Evening star., 1925-01-11
Gave Glimpse Into Heart Of Texas,
Says Mrs. Ferguson of Campaign
BY MIRIAM FERGUSON,
GOvernOr-elect of Texas.

T T may have seemed strange to
many in other parts of the coun
try that woman should seek
i the office of governor in such
State as Texas State usually
associated in the popular mind with
broad -brimmed-hatted, herman rule,
ofttimes put into effect at the point
of a siX-shooter.
That Texas, the Lone Star State,
carved out of the frontier of the
Southwest with sword and rifle,
should be the first of all to bow to
petticoat rule may have seemed, in
deed, unusual-but to myself, my
family and to our hosts of friends
from the Panhandle to the Rio
Grande Valley it meant more-it
meant a fight to clear the stain on
our family honor. L went into my
last campaign fully determined to
sweep aside forever the cloud that
had stood over our horizon since
1917.
My purpose in entering the race
has already been told. Jims name
had been restrained from the ticket
in the primary by an injunction
granted just as his success in the
1924 campaign seemed sure. Seven
years ago he was unjustly removed
from Office. I entered my name on
the ballot in his place.
1t is one thing to>be a housewife,
busy with flowers and peach pre-
serves and other problems domestic,
and quite another to be a guberRa-
torial candidate in a race Offering
nearly a dozen choices.
A woman who had baked. and
mended and planted petunias now
and the political opponent of the Ku
Klux Klan.
Days that had flown by happily
for Miriam Ferguson-days serene
and placid, a woman's own days-be-
came short intervals divided into
hours and minutes, each hour and
minute too short for the things that
must be done.
posed for the movies, shook
hands, made speeches-and hardly
recognized any Miriam in Ma. I at
tended conferences and took orders
from photographers and gave recipes
to reporters. Life had changed for
the housewife over night. and L
found the eyes of Texas on a hfther-
to obscure woman, who wanted no
fame, no publicity, no political pow
er-only justice for her children.
81 X x
THE platform 1 offered the people
IeAdS was liil pAdIloi III win
my name attached. 1t offered tax re-
duction, rural school help and prison
reform. And, though 1 made no claim
to political wisdom, 1 promised to use
NV conscience and to follow my
highest ideals in discharging the du-
ties of governor.
Few people who vote as they would
shop, pausing at the polls for mo-
| ment to scratch a. few names, know
the hardships that send a select few
| to office. But happily for me,
Farmer Jim"-a veteran of the plat
| form-came to my rescue as chief
speaker. For once, wife was well
pleased to let her husband talk more
than herself. let him have the first
| word, and the last. Always partners,
we shared the hardships and the du-
ties of our last campaign for vindica-
| tion.
One thing especially stressed itself
as the campaign proceeded. Old
| friends are true-but all friends are
good. On the subject of the com
| mon people" / am perhaps preju-
| diced-but they made my campaign
an experience that will always be a
happy memory, in spite of it's trials.
| The sincerity OF my friends often
caused my .baad to hurt hut I Kaa