Virginia free press. (Charlestown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1832-1916, 1911-06-01
WASHINGTON LETTER.
IFram e.. W. sammer,.l
Washington. Nav :

y = " aoHAn8to4hS may %,
Csfsful estimates ON the changes
! the &ectoral vote which may transpi
/. between the last and the next Pres
dental election Indicate that West vi
ginia may cast the deciding vote al
detefnline whether the President wi
win succeed Mr.. Taft shall be DEM
crat d. a Republican.
h The Democrats villa certainly carr
! all the States IN 1912 which they carrie
IN 1868 and Maryland and Missouri al
coneeped to them at the next election
These States would give 1873 Demo
cratic votes IN the electoral college.
States which cast their votes at tn
last election for the Republican cand
date but which must be classed a
doubtful In the next election are Ind
sn@s New Jersey. New York; Ohio an
4 West Virginia. Omitting these fror
the Republican list of 1903 the certainl
Republican vote is 1873.
Of the doubtful States, give New
York to the Republicans and it woul,
make 2SS Republican Votes in the cleo
toral college, with PAP necessary t,
elect. Giving the remaining doubtful
States except West Virginia to the
Democrats would make the total Dem
ocratic vote in the electoral college 23S
the same as the Republican vote, with
West Virginia's seven votes to deter.
mine the election. Or if New jersey
and New York be placed in the Demo
cratic column and Ohio and Indiana be
given to the Republicans, the Republi-
can vote would be 237 and the Demo
cratic vote 239, with West Virginia to
hear from.
So the Importance to either party of
carrying West Virginia can be seen
readily, as the States vote may deter
mine the Presidency, And this ac-
counts for the change of heart of former
Senators Nathan B. Scott and Davis
Elkins, who were bitterly opposed :, to
the primary election law at first but
came around to its support after the
administration had intimated to them
that West Virginia must be carried for
the Republican party in order to insure
the election of Republican President
and that it could not be carried unless
the Republican machine were dethroned
and the people were given chance to
make their own nominations, instead
Of having them made for them as has
been the case in recent years.
If the Republican machine continues
to make the nominations and force them
on the people, as it has done in the
past, West Virginia can be counted on
as almost certainly Democratic in the
next election and this would mean, in
all probability, the election of Demo-
cratic President.
: With the wooden schedule of the tariff
laW about to be revised and with the
Democratic idea of what it should be
ready to submit, it is worthy of note
that the West Virginia Democratic Con-
gressmen are in full accord with the
plan of the Ways and Means committee
in regard to wool. All the Democrats
from West Virginia protested against
putting wool on the free list while
leaving other articles of as great inn
portance to the general public covered
by protection.
The position of the West Virginia
Congressman is that wool should be
treated the same as other articles and
that if general free trade law were to
11,a o1n OLE i,
the rest, but that if tariff is to be Fe
tanned on other articles there ~ no
reason why wool should be singg@ out
for the free list. This is the attitude
of the Ways and Means committee and
the West Virginians concurred in it.
They went SO far as to threaten to vote
against the measure if it put wool on
the free list without removing the duty
from other articles as well. And their
views were adopted by the committee,
if reports from that committee can be
credited.
The West Virginia delegation in both
Houses of. Congress, except Mr.
Hughes, who, is absent, have united in
recommending to the President that
Phil T. Waters, Of Charleston, Re-
publican negro politician, now assis-
tant clerk of the Supreme Court of APP
peals, be appointed United States min
lister to Haiti. It is position that
will be given to some Republican and
to. negro, so the West Virginians,
leaving politics aside, joined in recon-
mending the appointment of West
Virginia man for the place.
Senators Watson and Chiffon, Con-
gresham Davis, Brown and Hamilton
expect to go to Philippi this week for
for the ttBlue and Grey" celebration of
the fiftieth anniversary of the battle of
Philippi, the first battle of the Civil
war. They have obtained the promise of
Senator Bailey, of Texas; Congressman
Sherwood, of Ohio, and Judge Prouty,
of Iowa, to attend the same celebration
and deliver addresses.
Both the Senators and the Congress
men have tried to assist in making the
Philippi celebration success. 1t was
difficult to get speakers from here on
account of the work in Congress and
the dislike Of Senator'S and Congressman
to make addresses in hot weather, but
they kept at it till they secured prom
SEES from those mentioned and mum.
Der of addresses of an interesting char.
acter are expected.
Although protesting desire to have
the primary election bill passed at this