The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1899-03-12
LEGISLATIVE ECHOES.
WHAT THE EDITORS ARE SAYING ABOUT
THE LEGISLATURE.
The Concensus Of Opinion is that The Ressona.
be Expectations Of the People Were Met.
The Voters Win approve.


ment goes inevitably upon record BY
no particular act will the work of The
recent session be weighed at large, but
| by the effect upon the<State of the sum
total of its acts. What that effect will
| be may not be indicated until the PEG
| pie are called upon to speak again.
| Meanwhile, however, ono may reflect
upon the course of the Legislature. put
| ting aside the standing of its members,
| disregarding their political affiliations,
| having an eye to no particular act.
| and search out the spirit whence the
new laws now given us sprang: ana by
| this spirit the law-making body nav
| justly be judged.
The men who came to the capitol
and took their seats at the first of che
new year had come through one of the
most remarkable revolutions our State
has known, one that will prove mem
Orable beyond any in our history as the
beginning of the end or the end Itself
of the era of political hate and pasSi Oh
and violence and fear and horrors in
North Carolina, and the Inauguration
of the era of principles and reason in
their stead as the ground of political
differences. North Carolinians have de-
terminsd to break the bonds that have
enslaved them to fear, and they will
march on until their citizenship has been
so improved and purged that no man
can be shamed out Of his principles
the subversi0n of the very essence of
self government. This will be good for
al political parties. for all principles. for
all patriots. for North Carolina.
LN,rct af -, Al
Legislature was the struggle for Office.
1t would wiring any heart to see the
miscellaneous crowd, pushing. pleading
bargaining, whispering, working des-
perately every one. old and young. tho
veteran of the war, the party worker,
the chronic offce-seeker-to see them
and to know that most must return
home hopeless. How do they live?
Here was a man with one leg, the other
on the field of battle. business gone,
home gone. no means; but he failed. He
struggled desperately as though all de-
pended upon it. How he and such as he
continue to live is beyond our knowl-
edge: but they do at least for a
while. There is not to be found a more
pathetic or a more profoundly sugges-
tive spectacle in this free country than
the struggle for office. But we have
here only to remark that out of the
struggle came good set of officers for
the General Assembly of 1899
The passion of what they had come
through was fresh upon many of those
lawmakers as they took their seats;
they were unfit to coolly consider the
responsible business of making laws.
And by good fortune never did Gen
eral Assembly approach its graver work
with more delibcration. Had all been
hot-heads, one breads to fancy the end.
BUT. there We're Saner spirits. many
lawyers and some of them able ones
many farmers. and some of them rich
with common sense and knowledge of
the people, and even skilled in public
business: of teachers. of preachers. Of
men in general a few: i'll all good
representation of our Commonwealth.
Not a few Of thsm took delight in I'M
horsing lobbyists.
The first opportunity was accepted by
the members to put the General As
sembly on record as in sympathy with
the moral element in North Carolina
when the Cumberland Dispensary was
protected in the face of a persistent
and influential opposition, we scored
one for the Legislature. '.'hc saloons
are allied against many of these men
for their work: and it beh0oves us to
stand by them as zealously as the sa-
looms oppose them. This General As
sembly of 1899 was clearly out of sym
pathy with the saloons, and no crack
ing of the whip. no threatenings could
alter its position. Let the moral ele-
ment stand to their guns these two years
coming, and we will be able to handle
the whisSey question to our liking.
King Alcohol came, but found his
friends all too few.
Between those who really desired pro-
lection against over-powerful capital.
and those who have got Themselves into
the habit of prosecuting the railroads
and the corporations, the General As
sembly pursued Il steady and commend
able course. The passage. OF the bill 10
render forsign corporations subject to
the State courts, and that to provide
separate cars for the races clearly indi-
Gated the Assembly's independence. The
quick response to appeal for Il more
equitable adjustment of the Merchants
Purchase tax showed fine disposition
to treat capital justly. The failure of
the effort TO infiict upon the railroads a
gross income tax, at the same time
providing for such taxation if it shall
come to be expedient, indicated the de-
sire of an Independent Assembly not to
go to extremes in obedience to any
clamOr The passage Of an antitrust
law may Indicate either the opposition
of the members to the trusts or it may
indicate the indifference of trusts TO
laws; for it is not to be hoped that the
law passed or any other State law will
make an end Of trusts.
Every rec mt Legislature has address
I'd itself to three laws that apply 70 all
the State-the school law. the Revenue
law, the llecti0n-law. 1t is n testimony
| TO the r-mindedness of the recent
Assembly as well as Il rare monument to
| The wisdom in this matter of that which
| it succeeded. that the school law OF
| 1897 was not materially changed-the
| most important changes bing the pro-
vision for optional local taxation cleo
| toms instead of a general and com
| pillsory election. and the provision for
focal school committeeman. and for the
| division Of funds with the view t.
running white and colored schools the