Martinsburg statesman-democrat. [volume] (Martinsburg, W. Va.) 1906-1921, 1912-10-11


which the committee on privileges ana
elections of your national Congress in
the House of Representatives has
1 lodged in its records against the head
of this ticket.
/ / know nothing of it. | make no
/ charge, but he was a public official
I the president of the county court of
4 Mcdowell county and this committee
found he had disregarded the law and
refused to appoint Democrats as
| clerks and they say that the evidence
/ shows that the election was to be
/ neither fair nor honest. And here is
/ the finding, that one man voted twelve
+ times. and that the man referred 10
/ there. Greenway Hatfield is the bro
/ Their of DR.. Hatfield. He is not re-
! sponsible for him in any way in the
world. Here is the indictment which
/ Senator Grimes makes. My friends
/ you have seen that the administration
/ of affairs was not such as to commend
/ itself to the voters of this State and
you have seen that the personnel of
! the ticket so far as we have been able
/ to see in public is not such as to com
mend it to the voters of this State.
want to know of you men of Berkeley
, county. If you want men on four
ticket who have lodged against them
| In the House of Representatives an
! indictment such as that ! have read
/ to you.
Why should men not vote the Dem
| ocratic ticket in this election? Read
the platform of that party and there
is not public question today, my
friends that is not met squarely in it.
Will they keep their pledges? | have
but to refer you to the record of your
national House of Representatives.
Your national platform promised you
that they would do everything in their
power to have the tariff rates. the cost
of living, and every single pledge that
was made has been attempted to be
reformed by your national House of
Representatives Look at your legisla-
ture. They promised if you would re-
turn the Democratic party to power
they would cut your taxes half in two.
Did they keep their promises? The
legislature of the Senate of 1909 were
thirty Senators and eightysix en-
ployes. The total cost of that was
$4,000 What was the session of
1911? 1t had thirty-seven senators.
thirty-four employees, and the expense
was $4,000 less than the previous
Senate. 1t grew to be a custom that
RI N
the legislature, especially in 1909. took
his brothers son, his own, or friend
and they were so thick on the Senate
floor you were afraid to approach
your senator of fear that one of these
young ones crawling between your
legs and breaking your neck there.
The House, in 1909, had seventy-nine
employees. The last House, the Demo
cratic House, had thirty-seven. The
first one, the Republican House, cost
you $4,000 In 1911 it cost you S14.-
600. We did what we said we would
do He cut your expenses half in two,
and, if you will return the Democratic
party to power, they will not quite
cut your legislative expenses in two,
but they will give you an honest adj
ministration for fifty per cent of what
it costs you there today.
Here is a question that comes home
to every taxpayer of this State, the
Republican party has had the absolute
management and control of this Vir-
ginia debt question from its inception
and there was no agitation, until the
Republican party came into power in
this State.
Look at the Democratic platform.
We say if you will entrust us with
power, we will take up that question
and press it to a conclusion and Sc
cure for the State the most advantage
GUS settlement that can be made If
there should be any to make. We
have made a plain, clean and explicit
declaration upon it and the Republi-
can party hasn't, except that they will
continue the same old methods they
had before. You can only judge par
ties by their action and ticket. Now,
suppose the Supreme Court of the
United States does declare that we
owe 100000 or $21 100000, or any
other amount, you know that the tax
able values are up to the top-notch
now, how are you going to pay this,
what is there left? Why, from the
time 1900 up to the present time
enough money would have been saved
to pay the Virginia debt All the Re-
publican officials have done has been
to search out and to find new subjects
of discussion And there has been a
constant demand for an increased rev.
enue So they have assessed every
thing If we have this debt to pay,
what are you going to pay it with?
There is nothing left, my friends,
but your home and mine and that's
where the taxes will have to come
from. But, if you collect as much UNI
der the Democratic administration as
you do today We can save one-half of
it, in few years we can pay off the
Virginia debt. And that's what we