December 16th, 1919.

Mr. N. C. Hines,
Raleigh, N.C.

My dear Mr. Hines:-

I appreciate the kindly spirit of your letter of December 13th. I do not question in any way the sincerity of your opinions nor the accuracy of any statement of fact that you may make. Of course the Prison Board could not know what was taking place in the offices of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, but the fact remains that the President and Secretary of the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce, accompanied by Mr. Pou, did appear before the Board of Directors and advocated the selection of the land between here and Cary for the location of the State Prison.

In the complex life of the state there is always room for differences of opinion and I make it a rule to concede to man whom I know to be honest and sincere, the same freedom of opinion that I reserve for myself.

I do not care to argue the question as the Prison Board has already definitely decided to locate the Prison between here and Cary. It has already sold the plantation in Halifax and a discussion of the question would be very much like a discussion of the wisdom of the constitutional amendment in favor of prohibition. You may have observed that the most of the discussion of prohibition in the big papers has taken place since the law was enacted. We have already sold the farm that we did have and the law compels us to move. We have bought and paid for options on this land and there is nowhere else to go. Of course I am anxious to please all the people. I greatly desire their commendation but, my dear Mr Hines, when you get to be Governor you will realize in thirty days time that you are lacking in one of the qualities necessary to the discharge of the duties of the office unless you are able to stand any amount of criticism and keep your heart fresh and sweet.

Sincerely yours,

Governor.

B-G