North Carolina Newspapers

5Mv$ "(v alrijh iBftjislrr. WW ADVERTISING RATES. By P. M. HALE. OFFIC" : FayettevlUe St., Second Floor Fisher Building. RATES OF SUBSCRIPTION : One copy one year, mailed post-paid $2 00 One copy six montas, mailed poet-paid. ... 1 00 ' rjp- No name entered without payment, and mumper sent after expiration of time paid for. HI r SINGS O'EB THE PAST. IB -J I .11 II II I II II VOL. I. RALEIGH, N. C, WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18, 1885. NO. 51. BT HOPEFUL. Had I when young Beeu told in life's roey morn How fruitless were many flowers that sprung I p around me, I'd laughed right out with worn. But youth hath sped, And that on fleetest wings ; And what's to be will be, indeed, With myself as well as with all other things. Often I ask, Has there a page been torn Out from the midst of my life's book, Or this way planned for me ere I was born If so, 'tis right, And all the wrong I own That I have wandered from the light, And still grope on in darkness and alone. Tis a strange lot Hath fallen unto me : Tnat those I love could love me not, And my friends soon away from earth did flee. But 'tis sweet Now to knowthst where There is no parting we soon shall meet, And Hud rest in answer to life'aJong prayer. So for the time To i-ome I'll struggle on, And forward press, in a straight line, Nor ever stoop to do a known wrong For love or gain, But onward keep my way Through storm and sunshine, grief and pain, Hoping at last in bliss to end my day. Earth's discipline Has made me grow more strong, And yearn the more for things divine That I hope to realize ere it be long, With the dear friends Who have gone on before, And will hover near till life shall end To guide me home with them to -reign evermore. MB, DIXON'S SPEECH On the bseene Literature Bill" The Individual vs. the State." Heuse of Representatives, February 7, 1885.J Mr. Speaker: I wish to say to the friends of this bill that it has never oc curred to me that it was within the range of the dimmest possibilities to defeat it. I assure you that the earnestness of my op position has not been supported by even the faintest hope that my position would be sustained by the vote of this House. A bill of buncombe morality which costs a legislator nothing to support, when oppo sition to it may involve him in explana tions of his position, I may safely aay was never, and never will be, defeated, so long as we operate under our present conditions. I have chosen to oppose this bill delib erately, having in full view the whole range of consequences incident to such opposition. I knew I would be compelled to explain to many good people of my own constituency, to explain and reiterate my explanation to many of the sturdy practi cal men upon this floor. I knew I would be liable to the grossest misrepresentation, and that advantage would be taken of it as has been done. Yet I could not have done otherwise without doing vio lence to the most sacred article of my po litical creed, surrendering all indepen dence of thought, and disregarding every lesson upon the science of government that history and philosophy have taught me. And just here let me take occasion to repeat' with emphasis this article of my political faith. It is: "Government, hands off ! The governmental ploughshare should not break another inch of virgin soil we have too many fields already un der cultivation that are now matted with the rankest weeds, thorns and thistles. Cultivate better what you have already undertaken!" In the debate upon this bill, at what point do we find ourselves this morning? I said yesterday in the beginning of my first speech, I feared that to most minds my argument would seem far-fetched by reason of the comparative insignificance of the question under consideration. Let me repeat briefly the chief points adduced. The tendency of all modern legislation is to ramify the functions of government until all individual rights are absorbed.. The State is continually arrogating to itself new power under the pretence of benefit ing society by the alleviation of suffering or the correction of an existing evil, to do which it treads with sacrilegious foot soil hitherto held sacred to the individual. In short, the student of sociology can see but one end for these tendencies government al socialism, that condition of society, in "which the State is everything, man noth ing, in which the State is supreme in its broadest and most complete sense, the in dividual a vassal in the lowest and most galling sense. The great political super stition of modern times is the divine right of legislators the sacred oil of an ointment having merely dropped from the head of the king to that of the legislator. It is a curious and interesting study to wttch the changes that an exercise of power works upon the front of any one who exercises it whether an individual or mass of indi viduals. Take the rise and development of the great Liberal party of England. It was born in the struggle of the individual against the tyranny of the State imperson ated by the king and his supporters. Yet after it succeeded in throwing off all the restraints and gaining liberty for the indi vidual, having in the meanwhile been in vested with power, it began at once to ex ercise a fatherly supervision over society, and under pretence of correcting an evil, began at opce to throw around the indi vidual the same class of restraints whieh it had been called into existence to de- trov. Thu crroot T ihoral nartv rf Enc- -6 - r-.v ... . wr-unv i trrwrni inr.rt liic viu Re, Liberal ty only in name. Enact this law and V "l"Iierlintpl v a l.m So r.i a or) fr trio pn Jamnent of two more of the same kind ; to '(I ".t two more calls for the enactment of V more, and so on, until the whole cat- "fy?6 of individuality is completely - "l. You say you will stop when you w zone far enough. You will do noth- ne C1J the kind. When ideas once be most social forceg operating upon govern . there is no such thing as a halt un raisedthe material is exhausted. Mirabeau Js! r. Dress the French Revolution on rH -out he could not stop it. So with Man., Danton, and Robespierre. The Revolution devoured ita nwn children. The cause of the French Revolution was the multiplication of the restraint upon the individual until life was not worth liv- lng. and in the agony of the blood of that great struggle the tUrrttztt was emanci pated. Continue now" tor nmlriiilv vour re straints and you drive society to the verge ! auomer grand revolution, in the world wide convulsions of which the great fourt h tte will be born. The more you multi ply restraints the less are thev heeded, but very individual outlaVed by them becomes an enemy to government, and when the ! law cannot be enforced he becomes defi