Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1900-07-27
Friday, july ~, 1900.
MIR. CHINN'S BAIT.

of Litwalton, and here make edito-
rial reference and answer to it. The
CITIZEN, as is the case with all other
papers, could not begin to notice edi-
torially all communications or queries
from correspondents; but in this in
stance it affords us much pleasure to
answer our correspondent, whose name
is given to be set up in cold type, for
several reasons-among them: The
communication presents a flow of
intricate and somewhat obsolete
rhetoric which it would be pity to
lose in this prosaic age; the environ
ments of the writer are such as occa-
sionally tend to produce a confound-
Ing of understanding of what's found
in the columns of this paper, some of
his associates havingey that see not
and ears that hear not Alright the
things which may come cut of this
Nazareth; and, again it affords us an
opportunity as Democrat to Demo-
crat to converse secretly, as he desires,
of those things which should not be
spoken of openly.
Really, if the writer has the
good of the party at heart and is the
earnest Democrat he essays to be he
should notwaut (as he evidently hopes
will be the case) an argument antag-
onistic to free silver ut "16 to L."
This he cannot get from us either
openly or secretly, as it is our faith,
and has been for some years. So
there is no enticing our pen to say
what our mouth has not.
If our correspondent had been u
close reader of the CITIZEN even his
eagerness to get into print could not
have induced him to assert that we
condemned "16 to I"-or free silver
on a parity with gold at a ratio of l6
to 1. There has not been word or
a line In these columns to support
such an assertion, and to make such
an insinuation is to juggle with the
truth. We have no reflections on the
subject of free silver younger than
four years of age. We stand where
we stood four years ago; there has
been no opportunity for gaining
knowledge on something that is not.
Mr.. Bryan himself is no wiser than
he was four years ago and has ad-
vanced no new ideas on that lire. If
this is what Mr.. Chinn euphonicall V
styles"revolved on the axis of thought
until the wheel squeaks" it is the
fortunes of politics and not the
CITIZENS fault.
The grounds, however, upon which
Mr.. Chinn bases his dissertation are
not there, because, as we have stated.
no word or line of ours can be con-
strued into enmity of the party's
policy. The only shadow of excuse
he has is found in the fact that the
CITIZEN opposed the making of $40
to 1" a party issue this year and in
]ecting it into the party plat
form. We were among the first to
publicly plead this and we stuck
"everlastingly" at it until Mr..
Bryan decreed otherwise and i'll
was incorporated in the platform. |
AS loyal Democrats we accept the
result and are supporting every splin-
ter in that document. We NAV be
pardoned for DEPRESSING a little
to remind our correspondent that had |
his friends as loyalty supported the
Constitutional Convention plank in
the Norfolk platform Litwalton and |
some other parts of the county would |
not have so miserably repudiated the
product of a unanimous Democratic
Not so with the CITIZEN
when once majority, Or the
party speaks, it acquiesces and goes
TO work.
Every paper in the Northern Neck
followed the leadership of the VIR-
iINIA CITIZEN in the wise suggestion
o drop the words "l6 to II the
fredericksburg papers took it up and
ONE of the Eastern Shore papers got
nto the same line. Strange, wasn't
;, that Senator Daniel and Senator
iartin and Governor Tyler and Con-
FRESHMAN Jones and the twenty other
elegates from Virginia tried to keep |
liz m y o,,f of H. ,olDtro