The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1901-03-02
given Mr.. McNeill his power of attorney

ana dear, holding uD the whskey devil
before me, calling upon me not to give
the other side a chance / told them
had secured what they wanted, and
that was bound by the primary. The
people should all be given a chance to
voe. i knew all aboat the whiskey- evil.
T'e whiskey sold in the dispensary is as
bad as that sold in the bar-roos of Rail
elgh or any ether place.
"A statement appeared, saying the
members for Cumberland were nos agreed
upon it, The ether representative with
drew because he was deceived by the
working Of the contract. They told him
the Beard of Elections refused TO cali
the primary, that the moral people of
the community did not wish it. / charged
M Nmrocks then, at the meeting on
the Day of Inauguration, with having
given Mr.. Hall an excuse which he knew
was not a good one.
I'VE then went on with the primary.
The fight was against the central idea CT
a white primary not against the details.
| could have secured for them anything
the other side could.
They took the matter into the
churches. They saw me cut to pieces. If
they had worked for the primary as hard
as thCy have worked here in the Legisla-
ture, they could have won easily They
sent workers TO every polling place, 10
mark the voters, whether they were Pop
uiists and Republican. OF fifty opposed TO
me. forty went TO the polls and hung
around there. l have fought against both
sides on this matter the whiskey men
for the white primary, and now / am
fighting those who have withdrawn from
the primary. (Applause). The primary
has been held. and | ought to stand by
il, and / will stand by it. Moral men
must be held down to fairness as we'll
as others.
II tried TO do what / thought was
best for the people of Cumberland coun-
". and / think it is best for the people
of Cumberland to stand by the white
primary.
Warm applause greeted Mr..
MacKethan as he closed his eloquent
and forcible speech. which consumed
one hour, from eleven until twelve
o'clock 1t was now the time agreed
upon for the further consideration CT
the Revenue Bill. There was a dispo-
sition on the part Of many members
TO displace the special order so as TO
give Mr.. Hall an opportunity to state
the other side of the question. Mr. Me-
Lean thought this would be only fair,
as did Judge Graham and several 9TH
ers After some discussion, it was fin-
ally decided to let the debate go on,
and reach a vote on the question before
anything else was taken up.
MIR. HALLS SPEECH.
MIR. Hall spoke next for the other side
Il,
Il appear today in behalf of the peo-
pie of Cumberland county, as my col
league states that he does. We were
nominated on the same day and receiv-
ed what the same numbr of votes.
During the campaign this question of
dispensary was not discussed. l have
not been thrown directly in the front
of the battle but | have been thrown
with the people of Cumberland county
The first l knew of petitions being cir
culated was an interview with Mr..
MacKethan in a Fayetteville paper, in
which he was asked il he favored an
election by the qualified voters. He re-
piled no, that he did not wish it until
he was shown that the people wanted
il. He once thought they did, but now
he believed otherwise.
Mr. MacKethan interrupted to eX-
plain that this interview was before
this agreement between Mr.. Mcneil
and himself, Mr.. McNeill representing
MI Hall also.
Mr.. Hall continued: Il knew nothing
of this until the 5th day of January
after / had come to Raleigh when Mr.
MCNEIL wrote TO asked me ii l would
favor leaving the matter to a white
primary. l agreed TO it though the
proper authority, the executive COM
mittee of the county. When ! found
that this committee did no tfavor it,
withdrew, being the peoples servant
and not their master.
Il have petitions here from good peo-
pie Of Cumberland county, who are not
willing TO have anything done to abol-
ish the dispensary until it can be sub
mitted to the voters that will be quail
fled after January, 1892.
THE effect Of the dispensary is felt
all over the county. The moonshine
stills are driven out of the county. We
don't want Harnett county and others
adjoining to suffer. We would take
prohibition ii we could get ii; but this
is the best we can get. Ii has been
a success for three years.
MIR. Hall then read rocords of indict-
ments for crime under saloons and un-
der dispensary in Cumberland county,
showing great decrease under the lat
ter
He continued: Before the dispensary
we had three months school term, un-
der dispensary. we have four and five
months.
The men who are opposed to dis
pensary are those who are directly or
indirectly interested in the sale of IL
Guor. They are the ones that are buck
ing against the people of God They
say they gave 81 days notice of the
primary: and with all that they could
only get a majority Of 941 out of 1863
voters. Is that a majority? We come
with 1,600 names fer the dispensaly.
ask, which has the majority?
I'VE told the people TO have nothing
TO do with the primary. that there was
no authority for it. This circular of
ours went to most of the people The
votes of mcst of those 941 We're secured
by the promise that If the dispensary
was abolished, there would be no IL
cense for a bar-room issued.
Mr.. Hall closed with powerful plea
for the dispensary. The wives of
these men, he said, who are working
against the dispensary here, are on