James B. Frazier - Governor

Governor

In 1902, Frazier sought and obtained the Democratic nomination for governor in the race to succeed Benton McMillin, who was not seeking reelection. His Republican opponent was Judge H. Tyler Campbell, who had won his party's nomination with the support of party boss Walter P. Brownlow. The 1902 gubernatorial campaign is remembered as the last in which the candidates canvassed the state via horse-drawn carriages. In the general election, which was marked by low turnout, Frazier won easily with 98,902 votes to 59,007 for Campbell, and 2,193 for Prohibition candidate R.S. Cheves.

Frazier sought to bring a business-like atmosphere to the state government, and demanded rigid economic frugality from every department. He vetoed any bill that failed to meet his economic standards, including one that would have raised his own salary. The state had no floating debt during his tenure, and paid off over $600,000 of bonded debt.

Frazier considered public education a priority during his first term. One of the first pieces of legislation he signed was the Romine Bill, which stipulated that any unappropriated funds in the treasury be added to the public school fund. In 1904 alone, this generated over $270,000 for the state's public schools.

In 1903, Frazier signed the Adams Law, a pro-temperance measure sponsored by the Anti-Saloon League. The law extended the state's "Four Mile Law"– which banned the sale of liquor within 4 miles (6.4 km) of a school– to all towns with populations of 5,000 or fewer people (the Four Mile Law originally applied only to rural areas). This effectively banned the sale of liquor in all but the state's largest cities.

In February 1904, a coal miners' strike in the Coal Creek Valley threatened to erupt into a full-blown uprising, raising fears of a revival of the Coal Creek War, which had plagued the valley in the previous decade. Frazier travelled to the valley to meet with the miners, however, and managed to defuse the situation. Frazier also signed into law new mine safety standards in response to a string of mining accidents in previous years, most notably the Fraterville Mine disaster of 1902.

In the gubernatorial campaign of 1904, Republicans nominated Winchester mayor Jesse Littleton to challenge Frazier. In September, Frazier and Littleton engaged in a series of fierce debates, primarily over the Four Mile Law, which Littleton argued should extend to the entire state, while Frazier, not wanting to further agitate liquor interests, argued that larger cities should remain exempt. On election day, Frazier won easily, capturing 131,503 votes to 103,409 for Littleton.