Evening Star Newspaper, September 27, 1931, Page 80

- 12 ——— T e ———— THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, D. €, SEPTEMBER 2, 1931. “Altfalta Bill” Makes Hay All the Otklahoma’s Cow-Puncher Governor, a Rough-and- Tumble Prairie Philoso- pher Who Crashes One Limelight After Another Because a Life of Ad- versity Has Made Him a Champion of the Under Daog, Likes Nothing Better Than a Good Stand-Up Fight—He Tells Why He wals Always Battling. BY ROY BUCKINGHAM. VISITOR from California asked an Oklahoma City banker what was the chief excitement in Oklahoma. “‘Bil’ Murray,” said the banker. And he is, although he is the Gov- H error, Since W. H. Murray, known as “Alfalfa Bill,” “Bolivia Bill,” “Cocklebur Bill” and the “Sage of Tishomingo,” became chief executive, the always emotional “Sooner” State’s nerves have been kept in vibration and its interest to see what the Governor would do next at high expectancy. But don’t forget for' a minute that “Bill” Murray is the Governor. This man with the booming voice, who could win a pig-calling contest hands down and then in the next hour discuss Greek writers and other classics with the most erudite, is a man of the Roosevelt kype. His hands may be calloused from grab- bing the horns of dilemmas, but he is always - willing to grab. By all-of the rules of politics, the .Governor should have been ground to bits by the machine he enjoys wrecking or have become the vietim of the fighting he has invited, but he hasn't. Even his political ene- mies say he is stronger now than when he Wwas elected. 1_F;V does it come that a visionary, as busi- k ness men term him, who led 85 Western farmers on a wild goose chase to Bolivia %o find the pot of gold at the end of the rain- bow only to discover that the title to their land was no good, the land little better and Bo- livia a long way from the old home town, is cracking the whip in Oklahoma? The so- called political leaders ask that question. There are a great many men with political ambition in Oklahoma trying to fathom “Bill” Murray's Becret. The stigma of the Bolivia failure was hurled pgainst him in the campaign. The influential newspapers ridiculed him. He was the subject of caricatures. Every barb that the outraged group which believes in orthodox political campaigns could find was leveled at Mr. Mur- ray. But on he campaigned, hitch-hiking when necessary, sleeping in farmhouses, visit- ing farmers, talking over drought worries with Oklahomans, speaking six and eight times a day, never whining, giving as hard as he got, and promising the plain folks that he'd upset the ‘apple carts of the mighty once he got into office. William Allen White, the Kansas MNberal, gave the Governor a shove in the direction of the White House, Mr. Murray’s friends say, when he said the present Oklahoma Governor talks the people’s’ language in terms that in- spire confidence. “‘Bill’ Murray crazy?” said the man a job. “Mebbe so, but he’s doing more than anybody in Oklahoma. He's for favor because he’s a fighter. Maybe his fights arp ill-chosen, but if “Bill” can’t find his sword and buckler, he'd go out in his nightshirt to tackle what needs tacxiing. Gov. Murray's background isn't exactly kid glove and frock coat. He was & cow punch- er in Oklahoma and Texas. It is said his so- norous voice was, developed while halting stam- peding cattle. The rough-and-tumble lif= made him a prairie philosopher and so tough that thousands of campaign speeches over the State have not taken the mellow tone from the voice or edged the humor which bubblées up in spite of his dour look. IN his governorship “Alfalfa Bill” has run true to form. With threats of impeachment and predictions that he wouldn't last long if elected, Mr. Murray campaigned, hammered the tactics of his wealthier opponent, re- plied to jibes with the sarcasm or biting wit reminiscent of Jerry Simpson, who, in the neighboring State of Kansas several years ago, inspired about the same ridicule and con- founded the experts by being elected. Gov. Murray doesn't hide behind the barn when the herd sire gets loose. With talk of impeachment, he announced his candidacy as follows: “My. enemies say if I am elected Governor 1 will be impeached. If so,'t.hen I hereby an- nounce my candidacy for impeachment, too. If the people who elect me will also give me a Legislature of honest, sensible and sober men, I promise to impeach the impeachers.” The impeachment never took place, but Gov- ernor Murray had a merry time with his Legis- lature; jumped up to his neck in a highway commission