Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1908-05-21
THURSDAY, MAY 81, 1908.
PECULIAR REFORMATION.

N'S @S 'ASI arouSeo the milo notice OF
the Richmond News Leader to the moral
oelinquencies of its own party. Our
editorial of last week, You're An
other, has caused our contemporary to
give to the public column editorial on
the Eighth District Tangle." The
News Leader very gently recounts the
many charges and counter charges that
have been made by the rival Democrat
&C factions in that district. Our con-
temporary, however, does not under
take to say that any effort has been
made by those Democrats who stand for
honest politics to have the very serious
charges Of bribery and corruption in
vestigated. Upon the contrary, Mr..
Gordon and Mr.. Carlin, the rival Demo
cratic candidates for Congress. continue
to make charges of very disgraceful
character against each other. These
caused the News Leader to remark:
The complications, however, tend to
confuse observation.
There is matter, political crime,
which can be plainly observed without
any confusion by the Democratic press
of Virginia. We refer to the redis-
tricting measure which took FLOYD
county from the Fifth Congressional
District and put it in the Sixth. This
audacious crime was committed bv the
Democratic Legislature at its recent
session The crime is self-evident-it
Is printed in the Acts of the General
Assembly. The Democratic party is
getting ready to use and enjoy the
stolen goods. Why don't the Demo
cratic press, which now claims to be for
fair elections and honest politics. arouse
the honest sentiment in its party
against this outrage? 1t is idle to talk
about honesty in politics and continue
to acquiesce in this most fragrant out
rage, perpetrated by Democratic Leg
islature and approved by Democratic
Governor.
But our Richmond contemporary can
not refrain from referring to the poll
tics of the Ninth District to offset the
inconsistent conduct of the Democratic
newspapers in their treatment of the
corruption in their own party. Speak
ing further of the charges of crooked
ness preferred by Messrs. Carlin and
Gordon in their district, the News
Leader says:
Attention of the Tazewell Republi-
can Is directed to the fact that so far
these two Democratic candidates and
opponents have met boldly all the accu-
stations against them. In the Ninth
District the Democrats frankly concede
that while crookedness in elections was
custom, because of conditions forced
on them by the Republicans, they did
not pretend to be better than their
neighbors. On the other hand. the evil
dence is very strong that the Republi- |
cans have continued to violate the spir-
1t, letter and purpose of the laws in
tended to give pure elections. That
evidence has not been challenged or dis
puted."
Yes, and Rhea, Mann, Swanson and
all the corrupt Democratic politicians
have boldly met all the accusations
against them, but who will deny that
the accusations made against them
were true? Their denial, however, has
heretofore been taken as sufficient TO
make them clean, just as denial is taken
now from the rival candidates in the
Eighth District.
The very strong evidence which the
News Leader refers to for convictine
the Republicans of the Ninth has been
given by self-confessed Democratic cor
ruptions; and its truth has been chal-
lenged and disputed We have declared
and now declare that the News Leader [
can neither justify nor verify these
charges. The Republicans may have 1
been violating the real spirit and inten- ,
lion of the laws, for their real spirit I
md intention was to disfranchise Re- I
'ublicans. But they have not violated 8
he letter of the law nor have thew t
lone violence to the moral law. That r
'ribes are given to Republicans in the c
ninth is untrue and that there lie actual. 8
1tentional violation of the law in the i,
ayment of polI taxes is also untrue. c