Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1879-08-06

ever had. / know it was ridiculed ;
good deal-called the rltd-bdgd Legisla
| ture-organized and run by clOd-hop
/ pers-and all that sort OF stuff. Bu
look at its work. II lis the only Legisla
ture that ever accomplished anything II
| the direction of railroad reform. II
NAV not have gone far enough, but il
did something, and that is more than any
| of its predecessors did. 1t is estimated
that bv the reduction OF railroad rates
there is saving to the people OF the
| State OF about four hundred thousand
! dollars annually. Then there is an an
nual saving Of about $4,000 in the way
of school textbooks. The Legislature
also made provision for raising the S95,,
coo necessary To complete the Lunatic
ASYLUM, at Weston, without increasing
| the rate Of taxation, and still have am,
| pie funds TO carry on all departments OF
| the State government. So think upon
the whole it is pretty good showing
for farmer Legislature. | only hope
We NAV never have worse one"
"Who will be the Gubernatorial can
didates of the respective partiesp
GAS you ask for opinions, not facts, |
will give you my speculations. III the
Bourbons control the Democratic party
their leader will be either Faulkner, ia
cob or Jetfers, probably the former. II
the progressive wing gets on top it will
be Ben Martin or Johnson y. Camden.
Ii the Republicans nominate it will
probably be Sturgiss or Hagans. The
Greenbackers will probably place their
standard in the hands OF Judge Brown. "
"Who will VIM?
"That depends upon the tickets. The
party which puts forward the cleanest-
limbed candidates on platform with
the cleaneSt ring will come out ahead.
1T is intimated that you may be Sc
lected as the standard bearer OF the Re
form party"
Il have but two ambitions-Onet TO re-
cover good health and live to be a use
ful citizen in promoting the welfare OF
the country; the other Is To make tha:
lot of cattle weigh thirteen hundred by
the hrst Of October" and with this the
Speaker pointed to lot OF three-year-
old bullOcks grazing in Il blue grass pas
ture near by.
"If the Greenbackers and Republi-
cans should form coalition on State is
sues, would there be show for sue
cesS?'
eyes. | figure it in this way. There
are about 100000 votes polled in.this
State ut the last election, last Fall,
the Grecnbackers pOlled 25,OOO votes, Of
which 10000 were taken from the Re
publican party, leaving that party with
about $4,000 votes. The two combined
would make vote OF $1,000, giving Il
majority OF 10000 over the Democratic
candidate il all the remaining Demo-
Gratis voted that ticket. Ii Il
coalition was made against a
Bourbon candidate, and the fight
became Il square one between BOurbOns
and anti BOurbOns, then the Coalition
party would sweep the State by over
whelming odds. Ii the three tickets are
in the field the contest will be between
the Democrats and GreenbaCkers."
"If the contest should be reduced TO
d dual character, is there any probability
that any Republicans would support the
Bourbon candidate?'
Certainly. There are Bourbons and
impracticableS in the Republican party
rs well as the Democratic party. They
would all 90 together, and the fight bc
made a square one. 1t is an issue that
has To be fought out. ! know that next
year being a Presidential year and party
lines being drawn unusually tight, there
- tiI UU rUIuv uImO uttICs ar P1vovuu"7
the issue squarely. But it is coming,
nevertheless, and those who don't want
To be crushed must stand from under.
The Stalwart Radical has disappeared
from our State politics, and the intoIer-
ant Bourbon must go the same road.
| am no prophet, but he must
be blind who cannot discern
the signs of the times. In extent OF
territory, in the fertility OF her soil, and
the boundless variety OF her resources,
West Virginia is an empire OF material
wealth within herself. A giant at ITS
birth, it still has growth to attain,
which will place it among the foremost
political commonwealths. Those who
stand in the way of its progress and de-
yelopment must stand aside or he
crushed. We want practical statesman
ship, and will have it."
''Is there no way for the Democracy
to hold its power in West NirgiriaP
ooh, yes; by adopting the progress
sive policy | have indicated, and by
wedding out the Bourbon leaders. But
as long as it is held by the nose by moss
back politicians, it is useless organiza-
ton, and the people can afford to dis
pense with it. With Tilden and Faulk-
ner, nv impression is the party Will
find Jordan a hard road to travel in
West Virginia"
"Does the constitutional amendment
meet with favor in your section"
"Not much. In fact our people are not
compainingm much OF the present system,
and when they do make change they
want to be sure that il is for the better.
The REGISTER felt sure from the earn
estneSs with which he spoke that the
Speaker meant all that he said, and
that he gave a fair, frank statement OF
the political situation as it appeared to
him.