The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1885-08-06
An Exnadiency Ticket.

An Expedielcy Ticket.
The Democrats expect to win the State
on ship, hurrah r In the ticket they
have presented they have virtually &C.
knowledged that success is their aim. re-
CARELESS of either principle or policy. There
is an incongruity not only in the names
forming the ticket, but in the professions
of their platform and theirpast record and
acts. N0one will withhold from Gen. Fitz.
Lee the tribute that is due him as soldier
and gentleman, but when that is said all
is said. He has neither experience nor
knowledge of the public questions with
which the State has TO deal, and it is very
evident that the purpose was in his nomi-
nation to carry him to triumph solely on
his military record. This is about as wise
and sagacions as the ordinary sugges lions
of the Bourbons. They forget that at
least one-half of the voters of to-day,
were in their swadling clothes 25 years ago,
and are the sturdy taxpayers of to-day
who are thinking about the material condi-
ton of the Commonwealth, and how its
future growth and prosperity may be adj
vanced. They were no doubt pleased with
the splendid ovation given to Gen. Lee on
the 4th of March last in Washington. The
occasion and the demonstration, however,
had nothing to do with the Bourbon ad-
ministration in Virginia and the wrongs
and expressions which have been inflicted
upon the people by the Bourbon party. The
demonstration was very well in it's place,
and no Virginian objected to it. But the
taxpayers and voters of Virginia did not
regard it as an event intimately associated
with the progress and prosperity of the
State, nor as intimating that the object of
it was the proper person to suggest legis-
lation and devise means of relief for Vir-
ginia When the attempt is made to get
up martial Juror to determine the cleo
tion in November, it will be found that
there is most too much practical sense
among the people to be deluded in thai
way. When Gen. Lee ran for the Legisla-
ture in his own county he found that was
the case, for in small vote he was
defeated by over $50 majority. That
was neither intended as a reflection upon
him as man or a soldier, but simply an
expression of the sentiment Of his own
countymen as to him as a legislator.
| That his nomination represents no real
conviction as to State measures and poll
cies, is made clear by the selection of Mr..
Massey as his second. Their views are
widely different on the principal question
at issue in this canvass, however vocifer-
Gus the acquiescence in purloined meas
ure relating to that issue. They stand as
antipodes on the debt question, in their
habits of thought and lives, in their asso-
Citations and their ambitions. There is
nothing in common between them except
they were both selected from standpoint
OF. expediency and to catch votes. Their
past acts and opinions reflect no common
purpose in legislation, and if successful it
could only give power to party whose
leaders have been true no interest and
shown capacity for no good work, con-
nected with legislation.
The ticket is the OutgrOwth OF party
necessities and not of conviction as to
public measures Lees military record
and Massey's reputation views are to be
utilized to give power to a party whose
scheming leaders would care for neither,
except what he might contribute to giving
them control of the revenues and offices
of the Commonwealth. That is their OBJ
ject and their sole object. The people will
so understand it, and will OF be deceived
by any dolly-varden arrangement. That is
sufficiently evident at this early stage in
the canvass, if we are to judge from the
expressions we have already heard. 1t is
regarded by many as reflection upon their
intelligence and common-sense, to expect
! to win their support by clamor. The in
terest at stake in this contest are too
grave to be so lightly dealt with. They
| loom up above and dwarf into littleness
the tinsel of military trappings and the
applause of the unthinking multitude
They reach to and affect not only present
conditions, but comprehend the future,
and those who are to come after u.s.
They are of the real, practical things OF
life which cannot be overlooked in de-
lirium of intoxication over way ing plumes,
glistening buttons and prancing Steeds.