The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1920-05-06
wrenceville, Va,
Afur 4

Editor Richmond ' uEtihdhs
| am enclosing an article written
by Mr. NJ r. Peterson on the So
called mass meeting" held mere some
time ago--and published in the
Brunswick county Gazette. II ex-
presses the opinion of the people so
well. | think it ought to have more
general circulation, SO ask you to give
it a place in The Virginian and oblige
Yours truly,
n. e. FOU6HEE.
The Resolutions.
To the Editor of the Times-Gazette'
On Monday, March 22nd a conven-
ton of Democrats of the county was
held at Iawrcnceville, at which dele
gates were chosen to represent the
county at the Roanoke convention. to
convene on the 18th of May. This
convention was nothing out of the
! ordinary, as such things go--usually
OF little interest, unfortunately, to the
public at large, and usually neglected
| by the preoccupied citizen, who mas
| no time for the details of politics.
bless your soul, and, therefore, leaves
| the business to the active politicians
with generally an axe TO grind, and
who, by the same token, generally
take care to grind it while the rest OF
the community goes its way sublime
| ~Ch'SNN
this fact consists the vice of the con-
vention plan as opposed to the party
| primary with it's invitation of the
open polls and the habit OF voting
strong enough in the average citizen
to stir his inertia and bring him to
the voting place--especially after a
preliminary campaign.
Yet nothing in itself out of the or
binary. this county convention was
I ~ Ia
| ing something of prodigious import
in the political annals of the country.
The sovereign states" of New Jer-
| sey and Rhode Island were duly in
voked in sounding, magniloquent Pc
RODS, and hailed by 1.-The Democrats
| of Brunswick county tnot all the
Democrats of Brunswick county, by
any means: not even majority OF
1.-THE Democrats of Brunswick county,
parhars) as comrades in the noble
cause of states rights, and dele
gates were appointed to go immedi-
ateiy, pausing, We suppose. at Roa-
noke only to have their credentials
viscd and demand Of the Democratic
convention at San Francisco declar-
ation--note the absurdity of it all
in favor of the repeal of the eight
] zenith tthe prohibition amendmenD
and Of the nineteenth, also whenso-
ever it shall have been adopted,
which Is TO say, if it shall eventually
be adopted
We marvel al the courage of these
Democrats of Brunswick county.
They are not deferred by the com
parative insigniticance of their mum
hers Their watchword is: Aim
high, if you lose your Ratchet" The
trepeai of constitutional amendment
is an undertaking that daunts them
not, and they march gaily to the as
sault, Bravo.
i, Cannon to right of them,
Cannon to left OF them,
Cannon in front of them.
Volley and thunder,
y
Bravely they ride and well
4 Into the jaws of death.
Into the mouth of hell"
/ ride these Democrats of Brunswick
county. and ride also Rhode Island
New Jersey, and Ed. Edwards. His
i, tory records no finer act of self
devotion. The charge of the Light
: Brigade at Balaklava fades~,int the
dull drab of the commonplace by con-
trast.
/ Candor nevertheless. compels us to
tconfess that we cannot give to these
Democrats of Brunswick county our
their now famous resolutions are toe
| grotesqueiy inconsistent. Verify doth
tpolitics make strange bed fellows, my
: masters, Zeal is apt to lose sight OF
, distinctions. The absurdity. the ex-
auisite absurdity, of looking to these
two Northern commemorative for aid
and comfort in any fight for states
rights never occurred to these
! Democrats of Brunswick county
To-
chance 10 which the tenuous theory
iof states rights was but ancillary
/ The ultimate restoration OF the right
of access to alcoholic beverages was
| in their perspective. Eight wines
beers. etc." wherein consider etc
Il as but the mask of our old friend
John, surnamed Barleycorn. who is
lnow seeking to revisit the
+ lpale glimpses OF the moon" rest his
soul, in spite of these Democrats OF
! Brunswick county,
deed, as champions of states
. rights" God save the common
wealth, The history of the ardor OF
: New Jersey and Rhode Island 70,
, states rights" is written large on q
hundred battlefields in Virginia
t Where heares the earth in many a
Wondering heap"
nor have they recanted their views
} since the bloody days when the,
joined to crush the Southern Confed
eracy and ext,nguished as practical
question the doctrine of States
riEhts" forever under the coustitu-
ttion of the United States. Nay, we
fbeiieve. in the very hour in which
they seek to nullify the prohibition
: amendment and thus deserve the
ipIaudits of these Democrats of Bruins.
: wick county as conpatriots in the
sacred cause of states rights" they
have adopted promptly and with en-.
y tfrusiaxf, without moving muscle
or batting an eve, the woman suffrage
amendment. which these Demoracts
Of Brunswick are bound 10 admit
and which they declare, TO be az ar.
rant an invasion Of the prerogative
of the state as the amendment pro-
ihibitinS the trafic in intoxicating
liquors.
The truth of the matter ts that
f states riEh1I,'s is~, hut. a catch word.
The real, the not half disguised effort
il to restore the liquor traflic in some
form in yirginiA---to make intoxicat-
ing liquors again available 70 many
4 thirsty souls who do NOT care the