The state chronicle. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1883-1893, 1891-01-28

Mr.. Gilman spoke in defence Of the
amendment. He at first thought the
bill ought to pass without going to The
committee, but after hearing the testi
mony before the Committee his mind had
changed These canning industries have
been brought into the Safe under exist
ing laws. and they ought to BE- protect
ed. He believed that dredging ought TO
be stopped entirely, but it ought not to
be done now, in the middle Of the win
ter, which would throw 1900 hands out
of employment These men are employed
in these factories, ard if dredging is stop
ped they must suffer We ought to do
justly, aid it would not be ius5 to stop
these Industries without days notice
These men have invested thousands of
dollars here because our laws allowed II,
and We should not drive them away.
His earnest plea for the amendment
seemed to be prompted by great tesire
to keep in our State the Industries that
had been established for the uplifting II
Eastern Carolina. He was for the com
mon people of the country and only
favored the amendment as a kind of
compromise measure until something
more just and relieving could be done
1t was an able and con ervative argu-
ment
MIR. Lucas Eloquent Speech.
Mr.. Lucas said ne WAS very un
we'll, not able to be in his seat,
but this measure was Of so much i'm
portanee to his people he could not al
low the opportunity to pass without
making an effort to protect his people.
We give the substance of the speech
as follows:
If hero is anything | do know some
thing about it IS the oyster question.
This is a great question. The poor peo
pie who live by gathering oysters have
been forced to violate the laws to pro-
tect and feed their wives and children.
| tell you, as the representative OF three
fourths Of the oyster section of the State,
hat there is no protection to its inter
ests except to stop dredging. The friends
of the amendment claim that If you
stop it now you will throw few hun
dred men out of employment; but let
me tell yoa, as the law now is, and as
the amendment proposes to leave 1t,
there will be ten thousand no
BILE, houest men and ten thousand
poor helpless women, whose means Of
subsistence will be destroyed. These
people are not able to pay lobby to in
fiuence this body as these corporations
are doing.
Let US do our duty and protect our
own people rather than few for
eigners and capitalists who have come
here to rob our people and who demand
monopoly of this great business.
Give these poor men tongs and drive
away the dredgers, and they will sup
ply the factories. If you allow these
vessels to dredge at all they will trespass
%l> nli1 k0vy tan I'll
ra sail - miies over oyster beds r
much.
Here is the question to decide: Shall
we stand by the people or give our in
fiuence to monopoy2 Petition after pc
tition has been sent to me signed by
thousands of my people. They are the
best people on the face of this earth and
ask that this odious dredging be pro
hiblted.
But this amendment of the minority
is against them the lobbyists declare
that these canneries in the east can only
be st,staioed by dredging. There are
canning victories sustained and can be
supplied bj longing
MIR. President, when you put that
grand army out with their tongs unno-
lested they will supply all the canneries
of the east But the minority report
cuts off a part of the oyster lands and
tells all the dredgers and foreigners,
saying, ''You get IN here and you can
dredge ali you please
AT that moment Mr.. Gilman desired
to show him map on which was mark
ed the exact portion of oyster lands iu-
tended to be open to dredgers, where
upon Mr.. Lucas exclaimed: Il don't care
where you may put these dredgers, they
are not concerned as to the law. The
large Gamers in Elizabeth City are men
from otber States who have become ut
terly Indifferent to the oyster law and
such law will only give them another
chance.
Just lock at the sight:-An oyster
fleet sailing So miles fIom Elizabeth City
way down i'll Pamlico Sound to get oys-
ters man on the shore halls
Whittier are you bound e. The answer
comes Bound for the lower waters
to dredge What farce, farce. Do you
think these lawless men who have here
totore givnn no heed to our laws and
people are going to obey such provision
any more han they have obeyed others?
No sir, nesEr do it.
Here's v ,re the question lies. 1t lies
here: Its lie people against monopoly
to the mon opolys No SIT, Mr. President,
l shall never see this Senate do it.
When out in the campaign, was
representative of the Democratic party,
when in the Senate l represent my whole
people This bill has passed the House
Indeed every member of that body liv-
ing in the oyster section voted for it.
Petitions have been sent to me from
every section of that county and one
from the Hyde county Alliance saying:
Lucas, by all means use your influence
in our behalf"
And here l am to-day to fight fer
them. All! some have tried to scare me
on the othss side. They have intimated:
Lucas, you had better watch, you may
never be returned again" Returned here
agains Why. SENATOR'S. IF | BELIEVE In
RIGHT, AND l KNOW AN IN THIS IN
STANCE, IF | NEVER GET ANOTHER VOTE IN
MY LIFE ILL VOTE FOR THIS BILL Sup
pose Lucas does go down!-that,s of lit
lie consequences. The welfare of those
honest thousands is greater than the rise
and fail Of any living man.
Al! but they say We can make per-
manent law before the session clos 5 to
protect these people. Yes, aud when
that permanent law does come you'll see
tsese lobbies crowded why not pass a
law now and discharge your duty to
these noble sons Of North Carolina Here
are these factory men and their hired
attorneys. Why are they on our shores
to-day canning oysters? Because they
have exhausted the waters Of Eastern
Maryland and Virginia. They have
brought their apparatus, their tixtr res
and set up their factory here, but they
are not giving employment to our peo-
pie. Foreign labor is chiefly used, ma
tives of Scandinavia, Bohemia and other