ant and delights to insult the power which seeks to strike him and fails. Every such individual is one more drop added to the madly swelling current of nihilism, com munism and socialism, which threatens to sweep from the face of the earth the very foundation of modern civilization itself. The law you propose cannot be enforced; hence it will become itself a positive evil, working far more harm to society than the evil you seek to correct To illlustrate: under the. provisions of this act I can ar rest you for having in your possession a copy of the New York Herald, for every item of your obscene print duly elaborated is first published in the great dailies be fore it sees the columns of the Police Oa tette and Newt. The corrupting influence of obscene literature I grant you, but the means by which you seek to counteract it: will ultimately result in more harm to so ciety than the original evil could possibly have caused. Such were the abstract ideas I sought to impress upon you yesterday. I had hardly dared to hope that a farther concrete man ifestation of these tendencies could be pre sented to you until perhaps years had passed away, and yet I threw out a bait to test it. I told you that the next step in the pro gress of legislation upon this particular line would be the prohibition of the pub lication and sale of the writings of infidels. Here I stopped leaving this tempting trap which 1 hoped some one would step into before the debate closed. I hoped some one would stumble just here, but I did not think the distinguished gentleman from Wake would be the man. Yet with the simplicity of a five year old child he hastened to swallow the tempting morsel. Solemnly, earnestly and emphatically, did he declare precisely what I desired, viz: "I, for one, say that the writings of infi dels -ought to be suppressed, and I am ready to vote to do it!" Unfortunately for him just here he was cheered. He be came excited, warmed up with his subject ana lairly revelled in his blunder, involv ing himself before closing in the most la mentable absurdities. Indeed one of his assertions was only saved from being blas phemy by its manifest absurdity, and the simplicity and sincerity with which he uttered it. He declared that npon one occasion this Assembly had vindicated the majesty of Almighty God by expelling an infidel. This Assembly of Scribes and Pharisees vindicate the; majesty of Al mighty God ! This little assemblage of worms gathered from one little State, on one little planet, belonging to one little system of God's great Universe, vindicate themajestyof Him whose mysterious-hand fashioned all, of which this earth is but an infinitesimal atom! How absurd How monstrous! How aptly it illustrates that great political superstition to which I referred the divine right of legislators. An assemblage of little tin gods vindicat ing and complimenting their supposed co equal, the Deity of Heaven and Earth 1 Now, I am no more an infidel than my friend from Wake, and regret the injurious effects of their writings as much as he, and yet I will never agree to stab liberty to the heart by making a mad plunge at this phantom. Why, gentlemen, however much you may hate infidels, did you know that you actually cheered a proposition to set the civilization of the 19th century back to that dark age of superstition and slavery in which mankind was languishing when Martin Luther broke the chains that bound the thought of the world ? , Not only would the freedom of the press be completely throttled, but we would be thoroughly prepared for the next step which would complete the picture of an aire of darkness. What would be this next step? Easily answered. You would next suppress all publications attacking revealed religion the Bible; and again we wouia oe unaer tne neei or religious fanaticism, where the Pope of Rome held the world for long, long centuries; for by this stroke you would condemn the great Unitarian denomination. I thank you gentlemen who cheered upon yesterday the gentleman from Wake rfor bringing mv lofty abstractions down ko a practical, con crete shape. I worked out my theory, ap plied it to this bill, which I declared to be the first step of a series of legislation leading to the slavery of the press and o thought. I could only predict the second step; you were kind enough to establish beyond doubt this second step, giving me ground upon which to stand and point out without fear of contradiction the third and final one. In answer to the lessons I yesterday drew from history upon this question, it has been urged that a distinguished author once said that like a child with lettered blocks you could read anything from his tory you desired. I don't know who made this assertion, neither do I care; I am only certain of one thing, and that is, it's a lie. True history can read but one way, for it is the simple record of immutable fact from which have crystalized principles that are eternal. A fool can read anything he desires from any book. Take the Bible: "Judas went and hanged himself" "Go thou and do likewise." No! History teaches her faithful students truth only; and remember, gentleman, that both of two conflicting propositions upon the same point of fact can never be true. I must ask the friends of this bill to spare us any more rhapsodies on morality. Morality 1 Bah ! Show me the man who steers through life by a code of morality ! Any man with one eye and common sense can harass an audience for an hour on the subject and then practice what he chooses. I know of but one thing that has subdued man s nature and shaped his life into a moral standard that mysterious some thing we call the conversion of a human soul to the religion of Christ. Now, gentlemen, I have opposed this bill from the deepest conscientious convic tions, firmly believing that it will ulti mately result in more evil than good to my country, to whose welfare and progress I have devoted my life. My argument, with its illustrations and development, is before you. So far it has not been shaken, and now I dare any man upon this floor, I defy any man upon this floor, to overturn one jot or tittle of it. If he dqes I'll confess my error and vote for the bul As we now stand, most of you will vote for what you believe to be for the good of your children I will vote for your chil dren's children. THE JUDICIAL SYSTEM. Speech of Mr. Leazar, of Iredell. How to Help School. f Shelby New Era. Capt. Wm. Alexander will soon be townsman among us. Aside from the Captain's sterling worth as a citizen and mechanic, his move will be quite an addi tion to our schools. His mother, who died last March, at the advanced age of 98 years, in Alexander county, gave birth to eleven children, and at her death she had 96 grandchildren, 100 great-grandchildren