The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1881-09-15
A Few Facts for the People

Vi tne tickets DelOre the people. This ln-
clination, however, does not preclude us
from calling attention to some plain facts.
in which the people themselves are deeply
Government was instituted for
the benefit of the constituent body, al
though this proposition is not generally re-
cognized by either of the parties to an ex-
cited political contest. It is not what is
practically best for those who bear the bur-
dens of government, but what will lead to
the success of one or the other Of the polit
ical factions. which guages the action and
endeavors of partizans on either side. 1t
would be useless to deny the fact that the
Conservative party of Virginia grossly
abused the power it attained in the admins
traton of the affairs of the State Govern
ment; and it was not until the disruption
of chat organization in 1879. as the direct
result of the policy OF the Republicans in
1877, that any effort was made to correct
these wrongs, and direct the management
of the various departments Of government
in the interest OF those whose labor and
sweat support them. There had been
aroused deep feeling of dissatisfaction all
through the State by reason of the arbitra-
ry and despotic reign of the caucus. Its
mandates were as imperious as the edlct OF
an Emperor, and whatever might have been
the grounds OF complaint, the enginery OF
the party machine was so severely handled
and the proscriptive agencies so unerring-
ly pointed, that very few had the Courage
to openly confront the party organization
and denounce its methods. The great mass
of the people felt the expressions and
wrongs to which they were subjected in
the name of the great Conservative par
ty." Ihtimatien after intimation was given
of mismanagement of the public reve-
nues; the palpable fact faced them, that
the treasury was defaulting and the obliga-
tions of the State growing larger each year
to the amount of 10000 or $500, 900 :;
the public schools were languishing, and a
growing sentiment of hostility to the sys-
tenn encouraged year after year; irregular
tiles in the appointed agents of government
exposed, but never punished !; and in the
very atmosphere there pervaded current
of d;strust and suspicion, that only found
utterance in whispers, until the open revolt
of 1879. When these facts were presented
to the public by the Republicans, they
were met by an indignant denunciation Of
the Black Republican party; by scornful ap-
peals to the passions and prejudces of the
people against the Radical horde that
threatened to Africanize the State {; and a
still more audacious disregard of the inter-
ests of the people by still more fragrant
abuse of the power that was welded and
was fondly believed to be perpetual fol-
lowed with contemptuous disregard of the
warnings these facts involved.
But 1859 found the people ready for a
revolt. not because of the debt question
alone but because they felt and knew that
their revenues were being squandered, their
burdens being increased, and all the great
interests of the State subordinated to the
necessities of desperate partizan regime.
The movement of 1879 was known as the
first organized presentation of the Read
juster party, ostensibly based upon the
debt question. but really receiving its vi
scheming politicians were controlling the
State in their own interest and to the I'M
measured disadvantage of the constituent
body. 1t succeeded, not because the people
wanted to repudiate any portion OF the just
debt of the State. but for the reason that
they knew that to continue the policy and
met ods which had been for years prac-
ticed, would bring certain and inevitable
ruin, both to the State and her creditors.
The basement offices-where centre the
very vitals of the Commonwealth-were
passed into the hands of the new party =
Scarcely had they been installed in office,
when many evidences of malfeasance in Of
flee were exposed, and the true cause of
the deplorable condition of the Common
wealth made apparent. The Penitentiary
Storekeeper was found to be a defaulter to
the amount of 100000; a system of irreg-
ularity and fraud was made bare in the
management of the city Jail; the Peniten-
tiary itself. heretofore charge upon the
people of from $4,000 to 100000, was
brought to self-sustaning basis; the first
auditors office exhibited over 100000
against the county treasurers, which had
been paid by the people into the hands of
these officers, but never by them paid into
the treasury /; in the second auditors Office
were found uncancelled coupons which had
been paid twice, and fraud upon the State
practiced to large amount, the exact sum
not yet having been reported ; and through
out nearly the entire machinery of the
State Government were discovered irregu-
larties that established a uniform inef-
ficiency in the management of the business
the people as direct robbery of their rev.
enues. These things had been tolerated or
concealed by the Conservative party, when
its authority was supreme and its power
unchallenged.
These reforms, so essential to the inter-
est of the people and the welfare of the
Commonwealth. were effected by the pres
ent basement officers, elected by Read
juster or coalition Legislature.
1t would be supposed that party amb-
tious of the public good. land DESTROYS of cor
recting wrongs, systematizing business and
conserving the rights Of the people, would
hesitate long before it would propose to
change the officers and the methods which
had accomplished these results. Certainly
if the interests of the people were the pri-
mary consideration. there would be no haste
in depriving the State of the services of the
agents that had worked out these favorable
ends and restoring the offices they fill 20 the
very party which had committed the Of
fences which these officers had exposed
This would appear to reasonable men to be
reasonable supposition. But that is not
what the Conservative party, or what is left
of it, propose to do. The Richmond State,
the ablest and far the most conservative of
the opponents of the policy Of that wing of
the Democratic party. does not leave us in
doubt on this subject. 1t boldly comes for
ward and demands that all the offices of the
State shall be wrenched from those now