The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1898-01-14
THE EBpATIoN or JEFftRS0NS BIRTH
DAY,

audience met in Shelby than assembled
in tre court house Saturday.
H., success of this celebration in Shell
~ s,,ccosts that Jefferson's birthday
onrb. TO be celebrated by similar meet
;rns :, avorv court house in North Caro-
limo II falls on the second of April, at
. time when the people will be commenc-
inc 70 plan and work for this years
campaign. There is every reason for
worine long campaign this year. The
State convention will probably be held
in the latter part of May, and the rallies
and speaking and organization will go
on until the November election.
The spirit of Jefferson ought to be
invoked in the commencement of the
most momentous campaign waged Ill
the State since 1876, and all men who
believe in the principles taught by JEFF
ferson ought to band themselves togeth-
err to write them into laws. There IS
need that the people should be made
familiar with the principles of govern
ment crystallized into maXims by the
sage of Monticello. Political chaos has
come upon us, partly because the voters
were not well grounded in the principles
of Jefferson. Men who have no firm con-
victions of the correct theory of govern
ment can be influenced by every wind of
doctrine, but those whose party allie
stance is based upon adherence to Jeffer-
sons creed are as immoyable as the
house tat was builded upon rock.
Faith in the people and their capacity
for self. government was the corner stone
of the political edifice erected by Jeffer-
son. That was his touch stone. FEEDER
alists sought to limit suffrage, and to-
make it difficult for the people to make
their will effective. They sought by spe-
cial privilege to build up a governing
class, and to that end the protective
tariff and the United States bank were
incorporated into their policies. They
looked across the waters for social and
governmental guidance. Jefferson found
himself in uncongenial associations with
the Hamilton school which dominated
while New York was the capital. He
preached the opposite of what Hamilton
practised; he warned the people that the
freedom they had bought with their
blood was being taken from them; that
instead of a Republic, based on the
consent of the governed, there was
well organized effort to make it limited
monarchy in fact; and that societies"
ought to be organized to resist the class
enroachments.
The same evils that called forth JET
ferson's protests an hundred years ago
exist now in an aggravated form. Every
administration Senator chosen in twelve
months in close States succeeded by the
use of bribery and the promise of Fed
eral patronaSa. Emboldened by the
purchase of the presidency in 1896 and
three senatorial seats, the Federalists of
tits day invoke the power of money to
crush out all their foes and to give them
the right to tax the people and control
the volume of the currency for their own
enrichment.
The issue to-day is not unlike that
Jefferson confronted one hundred years
ago. The banks, the capitalists, the
aristocracy, those fortified in any way
by special privilege saw in him a dis
turber of their peace and prosperity. The
-, l.; 10
cause and his principles prevailed be-
cause they were based upon the greatest
good for the greatest number. In JEFF
ferson's creed there is no advantage for
any citizen over another. That is why
the party he founded is immortal. All
other parties have persisted. The party
of Jefferson eanRot die as long as this
is q Republic. In times when money
prevails over manhood, or in time OF
great sectional bitterness, other parties
Will succeed. They will be repudiated
one by one in turn as the people rise
above selAshness and prejudice. The
party oI Jefferson win win only when
the majority Of the people are ready to
say. 1--WE want no special privilege. We
want a clean, economical government for
all the people alike" 1t is manifest that
those who fatten on pulls" win never
accept the creed of Jefferson.
There is no estimating the. value of
the celebration of Jefferson's birthday
on the coming second of April by the peo-
PIE of North Carolina. If it had no
effect other than educational, it would
be worth all the efforts it would cost.
The people need matchmaking in the
principles of Jefferson. Every demagogue
who has wanted to ride into power has
proclaimed himself "a Jeffersonian Dem
ocrat." They have invoked the name OF
jefferson to hold up selfish creeds and
unworthy practices. There is but one
way the people can tell the difference
between the real disciples of Jefferson
and the spurious ones, and that is Ior
Them to learn what that great man
tauoht The best speech on Jefferson