The Waterbury Democrat., 1934-07-20

Aoi 6 SC-SCoie[ SeIcIdl SITlke the Onlte ernor Rolph's successor took offic, middle of it.
 Frank F. Merriam, acting gov ernor of California, has been a successful but not a spectacular po- litician. Most of his political ex- perience has been in the state leg islature, where headlines seldom sprout; the comparative obscurity of the lieutenant-governor's chair had brought him little public at- tention.
 Merriam's Future at Stake
 Then, early in June. died the fa- nous Sunny Jim" Rolph, a throw back to the free and easy, open handed days of the states lusty youth. Merriam succeeded him. And he had been in office less than six weeks when the general strike broke about his ears.
 Amid all the important issues centering about the trouble in San Francisco Bay, not the least inter- esting question is, what will this catastrophe do to Merriam?
 A crisis of this kind can break the career of an elected official and it can make it, Calvin Cool idge, dropped in similar spot bv the Boston police strike while he was governor of Massachusetts, made ringing declaration about the right to strike against the public safety" and went on until he occupied the White House.
 How about Merriam?
 His Task Heavy
 To date he has acted promptly and firmly. He has declared:
 My chief concern is in feeding over million men, women and children whose food supply is cut off. Rioting or movements having the aspects of instruction will be vigorously and uncompro- misingly suppressed"
 One question which may yet prove extremely thorny for the governor is the state-owned belt line railway, which skirts the wa terfront of San Francisco and feeds the steamship piers. The de- cision whether or not to try to maintain service on this railway in defiance of the strikers will ulti- mately rest on Merram.
 If the governor takes firm steps to restore order, he runs the risk of alienating the sympathies of union men throughout the state and being branded as a tool of the industrialists. If he does not, he is apt to be damned by the busi- ness community and the general public.
 Born on Farm
 Frank Merriam was born 68 years ago on an Iowa farm. He worked his way through college, and for time taught school in various cities in Iowa and Okla homa. Then he entered newspa- per work, editing small papers in both of those states; when he moved to California in 1910 be- cause of illness in his family, he joined the advertising staff of a Long Beach daily, later becoming advertising manager.
 Afterward he left the newspa- per field for various business ven- lures. He became president of Long Beach bank, and continued as such while serving in the State Assembly.
 PoIled Largest Vote
 He served there 12 years, and in 1926 won a four-year term as state senator. It was in 1880 that he first drew the attention of the state as a whole by campaigning for the republican nomination for lieutenant-governor against Tallant Tubbs, the ardent anti-prohibition- ist.
 Winning the nomination by narrow margin, Merriam went on to make a walkaway of the fall election, defeating his democratic opponent by the largest vote ever accorded candidate for the lieu tenant-governorship.
 Sought Govern = ship
 This year Merriam decided to try to take the next step and be- come governor. Early in the spring he began planning a quiet campaign for the republican nomination.
 Then Governor Rolph fell seri- ously i'll. Some of Merriam's as- sociates urged him to insist that Rolph be declared unable to per form his duties, in which case the lieutenant-governor would auto matically become acting governor.
 Merriam fiatly rejected the pro- posal. He said he hoped Govern or Rolph would complete his term, and asserted that he never had