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MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 OF 
 
 LOCKE CRAIG 
 
 GOVERNOR OF NORTH CAROLINA 
 1913-1917 
 
 A History — Political and Otherwise 
 
 From Scrap Books and Old Manuscripts 
 Edited By May F. Jones 
 
 1923 
 
 HACKNEY & MOALE COMPANY 
 
 ASHEVILLE 
 
f 
 > 
 
 TO: 
 
 My son, Locke Craig, Jr., who has been 
 the redeeming grace of my years of afflic- 
 tion. At all times and in all ways he has 
 ministered to me, not as a duty, but as a pe- 
 culiar pleasure. Whether at boyish play, or 
 waking from the sweet sleep of childhood, he 
 has ever heard my call swiftly and with 
 gladness. By this devotion he will be blessed 
 in the growth and beauty of an unselfish 
 character. 
 
 As an alabaster box of precious ointment 
 he has been to my life, and I hope that it 
 will be told as a memorial of him too. 
 
 LOCKE CRAIG. 
 
« 
 * ■ 
 
This book is the work of Miss May F. 
 Jones. While Governor of North Carolina, 
 she was my Private Secretary, and kept a 
 scrap book of my public utterances and inci- 
 dents of my administration. I have turned 
 over to her this scrap book and all my manu- 
 scripts with full confidence in her ability, her 
 culture and interest. She has generously 
 offered to prepare these for the press, and 
 can do this most efficiently. 
 
 While Governor, and during the years of 
 my illness, she has been my loyal friend. I, 
 and my family, owe her an inestimable debt 
 of love and gratitude. 
 
 LOCKE CRAIG. 
 
INDEX 
 
 PART I 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Governor Craig, Sketch by Artus Moser 11 
 
 Extract from Speech on the Tariff 16 
 
 Joint Debate Between Locke Craig and James M. Moody 20 
 
 Introducing William Jennings Bryan 22 
 
 Tribute to Industry 24 
 
 Campaign of 1898 25 
 
 Campaign Speech on Suffrage Amendment 32 
 
 On Resolution for Impeachment of Judges 56 
 
 Joint Debate with Senator Pritchard 71 
 
 The Democratic Convention of 1906 89 
 
 The Energy of Democracy 100 
 
 Address of Welcome to the Travelers' Protective Asso- 
 ciation of America 107 
 
 Carlyle 113 
 
 Accepting the Democratic Nomination for Governor 126 
 
 PART II 
 
 The Widow's Son, a Poem by Dr. Geo. T. Winston 145 
 
 The Inauguration 146 
 
 Inaugural Address 153 
 
 Opening of the Great State Fair, 1913 167 
 
 Needs of North Carolina Along Educational Lines 170 
 
 Introduction of Vice-President Marshall at Charlotte 175 
 
 Address to the Scottish Society of America 177 
 
 The Legacy of the Confederacy 180 
 
 Opportunities to State and Nation Through Triumph of 
 
 Democratic Principles 184 
 
 Accepting the Bust of Judge William Gaston 192 
 
 Accepting the Statue of Chief Justice Ruffin 193 
 
 Accepting the Bust of Judge W. P. Bynum 194 
 
 Inauguration of Edward Kidder Graham 195 
 
 Commutation of the Sentence of Ida Ball Warren 197 
 
 Introducing President Wilson 199 
 
 Commencement Address, A. & T. College, Greensboro 199 
 
 Commencement Address, School for the D. & D., Morgan- 
 ton 201 
 
INDEX— CONTINUED 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Zebulon Baird Vance 203 
 
 Opening of the Great State Fair, 1916 214 
 
 Our Opportunity 222 
 
 Mount Mitchell 224 
 
 The Account of His Stewardship 227 
 
 Presentation of Governor-Elect Thomas Walter Bickett 246 
 
 Asheville's Welcome Home to Locke Craig 247 
 
 To the Departing Soldiers of the World War 252 
 
 Argument in Case of Railway Companies v. Commissioner 
 
 of Revenue 255 
 
 Bishop Kilgo 281 
 
GOVERNOR CRAIG 
 
 "The career of Ex-Governor Locke Craig," is the title to 
 an interesting article regarding the life of one of Buncombe's 
 honored sons, which was written by Artus M. Moser and ap- 
 peared in The Carolina Magazine. 
 
 Governor Craig, who maintains his residence near the Old 
 Hickory Highway, overlooking the Swannanoa River, is one 
 of the twenty-two Governors of North Carolina which the 
 State University has produced. Mr. Moser, in his article, 
 gives a few reminiscences of Governor Craig's college days, 
 as well as the things he did after leaving the University. The 
 article follows in full: 
 
 "Prominent among the great men, who in their early days, 
 walked beneath these sturdy campus oaks and studied in these 
 ancient halls, is Ex-Governor Locke Craig, Governor of North 
 Carolina from 1913 to 1917. 
 
 "The Craigs were originally from the romantic land of 
 Scotland. The parental ancestor, William Craig, was born 
 there, and came to this country in 1749, and settled in Orange 
 County. He had three sons, John, David and James, ardent 
 patroits and soldiers in the Revolutionary War. John was the 
 grandfather of Andrew Craig, and the great grandfather of 
 Locke Craig. 
 
 "Andrew Craig, the father of Locke Craig, was an honor 
 graduate from the University, and though born of Presby- 
 terian family, he became a Baptist minister of great influence, 
 power and eloquence. He was a scholarly man of fine tastes 
 and literary attainments. His life was spotless and his large 
 generous and amiable nature caused him to be loved and ad- 
 mired by all with whom he came in contact. 
 
 "The mother of Locke Craig was Rebecca Gilliam Craig. 
 She was a fine type of womanhood, strong minded, handsome 
 and helpful; gentle and gracious in disposition. She num- 
 bered her friends by the score, and neither she nor her hus- 
 band ever knew what it meant to have an enemy. She was 
 essentially a home-loving wife and mother, and her chief pur- 
 pose in life was to make happiness for her husband and 
 children. The Civil War ended, Mr. Craig died, leaving Mrs. 
 
12 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Craig a widow, with a small estate and two boys not yet in 
 their teens to be educated. It was a time of reconstruction, 
 depression and confusion, but her heroism, fortitude and 
 clearness of vision fitted her well for the task. 
 
 "Locke Craig was born in a modest home in Bertie County, 
 August 16, 1860, just in the beginning of the struggle be- 
 tween the North and South. His boyhood days were spent on 
 the farm amid a healthful and wholesome environment. Until 
 he was fourteen years of age he attended the common schools 
 of Bertie County. At this age his mother sent him to Hender- 
 son, to the Horner School, where he finished preparing himself 
 for college. When he was at the early age of fifteen, he 
 entered the University of North Carolina with the Class of 
 1880. He was the youngest student in the institution, and 
 while the years had been few he was exceedingly ambitious 
 and had taken advantage of every opportunity to improve him- 
 self and make a mark for himself in the world. At the uni- 
 versity he was among several of the future great men of the 
 State, such as Aycock, Francis D. Winston, R. W. Winston, 
 Mclver, Alderman, and others. He has been found ever since 
 among the greatest of the great men of the State. While at 
 the university he was a prominent member of the Philan- 
 thropic Society, in which he held various offices, including that 
 of President. He was an able speaker and at commencement 
 was elected commencement orator without opposition. He 
 was also an excellent writer, being considered the best in his 
 class. He was a diligent student, always devoted to duty. 
 While here he studied law, and before he had reached his 
 twentieth birthday he was graduated from the university with 
 the honors of his class, the youngest graduate of the institu- 
 tion. 
 
 "Finishing his work in the university he was appointed 
 Assistant Professor of Chemistry for one year. He evidently 
 liked teaching, for we find that during the next session he 
 taught in a private school in Chapel Hill. But he was not 
 satisfied with the lowlands of Orange County, so he decided to 
 go to the land of promise beyond the Blue Ridge, amid the 
 highlands of Buncombe. So in 1883 Locke Craig located in 
 Asheville. He intended to practice law, but found that clients 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 13 
 
 were less plentiful than attorneys, and expenses had to be 
 met. So teaching again appealed to him and for a while he 
 taught in a school there. In 1891 he began the practice of 
 law in earnest, and soon took his place among the most 
 popular and ablest. He soon became a potential factor in the 
 material and political life of the growing mountain city. He 
 was soon making speeches, telling anecdotes and catching the 
 spirit of the mountaineers. Asheville was then in the Ninth 
 Congressional District and in 1892 Craig was the Democratic 
 Elector from that District. Four years later he was named 
 as Elector at Large. This campaign offered him the first real 
 opportunity to show his ability and leadership. By his bril- 
 liant canvass of the State for the presidential candidate, Wil- 
 liam J. Bryan, he established his reputation as an orator and 
 from the mountains to the sea he presented his cause to the 
 people. The Republican Party was at that time in control of 
 Buncombe County by a majority of 600, but when he was 
 nominated in 1898 by the Democrats for the Legislature from 
 Buncombe, he was elected by a majority of 700, reversing the 
 Republican majority of 600. This only goes to show his great 
 popularity in both parties. " The General Assembly of 1899 is 
 now considered as one of the remarkable gatherings in the 
 history of the State. Men of great ability were gathered to- 
 gether from every section of the State. Among them Locke 
 Craig easily took his place as one of the ablest and foremost. 
 
