Evening star., 1909-06-12
Howl From Old Virginia Over
LoaveS and Fishes.
TAFT DEMOCRATS NERVY
Grabbing for Everything. Contented
With Nothing.
REPUBLICANS DISCOUNTED
Rank and File Feel That They Are
Not Treated Right After Years
Of Fidelity to Party.

Special Dispatch to The star.
RICHMOND, Va. June 1o.-Following
the rumored appointments of Taft demo-
Gratis to federal offices that last announce
ment that two Taft democrats are now
after the position of collector Of internal
revenue raised a howl from the party
ranks of the republicans today.
In republican circles there was much
talking. One boneheaded leader. who
terms himself IAN old war horse Of the
party. declared that 1t has not been long
since dead cats and Kisses were the fruits
of stanch followers labors. This was ir
the days when the democrats socially
boycotted republican and Stunned him
In business.
era said the war horse with q sneer
when a man almost took his life in his
hands if he voted the republican ticket.
Men were insulted openly merely for fol-
lowing their honest beliefs.
yet here come these Taft democrats.
grabbing for everything. They come In
ed with nothing. Politically they are
neither fish, flesh nor fowl, yet their am
bitions are unbounded."
This speaker was joined by chorus OF
other oldtimers who have been through
many a contest fighting for their share
of honors and pie. Sometimes they have
been divided among themselves and now
and then they split with a statewide jar,
but after all they are disgrusted with
the men who are flying their colors to
democrat yachts
Taft Democrats at Discount.
All of the leaders here seem dissrun-
tied. Said another: 1.-The fact of Of busi-
ness is that Taft democrats are at a dis
tinct discount. and their popularity with
the party is on steady and rapid de-
cline. The republican that has always
been republican values himself more
highly than his half-converted auxiliary.
the Taft democrat
Among the rank and file there seems to
be feeling of unrest. The Taft admin
istration that Is being whooped up for
peace between the solid south and the
pretty solid north does not suit tine taste
of the old-timers. AS a matter of fact,
much of the new element that has so
greatly increased the republican party in
Virginia and the south has come from
the younger men. who were raised in
democratic hotbeds, but have wandered
after strange gods
1t is believed that the republican guber-
material campaign will show the result of
Mr. Taft's Judgment in giving favor to
those who are inclined to stand in line
with his party. whether Under one pre-
tense or another.
Test for the State.
Some declare that this will be a test
for the state and that Ii the Taft demo-
Gratis do not stick to the party in faith
and truth by voting out-and-out republi-
can in state as we'll as national CAM
paigns that the nice little plums will
cease to fall as heretofore and at present
under the Taft dictatorship, and that
there will be return of the old-tims
war horse brigade, which will get back
in its minority power. as in the past.
The growth of republicanism in Vir-
ginia is steady. though not by any means
alarming to the democrats in power just
now. But the so-called machine" OF
Virginia has not been or done all that the
followers of the party have desired, and
there is no telling what may happen.
But all of this does not cure the jaun-
dice of the old timers, who are eagerly
watching every move OF the political
checker board to see how many more
Taftites will be honored from so-called
democratic ranks.