and one great-great-grandchild. A re markable fact was that she never took dose of medicine during her long pilgrim age on earth. Reported for the Raleigh Register. Mr. Speaker: I desire to be heard in behalf of the minority report, signed by the Senator from Orange and myself, of the Committee on. the Judicial System. The report which purports to represent a majority of the committee proposes thir teen Judicial Districts; the minority re port, signed by the gentleman from Bun combe and others, proposes fifteeu Judi cial Districts; the minority report, which have the honor to present, proposes twelve Judicial Districts. Two years ago a demand was made for an increase ot judicial facilities, upon first examination of the question at that time, and with information necessarily limited upon so hurried an investigation as my opportunities permitted me to give it, I then concluded that there was no need of more courts, and that the difficul ties of the situation were to be accounted for by the abuse or neglect of the facilities already provided. Again the cry comes up from every section, from the bench. from the bar, from almost every public journal, from many of the most intelligent and progressive citizens of the State, that we must have more courts. I am not sure that this is not somewhat in the nature of boom; it is not certain that the extrava gant demand for an increase in the num ber of Superior Court Judges is appreci ated or favored by the bulk of the people. It is the duty of the wise legislator to ex amine carefully the reason of proposed changes so vitally affecting the interests of the State, to see that the demand for more courts is occasioned by real necessity, and to ascertain the extent of that necessity. Believing as I did that this was the most important question which would engage the attention of this General Assembly, I have addressed mvself for many weeks. with all the diligence and care I could bring to bear, to its investigation. First I conferred with gentlemen of the bar and other citizens of high character in my own Judicial District. The investigation very soon satisfied my mind that my cursory ex amination two years ago had conducted me to the wrong conclusion as to the jus tice of the call for more courts; that, al though there are abuses and actual neglect, to some extent, in the administration of the courts we have, yet there is real neces sity for greater judicial facilities in order that " right and justice may be adminis tered without sale, denial or delay." And wniie 1 at nrst believed that the increase should reach to fifteen or sixteen Judges, l soon tound abundant evidence that a much smaller number would suffice. Ex tending my examination of this question in every direction, making careful inquiry of some of the clearest-headed and purest Judges in regard to the wants of every in dividual county in the State, communicat ing with and receiving definite opinions from every Solicitor in the State as to the wants of every county, and by personal conference with members of this Assembly and citizens of all sections, the conclusion is certainly incontrovertible that we need an increase of courts; and upon this point the committee is unanimous. There can be no doubt that in not a few counties there is imperative necessity for much greater court facilities, and in not a few there is need for a small increase, while in many others they have now more than they use. Gentlemen upon this floor have argued a large increase, too large, we re spectfully submit, upon the ground that we now have in some twentv-seven coun ties Inferior Courts aggregating about sev enty weeks, and that courts of superior jurisdiction should be provided by the State to supercede these and preclude their necessity; that, if this be the true the orv, there must be a large increase. For my part, I have had no idea that the dis cretion which now rests with the counties as to Inferior Courts should lie withdrawn ; and I am sure that there is no intention on the part of the committee, and I hope not on the part of this House, to take any step to abolish these courts. For mv county, certaiuly, I desire that thisdiscre Hon should remain, to the end that any deficiency in the Superior Court system may be supplied as the occasion may de mand. It is held that the State ought to provide and pay ior tne necessary courts for all the counties. This is good doctrine and 1 readily and fully endorse it, but it would be unwise now and at one move ment to so increase the number of Superior Courts as to prevent all possible necessity the Inferior Courts, as it would be un wise to abolish those courts. The over-crowded condition of the dock gentlemen argue, furnishes sufficient reason for an indefinite increase, to thir teen or fifteen. No doubt, the dockets are greatly crowded, Cases have accumu lated until some of them are older than the average member upon this floor. The gentleman from Buncombe demanded of the gentleman from Madison, if there was not a case upon the docket of his county ntered forty-three years ago. JNo doubt of this and of other like cases; and that same case will be on the docket of Madison county when the last trump shall call us to the bar of the Judge of the Universe. If you will pardon my drawing illustrations from heathen mythology, it may safely be asserted, that if Jupiter Tonans were him self the Chief Justice, and Apollo with his quiver, and Neptune with his trident, and all the gods, presided over the (Jourts; if every hill-top were a temple of justice guarded by a Plato as High Sheriff; if ev- ery attorney naa me silver tongue ana ai vine inspiration of Mercury, there would still be heard this cry of antiquated cases accumulated upon the dockets. It is well understood that every attorney considers it a"good practice to procure the longest pos sible delay for a bad case, it is never in tended that many cases should be brought to determination, if every honorable effort on the part of the side fearing defeat can prevent it. No, sir; there are cases on the docket that will be there to the end of time: and when the arch-angel shall stand at the last great day, With one foot on the land and the other on the sea, and shall peal forth the "crack of doom," and all nations and tongues shall answer the inev itable summons to the bar of the Supreme Court of Heaven, the all-wise and universal Judge will find many a case of wrong unsettled, many a musty and moth eaten case, still registered upon the dock ets of the Courts of North Carolina. There for the first time all parties will appear for the trial; no providential hindrance of the presence of witnesses ; no longer wait ing for the removal of important testimony by the hand of death; and no more mo tions for continuance. The