The morning journal-courier., 1908-10-05
THE GOVERNORS o. K.


 Man wants but little here below, the saying Is. We should judge from an attentive perusal of an interview with Governor Woodruff upon existing po- litical conditions that he gets 1t. The wildness with which 1t was received by the newspaper supporters of MT. Lilley shows, too, however so little Is vel come in this year of our Lord, when advocacy of that gentleman candidacy is impossible and defense of his record awkward
 We suspect, if suspicion is permissi- ble under all of the circumstances, that 1t took a great deal of labor to bring forth the political child which has so suddenly filled the hearts of the friends of Mir Lilley with q grim encourage ment. We find in his endorsement of the national Republican ticket the fsame fire and earnestness that char acterized the governors address before the New Haven Economic club, when in the presence of representatives of the machine he castigated the bosses as they had never been castlgated be- fore and gave them notice that with him It was a fight with no quarter al- lowed But when we come to his en- dorsement of Mir. Lilley there is a per- emptory drop in enthusiasm and we come upon what Is known as the studied phrase. AS to the state tick ct 1t Is a satisfactory sign to me-" be- cause in a speech at Southngton Mir. Lilley came over to the Woodruff pro- gram of political reform "No one can find any fault with that announcement on Mir Lilleys part, and sincerely hope that he may be able to 20 ahead with the serious work already inau- gurated."
 MT, Lilley and his friends are enti- tied to all the encouragement he can get out of that endorsement. This Is not the first time like literary under ~-takings have encouraged adventures to seek for rainbows in the cucumber. There are men in this world, and good men too, who construe a pleasant Good Morning to be salutation of afrec- ton and who regard conventional smile as convertible into a ninety day note. They are what are called people of susceptibility, and they are well known to brokers, who have oil and mineral bonds to sell in support of properties in the far west, or Alaska Governor Woodruff, undoubtedly pest cred to death to say something to save a badly manned party ship from wreck, remarks that he sincerely "hopes" Mir, Lilley, if elected will "be able" to go ahead with the program of reform so contemptuousy repudlated at the Republican state convention. This Is enough "Hurrah," cries the be- wildered supporters of MT, Lilley, "the governor is with us heart and soul. 2 Mike Murphy would call this good team work even though he had reason to fear the outcome of the struggle with the enemy
 Wa 1aO fiI11,r a,prepiota IIa f,,II rIr nifcance of what Governor Woodruff for number of credtable reasons has said He had perhaps to say some- thing and he has said something but not much for the good of Lilley Any one who knows the story of his ma chine campaign for tho nomination or who has had the pleasure of hearing him talk frankly about 1t doubts that he will be fable" to carry on the poll oies of Governor Woodruff unless each effort is counterslgned by the machine bosses It is not enough 10 say cred itable things because forced to do so by public opinion after nominating convention has said nothing in sup port of the progressive program of re- form. There must exist to stimulate public confidence. the probability of creditable things beng done, when the opportunity to do them has been given At present there Is no such probability in sight. Had there been the conven- ton would not first have tossed Gov. ernor Woodruff, a bouquet of wild flow. CTS before kicking him out Of that con. vention bag and baggage, and then second deliberately ignored every un, dertaklng which made the Woodruff administration one of the most popular in the history of the state.
 It is folly to thus undertake to foo intelligent people. Governor woodruff