The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-02-26
Federal OHiceholders .

We are OF those who think, and act upon
the thought, that the acceptance of COM
mission from the President of the United
States, does not forfeit the rights of citi-
zenship, nor disqualify the officer from per-
forming all the duties and enjoying all the
privileges which pertain to citizenship. We
are further Of the opinion that there is no
disgrace or stain attached to the act of
serving the government, and that the citi-
zen OF State loses none of his identity
with his people nor commits a social crime
when he faithfully and efficiently dis
charges the obligations imposed by an Of
fetal position under the government. The
government may rightfully claim from him
an assiduous application to the work which
he has agreed to perform-can exact from
him fidelity, honesty and capacity, and the
full and complete discharge of the duties
he has assumed. But it has no just right
to demand Of him surrender of his cit.
izenship or to prescribe him in the exer-
else Of his duties as a citizen, which do not
interfere with the efficient performance OF
his official work. Federal officers are gen.
orally selected for their presumed intelli-
gence and honesty, and the fact that they
have to enter into heavy bonds, and sub
NIT to the most rigid scrutiny in their cur
rent duties, is sufficient assurance that they
have some claims to respect and consider
alton, when they pass year after year, with
ont of 1ai inf
not fully measure up to the strict require
ments of the rigid and inquisitorial regula-
tons Of their respective departments, they
would be soon summarily dispensed with
and others chosen who would more salts
factorily meet the demands of the govern
ment and discharge the duties Of the posi-
lions. We overture the assertion that there
is not State in the Union where there is
less cause for complaint or censure, in the
services rendered to the government in its
various departments, than in Virginia.
There has not, for the past decade, been a
single scandal or defalcation attached to
any prominent government official, and
very rarely in any of the various ramifca-
tons and details of the government service
has criminal conduct been discovered. De-
casionally, out Of the numerous employees
in government service, a subordinate is de-
tected in wrong doing. When this is so,
he is promptly arrested, tried and pun
ished, and it is not unfrequently found that
he is not Republican but Democr rat.
Can as much be said of the State govern.
ment in Virginia? Look at its history fo1
the past ten years, and answer.
We refer to this subject because Of the
recent assaults in some of the opposition
papers upon Federal officers for their par
ticipation in political movements and the
simple exercise of rights which every other
citizen feels at liberty to indulge. They
have been denounced with malicious free.
dom that might be tolerated had they been
guilty Of some criminal act, and thereby
forfeited their rights as citizens of the State,
whose government they aid in supporting,
snd whose interests they in every way seek
to promote. TO accept commission from
the government seems to put them up as
targets for the missiles of every bankrupt
scribbler and irresponsible slanderer, and in
yite the fish-market billingsgate of those
whose moral turpitude, or m entail sterility
would forever debar them from any place
OF trust or responsibility.
Federal officers have Just as many rights
as other people. They have Just as good
right to participate in political movements
as other people. They are governed by
just as honorable motives, as. intelligent an
understanding, and as patriotic considera-
tions as other persons. They have as high a
claim upon society and the respect of de-
cent people, as those who have not been so
favored of government, but who expose
their ill-breeding and vulgar tastes by gen.
eral assaults and unmanly inuendoes which
they would not dare to throw into definite
shape and make personal application of.
There was time in Virginia and the
South, when to accept Federal Office was
tobe exposed to taunt and ostracism. That
time is past. There is not Democrat in
the State who would not gladly receive a
commission to serve the government in any
OF its departments, and very few of them
who could not be bought to serve the party
they now oppose, by such recognition. The
clamor against Federal officers is all sheer
afectation, therefore, and designed to ex-
cite prejudice against them, and what
they may do, in the absence of ability and
influence to meet them in fair and legiti-
mate encounter. Honest men, those who
sre conscious of their own capacity to
maintain their party belief, and have the
fairness to recognize the right of others to
hold to different views, do not resort to
such low appeals. 1t is the scurvy class, the
scavengers of party, who follow in the rear
and are ready for any dirty work that will
pass them to the refuse basket, who revel
In that kind of political garbage.
Federal officers who faithfully and eff
ciently discharge the. duties to which they
may be assigned, not only vindicate their
usefulness and character as citizens, but their
claims to the confidence of the party through
whose instrumentality they have been
entrusted with positions of responsibility.
The acceptable administration of these Off
ces and faithful execution of the duties
pertaining thereto, certainly ought not to de-
tract from their political or social standing,
and justify the reckless and unmeasured
denunciation which is melted out to the m by
interruptions writers.
II to hold office compromises mans
character or his influence as citizen, it is
singular that so many of the opposite party
are SO eager and anxious to place them in
such questionable position. 1t was esti-
mated that at least 5000 Democrats or Con-
servatives from Virginia swarmed about the
national capital, when the present Congress
was organized, freighted with lengthy Pc
titions representing their partizan service,
and urging their claims for reward. For
the five supervisors places to take the Gen.
sus in Virginia, there were 200 applicants,
four-ffths Of whom were Democrats. Even
the Democratic Senate-a body presumed
to be far removed from the nettv auhi.