living shall anwer before the omniscient eye ; the dead shall stand forth from the clods of the val ley and tell a tale of unvarnished truth : and the case will be adjudicated, and the docket will be cleared. Mr. Speaker, . the assertion that there are many cases of long standing upon the dockets of our Courts is always true, and always will be. Therefore it doea not et. prove of itself that there should be a very great increase of courts. It is argued by gentlemen who favor an increase of judges from nine to fifteen that the increase of population demands it. That in 1876 when the Democratic party believed it wise to reduce the number of judges from twelve to nine, there was one judge to every 133,000 of population: and that now with a population of 1,500,000, there should be at least fifteen judges. The argument proves too much, for such an increase would be giving one judge to every 100,000 of the population. It should be noticed here, that, taking population as a true criterion, which we do not admit, the increase in this respect has been about 30 per centum, and if this method of reasoning is to be applied, then the number of judges should be increased from nine to twelve only. It is really amusing, Mr. Speaker, to see my distinguished friends upon this floor, patriotic gentlemen, in good and regular standing in the Democratic party, taxing their admirable ingenuity to express gen tle apology in delicate phrases for the action of their party in 1876, in reducing the number of judges from twelve to nine. I am not here, sir, to apologize with falter ing tongue for this action, the eminently wise and proper culmination of one of the most notable campaigns of the Democratic party. There was then indeed and in reality a popular demand that the uncalled for multiplication of the judicial machinery imposed by the Republican party should be corrected. Members upon this floor cannot have forgotten how the Democratic hosts then moved to the assault of the ene mies' lines with the slogan of "retrench ment and reform"; and they have not for gotten what a glorious victory was won. I am not ready to admit that the cry then was a fraud, and I repel with indignation the insinuation that the course then pur sued by the Democratic party was either unwise or dishonest. Pursuing the same reasonable course, there is just occasion now to increase the number of judges to twelve, but this number seems to my mind to be sufficient to meet all just demands. The Democratic party did right in 1876, and they will do right now. I desire now, Mr. Speaker, to present in detail some of the reasons which have been developed in the study of this question, both before the committee and elsewhere, why I have come to the deliberate and definite conclusion that the number of judges should not exceed twelve. The investigation has been based by all of us, almost necessarily upon opinions, personal testimony, as to the needs of dif ferent counties. The committee proceed ed some weeks ago to canvass every county from Currituck to Cherokee, with the dis tinct purpose in view of ascertaining the particular and aggregate wants of all the counties. The only data iu hand were those which had been collected bv the Representative from Chatham, by corres pondence with the Clerks of the Courts; and by myself, through the kindness of several of our best Judges, all of our Solicitors and others, in answering in quiries covering every county in the State. Lpon the basal idea that the number of terms per annum in the counties should be increased as much as possible, not less than two of course, in any, and three or more whenever possible; and-with the further idea that this increase should, as nearly as might be practicable, reduce or remove the occasion fur Inferior Courts, these estimates have run from 389 to 428 weeks of Court. This does not include any aggregate made up from the replies of Superior Court Clerks, as no such aggre gate was presented. These data were revised again and again, various members of the Assembly and others being consult ed, and especially the members of the bar practicing in the different counties; and the result of these repeated revisions was an increased aggregate of 458 weeks, as agreed to by a majority of the committee. Readily conceding to every member of the committee the earnest and honest inten tion ofr ascertaining the real wants of each county, and claiming the same in full for myself and the minority which I here rep resent, I dare to say in this presence that the committee's estimate is greater than reason demands. It is held by the majority that the testimony of Judges is necessarily inaccurate; however carefully and conscientiously the most competent of them might canvass the counties, their in formation is imperfect, and therefore, should be discounted ; but this idea, it was observed, was most insisted upon when their estimates were comparatively low. I confess I am unable to see why a Circuit Judge, visiting in the exercise of his duties in every county in the State, and intimately related as he is to the court business of all the counties, should not be able to form a correct judgment upon this question. It is held by the majority that the testi mony of solicitors is not competent as to the counties of their districts. There may be some pertinence in the reason assigned, that they are ; concerned only with the criminal business; but the assertion is not for a moment to be tolerated that their tes timony is incompetent because they are in terested in preventing an increase in the number of districts and a consequent de crease of their own incomes. I call the at tention of gentlemen to this fact: that in the replies which hae been received, from every solicitor in the State, every one has expressed a decided opinion in favor of an increase of districts. While the estimate prepared by one of the most valuable of our judges, and reviewed with scarcely one per cent, of change by another, aggrega ted 389 weeks, the estimate made up upon the solicitors' replies amounted to 396 weeks. While the testimony referred to above was received for what little it was worth, the testimony of members of the Bar, practicing anywhere in the vicinity, was received as conclusive. I honestly be lieve that the apportionment to many of the counties is in excess of the amount which it is practicable now to obtain for them; while, at the same time, I believe that some of the counties have not been assigned what they must have if it can possibly be provided. Taking it all in all, and striking an average of all the esti mates, the conclusion of the minority re port, which I represent here, is reached, that about 420 weeks will meet the de mands of the situation, and that this ser vice can and ought to be performed by twelve judges. 