The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1875-02-25
"a Weluing Postmaster"

Under the ABOVE caption. VIC Hnt tile TO-
lowing Communication Iii the New York Trib-
uae, of recent date. Our attention was call
ed to it by friend, and for fear Irregular Sub=
scriber'' has not reached the notoriety he desi=
red; we give his production local circulation,
with s'few brief and appropriate remarks"
that may assist in its digestion
TO the Editor of The Tribune:
SIR DO you see how sad Mr.: S. N. Yost,
ex Confederate Quartermaster and. present
Postmaster OF this place, is over the fact, which
he announces with many regrets that the Ne,0
York Tribune has a large and growing circula-
ton in Virginia? The Postniaster's little pa
per sheds many tears over it, but don't see
that tears will wash away the dreadful fact
This MAJ, Yost was forlneTlya full-blooded Sc
cessionist, but Government printing, bankrupt
cy notices, &C., have converted him to such an
extent that he cannot NOW see any good what
ever in the South, and knows but one perfect
man-the Great Silslit Man at the White House.
Yours, REGULAR SUBSCRIBER.
stauuton, Td:, Feb. IL, 1875.
four subscriber attaches too much impor-
lance to the snars Of poor creatures who see
with soine alarm the danger that the bones
| they glaw may be taken away from them. In
the language of Joe jefferson, give him u cold
potato and let him go.-Ea. Tribune.l
We tCuINl GilC fsSSCIliOIl tilIt Vic POltlcAl
sculion who pennea the communication above
signed Regular Subscriber" got his malicious
publication inserted under false pretense. We
do not believe he is a ''subscriher," for d man
who can spare $40 frorrsllis earnings fora daily
paper is generally too much engaged with his
business, to play the role Of public gossip. If
The truth were known about the author in ques-
ton it would be found that he is regular
s'bummer,'' a chronic busy-body and dead
beat, whom no one respects, and who could not
possibly escape from the obscurity his inherent
insignficance assigns him except by fawning
upon or detracting from his superiors. The
animus of the communication is malice-its
/ purpose falselleod-bhe product of a nature ca
pablo Of any meanness and incapable of any
manliness. It is just such specimens of parti-
Fan pimpery that we have had to fight all our
life. LII 1869, when, as "a delegate from this
district to-the National Convention at Charles
ton, s. c., we broke the ''unit vote'' of Virgin
ia, rather than secede, we were denounced by
just such creatures as untrue to Virginia and
the South. When we stemmed the current OF
secession wrath, and supported Stephen A.
Douglas for President, warning the people
week after week, of the fatal folly Of hugging
an abstraction and abandoning a practical
good, we had to encounter just such contemp-
| tible penny-a-liners as Irregular Subscriber"
And the same, pretty much, in 1872; when re-
| cognizing the obligations of amnesty, and re-
speeding our identity as native OF the South
and of Virginia, we declined to follow the lead
of Horace Greeley, CIR ruin was predicted-we
were pointed at as ''spotted man, and the
remark made that this country would be ''too
hot" for us. Prescribed in our business,
sncered at OH the streets, and cursed. s'not loud
but Deep" as traitor to our people, yet we
maintained our fidelity to conviction, issued
our paper regularly, and proclaimed our opin-
ions frankly. From that day to this we have
stood firmly to the position that the conditions
Of Virginia's re-admission to the Union should
be faithfully observed--that it was bad faith not
to comply with her part OF the contract-and
| that it was the duty of the people to obey the
laws of the country in letter and spirit, and
support the government. For these reasons
| doubtless, government and bankrupt print
ing'' was given to the VIRGINIAN, as it had to
be given to some paper, and for the further rea-
son that it is one OF the best advertising me-
diunas in the State-more generally read than
any paper in the Valley-its list of subscribers
gradually increasing in numbers. and its intlu-
ence expanding -evidencing that there is a
deep under-current in sympathy with the views
we have advanced. There ale, too, hundreds
of men in Augusta and throughout the ada
cent counties, who prefer to read the VIRGIN
IAN to any paper published in the Valley, but
are indisposed to encounter the surface current
of prejudice and passion that is controlled and
directed by the curb-stone partizan pimps a.
gainst not only the paper but in some cases and
localities, those who subscribe for it. Many are
thus prevented from taking it, who otherwise
would do so.
| We commisserate the spirit that animated
Irregular Subscriber OF all creatures on the
face OF the garth, the professional gossip and
busy-body is the most abject and contemptible-
a pest to society and misery to himself, and
avoided by all decent people as socia; leper.
1t is appropriate, too, that such correspon-
dent should seek the columns of the Nev York
Tridane-a paper that stands Convicted before
the American people of almost every species of
base personal defamation, falseho cd and treach-
cry. It is a huge speculation upon the credul-
| ity and passions Of tile public-reckless as to
truth, aud regardless of all the finer sensibili-
ties that distinguish elevated journalism
Elected from the presence of the intelligence
and refinement of the North, it now seeks to
arrest its falling fortunes by pandering to the
sectional feeling Of the people Of the South !;
and when the test comes, it will, with equal ia
city, betray them. 1t will be found, in 1876,
hanging OH the skirts of the Republican party,
and stretching its ingenuity for excuses for its
past tergervisations and political somer-sault-
ing-boot-lcking the men it now ulaliciousy
assails, aud csinging and fawning upon those
whose good names it has sought to backen.
lLLEGITIMATE CHILDREN-W lind in the
Legislative notes of the Dispatch, Of the 22d,
the following: "Both houses have passed and
sent to the Governor bill repeating chapter
III OF the Code, providing for the maintenance
OF llegitilnate children. This leaves the statute
book Il blank on the subiect.''
This is rather loose legislation, and unbriliing
crime.
Mr.. Morrison, representative in the Legisla-