 "The campaign of 1900 came on and he was again elected 
 by an increased majority. This campaign is yet remembered 
 by the mountain people as one of the fiercest and most ex- 
 citing ever held in that section of the State. Charles B. Ay- 
 cock, a former classmate of Craig's, opened the campaign at 
 Laurinburg. The two great men were together on the open- 
 ing day, both advocating the same things for the progress and 
 advancement of the Old North State. 
 
 "In 1903 Locke Craig was a candidate for the United States 
 Senate, but in the convention system of election he was de- 
 feated. Had it been by popular vote as now he would have 
 been elected by a good majority. However, like Lincoln, he 
 may have lost the senatorship, but he laid the foundation for 
 an office which offered him an opportunity for still greater 
 
14 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 service to his fellowman. During the interval from 1903 to 
 1912 he practiced law in Asheville. In addition to his law 
 practice he also did some farming. 
 
 "In 1912 he was elected Governor of North Carolina. His 
 election marked the culmination of the dreams of the 'moun- 
 tain men' as well as other men in whatever section of the 
 State. All were pleased to bestow this honor upon him, and 
 he accepted it with gladness, because it offered him a still 
 greater opportunity to serve the State and Nation. During 
 the campaign wherever he spoke the people came for miles to 
 hear him, and he was greeted by ovation after ovation as he 
 toured the State. 
 
 "Locke Craig was inaugurated as the State's Chief Exe- 
 cutive on January 15, 1913, and held his office until 1917, dur- 
 ing the greater part of the World War. In constructive 
 achievements his administration has not been surpassed, if 
 ever equalled, since Vance rebuilt the Commonwealth upon 
 the ruins of the reconstruction days. In the first sentence of 
 his inaugural address, he uttered the watchword of his entire 
 administration in the phrase, The Pledge of Progress.' It 
 would be out of place in an article of this length to attempt to 
 recount and dwell on all the measures for progress and ad- 
 vancement which were accomplished under his leadership. In 
 everything — in education, in agriculture, in manufacturing — 
 the State went forward. One of the outstanding things was 
 the adjustment of interstate freight rates, which enabled 
 North Carolina to compete with other States. The saving to 
 North Carolinians has amounted to millions of dollars, and 
 greatly aided commercial and industrial enterprises. Next 
 was the improvement of our public highways, and the estab- 
 lishing of the good roads movement. This movement swept 
 the entire State, and Governor Craig became known as the 
 'Good Roads Governor.' The rate of improvement was set 
 and the spirit of this movement is still abroad in the land — 
 the State is still building good roads. A third and notable 
 achievement under the leadership of Governor Craig was the 
 purchase and preservation of Mount Mitchell, which was se- 
 cured by the State to be used as a State Park. As time goes 
 on the wisdom of this act will become more and more evident. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 15 
 
 Mount Mitchell, in Yancey County, is the highest point east 
 of the Rocky Mountains. The fine balsam and spruce forests 
 on its summit and on its sides were at that time beginning to 
 be cut for lumber. To preserve the original beauty of this 
 lofty peak and its nearby forests, a commission was appointed 
 by Governor Craig, which, with an appropriation from the 
 Legislature, purchased a 1200-acre tract, in the possession of 
 which the State may well take pride. 
 
 "Another notable act was that which regulated the in- 
 dustry and conservation of the fishing business in Eastern 
 North Carolina, where the industry will become increasingly 
 important as the years go by. 
 
 "Governor Craig left the governor's chair having literally 
 spent his energy and strength in the service of the people. 
 But he had achieved that for which he was elected, with a 
 great deal of credit to himself and the entire approbation of 
 the people of the State. 
 
 "Governor Craig now lives at his home, a few miles from 
 Asheville, near the beautiful Swannanoa River. His life 
 is more retired than in some days. He is devoted to his 
 home, family and church. He has a wife and three sons, 
 Carlyle, George and Arthur. One of the boys, George Craig, 
 a graduate of the University of North Carolina, is practicing 
 law in Asheville and is achieving success. 
 
 "In personal appearance Locke Craig is of medium height, 
 possessing a fine intellectual brow and face, heavy eyebrows, 
 dark penetrating eyes, and firm lips and chin. He presents a 
 very impressive appearance, and possesses a wonderful mag- 
 netism. I have seen the crowd 'go wild' on sight of him, the 
 applause and cheers lasting unusually long. As an orator, he 
 is a master. His voice is inspiring and thrilling, and the au- 
 dience is soon lost in his eloquence. The University and North 
 Carolina love, admire, and honor Locke Craig." 
 
 NOTE: The above sketch, which appeared also in The Asheville 
 Citizen, was highly appreciated by Governor Craig, but through in- 
 advertence, the author omitted the most important of events in the life 
 of the Governor, and that was the birth of Locke Craig, Jr., November 
 11, 1914, in The Mansion, at Raleigh. 
 
 In addition to the above it is worthy of note that at the commence- 
 ment exercises of the State University in 1915, the Governor was 
 honored with the degree of LL.D., which honor from his Alma Mater 
 he always highly appreciated. 
 
16 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 EXTRACT FROM SPEECH ON 
 THE TARIFF 
 
 NOTE: This speech was made at Big Ivy, Buncombe County, 
 North Carolina, during the second campaign of President Cleveland, in 
 which the Tariff was the issue. This is the first political speech made 
 by Locke Craig. He was at that time twenty-eight years of age, and 
 engaged in the practice of law in Asheville. 
 
 (From The Asheville Citizen, Oct. 28, 1888) 
 
 When the Saracens invaded Africa they found in one of 
 the provinces an immense Idol in monstrous human shape, and 
 uglier than the devil. But, nevertheless, in their superstition 
 the natives worshipped it and thanked it prayerfully for 
 everything good that they received, and when anything bad 
 happened to them they attributed it to something else. And 
 the old thing was hollow, and for ages the people, poor as 
 they were, had given to it their money and their treasure and 
 jewels and whatever was best they had. When the Saracen 
 soldiers told them that this old thing was no god, but a fetich, 
 and that they were a set of fools for worshipping it, they 
 thought these soldiers guilty of blasphemy and that the first 
 one that dared to lay his hand on it would be stricken dead, 
 and the whole army, too, for the sacrilege ; and so they stood 
 in breathless awe. But when blow after blow had been 
 stricken, and the old thing's sides were broken in, and yet the 
 heavens and the earth were as firm and peaceful as ever, and 
 nobody hurt at all, the people began to think sure enough it 
 was no god, and they rose up and helped the soldiers to tear 
 down the old thing and burn it up. And the vast treasures 
 which had been accumulating for ages in its hollow sides were 
 distributed among the poor of that country. 
 
 Now we have just such an Idol in this country and they 
 have named it Protection ; and Jas. G. Blaine is the great High 
 Priest in the temple Monopoly, and Benjamin and Levi are the 
 chief priests, and Lusk and Ewart and Hardwicke are the 
 altar boys ; and whenever the country is prosperous and every- 
 thing goes on well and we have peace and fine weather and 
 good crops, James, the High Priest, says solemnly, "O Goddess 
 Protection! we know that thou art the giver of every good 
 and perfect gift, our only salvation, and that thou hast de- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 17 
 
 livered us from lightning and tempest, from plague, pestilence 
 and famine ; from battle and murder and from sudden death." 
 And Benjamin and Levi and Virgil and Hardwicke echo Amen ! 
 and all the Republican congregation cry Amen! and of course 
 the colored brother, although he doesn't know what all this 
 big talk about tariff and protection means, will never be out- 
 done, especially in any religious demonstration, so he shouts 
 "Amen ! Brer Jeems and Brer Wergil, say dat agin." 
 
