The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1911-08-29

been SUBSIDIZED. man can not In
a spirit Of kindness and philanthropy
undertake as Il trustee in the interest
| of millions of policy holders to re-
/ form the abuses of a great life in
surance company without having his
| name and memory traduced after he
/ Is dead. Because he happened to own
u controlling interest in the Times
Dispatch that paper must be denounc-
! ed and viillfied as an agent OF the in
/ terests.' l say this much In passing,
] as l feel l should say it in the in
terest of truth ana justice, l have no
more "a brief to defend the Times
/ Dispatch than ! have to defend the
| memory OF the late Joseph Bryan,
/ Neither does it need any defense at
my hands in this connection. Tq.Fay
/ that it is or has been owned in New
York and controlled in behalf of what
/ Is usually referred to as the IN
terests is redicuously absurd / refer
to 1t to show the venonmous spirit of
my opponents and their reckless dis
| regard of truth.
Barbour Thompson Letters
! While ii has been difficult for me
to understand the malevolent spirit
which has induced Mr.. Jones to attack
everything and everybody his hostile
feelings toward me have been of such
long standing and SO bitter that II has
not been difficult to understand his
motives for his course towards me
personally. His course towards me
more than twelve years ago was 50
offensive as to disclose a hatred and
malice rarely manifested toward
fellow man and To make il impossible
that he should Do recognized by me
In any way. In speech delivered by
him at Halifax Courthouse, twelve
years ago, he made almost exactly the
same charges he Is making now about
my being a railroad lobbyist. and
which he Is now undertaking to sup
port by the use OF what purports to
be copies of certain letters stolen
from the letter press book of J. s.
Is. Thompson. and which were re-
ceived and used by Mr.. Jones. know
ing they were stolen. Has any man
of honor ever been known in Viz
giria to receive and use stolen let
ters knowing them to To stolen? /
make this reference to the fact that
tho letters were stolen not to eVade
anything contained In the letters so
tar ] am concerned, but to inquire
what credit should he given to a wit
ness who undertakes to traduce the
character and honor Of thousands OF
the best people IN Virginia, going
about that Notorious business holding
In his hands and using letters which
lie must know were stolen. But ! re-
peat. that SO far as / am concerned,
what is contained IN the letters speaks
Tor itself aud means the same. whe-
Their tho letters were gotten before
the public honestly and fairly or by
, the surreptitIoQs act OF a thief. First,
i let me advert TO the situation and
conditions which existed In Virginia
/ In the fall OF 1891, when these let
= ters were supposed 10 have been writ
ten, and for years before ana after
.fra4 H. - I
Taylor Eliyson was chairman OF the
State committee. ! was and had been
for years member OF the State and
Executive Committees and as such
; had given In every campaign large
share OF my time 10 the Democratic
! party in aiding thu State chairman.
Hon. John 5. Barbour was living
: and was In the Senate from Virginia.
/ held no pubic ofnCs and was not
contemplating a candidacy for any
y My activities were due entirely to my
interest in the public welfare and my
: desire to meet rho responsibilities I'm
, posed upon me by the State chairman
when he appointed me on the execu-
! tive committee, and by the people In
: tho congressional district In which 7
/, lived when they elected me TO mem
, bership on the State Central Commit
: tee. The work in our campaigns IN
that period OF our history was bur
: densone and trying. The responsible
, tiles OF the committees were exceed
, ingly great From the adoption Of
the Underwood Constitution at the
. time Of reconstruction. giving the
right OF suffrage to the negroes, until
oar new Constitution was adopted in
. 1901 car people were constantly In
= the presence OF the menace Of ne
, gro dominatIon-the negroes being led
by parties designated in the pariance
OF tn eday az carpet baggers and
, scaiavags. At ona time the Demo
cratic party was dethroned from
power. In that brief period, when
Virginia was controlled by coalition
i. between Republicans and certain dis
satisfied Democrats. the intelligent
. and patriotic people OF the State be-
came mora thoroughly convinced than
: ever Of the necessity for Democrat tic
Z domination. II good order. property
l rights and decent government were to
be preserved. For the purpose OF re-
! deemlng the State the late Hon. John
s. Barbour was elected chairman of
the State Committee. To preserve
white supremacy It was perfectly man
ifesr that We had to resort either to
tins shotgun policy-which was re-
sorted 10 In some Of the South rn
States-or 70 the large use Of money
9 In our campaigns. Public sentiment
q Wpuiu HHL approve the an otENn policF
T In Virginia, and the managers OF the
, Democratic party We're appealed to
: and were expected to raise and use
! large sums OF money to maintain
~ whtta supremacy In the State. Mr..
J Barbour inaugurated campaign
marked with such ability and such
energy and such efficiency that down
to this hour 1t is referred to by the
older men OF the State in terms OF
high taA fpf
Large sums of money We're used. and
1t was gotten largely from railroad
corporations The methods then re-
sorted TO brought victory to the Dem
ocratfc party and safety and good
government to the people OF this
Commo nwealth. The methods then
= adopted had TO be continued with
more or less urgency until the right
OF suffrage was taken from the ne
groes by the new Constitution. Re-
terring for the purposes of this oeca-
sion chiefly to the campaign OF 1881
all who are familiar with the history
of that time know the extremities to
which we we're driven and the efforts
which we're necessary to maintain
Democratic ascendency and avert the
cloud which was a menace TO good
order, property rights, safe govern
ment and white civilization No evil
! denee Is necessary TO show condi-
tons which then existed, and If any
was necessary We need only read the
clear, strong and unanswerahle state
" In hA