Evening star., 1932-01-17
Continued From First Page

still in his stump. And the law-making
gentlemen, gathered from the length
and breadth of the State, view him
from a discreet distance with what
next?" look in their eyes. Indeed, in
Oklahoma 1t is not when the eagle
sereamS." but when the wildcat roars."
gsls 1829-l837 period comes to mind
when onre iio2rS of Alfalfa's tilts with
his legislature for we know that the
statesmen of that period, never know
ing precisely what to expect from Jack
son. did the next best thing and stayed
beyond the Establishments of king
Andrews" temper.
The second message TO the Legisla-
ture. on February 4. last year, was con-
cerned chiefly with measures for the
relief OF the unemployed and the farm
erS and a new tax law which would
mean a shift in the burden from the
masses to the moneyed. The first two
measures were passed; the last, the
tax bill, was modified by the LegiSla-
ture. Murray flung down the gauntlet
10 this assemblage with few remarks
which have since become classic In the
Southwest.
Thirty days ago I submitted three
relief bills. One was signed few days
ago. another today, and you killed the
third yesterday.
IF you justified that in your own
conscience, before your fellow citizens
and before your God, you are welcome
to it, 4.
pass the (tEird) bill the way 1t is
and be damned. I'll veto it!
The roll will be called and the fire.
bells will be rung before this is over.
When you have whipped me, you can
brag about it-but wait until you do"
High toned" Folk Shocked.
Indeed, from what other character
In our national history but the irasciblS
Andy" jackson would you expect such
challenges, hurled into the front teeth
of those who would even so much as
alter one of his pet bills?
To some the election Of Alfalfa Bill"
Murray to the Governors chair was
Just q practical joke turned sour. To
another class it seemed virtual emanci-
patton, the salvation Of the State, hope
and equal rights and honesty after
years of corruption and public scandal
ranging from one impeachment after
another to the conviction of minor Of
ficials on all sorts of charges (snd
there had been more charging" than
convicting, at that. Still others, the
so-called big business" crowd, were
bitter, and vowed to make this his
tronic son of the soil rue the day he
left his fallen project in the FL Gran
Chaco region in Bolivia, where for five
years he struggled to establish colony
of Oklahoma farmers who quickly be-
came homesick and returned to the
short grass of their native State.
The first group, the "high-toned"
element, he merely forgot. They, said
Bill, "warn't worth their salt, any
how" They were the supercilious ones
who had sniggered gleefully when
lady feature writer in an Oklahoma
newspaper described this uncouth
farmers" table manners as atrocious.
She dwelt upon the fact that Alfalfa
Bill" ''wolfed his pancakes and ate
with his knife. Murray replied, to the
delight of thousands of tenant farmers,
that he had never cut himself and that,
moreover, he had always digested and
enjoyed his cakes The elite city folks
shuddered when the feature writer next
described the kind of underwear Bill
wore-fannel Winter and Summer,
according to report. Then it was Bnls
turn, and he complacently observed
that the time he spent the night in
an Oklahoma City hotel. the writer
must have been "takin' in the wash
ing downstairs, else how'd she know2"
And there was another concerted guf-
faw over the land.
Faithful Servant Pledges Vote.
This brand of ridicule, however, was
gentle when compared to most Of the
scurrility passed his way. I happened
to be in Oklahoma City when the final
Democratic primary was being run OF,
and Murray was contending for the
nomination against an Oklahoma City
millionaire educator Of high social and
community standing. 1t was not dif-
ficult to see that the local press was
bitterly against Murray; and I was not
surprised to learn that practically all
of the radio stations were also In the
hands Of his opponents. 1t looked like
a one-sided affair to me.
1 could not understand why my
father "a friend Of Murray's since
Territorial days. was so confident of
"Alfalfas" nomination. l had already
heard my share Of political mud sling
ing-having been raised in Oklahoma
but I have never heard more calumny
heeped upon one man than was tossed
that night through the ether onto the
frail old shoulders of Murray. After
at least six speakers had finished i'm
passioned TRADES, l wondered how, II
but an infinitesimal part Of what they
said was true, this man could be at lib
erty, much less running for public Of
fee I remember the two epithets most
used by his denouncers as Red" and
failure"
The next evening I stood In the
lobby Of a small, cheap hotel on North
Broadway in Oklahoma City, and saw
and met for the first time Alfalfa
Bill" the social menace" etc. There
he lolled in a rickety, cane-bottomed
chair, unmoved by anything save per-
haps a ludicrous avowal Of loyalty
coming from an old darkey who had
for many years been door-keeper at
the State Capitol.
"Yo' done fed me when 'uz hongry.
Mistah Bill" said the old darkey, n
yo done glib me a wahm coat when
] 'uz cold-n' Use gwine vote fo' you
effen I loses nah Job n gifts read
outen de pahty!" (most colored persons
in Oklahoma are not Democrats
II there was anything to worry about
that eventful night, you wouldn't know
it by watching Alfalfa Bill. If election
returns were pouring in, well-he
couldn't be bothered. If, at his age,
when most people have retired to an
obScurity of weary reflections upon life
already lived, he might by these very
teturns prove to himself, friends and
enemies alike that he was not the back
humber. failure and Red" they had
him cracked up TO be-what Of it? He
wasn't worried about that either. He
simply swung one long lean leg over
the arm Of the creaking chair, puffed
placidly at his nickel cigar and joked
with the boys" surrounding him.
l think there must have been several
hundred people in that lobby That
night. And l felt conspicuous because
/ had on an ordinary business suit and
a white collar. There were hickory
shirts aplenty, and blue denim overalls
and galluses with grimy thumbs hung
in them, chest high. And why notP
This was their big day, the nester's