Evening star., 1932-10-27
Slack Employment in States
Industries Party'S Prin-
cipaI Handicap.
DEMOCRATS OPTIMISTIC
OVER PROSPECTS THERE
Recent G.. O. P. Gains Boost Hopes
of Delivering Electoral Vote
to President Hoover.
BY G. GOULD LINCOLN.
Staff Correspondent of The Star.

| WHEELING, W. Va, October 81
The Republicans of West Virginia are
making the protective tariff the corner
stone of their campaign for the re-
election of President Hoover. The in
dustries of this State are many and
varied, but among them are steel, pot
terry and glass, all of which have been
! heavily protected by the Republican
tariff laws. Here in the Wheeling dis
trict thousands of workers are engaged
IN these industries, and in the past the
Republicans have won many battles on
this particular issue. The difficulty the
Republicans face today lies in the shut
down OF some of these mills and fac
tories and the consequent unemploy-
ment. This unemployment extends,
! too. to the coal mines of West Virginia.
making the situation all the worse from
the Republican point of view
In an effort to impress the factory
workers in West Virginia with the need
of Republican victory. executives of
some of the manufacturing corpora
tions are putting out statements assert
ing that the Republican protective
tariff is necessary to American business
and especially to the business of West
Virginia. These statements are given
wide publicity in the Republican press.
For example, Alexander Glass. chair
man of the board of the Wheeling
Steel Corporation, and W. w Holloway,
president; yesterday made the follow
ing statement:
-
Republican administration in behalf of
the protective tariff are necessary to
American business. If the production
of our factories is to be thrown upon
! the market at the mercy of foreign
competition We cannot expect to i'm
prove conditions for general business or
any substantial increase in employment
We have gained confidence in the mod
ern improvement Of business during the
past two weeks. Employment has in
creased with a better operation of mills
and factories and any prospect of
tampering with such a basic founda-
ton of American business as the pro-
tective tariff cannot be looked upon
with any enthusiasm by those who
strive to maintain employment or by
those who want steady work more than
anything else"
Tariff Questions Unanswered"
When Gov. Roosevelt. the Demo-
cratic presidential nominee, visited
Wheeling. series of questions dealing
with tariff duties on articles produced
in West Virginia was presented to him
by the Republicans They complained
that he declined to answer the series
of questions.
The Democrats. on the other hand.
ridiculed the suggestion that Roosevelt
would so tamper with the tariff as to
make it possible for goods made by
cheap foreign labor to supplant the
American made goods coming from
West Virginia factories
A month ago, if reports here be true.
President Hoover was the forgotten
man" in this State. While the Repub-
licans had been extremely active in ad-
vancing the cause of their State ticket
headed by T. c. Townsend, there was
little enthusiasm in the campaign for
the national ticket The Democrats
clearly had the jump and made the
| most of it. The picture is vastly
changed today. however, and the Re-
publican organization is working ac-
lively for Hoover. West Virginia in ma
| tional elections is regarded as Republi-
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