St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1889-08-24
THE VIRGINIA CAMPAIGN.

The nomination of MALONE for gov
ernor by the Virginia Republicans is
the result of the so-called compromise
fixed up by President HARRISON and
the officers of the Republican national
committee, and as such is understood to
be the first experiment in organizing
the white mans Republican party in
the South. Virginia affords good ground
for the experiment, for perhaps in no
other Southern state are so many white
men of the upper class identified with
the Republican party. In most of the
Southern states the white leaders of the
black cohorts are carpetbaggers, or are
natives low down in the social scale.
But Virginia is an exception IN this re-
spect. 1t is state in which the Old
Wing leaven still remains, and, in addi-
ton to that, the division of the white
people on the debt question several
years ago took large number OF the
leading white politicians out of the
Democratic organization and finally
veered them around to the Republican
party. Thus the leadership of the Re-
publican party in Virginia has come
into the hands of men Of substance and
of recognized social standing. They
are natives, and as nearly all of them
belong to the old Confederate element,
there is no opportunity for the injection
of sectional prejudice into the state
campaign. With the exception OF the
head, the ticket nominated at Norfolk
is composed of clean men, young Vir-
ginlans of ability and character. Al
though every one knows MALONE to be
utterly INSCRIPTIONS and representa-
tive of the worst element Of machine
politics, still his ability as an organizer
and as the director of a campaign is UNI
questioned. He is dictatorial in his
methods and offensive in his manners,
yet by the sheer force of an indomitable
will, coupled with the value of his serv-
ices as campaign manager, he has sue
ceeded in sustaining a political au-
tocracy i'll Virginia rivaling the QUAY
CAMERON regime in Pennsylvania.
The Virginia Democrats may as. we'll
recognize at the outset that they are
going to have hard fight to retain their
supremacy against MALONE, backed
and supported, as he will be, by the
whole power of the federal administra-
ton. Although MAHoNE is despised by
his party associates, who would gladly
cut his throat If the opportunity offered,
still he can rely on their support in
this campaign because it is understood
among them that this is not SO much his
fight as it is a supreme effort to inau-
gurate HARRISoN'S Southern policy. If
the colered voters in Virginia were ca
pable of seeing the result of the HARRI-
SON policy, which is simply to remand
them forever to condition of political
servitude, they would bolt in body.
But they do not see it, nor will they be
convinced by Democratic arguments.
Consequently they will vote solidly for
their own political enthrallment. The
Democratic majority in Virginia at the
utmost will not exceed 5000. By the
use of money and federal patronage
the Mahonites have a reasonable hope
of overcoming this majority, and will
make mighty effort i'll that direction.
If they succeed, then the HARRISON
administration will forthwith proceed
to apply the HARRISON practice to the
other Southern states, with the eXpecta-
ton that by 1890 four or five of the
Southern states will have been planted
in the Republican column-enlisted
under the banner of protection. 1t is
big stakes that the monopolies are play
ing for in Virginia, and they have a
most reckless player in the person of
BILLY MALONE.