1 hese now serve in regu lar terms an average of thirty-five and a fraction weeks: the apportionment pro posed in mv report would require the same. It is proper to state here that there is more stress in the present demand for ad ditional courts, because of the crowded condition of the dockets. When this has has been relieved, as it will be in the main, by the courts we propose, there will lie really less need for them than at present say in two years. The gentleman from Buncombe has poken in glowing terms of the magnifi cent future just opening to North Caro lina. The gentleman from Cleveland who, a few days ago, predicted with dire fore boding the fearful visitation of dynamite and anarchy that awaited us, I was glad to hear to-day, in a more auspicious mood, unfolding the delightful vision of the teeming millions of happy and pros perous people, who shall occupy this good ly land. I abhor the pessimistic view. I rejoice in the earnest conviction that a new day is already dawning upon North Caro lina. I welcome upon the morning sky the roseate promise of the coming day. I know that we are entering upon a new era of prosperity and growth, and my heart revels in the anticipation of the glad time coming. I recognize the duty of preparing for wider fields of business among our people. Our system of education, our public im pn vements, our judicial system should be readjusted and developed to meet, as far as may be, the demands of the prospective situation. Giving to this view all the force that justly belongs to it, I respect fully submit that the proposition of the minority, which I have the honor to repre sent upon this floor, will fairly suffice. And now, Mr. Speaker, I shall close my remarks upon this question by saying that I have undertaken to do my part in pro viding an adequate judicial system, with the knowledge that it had to be adminis tered by fallible, imperfect men. And saying this, and admitting the abuse and neglect to some extent of the means now in hand, I must not be misunderstood as wanting confidence either in the Bench or Bar of North Carolina. I am not one of those that believe in the decadence of character among our public men. The judges now upon the bench of North Carolina, and the gentlemen at the bar, are the equals in purity, in learning, in ever' element of high character, to the best men of this honorable profession either a ntebellum or post bellvm. I do not expect better judges or more faithful at torneys; but I do expect those we have and their equals to so admfhister the public business as to accomplish the euds of jus tice. I hope now that this House will endorse the proposition of twelve judges; but would greatly prefer that you should create even fifteen than give no additional relief at all. I have endeavored first to ascertain what help is needed, and at the same time to have regard to what is attain able ;tt the hands of this House; and I have presented and advocated this minor ity report in the belief that it was the only sure way of obtaining the necessary meas ure of relief. THE TOBACCO PROSPECT Is Good for a Fine Quality Crop. OBSCENE LITERATURE. Dixon, Buabee and Barrluger. Col. Cameron in the Citizen.) There has beeu much discussion during the past two days in the House on the bill from the Senate to prohibit the sale of ob scene literature. The discussion in some respects is to be regretted. Mr. Dixon who made so brilliant a reputation in his speech on the bill for the relief of disa bled Confederate soldiers, unmistakably lost ground in the stand he took in oppo sition to the bill. His views were of that ultra liberal kind which smacked of a de gree of liberty of thought to which the un sophisticated South has not attained. He said there was too much of legislation throughout the whole country. Legisla tion was assuming a divine right to con trol everything, to regulate everything, to lay its hands on everything. The tendency was to divest the citizen of everything, and place everything in the hands of the State ; step by step, one by one, all privi leges would be taken away. One law passed would lead to the enactment of an other. The suppression of the sale of ob scene literature would lead to the next step the suppression of infidel litera ture. Ideas and influences once set in motion will not be arrested. Social forces once iu action will not be controlled. Mr. Dixon's speech was impassioned, but it was not judicious according to the standard of North Carolina thought, which, perhaps, is not as enlightened as it might be, yet preserving a commendable degree of rectitude and innocency. ... Mr. Busbee made an excellent reply, calm, but incisive as a Damascus blade. He said that he regarded the bill as in volving the question of morality. Mr. Dixon did not seem so to regard it, but as one infringing upon individual liberty He asked if the bill was right in itself, and if it was not designed to preserve the purity of youth? Mr. Busbee remarked upon the prediction made by Mr. Dixon, that if this bill passed the next Step would be to prohibit the introduction of infidel literature. Mr. Busbee said that he hoped that the time would come, and when he said so, the House rang with spontaneous approbation, refreshing testimony that the health of North Carolina was right and pure, and that it would stand, if all others fell away, the stronghold of religion and of liberty. Other good speeches were made. I can only refer to one expression in the sound, sensible speech of Mr. Barnnger, of Guil ford. ' He said it was time for the law to come to the aid of morality and religion It was wrong to throw upon the pulpit the whole burden of protest and opposition to the encroachments of vice. The pulpit ought not to be made to stand as the sole bulwark against immorality. it was not alone interested. It was the duty of the people, of laws, of legislation, to co-oper ate with it. Pamlleo Peculiarities. fNewbera Journal. J We have some few circumstances in our county that are hard to find every day. One is an old negro woman that is over 110 years old, by the name of Easter Wal lace, who has just cut her third set of teeth, verifying the old adage "once a man and twice a child. I was not in formed whether soothing syrup was neces sary or not. Anotner is a man over ou years old who has been married htty-ooa years, and has many children and grand children who say he never kissed his wife in his life. Another is a man who has a family of interesting children, both boys and girls, who say he never kissed one of the children in his life. The query with me is : Ought the first man to have a wife or the last a child? The views as to the tobacco prospects for the ensuing year, embraced in the fol lowing extracts from a recent