West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1905-09-28

tichCt IN the air. anu Dy the time the
Legislature met in January you
would have scarcely guessed that
there was any such thing as a cor
poration to be found in the State.
Mr.. Dawson was there and he was
in evidence with all the power and
prestige made possible by being the
Governor elect Of the State. A
mass OF tax reform measures were
passed, but about the only time the
word corporation was heard was
when the letter Of Chas. Elliot was
found which was wrote to the head
of the Standard Oil Company telling
him how sure Governor Dawson,
Speaker Grosscup and Judge Biz
zard were that no bill would be pass
ed which would hurt the oil and gas
companies. After the Legislature
had adjourned it was discovered
that the railroads were to be assess
ed IN the same old way, not by the
men who assess the farmer the tie
bucker the coal miner and the mer.
chant, but the State Board OF Public
Works, that is composed of Cover
nor Dawson, Chas. w. Swisher,
Clark May, and Messrs. Ogdin,
Miller and Scherr. They have since
rode over the railroads in the finest
private cars owned by the Chesa.
peake & Ohio, Norfolk & Western
and other roads, assessed the rail-
road property and it is an actual
undisputed fact that the railroads
will pay less tax by thousands this
year than they did last year, not
outstanding that some four hundred
miles of track was built since last
year and millions of dollars put in
to other Improvements. When the
smoke cleared away further it was
then discovered that there was no
tax levied on the production of coal,
oil and gas; besides this it was found
that the Dawson White machine in
stead of giving the people what was
promised, had tried to get bills pass
ed creating Building Inspector, a
State Architect, State Supt. of In
surance, revision of the game and
fish laws, creating some ten or fif-
teen new Offices. No wonder the
people become disguised is it, and
since the tax assessors like Maj. Orr
have gone over the counties assess
ing everything that the farmer and
the laboring people own at three to
five times what it was assessed at
before is it any wonder that people
are mad ? And let us see what the
Argus was doing all this time. 1t
was fighting for Dawson. He was
nominated at Wheeling; an extra
session of the Legislature was con.
vened at Charleston and a volume
of tax reform measures were passed
but the railroads, coal, oil and gas
escaped. The fight and talk against
the railroads and other corporations
was silenced; charges of dirty deals
were openly rumored and The Ar
gus finally lost faith in the Republi-
can nominee and it opposed him for
Governor. This would hardly be
surprising under any conditions, and
under these circumstances it was
perfectly natural. 1t will be re-
membered that thousands of Repub-
licans had lost faith in the sincerity
Of Mr.. Dawson to such an extent
that they refused to vote for him.
Then after Mr.. Dawson was elected
and the regular session of the Legis-
lature met and adjourned and the
oil, gas and railroad interests again
escaped, is it any wonder that The
Argus continued its opposition to
Governor Dawson The Republi-
cans will not be blinded by a river
and ocean of abuse and a rivulet of
argument in favor of the new laws.
You can not cover up the rottenness
and stop the stencil by calling Mr..
J. Slidell Brown a "rebel, stoney"
(whatever that mesns) and a Jeff
Davis Democrat. Not much my
wiley knave, he was right good
fellow, a royal fellow and a broad
minded and progressive citizen last
year when he was supporting the
caSdfdafeS of me machine, including
MI Dawson for Governor and Jas.
w. Flynn for Senator. You bet
your liquor scented breath The Ar
gus was the peoples paper then and
J. Slidell Brown was a fine fellow.
Please do not mistake all the PEG.
pie to be so narrow and gimlet
Drained as that.
You may abuse the young farmer
from Reno and the Hon. Leroy
Shaw until you drop into oblivion
with the govt the palsy or fatty de
generation Of the heart and offer
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