Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31
'ALFALFA BILL" ADMITS DRY SPELL
HELPED HIM WIN NOMINATION
SAYS He'll Work to Aid Idle
if Elected Governor of
Oklahoma.
Foresees U. S. as Autocracy,
With End of Equal 0ppor-
tunity for All.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

Special Dispatch to The Star.
OKLAHOMA CITY, Okla, August
80 (N.A.N.A).-so this was Alfalfa
Bill" Murray!
There he lay, fiat on his back,
stretched at his full length Of feet on
cheap bed in cheap old frame hotel
in Oklahoma City.
Black 1o-cent store cotton socks were
on his shoeless feet His brown hand
down trousers, that he had worn all
through his campaign for Governor,
were stained with sweat and the steel
buckles were rusty. His cheap cotton
shirt was open at the neck.
In his right hand was black briar
pipe with crooked stem, and his head
was turned to see who was coming in
the door,
Hello" he roared. Come on in.
Sit down. I'm resting. Pull up that
rocking chair. I'm always ready to
talk with you. But damn these Okla
homa papers! They can all 90 to hell,
except the Tulsa World. 1t was the
only daily newspaper in Oklahoma that
didn't fight me in my race for the
Democratic nomination as Governor.
Every other big newspaper In Okla
homa, and most of the little ones, was
for Frank Buttram, the oil millionaire,
who was running against me. Il beat
him more than 100000 votes"
Product of Open Spaces.
alfalfa Bill" is the product of the
big open spaces of Texas and Oklahoma
When he was a cowboy his voice was
trained to alright and stop stampeding
cattle.
So this day, as he lay on the bed
relaxing after the strain of thousands of
campaign speeches over all Oklahoma
his voice roared and rolled like a great
bass drum.
I've been on my feet for weeks, cam
paigning all over Oklahoma. often 10
or 10 speeches a day; wears a fellows
feet out" he grunted, rubbing the soles
OF one of them.
Murray has nearly always worn cheap,
hand-me-down clothes that never At
him and that look as if he had ridden
In them all night in box car.
He has had three nicknames for
years, and in this last campaign he had
O. fourth. He says he can tell whether
man is friend or an enemy by the
nickname he uses. If man calls him
Alfalfa Bill" or THE Sage of Tisho-
mingo," Murray knows he Is a friend
If he calls him "Old Cocklebur BilT' or
Bolivia Bill" Murray knows an enemy
is speaking.
Years ago Murray grew the first
alfalfa in the Chickasaw Indian Ma
ton, and he talked and wrote so much
about the wonders of the new hay that
every one got to calling him Alfalfa
Bill"
Lost Every Thing in Bolivia.
| The latest nickname, Bolivia BILL"
Is derived from an unsuccessful attempt
| by Murray to settle a colony of IS
Western farmers on land grant given
him in Bolivia. He took all his own
| family to Bolivia and he lost every
! thing. The colonists found the title
| to the land was no good The land was
| no good, either. Nearly all of the
colonists have trickled back. One of
Murray's boys is now in Bolivia, wind
ing up the affairs of the colony as best
he can.
Murrays opponents are making much
of his failure in Bolivia, and argue that
man with no better sense than to
! pin his faith to such a dream Is not
| qualified to be Governor. But to this
Murray answers: I'VE learn wisdom by
the mistakes we make"
| Let me give you an outline of what
I propose to do as Governor" Murray
said. II wasn't nominated because o.
the drought. although the drought
helped. l was nominated by the people
because I was the only candidate that
held out hope to them in their dis
tress; because they believed in me- and
believed that II elected would try
to help them.
ct advocate honesty in public office
economy in reduction of expenditures
in government and the adjustment
Of taxes so as TO take them OF the
home owners, farmers and merchants
thereby reducing the cost OF living on
the consumer.
by far the most important fact
facing us today is that the long drought
has completed the ruin, for the time be-
ing, of three-fourths of the farmers II
this State We have ahead the hardest
Winter we have ever seen. Farmers
will be broke and discouraged. Thou
sands in our towns and cities will b:
out of work. They must be aided anC
I, as governor, shall aid them.
Discusses His Program.
Il shall not give doles to men ablt
to work But I shall use every surplus
dollar / can get my hands on in givinI
work to idle men. / shall establish
public works, road building and fiooc
control on such a scale that every de
serving man in this State who wait
to work can do so at living wage
ITO give every one work at livinl
wage. to jar the political trust loost
from control of the State, to scrape tn
J political barnacles from the hull of tn
ship of state, to reduce taxes and Gu
expenses of State government, to brini
the Constitution back and restor
honesty in government-those, in
nutshell, will be my chief aims"
II foresee the death of the demo
0 cratic form of government in thi
3 country. Authority is shifting from
4 the State capitals TO the Nationa
0 Capital Soon these State government
9 viii be mere figureheads. In anothe