Tazewell Republican. [volume] (Tazewell, Va.) 1892-1919, 1910-06-30
THE MOTE AND THE BEAM.

tie was fought between the Roanoke
Times and the Blueheld Telegraph. The
subject of controversy was the charac-
ter of election methods in Virginia and
West Virginia, respectively, the one
controlled by Democrats the other by
Republicans. Our Roanoke contempo-
rary brought about the conflict by a
lengthy editorial, "Gnats," wherein it
pictured as awfully corrupt the prac-
tees by Republicans of West Virginia
In the recent primary in that State.
And, then, the Times proceeded to
crush, as it thought, the cause of Re
pubhcanism in West Virginia, in vir-
ginis and at the South by the following
declaration:
We invite the attention of the Dem
ocrats and the people of West Virginia
and OF the Ninth and Fifth districts of
Virginia especially to what Republican
ism means in a Southern State. Where
we have Democratic States and Demo
cratic rule we rid ourselves of election
rascalities, of fraud and trickery, of even
the baneful and destroying power of the
negro in politics"
In reply to the profuse and diffuse
dissertation of the Roanoke Times
wherein it referred to bribery, packed
polling booths, revolvers and clubs SIS
'gnats" that buzzed around as "a full
grown blue-bottle fly" at the recent
Republican primary in West Virginia
the Telegraph filed short but crushing
brief, with the notorious Scott County
Ballot" as an exhibit.
To this one crushing stroke the Roam
oke Times replies with two pleas, one
plea of confession and avoidance, the
other the statute of limitations. In its
first plea threatened negro supremacy
Is the song, and in the other that the
things happened ten years ago. Thus
does our Roanoke contemporary feebly
undertake to sustain its reckless asser-
ton: Where we have Democratic
States and Democratic rule we rid our
selves of election rascalities, of fraud
and trickery."
The State of Virginia, by the use of
fraud and violence, was made Demo-
cratic in 1888. From that time until
the present it has been held by the Dem
ocrats, and fraud and trickery have not
been banished. From 1888 to 1903. a
period of twenty years, we had condi-
tons that have been graphically and
truly described by one who knew what
ne was talking about, and here Is what
he said:
Perjury is very ugly word.
ferJury was the cause of all this cleo
ton trickery over which some of our
newspapers exult.
Perjury. When q man takes an
bath to conduct an election fairly and
hen conducts that election unfairly, he
guilty of perjury and fraud. Even in
hose conditions the great body of the
'espectable men among US shuddered
md shrank at the idea of committing
'erJury personally. We knew dirty
york had to be done, but our instincts
ebelled at doing it ourselves. We did {
ot care about putting our own personal
myers into every nasty mess. There
ore, we hired or melted what the Farm
lille Herald so gleefully calls the BOYS.
We took reckless young country fell c
'ws, or broken down men with no char r
cters to lose, or coarse ward and pre- .
net workers eager for jobs and let
lem do the perjury, the stealing and
he smuggling for US. We created and d
red our rascals. Every election we C
sveloped a new stock of perjurers and e.
llldozers. We took ignorant or reck- g.
IS men and trained them to perjury,
ade them our employed thugs. We u
ught them how to steal ballots, to OBJ Ct
ruct voters, to forge poll tax lists, to h
ter returns, to play tricks of low cum q,
ng. We laughed and applauded Sc >,
city and joined our miserable tools in ~
cir lies by lying for them, defending
EN- In the courts, covering up their p'
lenses, accepting the results of their N
1rk."
Now, who are the 1--WE" so repeated &C
referred to in the above paragraphs? 81
10 same fellows who are now "accept- til
: the results" from the very same
lows who now have charge of and m,
lduct elections in Virginia ma
Ind who was the man that wrote this DO
confession, setting forth dis