The Farmington times. (Farmington, St. Francois County, Mo.) 1905-1926, 1920-07-23
Your Choice
for Governor

The Democratic voters of the State
have five aspirants from whom to
| choose in the primary election their
candidate for Governor; John M. At
kinson, Frank H. Farris. Charles H.
Mayer, Ruby D. Garrett and Robert
r. Merryman. The three first named
are well known, having been in pub
lie life in various positions for num-
Der of years.
John M. Atkinson was born and
reared in Ripley county. He is a
lawyer and 49 years old. He repre-
sented Ripley county three terms in
the lower branch of the Legislature,
and in the 1907 session was Speaker
of the House, where he made a good
record. Afterwards he was Assistant
Attorney General under then At
torney General Major, from 1909 to
1913, and was then appointed Chair
man of the State Public Service Com
mission. In both of these latter po-
sitions his record is clean and unas-
sailable. For the last four years he
has practiced law in st. Louis.
Frank H. Farris of Rolla has been
in public life perhaps more continu-
ously than any Of his competitors for
the nomination for Governor, begin
ming as page in the Legislature, and
advancing through the twenty-four
years of his active participation in
public affairs to Clerk, State Senator
and Representative. His father was
once Speaker of the House. For sew
eral years he has been a leader on the
Democratic side of the House and has
become an, authority on procedure in
the Missouri Assembly. He was elect
ed State Senator from Crawford coun-
ty in 1898, where he then lived. AS
Senator he served, on the Revision
Committee, criminal Jurisprudence
and municipal corporations commit
tees. He afterwards moved to Rolla,
and has for three successive terms
been elected to represent Phelps coun-
ty. No one, perhaps, has wider
knowledge of State affairs than Sem
ator Farris. During his long service
many rumors and charges of undue
lobbying arose, with some of which |
he was charged with implication, but
was subsequently acquitted in the |
courts, and his constituents, who
know him best, have attested their
confidence in his rectitude by contin-
uously electing him to represent them
in the Legislature.
Charles H. Mayer of St. Joseph |
was born in Boone county A years |
ago, attended the public schools, the
Military Academy at Lexington, and |
graduated from Cornell University |
faR cetsol III 1893. 1ie'narfied Missl
Josephine Thrailkill, daughter of pi- |
oneer St. Louis physician. He began
practicing law at st. Joseph in 1902,
and was elected City Attorney there,
being the only Democrat on the ticket
who was elected. In 1906 he was
elected State Senator from the St. Jo-
seph District, and although he was at
the time the youngest member of the
Senate, he was readily recognized as
one of The hardest workers of that
body and debater of unusual quail
ties. In 1912 he was elected to fill
vacancy on the Circuit bench of his
judicial circuit, where his fairness,
rulings and clear judgments
won for him a recognition that re-
suited in his reelection in 1914 for
the full six-year term. He resigned
three years later to enter the law
firm of Strop & Mayer, of which he
is still a member. In 1919 he was
elected by the Judges of the Supreme
Court as Special Judge of that
court, to aid in clearing up the dock
ct, which shows the high estimation
in which his ability as jurist was
held by the members of that highest
State legal tribunal. AS a man of
Democratic and approachable mien,
Upright character, genuine worth and
ability, he stands high among all who
Snow him, personally and publicly.
Ruby d. Garrett, lawyer of Kan
,as City, is not so well known as eth
er of the foregoing three, never hav-
ing held any public position, unless
we accept his connection with the
Missouri National Guard as public
service. He was born in North Caro-
ina SO years ago. He studied at
Yadkin Institute, leading college of
he South, served as an enlisted man
n the United States Army from
1902 to 1905, was graduated from the
Kansas City Law School in 1908, and
lcted as Assistant Prosecuting At
orney of Jackson county from 1909 to {
$40 He has been connected with the
National Guard from the time of his {
arrival in Missouri. Enlisting as
private, won promotion to First Lieu. I
enant in the Guards Signal Corps, and
erved on the Mexican border from ,
Tune, 1916, to January, 1917. In the t
after year he organized the Missouri s
signal Corps Battalion and was pro- i
noted to Major. He had charge of I
ecruiting for all organizations in t
Kansas City, and in August, 1917,
vas called into Federal service with
lis corps. In 1918 he was made chief
ignal corps officer Of the Rainbow 8
and was in eleven engage t
nents, including the Argonne and St. s
diheil, and was decorated by the t
'rench Government with the highest | t
lass of war cross, and was cited by r
is division commander and General
'ershing. 6
Robert H. Merryman, last of the T
We, is also without public political f
ervice, except one term in the Leg i
stature. He is a practicing lawyer a
st. Louis. He was born in Platte i,
ounty, Mo. His mother died when he o
yas small boy, and he made his, way n