The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1902-12-04

ulbltltCllSo, tuCy Will So DSIiONi olIS' LII
fact Mitchell, long the Republican ban
ner county, lost half it's majority this
year A railroad is opening up to COM
merce, good schools are educating the
people, and as soon as the debasing in
fluence of revenue officers and the like
are driven out by eprogress-then
Mitchell will become a Democratic coun-
ty. If the result Of the last election is
'highly gratifying to the Republicans,
they are in condition to enjoy funerals
and make merry at wakes.
5. Mr.. Pritchard estimates that 5000
negroes registered That was the guess
made by the News and Observer few
days before the election. Returns have
never been tabulated from more than
two-thirds of the counties, and it is
largely guess work. If 5000 negroes
voted. 5000 of them voted the Republi-
can ticket. He says that had it not
been for the negro vote, the Democratic
majority this year would have been less
than that which Governor Aycock re-
ceived in 1907 Governor Aycock had
6O,954 majority. Senator Pritchard says
only 5000 negroes voted. If every one
had voted the Democratic ticket, that
would not have given the Democrats their
more than 67 900 majority received. 1t is
absurd and without the shadow of foun-
dation to say that most of the negroes
voted the Democratic ticket. There isn't
a three year old boy in North Carolina
who could be stuffed with such rubbish
if it can be made to pass muster at the
White House.
G. Mr.. Pritchard, quoting from the
Southern Railroad and Tobacco Trust
organs editor in Raleigh as authority
for some of his absurd state
ments says che seeks in effect to
show that the recent election returns
clearly indicate that the Democrats can
not carry North Carolina in the future
without the aid of the colored voter"
Angels and ministers of grace defend u.s.
If the Post made that statement it was in
lire with it's boost of Pritchards speech
when he organized the Lily Whites in
Franklin county. But, while it has
wobbled a good deal since, everybody
knows that the Posts politics are die
tated by the Southern Railway and the
Tobacco Trust, and that it wobbles as
they think it can best help them secure
privilege.
Mr. Pritchard concludes his absurd and
marvellous statement by Juggling with
combinations of figures. By claiming all
the white men who didn't vote, and de-
claring that those who didn't pay their
poll-tax this year will next year vote
the Republican ticket, and counting on a
gain of 81 900 white votes, Mr.. Pritchard
gravely predicts that North Carolina
will be as reliably Republican as Ohio
or Pennsylvania, and that 'if the ma
tural leadership of the party. the intelli
gence and character of the party control
it's affairs, then there will be no question
about our State giving her electoral vote
to President Roosevelt in 1904 That is
what pulled the wool over the eyes of
the President, Is this not reflection
upon the present leadership of the Re-
publican party in North Carolina in
Boss?
Having captured Mr.. Roosevelt, who
will soon, according to Prtchard, eat
his own words, by removing Sam Wick
as postmaster at Wilson solely because
he is a negro, having captured Roose-
welt by promising him the electoral
vote of North Carolina in 1904
the agile political acrobat of Madi-
son, next opens up to bag Postmaster
General Payne, who is understood to be
inclined to favor Wick and to oppose
turning down all the negroes. How does
he do this? For a long time Payne has
had a hobby, and has sought to induce
the Republican National Committee to
base representation in the National Con-
vention upon the number of Republ-
can votes cast instead of upon the num-
Der of electoral votes cast by the State
His object in advocating that rule is to
take the present large representation
from the South and give it to Pennsyl-
vania Vermont, Iowa, and other big Re
publican States. The Southern delegates
to National Conventions have often been
venal and after the administration has
bought them with office or the promise
of office, they often wouldn't stay
bought Republican politicians prefer
to see the South's representation in the
National Convention reduced, and it is
a fad of Postmaster General Payne's to
see such a rule adopted. In 1896 and in
1900 Senator Pritchard and other South