The semi-weekly messenger. [volume] (Wilmington, N.C.) 1897-1908, 1906-09-18

the independence of the state and -ha
conduct of its own affairs is recogniz-
ed and respected.
Ut! eve III our constitutional doc
trlne that local things are fo~ the
states and national affairs for the fed
eFal government; and, therefore. in
o.sdu OF advocating federal owner
snip that would centralize all this
power ID washington, ! advocated a
oual plan, whereby only the trunk
llnes would be under the control Of the
Iederal government and all the
iocal nnes under the control Of
tne state government, and If anybody
denies that it is practicable cannot
put tell them that in the empire Of
germany almost all the railroads are
owned Dy the separate states. and that
loday the empire wants to get the rail-
ROADS IN order to strengthen the fed
eral government. but the state refuse
TO surrender them because they re
influential strength Of the states of
the empire Of Germany. SO, my
friends, instead of being fer sentral-
lzatlon this is the plan that gives to
the staFe the power TO strengthen #
self and to attend to its own affairs.
am not here 20 bring you to my
conclusions On the railroad question.
SO far as | am concerned it Goes not
matter TO 2e whether or not every
man i'll the United States agrees win
me or not | believe that every man
ought to have his own beliefs and his
own convictions and when he has con-
Vlctlons on the subject Of public mat
ters, | believe that he ought 20 give
them to the people and take the res
possibility for them
There has been one other objection
and only one to which | refer, and
that is, II we had the ownership Of
railroads by the government whether
state or national it would increase
the political power of the PARTY in
control Of the government Well, I
have an opinion on that because when
| was a candidate for president I had
chance to measure the relative in
f1uence of the administration over it's
civil servants and the influence over
its employees. | will tell you that when
| was a candidate against the presi-
dent who had these men under him
I never had any difficulty with mail
carriers and letter carriers and civil
service employees, but that tte rail-
rOadsmarshalled their forces and COM
PEELED their men against the risk Of
losing their employment to march in
their parades and wear the button Of
their champion If any Of you are
afraid of government ownership [
want you to join with me and an
nOunce it as the doctrine Of the dem
ocratic party that man connected
with the railroads shall not be placed
where he has to serve two masters.
These questions l have discussed
are the surface Indications of a still
deeper quetion. 1t is question be-
tween plutocracy and the people. 1t
is the question whether the wealth OF
this country is to be garnered in the
hands Of the few, by privileges gwen
out to those who can control the gov
.arnment | think the time has come
for the American people to consider
and | believe they are considering 2nd
are now about ready TO speak on this
subject. It is a tremendous resDon-
sibility to be a citizen Of a great re-
public like this with eighty millions
of people discussing on what can be
done. No one can see the sun In Us
course around the earth without re-
cOgniZing that ours IS the greatest
nation of the world The eyes OF me
world are turned upon us. and what
we do here has influence wherever
language is spoken
At Roanoke Mr.. Bryan received
hearty welcome At the Elks home
he spoke for twenty minutes and was
wildly cheersd.
Mr.. Bryan, with his wife and their
daughter Grace left Roanoke tonight
in an automobile for Hollins Institute,
2 college for young women. six miles
in the country, where Miss Bryan en-
ters school Monday Colonel Bryan
will leave Hollins Sunday for North
Carolina.