The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1911-04-15
STUDY OF CLICK.
j. F. FARRELL, Who Knew Ex-
Governor Well, Writes.
Held a Prominent Position In
Kansas Affairs.
HE HAD A HOBBY.
1t Was the State Board of
Agriculture.
Was an Exceptionally Well Read
Man.

The late Governor George w. Click,
of Atchison, was of the stuff out of
which good citizens are made. While
good citizens" is generally regarded
as an obituary term. it really means
something in the case of Governor
Click. His long and useful life bears
out the statement. He was 81 years
old. For more than forty years he
was engaged in the service of his
country, but with the exception of the
four years he ofiiciated as pension
agent, and the two years he was gov
ernor, his compensation for public
service did not pay his board bill.
Governor Click was dynamic force
in Kansas affairs from Civil war times
till broken hip a year ago rendered
him helpless. Of late wears his NET
was the Kansas state board of agricI,I-
ture, the sessions of which he never
missed The Click imprint is on many
important laws enacted for the devel-
opment of the agricultural resources
and the live stock industry of Kansas
and the west. Participation in a meet
ing of the board of agriculture or a
stock breeders association was not a
4. perfunctary proceeding with Click He
made himself vital, part of the ses-
| sion. He always had something new
to say and never failed to command
attention. He was a veritable live
wire in that kind of work. Governor
Click was in Topeka attending a board
meeting when the Copeland hotel
burned. The firemen said that, not
withstanding his eighty years, he
handled himself with the GOODNESS of a
veteran, the air of a Chesterfield and
agility of a boy when the ladder was
run up to his window.
Are the ladies all out?" Governor
Click asked.
"All cut" answered the firemen.
Then here come" said the gov
ernor
He escaped injury, but it was with
difficulty that his friends induced him
to seek shelter; he wanted to stay
around to be sure that Farmer"
Smith and other cronies had been
rescued. Later when told that Ike
Lambert had lost his life in the fire,
Governor Click said:
my! My! Things are out of bal
ance. Here a young and useful man
like Lambert perishes. while an old
man like me, who has lived his life,
and is ready to pass on, escapes"
| Governor Click was the foe of con-
stitutional prohibition because he be-
lieved that as an instrument for the
protection of temperance it was a
failure. Yet Click was radical tenn
perance man. He never used intoxi-
eating liquor in any form, nor did he
use tobacco. He believed in a high
license for liquor sellers. and strict
regulation; but he wanted the prin-
In all his personal life Governor
Click was clean. No man ever heard
him profane the name of the Deity,
nor repeat an off-color story. His
home surroundings were ideal. He was
an exceptionally well-read man, his
mind running to history. biography
and travels rather than to the popular
literature. He loved music. pictures,
flowers and children, and they easily
moved him to tears.
| Governor Clicks politics was
against him in Kansas. An uncompro-
missing Democrat, he stood out in the
open-often alone-and fought for the
things he believed in. He was never
| known to trim. That very element
in his makeup gave the people conf
dence in him, and while men of the
dominant party had no use for him as
a Democrat, they honored him as an
honest, capable, forceful citizen whose
love for his state and its institutions
was recognized and appreciated
If Click had been a Republican
but that is an Idle thought. Click
could not have been a Republican.
| J. F. FARRELL.