GOVERNOR WILLIAM GLASSCOCK AND PROGRESSIVE POLITICS IN WEST VIRGINIA

CHAPTER TWO Mountain State Politics

c H A p T E R T w o MOUNTAIN STATE POLITICS: THE NEW GENERATION MEETS THE OLD " ... there are no [R]epubZicans in heaven and . .. we know there are no negroes [sic] there."l L ATE IN THE NINETEENTH CENTURY, the West Virginia economy experienced significant change. While the manufacturing and mechanical trades were on the increase, it was coal mining that had become the most important industry. A number of economic forces were responsible for this. First, since 1870, capitalists had built railroads into the underdeveloped regions of the state, extending into the rich coal lands. Money could be made by connecting branch lines with the main rail arteries of the B&O and the C&O railroads. West Virginia Democratic Party leader Henry Gassaway Davis and his "carpetbagger" son-in-law, Republican Senator Stephen B. Elkins, one ofthe most interesting and influential partnerships ofearly West Virginia capitalists, made significant investments in the state. While both men were considered honest and intelligent, they were not above using their influence in political affairs, especially in areas that would benefit the industry and labor of their adopted state and profit them.2 Davis and Elkins made a huge fortune in constructing branch rail lines, opening the central part ofthe Mountain State's coal and lumber reserves, and bringing in such nationally well-known investors as James G. Blaine. At the same time, there were ever-growing markets for coal, which could be shipped cheaply over the railroads and waterways. This supplied fuel for many industries, not to mention the navy and the merchant marines.3 Finally, because ofthe quality ofthe coal and the moderate cost Robert A. Kincaid to Louis Bennett, 6 November 1908, Louis Bennett Papers, West Virginia University Library. Hereafter cited as Bennett Papers, unless location is different. 2 John Alexander Williams, West Virginia and the Captains of Industry (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2003), 17-67. Hereafter cited as Williams, West Virginia and the Captains ofIndustry. 3 Charles H. Ambler and Festus P. Summers, West Virginia: The Mountain State, 2nd ed. 8 MOUNTAIN STATE POLITICS H. G. Davis: a powerful leader in West Virginia politics and business. Courtesy of the Otis K. Rice Collection ofthe West Virginia Virginia Institute of Technology, Montgomery, WV. of mining it, often at the expense of lower wages, West Virginia operators were able to undersell their competitors in Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois.4 The growing mining industry created wealth.5 With coal production doubling between 1900 and 1920, more people migrated into these coal-producing areas. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, Inc., 1958),430. See also Charles M. Pepper, The Life and Times ofHenry Gassaway Davis, 1823-1916 (New York: The Century Co., 1920),90-104. See Phil Conley, History ofThe West Virginia Coal Industry (Charleston: Education Foundation, Inc., 1960) 175-201. Hereafter cited as Conley, History ofThe West Virginia Coal Industry. 4 Ambler and Summers, West Virginia: The Mountain State, 430-31. 5 In 1870 West Virginia produced 600,000 tons of coal. With a population of 762,794 people in 1889, the Mountain State produced 6,23l,880 tons of bituminous coaL In comparison, Pennsylvania, with a population of 5,258,014, mined 36,174,089 tons; Ohio, with a population of 3,672,316, extracted 9,976,787 tons. Moreover, by 1902 West Virginia moved into second place in coal production, passing Ohio, with the Buckeye State spending a total of $8,232,183 for mining expenses and West Virginia only $4,841,796. See U.S. Bureau ofthe Census, Extra Census Bulletin, No. 10, Washington D.C., Government Printing Office, September 30, 189l, 1-l3. See also U.S. Bureau ofthe Census, Special Reports ofthe Census Office, Mines and Quarries, 1902 (Washington 9 CHAPTER TWO Occupational growth in this sector was rapid. In 1910, the coal industryemployed 64,436 workers, and between 1910 and 1920, it expanded its workforce to 102,856.6 Indeed, the face of West Virginia had changed, and its people demanded a share of the prosperity. Increase in the extraction of coal coupled with expansion of railroads and the Panic of 1893 led to redistribution and change in the labor force? While men moved to the industrial areas seeking jobs in the mines, mills, and factories, women sought employment as clerks, stenographers, and teachers. By 1900, with the introduction of electrical motors, change even overtook the miner's faithful work companion, who toiled side-by...