National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1873-08-29
SHAM CONSERVATIVE RAILROAD
COMBINATIONS AND THEIR RE-
Suits IN VIRGINIA.

2 - = - - 80 - -.
... cn,,....n,...
Co,s.SS a-,oNa avn Tup,D vp.
sUI.Ts IN yIuGrNIh
How little the people and ratriotism have
to do with a great number nj nautical move
ments Ia Illustrated In the case Of the present
Conscry alive movement In Virginia. The
Conservative par,y in the Virginia Lep,sla-
ture no. dors h,,c oI.o 90, tnnr ,'oor. ,har
to attend to the interests of certain nowcrfnl
railroad corporations. For The naltrv con.
alteration Of free nasses over tho roads tho
Legislature has voted awav In ,ha, ,,me IN
sundry COMPANIES. assc,s ~ the STATE which
on the estimates Of Gov Walkers financial
message of ,s7O ,xcre worth about so5 :
OOOOOo.
Tho Repub,icaps had piaccd n c,anse In the
State constitution probibltinr any increase az
the State debt. There could be no sonapaer-
ino. tber,fore NJ npbIie money In that aIrec-
ton. Bnt no law cop,d be framed 10 nrovcnt
the souanderinp of the cohyer,ib,o as,e,, Of
the State. And 40 The CONSERVATIVES nartv NJ
virginia have. with n corruptlon and 81.
traynganec which npts IN sbamo overv.
thing rbat has bcen done In soptb Carolina
and LouisIana- made wav with more than
twenty-6ye millions of Tho stocl. ana hopds
for which the a tate deht ,vas .,od ,,.r tho
beneat n the great railroad oor,,or,,ion.
The cont.s, ,o,r, a, now n v,rrin,. 4,
nothing bpt a contest hctveen tho ,,eonio ana
the industrial classes ~ Tho STATE an ,ha one
hand. and tho Consecutive noIit,cans ana
great railroad cornoro,ions which hsys do.
yourcd m. suhstanco ~ Tho noon,o ON ,ho
other.
.Tbere Ia mot n man 4, ,ho State u,,, do..
moi know tho, wI,ha-. NO.. ~, ,h,,aa =, a, =
voters Of the Conserra,,ro no Il, tor ,ho ror,I
iua,Iop of C,ovcrnor pnt an, viii =, ,,a
psoplc vas 40, asidc hv , r,iIrooS oon,l,na~
lion. and Kcmnor Iyas nonIna,o,i ,,vor Mn, ~,
tho railro,d.r tn ,or,i.. 20 A., .a,,,-.:,
ware nuperops and tho adi,.,ron, ~ ,n,or-
ests and ambi,iops ,,i,, s,,,,Io N.ha,,
Barbour and Robinson r..pectiyc nresiden,s
of great railroad lines bays Tho No., ~
being the high contracting parties n was
In their int.rest and not in tie in,eres, ~ N.
State. the people. or syen tho vo.cr. of ths
Copseryatlye marty. that the iob was nm, nm
Mahoue's ambition wa, to nrcyent Tom scott
from passing INV lca,sla,inn In nromo,,n,, ~
outside railroad intcrcs,s. aud his demand
was to retain cor,ro, NJ Tho v,-gin,a sona,a
IA AahaatpDDt "a xvh IN ITO i'm
against all nossih,c assapl, Ra,horr,. d..
mapd was TO have The Governor bound IN the
interest. of Mr.. Garrett, Inv whose veto ma
could souelcb a,v leu,sla,ion bos,ile IN him.
self which Tom Scott might hv accident rrr
through the Leoislatprc Robinson also stood
ON The defensive and having no favorite no
iitic,l osniron,. 40 oara,oo no ,o,, Al, a.
sonal ARRANGEMENTS tn R,rhonr and Nabano
The proyr anime was. Rartours friend Kern
per "A Goyernor, and Nabonc's friend lanes
. A. walker for Lieutenant Governor
The incidental parts of tho contract wcrs
more Interesting than the main stinp,ations
The Nephistophiles of tho scheme was Mr.
Prcsident Barbour', brother ,Iames "A man
formerly of somo mote and Influence i, vIr-
ginia Int who has bern sore.hoadsd tor tonr
years mast from disy,.t at the waller move.
mept of 1859 and al The Greeley movement NJ
ls1a Gen Kemncr and President Rarhorrs
brother James are siamesc twins Damon and
Pytb,as, to each other They nm in copnles
So that as soon as Kemper's chances began 10
look well for the C,oyernorSbIp immcdIa,elv
Mr.. James R,rbopr's chances began "a r,,o
for Tho ne.t U,Ited stotes sena,orshIn
Uence the aaec,io,,te interost in General
Kemper of the Garrett railroad r;ng
Tbus stood thu nrogramm. IA, Tor. ,ho
Richmond convention. pro.Ido,, p,rhonr,.
friend Kempcr of Madison comfy for Gov
ernor. President Mabone'. friend Waller ~
Pulaski comfy for Lieutenant Goyernor
President Barbour's brother lanes NJ chi,
peper. for the Senatorial shoes Of Hon, John
u. Lewis.
The seoueI Ia exceedingly amusinv and
Interesting. The Rlcbmond con vcntion came
on. President Barbour's man Kemrcr was
Nominated easily for Governor All right
What more easy than for a railroad com,i-
nation TO carry any nomination over tho wish
of the mass of voters scattered through the
STATED But men who bargain and sell arc
always timid In an excited popular assembly.
The friends of withcrs were urging ana
demonstratiye. They were very much so
These friends appealed to wlthers TO take
the second place on the ticket, holding out
the United States Senate and other great
. things In prospect Withers was desperately
impracticable. Nothing could be done with
him that night. The convention adjourned.
Next morning Wlthers was still mad and i'm.
practicable. Nothing could be done with
him even at the last hour. lie refused posi-
lively to accept the second place on the
ticket.
This was exactly 10 the wish Of the rail-
road combination. They thought they could
safely kill off wIthers with q unanimous
complimentary vote; for he had not said pos
itiyely he would refuse. They rallied their
forces to give the unanimous vote; Ii was
given; and, to the amazcment and constcr-
nation OF the railroad ring, Wlthers ac-
cepted.
Mahone's friend, Walker, was cruelty
butchered, and Mahoncs Jete noire withers,
placed over the State Senate, which Malone
had held as his sebastopol, and for which he
had consented to let Barbour and Garrett
have the Governorship. The best laid plans
of mice and men gang aft aglee; and so they
did, in q most provoking way, in this In
stance. withers came into them like spider