National Affairs: Me For Ma

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In Texas, a novel situation has arisen in regard to the sex of the next Governor. There has never been a woman Governor before, butTexas stands a good chance of having one next year.

Texas has two Democratic primaries. In the first of these, it is fairly easy to get on the ballot. In the second, only the two leaders in the first primary contend for the nomination. Texas is solidly Democratic, so that the second Democratic primary generally is equivalent to an election.

This year there were nine candidates in the first primary, held in July. One of them, Judge Felix D. Robertson, nominally sat on the Klan fence, although the Klan endorsed him. The others were all more or less openly opposed to the Klan. Among these candidates was Mrs. Miriam Ferguson, wife of ex-Governor James E. Ferguson, who, in 1917, was impeached while in office, on ten counts, one of them charging that he used the State funds to pay a personal debt of some $5,000.

In the first primary, Judge Robertson ran first. In a close contest, with much counting long-drawn-out, Mrs. Ferguson ran second. In the final primary, she and Judge Robertson will contest, practically, for the Governorship. "Ma" Ferguson, as she is known, is chiefly sitting at home while her husband does most of the campaigning. The inference is that, if she is elected, he will also do most of the governing.

Some local genius has invented the slogan, "Me for Ma", which has gained considerable vogue. If the vote, which in the first primary was split among the eight so-called anti-Klan candidates, centres upon "Ma" Ferguson in the second primary, it will be hard to stop her election.

Meanwhile, the Klan, being unwilling to attack a woman, is driving chiefly against her husband. The Klan papers call him "buzzard", "yaller dog", "old skunk", "he-viper".