The Durham daily globe. (Durham, N.C.) 1889-1894, 1894-08-17
An Address to the Voters of North Care
lima.

lima.
The executive committee of the PEG
ple's party of North Carolina, on the eve
! of this, the most important polite a cam
paicn for many years past. II n"', In ! 'c''
the most momentous campaign in the
history Of the state, are persuaded that
some words of advice a. well "a warning
tn III. voter. Of NORTH Carolina may, in
this Grill Of public affairs, s,rVe Il good
purlosc ana aid in ar0u>ihg popular
SEMI llcnt 10 The patriotic duty Of having
free and fair elections in North Carolina.
1t i a truth, which no man disputes,
that Il frequent recurrence to the tunda
mental principles of government is essen
tial 10 preserve liberty. All political
economy, as well as human experience,
teaches that political power is continually
passing from the many to the few. In
our own, as well as in every other repub-
lican system of government, the ballot is
the only instrument through which the
will Of the people, the source Of all SOW
c~reignty, can he expressed, and the man
or set of men who would destroy or i'm
pair the free and untrammelled use of the
ballot in elections must be regarded as
u~nfriendly to republican institutions.
While many of the states of the union
are Oyerrun with voters imported from
foreign countries by the shipload during
tie quarter of a century last past, and
who are unaccustomed to the system of
government which obtains in a republic,
we in North Carolina can happily boast
of the smallest foreign population Of all
the states, and have, according to last
census report, less than five thousand
foreigners in a total population Of more
than one million and a half.
For many years past we all know that
federal interference and supervisorship
in our state elections, while accomplish
ing little or no good in a practical way
towards securing fair elections, has been
a constant source of irritation and in a
measure excused resort to methods of
contrivance, trickery and fraud as a
counter-irritant, which, upon occasion
and in some localities, has most effectu.
ally suppressed a free ballot and a fair
count. This federal interference in cleo
tions by common consent of all parties
and the crystalized popular sentiment of
our state is now a thing of the past, and
it is to be hoped behind US for all time to
come. Two wrongs do not make a right.
Now let us rise to the full measure of
patriotic duty and also discard forever
and root out Of our political system all
fraudulent methods and practices which
tend to impair the ballot and suppress |
the voice of the people fairly expressed |
al the ballot box.
While men may honestly differ as to
parties and political principles, let rs by
earnest endeavor in this campaign be
more vigilant and watchful than ever
before, to the end that whatever the re-
suit of the pending election may be, we
may all nave the satisfaction of feeling
and knowing that henceforth in North
Carolina "elections shall elect"
NJ intelligent man in this day pre-
tends to deny that the poisonous seeds
of dishonesty at elections have been sown
broadcast over this republic and are ma.
now a bountiful crop Of untold
evils which follow as the natural harvest.
To the credit of the great state of New
York, it is recorded that men once
potent there in election frauds are now
doing service for that state in peniten-
tiary Carb, while in our own state. those