MR. GILL'S GOOSE

The switch in Governor Ely's attitude toward the Gill hearing, from boredom and apparent hostility to a kind of modified and active neutrality must have a very important effect on any assessment of the case. The switch was slight. As the outbursts of Gill's counsel yesterday indicate, it has not placed the whole investigation beyond all suspicion of unfairness. But it has meant this: that the Press, at last a trifle uncertain about the outcome of the affair and therefore about the consequences of its Roman holiday, has resolved to give the Superintendent at least the semblance of justice. And, what is a great deal more, it has given Gill a chance to spread upon the record, in halting, impeded form, the surface of his ideas and difficulties, and to indicate for intelligent beings that there is a good deal more that does not yet meet the eye.

Mr. Gill has been quick to evaluate and to capitalize his opportunity. He is obviously aware that the public is no mean factor in this case, and that already a very large body of informed opinion has swung his way. He apparently knows that the almost unanimous committment of the Boston Press against him has begun to weaken, and that, given sufficient excuse, important units may be won over. Yesterday's performance shows that, given an inch, he can easily assimilate a mile, that he is becoming aggressive, and that he has perhaps started the ball rolling.

On Wednesday morning an editorial on this page stated that Mr. Gill's "political goose was probably cooked." There is ample cause, in the light of the past two days, to regard such a statement as a bit hasty. It is true that Governor Ely and Commissioner Dillon may find it a trifle embarrassing to reinstate the Norfolk Head into good favor and to withdraw charges which once rang so auspiciously in streamer heads. But there is also this to consider. The legion of Mr. Gill's friends, even before the investigation, was very large. It has been treated to an inspiring spectacle; it has seen an honest and valuable man brutally and inexcusably mauled by the press; it has had excellent reason to suspect that he is the victim of politics; it has cooled its heels on marble, waiting futily to attend a "public" hearing. It has, in short, become embittered and vociferous where once it was amiable.

It was scarcely wise, if this legion were kept in a clamorous state, to permit it to grow. But that is apparently what Mr. Ely has done. If Mr. Gill can maintain his present rate of acceleration, his goose will become a pretty unwieldy and a pretty lively bird.