"7
THE"
erpn
VOL. I.
RALEIGH, N. C, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 1904.
NO. 31
TTft fl 0 11
Rot
WATSON ISSUES STATEMENT.
Thinks There Is no Hope for the Dem
ocratic Party The People Have not
Yet Gotten Over the Cleveland Ad
ministrationClaims Half riillion
' Votes.
New York, Nov. 13 Thomas E.
Watson to-day gave out the follow
ing statement:
"It should be borne in mind that
at the time that the Springfield con
vention tendered me the Presidential
nomination, the People's party had
had no real existence as a factor in
National politics for eight years. In
the Presidential election of 1900 it.
gave to its nominee only 5,000 votes.
To that extent the fusion of 1896
swallowed up a movement, which in
1894 counted nearly 2,000,000 of
votes and about 1,500 active news
papers, and, therefore, we had to
bu ild from the ground up in 1904.
We had almost nothing to start with
in the way of party organization,
campaign funds and newspaper sup
port; we had only three months in
which to work. These things being
first considered, some fair idea of
what was accomplished can be had
only when the official returns are
known. Up to this time no official
statement has been made to the vot
ers, and I can only guess what it was
from information conveyed to me
by friends in various parts of the
country:' These -sources, of course,
are not very reliable. Basing an es
timate upon them, however, my opin
ion is that I received something like
a half million votes, scattered
through so many States, North and
South, East and West, to indicate
that the sentiment which gives its
normal support to the People's party
is national and not sectional.
"I have found everywhere that the
current was strong and deep in favor
of Jeffersonian Democracy. I be
lieve to-day that, if all those who be
lieve in that theory of government
could be united in harmony, we could
sweep the country. Mr. Roosevelt's
overwhelming majority was not so
much due to the fact that our peo
ple believe in class legislation and
the reign of special privileges. It
was not by any means an endorse
ment of corporation tyranny, the
greed of the trusts or the methods of
combined capital. Mr. Roosevelt's
majority over Mr. Parker was due
mainly to two things. One was the
immense personal popularity of Mr.
Roosevelt himself, and the other was
the immense unpopularity of Mr.
Cleveland's second administration.
Unfortunately for Mr. Parker, he
became so completely identified with
the marauders who plundered the
Government during Mr. Cleveland's
second administration that he had
to bear all the odium which they had
incurred. The people have never had
a chance to show just what they
thought of that second administra
tion. Mr. Bryan's two campaigns
did not give them the opportunity ;
it was only when the old Cleveland
combination secured the defeat of
Bryan and Hearst and dictated the
nomination of Mr. Parker that the
masses got the opportunity to vent
upon a National candidate the in
tense hatred which they had been
nursing for years against such men
as Olney and Belmont and Carlisle
and Cleveland himself. They knew,
that I could. not be elected.,. and they
were so eager to make the best of
the; opportunity to safeguard the i
country against a repetition of that
s&turnalia of class legislation which
marked Cleveland's second adminis
tration, that they rushed to Roose
velt and gave him a majority which
does not under ordinary circum
stances belong to the Republican
party. In other words, the person
ality of Mr. Roosevelt and the" un
popularity of Parker's environment
carried into the Republican column
vast multitudes of men who, under
ordinary circumstances, would ' not
be found there.
"My own plans for the future em
brace a complete organization of the
people along the lines of Jeffersonian
Democracy, the re-establishment of
reform papers and a systematic pro
paganda of Jeffersonian principles
in order that in 1908 there shall be a
party of genuine opposition to the
Republican party and its present
policies. If political history teaches
anything, it is that old parties never
accomplish any reform unless they
are irresistibly driven to it by pres
sure from without. I hope at least
to be of some use to my country in
aiding those who will apply that
pressure. It is immaterial to me who
does the work which the reformers
want done so that the work itself is
done.; ;'
"I have no faith whatever that re
forms will be accomplished by the
Democratic party. It is-di3credited
in the eyes of the people by a series
of crushing defeats; but it has been
so vacillating in" its course,' it has
changed its principles so often, has
run from one extreme to another so
recently, had such a magnificent op
portunity in 1892 to work out the re
forms to which it stood pledged and
made such a wretched use of that op
portunity, that it cannot inspire the
confidence which leads to success.
Since 1892 the Democratic party
has almost entirely boxed the com
pass in political profession of faith.
It has been for pretty much every
thing until this year, when it stood
for everything or nothing, according
to the interpretation which the vo
ters chose to put upon its ambiguous
platform.
"Mr. Bryan, while a great Demo
crat, is not the Democratic party.
There are other distinguished Demo
crats who are yet to be heard from,
and thev may not endorse such Popu
list platforms. There is John Sharpe
Williams, of Mississippi; there is
Joseph W. Bailey, of Texas; there is
Senator Tillman, of South Carolina;
there is Senator Morgan, of Ala
bama; there is Senator Daniel, of
Virginia in fact, there are quite a
number of distinguished Democrats
who claim the right to put in a word
before the next National platform
is made. They may not be willing to
take, for instance, Mr. Bryan's forty
seven different systems of governing
railroads; they may not be in favor
of some other planks in his plat
form. Be that as it may, Mr. Bryan
has no more right at the present
to say what the Democratic platform
shall be in 1908 than any other dis
tinguished Democrat."
Bow-legged men are to be barred
from the United States Navy From
which it would seem nobody is to be
allowed to get his "sea legs" in the
United States' Navy. Atlanta Con
stitution. , . . . . r l. ,-.. lJjJ
WASHINGTON NEWS.
