During the three years of his state administration, Governor Frank O. Lowden of Illinois has demonstrated effectively what can be done by business management. He began by abolishing the 125 boards and commissions which divided executive authority and establishing in their stead nine departments, each having control of one division of the government. The cumbersome State Board of Equalization, consisting of 25 members elected politically, has been abolished and a State Tax Commission of three experts has taken its place. The haphazard method of making appropriations by the legislature, with each institution and department asking for what it thought it could get and the legislature appropriating what it pleased, has been done away with and a satisfactory budget system is now used in making all appropriations.

As a result of these reforms, the state tax rate of Illinois has been reduced about 33 percent in the past two years, in the face of war conditions.

In addition to this governmental reform, Governor Lowden has worked out a great program of internal improvements. These include a state highway system which will provide paved roads through every county in the state and touching every city of 2000 population or more, to be constructed entirely out of the earnings of the automobile license fees and without any expense to the general tax payers. A waterway system giving Chicago an outlet to the Gulf of Mexico has been adopted and the government engineers have approved it.

Has Remarkable Record.

The remarkable record of achievements made by Governor Lowden is pointed to by his supporters as the best possible indication of what he could do for the nation if elected to the Presidency. They submit that he is just the type of man the nation needs in this particular crisis.

But Governor Lowden's availability does not depend entirely upon his record as governor, remarkable as that record is. He began life in the most humble circumstances and forged ahead by his own personal efforts. He has learned by hard knocks the experiences of life. He has participated actively in business all his life, and for many years has been served with distinction in Congress. In short, he has had the well-rounded career which fits him to undertake the solution of the trying questions which will confront the next President.