Rockingham post-dispatch. [volume] (Rockingham, N.C.) 1917-1965, 1920-04-09
The Congressional Campaign.

i
The Congressional Campaign.
Mr.. Editor:
Any man Of good moral char
acter and staunch political rec
ord has the privilege of standing
for office. ] hoped some good
man had offered for Congress
from this county; there never
will be a brighter opportunity
Our county has stood in the fore
front for years as a dependable
asset in assuring the success of
the Democratic party, and
withal only two of her sons have
enjoyed political preferment-
Col. Walter Leak Steele and Hon.
Franklin Mcneil. If our peo-
pie are satisfied with the crumbs
that fall from the political table,
so be it, for that will be their
only reward as matters now
( stand.
If we had put forth a candi-
date, can it be supposed for a
moment that Arson would have
stood aside and my friend Brock
have curbed his present desire
for office? Hardly. The brilliant
and lamented LeGrand was put
forward by his friends time and
again, and others were chosen.
So it will go on and on under
present conditions. Politics is a
selfish game, and as it is now
being played our own young flu
ture aspirants for public prefer
ment will find themselves, like
the prodigal son possessed of a
hat, little else. Let's inventory
and see how matters stand.
Take Arson. There are no
finer Democrats. Judge Thos. S.
Ashe, one of the Confederate
Senators from the State, later
elevated to the Supreme Court
Bench by your votes, died in Of
flee. Col. Risden Tyler Bennett,
appointed Superior Court Judge,
resigned to make the race, for
Congressman at large, later
nominated Congressman for the
Seventh District. Hon. James A.
Lockhart, elected to Congress,
served until unseated by Charles
Henry Martin. Hon. L. D. Rob-,
inson, elected to Congress for
two. terms, also he held the So
licitorship for two terms; later,
the same office; held by Hon.
Walter E. Brock. up to this good
day. You people of Richmond
County contributed your share
in their nomination and election.
The, first Commissioner of Agri-
culture came from this county,
Hon. L. L. Polk; the second,
Hon. John Robinson, father of
the Congressman, was also an
Ansonian. I do not mention the
lesser lights.
Union next. Hon. David A.
Covington, Assistant u. S. Dis
trict Attorney; Hon. A. M.
Stack, Solicitor, and the gallant
and magnetic Ney McNeeley,
who passed Civil Service Exam
nations and was appointed Con-
sui to AyGen. whose young life
went out on the wild wastes of
the Mediterranean, a victim of
the hellish barbarity Of the I'M
speakable Hun. No county in
the district has consistently
given as large a Democratic ma
jority: no people have been as
modest in their requests of the
party; no county in the State
has a larger per cent of home
owners. Modest, unassuming,
faithful at all times.
They have selected without a
dissenting voice their county
man, J. C. M. Vann, as a candi-
date for Congress. and they re-
quest that you give his candi-
dacy consideration. | shall sup
port Vann for four reasons. One
is, he is my close personal
friend; second, he is eminently
qualified; third, Union County
has been faithful and modest
and not disposed to the view
that she is the only county in
the District able to furnish a
representative for the District f.;
fourth, and a very weighty rea-
son, is that I will never support |
in primary any man who holds
on to an Office given either by |
the votes of the people or by |
appointment and uses it as a
means either to an office of larg-
er scope or to fall back on in the
event of defeat This is an inno-