WEST VIRGINIA. 



WISCONSIN. 



T79 



ALBERT B. WHITE, 

 GOVERNOR OF WEST VIRGINIA. 



lutes the State of West Virginia paid its full share 

 of taxes into the treasury of Virginia for almost 

 three quarters of a century, and received but an in- 

 significant share 

 of the public im- 

 provements for 

 which the Vir- 

 ginia debt was 

 created; and 

 when West Vir- 

 ginia was ad- 

 mitted into the 

 sisterhood of 

 States, the assets 

 which belonged 

 to both of the 

 States were near- 

 ly all kept by the 

 mother common- 

 wealth ; and yet 

 it was arbitrarily 

 decided by the 

 Legislature of 

 Virginia that 

 West Virginia 

 should pay one 

 third of the in- 

 debtedness of 



Virginia, without any reference to the amount of 

 the expenditure of public moneys for public im- 

 provements within what is now the territory of 

 West Virginia, and without giving to West Vir- 

 ginia credit for the amount of taxes paid by 

 her people into the treasury of Virginia. West 

 Virginia has issued no bonds and owes no 

 debt/' 



The following candidates were named: For Gov- 

 ernor, Albert B. White; Auditor, Arnold C. Scherr; 

 Treasurer, Peter Silman; State Superintendent of 

 Free Schools, Thomas C. Miller; Attorney-General, 

 Romeo H. Freer; Judges of the Supreme Court, 

 Henry Brannon and George Pofl'enbarger. 



The Democratic convention met at Parkersburg, 

 June 6. A platform was adopted pledging siipport 

 to the Kansas City ticket and platform. It de- 

 nounoed trusts, imperialism, the Poro> Rican tar- 

 iff, the Philippine war, militarism, the recent finan- 

 cial act of Congress, the increases of the standing 

 army, and the administration of President Mc- 

 Kinley and of Gov. Atkinson. Sympathy was ex- 

 pressed for the Boers. The Nicaragua Canal was 

 *t rough- favored. A resolution was adopted against 

 recognizing the old Virginia debt in any form. 



In an address before the convention ex-Gov. 

 McCorkle arraigned the Republican party in a 

 way that met the approval of the delegates and 

 is interesting for 'comparison with the extracts 

 given above. He denounced the action of the 

 Secretary of State and the Republican party in 

 defrauding the Democrats of a majority in the 

 Legislature of last year, and denounced the Re- 

 publican party in this State for its delinquency 

 in allowing the State to be sued on the Virginia 

 debt. He criticised Gov. Atkinson for claiming 

 that the institutions of the State were efficiently 

 managed, and demanded why the present super- 

 intendent, who is criticised for his actions all over 

 the State, was allowed to continue in office. He 

 denounced the extravagant and inefficient man- 

 agement of the university; showed that it cost 

 at least four times as much under the present 

 administration and Avith no more students than 

 with the Democratic administration. He took up 

 the institutions of the State and showed by the 

 appropriations that they had immensely increased 

 in expenditure under the Republican administra- 

 tion : dwelt upon the public printing, binding, and 



stationery, and showed its immense increase under 

 Republican management. He showed further that 

 during his administration he had increased the 

 value of railroads $4,000,000, while, notwithstand- 

 ing the increase of mileage, the value has been 

 decreased by the Republican administration. He 

 showed that the highest appropriation under the 

 Democratic administration was $1,300,000, but 

 that under Republican management it had in- 

 creased to $2,200,000, the highest ever known in 

 the history of the State. He then took up the 

 question of the material improvement of the State, 

 and showed that the Democratic party had prac- 

 tically made the State what it is, and showed 

 what it had done in the way of creating the school 

 department, building the university and the pub- 

 lic institutions of the State, and showed the mar- 

 velous progress under Democratic management. 



Following is the ticket: For Governor, John 

 H. Holt; Auditor, James H. Miller; Treasurer, 

 J. Garland Hurst; State Superintendent of Free 

 Schools, Robert A. Armstrong; Attorney-General, 

 George M. McCoy : Judges of the Supreme Court, 

 John W. English, William G. Bennett. 



The People's party, in convention at Parkers- 

 burg, July 5, made the following nominations: 

 For Governor, H. T. Houston ; Auditor, W. ( . 

 Raleigh ; Treasurer, John Beury ; Superintendent 

 of Schools, F. E. Ashburn; Judge of the Supreme 

 Court, J. W. Davis. The last named declined. 



The executive committee of the Prohibition 

 party named the ticket which follows: For Gov- 

 ernor, T. R. Carskadon ; Auditor, J. B. McGregor ; 

 Treasurer, W. C. B. Moore; Superintendent of 

 Schools, E. E. Mercer; Attorney-General, C. D. 

 Merrick. 



The Republican candidates were elected, the 

 vote standing: White, 118,807; Holt, 100,226; 

 Carskadon, 1,373; Houston, 266. The Legislature 

 has 17 Republicans in the Senate and 32 in the 

 House, and 9 Democrats in the Senate and 39 in 

 the House; 9 seats are contested. 



The presidential vote was as follows: McKinley, 

 119,851; Bryan. 98,791; Woolley, 1,585; Debs, 

 286; Barker, 274. 



WISCONSIN, a Western State, admitted to 

 the Union May 29, 1848; area, 56,040 square miles. 

 The population, according to each decennial census 

 since admission, was 305.391 in 1850: 775,881 in 

 1860; 1,054,670 in 1870; 1,315.497 in 1880; 1,688,- 

 880 in 1890; and 2,069,042 in 1900. Capital, 

 Madison. 



Government. The following were the State 

 officers in 1900: Governor, Edward Scofield; Lieu- 

 tenant Governor, Jesse Stone; Secretary of State, 

 William H. Froehlich : Treasurer. James O. David- 

 son; Attorney-General, Emmett R. Hicks; Super- 

 intendent of Education, L. D. Harvey; Railroad 

 Commissioner, Graham L. Rice; Insurance Com- 

 missioner, Emil Giljohann; Adjutant General, C. 

 R. Boardman : Dairy and Food Commissioner, 

 H. C. Adams; Labor Commissioner, Halford Erick- 

 son; Bank Examiner. E. I. Kidd: Health Commis- 

 sioner, F. M. Schultz; Fish and Game Warden, 

 J. T. Ellarson : Tax Commissioners, Norman S. 

 Gilson, George Curtis, W. J. Anderson: Forest 

 Warden, C. E. Morley; Chief Justice of the Su- 

 preme Court, J. B. Cassoday : Associate Justices. 

 John B. Winslow and Joshua E. Dodge (Demo- 

 crats), Charles V. Bardeen and Roujet D. Mar- 

 shall; Clerk. Clarence Kellogg. With the excep- 

 tions mentioned, all are Republicans. 



State officers are elected for terms of two years 

 in November of the even-numbered years. The 

 Legislature meets biennially in January of the 

 odd-numbered years. It consists of 33 Senators 

 and 100 Representatives. 



