitute the large, and so, by strict application in high endeavor here and there, in little and great, he has fitted himself to fill the places to which he has come.
Statistics are about as communicative as the sphinx. It has its place, so have they. The following numerals give starting and ending points, nothing more: Mr. Page was associated with others in the manufacture of lumber at Aberdeen, 1880 to 1888; and from 1888-1900 was general manager of the Page Lumber Company, Aberdeen, North Carolina. From 1890-1902 he was treasurer of the Aberdeen and Asheboro Railroad Company, and in 1902 was elected its vice-president, which position he still holds. He was mayor of Aberdeen from 1890-98. Representative from Montgomery County to the North Carolina General Assembly from 1901-03. In 1902 he was elected by the Seventh Congressional District as a member of the Fifty-eighth Congress, and afterward was elected as a member of the Fifty-ninth Congress. During the year 1901, while in the State legislature, he was chairman of the Committee of Insane Asylums, in which position he labored with great zeal to help those most unfortunate ones. The allowances which he sought to secure were liberal and just, not unworthy the great cause of these helpless wards of the State. While in Congress he has never sought to gain favor with his constituents by filling the public eye with spectacular performances ; but in a quiet, dignified and businesslike way he has held steadily to his work, giving to it his best thought, and thereby has made a record well worthy of the man. By virtue of a clean life, by wise counsel and a bright and well-stored intellect, he has in hall of Congress and in caucus chamber proven himself worthy to stand before kings."
To all these places of private and public trusts he has brought a clear head, a clean heart and a strong arm. How well he has wrought and what he has accomplished one will have to learn from other than himself; for he does not speak of himself nor parade his deeds. If he has vanity, then his wisdom is far in excess; for the first you have no exhibition of, the latter is known to those to whom he is known. The knowledge of having done some good is far sweeter than the praise of men, however sincere or well meaning it may be.
Years ago Mr. Page connected himself with the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, the church of his parents, and has striven so to live his life that no blame or hurt would come to the cause of his Master. One thing is sure, that whatever else he may do, he will not capitalize his religion into the coin of the world to barter and trade for material aggrandizement or political preferment. He is not a pietist, nor a pharisee, nor a puritan; but a sane, healthy human being, who loves men not because they are good or bad, but because they are his brothers. He does not consider that religion lies in outward form or semblance, but in character, and only there.
He has often been honored—that's the way he views it—by serving as a lay member of the district and the annual conferences of his church. His most notable service in this connection has been as chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Methodist Orphanage at Raleigh, North Carolina. To this institution he has given unstintedly of time, means and personal service. While filling so large a place in the political life of the State, he has fully realized that to be zealous and active in church work might subject him to the adverse criticism of men low born, low bred and lower descended, yet he has not faltered nor swerved from the course he conceived to be right, and thus many a good cause has been the richer thereby.
Judging Mr. Page's future course in life by what we already know of him, we feel assured that whatever opportunities may come to him, he will accept them with humility becoming a true man, and not regard them as occasions for ministering to personal pride or vanity, but as God given, to be turned to good account in helping to bring nearer
"That one, far off, divine event
Toward which the whole creation moves."
John H. Hall.
(Source: Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to Present, By Samuel A. Ashe, Vol. III, published 1906)
WALTER HINES PAGE
WALTER HINES PAGE was born in Cary, North Carolina, August 15, 1855. He is the son of A. F. Page, to whom he dedicated "The Rebuilding of old Commonwealths" in the felicitous words: "To the Honored Memory of My Father, whose work was work that built up the Commonwealth." These words aptly describe the work of the Page family in North Carolina. Mr. A. F. Page built the railroad from Aberdeen to Asheboro, which has done much to develop the resources of that section. The railroad is still the property of the Pages, the president being Mr. Henry A. Page.
Walter H. Page early in life made up his mind to an editorial career rather than a business career; but he has shown in all his work as an editor and publisher the energetic and independent spirit characteristic of his family. From the time when he began as a reporter on the St. Joseph (Missouri) Gazette to the time when he has become one of the most distinguished editors and publishers of the country, his success has been one of the most inspiring in the annals of North Carolina.
