16
The News and Observer
—BT*«
The News and Obsemer Fnbiisbing Co:
JOSEPHUS DANIELS.
President.
Os Ice: News and Observer Bull! in*, Fw
etteville Street.
0 UNCIL>
ONLY NEWSPAPER PRINTED
At State Capital That Uses the
ASSOCIATED PRESS REPORT.
SUBSCRIPTION PRICS:
Per year IUOO
Six months LEO
Always strictly In advance.
Entered at the postoffice at Raleigh,
N. C., as second-class matter.
SUNDAY November 16, 1902.
A MORNING TONIC.
(Hetty Green.)
I don’t believe in luck. Luck is super
stition. If you start life with a good
soul, a good, sound, healthy body and
■work hard you will succeed. Don’t live
high; don’t get into bad company.
A PROTEST AGAINST SORDID COM
MERCIALISM.
It is a matter of genuine regret that
there was no stenographer present in the
House of Representatives on Friday
night to take down in full the magnifi
cent speech of President Henry Louis
Smith, of Davidson College. It ought to
be placed in the hands of every man and
boy in North Carolina. One business man
in Raleigh said yesterday that ‘he would
bo willing to contribute to a fund to give
it the widest circulation.
President Smith has divined the in
fluence that most seriously threatens the
integrity of the people of this and other
Southern States. There is a spirit of sordid
commercialism in the air which measures
everything by the money standard, which
openly puts the Dollar above the Man.
This is seen in high places and boys are
taught that the sole end of education is to
accumulate fortune. It is bad enough when
this worship invades the world of poli
ties and men are asked to square their
principles with their pockets, but when
it invades our churches and colleges, then
it is poisoning the stream at its source.
Against this overshadowing evil Presi
dent Smith inveighed with earnestness,
eloquence and power. It may be well
doubted if ever, since the day of James
C. Dobbin, a speech more lofty, eloquent
and noble has been uttered in the House
of Commons than the speech of President
Smith. In lieu of the full speech, we
print below an abstract, which gives the
outlines of the address:
“I bring in the few minutes allotted to
me one message to all those concerned in
shaping the character of thp. young men
and women, the boys and girls of the
South—that the industrial development
and increasing prosperity of the South
must be accompanied by a corresponding
growth of intellectual and spiritual cul
ture, or the idols of the market place
and the factory will displace the purer and
more spiritual ideals of the past.
‘ The prosperity of the South, her mar
velous accumulation of riches, and her
assured financial future are the admira
tion and envy of the world. The day of
our bitter, grinding poverty has passed
away fovcver and our people are intox
icated with money-making. But it takes
no prophet to see that we are now pass
ing through a most critical, formative
period in our history, and the sun of pros
perity is to prove a severer and more
searching test of our true character than
the furnace of war.
“The South, even amid the wreck of her
rocial system in 1865, with the flower of
her manhood in a hundred thousand
nameless graves, her commerce destroyed,
her wealth annihilated, her cities in
ruins, even then in defeat and disaster
she was rich, rich in the puritv of her
•womanhood, rich in personal dignity, re
ligious reverence and in the starry vir
tues of heroism and self-denial brought
out in the night of defeat.
“If these old spiritual and moral ideals
are to be sacrificed on the altar of Mam
mon: if liberal culture, moral standards
and reverent religious spirit are to be
replaced by greedy triumphant commer
cialism, then the New South in all the
splendor of material prosperity, with her
blue sky darkened by the smoke of her
factories and a millionaire’s palace on
every hill, will be infinitely poorer than
the Old South of ’65.
“Against/ this on-rushing flood of vul
gar materialism let the teachers of our
children stand like a rock. If this rising
generation, moulded in mind and heart
hy the teachers, can be taught to feel
the eternal value of the things of the
spirit; if''the New South, holding with
one hand all the priceless moral and spir
itual assets which enriched the Old, will
reach out with the other for all that
comes with broad culture, and increased
comfort, and national wealth and power,
tlmn here under our sunny sky, on our
fair plains so lately scarred and desolate,
will be built and perpetuated a Christian
civilisation to be the wonder and the
blessing of the world.”
