The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1904-07-07

! was strong and fOrceful-
| also saw and was introduced to Sec
| rotary Henry C. Payne, Senators II. e.
Lodge, Fairbanks, Depew, Penrose, Cor
| nelins N. Bliss, Powell Clayton, Thomas
H. Carter and Others.
All the orators and those talked with
spoke of the Union as blessed thing.
They loved it, honored it, praised 1t,
magnifed it, and they said, and | know
they believed and caused me to believe,
Republican policies have made it what it
| is.
Speaker Cannon said, or Secretary
Shaw, that the postal receipts in Chicago
| in 1903 were One-eighth more than the
postal receipts of the whole government
| in 1861 when Lincoln took charge; that
the exports while Mckinley was Presi-
dent were more and greater than in all
the time from Washington to Mckinley.
They all told and told and told that for
"a years after 1860 the Republicans had
control, for Is more they had one or
| two departments, thus preventing hos
| tile legislation, and for two only the
Democrats had complete control, that
there was a record of prosperity for their
acts, and of bankruptcy and ruin and
not one law of permanent benefit writ
ten by Democrats in all those years.
Roosevelt was hundreds of miles away.
/ did not hear him called Teddy, the
Terrible" nor the Dictator, nor the
Usurper, nor the Adjourner of Congress,
nor anything else bad or evil. On the
| contrary, they told how when a youth
he stood for good and right as a member
| OF the New York legislature, how he
cleaned up New York City while a street
commissioner there, how as Assistant
t'Secretary of the Navy he foresaw the
| Spanish war and had new discipline and
! target practice enforced in the navy,
| risked his life for his country at SantiagO,
! was forced into the Governorship of New
| York and the Vice-Presidency; how he
| settled the coal strike, the Alaska bOun-
dairy, prosecuted the trusts and post
| office criminals, and in a week solved the
problem of the Panama Canal that had
puzzled the wise heads of the old world
and the new for 400 years. Depew said
| he welcomed the issue of "ROOsevelt''
with more pleasure than any issue in his
whole life They all seemed to think the
President possessed Of a quick and ac-
| curate judgment, that God had raised
him up for the Spanish war, the coal
strike and the canal, the latter of which
| would bless the world as nothing else
| ever did''and make his name immortal.
The utmost enthusiasm prevailed
throughout and feeling of certainty OF
success The expression of Senator Platt
that the abandonment by the Dem ocrats
| of the last two national platforms indi-
| Gated return to sanity and rendered
| the party dangerous, did not mean that
it was considered at all dangerous to the
Republican party, but dangerous to the
n tipp au1 Hocfp1,ctivo nf its nroc
perity if it should be successful, which
was not for moment considered prob
| able in the divided and disordered state
Of the party and it's only record for A
years, being the time from 1898 to 1895
with closed factories and all farm pro-
ducts selling below the cost of prOduc-
| ton.
They all seemed to love and revere the
Constitution. The platforms of 1896
and 1900, on which Mckinley was elect
ed, declared emphatic opposition to the
| restriction OF the suffrage in the South
and elsewhere The News and Observer
published on the first Sunday in August,
1900, declared that the negroes appoint
ed to Office in the South by Mckinley
| were drawing half a million a year in
salaries. Since then Mckinley has died,
and been by the whole nation, Democrats
and all, almost glOrified. Roosevelt has
appointed almost no negroes to Office
The Constitution declares:
when the right to vote is denied to
any male inhabitants of aState being p
years of age and citizens of the United
States, or in any way abridged except
for crime, the basis Of representation
therein shall be reduced in the proportion
which the number of such male citizens
shall bear to the whole number of male
citizens twenty-One years of age in such
State
What would Democrat do in posses
sion OF the government in a case like
this? Undoubtedly he would obey the
Constitution and reduce Republican
representation to the point demanded
by the Constitution. Would anything
else be fair Or just? Is State entitled to
thousand men who cannot vote at
all?
Senator Hoar expressed the party idea
thus
1.-The suffrage was conferred on the ne
gro by the Southern States themselves.
They can always make their own rules.
If the negro be ignorant you may define
ignorance and disfranchise that. If the
negro be vicious you may define vice and
disfranchise that. If the negro be poor
you may define poverty and disfranchise
that. Ii the negro be idle you may define
idleness and disfranchise that. If the ne
gro be lazy you may define laziness and
disfranchise that. If you will only dis
franchise him for the qualities which you
say unfit him tovote and not for his race
or the color OF his skin there is no COnsti-
tutional obstacle in your way
Yet this resolution of the convention,
that representation shall be based on
voting strength, though it in effect de-
clares it will not interfere with the ques-
ton OF suffrage, as has also the Supreme
Court, is the only thing the Democrats
can find to call an issue, though Roose-
welt has settled the coal strike, made the
canal possible, and handles national and
International questions with transcen-
dent ability, in harmony with the real
views OF nearly everybody; while the
Democratic party HAS no leader, has
changed its platform from time to time,
and will this year unite on opposition
to Roosevelt" and will be exceedingly
''mealy mouthed" on trusts and the
tariff y You see they want the help of
the trusts to raise the money to buy the
foreign vote in New York and Chicago.
All manufacturing communities want
tariff. So they will be easy this year on
tariff. They rely on the South with alb
solute certainty. With trust contribu-
tiOns they may carry New York and Hi
nOis if they stand upfor tariff and gold
standard. But what's the use? The
Senate is already Republican, elected for
4 years more, and it has to confirm all
pOstmasters before they can get in Bet