Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1901-06-21

the air. The chairman was helpless,
even ii he was inclined to act fair
and allow division. Finally some
one said, "Let all the Montague men
get to the right and the Swanson
men to the left" and there was
rush and renewal of the noise, The
chairman decided that the Montague
men had it and they broke loose
again. Staid, respectable, gray haired
men whooped and yelled and SWING
their hats. Every conceivable noise
was made and all sorts of actions in
dulged in. A dozen calls for "Mr.
Chairman" fell unheeded, for the
chairman was badly ratified by the
noise of his own side. Some ap-
pealed from the decision Of the
chair, and some still called for
count 70 be taken, A motion was
made to have count taken as the
opposing forces passed out, one side
at time, and it was amended to the
effect that the Swanson men 60 first.
A storm of 'noes" greeted this prop
osition and the racket continued.
At this point Lloyd Smith took the
floor. Up to this moment he had
been merely as a spectator. 1t had
been suggested to him that he should
endeavor to use his influence on his
followers to permit q count and
fair treatment as a matter of good
policy. AT this time the Montague
side had nearly twice the votes and
more than ten times the noise on
their side. The chairman could do
nothing, and the great ability of
Lloyd Smith as handler of men
became apparent at this juncture.
A few words quieted the bowling
mob Of Montague men, and he asked
that count be allowed, and he made
a motion to the effect that the Swan
son men pass out Of the court room
first and the Montague men after
wards. This reconsideration was
promptly made and the count pro-
ceeded. Then the Montague men
went back and selected delegates.
The incongruity of forcing the
negative side to vote first or not at
all did not appear to occur to the
chairman when the motion was made
and the Swanson men concluded
that any way was better than no
way. AS chairman, Asa Rice evil
IDENTIFY means well, but in time like
this he is complete failure. He
lacks the voice and other essentials
OF a good presiding officer. AS the
count was proceeding some of the
young Montsgueites deemed it a
prime requisite of decorum that a
continual yell and jeer be kept up in
order to show the kind of stuff they
were made of. Poor things, they
probably were somewhat deficient in
brains, but should not be blamed on
that account, as it was their misfor-
tune, not their fault.
AS Tom Cockrell was coming up
stairs after the count Lancaster
man hailed him with "Tom, we beat
you two to one" "Well," was the
answer, "you got licked in Lancas-
ter" "I know we did," said the
Lancaster man, "and that's the reason
! feel so good now."
On the green the people were talk
ing it over among themselves in little
groups. One man explained his po.
sition as being ignorant of the whole
matter, hut that he was told to vote
for Montague, because Montague was
the regular Democratic candidate
and that Swanson was an outsider.
How many was like unto this man
is hard to conjecture. If there were
many, it is no wonder that there
were no speeches because such men
might have had their eyes opened to
the truth. The honorable gents who
put such a dirty lie in circulation
must feel like hugging themselves in
self-congratulation that so much
credulity and ignorance exists, ap-
parently for their especial benefit.
The Swanson men could better af-
ford to lose than to win by such
means.
Every attendant upon mass-meet-
ings possibly has noted that certain
men always cluster under the nose
of the speaker, apparently without
any particular purposs, bat viewed
in the light of the ignorance and
credulity of some voters it may have
more meaning than the uninitiated
are aware of. Once upon time
when the Israelites were failing
away the Almighty sent a host of
fiery serpents to bite and kill.
Moses made brass serpent on which
the people might look and be saved
when bitten. Now, perhaps these
men are for the purpose of posing
as brazen serpents, in order that the
people might look and live when
bitten by Swansonism or any other
old thing.
CANnIn IcNISNtV