The bee., 1913-05-23
JUDGE GORDON
FOR CONGRESS
PROBABILITY THAT EMINENT JURIsT
MAY ENTER RACE FOR
NOMINATION
HAS BEEN STRONGLY URGED
Stanleys Formal Announcement for Sem
ator Bring Candidates to the Front


, Inc formal announcement of A. o.
Stanley at glasgow for the nomina-
tion for United States Senator Is ac-
cepted everywhere as conclusive that
his career in the lower house will
close with his present term. The
nomination for senator and congress-
man will both be made at the primary
to be held in August, 1914.
Mr.. Stanley's announcement start
ed the congressional ball to rolling.
The name of Judge j. Fleming
Gordon has been favorably men,
toned and hearing that numbers
Of his friends have urged him
to enter the race, The Bee
sought Judge Gordon and asked for
an expression of his purpose in the
matter.
Judge Gordon's statement:
"My attitude in respect to con-.
gressional honors is this:
II have always felt, and feel now,
that the political Offices belong pri-
marily to the people, to be placed by
them in the hands of those who they
believe can render to them the best
political service; and that position
should never be regarded by our
good citizens as favors or donations
to one of their number, merely to
| crafty the vanity or ambition of the
one who imagines that he has been
touched by the Divine afflatus and
that the liberties and rights Of the
people will perish from the earth IL
he be denied the coveted privilege to-
exercise his two chief qualifications,
namely: His presumption, and his
big voice, in second rate oratory, in
their behalf in the American con-.
gress. as
Therefore have no ambition or
aspiration to hold any political office,
except I be called to accept it by a.
considerable number of my fellow
citizens, acting in the belief that l
can render them a more efficient and
satisfactory service. l hold 1t to
be the duty of every man to serve the
public in every capacity to which he
may be called by the people, and 1t
should be gratifying to any man, as
1t is to me, to be called upon and So
licited, as l have been, by quite
number of the voters of the demo-
cratic ticket to allow them to present
my name to the voters of the Second
Congressional district for congress-
ional honors.
"The confidence and esteem which
these solicitations imply is deeply
appreciated by me, and I only wish
that nature had endowed me more
beautifully with qualifications of e
truly merit their regard.
"Under the circumstances now ex-
listing l shall duly consider the
wishes and solicitations of these
good citizens; of course, it is not
to be expected that any one should
receive anything like unanimous sup
port but If l should find a respect
able number of representative party
adherants in accord with those who
have already expressed themselves,
l shall later, and at the proper time,.
become candidate for congress.
81 have never been noted for lead
ing my friends to defeat, and If
should enter the contest it will be to
conduct a vigorous winning fight.
81 am not a poetical dreamer, nor
do 1 imagine that l am endowed with
oratorical powers with which ! could
hope to beguile and capture the un-
sophisticated, or use as a cover for
my stupidity or ignorance; / am
plain practical man of affairs, making
no pretence of display, claiming no
gift of tongues, and employing no
artifice of sound or fury to conceal
my deficiencies, but resting content
in the modest belief that should
be chosen, / will be found to possess
at least a good working knowledge
of the science of Civil Government.
sufficient to apply the just principles
OF progressive government to the
regulation of human concerns, in an
effort to secure the greatest good to
the greatest number. / will hope to
find my chiefest pleasure in tho
knowledge that some lasting good
had come TO my people, through my
faithful service in their behalf, rath--
er than from the vain glory and con.
ceit of charming myself with tho
sound of my own voice in the national
capital.
"A great statesman once said, in
substance. that there is no place In
the world, where a man so quickly
finds his true level and SO persistent
ly keeps II, as In the American Con-
gress. My aspiration would be to
strike that level at an elevation that
will inspire a just pride In my con-