Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1889-05-31
TINsLEY & MORTON, Proprietors,
FRIDAY MORNING, MAY 81, 1889
PROSPERITY AND POLITICS.

PROSPERITY AND POLITICS.
1t is very clear that the time has come
4 that the relations of the public men of the
South to politics must be readjusted. Indeed
small and sporadic way, has actually COM
menced We fear that in Virginia with our
attachment to tradition and our noted con-
servatism the task is to be harder than with
the other Southern States. But the more
difficult and tedious it is to be, the sooner it
should be undertaken. If the situation has
not passed, the time for it's existence has
passed when a public man should be simply
a politician The time has come when the
politicians of Virginia should also be public
men. The day of specialists is over. The
expert expounder of the constitution; the
expert defender of Southern rights; the
expert rdcontear of the glOries of the past,
must also be an expert in something else.
He must not expect to liue on these; he
must at least have a hand in, and must in
terest himself in, the struggles of the people
to develop the country. Not only must he
have that interest, but he must be a leader
of the people in that development and he
must have knowledge of the resources of his
State, of the business methods most sue
cessful in developing them, and of the men
of affairs in the country who are likely to
be able to aid in it. The people of Virginia
are waking up to the mockery of sending
men to congress Oh the legislature to make
laws affecting material interests of which
they are utterly ignorant. How well fitted
is man to make laws promoting develop
ment who has never owned a share OF a
dollars worth of stock in any enterprise of
the sort; who has never taken part with
his fellow citizens in any scheme for the
advancement of his State Oh community,
and never given a days thought as to how
it is done! How well is a man fitted to re-
present people, who does not touch elbows
with them, and who has no connection at
any point with the struggle for prosperity
now being made by the people of the South!
How well fitted is a man to represent a
people, who thinks the whole duty of re-
preventative is filled by sharp and clever
retort in the halls of debate to political
opponent; ''scathing'' reply to some one
who differs with him; successful holding
both sides; political knowledge almost
exclusively consisting of familiarity with
the history Of politicians
What sort of representative does the
old style man make who knows the whole
history of politics from the days of Adam
and Jefferson and yet does not know the re
sources of his own State; does not know
where her trade goes to OF comes from; does
not know the riches above and beneath her
soil, and is as ignorant as baby of how to
very little Democracy in such man, after
the true meaning of the word. Theoreti-
cally at least, a Democrat is one of the peo-
pie, part of the people, with the same in
terests as the mass of the people-not one of
set-apart class of orators and law deyisers.
He is a man who understands the wants of
the people first and makes the laws after
wards; not one who undertakes the laws
first and learns the wants later If we in
Virginia expect to make material pro-
gress we must get rid of men of that class.
These men may be as astute politicians as
you please, but they must also be astute in
something else besides politics. The char
acter of the 'spolitics' of the average dem
agogue in both parties in Virginia now is
farcical. With Republican demagogue he
has only to stick to his party, give no Of
tense to the National Administration keep
the Niger" well in hand, scream Bourbon
on every hastings, and keep up the cry of
fraud, fraud whenever the Democrats
carry an election. With the Democratic
demagogue he has simply to vociferate IN ig
GER" glorify the past shy at every new idea
like colt at a railroad train, and give the
Republican party - on the hastings.
What can great Commonwealth hope from
such men as these-ignorant of everything
but their trade of politics; disappointing
the people who expect information from
them, and forcing themselves ON every con-
vention of their parties for election to
the something better'' they are always in
pursuit of.
But it is a consolation when we annually
hear the blatant mouthings of these 'sdem-
agogues,'' traversing the State like a
cyclone, OF, a better Illustration, simeon,
from end to end-it is a consolation, we say,
to think that each year may be the last of
them; that the public sentiment is so fast be-
coming bettered that the younger generation
coming up has been educated so differently
from ourselves, that this picture will soon
have to fade into the past. What could
not Virginia do if her politicians were more
practical-not the practical politics" of
a spoils administration-but practical
in the best sense of the word? What could
she not do if she honOred the men who are
a practical benefit to the Commonwealth
men who understand her resources, her
transportation, her population, her produce
tiveness, her wants; men who understand
the State from experience in developing it,
1t will be a white day for the old Com
monwealth when the relations of her public
men to politics, and of politics to her pub
lie men, shall be so adjusted as make the
selection of these men possible. The day for
it cannot be far off, though it is tedious in
its coming When we see such men as John
w. Daniel, the active promoter of business
Fitz. Lee at the head of a boom to
build manufacturing city; w. A. An
derson of Rockbridge, seconding him in the
practical work; Gov. Gordon of Georgia, a
prominent stakeholder and promoter in
building up manufacturing enterprises in
Georgia, and Senator Joe Brown of Georgia,
one of the most prominent men of affairs in