 And so, my countrymen, in this way these Republican 
 leaders are taking advantage of the ignorance of these poor 
 deluded people of this country and fooling them out of their 
 money, and the products of their toil, and the substance of 
 their living. Yes, slaves to this miserable fetich of "Protec- 
 tion" they are marching up in solid phalanx and pouring into 
 the old hollow thing all that they have by hard labor, though 
 they are needy, though they are ragged, though sometimes 
 they are haggard and hungry, though their wives are shiver- 
 ing with cold, and though their little ones are crying for 
 bread. But the wealth doesn't remain in this Idol as it did in 
 the one in Africa, for they have cut a hole in the back of this 
 fetich, and there, out of sight of the poor ragged congregation, 
 Carnegie and Jay Gould and these monopolists are taking the 
 money out just as fast as the deluded people put it in, and 
 they count their wealth by millions, and live in marble palaces 
 and wear purple and fine linen, and fare sumptuously every 
 day, while the people who have made this money are dragged 
 down to the lowest depths of poverty and despair. But while 
 this game of deception and thievery is going on, there enters 
 their temple of Monopoly, unceremoniously, a man who will 
 not bow to the Idol, who will not say Amen, he is not afraid of 
 the anathemas of James the High Priest, nor of all the 
 worshippers of Protection combined. Yes, he may appoint 
 some negroes to office and do some other things that we do 
 not like, but he is a man "a very man — with all his dross he 
 is a man, real, from the bosom of nature herself." He defies 
 the fetich ; he tells the congregation and all the people of the 
 world that Protection is no god, but a fetich, a hollow sham, 
 a miserable lie, and that he will tear it down. In holy horror 
 all men expect that he will be stricken dead. But he is 
 
18 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 stronger than ever, for even James, the High Priest, trembles, 
 declines the contest, but exhorts Benjamin and Levi to have 
 courage. Struck dead ! the old fetich totters ; a grateful people 
 hail him chief with shouts of victory and crown him with 
 immortal praise! With giant hand he will strike down for- 
 ever the iniquitous thing, for he is the leader of the armies 
 of Truth and Righteousness, and the God of Hosts is with him ! 
 When the great apostle of the Gentiles preached the 
 Gospel at Ephesus, he created no small stir, for he preached 
 against a religion which many believed to be the source of 
 their happiness and prosperity; they said that believing in 
 Diana they had built a magnificent city, and had come to be 
 a mighty and prosperous people ; and they attributed all these 
 blessings to the worship of this heathen goddess. When Paul 
 told that Diana was no goddess, that her worship was 
 mockery, they raised a great uproar, and howled down the 
 preacher of Truth, shouting, "Great is Diana of the 
 Ephesians !" But who was it that was instigating the uproar ? 
 It was Demetrius, the silversmith, and his fellow-craftsmen 
 who made silver shrines for Diana, and wrought no small gain 
 unto themselves; and when Demetrius had called them to- 
 gether he said, "Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our 
 wealth. Moreover, ye see and hear that not alone at Ephesus 
 but throughout all Asia, this Paul hath turned away much 
 people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with 
 hands: so that not only this our craft is in danger to be set 
 at naught, but also that the temple of the great Goddess, 
 Diana, should be despised, and her magnificence destroyed, 
 whom all Asia and the world worshipeth." And it was when 
 they heard these sayings that they were filled with wrath 
 against the new religion, and raised the uproar and cried out, 
 saying, "Great is Diana of the Ephesians!" So today when 
 Carnegie and these monopolist millionaires see that this 
 Grover, not only in Pennsylvania and New York, but through- 
 out all the Union, hath persuaded and turned away much peo- 
 ple, saying that Protection is no god; and seeing, more- 
 over, that the craft which brings them no small gain is in 
 danger to be set at naught, they give their millions to defeat 
 the champion of the Truth, and tell the people that by the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 19 
 
 Goddess, "Protection," this has come to be a mighty nation 
 with magnificent industries and that they are kept from pau- 
 perism. Some will not see through these shallow hypocrisies, 
 and cry with them, "Great is Protection of the Americans." 
 But the Temple of Diana was burned and upon its ruins was 
 raised the proudest church of ancient Christendom. All the 
 shrines and worshippers of Diana have passed away, but the 
 truth that Paul preached will stand when heaven and earth 
 shall pass away! When this fetich worship of "Protection" 
 shall be swept away, free trade in all its full and logical sense 
 shall be established, we will have no millionaires and no pau- 
 pers, but a free, prosperous and happy people from where that 
 Goddess of Liberty rises with her beacon hand from the surges 
 of the Atlantic far away over mighty rivers and broad empire 
 states to where the waves of another ocean beat gently on 
 golden sands. The men who love justice and freedom are 
 rallying around the standard which Grover Cleveland has 
 raised. From every state in the Union they come. From 
 New York and Michigan and Indiana and Illinois they are 
 coming in resistless power as with the swell of mighty waters, 
 as with "the tramp of embattled hosts!" 
 
20 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 JOINT DEBATE BETWEEN LOCKE CRAIG 
 AND JAMES M. MOODY 
 
 NOTE: This account of Mr. Craig's speech, at Waynesville, N. C, 
 October 15, 1894, appeared in The Asheville Citizen on the following 
 day. While the speech is not reported in full, the sketch is vivid, and 
 gives a good impression of Governor Craig's power before an audience. 
 He said this was the beginning of his reputation as a speaker. In the 
 campaign of 1894 both he and James M. Moody, who was afterwards 
 a member of Congress, were running for the State Senate. Moody was 
 elected, however, as the State went Republican by a large majority, 
 only seven Democrats being elected to the General Assembly of 1895, 
 which preceded by two years the beginning of the long to be remem- 
 bered administration of Daniel L. Russell, the second Republican Gov- 
 ernor of North Carolina since the War Between the States. 
 
 Waynesville, N. C, Oct. 13. — This has been a great day 
 for the Democracy of old Haywood. There was a large crowd 
 of representative men from all parts, a great speech and great 
 enthusiasm. This was the culmination of what is probably 
 the best campaign ever made in this county. 
 
 Mr. Moody led off in a fifty minutes speech (for he did not 
 speak his time out.) He presented the Republican side in as 
 fair and as able manner as it could have been presented. 
 Mr. Moody is a lawyer and a good one, and speaks as an at- 
 torney for the defense in this great action being tried before 
 the people. He finished his speech, which was a good one for 
 his cause, and sat down amidst the most overwhelming and 
 enthusiastic silence. The traditional welkin refused to ring. 
 
 Mr. Craig then rose. Before he had been speaking ten 
 minutes every man in the house, except those around him in 
 the bar, Democrat, Populist and Republican, was standing on 
 his feet. He disposed of what few so-called arguments Mr. 
 Moody had made in a few moments and then laid him out in 
 grand style. It is no exaggeration to say the young man 
 actually seemed to be inspired. Every eye in the house was 
 fastened on the face of the speaker, glowing with the in- 
 tensity of inspiration. No report can possibly do justice to 
 his speech, the equal of which, the oldest men who heard it 
 say, was never made in Waynesville by any man, old or young. 
 
 Everybody was spell-bound. Old men wept, young men 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 21 
 
 went wild, Populists opened wide their mouths, and Repub- 
 licans were absolutely thunder-struck. Even Mr. Moody- 
 seemed dazed, if not hypnotized. Dr. Wells, of Clyde, said, 
 "It was a succession of electric cloudbursts"; that he had 
 heard great speakers all over the Union and had never heard 
 it surpassed. Mr. Hall, late of Alabama, said he had never 
 heard any better speech anywhere. Mr. Tom Lee said that 
 everybody pronounced it the greatest political speech they had 
 ever heard. Mr. James Ferguson said it was the best speech 
 by far that had been made in Waynesville since the campaign 
 began. In fact, everybody agreed that it was indeed a great 
 speech for Democracy and one that undoubtedly won many 
 votes. 
 
22 ' ' '"' MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 INTRODUCING WILLIAM JENNINGS 
 BRYAN IN ASHEVILLE 
 
 NOTE: The first time Mr. Craig ever introduced Mr. Bryan was 
 in 1896, during Bryan's first campaign for the presidency. Mr. Craig 
 was then Elector at Large. On this occasion there was assembled in 
 Asheville the largest audience that perhaps has ever gathered for any 
 political speaking, the crowd being estimated at twenty-five thousand. 
 The great Commoner's star had risen to its zenith, and the following 
 speech of Mr. Craig, from The Asheville Citizen, is expressive of the 
 hope and enthusiasm of the democracy of North Carolina in the famous 
 campaign of 1896. 
 
