Biographical Sketches
HON. WEBSTER DAVIS
To a student of human nature there is nothing of more interest than to examine into the record and history of a self-made man and to analyze those principles that have enabled him to pass on the highway of life many who started out before him and attain a position of prominence in the community. He of whom we write is one who has forced aside the barriers that obstruct the way until now he stands within that charmed circle, rich in honor and fame, a devoted son of his adopted city. Kansas City honors him as her mayor, and the honor is justly bestowed. From a humble position he has risen to one of eminence. As a jurist he stands among the most prominent in the state of Missouri, and as an orator has attained a brilliant reputation that places him among the most fluent, able and eloquent speakers of the west. The life history of such a man is a source of inspiration and encouragement, and demonstrates to what heights one may climb where his progress is not barred by the unsurmountable difficulties of caste or class.
Webster Davis was born in Ebensburg, Cambria county, Pennsylvania, on the 1st of June, 1861, but since a very age has lived in Missouri, his father locating in this state about the time of the close of the war. On the old home farm Webster worked until the family's removal to Chillicothe in 1884. He then became familiar with commercial life by a year's service as a clerk in a hardware store. The father again removed in 1875, locating in that year removed in 1875, locating in that year in Gallatin, Daviess county, Missouri, where, under the instruction of his father, our subject learned the trade of shoemaking, which he continuously followed until 1881. It was his earnest desire, however, to acquire an education. Previous to this time he had attended the common schools to a very limited extent. He resolved to secure further advancement along this line, and with this end in view went to Lake Forest University near Chicago, where he arrived with less than $15.00 in his pocket. The young man of ambition and energy, however, is not deterred by obstacles, and he obtained the situation of attending to the street lamps of the town. This work he performed throughout the year, and not only paid for his tuition, board and clothing out of his earnings, but actually sent money back to his Missouri home to assist his father in support of the family. But the parents and children were having a hard tgime to get along, and he felt it was his duty to aid them to a greater extent. In consequence, returning to his old home he assisted his father in the shop and worked in a store, but ambition pointed the young man ahead to the time when he would be a lawyer, prominent among his professional brethren. He bent every energy toward the accomplishment of this purpose, and in 1882 entered the office of the widely known law firm of Shanklin, Low & McDougal, where, to pay for the instruction he received, he engaged in keeping books, and did their copying. He often �burned the midnight oil,� continuing his legal studies far into the night.
The life of Mayor Davis has fully demonstrated the truth of the old adage that where there's a will there's a way. During 1884 and 1885 he was a student in the Kansas State University at Lawrence, and assisted in keeping boarders to raise the money to pay his tuition and other expenses. He was admitted to the bar in Garden City, Kansas, where he practiced for a time, but not satisfied with his legal learning, he went to Ann Arbor, Michigan, entering the law department of the famed university there, and graduating in the class of 1887. He was one of the youngest members of his class, numbering nearly 200, and had neither wealth, position nor friends of influence to advance him, but merit won an honor for him that the other attributes could not have done and he was honored by being selected to deliver the oration at the semi-centennial of the university in June, 1887.
Mr. Davis now returned to his home in Kansas City, Missouri, but his mother was failing in health and he took her to Pueblo, Colorado, where for nearly a year he engaged in practice. On the expiration of that period he returned to Kansas City, and accepted the position of chief deputy in the office of surveyor of customs for the western district of Missouri and Kansas. In 1892 he was nominated for congress by the republican party of the 5th district of Missouri, entirely without his solicitation, but with the remainder of the ticket he met defeat. His energies were all then devoted to his legal practice, with the result that he wa acknowledged to be one of the most able members of the bar. In the preparation of his cases he manifested a care and thoroughness that made him master of the subject. He marshaled his evidence with the precision of a general, and while each detail was brought to bear with its full weight upon the case, he never for an instant lost sight of the important fact upon which the decision of a case finally turns. In argument he is logical and forceful, his repartee is telling, and his oratorical powers have made him known far and wide as a public speaker.
In April, 1894, Mr. Davis was elected to the office of Mayor. Kansas City has always been considered a democratic stronghold; but, nominated by the republican party, of which he is an unswerving advocate, he carried its standard onward and upward until the word Victory was added to its banner, and the news spread that he had won the election by a majority of 7,000! One who had heard him in the delivery of one of his masterly addresses said, �We do not wonder now that Mr. Davis, an ardent republican, was a few months ago elected mayor of Kansas City, a stronghold of democracy.� When he became the standard-bearer of his party he resolved that the issue should terminate successfully if such a result could be secured by honorable, straightforward means. He stooped to none of the assiduous wiles so often employed by modern politicians, but he went into every voting precinct and spoke to the people, convincing them by his logic, his earnestness and his oratory until he won a following that seemed phenomenal. He entered upon the duties of his office, and the reins of city government have never been in more capable hands than they are at the present time. He has studied closely the situation, and his policy is a most commendable one. He is on the side of reform, improvement and all that is calculated to advance the educational, moral and material welfare of the city.
Mr. Davis is today known as one of the most able speakers of the west. He is an orator who ability equals that of many of the best known statesmen of the country. His style is both unique and attractive, and in some points might be said to resemble that of the gifted statesman whose name he bears and who said, �True eloquence does not consist in words alone.� Mr. Davis could never be said to belong to that class of speakers who thrill and interest their auditors at the moment of utterance but leave no lasting impression, and sow no seeds of thought that will develop and ripen in time. He is earnest, eloquent, instructive and entertaining. He is master of the art of rhetoric and figures of speech adorn his addresses as the flowers that border a stream. A friend speaking of him said, �Mr. Davis has all the graces of an orator. He is a young man of remarkably fine appearance, tall and commanding, with great grace of manner and a voice that never fails in a 2 hour talk, yet that is capable, seemingtly, of infinite modulation at the will of the speaker. Mr. Davis is not simply an orator. He is an actor, as consummate and keen in his perceptions as ever appeared before the footlights of the stage. He has the scholarly tastes and literary culture, the eleocutionary skill of some of the best known orators of the west, and combines with it massive force and sledge-hammer logic, together with an case and grace of delivery that is seldom equaled. He has the power of holding his audiences entranced.� Mr. Davis is an illustrious prototype of a self-made man, and having in his young manhood already risen to such heights it is safe in predicting for him a most brilliant future.
This page was last updated August 2, 2006.