The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-10-19
Hdn. ]. W. Daniel.

SfFlllpc Hal. lit CstlfdCtotlS Hill was hUCHt
half filled. witt, an intelligent audience,
and among those present were Il number OF
ladies.
Maj. Daniel is certainly dcclaimer in che
more elevated sense Of the term. His voice.
gestures and mannerism, display gifts, as a
public speaker, rarely met with. His deliv-
cry is easy and graceful, and very attractive.
His mind, from the arrangement of his speech,
is mcthodcal and analytical, and capable Of
labor and application. OF course his re-
marks were well prepared, comprising what
may be called q ''sct Speech" While we
could not remain to hear his speech through
merits, we heard enough to convince Us thai
Mr.. Daniel is above the average Virginia
politician.
| With these natural gifts and accomplish
prised that he did not present better fortified
arguments and statements. Two points
particularly he introduced which showed M
evident unfairncss and studied superficiality,
that can only be accounted for upon the n.y.
pothesis that the cause he represented is to.
tally indefensible. Hc arraigncd the admin
istration and the Republican party for the
prostration CT the industries of the country,
which had prevailed up to q recent period,
not deigning to say tina: this condition Of
things could neither be created nor cured by
administrative policy. Tie must be aware
that the financial reyulsion which the coun-
try has experienced within the past three OF
five years, had nothing to do with the policy
of the Republican party, and that it was one
of those periodical arrangements which have
marked the history OF the country ever since
the foundation of the government. Unfor-
tunately for Mr.. Daniels assumption, how.
OF which he cited us evidence OF Republican
misr,c. arc now beginning to revive, not by
any administrative policy, it is true, but
during Republican rule, and from natural
and logical causes. Throughout New Eng
land all the suspended factories are resum-
ing. working on fill time, with full force,
and at customary prices for labor. In Penn
| sylyania operations in the mining districts
| have revived. and the furnaces and ssbright-
eyed'' FORCES are now in full blast ell along
the Lehish Valley. Indeed, throughout the
North and West, the manufacturing inter-
ests arc recovering with steady AMI cheering
activity, from the suspension forced upon
them by the impairment OF public conf
| &c
trade and public enterprise. Mr.. Daniel
must have prepared his speech several
months ago. or was Indifferent to the cur
rent events OF the country. 1t would have
been faircr and more creditable and more
statcsmanlike had he treated this subject in
the light of history, and frankly stated chat
the causes producing the stagnationi in public
business were foreign to the administration
of the affairs of the nation by the Republic
can party. Had he glanced at the CONNER
cial columns Of any of the great eastern dali
les, either Republican or Democrat, he could
easily have been instructed that trade of
every description is rapidly resllming its
normal channels, and that the prospect of
steady advances in all the elements of pros
pcrlty is attested by the experience of
capitalists and the conclusions Of the best
critics.
| Another very unfair position assumed by
MIR. Daniel, and one that the most careless
student OF the passing history of the country
could readily expose, was the comparison Of
the expenses of government under johnson
and Grants administrations. When he sta
| ted that the postal service under tile latter
cost siy,- mlliona dollars more than under
tile former, it Mr.. Daniel had desired to deal
fairly with his hearers and other than in the
routine of the common partizan demagoguc,
| he would have stated that the increase arose
from the ramited mail facilities in the South
ern States established by the present admin
| stration. and rs a consequence of the recon-
| structioE OF those States and their restora-
| tion-to representation and full participation
in the affairs of the government they had
sought to destroy. A simple statement Of
! the condition of the South at the time of
JohnsOn's administration would have an
swered his unjust and Gcccptious COMPARE
| SON.
| The cifrontery of sIr. Daniel and the stale
ness OF the matter Of his speech, may be in
| ferred, fiom the reference he made to the
exploded fiction of retrenchment ard re-
| form promulgcd in the st. Louis platform.
He heralded the reiteration OF the cheap
prctenscs of reform in the whereases and res
olutions OF the Democratic National Conven-
ton as the evidence that should convince
the public that Democracy intended to re-
form something, if they got into power.
This catch-pcnny verbiage meant for decep-
ton, and now understood rs such, has long
| since been abandoned by the leaders of his
own party, and deridel into contempt by
the speakers and writer's of the Republican
party. The bare mention of the name of
Sam'l J. rilden with the suggestion Of genu-
inc reform, with his exposed record as a rail-
road wrcckcr, an extortioner, and taX-swin-
dler, is presumng upon the credulity Of the
people to an unwarranted extent, and only
shows that Mr.. Daniels speech was the re-
suit of y conception early in the canvass,
when the Democracy expected to delude
the public. and sweep the country under the
| impetus OF the clamor for Reform and Re-
| trencmcnt.
| The manner Of Mr.. Daniels speech was
creditable-the matter was unworthy Of a
fourth-rate demagogue addressing a gathering
OF unlettered Hoosiers. 1t might have been
excusabc in such 4 transparent fraud as old
Blue Jeans Williams, but was wholly mad
missible, coming from = cultured gentleman,
addressing an intelligent audience. 1t was
very clear that Mr.. Daniel has poor opin-
| ion OF the party and the cause he is cham
pioning, and we might say, OF a Staunton
audience. from his reiteration OF the .sRe-
FORM pretensc, and the earnestness with
which he rung it out. rs though it was some
thing entirely new. That has been heard
before, and the effect it has had in this local
ity may be imagined from the nomination
by the Democratic Reform Convention. of q