The log cabin Democrat. [volume] (Conway, Ark.) 1901-1982, 1912-04-04

pledulnR LOT SuDInlSSlOn OI Tile liquor
question to the people and spoke out
right for statewide prohibition. Even
at that time, he could have had the
liquor forces behind him, but he dis
da:ned all their advances and the
leaders saw there was no hope for
them on that side of the fence and
they fought all the harder for the OPP
position.
In every speech he made Governor
Dcnaghey became more bitter against
the people and combinations he con-
sidered to be the enemies of the state.
He declined to take advice from peo-
pie who claimed to be his friends, and
made Rome howl with the denuncia-
ton he gave interests and former
member of the legislature. Though
he knew that it would lose him votes,
Governor Donaghey went into the
home of these former legislators and
made his speech there all the more
bitter. He seemed to know that de-
feat was staring him in the face and
to be determined to tell the people the
naked truth while he had the oppor-
tunity. Governor Donaghey appar-
emily knew that the opposition had
spread the news which would discred-
it the truths he was telling, but that
did not prevent him from making the
statements. He simply bowed his
neck and went into the fight, determ-
ined to go down with fight all his
friends would be proud of.
All this fight was almost a lone
hand. Men who had profted by the
hand of the governor stood back and
watched the fray, and when they saw
the hopeless defeat of the man who
had been their champion, they quietly
began to advise their friends to sup
port Robinson, and the landslide was
on. This had begun by the time the
Donaghey headquarters were opened,
and when Eugene Williams of Forrest
City took hold of the campaign, he
saw what he had to battle against, but
like Governor Donaghey, he had the
nerve to tackle it. He was fighting
for friend, and felt that he could af-
ford to accept defeat for the same.
Though he has been defeated, the
reforms inaugurated by George w.
Donaghey will continue. Others gov
ernors to come will gain the credit
for them, because they will recognize
the right in these measures and work
to bring them to successful termin-
alton.
While Geo. w. Donaghey is step
ping out of Arkansas politics as sud
denly as he came into it four years
ago, it cannot be said that the state
is going to the bow-wows just because
Joe T. Robinson has been elected gov
ernor-or the same thing by getting
the Democratic nomination. While
he may differ in many material points
from the administration of Governor
Donaghey, if he wants to make a
great governor he must continue GER
tain of the reforms which have been
started, and it would be hard to find
anyone who would intimate that Joe
T. Robinson has not the ambition to
make great governor of a great
state.
In the real Donaghey forces, men
who stood the gaff because they be-
lieved in the principles for which
their chief was fighting and because
they believed in the sincerity of their
candidate and his ability to do the
things which he advocated if given
the endorsement of teh people, will be
found many game losers. George w.
Donaghey is himself as game loser
as he was fighter, and while it is
probable that he will yield to the
pleadings of his relatives and no long
er actively appear in politics, his sup
port will be solicited by many an am
bilious politician in the future. He is
not dead one by any means.
One of the greatest campaign cries
was the bugaboo about the money
Donaghey was going to spend "to buy
the denomination" If anything, Don
aghey spent the less of the two sides,
and l know personally that the
amount he is credited with spending
is many times the amount he actually
spent.
All in all, the success of governor
depends upon having a good legisla-
trre behind him. Governor Donaghey
made a fight for clean senate, and
in many places succeeded in getting a
change. Joe T. Robinson should at
least thank his predecessor for what
he has done in this line.