Fisherman & farmer. [volume] (Edenton, N.C.) 1887-19??, 1900-09-20

enemies and calumniators. The
Republican National platform
in substance, declares that the
amendment is to be assailed.
It must be defended. Mr.. SIM
mons has given more constant
thought to the subject than any
othe1 North Carolinian. He has
been closely ider4ified from its
Inception with the movement to
free North Carolina from a vici-
Gus electorate. He mas guided
and guarded that reform from
the day of its beginning to the
hour of its triumph, and to him,
more than to any other man, is
the State indebted for the just
and necessary modification Of its
Constitution. In a recent letter
to Mr.. Simmons, from Governors
elect Aycock, he says: Now that
the fight is over and the magni6
cent victory is won, l wish to ex
press to you my appreciation of
the great work which you have
done this year. Your plans were
we'll laid and wisely executed.
There is no other man in the
State who could have conducted
such fight as you have made
Il think no man becomes 'en
titled in the ordinary meaning
of the word, to any Office by
reason of his party services, how
ever great. But [ think that
party services ought to weigh,
and weigh heavily, in favor of a
candidate if he is in all other re-
spects competent to discharge the
duties Of the Office. Mr.. Sim
mons has done faithful and ex-
ceptionally important service to
his party. The Democratic party
has carried the State three times
Sine 180o-I802, in 1898 and in
1900. Each time Mr.. Simmons
was chairman of the State com
mittee and directed the cam
paign. When he became Chair,
man in 1898, the State was in
the hands of the Fusionists who
controlled the election machin>
cry and the chance for the Dem
ocrats was everywhere reguarded
as exceedingly slender. His con-
duct Of that campaign resulted
in the REDEEM ption of the State
from the misrule of the Fusion
party. He added to his laurels by
his mastery management Of the
campaign just ended, when the
State purged itself of a mass of
ignorant and vicious voters. His
great services in that cam paign
are fresh Ia our memories. Is it
to be said that his work was the
work of a politician, and that
we must not reward politicians? p
Is a man who leads a forlorn
hope for the political salvation
of a people, and who gives un>
ccasingly his time and labor to
that end, to be told after the vic
tory has been won that he caunot
be given high political honors
because forsooth he has dabbled
in politics I do not believe that
the Democrats of North Carolina
will render any such judgement.
Are the young men in the Dem>
oclatic party to understand that
if they are candidates for Office,
their former services to the party
are not to be considered? Is Mr.,
Simmons to be handicapped in
this contest by the fact that he
has labored for the party and led
il to victory? Is the declaration
to be made that the rewards of
victory are not to be given to
those who bear the burden of the
party's conflicts ? The extent
and value of the services render
ed by Mr.. Simmons are of com
mon knowledge. Are they to be
forgotten? Are the workers in
the cause of Democracy and the
people to be set aside with the
statement that they are political
workers. is gratitude to become