The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1889-10-24
A Colored Kicker's Opinion.

A Colored Kicker's Opinion
, A New York Herald correspondent
} has recently been travelling throug
Virginia. In a recent letter, dated a
!, Petersburg, Va, he says:
u Hone of the anti-Mahoneites whom
met to-day is an unusually bright an
clever colOred man of the name of Mai
thew Lewis. Mr. Lewis is a lawyer b
profession and at the present time hold
a clerical position in the office of tn
collector OF internal revenue. He is YER
bitter in his denunciation of the Repub
lican boss He said: THE number O
kickers against Malone are not over
estimated | know that General Ma
hone pooh-poohs their strength ant
Importance. but he will find, unless h,
pursues a more conciliatory course, tina
we are capable of accomplishing all tina
we claim
what are you claiming?'' | asked.
Il am speaking" Mr. Lewis said
about the Fourth or Petersburg dis
publican by about six thousand major
ity 1t is made so by the great prepon
derance of negroes residing herein. which
has caused this portion of Virginia to
be known as the "Black Belt" The ne
gro vote is SO large in this district that
;. it exceeds by some hundreds the com
bined white vote. My Judgment is that
Malone will lose from three to five thou
sand OF his negro supporters
! interrupted Mr.. Lewis at this point
and asked him if his estimate of the
anti Mahoneites was not an exaggerated
one. | told him that in Norfolk the
kickers were counting upon detection
| in this locality of about one thousand.
but that this was regarded as the maxi
mum number.
| He replied: II am only giving you my
impressions. know the temper of the
colored people here thoroughly There
! are many men of intelligence among
them, and these are uniformly opposed
to General Malone. | have been pub
fishing for the past two years a newspa-
| per in this city devoted to the interests
of the colored race. Ny circulation
mainly is of local character, and as
manage the business as well as the edi-
torial department, it brings me more or
less in contact with my subscribers.
Within the past few months | have
talked with hundreds of these people.
| find their dissatisfaction with General
Mahone's arbitrary methods is wide
spread. They have nothing to expect
from his election He has done but lit
tie for them in the past, and they fear
that he may do less in the future. The
impression among us is that he is trying
to build up white mans party at the
expense of his negro followers. He has
repeatedly said that the negro is by in
stinct republican, and that he has no
right to vote with any other party He
knows that he has no incentive to go
over to the Democrats. and he reasons
from that fact that we will stick to him
no matter how badly he may treat us.
1t is true that we may not vote with
the Democrats, but we can stay away
from the polls, and by refusing to sup
port him encompass his defeat
Don't you suppose General Malone
understands this and is making his cal
culations accordingly? 1t would appear
to me that he is very confident of sue
cess
II think he is confident of success
Mr. Lewis said. HE is surrounded by
a lot of sycophants and toadies who Ell
Their have no interest in telling him the
truth or do not know what they are
talking about
could General Malone pursue any
conrse that would bring baclNto his sup
port the great army of disaffected Re-
publicans OF whom you speak?'
He could, but he will not. He has
never practiced Cancellation. He doesn't
believe in it. He might, if he chose,
agree to help Professor Langston in his
contest for his seat in Congress this win
ter. 1t was through his Vaccinations
that Langston was defeated at the polls.
If he should do so and let the fact be-
come known the most of Langstons col
e,,.0 I, 1o.I,& Ill
few exceptions, would support him. 1t
is possible that this might save him, but
as | have said we have no expectation
that he will do it,
At what do you fix the detection in
the State?"
AT about ten thousand General Ma
hone is calculating. | hear. ON offsetting
this with gains among certain white
Democrats who originally served with
him in the army and white protec-
tionists. do not. however. anticipate
that his vote from this source will be
very large"
Later in the day / called upon Profess
sor Langston. whose alleged shabby
treatment by General Malone in the
Congressional election last autumn has
caused no little of the present opposition
to the Republican leader. Professor
Langston was for some years dean of the
faculty of Howard University, at Wash
ington, d. C. Later he represented his
country as United States minister to
Hayti. He is one of the foremost colored
men in Virginia, and has possibly
larger following among his own people
than any of his black contemporaries in
or out of the State. | asked him if Gen
eral Malone would win the present con-
test. He replied mournfully that if Gen
Org 10 ntt
wisdom and the Democrats acted fairly
in counting the votes the Republicans
ought to carry the State by safe ma
jority. From further conversation with
the Professor | learned that what he
meant by moderation and wisdom on
General Mahone's part was a policy of
Cancellation toward the disaffected col
ored Republicans and the throwing of
the Generals influence in favor of Sc
curing to Professor I4angston the seat
for which he will contend in the. next
Congress.
| told the Professor what Mr. Lewis
had said about the large detection this
year. He betrayed no surprise at the
announcement, but dryly rejoined that
no man in the district knew its politics
better than Lewis did, and that if he es-
timated the detection at from three to
five thousand he was probably right.
Twill you support General Mahoneg"
queried.
Il am Republican, said Professor
Langston slowly and with marked en-
phasis. Il am not a bolter. Perhaps l
shall give my vote to General Malone
and counsel my friends to do likewise
AS l arose to leave / said, Professor,
what will the effect upon General Ma
homes candidacy be, should he fail to
practice the moderation and wisdom in
the campaign of which you speak ~
Il don't see, the Professor answered.
''how he can win. He is looking for
large Democratic vote in the southwest
ern counties, but | don't believe that it
will amount to much"
All miserable sufferers with dyspepsia
are cured by Simmons Liver Regulator.