The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-12-14
TEANSIrNT KATIS
SATURDAY.. pECEMBER It, 1901


EVIDENTLY A CASE OF "SIOP
THIEF"
Richmond correspondents of Balt-
more. Washington and Norfolk
papers. apparently with shoulish
glec. are tanning the embcr> OF
Democratic iactional differences in
this State. Such journalism is 20 Doe
deeply deprecated To this method
Of newspaper work is more largely
due troubles i'm persoualand political
circles than any other This class OF
news moucers get hold of "a little
grievance that some mau has. and
they run 10 the supposed agGrcsSor.
putting him ou edge bytheir i1I>e re-
ports aud iu~iuuatioa> They then
hurry back with some intrmperate
remark brought forth by the iuGeuu-
itv oi che tal.-harar. and rhe work
is done What lad promised 10 De-
"a reconciliation Of former enemies
has been blasted 10y this iu~ijiou~
person. I'm many cases rupture> bee
tween those who had AN along been
friends arc brought about in this
way. ior which there was NOT the
slightest foundation.
In the present instance the trouble
in the State Senate seems 10 have
been begun 10y some Sore-head~ who
lid not get the Committee assign
ments they We're itching for They
dropped remarks to one who was "a
supporter of Mr. Montague I'm the re-
cent iactional fight. ana this soon
spread throughout the camp
That there was little or NO iounda-
tiou for the charge I'm the first place
now seeul> prettycertain. bur the ru-
NOR has not Yet carried far enough
10 serve the purpose OF some OF the
vampire. who hang around the lac
tioual camps They have purpose
10 subsarye and the healing oi party
wounds was becoming disastrous 10
their aims. The wounds must be
kept open at all hazards. What did
such as these care for the blessings OF
peace which We're lowering over the
Ola Dominion. which seems now 90
have entered Now and more peace
ful and progressive era? This con-
dition did not suit their purposes
They must keep the breach open and
not leu the people" believe for "a
moment chat the old machine was
dead and new one arisen. To them
there was but one machine while
thev.nowin theascendaucy represent
ed the great and glorious people
whoha smashed the machine. but
which nevertheless had crawled out
and was doing havock again among
the ranks OF the faithful Another
twist must be giveuit; and when this
was through. and anotherpurpose de-
sired. IL must be- done again. and
again. Like the cry against Billy
Malone these satrap, must not want
for campaign slogan they must
not let the machine cry down.
TO such unprincipalled minious as
are now trying TO awaken the fac
tional feud no penance offered by the
defeated would be accepted a. propi-
tiatOry. To all but these it was pat
ent that the Democratic fight in this
State was going b. default until the
warriors of the defeated machine
took up the cudgel. In Norfolk to-
day. as in other parts OF the State,
friends of Mr.. Montague will tell you
that the campaign was exceedingly
tame, iinot losing one, untilClaude
Swanson jumped in with sleeves roll
ed up. The majority received by the
ticket is honestly believed by many
OF these people today to represent
the work that the sO-called machine
people did in following the lead Of
their defeated champion.
But as we say, none OF this appeals
to those whose political future and
continuance at the public crib de-
ponds upon keeping the people at war
with a mythical machine that con-
tains all sorts OF horrors and is work
ed bv monsters more hideOus than
ever Saint George or Saint Patriot
had to contend with. Mean while
these are feathering their own nests
and whenever they are baked in any
OF their desires they blubber like the
overgrown babies they are. And
some OF the people are aroused to
sympathy for the prosecuted little
tots