There is not a word of pessimism in this
earnest speech. President Smith is as
desirous of commercial and industrial
prosperity as any man in the State, but
he wishes to save it from the curse of
worshipping the dollar. It is in such in
struction as President Smith insists upon
that the State has its only hone to stem
the on-rushing tide of idolatry of wealth.
Somehow it is discouraging how fem
inine instinct can distance masculine
reason in the way of doing things right.
BRIBERY OF TWO SORTS-AT AND
BEFORE ELECTIONS.
One of the -most' gratifying of the after
maths of the election is the aroused pub
lic sentiment against bribery. It is a
crime that has not flourished greatly in
North Carolina, tihough it has long de
bauched the politics of certain counties
and has now and then been seen in its
corrupting influences in most close coun
ties. In the recent (election, in the State
at large, there is ctiuse for congratula
tion because in at loast two-thirds of the
counties the election was conducted in
a manner to reflect credit upon the in
tegrity and honor of the people of the
State. In every cou aty the election was
fair and stained by no crookedness or
partisanship. But in. certain close coun
ties in the State, in Central North Caro
lina, and in nearly all the counties in
the Kluttz-Blackburn district and the
Gudger-Moody district bribery by money
or whiskey, or both, ran riot, and voters
were purchased like sheep and debauched
like savages. Os course bribery and
corruption could not and did not directly
affect the great bulk of the people who
compose the electorate of those counties,
but as it had full play with the meaner
portion of the population it put a stain
upon the good nAme of those counties
where it was employed. In addition to
buying votes with money, nearly every
distillery in the State ran wide open as an
annex to the Republican party and maud
lin drunken men were hauled to the polls
to be voted by paid hirelings. Bribery
was not confined to one party, but the
scandal of the corruption by distilleries
is chargeable solely to the Republican
party. The distilleries, the agencies of
corruption wherever located, must be
destroyed- root and branch, as a first
step to secure decent communities and to
stopping bribery and corruption in poli
tics.
In the matter of bribery, the sin lies
at the door of both political parties. In
a sermon at Thomasville, Davidson coun
ty, the venerable Paul J. Caraway on
Sunday night preached a .vigorous sermon
in the Methodist church against the crime
of vote-buying and vote-selling. He said
that “Davidson county is distinguished
above all other counties in the State for
this evil.” Writing of the sermon,
Charity and Children says: “He de
nounced the corruption of the suffrage
in unmeasured terms nnd plainly inti
mated that the buyer is every whit as
mean as the seller. It was a courageous
sermon and we hope will result in good.”
There is need for more Paul J. Cara
j ways in the pulpit, in the press, in the
; political world—men who go at the root
| of the evil without vain and peevish and
i unwarranted slander of good men. This
; crime can be stopped in North Carolina.
The good men of the State now that the
; horrors of Radicalism no longer engross
I attention, will put an end to bribery. And,
j while Davidson county is not a sinner
; above all other counties, it is one of tho
places where the most strenuous efforts
must be employed to prevent the wide
spread vice of vote buying and vote
selling—a vice in that county which at
j taches to men of both politieal parties.
| The laws against bribery should be en
forced, and righteous public sentiment
| created that will remove this blight
from the otherwise perfectly clean elec
tion which was held this year.
There is another phase of bribery in
politics that needs to be considered and
condemned by patriotic men. It has
flourished to some extent in a few coun
ties in North Carolina an<A it has touch
ed the whole State in its baleful influ
ence. Early in tho administration it was
set on foot in South Carolina, under the
supervision of Senator McLaurin, and,
to a lesser extent, in North Carolina by
Senator Pritchard. We refer to the
policy of buying influence with offices.
Mr. McLaurin expected to revolutionize
South Carolina by bribing editors and
other influential persons with Federal
offices. It seemed to be having a meas
ure of success until an offer of the t ol
umbia post-office was virtually made to
Gen. Wade Hampton. The old Roman
spurned it with indignation, saying that
he was too old to betray his people foi
office. From that hour the influence of
every man in South Carolina who had
been given a Federal office was destroy
ed- Wade Hampton’s action in spurning
the bribe put the bribe-giving and bribe
taking in its true light. McLaurinism
perished in a day under Wade Hampton s
noble contempt. The men who had been
given the offices couldn't control a vote
except their own.
