The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-02-06
New Governor of Washington
 Recalls Boyhood Dreams
WINS AGAINST BIG ODDS
Born In Ohio, This Man Early Became Ambitious, and, Moving West, He Finally Attans Posi-
 ton Sought for Years.

Olympia the afternoon of January 27. Chief Justice F. A. Rudkin read the oath of office. The inauguration was de- layed two weeks because of the illness of the governor who passed the last ten weeks at Paso Robles, Cal, where he was under medical treatment. He made the trip north in special car, accom- panied by Mrs. Cosgrove and physi- elan.
 Back of this simple announcement is the story of a campaign of 30 years with a single ambition, politically. and that to be the chief executive of the most north westerly commonwealth in the United States MT. Cosgrove never permitted the dazzle of election to any office blind him to his goal, nor would he be turned aside from the prize. upon which, as a hoy, he had set his heart, He had offers of the lieutenant governorship and con- gressman of eastern Washington, but he declined both. The honor which he courted was coy, but he consistently re- fused to abondon. his sui.. He won against great odds, which makes the vic tory sweeter.
 Lifelong Ambition.
 MT. Cosgrove is a resident of Pomeroy, Garfield county, 1S7 miles southwest of Spokane, which lays claim to being the largest grain shipping point in the United States. He has lived there p years His arrival in eastern Washington, then rank with sagebrush, was not the beginning of his ambition to be governor of the state, which was then a territory. It stirred him as soldier during the Civil War, as a student in the Ohio Wesleyan university, and guided him westward with the course of the empire; first to Nevada thence to California and finally to Wash ington, where 1t inspired him in the bat tie up the road of achievement.
 Growing up in Defiance county he en- listed as a member of regiment of Ohio volunteers in 1863, at the age of 16 years, and served until discharged in 1865. The following year he entered the Wesleyan university, among his class mates being Charles w Fairbanks, Vice President of the United States; Judge Herman D. Crow member of the state supreme court of Washington; James M. Vernon postmaster in Everett, Wash, and several others who have attained dis tinction in various parts of the country After graduating in 1873 he studied law at Woodsfield, O.. and was admitted to practice in 1875. He. remained in his na- tive state till 1880, when he was touched with the western fever and he started for Nevada. Then he went to the Cali fornia coast and settled in Washington two years later. He formed a law part nership at Pomeroy with M. NJ Goldman which continued until the latter was elected to the superior bench in 1896, and then practiced alone until two years ago, when his eldest son, Howard & Cos grove, was graduated from the Univer- sity of Washington,
 Acquiring Competency.
 Pomeroy has never been productive of much law business. but of what there was MT. Cosgrove received the best and by good management and judlcious invest ments in farm lands in various parts of the Spokane country he acquired a com potency His land holdings total 400 acres, which are farmed under yearly leases and the income enables him to live in comfort as befits the first citizen of the Evergreen state.
 Minor public honors he never sought. though several such have thrust them selves upon him. When the government of Pomeroy was organized under an early territorial charter he was elected mem Der of it's first council and later served the town five terms in the capacity of Yaarx IAx, tl,A in 1889 to draft a constitution for the prospective new state he was elected one of its members, serving in that capacity with distinction He also served eight years as president of the Pomeroy school board and Is now 8 member of the board of regents of the University of Washing ton. He was named presidential elector for Washington in 1900 and 1904.
 While he played the game of partisan politics he followed only those rules &C., cepted as honorable by the highest stan dards. His leadership in Garfield county and eastern Washington was carried along by the frank recognition of his party fealty, his activity and by keeping faith with the people.
 Regulation of Railroads.
 Living at the' end of branch line in the grain belt, Mir Cosgrove naturally became an advocate of state regulation of railroads and he took an active part in the contest for the establishment of and exercise of that power. When this fight took the form of a demand for legislative rate reduction he represented the agri- cultural sentiment. He was also a cham pion of the direct primary election law and other betterment measures.
 MT. Cosgrove started his campaign in the summer of 1907. This was followed by fha organiZatiOn of Cosorova cIiibe i,, various parts of the state. Newspapers friendly to his candidacy were then en- listed and 150 editors waged a lively cam paign. At the primaries he boiled the largest number of first and second choice votes, defeating Gov. Albert E. Mead and former Gov. Henry Mcbride, neither of whom received the required 40 per cent of first choice votes to nominate. The was managed by his son.
 Big Majority Received.
 Afterward MT. Cosgrove suffered an attack of Brights disease and was thus prevented from taking an active part in the campaign, but nevertheless, he car rled the state by the largest majority in it's history. Soon after the election he was ordered to southern California by his physician, and for a time it was feared he would never realize his ambition. However, he rallied and made the trip to Olympia and is now chief executive of the commonwealth.
 MT Cosgrove is a member of the Ma sonic order, the Odd Fellows, workmen. Elks and Grand Army of the Republic. He served a term as division commander of the G. A. R., and is junior vice com mander n-chief His family consists of Mrs. Cosgrove and two sons and a daugh- ten