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CHAPTER VI.
GOVERNOR

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In the summer of 1896, the presidential election was approaching. There was a great contrast between the situation then and in 1892, when Mr. Wolcott was elected lieutenant-governor to Governor Russel.

During his second term, Mr. Cleveland had been unable to hold his party together; the hard times had developed the forces of silver and populism. On the other hand, better financial prospects had given courage to the advocates of gold.

The Republican party went into the

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campaign pledged to gold, with Mr. McKinley, of the Middle West, whose name was associated with high tariff, as the presidential candidate. The Democrats by their action made the issue clear. They selected Mr. Bryan, the champion of silver, as their standard-bearer, and in addition to the silver plank put into their platform resolutions upon the Supreme Court and the constitutional power of the executive that shocked the country and caused a recoil against populism. It was one of the critical elections in the national history. The campaign was fortunately marked by very little vituperation, and by much reasonable and intelligent discussion. In Massachusetts, the Republicans were sure to win: the question was by how great a majority.

Mr. Wolcott, who had filled the office of lieutenant-governor so acceptably, was

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unanimously nominated for governor, and took an active part in the campaign.

"I believe," he said, at a ratification meeting, "that in this great struggle which confronts us now, there will be thousands of honor -Democrats who will refuse to imperil the financial honor of the United States, to follow the motley crowd that has led the way into the Cave of Adullam."

The title " honor - Democrats " went through the press of the country.

Upon his acceptance of the nomination at the state convention, he appealed to all citizens of Massachusetts by the honorable record of the State.

"I should like, gentlemen," he said, "to take only a moment of your time to rehearse to you a little of the history of the Common-wealth of Massachusetts. I wish the Republicans and the Democrats alike

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of Massachusetts to know what has been the position of this Commonwealth as regards meeting every obligation with the highest and most complete honor. During the years between the suspension of specie payments and the resumption of specie payments, in the years between 1862 and 1879, all the debt of the Commonwealth contracted previous to, and paid during that period, was made payable in dollars simply, and by the Legal Tender Act might have been paid legally and without question in greenbacks. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts declined to avail herself of this advantage. The debt of Massachusetts was paid in gold. It amounted to $5,924,000. And adding the war loan of $3,505,000, which was made payable in lawful money of the United States, we have a total of $9,429,000 voluntarily paid in gold, when it might legally have been

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paid in greenbacks. Not only that, gentlemen, but of the foregoing debt, nearly one million dollars was issued by the Commonwealth in aid of domestic corporations, they agreeing to pay interest as it became due, and the principal at its maturity; but they, availing themselves of their technical agreement, in which they were sustained by the courts of Massachusetts, paid to the Commonwealth currency only, while the Commonwealth in all her obligations paid principal and interest in fold. How much did it cost the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to preserve her honor? The premium alone paid in the purchase of gold to meet these obligations amounted to $3,703,556.

"So much did our fathers pay to preserve the honor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts; and I venture to say that no expenditure ever made by this Com-

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monwealth was more wise and more far-seeing than that expenditure that I have referred to."

The success of the Republicans was beyond all expectations. In Massachusetts, Mr, Wolcott, leading the ticket, swept every city and town (except one) in the State. He was elected by a much greater majority than that ever before given to a governor of Massachusetts, His vote was 258,204. The vote for all other candidates was 126,860, His native city of Boston, which had gone Democratic for years, gave him a great majority. This result was not only a victory for party and principle, but was also a personal tribute and an expression of confidence in his past administration.

During the next three years, Mr. Wolcott gave himself with characteristic devotion and conscientiousness to the duties of

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his high office. Apart from the war with Spain, there were no exceptional incidents, no radical reforms or marked movements: none were called for, There were, how­ever, improvements made at several points, especially in the care of the insane, and. the administration of the public institutions.

With the development of the Common­wealth, the tendency to centralization, arid the increasing power and responsibility of the executive, the office of governor becomes more and more important, laborious, and intricate. Many interests come to the State House, such as insurance, water, sewerage, police, railroads, trolley lines, municipal government, and parks, which were almost unknown there a generation ago. The business interests are large.

In fact, the real work of the governor

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is chiefly that of which the people hear nothing, - the routine of administration, the conferences in the executive chamber, the careful selection of state officers, and the adjustment of the different departments whereby friction is avoided and the whole administration made to run smoothly.