In North Carolina, to a less degree, the
McLaurinism of attempting to get re
cruits to the Republican party by giv
ing office to Democrats, or pretended
Democrats, was witnessed in small and
big places. Commenting upon a striking
example, the Rockingham Anglo-Saxon
says:
“One case of bribery which was proven
to the satisfaction of the public mind was
the purchase by Republicans of the edi
torial policy of a daily newspaper two
and a half years ago, just like buying a
car load of meat.”
Hezckiah Gudger and Richmond Pear
son, former Democrats, were given
places in the consular service,
and lesser lights were given
places in the revenue service. Some post
office places were given to Democrats.
Every man of influence in North Caro
| lina, Supposed to be shaky or purchas
able, was approached. Some were ready
THE NEWS AND OBSERVER, SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 16- 1902.
to betray their birthright for a mess of
pottage, but they were few in number.
The day they accepted office at the hands
of Pritchard, who was known to be dis
tributing offices as bait to land Demo
crats on the Republican string—from
the hour the first, dollar of the salary
burned their pockets, not one of the
Federal offite-holders had any influence
in controlling votes, and he was as dead
as a political factor as a last year’s bird
nest. It destroyed him among his
neighbors, root and branch —and his in
fluence will never be restored.
The spectacle of a man of ability,
known as a county or State leader in
the Democratic party, accepting a Fed
eral office —and thereupon either advo
cating Republican policies or sowing the
seeds of discord in the Democratic ranks
tends to encourage the Dalget
ty spirit in politics. The religious and
moral leaders, if they wish to keep the
fountain of political life free from pol
lution, must hurl their anathemas
against the acceptance of bribes in the
shape of office by men high up in the
world of politics or business. If the
man of education and leadership sells
his influence for an office, why may not
the humble and illiterate citizen sell his
vote for a dollar or a pint of whiskey? It
is a thousand times worse for a leader, a
man who has enjoyed advantages of
education and position, to sell his influ
ence than for a man denied such ad
vantages to sell his vote. How can, the
follower be expected to resist the
temptation to satisfy his desire for
money or drink by selling his vote when
he sees preachers and others condone or
applaud the editor or lawyer or leader
who has sold his influence for an office?
“THOU SHALT NOT STEAL.”
The Norfolk Public Ledger publishes
in full a sermon preached on Sunday by
Rev. A. R. Shaw, pastor of the First
Presbyterian church in Portsmouth, on
“The Eighth Commandment,” emphasiz
ing “Debt Paying.” It Is an able, strong
and vigorous sermon and created a
marked impression. We regret that we
have not the space to reproduce it. From
the sermon, we make this timely ex
tract:
“No one who rightly values civil and
religious liberty can view without alarm
and indignation the formation of trusts,
greedy corporations, which have been
justly styled “commercial cormorants
and political corruptionists.” To these
trust promoters the command, “Thou
shalt not steal,” is an empty, meaningless
injunction. While it is maintained that
these vicious combines exist and thrive
under legal sanction, it is undeniable
that when regarded from a moral point
of view they are rotten to the core. It
is not my purpose, neither is it my pro
vince, as a minister of the gospel, to dis
cuss the tariff as a foster of trusts. I
advert to the subject as illustrative of an
inordinate, overmastering desire for the
quick accumulation of wealth.”
In enumerating the ways in which
people are guilty of theft we make room
for only two, the two that are altogether
tod common among people of wealth and
education. The faithful admonition by
Mr. Shaw ought to be read and heeded:
“Listing property for taxation at far
less than its real value. The maintain
ance of Government necessitates taxa
tion. The under-valuation of property
for the purpose of evading the payment
of equitable tax is a species of crooked
ness which many influential citizens and
church members do not scruple to adopt-
In the matter of listing property for
taxation we should be extremely guarded
lest we lay ourselves liable to the charge
of theft and perjury.
