The daily telegram. [volume] (Clarksburg, W. Va.) 1901-1926, 1914-06-29
And the Stage for His Nonnina-
ton Bears Out Scheme TO
Dupe the People.
(By Charles Brooks Smith. !

WASHINGTON, D, c., June 29-
BY the time this is read Thomas h.
Hodges will have formally acknowl-
edged and receipted for the congress
man-at-large nomination which was
given to him by order of the bosship
OF his party. He can be counted on
to accept 1t with flourish OF fine
sounding phraseology in keeping
with his scholastic training, and to
point to his personal sacrifice upon
the altar of party patriotism. That
the good professor will carry out
his end of the contract with Chiffon
never fear, and will try to justify his
course in accepting a political honor
that is so badly tainted it is putrid.
When the daed is done and our
up-to-date DR.. Faust sets his sigma
ture to the agreement, the angels in
heaven will weep for one of their
own that has fallen. No longer be-
side the purling river OF silver he
sits, crown bedecked, and thrum-
ming the harp of gold. The tempta-
ton was too much for him and he
has become as mortal clay.
Good DR.. Hodges had halo before
this thing happened to him. He had
been hoisted to loftier pedestal
than 1t is the privilege of most men
to attain. Lofty ideals were attrtb-
uted to him. He was thought to
live in rare and purified atmosphere
such as few men breathe. Few who
knew him would have believed that
he could have been induced to sue
cumb, and to become the carefully
selected beneficiary of nomination
that was dictated by a corrupt party
bossism, that came to him through
the practices of the most contempt
ible deception, trickery, chicanery,
and cruelty to the aspiration of other
men. But in politics as in everything
else on can never tell, and those lex
perienced in political life are sur
prised at nothing. An idol falls ev-
cry little while in this game.
That Affected Surprise.
At this time all we have from the
nominee is that he is so Surprised
that he must have time to think it
over before deciding whether to ac-
cept or not. The inference is the
proposal was so unexpected as to be
this is so sudden" He is
quoted as saying, when asked If he
would accept, II can not answer that
now. / must know who named me,
how this thing came about, and what
was the source, before / can answer.
/" This has all been contrary to
my expressed determination"
The professors expressed surprise
is hard to understand. In the week
of June 6, in the leading Republican
newspapers in West Virginia publish
ing this service, the first story Of the
proposal of the machine to nominate
Dr. Hodges was given. In that initial
announcement 1t was stated what the
general plans were, who originated
them, and who was most interested
in carrying them out. In that same
story it was stated that the under
standing was that DR.. Hodges was
agreeable to the plan. 1t was stated
how he had been worked upon to get
into favorable fran of mind by the
moary old trick Of having machine
henchmen from widely separated
parts of the state write him pralsing
him as 1.-The man Of the hour" to
save his party from a "deplorable"
situation. 1t was stated that the
promise of the gubernatorial two
years hence was used to bait him
on. frequently thereafter the story
was rewritten and republished. From
one end Of the state to the other
Democratic newspapers denied 1t.
One exception, believe, was the
Charleston Gazette, Senator Chilton's
nIpT1 nTuon
It is not supposable that DR..
Hodges did not know OF all of this.
He was not out of the state during
all that time. He could easily have
denied the story, but so far as we
are able to ascertain from our files
he made no denial.
Well Laid Scheme.
On June 10, five days before the
convention at Parkersburg. the fol-
lowing appeared in the Wheeling
Register, but it can hardly be ac-
cepted as statement coming from
him:
"Morgantown, June 19-Dr. Thorn
as E. Hodges will not be candidate
for any political office in the state of
West Virginia until he has accom-
plished what he set out to do as
president. of the university two years
ago. At the time Of accepting the
presidency of the university DR..
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