The Globe-republican., 1906-07-12
THE OPENING Gun
Secretary of War Taft Starts Con-
ressional Campaign in Speech
in North Carolina.
ADVICE TO S0UTHERNERS.
Negro DOminatiOn-WOriS of ROOse.
welt and Compensation the
South Stands in Its
own Light.

Greensboro, N. G., July 10.--Secreta-
ry of War Taft Monday night, before
meeting of North Carolina republi-
cans on the eve of their state conven-
ton delivered a speech that was
generally regarded as the opening gun
of the congressional campaign OF 1906.
The speech dealt with current politi-
cal questions and opening with ad-
vice to the rank and file of the party
in North Carolina and the south par
ticularly referred to the achievements
of the party in the session Of congress
just closed. The opera house was
packed to overlooking by a throng
eager to hear the secretary of war
and hundreds of persons were turned
away because of the limited size of
the hall. Secretary Taft said in part:
II believe that nothing that could
happen in the politics of this country
would work greater advantage to the
country at large, and to the south III
particular than the breaking up Of
what has been properly known as the
solid south | say this in no parti
san spirit, for | am not one of those
who think that this result would nee
essarily increase the probability of
the continuance in power of the repub-
lican party. The solidity of the south
has, in measure, furnished its own
antidote in restraining many voters
In the north who might have left the
republican party but for what they re.
gard as the injustice and danger OF
southern political conditions.
The secretary said 1t is impossible
to frame law establishing education.
al qualifications for suffrage which
will stand the test of the 18th amend
ment, and which will not operate al
timately to exclude impartially the
negroes and whites from the ballot
who lacked educational requirement.
A policy in the south, he said
which excludes from the ballot impair
tally black and white, when ignorant
and irresponsible, cannot be criticised
Again" continued the secretary,
"no part of this country is so vitality
interested in the construction of d
great waterway to connect the Allan
tic and Pacific oceans across the 18TH
mus of Panama as The south. 1t was
indispensable to this enterprise that
the treaty made with Panama by
President Roosevelt and Secretary
Hay Should he promptly confirmed,
and yet the majority of the represen-
tatives in the south in the senate
attempted to defeat the treaty"
He added that there was enough
of independence even among those
to give the vote which
made the canal possible, but the very
fact that merely to accomplish some
advantage to the democratic
party, a majority of the senators from
the south were willing to sacrifice her
interests and delay the great |
project of such capital Importance
to her indicates the disadvantage that
she labors under in having 1t thought |
that she is tied irretrievably to the
democratic party
The investigations by the depart |
ment of commerce and labor" said |
Mr.. Taft, have shown the method |
by which the Standard Oil company |
has maintaned its monopoly of the
oil business and prosecutions have
been ordered in many of the federal
courts Of the country in order not
only to vindicate the law for past vio-
lations. but to bring about condition
Of things in which the managers Of
and successful corporations
of the country shall pay heed to in
functions of the statutes and not al
low temptations of immense profits
10 blind them to the necessity for
obedience to law"