The Lieutenant-Governor

Adjoining offices in the state capitol conceal a deep political divide. John Hamilton Barclay, newly elected lieutenant-governor of Alleghenia, hopes to advance reform, while Governor Abbott owes his position to the labor faction led by Michael McGrath. Their shared election ticket soon gives way to mutual distrust, leaving Barclay caught between official powerlessness and the public's expectation that he will keep his promises.

Guy Wetmore Carryl's novel brings this conflict into sharper focus through a strike at the Rathbawne Mills. Closed gates, a burned shop and newspapers open to manipulation turn an industrial dispute into a test of public responsibility. The narrator takes a pointed view of union leadership and political influence, making the book useful to readers interested in how fiction presents competing claims to authority. Office routines, convention tactics and the pressure of hostile opinion give its political argument a concrete setting.