The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-02-21

Discussing the London bill he de-
clared it was not an extreme or radical
measure. 1t was no bugaboo. The fifth
section was not material and while per-
sonally ne favored it he would not urge
its retention as he thought there were
other sections which covered the point.
1T appears to me that We are no more
than a crowd of school boys, when mem
bers get up in this chamber and urge
that they should refer the matter to
the people. He did not believe in legis-
lators running home and seeing how it
would fit He would vote for the meas
ures he thought best. and would go to
his home and ask that the people stand
by him. Why cut the State in sections
to pass on this. Under the system Of dis
Numbering, the counties that need relief
would not get it as where it was worse
needed the liquor men would control"
Have we not lived for years, a quar-
ter of century under conditions in
counties where local self government had
to be given up Is it not better that the
counties that need help be given it.
Early legislation was for individual coun-
ties, and this led to error as to the
standing of the temperance forces in the
life Of the State Now it was different
and it was a State measure that was
needed
THE country people of North Carolina
have been libelled on this floor. They
are not making this kick. They want
the groggeries and the stills taken away.
Nor is it true that 81 per cent of the
PEOPLE are against the movement, nor
ONLY 3 per cent for it. We are at
crisis in our history, the wave Is at its
highest, the iron is hot and it is time
for us to strike, and strike hard If this
cry for temperance is not answered il
we do not meet the issue, if we do not
take the responsibility, We will not reach
the needs of the people, who are crying
first for this relief"
Senator Brown advocated the London
bill in a strong and foreible speech. He
said that no man could say that he was
a coward, yet he would say for him
self that it took him close to cowardice
TO vote for the substitute 1t is al
most covered now by the laws of the
state. and it will be of little service
There is in the blanks in section eleven
of the substitute no county named, and
none may be. The substitute is not a
simple bill. 81 ask now if two elections
le gislation under it? No one answers, for
it is so, while now only one election is
required to obtain prohibition"
am not here to ask any man to sac
rifce himself or the Democratic party.
l am ready 70 go as far as any man for
the Democratic party and l have given
my years and my means to advance it.
| say here tonight that 1 am not afraid
to pass the London Bill without the dot
ting of an i or the crossing of t.
never was beaten for office but once,
and that was because l was scared when
[ began the contest. The Democratic
party was never beaten till it was afraid
and when it took on courage and met
the issue it drove Fusionism from power
The 1882 election for prohibition has
been talked, but the conditions now are
different. There are in North Carolina
thirty-seven dry counties, and there are
100, 900 negroes not able to vote who
could vote in 1882. / learn that 1 am
made in the image of my God, and no
man stamped in his image should be
afraid to stand square and true for the
very best.
There is a emand coming up from over
the State from the best business interests
for the passage of the London bill. The
manufacturers and the farmers do not
want drunken men about them and they
are for it, Who have we to fear? When
you clean out the groggeries and the
little stills the party will take on new
life. There is no fear for it. 1t is the
business men who carried it forward in
1883 and they are back of this movement
The teachers the ministers, the wo-
men, the manufacturing and commercial
interests are behind US with a demand for
a reasonable bill and they will not be sat
isfied unless it is given.
Senator Brown made an effective per-
sonal APPLICATION. He told of Columbus
county, how in it he fought at first in
effectually, but at last dried" the cOun-
ty, and that now the people were strong
for temperance.
If you can incorporate the churches
and school houses against the whiskey
traffic without vote Of the people, why
is it that in this case you urge a vote
be taken by the counties. 1t is incon-
sistent
Most effectively Senator Brown spoke
of the moral question at issue. One il
lustration was superb. He quoted from
Col. Creecy's ''Ta1es of a Grandfather"
about the exclamation of the old negro
woman who, when told that the Falls of
Niagara always had been and always
would be, exclaimed: Great God Al
mighty" He turned from the ridiculous
to the sublime and pictured the vast
rush of the stream of liquor traffic, how
at the bottom of the falls there were
ruined men, women and children, blasted
lives and desolated homes, and he begged
that this thing he put an end to.
The representatives of the State Liquor
Dealer Association here in the chez
had admitted that it would be best to get
rid of the stills and groggeries in the
country, and this would give great relief.
Closing his forcible remarks he said:
1.-THE demand is urgent, and if you fail
to pass a reasonable temperance measure
| believe it will do more to disrupt the
Democratic party than could anything
else. but give to the people what they
ask, and have no fear of the results"
Senator Norris here sent forward an
amendment. 1t was to put Wake county
in section eleven of the substitute bill.
FolIowfng this he spoke strongly for the