The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1886-07-22
WAKE COUNTY CONVENTION.
WHAT KIND OF DEMOCRATS WE
HAVEN WAKE.
Proceedings of and Comments pom the
Democratic Convention OF w AXE, Held
in Raleigh Last Saturday.

They should adopt the words Of Moses
That they 90 forward and allow no party
or combination Of parties TO come between
them and victory That every office in the
! county Is not III the hands of Democrats
i IS a surprise to us when We remember that
there IS a majority OF 319 white men IN
the county, that it is the Capitol Of the
State which is Democratic; aud that the
people have a good opportunity Of seeing
the good results that flow from Democratic
rule u Pitt county there is a colored
ma jority Of 3s4 and yet 1t IS seldom that
the Democrats are defeated In Wake
county, with a white ajority Of 319, Wake
usually was until last year placed in the
Republican column. What can be the
cause of this? 1t is time for Us to inquire
among ourselves and ask if OuI political
policy has been THE BEST to keep Wake in
Democratic hands and to wrest remaining
offices from Republicans.
These thoughts were suggested by a
| glance at the Democratic County Conven
tion held in Raleigh last Saturday. 1t was
! the first time the writer had seen Il repre-
sentative body of Wake men and he was
interested not only in the proceedings but
| III noting the personnel of the body. Met
ropolitan Hall was nearly full of delegates,
every township being well represented. 1t
presented almost as crowded an appear
| ance as the last State Convention, with
the exception Of the galleries which We're
not full, and there was an order ana good
department which is impossible to secure
| in SO large a body as a State Convention.
| The delegates were from all callings, but
| the farmers chiefly composed the body.
1t was /; solid looking body of men men
most of whom had no axe to grind but
were interested solely in their delibera
tions by patriotic motives. New England
historians claim that the greatness of New
England, the knowledge of its people, their
! love of public affairs, etc, grew out of
their participationS in the famous town
meetings at which the early Purltans met
to discuss all questions relating to the
! public good.
Too often among North CarolinianS has
this means of education been neglected.
1 Too often, in the towns and county meet
/ ingS, the discussion on all questions has
! been left to Il few, and many men whose
views ought to be known are silent This
ought not to be and is not much 50 III
Wake as in some other counties. In the
discussion Saturday some Of the strongest
and most pointed speeches short but
pointed and sensible made by far
/ mcr delegates We need to have them to
the front oftener. In Wake there are
any man who would scrutnize carefully
/ the men who composed the convention
could see-men in every township whose
views on all public questions ought to be
! had before commencing campaign Their
presence in such large numbers Saturday
/ augured well for Democratic success this
! year There was harmony, good feeling,
! and while there wasn't much of the over
| flowing enthusiasm that Will come later
on in the campaign.
The convention was not divided upon
hut 1t least tbprp il II ~
parent division upon any thing else. ''Who
| shall 90 to Congress" Z" was the question
/ which separated brothers and townships.
Each township had practically decided
/ what should be the complexion Of the dele
! cation sent to the Congressional Conyen
ton, and the County Convention was in
reality merely a formal carrying out OF
i such township appointments.
i At II O'Clock Mr. W. G. StrOnach. owing
/ to the sickness of Mr.. ). F. Mordccai,
/ Chm. of the Co. En-. Com, called the Con
vention 10 order. After the usual prelim-
! inaries Mr.. y. ID. Jones, County Treasurer,
! who won so great q victory over the Re
/ publicanS of 1894, was unanimously elect
ed permanent Chairman, and Col. T. A
Olds and Josephus Daniels We're elected
/ Secretaries.
Upon taking the chair Mr.. Jones made
Il short speech acknowledging the honor
conferred. In the course of the speech he
asserted that it was not expected that a
political convention should be as quiet as
a prayer meeting or Sunday school; that
differences would arise and of necessity
there would be noise and fun. To this he
did not object ''But," said he, ''when
we come to business | shall see to it that
1t IS conducted in a proper manner" That
was a sensible speech. We cannot remem-
ber any Convention where there was not
some noise Some people always are
ready to remark, because Of uprOarious APP
plause and loud shouting, ''that was a
disgraceful affair when in fact it was
nothing but an enthusiastic convention.
Mr.. Jones gave expression to the proper
idea and gave a correct definition of a con
| yention. Let there be shouting and hur
rahing at the proper time; let the business
be also conducted properly. We give en-
phasis to this idea advanced by Mr.. Jones
! because many men seem to be like Mark
| Twain's New Englander who wouldn't at
the public lecture, laugh at any of Mark 5
Jokes because he was in meeting, but was
willing to pay a quarter afterwards to
hear them in a barn so that he might "bust
his sides. They seem to think that a pO-
litical Convention ought to be as quiet as
church services and some good men say
they are disgusted with politics because of
the ebullition of enthusiasm. There is a
middle ground-Wake county Democrats
occupied that ground Saturday.
The Committee on Credentials Messrs
E. r. Stamps, John Gatling, W H. Pace
J. Wiley Jones and II. c. Olive, reported
no contest.
During the retirement of this commit
tee Mr.. NJ. I. Leach moved that Capt Oct
Coke be invited to speak. Cries of Cooke,
Coke, take the PLATFORM" resounded
through the hall, and Capt Coke came
forward on the floor ard prefaced his re
marks by saying that where the people of
Wake and n c., stood there was his plat
form declined to go upon the stage. As
he stood there, waiting for quiet to be re-
stored, he looked as if he felt like the war
horse in the Scriptures, who ''paweth in
the valley, and rejOiceth in his strength
who goeth on to meet the armed men, -
who sayeth among the trumpets Ha, ha,
and who smelleth the battle afar off, the
thunder of the captains and the shouting. :
We shall not report his speech 1t is sufti-
cient to say that it was worthy Capt. Coke
and worthy the occasion.
In Swift Creek township there was a
minority set of delegates presented but the
Convention refused to appoint them.
In ST. Matthews township, where there
are two precincts, there WAS dispute
which was settled by dividing the repre-