The professional politician, clamorous, aggressive and spectacular, may appear more often in public and in the public print that the quiet, unassuming, judicious business man who takes a patriotic interest in politics because of the effect of politics on the prosperity of the people, but he is usually not so potent a factor in political movement and his influence is not so lasting, because it is likely to be exerted spasmodically, when the politician has in view some alluring official reward for political service, and it loses part of its effect upon the public because the public is always a little in doubt as to its disinterestedness. Yet the able man of affairs who does not seek office is often taken from his desk and given important public responsibilities because the people know that he will discharge them with an eye single to the public good. One of the most conspicuous examples of this kind in Idaho was in the election of Hon. George F. Moore to the office of lieutenant governor in 1896.
George F. Moore was born in Lewisburg, Preble county Ohio, March 9, 1861, a son of Newton and Belle L. (Fall) Moore, natives of Ohio. The family removed to Kansas in 1868 and thence to Colorado in 1877. Newton G. Moore died ten years after that, aged about fifty-two. His widow lives at Wallace, Idaho. Hon. George F. Moore gained a common-school education in Kansas, and after the family went to Colorado helped his father in a freighting enterprise in which he was engaged there for a time. Later he mined and devoted himself to different enterprises with good success until 1891 when he came to Wallace and established a business in the furniture line, which he has built up to such a notable success that he now has the largest store and the largest stock of household goods in the city.
For the last twelve years Mr. Moore has been an earnest supporter of the principles of the People’s party and his intelligent efforts for its success have not been without recognized results. In 1896 he was elected lieutenant governor of Idaho on the People’s Democratic ticket, by a plurality of five thousand five hundred votes, and filled that important office in 1897-8. Through his political prominence and through his membership in the orders of the Free Masons. Knights of Pythias and Modern Woodmen of the World and of the Knights of Labor he has gained a wide acquaintance with the leaders of thought and action throughout Idaho and adjoining states, and his hearty interest in the welfare of Idaho and her people has made him very popular wherever he is known.