The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1903-02-24

. NG44AAAtA. ~ - 80 N~N@
? the town people and in that respect be
thought Mr.. Smiths bill a good one.
If we went back to the Declaration OF
independence and the great magma charta,
No saw that there the demand Of the
people Was not for everything 20 be
submitted 10 their vote. but for repre-
Sentation. He was impressed with the
remark OF the gentleman from Hyde, that
ii was a question OF right and wrong
He for one was ready to stand for what
he knew to be right.
MIR. SELF.
Mr.. Self. of Catawba. said he could not
agree With any of the bills that had been
introduced. He had been impressed with
the splendid arguments Of the gentleman
from Gates and Others who had followed
in his footsteps. But he noticed. after
reading their bills. that they did not
auita come up TO their arguments.
If this question was of such supreme
| Importance. why were we not willing TO
| submit it to the vote Of the people? It
| vas true that certain laws were passed
by this Legislature without being voted
| upon by the people. But why was this
| done in these cases? For the vory reason
| that they were unimportant things.
| If YOU did not know better, YOU would
| believe morality was not at a par in North
Carolina. You would believe the rural
districts We're sunk in all kinds OF mi
| guilty. AS for him, he was proud of being
a North Carolinian. and still she had
| never been a prohibition State. The
| Legislature had never put this measure
| upon the State against the Will of the
people.
He was told that liquor drinking was
out Of fashion and growing more and
more so every day in all walks Of life;
yet we are asked to violate a funda-
mental principle of our government on
the plea that we are confronted with a
| great emergency.
Many people thought that North Caro-
lima ought to be a prohibition State, and
for the sake of argument he would agree
to that. 1t was also true that ii was
generally considered that going to church
every Sunday was right and proper, but
they were not ready to say that all the
churches in the land should be made
prison-houses once a week by law.
All that was best in the virtue and
character Of the people of any nation was
due, not to legislation, but to education.
You could not take a Wolf and beat him
| into shape as a shepherd dog That took
StLti dlIcuS VI lidlIi4i6- -NhA LIZ 1olh'
| way with all such things. 1t was deyel-
opment,. not legislation, that accomplish
es the best results.
1t was true that there was a great
popular demand for temperance lcgisIa-
| ton. and he would grant that this de-
| mand should be heard. lie was only
saying that they were coming to tho
| wrong tribunal. They ought 10 so to the
| people.
MIR. Watts asked if a delegation had
rot como here asking that tho people Of
CataWba be allowed to Vote on a certain
measure, and if he was not opposing il.
Mr.. Self said it was true that a dele
cation was here asking him to vote for
a Catawba measure. But no delegation
or petition had come to him from ca
tavba asking for the Watts bill. (Ap-
piausa.D
lie resented tho idea that the country
ocoplc were deficient morally and needed
protection on this subject.
AS to the argument that the women Of
the State wanted it, he had been study
ing tho dear creatures for twenty years
with all the ardor of q dovotee, and he
bad never yet been able to know what
one woman was going to do. much less
several hundred of them. He for one
NOulu d5itH " SINt ne WOIIltH Il NOtt !
and let them express their will on this
subject. But he was rot willing to take
what some gentlemen said they wanted.
He was not actuated by any love for
the liquor men. In his county he know
that Democratic distillers had voted
against their own party, driven thereto
by the internal revenue men. But that
did not make a prohibitionist of him. 1t
might make him hate the Republicans a
little more.
IT had been said that in some parts Of
the State, the liquor traffic dominated
over the moral forces Of the community.
lie did not know o@r"t other communi-
ties. but he know of no such condition in
Catawba.
No threat had ever been made to him
that he would not be reelected If ne
opposed this bill. He had no fears on
that score.
Mr.. Self closed with an appeal to ne
House rot to take from the people the
right to vote upon this great, far-rcach-
ing question.
Mp. WATTS.
Mr.. watts then spoke for his b.I. II
had been said, he declared. that his LII
was not a temperance measure. But If
the members of the House would con
slider the number of distiIlers and attor-
neys for the liquor men who were here
bbying against his bill, they vouIC
think there was some temperance in il.
1t was the country diStillery AMI dog
gerry that was the greatest evil. greater
than the traffic in the towns. Most %
the Northern States prohibited the safe
OF liquor in the country districts. ard
now Georgia and Mississippi had PASSED
similar bills.
Mr. Smith said the Mississippi Law pro
Nlded for a vote Of the people.
Mr.. Watts replied that it provided for
a vote in the towns.
Mr.. Abel asked Mr.. Watts If. out Of
all the thousands of petitions that had
como up to the General Assembly. there
WAS one that asked for a discrimination
between the country people and the town
people. or asking for the Watts bin.
Mr. Watts said there was not. but tho
had asked for the London bill. which did :,
not provide for any vote in the country (