The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1876-05-11
The Municipal Election.

The Municipal Election.
The people, under an excitement gotten up
aesignedy by the few olignators of the harm
fu' contest now going on for municipal officers,
seem to have forgotten the genuine Issue. be-
foro them. 1t is really and substantially wheth-
er the city government, under its present Off
GERS, has been honest. It was the charge of
dishonesty and ineficiency that the Vindicator
first started out with. That was the pretext.
1t well knew that there was no truth in it, but
it suited its purpose to crafty it's personal feel
ing, to Initiate the contest by Wholesale
charge OF corruption against the city council,
and to follow it up with an appeal to party
preJudices because the present Mayor and the
former President of the city council, supports
the national principles Of the Republican par
ty. With this basis, the V1ndiator sought. to
raise clamor against the council. 1t was
joined by Col. Skinper, who had his little per-
sonal spites to crafty, and by their mutual ap-
peas to party sympathy, they have succeeded
in deceiving the people as to the true issues. It
is not one OF party. No fair or brave man can
say it is. There is no party principle or poll
cy, CT party m1n, as such involved in it. A
sianderous assault had been made upon the
city council, composed of some of the best and
most upright men within our city limits; false
charges had been made as to their political
ident!ty-and finding that the honest senti-
ment OF the people would not sanction any such
perversion of the truth, an ingenious turn was
given to the contest, by which the real is
sues involved, has been lost sight of, and bu-
fled in the clamor of party necessity. The
charges Of dishonesty and corruption still stand
against the council They have been spread
broadcast over the State, and while the people
OF Stanton know they are false, those at a
distance do not, and will be governed in their
estimate CT the characters of the gentlemen as
sailed by the result that will be recorded on the
Goth of this month. We know there are gentle
scorn to entertain a suspicion of the integrity
OF the members of the city council, and who
have been imperceptibly led into it by party
sympathy, and against their conviction of right
and justice. They have not fully considered
the import of verdict Of condemnation at the
polls, nor have they properly weighed the mo-
lives OF these gentlemen in their refusal to SUBJ
NIT to tile determination of primary election.
Ii was not because they are not Conservatives
it was not because they have any sympathy
with the Republican party, but because their
official characters had been arraigned before
the public; tlef sense Of justice and right out
ragged, that they determined Co appeal to the
| tn l,otJ,o
them are true Or false.
There is not a we!l-balanced. fair-minded
man in Stanton, be he Conservative or Re-
publican, who has proper conception of the
city's interests, who will not say that the ciry
council has been slanderel bv the charges
made against them. There is not one who
has the city's welfare at heart, who will not
say that the issue that has been forced upon
the people, is not wrong in all its shapes, and
that the peace of community, the harmony OF
friends, and the highest interests of society,
would have been consulted, and would now be
consulted, by sternly rebuking the spirit of
strife and contention that has been aroused by
the instigators Of this movement. An utter
recklessness as to the reputation of the city and
total disregard of the amenities and kindnesses
OF social life and personal intercourse, seem to
have seized upon the petty schemers who nave
Injected their venom into the contest, and seek
to subordinate every other consideration to
the qualification Of their personal ends.
The judgment and the conscience of the
community must condemn the motives and the
agencies which have brought about the present
nflamea condition Of the popular mind. There
has been no necessity for it-there caa be no
possible good grow out Of it-there must be
harm flow from little city must suffer-the
county must suffer. Why not the moral sense
and moral courage of the men who at heart
disapprove it, confront and rebuke it /? II tie
solid men of Staunton who see the wrong of
the false charges made-who know the effect
of their apparent approval by vote of the peo-
ple-would, in firm and tlnmistakable language
and attitude, array themselves on the side they
believe and know to be right, there would be
short work made of the schemes of the agitators
who have sought to implicate the entire com
munity In their selfish aims and personal en-
mites.