The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1913-09-16

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With, the added territory Of Barns.
vile, Bellvtexs East Park and the
thickly populated addition on this
! South Side, and the scattering settle,
| ments from the various other extern
SION Of the boundary line. 1t is esti-
mated that the population of Fair.
mont to-day will reach 1880, run
ming Parkersburg close race for
fourth place and causing the capital
city, Charleston. to pcrk up its ears
and open its eyes.
These figures are arrived at b.
multiplying the total vote of the>city
by five, and taking.the- vote; as $500
which is estimated 7as a fair basis If
the vote had. all been out, the result
gives 1850 as the probable popula.
tion Of Fairmont at this time.
1t viii be observed from the last
census report that while Falrmont
had slight lead over Clarksburg and
Morgantown, the margin was so
mali that the position was pre-
:arious one, for the addition Of one
good factory or the opening up Of one
substantial addition to the city would
have placed Fairmont behind either
If them. The lead, now taken by Fair
! mont is so great that the neighbor-
ling cities have no hope4of attaining
the lead in point of population.
The campaign, whfle$yery spirited,
was without spectacu1ar.or sensation
al incident, and while there are those
among the defeated SIwfp are still
very sorely disagpofftsd& judging
from the talk UPON the atreets last
night, it was observed that the ma
jority Of those opposed to the char
ter for one reason and another, are
willing to submit to the will Of the
majority and leave time and an ac-
tual trial of the new system to vim
iicate their opposition or prove to
hem that the change was for the
,etter, as the supporters sincerely
believe. One man from Evansville,
there the vote was almost solid
against coming into the city said
last night, well we fought the
fharter as hard as possible and reg
stored our protest against being
taken into the city, but after all, it
will not hurt us2' since we have to
,ay municipal tax any way, and it
may turn out to be good thing for
Is, at least we hope it will be So"
That is the philosophical view to
lake of the situation and many are
following this line of reasoning.
The outside precincts were known
20 be against the plan of enlarge
nent and while the percentage OF
The vote Registered against it was
very great, both Tin East Park and
Evansville, 1t will be observed that
these precincts failed to poll their
entire vote. Evansville should have
had about 200 votes and the opposi'
lion in East Park expected to poll
/ something like 400 votes. Before The
opening of the polls at East PARK
here were only 1O"residents of that
section who were Known to favor
he new plan and the supporters o.
he movement were not only graft
fled but surprised when the votC
howed that % voters there had ia
vored the plan, as the election Their
was conducted by Officers a major
jty of whom were against the char
Ter.
The Fourth ward is, as is wei
Known, the largest residential sec
ion of the city and there will b.
found some Of the best citizens ant
leading business men of the city
This ward contributed the larges
majority in favor Of change in TIL
city government. the figures show
ing 1926 majority Of it. 1t was stat
d yesterday that from one end t.
he other of Fairmont avenue, TIN
ongest and finest residential stree
II the city, that not more than fivC
,r six votes could be found againS
he charter. ......
II With the majority of the thinking
people, the business men and large
property owners favorfng the prop
osition it is difficult to see how SC
much opposition could be stirred uF
to a plan for city betterment, both
commercially and from a point oil
municipal government, 1t can only
be accounted for by the character OF
campaign that was made against it,
mostly in secret. Meetings were be-
ing held almost nightly in the differ
ent wards and no publicity was Civ
en- them in advance. The feeling
against the charter was in this way
deeply rooted in the minds Of many
honest voters were misinformed as
to the purposes of the new charter,
and it was impossible for any argu-
ment to change them within the
short time that the supporters of the
movement had before the election
The city was flooded almost daily by
anonymous circulars appealing to
the prejudice of the people and
threatening them with absolute con-
fscation of their property should