Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1903-09-03
THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER, 5 1908.
YOUR ANOTHER.


Constitution, and the expressed determine
ton of the Democratic leaders to elimi
nate fraud from elections, that frauds are
being practced, even in Democratic pri-
maries. Our declaration:
at may be that the Virginia Democ'
racy is seriously afflicted with kleptOma-
MA" and that 1.-THE honest men in the
party appear to be unable to control the
kleptomaniacs, IS met by our honestly
frank contemporary with the very weak
defense that "you are another" In other
words the Virginian- Pilot, while admitting
that the Democrats have stolen charges
that it was done to prevent the Repubd'
cans from winning, and thus to prevent
negro rule. Our contemporary says:
democrats have stolen from the Re-
publicans ill Virginia, as our contempOr-
airy says. If there has been any pretenee
that they did not, it has not been IN this
quarter. Nor have Democratic papers
generally hesitated to say that there was
stealing in all the counties in the black
belt. We lad supposed that everybody
knew that throughout the black belt
the South Anglo-Saxon rule was based Oh
and maintained by ballot box frauds until
the negro Was DISTINGUISHED. Democrats
have not even taken the trouble to apollo
gize for that. They cheated ths negro as
much as matter of course as One drives
the COWS out of the corn. But when the
Tazewell Republican comes along with the
pretension of superior virtue on the part
of its party, We confess toa feeling OF
WEAKNESS"
Our contemporary ignores the fact that
in recent years the most glaring frauds
upon the ballot were not committed in the
"Blaok Belt" but in the great white dis
tric,s, where the Anglo Saxon rule was
supreme; and that it has been admitted
rs fact that the fear of negro DONNA
ton was used as mere pretext for rot
bling white men Of their votes and white
men from offices, State and National, to
which they had been duly elected.
The Virginian-Pilot also seems to forget
that our article. which seems to have 80
much rpffled Its pumage, was intended to
call attention to the lack of superior
virtue on the part Of Its party rather than
to setting up any superior claims for tie
republican party.
The Virginia Democracy for years has
been asserting that it was superior peo-
pie. Lately it has confessed its many IS,
among them the detestable crimes Cf
wholesale votestealing and classifying Of
election returns. With its confession
there came positive assurance that, with
the elimination of the negro from politics,
there would no longer be any necessity
for dishonest elections, and that the chest
people" would once again walk in the
paths of honesty and honor. Even a great
many Republicans thought that the prom
Use would be kept, and honest Democrats
were made happy by the hope of its full
fillment.
Our charge that, "The Virginia Demo
Gratis have been 60 long cheating the Re-
publicans that the habit of stealing votes
seems to have become fixed" is too well
supported by events that have transpired
since the PRONUNCIATION of the new Con-
stitution to be successfully controverted.
Does the Virginian. Pilot want instances
cited2 We will give them:
At the Congressional election last Fall
the Republicans were cheated at many
places. and the men who did the cheating
have never been hunted down and pun
ished by Democratic officers and courts. A
ballot box was stuffed in Russell county,
and the matter was never brought before
grand-jury of the county by the officer
whose duty it was to see that the crime
was punished. Republicans served out
warrant and the guilty judge of election
was taken before Democratic justice Of
the peace, who sentenced the culprit
to ten minutes in Jail as an adequate pun
ishment for stelaing. A most outrage
GUS effort was made to tamper With the re-
turns in Russell county, under the direc-
ton of an emisary sent out from Bristol by
w. F. Rhea. No effort was ever made to
give Iunt thC PAOPCh dCoahOhO' AhCSC
things occurred IN the county of Mr.. H. G.
Stuart who was member of the Constitu-
tional Convention and also member of
the suffrage committee.
In Buchanan county the returns were
altered after they were placed in the hands
OF the county court clerk, and that officer
has never been required to explain by
whom the forgery was committed and he is
now Chairman of the Democratic party Of
that county.
In Scott county the returns from three
or more precincts were changed after they
reached the clerks Office, and there has
never been any investigation of the matter.