Staunton spectator and vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1896-1916, 1899-11-10
Influential Newspaper Tells the
Senator a Thing OR Too.
Ills PRAISE OF MCKINLEY
And Willingness to Desert Bryan,
Seriously Commented Upon--A
Brief Glance Into the Past--He
is Only a Man.

rive years ago three names about
equally divided the admiration and
the affection of the Virginia Democra.
cy. These names were Fitz Lee, John
W. Daniel and Charles T. O'Ferrall.
1t is no unkindness. nor is it untluth-
full, to say that Lee and O'Ferrall have,
so to speak. "lost their grip" In the
last issue of The Free Lance it was
limited that Daniel might be standing
over political volcano. Gen. Ben
Butler once said that no President
ever heard the truth in the White
House. Senator Daniel is SO used to
soft speech and dattery that he seems
to be possessed of that strange infatua-
tion that precedes a political fall. The
good book says: "Pride goeth before
destruction and vain spirit before
fall.'
In the opening of the campaign
against Martin, and never was one so
glaringly bungled or mismanaged, there
was very great alarm in the Martin
camp, and it is an open secret that the
senior Senator was much worried, and
remem bering the help Martin gave
him against Barbour years ago, he
rushed into print to proclaim that
Martin was the better Senator of the
two, and some people think he may be
right, because it is averred that Daniel,
outside of oratory. has no taste for
'the tale of common things" and has
been heard to say that he ''is tired of
politics. y Whether this be true or not,
it is claimed that letters are not |
answered; that the record will
show many gaps when the senior Sena-
tor was away from the Senate, and, as
Capt Cutie would say, "a motel is prob
ably being made of it" for future use |
by those who may be ready to spring
upon the Senator'S ambition in 1903, |
If he shall desire fourth term in the |
U. s. Senate, and that the Senator as
4 departmental visitor in the interest |
of his people is not a colossal success. |
These are some of the matters that |
Senator Daniel should know. Besides
this, there is in the Virginia Democ-
racy, part of it at least. some unrest |
at the frequency of the Daniel compli-
nents to Mckinley. and if the Sena-
tor has found aught to disapprove in
this Republican administration, many |
Of his constituents would probably con-
Tess to poverty of information on the
subject. Moreover. the interview CIV
an out in Richmond this week, show
ing possible willingness to abandon |
Bryan in 1900 as the Democratic candi
date, will very probably be read by un-
eyes and fall on deaf ears |
IN Virginia. No man is mightier than |
the people who made him. The. chip is
not greater than the block from which |
it is cut. Senator Daniel is now four
years removed from the popular touch,
but the people have eyes to see and
ears to hear, and if the Senator will
receive in kindness these observations
Of The Free Lance it may be well for
him. Ii he tries to unbend just lit
tile and to remember that, though a
great orator and great Senator, be is
yet man, and simply man, with a
fine intellect and large opportunities
for usefulness, and instead of sailing
among the clouds, he ought to remem-
ber the fable of Antaeus, who as often
as he touched his mother earth receiv-
ed new strength. but when lifted by
Hercules into the air was crushed, the
ohm w. Daniel of the past may con-
tinue to be the same John w. Daniel
in the future with the Virginia De-
mocracy. Fredericksburg Free Lance.