The Breckenridge news. (Cloverport, Ky.) 1876-1955, 1910-08-31

corporations and appealing 10 the
People Directly.
Governor Walter Roscoe Stubs,
who has been renominated b. the
Republican voters of Kansas. has had
short career In politics compared
with most leaders. 1t is only seven
years since he began to interest him
self at all actively In public affairs.
and now he seems assured of second
term In office. which may lead to his
going to the United States senate.
4 For 1t is no secret that the gov
ernor's ambition is to succeed Senator
Charles Curtis, whose term expires
In March, 1913, and whose successor
will be chosen two years hence.
Stubs is red headed. like that other
insurgent leader of Kansas Repub-
licans. Victor Murdoch. Red hair
means energy. and Stubs is brimful
Of energy. Oddly enough, he comes Of
Quaker stock. His pa :ents. who lived
In Richmond. Ind. when he was born.
were very poor; also they were men,
bers of the Society of Friends.
Proved Himself Fighter.
A lighting Quaker" is proverbially
bad man TO run against And Stubs
has proved to his opponents that he
can fight, out of pure love Of lighting.
IL for nothing else. in politics. His de-
sire to do things is so great that one
can only wonder whether the chamber
of the dignified senate could contain
him In one of his crusading moods.
Now fifty-two years old. the gov
ernor is wealthy as a result of many
years of hard work as a contractor.
mostly in railroad building. Thus he
has an intimate acquaintance with one
feature of railroad affairs, the cost of
new lines During his political cam
paigns Stubs has been charged with
ingratitude to the hand that fed him,
for he has risen in politics chiefly as
an anti-railroad man. But he has al
ways answered that he had nothing to
do with the railroads except to build
good many miles of them at fair
profit
Stubs is an open fighter and always
hits straight from the shoulder or dis
Gains to hit at all. He has no hesita-
ton about taking the whole people into
his confidence when he has a COM
plant against the Standard Oil COM
pany or some other corporation.
Not an Orator, But
AS speechmaker he is not gifted.
His voice is harsh. his language Is fire.
quently ungrammatical. and his GEES
lures are awkward. But he can ask
more questions and express more fer
vid thoughts about things in general
when on the stump than probably any
other man in political life. And he
gets down to facts-or allegations
and proceeds to hammer at his enc
mics with sledgehammer strokes.
The weakness of Stubs as politi-
clans look upon him is that he has no
machine. He is essentially one man
power. He insists that everybody in
the employ of the state shall do fair
days work for his pay. and he has cut
off graft in numerous places. The sup
port he gets is from the people, not the
politicians, primarily. 1t is true many
strong politicians aided him in the
fight for denomination. but he did not
4 win their support through promises or
fayors. They took TO Stubs because
of his strength, and Stubs may or
may not reward them.
Stubs opponent in the fight just
~,aoa xx,oe rrho,paC Wa0cfaR hriQhf
energetic and shrewd young lawyer of
Independence Wagstaff made good
fight, pleading for harmonious support
of President Taft. the policies Of the
administration and traditional Repub-
lidhnism.
But Stubs made a better fight. He
stripped off his coat and vest on hot
day while campaigning and talked to
the voters In heart to heart way that
brought confidence. enthusiasm and
votes. He has hardly any book learn
ing" and one secret of his strength
may be that he does not pretend to
have any. He has been. however,
very good friend to the states educa-
tional institutions and appreciates edu-
cation.
Began In Legislature.
Stubs began his political career In
1908 by going to the legislature. He
didn't know anything about lawmaking
at the start. of course. and the par
ty managers saw to it that he was not
placed on any important committees.
THAT annoyed Stubs. and he began
to fight He took the reform side Of
everything and made name on the
anti pass question and other issues that
were considered burning by the farm
ers. He fought the ring that con-
tolled state politics and soon found
himself a power.