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Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey today branded President Eisenhower's assurance of a lending hand to West Virginia on its economic troubles "too little and almost too late."

Touring the Northern Panhandle to gain support in his bid to win next Tuesday's West Virginia presidential primary race, the Minnesota senator stated that "if West Virginia needs help now after Humphrey and Kennedy have pointed out its needs, it surely needed it several years ago."

He charged during an interview with newsmen today that West Virginia residents had been discriminated against by the Republican administration over the past two or three years.

"West Virginia describes Republican prosperity. The state provides an X-ray picture of this Republican prosperity." Humphrey declared following an early morning breakfast at the Ft. Steuben Hotel in Steubenville where he arrived at 4 a.m. from his face-to-face debate with Sen. John Kennedy in Charleston.

The Minnesota senator's comment on the President's assurance of aid came in reference to an announcement made by Gov. Cecil H. Underwood yesterday that President Eisenhower assured a lending hand toward helping the state with its economic problems.

Underwood said Eisenhower promised to urge all federal agencies "to do what they could to help West Virginia."

At Wellsburg where he delivered a street address to some 100 persons at 9:30 a.m. today, Humphrey launched into a long tirade on the president's "timid and halting" suggestion to the various agencies to do what they can to help West Virginia.

He concluded with a near-shouting "Mr. President, where have you been?"

Humphrey was quizzed by a member of his small audience as to whether he would remember West Virginia and its problems if he was elected president.

He replied, "any president, whether a Democrat or a Republican, will remember West Virginia and its problems." He stated that if the presidential primary campaign waged by Kennedy and himself "has done nothing else, it has focused attention on the needs of the state."

He continued, "the West Virginia campaign has brought to the attention of the administration what should have been obvious facts several years ago."

Elaborating on the matter before he left Weirton this morning, Humphrey declared that West Virginia, in a "tight capsule," represents all the problems that are affecting the nation.

He pointed out that the natural resources of the state are slowly being wasted away. They face loss of coal markets and unemployment. "All of these show the people the out-of-balance Republican prosperity.

He state the people can also easily see the "hesitancy and unwillingness of the Republican administration to take action."

Humphrey began his northern panhandle campaign tour at Weirton with an 8 a. m. talk at the community center before a gathering of about 100 persons. He later delivered a street talk at Wellsburg and then received a rousing reception at Bethany College for a 10 a. m. address.

In between his stops, Humphrey hailed the passage by the House of a bill to help areas of chronic unemployment out of their distress. He explained he was not familiar with the $251 million House measure, but said if it meets the same standards as a bigger Senate bill passed earlier, he's all for it.

He said Congress should pass the House version of the bill, if that is most agreeable, "and see if the President is as interested in West Virginia as his press releases indicate."

He added, "this would be a real test of Republican concern over depressed areas. It is very late, but it will be of great help to West Virginia."

At Bethany College, Humphrey talked on the forthcoming summit meeting at Geneva. "I have no crystal ball, and I will not attempt to prophesy what the outcome will be. I do know what I hope President Eisenhower will work for, with all the influence and persuasive power he - and I mean he, and not any 'stand-in' - can bring to bear.

"I hope that he will propose that disarmament and arms control will be put at the very top of the agenda and that the other three leaders will agree," Humphrey declared.

The Bethany auditorium rocked with the sustained and loud applause of the students and faculty. Humphrey was called back three times for further comments by the enthusiasm of his audience.

Following his talk at Bethany College, Humphrey walked into downtown Wheeling to meet people on the street.

At 12:30 p.m. Humphrey paused on the steps of the Wheeling Post Office Building to deliver a street address before embarking on a tour of industrial plants in the area.

Humphrey arrived in the Northern Panhandle fresh from a face-to-face television debate with Sen. Kennedy in Charleston that was described by political observers as a soft exchange of words and a gentle debate.

It was the first face-to-face meeting in their two state primary contests - in Wisconsin last month where Kennedy was the victor and in the month long campaign they have been conducting in West Virginia.

There were no sparks, no fireworks.

Humphrey did take issue with a constant Kennedy refrain - that Humphrey has no chance to be nominated and a vote for him in West Virginia's May 10 primary is wasted.

Asked if he thought he had a chance, Humphrey said, "I most surely do."

He added "no Democrat has this nomination tied up. If you have 200 convention votes you're just as much alive politically as the man with 500 votes."

Humphrey also emphatically denied he was front for others in the primary. "Now, senator - Jack - I haven't had any endorsement from Lyndon, (Sen. Lyndon Johnson, Texas), or Stu, (Sen. Stuart Symington, Missouri)," Humphrey declared, gesturing.

