West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1900-10-18
OUR WASHINGTON LETTER.
The Doodle Stage Of the Republi.
can Campaign Has Now
Been Reached.
Benjamin Harrison Refuses 10 take the
stump-Mckinley Worried and
Inundated Over Hanna's
Speech Making.

can barrel. Hanna's recent visit
to the eastern headquarters of the
big trusts filled the barrel to over
howing. In every doubtful state
and Congressional district every
vote that can be had for money is
to be bought. These are not mere
assertions. They are hard facts,
of which the Democrats have been
warned by Chairman Richardson,
OF the Democratic Congressional
Campaign Committee, and by Mr..
Richard Croker of New York, both
of whom know of the enormous
amount of money secured by Hanna,
and judge by the way he spent mil
lions IN 1896 how he intends to
spend it. It's not easy to prevent
some buying and selling of votes
among those who are unprincipled
enough to engage in such traffic,
but vigilance on the part of Demo-
Gratis may greatly lessen the number
bought and sold, as every state
provides a heavy penalty for the
crime.
/ / /
There was noticeable change in
the attitude of the Republican man.
ayers just as soon as they got the
tip that Hanna had all the money
he wanted. Instead of talking
doubtfully of the result of the cleo
tons, both Presidential and Congress
sional, they began to blow, making
the most ridiculous claims as to the
number of electoral votes that Nc
Kinley will get and the number of
Republican Congressman that will
be elected.
The Republican managers are
having trouble with Benjamin Har-
rison. They want him to take the
stump, but Ben says he has throat
trouble and can't do it, although no
one has heard that his throat trouble
prevented him speaking in court for
any client who is rich enough to
pay his big fees. If he won't speak,
they want him to write and sign
Mckinley plea for publication, but
he may discover that he has pen
paralysis, or something else, that
will prevent his writing, if they
don't put up big retainer for him.
Ben doesn't like Mckinley or Nc
kinleyism, and if he says anything
for either it will be on the usual
basis that lawyers briefs are written.
/ tt
Judge George ID. Lacy, of South
Dakota, who is in Washington look
ing after some business before the
U. ). Supreme Court, thinks that
his state is absolutely safe for Bryan
and Stevenson, Notwithstanding
Boss Hanna's personal efforts TO
capture it, and thus states the rea-
son for his belief "The voters in
South Dakota are mostly farmers,
and farmers, you know, generally
look at public questions with clear
er vison than men who dwell in
cities. They have time for renec-
ton as they go about their work in
the fields. They are not blinded
by the glamor of close contact
with wealth, nor are their sensibili-
ties dulled by familiarity with the
sufferings Of their fellow men. The
inhabitants of cities decide uues-
tons upon the basis of expediency,
while the farmer weighs them with a
judicious mind and gets at the bot
tom of things. Therefore the
farmer is most keenly alive to the
danger that turks in great combina-
tions of wealth that make toward
monopoly and it is to the farming
communities that Bryan must look
for the votes necessary TO his cleo
ton"
TT