The Daily state journal. [volume] (Alexandria, Va.) 1868-1874, 1871-01-19
evening Stats SoariaaL
THURSDAY EVENING, JAN. 10, 1871.
SPIRIT OF THE moaNrNG PRESS.

The Dispatch and Enquirer hold 0
with the tenacity of grim death to the ole
fashioned, abusive style of political news
paper discussion, the strength Of whie
consisted, first, in making assertions, I'm
supported by proof, and throwing th
onus of proving them false upon you
opponent and next in abuse, more abuse
and abuse all the time. The 'Dispatci
adopts this sort of tactics this morn
ing, in an editorial, in which it heaps (
column of calumny on the Federal officers
in Virginia, charging them with every
species of fraud and corruption, without
specifying single act, supported by evil
dence, upon which its accusations are
based. 1t is an easy thing to make asser-
tions, but rather difficult sometimes to
prove them. For our part, we never bring
: charge, either general or special, without
having good evidence to establish it. These
general denuncations of officers, accusing
them of fraud and corruption, without
specifying the particular offence by which
they are charged, are only made through
spleen or spite, or for purposes of political
demagoguery. They are intended to
work upon and influence the minds of the
unthinkipg masses, to whom it is only me-
cessary to say a man is thief, to fully
fix conviction of his guilt in their minds.
The Dispatch recklessly asserts the dis
honesty of our Federal officers, and the
corruption of the courts; but does not
point to single authenticated case of dis
honesty or corruption, nor can it do so,
that has not been punished. Bare asser-
ton will not do for us, nor for fair-minded
people Of any party. We do not be-
leve that there is any dishonesty,
or fraud, or bribery, practiced by our
officers or in courts, the assertions of the
Dispatch and its malignant crew, to the
contrary Notwithstanding We believe that
there never has been o time when the af-
fairs of the government were more honest
ly and justly administered in this State
than since the Inauguration of President |
Grant, and that is all the Republican |
party is responsible for. Point US to |
single case Of wrong doing. We defy you
to the proof.
In its usual carpng spirit of fault-iind-
ing, and with its proverbial unfairness, that
paper says:
Inc COutD Is ground GOWN py tne cunning
frauds OF strangers deputed by the Govern
ment to administer the Federal laws. Her |
people are blackmailed and stripped of their
property both by illegal impositions and by
corrupt compromises. In the former cases the
money extorted never reaches the public
treasury; in the latter immense sums are
drawn from affrighted persons under accusa-
ton, and these sums are shared by the lead
ing officers bearing official relation to the
case.
If you have tho proof to sustain these
assertions, your duty as good citizen,
and one, too, having deep interest in the
punishment of the guilty parties, to lay 1t
before the proper officers, that the offen-
ders may be punished or you should at
least have the courage to expose them by
name through your columns, and thus
hold them up to public scorn and execra-
ton. Then again the Dispatch says: /
The bankrupt proceedings in this State is
another mountain of corruption and piunder.
the hundreds of thousands that have been
thrown into that court for settlement and
distribution, who outside of the court can tell
anything about thema We have yet to hear
of creditor who has received anything from
the distributive funds in the hands of the
court All has gone down the " lost river"
Very few were thrown into bankruptcy.
Not a hundred persons in the State have
been forced into it by their creditors. The
vast majority were voluntary bankrupts,
who did not return sufficient assets to pay
the court fees. Many of them it is thought
(but we will not assert it because we have
no proof, and we are not in the habit Of
going by. the mere rumor of the town. made
the bulk of their property safe before max
ing their application. Officers and courts
are entitled to what the law allows them,
and they should not be called cheats and
swindlers when they only receive theirjast
fees and salaries.
There is no corruption in the admins
tration and execution Of the Federal gov
eminent in Virginia. The officials are all
honest, honorable and trustworthy whose
devotion to the interests of the country
and zeal for the Republican party have
excited the wrath Of the Dispatch and kin
dred sheets. They are safe. SO long as
they can induce the Dispatch, or any other
Democratic paper, to assaif them. The !
quickest way to kill a Republican with bis !
party and the administration, or to get
him. turned out of Office, is for his enemies |
to have him praised by the Dispatch or
Enquirer. Praise from them, of Repub- !
lican, is accepted as conclusive evidence
that he is not sound and the same rule is
just as good the other way. Abuse is evil
denco Of soundness.
The Dispatch takes up the hotel ques-
ton again, and is trying to excite an en-
thusiasm among our people, that will set
them passionately to work in the erection .
of grand central hotel, which will be as :
useful as ornamental to the city. The :
following would almost seem to be aimed !
at the unsuitableness Of the location of our ,
only remaining frst-class houses, the Ex-
change and Ballard, but the Dispatch
denies any alusion to Richmond hotels:
The prominent features of a ci ty by which
the stranger forms his opinion of it are its ho-
tells and pubic buildings, its newspapers, its
churches, and its amusements. The hotel pro-
badly is the most direct and positive in its eff
fects nothing will more disgust and enrage 8
man in a land of refinement than hotel whose :
approaches are repulsiVes, whose rooms are j
nnceanly, and whose fare is Indifferent. /
From that hotel the guest will gladly depart J
by midnight train, without havisg beheld !
the city in which it is located. We do not ..
draw this picture from Richmond hotel, but !
present it as an argument in favor of making
hotel all it should be ia locality and manage
ment, so that the stranger, so far from being