Staunton spectator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1849-1896, 1883-10-23
The Question to be Answered at the
Polls.

1HS pOlLlCdl qucSClOQ Oh CQo Ody-Iue
all-absorbing and important question is
are you Republican or are you Demo
crat? To the offce-holding gentry and
stump-orators OF Boss Malone, it is the
knottiest, most knarled and double-twisted
problem that ever perplexed jaek-in the
box politician, whose main object is to
double-deal with and cheat the people.
When the question is put to them, they at
cnce become embarrassed, get nervous, be-
gin to twist, wriggle, evade, get excited,
and cavort about their right to vote for
whom they please, their determination not
to vote for Bourbon Funder, &C., gene
rally winding up by completely dodging
the troublesome query. And yet, like Ban
quo's ghost, the same old question keeps
looming up-at every courthouse, at every
crossroads, from every stump it keeps
jumping up in the face of the Boss's speak
ers It must be answered. Somebody
must answer it between now and the day
of election-thousands of Virginians will
answer it on that day-yea, thousands of
Democratic Readjusters will answer it then.
The would-be leaders may continue to
dodge, but our candidates and canvassers,
failing to get an answer from the stump,
will turn for an honest, outspoken, candid
answer to the honest white freemen of Vir-
ginia-to the men whose best interests are
involved-to the men who love Virginia
more than all the Federal offices that are
to be bartered within her borders, and who
would shield their old mother from the dis
grace of Radicalism and negro supremacy
and from worse than these, the fostering
of the system of Bossism, intrigue and
corruption which Malone is seeking to in.
augu1ate-and to these they will look with
confidence for answer. Are you Republi-
can or are you Democrat?
The question will continue on its rounds.
1t will be asked On the highway, in the shops
and business places, on the farm and at the
freside. In no offensive sense, in no inter
meddling spirit, in no disposition to taunt
or provoke. But in all seriousness, in all
Kindness in the interest of the voter him
self, and with a view to arouse him to
sense of his danger and the danger which
threatens his State of being turned over to
the tender mercies of the horde of ambi-
tious politicians and ignorant colored vo-
ters, the question will be asked time and
again-are you Republican or are you
Democrat? ?
1t is question that involves great deal.
It is question that is calculated to put a
thinking man, who has the least regard for
the veal or woe of his country, to think
ing. 1t is question that comes home and
finds place at the fireside, one that affects
the dearest interests of the family. It is
one that should rise above prejudice. 1t is
of more Importance than the public debt,
the rate of taxation, the tariff, the road
system, the commissioner of sales bill, the
or any like question of State policy. 1t, to
be sure, involves all these, but it is superior
to them all, because by it all Others are to
be determined determined in the interest
and for the welfare of the white people of
Virginia, or against them, and for the few
white trading politicians and their ONE
HUNDRED AND TwENTY-EIGHT THOUSAND
NEGRO ALLIEs-in the interest of Arthur,
the Stalwart Radical President, (who is
looking to a second term of Office because
Arthur is for these followers of Malone.
1t Is great and momentous question-one
of the most serious, in our humble opinion,
that a white Virginian ever had to answer
at the polls. How will you answer it,
Democratic Readjusters of Wythe and of
Virginia, when the old Farmer from the
Cove puts it to you in your homes, and
when he meets you in the canvass he is now
making? Hundreds Of you, we feel as
sured will honestly tell him you are Demo
Gratis, and that because you voted with
General MaLone on the debt question is no
reason why you should follow him into the
Radical party-fOllow him in support of the
St4lwart Arthur simply because Arthur is
patting Malone on the back and literally
dealing out Federal patronage to him with
the view of Radicalizing Virginia and Sc
curing it's vote in 1884 You will not wait
to be interrogated. You will ask yourself
the question-am l a Republican or am
Democrat, and on the 9th of November
you will answer in accordance with your
instincts, your associations, your own bsst
interests, all of which must constrain you
to act and vote with the Democratic party,
to march henceforth under its broad ma
tional banner, to take part with it in re-
deeming Virginia from negro supremacy in
November next, and to be numbered with
its victorious hosts in the grand national
triumph which awaits it in 1884. Wythe-
Uille Enterprise.