The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-10-02

OUU 10 l,UUU, WHen IL Olhy increased the
tax on st0clss and bonds ten ner cent.
II it is not true. will Populists longer
follow men who TO curry favor with the
big taxpayers thus misstate the facts
for one believe that the POpuists. who
went into the Populist party for reform
will surely repudiate men who thus wan
tonly advertise their own betrayal of
professed principles.
EVERY DEPARTMENT ROTTEN.
What else has been done by the Flu
sion government? There has not been
a department of the State government
executive. judicial CIR leghfative-that
has not been marked by extravaganza,
corruption or incOmpetency under Fu-
sion rule. Do not misunderstood me. /
do not charge that every man who holds
office under the present administration
is extravagant, corrupt or Incompetent.
[ know some of them who would not
waste the peoples money" who would
not participate in corruption, and who are
not incompetent But. like Mark
Twain's honest man in politics, they
occupy a mighty lonesome position
They ought to get out of the company
like many populiSts in Wake, Chatham
and other counties are doing.
THE EXECUTIVE BRANCH.
Take the executive department first. |
will not follow the Governor i'll all ms
ups and downs of alternately favorlng
the reduction of railroad rates and beg
ging the Commissioners not to reduce
them: his determination to annul the
North Carolina Railroad lease and his
trade with railroad attorneys to prevent
it's annulment; his swearing, clustering
and threatening way that would better
become COW boy than the Chief Execn-
tive of great State; his abuse of tie
pardOning power to give pardon to Re
publicans who were sentenced to long
terms Of imprisonment; his scandalous
use of the appointing power. by which The
lives Of volunteers were sacrificed and
the public service dehauched: and his
reckless disregard of the welfare of the
State.
have not time to take up the
several departments, but will conf;ne
myself TO brief statement OF the con-
duct of the Penitentiary. and of the Agri-
cultural Department. and one or two
other items that have been the object of
discussion and misrepresentation.
THE LEASE OF THE \. C. II. Il.
The crowning scandal that has marked
the executive department. was in c0nnec'
ton with the legislation and litigation
growing out of the lease of the North
Carolina Railroad. Shortly after thu
present Governor was inaugurated, he an
nounced that the lease had been oh.
A.. l.. h. #
the administration would be employed
to annul it. The public is familiar with
the abusive language he employed to
characterize the directors who made the
lease, his famous speech before the State
Alliance, and the vigorous manner in
which he entered upon the fight against
the lease. Many good men, seeing what
they supposed to be the first squirt OF
virtue that had marked his life, thought
the Governor was iii earnest. 1t was
not many months after the adjournmenr
of the Legislature before it became ap-
pare mt that all his, assumed Indignation
was II grand stand farce to gain favor
with the l'opulists and to secure their
endorsement. In this he succeeded until
they found that under great pretense Of
fighting corporations, the Republican
Governor had left them in the lurch, as
all Republican Otfice-holders do when the
time comes for the supreme test. He
surrendered horse. foot and Dragons;
admitted that the lease was nh right
and made an agreement that stands as
Il. perpetual injunction against any pro-
ceedings TO annul the lease. That is his
record as it is on file in the Circuit
Court OF the United States. The de
cree was entered by the express consent
of the Governor, and it in terms prevents
any future action i'll court or by Legis-
lature.sand the matter is, as the lawyers
say, res adjudicata. Listen to the de-
cree, to which Governor Russell assent
ed, and contrast it with his ''by the
eternal declarations of defiance utter
ed year ago:
THAT said agreement of extension or
new lease was executed bona fde with
out fraud, GOWN, Misrepresentation u
malpractice of any sort on the part Of
the complainant herein, or the defend
ant North Carolina Railroad Company,
or any officer, director or agent Of
either Of the parties thereto, and that the
same was and is II valid and subsisting
agreement made for and supported by 81
y anu was anu 10
in all respects binding as between the
parties thereto.
"XXIV. That any proceedings insti-
tuted or to he instituted by or under the
direction of the Governor of North Car
oina, or of the Attorney General Of
North Carolina. or Of any director of
theNorth Carolina Railroad Company,
or of any stakeholder of the North Caro-
lima Railroad Company, either in person
or by proxy, to disavow or repudiate, or
affect or impair the validity and force Of
the said lease of September II, 1871; or
of the Instrument dated August ~, 1893.
modifying and extending said lease, must
be taken by and in respect of some al
legged right of the defendant the North
Carolina Railroad Company, and solely
i'll virtue OF some alleged right of the de-
PENDANT to vacate it's sealed. delivered
and partly performed written contract.
entered into by the express vote, author
ity and ratification of its directors and
stockholders. and must in effect cOnsti-
tute and be treated as a proceeding by
and in the corporate name of the North
Carolina Railroad Company; and that
any such proceeding will constitute an
attempt to impair the obligation of the
said contract with the said Richmond x
Danville Railroad Company, and its as
signee. the complainant Southern Rail