The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1885-01-14
To the Publlc--The Right and the
Wrong OF a Matter which has
HAD Considerable Discus
sion In this Region.

Had Considerable Discus
sion ! In this Region.
The editor of the Farmer and Mechan-
&c has sometimes thought that personal
controversies wherein he is . factor ought
to be excluded from his columns; and
under this view we have frequently acted.
On the other hand the prime purpose OF
q patriotic journal is to shed light and in
formation 90 public questions for the
benefit of its readers; and very often it
happeps that the brightest sparks OF
truth and wisdom are evolved amid the
| olashing Of controversial steel. For our
! self, As Ill men know. we have ever treat
| Cd our subscribers Is friends and neigh
| bor, TO whom we could talk - freely,
frankly, and honestly. through the types,
a we ever do BY word OF mouth. in the
secrecy Of . closet. BY nature and dis
position We shrink from notoriety, and
have had TO contest the remonstrances Of
| our friends on that point tor years past,
IS thousands know: and if We ever had
an enemy, made SO BY our private con
| duct, We did not know it. All of our
enemies, and all of our controversies,
arose from our course q p~laln-speak
ing public journalist. Scores Of we'll
known Republicans who helped to send
US to Albany Penitentiary, afterwards de-
clared (many of them to US, personality
that it was not because Of q private
act, but because of our u%tterances as edi-
tor of the "Western Nndicdtor,' in
Rutherfordton, then the stronghold Of
Radicalism and Red String Leaguery; and
afterwards as editor Of the North Car
| DINA Citizen" at Asheville. in the dark
| hours when the Tennessee shoemaker,
Kirk, was gathering his gang from among
his old bushwhacking leagues.
1t appears justifable, therefore, to give
our readers aud friends 8 frank statement
of a matter which has excited consider
| able remark in this State, the past few
| days; even though it engross an undue
| amount of space in this weeks issue.
THE BEGINNING.
It must have been manifest to most
persons Of late that there is a vigorous
effort in certain quarters to rob the
| South, aud the Democracy, Of their legi-
innate triumph at the polls last fall.
The fact that Mr.. Cleveland has always
been a non-partizan, non-committal,
cautiously conservative, kind of mai,
and that he had the support of thousands
Of civil Service" Republicans, has
given grounds for a conspiracy to cap
ture him if possible, and keep a large
number Of "Reformer' Republicans in
power at Washington, in the hope that
they will retain the smaller fry down
South. Many straws could be shown
to be pointing this way, had we time.
One Of them was in the shape o~frepeated
regrets in the letters of Washington
correspondents of various papers, that
$50 good a man. Is Solicitor General
Samuel F. Phillips, Of North Carolina,
should be turned out of Office s'simply
on account of Politics" Mr.. Phillips,
a. our readers know, wal in in 1869,
Chairman of the Democratic State Com
mittee, enjoying all the honors our sore
ly worn and torn people could bestow.
But in 1870, amid all the gloom and hor-
ror of that day when the South seemed
to be bereft of heart, hope, and fortune,
suddenly Sam Phillips entered the con-
vention of the Loyal Leaguers and
agreed to carry the Radical flag as their
candidate in that memorable compaign.
Popular indignation with the Ku Klux
Of Orange, Alamance, Caswell, and
elsewhere defeated him, and broke the
back of Republican power in North Car
DINA, As is now admitted. But Sam
lost little. He was given an Office in
Washington which pays $4,000 a year;
and he is allowed to practice in the
Claim Courts there i; so that we hear he
realizes an income ofat least $15. 900 a
year. Surely ten years of such fairness
ought to suffice! Therefore, when we
saw the regrets" that so good a man,
should be displaced merely on account
of politics." our Democratic soul re-
sented the intimation that because a man
is respectable, talented, and wealthy he
must be retained in an Office of such
magnitude, despite the fact that his
| wealth, and his official power has been
used against the Democracy from the
time he deserted them. Recalling the al
most universal advocacy of Judge
Fowle's fitness and merits for the Office
(though we had not ever spoken with
him or the subject) we drew a par
allel between the public career of the
two men equal in talents aud charac-
ter, but the n always siding with the
people: the other always making ''pol-
itics' pay. We are under no obliga-
tons to Judge Fowle /; save that he pays
his subscription, and is our personal
friend. But we recall that twelve years
ago when we, and others, (some of them
mere boys; others grey-haired men of
64) were being driven about the streets
Of Raleigh at point of ~bayonet, and with
chained wrists, it was Judge Fowle who
volunteered with Gov. Bragg, Col. TIC
Fuller, Judge Strong, and others, to de-
fend the prosecuted, without money and
without price; while at the head Of the
Radi,.al ranks with Grants Attorney.
General at one side, and a squad of
"Leaguers" on the other, and Jenrey's
Bond on the Ranch,-sat Sam Phillips,
-ablest among them all, and best paid,
no doubt!
Is there any need to regret that
such a man should be forced To rive nm