There are, however, certain acts or incidents, sometimes unimportant in themselves, of a personal kind which catch the public eye, arid are really important on account of the weight that is given them by the people.

We will glance over the record of the three years, first as it caught the people's attention.

The day of Governor Wolcott's inauguration was brilliant without and within the State House. There was that about him which always interested the people in his

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official acts. By his dignity and grace he gave distinction to a function of which he was the centre. The hall of the House, in which the whole general court, the justices and other officers of the Commonwealth were gathered, was unusually crowded; the galleries were bright with the company of ladies. His mother, wife, and five children, his college classmates and friends were there. It was a day of reasonable joy and pride to the governor. His studies of Massachusetts history had given him a high conception of the office; his ancestors had graced the same position in Connecticut. The name of Roger Wolcott was already historic in the annals of New England. No other motive had brought him there than a desire to serve the people; he had come by no other path than that through which his own conscience and high ideals had led him. He

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had served the State as a private citizen and in various offices; now the people who knew him had placed him there by the greatest vote ever given to a governor of Massachusetts, His satisfaction was none other than that which comes to any honorable public officer, but there was in the minds of all present something peculiarly happy, fortunate, and brilliant in the life of Roger Wolcott.

His first inaugural message, as were his later ones, was businesslike, direct, and clear. As a Democratic paper said the next day, there was "not a whisper of party politics."

He called attention to the increase of the state debt, and even though more prosperous times were at hand, asked for care in expenditure; he noted and approved the tendency towards consolidation of interests in. the metropolitan dis-

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trict of Boston; he urged restriction in the number of liquor saloons.

He pressed the point that street railways should pay for their franchises, but that in return the rights of the corporation should be made secure. He closed with the warning, "The volume of legislation is a poor criterion of its necessity or wisdom."

The reference to the limitation of licensed saloons suggests a subject which caused, him much thought. The police commissioners of the city of Boston, who are responsible for the licensing of saloons, are appointed by the governor. It was a general characteristic of Mr. Wolcott that, when he had once approved a commission or appointed men to official positions, he would leave them free and thus hold them responsible for the efficient conduct of their office. It required much time and evidence to convince him that the condi-

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tions were such that he should interfere; but when he was convinced he never shirked the responsibility, but himself took hold and made his position clear.

In the granting of licenses there is always room for high-minded and efficient officers to disagree as to the wisdom of this or that action or as to the interpretation of the law. Governor Wolcott was convinced not only that the people of Boston wanted a strict enforcement of the laws, but also that in certain districts they wished no saloons. He did not think that because of this, saloons should be multiplied in other districts, especially among the poor. He had occasion, therefore, publicly to call the attention of the commission to these points several times in strong terms.

In the winter of 1897 rumors appeared in the papers against the official integrity of the chairman of the board; even formal

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charges were made that he had had such business relations with liquor dealers as to compromise his official influence if .not his honesty.

The chairman had been a gallant general in the war, a mayor of Boston, and had shown himself active and efficient In the enforcement of the laws. The charges were such and the evidence so strong as to warrant the governor In asking Immediately for his resignation on the ground that his official usefulness was gone. Many wise friends of the governor felt that he ought to take sharp action, and many citizens thought It weak and injurious to public morals for him to delay.

In his action here Mr. Wolcott showed the judicial temper so characteristic of him. Although he could think quickly on his feet, lie was slow in his decision of knotty questions. He gave each point

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careful consideration. Such an attitude suggested to some minds weakness and indecision. At times he seemed to be over-conscientious, too ready to look on all sides, and too judicial for strong leadership. Mr. Wolcott appreciated the high character that the chairman had hitherto borne, he knew that a great many people still trusted him, that he was also a prominent Democrat' above all he felt that the chairman, even though his official influence was gone, had a right to be heard and to meet his accusers. The result was a long and painful hearing. The governor, having looked upon all sides, made his own decision, wrote it with great care and exactness with his own hand, and on the evidence given by the chairman him-self, recommended his removal. The popular sympathy for the chairman was so strong that Mr. Wolcott in preparing his

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verdict believed that it would meet with general disapproval. As he handed the paper to his wife when he had written the last word, he said, " Do you want to see my political death-warrant ? "

The council refused to concur. The chairman remained in office to the end of his term. The governor had, however, by his action escaped the charge of injustice, and had shown himself wise and appreciative of the dignity of public office, and the sober second thought of the people, enforced by the cogency of Mr. Wolcott's reasoning, affirmed the justice of his cause.

