West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1908-03-05

wv WOuucr WhAt tnc ktpubicnn voters OF Tuy
lor county win think Of thsas Il appeared through
the columns Of the Grafton Daily Sentinel Of last
evening. being copied from the Democratic Charles
ton Gazette OF Saturday last:
Among those Graftonians here Interested In the
candidacy Of Senator Bailey IL Charles ". Cough
doorkeepcr 81 the senate and one Of the leading
politicians OF Taylor county. Cough II Is claimed
handles the reins In Taylor county and has large
number Of friends In Marion who would assist him
II he undertook the management OF Senator Raj
ley's campaign. should the latter heed the advice
OF his friends and make the race
Think Of Il. II you please. 'Boygy" Gough--or
any other one man--being accredited with hand
ling the roins' in Taylor county and influencing n
large number Of voters In Marion county, And
the old Republican Sentinel acquiescing In the
statement by giving II ercdence In circulation
through the county. To what a pass Is politics
coming In TaylOr1-Grafton Republican.
We fear the Republican lacks
patriotism and county pride when
it objects to "Boggy" handling
the reins in Taylor" in order to
land Senator Benjamin Franklin
Bailey in the gubernatorial chairl
Since it is recognized as one of the
cardinal principles of Republican
ism in the state of West Virginia
that the grand Old party must have
a machine and boss to select its
candidates forpublic Office, we are
surprised that the Republican en-
terssuch a vigorous protest against
Doggy" as the boss TO lead the
Taylor county Republicans into
the Bailey camp.
Had the Republican newspapers
needed the warning of their Dem
ocratic contemporaries that the
state administration was building
up a gigantic machine which bid
fair to eliminate the militant Re-
publicans from any voice in NOM
mating candidates for public office
our Republican contemporaries
would not today be confronted
with a well organized ring in each
county as an auxiliary to the
Dawson state machine.
Strange as it may appear we
have not observed even mild
protest from the Grafton Republi-
can against the methods employed
by the Elkins-Dawson combine to
nominate Charley Swisher for gov
ernor, but when Doggy" wants
to indulge in little machine pol.
itics on q small scale that the
name of Benjamin Franklin Bailey
may not perish from the earth the
Republican proclaims aloud that
the Republicans of Taylor will
not stand for it.
To the observant onlouker the
rank and file of the Republican
party are diametrlcally opposed to
Swisher as their nominee for gov
ernor, but the state machine has
such death grip on tine party
machinery that it can defy the
drawers of water and hewers OF
wood and nominate the candidates
who are acceptable to the machine.
And when the nominations are
made in such an arbitrary and de-
tiant manner the Republican press,
who opposed such machine meth.
DDS, will humbly acquiesce and
urge the members of the party to
"vote the ticket straight" thus
acknowledging the machine as the
real party" whom they must rev.
erence and obey. Just as long as
the Republican press does this il
may expect to see the machine
flourish and nominate the tickets
without consulting the rank and
file of the party. This is the worst
form of political slavery and the
Republicans should assert their
independence or admit they are
the political subjects of the Bill
Dawson machine.