Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-10-17
THE REPUBLICAN, CAMPAIGN

La Belle France in a straight jacket.
THE REPUBLICAN, CAMPAIGN
The following circular letter sent to
postmasters throughout the State is the
best evidence of the kind of campaign
the politicians in power in this State
are conducting:
West Virginia
REPUBLICAN STATE COMMITTEE,
Chairman's Office.
CHARLESTON, w. Va, Oct. g. 1898.
Dear Sir:-At the late meeting of the Re-
publican State Committee, l was APP
pointed to solicit from the office holders
and others contributions to the campaign
fund. I therefore solicit you to make as
LIBERAL CONTRIBUTION as you can
possibly give. AS the time is late, please
let me know Immediately what you will
give If you cannot send it all now, send
what you can and state at what date you
will send balance. 1t is important that
we know at once what you will give.
Make your contribution include the whole
amount you will give to the State, County
and Congressional committees. We will
then divide it equitably. Any request you
make as to the disposition of your con-
tribution will be considered and carried
out if possible.
This is not an assessment. Many have
asked me to state what they ought to
give. I prefer not to do this. We all
ought to give literally in proportion TO our
incomes.
You cannot fail to appreciate the great
Importance of this years election. Two
United States Senators and four Con-
gressmen are involved. We must have a
thorough organization to get out our vote;
this requires money. We who hold office
are expected to do our full duty. We
cannot afford to allow the State to be lost.
AS the matter is urgent please let me
hear from you at once.
Very truly yours,
VIM. NJ. o. DAWSON,
Chairman.
Apparently the bosses of the party
in power know no other way of cam
paigning than by means of unlimited
Doodle. 1t is the same old story over
again so often told in the past
In the last campaign Chairman Mark
Hanna spent campaign fund estimated
at 500 ,000,000, wrung from the office
holders, who dared not refuse, and the
protected trusts and the gold gamblers
of Wall street. In the present cam
paign the same methods are being pur-
sued in the same way. And woe betide
the officeholder who declines to be held
up.
1t would interest the people to know
to what use the immense sum of money
thus put into the Republican campaign
in this State is put and just how it is
divided. To those familiar with the
details of these campaigns of pure cor
ruption it is as an open book, but to the
people it is a mystery where these vast
campaign contributions go, since it
is notorious that only small proper
ton of the vast sums collected by these
politicians is needed for legitimate cam
paign expenses.
The politicians in power in this State,
moreover, have new source to draw
upon this year, namely the Wall street
holders of the Virginia deferred certifi-
Gates, which it has been promised will
be saddled upon this State by the next
Legislature if that body shall be sub
ject to the control of the party bosses
( in power-Wall streets political agents
in this gigan ic scheme to defraud the
State of West Virginia of $15,000,OO
AS these certificates were bought up for
little more than their cost as waste
paper, this vast sum, the loss of which
be pure gain, all profit, hence the Wall
street schemers can afford to pay most
literally of these prospective millions
to get their clutches on them, and it
may be supposed that the politicians
who are to engineer the scheme will
demand in advance their full share of
the booty.
These facts and the above letter hold
ing up officeholdors for campaign con-
tributions will give the average honest
voter, unfamiliar with the devious ways
of politics and politicians, a slight no.
ton of the kind of campaign the pol
iticians in power in this State are now
engaged in carrying on
1t is, in short, one of Doodle, by
which means it is hoped to defeat the
| will of the intelligent voters. 1t is a
campaign O. infamy, which we sin
cerely believe will receive the singing
rebuke it calls for at the hands of
the honest voters of West Virginia.
Why go after the antipodean Philip
pines, when we have desirable. rich