Evening star., 1939-04-23

revenue to carry the local relief burden.
The point he stresses is that income was
found to match, or almost match, neces-
sary outgo.
II he would. the Governor could not
conceal the satisfaction he has had III
the fight on Boss" Pendergast. His own
gubernatorial campaign with the boss
blessing was more or less routine mat
ter. Gov. Stark on his own initiative had
rounded up 50 much support out in the
State that Pendergast went along. With
every assurance Of election the Demo-
cratic nominee made a serious rather
uninspired campaign, businessman in
public life for the first time Not until
he challenged Pendergasts power and
determined to elect James Douglas to the
Missouri Supreme Court did he really
roll up his sleeves and jump into the
great American game of politics.
Stirred by Battle.
That battle stirred him. Stumping the
State for Mr.. Douglas was no routine
matter. His speeches were hard -hitting,
fiery, rs they had not been before. In
vading Kansas City to speak in the boss
own fiefdom, he was tremendously
aroused. Those who were with him re-
member that his hands shook as he read
In q voice vibrant with emotion the ad-
dress he had prepared. "Yes, like to
campaign" says the Governor, when I
have something to campaign about"
Bossism debating who shall sit on the
high court Of the State was something
to campaign about.
1t is curious to note the way in which
his political experience has confirmed
the predictions acquired from his back
ground. First and last countryman, he
mistrusts the city. which is again a
Rooseveltian quality. In the city some-
thing is lost, an essential soundness, the
inherent virtue of the soil and people
who live by the soil.
In sense. this is an inherited preiu-
dice. part Of the Governors emotional
equipment that one can trace back tn
his forbears. And the same is true Of
the deep humanitarian impulse that is at
the root Of the mans character. This
impulse is essentially simple and uncom-
phcated. scarcely articulate. Children
who are hungry must be fed, families
must be clothed and housed, by the
Government If need be.
But feel the Government should not
take control over peoples lives" the Gov
ernor says. What we must do is to
give every one an equal opportunity. We
must do that even If it means going
after great combinations of business and
wealth. Somehow equality of opportu-
nifty must be restored"
Forbears are important in the Stark
family. In the town Of Dumbarton. not
far from Glasgow In Scotland, they were
people Of means and responsibility in the
community but strict Covenanters and
therefore finally compelled to give up
their property and come to America.
When he was in Glasgow, Gov. Stark
spent four days In the files of the anti:
quarian society there digging out fam
lily history. One branch of the family
went to Virginia, another branch SUBJ
sequently to Vermont. The old Stark
farm in Virginia, the Governor recalls.
was next to the farm Of Thomas WASH
ington. Along with many other Vir-
ginians, the starks moved westward
shortly after the Revolutionary War,
settling in Bourbon County, Ky.
1t was the Governors great Rrand-
father who led the next trek % the West.
On famous black stallion he rode out
to Missouri in 1916 to discover for him
self the legendary richness of tho blue
grass country in Pike County.
When 1t came time for him to choose
Whist he would do. Lloyd Stark went
about - far from t31s nursery business