pamphlet published by the Southern Fertilizing Company, will be of interest to planters throughout the State: "To become as fully acquainted as possi ble with the tobacco situation, as it affects the regiou covered by our trade, we have conferred with gentlemen largely interest ed in handling all the types our people produce, and give below the substance of their statements : FINE YELLOW TOBACCO. " "The domestic demand, in particular, for this- tobacco is such that the area at pres ent devoted to this type is not great enough to supply it. We see, therefore, from year to year, no abatement in the prices of this variety of leaf, if of Jine quality ; on the contrary, a steady advance. The cigarette makers, perhaps, never had a year as prosperous as 1884, and there is nothing to indicate that the year 1885 will not be equal to it. But the demand is not confined to cigarette leaf, but covers the whole range in which yellow tobacco is employed. Again, there is nothing to fear from the competition of yellow to bacco produced in" other countries. We have the fullest advices from what we con ceive to be the best posted tobacco house in London on all the pofnts involved in the situation. Their communication is dated 3d January, instant. Referring to the outside yellow growths, they say: "Chinese tobacco is used here chiefly in the manu facture of cheap, light mixtures for the pipe, and rarely, if ever, for cigarettes, as it burns badly and has a nasty flavor." Again: "The production of cigarette to bacco by the Turkish Empire continues normal, and but little of it comes to Eng land, the bulk of the fiue being taken for home consumption, and by Kussia, where but little is grown." It is a fact that the Sultan of Turkey smokes cigarettes made in Richmond. Va., and prefers them to anything produced in his own empire So, the point with every man having the soils and seed fitted for this type (and this he must see specially to), and the appli auces necessary to cure it properly, is au thorized to do his very best this year for a crop of the finest quality. Don t be satis fied with a low grade; it won t pay. SUN-CURED ("MAHOGANY ') TOBACCO. "This growth, peculiar to certain spots n the tobacco region (notably in Caroline, Louisa, Mecklenburg and Henry c (Unties, Virginia, and Granville County, North Carolina), and so much prized for the best grades of plug tobacco, has been commanding very high prices for some months past, and those best able to judge say that the demand existing for it is now too constant to induce a belie! that any decline in price will come about this year. 6HIPPIXG TOBACCOS. Here we allow our London friends to again speak ; for there they are specially in their element : 'There is a general want of tobacco all over the world, and prices rule high. I wo or three large crops of American, in sue cession, are wanted, so that there may be a sufficient supply in hand for a couple of years, should the growing crop fail, and manufacturers not be obliged to depend just upon the chance of the year s crop Another reason is that it is vastly better for the tobacco to be old, and manufac turers not to be compelled to use it as soon as sampled. At present we have only about 3,000 hogsheads over a year s con sumption of "Western strips," snd more than half that is in the hands of a few rich manufacturers, who will have old to bacco, and of the remainder a large por tion will either be too common or heavy for our use here, so that virtually our man ufacturers are going on from hand mouth, and when the sampling of the pre vious year's crop takes place here they have to buy for immediate use. In v lr ginia there is no surplus at all, and fine bright export tobacco is not to be had We have had buyers from various parts of the Continent and from Australia here, but have not been able to supply them. From a grower's point of view this may be all very well, as although he limits his acreage of tobacco he gets a full price, but what l satisfactory to him is just the opposite to many others. Manufacturers cannot af ford more than a certain price, and if one particular growth goes beyond them they find something else to take its place, Java and Japan are very good examples o this. If Java is dear, then Japan comes in, and vice versa, and this has been gom on for years." This letter we submitted to one of the oldest and most judicious buyers of export tobaccos on the Tobacco Ex change in Richmond, when he returned it with the following memorandum: "As to the tobacco outlook here, much will de pend upon the prospects of a new crop, here and in the West, later on, but I should think that planters have every in ducement to aim at a full crop, especially of dark tobacco, which now is lamentably scarce, consequent upon the peculiar weather of the latter part of last summer. Colory and bright grades are also quite de sirable, as the world at large is becoming more and more partial to color, but then the European markets will only compete for them to a small extent, unless prices should decline considerably, as your Lon don friends say." "It is not hard, from this survey, to tell the planters what they are justified in do ing, in connection with the crop about to be pitched. So, looking at any type pro duced in this immediate latitude (Virginia, West Virginia, North Carolina and Ten nessee), and we find that the promise of a paying return to the planter, on the result of the coming crop, if of Jine quality, is all that could be desired." Follow "Crapping Mortgages." Peter Mitehel Wilson. " Don't know what a crapping mortgage ! To be sure you ain't never lived in the country, then," said an honest, hard-work ing and thrifty farmer of small means, who is a vast tract of Africa, stretching from HARD TIMES Advertisements will be inserted for One Dollar per square (one Inch) for the first and Fifty Cents for each subsequent publication. Contracts for advertising for any space or time may be made at the office of the I RALEIGH REGISTER, Second Floor o Fisher Building, Fayetteville Street, text to Market House. THE DESERT WAR. What About and How It Happened. Charleston News and Courier. The present 'war in The Soudan is the consequence of the attempt of Egypt to reconquer Equatorial Africa. The &oudan lives in an eastern county, to one of our lawyers, as eminent for his bonhomie as for his admirable talents. "You a lawyer and don't know what a crapping mortgage is? Well, I'll tell you. I made one of them durned things once. I he way of it was just this : You see I went down to the store at the forks of the road in my neighborhood, to buy a few articles that was needed at home, and when I had got 'em and put 'em in the cart to go home, my friend Sharpman he is tne mercnant, you know what keeps a little