The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1900-08-04
SATURDAY, AUGUST 4, 1900.
THE PASSING OF MARION BUTLER

The fa.e of Marion Butler, politician.
was sealed in North Carolina yesterday.
and his political career is at end Mr..
Butler is the typical professional poiti-
clan. He is a man Of abilities. and ne
possesses the wondrous faculty of leadins
his fellows. He is good organizer. a
good speaker, a good writer, and he knows
the ms and cuts of politics well. Mr.. Hut
7er is not forty years of age. yet he has
been a leader In North Carolina politics
for several years, and he was SO successful
as to split the Democratic party and to
s,nitc the odds and ends, disgruntled DEM
ocrats, Populists. Republicans and negroes
Into party sufficiently strong to carry
the State and put him into the United
States Senate. His methods were very
much those of Malone in Virginia. He
managed TO draw unto himself enough
whites TO make a respectable following,
and having accomplished this it was an
easy task to enlist the faithful allies Of
the other race. In this way Mr. Butler
succeeded in foisting negro rule upon the
people of North Carolina and we doubt not
that many ot the whites who followed
him failed utterly in the beginning to see
through the scheme.
We say that Mr.. Butler is an accom-
plished politician. II may also be said of
him that he was faithful in 1896 to the
Democratic nominee when he might have
sold CIT 10 The Republicans at his own
price. Mr.. Butler had been, until now a
successful politician success In politics
goes. But what good thing has he ac-
complished1 He has made himself promi-
nent, and he has put himself into 4 proIni-
Eent position. one of the highest in the
gift Of the state but his success, such as
1t Is, has been at a terrible cost. We
honor a man wao works conscientiously
In the interest of great reform. who
works for a principle which he believes to
be right. who lahors against odds for the
uplifting OF humanity. however erroneous
he may be. But while We are slow TO i'm
pugn any mans motives, we cannot regard
Air. Butler as such a man We cannot,
from what we know Of the man and from
what we have seen of his career, believe
that he went into politics with any higher
motive than selfish ambition He saw a
political opportunity and he seized it. He
SAW that the great body @! white men in
North Carolina belonged 10 the Democratic
party, and as that party had had every
thing its Own way for a number CT years
without serious opposition from any other
party, 1t was natural that there should be
disafeciion in the ranks. Mr.. Butler with
his shrewdness saw this and took advan-
.ase of it, and il was not long before, as
we have said, he had organized an indie
pendent white party in North Carolina
And his rule is a bio; upon the pages OF
Cardinals history.
We do not overlook the fact that Butler
has been goaded aimoss 10 desperation by
his political opponents in North Carolina
Few public men have been more generally
or more eloquentls abused than Marion
Butler, and the assaults that have been
made upon him from time TO time. how
ever just and righteous they may have
been, have naturally aroused all the old
Adam in him. stirred up his venom and
heated his passion to a white heat 1t is
not st,s.nse that man of Buffers tenn
permanent has fought and fought with the
animos.ty and desperation of a hunted
sninlai But our estimate OF the man is
that he went into this fight for what he
could gel out OF it. He put himself IN a
position 10 be assaulted and under the
rules OF evidence he cannot plead self
defense.
Once more we ask what good things has
Air. Butter accomplished. either for him.