The Portland daily press. [volume] (Portland, Me.) 1862-1921, 1864-09-02

the name of Names honored and honorable
Chief Magistrate; a man who has filed num-
erous offices in the gift of his fellow citizens,
singular fidelity, and maintaining character
perfectly irreproachable.
Mr.. CoNY, as our readers well know, was
nominated last year by no old political organ
ization, but by convention Of the People, the
only qualification for membership being I'M
conditional loyalty to the Union and the Cons
titution, and an inaexible purpose to stand by
the old flag and the Government whose au
thority it symbolizes, to the last dollar and
the last man OF our material power. He was
no office seeker. He shrank from the nomi-
nation when it was pressed upon him. He
had no special taste for political life. His
tastes and habits are more retiring. Posses
sed OF comfortable fortune though by no
means a man Of opulence, he preferred the
retirement of his family and the private cir
Gle in which bis daily business required him
to move, rather than the more public position
of chief Office OF the State.
But the people demanded his nomination,
and he felt, under all the circumstances, that
he had no right to refuse their request. The
result is matter Of recorded history. His
election was resisted by the opposition with a
virulence seldom equalled. He was assaied
as political apostate, because an old, life
long Democrat, he accepted the nomination
from the People in disregard of aud in oppo-
sition to the action of the treason-tainted Or
ganization of his former party friends. He
was opposed by every means that ingenuity,
whetted by party malignity, could suggest,
but on the second Monday of September the
honest masses of the People recorded their
verdict, the result of which was his election
by the unprecedented majority of 1920 over
all competition, against majority for the
Republican candidate of the year previous OF
3,770, or a net gain of l3,S59
The history of the State would be searched
in vain for another instance Of a vote so flat
tering. Gov. CoNY was inaugurated in Janu-
airy, and delivered to the Legislature an Ad-
dress which, for the soundness of its senti-
ments, the clearness of its enunciations, the
ringing patriotism Of its sentences, the beauty
of its diction and the comprehensigeness of its
statesmanlike views, has never been excelled,
seldom equalled by similar state papers. In
that Address the people of Maine were able
to see the kind and style Of administration
which was to follow that inaugural act; nor
have they been disappointed.
While we do not claim perfection for Gov.
CoNY--for like all other men he is human
we state as our honest conviction that the in
terests of the State have never been lodged
in safer hands, the Office of Chief Magistrate
has never been better graced by any occupant,
and the honor and dignity of the State have
never been more carefully guarded than ur-
der his administration and it must be diff
cult and hypercritical person who, for asingle
moment, wouldiweigh anything in that admin
istration that he would preferred to see chang
ed, against the great and glorious record for
the State left by its general current The
public appreciation of Gov. CoSY's official
acts was revealed at the State Convention at
Augusta this season. which, without a dis
senting voice, and with degree of enthusi-
ssm perfectly beyond description, nominated
him for reelection. That nomination will be
ratified by the people OF Maine, on the 18th
inst, in manner most gratifying to the feel
ings of an efficient, high-minded and faithful
public servant. There can be no doubt Of
this. The people stand ready to do it. SAM
UEL CoNY is popular with the people-with
the masses. He is man OF the people, free
from Stiffness and reserve, easy of approach
and just such a man as the common people
feel at home with; such man as they delight
TO homer. Let the people of Maine see to il
that his majority falls not below 10000.