The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1880-11-18
A Foolish Threat.

OOtile VI Jul OCulOCidtiC ColGIHpOEdTleS,
since the disastrous defeat of the End inst,
brooding over their crushed hopes for the
spoils of office, have declared for Southern
commercial and business independence as
a means of resenting what they choose to
assert is Northern hostility to the South.
This exhibition of peeysh temper is child
ish, and is only another illustration of the
utter incapacity of those who assume party
leadership to comprehend the true interests
of the people. Even were such advice to be
listened to and attempted to be put in prac-
tice, it would amount to nothing, except
the exposure OF the weakness and malice of
the instigators Of the policy. The interests
of the two sections are intimately blended
and cannot be separated. The prosperity,
the development of the physical resources
of the country and the advancement OF its
power, must be done by the mutual Coop
Grafton of the sections, and the joint utili-
cation Of the natural capacities and the ar
tificial agencies Of North and South. They
must work together, and there is nothing
now that can prevent it. The mere infam-
matory politicians may rant about the ami
mosties of the North and the independence
of the South, but it will be Of short dura-
ton. Their influence has been broken and
their mission ended. The people begin now
to understand the situation, and thousands in
this State declare that they have had enough
of sectional politics, and will hereafter act
independently Of, not in open opposition to
the Democratic party. They have been lead
into foolish andpartizan evasion of the laws
of the country,and they recognize the harm
that results from it. The politicians are
gratified, when by appeals to passion and
prejudice, they can record party triumph
in local affairs. But the great mass Of the
people the bone and sinew--who seek no
party favors, and are only interested in good
government and healthful business, under
stand now that what pleases the politicians
operates to their disadvantage. 1t is a sim
their requirements, and accord the rights
they guarantee; and the general tendency
of public thought is now set in that direc-
ton We expect liberal and statesman
like administration under Gen Garfield for
the next four yeitrs-an administration that
will know no sections, operating alike
upon North and South, East and West,
wherever the laws are observed in letter
and spirit. The people of the south have it
| in their pos er to contribute largely to the
success of such a purpose and policy, and
realizing that it is to their interest to do so,
we already witness the indications of dis
position to surrender mere abstract, imprac-
tical sentiment, to practical. living ideas
affecting the common welfare.
we expect to see in Virginia, within the
next few years, great revolution in polt-
ical sentiment. The movement of capital
to the mineral fields of this State. as a re-
suit of the opening up of isolated sections
by means of the completion OF projected
railroads, must give practical turn to the
reflections and actions of our people. The
Shenandoah Valley Railroad will expose
the richest mineral region of the continent.
as it progresses South from Waynesboro' to
Chattanooga, Tennessee. The Richmond &
Allegheny Railroad will penetrate one of
the loveliest and most prolific portions of the
State. Large investments have already been
made in mineral properties since the Octo-
Der elections, and extensive plans for work
ing the iron deposits, accommodated by this
enterprise, are maturing. These are but in
dications. When the fruitions shall begin to
be realized, and Unpopular pulse is stirred
and vtalzed by the activities of the forge
and furnace, then the political fossils will be
forgotten and the modern Democratic par
ty. which is the political Golgotha, will dis
solve and disappear. for there is nothing SO
fatal to that or laniZation. as business activ-
ity and industrial development and progress
Northern capital and enterprise. and Sonth-
ern resources will be thus brought together.
and the interests OF both sections promoted,
and the strength and wealth of our comm on
country developed. Southern independence
will go hand in hand with Northern indie
pendence. the one united with the other
and so closely interviewer that not all the
madness and malice of all the part iZan
hacks and strife. breeders and drones and
marplots of the South and North can dis
sever or disassociate them.