The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-07-07
The Political Situation.

political situation In Virginia is such as to interes
every voter in the State let him be of whatever pen
suaSion he may be.
Two parties, the Republican and the Readjuster
agree upon some vital principles, which dfrectl!
affect the laboring classes,
First, The two parties mentioned agree upon thu
principle that the requirement of tue head-tax al
pre- requisite for the exercise OF the right Of sui
fra e is a base form OF 'taxation without represen
tation and is unjust and unconstitutional for til,
Constitution of the United States says no one mus
be prohibited from voting except for engaging IL
rebellion or other crime This is the substance, L
not the words of the supreme law OF the land, an(
it would not take a reasonable man long to decide
whether the fact that a man had not paid his head
tax by a certain day in the year has committed
crime engaged in rebellion or not 1t Is not
crime to fail to pay your taxes by a certain day
neither Is 1t rebellion But it is not my intention t
discuss In this article principle on which the two
parties fully agree. shall merely state the prtn
ciples, and then proceed to present few liberal
views to the voters.
The next principle upon which they agree is thai
it is unjust to disrranchise man for petit
larceny by whipping him, however wrong /
be discrimination made in the selection OF jurors
and pledge ourselves to do all IN our power to Sc
cure fairness in the selection of jurors.
Again, agree that white domination or negro
domination, In other words war at the ballot
box preJudices, Is alike disastrous to peace
purity, progress and genuine freedom. II we agree
upon these great principles of republican govern
Enent. what hinders us from making common
cause of the matter, and joining forces to accom-
lltslAs that which neither can accomplish alone
shall party fidelity, or rather, party bgotry keep
us aloof from party that is trying to carry out
these great principles? Have we party collar
around necks that will not suffer to do what
believe to be right merely because we cannot be
chief cook and bottle-washer of the whole AFFAIR."?
/ hope republicans will ask themselves the ques-
ton: Shall party zeal, party blindness and party
frenzy keep from striving to promote the grand
principle of manhood suffrage? 1 assert, and chal-
lenge contradiction, that Republicans are as far
from agreeing upon the State debt question, as the
Democrats are, therefore we may ignore that ques.
ton and fight for liberty, the franchise and equal
rights. AS for the sincerity of the Readjuster DEM
ocrats, confess am not overwhelmed with con-
ddence in that, but what does that matter, If in
their scramble for the offices, State is freed from
the tyranny of Bourbonism? There Is an old adage
that 'swhen rogues fall out, honest men will get
their rights and it may well apply to the Demo
cratic party of Virginia; for they have fallen out
and while they fussing, honest men may get
their rights at least we have show for It, II party
madness does not control better judgment
Unless those who favor the repeal of the headtax
restriction upon suffrage have control of the next
Legislature, and unless we have Governor
pledged TO that repeal, we succeed in getting
it repealed. We might as well look the facts In the
face and prepare ourselves to battle, not for par
ties, but for principles, and there Is no greater
worldly warfare than to battle for the equal rights
of man. Let have strict party organization If
necessary, but let fight for principle and not
for mere party name. II the Republicans antago-
nize this movement, it will force legislators to
act as minority party in the legislature, and that
will not benefit the voters OF this great common
wealth. Some argue that it Will be more honorable
to do that way, but 1 doubt it. Others argue that
the Republicans will gain honor by pursuing
'5traightout course, but honors are like peo-
pies heads-empty, and that will certainly be an
empty honor-to defeat what we say we are In ia
vor of. There must be harmony OF action between
all parres VINO advocate the same principles, ana
the principles for which should contend now
are those transmitted to us from the revolutionary
period, through the Declaration of Independence.
am not a Malone sympathizer, and have very lit
tie faith in the professions of the leaders of his
party, for have found some of his followers just
as Bourbon in their zeal for the Readjuster party
as the real Bourbons are in their zeal for State
Rights and white supremacy Bourbonism is the
Whathar practicad ReDUhljcanS Raa1inS-
ters or Funders. If we enter a protest against
fettered ballot-box, we must not grumble II the
voter happens to take advantage of our liberal SEN
tnents and happens to feel so free as to cast his
vote contrary to our wishes.
