The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1896-11-22
SUNDAY, November D, 1896
THE BRYAN VOTE AND ILLIT-
ERACY


OF the IT'S, 1888 votes received by Bryan
in North Carolina, 175,5SS at least were
white voters. OF the 155, 243 votes re-
ceiyed by Mckinley, at least 10000 were
cast by negroes. The bulk of the vote for
Bryan, therefore, came from the best
educated men in the State, while the
bulk of the vote cast for Mckinley came
from the illiterate portion of the popula-.
ton. What Isl true of North Carolina is
true in all the Southern States, except
that in the States South of US, Mckinley
received smaller proportion of the intel
ligent vote than North Carolina. OF
the forty thousand white votes received
by Mckinley in North Carolina, at least
10000 were cast by illiterate white men.
the vote in Mitchell, Madison and Wilkes
alone, the three counties in which the il
literate vote is the largest, Mckinley re-
ceived 6,966 votes. OF course in these
counties there was some division in the
illiterate vote, but as is well known, the
DuIk u IL was CdSb LII AhSAAlhiSJs ~ 10
true in North Carolina, as in Kentucky
and East Tennessee, that it is in the big
Republican counties there is more of
fighting and shooting and recklesness
than in any other counties. Take the
counties of Madison and Haywood as an
example. They lie side by side. In Hay
Co. -in faxv
few murders 1t is q striking Democra-
tic county. In the adjacent county of
Madison, while it has large population
of as orderly and law-abiding men as
are to be found anywhere, it and Mitch
ell and Wilkes, three strong Republican
counties, have more cases for fighting
and shooting than any dozen Democratic
counties in the State.
These are facts. We give them not to
reflect upon the good or unlettered people
of these counties, but to disproye a state
ment that has been going the rounds Of
the press that Democracy and ignorance
are always found together. 1t is true,
AH0 Will always OG tlUI ~ AOI5 dS A.
is true to its principles, that most of the
law-abiding and humble poor are Demo
Gratis. They know it is the party that
stands for their uplifting and elevation,
that it protects them in their rights.
stands as barrier against social equali-
ty and the like, and is against the trusts
and combinations Of all kinds that de-
MES them an opportunity to rise. But,
the attempt to show that the measure of
the Bryan vote is the measure of ignor-
ance is so palpably false as is demon
strated above, so far as North Carolina
and the other Southern States is con-
cerned.
Recently the Evening Star, of Wash
ington, published some figures purport-
ing to show that the percentage of illit-
eracy in the twenty-five Bryan States
was % per cent of the total population,
while only rs per cent of the total popu-
lation of the twenty-three Mckinley
States is composed of illiterates. So far
as the South is concerned, the twelve
States that voted for Bryan must be
eliminated from this calculation, for in
them large percentage of the white IL
literate vote was cast for Mckinley,
while the Bryan vote, with some excep-
tons, was composed of the most intelli-
gent Of the population, and that if any ar
gument is to be made on the ground of
illiteracy, the Bryan supporters would
not suffer by it.
Thus eliminating the Southern States.
how is it in the remainder of the country
correspondent of the Washington Star,
after answering the charge of illiteracy
laid at the door Of the Bryan supporters,
says:
Now, to show how easy it is to con
struct statistical tables to bolster up
ones theories, / shall make simple COM
parsons myself. ! spent ten or twelve
years Of my boyh0od and early manhood
west Of the Rocky Mountains, residing
year or more, in turn, in several of the So
called silver" States and Territories
and during my residence among the in
habffants of that region | became thor
oughly convinced that they are, in all
that goes TO make good American citi-
zens. the peers of their brethren in the
East. They are in very large part the
children Of Eastern parents-the more
intelligent ana enterprisng members of
vell-to-do families-who went TO grow up
with the country, while their less ener-
gessu kresAsnS reessiaed ut ksMe with aas