West Virginia argus. [volume] (Kingwood, W. Va.) 1877-1946, 1894-04-12

~~'sihN"hco VA PSicOuoi Nte"tno ou
me by this man " Ebonezcr." He
rs indeed sorely perplexcd when he
has to in spirit Of selfishness,
which ckaraeterizes self.interested
parties, imputc to me evil motives
in discussing the county road ques.
ton. l am driven to the conela-
sion that his personal jealousy has
betrayed him into distortion, or
at least into the exaggeration OF my
motive, when he asserts that am
prompted in my crusade against the
present system of county road
working because l failed to get Of
flee. The truth is so apparent to
those who know mo that 1T is scarce
ly necessary for me to say that
have never hankered after "the
flesh pots of Egypt" and that 1t is
equally true that my aversion and
modesty against holding public of.
flee only increased the eagerness of
the people to place me in office,
which they did at the last general
election by such majority that
even the gentleman himself cam
not ignore it unless he commits
assault and battery on the sacred
truth ! An Office, which, had it
not been for the most earnest So
licitation of my friends, would
have resigned long ere this. Nor
is 1T necessary for me to refute the
allegation that my Spartan band
OF Tunnelton followers have de-
serted me. They cling to me with
fatherly affection which singular
ly illustrates the truth of the adage
"a friend in need is friend in
deed u 1t staggers my power Of
belief to think we have a man so
base as to declare that my Spartan
band and myself "try to run King
wood district" and tina. am an
tagonistic and jealous of the men
OF Howesyille. l want to state
here and now. before my epitaph
Is written, that l have nothing but
the most profound respect and adj
miration for the men of Howes-
vile, aud that glorify their "vim
and pineteenth century enterprise. I"
and il it was the last word breath
would allow me to utter, would
say, :" keep it up"
But cannot compromise truth
with fiction, hence am compelled
to say that our county road ma
chine Is a dismal failure, a fact
which a twelve-horse team hitched
to the road machine cannot scrape
out on the Kingwood district coun-
ty roads. There was no need for
you to gloss over the failure of the
road machine by personal attacks
on me, far less to attempt any
formal apology for it, when the
questions turned not on the an
tiqnity Of my shovel-plough and
old dun, but on the labor I'M oney
saving success Of che road machine,
II l may coin such a phrase before
my lamp OF life goes out which
will be handed down to posterity as
the genius Of man who was not
afraid to juggie with the Queen's
English with impunity. in order to
add another feather to the tail of
the American eagle, which | ven
crate as the proud bird of freedom
And for once beg leave to repeat
your language "Let him screamv'
1t is impossible to doubt that the
working Of our county roads
throughout the little Mountain
State IS honeycombed with soft
snaps" for the loyal bonchmen
who dothl bidding OF political
bosses. The exposure Of the facts
when they come to hight is not an
attack on honest public officials,
bat 1t Is the necessary preliminary
for purifying such abuses. If
found such abuses TO exist in our
county ] should consider it my
duty as a good citizen and tax
payer to expose them. 1 shield no
man in wrong doing.
Now, one word about Capt. j. s.
Cozey and bis commonweal army.
l desire 10 say IN the most emphatic
language that ! am heartily in "a
vor Of tho commonweal movement.
u has beer the dream OF my life.
/ have kept sedulous eye on the
working Of county roads for years,
and while have been denounced
by tka plufcrrafa and ell. 49,