The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1904-06-23

S. Spruill the convention then unani-
mously and by a rising vote nomi.
mated Mr.. Pou.
There were calls for him, and the
Chair appointed as a committee C
wait on him Messrs. r. II. Hayes, T
w. Beckett, w. B. Daniel and H. V
Pace, who having found Mr.. Pou es-
corted him to the stage amidst vigore
Gus applause. Addressing the conVen-
ton he made a short but eloquent
speech, punctuated with applause, in
which he prophesied success for the
National Democracy and in words as
of vitriol burned in a hot fire of in
dignation and scorn part of the
shameless record of the "Broncho
Buster" President. He said
Pou's Eloquent Acceptance.
MIR. Chairman, and Gentlemen of the
Convention:
/ wish | were able to express what
feel at this moment, but | cannot. The
honor which you have conferred upon
me is greater than L have dared allow
myself to hope for In my heart i
know that during my short service in
Congress l have tried to serve my peo-
pie faithfully. know l have never
been false to any man. / dare to say
this much, and yet [ could not feel
that my services have been such as
to entitle me to the unanimous IN
Struction of the great intelligent DEM
cratic party of the Fourth district. To
say that / am grateful for this honor
is to use but a commonplace express
sion. OF course | am proud of this
nomination, and the manner in which
it is conferred. AS long as ! live l
shall remember this day with pride.
1 I yic11
to say respecting the action of this
convention. l promise you here and
now it shall serve to impress me with
a deep and abiding obligation of the
generous Democracy which is willing
to trust me as it's servant for another
time in Congress. | want the humbleSt
man in the ranks of our party to feel
that | am always ready to serve him
when it is i'll my power to do so. Yes,
ii | am elected in November, Cas- sure
ly | will be, if / liVe), | shall endeaVor
to make even better Representative
than the man who will be put for
ward to oppose me by our friends, the
enemy; and when, with your help, we
shall have carried the old Fourth once
more by an overwhelming Democratic
majority, j want every one of our Re-
publican friends to feel at perfect Ii
berty to call on me whenever L can
render them proper service at our
National capital.
Now. gentlemen, if | had known that
was to be nominated here today /
could have prepared a speech, but L
have not come upon this platform in
response to the notification of your
committee to make a political speech.
Let us rather call it sort of heart
to heart talk. A great convention will
be held in Greensboro tomorrow One
of the most magnificent bodies of men
ever gathered together in the State
will assemble there; for there will be
more Democrats there than have ever
attended a convention in the history of
this state. 1t will not be a convention
Of revenue officers, but all classes and
all conditions, from the highest to the
humblest, will have their servants
there to do the bidding of the Demo
cratic hosts of this State. Great
speeches, sounding the keynote of
the campaign upon which we enter,
will be delivered. In advance of that
convention | shall not presume to out
line the policies of our party Won't
any man feel proud to look upon that
convention and have it in his power
20 say: These are my people. / am
)ne of them"
Pardon me for giving you a little
Incident personal to myself. AS long
is / can remember | have been a
Democrat. When | was six years old
my father was a member of Il Gener-
al Assembly of North Carolina that
was a disgrace to the State. One
night when he came home from Raj
eigh / heard him tell my mother that
the Republicans in that General AS
sembly were acting like a gang of
thieves. AS he has now passed over
to the great majority l think l may
recall that in that notorious body for
many long months he stood shoulder
to shoulder with Plato Durham, ThoS.
J. Jarvis, John w. Graham and the
little handful of patriots who tried to
stay the hand of the vandals and
thieves who had taken possession of
our State. From that day until this
good hour / have felt that North Caro-
lima was never safe in the hands of
any party but ours True we have
been defeated time and again in our
efforts to get control of the National
Government True that once since
then our opponents captured the
state. but. looking back upon the
history of both parties. we may as
5ert, with perfect truth, that the old
Democratic party has always meant to
10 right, for it is not willing to barter
away honor and conscience in order
C succeed Our enemies, now intoXi-
,ated by a long lease of power in the
nation, arrogantly declare that they
will certainly win and that we are
without issues. l seem to remember
that there was a man named Napo-
leon, who, at one time had every ma
ton in Europe almost at his feet. |
seem to remember that this man, Ma
poleon, drunk with power, fought one
battle too many; that he went down
in everlasting defeat and died, Danish
ed from the face of mankind upon a
lonely rock in the sea.
SO it will be with our Republican
enemies. They are led by a cheap
imitator of this great tyrant. a man
who despises the will of the people.
a man who has a contempt for the
Constitution. A man who pays out
the peoples money without warrant
or law. A man who makes law
without the assent of the National
Legislature. In the year of grace, 1904.
this man, leading the Republican
hosts, is preparing to fight one battle
too many. That battle will be the
Waterloo of the Republican party"
They tell us we have no issues. This
man is an issue in himself / believe
he is the first President of the United
States who prefers that his nominal
ton shall he conferred unOD him bV