The anti-monopolist., 1876-02-03
(From the Rochester Post, Jan. 22d.l
Davis,s Administration.

DaviS9s Administration.
Now that our new Governor, Pilisbury,
is fairly installed, and Cushman X. Davis
has joined the ranks OF the ex-Governors.
the administration Of the latter can be
more fairly considered than was possible
during it's continuance.
Governor Davis leaves the executive
office with reputation superior in point
of ability and independence and fully
equal in every other respect, to the best
of his predecessors. Too much Of states.
man to be a mere politician, too much of a
man to be demagogue, he has not been
useful to men who make merchandise Of
politics as they would have liked, and
has been one instrument in the hands of
Providence by which the states Of several
such fellows have been pretty effectualy
smashed. He has on two or three nota.
BILE occasions succeeded admirably in dis
gusting that sort Of leading statesmen
in their own estimation. That class of
politicians bewail the day that Davis be
came Governor, but the people Of the
State have never been better served than
during his administration.
Taking the GoveInoship in an unevent-
full time as compared with some previous
terms, he has nevertheless made it, by
mere force Of ability and by the vigor and
sagac:ty of his administration, one that
has contributed greatly to the solid pros.
perity Of the commonwealth. In the
greatest emergency which occurred during
that period-that caused by the grasshop-
per raid-he acted with promptness.
discretion and economy that has never
been excelled. 1t is seldom that large
appropriation for relief is so expended as
to relieve all suffering and yet have a
large unexpended surplus, as was done by
the commissioners appointed in that case
The practical quality of his mind is
well shown in the last act Of his admins
tration. as set forth in the concluding por-
tion of his last message, where, in bring
ing the subject of the settlement Of the
old railroad bonds before the Legislature,
he suggests the most business-like method
yet proposed for disposing of that long
pending matter.
1t has been Governor Daviss fortune,
good or bad, as one may look at it, to
run counter t. the plans of some of the
politicians who consider it their mission
to relieve Governor, by their advice or
dictation, Of the trouble of deciding the
various questions that come before him,
by deciding them for him and leaving
him nothing to do but to carry out their
well-arranged schemes. Especially in the
matter Of making appointments has the
Governor offended such sel!-constituted
guardians Of the State. lie has had an
unusual number of vacancies to fill in inn
! 10, H. ka.1
more independently in such cases than
his prodeces ors, it cannot be denied that
in all impor tant cases the result has fully
justified the wisdom of his selections. 1t
is a significant commentary on the opposi-
ton with which some Of the best of these
appointments were met, that in the case
Of MIR. BracActt, appointed Surveyor of
Logs and Lumber to the great disap-
poin ment of a ring of Minneapolis poll
ticans, the same men who denounced
Davis for the appointment are now sup
porting Bracke,t, ard he is to be appoint
Gu ~ i'llsbury without opposition.
WAa the Governor has in all matters
affecting the general welfare, almost in
tuitively, taken the side of the people
and adopted such course as to meet the
popular appreciation the only offense
that he has given has been to that very
class Of old seeds whose snubbing is ac
cepted by the general public as bic sing
not needing any disguise.
His administration has been marked
with an individuality that distinguishes
it as entirely his own, fact that IS of it.
self the highest compliment that can be
paid it. When the people Of the State
elected him, it was in the belief that they
were making new dea. and putting in
the chair a Governor who had the ln-
dependence to fill in his own way and
pursuant to his oTn best judgment, the
office they were intrustlng to him, and
they have hot been disappointed. No
his term, and consequently the Office has
been faithfully and ably administered.
The Lost Man--An EnocA Arden.
Who of my young friends have read
the sorrowful story Of "Enoch Aiden,"
so sweetly and simply told BY Il { great
English poet! 1t is the story OF u man
who went to sea. leaving behind sweet
young vile and = little daughter. He
was cast away on desert island, where
he remained several years. when he was
discovered and taken of by a passing
vessel. Coming back to his native town.
he found his wife married to an old play
mate--a good man, rich and honored,
with whom she was living happily. The
Door man, unwilling to cause her pain and
perplexity, resolved not to make himself
known to her, and lived and died alone.
The poem has reminded me Of very
similar story Of my own New England
neighborhood, which have often heard.
and which l will try to tell, not in poetr;.
like Alfred Tennyson's. but in my own
poor prose. l can assure my readers
that. in its main particulars, it is true
tale:
One bright summer morning. more than
three score years ago, David Ma,son. with
his Young wife and his two healthy, bare
footed boys, stood on the bank Of tho
river near their dwelling. They were
waiting there for Pelatiah Curtis to come
round the point With his wherry and take