The Washington herald., 1920-04-05

Five Republicans and one Democrat
represent West Virginia in the.
House. while both Senators are Re-
publicans. Governor John J. Corn
we'll. for his firm stand against Ia
Dor, is hailed by the Democratic
business men as a great Democrat,
while Republican business men tell
me he Is not such a bad Democrat.
He Is so popular with employers as
to be regarded as a possible United
States Senator two years hence, al
though H. c. Ogden, the NEWSPAPER
publisher and an independent Re-
publican, Is the logical successor of
Senator Sutherland.
Already West Virginia has decided
upon first-choice Presidential can
didates. Although the primaries do
not come until the last of May.
native sons" are to be named. The
Republicans will go to Chicago
pledged for Senator, Sutherland,
while the Democratic delegates will
carry q boomlet to San Francisco
for John w. Davis, Ambassador to
Great Britain. and a Clarksburg
lawyer who got into Congress
through personal popularity and a
quarrel in the opposition camp. Re-
publican second choice, IL left to the
voters, would probably be Wood.
but the bosses are talking Harding
and Lowden.
Af.er all. Il Is the oil. the gas. the
coal and the lumber kings who de-
liver West Virginia. II you will
glance at the map you will quickly
see why 1t is called the Panhandle
State" However. the Panhandle por-
tion-a narrow wedge that projects
northward in between Ohio and
Pennsylvania-has very little to say
in political affairs. In fact. this
northern strip has nothing in
common with the rest of the State:
Is commercially ard socially linked
with Pittsburg and Columbus and
usually stands against what the rest
of West Virginia Is for. Wheeling
went wet eight years ago, when the
State voted dry by $4,000.
The Balance of Political Power.
Round about Wheeling. which Is
a Little Pittsburg," are steel mills.
glass works, potteries and tobacco
factories. but the balance of po-
litical power lodges in the noun
tainous southern sections. What II
there are twenty-five manufacturer
millionaires IN Wheeling and the
whole district pays $23.000.000 in
come tax? There are. $4,000 miners
below Morgantown and so per cent
are nonunion men. who vote largely
according to the desires their
bosses. Locked fast in such remote
parts OF the State as Guyan Valley.
where union organizers are forbid
den to enter. where the company
officers are the public officials. are
toilers who themselves refuse to be
allured into trade brotherhoods.
The nonpartisan intimacy between
the rich men of the feudal areas OF
the State is shown in the pros
pectus of the forming many-mil-
on-doliar West Virginia Metal
Products Corporation. which I have
before me. On the board of direc-
tors I observe the names of Col.
Clarence w. Watson and J. f. Wat
son. the Democratic bosses. and
Virgil l. Highland. Republican ma
tional committeeman. For the mo-
ment the oil and gas people have
had a fare-up on local issues with
the coal and timber crowd, the
former backing for governor Fred
p. Grosscup. brother of Judge
Grosscup, of Chicago. and the latter
supporting Judge f. F. Morgan.
Labor is inclined to get behind
Samuel B. Montgomery. State labor
commissioner. Nevertheless. there
has not been a time when the oil,
gas, coal and timber people were
not in a position to pool strength
in a national campaign and throw
the State into either party column.
The Problem of the SuffrnEists.
Still, with the problem of women
voting for the first time. added to
the other uncertainties of the COM
ing campaign, even these sure-thing
owners of the States natural re-
sources are not wholly satisfied
with the outlook. West Virginia
crushed woman suffrage four years
ago and its Legislature recently
ratified by the narrow margin of a
single senatorial vote. sensationally
rushed all the way from California.
In Charlestown. the State capital,
1 shall listen to what the women
have to say, for the West Virginia
men have not registered them for
the primaries and the ladies are
right mad about ii.
fConv-sxk. roao -. p,hIi. rndro, ro