The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1908-09-03
Rich and Exclusive He is a
Typical Aristocrat and
Unpopular.
AGAINST EQUAL TAXATION
Home and Neighboring Coun-
ties win Not Give Him
Hearty Support.

4
WESTON, Sept, s-This Is tho
home of the Democratic nominee for
governor of West Virginia, a pleasant
little city l find. one Of old families
who retain and follow rigldly the ira
dttions of their aristocratic ancestors.
The Bennett family are the richest
here and the most aristocratic and ex-
| elusive Of the upper crust. The BEN
netts are u land-owning family. who's.
acres total into the thousands and
whose tenants are numerous. Prime
val forests that grew upon their vast
estates, and discoveries of oil,' gas
and coal beneath the surface. have
made them rich beyond the dreams
OF avarice and enabled them to live
In the luxury and exclusivcness agree
able to their aristocratic ideas.
Louis Bennett, 1t Is said by men
acnnaintd with the subject, is the
richest of the family. Within the last
year. according to current conversa-
ton. he has cleaned up half million
dollars from timber sales alone. With
such wealth, Mr.. Bennett, II he has
the sportsmanship to go the limit in
the outlay of money to crafty a high
ambition late in life. ought to be able
to put more life into the lifeless Or
ganlzation of his party than has
thrilled It since the twenty-slx years
Of Its domination of West virginia's
government.
Louis Bennett is not popular man
at home by any means. This is sald
without prejudice, and Is clearly ap-
parent upon investigation among the
people of this section. Rich, exclu-
sive, arlstocratic. his is a personality
cold, distant, Unconditional, critically
calculating. He couldn't be other
wise If he were to try hard: he was
not born that way. ana never found
It necessary to try to overcome this
hlrthright. He doesn't take" with
the proletarlat, the canaille, or what
Lincoln called the common people,"
Louis Bennett Is not popular man
In his home town, in his home county.
or IN the surrounding counties where
MS landed interests are extensive.
This is truth easily discoVerable by a
visit to this section. The people have
a grievance against him. based not
altogether upon his distant relation
ship with them, but because they
charge him with the harsh, grinding.
selfish sordldness which Is charged
against so many rich men and which,
sad to confess, is all too true.
Talk to the pepole here and they
Will tell you that Louis Bennett has
added to his inherited fortune by buy
ing in lands of the poverty-stricken
and unfortunate sold for the amount
OF unpaid taxes against them; that he
has been loaner of money at usur-
ious interest prices-"a paper shay
er." they call It; that, as the owners
of thousands of acres. he conducts 4
tenantagc system which is as harsh
and grinding as the peasant system in
foreign countries. and that his rela-
ton to his numerous tenants is that
OF European lord of landed estates TO
his ground down peasants This is
what a large majority of the people
here interviewed about Louis Ben
nett say.
This is not sentiment founded on
partisan prejudice, but is formed Of
the expressed opinions of men OF all
parties and shades of political com
plcxion. Tho Republicans hero. how
ever, charge him with the additional
indictment, that he is out and out op-
posed to the new tax system, and
point to the fact that he opposed the
assessments, fighting them to the
end in the county courts tnat had gu
pervision of the matter in the coun-
ties where he owned property.
They charge further that in the at.
tempt to dIsfranchise the unfortunate,
unlearned whites and negroes, he
most heartily joins, believing, they
say, that 1t is step in the direction
of restoring the ballot exclusively to
property holders. That is a return
to the antiquated and long-discarded
system of making the ownership Of
property the requisite of the prlvi-
ege Of voting.
With this feeling so pronounced, 1t
Is safe In setting down as fact-as
a prophesy justified by existing con-
ditions-that Louis Bennett will not
receive very tlatterlng vote at the
polls in this county next November,
nor In BraXton and the other adjacent
counties where he Is well known per-
sonally to the people, and where his
business activities have been carried
on. He will fall far short Of recely-
ing his party's normal vote in this
section. This opposition is not found
ed wholly, nor in very large part
on class hatred, though no doubt,
some of 1t is due primarily to that,
but 1t is founded on things deeper and
more reasonable, such things are sue
clfically refemed to in the foregoing.
"A visit at Webster Springs, a slds
iaunt to Sutton and to Weston, very
general and thorough testing Of pub
Vic sentiment in this section With ref
.erance to Benefits candidacy, inst-
gated by my own yolition and carried
out on my own hook, resulted In tho
La T