The French Broad hustler. [volume] (Hendersonville, N.C.) 1896-1912, 1910-10-27
AYCOCK REPLIES TO
MEARs AND MOREHEAD.

4
In his speach at Laurinburg on
Friday, Oct. IA, ex-Goy. Chas. b.
Ayeock, in concluding his remarks
said
point which / must not o serlook,
Some ten or twelve days agu, /
made a speech In the city OF Ral-
seigh, IN which the newspaper men
reported me as saying
tie sounded q note of warning
that Aep19noaus r listening
with favor to holders of fraudu-
lent bonds of North Carolina who
would saddle on the State liability
for fifty or sixty million dollars
of fraudulent bonds scattered
broadcast in reconstruction days,
and declared that while Repubh-
cans deny that they are having
any relations with them or would
take any steps to commit the State
government to burdening the peo-
pie with the bonds, it is a fact that
can not be denied that big contri-
buttons from these bondhol5 ars
and their agents are coming int
the campaign fund of the Reo
lican party in tie State
Immediately after this rep t
was published In the harlotte
Observer, Mr.. 1rdeR Meares, Of
Wilmington, who is trying to per-
suade himself that he is seriouly d
candidate for Congress in that Dis
trict, wrote nae aletter, quoting
the above, but never asking me
whether I said the things therein
or not, and then proceeds to take
me to task about the statement,
and to call my attention to the fact
that tie Constitution prevents the
payment of these bonds without
first submitting the question To
their payment to the people. He
then proceeds to assert that he is
the Republican candidate for Con-
gress and chat ne knows that no
contribution has been made III MS
district, and says that he assumes
that J nave Iroof Of my cha 'ge or
/ would not have made it, and calls
on re For the proofs.
Later, I understand that Chair
man Morehead, of the ReubiI' Gil
party, addressed me a similar let
er, though / have not received any
letter from him, but am informed
hat he published one i nthe Greens
boro News. / do not take this pa
per, nor have | read Mr.. More
heads article. Mr.. Meares printed
his article in the Wilmington Star
before | had received his letter.
You will observe that he does
not ask whether I did use this Ian
guage or not. He evidently did
.ot care whether | did or not. His
purpose was to provoke a con
troversy with me. This he can
not do. The friends of IredeIl
Neares who know him we'll, know
that there is "no end of talk"
even when you agree with him,
and certainly no man who expects
any peace Of mind for the next fiji
ty years would enter into any con
;troversy with him about any mat
ter. One may take him to be per-
fectly serious IN his statement that
he knows Of no contribution made
by the bondholders to the Repub-
lican campaign fund. He is too
recent a Republican 10 be trusted
with party secrets. and "a to much
given " yoIn GiaC even a1teI nc
has long been with them they will
sdodbtless keep to themselves
things which they do not want
generally known. But if the Re
publicans are seriously seeking
proof that the bondholders are
contributing, or will contribute
to their campaign fund, some
weighty reason can be given for
believing that this is true. In the
first place, the bonds were issued
by the Republicans when they
were in power in North Carolina.
AS soon as the Democratic party
came full power it repudiated the
bonds and submitted an amend
ment to the Constitution to the
people forbidding the payment of
the same unless the people voted
on the question. 1t is clear, there
fore, that the bondholders do not
expect the Democratic party to
pay these bonds unless the peo-
pie order them paid, and this is
the position which the Democratic
party took in 1879 and has main
tanned ever since. The only hope
therefore, of the bondholders to
secure favorable action in regard
to their bonds is in the Republi-