Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1876-05-05

! tive refuse to submit his claims? loud ap-
plause.] [ will not ask any Of my friends
| to do any such thing. All I ask of them
is to go to the Primary polls and vote their
preference, and let all of us decide which
is to be the choice, and then let all Of US
abide the result. 1 have heard that there
are some members of the Council who are
unwilling to submit. I feel no unkindness
for any member of the Council. There
are many of them my friends, gentlemen
and good business men, and if they sub
nit to the Primary they would be nomina-
ted at the Primary. 1t is the wisest thing
they could have done; it is the wisest thing
| they can do-forl 1t is not yet too late, to go
| to the Primary and call on their friends to
vindicate them.
AS an incumbent of a city Office recog-
nize the right of the voters to call me to
account If they decide that they do not
want me, I will step down and out with
pleasure. 1 want to. hold no Office for
which l am not the choice Of my party.
[applause.] I feel that my party is re-
sponsible for my Office, and it shall never
any of my party putting in a man better
qualified.
In conclusion, Maj. Elder hoped every
man would come to the primary and vote
his choice, and he wished every man who
had been named for an Office would submit
his claims. His remarks were received
with great applause.
COL. j. II. SKINNER
said that he expected this meeting and his
fellow citizens at large, were satisfied by
this time that he was not one of those who
having put his hand to the plow, turned
back. He was in this little scrimmage-
this little unpleasantness," not in accor-
dance with his expectations or desires, but,
being in, he expected to stay in until the
result was recorded at the polls. He wish
ed every voter in Staunton was in sound of
his voice, that he might be convinced, not
by the ability Of the argument, but by the
strength of the position which he held, that
it was their duty to support the Conserva-
tive ticket. There was no other alterna-
tive for any man who desired well to his
Of principle He had come to the meeting
two weeks ago without a follower: he had
not even asked a man to come with him,
and came simply as free citizen. He had
had much political experience In Augusta,
and he could say he had never seen fairer
body of men that composed that meeting.
Col. S. then showed from even the descrip-
ton of the meeting givenin the Basement
Organ" that the meeting was large and
fair one. 1t was very true, as the 'Organ"
stated, that some were there because they
chad axes to grind" Some of them who
didn't get them ground are having them
sharpened now elsewhere. He saw his
friend, Maj B. L. Bagby, at the meeting,
looking as bright as one of his own brick
kilns, and he saw Mr.. Jno. B. Evans, at
the meeting, looking, as he always does,
sup to snuff and it had appeared to him
that before he got through on that occa-
sion he had knocked some Of the snuff into
Mr.. Evans eyes. [laughter.] 1t had been
said, before that respectable meeting as
sembled that all that would be done at it
would be to vote the proposition for party
ticket down; but when the vote was taken
it was 1O4 to So the other way. Now if we
are ever to have an organization he could
not see how we are to have it under au-
spices more fair and free than prevailed
at that meeting.
Yet he was met there by two PROPOSE
lions: one, the direct one. that there was
a man in the Radical party who had great
strength in the Conservative party, and
we could not beat him. Sir, [ am ready
for defeat, but not till we have fought the
fight through. Another proposition was
that men who take Office at the hands of a
party, are not responsible to party. Our
Councils and our Mayor have always been
Conservatives. 1t is only this Council that
has elected to the Office of Mayor. "a Radical.
They have
MADE THE ISSUE,
not us, and now they refuse to submit their
claims to the Conservative people at Pr-
mary election. They make the issue them
selves. What is a Primary election for, if
not for the selection Of Conservatives OF
the highest character. 1t is an opportu-
nifty for the expression Of the wishes of
every man-high and loW-American,
German and Irish. Is not the Conserva-
tive party the taxpayers of this city, and
if they have not a right to say who shall
fill them, who have? But it is said some
body has assaulted them, and they have no
recourse but to the unbiased people at the
polls. There are two classes of voters who
go to the polls: one is composed of the
white Conservative taxpayers, and the
other of the colored non-taX-payers. Do
they object to submit their vindication to
the white taxpayers? Why not submit?
One of them, Mr.. Evans, says in his pub
lished letter, that he is not willing to lend
the Conservative party to crafty the dis
likes of ''a few dissatisfied gentlemen"
A few dissatisfied gentlemen! Only few!
Then why not go to the Primary and vote
down these few dissatisfied gentleman?
loud applause.7
This is not the first time the attempt to
break down down the organization has been
| made. In 1870 these same gentlemen,
| these same leaders of to-day, ran against
the Conservative organization and were
beaten, and since then Nh. Evans, as
Councilman, has voted for Mr.. r. G..
Bickle, a Radical for Mayor, and when the
| City Sergeantcy was vacant, after looking
all over Stanton for white Conservative
| fit for the Office. ne nominated Mr. Harvey
Risk, Republican ofice~holder. And yet
MI. Evans says he has always been ga Con-
servatiye in politics. "He reminds me Of Mr.
Stebbins, of Maine, who said he was an I'M
compromising supporter of the Maine
liquor law, but lrreconcilably opposed to