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Valley Virginian: December 8, 1870 Go To Page : 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |

To the Patrons of the Virginian
(Column 01)

Summary: C. D. Stoneburner and J. B. Pemberton announce that they have sold the Valley Virginian to Maj. S. M. Yost.
(Names in announcement: C. D. Stoneburner, J. B. Pemberton, Maj. S. M. Yost)

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: This article announces the first issue of the Virginian under the new editorship of S.M. Yost. Yost's principle interest is "the new order of things." He claims that issues defining political parties of the past are no longer relevant. Therefore, all must "look to the future" and properly analyze the issues that will shape political parties now merely in "chrysalis" form. Yost promises that the paper will always take a position on whatever issue is at hand.
(Names in announcement: S. M. Yost)

Full Text of Article:

By the notice at the head of this column, it will be seen, that the undersigned has become the editor and proprietor of the Valley Virginian

In resuming his connection with the press of the Valley, it would hardly be necessary for him to do more then simply announce the fact, were it not that since he last communed with this public, as the editor of a public journal, the institutions of the country have undergone great changes, the fundamental structures which, were at the base of parties have been swallowed up by new issues, the social organism of the South up rooted, and the physical and intellectual energies of the people diverted into new channels. A new order of things is upon us. The ideas and opinions advanced and maintained ten years ago in support of parties, whose politics were well defined, find now but little applicability. The chief source of political and sectional antagonism then has been destroyed, and we must now look to the future for the full development of the issues upon which parties will be formed and divided. The necessities of an economical administration of government will create those issues. As yet, they are merely in the chrysalis state, without the lines and lineaments fully drawn. The events, hidden in the womb of the future, from which the policies of parties will be shaped, cannot with satisfactory distinctness be foretold. We must await developments and be guided by the lights which promise to the people of Virginia, the South, and the nation, the greatest good. In broad and general terms the writer may say, however, that all projects of governmental reform which harmonize most nearly with the theories of the Democratic party will receive the cordial and earnest support of the Virginian

But, at this time, the people of Virginia, and especially of this great and affluent Valley, are more interested in the paramount consideration of material development. The completion of the great lines of public improvement, now in the process of construction, as well as the inauguration of those in contemplation, is of far more importance than mere political theories or the fashioning and working of party machinery. The controlling minds of the State are now fully engrossed with the great public enterprises whose prosecution must open up new sources of wealth, enlarge the power, and extend the influence, of the Commonwealth, than they are with the organization of parties for the advancement of personal ambition.

We here in the Valley look forward with cheerful hope to the completion of those great channels of trade and travel between the Atlantic seaboard and the vast productive regions of the Middle and Northwest, the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad and the James River Canal--which are destined in the future to command the rich commerce not only of those sections, but to share in the profits arising from the growing wealth and importance of the Pacific States, and their trade even with the affluent cities of the oriental world.

The Valley Railroad and the Shenandoah Valley Railroad, are projects of internal improvement, in which the people are deeply interested, and while the citizens of this immediate locality and the central valley are more intimately concerned about the Valley Railroad and its completion, they do not consider that there is any necessity for an acrimonious rivalry. The wealth of the Valley which must spring into existence on the construction of these roads, and the connections they will make with Southern lines of trade and travel, cannot fail to command remunerative employment for both. To this subject more minute allusion will be made in future numbers of the Virginian

It will be the aim of the editor to conduct the Virginian upon high principles of journalistic propriety. He has no personal ends to attain, save that of making an honest living by legitimate means and industrious application. He will fearlessly maintain, in these columns, what he believes to be right, and promotive of the best interests of the community and the State. He will coalesce with no man, or set of men, for the accomplishment of purely selfish objects, but will endeavor to maintain the dignity, honor and independence of the press, and his own self-respect, in all that he may write or publish. He desires to publish a paper that will meet the sympathy and approval of good men, and that will be an acceptable visitant to every fireside.

In discussing questions of public policy, he does not expect to please all classes of minds. An honest difference of opinion is tolerated by every honest man. He can readily accord to dissenting minds the same purity of motives as those he himself profess, and this he shall always take pleasure and feel a pride in acknowledging.

