The Mount Holly news. [volume] (Mount Holly, Burlington Co., N.J.) 1891-1942, 1913-07-01

On HIS trip around the state Governor
Fielder took In the ''pine district" of this
county. One account of the swinging
around The circle" says he was met at
Chatsworth by the natives, a brass band,
school children, ETC., and then went to
the Chatsworth club house for rest.
Well, that Chatsworth club house is a
good place to create In, and q man who
cannot be pleased with his reception there
must be hard to suit. But when "Jim"
went up in the neighborhood of Browns
Mills he seems to have found different
atmosphere. We must rely on the news
paper accounts for what he Is said to have
found, but when we read that he was &C
companied by the Rev. Bostwick and
others of that class, there Is little doubt
that the newspaper stories are pretty near
ly correct. There is nothing new In the
reports Fielder is credited with making
public, merely rehssh of the old rumors.
OF course there was not any politics In the
trip, only desire to straighten out very
bad locality. The fact that all these dis
coverIes that James made had been looked
into by a grand jury, had all been ex-
ploded, with the result of one indictment
which was found to be of no account, did
not deter loud blowing of trumpets and
chance to get photographs In the papers.
This time, however, the Rev. Bostwick did
not get his ''phiz" In the papers. 1t was
Jim" Fielder who was In the limelight.
In one of the pictures he Is shown as hold
ing one Of the little babies In his arms
1t Is good way to get votes, you know
to pay attention to the children, and 1t Is
also we'll to look after the mothers some,
SO another picture was taken of Jim"
talking to one of the women of "the pines.
At least, that is the way the picture was
labeled. If it was Jim" he had his back
turned to the camera No matter what
condition he found In the pine belt there
is one thing Fielder did not discover, or If
he did, be did not make 1t public. There
are men In that region who, whatever
their other faults may be, have some re-
gard for their word. They do not promise
one thing one day and then turn around
the next day and take 1t back. They have
their own idea of independence, and while
not being as intelligent and learned as
those who would dscrY them, they are not
such as to be induced to sink what little
manhood they have at the beck and call of
Tommy Birch and Dick Hughes. "Jim"
Fielder cast an undeserved reflection upon
the integrity of the Burlington county's
officials when he made the following state
ment which was printed In the Newark
Neaos: ''If the sheriff would select a grand
jury which would make a thorough in
vestigation into the conditions and indict
offenders and send them to prison, both
men and women, 80 that the people would
be forced to realize respect for the law,
some good would be accomplished" The
grand jury which did investigate the con-
dition in the pines and which heard the
sworn testimony of the people who have
been so diligent in circulating the stories
which have given this county SO much
notoriety were gentlemen the equal In in
telligence to the man who at present &C.
cupies the Gubernatorial chair of this
state. Fielder heard the stories about the
pines 10 their generality, vanished and
magnified,:: while the grand jury, keeping
the story tellers down to solid facts, under
the sanctitY of an oath, discovered that
there was great difference between i'm
agination and actual truth.