The New Swiss Minister Coming
Celebration in Panama Senator
Hawley 111 Change to Be Hade In
Torpedo Boat Construction Per
sonal and Other Matters.
Correspondence of the Enterprise.
Washington, D. C, Nov. 15th.
Dr. Leo Vogel, formerly Secretary
of the Swiss Legation at Berlin, has
been appointed to represent Switzer
land as Minister to -the United
States. He is only forty-one years
old, and will be the youngest mem
ber of the Diplomatic Corps. What
is best of all, so far as the "Buds"
are concerned, Dr. Vogel, who was
in Washington in 1898, is a bachelor,
and well liked. Available men in of
ficial society are few. There are a
lot of them, but they do not care for
social honors, and shy off.
Bellamy Storer, American Em
bassador to Austria-Hungary, who
has been in the United States for
several weeks, has returned to his
mission after an enjoyable visit
among his political friends.
Elaborate arrangements are mak
ing in Panama for the celebration
of the first anniversary of the birth
day of the Isthmian Republic, and
Mr. Lee, United States Charge
d' Affaires, has suggested to the State
Department that a Naval band be
ordered there to participate in the
ceremony. The suggestion . would
have been gladly adopted but for the
fact that there is no available band.
The Dixie is at Colon,' however, and
her commander is instructed to par
ticipate in every appropriate way in
the anniversary celebration.
Mrs. Payne, wife of the late Postmaster-General,
who returned to
Washington some days ago to settle
some affairs relating to her husband's
business, will remain in Washington
for the winter, and will have with
her Miss Louise Van Dyke Jones, her
niece. Mrs. Payne will give up the
Arlington Annex, which was the
Paynes' official home from the time
of his official appointment to the
President's Cabinet until his death,
and will take apartments in the hotel
proper during her stay.
Senator Joseph R. Hawley, of Con
necticut, is seriously ill of kidney
trouble at his home here in Washing
ton. Senator Hawley has been far
from vvell for the last year, and it is
quite doubtful if he will ever be able
to take up his work in the Senate
again.
Secretary Taf t will start from Pen
sacola for Colon on November 14th.
It was originally planed that he
should sail on the Dolphin from Tam
pa, but the Columbia has been sub
stituted, and because of the vessel's
great draft, Pensacola has been sub
stituted on account of its superior
harbor. The Columbia is so speedy
that the trip from Pensacola t Colon
will be made in three days.
Actiner Secretary Adee has dis
patched a commutation, which is
likelv to be noted in the world s hi9
tory, looking to a reconvention of
The Hasrue conference. It is an m
vitation from the President of the
United States to the signatory pow
ers of the. original Hague treaty to
come together asrain for the purpose
of broadening and strengthening the
original 'convention and especially
to -consider means to further ameho
rate the horrors of modern war-fare
and conserve and extend the rights
of neutral commerce on the high
seas. ' 'i.
The torpedo vessels in the United
States Navy are about to undergo a
radical change. The types now in
use are unsatisfactory. Secretary
Morton has appointed a board to
consider new types for boat and ma
chinery. This board is said to have
been named as a result of the long
cruise which the first torpedo flotil
la took from the United States to
China, by way of the Suez Canal.
Although the flotilla made the trip
without loosing any of the vessels,
this experiment in ocean travel with
the small craft is said to have dem
onstrated that the present types are
unsatisfactory because they were un
able to keep up a satisfactory speed
on a long voyage, and are otherwise
deficient.
W. W. Russell, the newly-appointed
American Minister to Columbia, has
reported his arrival at La Guaira,
Venezuela. He proceeded at once to
Caracas to nay a visit to President
Castro, who is his personal friend.
He will shortly sail for Cartagena,
at which point he will be obliged to
make an overland trip to Bogota, the
Columbia capital, which will occupy
about two weeks, and is a perfectly
frightful trip to take.
Barbarism In the United States.
The spirit of outlawry and bar
barism is not dead in America, neith
er is it confined to one particular
section.
A few days ago a man was drugged
in a New York bar-room, beaten,
stripped, robbed and left nailed
through his flesh to the floor.
A recent news dispatch from La
fayette, Ind., gives the following :
"As a result of the annual fight
of the freshmen and sophomore
classes of Purdue University, Frank
Miller is dying at his home.
"Miller and a crowd of freshmen
were surprised by a crowd of sopho
mores. The freshmen captives, 160
strong, were attached to a chain by
about 200 sophomores and taken to
the city. At the Wabash River
bridge each freshman was ordered
to yell for the sophomores or be
smeared with a coat of black paint.
"Miller was one of the few who
refused to yell, and he was strip
ped, painted from head to foot and
thrown in to the river. The sopho
mores repeated the trick, driving him
into the middle of the Wabash and
Miller finally swam for the opposite
shore, making his escape. He started
for his home across the railroad
bridge, naked and weak, and fell from
exhaustion."
It must be remembered that these
fiendish acts of barbarism were not
committed by Southerners, that the
victims were not negro criminals. In
one instance the perpetrators were
college boys, educated young men,
possibly the sons of highly cultured,
wealthy parents. New England
Farmer.
Eminently Qualified.
Practical Aunt : Do you think
you are qualified to become the wife
of a poor, man?
The Confident Girl: Oh, yes; it's
all settled. We are to live in a cot
tage, and I know how to make cot
tage pudding" already, '