The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 18??-19??, 1907-06-18
HONOR OF THE STATE l. Al
STAKE

arSe OF I'll. educational meeting -
Davidson county on last Saturday oy
H Clay Grubhs % that comfy ls
statement. which confirms the other
reports. makes II clear that Grubos Is
guilty Of disturbing an educational
meeting. II he Is not guilty also OF a
conspiracy 70 break ny the meeting
ard provoke an attack. After its ac-
coun, OF the aghL. prccipitated BY
Gubbs calling Conner a God damn
liar" the Dispatches count goes en-
TO say
Witnesses OF the fight state that
friends Of Grubb surrounds tne
conbatants and prevented interference
saying. Tt - a fair fight. let them have
4 out The same witnesses state that
the. saw guns and that some OF the
men we're under the influence OF wis
key"
That was a spectacle that must bring
the blush OF shame TO the good people
OF Davidson ounty A State ofncial
accepts an invitation TO speak In the
county. he is making the same argu-
ment there he and others have made
in a dozen counties. he is grossly in
suited. and when he resents the in
suits TINS quiet SCHOOL AtaAAISA -
to fight it out while the partisans OF
Grubbs prevented Interference" Can
such things exist in North Carolina
without the heavy hand Of the law
falling upon the disturber of the meet
ing?
In its editorial comments on the dis
graceful disturbance OF an educational
meeting. the Dispatch voices the best
opinion in Davidson county. We quote
the editorial in full:
All good citizens Will deplore the
trouble at Churchland Saturday night
when a prominent educator and state
official, while responding TO an invita-
ton to speak in behalf of education,
was subjected to the necessity of re-
polling an insult in a common brawI
This sort of thing gives the whole
county a black eye and disgraces US
throughout ire State. Had the speak
er been some little whipper-snapper
whose radical and foolish utterances
were calculated to arouse resentment.
It would have been different. but here
we have a leading citizen OF the State,
an hOnored guest who came at our
own solicitation to advance the inter
ests of a great cause, a man whom We
should have protected and extended
every courtesy as BELTS a hospitable
people. and we forced hin to engage
in a d~isgraceful bou by insulting him
The idea that he insulted the inteili-
gence of a Southern audience by max
ing an unpleasant comparison of the
North and South is absurd. He is him
self a Southerner and a patriotic North
Carolinian. We regret that. angered
at the insult, he gave way to his tenn
per, but we cannot criticise him for X
We regret it because it might have
spared Davidson county the humilia
ton of having it said all over Nortl.
Carolina that we brought a gentleman
here and insulted and fought him. The
State Is looking at US in anazement
and surely there are few men n David
son county who do not feel the keen
disgrace Of 1t all"
The good name of the State is al
in Virginia now, but when he returns
we have no doubt that he will take
prompt and vigorous action looking to
the prosecution of Grubbs and to the
protection Of public speakers. The right
of free speech is imperilled-nay it is
denied in the year 1907 in A large
COUNTY In North Carolina. The dis
turbance, it seems accomplished its
purpose, for the Dispatch in it's local
story says:
Sunday a delegation Of citizens came
in from Boone seeking legal advice as
TO hi course to pursue at the cleo
ton Monday in order to prevent furth-
er trouble and to keep down further
intimidation of voters. Legal advice
was scarce and after consultation with
several gentlemen, they decided to let
the election 90 nv default and not
hold 1t.
THE real cause Of the trouble is
due TO the bad feeling existing between
some men who advocated the tax and
some who didn't. the latter caring less
about the tax. however. than they did
about the prominence some were ak
ing in public affairs-a sort of rivalry,
1t seems. as to who should run things
in that neck of the woods"
Grubbs did not hurt Connor physi-
cally very much. and that was not the
primary purpose he and his packers
had in view. They determined to de-
feat the proposition to levy a special
AK for public education. The Char
iotte News thinks that naturally
Grubbs and others who have been
running distilleries in that section be-
loIe the waits Law maze 1t illegal. see
that an ucated people will not toler-
ate the evil Of the whiskey still. and
they therefore are opposed to an ex-
tension Of the public school system.
Certainly wherever the still influence
has dominated, there has been the
most ignorance and the poorest
schools. Certainly also the schools
and the stills cannot exist side bv side.
The Dispatch, however, does not at
tribute the determination to break up
the meeting to Grubbs's desire to run
stills or from spite because schools hurt
stills. 1t says "the real cause of the
trouble is laid to bad feeling existing
between some men who advocated the
tax and some who didn't" and il
thinks it was "a sort of rivalry as RI
who should run things in that neck of
the woods"
There is no objection to rivalry as
to who should run things in that neck
OF the woods or any other meek of
the woods so far as the rivalry CON