The refusal of the council to concur prompted some members of the legislature to present a bill giving the governor absolute power of removal of police commissioners. Mr. Wolcott, however, said publicly:-

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"I have in many speeches expressed my high appreciation of the usefulness of the executive council, and my belief that it should be retained as an important and valuable portion of our constitutional government.

"I believe fully in the requirement that nominations made by the governor shall receive the consent of the council.

"I have many times said in public that in the matter of removals there Is in my mind more doubt. The tendency in the more recent municipal charters is to give the sole power of removal to the mayor, and I think the governors of Massachusetts can be as safely intrusted with this power as the mayors of her cities.

"There are both advantages and disadvantages likely to follow such absolute power of removal, and, in my opinion, these should be deliberately arid carefully

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weighed by the legislature at some other time than the closing weeks of the legislative session, and when their action may embody principles and not be due to the exigency of an individual case."

He illustrated his sensitiveness to official dignity again in publicly rebuking a state commission for allowing their employees to lobby against a bill which would withdraw some powers from the commission. The talk of the papers about "irre-sponsible commissions " ceased during the official term of Governor Wolcott.

After the death of Governor Greenhalge, Mr. Wolcott was enabled for a time to escape many of the public functions and social events which draw upon an official's strength. As time passed, these engag-ments increased. The routine of his office occupied the day, the evenings were often spent in public engagements, or, as the

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close of the legislative session drew near, at work upon official business.

A few historic incidents, however, relieved the monotony and again enabled the people to recognize the brilliant personality of the governor.

At the dedication of Grant's tomb in New York in April, 1897, the great procession included the civil and military representatives of the States, It was a bitter day, and the wind swept down the Hudson. Those who saw Governor Wolcott will never forget the sight. Well mounted, dressed with the severe simplicity of the governor of Massachusetts, - a black frock coat and tall hat, - with no gilt or gay caparison to call attention to him or to detract from his radiant beauty, he sat in the saddle for hours in that bitter wind, waiting the command to move. Then, as he and his staff swept up the

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avenue and broke from the rolling clound of dust into the sight of the people, the flash of his white hair, the flush of his face, and the brilliancy of the whole man moved the multitude, and there burst forth such a shout as would in other ages have welcomed home a Crusader. For to the poeple, even those who knew not his name or office, he seemed to represent the beauty and glory of the knighthood of America.

On the 26th of May an interesting historic scene was enacted at the State House. The officials of the Commonwealth, with the senate and house, met in the hall of representatives. At the hands of Mr. Bayard, late ambassador to England, the governor received the original mannuscript of "The Log of the Mayflower," which, at the time of the Revolution, had mysteriously disappeared from

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the Old South Meeting House, - a manuscript which, fifty years later, had been discovered in the library of Fulham Palace, London, and which, by the courtesy of the Bishop of London, was hereafter to rest in the capitol of the Old Bay State. Governor Wolcott said: -

"There are places and objects so intimately associated with the world's greatest men, or with mighty deeds, that the soul of him who gazes upon them is lost in a sense of reverent awe , as it listens to the voice that speaks from the past in words like those which came from the burninng bush: 'Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.'

"On the sloping hillside of Plymouth, that bathes its feet in the waters of the Atlantic, such a voice is breathed by the brooding genius of the place, and the ear

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must "be dull that falls to catch the whispered words. For here not alone did godly men and women suffer greatly for a great cause, but their noble purpose was not doomed to defeat, but was carried to perfect victory. They established what they planned. Their feeble plantation became the birthplace of religions liberty, the cradle of a free Commonwealth. To them a mighty nation owns its debt. Nay, they have made the civilized world their debtor. In the varied tapestry which pictures our national life, the richest spots are those where gleam the golden threads of conscience, courage, and faith, set In the web by that little band. May God In his mercy grant that the moral impulse which founded this nation may never cease to control its destiny; that no act of any future generation may put in peril the fundamental principles on which it is

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based, - of equal rights in a free state, equal privileges in a free church, and equal opportunities in a free school.

