The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1898-08-09
= Summons CHS WRArHY.

o.sding MeWpOOAH WN0S EAAn
Ec..r as if de Had Eaten q Peck of
80 "'Simmons"--Mr. Mewboorne
Told too Much Truth
last week we gave Mr.. Mewboorne's
LITER to Mr.. Simmons. Below we give
y. simmons reply. Il will be seen
Ut he does not answer the questions
".Lod " Mr.. Mewboorne. Yet MI.
'T,vboorne told Mr.. Simmons under
hat circumstances he could get the
formation he desired. Mr.. Simmons
',.as an ocean Of words to each drop of
1ooson. Mr.. Mewboorne's letter con-
.oined cold clammy facts and ques
,i,ns which were posers, and which
till remain unanswered.
N. Mewboorne, Supt. of Peniten-
tiary, Raleigh, n. @
t. il well known in North Carolina
tbst we have just entered upon a cam
nsign in which the management OF our
state affairs by the present admins
trstion will be largely discussed and
that the question will be presented to
the people to be decided at the election
in November, whether they will con
tinue the control Of the present fusion
government in North Carolina. Under
these circumstances, I deemed it due
to the voters Of the State, to whose in
terest, judgment and patriotism the
party OF which lam chairman proposes
to appeal, that they should be put in
possession of the full facts concerning
tho management Of their affairs by
the present State government, to the
end that they may wisely and fairly
decide whether the interest and honor
of the State required that their public
affairs should hereafter be conducted
by a different political party.
In order that this work in which the
people are so much interested should
be thoroughly and fairly executed, I
secured the services Of Hon. T. ]. Jar
Wis, former Governor and United States
Senator, and of Capt. 8. A. Ashe, long
q leading ,urnalist Of this State and a
man of high character, to prepare q
hand book giving an accurate state
ment of all the facts concerning these
matters.
Early after Governor Russell was in
Quoted into office he appointed John
R Smith Superintendent OF the Peni
tentiary and you Commissioner of Ag-
riculture. Soon thereafter rUmors of
Encouragement and misrepresentation
of the property of the ~penitentisry un-
der Mr., Smiths management became
rife throughout the State.
1t was stated in public press, and
from mouth to mouth, that the Cover
Tor had determined to remove Mr..
5rnith from the cfi1e Of Superintend-
emit because of incompetence, misman-
sgement and corruption.
Some time last winter the public was
startled by the information that for
the reasons above stated the Governor
acting through the Board Of Directors,
had removed Mr.. Smith as Superin-
tendent and caused him to be put in
charge of the Agricultural Department,
thus transferring q man found unfit by
reason of moral ana mental delinquen-
cies to manage the convIcis, { % the
control Of that Institution which most
closely touches the interests OF the pre-
dominant element Of the population,
the farmer. 1t was also staGed in the
newspapers, and noS denied, that the
Governor had stated co a member Of
the Board of Directors of the Agricul-
turRl Department, in a personal inter
view with him, as a reason for the re
moval of Smith from the position Of
Superintendent OF the Penitentiary,
That under him the penitentiary man
agement was not only squandering,
but actually stealing the property Of
the State. 1t was likewise charged
that this director stated in a meeting
OF the Board of Agriculture that the
Governor had stated TO him as his
reason for transferring Mr.. Smith from
the ~penitentiary to the Agricultural
Department, that under MS manage
ment OF the penitentiRry the property
ct the State was being equandered and
stolen.
The Law requires the superintendent
OF the Penitentiary annually, on the
5l3S OF December Of each year, to file,
under oath, an inventory of the assets
OF that institution, and requires the
Board Of Directors to make an annual
report Of the affairs Of the peniten
a8ry to the Governor.
II was a~scertained upon inquiry that
no report Oh inventory, for the year
1897, such as the law requires should