Goldsboro weekly argus. [volume] (Goldsboro, N.C.) 1885-1909, 1901-01-17
N. c.. THURSDAY, JANUARY II, 1901.

| clared our purpose to be to secure good gov
| ernment, safety and peace, to educate all the
/ children. and to bring about that day when
] even EXTREMIST partisanship should not be
i able to cry out against our laws our meth
| DDS. Thousands of Republicans and Populists
| Joined with US IN securing our more than sixty
| thousand majority. shall, therefore, conf
| IDENTIFY expect you, Gentlemen of the Legisla-
| ture, without regard to party, to frame an
election law fa1rin every purpose, clear in ev-
cry detail and to provide machinery by which
every qualified under our Constitution
shall be able to vote and shall know that his
vote is effective. We can have safety, security,
I and integrity on no other basis. I pledge
you the whole power of my administration to
secure this end. declared in my speech of ac-
ceptance that should enter upon the dis
charge of my duties, if elected, with great fear
lest should fail to interpret adequately the
true spirit underlying our change in the Con-
stitution, but I have never for moment
questioned that the ultimate aim of our people
was to secure a Constitution under which Sc
curity for life. liberty and property could be
found under the forms of law and not in vio-
lation of them.
Our opponents have denounced the move
ment which we inaugurated to amend the
Constitution, and which will be carried out
in the spirit just suggested ,sas revolutionary
They sought to prevent its success by threats
before the election and in the first moments of
passionate disappointment after the election
they began prosecutions against certain Off
GERS of the State for alleged wrong doing IN
connection with the August election. This
movement of ours was carried out with such
deliberate high purpose and such noble earn
estness that thousands OF our pollt-
ical opponents joined hands with us
in an effort to forever settle ques-
tion which had distressed us for
thirty years. It was the uprising of
almost an entire people. There was
about it, indeed, in it's spontaneous
ness, in it's enthusiasm, in it's deter
mination and sturdiness OF purpose
and ii it's high aims, something of
the revolutionary spirit of 1776.
That spirit still lives in the hearts
Of North Carolinians. 1t is part,
and Il glorious part, Of their her.
itage-it cannot be destroyed by
persecution. A whole people cannot |
be prosecuted, nor will they without |
the utmost exertion see any of their /
agents made to suffer for the defeat |
# those who sought In vain 70 stem |,
the mighty tide of popular opinion. |
We have q great State, rich in !,
noble manhood, richer still in her |
womanhood; a State |
eoala4l lsa &; e al
seekers; with riches IN her fields and |
woods, streams and sounds, hills and |
sufficient to satisfy our
creams of we4lth; with a frugal and !
population ready to toll |
just awakening fully to the posi- |
bilities before them. All that we |
need ''to complete the circle of our
facilities" is peace Let hatred and
bitterness and strife cease from
among us. Let the law everywhere
reign supreme. The highest test of
a great people is obedience to law
and consequent ability to admins
ter Justice. 1t shall be the earnest
aim of my administration to foster
good feeling and to enforce law and
order throughout the State. From
.Currituck to Cherokee the law must
have full sway The mob has no
place in our civilization. The Courts
are the creation of the Constitution
and the juries are drawn from the
people. If changes be ne ecessary in
order TO secure a better and more
certain administration of justice,
you, Gentlemen Of the Legislature.
can make these changes; but it
should be distinctly and finally un
derstOod OF all men that safety can
be found only in obedience to law.
I wish to say to the negroes of this
state in tn connect1on that they
have been misipformed if they have
heard that this administration will
be unfriendly to them Their every
right under the Constitution shall
be absolutely preserved, they will
find security In right conduct and
certain punishment for failure to
obey the law Let them learn shat
crimes which lead to mob law must
cease and then mob law shall curse
our State no more. I call upon all
upright negroes to aid me in sup
pressing crime in all it's forms. The
white people owe high duty to the
negro. It was necessary to the safety
of the State to base suffrage on Ca
pacity to- exercise it wisely. This re-
suits in excluding great number of
negroes from the ballot, but their
right to life, liberty, property and
justice must be even more carefully
safeguarded than ever. It is true
that a superior race cannot submit
to the rule of weaker race without
injury; it is also true in the long
years of God that the strong cannot
o1press the weak without destruc-
tion. I said on April 11th, 1900, and
I now repeat it as a deep conviction,
that universal justice is the perpet-
ual decree of Almighty God, and we
are entrusted with power not for
our good alone, but for the negro as
| well. We hold our title to power by
tenure of service to God, and if we
Ell 70 adno1nictIr onual ond oxao4