"As a matter of fact, their neutrality has been so conspicuous that it's almost been icy."

Other than that issue there was sweetness and unity among the two aspirants on many topics, including religion, foreign aid, Red China, the racial matter and Russia.

Two did close to an Alfronse and Gastone when they were asked why were they blaming all of West Virginia's ills on the Eisenhower administration when the Democrats controlled Congress.

Kennedy turned to Humphrey.

"You know the answer to that one."

"Go ahead, John, if you wish."

"I was just going to say - I'll let Sen. Humphrey answer half of this question" Kennedy replied, then said that he was the Senate floor leader in a move in 1953 to steer defense contracts into distressed areas. But the President vetoed that bill, he said.

Humphrey, picking up the ball, added that another example of what he called a Republican stymie was the coal research bill, to investigate better means of utilizing coal. Eisenhower vetoed that one too, he said.

Today they went their separate ways; Humphrey to the northern part of the state, while Kennedy plumped for backing in the Charleston area.

Speaking before a crowd of over 500 persons this afternoon in front of the post office in Wheeling, Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey declared that he would "relish" a debate with Vice President Richard Nixon.

Humphrey pointed out that after his debate with Sen. John F. Kennedy last night, the Republicans probably will demand "equal time."

"Since they have only one candidate, I would be happy to debate with Mr. Nixon," Humphrey said. "And if the debate comes about, I guarantee you that the fur will fly and the feathers will come through the TV sets.

Sidelights of the Sen. Hubert H. Humphrey tour of the area today:

When introduced to the crowd of students who jammed their way into the Bethany College auditorium this morning to hear his address, Sen. Humphrey smiled at the generous applause and after thanking the college officials turned to the students and said:

"I could make a fiery and probably a razzle-dazzle political speech here today and probably convince all eight or nine Democrats out there to save the political souls of your Republican brethren."

He was undoubtedly referring to the fact that the student body of Bethany in a recent poll showed a high ratio of Republicans - some 325 to 87.

The senator then went on to deliver a fiery speech on the subject of disarmament.

The corps of newsmen from most of the major wire services and national newspapers that followed Sen. John Kennedy over the valley during his tour recently, was almost absent today on Sen. Humphrey's tour of the area.

Only one wire service was represented and that was United Press International with John Kady, a former resident of Glen Dale, W. Va.

None of the national newspapers had correspondents covering the Humphrey tour here.

One of the eye-stopping features of the Humphrey contingent here were three of his campaign workers.

The three charming and beautiful young ladies - all students at a Charleston modeling school - crew sighs of approval from the bystanders as they asked softly, "May I pin a button on you?"

And not a man in the audience refused.

Incidentally the girls' names are Joyce Stevens, Kay Jarrell and Mary Virginia Reed, all of Kanawha County.

Despite the fact that Sen. Humphrey and his co-workers did not arrive at the Wheeling-Ohio County airport until about 4 a. m. this morning, the senator appeared bright and cheerful and wide awake at an early-morning press conference - even before he had his morning coffee.

The senator's healthful appearance and vigor were the subject of many comments from the crowds.

News-Register Staffer Bill Chaddock today covered the tour of Sen. Humphrey and also viewed the recent local tour of Sen. Kennedy. Chaddock said one thing becomes quickly apparent.

While Sen. Kennedy relies on his personable smile and a "let's talk it over" approach, Sen. Humphrey is right to the point and gives his speeches with a strong oratorical delivery.

And at Bethany College, it was "flowers for Sen. Humphrey" today as he spoke from the rostrum in the auditorium.

The platform where he delivered his address was fronted with flowers including a large bouquet of yellow chrysanthemums, whereas Kennedy spoke from a bare stage at Bethany.

Before launching into his speech at Bethany, Sen. Humphrey turned to President Perry Gresham and former Ohio Governor C. William O'Neill instructor in practical politics at Bethany with the following remarks:

"Since I've grown accustomed to eating and my family likewise has become addicted to the habit, and since by profession and the near future is indefinite, I would like at this time to apply for at least an assistant professorship in practical politics here at this beautiful and scenic campus.

After he received a long chuckle and light applause from the audience with this remark, he triggered a loud burst of laughter when he added:

"And since Jack Kennedy and I are friends I would like to suggest his name also just in case things don't work out for him."

"While labor organizations have taken some steps to clean their houses, no management group has taken similar action," Robert Kennedy said here today.

The brother of the presidential hopeful, Kennedy is counsel for the Senate Rackets Committee and author of the book, "The Enemy Within." He flew here today to address the Ohio Valley Advertising Club at noon today in the McLure Hotel.

