The Washington herald., 1920-04-12
By RAYMOND @. CARROLL.
Especial to Wa.hinwton Her.Id.,

AAS oAocunNe cnampers nave just
returned from a walk around the
old. odd-looking State Capitol. built
by law-breakers for the use Of law
makers. The encompassing small
park is full of tame gray squirrels
that are fed peanuts and wainuts
from State appropriation.
A robin was singing merriiy In
the high branches OF tall maple.
He seemed to be telling me: ohio
has had but two governors elected
for three terms-Rutherford b.
Hayes, Republican called from the
governorship to the Presidency or
the United States. and Gov. Cox. a
Democrat now serving his third
term. Lucky Jim. how I envy him"
Columbus with its broad, we'll
lighted, excellently paved streets
and high percentage Of native-born
Americans il the "discoverer city
of Ohio, Cleveland and Cincinnati.
Toledo and Akron, Dayton and
Youngstown. Canton. Lima and
Springfield come to Columbus for
political wisdom. so declares "Jim"
Faulkner. the sage of the archaean,
Observation-Disclosures Neil House,
where Mckinley once lived and
Charles Dickens stayed overnight.
Ebb and Flow Of Desire.
You cannot understand what peo-
pie are thinking about. or talking
either. until you have mastered their
local problems. II I were going to
write a history of q people, instead
10 hA -
temporaneous newspapers, / would
study the bills introduced in their
legislature. They more nearly re-
sire.
Ohio Is conservatively progressive.
There Is a saying that every Ohio
male baby Is born clutching an cleo
ton blank and a voting pencil. Ger
tainly the residents. OF the States
eighty cities and 756 villages. and
the other half who dwell In the ru-
raj areas of the eighty-eight coun-
| ties, have not been asleep since
Gen. st. Clair. Of Pennsylvania, was
appointed governor of the forest
covered northwest territory In 1887.
| Their progress looms in terms of
10,790 miles Of steam railroads. 2,S10
miles of trolleys. 500 miles Of used
and abandoned canals and $4,000
miles of public roads upon a broad
plain that rises to it's peak of 1850
| feet above sea level at Bellefon-
taine, fifty miles northwest of here.
and sinks in Hamilton County to
144 feet below the level Of Lake
Erie.
Ohio's Internal Problems.
don't like statistics any more
than the reader, but one must un-
roll the canvas before painting the
picture. Ohio people are talking
most about the readjustment OF
their internal affairs. For instance: ::
One group interested in restoring
the lost forests wants to make tax
free all land that an owner will de-
vote to reforesting.
Another group thinks that the II.
c. L. is largely due to coal cars be-
ing used for hauling automobiles,
and box cars stalled indefinitely up
on railroad spurs at industrial
plants rather than a proper proper
tion being assigned and held for
food and fuel distribution.
Then there are the people who
propose relieving the overworked
railroads by revamping the aban-
doned canals.
Others center upon power conser-
walton urging the more general har-
Messing of the States inland rivers
and streams.
Still another proposes the annual
saving of 100000 by perpetual reg
istration lists to be changed only on
removal or to add the names of new
voters. He says yearly registration
Is boon for party workers.
A man who said that something
is wrong and Ohio people are going
to see what II Is" called my atten-
tion to the fact that 13S coal COM
panies had gone back to the remin-
ing Of mines which were deserted
years ago in the hill counties along
the Ohio River, and the reshooting
Of the oil pockets all over the State.
His plan for the future is a general
elimination of waste, rural and In
dustrial.
Obio's Accomplis hments.
On the plus side of its ledger Ohio
has:
First. Tie initiative and refer
endum. which allows the people to
upset any unpopular act of the leg
islature.
Second. A complete direct pri-
mary system from the governor
down. Conventions are held to adopt
platforms alone.
Third. A nonpartisan judiciary.
Fourth. A workmen's compensa-
tion law that functions to the joint
! satisfaction Of employer and en-
ploye.
Fifth. A mothers pension law
whereby the State hires the moth
er" to take care OF her own children
instead of thrusting her kiddies into
orphan asylums.
! Sixth. Complete home rule for
| the cities.
What has the foregoing to do with
Presidential candidates? Every
thing. 1t Is an indication of the
mental drift, past and present, in
the most gyroscopic of States, and
| establishes that political bossism
has curfewed in Ohio. Carry Ohio
and a candidate this year comes
pretty near winning. Hence 1t is
| important to know just how far
Ohio has conservatively progressed.
Cox and Harding Strong.
Although party lines count for
very little in the ring-purged Ohio,
sentiment. however, enters consid-
erably into the individual makeup.
Every citizen would like to see an
other native son" in the White
House. Half of it's occupants since
Lincoln have been Ohio born. Either