The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-07-27
GLIMMERS OF HOPE NOW
FLICKER IN DARK SKIES
NICE ssINDUCEMEN7,,
FOR TOM' HODGES
In Order to Get Him to Run But
Not Connected with That
Gold Mine Scheme.
.(By Charles BROOKS Smiths =

NOtA ibtut4 0OttkttlS1
(By Charles Brooks Smith.)
WASHINGTON, July 27.-There
is excellent authority from members
Of his own party which holsters up
the oft-repeated story that. should
T. e. Hodges fail to take the measure
of Congressman-at-large Howard
Sutherland, he will be promptly Of
fered job by President Wilson,
which will be equal in emoluments
and as near.equal in dignity and
honor as the sinecure he relinquished
at Morgantown to help the party
bosses ditch Beall and Depue. That
position paid him $4.100 per annum,
with numerous little favors ON the
side.
The arrangement as to Hodges's
future were made in that period Of
hesitation when the nominee of the
bosses was plunged deep into the
profoundest meditation trying with
all his might to find out who hand
ed him the nomination, why 1t was
given him, and other equally as
amusing fictions-all this according
to what statements he gave out for
public consumption.
AS matter of fact, T. E. was not
at all mystifed about his nomination.
He knew many days before 1t hap
pened that 1t was going to happen,
and no Barkis was ever more will
ing. Here and in Fairmont he had
conferred with the perpetrators
about 1t, and was as anxious about
the success of the coup as small
boy trying out a new mechanical toy
for the first time.
What the innocent and guileless
for was to fortify for the future.
Nobody in these selfish, sordid days
hates himself, and Thomas E. Hodges
Is a fore-handed person with an eye
to the main chance for Thomas E.
He had little card up his sleeve,
and this 1t was that he played when
he gave out that bland declaration
that his nomination was so contrary
to expressed determination" that It'll
well-nigh took his breath away, and
he must ask the reporters and the
dear public to await in great sus-
pense while he investigated as to the
purity Of the thing which had polit-
ical taint; while he tried to ascertain
the motive behind It., and the char
acter Of those behind the motive.
The reporters and the dear public
accordingly reached for the salt
shaker to preserve this palaver,
winked their eyes, and settled back to
see what they would see.
Hodges's statement, despite what
a wise public thought about 1t, was
taken half-seriously by the bosses.
AS the exposure of the whole ques-
tionable business had stirred up al
party rumpus amounting almost to a
scandal. they really thought at times
away from fulfilling his part of the
compact and get out from under.
And at such times they touched thel
telegraph and buzzed the long dis
tance, getting everybody OF infiu-
ence and respectability in the state
to proceed instanter to urge Hodges
to stand pat. They roped in the help
OF the national leaders Of the party
and they, in turn, got to the White
House with the situation and spread
it before President Wilson. They
represented what hope the party in
West Virginia had of getting a look
in there rested on Hodges accepting
the nomination. And the president
believed them, and he gave out the
word to bring on the hesitating pro-
fessor. He came. He discussed the
matter with the president. When
he left he was satisfied. He had been
promised by the president that IL he
made the race and lost, he would be
rendered a position by the national
administration which would be sat
isfactory to him in all respects.
So there you have the card which
Hodges played after the nomination
which took considerable trick, or is
destined to when he fails to over
come that 10000 plurality which
sent Howard Sutherland to the
House two years ago. 1t was no
FOOLS play, say the Democrats here.
Indeed, they tout it as ohe clever
class. and josh about It good-natur-
edly over their rickies and their
juleps when they gather in gay
summery array on the breeze-swept
roof Of the Raleigh.
But that is not all, according to
the Democratic wiseacres. Hodges
has another promise, but they do
not think SO well Of it as they do the
one that he maneuvered to wiring
from the president. Neither does he
apparently, so they say, and that is
the reason why he played the sleeve
hidden card. The other promise re-
ferred to is the one by the bosses to
make him the nominee for governor
in 1916. either IN the event Of his
election or defeat this year. That
was seductive enough before the
convention to entrap him, but hardly
foreign office today set forth the