The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-02-24

political upheaval from which he coulC
not be extmcated.
He ne petition signed by 3, 100 petit
TONERS. How many We're there on the
other side? Some one replied 300
Mr.. Canister replied that he and DR.
Stagg had counted them and there wer,
but 2,400; of these 800 were not quail
fed voters White supremacy was th,
issue last fall, as white as the driver
snow and as pure as Gods hand; it was
tho issue in Mecklenburg now. Every
business interest of Meckfenbmg wa.
represented on the petition by the best
men and best blood of the county. de-
scendants of men who had refused tC
bow the kIree to the British lion and who
now refused to bow the knee to the in
fernal, damnahle liquor traffic,
He wished 10 have IN opportunity Il
vote for one man for mayor of Charlotte
who was not pledged 10 the liquor traf-
fic. For fourteen years he had not had
the opportunity. The issue should he
eliminated from municipal politics. The
anti-dispensary people threatened ia
bolt the Democratic party if the bill was
passed, the men who favored it would
not bolt whatever was done If the
matter was not settled the liquor men
would bolt this Democratic nominees al
the next election. If the dispensary was
established the bar-room Keepers would
be powerless. The bar-room keeper out
of a job could do nothing.
The1i9 We're as good men on the anti
dispensary petition as were in the coun-
ty. but there were not twenty-five of
them. 1t had been asserted that it was
a preachers moveml mt it was not true.
The preachers had taken the side of
right and morality. DR.. Cyrus Thomp>
son had said the church had always been
ON the side of human slavery; the re-
turns of last fall gave the answer of
the people to that statement.
The petition for the dispensary repre-
scented $40 of the property and $40 of
the decency of the county. Strike them
from Mecklenburg's citizenship and it
Sodom and Gomorrah than in her bor-
ders.
THE TRAFFIC NOT PROPERTY.
Geo. Il. Wilson. for the dispensary,
said no man had a property right in the
whiSkey traffic. 1t was an evil to be
restricted. The only question was as to
the best method of restraint. If the bill
had no othsr merit than to reduce the
places where liquor is sold from eighteen
to one, it should pass. The bill robbed
the bar-rooms of all it's attractive fea-
lures. The dispensary was the solution
of the liquor question; like Banquo's
ghost it would not down.
MIR. GUTHRIE AGAINST 1T.
L. G.. Guthrie. against tine dispensary,
said he was an attorney but did not wish
to screen himself behind retainer: he
represented himself as well as his clients.
The agitation was unfortunate. 1t had
been hoped that only a few important
measures would be passed by this As
sembly but an avalanche of bills had
been dumped in the hopper to divide the
people The dispensary would not ne
cessarily make sobriety. Sober men
grew up in towns with saloons while
dry towns sometimes made drunkards.
1t was fight which every man must
wage for himself. Sober men were made
in the homes. There were many men
from Charlotte tagged and labelled on
the dispensary question. (Mr. Cansltr:
1--WE are not ashamed of it,,
Many men had been dragooned by
clergymen and good women TO sign the
petition. \ hill to put liquor sellers in
the penitentiary or to dfny them the
right to vote would get signers. Hisses)
mir. Guthrie: 'Now that shows your
politeness." The matter meant more
than the interests of the Democratic
party in our county.
Mr.. Ghenn: "Will your people vote
the Democratic ticket if the bill passes?"
Mr.. Guthrie: II have not consulted
my people on that question and do not
know"
Continuing, Mr.. Guthrie declared the
Democratic party was not a young
Mems Christian Association. 1t was
composed of the plain people. The only
time there had ever been a vote on the
prohibition question it had lost by over
100000 votes. The red shirts were men
who believed in liquor, plenty of liquor.
South Carolina did not attempt the dis
pensary until she had gotten her new
constitution. 1t was urged that the
Senator from Mecklenburg should be
over-ridden. As the representative
from the county he was responsible for
any and all legislation.
MIR. DOWD FOR 1T.
w. C.. Dowd, for the dispensary, de-
clared that he had been defeated for
the Senate in 1897 by the opposition OF
the liquor men. He preferred that the
question should not have besn agitated
until the suffrage amendment had been
passed, but the opposition had came
from the people of Mecklenburg county.
Ii the Senate defeated the bill out of
Difference to the Senator from Mecklen-
burg it would mean the defeat of the
Democratic party in the county. If
the bill was passed the Democrats
would carry the county by 1000 votes
ALL CLASSES WANT 1T.
John w. Moore, ex-Representativ'
from Mecklenburg, for the dispensary
said the people of all classes were fol
it. He provoked some mirth by con
tinually addressing the chairman as Mr.
Moderator"
He declared the people who favored
the dispensary preferred defeat in thu
right to victory in the wrong. Nearly