The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1903-02-18

| campaign now lie SlOOd on the liquor
| question and the stock law. He told them
| that he belonged to the old Democratic
party that stood for the rule of the people
and he told them he would vote for no
| bill that would give them prohibition or
| stock law without n vote of the people.
| Tell him that he must deceive his people,
| His people, may they ever be right But
his people, right or wrong!
| He believed that if Governor Aycock
and Senator Simmons and other leading
| men who favored this measure. would
| stop end think, they would recognize
| this point.
| He had been greatly encouraged to read
| on Sunday in the News and Observer that
| Mr.. Bailey recognized the right of the
| people to govern themselves.
| He was much surprised to hear The
| gentleman from Craven say that there
were two sides to this question. the moral
| and the political one With him, it was
all a great moral question. His con-
science would smite him if he went back
on great political principle just as
much as if he went back upon a great
| moral one
| Then taking up the bills, Mr. Smith
| said that not a man on the floor who
| represented prohibitive territory need
vote against his substitute The Watts
| bill as a prohibition bill was a failure.
| 1t consolidated all the Whiskey in the
| towns.
When the gentleman from Ircdell the
other day, in his dignifed and genteel
| way, had asked him if his bill did not
put the whole State on a prohibition
| basis, he was playing for the liquor
| men
| His substitute did put the burden
| upon the applicant for the license. That
was a concession to the great temperance
| forces of the State, all these good men
and women who were here asking for
| temperance legislation.
The substitute simply says that the
! right to manufacture and sell liquor
shall be determined by the will of the
! people. Everything is RELOCATED to the
will of the people, where the Constitution
put it.
| The Watts bill gave the control of the
whole thing into the hands of the towns
| When he heard the advocates of the
| Watts bill making it a basis for a
| temperance speech he wanted to be a
cartoOnist, so that he might draw a
| Il
! tillery next to it, with a pipe running
| into the saloon, and a drunken man,
| hardly able to stand, making temper
ance speech from the top of whiskey
, barrel against the terrible curse of the
! country grog-shops. daughter and APP
| plause.)
Mr.. Curtis said the gentleman had
| drawn a picture of the town after the
| stills had been moved into it, now would
he draw a picture of the country district
after the stills had been taken from it?
| (ApplauseD
Mr.. Smith replied that the question
| suggested to him another picture of the
country with liquor taken away against
the will of the people. full of blind
tigers and blockade stills. He then
quoted Rev. Theodore Cuyler, of New
York, who had said it was useless to
| establish prohibition anywhere without
the moral support of the people.
The section of Mr. Watts amendment
| calling fer elections in the towns place !
| the moral responsibility upon the ma
jority of the people. That section was
taken from his bill and put into the
Watts bill to make it popular. Zap
plause). But it was ruse and would
rot succeed.
1t had been said that the Watts bill!
was a State policy. But a State policy
was a political policy. and political
policies must be submitted to 4
vote of the people. If this thing
had been put to the people
during the campaign many of us
might not be here. 1t was not right to
adopt a State policy after the election.
1t was taking snap judgment upon the
people, and he for one did not believe in
the Jesuitcal doctrine of doing wrong
that good might come of it.
If we start out with this movement as
party policy, we will meet stumbling
blocks at every turn. But if we have
measure that is based upon the great
Democratic doctrine of self government
we can stand without fear and look every
man in the face without fear.
Mr.. Watts asked Mr.. Smith if he did
not know that it had been the custom of
the Democratic party not to submit ques-
tons to a vote of the people in certain
counties
Mr.. Smith replied that he knew that
every dry county had secured prohibition
by a vote of the people.
He had been greved to hear the gen.
tleman from Craven say that the object
of the bill was to discriminate. The peo-
pie would resent the fact of discrimina-
ton, and not so much the object itself
Men who never touched a drop in their
lives would resent such a measure as
this
Mr.. Smith then urged an immediate
vote, without going into Committee of
the Whole, and thus wasting time.
MR.. GRANT
Mr.. Grant, of Davie, told of the condi-
tions that existed in Davie county The
bill would destroy thousands of dollars
worth of property in that county. The
people did not want this bill, to his own
personal knowledge They went into the
manufacture of liquor for purely bust
ness reasons. Not a single still there
sold liquor by the small measure. IT
was not political measure. Democrats
as well as Republicans were engaged in
the manufacture. and his people merely
wanted the question left to a vote. They
sold most of their liquor outside of the
State to rectifers.
The bill Disseminated against the
country districts by allowing the towns
TO vote on the question, and denying that
right m tho country npoola If ,va oouI1