Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1894-01-12
5. S Turner for Congress.
Mr.. EDITOR:

man who will give or receive
brides, a man who will promote jobs or
neiariOus schemes, man whose only
aim is self-Dreierment and pef while
real concern for his constituents well
fare is regarded as a sOlecism, If not a
joke. Nor do they want man of weak
intellect, little capacity to grasp and
handle governmental questions, a man
whose idea of a political principle is
that it is a conglomeratiOn of high sound
ing verbosi.y, whose climacteric is the
dear people. or the GLORIOUS party"
Neither do they want man who has
seen little or no service for his people
a man who in some campaign perhaps
has been nominal.y leader in his own /.
county or district, and 5y reason thereof
his "ambition has oveileaped ITSELF" and !
he think he has won his spurs and is
entitled to most any place in the gift of
the people, although a hundred other
men of equal merit have rendered equal |
service.
No. Whom the people of this District
do want to represent them is a man of
high moral character; of strong mental
capacity, and one who has rendered
faithful service in the cause of bis people.
The purpose OF this article is to present
Smith S. Turner as such man. As to
his character In his private life no
stain is upon him, FOR he is pure; 10
unfair dealings besnirch him, for be is
honest; no treachery bagrimes him, for
be is true no duplicity blackens him,
for he is frank and candid. He is genial
in disposition and afiable in manner. To
be sure he has bis foibles and faults like
the rest of US, bat taken all in all he is
man worthy IS high regard, and IS much
esteemed of MS people. In the practice of
his profession as a lawyer he has eyer
lived up to the highest standard of
professional ethics, never descending to
tricks or chicanery, discOura&lng the
litigious spirit, and holding i'll contempt
the mountebank and the shyster In his
political views ne has always been a
Democrat Of the straltest sect, and has
never turned away to follow any Of the
will-o the wlsps which have now and
then sprung up out OF the political
swamps. He Is a man of decided views,
and they are pinned upon his sleeve. No
trimmer is he nor weather vane. If
new questions arse he studies item
thoroughly, and having reached his own
conclusions he doesn't want to see which
way the political breeze blows before be
expresses himself He has never been
able to see the distinction between por-
sonal and political honesty, nor to under
stand why it is wrong to bride Juror
and not wrong to bride voter, when
the result in the first case may be to rob
one man of his property and IN the other
to rob all the people of their liberty. Such
is Mr. Turner IN his mora, his profess
ional and his political fife, and so be is
known by all who know him. Other
gentlemen who aspire to Congress may
be as pnre in life as Mr.. Turner, bnt in
capacity he is superior to any of them,
and IN service has rendered more than
they all As to his capacity: Take MI.
Turner where you Will, before a judge,
or jury, or political audience, and his
superior Is not easily fOuld. His intellect
is quick, fertile. vigorous, strong. He
readily brings his powers INTO use, and
right doughty indeed is his antagonist
If be be not discounted or oYerthroNn
10 contest with him.-He deals not in
flowers of rhetoric or in periods of Oratory
but in plain, simple, strong AHglo-Saxon
speech, put into logical form, not appear
ing to be logic, so simple is it, but all
the more logical because Of its simplicity
Indeed all who have heard Mr.. Turner
will accord to him much power as a
public speaker, and it is doubted If Yir.
giDia has in the lower house Of Congress
to day his equal as a debater. BeGides,
Nr. Turner is DOW at an age when views
are mature and judgment is ripe; in
middle life, just fifty, when reason ano
judgment, zeal and energy contended
for the mastery, and each has its perfect
play, for each acts and reacts upon the
other. Then as to service rendered. When
war clouds lowered upon our land Mr
Turner was a youthful student at the
: Virginia Military Institute. When the
clouds burst he laid aside his students
gown and went TO fight his cOnntry''
battles. From first Manassas to APP
pOn,attox from beginning to end be saw
active service in the field, and when on
that sad day in April the thin ranks Of
Lee laid down their arms, Mr. Turner
and those with him, bad rendered foul
> years of service, as unselfsh, as devoted
e as true. as ever stirred a patriots hear
or herved his arm, and their country car
never repay them for 1t. There are
upstarts who would decry snch service
they are pOltroOns, cravens, traitors
Bat Mr.. Turner's service ceased moi
with that which tried meu's souls and
proved their devotion. The war being
over he taught school and studied law
and from the time he came TO the bar be
has been using his abilities in advocat
ing tie cause Of democracy. For twenty
five years not a campaign, save one two
years ago when he was SICK, has passed,
! in which Mr. Turner has not taken an
active part on the stump. not only in his
own county but in all the counties round
! about. How effective was the work done
by him the people know; how vigorous
his blows, how stalwart his advocacy q
the peoples cause, how clear his exposi
ton of political truth, is known to the
people at every Court house in the Dis
trict, and they remember how he inspired
them with zeal. encouraged them with
energy when the cause seemed almost
lost. Such service has not been rem
dered by any one Of the aspirants for