West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1914-02-12

'rsanized in ths country. History can
80 cited u prove this Once a p,ltiral
machine has established it-,lf and gotten
ull control Of the machinery nothing
shnrt OF revolution can dislnige il. for
'he most valuable asset OF any political
Machine j. fraud Hundreds and thou
ends Of illegal votes Gin the congres-
'innal contest between Wiley vs.. Hughes
e was proved that the Republican ma
'hine in the black belt voted ,vs) are
''a-t by the machine. Only a few years
'ick the Republican machine which had
m" control OF the city oi Philadelphia
vas defeated. When the reform admin
iStration (Which consisted 81 independent
t'publican~) came into power it WAS
fnnd. upon examination, that there were
~, l71 fraudulent names upon the poll
pooks IL developed that the 81 l77 were
he names Of meL who had been deaf
rom one u fifty years. The machine
iad men, who are known al "r.peaters."
vote upon tine names of the deal men.
Vow, no sane person will say that the
Republican party, as political party,
vas responsible for this gigantic fraud
ipon the people at Philadelphia. NO.
Dishonest aud corrupt men who had
gotten control OF the organization Of that
| party used the name Republican," TO
appeal To the political preju ice OF the
members OF that party and to divert at
tention from their neiarious work when
he opp site party charged them with
corrupting the ballot.
will relate case that came unuer nv
own personal observation. which proves
how partisan politics will blind person
- all reason. / had friend who was
engaged here in a professional capacity
aud whose headquarters were i'm Phila
ielphia. He was going home 10 vote
and | said to him, in spirit of jest, that
II he did not get To- Philadelphia before
noon some repeater would vote on his
name, thus depriving him OF his vote
Ii offended my friend to accuse "his
party with being corrupt | made the
necessary apologies, for he was an honesl
gentleman and believed the men at IN,
| heal OF his party were honest. When h,
returned he took me 10y the hand and
said: MY dear friend, il IL indeed
hnmiliating To me to have to acknowledg,
| u you that what ypu said about the re
| y alter voting on my name is only to.
true He then told me that il was
about o o'clock in the afternoon when he
reached the voting hopth in Philadelphia
| tie was told that he had already voted.
He protested. They threatened to have
hm arrested as a fraud II he did not
move ON. He went 10 the house whe,e
H. roomed. and inquired whrther any one
mai asked for him during the day. II,
was informed that man had caleu
| about 9 O'Clock in the morning and i'm
| lnired il he was there. They replied thai
ne was expected Che had written them
&c was coming) that day. This is the
| procedure of the machine to send me,
around TO see if the registered voter liza
voted. He finally told me that he had
dWays looked upon the charge OF the
Qnav machine aud Republican ma
chine" a. pure political rot" TO prem.
dice the people against the Republican
party.
Ia like manner it might be said that
| 'ur Republican brethren ia Preston Tor
ye rs looked upon any allegations against
the county II z and the state house ma
cline as democratic lies They have
now the evidence before them that th
'llrgations were based upon facts W.,
are burdened with high taxes, the Vir.
SIuia debt, the old faces at Charleston.
aud the state house machine. And who.
may l inquire, is responsible for il? L.
it not the Republican voters who are too
blinded with political prejudice to inve--
tgate the charges and satisfy themselves
| as to tile truth or ialsity of the charge be-
| fore they vote? Yes. know those who
defend the ring and the machine and
| profit by the spolS 81 Office will reply
that | am a Democrat Eyes, one who is
| progressive and believes in equal rights
| l'r all, special privileges 10 nonc) and
my evidence cannot be accepted My
| reply is that when | go into court and
''"N WV o''''" ''i't NV tFlbtu't must Dc
accepted unless they can impeach il
'nbmt the evidence Of the independent
Republicans Of Philadep!ia. who said
trat the poll books kept by the Republi-
an machine contained the names OF
57.l0 dead men that thc machine re-
prat"rs voted ON Can the hacker. OF
the Preston ring and state machine dis
prove III FREE Lance.