1 would enter the battle for real freedom of
speech, press and franchise. don't expect to wear
a Malone collar all my life because he was instru
mental in betraying his own party, though am
glad he came out from the old Bourbon party which
sneither learns nor fOrgets. He is now in a fair
way to learn something, and sincerely trust that
freedom from the head-tax restriction will not be
the of making the voters Of this State slaves
to Malone nor to any of his lieutenants.
The Republican party is the only real party OF
platform has been stolen from the Republican
party, so let go forward, and advocate the best
policy for the citizens of this State to pursue
Let the Republicans of the State go in to this cam
paign for purpose; to repeal the head-ax restrc-
ton, repeal the whipping post law, to secure I'M
in the selection of Jur1eS, and to wipe
out race prejudice, and when these things are &C.
will be able to stand alone and re-
ceive all the converts to Republicanism we can
get
This should be the issue with Republicans and
we need not argue from Readjuster standpoint at
ALL but take the grand idea of party, that all
men are equal under the law, andethe laws shall be
made to bear with equal force on every class
of citizens, Of whatever race or nationality they
may be- and then we have the real issue and let US
battle for principles, not men, but the rep
resentatives Of principles.
Harrisonburg, va. GA
Tt is well known that we do not endorse
the views of our correspondent, but inasmuch
as they are couched in respectful language,
we give them place in our columns that both
sides may be heard-EDs VIRGINIANl
The Caterpillar Nuisance.
Editor Washington Star: In the public inter
est you have already drawn attention to the
caterpillar nests that are now dis
figuring the shade trees in most parts of the
city. These trees are a marked and beautiful
feature Of Washington, and parking commits
sioners cannot be too greatly praised for their
to properly care for them and pro-
tect them from injury. In this good work
they should be aided by all public spirited
citizens | have thought, therefore, that few
in reference to this caterpillar
nuisance would be timely and might do some
good.
This webworm known in chronological
works as the Fall Web-worm, (Hyp7stsntgia
teGt0r9 is one of the most widespread and in
furious insects in the country, feeding as it
does, on all sorts OF trees and occurring every
where east Of the Rocky Mountains The
parent is a white moth, more or less spotted
with black, which issues in spring from the
cocoon in which the chrysalis has hibernated
generally near,or just below, the surface of the
ground, but also IN any other sheltered situa-
ton. The pale yellow eggs are laid, to the
number of 800 and upward, during the last
days Of May and the earlier part Of June, in
this latitude, in one uniform batch, slightly
with white hairs from the body
of the female They are not generally noticed
and it is useless to attempt their destruction in
a general way. Immediately upon Matching,
the young worms feed together on the paren-
chyma of the leaf, leaving nothing but the ep-
ideImis. AS they grow they spread from leaf
to Leaf, enclosing whole branches with their
web, and few attempts are made to destroy
them until they have rendered themselves con
spicuous and are nearly fun grown as at the
present time. AT this stage there is no more
available way of destroying them than by
pruning OFT the infested twigs and branches,
care being taken to subsequently, destroy the
worms A wad of cotton, or other material
attached to the end of a long pole, saturated
with kerosene or coal tar and ignited will also
do good service in burning,t them. But on all
the smaller trees ofthe city That can be readily
reached with hand pump there is Il much
simpler remedy, which might be uniformly
by the Commissioners at trivial ex
pense. With little practice the first affected
leaf or leaves can oe detected during the first
days Of June before the trees show any disig-
urment II at such time the parts of the tree
where the young caterpillars have been MOTTO
ed be sprinkled with water in which London
purple has been mixed in proportion of about
1 pound OF the purple to about one hundred
gallons of water, the young worms will all be-
destroyed thereby and no further Disagreement
of the tree ensue from them. A second ap
pication about the middle of June to the more
limited number of worms that hatch from eggs
laid after the first application may also be
desirable. The purple can be got at whole
sale from Hemingway & Co., New York, at
from 6 to 10 cents pound, and a few dollars
worth would answer for the trees Of the whole
city. 1t would pay the parking commission
to have special tank built and mounted on
wheels for this purpose, with force pump
that might be worked with two men, while
third handles the atomzing nozzle through
which the poisoned spray should be applied.
One of the simplest and most satisfactory noz-
zles of this kind is make by two converging
holes so that the two jets of water break each
other as they issue. Important Improvements