The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1908-10-15
COwLEs' SPEECH At STATES
WILLIE.

scores Gienn's Railroad poliei~~-
Compares Cleveland Panic With
the Rpeseas One.-Democralie
HyPocrxsy Abont Fasorsng Pub
hcify Of Campaign Contributions.
StatesviIie. y. c., Oct s.-Hon.
Chas. II. Cowies. Republican can
didate for Congress In the Eighth
district. closed his preliminary cam
paign In iredell county By q speech
In this city Saturday night.
He eontrasted the panic brought
on by Democratic success ard Demo
cratic legislation with the one OF
last fall.
The panic of 1881 looms 80 enor-
mously large when compared with
the one Of 1897. that the latter sinks
into comparative insignificance.
Haekett can not prove the existence
Of the panic at home; but the people
have not forgotten the Democratic
panic of 1891.
cured for twenty-five cents a day.
now 1t commands seventy-fiye cents
to $500; then corn sold for twenty
five TO forty cents. now seventy-fye
cents to $1.e0: wheat, forty to fifty
cents; now s1.00 to $1.25: cotton
four and Ave cents, now eight and
twelve cents; and all other products
and materials which our people have
in proportion. During the Democratic
panic. he said, he stopped with a
man in Caldwell County who had
rye coffee for breakfast, and ex-
real coffee as 1t took a bushel of
corn to buy a pound of coffee; and
now you can get eight pounds for a
bushel of corn.
During the Democratic panic he
offered certain timber lands In Alex
ander County for 800 an acre; men
went into the court house at Tay-
lorsville and swore it was not worth
fifty cents an acre; and these self
same lands sold during this worlds s
greatest panic" as Hackett calls it,
for $6.25 an acre.
He recently met a farmer in Ire
dell County who had just paid $67.50
for a mule colt only a few months
old. This same farmer had a mule
now about eighteen years old, which
he had bought some fourteen years
ago under Democratic rule for
$3.50. 1t was then a splendid
young animal, and since then has
done its owner more than a dozen
years of good service, and is now
worth $3.50, nearly two and a half
times its value under the Democratic
hard times.
Mr.. Cowles explained the causes
Of the panic. showing that In its
broad scope it was precipitated by
stock gambling and a loss of conf
dence on the part of capital, but
nearly all it's local effects are due to
adverse legislation by the Democratic
legislature of North Carolina The
Democratic legislature made an as
sault on the railroads, and immedi-
ately the roads curtailed expenses in
every possible way.
All the double tracking was dis
continued and men thrown out Of
in every department of
railroad work. This, added to the
money stringency, caused the little
trouble we had, and but for this our
people would hardly have felt the So
called panic.
In explaining his position in re-
gard to the railroad legislation, Mr..
Cowles said, as member of the leg
islature. he had favored two and a
half cent rate in the regular session,
but the two and a quarter cent rate
prevailed. The roads claimed that
the rate was confiscatory, and ap-
pealed to the courts; the Governor
claimed it was fair and remunera-
tive, and undertook to enforce the
law in the face of the courts man
date.
When he found that the highest
courts in the country would likely
decide against him and in favor Of
the roads, the governor then under
took to compromise with the roads
by having the legislature amend the
law.
In the beginning the governor stat
ed that the roads had agreed to pay
$17,500 towards defraying the ex-
penses of the extra session of the
general assembly. After this propo-
sition had been denounced, as in the
nature of bribe, from one end of
the State to the other, the governor
said the $17,500 was to pay court
costs.
He introduced resolution in the
extra session calling on the governor
for all the correspondence between
him and the railroads In regard to
the compromise. He never was able
to have that correspondence placed
before the body SO that he might be
enabled to vote intelligently. Gov
ernor Glenn had stated that the two
and a quarter cent rate was not con-
fiscatory, and the bill permitted the
acceptance of the $17,500 which the
governor said in the beginning was
for defraying the expenses of the
extra session; and, therefore, he
voted against 1t.
II the two and quarter cent rate
as the governor claimed, was fair
and not confiscatory, it should not
be changed. If it was eonfiscatory
then the State had done the roads
a great injustice, and they should
not be required to pay $17,5e0 to