“Failure to purchase a half-fare rail
road ticket for a child over five years of
age. How frequently do we hear persons
exulting over their success in passing
such children over the road without a
ticket. The railroad does not compel our
children to board its trains, but it does
announce that if children over five years
of age ride on the trains they must pay
half fare. As the conductor comes to
collect tickets, to advise the child to
“shrink up and keep still,” or to misrep
resent the age of the child when ques
tioned on this point, is not an honest
procedure. While some roads may prac
tice extortion on the people, it is evident
that tho public conscience has not yet
reached a very acute stage in dealing
with the roads. To defraud a railroad is
thought by many to be a legitimate piece
of business. In its application to rail
roads the command, “Thou shalt not
steal,” has not been annulled.”
Mr. Shaw is a North Carolinian, a
brother of Judge Shaw, of Greensboro, a
preacher of the gospel who proclaims the
practical truth in away to make men bet
ter. He doesn’t grovel at 'the feet of the
trusts.
THEY ARE ALL BANDITS.
They say that John W. Gates, the new
Wall street speculator, who made mil
lions on the L. & N. deal, has lost $15,-
000,000 through the Rockefeller and Van
derbilt combination in the Northwestern
deals. He is very wrathy and calls them
“bandits.” The whole outfit of stock
gamblers in New York are gamblers pure
and simple, each trying to “do” the oth-
A few months ago Gates was the
“bandit” that did up Belmont; today
Rockefeller and others “do” Gates. And
so it goes—the mad rush for getting rich
quick. Necessarily, the man who suc
ceeds gets what he has not earned and
takes it from some one who probably in
his turn was a “bandit” on a smaller
scale.
‘fßig fleas have little fleas to bite ’em,
And so on, ad infinitem.”
Woman’s idea of writing good refer
ences for a bad cook is that it is an easy
way to get rid of her on friendly terms.
WISE AND WEIGHTY UTTER- l
ANDES.
At the American Bankers’ Association!
held in New Orleans last week, Mr. Joh* ;
Skelton Williams, of Richmond, Va., was |
selected to respond to the address of
welcome. The address, published in full
in the Richmond Dispatch, was a bril
and notable one, and scored a hit.
After a pleasant reference to New Or
leans, present and past, couched in hap
py and elegant sentences, Mr. Williams
discussed the rise and use of trust com
panies, closing with a strong and vigor
ous denunciation of those monopolies
that despoil their fellows and destroy
competition- Upon this phase of the
most serious question confronting the
American people, Mr. Williams said:
“I recognize, as every thinking man
must, that there is a limit beyond which
the combination of capital should not go
—a point at which the power of concen
trated capital should be halted. For the
accomplishment of wise and proper
economies, for the development of ef
ficiency in service and the promotion of
the public convenience and comfort, com
binations and aggregations of capital are
right, and should be encouraged. When
they bend their energies to the stifling
of competition and undertake to become
monopolies they should be met and
checked and must be, if our institutions
are to be maintained and we are to re
main a free people.
“As one identified with trust company
and banking interests and with railroad
interests and as the chairman of the
Trust Company Section of the American
Bankers’ Association, I say to you that
the power of money ought to be re
strained and the power of corporations
properly controlled. I believe that the
common sense of the American people
can be relied on to discern the danger
point and so draw the line there and an
nounce the edict ‘hitherto shalt thou
come and no further, and here shall thy
proud waves be stayed.’
“We are interested alike as tax-payers,
as citizens, as workers. Those of us who
undertake to despoil our fellows today
may ourselves be the subjects of injus
tice and the helpless victims of some new
and mighty combination tomorrow. At
this moment it is charged that the com
merce and prosperity of the entire South
are threatened with the blight and the
oppression of vast railway associations,
which are attempting the placing of the
control of the entire system of railway
transportation in the keeping of one man
or set of men and at the mercy of one
interest, which may be guided by this
impulse or that—which may demand that
our business shall be developed or de
pressed. Whilst it is pleasant to feel that
there are still lines of transportation be
yond the reach of any monopoly, yet it
is well for us to know that even this vast
power can be dealt with; and the people
may be trusted to deal with it. As you
here and your neighbors above made
levees and limits for the mighty Missis
sippi, and directed it into usefulness and
restrained its ravages, so this power of
capital can be checked and governed
and guided by the strength of the people.
