Alexandria gazette. [volume] (Alexandria, D.C.) 1834-1974, 1899-05-15
MONDAY EVENING, MAY 10, 1899
The grand Richmond conference has

met and grated and adjourned. They
passed some resolutions. Perhaps they
imagined themselves the advance
guard of great army. But the coun-
try at large is strangely silent. The
people are not convulsed, or stirred
up, or excited over the Richmond con-
ference. The great mass OF the people
OF the United States don't care a fig
about it. The gathering of the Confed-
crate Veterans at Charleston has ex-
cited far more interest, not only IN the
South but all over the Union. The
route by which Dewey is to sail for
home, the Wall Street slump in stocks,
the Speakership contest, The Hague
conference about the Cars PROPOSE
ton for disarmament and a general
love feast-as live topics, fer eclipse the
Richmond conference. 1t is mortify-
ing, we fear, to the ambitious spirits
who got OF those great bursts OF ora
tory; but this is often the way with
wicked, ungrateful and inappreciative
public. The pious reformer may be
likened to a bold fisherman. The
angler prepares his rod and reel, his
silken lines, his cunning hooks, and
treacherous bait, and then sallies forth
in the early morn, full Of high hope
and an ardent, confident expectation OF
doing great things. But the naughty
spirit goeth before a fall. The wind
chops around to the north or the east,
and forthwith all his hopes are dashed
to the ground. His elaborate prepare
ton all goes for nothing. The fish
that he was to catch are swimming
about in other directions and pay him
no attention whatever. They will not
even Airt with him. Now, the popu
lace are no kinder to some of these re-
formers. The truth is that there isn't
enough practical in this play to keep it
on the boards. Doubtless the ex-
pectants of the Senatorial prize
would affirm that the question is
for them-both practical and exciting;
but drop four out of the five candi
dates, centre on one man who is TO
knock down the persimmoD, and then
all those who were dropped out
would cherish only an attentuated
interest in the proceedings. They
would feel and their friends would feel
that the project of beating Martin and
putting in John Smith was hardly i'm
portant enough to justify the trouble
and bother of amending the federal
Constitution. At any rate, the people
would see that the voters of the couu
try were not going to change the fed
eral Constitution in order to promote
John Smiths election to the Senate.
The whole reform movement would
thus degenerate into mere routine, old
fashioned contest for Office. The most
important result of the Conference, Sc
far as we can see, is the incidental bene.
fit to the Richmond hotelkeepers-s
very worthy class of people, and, Incl
dentally, to the cigar stands and the
neighboring market gardeners. As for
the Virginia farmer, groaning under
federal taxation, suffering from the
gold standard and other monopolies.
absolutely without hope for the fu-
ture, under our present financial con-
ditions, il there is anything for him il
all this empty pow WOW about the mode
of electing Q. S. Senators, we fail to see
it. Has it put dollar in his pocket,
added ten cents to the value OF his
farm, cancelled mortgage, or helped
him to pay single debt? If his Wall
street enemies and oppressors could
have their way, they would be delight
ed to have his attention turned from
the real evils that Cypress him to some
utterly imnaterial side issue, or to
petty, pitiful wire pulling, in order to
put this or that man in the Senate, or
to elect some young man as Governor
who never tarried in Jericho long
enough to let his beard grow quarter
of an inch.