The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-08-15

Closely connected with the educd-
ton of the children, has been the fight
to protect the schools and the homes
from the temptation of the little hell
kettles that from time immemorial
have been the lion in the path of the
church and the school. AS long as
suffrage was unrestricted, little could
be done to put out the fires of these
kettles and close the saloons. But,
with the imminent danger of a return
to conditions like those of 1858 or of
1895, the way was opened for sensible
temperance legislation. The best single
statute pot upon the statute books
of North Carolina since 1900 was the
Watts Act, and to it's passage is
due, not only better conditions In
our rural districts, but the prose-
cution of wholesale violations of
the Federal revenue laws. Until the
Watts law was enacted, it was easy for
revenue officers and distillers, moon
shine or daylight, to enter into a cor
rupt conspiracy to escape the pay
ment of the internal revenue taxes.
The provision of the law making the
manufacture illegal except when To-
Gated in an incorporated town large
enough to afford adequate police pro-
lection, made every rural still illegal
and the officers and the citizens were
served with notice that existence or
operation was in violation OF law.
Heretofore nobody except revenue Of
ficers knew whether q still was Ii
censed or not, and the dishonest
revenue officers had an easy time. The
Watts law published their dishonesty
and made Illicit distillins impossible
except by connivance or Indifference
of officials. 1t drove the remaining
stills to town-under police surveil
lance Frauds hoary with age
we're uncovered. The News and
Observer called attention to the
rottenness existing in the service,
! the dishonesty of officials. and de-
| handed an investigation and punish
ment. denouncing the disgraceful COM
promises effected at Washington as
giving license to lawlessness. The
Department of Justice has been at
work to ferret out the officials and
other criminals, and unless the hand
of justice is stayed by powers higher
up," we shall see men who now mold
official positions more appropriately
costumed in the stripes of the convict
One of the most conspicuous SER
vices The News and Observer has rem
dered the public during the year has
been to use it's influence to make jury
tampering. more difficult and to
punish men who are guilty of en-
bracery and to reach those who pro-
cure the miscarriage of justice by
bribery or other corrupt methods. AS
, result of the awakening along this
fine the jury list I'm Wake county has
been increased from 1900 to $500,
thus making it three times as difficult
to ascertain the sentiment of possible
jurors, and insuring jury of men who
are less liable to be swayed by person
al influence or corruption. The scandal
nf nj TO IN a
noted case has shocked the State, and
the active agents of the crime are In
Jail for one offence and under indict-
ment for another Their conviction
and punishment will have a salutary
effect throughout the State and make
jury tampering too dangerous for cor
rupt men to undertake. it.
The lax administration of law in
some counties, the growing lack of
faith in the ability to secure justice if
one party has abundant wealth, and
the need of laws to adequately punish
certain crimes, the commission of
which raises the righteous indignation
of every good man who honors the
home, call for the best efforts of the
press in making a healthy public
sentiment and agitating for needed
legislation. In that fight for better
laws and the honest and fair enforce
has enlisted for the war"
The active officials OF your company
have been DESTROYS of increasing the
revenue from circulation and advertis-
ing in order to enable them to print
better paper and make 1t a more
powerful engine for right principles.
No stakeholder, [ believe, invested his
money in the company primarily as q
means of making money. The paper,
| like the minister of the gospel, must
| have enough money to support his
| family, but If he ever breaches for
money he loses his soul and blights
| the lives of those he leads in the
wrong direction. The News and OBJ
server, likewise. seeking to be a
preacher of civic Righteousness, press
! es its business affairs because more
| subscribers give it greater power for
good but if it ever let's the desire to
I make money come between it and
eSpousing a righteous cause, it will be
as sordid and as faithless as the man
of God who makes merchandise of the
| Word
1t is matter for rejoicing that the
paper has increased it's circulation
| rapidly in the face of the hostility of
| those special interests it has felt cali
ed upon, by sense of public duty, to
antagonize. This fact is only one other
proof that the people of North Caro-
| lima have entered upon higher plane
of thought and of living. They wish
their newspapers and their public men
ito stand above the fog in public duty
and in private thinking" They pre-
fer public servants-(and newspaper
is debtor to the whole publicl-to
have opinions and convictions and live
up to them. even il they often are at
variance with such convictions. than
to be on the fence or to dodge the dis
cussion of great questions. In politics
in North Carolina the day is about TO
dawn when the voters will refuse to
support men or papers that deal in
glittering generalities or that wear
the collar of corporations desiring spe-
cial privileges. The success of The
News and Observer is largely due to
this new and healthier public senti-
ment that is tired of political strad-
dlers and trimmers, who seek to win
by Juggling with vital principles in
stead of. being ready to stand or fall
by devotion to their honest convictions
This paper will seek to strengthen that
sentiment unit! no man in North
Carolina may hope to receive public
honors who lodges taking a stand
upon important public issues, seeking
!, Of