The Washington herald., 1911-03-05
CLARENCE w. WATSON,
WEST VIRGINIA SENATOR.
REALLY A SON OF TOLL

through a rough wooden trough. When
| the oil was taken to Parkersburg. it was
sold to Gen. Samuel Carnes, of Boston,
| for $4,000. In the course of a few years
| Camden was the richest man in our
State.
Il do not rccollect the dialogue that oc-
CURED when / told him I wanted to buy
some of his coal land but didn't have a
cent of money to pay down. No doubt
he thought l was pretty impudent. How
ever. he let me have the land. | bor-
| rowed funds at the bank in Fairmont
i with which to open the mine and to pur-
chase mules. car. scales. and other ma
chinery. The shedding was rough for a
long time, but | managed to pay for the
land in six or seven years. That is the
svay L started in the coal businesS-on
borrowed money. l have been borrow
ing ever since. / owe more money right
now than any man in West Virginia
did you learn to dig coaI?''
81 never served an apprenticeship in
that branch of the industry, but 1 can
knock down coal just the same, and could
make my living in that way if it were
necessary"
Always a Politician.
Have you always taken a serioIs IN
terest in politics."
Yes: even in the days when I was around
the mines. However, l never used
megaphone. Loud noises seem to be
necessary in politics-noises about ones
achievements and what he means to do.
However. had no thought OF ever run
ming for Office myself"
Are you a progressive Democrat"
You are using a very respectable
word, Senator Watson answered. IT'S
an honest word, but it has been overused
and distorted until it has lost its former
meaning and standing. / am not a pro-
gressive Democrat, as the phrase now
goes, but I am an aggressive Democrat.
In other words. l realize that conditions
change in politics and government as well
as in business and everything else. The
old standpatters in both parties should
remember that the world moves. and that
the people, when practically all OF them
are of the same mind, will not tolerate
stagnatiCn or obduracy, or be diverted
from their purposes by reactionaries."
Are the trusts hurting the country
Eliminating the word trusts and sub
stituting the word corporations, I will
say that large aggregations of capital
that do business in secret are injurious
TO the people. The business Of all cor
porations should be made known, first
to the share owners. and then, il there
is any demand for the facts, to the pub
lie. There are corporations in the United
States so secretly managed that every
thing pertaining to them is withheld
from the small stockholders. Men who
buy the shares of such concerns do so
on a guess. If they want to put their
money into corporations of that kind and
trust to luck. they can do so, of course
but the public buys the products of the
corporations-indeed. it must go to the
corporations as the only source Of
supply for the products-and should be
protected against extortion.
Publicity would stop overcharges and
clear the commercial atmosphere. 1t is
Z very large and important question In
to il comes a peculiar state of facts that
may be made plain b. little Illustration.
If own a grocery store in a village for
instance, and buy an interest in the only
other grocery store in that village what
Is likely to happen? I will run the store
that I own only in part in a way that
will lessen its competition with the store
that l own altogether. Mofeover, l will
establish a scale Of prices. Now. if after
purchasing an interest in the second
store I were to borrow the amount OF
money so paid by putting a mortgage on
the interest so acquired, il follows that
] should come into control of the grocery
trade in that village by a system of
finance that gives me a complete mo-
nopoly without increasing my original
investment In short. I should use boz
rowed funds with which to buy into a
competing grocery. to incresae my own
profits and to build UP my own proper
ty. It follows, naturally, that everybody
in the village, except myself, is a loser.
You have heard of high finance Senator
Watson said. lighting match and let
ting it burn and watching the blaze and
grocery transaction is quite common in
the United States of America"
Views on Rich Men.
do you think that the rich men are
a menace to society,""
81 can guess the purpose Of your
question" Senator Watson said in per-
feet good humor. Personally, I shot ID
like to be menace of the kind you men,
ton. have been described as being
2 rich man. Since coming to Washing
ton. I have been made to feel that the
public has taken an inventory of my
possessions and found them to be of un-
comfortable proportions. AS a matter
of fact all that / have is in my busi-
ness. If my business prospers. shall
prosper. / am, as told you, the heav-
lest borrower in West Virginia Plenty
Of salaried men in Washington can meet
their bills easier than can meet my
bills. The wealth of every one is always
overvalued
'T have thought" Senator Watson went
on to say. that no man. unless he dis
covered a wonderful gold or diamond
mins. could make s1OO, 900 fairly. Money
acquired by speculation Is undesirable
money. in my view. There are many
good men in Wall Street. They are in
vestors. I have great respect for an in
yestment banker. but no respect FOR a
speculative banker. / go to New York
and see brokers getting rich by taking
the money of chambermaids and coach
men. 1 would rather dig coal than live
by such methods. Money made by de-
veloping the country and by giving EN-
ployment to labor is worthy money and
honors its possessor. Thus 1 reply 10
your question"
You have been Put on the Indian Com
mittee," | said. What do you know
about Indians?"
''I didn't know anything about them"
and Senator Watson smiled for the first
time, until after became candidate
for the Senate
Copyright. 1911 by James B. SIorrow)
PAYING BY CHECK.