The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1888-03-22
HON. JOHN S. WISE.
TO THE REPUBLICAN VOTERS OF yIR-
GINA.

RICHMOND, VA, March 10, 1855
To The Republican F0terS Of Virginia:
AS the time approaches Tor holdlng our next
state convention the very great dissatisfaction
existing in our party admon1sbes me tnab
some one should try TO save il from the as
cord with which it is now threatened, at the
moment when it should be more united IMAM
ever before.
You have hohored me with your support IN
the past, and feel that as | have fortunately
kept aoof from the fartiOnal and personal con-
troversies of late so frequent i'll ou party
may in turn do it some service now: =.
We have lost enough battles OF late years 10
satisfy us all, / think, that no man IN our party
is infallibe; that we are rot to thrive through
the possession of a Mascot; that we have no
miracle WORKER; that we must win, II we WIN
at all, by the united and friendly work OF all
the voters of Virginia who are opposed 10 De-
mocracy. 1t is in the effort 10 procure tnls re
suit that take this step.
After careful study of orr situation am sat
lstled that the deepest-seated source CT Inc
present dissatisfaction in our party is feeling
among the voters that the present plan OF Or
ganiZation does not give them any rlgnts OF
voice: that il is too military, and III at IL places
too much power in the hands of the chairman
This is not the offspring of personal 1eeling
against cur chairman except IN lew IN
stances, 5ut Isl conscientious aohoffehce III
the average mind OF any plan Wnlch taxes
away from a voter in Accomack or Lee county
any right 10 name his own chairman or COM
.nitteemen for his county and places IL IN the
hands of a gentleman in Loudnun, Lynchhurg,
or Richmond. If we had war going on IN
which we might conScript soldiers that plan
might make S0t(tteFS inuctl iuOle' tDtcteHt' Auo
being unable to conseript ucters. and being de-
pendent upon their approval for their support,
we must govern ourselves by the WISHES OF lne
masses and not by the wishes of their officers.
The best expression of this idea which l have
lately seen is found in letter of Hon. W. e.
Chandler iii the North american RetteV Tor
March. Speaking of what has made the Re
publican party of New hampshire so success
full. he says:
"ness and from the soundness of the principle
ION which it is based-namely: that political or
"uanization should begin al the bottom, with the
voters in their primary meetings, and procee1
sup1cdrd; and should neOer begin at the top WW
"a JeW high officers attempting 10 secure orgdnazd
'tion 6y issuing orders dOaCnaUdrd."
You, gentlemen, know whether this is true
or not You know. also. whether or not we
have suffered from the inverted pyramid of pc.
iitical organization. know that we have, and
hope to convince you of the fact. Our present
plan of organization is top heavy. We have
too much head and too little body. We are
rapidly be coming like a confederate army, all
gene rails and no priyates am not rejecting
upon our chairman or other officers. ! am de
pioring the tact that our plan of organization Is
calculated 10 drive away and has driven away
the following which under a better plan en-
abled them to win victories for themselves.
At the last State convention the effort was
made to alter our plan of organization. 1t was
slitled on the plea that We had other business
TO attend to then, and on the further plea of the
suddenneSs of the agitation. l then Joined in
the idea of postponement. and the matter was
deferred; but felt then that il was just de-
mand of the majority that ought not to be IL
nored
1 now give nOUlCo LIlaC at the next STATE con
vention to be held in May | will move TO
change the present plan of organization. |
submit herewith the plan l shall urge. You
win oblige me by reading it carefully. and |
snail be glad to know that 1t has your approval
and to amend it if necessary to meet the
views of the majority.
give this notice now 50 that no one can
plead surprise at this movement when il is
made in the convention. The radical differ
ence between the plan | shall propose and the
existing plan Is thaG my plan proposes 10 take
away boldly the unlimited and absolute power
now lod ged in the State chairman under the
name of Executive Committee and place it
where it belopgs-to wit, with the people. The
argument on which it was taken away Is not
good and Is denial OF theirJu just righta. II they
are not tit to act for themselves we had better
go into some other party where the voters
have sense enough not to need guardian.
| believe this plan will restore harmony to
our party restore the right of local self-govern-
ment, the loss of which has sorely CALLED our
Republican party without in the least infring~
ing upon any right or franchise of our party
officers, or rejecting upon their ability 10y
beg you to think of this; to compare the
plan proposed with that now existing. and see
if all | have said above is not the true source of
most of our present difficulties.
