The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-07
Wouldn't Accept the NOmina-
tiOn for Governor.
HE is SATISFIED NOW
Cares for No Position Other
Than He Occupies.
Wouldn't Even Succeed Secre-
tary James Wilson.

''At 4 o'clock this afternoon" said F.
D. Coburn this morning, as he handed
a small typewriter slip of paper to a
reporter for the State Journal, my po-
litical sun sets-and 1 hope for good
The typewriter slip was as follows:
Be kind enough to advise the we'll
meaning but overpartial friends who are
again mentioning my name in connec-
t1on with the gOvernOrShip that do not
wish to be governor, and no circum-
stances which could arise would make
possible my acceptance of nomination,
even If 1t came in the form of sight
draft 1 have no desire for political pre-
ferment and aspire to no office other
than the one 1 now occupy.
IF. D. COBURN."
Mr.. Coburn's boom for governor has
lasted just week, and has been receiv-
ed with more genuine approval and sat
isfaction than any political movement
which has taken place in the state for a
long time. The favorable comment has
not been confined to Kansas; Mr.. Co.
burn has run well' all the way across
the country. The New York Sun said a
few days ago:
THE Hon Foster Dwight Coburn, sec
retary of the Kansas board of agricul-
ture, is proposed by some judicious citi-
Zens as compromise candidate for
governor of the Sunf1ower state. He
ought to be nominated and elected un-
in congress last year to succeed Burton,
but declined the post For years it has
been his job to boom Kansas, and he
wouldn't leave her and go to Washing
ton. He can have no objections, We
should suppose, to being governor and
continuing to be boomer in chief of Kan
sas. Mr.. Coburn deserves the best of
his fellow citizens. He knows more
farming in a minute than Jim Wilson
in year and a day. He is the prose
Irar TO of
would cover the Republican politicians
of Kansas with confusion and goose
flesh"
1t is altogether probable that had
Mr.. Coburn indicated a willingness TO
be a candidate for governor of Kansas,
he could have been nominated and
elected almost without opposition.
Even had he simply refrained from de-
claring himself out of politics. for good
and all, he would have gathered to
his support a loyal and most formid-
able band of supporters. But Mr.. Co
burn is positive that he will never take
d political office, and there is no doubt
that he means exactly what he says:
If Mr. -Coburn was offered the Job of
president of the United States tomor-
row morning, it. would be safe to bet
that he would decline 1t with as calm
and unruffled a demeanOr as he de-
c1fned the United States senatorship,
or Stifled his boom for governor.
Mr.. Coburn said this morning in
speakinx of his refusal to be a candi-
date for the Republican nomination
for governor:
"I am not so unnatural as to not be
gratificd that a good many of the best
people in Kansas-and that means the
best in the world-have offered, ana
still offer, to support me for governor
of such a state as ours, and NOBODY
could more highly prize their esteem,
but the honors and burdens must be
given to some of the many abler and
more ambitious, by whom they Will be
coveted. They are not for me.
GAS a matter of fact, if am to hold
anv Office the one I now occupy suits
me best. No other within the state
would be as acceptable, and any. how
ever exalted. that was to take me else
where, would have no attractions
This may explain why I neglect to do
this and that recommended by Jealous
friends as a sure or helpful stepping
stone to the agricultural department.
at washington. 1 have neither desire
nor willingness to succeed Secretary
Wilson or his successor. and I wish
my friends would clearly understand
it.
''In 1898, when-against my wishes
there was so much talk about nomt-
mating me for governor I would have
reluctantly accepted but was reJoiced
when the burden was placed upon an
other 1t has no allurements that ap-
peal to me now. In my present posi-
ton I am the most generously treated
public official in the world and am
entirely content to let we'll enough
alone"