"In this precious volume which I hold in my hands - the gift of England to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts - is told the noble, simple story 'of Plimoth Plantation.' In the midst of suffering and privation and anxiety, the pious hand of William Bradford here set down in ample detail the history of the enterprise from its inception to the year 1647. From him we may learn that ' all great and honourable actions are accompanied with great difficulties, and must be both enterprised and overcome with answerable courages.' "

Five days later was unveiled the monument to Colonel Robert Gould Shaw. Standing as it does, a noble work of art, opposite the State House, from the steps

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of which Governor Andrew reviewed the colored regiment as it passed, and repre-scntag a crisis in the history of civiliza- tion, its unveiling was worthy of honor. In the procession were the officials of the State, the militia, the veterans of the Civil War, past members of Shaw's regiment, led by his lieutenant-colonel, and including the color-sergeant who carried the flag at Fort Wagner. In the Music Hall the governor represented the Common-wealth and as presiding officer said:- "We are here to commemorate not only a gallant noble death, not alone the gallant deaths of those who fell side by side with Colonel Robert Gould Shaw, but an epoch in the history of a race. On the bloodstained earthworks at Fort Wanner a race was called into manhood."

The centennial celebration of the erection of the State House had peculiar inter-

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est, for at that time was rededicated the Bulfinch front.

The commission having in charge the extension of the State House had recommended that the whole building, the dome and facade, be demolished, and that a fire­proof building be erected conforming with the architecture of the extension. This aroused the sentiment of a great many citizens. Active work for the preservation of the Bulfinch front was undertaken. The legislature was convinced that it could be made fireproof, and a bill was passed to carry out the plan. The work was completed, and one hundred years from the time of its erection, the Bulfinch front assumed within and without its original form, The officers of the State met with the legislature, and the governor addressed them as follows: -

We are met in joint assemblage of

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the two branches of the General Court and in the presence of the governor and council, to rededicate to the public use of the Commonwealth the stately and beautiful edifice which was, one hundred years ago, in the eloquent words of Governor Surnner, dedicated to the honor, freedom, independence, and security of our country. Since then it has been the Mate House of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

"Its walls have resounded to the tread, and have echoed the words of statesmen soldiers, jurists, and men of affiars, who have had their share in the fame of the Commonwealth. Here have been enacted the laws which have made Massachusetts an example and a leader to the other States of the Union. Whatsoever pride its people may feel in their citizenship, in large measure finds its source within these

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halls. For a century this building has symbolized the dignity and majesty of the Commonwealth.

"Its cornerstone was laid by Samuel Adams, the great popular leader of the Revolutionary period, and by Paul Revere, skillful mechanic and immortal patriot. Its design was the work of Charles Bul-finch, the foremost architect of his time in America, and it stands to-day his most worthy monument.

"Either as an owner of the site, or as official occupants of the structure., every one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence from the colony of Massachusetts Bay held close relation with this building. Here presidents of the United States, from James Monroe to Ulysses S. Grant, have been received and entertained with the honor due their exalted office., and the character and achievement which

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they brought to the performance of Its arduous duties. Here Webster has spoken, and Everett and Choate and Sumner, and many another with lesser fame who yet has deserved well of the Republic, Here, in honored death., lay a vice-president of the United States, and a senator of the Commonwealth who had dared and suffered in her cause. Here have acted and labored the long- line of my predecessors in office, who have made the title of governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts one of the most honored in the nation. Here John A. Andrew gave his heart's blood to the cause of union and nationality. From yonder steps have marched to death or victory the gallant youth of the State, ready to give their lives to a great cause. Here, year by year, have successive legislatures patiently wrought to embody in the statutes of the

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Commonwealth the fundamental principles laid down in the Constitution.

"These halls are eloquent with the presence of the great dead. They speak to us with the compelling voice of the past, and bid us be not unworthy of the trust it has imposed. May we meet the problems of the present with the spirit which inspired our fathers, and may we dedicate ourselves anew to the maintenance of a government of the people, by the people, and for the people; so may God bless us of this generation as he has hitherto blessed the Commonwealth of Massachusetts."

At the Commencement of Williams College, in 1897, he received the degree of Doctor of Laws.

As the year closed there was evident satisfaction throughout the State with the administration. The Boston "Post" ex-

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pressed the feeling: "'Governor Wolcott has made a good governor. He has made a pretty good governor according to the Democratic standards, He has shown great ability and fearlessness in standing by the interests of the people of the State."

At the election of 1897 Mr. Wolcott, who had been renominated, received the largest majority ever given a governor of Massachusetts, except his own the year before, and he again carried the city of Boston.

