The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-03-19
Federal omces.

FeQ0Fal OInC6S.
The Washington correspondent of the
Philadelphia Times, under date Of March
18th, has the following
A Virginia delegation was up to the
Post Office Department to-day to see Post
master General Villas about the policy OF
the administration towards the Malone
Postmasters. Eppa Hunton presented the
case, He showed What a corrupt set OF
men Malone had foisted upon the people
of Virginia and declared that every Malone
Postmaster should be removed imme
diately. Mr.. Villas listened very patiently
and was much interested in the statements
of Mr.. Hunton and others When they
were made he turned to Mr.. Hunton and
inquired whether it would not have the
same moral effect upon the State if, as
fast as the commissions OF these Post
masters expired, they were simply dropped
and Democrats appointed in their places.
mo, by Cd, !" replied the bluff Vir-
ginian, bringing his fist down upon the
desk. 'sThey ought to go now, at once.'1
Notwithstanding this emphasis and
earnestness Postmaster General Villas
maintained that he could do nothing for
them. Bad as were undoubtedly the Ma
hone Hatton tactics it would be worse for
this administration TO repeat them by
wholesale political removals. AS may be
imagined the Virginians are mad and
swearing on all sides that at the next
election Virginia will go Republican. -
The stand taken by Mr.. Villas is in strict
consonance with the policy Of the admin
istration outlined in these dispatches last
night. Where individual cases of corrup-
ton, inefficiency, etc., are successfully
made removals for cause will follow, but
men will not be removed for political
opinions, and the Democrat who wishes
to succeed decent Republican must wait
uutil his terms out.
We do not believe that Gen. Hunton
was guilty of the discourtesy imputed to
him in the profane language quoted 1t
is more than probable that he was en-
pTlatic in his desire for the removal of Re-
publicans from Office and the selection Of
Democrats to fill their places. The policy
Of the Democratic party in Virginia fully
sustains this belief and it is equally in
ferrable that he was pronounced against
any suggestion that the purposes and
policy of his party in this State should not
be carried out. regardless of the public
service. His wholesale denunciation OF
Republicans must however have struck
the Postmaster General as excessive.
That all the corruption and all the dlshon-
esty should be confined to one party and all
the purity and all the integrity embodied
in the other, while characteristic Of the
claims of the Virginia democracy, must
have been thought rather remarkable by
Col. Villas. We are sure, if personal cita-
tions had been in order, the postmaster at
Gen. Hunton S own town could have been
referred to as disputing his assumption, as
well as the postmaster at Leesburg and
Alexandria in his immediate vicinity.
Their sin is innot believing the Virginia De-
| mocracy immaculate and not in the manner
in which they conduct their respective
offices. A tap Of the Postmaster Generals
office bell could have furnished proof from
the records of the Department that Gen.
Hunton's party zeal out-ran a sense Of
fairness and justice. and that there was
nothing to justify the sweeping charge
against the public service in this State
Gen. Hunton ought to know that the post
Office department is no respector Of per-
sons in the adjustment Of official business
and that each officer is held to strict re-
sponsibility for the faithful and efficient
administration of his office. He could
have ascertained, if he had been looking
for facts, that in no State IN the Union is
there less to complain of i'll the postal
service management than in Virginia
that under no previous administration
from the foundation of the government
to the present time has the general service
been more ramified and complicated, or
more circumspectly, honestly and eflici-
emily conducted. 1t was simply over
shooting the mark to utter such wholesale
SANDERS against whole class of Federal
officers, whose only crime is that they do
not believe the Democratic party of Vir-
ginia is the embodiment of all the virtues
all the talents and all the deeeney Of the
State The Postmaster General must
have been impressed with the remarkable
statement of Gen. Hunton, if he is re-
ported correctly in the extract we have
quoted, and been amazed to learn how
| unevenly the elements of gentility and
| honesty were distributed in the Old Com
mOnwealth. And how singularly unfor-
| tunate his predecessors must have been in
| selecting the vilest and most corrupt of
the citizens of the State for recognition
for many of the Presidential appointees
were in office before Gen. Malone was
elected to the Senate, land many of the lesser
class are democrats and have been under
successive Republican administrations
| 1t is no wonder that Mr.. Villas, after re-
covering from the shock he must have eX-
perlenced on learning of so much con-
centrated corruption, should have reached
| the conclusion he did, as expressed by the
| correspondent. "A phenomenal condition
OF things was presented to him, that the
sacred sOil'' could contain SO MUCH
moral perversity. if not putrldity and
that the party Gen. Hunton represents
should have endorsed all the legislation
affecting State policy. that this putrid.
| oSSeiiiiiS3 VI VIC C1ltCleu. IL
would be startling discovery, indeed,
were the line drawn between corruption
and honesty to disclose all democrats on
one side and all Republicans Oh the other,
and offer lesson in ethics not put down
iii the books.
We hope and believe that Gen. Hunton
is misquoted by the Times correspondent.
We have always regarded him as fair
man. and would be sorry to believe that
he had allowed his temper to lead him
into the excessive utteranceS with which
he is credited. If, however, what is re-
ported be true, he has merely damaged
the cause he spoke for, for sensible men
everywhere know that such an anomalous
condition of society as is represented in
the reported interview. exists nowhere in
America.
An unknown woman, well dressed, was
found floating in the dock at Richmond,
On Saturday last. There is mystery
about the sad affair, which the detectives
are actively working to clear up. Several
Commissions were found on the head, and