Democratic messenger., 1903-10-31


you face to face and tell you of my sin
cere appreciation. and to acknowledge
again the debt of gratitude 1 owe the
people of Worcester county.
To your faithful and unfaltering
friendship and confidence more than to
anything else I owe the present exalted
position of honor and responsibility I
hold, and it has been my ambition dur
ing the years have filled the Executive
Chair, to so perform the duties of the po
sition, trying and exacting though they
may be-, so as to merit the appreciation
of the honest and thoughtful people of
our State, so that no democrat of Wor-
cester County could blush to own his
share in placing me there.
AS have said tits first to you am
indebted for whatever political success
I have attained, because no man, unless
he has the sincere and earnest backing
of his people at home, can hope to win
the support and respect of those beyond
his county.
I have always thought the Chief Ex-
ecutive of State should devote his time
and attention to his public duties rather
than to speech making, but when my
State and the happiness of my people
are subjected to danger, I feel that my
duty demands of me at least one speech
to sound a note of warning. Therefore
I trust it will not be considered inappro
pirate if I say something during this
campaign in behalf of the Democratic
party in the State of Maryland.
What shall say will not be in de-
fense of the party, for it needs no de-
Eo,,eo 1,,t thor Qr0nnonf tn show
the people why it is best that the State
should continue under the control and
guidance of that party.
Four years ago the State was turned
over to the Democratic party by large
majority of the intelligent votes of the
State. The people had tried the expert
ment of republican rule.
Every branch of the State Govern
ment, except the judiciary, was in re-
publican hands. The State had a repub-
lican Legislature, "a republican Governor.
and Baltimore had a republican Mayor
and City Council.
For the first time in thirty years the
republicans had gained complete control
of the City and State. After brief
period of four years the people found
that they had made mistake, and at the
election Of 1899 ruthlessly turned them
out.
The democrats in their platform of
that year pledged the party to certain
measures of reform and good govern.
ment. The pledges then made have
been faithfully and religiously redeem.
ed.
The lawlessness that prevailed in the
City of Baltimore among the negro pop
ulation prior to the restoration of the
democracy to power and the incoming
of the new Police Board is we'll known
to all the citizens not only of Baltimore
but of the State.
The peace, quiet and good order that
has since prevailed has been attested by
every grand jury that has convened in
the City for the last three years, and by
the thousands of strangers who have
visited Baltimore during the past sum-
mer.
The honest, quiet and sober negroes
of this State should be as vitality inter-
ested in the preservation OF order as the
white people of the State, and whilst
we promise to the negro race equal and
exact justice, we have never promised
him license to do as he pleases, immu-
nifty from punishment by the strong
hand of the law, nor the privilege or
power to obstruct civic progress and the
prosperity of our State and the happi-
ness of our homes. And we never will.
[Applause.
The danger which threatens our State
is the same which not only threatened
but has been fully realized in our sister
States to the south of us. In these
States after years of suffering from mis-
rule and corruption the burden became
too great for the white man to bear and
they determined to throw it off, and
they have done it. At one time their
legislatures were controlled by negro
members and they sent negroes to the
United States Senate and the House of
esentatives. They had negro clerks
of the Court, Justices of the Peace.
Sheriffs, Constables. Bailiffs. County
Commissioners, and doubtless would
have had negroes on the Bench as
Judges of their Courts of record if there
had been any lawyers of that race
among them.
Can yon wonder that all the decent
white men of the South arose in REBEL
ion at this condition of affairs? Are
you surprised that they cast them off as
they would an unclean beast that had
foistcd itself upon their person? Will
you tell me that the white population
and taxpayers of Virginia, of North
Carolina, of South Carolina, of Georgia.
of Alabama, of Mississippi and of Louis
lana were guilty of wrong doing in ex-
ercising the right of self-preservation in
protecting themselves from the corrupt
rule of the vicious criminal classes in
those States? Does not the improved
condition of the public affairs in those
States to-day justify the extreme meas
ures pursued by their white citizens in
regaining control of their own govern
ment? Is Maryland to be allowed, if it
is possible to prevent it, to pass into the
ignoble condition from which her sister
States of the South have so recently
been rescued? No. never. [Applause. ]
So long as a drop of Caucasian blood
flows through the veins of her citizens,
so long as memory recalls the heroic
deeds of her Revolutionary Sires. so
long as the burning words of Virginia's g
greatest orator, "Give me liberty or give
me DEATH" fires Maryland blood to
deeds Of patriotism. just SO long will the