Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1907-08-14

! the goverr Or of the state of California.
It's his excellency, Governor James
Norris Gillett of California, the state
of the Golden Gate, if you please.
STUDIES LAW ODD MOMENTS.
Twenty-four years ago, when Jim
! Gillett left Sparta, his fund of knowl-
edge of the ways of the world compris-
ed about what the average student
learns over the candle at home All he
had he could carry with him in good or
der. Jim went west with his father.
1t wasn't so slow out in California
when Young Gillett and his father got
there. Grass was not growing in the
streets of San Francisco. The city was
1 in the midst of its boom, that remarka-
4 BILE growth which promised to build up
great metropolis until the earthquake
came and brought chaos from which,
some declare, it never will completely
emerge. OF course, this is denied in
] Frisco. =
1t was just five years before Gillett S
arrival in California that he began the
study of law, alone in his humble home,
and Just two years before he had been
admitted to practice in the state of
! Wisconsin.
| HE GOES TO WASHINGTON.
What a young lawyer can't do in a
growing country will pass without com
!nent. lie settled in Eureka and Wis.
K. F. D. no, that was before he was
| elected city attorney. That put him in
politics perhaps he had put himself in
politics before getting the office and
later he went to state senate. Jim Gill
lett took with the voters. He deliver
ed the goods. He was not fiashy, but
! he protected the interests of the voters
in 4nanner that met with their APP
prevail and he was promoted He was
elected to III Fifty-eigth congress
Right here is where Jim Giilett fell
down as a politician. He forgot to
write back to Silas Lowry, Sparta,
Wis, r. F. d. no, that was before
Congressman Esch got busy in western
Wisconsin postal matters he forgot to
write to Silas Lowry and invite him
again to visit him in Washington. ST.
las would have appreciated the humor
of it, but perhaps Congressman Gil
lett was too busy.
Representative Gilett served through
the Fifty-eighth congress where, by
the way, he found John j Esch of La
Crosse, Wis, another Sparta hoy ~
and was elected to the Fifty-ninth con
gress. In this congress, however, Mr..
Gillett did not figure. for he was nomi-
mated governor of the state of Califor-
MIA by the republicans and elected to
| that office.
No city in the United States has 500
! besmirched itself as San Francisco has,
but the remarkable thing about it is
that with all its filth San Francisco has
not been able to faint to the slightest
| degree the fair name of the state of
| California. Governor Gillett has seen
to it that the skirts of California have
been kept clear of the mire.
| had letter from Col. Henry Cas-
| son, sergeant-at-arms Of the house of
| representatives at Washington the 9th
er dav, and in it, at the suggestion Of
| Senator O. G. Munson, private secre-
/ tary TO Governor Davidson, (VirOqua
men, mind you) Col. Casson added a
/ bit in eulogistic vein regarding Govern
or Gillett
1 Until his coming to congress-, |
knew Mr.. GiIlett only as boy at Viro-
ance with his father and his fathers
brothers began many years since. The
I Gilletts were all men of sturdy physique
and sturdy character. None Of them
possessed anything but the most mod
crate common school education, but all
were men OF good natural ability. The
dominant characteristic Of all Of them
was intense loyalty to their friends and
splendid physical courage.
''J1dging from Mr. Gillett's ofiicia. ac-
( ton during troublesome times they have
been having in California, he is making
a magnificent record as chief executive