Evening star., 1932-12-04

activities in the recommendations for
granting pardons. When Ma" took
office Jim sat with the Highway Com
rnissionerS and participated in their
deliberations for the awarding of con-
tracts. An effort was made by some
opponents of the Fergusons to start a
movement to have the Legislature
bring impeachment charges against
Mrs. Ferguson, but no action was taken.
Was Obscure Banker-Farmer.
When Jim Ferguson was elected Gov
| ernor the first time, in 1914. he was an
obscure banker-farmer of Temple He
had made a success of his private busi-
ness after coming up from the ranks
as hotel bell boy IN Denver, laborer
in the fruit orchards of California,
lumber camps of the Northwest and
railroad bridge carpenter in Texas. 1t
was for the announced purpose of giving
Texas business administration that he
entered the race and was elected chief
executive of the State. His official acts
during his first administration met with
general public approval and he was
nominated and reelected without op-
position. Soon after he entered on his
second term whisperings began to cir
culate in regard to some of his alleged
PINuIC lllldilCidl tIdIlSdCLlOUS.
He quarreled with the president of
the University of Texas, and this and
other matters connected with the af-
fairs OF that institution caused him to
veto the app opriation for its main
tenarce. Then the storm broke. The
thousands of former students of the
university rose en- masSe and demanded
hiT removal from Office. The whis-
pered charges of financial irregularities
were made in the open. Impeachment
proceedings were instituted by the House
OF Representatives of the Legislature.
There were number of charges
only one OF them dealt with the use of
public money for private ends, and the
amount involved was $4,000 The fact
that Ferguson refused to reveal on the
witness stand the source of s150.OO0
which he had borrowed from private
interests to meet outstanding personal
debts had great weight in the returning
by the Senate of a verdict of impeach-
ment. 1t was afterward made known
In case in Federal Court that he bor-
rowed this sum from friends who owned
breweries in Texas
In his wife's campaign for Governor.
which resulted in her election in 1924,
the Ku-Klux Klan was an important
issue. The Fergusons were bitterly op-
posed to the secret hooded organization.
Both Personally Opposed Drinking.
Although Jim, in his political views,
Is a radical wet. liquor was not per-
mitted to be served at any time in the
executive mansion while he or his wife
was in Office. His first term was in pre-
Volstead days and he set a precedent
in banning liquor Both he and Mrs.
Ferguson are violently opposed to liquor
drinking and they are even more set
against cigarette smoking. They both
made efforts to have the Legislature i'm
pose heavy tax on cigarettes. Their
advocacy OF this means Of State reve-
nue. bore fruit last year when the Gig
arctic tax bill was passed.
During all the terms of the Fergusons
the public schools of the State received
generous treatment in the way of legis-
lative appropriations. Both PA" and
Ma" assert that they believe in educa-
tion. but they do not want so-cailed
higher education to be at the expense
Of the boys and girls who do not have
money with which to attend the univer-
sity. Mrs. Ferguson is college woman
but Jim never got beyond grammar
school. To Jim's mind a lot Of educa-
ton at the university Is waste of
money
1t was on a farm tenancy plank In
his platform that Jim received a heavy
vote In his first race. He declared
against land owners contracting with
their tenants for more than one-third
Of the grain and one-fourth of the cot
ton as their share of these crops. The
Legislature enacted a bill containing
this provision, but the act was declared
unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.