The coastland times. [volume] (Mnateo [i.e. Manteo], N.C.) 1947-1959, 1956-07-20
ETHERIDGE
Continued from Page One)


"Uncle Bruce" shows little signs
Of it except for his hair which
has been white for a number of
gears and he now has to use a
hearing aid. His figure is still as
trim and erect as it was in his
early days and his, eyes still
twinkle youthfully.
Once asked why he chose poll
tics instead of banking as a career
he replied:
II like people and you meet
more of them in politics than any
where else"
Uncle Bruce has never lost out
in an election. And, since 1905, he
has not had Republican opposition.
This year, as well as last year, he
had no primary opposition, and
that has been the case a number of
times in his legislative years.
Nowadays a man can get from
Manteo to Raleigh in a matter Of
minutes by airplane, and it doesn't
take too long by automobile. But it
was quite journey when young
Bruce Etheridge made his first
trip to the State Capitol for the
1908 legislature.
He made the first leg of the trip
on the steamer "Neuse" which was
then running between Elizabeth
City and Skyco, on the Croatan
Sound side of Roanoke Island. He
left Skyco for New Bern on the
"Neuse" at 10 pm. and arrived
there at about z am. Then he
caught a horse-drawn hack across
town to the railroad station and
rode the "Mullet line" to Colds
boro. He recalls that the engine on
that trip was wood burner.
At Goldsboro he changed trains
and climbed aboard the Southern
for the rest of the trip up to Ra-
leigh.
Elizabeth City's J. C. B. Ehring-
haus was Uncle Bruce's "favorite
politician" he says, adding that
Ehringhaus was his favorite char
acter Of any kind for good many
years.
81 just. loved that man SO well
and admired him so much. He had
heart as big as the Sir Walter
Hotel in Raleigh and enough cour-
age to fill it up" he says.
Uncle Bruce we'll remembers the
1882 primary campaign for the
governors "a office when Ehring-
haus, A., J.. Maxwell and r. T.
Fountain were in a hot race. En-
ringhaus lost only IL or IA votes
in each of those primaries in Dare
County, he recalls with pride. "The
Fountain people claimed they were
counted out in Dare" he says, "but
they weren't. Ehringhaus was just
that well thought of there"
What has induced Uncle Bruce
to go back to the legislature SO
many times?
His primary interest, of course,
is legislation affecting the State
he loves so well. A secondary con-
sideration, he says, are the many
friends he has met in Raleigh
through the years from all parts
Of North Carolina.
He realizes the sessions of 1908
and 1905 had nothing to compare
with the problems legislators of to-
day are faced with. He says with
a grin that he believes one man,
Rufus Doughton, could have writ
ten the revenue bill in 1903 in a.
couple of hours.
But while he believes the 1908
legislature had just as many men
of ability in it as some of the SEES
sions in recent years have had, if
they had had the complex prob
lens we have today they could
have risen to them.
Uncle Bruce admits the legisla-
tive problems of today are many
and complex. But he believes that
any legislator can do a good job,
however, no matter how many and
how great the problems may be if
he will:
"Hear the evidence, make up his
mind, follow his conscience. All
that he can be held responsible for
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