Monopoly, oppressive or threatening to
be so, invites its own overthrow. No
man, no trust, no accumulation of capi
tal or combination of interests, however
stupendous, can stand against the wrath
of justly grounded suspicion of the
American people or against the organized
resentment or resistance of any State of
this great Union.
“The business of the corporation; ot
the trust company, of the bank, of every
combination of capital and brains and
enterprise, is to give the public good
value for fair returns. The moment any
of us go beyond that and attempt to ex
tort from the public unjust tribute or
extravagant dividends or profit on un
fairly inflated issues of securities- or to
exercise unjust discrimination, we cease
to be business men and become high
waymen, in fact, if not in law. A\ hen
wo cease to become the servants and
partners and associates of the people
from whom we draw our living in return
for our investments of money and ex
penditure of thought and energy, and un
dertake to be the masters of the people,
and despots, demanding blackmail from
them, we forfeit our claims to respect
and sympathy, and invite vengeance. We
incite ignorance to seek redress by vio
lence and intellect to devise methods for
our destruction.
“It is our duty to recognize our re
sponsibilities and obligations to the great
public on which all of us depend for our
living, to respect it's rights, to offer it
always fair value for what it pays us,
to encourage and accept honest competi
tion as the best stimulant of our strength
and offering tlie most accurate measure
of our manhood.
“Your trust companies here have en
abled you to do things you could not
have done without them. As your peo
ple, all through your long history as a
community, have proved their ability to
deal with every emergency of war and
every' problem of peace, they can be
relied on in common with their fellow
citizens at the proper time and in the
proper and conservative way. I mean
by ‘conservative,’ preserving and main
taining and destroying no rights and no
value.
“The real business men and builders
of the country—those who represent ac
tual values and substantial investments,
and real money, want to be creators and
originators, and not despots; helpers and
associates, and not tyrants or plunderers,
legitimate competitors for business, and
not monopolists or masters.”
Ttyjfee are the utterances of a wealthy
and successful officer of a great trust
company, president of one of the biggest
railroad systems in the South, and In
terested in other large business enter
prises. In giving expression to them in
the company of the world’s leaders of
finance, Mr. Williams shows that he is a
sound thinker and wise in council, as
well as the most successful man of his
years in banking and railroad circles in
the South. He does well to inveigh
against the attempt at “placing of the
control of the entire system of trans
portation in the keeping of one man or
set of men, and at the mercy of one in
terest\ which may be guided by this im
pulse or that—which may demand that
our business shall be developed or de
pressed.” That is a menace to tfcjb South
that many believe to be imminent. The
people should not permit any monopoly
in transportation. If one remedy fral,
others can be applied. In railroads a&
in other business it is true that at all
times it is the duty of the leaders in
business and in finance, as Mr. Williams
clearly expresses it, “to encourage and
accept honest competition as the best
stimulant of our strength and offering
the most accurate measure of our man
hood.”
DOES IT PAY TO BUY INFLUENCE
WITH OFFICE?
Certain Republicans are still talking
about a reorganization of their party in
North Carolina upon the basis of buying
the leadership of prominent Democrats
by giving them Federal offices. That
sort of bribery was regarded as the way
to break the Solid South when Hayes
gave offices to Democrats in 1877. It has
been tried several times since, the latest
being the South Carolina attempt under
McLaurin. In every instance at has de
stroyed the man who took the bribe and
strengthened the Democratic party.
How has it worked in North Carolina,
where it has been attempted with some
former Democratic leaders and in certain
counties? Let us look at a part of the
record of the policy now advocated.
The Republicans thought they could
make big accessions in Buncombe by
giving Ltig offices to Hezekiah Gudger
and Richmond Pearson, former Demo
crats and other so-called Democrats,
instead of to the old line Republicans.
What was the result? In 1896 the Re
publicans carried Buncombe in the No
vember election by over 400 majority.