also give this public notice that i'll the APP
preaching convention VIII oppose the unit
rule. The unit rule destroys al freedom of in
dividual action and makes of our twenty -four
delegates TO Chicago twenty three puppets and
| one Important man-viz., the chairman of the
declined going to Chicago in 1884 after | had
been elected delegate at large because The
convention passed the unit rule. 1t is a gag
rule, and contrary to the spirit of the Republic
can National Convention of 1851 as expressed by
resolutions. 1t may be desirable, as is urged,
10 have united delegation; but If that is to
be secured by dividing the party, submit it is
an expensive unity. The great majority of our
voters are opposed to the unit rule. They do
not believe it is necessary to secure the hon
esty of their delegates They do not see why a
State should be unit The vote is not taken
in the convention by States as such but by
| congressional districts, ard only four of our
twenty four delegates represent the State in
any sense. Then why subordinaae the will of
The chosen representatives of the Third or the
Second district to those of the Ninth. Tenth,
\ and Eighth There is no conceivable benefit
| from the unit rule except that it aggrandizes
| the chairman of the delegation, and upjustly
| Iwarfs belittles, and puts out of sight alto
gether the twepty-three companions and asso-
| ciates on the delegation who are really his
peers in dignity and Importance,
/ Sent as .'unit' our delegation will go as one
| of the ordinary '.job LOTS from the southern
| rotten boroughs that have been of no impor-
| tance in national conventions since the war.
| If we send twenty-four of our best mea-men
whom we trust and honor-uninstructed and
| ungagged and unbound by any unit rule, we
will command the attention and respect per-
! tanning to real representative delegation
! That is the feeling in this (the Third congress
| sional district, and venture to predict that we
will in our district convention vote down the
| unit rule almost unanimously and send two of
our best men unbound by any such condition.
| But be this as it may, there is a reason against
| the unit rule peculiar to our case and one over
Swallowing all others. The enemies of General
| Malone have cOntended all along tnab he was
trying to pack the delegation for Mr.. sherman
and bind it by the unit rule. However unjust
may be this charge, the cor f1dential circular
| recently published by him urged the adoption
of the unit rule in connection with support of
Mr.. Sherman, and thus gave countenance to
thatidea. That unfortunate paper has arrayed
against the unit rule thousands who in
| differ ent about it before. To go into that con-
vention now and pass that unit rule Will give
] great color to the charge that the delegation
! was packed and the whole thing cut and dried
by machine methods No reasoning and no
| argument will remove that impression. No
matter how fairly it may be done, it will lose
| the Republican party thousands of votes in
| the election by the charge. amounting to belief
| and conviction in the minds of many, that the
| Republican party of Virginia is not really a
! party. but a mere machine manipulated by a
| few people who handle it a child does a
! jumping Jack. Feeling all this-knowing
| whereof l speak as he cannot know i'll have
begged General Mahone and his friends to
abandon the idea of urging it L have begged
! him TO drop the contention as only forcing a
factiona fned at the outset of our campaign
| when it can so easily be avoided. have begged
him to do this for the good of the party and to
smother the natural inclination to make
fight for his own ideas which the opposition to
! his views may excite lie knows that did SO
as his friend and as Mr.. Sherman's friend II
| he has not been convinced that l am right
certainly have moi been convinced by him. and
| rothing remains for ME but to nrge my views
before the convention. trust IL may not lead
to any unkind feeling on his part. IT shall not
| upon my part. | have known General Ma
| hone too long and am personally too deeply
attached to him to let these differences on
l
or impair my regard and respect for his great
abilities and services / have no patience with
the mean assaults made upon him by members
of our party. But look upon the approaching
convention marking a crisis III the affairs OF
the party which may lead to results very in
jurious to it, and incidentally to him, and it is
my duty, as see il, to take this ground.
| l shall be glad TO have the views of oul
friends on these questions, and hope that those
| who agree with me will urge the endorsement
! of them in the primary meetings,
! Above all beg our friends that in selecting
| delegates they will send their representa-
| lives to the convention sober, earnest Republi-
| cans VINO make up in character what they lack
| in genius"
We have an abundance of material in the
party to supply real repersenta tive body from
/ the people. With such / believe we can har-
| party the unity which not long since won fol
| us victory. Respectfully,
| JOHN S. WISE.
also append hereto a copy of the present
plan of party organization, as adopted in 1881
| SO that you IN 4y compare it with the proposed
! plan and see how unit the old plan is for any
4 party based on the idea of popular represen-
1 ton.
Proposed Plan of Organization
FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE REPUBLICAN
| PARTY OF VIRGINIA.
ARTICLE l.
| Section /. There shall be q State Committee
| com posed of chairman, to be elected by this
| convention, and three members from eacl