Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-08-25
TIE PRIMARIES TO-MORROW ".

f TIE PRIMARIES TOMORROW
Tomorrow the primary meetings Of Au-
gusta are held. We sincerely trust they
will be full, and that the delegates sent
from them will be true representatives of
the one great thought that is at present
uppermost in the great Democratic party
Of the country, of which the people OF Au-
gusta are an important part-Reform.
We have been very frank in the conduct OF
the newspaper share of the Congressional
campaign in this corner of the district. We
have not concealed our opposition to Mr..
HARRIS; indeed, one ground upon which
we cannot support him for Conservative
nomination was published in this paper
August 29th, 1873. We said then that
s'the failure of the State Conservative Con-
vention to condemn the back salary grab
should be no excuse for its liberation by
the people Of Virginia, who, however their
political leaders may fall short Of repre-
senting them, are not lacking in high
sense of right 1t was written in oppo-
sitlon to the nomination of Mr.. CRITCH-
Err for a seat in the Virginia Senate,
and concluded that sno man who is hon
estly convinced that he had right to
draw the back pay, Wrung from the sweat
of Southern as well as Northern brows,
and fraudulently voted to him, should be
in the Virginia Senate" We then urged
'sthe Conservative party Of Virginia to be
true at aqly COST and we urge the same on
the Conservative party Of this Congress
sional district to-day. This is an issue so
intim ately interviewer with the Presiden-
tial campaign now progressing, that we
cannot separate it. We are fighting on
the issue Of Reform, and we cannot turn
our faces away from the dirt before our
own doors. The salary grab was the out
growth of the general decentralization
which had taken possession of the people,
and the feeling which prompted a man to
vote for it or take it, proves conclusively
that the taker is not in sympathy with any
movement to reform the government. II
JNo. T. HARRIS had paid back his back
pay into the treasury of his country, as
many Democrats and even naony Repubk-
cans did, he would be at this moment plant
missed his opportunity. AS far as the Re
form Church is concerned he can only come
in for a seat on the mourner's bench; he
has lost his membership in good standing.
At this day the voter who is voting for
Reform wants candidate Of his own
views. with a clear record-with an IN
assailable record. This, we believe, even
Mr.. HARRIS friends admit he does not
possess.
So much for our reason for the long ago
determined upon opposition Of this journal
to the nomination of Mr.. HARRIS by the
Conservative party. But there is another
reason that comes as close home to the
heart of every Augusta county man as
any reason can. Every one Of the large
counties in this district base had a re-
preventative in Congress since the new
birth of the nation, except ours. For
thirty-fTe years her voice has been stilled.
In all the stirring scenes Of National legis-
gation for a generation, Augustus voice
has not been heard. A county that has
almost historical right to be listened to.
has been silent. This county has had
BALDwJNs and STUARTs and INCHES
and SHEFFYs, before whom. in intellect,
Mr.. HARRIS is but a pigmy, and yet she
has gone on year after year submitting to
be ignored, and the slight countenanced
by some Of her own people. Have we no
pride left? Has wire-working and cleo
pioneering Slapped and mined every feeling
of interest il old Augusta? Does it make
no difference to our people whether she is
left out another generation or not? Is it
possible that they cannot understand the
material benefits to county of having a
representative in Congress? Do not our
sympathy and our interests turn towards
gu, friends and neighbors who have en-
tered the fight. in preference to stranger?
Is their nothing in SKINNER honorable
wounds, and in BUMG ARDNER's heroic
record? What would you have said when
peace was declared to a proposition to put
these men aside, in favor Of man who had
rested under the trees CT the Quarter
Masters Department. and looked at the
battlefield from the windows of the State
capitol? The war is not to be fought over
again, but the principles OF being true to
your faith are. A man who made true
soldier is apt to make true man In every
thing. II was only last Saturday that IA
Republican orator IN our courthouse, said
the people Of both sections, North and
South, should give what offices they had to
give TO the soldiers who fought for them.
t Will Conservatives do less?
We trust that every true Augusta man
will go to the primary meetings. to NOR
row Let there be no compromising
h;,lf-heartedEess. We believe that those
who want the track cleared for Augusta
TO run a son in the halls of Congress are
largely in the majority in this county. and
we earnestly beg them to show it by their
attendance.
Miss MATTE GUILD, a well-known belle
Of Richmond, was married On her way from
thu Srrsr,us at Salem Va last Monday