And the Governors

P: The name of Alfred Emanuel Smith loomed mightier than ever last week. Not only was he elected Governor of New York for the fourth time by a plurality of some 250,000 votes, not only did he sweep a large part of the Democratic ticket into office with him, but he established himself as the most mentionable personality in his party until the 1928 Presidential nomination is settled. His hold on New York State--more specifically New York City--is partly the glamor of the Fulton Fish Market, the "sidewalks of New York" and the band-snorting pow-wow.* But, also, he makes it a point to know more about the government of New York than any of his rivals and he explains it to the people better than any one else.

P:In Maryland Governor Albert C. Ritchie, Wet and Democratic, was re-elected for a third term. A rising presidential possibility, able, diplomatic, he has few rabid enemies.

P:It is a strange twist that makes Ohio the mother of Republican Presidents, staunch G. O. P. Senators, and Democratic Governors. James M. Cox, Democrat, was a popular Governor but a Presidential failure even in his own state. And so last week Ohio elected to his third term Governor Alvin Vic Donahey, Democrat, father of ten Children, who employs convicts about his house. But, by the politically learned, he is ignored as a presidential possibility.

P:Defeat came last week to Nellie Tayloe Ross, Democrat, Governor of Wyoming. She lost by only 1,000 votes, but she is a thorough gentlewoman with a Rhodes Scholar son, so forthwith she despatched a telegram to her conqueror, Frank E. Emerson, Republican. Said she: "My congratulations and hope for a successful administration." Florence Ellinwood Allen, Ohio State Supreme Court Judge will hold a higher state office than any other woman.

P:In South Dakota it was a bad day for the name of Gunderson. Governor Carl Gunderson, Republican, was defeated by William J. Bulow, able country lawyer, who is to be the first Democratic Governor in the history of South Dakota. Another Gunderson, C. J., Democrat, cousin of Republican Carl, was overwhelmed in the Senatorship battle by Senator Peter Norbeck, Republican.

P:In Nebraska there was a lump in the throat of a kindly old man, who wears a skullcap. Loved by many, twitted by many more, Charles W. Bryan, onetime Governor, Democratic nominee for Vice President in 1924, brother of the late Great Commoner, he had tried to come back in the gubernatorial race, but was defeated by Governor Adam McMullen by a slim margin.

P:Last week Arizona performed eie of its habitual acts; elected George Wylie Paul Hunt, Democrat, to the Governorship for the sixth time. His majority was slim. Only one other man, (Thomas E. Campbell) has ever been Governor of Arizona since it became a state in 1912. Question: Wherefore the long-lasting potency of Governor Hunt? Perhaps it is because he was as strong as an ox and is as bald as a turtle; more likely it is because he has grown with Arizona and shaped it. In 1881 he arrived in Globe, Ariz., at the age of 21, penniless, professionless. First he became a waiter, then a cowpuncher, then a successful businessman. For 14 years before Arizona became a state, he served in the legislature; put through bills forbidding women in the saloons and banning gambling, thereby striking at the social life of the territory. In 1910, as presiding officer of the Constitutional Convention, he started Arizona off on the right foot with a "forward- looking document." President Taft, after ordering the clause on the recall of judges removed, signed the new constitution. Arizona became a state; Mr. Hunt became Governor, forthwith added the recall as an amendment. His career has been both stormy and paradoxical-- hated by many, but seldom defeated, silent but aggressive, timid among friends but fearless among enemies, lusty cowpuncher foe of gamblers. Even his mustache is a paradox--once frowsy, now neatly waxed.

P:Governor Alvan T. Fuller of Massachusetts, Republican, art-col- lector, who accepts no pay from the state for his services, was re- elected. He ran more than 100,000 votes ahead of his defeated ticketmate, Senator Butler. Governor Fuller's opponent, William A. Gaston, potent lawyer-banker-businessman, has a wife who aids him. She wrote and, at her own expense, advertised the following letter on the day before election: "This is my last chance to do something for my husband in his campaign. . . I am proud of him. . . . It would take something far different from the Governorship of Massachusetts to make my husband forget that he is a gentleman and the son of a distinguished Governor of our Commonwealth."

*The political pow-wow on the night before election to "bring out the vote," with ts sputtering red fires and Roman candles, its brass bands, its raucous boys beating garbage cans, its stout old men parading with signs hitched crazily to curtain rods, was once a fundamental U. S. institution. Now only Tammany Hall and lower Manhattan indulge in it heavily.