The Valley Virginian. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1865-1895, 1891-11-12
The Lesson OF the Election.

ANNN Nv ClllLSii oi VI VIC AiiiAoNil IL Jill
he government and it's laws. His in
Berests are interviewer with and a part of
the government. He owes it allegiance
and it owes him protection in life. lib
erty and property. Whatever, there
fore, that affects government and gov
policies, affects the citizen,
as a unit in the great aggregation OF peo-
pie which constitute the government.
We may be Indifferent to the personal
Of the government, but cannot well be
SO to the principles upon which it is adj
While our system OF checks
and balances is so well adjusted as to
preclude the probability of conditions
occurring that would bring widespread
disaster to the country, yet educational
processes and mental training bring
with them convictions and apprehen-
sions which fix political alignments and
cause earnest concern for the adoption
of the ideas we believe to be right and
for the welfare of all. 1t is natural
therefore that we should study the
lessons inculcated by events such as
that of November 3rd, 1891. They are
pregnant of suggestion, and it is well
enough-aye, it is the duty of the
iournalist-to revert to them and pre-
sent such conclusions as seem natural
aud legitimate from present premises,
for the consideration of all with whom
he communes, and to impress them in
such manner and spirit as will divest the
argument and presentation of undue
party bias.
The lesson of the 3rd, may be easily
comprehended by those who will APP
proach it with impartial and honest
purpose. 1t will. or should be, inter
esting to every one, as an assurance that
there is not an intelligent voter, wheth-
err of one party or the other, who does
not feel All interest in the subject, and
there is not "a public interest that may
not be implicated in it.
The result of the election, to our
mind, balances, in advantages, the two
great parties of the country in their
chances for 1892. 1t demonstrates that
the tidal wave of 1890 was sporadic,
the result of a widespread impulse to
do something to crafty a feeling of I'M
rest, and strike something, whatever
that something should be. that was in
the way A contagiOn of crude, radical
notions seemed to have seized upon
communities, having their birth in natur>
al causes. but for which government
and parties were held responsible. The
first cause was, that in some of the new
States, land owners had lnortgaged their
farms for loans to make improvements
and increase facilities for operations,
which were in excess of the products of
their farms, even in good seasons, to pay.
The second canse was that crop failure
succeeded crop failure for four successive
years, thus depriving the farmer of the
results of his labor. under ordinary con-
ditions, and preventing him from meet
ing current expenses, to say nothing OF
the interest on his loans. The third
cause was that designing demagogues
and place hunters, who had been dis
carded and discounted by the two old par>
ties, seized upon these conditions to in
flame the public mind by charging
legislation of the dominant party with
all the disasters that the farmers had
experienced, and delnding them with
the belief that change in the political
control would remove the evils com
planned Of AS a result the Alliance
movement spread like wild fire through
the West and South, and crop of dem-
agogues sprung M, demanding free coin
age of silver, the repeal of our national
banking laws and the destruction of oul
entire financial system; the adoption OF
the Ocala platform sub treasury, and the
loan of money by the government or
farm mortgages at 2 per cent; the con
troll of the railroads and telegraph lines
by the government, and other equally
radical and idiotic propositions, which
if they could be given practical effect
would bring ruin upon every Interest
of the country. These notions had theil
day and effected political revolutions il
a number of States. They not only
changed the political complexion of
State administrations, but they caused
serious apprehension in all the trade
and money centers of the nation, forcing
capital to take steps to protect itself
and to adjust it's disposition to suit the
emergencies that would certainly have
arisen, had the solid sense of the people
not discovered the danger in time tC
arrest the revolutionary wave. Mort
cages were foreclosed, further loans
were refused, contracts were made iL
gold, and other expedients availed OF
to fortify capital in its rights and pro-
feet the business of the country from
anarchy and ruin. These restrictive
measures brought the people to halt
The conservative element saw the dan
ger, and SET about to right it AS a re
suit. Kansas, the hot bed of financia
gogues as PETER and Simpson were
waited to the surface, Nebraska, and
other western communities, were not slow
to apply the remedy and on the 3ri
inst. voiced the honest sentiment OF the
conservative constituency in an over
whelining rebuke to the agitators. Col
orado and Ohio turned upon free silver
and free trade, and emphasized theil
disgust by decisive verdict at the polls
The deluson that the election result O.
1890 was q protest against cardinal poll
cies of the dominant party was thus dis
sipated. Abnormal conditions in 1885,
brought about an abnormal result in
PENNSYLVANIA, and thus removed another
element of false calculation for 1899, and
SO all along the line the atmosphere was
somewhat purged of political microbes
and the conditions so adjusted rs to in
vite calm, conservative consideration
of the situation and its promise.
There ware five important States
where public interest centered, on the
Bird The Democrats held the advantage
they had gained in Iowa on the temper
ance question, and the result on the Bro
indicated that the people had not
changed on that issue. They reelected
Governor Boise, Democrat, on loeai
Questions which fact does NOT fix the