The war with Spain so engrossed the attention of the people as well as the governor that little else than routine work in legislation, was done.

The following year he again received a heavy plurality, and again carried Boston. As it is a tradition that a governor of Massachusetts should serve only three years, Mr. Wolcott's love for Massachu-

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setts prompted him to break through the businesslike character of his inaugural and close with these words: -

"Gentlemen of the senate and house of representatives: ... In all their deliberations, and in all their official acts, the executive and the legislature alike will do well to remember that they are adding to the history of a State which, for more than two and three-quarters centuries, has written her name large and fair on the record which tells of lofty aspiration and honorable citizenship. During this lengthening period the Commonwealth has maintained a pure and learned judiciary, which has administered justice without discrimination between the rich and the poor, the powerful and the humble; as she was the first to acknowledge the duty of the State freely to educate all her children, so she has ever with wise liberality promoted the

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general diffusion of knowledge; to all she has extended freedom of religious belief and the equal protection of her laws in the public worship of God; in war her sons have never failed to show resolute purpose and unflinching courage; in peace her statesmen have possessed the clear vision which reads the coming future, and her citizens, through Industry and enterprise, have attained a degree of general prosperity scarcely equaled among the peoples of the earth; her homes have been virtuous, her people contented; her poets and historians have made honorable the fame of American letters; her inventions and discoveries have aided to revolutionize industry, and to make comfortable the lives of those who toil; from generation to generation she has kept aflame a beacon light of intelligence and high purpose, which has carried into many dark places

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the illumination of humanity and civilization.

"Such is the Commonwealth whose public and trusted servants we are. Such is the lustre of her fame, which is in our power to tarnish or to transmit with its full radiance undimmed. In serving the common weal we serve the Common­wealth. May our service be worthy of her great past and of her greater future."

The three acts most worthy of record in the routine of the executive were all done in protection of the people's rights.

In the original Subway Act, it was required that the West End Railroad should take up the surface tracks on Tremont Street. This the road had done. A bill was before the legislature empowering the road to re-lay the tracks. The pressure was very strong upon the governor to sign the bill, if it should pass. He had

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made up his mind that, if the bill passed without clauses for a referendum and for compensation for use of streets, he would veto it. It would have been natural and more in harmony with the traditions of the office for the governor to veto the bill after its passage. Feeling, however, that valuable time would be wasted and that it would be better for all interested to know his mind, he told the supporters of the bill the conditions on which alone it would have his signature. The clauses were inserted, the bill signed, and in the referendum vote the movement to re-lay the tracks was heavily defeated.

On several other occasions he anticipated legislation in a similar aroused thereby some criticism. It was thought to be an interference with freedom of legislation. His action was entirely informal. In view of the increase in the

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volume of business before the legislature, the value of time, and the inadvisability of allowing long discussion on measures which, with some change, might avoid a veto, he felt it to be one of the reasonable movements in administration that must come. Since his day, experience in national and state legislation has shown that his surmise was correct. Expedition of business requires closer understanding between the executive and the legislative bodies. The fear of a veto is sometimes as effective as a veto, and often more useful.

A bill passed the legislature, supported by representatives of the trades-unions, exempting the unions from making returns to the insurance commissioner. When the bill came to the governor it was clear that the labor organizations would make it an issue as to his sympathy with them.

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The governor in his veto messaage lifted the subject above partisan considerations when he wrote: -

"It has long been the policy of this Commonwealth carefully to guard the business of insurance which it permits to be conducted within its limits. The various statutes relating to the method of conducting business are not intended unnecessarily to hamper or control it, but solely to protect the rights of the insured, who, as experience has shown, without such protection would often be subjected to serous loss. I see no good reason why wage-workers should be deprived of the benefits or denied the protection of these salutary laws. If the bill now under consideration should become a law, it would remove all statutory restrictions whatsoever from the class of associations described therein, and consequently

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deprive the members of such associations of every safeguard which the wisdom of the legislature has imposed on all other persons conductinga similar business."

The third instance was his veto of a bll giving the veterans of the Spanish War preference over civilians in the public service: -

"And yet the veterans of the Civil War," he said, "neither asked nor received statutory prefernece over civilians in the public employ until the lapse of nineteen years from the close of the strife, and the preference then accorded was only to be given 'other qualities being equal.' Eleven years later these words were stricken out, and the absolute prefernce was first enacted. ... I have yet to learn that any considerable numbers of the soldiers of this war have expected or asked for more. I should feel that I were doing them dishonor if I

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believed that the expectation of such preferment to public office as Is provided In this bill entered into the motives which prompted their enlistment, or that the desire for it was general so soon after the close of their honorable service."

