Shepherdstown register. [volume] (Shepherdstown, Va. [W. Va.]) 1849-1955, 1880-12-18
COMMUNICATED.
Y. s. SENATOR.

Mr.. Editor-I have read, with some sur.
,se In YOUR issue of the 18th inst, the
Pronunciation of your correspondent
co''a',,arson'' I'm which he undertakes TO
~. ,hat Senator Hereford should DE MS
snU" successor i'm the United States Senate.
4 S,To t,sk of making a great man out oil
l inU III. is only the old story OF making
Sr;cls without straw greatly exaggera-
VI for here the work to be done
INST be performed not only without
nme but without all of the constituents re-
tired for the accomplishment of the
,I,ronosed end. The encomium upon the
Senator that he is a man Of strong native
;nteIiect, EXCELLENT EDUCATION, &C., here
here he is well known sounds strangely
ike what Artimus Ward would have
aaIIcd sARCAsUN. Mr.. Hereford is man
If little education, indeed doubt wheth-
or he ever enjoyed any educational adj
yaEtaces and he has never supplied It's
want by private study. In IGNORANCE,
uLrrERACY and WANT OF MENTAL cuLrUKh
4 choose my words advisedly) ne 10
cuuallcd by his colleague the Senior sen
ator from this State alone, aud even oy
him, ia these negative qualities, ne Is nos
surpassed and know OF no suo"sei way
in which TO give expression ~ 'i,e iu1"'
In rho c;rcui, where he practices law he
- rec.r,lad by his associates as only
tL;r6 or fourth rate lawyer and il he can
nrnn,ra q respectable bill OF answer or
t.an draft q decent decree it has yet to be
proved. Is it not preposterous then to
select such man to discuss legal ques-
;ions with lawyers like Thurman, Ed
minds and Bayard? "What are corn
stalks against canron?" L say these
,Lincs with no unkind feelings for the
senator but they are facts important to
be considered in selecting a representa-
five of the sovereignty Of our State in the
highest legislative body in the wOrld-and
when man puts himself forward as an
a.pirant for public position he must cX-
pe5t his dement's and deficiencies, whetll-
er they are the consequences OF misfor-
tunes or faults, to be made the subjects OF
public discussion, upon the ground OF
merit or capacity and in any other than
al entirely abuorma!'cOndition OF affairs.
Hereford would never have been thought
of for the House of Representatives and
his election to the Senate, as every body
knows, was the merest accident. He
came to our State in 1867 or 1868 and very
soon entered upon apolitical career which
has been one of unparalleled luck and
nothing else. At that time no Southern
man could practice law and, protesting to
be 4 democrat, he was employed by the
late Senator Capcrton, brother lawyer,
10 defend number of trespass suits for
acts done as an officer of the dcfunct con-
fcderacy. For these services he was lib
orally paid by Mr.. c. and by accepting
compensation at all departed from the
usual practice of lawyers-which Is not
10 charge a brother lawyer. At this time
he stated that during the war he had been
in California, that his sympatnies were
all with the south and that I great deal
of his money had been sent out To cOnfed-
crate soldiers. In 1870 the influence OF
disfranclised confcderates secured his
nomination and election 10 the lind Con-
.re>S and by continually reminding his
constituents that when lie first came to
West Virginia they were manaclcd and
''had no more rights than bobtailed
WALLER (>ic) dog and that he had
kuockcd of their shacklcs, he was again
clcCtct. to llic -i3rd and then to the Nth
Congress. Ii was during his service i'll
the lower House that he participated in the
salary Grab" aud then sought 70 relieve
himself from the odium of the act by do
n?limg HIS grab to the unrcducabie
school fund az investment from which
he expected larger returns than from any
other Use he could make of the money
and an investment which he had no more
right to make than he had 10 buy lands
and houses, and this, if, as he admits, he
had no title TO the fund was simply no
right al all. lie was defeated in his cam
dIdaCy for nomination to the 10Th Oon-
gre>S and remanded to private life and, so
TAR Is the democracy of the state are cou-
ccrned, would have remained there but
the republican party, wide awake to
every means to bring discrcdit upon the
democrats, elected him to the L. ). SEN
ate. 1t Is said that speech made III
Cabcll county in which speaking of the
rebels, he said "wE whipped them once
and can do it again" and the report that
his title of Major" was won i'm the Union
army aided in clecting him to the Senate.
But this can scarcely be true, for he GER
taiuly has said that his sympathies were
all with the South and surely he would
not falsely pretend anything for the pur-
pose of working out his political salvation.
IL is certain and will not be denied that
al one time, when in California, he was
a know nothing" and ran for office as
the candidate of that party; and it Is ru-
Inored that at another time he was re-
Publican. This may account for the
partiality shown him ny the republican,
members of our legislature in 1877. How
ever this may be, he is now professed
democrat and so seems to be sort OF free
lover in politics. 1t is said now, as was
said when lie sought nomination for the
18th Congress. that his services and ex-
perieuce are indispensable, and when
keuua overcame him, we almost expected
to see the wheels of legislation stopped
but still appropriations flow into the Bird
District as they will continue to do If our
rivers do not dry up. The truth is there
is not county in the State that cannot
furnish score of men who are his supe-
riors in ability, character and education
and a fair estimate of his deserts will
prove him TO be the most ENORMOUSLY re-
warded democrat in the State.
Any man of ordinary sense under the
same circumstances could have secured rs
large amount of appropriations as ever
Mr.. Hereford got.
Summers peroration could DC equally
rs well delivered by some ono else and
POSSIBLY we might find some other man
who could with Il proper sense of the
eternal fitness of things" give notice Of
an intention "to reply to Mr.. lioar:"
THIRD DISTRICT.