fight, drew the enmity of the uni- versity. leaders by assailing the expense of ath- letics at the State university, and while this was seething ordered an investigation of moral conditions at the university. Almost every day there was something new, and when Murray made a statement it sizzled. Since he took office he has been the cham- pion of the under dog. He always was, for that matter, but in Oklahoma this year, as in other Middle Western States, there are more under dogs. The drought hit Oklahoma last year. There was unemployment. Governor Murray ordered soup lines and community bar- racks, - He personally visited the soup houses, His activity in ecalling attention to Oklahoma City’s unemployment plight didn’'t please the Chamber of Commerce. But Gov. Murray didn't care. He aroused the people to the emergency, and a degree of success, at least, was made in the solution of the problem. “Do you know why the people voted for me?” he said shortly after the election. ‘“They be- lieved I was unpurchasable, uncontrollable and unimpeachable.” OV. MURRAY is as democratic as his ap- pearance. In his hand-me-down suit, there’s"little executive swank, and if Gov. Mur- ray ever high-hatted any one it was by mis- the Chlckl-.' crop that his friends BillL” He wrote newspaper and the caption, “Alfalfa Bill on Alfalfa. stuck, and so has Gov. Murray was fight when the old were in the pangs of nucka wanted to be a was a power in the Assembly and mingo named instead. . The editor n town referred to him as “Cocklebur The origin of the “Bolivia Bill” is to Bolivia. Gov. Murray took his fi lost everything in the venture. He started out originally as W. H. H. Murray, but says one of the initials was knocked off when he was 18. He lived in Springtown, Tex., and never missed . an opportunity to swap political arguments. Capt. Kidd, a talkative and ultra-partisan voter, called Murray a liar. The youth knocked him down and Kidd responded by using his cane on Murray. When Murray regained consciousness, the captain said, “I wanted to knock an initial or two out of your name anyhow.” From that on, Murray wrote his name as William H. Murray. Gov. Murray is a student of history, law and the classics. His education has not been gained easily. Born on a cotton patch in Texas in 1869 and left motherless when 2, he has seen all shades and degrees of adversity. Yet he has remained the idealist. He has faith in the success of good principles. Common sense ap- peals more to him than Greek roots, yet he admits a fondness for the classics which com- prise a large part of his 5,000-volume library. Apt in the vernacular of the Southwest, an ex- pert in the figurative language of the prairies, an open-air orator hard to beat, when called gins at the end of the furrow, that when the plow of the Nation is junked it results in de- struction of commerce and industry and de- stroys civilization. That is why I am for the farmer and the farmer is for me. But in aiding the farmer there is no need to do in the consumer and to industry, but rai help them,” Gov. Murray said repeatedly in campaign. ITH things out of joint economically, Gov. 2, - ¥¥ “Murray belleves in ‘drastic remedies. He called out the National Guard to enforce a down of Oklahoma oil wells until the price crude went to $1 a barrel. His defense of step was that a State resource was being wasted lurr.y grew the Brse wegoey . in the Chickasaw Nation he talked and wrote so much about~the new f crop that his friends “Alfalfa Bill.” and so has the alfalfa. when oil sold at 35 cents, far below the cost of production. . Gov. Murray opened the free bridge the Red River by executive order. The was built by hell than any candidate for President since Andy Jackson.” Use of expletives is not diffi- cult for Gov. Murray and his foes admit he uses the pointed phrases with the effectiveness of one familiar with the lingo of cowland. Observers point out that should he become potential presidential timber, the Bolivia ex- periment will come in for more airing. It will be exhibited as Gov. Murray’s demonstration of statecraft. It was a flasco and “AlMalfa Bill” is said to have lost $200,000 in the venture. It was intended to be & model free State with communal foundation, but the their land. Gov. Murray admits he i1s a rabblerouser; has a magnetism with the down-and-outers and malcontents. And a great many voters of a different classification may be found who are “I foresee the death of & demoer Government in this country,” he- said ago. ‘“Authority is shifting from the capitals to the National Capital. Soon