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Show THE RICH COUNTY REAPER, RANDOLPH, UTAH Constructive GOP Congress Depends on Party Harmony (Editors Note: This is anoth in the Stories of the States series.) By EDWARD EMERINE er WNU Features Chust look coal! Its at dis! John Peter Salley, one of an exploring party, had picked up what seemed to be another rock,' and found it to be coal. Today West Virwith its 585 mines, often ginia, bitu-minu- is referred to as the America. go-i- anti-slave- ry coal bin of When William Tompkins used nat- ural gas as fuel to evaporate water Industries. As early as 1790 a furnace was built by Peter Tarr of Kings Creek, hear the present site of Weirton, now one of the biggest steel producing Develop New cities in America. Cannon balls made here were used by Commodore Perrys fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie in 1813. Michael J. Owens, son of a coal miner, invented a bottle-makin- g machine in 1903 and started a new 1 ll CHIEF EXECUTIVE . . . Clarence Watson Meadows was elected the 22nd governor of West Virginia in 1944. A former lawyer, he had served as state attorney general and judge of the 10th judicial circuit court before his election. He is a native of Beck-leW. Va., where he was bom February 11, 1904. y, The first white men went into what is now West Virginia as early as 1719, and a few years later cabins were being built. After 1735, South Branch valley began to fill up with the overflow from Shenandoah valsold them to passengers on Ohio ley and from Pennsylvania and river boats in 1840. M. Marsh & Maryland. Settlers were of several and the composition Son, Wheeling, is reputed to be the nationalities largest stogie manufacturer in the of the people of West Virginia alUnited States. ways has been different from that of And back in 1915, when World the country east of the mountains. War I cut off the German supply of Story of Controversy. West Virginians heartily supportplaying marbles, Akro Agate was founded at Clarksburg, and today ed the Revolution and sent troops the concern makes over half of the to help New England and the Midworlds glass marbles. dle Colonies, but the history of western Virginia before 1801 is a story But lest West Virginias inof controversy with eastern Virus ' achievements blind dustrial ginia. Socially, politically and ecoto her other claims to fame and the two sections were unnomically, distinction, let us look farther like from the very beginning. Westthan bituminous coal producern Virginia was democratic while tion, natural gas, petroleum, eastern Virginia, was aristocratic. hardwood chemicals, salt, stone, The idea of separation was foretimber, steel and iron manumost long before the Civil war. facture, textiles, glass, pottery, When war broke out between the ceramics and others. There is states in 1861, there were bound to also the romantic and historic be repercussions through the enWest Virginia. And there is the tire state. Eastern Virginia was the mountainous and scenic West heart of the Confederacy. Western Virginia which has become one of the nations greatest recreVirginia was opposed to secession. The long desired separation was ef ational areas. epoch in that industry. West Virginia produced, in prewar years, glass, china and pottery valued at 50 million dollars annually. Miflin Marsh made stogies and - ng West-Sout- os from brine in 1841, he became one of the first men in the United States to use gas for industrial uses. West Virginias 'natural gas production in 1944 was 213 billion cubic feet. In 1797 Elisha Brooks began extracting salt for commercial purposes from a brine spring in Kanawha valley near the present site of Charleston. Other West Virginia salt works have been operating for more than 100 years. fected, not with the Civil war as a By BAUKHAGE cause', but rather as an opportunity. News Analyst and Commentator. On December 31, 1862, the congress of the United States gave its con- WNU Service, 1616 Eye Street, N.W., influence of western and southern sent to admit West Virginia as a states which had already, by means Washington, D. C. state, and the next spring, on April Now that the of state primaries or other subterWASHINGTON. 20, 1863, President Lincoln issued its first problem fuge, managed to take the choice his proclamation. West Virginia be- senate has ofsettled of senators out of the hands of the chaircommittee the naming came the 35th state of the union two men state legislatures. is the next big questipn months later. The Republicans benefited by the whether the Re-failure of the Democrats to mainMany Historic Shrines. publicans are h to be able to tain a alliance, but they Three states and two rivers meet now suffer in turn from other secat historic Harpers Ferry where develop a leadership able to ride tional and ideological cleavages. I raid was John Browns herd and estab- heard one man remark the other Seneca Blackwater falls, staged. lish the party dis- day that two recent speeches, one rocks, Pinnacle rock, the burial cipline necessary by Senator Morse, Republican of mounds at Moundsville, the state for iron - handed Oregon, and the other by Senator the historic building, capitol control. The Re- Byrd, Democrat of Virginia, each shrines all are interesting and majorworthwhile. publican expressed views much more in line is very slim with the opposite partys than with ity From mountain tops to blue and there are a their own organizations. There are grass farms, the agricultural number of rest- many other similar anomalies in the side of West Virginia is a ive members 80th congress, as there were in the revelation. Anyone must marwho will be as last session. vel at the agriculture and fruit hard to get into The belief that the extreme conthat are produced in a state the corral, come servatives will be in the saddle ' that ranks among the first in roll-catime, as the sons of the ready to ride rough-sho- d over any industry. Prize beef and bituwild jackasses used to be. move not liberal is supgenerally minous coal? Yes, anything is shown True has of a history ported. It the lack isnt leader possible in West Virginia. that the American people can stand so much as a surplus of them Stonewall Gen. Jackson was worries Republican politijust so much reform at a time. But that on the other hand they have seldom born at Clarksburg, and West Vircos that and the danger that been willing to sacrifice past social ginia also gave the nation John W. the leaders may start leading Davis, Pearl S. Buck and Ann Jargains. Consequently, when the Rein different directions. vis. In case youve forgotten, it was have been swept into ofAnother factor not calculated to publicans Ann Jarvis who in 1907 asked a fice after periods like the Wilson New Freedom, they have been group of Philadelphia friends to further unity is the flock of presiwear white carnations on the first dential bees crawling all over the very chary of repealing laws which of the capitol dome. In his were anniversary of her mothers death inside passed, in answer to a deand thereby founded Mothers December poll, Gallup listed four mand for new privileges for the senators as possibilities in the fol- many. Day. order: Vandenberg, 9 per lowing of State Contrasts. 