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Governor Murray is a bookish man. His library of some 5,000 volumes is a precious possession. His reading is deep, wide, mostly classical. Many a visitor leaves him with a sense of astonishment at his erudition, his ability to quote and date and cite. Constitutional government is his specialty. The late great Champ Clark, observing him in the House, called him one of the greatest constitutional experts and parliamentarians ever to sit in Congress.
About his food he is somewhat crotchety. His hard-boiled eggs must be started in cold water, cooked for 30 min. He must have plenty of fat pork as "an internal lubricant." He likes his vegetables underdone.* Only Mrs. Murray understands the proper preparation of what he calls his victuals. This diet, however, has kept him spry and supple. He can still stand on his head to amuse a rustic crowd. At his inauguration an old-fashioned ball was held at the Capitol and the Governor gave an animated performance of the "Kitchen Sweat," with the guests stomping and clapping.
About the luxurious Executive Mansion Governor Murray wears his hat all the time. He greets all women visitors as "Sister." He does nothing for fun, except to sprawl out on a bed or couch where he likes to give interviews. Mrs. Murray, a quiet dark woman, keeps much in the background, paints oil portraits of her Indian ancestors, has a social secretary, goes to a few bridge parties. She seldom accompanies her husband around the State or nation on his speaking trips. She did go to California with him last year and then her friends gave her a "bridal shower" at which she received her first silk nightgown. She has learned that her husband goes into profound abstractions when his mind is thinking out some problem, that he is never to be disturbed at such times. Many a time at 3 a. m. the figure of a tall, lank, stoop-shouldered man can be seen pacing the garden of the Executive Mansion, lost in a meditative world of his own making.
Appraisal. William Henry Murray leaves no man neutral. To his friends he is a second Andrew Jackson sent to lead the plain people out of economic bondage. To his foes he is another William Jennings Bryan threatening the very foundations of U. S. economic life. In the Murray makeup there is undoubtedly much of "Old Hickory," much of the "Great Commoner" but there is also enough more to make him a distinct political individual. Crude as Lincoln, he has the common touch; active as Roosevelt, he dramatizes public issues;* honest as Cleveland, he makes public office a public trust; and like every intelligent demagog, he may be accused of twisting his economic convictions to suit the accident of politics. He is the political darling of really poor men everywhere. He is scorned by the literate and urbane; yet he is probably better read than the average run of U. S. Presidents. Against him can be fairly set an erratic political behavior, a ferocious and unbridled tongue, an egotism barring administrative cooperation, and a tendency to play class against class.