The county record. [volume] (Kingstree, S.C.) 1885-1975, 1916-06-15

among the first things he called for
was an exact statement of the cost
of manufacturing gas. The books of
the companies were turned over to a
firm of expert accountants, and after
an all-nightexamination they report
ed that it would take at least three
weeksto get what Mr. Hughes wanted.
Mr. Hughes went from his office to
the Aldermanic Chamber in the City
Hall, where the ledgers were. He set
them out around him, laid a pad of
scratch paper before him and began
an examination of his own. At the
end of two and one half hours he
had the figures he wanted. None of
the men who opposed him through
out the hearing was able to upset
the conclusion he reached. and rs a
matter of fact it may be said that
! he won his fight in that two and one
half hours of figuring.
Because of this gas inquiry Mr.
Hughes seemed an inevitable choice
for the Armstrong committee that
the following year took up the nota-
bic investigation into the great life
insurance companies of New York.
Six days before the committee con-
vened, Mr. Hughes has since said, life
insurance was book unknown to
him. For a week he read about life
insurance, interrupting his research
only for the sleep that exhaustion
made necessary.
When the inquiry formally got
under way Mr. Hughes knewso much
of life insurance, of the companies
under scrutiny and of the practices
they had pursued that none believed
he had not been specializing for years
in the subject. The most skilled and
cunning lawyers opposed him. Ev-
cry Device of delay and evasion was
made use of. With a calmness that
came to be characterized as the cold
nessstil attributed to him, Mr. Hughes
met and defeated the enemy in every
attack, and held relentlessly to the
course of his own campaign. No
public inquiry in the history of the
United States. perhaps, has been fol-
lowed by such sweeping and funda-
mental reforms.
At the height of the Armstrong
investigation the Republicans nomi-
mated Mr. Hughes for the Mayoralty.
He replied that his work was not
finished and declined to run. The
campaign was waged between Geo B
Mcclellan and w R Hearst. while
Mr. Hughes went me:hodically about
his business with the life insurance
companies.
One other public service was per-
formed by Mr. Hughes before he
found time to listen to the calls Of
elective Office. Attorney General
Moody made him special assistant
in the prosecution Of the coal-carry-
ing railroads in the late summer Of
1906, and while he was still engaged
upon that highly technical proceed
ing he was by acclamation nominated
for Governor by the Republicans at
their convention in Saratoga Springs.
In November Mr. Hughes was
elected by plurality of 57.897 over
Mr. Hearst. How definitely this was a
personal victory may be seen from
the fact that no other Republican
candidate was elected, so that Mr.
Hughes was strictly speaking Gov
ernor without a party. This fitted in
perfectly with his conceptions of the
office, for he was throughout his serv-
ice the peoples Governor" that
Lieut. Gov Chanler, his associate,
called him.
Practical men" of the Republican
party found cold comfort in the ex-
ecutive offices when Gov Hughes sat