The Roanoke times. (Roanoke, Va.) 1897-1977, 1897-06-22
hundred thousand dollars or more annu
ally in the city. Very truly, &c,
.. l.. STEARNES.
Salem, Va, June 10th, 1897.
ARE THEY HONEST ?

<ARC
:" To the Editor of The Times: The COM
ing elections are causing considerable in.
terest aud excitement among politicians
and those who aspire to recognition in
political circles.
If the writer could only believe that
those leaders and their lieutenants (who
are usually ignorant of their intentions)
were honest in their dealings with the
people, the honest and conscientious
voter would have less fear of distrust and
be more willing to,leave his future pclit-
ical welfare in their hands. Personal gain
and greed causes those who are in the
lead to resort to dark lantern methods to
the injury OF the masses, or, in other
words, it becomes necessary to remove
the power from those who have welded
IL in the past and put it in the hands of
others whom we have no reason to believe
will labor for the best interests of all con-
cerned.
fractional quarrels among politicians is
no Indication that the best interests of
the people are mt stake, and it is high
time that the workingnen of this section,
at least, should begin to realize 1t.
so far as our chief executive of the State
is concerned, we are told s.that this man
or that man is the only one for us to vote
for and we are obliged to do so because
the political boss told us, and we must
vote for him because our delegates are in
structed to nominate him and nominated
he will be, for he is master of the situa-
ton. If this is not Political slavery, what
Is it,
Primaries and conventions are neces.
sary, but there is an honest and dishonest
way of holding them and the working
man is to blame if they are dishonest.
because he il is who holds the power
through the ballot to say yes or no.
we are about to say who shall make
the laws for us for the next two years.
We have some good laws and we have
many more obnoxious ones.
Organized labor of Virginia has been
trying to have some good legislation en-
acted in its behalf for years, also to have
bad laws bearing on labor repealed, with
but with little progress in either direc-
ton.
We, as working men. can never expect
to accomplish anything if we allow the
corrupt politicians to pull us around by
the nose any longer, nor is it necessary
for us to ask him for advice or tell us our
needs.
Until we succeed in sending men to rep
resent us in our legislative halls, whose
sympathy is with us and interests are
identical with ours, our cause is doomed
and hopeless
We do ourselves an irreparable injury
so long rs we believe that the politicians
and the lawyer are the only ones who can
make our laws, for neither of them know
our needs and our needs are not their
interests
Let us hope that the next legislature
will be composed of men of liberal minds,
men who believe that the greatest good
n IN nAoc l. "a
day, men who despise narrow minded
ness, that despicable trait of character,
that is only aroused fron. its lethargy by
greed and self interest.
Let us as workingmen cast aside the
robes of the old political parties and put
on the garb OF freemen and exercise thai
inherent right of American citizenship,
the ballot
10 believe that no one is able to make
laws beneficial to labor, except the law
yer and other corrupt politicians, is to
prove ourselves incompetent to Judge for
our own good and an admission that ca
pable men cannot be found in the ranks
of organized labor.
The best laws existing to day in The
various States are due to the efforts of
organized labor, enacted through the I'M
firing zeal of union men and are nionu-
IL.
This old commonwealth is badly in need
of such laws, and If left to those who are
blindly ignorant of the peoples wants we
will never get them.
Let us make an effort to send good men
to our legislature this tirle, and IL we fail
to secure legislation in our behalf, re-
member them in time to come and pre-
pare ourselves for the next legislative
contest and see to st. "that he who
laughs last, laughs BEST" and prove to
corruption and machine politics "that an
injury to one is the concern of ALL"
June ~, 1877. j. ID. MCCORMICK.
-
Breakfast, % cents; dinner, % cents;
supper, 20 cents. Meal tickets, 81. J..
D. Catogni's restaurant
Strawbel ry Ice Cream made of fresh
strawberries att. ]. Catognis
Breakfast. % cents; dinner, % cents;
sumner O,l