The Somerset reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1868-1909, 1908-09-03
CONGRESSMAN BURLEIGH.
CONTINUED from LIST Page.

as he Is by experience and committee
membership, 10 organize and carry for
ward this great contest whose outcome
will mean so much to the future of our
State.
AS the Boston Herald well says:
New men. no matter how ambitious
and jealous, have very little influence.
They do not and cannot get, in the
usual course of things, appointments
to the more important committees.
In a speech in Augusta on Septem-
Der 8, 1906, Speaker Cannon paid the
following
Merited Compliment to the Maine
Delegation
in the National House, and to our rep
resentatiye from the Third District:
Now let me tell you something in
conclusion about your present delega
ton in the House. There are men and
men. There are sweet singers. there
are orators, there are men of genius,
there are practical men, there are men
OF great tact, there are vigilant men.
there are careless men in ordinary
matters pertaining to the requirement
of individual wealth-all kinds OF men
make the world. But il ] were com
ing up into Maine to form a company
of men to develop its water power, to
help form a proper State policy, do
you know what ] would do? | would
try to enlist a good lawyer or two.
would like, as we grow in our SAM
tary relations, to have a good doctor
or two | would like to have a good
business man or two. ! would have
one orator If could get him. would
not have him quite so fond of his
voice as Bryan is of his. but still
would have a good orator in the or.
ganization Then ! would have one or
two or three men who had come up
from the bottom, working under the
hand of necessity that they might get
bread, reading by the freight or the
candlelight, as the case may be. what
ever books they could get-honest,
God-fearing men, who have made their
way and have helped shape the town
ship and the city and the county and
the State by their vote, by their teach
ings and by their example to the best
interests of all the people. ! would
have some men of that kind in the or
ganization. Now. having said this
much about your organization, from
the State of Maine in the House OF
Representatives, you can pick out the
men from amongst your four mem
bers that fill the bill, and when you
have picked them out, along In the
front line for level-headed organiza-
tion for common sense practical sug-
gestion, for wisdom In counsel and
loyalty to organization and principle,
in full view, will be your representa-
tive, Mr.. Burleigh from the city OF
Augusta. (Applause.) You may well
be proud of each one of your represen-
tatives from Maine, for we are proud
of them In Illinois"
Gov Burleigh was
No New or Untried Man
when he was sent to represent the peo-
pie of his district in the National
House of Representatives. He had
been tried in positions of public trust
and responsibility, and had measured
up to the expectations of the people
whose confidence and esteem he
merited and won, and which he retains
today in undiminished force. He has
been all his life equal to every emer
gency. and faithful to every trust.
During his service as treasurer Of
Maine the public debt was decreased
more than four hundred thousand dol
lars, and the rate of taxation was re-
duced from four mills TO two and
three-quarter mills upon the dollar of
the State valuation.
In 1888 he was elected Governor OF
Maine by 1858 plurality over Hon.
VIM l.. Putnam. his democratic com
petitor. He was reelected in 1890,
when the voters were without a presi-
Dental contest to stimulate them to
political activity, by the increased
plurality of 1889. His administra-
ton was pre-eminently constructive
one. With wonderful capacity for
hard work he combined, in a marked
degree, the executive faculty. His adj
dresses to the legislature were models
of clearness and strength. Press and
people united in commencing his ad-
Ills appointments were
very strong, and were always made
with an eye single to the needs of the
public service. He has been a man of
action rather than of words, and, in
his distinguished public career, has left
behind record OF substantial achieve
ment that speaks far more eloqdently
than words could possibly do. His
four years we're in an eminent degree
years in the life of the
State government. To review in de-
tail the good work accomplished under
his administration would far exceed
the limits of this article. We have
only space to touch upon some of the
more notable things accomplished
upon his recommendation and upon
his suggestion. 1t may be we'll in
passing to say that the messages OF
Governor Burleigh
Received the Strongest Praise from
the Newspapers of Both Political
Parties.
OF his first one, the Eastern Argus,
then as now the leading democratic
newspaper of this State, spoke as fol-
lows in its issue of Jan. 5, 1889:
Governor Burleigh's address is
good. 1t discusses the usual topics in
a candid, straightforward manner, az
vances recommendations with conserv-
alive caution, and gives evidence
throughout that he intends to make
a good Governor,-of the whole peop.e,
not of a class or clique.
IF his presentation of the financial
condition of the treasury is slightly
more fiattering than existing facts
justify, it is an error on the hopeful
side, which we shall all be glad to see
more than realized. The Governor evil !
IDENTIFY sympathizes with the taxpayers
of the State, the farmers particularly
OF his second inaugural address the
Argus said;
Governor Burleigh's message is a
we'll written document. 1t is a plain,