 Years afterwards, Governor Craig laughingly said, when intro- 
 ducing Mrs. Bryan at her first appearance before an Asheville audience, 
 in 1917, that he had won his reputation as a speaker introducing her 
 illustrious husband, and that he now proposed to extend that reputation 
 by introducing her. 
 
 (From The Asheville Citizen, Sept. 16, 1896) 
 
 At 4:15 Hon. Locke Craig began his speech of introduction 
 of Mr. Bryan. Mr. Craig said: "Half a century ago Henry 
 Clay, while a candidate for the presidency, addressed the peo- 
 ple of North Carolina from the eastern portico of our capitol. 
 Again we are honored, and with the deepest emotions of grati- 
 tude and admiration, with souls ablaze with enthusiasm for 
 the cause of humanity, this vast multitude, as with the voice 
 of the whirlwind, sends forth its shout to welcome within the 
 borders of our Commonwealth the grandest of the tribunes of 
 the people. 
 
 "A short time ago, comparatively unknown, the effulgence 
 of his genius burst upon the astonished gaze of men, and he 
 in our midst is the most conspicuous personage on earth. In 
 that historic convention at Chicago, amid the tumult of dark- 
 ness and doubt and uncertainty, he flashed the light that 
 brought order out of chaos. As with trumpet call he sounded 
 the note of the holy war against the great iniquity, he stands 
 forth today the splendid leader of the mighty hosts of a re- 
 juvenated, a purified and a triumphant Democracy to restore 
 the heritage of our fathers, to write upon the immortal page 
 of history a sound declaration of American independence. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 23 
 
 "In the citadels of plutocracy with words of living fire he 
 hurled his denunciations against the grinding greed of op- 
 pression. With a strength that never tires, with a courage 
 that never shrinks, with a faith that never falters, he pleads 
 the cause of the lowly and fires with victorious assurance the 
 patriot hearts of the sons of the Republic. There are times 
 in the lives of nations when the souls of men glow with a fire 
 that cannot be quenched — it is that divine moral force that 
 defies the power of gold. It is more resistless than the tread 
 of imperial armies. Guided, sustained, swept on by the power 
 of Almighty God, we are marching in ranks that cannot be 
 broken. In this great crisis of our country's life, in this 
 eventful struggle of humanity, we stretch forth our arms and 
 look with inspired hope on the glorious manhood of our young 
 leader, for we know that on him rests the benediction of One 
 who came to preach the gospel to the poor. I present to you 
 William J. Bryan." 
 
24 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 TRIBUTE TO INDUSTRY 
 
 (From A Speech Made In 1896) 
 
 I shall never forget with what emotion I saw and heard 
 for the first time in operation, a large cotton mill. 
 
 I have stood upon the dome of Mount Mitchell at midnight, 
 while beneath me the storm thundered in terrific rage and 
 power, the clouds shot electric fire, and the awful artillery of 
 Heaven was unlimbered. The giant oak and granite boulders 
 were uprooted, and hurled booming and crashing into the 
 abyss amid the mighty battle of the elements, as of primeval 
 chaos. 
 
 I have stood upon the sand dunes of Hatteras, and seen 
 the stampede of hurricanes from equatorial storm fields, as 
 they swept over the seething, tumultuous Atlantic in unbridled 
 force and destruction from tropics to polar sea. 
 
 But, when I stood in that great cotton mill and listened to 
 the song of a thousand looms, and the music of thousands of 
 spindles, it was finer and grander than mountain storm or 
 ocean hurricane. It was a marching Hymn of universal 
 progress. The energy that wrought the havoc of the storm 
 had been harnessed and trained by the genius of man to do 
 the service of man. This chorus in the recitative of 
 triumphant industry sounds around the world, to feed and to 
 clothe — to liberate the toiler from ancient bondage — to beat 
 down poverty from its hopelessness and degradation — to bless 
 all God's children to a higher life — answering the prayer: 
 
 "Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 25 
 
 CAMPAIGN OF 1898 
 
 NOTE: The campaign of 1898 has long since become a part of 
 history, with its victory bringing redemption to the State from Repub- 
 lican mis-rule. This campaign was bitterly fought out on the hustings 
 by the ablest leaders of the State, every section giving of its best in 
 the hour of need. The News and Observer, of Raleigh, in an editorial on 
 the morning of the inauguration of Locke Craig as Governor, calls to 
 mind in eloquent remembrance the service rendered by him in 1898 and 
 1900: 
 
 The people of North Carolina will never forget the great 
 campaign of 1898, the most important in the life of this gen- 
 eration, or the campaign of 1900 when the suffrage constitu- 
 tional amendment was ratified. The very life, industrially and 
 politically of the East was at stake. Its people were aroused,, 
 but the question of the hour was : "Will the West understand 
 our sore needs and come to our assistance?" The amendment 
 was not popular in the West. It put a burden upon the militant 
 Democracy of that battling ground, where every inch won by 
 the Democrats was won in hand to hand conflict with a 
 vigorous and resourceful political enemy. In that supreme 
 moment, Locke Craig, the voice of Vance's home and Merri- 
 mon's home, speaking for himself and his people, rang like a 
 bell declaring that the cause of Bertie was the cause of Bun- 
 combe, the cause of Halifax was the cause of Haywood, the 
 cause of Craven was the cause of Cherokee, and that to pre- 
 serve good government and its splendid civilization the 
 mountain Democracy would spend and be spent to the last 
 man. He made the sacrifice to run for the Legislature in Bun- 
 combe, and won a victory unparalleled in that county by the 
 most courageous and glorious campaign in its history. In the 
 Legislature he was a potent leader. On the stump he was in 
 the West what Aycock was in the East. He never counted the 
 cost when principle was at stake. * * * 
 
 A MAMMOTH MEETING 
 
 NOTE: While Mr. Craig was canvassing in Eastern North Car- 
 olina, he was unanimously nominated for the Legislature by the Demo- 
 
26 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 crats at home, and imperatively called back to Buncombe County to 
 make the canvass there. 
 
 The account of his closing speech at Asheville is from The Citizen 
 of November 3, 1898: 
 
 Perhaps never in the history of Asheville, certainly not 
 within the memory of the present generation, has been wit- 
 nessed such a political gathering as that which assembled in 
 the Grand Opera House last evening. 
 
 Grandmothers and grandfathers, mothers and fathers, 
 sisters and brothers joined to make up the magnificent au- 
 dience that filled every seat and occupied nearly every foot of 
 space in the great building. 
 
 And every heart and mind in the great throng throbbed 
 in sympathy with the determination of the men of Buncombe 
 and North Carolina to restore white rule and honest govern- 
 ment in this State. 
 
 There was a prophecy on the face of every man present 
 of a majority of not less than 500 in Buncombe for Democracy 
 on Tuesday next, and a promise in every blazing eye that no 
 power known to modern Radicalism should thwart them. 
 
 The speeches were appropriate in every word. No threats, 
 no incendiarism, no bitterness, but in every one was manifest 
 an unshakable determination to redeem North Carolina this 
 year. 
 
 Chairman Murphy commenced, President Van Winkle of 
 the Biltmore Club and C. A. Webb continued, and Locke Craig 
 concluded, amid the shouts of enthusiastic hundreds, the exer- 
 cises of this most memorable public gathering. 
 
 Craig surpassed himself. It is no exaggeration to say 
 that he swayed his audience with the hand of a master. Words 
 that burned into the minds of his hearers poured from his 
 lips for a full hour, and when he closed with a grand appeal 
 for every one to rise who would pledge his time and his all to 
 Democratic success until the polls closed on Tuesday, every 
 man, woman and child stood up and shouted the genuineness 
 of a determination to do it. 
 
