Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-08-09


Republican, but under his manage,
ment there was change, and 1T soon
became reliably Democratic. This il
conceded by the antagonistic faction
There is in all sections certain
element addicted to the habit OF
opposing everybody who happened
to- have beer born outside of the
county limits-a sort of Chinese
Boxer element who hate all "Foreign
Devils" This element in Lancaster
became bitterly opposed to Lee,
Newbill, and others who had chosen
to become citizens of the county, for
assuming to aspire to consideration
in the councils of the party. The
breach widened during the local
option contests of several years ago,
and the Boxer element, resenting the
disturbing of immemorial customs,
carried their grievances into politics.
They happened at the time to con-
troll the county committee, and made
it decidedly uncomfortable for the
chairman, but being we'll ballasted
with sand and grit he managed to
stand the storm of their disapproval.
These Boxer mandarins, like their
Chinese prototypes, had been in the
habit of levying tribute upon the
aspirations of the ambitious and of
farming" out the various offices,
aud they naturally objected to any
sForeign Devils" riding rough-shod
over the shrines erected in worship
of the native ancestry, and disturb
ing the enjoyment of the perquisites
of immemorial custom. The party
became divided into two factions,
known to outsiders as the Lee and
the Lewis factions. DR.. +. w. Lewis,
superintendent of schools, was the
nominal leader of axe, With Tom
Downing, CommonvsAlth's Attor-
ney, and nearly ali Of the office
/ holders as lieutenants. AS the breach
widened Hon. w. A. Jones was re-
quested by the Lee faction to use his
influence to secure harmony for the
sake of the party, but SO far as
known he did nothing-except that
he took sides with the Lewis faction.
which seemed to have the reins.
About this time, although the Lewis
faction had majority of the county
committee, the chairman had become
very ''offensive" because of the fact
that ne had large backing among
the voters, and it was considered
necessary that he should be beheaded.
IL had been hoped that he would
commit hari-kari, but he refused to
be bound by oriental customs. 1t
was then suggested by Richmond
county politician, it is said, that a
mass-meeting be called to get rid of
the chairman by means of vox populi.
But vox populi decided that the
chairman was the right man in the
right place, and that he ought to
have a committee in sympathy with
him, and therefore vox populi said
to the Boxer element on the commit
tee in the expressive parlance OF the
day, "you git!" and they immediate.
ly gathered their flowing robes and
departed-yellow jackets, peacock
feathers and all. The majority
faction in Lancaster represents about
all OF the progressive spirit of the
county aud the moral element, being
composed largely of the temperance
people and church members. So
when it is considered that Congress
man Jones took sides against this
majority, it ought to be no longer
any wonder that the people of Lam
caster are largely against him aud
those whose cause he espouses.
Westmoreland county appears to
have been also a solitary example, in
that there was only one solitary
specimen of Swanson man within
Its borders, and he, it would appear,
stayed away from the mass-m meeting,
as he is nowhere mentioned in the
reports of the proceedings.
George Mason wanted to pin a
Jeffries' placard on to the Montague
coat-tail, but the Montague leaders
would have none of it, and it was
laid on the table by a vote of forty
to one, SO We are told. This large
and harmonious gathering of forty
one Montague men-for Mason was
a Montague man sass, as we'll as a
Jeffries man-whooped it up for the
"fayorite son." and showed how to
be unanimous when everyb body thinks
the same way.
Richmond county is too lopsided
for any man to even think different
from the Congressman, and is prob
ably solitary example of county
where no man dared say word in
favor of Swanson.
Many counties throughout the
State furnished examples of snap
Judgment. When the apostles OF
altruistic politics call meeting OF