West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1915-08-05
Preston County

The West Virginia Argus takes us 10
task for comments made anent the Pres
ton county dynasty. II says: "There
is an erroneous idea outside the county
(Preston) that the ofIice-holding bunch
from Preston county, namely. Bill Daw-
son, Jim Lakin, Farley DeBerry, Bliss
McCrum and Carl Pierce, control the
Republican vote OF the county,"
1t even asserts that Dawson "would
not dare come 10 Preston county and ask
the Republican voters TO vote the Repub-
lican ticket" II then asks the Gazette
to make known the fact" The great
trouble is that the Republicans OF that
county seem to be so easily fooled. The
Gazette has no personal quarrel with
Ex-Governor Dawson and does not blame
him for holding on TO his pull while he
continues to work his wonderful machine
which gives up according TO demands.
Everybody knows that the Ex-Governor
understands how to play the game with
both enemies and friends. Four years
ago he was the loudest of Roosevelt shout
ers, the leader OF the Edwards campaign.
Now he is the standpat pusher. In 1901
he began his celebrated patent-medicine
craftsmanship, which boiled down, means
that whatever is required to get the boys
job, must be done. and the "revenues'
with which to pay the salaries must come
from those who happen to have it. Is it
not true that DR.. Hatfield and his county
OF Mcdowell opposed the Dawson plan
then?
Now, the Ex-Governor is the Won
Moltke of the Governors campaign Tor
greater and still greater revenues to take
care OF the list OF oiIice-holders, ever
growing longer, and to pay the salaries,
ever growing higher. But Preston county
Republicans have seen and admitted all
this. The Ex-Governor can, nevertheless,
pick up his ofIice-holding organization
and nominate his ticket and the Repub-
lean party each year, becomes more and
more the champion of higher taxation
and extravaganza; and still the Preston
county Republicans go on voting the
straight Republican ticket.
All that the Ex-Governor asks of his
home county Republicans is to vote his
Republican ticket and he will do the
rest. Who does not admire such an
artist? III the same thing would occur
in the Democratic party, Greenbrier and
Logan would 90 Republican. There is
now an expensive primary law, which
wipes out independent tickets. That was,
in part, to hold the Republicans of Pres
ton in line.
The Dawson idea is that the Republic
cans will stand all things, do all things,
bear all things, forgive anything, in order
to vote the Republican ticket, il the
| alternative is to get relief through the
Democratic party. The machine rea-
soned that if another progressive revolt
can be averted, (and that can be made
difficult under the present primary law
then the Republicans of Preston will
stand the lash and make brick without
straw, rather than vote for their own in
terests under the rooster.
The whole machine scheme seems to be
based upon the greed of those who want
a job and the prejudices OF the voters,
like the Republicans OF Preston county.
That is the political game. So it is played
by Penrose. So it is planned by Barnes.
So far it has worked with the Republi-
cans OF Preston county. The office
holding bunch have not been displaced
since the state went Republican.
There are few "new faces" at the
capital. We are not a Dawson hater.
He is Kanawha politician, and we adj
mire man who can make people do
what they do not want to do, as the Re-
publicans in Preston have been doing.
Will the Argus make known" to the
people of Preston what the tax-burdened
people OF this reaction think about these
things? Charleston Gazette.