This year the Democrats won by 800 ma
jority. That wasn’t a very big return to
the Republican party for the offices be
stowed on ex-Democrats, do you think?
In Pitt county, the Republican District
Attorney was removed from office, and
that responsible position was given to
Col. Harry Skinner, ex-Democrat. How
did that pan out in Col. Skinner’s county?
In 1896 Pitt gave a Republican majority
of 500. This year the Democratic ma
jority reached the handsome figure of
2,631.
In Halifax county, with the negro
eliminated, Senator Pritchard was per
suaded that an Independent ticket could
be elected if the Federal patronage was
given to Democrats. And he turned over
the postoffices to the personal and poli
tical friends of Capt. W. H. Day, who
was managing the Republican campaign
in that section of the State. The negro
postmasters were kicked out and the
places given to men who had been affil
iating with Democrats. Result, out of a
white vote of about 2,200, the Demo
crats got 1,963 votes to the Citizens’
ticket, supported by the new Federal
office-holders, getting 385 votes. In IS9C
the Republican majority in Halifax was
2,305.
In New ifanover, the negro was re
moved from the position of Collector of
Customs, and ex-l)omocrat and ex-Popu
list Keith was appointed. Result, the
Democratic majority this year is 1,221
votes, where in 1896 the Republican ma
jority was over 1.000.
Franklijj! was another county in which
Pritchard thought to make big Republi
can gains by the wise giving of officers
to Democrats. Result: the Democratic
majority this year is over 1800, the big
ger Democratic majority in the history
of the county, whereas in 1896 it gave a
Republican majority.
But the influence upon which Pritchard
relied most to demoralize the Demo
cratic party was the Charlotte Observer,
to Avhose chief owner and boss he and
McKinley gave a $3,600 sinecure job.
What was the result? It did everything
jt could to hurt the Democratic party, in
both State and National policies, but
it was imrotent to harm the party.
Mecklenburg county gave a Democratic
majority of 2,423 this year where
as in 1896, before the $3,600
job had been given by McKinley to
D. A. Tompkins the chief owner of the
Charlotte Observer, the Democratic ma
jority was less than 200. The counties
surrounding Mecklenburg, in which the
Observer chiefly circulates and where it
was supposed its insidious opposition to
Democracy would have some weight for
the Republican party, did like Mecklen
burg; increased their Democratic ma
jorities as follows: Gaston, which gave
43 majority in 1896. this year gave 1.300:
Cleveland, which gave lve, increased to
1,600; Lincoln, which was lost, gave 375
majority: Cabarrus, which was 400 Re
publican, is 300 Democratic; Iredell,
which was 100, is 1,200; Union, which
was 300 Republican, is now 800 Demo
cratic—and so on.
These are a few samples of the way
the Republican party has gained strength
by giving offices to former Democrats.
It has not paid a very handsome return on
the investment up to this hour. There arc
some Republicans who believe it would
pay better to reorganize the Republican
party upon the basis of giving offices
only to men who will support the party
openly and not be ashamed to be known
as Republicans. Having tried the policy
of getting Republican leaders by giving
offices to disgruntled Democrats, and
promising offices to any Democrat who
would irun for office on a so-called In
dependent ticket, they say: Why not try j
to build up a respectable Republican j
party of Republicans by Republicans and j
for Republicans? j
Here is the way a prominent Repub
can puts it: "There are 30,000 negroes
who can register and vote. There are
about 70,000 white Republicans who are
not ashamed to be called Republicans.
This gives 100,000 votes as a beginning
lor a strong minority party. If we en
courage the negro to register and give
hivu our moral support, in time 50,0(H)
negroes will vote and we will increase
our .white voto to 100,000, and who shall
say'w e may not in our own name and
advocating Republican principles win a
victory in North Caroina in ten years?
Will we ever win if we look to buy cn*r
recruits with office? Does not ex
perience demonstrate the fact that the
men to w’Aora we have given the biggest
offices in the past have brought the Re
publicans nothing in the way of increased
votes?”
