West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1905-03-30
THE RAMBLER
Meets His Old Friend Will Ohlsy Who
LabOTed and TOiled With Him
YEARS AGO At lROEDALE FURNACE
Declares that the Montgomery Bill Has
Destroyed the Ambition CT Amer
lean Youth to 60 Forth to Hus-
tie and Save His Country.

One of my old friends whom l
knew back in Preston in the early
seventies is permanent resident of
this city. 1t is the Hon. William
A. Ohley, ex Secretary of State.
He is next TO the last Democrat who
has held the office OF Secretary of
State, and il the new tax laws oper.
ate on the ruduction pan which
Gov. Dawson and have mapped
out for them viii will hold the dis
tinction for years TO come. VIII
made fortune out of the Office and
has not, so far as / can learn, taken
out any insurance for a rainny day.
Gov. Dawson succeeded Will Chill
ton and held it for eight years and
made two fortun es, which enables
him in the generosity of his heart to
establish me permanently on Easy
street where / will remain for the
next four years. There will be no
more scrambling for the office of
Secretary of State. Senator Sam
Montgomery, with his little bill,
killed the goose that has been lay
ing the golden egg for the secreta-
ries. 1t is one of the crimes which
Senator Montgomery has committed
against the administration that we
cannot forget or forgive so long as
the fees continue TO pour into the
Golfers of the State Treasury, there
by destroying the ambition of the
American yout TO get out and hustle
TO save the country. When Char
ley SwiSher came to Charleston he
was full of ambition and had many
plans for the future. His dreams
of Governorship and United States
Senatorship spurred him on and he
fought coursgeously and bcroically
against the Montgomery bill. He
plead earnestly with the old Sena-
tors who had budding sons Of their
own to not blast their future abmi-
tion and welfare by voting for the
Montgomery bill. 1t was a pathetic
scene and one which we pie-hunters
never want to witness again. The
old Senators with tears in their eyes
told Charley tha. their own ambition
had not been cut out by the age
limit, and while they would like to
accommodate him and provide for
their posterity they were not un-
mindful of the fact that the rural
districts from whence they came had
been inoculated with Teddy's Big
Stick. They had warned them be-
fore they left home that if they did
not kill the goose that had been
held in bondage by the Secretary of
State that they would be deprived
of freely imbibing in the legislative
high balls and the pleasures OF the
Bowery at the expense Of the State.
There was no alternative left them.
They would have TO kill the goose
or 60 back to the farm and hard
cider. This they did not propose
to do. They had sampled the gal.
cites Of life aud il was TO their lik.
ing. SO the goose was killed and
the administration, l am sorry to
say, has been in deep mourning
ever since. Charley Swisher de
clares he will resign or commit sui.
eide. II is a deplorable state oil
affairs.
But to get back to my friend
Ohley. Will Ohlsy and myself
worked together at Irondale Furnace
back in the seventies and eighties
Col. Nemegyei was operating III,
plant at the time and Will and
found considerable difficulty in in
terpreting the ColonePs languag,
when he became excited. The worl
was labohous and the pay small
But they promised us that if w
stuck 20 it that there was a politica
tide coming in that would allow u
S2.so per day and beef steak three
times a day, something that WI
we're sorely in need Of and had beer
a total stranger to up to that time
That was before the "stand pat
and the 'full dinner paip was pu
on the political market The polii
ical tide came in on schedule tim
but the S2.5o a day and beef steal
three times day was derailed a
Hardman's Junction and neve
reached the Furnace. After Chi
viii and ] resolved TO enter journa.
ism where the prospect for achiev
ing fame and fortune looked invil
ing. We differed politically, bu
otherwise we're fast friends. wi
was a 6rm believer in the Jefferson