The Oroville weekly gazette. [volume] (Oroville, Wash.) 1905-19??, 1913-08-15
AN AMIABLE WEAKNESS

1t is always interesting to study
sidelights on the character OF great
man. They throw out in strong relle1
the human qualities; the little virtues
and the little defects that form the
composite whole. and these things In
terest us because they seem to bring
us nearer in sympathy and under
standing to a personally that other
wise appears distant and more or less
unreal.
Often it is difficult to think of a
president or a governor as a mere
man, with the same frailties and &C.
centricities as their fellowmen. When
We think of them or read of them in
their official capacity, they seem to
belong to another sphere and alto
gether unlike ourselves. But, if we
learn of some personal popularity
concerning one or the other, he at
once appears differently to us.
For instance, if the governor OF
Washington is mentioned We at once
picture to ourselves a big, forceful
determined character, whose every
activity is devoted to the tremendous
task of saving 100000 of our money
every year. We picture him as fight
common enemy, our representatives
in the legislature, to accomplish this
immense economy. We see him
emerge triumphantly from that fight
with s4,000,000 in vetoes to his credit
and S24,000,0O0 in appropriations bear
ing his signature. We remember with
admiration hot unmixed with awe his
marvellous mathematics that proved
this to be saving over the record OF
a previous administration in which
the appropriations for four years
failed to equal the appropriations fol-
the first two of his own. These and
many other equally awe inspiring
thoughts come trooping into our minds
when mention is made of the states
chief executive, and he seems almos,
mythical in person as in deed.
But if We are told that the governor
has passion for cut flowers, partic.
ularly carnations, then a sympathetic
chord is struck and we can view him
as man with a most amiable wean.
ness. Well, that is the case. Our
champion economizer is so fond Of
flowers that he must have big, fresh
boquet on his office desk every morn.
ing. Now man who loves the beau
tiful gifts of nature must be a kindly
generous soul, and the very knowledge
that our governor has a fondness fol
flowers makes him appear more whole.
some and attractive. OF course in.
| diligence of such taste is expensive
but our governor is thrifty as well
as economical. He is not wealthy and
cannot afford to purchase flowers
with his own funds, and so he devised
rare and clever plan to both humor
his cultivated taste and effect an econ.
omy. He reduced the salary of his
stenographer, young lady from Ia.
coma, twenty dollars a month and
then charged the carnations to Office
expenses. That a real saving has
been made to date an inspection OF
the vouchers in the state auditors
| office convincingly proves. Those
vouchers show that 6 dozen carnations
at S1.00 per dozen and IL dozen at 7t
cents per dozen were purchased BY
the governor in February and paid
with warrent No. 1883, for $500
drawn on March 3rd; that on April
9, warrant No. 174,479 for SLIPS, paid
for Is dozen at Is cents; May s, war.
rant No. 176,5SO, for s6.75, paid for {
dozen at 75 cents; June Z, warrant No
1875, for $500, paid for ~ dozen
at 10 cents; July 8, warrant No. 49,.
42O. for s11.25, paid for Is dozen at Il
cents. Thus it appears that the aver.
age cost of cut flowers for the cover.
nor's desk for the first five months OF
his administration was but S1O65 pei
month. Therefore, exactly $1435 has
been saved each month to us tax pay.
ers (the difference between $1O.65 fol
flowers and S25 reduction on stenog.
rapher's salary, while the governor
esthetlc yearning has been fully sat.
isfied
This decided saving, however, fails
TO measure up to our governors stand
ard OF economy, so he has figured out
better scheme, and, as heretofore
remarked. he is some wonderful fig
urer. A simple computation showed
him that flowers at s1065 per month
would amount to s127.S0 a year. or
the imposing total of s51120 by the
end OF his first administration. Then
plunging directly from simple addition
and multiplication into a strange and
complicated method of calculating
known only to himself, our governor
decided to save this S511.20 by building
a large and handsome conservatory
on the mansion grounds. This build
ing is about completed, along with a
six-automobile garage also being con-
structed on the mansion grounds for
economy sake, and with $50 a month
florist in charge, the governor will
soon have his flowers supplied to him
for nothing.
Truly, it is most amiable weak
ness, denotive of kindly generosity
and withall, such a remarkable econ
omy