He will aim at no ungenerous or unmanly rivalry with the Press of Staunton or of the Valley. There is a public spirit and liberality sufficient to give all a decent living who will work for it and who deserve it. But he will earnestly and cordially unite with his conference in the advocacy of every scheme and proposition whose practical operation will ensure to the common interest of the city, the county, the section, the State and the country.

The editor expects to take a decided position upon every question of public interest that may present itself. He recognizes in a public journal no passive agent, governed by negatives, uncertainties and indecisions, but he regards it as designed to direct and educate popular sentiment--as means of diffusing information and stimulating public enterprise. S.M. Yost

Political
(Column 02)

Summary: This article looks into the current state of the Republican Party. The author points out that fissures over civil and financial reform could lead to different ends. Either the party is currently in the process of blending these reforms into their platform, or certain elements of the party are breaking off into a new party. The author has two important things to say about this. First, these reforms are originally part of the Democratic party dogma, second, Democrats had split before, over the slavery question, and reunited once those issues had been settled. This article calls for honest Republicans to do as the Democrats did, and unite with the party whose "history is identified with them."

Full Text of Article:

It is very evident that a process of disintegration, and exfoliation is now going on in the Republican party. Springing into existence upon a one ideal view of a great political and social question--having accomplished the original purpose of its creation, and the cause of its formation and the motive of power of its vitality destroyed, there would seem to be no further occasion for the cohesion of the elements which compose it. But the infatuation of power--the charm of unchallenged control and distribution of vast revenue, are sufficient incentives to stimulate parties in exertion for the supremacy of their organization. Indeed, we but express our honest conviction when we say, that with parties, as such, whether in power or battling to gain power, the mastery and manipulation of the Treasury and the offices of the government, are the secret sources of cohesion, and the propelling agent of action. Of course, with a view to capturing and securing the popular vote, theories of government are maintained and political tenets advocated, which harmonize with the natural bearings of the popular wind; for the elementary and normal idea of the people is for a liberal and economical administration of government--as nearly democratic as is consistent with stability and durability. This idea, however, as a general proposition, is entertained in a musty, foggy state. The popular mind does not elaborate and digest, nor reduce it down to a point of demonstration and, therefore, it is not prepared at all times to embrace the means to attain the end. It was in one of these periods of popular clamor and demagogical appeal for liberalizing government, without reference to a parallel progress of intelligence and education, that John Randolph declared "every change is not reform." And while no reform can be effected without change--no revolution in parties or the administration of government can be accomplished, without party condemning its own action or the people condemning party--it does not follow that the party proposing the reform is any purer in the motive that stimulates it than the organization which committed the alleged wrong. The intellectual conviction may be clear as to the necessity, for the good of the people, for the practical enforcement of certain ideas of government, but the corrupt and debased motive of party unity and supremacy, with a view to public spoils and public plunder, may obey the dictation of that conviction. It is only when abused power--power devoted to self-aggrandizement and party supremacy, is threatened to be wrecked by the mandate of an indignant popular voice form the party thus misdirecting it, that the shift is made from a transparent and unblushing policy and practice of corruption and fraud to a seeming embracement of a theory long before lodged in the mind, as in consonance with the truthful idea of our system of government. It is a spurious virtue, enforced by an inexorable necessity.

It is in this light we regard the recent movement of prominent members of the Republican party, lead by the Chicago Tribune, to either tongue and groove into the Republican platform the doctrine of civil reform and retrenchment--a revolution in the revenue system of the government, and a vast abatement in the financial outgoings, and a consequent lightening of the burdens of taxation; or to create a new party based on this idea.

We cannot see the necessity of this latter alternative nor do we acknowledge the legitimacy or disinterestedness of the former suggestion. These reforms are part and parcel of the fundamental creed of the Democratic party. The idea is coexistent with the birth of that party; and if its practical operation is deemed essential to the welfare of the country, it must be a hallow and insincere declaration of principle, if those who declare it are not willing to unite with the party which, from its organization, has made the proposition now ostentatiously paraded as something new, one of its cardinal dogmas. There is nothing particularly significant in a name itself, unless that name is associated with ideas and principles as to almost become part of them. It is a false pride--a doubtful patriotism, that will not leave an inane monosyllable to grasp a great public good, or that will permit a party nomenclature to control an intellectual convention affecting a vital principle of government.

