The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1900-08-30
POLITICS IN NORTH CAROLINA,

Mr.. j. d. Whelpley has been study
ing North Carolina politics and writ
ing the result of his studies to the
Washington Star. He writes from
Charlotte what he has heard, and evil
alton as represented to him. But he
makes some discoveries that will be
novel to North Carolinians. Among
them we notice:
/. ''There seem to be no we'll de-
fined party lines among the voters in
North Carolina. but the indications
tinguished from the Kansas City plat
form, is on the increase" 1t would
be interesting to know where Mr..
Whelpley got his information. There
is not a State in the Union with such
well defined party lines as North
Carolina. We have made some inves-
tigation and have failed to find a SOL
itary Democrat who voted for Bryan
in 1896 who will vote against him this
year. On the other hand, within the
past ten days, we have received infor-
nation of quite a number of Demo-
Gratis who did not vote for Bryan in
1896 who will earnestly support him
this year. Several of them will 90 on
the stump.
?. "Anti-imperialism is not an issue
in North Carolina" Surely the CORE
spondent must have been dreaming.
1t is not only an issue but the para
mount issue.'' The people of this
State do not believe in any eXpan-
sion of yellow or black people They
have had enough Of the troubles grow
ing out of race problems without
wishing to add any more. They are
firmly grounded in the Munroe doe
trine and wish no expansion outside
of this hemisphere. They are opposed
to being taxed to shoot civilization in
TO the Filipinos and paying as they
have done already, seven million dol
lars as their share of the burden.
Come down, Mr. Whepley, and attend
the public meetings which begin
next month and see how deep
~ the people are opposed to imperial
ism and you will change your mind.
3. Under the new law. the election
machinery is absolutely under the
control of the Democratic officials,
and open boasts are made that it is
not possible under this circumstance
for the Republicans to carry the
State Who makes such 'open
boasts?" AS matter of fact the cleo
ton law today is substantially the
same as in 1894 when the Democrats
lost the State by 10000 majority. The
machinery was in their hands then as
now. The Republicans have no
chance of carrying the State, because
the people are Democrats on ''well
defined lines There are a few men,
calling themselves Democrats, but
who vote the Republican ticket, who
make so much fuss that they seem
numerous and it was their loud talk
that naturally misled the CORE
spondent. Their number bears the
same proportion to their noise as is
illustrated in the bull-frOg story. A
farmer offered to sell his whole crop
of bull-frogs at a certain price per
bushel and said there were an hun
dred bushels in his mill-pond. He
made the trade, turned the water off
his pond, and instead of finding "bush-
els" he only found five frogs. Where
are the bushels | agreed to btIy?'
asked the man who had contracted to
buy the frogs when the farmer
brought in his five small frogs. That's
all there were," he said but from
the fuss they made | thought there
were hundreds of them
Mr.. Whelpley, as stated above,
writes as a man who desires to print
facts as be gathers them. Here are
two which are absolutely correct:
rect:
/. North Carolina will go Demo-
cratic as long as the race question Is
to The front"
?. IT would appear on tie surface,
| therefore, that it would be to the adj
vantage of the Republicans TO let the
race issue rest. In the opinion of 'he
Republican leaders, however, this is
not so, for they fear that the large
negro vote, which is normally I;epub-
lean, would alphabetically decline to
go to the polls unless aroused ly some
special plea. The only way in which
this class OF voters can be reached is