 It was a great meeting, and a harbinger of the great vic- 
 tory that awaits Democracy on Tuesday. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 27 
 
 THE VICTORY 
 
 NOTE: Mr. Craig was triumphantly elected to the Legislature, re- 
 versing a Republican majority of 600 to a Democratic majority of more 
 than 700. The Asheville Gazette, in the following editorial, gives some 
 idea of what this victory meant to the State: 
 
 The election in this State resulted as it should have. Re- 
 garded as a contest for white supremacy, in which the negro 
 vote was solidly aligned on the Republican side, the immense 
 majority that the Democrats obtained in the State — probably 
 not far from 40,000 — proves that the newly elected Legislature 
 goes into office with the endorsement of the massed multitude 
 of the white voters of the State. As Chairman Simmons said 
 to The Gazette's representative at Raleigh yesterday, "It is 
 the greatest political revolution ever known to have taken 
 place in the State, or probably in any State of the Union." 
 With hardly another issue to obscure the contest the fight 
 from the first was for control of the State Government. The 
 Democratic Legislative Committees were selected with extra- 
 ordinary care, and the Democratic majority in the coming ses- 
 sion of the Legislature should possess the qualifications neces- 
 sary for the great work before them. They are to be the cus- 
 todians of the honor of the State and of the great political 
 union of its white citizenship. The Democratic Party enters 
 office by a revolution achieved by the people. A solemn trust 
 reposes in the hands of the legislative majority. Their course 
 must be marked by devotion to the credit of the State. They 
 must rise to a dignity becoming the representatives of a con- 
 stituency that measures the progress and civilization of the 
 State. By this alone can they preserve the union of this vast 
 and splendid constituency. 
 
 THE CELEBRATION 
 Outdoor Meeting At Raleigh 
 
 NOTE: After the victory there was a great outpouring of the 
 people in an outdoor meeting, held in Raleigh, the night of November 
 15, 1898, in which the prominent speakers of the campaign took part. 
 The account from Raleigh to The Asheville Gazette is interesting: 
 
 Raleigh, N. C, Nov. 15. — The demonstration tonight was 
 
28 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 attended by thousands and was orderly and enthusiastic. The 
 speeches were excellent. Locke Craig captured the audience. 
 His speech was second to none. There were repeated calls for 
 him after he finished. 
 
 A feature of the big meeting was that it resolved itself 
 into a great outburst of popular demand that Simmons succeed 
 Marion Butler in the Senate. 
 
 Besides Craig the speakers were : Simmons (unexpected) , 
 Kluttz, Overman, W. B. Shaw, Avery, B. P. Long, Atwater, 
 R. A. P. Cooley, W. H. Carroll and D. J. Currie. 
 
 An arch spanned Fayetteville Street in front of the City 
 Hall. It was illuminated and decorated, and under it a big 
 procession passed. The speakers' stand was on the mound in 
 the centre of Nash Square, the place where Bryan spoke in 
 1896. It was brilliant with electric lights. 
 
 There was especial interest to hear Craig and as he arose 
 to speak he was greeted with an enthusiastic round of ap- 
 plause. His speech was a finished oration, difficult to do 
 justice to in a brief newspaper report. Some of its points 
 were as follows: 
 
 "This is a climax in history. The irrepressible conflict is 
 ended. This peaceful revolution has restored the government 
 of the Commonwealth to a position of stable equilibrium. 
 The triumph of the Anglo-Saxon was inevitable. We rejoice 
 that the victory is so peaceful, so speedy and so com- 
 plete. * * * 
 
 "It was the Teuton that died before the legions of Caesar, 
 but not a man surrendered. It was the Anglo-Saxon that 
 stood like a wall of granite, where the great emperor hurled 
 against him those projectiles of war — the grand army and 
 the old guard. It was the Anglo-Saxon that drove back the 
 savage and reclaimed the New World. Before his pioneer axe 
 primeval forests fell, the wilderness was transformed into 
 wide seed fields and steepled cities. It was the Anglo-Saxon 
 at Santiago that stretched out his arm of power to crush the 
 tyrant and unshackle the slave ; at Manila, that sent his bomb- 
 shells blazing and crashing through the miasma of despotism 
 in the Orient. 
 
 "He has sent forth his fleets and armies, not as Rome sent 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 29 
 
 forth her legions to conquer, rule and crush, not as Napoleon 
 sent forth his armies, to march by the light of blazing cities, 
 to found new dynasties and consolidate arbitrary power, but 
 to civilize, to Christianize and make peace on earth. 
 
 "In South Africa, in Australia, in the Philippines, in 
 America, from whence the Goddess of Liberty lifts her beacon 
 hand from the surges of the Atlantic — over mighty rivers and 
 empire States — to where the waves of another ocean beat 
 gently on golden sands, in all the world wherever he set his 
 foot he was ruler — except in North Carolina. And this is the 
 State of Halifax Court House and Mecklenburg; this is the 
 State consecrated by the blood of Guilford Court House and 
 Kings Mountain. It is the State of Nathaniel Macon and Bad- 
 ger and Pender and Vance. It is the State that has 125,000 
 sons who sleep in the battle-scarred bosom of old Virginia. 
 It is our sacred Fatherland. Inspired by the hallowed, glorious 
 memories of the past, commanded by the solemn duties of the 
 present, sustained by the prayers of her manhood, empowered 
 by Him who dwells in omnipotence beyond the morning stars, 
 who wrote the Eternal Law, we have decreed that North Car- 
 olina too is the Anglo-Saxon's heritage and shall be ruled by 
 the Anglo-Saxon men. * * * 
 
 "The race question is the most difficult problem of the ages. 
 The sins of our fathers will be visited upon us and our children. 
 We must solve this problem with the courage and with the 
 enlightened conscience of the Anglo-Saxon. Justice must be 
 done to all men. * * * 
 
 Never yet share of truth was vainly set 
 In the world's wide fallow, 
 
 Other hands may sow the seed, 
 
 Other hands from hill and mead, 
 Reap the harvest yellow. 
 
 "The public weal, the welfare of both races, self- 
 preservation, demand that the negro be eliminated as a dis- 
 turbing element in politics. They stand in a solid phalanx, 
 120,000 strong, ignorant and politically vicious, with smart, 
 unscrupulous leaders — they are a constant menace to the 
 State, a constant threat of anarchy and ruin, 'red ruin and the 
 
30 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 breaking up of laws.' They cannot rule this State. When 
 the armies of Louis XIV encircled Holland and it seemed as 
 if resistance were almost useless, William, Prince of Orange, 
 called the State's General together and it was solemnly de- 
 creed that sooner than surrender to the foreign conqueror, 
 they would cut loose the dykes and let the ocean sweep over 
 the land; that nothing should appear above the waves except 
 the towers and steeples of the cities of Holland. The people 
 of North Carolina, too, have determined that the African shall 
 not rule in this land, and this determination might as well be 
 written into law. 
 
 "The ballot box should be protected from corruption. We 
 should have an election law to prevent as far as possible all 
 corruption and bribery. The Democratic Party is the friend 
 of the poor man. His sovereign right to vote should be pro- 
 tected and jealously guarded. * * * 
 
 "In this great struggle the souls of men were aglow with a 
 fire that could not be quenched. They were moved by that 
 mysterious moral power that despises gold and bayonets ; that 
 is more resistless than the advance of imperial armies. The 
 Democratic host, like the avalanche crushing all before it, 
 swept onward to victory. 
 
 "In this hour of triumph let all the sons and daughters of 
 Carolina rejoice. For the honest Republican we have nothing 
 but good-will. There are no Populists, they are all Democrats, 
 and the Democrats all belong to the great People's Party. We 
 are united more firmly than ever in the brotherhood of the 
 Democracy of Zeb. Vance. The rivers are shouting hallelujahs 
 and the mountains are clapping their hands for joy. * * * 
 
 "There are a few men in North Carolina who were traitors 
 to every trust and false to every instinct of our race. They 
 not only basely betrayed the cause of the poor, but tried to 
 crush the manhood and womanhood of North Carolina be- 
 neath the heel of an alien and senile race, and it ought to be 
 more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah than for these men 
 in North Carolina. 
 
 "Good government will be restored. We will drive the 
 rascals out and keep the rascals out. The true sons of the 
 Old North State will make and administer her law. Justice 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 31 
 
 will be done to the corporation and to the individual, and the 
 laws will be administered in equity to the rich and in mercy 
 to the poor." 
 
32 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 CRAIG'S CAMPAIGN SPEECH ON THE 
 SUFFRAGE AMENDMENT 
 
 NOTE: The Legislature of 1899 was strongly Democratic, as the 
 result of the victory won by the Party in the November elections. The 
 outstanding work of this Legislature being the passage of the Bill sub- 
 mitting to a vote of the people, the Suffrage Amendment to the State 
 Constitution. The campaign of 1898 was won on this pledge to the 
 people, that they should be rid of negro domination. Following is a 
 stenographic report of Mr. Craig's speech in the campaign for the 
 Amendment, which resulted in a great victory for Democracy, sweep- 
 ing Daniel Russell and his colleagues out of power, and bringing into 
 the Governor's office Charles Brantley Aycock, the great Educational 
 Governor of North Carolina, and with him the dawn of a new era for 
 the advancement of the State. 
 
