The times dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1903-1914, 1910-11-03
SIN ASH THE MACHINE.

- - llfS IL.
70 poss, / or not to boss; that is the
question. TO be on the inside, or on
the outside ITO bear the insolence
Of office and the spprns that patient
merit OF the unworthy takes; to be
'si1c ltied DER s.. with enter
prises OF # great pith and moment
and lose the name of action;'
these are, indeed, the things that
make one 'grunt and sweat under a
weary life" All OF which is perth
nent or impertinent, to the subject
that tina Is commanding so great attention
throughout re the country Nearly every
where Is "the voice of the people"
raised against the control of political
affairs by rings and bosses, and one
boss followss another in so rapid sue
.cession that the ordinary every day
citizen finds It difficult to determine
upon which he shall place HIS money.
In New York, for example, Barnes
and Woodruff and wadsworth, no
wickeder now than they have been
before. have been dumped to make
a speaking holiday for other and
greater and more vicious bosses than
they. Croker was followed by Muir
ply. and Murphy is matched by Roose-
welt Hanna succeeded Quay. and Cor
telyou followed Hanna. The name was
changed, but the machine was the
same. 1t has been so in nearly all
the States, and those who have heen
chosen to represent the great parties
have almost Invariably represented
Whatever partisan or factional In
iterests they were chosen to advance
1t was SO in South Carolina when all
the old line managers of the affairs
of the Democratic party In that State
were discarded to make way for Till
man in that State. and, so far as we
have been able to observe. only to-
the discredit.Sof the State.
Now comes the Roanoke Evening
World with the demand that the time
has come when Virginia must be de-
.llvered from the rule of the bosses
1t informs us that The Times-Dispatchi
has been appealed to by number
of Its weekly contemporaries In this
State to '.ioin the fight against bossism
in Virginia, but silence Is the answer
and then it remarks:
"Our newspaper friend and highly
esteemed contemporary Of Richmond
Yields vicious cudgel against cer-
tain iniquities. but 1t will not dare
for some unknown reason, to invade
the realm of that close corporation
known as the Machine the two or
three leaders of which, for twenty
years, have named the Governors Of
tors, appointed all State officers. while
the people in blind allegiance come
forward and ratfy the selections,
# This Is a remarkable statement. OF
course, we are against the ma chine. We
are against all machines. We believe
that the people should rule; that they
ought to have no bosses; that they.
! should boss themselves. But 1t ap-
pears from the statement OF our con-
temporary that, after ALL 1t is the
people who are to blame for the con-
ditions Of which 1t complains. as. ac-
cording to its own statement, "the
people in blind allegiance come forward
and ratify the selections. Of the .ma-
chine 1t would appear from this
statement that the people themselves
are to be blamed rather than the
machine s59 S,5s j33 f33s
We agree with the Evening World
that II requires some moral courage
70 oppose the organization.''',,sHa and we
also agree with it that there IS some
compensation In being absolutely free
from any sort Of character or string g.
We. are even willing togoto the extent
Of admitting that "the Evening World
Is absolutely free and untrammeled5i in
It's view" as 1t says it As that sit
dances dances to nobody's bidding \ ana sMtfI
would be interesting to 8knov.,,' as tina
evening World says. show many other
w: journals can make the same
statement. We do not believe that |
any newspaper in Virginia is "sub>
sldlzed,' as our contemporary; suggests /
i,
y they are-at least we do not know I
Of one that Is subsidized. The machine
mas no means Of substituting any man +
Or any newspaper SO far as we KIN ow;
y there are any such they should he
pose and we should be glad to
JOIN N'.l our Roanoke contemporary In ex-
posing POSING them, holding with it, that
We We also are free and untramme led In
our Views and that we dance to no
nody's bidding. AS a matter Of Sfaot,sl
He can 2 aanceA-we don't know IA W.
AS Asasa beginning, we wish our friend3E
y tVos would tell US WIG conn
poses the Machine" in yirginias Who.
pn l'4' the machine and what would
'a app II the present machine. II there
e q machine should be smas ia. as
! ought TO be II It IS Would there
. another MACHINE made A to 4 u Ke ITS
place. and, II 50, what would this
'eW 88maehine do? Would H'.the people
y h3bi ma allegiance come forward and
atty the sselectionsp mad ~ II, end.