St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1890-01-20
FOUR WE'RE YOUNGER.
An Innocent Paragraph on Mer-
RAMS Age ELECTS Prompt De-

An Innocent Paragraph on Mer-
RAMS Age ELECTS Prompt De-
: malls.
The statement was made in yester-
days GLOBE that William L. Merriam
was the youngest governor Minnesota
ever had.
1t is matter of quite little wonder
ment how generally that statement is
accepted as fact; but on tue contrary,
Merriam not only is not the youngest
of the galaxy of governors, but is
scarcely as young as the average guber-
Material timber of the state, Yester-
days statement called out a dozen de-
malls from about town, with the country
districts to hear from, among them be-
ing one from WIN. Todd, late deputy
insurance commissioner. Mr.. Todd
spoke with feeling when he said:
although this statement is flagrantly
untrue, it only elic+S this reply as a re-
minder of the similar statements which
have been made by people and press
from time to time until many have come
to think that it is something remarkable
for one so young as Gov. Merriam to be
elected to his position. Some have
probably descanted upon this grave
matter with the same sincerity which
prompted the GLOBE paragraph, .wh lie
others have simply tried to aid the gov
ernOr in his attempt to make political
capital of it. Gov. Merriam comes so
far from being the youngest governor
the state ever had that a comparison of
t ages for the purposes for which the
comparison is made is abSurdfyaSflly.
According to his gushing autotiogra-
ply, which appears in the last legislative
manual, Gov. Merriam was elected at
the age of thirty-nine. The executive
statistics Of the state, which are sup
pcsedly reliable. show that Alexander
! Ramsey was appointed territorial gov
ernOr at thirty-four and Willis. A Cor
man at thirty-seyen. Horace Austin.
who had already been district Judge five
years, was elected at thrty=eight and
Z. K. Davis at thirty-fye. Minnesota
has thus had four younger governors
than the present Incumbent, and they
happen to rank among the ablest she
ever had. While no one would pretend
to say that they possessed the dazzling
brilliancy Of the present governor, there
are few who believe that every one of
the four, Ramsey. German, Austin aud
Davis, was. at the time Of his election.
as far above him in statesmanShip and
gubernatoriai requirements as he was
btl0w him in years"
"The average age ateleetion of the
twelve men who have served the state
in the capacity of governor is only forty
years. Gov. Merriam, who has by some
been styled the young governors and
who himself is so deeply impressed
with the tenderness of his years as TO
make a pathetic aliusIon to it i'm his
classic speech on tine day of his nomina-
ton. was, at his election, but one year
younger than the average of his pre-
deceSsOrs, and considerably older than
One-third of them. Perhaps ne is too
young to have learned these facts, but
they are true, and the capital sought to
be created through the young gov
ernor' racket is sadly impaired by the
light of them.
ut calls to mind thrilling incident
of recent legislature. A member was
trying to procure position for a cou-
stituent who had aided him in his cleo
ton. At the conclusion of long. elo-
quent speech he appealed to his iegis-
latiye brethren to deal kindly with a
poor boy whom the war had made an
orphan. In response to a question as
to how old the orphan was, the pleading
legislator feelingly replied: just thir-
ty-seven.'"