The weekly soliphone. (Paragould, Greene County, Ark.) 1907-1918, 1915-03-12
And once again, Amen !

And once again, Amen
Loud poems of praise acclaim the sturdy manhood
the unfaltering ia it'll, the matchless courage, the
1auntless bravery the incompatible fearlesness the
reckless disregard for personal calamity which prompt
ed Arkansas foremost exponent of individual indie
pendence to faunt the red flag of battle in the very
teeth of the states liberal gambling element, and
say to them once for all that, what may until
hell freezes over, will not permit his unsulled
reputation to be impaired for single moment IN the
sight of the Christian, Godfearing citizenship OF this
great commonwealth by affixng a validating sigma
ture to the Hot Springs racing bill
To George w. Hays the appeal of passion Is out
as dross the entreaes of opponents OF licensed gamb
ling fell as impotently upon his ears as the spawn
from the goldfish upon the mighty waves OF the "a
cific Threats of the interests who raved and
xwore and made loud noises held for Hays no more
fear than if the bellows had been merely the patter OF
cultivated raindrops upon the piazza roof OF his Old
time country home Rising majestically above and
beyond the realm of earthly dross looking directly in
to the ether of that future land where he hopes to be
ultimately ransplanted in exchange for previous con-
sideration for the unfortunate slayer OF Buster
Brown the governor brushed aside all thought OF SELF
all consideration for political preferment all medla-
ton concerning the sweet emolument and liberal pay
envelopes accorded those who flirt with public favor
Briefly, he "seen his duty and he done it
Since the golden orb of day began nesting peace
fully behind the rftng clouds of the western horizon
five days ago. the Spartan soul of Governor Hays has
been wrestling with mighty problem Few men IN
the course of single mortal existence are called up
ON to face momentous question or one to which
is attached many political garnishments. He had
through peculiar constitutional construction infct
ed upon holders of executive honors, been made the
dumping ground for the general assembys misconduct
and upon his ultimate decision rested an issue of
much moment to the state. BY withholding his sigma
ture from the racing bill, he could only prevent its
becoming law for five days At the expiration of
that time default upon the part of the governor either
to approve disapprove the constituted the
condition-the measure became a law with or
without his approval just five days after its passage
by the august solon in the last house through which
it was safely steered by majority of one vote Enc
mics of the governor have been cruel enough to init
mate that he had not the courage to veto the bill and
that he lacked the manhood to approve it. Such
cast about for criticize believing
or protesting to believe, that Geo. w. Hays diplomat
of the thermometers, would entirely ignore the claims
of Hot Springs for approval of its racing law Some
even went far as to cite precedents wherein mem
of omission by absenting themselves from rol-cas
when important matters up for consideration 1t
needless state that such assassinS of character
and impugners of motives received slight tap on the
crazy brain Monday when by couple of sweeps of the
executive pen the infamous gambling legalizer was for
bloted from the conscience of Arkansas fore
most governor, and unfortunately prevented from
perching upon the honorable statutes of our domain
We say this accomplished by couple of sweeps of
the executive PEN and this is true News reports tell
us that George approved the measure something like
three minutes before he dsapproved it.. But what of
thatE Is there freeman anywhere who does not re-
serve unto himself the right to change his mind!
Certainly the traducers of this immortal son-of-a
proudstae find satisfaction by pointing &C.
cusingy to affidavits of five boon companions of the
governor who depose and state that the executive had
gone far to discuss with them the personnel of
the racing commission. As splendid example of the
pase depths to which enemies of the governor will
ing to descend in attempt convict him of dupici
ty the following extract taken from recent news dis
patches may serve:
After numerous conferences with friends Mon
day afternoon, the governor signed the racing bill
Three minutes later he changed his mind and vetoed
IL with accompanying message saying he could not pos
slby approve it. After another conference with friends
ne stuck the bill and veto message in his pocket and
went home"
The cowardly insinuation is here made that at
The same time the governor signed the bill he had the
veto message in his pocke-certanly it could not have