The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1908-04-30
Hon. Edward w. Pou.

q
Record in Congress-Some
Reasons Why He Should
and Will be Reelected.
To the Editor of the Smithfield Herald:
] do not believe it is necessary to
write or speak one word to the Demo-
Gratis OF Johnston county to induce
them to give their support in conven-
ton to Mr.. f. w. Pou, the present
Congressman from this district. We
have all known him from boyhood
and not one word can be truthfully
said to his discredit He is a manly
fellow, always ready to help a friend,
klnd-hearted and generous almost to
fault. Ii he has any enemies at all
they are few in number and not de-
served. No man can know another
more intimately than | have known
this man from his youth up,and 1 say
he is as honorable and high-toned as
his deceased father, and when say
that, the people of Johnston county
know have said it all.
But now, when he is lust entering
upon career of national usefulness,
agentleman from an adjoining county
says he ought to be defeated, and
why? Because he has not done his
duty in Congress? No. Because there
is anything to be said against him?
No. Why defeat him then? Solely
because the other fellow wants the
place
y y
1t is true Mr.. POu has held office for
"a good long time, but let us not forget
how he came to do SO. When he was
first nominated for solicitors a Repub-
lican held that office but Mr. POu re-
deemed the judicial district and by a
campaign which is still remembered
to his credit, helped to carry every
county i'll the district. Certainly the
Democrats of Wake county have not
forgotten the help he rendered in that
campaign when for the first time in
many years the entire Democratic
ticket was elected in that county.
In 1895, the party had been swept
from power The Democrats of the
Fourth Congressional district were
looking around to get some man to
run, not with the hope of electing
him, but with the certainty of defeat.
| know from my own knowledge that
tiOn that year. He told me SO, but
he said if he was chosen by the
convention he would not refuse be-
cause the party had rewarded him
and he felt it his duty to run if the
party wanted him to do SO. The con-
vention nominated him by acclama-
ton and he was defeated by a re-
duced majority after one of the most
brilliant campaigns ever waged in
this district.
In 1900 he was nominated for Con-
gress when he was not a candidate
while he was at home dangerously i'll
with erysipelas. Have the people for
gotten why he withdrew as a candi-
date that year? 1t was claimed by a
few that the party was under Obliga-
tiOns to nominate John ". Atwater
who had been elected as an independ-
ent because he had bolted the Popu-
list party and had favored the con-
stitutional amendment. Everybody
knew that Ed. Pou would be nomi-
mated if he asked it, but he withdrew
so that even Atwater could not say
he did not have fair chance. The
convention refused to nominate At
water and the wisdom of the decision
of the convention has been manifest
ed by the subsequent conduct of the
man it turned down, for he is now a
full-fedged Republican. every cam
paign for twenty years Mr.. Pou has
gone wherever the party chairman
has sent him. The two campaigns
of 1900 almost ruined his health
Last summer be had a return of q
painful trouble with which he has beer
afflicted While he was in hospita
in Philadelphia, a report was circu
lated that he was so brOken-dOwn ht
could never run again. That was
the reason given then for the opposi
tiOn to him, but he came home vel
nigh restored to health, and now they
say he ought to be defeated because
he has been in office long enough an(
because he has done nothing as th'
representative of this district in Con
gress. The latter charge is as ridi
culous as it is false. The rural de
} livery routes which cover this dis
: trict like net work answer it. Th,
Congressional Record answers it
The Minority Leader in Congress an
swered it when he put Mr.. Pou on th
e Ways and Means committee, the sec
. ond time in fifty years, SO am told
t that North Carolina has been repre-
n sented on the most important com
mittee in either branch of Congress
: A public building soon to be erected
I, in the town of Henderson answers tn
: charge, and three hundred street ca
l. motormen in the city of Washington
: who formerly were compelled to rul
C their cars with snow and sleet beat
e ing in their faces, but who are nov
y protected by vestibules required b,
: Mr.. Pou's bill, also stand ready t.
! answer the charge.
> Even now while the Representative
: of Mr.. Pou's opponent lis driving owe
this district urging the people whom
he has served SO we'll and faithful
;. to vote against him in the conven
ton, Ed. Pou is at his post in Wast
ington helping to force the Republ
: cans to permit a vote on certai
Il measures of Importance to the yer
people who are asked to turn MI
1 Pou down. Will they do it? No il
/ deed. In spite of all the house t
house campaigns and soft talk, tn
III Kennedy's Laxative Cough Syrup-tl