New-York tribune., 1920-10-22
Coolidge Finds
South Turning
=
From Wilson
$4,000 in North Carolina
Cheer Statement That the
People Are Dissatisfied
With the Administration
Id Denounces Autocracv
Barring of Republican Votes
Attacked When the Race
Issue Is Presented d
From q Stnf Corrosnon.,ont

TfoHt u HtdU Correspondent
CHARLOTTE, N. c., Oct. 21.-North
Carolina audiences estimated at $4,000
persons greeted with hearty applause
demands voiced by Governor Calvin
Coolidge day Haat the country be
relieved of autocratic government and
restored to a peacetime basis. "The
present Democratic Administration has
done more to bring Democrats into the
Republican party than anything 1 can
remember" said the Governor. He
was assured by local leaders that the
growth of industry in the South was
fast developing Republican leanings,
and that not only Kentucky and Mary.
land but Tennessee and North Caro-.
lima "are on the brink Of deserting the
Democratic ranks
The Governor, speaking before
crowds gathered about the rear plat
form of his train, assembled in public
parks or crowded in theaters as he
stopped on his way from Asheville to
Charlotte, asserted that he was invad-
ing a part Of the South which the heads
of the Republican national ticket had
visited heretofore %ith little hope of
winning converts to his party.
Sees South Reborn
"But," he added, my visit has con-
vinced me that the South is expert
encing a political rebrth. What I have
seen amazes me. ] find the people
everywhere showing in no unmistak-
able manner an intense dissatisfaction
with the policies of the present Admin
istration."
Workers in the cotton fields, tobacco
growers and cigarette makers in the
large towns declared a half holiday to
hear the Governor at Hickory, where a
stand had been erected in a park. The
Governor, standing amid fields of cot
ton, spoke to growers who had driven
miles to hear him. At Winston Salem,
which produces 100000 cigarettes
daily, a theater and the courthouse
were required to accommodate the
audiences. The attitude of the work
ers was indicated by their applause.
Here the Governor emphasized his
attack on the Administrations contin-
uance of its war policies. 1T is ter
rible thing he said, that under the
autocratic wartime laws which the Ad-
ministration has continued in force,
although actually if not legally we are
at peace with the world, it has the right
to seize the property of our people and
to seize the persons of your young men
and to send them to the uttermost cor
ners Of the world to fight for other ma
tions. 1t is not sufficient to say it
won't be done Why are these laws
permitted to exist? ! know it won't be
done, because the people of the United
States won't permit it to be done.
THE first important accession to our
party this year will be the eX-service
men, who have seen enough of mill
tarism, who have seen enough of going
other countries. The other importar t
accession will be of the Anne erican
women, who recognize in cur deter
mination to abolish publi, extravG-
gances a substantial effort to reduce
the cost of li;;ng.
War Good Alibi
"If we had accepted the Armenian
mandate our troops would now be
abroad at great risk to themselves and
at a cost equal to one-quarter the
normal expense of running the gov
ernment
The war has been a pretty good
alibi for the Democratic party. Wher-
ever one of its neffciencies is turned
up the answer is, 1T was the war"
Democrats in North Carolina, the
Governor was told, have raised only
one issue, and that is the race issue. A
circular containing a summary of al
legged conditions in the state was
handed the Governor. 1t said: "Our
boys who fought for democracy in
France are asking for a little democ-
racy in North Carolina. Women who
profess to be book agents are making
house to house canvass of the cities
/ In ho
ocrats Then the registrars sneak
round at night and register the Demo
cratic men and women and omit the
! Republican voters. The negro voters
! who seek the registrars at legal places
fail to find them. Hence the Republi-
cans are being robbed Of their right
TO vote" Colloquially the trickery has
become known as the Passover.
ut is not the kind of Passover the
Bible tells us about" said Governor
Coolidge. If we could have an honest
election in North Carolina we believe
the Republicans would win
The Governor found some tangible
evidence of recent accessons to the
Republican ranks. Essie Ransom
daughter of the late United States Sen
ator Matthew Ransom, Democrat
boarded the train at Hickory with arms
full of flowers, which she said was a
token that women in her locality would
vote the Republican ticket. Colonel
John Bell Brownlee, son of a Civil Wan
Governor of Tennessee, said Northern
ors would be surprised at the extent of
anti-Wilson sentiment in the South
Governor Coolidge issued state
ment denying that his speech of week
come to President Wilson on the oc-
casion of the latter's return from the
peace conference contained any senti.
ment which might be construed as ar
Endorsement of the League of Nations
The Governor had heard that Governo,
Cox was making frequent reference tc
the speech of welcome and that copies
Ct the speech were being circulated ir
tle South.