Vast numbers of the most prominent and intellectual members of the Democratic party, cut loose from that organization and united with the Republican party, because of their relative positions on the question of slavery. They thought the time had come for that question to be settled--that the irrepressible conflict" was upon us--and that bone of contention ought to be disposed of. We all know the result. Of this number are Gratz Brown and Frank Blair of Missouri, John A. Logan of Illinois, and others equally prominent in the recent political conflicts of the country. They were Democratic upon all the dogmas of administrative policy, save this one. That being disposed of, they are Democratic still, and will unite with the Democratic party in the restoration of the government to a healthy and legitimate basis of administration. If exfoliating Republicans, who in the past never sympathized with the theories of the Democratic party, but now acknowledge their essentiality to the good of the country, are honest, and are not attempting to appropriate these well know popular ideas as a means of saving their organization, let them do as Democrats did on the slavery question--unite with the party whose history is identified with them. Indeed let all who are jealous of the country's honor--of the peoples' welfare--band together and carry into practical operation the great cardinal dogma of the Democratic party--Civil Reform and financial retrenchment.

A Suggestion
(Column 03)

Summary: This article calls for an appropriation for the erection of a public building in Staunton to accommodate a variety of public offices, including a Circuit Court, Post office, and Internal Revenue Office. Since Staunton has grown in importance since the close of the war; since the population has increased and Staunton has become geographically central to a great deal of trade and travel, the author feels justified in calling for this appropriation.

Full Text of Article:

The growing importance of Staunton, as a central and distributive point west of the Blue Ridge, the remarkable increase of its population and trade since the late civil war, the marvelous energy displayed by its business men, mechanics, merchants, and capitalists of all descriptions, both in labor and means--the enterprise thrift and judgment exhibited by the farmers of Augusta county--the geographical location of this immediate vicinity, which is destined to make it the great crossing point for the trade and travel of the continent, from the Gulf to the Potomac, from the Atlantic to the Pacific suggest the appositeness of an application to the Federal Government, for an appropriation to erect, in this place, a public building for the accommodation of the Post office, Internal Revenue and Judicial Departments of the United States. The business of the Post Office Department, at this point, is considerably larger than at any other place East of the Blue Ridge. This building, for that purpose, has to be erected and paid for by the Government. The offices for the Collector and Assessor for the 6th District are procured in a like manner, and the United States Court, which meets in Staunton twice each year, has no place to sit except in the Court House. This is attended with more or less inconvenience both to the Courts of the County and Circuit, and the United States, for their times of meeting sometimes come in conflict.

There are eligible sites in the city for a building, such as is here suggested, that could be purchased at reasonable rates. The building itself, erected upon a judicious place could be made to yield to the United States, a handsome percentage, independent of the amount saved, which is now paid for the rent of the Post office and the offices of the Collector and Assessor of Revenue. Were a prominent location selected, the first floor could be made to bring revenue of at least 31,000, in addition to the reduction of expenses at this point for Postal and Internal Revenue offices. In these particulars, a saving would be effected of at least 8600, making a total of $1,600, or 10 per cent on $16,000, besides the accommodation of the United States District Court. Twenty thousand dollars would purchase an eligible site, and complete the building.

We are satisfied, if this matter were brought prominently before the proper committee, by our Senator and Representative, there would be no difficulty in securing the appropriation of comparatively so insignificant an amount as $20,000, especially when it could be demonstrated that it would be a remunerative investment.

We call the attention of Senator Lewis and Representative Milnes to this suggestion, and hope they will deem it of sufficient importance to at once throw it into shape and give it energetic direction.

Our citizens should also move in the matter, and by concerted action bring the question before the proper authorities in such a manner as will insure the necessary appropriation.