The varied Interests of the State of Massachusetts demand of the governor the abilities and habits of a business man. Mr. Wolcott inherited business habits and had a good general knowledge of commercial interests. He was conscientious and intelligent in the details of his office. He knew the worth of proper accounting and a clear financial statement. He was prompt and exact himself. He met his engagements, often at the risk of his health or at much sacrifice of his own convenience. In coming to a decision upon matters of state, and in seeking the advice of others, he never revealed by his questions

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or conversation in what direction his judgment was moving5 and, until his decision was announced, his closest friends knew not what it would be.

An essential talent in an administrator is that of judging correctly of men's abilities and characters, and their fitness for certain positions, and in public service of getting the best men to accept office.

In selecting men for office Mr. Wolcott was very careful in his inquiries. He distrusted letters about men; so much so, indeed, that in his correspondence there is hardly a letter upon that subject. He trusted to individual research through friends, to incidental conversation, and to a personal acquaintance with the man. In this way he reenforced a good instinctive knowledge of character. There were, at rare intervals, appointments which wise

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friends criticised. Mr. Wolcott had, however, the faculty of keeping men at their best, and encouraging the finer elements of their character. Like every public officer he suffered from his inability to get the men of his first choice to serve: not so much so, however, as most administrators, for there was such attractiveness and enthusiasm about him that men who came into his presence determined to refuse office fell before his persuasion and appeals to public duty.

In making appointments, his first and last interest was the public service. He appreciated the traditional rights of parties, the necessity of harmonious political relations in certain departments, and the advisability of considering the requests of politicians when they urged good and efficient men who were also politically useful, He took no interest in appointments

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for the sake of political advantage, and frankly opposed any use of the public service for appointees unworthy of the position.

"These fellows do not understand that such peanut politics is the most shortsighted policy for the party Itself, let alone the cause of good government" he would say as he paced up and down the room. " The people can't be hoodwinked. Give them time, and they will discover which party is best administering the State."

He fully appreciated, nevertheless, the worth of party organization and political work. He had the wisdom to trust the management and the details of the organization to those who had undertaken them, and unless the administration of the party transgressed some moral principle, he followed it loyally.

Because he was of this temper, and

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because, much as he believed In political parties, he had little interest in the machinery of the organization, many people called him a poor politician, He always had an eye, not so much to the present as to the future welfare of his party; he had the statesman's prophetic vision. And confiding as he did in the good sense and honesty of the people, he knew that frank and high-minded action would in time win their approval. He wanted the people to know his mind: sometimes he seemed unnecessarily frank. At the state convention of 1896 the question of biennial state elections was a local issue. The party was divided on the subject, the committee on resolutions, fearing an uncomfortable debate in convention, had quietly slipped that plank out of the platform. The resolutions were read; Mr. Wolcott was nominated and escorted to

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the platform, when to the dismay of the politicians on both sides he spoke out his conviction in favor of biennial elections. He wanted them and the Commonwealth to know just where he stood. Unwise from a short-sighted point of view, It was the wisdom of a sincere man, for the people saw that he was one in whose perfect transparency they could trust. In short, his whole political life was one instinctive appeal behind party, politicians, and the machine to the intelligence and heart of the people. Men were surprised again and again that he was such a vote-getter. It was because in Massachusetts there was no political machine powerful enough to distort or suppress the sentiments of the people. They voted as they felt. In voting for Roger Wolcott they felt that he was one of them: his strength was their strength; through him their

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authority was expressed and their rights were vindicated.

Mr. Wolcott was fortunate in the time in which he came to the front. The year of his election as governor was a great Republican year. With all allowance for his good fortune, however, one cannot but marvel at the change in Massachusetts political parties from the time when Cleveland and Russell swept the State, and when Russell swept the State without Cleveland,, to the period of the great popular support of Roger Wolcott during the seven years of his administration. He was fortunate in the conditions. The question may well be asked, however, whether he did not have something to do with the creation of the conditions, and whether the spirit expressed in his first Republican Club speech did not do much to open the way for him and his party to walk in.

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