Evening star., 1909-06-13
His Decision
c Cornrasi b-2~ 2ags Z


a little stock and then asks little favor of
him. for which perchance. he gives him a little
more stock; and then. before the man. unso-
phisticated. not orig glnally dishonest at heart.
quite knows what it all means. he finds himself
listed as a Francis man. and not knowing Just
what to do about 1t, he falls into line
His own experience bore out the summary.
When elected to Office State Senator. he had
cherished old fashioned ideas of serving his con-
,tituents and doing his duty But the first
week Francis had asked OF those little
favors of him. and, wishing to show his appre
citation of support e iven him in the election. he
had granted it. And then-wel the newspaper
man had said 1T about right
Francis knocked the ashes from his cigar
= Fools he muttered amateurs. idiots"
"Leyman," ventured the Governor.
Yes. Leyman and all his crowd'
And yet. the Governor could not resist il
in another hour this same fool will be Gov
ernor of the State 1t looks little though
the fool had won.
Francis rose mpatienty. =" Temporary. Just
temporary tell you. the more go into it the
more see that politics is like all other pro-
fessionS One learns 1t and prac tSes it In law
the man with training may win one case
but it's brains and training make the lawyer
and it's brains and training for the politician.
No Leynan will never be reelected In fact.
| m counting on that contract business we've
saved up for him doing good share Of the
work Well, he had moved towar, the door.
III see you up stairs | presume it Is up To
to put in our smiling faces at the show. and
with laugh and shrug he went away
THE Governor looked at the clock 1t pointed
now to twenty-five minutes past eleven. The
last hour was going fast. In a very short time
he must join the party in the anteroorn of the
House. But WEAKNESS had come over him,
He leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes,
He was close upon seventy, and to-day
looked even Older than his years. 1t face
that held nothing of the vicious. but little Of
the strong. People who wanted to say nice
things of the Governor called him pleasant
genial or kindly Even the men IN the APP
pointive offices did not venture tn say he had
much force.
He felt it to-day as he never had before He
had left no mark; he had done nothing, stood
made itself felt He had signed the documents;
Harvey Francis had always suggested the
term that mans own-the course to be
pursued And the suggestions had ever
dictated the policy that would throw most OF
the influence money to that splendidly
organized machine that Francis controlled
X/ITH an effort he shook himself free from
W his cheerless retrospect There
thing two he wanted to get from his desk.
and his time was growing very short. He found
what he wanted and then. Just as he about
to close the drawer, his eve fell on a large yellow
envelop. He stared strangely with a convul-
Sive motion of his hand he grlpped the en-
vclop tight: his head sank j little lower: the
lines Of his face seemed to deepen
He closed the drawer but only to reopen it.
take out the envelop remove the documents
1t contained and spread them out before him
on the desk
He sat there looking down at them. wonder
ing whether a man had ever before stepped into
office with as many pitfalls laid for him as
Frank Leyman During the last month they
had been busy about the old State House set
ting traps for the new Governor The machine
was specially ubilant the situation as re-
garded those contracts the Governor now had
spread out before him The convict labor aues-
ton being fought out with the State Just
then. organized labor demanding ITS repeal:
country taxpayers insisting that 1t be main
tanned Under the system the penitentiary had
become entirely self supporting. In November
the contracts had come up for renewal. but
on the request Of Harvey Francis the matter had
been put off from time To time, and still remained
open ust the week before. Francis had put
1t before the Governor something like this
Don't sign those contracts We can give
reason for holding them OFT, and
them up for Leyman Then that the
question IS agitated ami whatever he does
about it is going to prove bad thing for him
If he doesn't sign he's in it with the country
fellows. the men who elected him. Don't you
see. At the end of his administration the penl-
tentiarv. under YOU self sustaining. will have
cost the State million. We've got him right
square"
\ second time. and with 4 conscious struggle
he pulled himself together. saying some
thing about HAVING trouble enough of his owr,