He was prepared for college at Bingham School, then situated at Mebane. For a few months he was a student at Trinity College, and then for four years at Randolph-Macon College, where he graduated in 1876. The influence of Professor Thomas R. Price on him in the direction of reading the best literature was strong. After leaving Randolph-Maeon College, he went to Johns Hopkins University, where he held a fellowship in Greek during the first two years of the University under Professor Basil L. Gildersleeve. The spirit of the University in those early days, when Johns Hopkins was the first to give the opportunity for graduate work, and when the brightest men came from the leading Universities of America, was especially stimulating.
After a vacation in Europe, a year of teaching in Louisville and some lectures at the summer school at Chapel Hill, he decided to go into journalism. He could find no place in North Carolina, so by advertising he got a position as reporter at a very small salary in St. Joseph, Missouri. He became in a year the editor of the paper on which he began work as a reporter. He frequently went to Kansas City and St. Louis, where he had the chance to see Western life, which has always had a fascination for him. He began, in addition to his work as reporter and as editor, to write for the magazines—first for the Atlantic Monthly, of which he became editor many years later—articles dealing especially with the South. He made a tour of the South, and sent articles to the great dailies. With wide open eyes he had seen from his youth some of the limitations of the Southern life of that time, especially when contrasted with the West, and he wrote frankly about them in a simple and direct style that attracted attention.
In 1881 Mr. Page went to the Atlanta Exposition as special correspondent for the New York World, then under the editorship of W. H. Hurlbut. While in Atlanta he received one day a telegram from the World summoning him to New York. He wrote reviews, literary notes and editorials. Best of all, however, he was sent to Washington, where he was thrown in contact with many distinguished men. He followed with keen interest a long debate on the tariff.
A change came in the editorship of the World, and Mr. Page, along with other members of the staff, resigned. While on a visit to his father in North Carolina he was persuaded to start the Raleigh Chronicle, of which he was editor for a year or more. The files of this paper make very interesting reading—never was there such a stirring of dry bones in the old State. With courage and insight the young editor wrote what he thought about everything that took place; he advocated policies that were revolutionary in his day, but are now accepted as fundamental. He stood for industrial education and for the development of public schools. But the paper did not pay; the editor lost all the money he put into it, and he went back to New York "without a dollar or a job." Without any regular position, for a year or more he wrote for the magazines and newspapers. He could make a living with his pen. A wider association with authors and newspaper men then came. His work found recognition from the New York Evening Post, of whose staff he was a member for a year or two. He was then offered first the management, then the editorship, of the Forum, a position which he held until 1895. A reading of that magazine for those years shows that it was then far better than it ever was before or has been since. As editor, Mr. Page displayed those qualities that have characterized all his later work. He knew what people wanted to read and he knew the men who would give it to them.
In 1895 he was called to Boston as literary adviser to Houghton, Mifflin & Company, and in the following year was given the additional position of editor of the Atlantic Monthly. At forty years of age, then, he had won his way to a position that had been held by James Russell Lowell, James W. Fries, William D. Howells, Thomas Bailey Aldrich and Horace E. Scudder. The Atlantic, which had been identified in a special way with the group of New England authors, was much broadened under Mr. Page's editorship. He put it into more vital connection with the life of the country. A typical incident was his putting the old flag on the cover at the time of the Spanish War.
Although Mr. Page was now living an almost ideal life in Cambridge, under the shadow of Harvard University, and although he was connected with one of the two great publishing houses of America, he found a salaried editorship too narrow. He wanted a magazine that would be his own, and consequently a publishing house. So in 1899 he and Mr. F. N. Doubleday (formerly with the Scribners) organized the firm of Doubleday, Page & Company, which in six years or less has made its way to a leading position among American publishers. They have been the publishers of many already recognized standard authors, such as Kipling, and have made the reputation of new writers, like Norris and Miss Ellen Glasgow. In addition to a constantly increasing business, they have established with great success The World's Work, Country Life in America and the Garden Magazine. Of these, the World's Work is Mr. Page's special magazine. Its object was well indicated in the first number. "It is with the activities of the newly organized world, its problems and even its romance, that the magazine will earnestly concern itself, trying to convey the cheerful spirit of men who do things." The editor's survey of the events of the month is one of the most penetrating and statesmanlike interpretations of contemporary life. The magazine has thus come to occupy a distinct place in national life—it is thoroughly characteristic of the spirit of the editor, his alertness of mind, his aggressiveness, his modernness and cosmopolitanism.
