The gazette-times. [volume] (Heppner, Or.) 1912-1925, 1922-10-26
ELOQUENT TALK AND SANE PER-
FORMANCE

The appearance on the stump of Governor Olcott
has brought confusion and dismay to our journal
istic Democratic friends who pose as nonpartisans.
For a long time they have been %joyfully whispering
that Governor Olcott was afraid to talk ; lacked
the courage to meet the peerless Pierce in debate"
and wouldn't get out and meet the people and give
them an account of his stewardship" And now the
governor has stalked boldly into the arena; has
shown that not only is he not afraid to get out and
talk, but that he can speak to some purpose; that he
has conclusive and convincing arguments to offer
against the g~littering generalities and unpersua-
sive platitudes of the bryanesque Pierce; and that
the account Of his stewardship is highly creditable
to him and has the full approval of the people.
From what our journalistic Democratic friends who
pose as nonpartisans have to say of the governor
and his clear and forcible statment, The Spectator
would have been better satisfied had he maintained
the silence of which they whisperingly spoke as a
sign of his weakness.
As The Spectator had something to do with the
appearance of Governor Olcott on the stump, it
naturally ~reioices to note the good impression he
has made on the people. We may appear h~eartless,
but cannot refrain from remarking that this joy
quite smothers any feeling of regret we might feel
at the distress caused our Journalistic Democratic
friends who pose as nonpartisans by the speeches
the governor has made and the enthusiastic well
come he has received. Governor Olcott has never
sought, and probably could not achieve, reputation
as a spellbinder. He is no orator, as the bryanesque
Pierce is; great orators are rarely good executives.
If this were an ordinary campaign, the o~ratorical
Mr.. Pierce, who can make the welkin ring with the
reverberations of his fiery eloquence, might be
thought to have an advantage over Governor o.
colt. The lofty flights of the rhetorical Mr.. Pierce's
spread-eagleism are borne on the sky-scraping pin
ions OF an untrammelled imagination; the Demo-
cratic candidate permits no inical facts to impede
his eloquential volitation, and the only statistics he
carries on these excursions into the ~oratorical en-
|pyrean are the most volatile figures of speech.
But this is no ordinary campaign, as far as the
governorship is concerned, and, therefore, the elo-
quent and promising Mr.. Pierce has no advantage
over business-like and performing Governor o.
colt. What Mr.. Pierce might do as governor, we
do not know, save what we may guess from his
record as legislator. That proves him to have
been as wasteful in expanding the public money
when, as legislator, it was in his power to do so as
he, as candidate for governor, is reckless in his
promises to reduce taxes over which, If elected, he
would have no control whatever.
Governor Olcott, who has been too busy looking
after the public's interests to study the arts and
wiles Of oratory, has administered the states affairs
in a wise, economical, and, as far as is possible,
business-like way. In his speech at Ontario on
Monday, the governor said some things that may
be quoted here, as they form the platform on which
he stands:
The people know that there never has been a time in
history when the states institutions were in better con-
dition than now; that executive appointments have
all been made within the four walls of the govern
or's Office without listening to the clamor and cry Of
clique or factions; that these appointments we're based
entirely upon the qualifications of the appointees for the
place and that practically every appointment that has
been made to an elective Office has been justified by the
people re-eleethng my appointee.
I ask you TO 90 back over the record Of the admins
tration and point, If you may, where a breath of scandal
has been uttered against the governors Office. In all the
| extravagant and misleading statements made where are
there any charges that the states business is conducted
on anything but solid, safe, and conservative business
lines?
There is an epitome of the record on which Gov
ernor Olcott seeks reelection. 1t can't be refuted.
Against that record Of wise and economical per-
Torrance we have world Of eloquent promises
that are impossible Of accomplishment. Why trade
Governor Olcott for Mr.. Pierce?-The Spectator.