West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1914-02-05

Tax Laws End Political Rss|
prseissss Judge shs~'s Let


There seems 10 bc an effort by D few
soreheads to discredit our county CONT.
They are wasting valuable time 40 far as
Valley district Is concerned The vast
majority Of the people OF Valley are per-
fectly satisfied with the court. The mem-
bers OF the court have proven themselves
TO be strictly business men and not the
creatures OF some political boss OF ring.
OF course those VINO have been under the
baneful influence OF corrupt politics for
40 long cannot understand why the
present court should transact the legiti-
mate business OF the court without frst
consulting some political boss or the
members Of the ring which was i'm vogue
in years gone by.
AZ stated in previous letter, have
never voted for our present member of
the court from this district, but want
to say now that / would be pleased 10
vote for him at the next election IL be
will run. Mr.. Gibson has made an ex-
ceptionally fine record on the court. lie
has been governed in his official ca
pacity by the wishes of the Valley dis
trict taxpayers Take the new road built
through Luther McMillen's farm. For
years We endeavored to get this road,
but could not Upon our petition the
court sent Commissioners Sidwell, Sapp
and Brown To view the lard, which they
did, and upon their recommendation the
court ordered the road built. And the
gentleman who is criticising President
Gibson was not man enough to state that
Bert Gibson donated land valued at 500
to this road, and in addition he built the
fence that cost him $l35. In other words,
MIR. Gibson paid out of his own pocket
S225, which otherwise would have to
haye been paid bj the court. People
who were benefited as much as Mr..
Gibson did not pay a penny.
This same writer represents Mr.. Il. T.
Gibson as being member of the Gibson
Lumber Company, which is not true
The firm is composed of James @. Gibson
and Ii. T. Lincoln. There was time
unfortunately when misrepresentation for
political advantage was believed by those
holding such political views The thought
OF investigating such Misrepresentation
was never thought Of. / will frankly
admit that l was one of those who be-
lieved whatever / saw i'm the Journal, or
any other newspaper that advocated my
politics. Ii is safe to say that this rule
held good amongst the rank and file OF
the people. Up until the past few years
the people were so prejudced in their
politics that IL never occurred to them
that they were the political prey of the
INSCRIPTIONS politicians who were using
the political prejudice of the people to
secure public Office and feather their
nest Take Mr.. VIM. VI. o. Dawscn ae
an example OF political prejudice. For
years and years Mr. Dawson fed us on
political prejudice and hatred. And
what did il profit us ordinary mortals?
Absolutely nothing. How about Mr..
Dawson? Was it not the means of pro-
viding him (Dawson) with public offices
all these years? You see it paid Mr..
Dawson to preach political prejudice and
hatretl, and you and have had to help
pay his salary. At the present time he is
enjoying public Office paying him
$1,000 per year and expenses. Is there a
man I'm Preston county that gets such a
salary? How long has he been holding
pubic office? For from twenty to twenty
five years. Has it not paid Mr.. Dawson
handsomely to appeal to the passions,
prejudices, whims, superstitions and igno-
rance OF many of us? / would suggest,
my brethren, that you stop and reflect
how politics have been worked for the
benefit of the leaders of the political
parties. have cited Mr. Dawson, be-
cause you all know him. Many Others
have profted like him.
While our taxes have increased enor-
mously we must concede that it is due
very largely to the new tax laws. The
assessment has been doubled and quad
rupled. The hundreds of new offices
which have been created within the past
few years have added to the burden of
taxation. Every time the legislature
meets they create new offices to be given
to some member of the machine family.
And to insure a further increase in taxa.
ton they have added the Virginia debt.
which they kept telling us for years
would not be placed upon West Virginia.
OF course our Democratic brethren told
us the Republican state machine would
saddle the debt upon us. but we did not
believe them, because we thought il was
politics for them 10 saw.
We enjoy Judge j. NJ. Shaw's letters
very much. Hope we may hear from
him often. o,,.,o