Kennedy had no prepared speech. His general theme was the part played by the rackets investigators in exposing corruption in business management.

He said the investigations exposed corrupt practices on the part of 50 corporations, some of them the largest in the United States.

Asked what he would recommend to correct this situation, he asserted that management should adopt "and strictly adhere to" a code of ethical practices.

Kennedy added that he would recommend strict adherence on the part of the National Association of Manufacturers and chambers of commerce all over the country; that they should "adopt the codes and stick to them."

One provision, he said, would be that employers and their agents have no financial arrangements with unions and union officers, and another that all their negotiations with the unions be "open and above board."

Kennedy said that James Hoffa and the Teamsters are still the major threat to this country "because of the great econonic power" which the union wields.

He declared that Hoffa has issued instructions calling for the "political extinction" of Sen. John Kennedy. He said that Hoffa opposed the senator in Wisconsin and that "Hoffa now is opposing him here in West Virginia."

He said it seems to him "that Humphrey, who professes to be a friend of the AFL-CIO, should repudiate Hoffa's help or assistance."

Kennedy said another thing he feels should be done is for the bar associations of the country to help purge themselves of dishonest attorneys and practices. He said that "except for the bar association in Tennessee they (the attorneys) haven't done anything to deal with dishonest lawyers."

The results of a mock West Virginia primary indicate that Senator John F. Kennedy defeated Senator Hubert Humphrey by more than 2 to 1 in the Democratic pre-ferential primary while Orel Skeen and W. W. Barron ended up in a tie in the Democratic race for governor.

Does this sound crazy? Herbert Schupbach, who is a teacher at Paden City High School and a member of the W. Va. House of Delegates, doesn't think so. He has conducted "straw" votes among his students for many years and finds that, in general, they run "true to form."

A total of 78 Democrats and 67 Republicans in his seventh[,] eighth, ninth and 10th grade civics and social studies classes this week voted for national, state and Wetzel County candidates.

The straw vote indicates that, if the election were left up to the students, Senator Kennedy would win the preferential election by a landslide. Kennedy received a total of 53 votes to Humphrey's 25. In the Democratic gubernatorial contest, student sentiment was evenly divided among Orel Skeen and W. W. Barron with 36 votes being cast for each. Only five students voted for Hulett Smith.

On the other side of the political fence, the 67 Republicans gave Harold Neely an almost 2 to 1 advantage over former Senator Chapman Revercomb, or a total of 43 votes to 24.

The Republicans had a much easier tak than did the 78 Democrats. While the former voted for three state and two county offices, the latter had to struggle through one national office, five state offices and three county offices. This is indicative in a small way what their elders will have to face in the real primary next Tuesday. In Wetzel County alone, they will be faced with more than 80 candidates.

The Democrats cast their ballots as follows for the other state candidates: secretary of state - Joe F. Burdett, 68, and William Burchett, 8; attorney general, C. Donald Robertson, 26, Harold A. Bangert, 16, Wade H. Bronson, Jr., 11, and Lee M. Kenna, 9; commissioners of agriculture - Charles M. Vaughan, 3; William B. Fox, 21; Charles E. Jenkins, 3, and John T. Johnson, 24; state auditor - Edgar B. Sims, 53, and L. W. Boley, 8; and state treasurer, Jack A. Nuckols, 12, George E. Baker, 18, John Kelly, 23, and Hugh Mills, 8.

Republicans had a much easier time marking their ballots. Their votes for the other two state offices in contest were: secretary of state - Carl E. Weimer, 34, and Mrs. E. K. Stevens, 41; and attorney general - Elmer H. Dodson, 41, and George F. Beneke, 25. In the hot Democratic primary in Wetzel County, Schupbach was not so sure that the students' votes represented popular opinion, for they represented only a small portion of the county. For example, in the race for sheriff, they heavily favored Ed Loehr, a river-front candidate. Surprisingly enough, however, in the race for county commissioners, they favored Frank Postlethwait, the Shortline candidate over the five other candidates.

There was little to excite the imagination in the Republican county race, as there are only two contested offices. The favorite for county commissioner was Laurence Jackson of New Martinsville and for county clerk, Mrs. Earl Shuman of Smithfield.

Schupbach has been holding his straw vote among the students for many years - every year that there is an election. A few weeks before the primary, he has his classes register as Democrats and Republicans and picks an election board for each class.

Whether or not this year's straw vote will hold true to form - as Schupbach says they often do - will not be a matter of record until May 11.