 (Stenographic Report) 
 
 Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 
 It is customary for political speakers to say that the cam- 
 paign in which they are engaged is the most important in the 
 State's history. We can truthfully say that about this cam- 
 paign, for the issue affects our fundamental law. It is pro- 
 posed to change our Constitution and modify the provisions 
 regulating the suffrage of the people. Prior to 1894 the State 
 had been continuously Democratic for a quarter of a century, 
 and the people were reasonably satisfied. In 1894 many of 
 the best men in North Carolina, dissatisfied on account of the 
 administration of the national affairs of our party, saw proper 
 to sever their allegiance from the party of their fathers, the 
 party of their young manhood, the party whose principles 
 they loved, and whose history they had helped to write. They 
 shook hands with their ancient political enemies of the Repub- 
 lican Party. It was not long before they found that they had 
 made a mistake. They came to see that when they shook 
 hands with the enemies of the Democratic Party they had 
 joined hands with the enemies of North Carolina. The al- 
 liance which they formed was about to consummate the ruin 
 of the State, and brought shame to all the people. Scarcely 
 a law among the Statutes of 1895 and 1897 except those which 
 good men would prefer had never been written. When the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 33 
 
 Legislature of 1899 met, Dan Hugh McLane, of the County of 
 Harnett, introduced a Bill to repeal all Acts of the Legislature 
 of 1895 and 1897, but the Legislature thought those laws 
 should be treated as well as Sodom was treated. You re- 
 member that God promised to spare Sodom if there were five 
 righteous men in the city, and we thought that peradventure 
 there might be five righteous laws in the whole lot, and so~we 
 spared them as a whole. If the good men who quit the Demo- 
 cratic Party in 1894 had had the remotest idea that the new 
 alliance which they formed would have resulted as it did, they 
 would have been as far from quitting the Democratic Party 
 as we are today. And so in 1898 they came back home, many 
 of them — they came back to the house of their fathers and the 
 house of their young manhood — they quit the house of po- 
 litical prostitutes, and we welcomed them back. We killed the 
 fatted calf for them, but did not treat them as prodigals. They 
 were somewhat like the young country boy who got married 
 and went off on a bridal trip. He had some money, and 
 stopped at the finest hotel in the city. The next morning they 
 had nice brown fish cakes for breakfast. He never had seen 
 any such things before, and thought they were biscuits. He 
 reached out his hand and took one and tried to cut it open. 
 As it would not cut, he pulled it open with his fingers, and 
 did not like the looks of the inside much. He pinched a piece 
 out of it, smelled of it, turned around to his bride and said, 
 "Sal, this seems to be a mighty nice hotel, and these people 
 have treated us mighty nice, and I don't like to say anything 
 agin them, but I'll be durned if there isn't something rotten 
 in this bread." Sal she smelled of it and turned up her nose, 
 and said she'd be dinged if the whole thing wasn't rotten, and 
 she was gwine to leave any such house. And these good men 
 left the house where dwelt that mongrel crew, and helped us 
 to win the great victory of 1898. They feel better, too. A 
 man by the name of Barefoot, in the County of Harnett, told 
 me the other day that he left in 1894, but that his old father 
 who raised him a Democrat told him that he and all his 
 brothers would come back, because he left from honest mo- 
 tives. He said that good old father was dead and gone, but 
 that his prophecy had been fulfilled; that he was back, that 
 
34 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 he felt better because he was among white folks, and that his 
 brothers were coming back. You, my friends, who have left, 
 are not happy where you are. You never will be satisfied 
 again until you get within the Democratic Party where you 
 belong. When that Legislature of 1898 met, it found many 
 things to undo and many things to do. The political pie 
 hunters that were in power from 1894 to 1898 had laid their 
 unholy hands on every institution in the State save one. They 
 had practically destroyed the public school system. In the 
 good old Republican County of Madison three school houses 
 were burned to ashes by an indignant people because they 
 would not suffer their school money stolen and squandered. 
 The Democratic Legislature of 1898 had to re-write the laws 
 relating to railroads and all other corporations in the State, 
 and had to re-organize the public institutions of the State, 
 and had to rehabilitate the public school system. 
 
 It was necessary to pass a separate car law, which was a 
 great blessing to the people of Eastern North Carolina, especi- 
 ally to those who ride in second-class coaches. They had to 
 relieve white people of many of the counties of the East from 
 the shame and humiliation of negro domination. 
 
 But there is one act which we passed which is of more 
 importance than all other acts put together. It is an act that 
 is today engrossing the attention of the people of North Car- 
 olina throughout the whole State. People think about it and 
 talk about it wherever two or three are gathered together. 
 That act, if it become a law, will simply make the written law 
 of North Carolina conform to the unwritten law. It will write 
 into law what has already been determined in the breast of 
 every white man in North Carolina. It will make the Consti- 
 tution of our State conform to the moral law, if you please, 
 yes, to the Divine Law that was indicated when God made the 
 races of men. It will write into an irrevocable constitutional 
 decree, that the white men of North Carolina shall make and 
 administer all the laws. This is the purpose and effect of the 
 Constitutional Amendment. That Amendment is not yet 
 written into law. You have heard of the doctrine of the ini- 
 tiative and the referendum. They say it is a Populist doc- 
 trine. That is a mistake. It was conceived 4,000 years before 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 35 
 
 the Populist Party was ever heard of, and will exist 4,000 years 
 after the Populist Party is dead and forgotten. Four thousand 
 years ago the people of Israel assembled on Mt. Ebal and 
 Gerizim. There they were assembled in that awful Presence, 
 with the majestic mountains towering around — men, women 
 and children, prophets, priests and rabbis — and that law which 
 was handed down to them by their law givers, which has been 
 a law unto the people of Israel and their fathers for 4,000 
 years, and which has been a law unto us and unto our fathers, 
 and will be a law unto all generations of men, had no effect 
 and force of law until the Levites stood up before the people 
 and read it line by line and item by item, and until it was 
 ratified and acknowledged as a law by all the people of Israel. 
 That was the first and grandest constitutional convention that 
 history records. And so on the second day of next August 
 another great constitutional convention will assemble. It will 
 assemble around the ballot box in North Carolina, from the 
 shadows of the Great Smoky Mountains, on the purple hills of 
 the Piedmont, and in this Tidewater section. In that conven- 
 tion the men of North Carolina will speak, and of that conven- 
 tion, you, my friend, will be a member, and however poor and 
 however humble you be, your voice will be heard and heeded 
 as much as the voice of the greatest and most enlightened in 
 all this land. The people of North Carolina will speak, and 
 when they do speak in their sovereign capacity as a people, 
 and write this Amendment into their fundamental law, it will 
 be a law unto us and unto our children. And George White 
 and Marion Butler and Abe Middleton, and the gates of Hell 
 thrown in, shall not prevail against it. This Amendment has 
 been much misrepresented by the revenue doodlers of this 
 State. We expected this. We expected them to deceive the 
 people in every possible way. I will read you the fourth and 
 fifth sections of the Amendment, as they are the only sections 
 that the Republicans complain of. You have doubtless heard 
 that before a man could vote under this amendment he must 
 own three hundred dollars worth of property. An illiterate 
 man in Morganton told me the other day that he had been 
 told by one of these fellows that before a man could vote he 
 must be able to read and write in three separate languages. 
 
