The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1892-09-29

b deny it, that the only probable, not t
t say possible, result of the Third part
: movement in North Carolina this fal
: will be to elect full Republican
State ticket and to aid in the election
, of Republican President and HOUSE
/ of Representatives. What is to b
r gained by that result need not ask
r How the reforms. which they profes
. to desire are to be obtained through
Republican success is something which
5 surpasses human conjecture. No true
7 friend of this commonwealth, l an
, sure, will contribute to this result.
is reported that prominent candidate
5 on the ticket of the Third party say!
he had rather submit to negro or an,
, kind Of rule than such as we have a.
present; but l am forced to believe
that, if this be true, there are very few
other white men of North Carolina who
are outside of the penitentiary and
who ought to be outside, who enter.
tain sentiments so foul and brutal.
Our people know that under Demo
cratic rule they have had good laws,
low taxes, economy, and purity in
the administration of their affairs, and
hope and believe they will not
lightly risk its overthrow by casting
useless or hopeless votes in November
The class of our people who have
had greatest cause to complain OF
vicious legislation is the agricultural
The party which has steadily resisted
this, and continually declaimed
against it on the hustings and have
struggled manfully to repeal it in the
halls of legislation, is the Democratic
You will bear me witness that unre-
mittingly since have been your rep
resentative in the Senate have hoth
spoken and voted against that unjust
legislation. At home, as you know, l
never ceased to expose its inequalities
and to advise the farmers to organize
for resistance to it. When they did
begin to combine they had the SYM
pathy and good wishes of almost
every just man in the United States
who was not in some way the recipient
of the plunder arising from this
abuse
Never was there political move
ment of our people founded upon
better grounds or more reasonable
complaint. But that which feared,
and against which l earnestly warned
them, soon came to pass. Men who
had little interest in agriculture and
much interest in their own fortunes,
aspired to be its leaders. Often men
who had failed to obtain office from
either of the old political parties con-
cluded to farm the farmers and raise
personal crops of honor and profit out
of them. They pressed to the front,
thrust the real farmers aside, and
involved the Alliance in the widest
and most impracticable propositions
ever heard of among sane men, and
IN defiance of their constitution soon
converted it into a mere political
party composed of the discontented
and the disappointed elements of
society, protesting no fixed political
principles or regard for the Constitu-
ton of their country, but striving only
to obtain the very worst of class legis-
lation which is their sole idea of states
manship. Their proposition to pur-
chase and control all the lines of trans
portation and telegraph in the United
States at the expense of many billions
of dollars, and Of refunding for their
payment, at least a billion more; Of
loaning people money on real estate at
lower rates of interest than the market
rates, and kindred schemes, are so
preposterous, that to argue them seri-
ously is SANDER upon our civilization;
and the advocacy Of such measures
for the hitherto most conservative
element of our society is notification
to all the world that we are approach
ing that stage of demagogism and
communism which mark a people as
unfit for self-government.
My unfaltering confidence is in the
farmers of North Carolina, who as
members of that Alliance will, trust,
not permit their noble Order and their
just cause to be thus perverted and
debased. Rest assured that no real
friend of that noble class of men who,
under the providence of God give us
our daily bread, will ever consent to
this degradation of their cause into
the obsequious tool of uncrupulous,
men, forfeiting the sympathy !,
of all moderate people, and making
the very name of Alliance to stink in !
the nostrils of justice and common
sense. l can but believe the good
judgment Of our farmers will enable
them to see where these leaders are
taking them, and that their native
honesty will impel them to draw back
in time to save their country.
Many oi our people, it is true, have
objected to Mr.. Cleveland, and pre-
ferred that ne should not have been |
nominated. l confess that | was
among that number. But an individ-
ual preference before the nomination |
of candidate is one thing, and the
duty of true man after that nomina-
tion has been fairly made is another
and very different thing indeed. In
the one case preference may be in
dulged in properly, without danger to |
the principles We profess or the party |
which has those principles in charge;
in the other case We endanger both,
and falsify our pretensions, by contrib
uting undeniably to the success of
our adversaries. If we refuse 20 abide |
by the voice of the majority of our !
fellow Democrats, freely and unmis-
toh h1,, -, ,o~