The Daily Ardmoreite. [volume] (Ardmore, Okla.) 1893-current, 1915-01-31

I~&F~>F\NN w. Nv ~\.%
administration his thought was of the
welfare of the whole people, and this !
was paramount to political preferment |
or political reward. | do not believe |
that in making an appointment he ev-
er discounted to even narrow mar
gin the merit of men seeking the place
in order to please influential party
representatives who urged appoint
ment because of party regularity. j
mean to say that no man ever was
given a job who had not the qualifica-
tions for the job or that the governor
was led to believe he had the qualiii-
cations. Sometimes the executive was
deceived in his men, and this reminds
me that in majority of instances
where appointments were made, the
man who was rewarded, had to leave
in the files of the executive Office a
pretty complete written record of his
moral, intellectual and political worth.
Cruce always fortified himself against
possible come-backs. In the files of
the offices there are great stacks OF
papers endorsing men for office and in
nearly all cases they pertain to men
holding the Offices, FOR all other pa
pers were returned to the applicants.
The policy of Cruce IN this regard
accounts for his rigid demands in the
matter of pardons and paroles. | dare
say that not one per cent of pardons
and paroles granted by him were not
backed by written recommendations.
Not that he always doubted the words
of entreaters for mercy or OF intimate
ard personal friends, but that he want
ed the records of the state to bear
out the apparent necessity for his ac-
ton. | have seen weeping relatives
of unfortunates in prison come time
and again to him, each time believing
/ that he was insincere in his protesta-
/ tions of sympathy, when as matter
of fact if they had exercised reason
instead of emotion and gone about the
thing in a systematic way, there prob
ably would have been no trouble in
/ procuring executive clemency. While
/ the governor was doing his level best
] = h, OF, ioI.t hn uro G
| bsing criticized for being cold-hearted,
(unsympathetic and adamantine. OF
course there were scores of applica-
tions for pardons and paroles that new
er should have been filed, and there
were hundreds of eGorts to deceive the
executive, but the point | make is,
| that he never failed to give earnest
consideration to a case in which there
was merit.
Governor Cruce is master of the art
of composure. All the way down the
line from that memorable convention
when he was publicly maligned in a
state convention for standing stead
fastly by friend to the most cutting
skit of newspaper sarcasm in paper
farthest from the center of pOpula-
ton. his demeanor was that of man
sure of his ground and cOntented in
a satisfied conscience. | doubt if any
but Lee Cruce and his God knew it if
he suffered mental pain, but | doubt
also if he ever suffered it long, for
there was little of subjective ills that
good hard game of golf out under
the tempering sky would not relieve.
He never doubted that his general
course of administration was right,
and feeling that way about it, he cast
aside the little obstacles and hin
drances that were pitched out to beset
! him. His idea of craftsmanship was
that a man should forget to what po-
litical party he belonged when the
good of the poblic was wrapped up in
a subject before him. When the poll
tician saw the other side of the sub
iect first, he almost invariably found
cure for disappointment in sugges-
tions about the governors backbone,
his white tie or his so-called aloofness
from the people. Others mixed pro
family with good English in condemn
ing his anti-hanging policy. Cruce be-
lieved it when he learned that homes
ty was the best policy. Nearly every
time he deviated from a line dictated