Wheeling register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1878-1935, 1898-08-04

missioner Mcdonald He has long
been the recognized head Of the Hog
Combine, and has carried cut the
schemes OF his more cautious and
timid coadjutors with an unblushing
hardihood that at last aroused public
indignation to the danger point. Some
one had to be tossed overheard to save
the machine craft, and Mcdonald was
naturally chosen as the victim. He is
not, however, of the material out Of
which scapegcats can be safely made,
so he put up a most desperate fight for
denomination and vindication. The
shrewder members of the combine sue
ceeded in defeating aim, but the re-
suit was SO very close and disputed
that while the other man gets on the
ticket Mcdonald can go to his friends
with a very strong case, showing how
he was euchered out of his rights. He
is a hard and unrelentfng fighter, and
/ guess he knows his career with the
machine is over. His supporters were
very numerous and they feel sore over
the way their chief was treated. He
will continue at the head of the county
government until after the election and
his opportunities to knife the machine
are almost unlimited Efforts have al
ready been made to pIacate him by
means Of the offer of a federal position,
but the Office that was rendered him
was too small and involved his re-
moval to another State, consequently
Mcdonald was too old q bird to be
caught with such chaff. Possibly the
Ratchet will be apparently buried be-
fore election day, but it will require
a large portion of the Political assets
still available for campaign purposes
to secure this result and it is very
doubtful whether the reconciliation
will be genuine.
yes, the principal fight this year, as
at the last election, viii be made On
the County Commissioner We Re
publicans who are fighting the Hog
Combine intend to oppose Mr.. Moul
ton. Personally he is not a bad man,
but we consider him the creation Of the
Hog Combine as much as Mcdonald
himself ever was. Last election when
the county went something over 2,0G0
for Mckinley. we cut down an element
of the local ticket more than thou<
sand votes. This year the total vote
will not be near SO heavy. It-1g{1l be
impossible to arouse the masses as
they were in 1896. If you Democrats
will only put up a good, clean local
ticket, the days Of the machine are
numbered
Who will be the NEXT United States
Senator? That is too far ahead to abe
predicted with any degree of certainty
Z 1t now appears to be Atkinson against
the field, with the chances, in my opin-
ion, decidedly in favor Of Atkinson.
Internal Revenue Commissioner Scott
Collector White, Attorney General
Rucker and Senator Whitaker appear
to present the most conspicuous prob
abilities in case the Governor fails to
develop staying powers to carry him
to the goal Whoever shall be the best
figure to catch votes and the best
fitted to be a figurehead at the national
capital will probably lead the field, for
it goes without saying that the keen
and clear-headed junior Senator is not
going to have any one meddling in his
preserves at Washington if he can
help it. Whoever of the field candi-
dates goes to Washington, if any, must
be content with the shadow and allow
Elkins to continue to wag the patron
age bone between his masterful jaws.
1t is possible, if the election shows that
the Governor can't make the rifle that
his friends may then force Judge Ma
than Golf into the fight. In that case
Elkins would naturally take the strong
est figure in the field to defeat him.
fer, Of course, he could not afford to
have General GCff at Washington. He
would be as Independent of Elkins as
Atkinson would be- Golf is too prom
inent a parsonage to be desirable as a
colleague, and then there is not
enough patronage fer West Virginia
to permit of division between two.
''Rut all this is in the future and be-
side the mark. What I want to say, is
that you people have the best oppor-
tunity to carry your local ticket here
that you have had for many years. All
you have got to do is to select men
who are above suspicion and can COM
mand solid vote in their own party.
We, the anti-Hog Combine Republi-
cans, will do the rest"