36 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 They would deceive the very elect if they could. Do not take 
 their reading of the Amendment. They will read it to suit 
 themselves. If you cannot read it get some good Democratic 
 neighbor to read it for you, or some honest Republican — if you 
 can find him, or honest Populist, as to that matter. These 
 revenue officers would, if they could, do like the boys did the 
 old minister, who announced on one Sunday what chapter of 
 the Scripture he would read from. He was going to read from 
 that chapter that tells of Noah and the Deluge, and describes 
 the Ark. These two boys got into the church, found his place, 
 and pasted two of the leaves of the Bible together, so that 
 they looked like one leaf. The old minister got up, opened his 
 Bible at the place he had picked out, and read: "In those 
 days Noah took unto himself a wife, who was at that time," 
 and he turned over the leaf, "three hundred cubits long, forty 
 cubits deep and twenty cubits wide, made of gopher wood, 
 and covered with pitch on the inside and the outside." He 
 turned back and read again slowly and carefully. He threw 
 down his Bible and said, "Brethren and sisters, I have been 
 reading the Scriptures and searching them diligently for a 
 long time, but I never came across this passage before. It 
 only convinces my mind of the truth of that other wonderful 
 passage in this book which says that man is fearfully and 
 wonderfully made, and especially is it so with a woman." 
 Don't let them paste the leaves of the Amendment together, 
 but make them read it all and read it right, and when it is 
 all read and all understood every patriot in North Carolina 
 will vote for it and support it, because it is just and right, and 
 what the people of North Carolina want. (Here Section 4 of 
 the Amendment is read.) You see at once that that dis- 
 franchises the negro. He cannot read the Constitution; he 
 cannot write it. Let an election officer read to him some such 
 passage in the Constitution as this: "The privileges of the 
 writ of habeas corpus shall never be suspended." What does 
 he know about the Constitution or the writ of habeas corpus ? 
 What does he care about it ? He has never tried to know any- 
 thing about it and never will know anything about it. This 
 one section will wipe out the negro vote in North Carolina. 
 Of the 120,000 negro voters it will disfranchise 110,000 of 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 37 
 
 them, practically all of them. It will be good-bye to all negro 
 office holders, and all those who base their hope of office on 
 the negro vote. It will be good-bye to Mr. Butler and all men 
 who pander to the prejudice and ignorance of the negro for the 
 offices they hold. No wonder they are against it. It means 
 their political annihilation. It sends them into nothingness, 
 out of which they ought never to have arisen. But unfortu- 
 nately while it would disfranchise practically all of the negroes 
 this section would disfranchise many good white men, for un- 
 fortunately there are many good white men in this State who 
 cannot read and write. They have never had the opportunity 
 to learn. During their boyhood and young manhood they or 
 their fathers stood in the lines of battle in the vanguard of 
 the Army of Northern Virginia, and so we did not stop at the 
 fourth section. Many of the best men in North Carolina can- 
 not read and write. When I left my home in Eastern North 
 Carolina and went beyond the Blue Ridge to enter upon the 
 work of life, I did not know a man in that country. The first 
 man who met me and gave me the right hand of welcome was 
 Lafayette Burnett. He is not educated. He is a brave moun- 
 taineer, the descendant of a noble race of mountain pioneers. 
 He and his three brothers shouldered their muskets when the 
 drums beat the morning reveille of 1861, and never laid down 
 their arms until the roll of the last drum at Appomattox. Two 
 of his brothers never came home. He stands six feet, and 
 weighs 200 pounds. He is every inch a man and every ounce 
 a hero. When he was told by one of these Republicans that 
 the Democrats had formulated a measure that would dis- 
 franchise him he said that he knew it was a lie, because he 
 knew that the Democrats would take care of him, but that if 
 it was necessary to disfranchise him in order to save his 
 brethren of the east — the men and the sons of the men with 
 whom he fought from '61 to '65 — he for one, would be willing 
 to be disfranchised. 
 
 When this measure was under consideration in the hall of 
 the House of Representatives, there sat in that hall an old 
 man with gray hair and gray beard. He too was a soldier. 
 His face had been burned in the battle smoke that blazed from 
 Mission Ridge. He bore upon his bosom, scars that were made 
 
38 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 by the bayonets that blazed on the fields of war. His name 
 was Alfred Holt. He thought that this was an educational 
 qualification pure and simple. With tears streaming down 
 his face he declared that if it were necessary to disfranchise 
 him to redeem North Carolina, that he too was willing to be 
 disfranchised. 
 
 My unlettered friend, I come here today to tell you that 
 the Democratic Party did not forget you and Lafayette Bur- 
 nett and Alfred Holt. They remembered you, yes, though you 
 be a Republican who have opposed and villified the Democratic 
 Party and Democratic leaders ; though you be a Populist that 
 have said hard things about your Democratic neighbor, we 
 forgot not you. If you belong to the great brotherhood of 
 the Anglo-Saxon race we have made a provision for you. We 
 are standing by you. One hundred and seventy-five thousand 
 Democrats have recorded their vow that you shall never be 
 disfranchised. The arms of 175,000 white men are around 
 and about you. We stand in a solid phalanx. We are march- 
 ing in ranks that cannot be broken. And so, after we wrote 
 Section 4, we wrote Section 5. (Here Section 5 is read.) 
 Could you vote prior to 1867? If you could, you can vote 
 now. Did you have a father or a grandfather or a great- 
 grandfather who could vote prior to that time? Your rights 
 are not interfered with. You may not know who your father 
 was, but if you know who your mother was, or your grand- 
 mother, you are provided for. You can plant yourself on Sec- 
 tion 5 and demand your right as a sovereign citizen. No 
 power on earth can take it from you. Your great heritage is 
 guaranteed to you under this Constitution. There is 1 only one 
 kind of a white man in North Carolina that will be dis- 
 franchised, and that is the white man who, when the day 
 comes and the books are open, goes up and denies his race and 
 his color; surrenders the inheritance from his fathers, goes 
 back upon his daddy and his grand-daddy, and his mammy 
 and his grand-mammy, and swears that he is a negro or the 
 son of a negro, or the grandson of a negro, and that white 
 man will be disfranchised. 
 
 But they say that this is unconstitutional, and Section 5 
 will be stricken out, leaving Section 4 to stand. These revenue 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 39 
 
 officers and stillhouse raiders have suddenly bloomed out into 
 great constitutional lawyers. There is not a lawyer of re- 
 spectability in North Carolina, not a single one, who declared 
 this unconstitutional, unless that lawyer is holding office by 
 means of the negro vote. On the other hand, all the eminent 
 lawyers in North Carolina, whether they be Republicans or 
 Democrats or Populists, have declared this measure constitu- 
 tional. Major Guthrie, the leading Populist lawyer in North 
 Carolina — Judge Purnell, Tom Argo, Tom Settle — able Repub- 
 lican lawyers and judges, and all great men who adorn the 
 bench and bar of this State, have pronounced this measure 
 constitutional. But these men must hide their diminished 
 heads in the presence of revenue officers ! What do they care 
 about the Constitution? It is a new thing under the sun for 
 Republicans to be upholding the sanctity of the Constitution. 
 When it was necessary to disfranchise the white men of North 
 Carolina and enfranchise the negroes of North Carolina, they 
 denounced the Constitution as a league with Death and a 
 covenant with Hell. They trampled down the Constitution. 
 They care no more for it than they do for a filthy rag. What 
 do these revenue officers know about the Constitution? They 
 would not know the Constitution from a camel with two humps 
 on his back. I have heard a story about two fellows migrat- 
 ing to the West in a covered wagon. While they were driving 
 across the great prairies they came to the track of the Wes- 
 tern Union Pacific Railway. Jim says to Tom, "What's this ?" 
 Tom says, "Why, this; I know what this is. This is some- 
 thing you tie your wagon to of nights to keep the cyclone from 
 blowing it away." Tom knew everything. Jim said he 'lowed 
 that that was what it was, and as it was about night they 
 decided to camp. They pulled and hauled their wagon until 
 finally it landed right down between the rails. Tom says, 
 "There, by gum, I told you so. I knowed what it was made 
 for. Don't you see it fits to a gnat's heel ?" And so they tied 
 their wheels to the track and lashed it with ropes and got in 
 the wagon and went to sleep. In the night they heard a 
 mighty rumble. Tom nudged Jim in the side and said, "Jim, 
 the cyclone is coming, but we're all right." The rumbling 
 came nearer, and sounded like the voice of thunder. By and 
 
40 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 by a bright light climbed over the edge of the horizon, bright 
 as a steady flash of lightning. Nearer it came. It was the 
 west-bound vestibule limited, sweeping over the prairie at 
 the rate of sixty miles an hour. The engine screamed in 
 terror. Tom he burst out of one side of the wagon, Jim out 
 of the other, and the train dashed it into ten thousand pieces. 
 Tom stood off and got his breath and said, "Jim, I was just 
 somewhat mistaken about that thing. I bet that thing that 
 passed along here was that durn Constitutional Amendment." 
 And these fellows know just as much about the Constitution 
 as Tom did about the Pacific Railway track. 
 