Death
(Column 01)

Summary: Capt. James McClung died in Staunton at the residence of Joseph A. Waddell. McClung had overseen the Exchange Hotel in Richmond, the Virginia House in Staunton, and the Augusta Hot Springs.
(Names in announcement: Capt. James McClung, Joseph A. Waddell)

Murder
(Column 01)

Summary: Henry Harris, an African American man, was found murdered on the railroad track at the Greenbrier White Sulphur Spring. Money was taken from the body. Bill Ross, a black man from Salem was arrested and confessed to the crime. "The colored people talk of lynching him."
(Names in announcement: Henry Harris, Bill Ross)

Mr. Baldwin's Address
(Column 01)

Summary: James W. Baldwin's recent address was very well received. "It tended to produce lasting impressions upon the minds of the young and of turning the old inebriate into the 'pleasant fields and green pastures' of the land of sobriety."
(Names in announcement: James W. Baldwin)

Personal
(Column 01)

Summary: Col. James Norris, Staunton insurance agent, plans to go to an infirmary in Baltimore where he will have his eyes operated upon. He has lost sight in one eye and is losing it in another.
(Names in announcement: Col. James Norris)

Baptist Fair
(Column 01)

Summary: The ladies of the Baptist Church will hold a fair at the Town Hall to raise money for repairs to their church. They will sell a variety of luxuries. The paper encourages all to support the effort.

[No Title]
(Column 01)

Summary: Col. A. W. Harman has taken control of the stage line between Staunton and Harrisonburg formerly run by J. I. A. Trotter. Mr. Allen of Staunton will remain local agent. Stages will leave Staunton every day at 9:00am and 5:00pm, and will leave Harrisonburg at 9:00am and 7:00pm.
(Names in announcement: Col. A. W. Harman, J. I. A. Trotter, Mr. Allen)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: John C. Troxwell and Miss Sarah J. Price, both of Augusta, were married near Newport on November 16th by the Rev. B. C. Wayman.
(Names in announcement: John C. Troxwell, Sarah J. Price, Rev. B. C. Wayman)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: William Ellinger and Miss Sarah M. Gordon, both of Augusta, were married near Newport on November 17th by the Rev. B. C. Wayman.
(Names in announcement: William Ellinger, Sarah M. Gordon, Rev. B. C. Wayman)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: Edward Crawford and Sadie E. Crawford, daughter of William Crawford of Augusta, were married at the house of the bride's father on November 30th by the Rev. Isaac W. K. Handy.
(Names in announcement: Edward Crawford, Sadie E. Crawford, William Crawford, Rev. Isaac W. K. Handy)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: Thomas Shumate of Staunton and Miss Jennie M. Shafer, daughter of the late David Shafer of Rockbridge, were married on November 30th at the residence of the bride's mother by the Rev. Platt.
(Names in announcement: Thomas Shumate, Jennie M. Shafer, David Shafer, Rev. Platt)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: Nimrod Gordon and Miss Nancy J. Swink, both of Augusta, were married on November 10th by the Rev. D. B. Ewing.
(Names in announcement: Nimrod Gordon, Nancy J. Swink, Rev. D. B. Ewing)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: John M. Brown and Miss Clara C. Lamb, both of Augusta, were married on December 1st by the Rev. D. B. Ewing.
(Names in announcement: John M. Brown, Clara C. Lamb, Rev. D. B. Ewing)

Marriages
(Column 02)

Summary: Samuel A. Dunlap and Miss Eliza D. Rohrer were married near Churchville on December 1st by the Rev. J. W. Hott.
(Names in announcement: Samuel A. Dunlap, Eliza D. Rohrer, Rev. J. W. Hott)

Deaths
(Column 02)

Summary: Willie Graham Cootes, daughter of B. F. and M. E. Cootes, died in Staunton of croup. She was 2 years old.
(Names in announcement: Willie Graham Cootes, B. F. Cootes, M. E. Cootes)

Deaths
(Column 02)

Summary: John B. Wald died at Newport on November 27th of consumption. He was 27 years old.
(Names in announcement: John B. Wald)

Deaths
(Column 02)

Summary: Lieucetta H. Archart, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Archart, died on November 25th. She was 3 years old.
(Names in announcement: Lieucetta H. Archart, Andrew Archart)