Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1885-08-07
THE CAMPAIGN OPENED.

fairly opened. Mr.. Wise is already on the
stump and his opponent. Gen. Lee, is soon
to follow him. If the two men meet they
will contrast we'll in the public mind
Lee is no worn out politician, no adroit
stumper, no professional campaigner of
the hastings, but plain Virginian, whose
parallel could be picked off any Virginia
farm. He has served his State faithfully
on the field as cavalryman, and when
that occupation was over he went to work
for living like everybody else. He has
made his living off farm and has COM
mitted the solecism of refusing to be an
applicant for any position under the Ad
ministration, though he might easily have
secured one. When the war ended he
subsidized into as plain and quiet citizen
as any corporal or sergeant in the division
of brave men that he commanded, and if
it had not been for the fact that his
friends hunted him out he would have
been on his farm to-day. He was great
favorite with the men who fought by his
side, and that, more than any ambition of
his own, accounts for the prominent place
he holds in the public observation of Vlr-
ginia to-day. He is an honest man, an in
corrupt1ble> one, man of common
sense. and one WHO'S Governor of Virgis~1
ia may be depended on not TO adopt the
motto of LEAD on Master, follow" AS
far as National affairs are concerned he
has been the happy instrument of forward
ing the growth of a fraternal national SEN
timent, and has been selected to represent
Virginia on two important national occa-
sions-one when every section was ejoic-
ing over the Inauguration Of Democratic
President, and the other, tomorrow.
when the whole nation will be paying its
last tribute to great American soldier.
He has been no sullen discontented Bour
bon who changed tie fierce hatred of
war into moody sulleEness of peace, but
has been ever ready to be foremost in any
national determination that has been sug
gested. Such a man, such a soldier, such
an American does not need the glamour of
great name to make him acceptable to the
people Of Virginia. For the governorshlp
of Virginia he is typical Virginia can
didate. He Is break in the long line of
the legal fraternity that has filled the
Executive Mansion, but he will not be the
less welcome to the people on that &C
count. He is break in the long line of
politicians that have filled the Governors
chair, but be will not be less acceptable
to the popular masses on that account.
And we hope and expect to find him
break in the long line of old time-worn
ideas of State policy that have been tie
curse of Virginia. discovery that woul
make him the idol of the young Dem oc-
racy.
Hon. John E. Massey is nominee of
another type. Without question, on all
questions that have arisen in connection
with the State debt, he is the ablest, best
Informed, and most far-seeing of the pub
lie men in Virginia. 1t IS broad state
ment, but it is true, and we think there is
hardly man to be found that will deny
it. He has done more for the Democratic
party, as an individual, than any one man
in Virginia, If we except John S. Barbour.
One preserved to the Democracy the pos
sibility of carrying the State, and the
other made the possibility into an accom-
plished fact. He has borne more for the
Democracy of Virginia than any one man
in the State, and we challenge contradic
ton of the statement. And yet, while
some other Democrats. whom We can
easily name, separated from the party on
REIMBURSEMENT and when returned have
been voted for by Augusta Democrats.
and rewarded with high positions by a
Democratic administration. we sometimes
hear of some of these same Democrats
saying that they don't like Massey as a
nominee. What sort of party are such
men trying to make of the Democratic
party? A hide bound, fenced in, mo ad-
mittance here organization like the old
Funder Democracy that managed to
shriyel and shrink until it got SO small
that Malone throttled it? Are they 60
ing to start again the old repudiated
dogma that there is to be no freedom of
opinion inside of the Democratic party ?
If 80, they have missed their time and
their opportunity. Both persisted with
the attempted prescribing Of Readjusters
by the Bourbon State Committee of 70.
We just as gladly and heartily support
John E. Massey as we do Fitzhuph Lee,
or as we would have done Jno. s. Bar.
bour if he would have accepted it. We
supported the old Parson before in, 1882,
and nothing kept him from beating Wise
then but the unreasoning prejudice
against him. because ne had been former
active and powerful enemy on local