The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1904-12-06

full endeavor in the interests of the en-
tire country Won and held the CONT
dence of the people to such a degree
that, through all the vicissitudeS of
internecine strife and an unparalleled
succession of reverseS at the polls that
great party survived, still lives and,
please God, may neve die.
'But while the east and west have
alternately and with the precision of the
setting sun carried the party down TO
defeat, what has the south been doing?
You have taken whatever has been Of
fered to you and with hardly a WHY
face. If free silver was rendered you
swallowed that; if the gold standard,
you took that; protection Or free trade,
a radical or a. conservative candidate,
big navies or little navieS, big sticks or
mellow flutes, whatever griSt came to
your mill vas accepted so long as It
bore the party label. You are some
times called, and, I think, unquestiona-
bly, are. in some respects a master
full and i%ntolerant community, but was
such patient bending to the yoke as this
ever before exhibited by a free n en-
lIghtened people? I am aware OF the
local condition which gave rise to and
perhaps made necessary this abdicatiOn
Of authority even in the councils of the
party created by your ancestors, but
I ask you if the time is not now at
hand to come back into your own, to
claim the opportunity exercised so long
and so disastrouSly/by Others, to reas-
sert the broad craftsmanship of the
| past and to blaze the way for a. return
to the sturdy principles of the fathers?
Zone fact is certain! Whatever
may be the result of the inevitable
II tr1r no1n Ihafu-nnn m iy,anntianf rraCi-
lei and reluctant representatives of
| special interests. it behooves the demo-
| cratic party to take heed from the fate
| of the foolish virgins. Now is the Tina
| and YOU OF the south are the men to
act with promptnesS and wisdom. You
T the mainstay. the living reality Of
| democracy. So many of US in the north
come SO near being republicans in prac-
tice n so many of US in the west
come so neal being populists in theory
that the leadership r%ightfully belongs
to the only section of the party which
has kept the faith without suffering
contamination, and under whose direc-
ton in the past the people enjoyed their
greatest growth, their widest prosper
ity. The time is fitting. The blight of
half a century is off the south. You
have your manufactures, your mines.
your agriculture, Your railroads, your
steamships, your schools, your happy
homes. your Christian spirit-you have
all that we have and more, because you
have our respect and sympathy TO a
greater degree than we have yours. We
ask you to AXE up the ark Of the COW
nant and bear it to victory as of old.
We ask now to follow, requiring ony
that forbearance which IS the first at
tribute of brotherhood. Do not, we i'm
plore. insist hat we must manifest no
interest in your affairs or you in ours.
Your problems are our problems, your
hopes our hopes, Your fears our fears,
u ours are ours / appeal to You
mot to put up warning hands and say
Thus far, but no farther but with the
w~hole-hearted, trustful, fraternal and
generous spirit of chivalric natures.
stretch your arms away owe the line
n bid us welcome. To alleviate the
cares of life: to ndear men to one an
otter; and, by mutual assistance and adj
vice, to prevent or remedy those evils
which are incident to our condition.
those are the words of the founders Of
this, the oldest society of its honored
name in the country, uttered nearly
two hundred ago. They are our
words, our rayer to you today. We
gladly concede our right to lead: we
only ask that YOU bear the banner Of
Jefferson along the broad path of toll
erance and enlightenment. of progress
~ vi DClicl III man and
faith in God. out of the darkness of
despair of the past into the sunlight
OF hope for the future"
A remarkable speech indeed was this
when it is remembered that it was
made by a New Highlander. The situa-
ton could not be more accurately sized
up-specially his reference to the
faint in the democracy of the members
Of the Party in the north and in the
west In the southern branch of the
party only are to be found the true
and uncontaminated principles of DEM
ocracy. The southern democrats have
for too long a time submitted to the
domination of Party friends OF the
north on the ground that the souther.,
states have not vet been reconstruct
ed and readmitted into the union long
enough for their leaders to take prom
nent position in the management of the
politics OF the nation. The time has come
when the democracy Of the south must
assert itself and demand just recogni-
ton at the hands Of the democracy OF
the north The southern democracy