The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1898-08-04
COULDN'T STAND IT.

More and more OlsgrdceluI anu
becomes the mismanage-
ment of State affairs under the pres
ent incompetent and corrupt regime.
Men who accepted positions under it
with the high motive of serving their
State are washing their hands OF
responsibility. The last to quit is
Mr.. J. w. Bailey, editor of the
Biblical Recorder, who has resigned
as a member of the Board of Com
missioners of Agriculture.
Mr.. Bailey says he accepted the
position against his personal desire
and interest with the single motive
of serving the Commonwealth, but.
says Mr.. Bailey, experience has re-
lentlessly impressed it upon me that
this is impossible on the present
Board, under the present Admins
tration."
In his letter to the Governor, Mr..
Bailey recalls the fact that John r.
Smith was made Commissioner of
Agriculture in his absence from the
city, and he says upon his return he
went to the Governor and inquired
why this had been done. Here is
what Mr.. Bailey says the Governor
told him:
"You informed me that you
had to do it IN order to get Mr..
Smith out of the office of Super
intendent of the States prison,
as under his administration of
that office our State was suffer
ing the disgrace of personal
scandal and financial loss by
corruption, and that you, hav-
ing failed to get him out of that
office by direct measures, having
exerted yourself to the utmost,
had resorted to the plan of ex-
changing the office of Commits
sioner for that of superintendent.
because in the Department of
Agriculture there was little OPP
portunity to do anything, good
or evil"
"The State was suffering the dis
grace of personal scandal and finan-
cial loss by corruption,' is the charge
here brought by the Governor
against one of his own henchmen.
Why did he not make this charge
in such a manner as would have re-
suited in investigation and in the
kicking out of position this unfaith-
full officer? What was the motive
that prompted the Governor to take
a man who had brought "the dis
grace of PERSONAL scandal and hnan
cial loss by corruption" upon one
Department of State and make him
the chief officer of another Depart
ment? Is this the way to punish
criminality in official position
These and like questions will suggest
themselves to the people rs they
read this confession of the Governor
The people, too, will see in this con
fession some of the milk in the
cocoanut in connection with the in
sulting letter recently written Chair
man Simmons by the present Super
intendent of the Penitentiary and
dictated, it is believed, by the Gov
ernor. Mr.. Simmons asked for infor.
nation concerning the management
of the Penitentiary. He and every
other taxpayer has a right to ask
this. 1t should have been given the
public as early as practicable after
the 31st of December last, the law re-
quiring a report to be made up tC
that date, but which has not been
made up to this time.
Ii that report had been made and
had contained the facts it would have
told of "the financial loss by corrup
ton" under John R. Smiths superin
tendency of the Penitentiary, Hence
the apparent effort to conceal the
facts, to withhold the report tC
which the people are entitled, and tC
offer personal insult to citizen who
seeks information At the same time
the Governor retains in q fat posi-
ton the man whom he says is re
sponsible for "the financial loss by
corruption" at the Penitentiary.
These are specimen incidents from
the dishonorable chapters of North
Carolina history that are being writ
ten by the corrupt and incompetent
gang now in charge of the State gov
eminent. Is it not high time that
the white people of the State, who
are in the majority, arise in theiI
might and put a stop to these dis
graceful proceedings?