ELECTIONS IN NEW YORK

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 407, 16 July 1928, Page 16

ELECTIONS IN NEW YORK

PEN MANUFACTURER TELLS OF CAMPAIGN UNDER POLICE PROTECTION Forty-four years ago Mr. L. E. Waterman, an American, patented a fountain pen. To-day a company of that name sells Waterman’s Ideal fountain pens all over the world by the million. The present head of the firm, Mr. Frank D. Waterman, arrived by the Aorangi yesterday from Vancouver on a holiday trip and to see New Zealand, which he has heard so much about. In the early days of the firm only four or five men were employed, but to-day some thousands are on the payroll of the company which, during the war, manufactured nine and a-half million pens each year. Mr. Waterman stated yesterday that some of the first pens made by the original company are still in its possession. They were bought back 20 years ago and are now considered interesting milestones in the firm’s history. Lindbergh, the famous American flyer, carried a Waterman fountain pen with him on his great flight from the States to Europe. One of Mr. Frank Waterman’s nieces was in Paris and Lindbergh signed her autograph book with it at the conclusion of his flight. Three years ago Mr. Waterman fought the Mayoral elections in New York as a Republican candidate, but was defeated by State Senator Walker. A Mayoral contest in New York he says, is aided by all kinds of “stunts.” “I got a new thrill out of it which I had never had before,” he said yesterday. “I addressed seven and eight meetings a day, and was always accompanied by a police escort. A lot of tomfoolery was indulged in to stir the imagination of the people.” Mr. Waterman said he fought the election campaign to oppose an administration which was very slow about putting in subways in New York. His motto was “Tell it with shovels,” though the most popular one of the party was “Dig :t with shovels.” The campaign emblem was a tiny shovel, which all supporters of the party wore! In addition to his other duties, Mr! Waterman owns an hotel, “The Fountain Inn.” in Florida, and is president of the Flower Hospital and Medical College in New York. He is accompanied on the tour by Mr. L G. Sloan, European director of the firm, who is also past president of the London Rotary Club. “Mr. Sloan has done more to encourage friendly Anglo-American relations than any other man I know,” said Mr. Waterman yesterday. “He has always tried to bind the two nations with the bonds of friendship.” Both Mr. Waterman and Mr. Sloan are accompanied by their wives. They are Just on a holiday trip, which is taking them to all parts of the world, and do not wish to be bothered by business while they are in New Zealand.