One of the most notable speeches at
the American. 1 Bankers’ Association was
by ex-Comptrollcr Datves, in opposition
to the branch bank proposition. It would
result in a mighty bank trust and con
vert all local banks into mere agencies
of the great bank trust With headquar
ters in New York. The bankers of the
country at large approve Mr. Dawes’s
position.
The American Cigar Company is start
ing out on a' new plan that w ill make it
rich. It is offering to Charleston, Au
gusta. Greenville, S. C., and other South
ern cities a branch factory if the city
will give a warehouse and exempt it
from taxation for a long term of years.
The trust wants the earth, with per
petual exemption from paying tax on it.
Bill Arp is in line with the address
of President Smith, of Davidson. In his
letter this w r eek he says of many South
ern people of this day “Money is their
ambition, their idol. Morgan and Rocke
feller have done more to corrupt the
young men of this country than all other
causes combined.”
Spirit of the Press.
LIQUOR OR NO LIQUOR.
Statesville Mascot.
The Mascot from its foundation to this
good hour has been a prohibition paper
and wishes to announce that its editors
will circulate a petition in the near fu
ture in Iredell County and the city of
Statesville asking two things:
First, that the members of the Legisla
ture from this County be instnucted to
pass an act prohibiting the manufacture
and sale of spirituous liquors in Iredell
County outside the city of Statesville:
Second, that the members of the Legis
lature from this county be instructed to
pass an act granting the voters of the
city of Statesville an opportunity to say
on the first Monday in May, 1903, wheth
er or n6t they want to prohibit the sale
of liquor in this city from and after that
date-
We will also advocate an act by the
Legislature prohibiting the manufacture
and sale of liquor in the State. The
writer of this article has all his life
longed for this opportunity which now
presents itself of fighting this traffic be
fore the white voters of this county, and *
now that the amendment is in full force
and effect with the first election held un
der it, from this day on, survive or
perish, will never let up the fight on tho
whiskey traffic until victory comes and
the nefarious business is stopped.
The whiskey traffic is the great curse
of this nation and is doing more against
the church and the Christian religion and
is making more widows and orphans anil
is sending more souls to hell than any
other evil known. It blights the life of
the youth of the land and cuts them
down in their early manhood as cumber
ers of the ground.
It runs the criminal courts and fills
up the jails and workhouses and peni
tentiaries and levies a heavy tax upon
the whole people to pay the costs of the
acts of its victims. It erects its hydra
head wherever permitted in every civil
ized community and boldly casts its
lurid light of temptation in the pathway
of every man, but The Mascot from this
day on proposes to challenge its further
progress in this community and appeals
to every man and woman in this town
and county who wants this business
stopped to give us their assistance.
A SIGNIFICANT EDITORIAL.
N. C. Baptist. <
Under the caption “Prohibition in
Cumberland,” the News and Observer
discusses in its leading editorial of No
vember 7th the recent election in this
county. Mr. Daniels says “This is the
most significant election held in North
Carolina this year.” That is comprehen
sive, but is every word the truth- Our
election in Cumberland is the first Local
Option election held in the State under
the amended constitution and it shows
what can be done if the people of the
saloon counties will use the present op
portunity and “strike while the iron is
hot.” The people of Cumberland had an
opportunity to see the blessing of being
without saloons, and even with a law not
as strong as it ought to be, and will he
made, they said emphatically that tho}
did not want either High License or Low
License.
Anti-Saloon League Committees work
ed unceasingly and judiciously from the
beginning to end, and as we review it
now, it does net seem that at any point
the campaign could have been strength
ened.
Indeed, this is the golden opportunity
all over the State. Let those in saloon
counties, who are opposed to the saloon,
get together and lay plans for a cam
paign to run the saloon out. Th ,% hour
has struck in this State when we ran
defend our homes and ou r institutions
from this traffic, which destroys and
curses. Let those who, under favorable
conditions, have fought the saloon with
out victory all these years, use the pres
ent, when the anti-saloon sentiment is
rising to high tide, and strike down this
monster of inquity.
Our election here is an invitation to
other counties to follow.
The way a man usTtally thinks he
catches a widow is to slip into her
clutches. ", , _