The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-05
PRESS ON SENATOR SIMMONS

FOLLOWING the customary pattern "nen d
1 leader passes, North Carolina editors nave
focused their attention upon Senator DIM noNe
revolt against the AL SMITH candidacy III 'neii
comments on his career and his death at New
Bern last week.
There is not complete agreement among tne"
as to the causes and the consequences OF MS
position then, but all are in accord as 10 his
sincerity which, they agree, was above reproacn'
As the AsheuiNe Times puts it: ~. though
many of his former friends could not go along
with him in 1928, no one ever assalled senator
SIMMONS sincerity, his devotion to what he be-
lieved best for his party and the nation"
To the same purpose and, by inference, to the
same incident, the Burlington Times says:
"That the eastern North Carolinian with more
than 80 years in the national legislative bodies
made mistakes is certain, in craftsmanship and
politics as we'll, but these were far outweighed
by his allegiance to the democratic party and
his service to the nation, even to the world.
Going more deeply into the matter, the Green's
boro News has this to say:
AS for the final break between Senator
Simmons and the party to which he gave
such full measure of his devotion through
out the years, there will probably be abid-
ing disagreement. On the one hand, there
is the sincerity of Senator Simmons con-
victions; on the other are purely political
motives designed to rebuild the machine
which had already cracked under the Gard
ner impact and the senator's failure to
guess the reaction, after the first favorable
action which sent North Carolina into the
republican column, which eventually
brought his downfall More recent claims
to vindication of his anti-Smith stand must
be weighed against the consideration that
Governor Smith, when he sought the presi-
dental nomination., stood at that particu-
lar time for what Franklin D. Roosevelt,
whom the senator embraced, later came to
stand for.
The other newspaper in Greensboro, the
Record. declares: Senator S1MMoNs-whether
right or wrong in the crucial decision he made
in 1928, possessed the courage of his convic-
lions. He will long be for his con-
~structive contributions to the state, and also for
his career as a dominant political factor" And
the Durham Herald: HE capped off a long and
more or less turbulent political career by show
ing that he knew how to take defeat. Senator
SIMMONS, We are persuaded, leaves a more
praiseworthy record than he would have had
he held his tongue in 1928 and fingered in the
senate"
Sizing up the senator's influence on public
affairs, the Asheuile Times finds, "He had been
unquestionably the best brains of the state
democratic organization which 40 years ago
swept the republicans and the f~usionist allies
from power in North Carolina. But it was his
work in Washington as a student of taxation
and tariff, as we'll as a senate leader, which
increased his stature and a political figure
whose influence was everywhere acknowledged"
A rather exhaustive review in the Charlotte
Observer says of his career:
1t will ever remain a conspicuous phase
of the political history of North Carolina
that at the turn of the present century
there rose to prominence and power this
giant of the east who for a service of 80
years in the United States senate, and for
an equal period in the destiny of the COM
manding political party of North Carolina
magnetized national attention as well as
personal supremacy in his own state.
1t was during this bracket of his public life
that Senator Simmons dictated the destiny
of the democratic party of North Carolina.
ROOSEVELTS CHALLENGE