store down there just a little coun try store Sharpman, he said to me: What 8 the use of bothering along of ittle things of this sort? Why don't you just make a 'crapping mortgage,' and then you can get anything you want, and won't have to pay for it until your crap comes in, and then you can pay it off with bag of cotton or so.' "It sounded mighty easy like, so I signed one of the cussed things aud start ed off home with mv load. Well. sir. them mortgages is curious things. I naan'i more n got up the red hill going home before I commenced to think of what I wanted to buy and what I needed. and the infernal thing made me think of things that 1 must have that I never had wanted before. You see I always had money on hand to buy what me and the old woman wanted, and I had fought shy ui ueui au my me, oui ail ine neignDors was a trying their hands on 4 crapping mortgages' and I thought I would go in for a little too. Well, I did. 44 1 kept on wanting things, and I kept on getting things. We all got along fine, and Sharpman sold the old woman lots of nice things that we never had wanted before, but that we was bound to have after I signed the 4 crapping mortgage They breed wants, they do. "At last the crap came in. I sent two or three bales of cotton down to the store to pay it off, as Sharpman said do ; but it didn't do it. I then sent down all my fodder; but that didn't do it. I talked the matter over with the old woman, and she got up all her chickens and ducks and eggs, and I sent down all the corn I had made, and that didn't do it ; so T just got on my horse and rode down lo the store to see about it. I looked at what we had bought come to, all figured.iip, you know, and tnere was always what you call a bal ance agin me. So 1 just took out my pocket-book that had had the money in it all the time and paid off the mortgage and took the confounded thing and went back home. WTell, when I got there I thought I would read over that paper that always managed to keep a balance agin me somehow or other, and I done so Well, now, what do you think was in that crapping mortgage? I hope the recording angel aint listening, but I wish I may be d -d if that ere little ' crapping mortgage' weren't spread all over my land. My horses, my mules, my stock, my farming utensiis, my household and kitchen furrn ture, even the dish rag, was flung into it. I always thought that the things must have India rubber in em, they stretched so, and they ought to be called dish rag mortga ges, and not crapping mortgages, oughtn't thevr W ell, let me tell you don t vou never sign one. You never will get through paying it, and when them store fellows tell you how easy it is to get things now and pay for "em in the fall, you remember what I tell you about a crapping mort gage." And having finished his description of these little engines of oppression, he pulled out his twist of home-made tobacco, that looked as rich and brown as walnut wood, cut off a chew with his horn-handle knife, put it in his mouth, put the knife and to bacco back into his breeches pocket, and walked away. He turned round after walking a little way, ipd said reflectively, 41 Don't you never sigrrone in the world; if you do, you will never get through paying it off." I A MEAN DEMOCRAT All was gave Plays Tricks on a Republican Squire. THE LENOIR FOLKS Astonish the mountaineers. ' Better than Diamonds. Baltimore Sun. J Hon. Carl Schurz, in his recent lecture at Atlanta, Ga., advocated good house keeping, and said soda biscuit and bad pie would ruin any man's stomach, and when the stomach is ruined the man is done for. He related some interesting stories illustrating the high esteem in which a good housewife is held. One was Bismarck's wife, who 'carried the keys" dangling by her side, and said that to a man of sense there is an attraction about a bunch of keys which a bunch of dia monds never possessed. CoL Cameron in the Citizen. I knew many of these men, the Lenoir no-fence delegation and many of them for many years. There were the Wootens, and the Mewborns, and Dempsey Wood, old acquaintances ; and of my new ones of whom I saw much, were Noah Rome and Dr. Sanderlin and Mr. Gray, and the Bests, and others I cannot recall, as fine a body physically, and in every other respect, as one might chance to find anywhere. Where these Eastern county men get their fine physique from is a puzzle to a mountain man who believes he possesses a monopoly of healthful air and pure water. These men breathing malaria, living on quinine, drinking water thick with tadpoles as is the current belief outside of their domain show a height of figure, a rotundity of person, a ruddiness of color, a nie or ex pression that would make a mountaineer open his eyes witn wonaer. in mis ueie gation were three of the Best clan, three men each standing six feet six, and full bodied in proportion; and there were probably twenty out of the sixty-five who weighed over 200 pounds. Shelby New Era. Mr. Payne, of one of the extreme west ern counties, having been appointed and having taken upon himself the responsible duties of a Magistrate, was applied to by a young country couple, to perform the sacred rite of making them man and wife. He began as follows : "Now, John, you stand up right there in the middle of the floor, and now, Maria, you stand up right close to his side. .Hold up your right hands. You do both solemnly swear that you will support the Constitu tion of the United States and stand by the laws of North Carolina? Stop a minute that ain't right. Emily, (to his wife), hand me that book on the mantel-piece." He takes the Statutes and turns through the volume, one leaf at a time, but finally gives it up in despair and exclaims: "Well, I'll be d d if the fellow hain't gone and sent me a Democratic law book to do business from, and I don't under stand it! This is some of Josiah's doings. He is a Democrat and he is our Represen tative. Now, he has sent this to me just because I'm a Republican and he knows it. I'll tell you two what to do, if you can stand it aud I guess you can. You just go over to Squire Warley's, and he can hitch you. I can't.'1'1 The Chicago Young Woman. Chicago Herald. J The principal of the Young. Ladies' Academy of the north side wished to know of one of the class why she was late. "My beau slew me last night quite late and I was tardy in arriving this a. m.," giggled the coming woman. "Do vou mean that you were out sleigh ing?" "I was not slain, if you please.' Pres ent, slay; past, slain; past perfect, slew. What he did is past, and you can bet it was perfect." "What an incorrigible you are," said the poor, distracted teacher. "He said I was a daisy," replied the miss, throwing a piece of chewing gum to the ceiling and catching it in her mouth as it