The Caucasian. (Clinton, N.C.) 188?-1913, 1911-08-24

,.,.,, the State Should Repub-
r,h the Bragg (fraud) Com
mission Report

-.,.ratiC hafIiihf--fsN1f9 'oou
-....u should Demand That the
legislature Have the Report
Reprinted.
-o.5e People OF North Carolina.
49, s,eceh at Raleigh on Novem-
1910. / brought 10 the atten-
~ the public for the first time
.-..s about the carpet-Dag bonds.
- M before the audience a copy
~ he reports OF the Bragg and
-, Fraud Commissions and stated
=. those reports showed that what
= aeer charged by the Democratic
'-.5rfang and press as the whole
- loo-lng OF the state" during the
....est hours of its history by the
=. and the sale Of fraudulent car
-..t.g bonds was a thing the facts
- ruth about which had been sup
.-essed and perverted by the Demo-
ratio machine.
stated that those reports would
.sow that a scheme or schemes were
.-ganjzef during the sessions of the
legislatures Of 1868 and 1869 TO get
.s,r-ars to build seven or eight rail-
,o,ds and TO get the State to issue
ts bonds to furnish the money to
hose railroads, and that the State
VAS to accept the stock or the bonds
=, the railroads in payment for its
hopds. These are what are now
known as carpet-bag bonds.
| showed that the presidents OF
these railroads were, with one excep-
,fon-Dossibly two-all leading Dem
ocrats | showed that these railroad
companies employed many of the
leading lawyers in the State for their
attorneys, not only to help them draft
the bills and get through the legisla-
ton, but also to defend the legisla-
lion and the validity Of the bonds af
ter they were issued, and | also show
ed that every one of these prominent
Democratic lawyers, with one excep-
ton, were leading Democrats. | fur
Their showed that many of these law
yers received large fees for their ser
vices and that the bulk Of their fees
we're paid in large blocks of these
State bonds, which had been issued
for the purpose of building the rail-
roads, and not for the purpose of
paying the fees of attorneys or lobby
ISIS.
showed that the chief arguments
used by these railroad presidents and
their attorneys to secure the passage
the bills chartering the companies
and the laws authorizing the issue of
Millions and millions of bonds were
Tor the internal improvement and
Development Of the State, which was
sOrely needed at that time.
| showed that while some MEM
berS of the Legislature were corrupt
ly influenced to vote for these bonds,
that the best element of the Legisla-
ture did it from patriotic motives,
supposing that the money would be
honestly used and the railroads built.
showed that only a very few mem
berS of the Legislature reaped any
benefit from the enormous footing
Of the State" but that the big graft"
went to these leading Democrats and
their associates who organized the
railroad schemes and who handled
the bonds after they were issued by
the State. I further showed that it
was a Republican Supreme Court
that declared these bonds invalid and
saved the State from the payment OF
the same, while the validity of these
bonds was being strenuously upheld
by many of the leading Democratic
lawyers Of the State.
The concluding part of my speech
On this subject is as follows:
These are a few of the facts
shown by these reports. SO we
See now that it was this combi-
nation of leading Democrats who
conceived the plan, drew the
oils, put through the legisla-
uon, and had the carpet-bag
bonds issued. The negroes and
the white carpet-baggers from
the North, no matter how ignor-
ant or dishonest they may have
Oeen. were simply pawns in the
hands of these Democratic
schemers
l have for years been trying
10 get hold of a copy of this
Bragg Commission Report. Some
VI these Democrats who were
connected with this combination
70 loot the State have used ev-
cry effort to buy and burn every
copy of the report of the investi-
cation into their conduct, and
Today they are trying to charge
lnelr sins against the Republican
party. How this copy that I hold
to-day has escaped their fear and
thelr greed, their desire to wipe
out the evidence of the blacklist
Stdln on the page of North Caro-
INA history for which they are