8 per cent; Taft, 2 per Nation Clings cent; Bricker, The states northwestern border is 1 per cent. and cent, Saltonstall, To Old Reforms the Ohio river, the aquatic highway These are small figures compared g Harold Laski, the British that opened the west. But the to the polls 52 per cent granted labor would have us believe and the Kanawha rivers leader, Dewey of New York, or that there is a return to reaction are important too. West Virginias Governor Stassens in America. He says in a recent Minnesotas elevations range from 240 to 4,860 17 two leading Gathe cent, per article under that title that in abanfeet above sea level, with the highlist. But that doesnt mean the Roosevelt heritage Mr. est average elevation of any state llups doning think that way about Truman made the shaping of the east of the Rockies. Yes, its a the candidates Nobody is placing bets yet. As postwar economic policy of Amermountainous state, but every wooded it. National ica the concern of business and the veteran hill, every shady nook and every CommitteemanRepublican Clarence Budding-to- n Mr. Truman not of congress. Sparkling stream belongs to just Kelland said: would be the first to deny that he such a state. About 60 per cent of deserted the New Deal heritage I dont think you are going the states area is covered by forwhether he was personally inclined matter all to see at the trees with from jell est, spruce ranging until Ohio decides whether it is in the highlands to prickly pear rt cactus and other backing Taft or Bricker. When plants in the lowlands. that decision is made, the line-u- p will come fast. Scenery, wildlife and extensive, areas combine to lure Gallup predicted that Eisenhovacationists to West Virginias two wers star would rise higher and thus vast national forests, the Mononga-hel- a whip the hopeful senators to added and the George Washington. zeal. The state also has 15 state parks Draft Lapel' buttons labeled and seven state forests. Ike are already out. Under whose Fishing, hunting, hiking, riding, banner Eisenhower would be draftswimming, golf, tennis, boating ed it is not stated, but it is genSenators Bricker (left), Taft: well, what do you want for recre- erally conceded his personal leanHold Presidential Key ation? And what is your trade, what ings would be more Republican are ypur business ambitions, your than Democratic. to support all of its tenets or not. specifications for success? And what Neither Vandenberg nor Salton-stall- s And I can see the hackles of conof your dream home where nature friends have begun to fight, rise, even on the leftish side, is loveliest? Perhaps the answer is and at this writing neither one has gress the suggestion that the initiaat in West Virginia! even indicated publicly he is in the tive was returning to the hands of associNational Manufacturers running. More distressing to the men who ation. have to make the upper house memMr. Truman was removed by bers hew to the Republican line is the election from a number of the old problem of the restraints and pressures from progressive element. Some people groups which favored courses are predicting that there may be he personally disliked but he has more harmony in the next session not been party to any move to sacrifice past social gains, among the minority, so widely and I cannot see congress alsplit last time, than among the majority with its swollen ranks. Some lowing the few reactionaries in either party or in the house or Republicans are worrying lest they be divided to the extent that their senate to set back the clock. power will be considerably reduced. As the Beards point out in their Senator Works Basic History of the United the Republicans despite States, For His State their landslide victory over Wilson to ail realize the Many people in 1920 did not or could not, many factors which, contribute to out the spirit of progressive orstamp radiindividualism in the senate. In the cal old in American insurgency, first place, each senator is, and so tradition and yet ever new in its considers himself, an ambassador to changing condiapplication it is his business tions. from a state to serve that state to the best of his and normalcy Hardings ability and his ability can be greatconservatism temporarily did ly supplemented by the prestige he end our internationalism. But their acquires. Indeed,. prestige, if ac- next choice was Herbert Hoover, ' but seniority by nothing quired had been speaking with continwho can go a long way toward making concern over conditions affectual lack of for ability. up ing the less privileged. In 1923, for But it is not mere personal example, he had called on the inambition which drives a senator surance companies to study unemto work for individual promiinsurance; he had enployment nence it is a part of his job to dorsed an amendment abolishing strengthen the sovereignty of the child labor; he had frightened the sovereign state he represents. reactionaries to death when he proAnother thing which often forces posed the inheritance tax to redisa senator to walk alone or as part tribute overswollen fortunes. of a small group is sectionalism Going further back into history, not a hidebound attitude either, but we note that after three successive the demand that he truly represent victories, the Republicans, even the interests of his community, even when they had majorities in both if those interests conflict with those houses, did not repeal reform measures passed up to of other parts of the country.- - The 1900. When they returned to ancient antagonism of has never quite died. It was power in 1921, although attempts only a little over three decades ago were made to do so, such measthat tiie 17th amendment was ures as the income and inheritance passed which authorized the popu- taxes were not abolished, or reduced lar election of senators. This was to an empty gesture. Yesterdays accomplished largely through the radical is tomorrows conservative. left-win- semi-dese- semi-primiti- ve so-call- ed Cool-idg- state . :. he panhandle urrounding the map of West Irginia are typical scenes of the ie state: (1) Blackwater falls; I) the administration building t Babcock state park; (3) a lodern coal tipple; (4) New ;iver canyon, and (5) apple rowing. so-call-ed West-versus-E- es y |