fell. Egypt on the north to the Nyanza lakes on the south, and! from the Red Sea on the east to the western boundary of Darfuron the west. Khjartoum is about equally dis tant, that is to say between 1,100, and 1, 200 miles, as; the crow flies, from the northern boundary of Egypt, the Medi terranean, and: from Lake Victoria Nyanza, the southern boundary. The sovereignty of the Soudan was seized by Egypt in 1819, and in J856 Said Pasha, the Khe dive, only desisted from abandoning the country in deference to the representations of the Sheikhs and notables, who declared that anarchy would follow. There was a rebellion in 1865, which was suppressed. In 1874 Chinese Gordon was appointed Governor-General of the Equatorial prov inces. Becoming absolute ruler of the Soudan, he established a system of just and equitable government which led, after his departure,; to the revolt against the misgovernmenjt of the Egyptian officials. A whole horde of Turks, Circassians and Bashi-Bazouks were let loose to harry the unfortunate Soudanese. There was intense discontent. The revolt of the Mahdi, or false prophet, took shape in 1881, the year that Arabi Pasha made him self dictator ip Lower Egypt. The for tunes of El Mihdi varied, but he gathered recruits as he Went along, and, in 1882, he surrounded anki massacred 6, 000 Egyptian soldiers. When Arabi Pasha had been smashed up by the English, the Khedive undertook to reassert Egyptian authority m the Soudan. Abd-el-Kader was in charge of the ;Egyptian forces and occa sionally repulsed the Soudanese. Hicks Fasha, an English officer in the Egyptian service, took fcommand in March, 1888, and, after some successes, fought El Mahdi's forces at Kashgate, where, after three days' figfating, Hicks was killed and his army cut to pieces. There were few survivors of the ill fated 11,000. thought of suppressing the Mahdi abandoned. Thenceforth, the only cussion was how to save Khartoum the Eastern Soudan, which in turn place to consijderation of the best means of abandoning them. It was determined to evacuate the Sou dan, in which there were ten fortified places occupied by Egyptian troops, who numbered altogether 44,000 men. The difficulties in the way of the evacuation became deity more evident. Up to this time, be it remembered, England had had nothing to dolwith the Soudan, and had declined to be in any way responsible for its occupation? or evacuation. there were piteous appeals for help, and the English Government was urged to push forward a column from Suakim, on the Red Sea, to Berber, so as to keep open the line of com munication w ith Khartoum. Chinese Gor don, meanwhile, had given his views very freely, and itt January, 1884, he was re quested by the English Government to proceed at onee to Egypt and report to them on the military situation in the Sou dan, and on the measures which it might be advisable to take for the security of the Egyptian garrisons still holding positions in that country, and for the safety of the European population in Khartoum. This was the extent of the duty which General Gordon cheerfully assumed. In February he arrived at .Khartoum, accompanied by a small escort, and long afterward assured the Government that Khartoum was in no danger. A British expeditionary force under Graham defeated the Mahdi's lieu tenant, Osmaa Digna, at Tokar and Tam anieb, but wesit no further. As late as March last, Gen. Gordon said that with 500 determined men he could put down the'trumpery revolt, as he called it, and a month later he telegraphed that he considered himself free to act according to circumstances, and, if he could not suppress the" rebellion, would retire to the Equator. It, must be remembered that it was never part of the original conception of Gen. Gordon's mission that he should be supported or rescued by an English army. Whein he was sent to Khartoum, the idea wasi that he should have a free hand and nothing else. As, however, it was seen that he was absurdly mistaken in his estimate of the character of the re bellion, and was really in imminent peril, the feeling that he should be rescued, at any hazard, grew stronger and stronger. His was a Quixotic undertaking, but he had endeared himself to the people by the very extravagances of his conduct and his marvellous si'lf-confidence and courage, and the Government decided to Bend an expeditionary force under Gen. Wolseley to raise the siege of Khartoum. England's present object is to save the remaining garrisons in the Soudan, or to avenge them, To this end the whole of the vast resources of the British empire will be employed if necessary. GOOD IN ALL. Eren in Rossa and In Sage. Fulfilling- an Engagement. New York Sun.J Morning. Old darkey (at gentleman's office) Gud mawnin', boss. Can't yer 'sist an ole man dis mawnin', sah? Gentleman Not this morning. Charity begins at home. Night Same old darkey (at gentleman's home) Gud evenin', boss. I called at yer home for a little 'sistance, 'cordin' to our prearrangement dis mawnin', sah ! New York Times. Men whorn we do not respect overmuch have good streaks in their makeup some times. I found this out one cold night a couple of winters ago when over on the east side shivering in the cold I ran against a man who carried a market basket filled with meat and groceries for a destitute family. The' man was Russell Sage, the same man who only a day or two before had worked! himself into a fury, and threatened to discharge an office boy who, sent out for the millionaire broker's lunch, had squandered 13 cents for a sandwich when 10 cents had been the price a couple of blocks further away. When I met Mr. Sage and his basket the atmosphere warmed up about 50 all of a sudden. I was too much amazed to shiver. And I really believe the old man was ashamed of the exhibition he was making of himself. I promised him that I would not tell the story down town ; there were wicked brokers down there, he said, who would think it was funny. Bo much for preface to a story about another man who in a little more frantic way has tempted the public to lively criti cisms. Out on Long Island a year and a half or so ago an Englishman with a large family came, to grief, fell sick, and became distressingly destitute. A little child, a girl not much more than half a dozen years old sat crying in front of the house. A passer-by -observed her grief and asked questions. That night a doctor ent to the sick house and a grocer's visit fplldwed. The stranger who' was responsible for this charity was hn Irishman ; it was jhow like a fairy story; this sounds it was O'Dono van Rossa. I get this bit of history from a source thai allows of little question as to its truth. Russell Sage and O'Donovan Rossa, as suiccorers of the poor and dis tressed, are (temptations to Barnum. i