The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1910-10-02
TRAITS OF LEE CRUCE
AS TOLD BY OTHERS
SINCERITY HIS QUALIFICATION
BROUGHT HIGH IDEALS AND
RIGHTEOUSNESS TO POLITICS.

/ Oklahoma City, Okla, Oct l.
You'll never pull Lee Cruce into
this slime" said Senator Tom Moore
of Altus yesterday. Through his
veins flow the red corpuscles of an
aI1stocracy that has made Kentucky,
Virginia and the states of the old
south of note throughout the world
yet his breeding ani his raising
have placed him on a common plane
with the common people, and below
that level he will never 20. No
filth for him; no mud-sliuging, no
hack-biting, no insipid iusinuations:
nothing for Lee Cruce but fairness,
always and undefiled.
The associations of Lee Crucc have
been cosmopolitan. Possessed of the
spirit of Christian he has spent
his life lifting men and women from
the depths. 1t is said of him that
no honorable man ever asked him
for reasonable favor that was not
granted. No enterprise of charity
or philanthropy was ever launched
in his community that Lee Cruce
was not liberal contributor of
time, money or any other necessary
thing necessary to the relief of the
suffering and needy. As teacher
of morals and high living, the min
lister has not been more than the
peer. and Cruce brought with him
into politics the high ideals that
were the basis of his teachings of
righteousness.
Listen to his words in the Fairfax
speech which must go down in his
tory as one of the greatest ever de- /.
liyered by an Oklahoman:
Society, for the purpose of govern /
ment, is divided into two classes
the good and the bad. If the good .
men dominate in numbers and influ- /
ence in the affairs of government, We .
have good laws and good govern .
ment, and the converse is true if .
the bad element prevails in our po- .
ltical affairs. In Oklahoma we will .
have just as good government as .
we demanG-no better and no worse. .
AS long as the honest voters of the |
state perform their political obliga- .
tions and register their votes on
election day, our state government I.
is secure. One real patriot who goes
ballot in favor of honest government /.
is worth more to the state and the .
community than an hundred self .
styled patriots who stay at home F.
and spend their time crying out F.
against bad laws and corrupt Off
cials. have no patience with the .
man. be he preacher or layman, who
envelopes himself in a cloak of self
styled righteousness and holds him
self aloof from political contests. If
he is at heart a good man, it Is the
more incumbent upon him to take
part in politics. Politics will never
be made purer and cleaner by un-
clean voters, but an honest citizen
ship, constantly and diligently as
serting itself will give us clean pol
itics and clean politicians
Another qualification of Lee Cruce
is his sincerity. Perhaps the most
notable example of sincerity and per
feet consistency in political life in
modern times is w. J. Bryan. In
the bitterness of defeat he has al
WAYS maintained the consciousness
that he was right. Bryan's hold on
the people has not always been
effected through the great principles
he advocated so much as through
the peoples knowledge that he was
the living personification of truth.
Cruces word as private citizen
has never been doubted. And when |
he goes on the political stump his /.
reputation gives him an estimate with |
his audience that few men in public .
life attain. Regardless of the issues {,
or the political Affiliations of his .
auditors, they believe that he means
what he says. Perhaps no greater .
trait of character was ever pos
sessed by men in public life than
this.
Cruce is courageous, but he fights
with dignity. Whenever the sacred
rights of self-govrenment has been
molested through the Vaccinations
of corrupt opponents to that right,
mis- words have burned themselves /.
to the core of the guilt But for
federal interference, superinduced by |
a republican organization, the right
of self-governme would have been
in the enforcement of
the two-cent passenger fare of the
state constitution and the corpora
tions.
These are examples of republican
efforts to pillage the field of self
and the nature of
Cruces fight has been that of the
statesman and not of the average
politician who delyes into slime. His
is backed by craftsmanship.
The issues of the campaign are ma
ton wide. They involve the funda-
mentals of good government. Hence
the necessity of republicans avoiding
the issue that they may magnify
what they charge to be mistakes of
a democratic administration.