Personally, Mr. Page is one of the most attractive of men. He has the enthusiasm and hospitality characteristic of the South. Nothing gives him more pleasure than to have his friends, especially those from North Carolina, at his home near Englewood, New Jersey. His wife and four children (two of them already graduates of Harvard) add to the joy of his life as well as to the pleasure of his guests. He is a most interesting conversationalist, his talk teeming with anecdotes and incidents gathered from his extensive travels and his wide acquaintance with prominent men.
As a citizen he is interested in public affairs. His voice and pen have been in evidence in the municipal contests of New York City, while the problems of the nation engage his serious attention. During recent years his most signal service to the South and to the nation has been in connection with the General and Southern Education Boards, organized primarily to inaugurate and stimulate a movement for better public schools throughout the South. His accurate and vital knowledge of Southern affairs, and the confidence placed in him by men of the South and of the North, have made him one of the most useful men in this work. His volume on "The Rebuilding of Old Commonwealths" is really the best expression of the movement. No other man has seen so clearly or stated so forcibly and directly the significance of universal education in the South in establishing a democratic society. Few men have ever heard him or read him who do not believe that he is profoundly interested in his native section, and that furthermore he is doing constructive work in bringing about a finer civilization. His travels in all parts of the world have made his observations on Southern life all the more valuable. Everything he has said or done has been with a view to helping on a necessary movement looking to greater freedom of thought and the general welfare of the people.
Edwin Mims.
(Source: Biographical History of North Carolina from Colonial Times to Present, By Samuel A. Ashe, Vol. III, published 1906)
John Alsey Park
Newspaper men as a rule do not make their mark the first year or two they are in the business, but John Alsey Park, of Raleigh, has done so. As publisher and principal owner of The Raleigh Times he has made a conspicuous success and has brought his paper into a position of prominence and influence. He is one of the kind of men who always make good.
John A. Park was born in Raleigh, N. C., November 19, 1885, and is the son of Benjamin F. and Fannie C. (Bevers) Park. Paternally he is of Irish descent, his great-grandfather, with two brothers, emigrating from Ireland to America during the colonial period and settling in Virginia. His paternal grandfather was John Keefe, who married Miss Margaret Adams, of Virginia, a niece of President John Adams. Benjamin F. Park came to Raleigh from his home in Clarksville, Va., in his early manhood, and before his death in 1898 was a prominent citizen of the capital. His wife was a native of Raleigh and a member of a family identified with the yeomanry of Wake for many generations.
After finishing his preliminary education in the public schools of Raleigh, Mr. Park entered the North Carolina College of Agriculture and Mechanic Arts in this city, from which institution he graduated in
1905 with the degree of Bachelor of Engineering. He then went abroad and took a special course in Kensington Technical Institute, London.
While a student in the A. & M. College he took high rank. He was a lieutenant in the cadet corps, and as a member of the Leazar Literary Society he won the medal for oratory. His inclination toward things military appears in his subsequent service in the National Guard and in the Third Regiment Band.
Mr. Park's career in the active affairs of life began at his alma mater, where, after his return from London, he taught mathematics four years. Resigning his position at the A. & M. College, Mr. Park engaged in business as part owner and manager of the Carolina Garage & Machine Company. Two years afterward, in 1911, he organized a corporation to buy The Raleigh Times. In the new organization he became general manager, and as publisher is getting along so finely that he thinks of staying in the business the rest of his life. He acquired a taste for printers' ink in college as manager of Red and White, the college magazine. During his vacations he wrote for the daily papers. He has never found time to write a book, but he has written miles of newspaper copy. His favorite books are history, travel and scientific works.
As a working man, Mr. Park believes in a full day's work— six days in the week for everybody. He is a firm believer in road improvement, being convinced that good roads enhance the value of property and promote the general prosperity. He favors first-class highways throughout the county, regardless of cost. His advice to young men is to choose clean associates, let tobacco alone, wear a smile always, turn work into play and play the game hard.
Mr. Park has a beautiful home in Glenwood, a suburb of Raleigh, where his good wife, formerly Miss Lily Helen, daughter of Dr. Albert D. Pair, of Johnston County, presides with most charming grace and hospitality. They have two sons— John Alsey, Jr., and Albert Pair.
Mr. Park is a Democrat. He is a member of the Country Club, and is identified with the Methodist Church. In college he belonged to the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity.
(Source: Historical Raleigh With Sketches of Wake County (From 1771) and its Important Towns (Moses Amis, 1913) Submitted by Amy Robbins) |
