The West Virginian. [volume] (Fairmont, W. Va.) 1914-1974, 1914-12-24

tets and establtshea toeaI home rifle,
taat body must do is daty and gEant,
tife people the Teilet they pFay Tor
fby5spesa 4egiglation.
PaeIeal1y ever clty H = statei
VIII ask for ctarterschange andswe.
know from snewspaper reports that:
Huntington, Charleston and Bltefeldss
which Bave ~soscalled Bipartisan char
tiers will ask for. a change. but Par
lkersburg which the commission.
form Of government In its simplicity;
With its non:partisan election, with the.
peoples right Of recall, initiative and
referendum guaranteed is satisfied
and viii not ask for a change:
That is what the people of1Fairmont
petitioned for at the last session Of
the legislature but the wise ones IN.
dertool. to say the people know not
what they want, and gave them some
thing else, and we all know that the
disappointment to the people has been.
almost calamitious to the city. 1t was
not the legislatures fault that this in
Justice vas done but the fact that the
people or this city we're misrepresent-
ed at Charleston.
Tho city OF Charleston got "stung"
with one of those combination Demo-
cratic:Bul1 Moose-ring rule farces
and. after the mayor was about to face
a charge of embezzlement of about
$4,000 of the city's funds he resigned
and a general exodus Of office holders
has bean going on at the capital city
for the past several, days, the bosses
trying to patch matters up to save the
total desintegration OF the machine.
The Charleston Mail makes the fol-
lowing comment on the situation
there:
"Dut does the majority rule in these
affairs of the city which affect the ma
terial we'll being Of everybody who
lives here, even the hopelessly de-
graded? Let us see. What are the
facts about Charleston which appear
on so many sides Of US that it is no
longer possible, even II we would, to
turn our faces from them? Ignoring
for the moment those things of which
we are all proud and which we point
out with gratifled senses to the visitor
from abroad, here they are:
"A city government debauched and
made Ineffective for good by q body
Of low politicians, a majority Of whom
are either corrupt themselves or are
tho complacent daily witnesses Of
corruption.
A newly chosen mayor who has not
yet had an opportunity to show his
mettle in that Office, but whose embez-
cling predecessor was permitted TO
hand the office over to him under cir
cumstances which have not been re-
vealed to decent citizens who have
a right to know.
ga board of. affairs whose unspeak.
able extravagances, waste and graft
have long scandalized the community,
and whose fiscal accounts have rare
Iy or never received a proper audit.
properly exposed for public scrutiny.
"a chief of police, who. when pub
lie outcry is raised, instead OF arrest
ing criminals, kindly passes the tip
to the boys to hold up until this
thing blows over
"Wretchedly paved streets upon the
racNing and filthy surface Of which
only q remnant OF the peoples money
appropriated for paving and cleaning
has, 1t would appear, been expended.
"Petty criminals, bred and reared
by the vicious system which the board
Of affairs and the police maintain.
filling the jails; the big ones gone
scot free and even holding public Of
flee!
professional gambling carried on
in permanent quarters in the princt
pal business blocks, and petty, but
insidious gambling devices in scores
if not hundreds of public places.
These and other things, fiaunted.
in the faces OF decent residents and
tax payers even while they arc pro.
testing against the outrage of it all.
This newspaper does not easily
perform the duty Of inviting the pub.
lie attention in such blunt and open
fashion to tho repulsivc evils which
surround and beset the people of this
city. Not a few well meaning citizens
arc doubtlessly Of the opinion that
such a recital, published in a pub.
lie journal, is bad advertising for
the town. It is. But the continued
existence Of evil conditions is a good
deal worse kind Of advertising for the
town.
"Is 1t not better to cut the cancer
out-even If tho whole world must
witness the operation-than to al
low the disease TO thrive on and i'm
pair still further with its evil virus
our civic body?
eve the adult and not immoral por-
ton of these 10000 of us-are reason,
able human beings. We know that
no city need be afflicted long as ours
is afflicted. We know that we arc
capable, If we will, OF asserting our
manhood and ~womanhood while We
have it left. There are various outlets
for an expression Of our solemn con-
viction-the conviction that our pub.
lie servants must and shall be com.
noJ1aJ ~ ra~1ra nc banaC&1Tv 80 ~ Ill.