The free lance. (Fredericksburg, Va.) 1885-1926, 1901-02-07
VA. THURSDAY. FEBRUARY 7, 1901

they are not 90 ether men sre-sets up
candidate and the whole galaxy
of Virginia's greatest men beat
their heads on the ground III
abject alteration, and submission.
crying aloud. " Great is Martin. and
Swanson is his prophet" So these
pure ones would picture it 30 us.
For some years Senator Martin has
had the name of being actual boss, and
this has been gall and wormwood to
others, who would be. boss if they could 4.
aud who are bent on obtaining that
dignity, by hook or By crook. Ever
since the gallant Fllz was defeated by
Mr.. Martin for the Senatorship q Ger.
tain ooterie has bound itself together TO
wreak vengeance on the victor Under
the guise Of popular election OF Senators
there have been attempts to sandbsg
him in the dark srd TO waylay him In
daylight. They tried to dynamite him
with the '2ay Convention, and then
they turned loose on him with their
pneumatic machine gnCs. in hopes
Of annihilstiDg him. The gun practice
appears to have been on par with the
gunnery Of ihe SpaDiards during their
little scrap with Uncle Sam. or else the
Senator must be about as tough as q
seasoned locust fence post.
IL is very probable that had Mr.. MAJ
tin favored Mr.. Montague there would
have been the same old howl Of ma.
chine candidate " raised at him-this
By certain pooh bahs, not because they
hated a so-styled MaTtin-Uandidate less
but the Senator more.
A machine that embraces. John "
Daniel, and hve or six Of the ten Oon-
gressmen, together with more than two.
thirds Of the people Of the State, hp-
pears to be a rather respectable sort OF
machine, even If it does include Mr..
Martin. Then again there appears to
be lesser machines" striving TO displace
the greater. II the Martin machine"
ever did worse things than has been
done by lesser machine " OF the let
District, IL is a bad egg sure. II the
State boss holds as much power In the
State as the lst District boss holds in
this District. and does as little for the
people. then he deserves TO be kicked
out Of power Immediately. The dis
oovery Of the mares nest containing
the ''macbine candidate is a treasure
trove indeed.
That either Mr.. Montague or Mr..
Swanson would make = good Governor
is undoubtedly true. Sat Mr.. Monta.
Rue is very unfortunate in his friends,
and is thereby handicapped In his
race. His friends are better takers
than workers, while Mr.. Swanson is
fortunate in having friends who do
things as we'll as talk about doing them.
A year or so ago The Free Lance pre-
dioted that Mr.. Swanson was clearly IN
the lead Of the race for Governor, 1t
sppsars to have remarkable intuition Of
coming events, and Is generally In the
right Many Of the psople quietly so'
cepted his candidacy as an agreeable
fact. and appeared 30 be satisfied. Not
90. however, with the aspiring bosses.
They oppose Mr.. Swanson because Mr..
Martin favors him. and favor Mr. Mon
tseue as the most available man be.
cause Mr.. Martin prefers Mr.. Swanson.
Senator Daniel and all others do not
count. Martin Is the game they are
after.
When Senator Daniel and Congress
man Jones locked horns ct the Roanoke
convention over Senatorial primaries,
Mr.. Daniel told Mr. Jones that 1t was
not the reform he was after so much as
that he was after Mr.. Martin. Time
has shown that she Senator was right.
The Congressman was after Mr.. Mar
tins scalp. and be is still after it. That
appears TO be all the issue the lesser
"msohine desires. But experience
ought to show Mr.. Montague's friends
that villifying Mr.. Martin and his
friends is sure to fail. as 1t did less
than two years ago.
mha TAkllar