The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1883-10-11

lions. 1t laughs at the slaughter of the
People year otter year. 1t must first de-
monstrate its sympathy with the masses
before it undertakes to lead them. When
i denounces the rings in its own party
when it champions the cause of the work
ingmen, when its championship might do
some good when it gives them credit for
intelligence enough to see through the
shallow trick it is attempting to palm off
on them, then it may expect the common
people to have some confidence in its spas
modic virtue and new found ZEAL
The Liquor Question in Politics.
The attempt is made by the Bourbons to
offset the charge that Messrs. Echols and
Opie were the candidates of the Staunton
ring, controlled by certain liquor dealers in
this place, by charging that Capt. E. A.
Fulcher, one Of the Readjuster nominees,
is engaged in. distilling. The cases are not
parallel, and the one is not an offset to the
other. So far as the simple act of liquor
selling or distilling is concerned, we have
nothing to say, so long as the parties so ell
gagged, conform strictly to the law. When
the laws of the State invite a man to in
vest his means and time in an enterprise,
or branch of business, we contend that he
should be protected and respected in the
prosecution of that business. Whatever
might be our opinion Of the law and the
policy it encourages, so long as it remains
on the statute book, the privileges it grants
should be enjoyed by any and all who avail
of its provisions and comply with it's de-
mands. 1t is the law that is at; fault, and
| not those who actin conformity with the
Flaw, when evils flow from it,. IT the liquor
dealers and the liquor distillers simply con-
4 fine themselves to their legitimate bust
ness, for which they pay what the law re-
quires, there ought not to be any complaint
against them. The law is what ought to
be struck at, and it's repeal demanded, if
harm results to society. 1t is not charged
against Capt. Fulcher that he used his
|lstill house to secure his nomination. No
l'body thought Of that when heaswas nomi-
mated. No influence of that kind was in
Evoked when he was elected Supervisor for
Beverly Manor District last Spring. No
one mentioned it. As a farmer, intelli-
gent and progressive, and liberal, public
spirited citizen, he was measured, and ne
alllision was ever heard to the fact that he
owned a distillery, for the reason that he
never thought of using that and calling on
his brother distillers to assist him in that
campaign. Being a distiller neither made
nor lost him a vote in the spring contest,
nor is it counted ON that such will be the
case in November next, for the'reason that
he is forming.no combinations with distil-
lers and receiving no aid from them. He
| is the candidate of party representing a
great cause, and he depends on that to Sc
cure him all the support he will receive.
1t is not SO with those who are opposing
him in this election. Certain of the liquor
dealers united their influence to defeat
Col. Skinner, because he had presented a
petition and supported it in the Legisla-
ture, from certain localities in the county.
| allowing the people of a corporation to say
whether they wanted license to sell liquor
| in that community. They opposed Col.
Skinner because of this fact, and supported
Messrs. Echols and Opie, in order to de-
feat him. They went beyond the mere
fact Of the legitimate business contem-
plated by the law, and as liquor dealers,
entered the political arena, to prescribe a
faithful, capable and honest fepresen-
tative, who had conscientiously sup
ported a local option petition! 1t is the
political phase Of the matter that we OBJ
ject to. 1t is this phase that the people will
protest against. The great mass of the
people of the county have no idea Of hav-
| ing parties dominated bya close corpo
ration of liquor-dealers, and run to suit
certain persons engaged in certain bust
ness, because of that business. There is
Capt, Fulcher's nomination and that Of
Messrs. Echols and Opie. The one was
the unanimous nominee of a mass Con
vention of his party. The others were
nominated by influences set in motion in
Staunton, and the machinery manipulated
in the county by persons acting in CON
cert with the movers here. In the one
case there was no suggestion or thought
of the liquor, influence. In the other il
was pronounced and prominent, and at
tracted attention and disgust Throughout
the city on the day of the Primary cleo
ton.
1t is w ell enough to look at this matter
in it's broadcast bearings. We assume that
the moral sense of the people of Augusta
county is opposed to the liquor traffic as
carried on under our laws. This moral
Esense has never been fully aroused But
Ethe action of the liquor dealers in Staun-
ton in the primary contest, has drawn I'M
B usual attention to the subject, and excited
ian interest that is destined to increase and
grow as time progresses. The combina-
ton of the liquor interests in Ohio, es-
ipecially, by which one party was defeated
last year through it's influence. has stirred
that people as they have never been stirred
before, and a resolve registered that the
moral sentiment of that State must be in
fcorporated into it's legislation, looking to a
constitutional inhibition to the sale of spir-
ftuous liquors. The same policy and determ-
ination isspreading all over the country. If
the liquor dealers .organize to perpetuate
the traffic, they say the people must organ
ize to oppose them. The evil effects Of
liquor drinking are present in every COM
munity. The hearths it makes desolate the
hearts it saddens and bleeds and breaks; the
crimes it breeds the bright intellects it
clouds and destroys the misery and want
it entails the moral debauchery and pu-
trescerce it causes, are driving into the
field of contest the women and children
who mostly feel the terrible effects of the
traffic, and urging the good of all classes
and conditions to unite their efforts for a
common end. Let such influences be
united in Staunton, in Augusta county, in
the State, as they will be when they see the
liquor interests banded together, and the
result will not be doubtful.
This journal aims to be temperate in
all thin gs. 1t believes in respecting the
laws so long as they are on the statute
book, and those who may avail themselves
Of the laws provisions to engage in bust
& ~ I 4.