WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE

WILLIAM ALLEN WHITE was born at Emporia, Kan., February 10, 1868. He was reared in Butler county, where his father moved at an early day. He was educated in the El Dorado schools and at the Kansas University. He learned the printer's trade in the office of T. P. Fulton, of the El Dorado Republican. In 1891 he went to Kansas City, Mo. He did editorial work on the Kansas City Journal. For a time he was employed on the Kansas City Star. In 1895 he bought the Emporia Gazette, which paper he has owned, edited and managed to the present time. The article which brought him his first wide notice was an editorial, "What's the Matter with Kansas?" written in 1896. It was quoted all over the United States. When questioned on this subject once he made the following explanation: "I accidentally became notorious through writing a fool editorial which I left on the hook as 'time copy' to keep the printers going while I went on a short visit to my sick wife, who was in Colorado."

The truth of the matter is that the editorial was of high order, and brought him deserved prominence. It was the beginning of a literary career any author should be proud of, and Mr. White is better known away from home as an author than as a newspaper man. Some of his books are: "The Court of Boyville," published in 1899; "Stratagems and Spoils," 1901; "In Our Town," 1906; "A Certain Rich Man," 1909; "The Old Order Changeth," 1910. Mr. White is a contributor to the best magazines and papers.

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