The Fairmont West Virginian. (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1904-1914, 1914-01-14
THE VAIsQlECHI[T0N MACHINE
lsAS|I!GYINDERAFEA

.tus take a look atltheSother side, as,
did "a party Of prominents from West
Virginia, representatives, offboth, par.
tiles, foregathered in comfortable
,rlace,tand from and upon whose ins
dividual' and collective observations
Of the Watson Chiffon personal par.
Reorganization this cheerful .compo-
aition Is based. ;Aqisa
The question as propounded by
our friend ,the2jurist just about this
stageSin the conversation drift. was
low will the other fellows like it?
lNofdoubtof it at all but what those
who are inrthe machine or expect to
! get in, parove, but how about ali
those others-and they are an army.
II all reports be true? How about
the party rank and file? They
haven't had a chance to, have their
say Directly was Thought they
+. spoke rather much with emphasis II,
indeed, with indirection, along about
: November, 1912, whenHth bought
and-pafd-for (and still being paid
for) Watson-Chilton legislature vas
kicked out body and breeches., but
they are going to have chance to
say, said our friend the Judge. And
what are they going to say? And so
1.-THE talk rambled. on, much in this
wise: ,..m .,
There have. sbeen party machines
and t.personarsmachfncs in West .vir.S
rinia and the devil'or the grave or
the COLLINS or the sovereign voters
BOT their goat and their 'cowScatclers
in due course Of fleetlng time. But,
there never was one lust like this
one.f None of its predecessors started.
Cit with such stealth or such stu
I.pendous sums for corrupt use. nor
the swashbuckling daring and bravo!
do to so use it. None of them orig
mated as a strictly personally proper
ty possession of but two men. None
Of them was us openly lnpatriotic
and as flagrantly selfish. None was
so restricted or SO illiberal. If this
with its victories turned them to u
tendency in such sordid direction
that was quite. natural. and their
wreck logical in Its. sequence. But
none of them cold-bloodedly started
out;to get'tllat way: That is one way
the Watson-Chilton machine diners
from Its predecessors.
sApd so the; conversation proceeded
tile judicial conversationalist hold
ing aloof the Intellectual torch to
i!luminc our pathway:
The late but hardly lamented ma.
chimes had as their slogan unity.
harmony, tight organization, and a
Flew more inspirers OF work and reg
ularity out of tlle'same box of tricks.
They ever sought to larmonizc. They
would rather placatc than to fight
any day. They absorbed, annexed.
expanded and sought to bind tile
whole party into a fine fighting
force; happy. and satisfied in the
main, and easily handled and led for
many years. You didn't see them
hammering the hat over the ears OF
men who had following; kicking
them down the stairway and insult
ing them every time they showed up.
Not bit Of 1t. They played their
game just the other way. of'course,
they couldn't so on forever with it
and get away with 1t, But they got
~ with 1t for. many years. Wien
ever they had to punish they didn't
do It till every other resource was
exhausted, and 1t IS d: ten. to one shot
the fellow who got It HAD ilforc froth
than followers more asininfty than;
ability. more ;;hot JAR than honesty
They used TO- Say that Elkins md
Lawson HEADED about the niftiest
thing in .thefmacltinc line that ever
came down the Naional Pike from
Wheeling to Wyoming county. Well
III they did, it was remarked. that
they knew that their own success
was SYNONYMOUS with the party's,
and they organized and re-organized
ever along the lines OF harmony.
You never found them deliberately
setting out ITO drive hundreds and
thousands of voters away from tliem..