 If it be unconstitutional at all it is so because it is in con- 
 flict with the Fifteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
 United States, which declares that the right to vote shall not 
 de denied or abridged on account of race, color or previous con- 
 dition of servitude. This Amendment to our Constitution says 
 nothing about race, color, or previous condition of servitude. 
 If a negro can read and write he is allowed to vote just as a 
 white man is. Or if he had a father or a grandfather who 
 could vote he is allowed that privilege. The free negroes in 
 this State could vote prior to 1835, and all negroes who can 
 show their descent from these free negroes are allowed this 
 privilege under the fifth section, and can demand their rights 
 under it. If there is a negro in North Carolina, and there are 
 doubtless some, though he was a slave, if he had a negro 
 father or a negro grandfather who lived in the State of Massa- 
 chusetts, and that ancestor of his could vote in the State of 
 Massachusetts, he can vote in North Carolina under this Sec- 
 tion 5. The color line is not drawn. No man is disfranchised on 
 account of his race, color or previous condition of servitude, 
 but under Section 5 he is given the right to vote as an in- 
 heritance, and not on account of his race. It puts the negro 
 in North Carolina on an equality before the law with all 
 foreign born races, on an equality with the Irishman, the 
 Englishman and the German, and surely he is entitled to and 
 can claim no more rights than these descendants of those 
 great races. Take a woman, an unmarried woman over 
 twenty-one years of age. She may have property, she may 
 pay her taxes on hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 41 
 
 property. She is subject to all the burdens of government 
 that a man is. She is a citizen of the United States, and she 
 has all the priviliges of a citizen of the United States. But the 
 law of North Carolina takes from her the right to vote, dis- 
 franchises her on account of her sex. That is not unconsti- 
 tutional, and why; because it does not disfranchise her on ac- 
 count of race, color or previous condition of servitude. Surely 
 she is entitled to as many privileges in the eye of the law as 
 the illiterate, foreign, negro race. Take a boy under twenty- 
 one. He may have property. He has to pay his taxes, yet 
 he is not allowed to vote because of his age. The State is 
 absolute sovereign as to qualifications of a voter, with these 
 three exceptions, race, color and previous condition of servi- 
 tude. And this Amendment disfranchises nobody on account 
 of race, color or previous condition of servitude. The illiterate 
 negro is disfranchised because he has not inherited the same 
 privileges as the white man, and he ought not to inherit that 
 privilege. In the State of Massachusetts the law allows no 
 man to vote unless he can read and write, or unless he could 
 vote prior to the first day of May, 1857. That is ten years 
 before the date fixed in our Amendment, and no one has ever 
 questioned the constitutionality of that law. If there were 
 100,000 negroes in Massachusetts, would it make that law any 
 less constitutional? It would be questioned, if Russell and 
 Butler lived in Massachusetts, and their only hope of office 
 was to get that 100,000 negro votes. The Constitution of 
 Mississippi has disfranchised the negro in that State. The 
 Supreme Court of the United States declares that the Con- 
 stitutional Convention of Mississippi swept the field of expe- 
 dients for the purpose of disfranchising the negro, yet the 
 Court upheld that Constitution because, as they said, the 
 negro was not disfranchised on account of his race, color, or 
 previous condition of servitude. In Louisiana they have prac- 
 tically the same amendment as we have. That amendment 
 has been in force for two years. There are members in Con- 
 gress now elected under that amendment. A Governor has 
 been elected under it. Why has not that been declared un- 
 constitutional? * * * 
 
 But this is not the greatest reason, there is no danger that 
 
42 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 a white man will be disfranchised under this Amendment. 
 The white people of North Carolina now have the right to vote 
 under Section 5 of the Constitution. Section 5 is repealed by 
 this Amendment, but the very same act that repeals Section 5 
 inserts this Amendment in its place, and this Amendment 
 guarantees to the white man the right to vote with as much 
 sanctity as the old section did. The old Section 5 is repealed 
 on the condition — on the solemn agreement by the people of a 
 Sovereign State, that the new Section 5 takes its place. You 
 have entered into a solemn contract and covenant with your 
 State that Section 5 be repealed on this condition. To take 
 the right from you would be an iniquity, a diabolical wrong, 
 and yet they tell you that the Supreme Court of the United 
 States, the greatest judicial tribunal in the world, a tribunal 
 sitting there to guarantee justice and equality to all men, to 
 uphold the supreme law of right, will perpetrate this 
 diabolical fraud and wrong; that this Court that stamped the 
 Civil Rights Bill, by which the Republicans attempted to put 
 the negro on an equality with the white man ; this Court that 
 has declared Beckham the Governor of Kentucky, because the 
 people of Kentucky had decided that he was Governor; this 
 Court that upheld the Constitution of Mississippi, that upheld 
 the School Law of Georgia, which divided the negroes and the 
 whites ; which has upheld the Election Law of South Carolina, 
 which is more stringent against the negro than ours ; that this 
 great Court will violate its rule of law and justice, and take 
 from you a right guaranteed to you by all solemnities of your 
 Constitution. Such an Act would be the end of Republican 
 Government. Like Samson, in blind rage, to do this they 
 would have to take hold of the pillars of the State and pull 
 down the whole fabric of the Federal system. They would 
 have to destroy the very cornerstone of the Republic. I de- 
 nounce it as a slander and the vilest imputation upon this 
 great tribunal. No one wants to disfranchise you, my il- 
 literate friend, and no one can disfranchise you. If the il- 
 literate white man in North Carolina should be thus unjustly 
 disfranchised it would create riot and civil war, and every 
 white man in North Carolina, except these revenue officers 
 and negro politicians, would stand at your side to defend your 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 43 
 
 rights with the last drop of their blood. You can disfranchise 
 negroes, but you cannot disfranchise white people. * * * 
 
 They also object to the clause in the Amendment providing 
 for the payment of the poll tax. There is no new poll tax 
 levied. The Constitution guarantees that the poll tax shall 
 not exceed two dollars, that no man more than fifty years of 
 age is liable to poll tax, and that if he be physically disabled 
 or too poor to pay it, he is not liable for it. This Amendment 
 provides that the able-bodied man under fifty years of age, 
 able to pay his poll tax, shall pay that tax on or before the 
 first day of March of the year in which he proposes to vote 
 for the preceding year — six months after its date. And here is 
 the able-bodied man under fifty, able to pay his poll tax. He 
 enjoys all the blessings of our Government. He lives in a 
 State that builds your school houses, your court houses, your 
 public roads, asylums for the unfortunate. She stations the 
 law as a sentinel around your door in the night time. She 
 protects your property with the strong arm of the law, and 
 you enjoy it all. You live in a great Government that would 
 expend untold millions of its treasures and send its fleets and 
 armies to the uttermost parts of the earth to assert your 
 manhood and maintain your rights, and you enjoy it all. You 
 accept all of these privileges, and it is all paid for out of 
 money that is taken out of the pockets of your neighbors by 
 taxation. And yet these Republicans say that you able-bodied 
 man, under fifty years, able to pay your poll tax, are not will- 
 ing to do it. It is a slander on the poor manhood of North 
 Carolina. It is an appeal to the dishonesty of the poor people, 
 a contemptible demogogic appeal that will be repudiated. 
 * * * The poor people of this country are not the ones who 
 escape the payment of taxes. It is the rich, who can hide 
 their wealth on the tax-levying day. The poor man cannot 
 hide his head. He has to pay his taxes, and he is willing to 
 do it. But if he is not willing, and wants to enjoy all the 
 benefits of this Government that are paid for by the neighbor 
 just as poor as he is — if there be such a man in North Caro- 
 lina, and I do not believe there is — that man ought to be dis- 
 franchised. * * * 
 
 They also object to the clause in the Amendment providing 
 
44 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 that after 1908 all persons who have not registered at that 
 time must know how to read and write. If you get your name 
 on the registration book before 1908 you will not be troubled 
 to register any more. You have the right to vote guaranteed 
 to you forever. Your name is enrolled in the capital, and that 
 roll will stay there as a memorial of the great inheritance that 
 you have received from your fathers. I may be able to read 
 and write the Constitution, but I am not going to vote that 
 way. I am going to vote because my ancestors could vote. 
 I will have my name enrolled in the capital along with those 
 of my race who are less fortunate than I am, and we can 
 always vote, and never have the trouble to register any 
 more. * * * 
 
 But boys under thirteen years of age will not become 
 twenty-one until after 1908, and so they cannot register under 
 the Grandfather Clause. They will have to read and write. 
 These Republicans tell us that there are white boys in North 
 Carolina who will be disfranchised. * * * I am not afraid 
 for the white boys of North Carolina to run an intellectual 
 race with the kinky heads of North Carolina, and I would be 
 unwilling that this clause be stricken out of our Amendment. 
 * * * I would be unwilling that a great inducement should 
 be offered to the negroes of North Carolina to become edu- 
 cated, while a great inducement should be offered to the white 
 boys of North Carolina to remain forever ignorant. When 
 the white boys of North Carolina know that before they can 
 vote they must know how to read and write you cannot pre- 
 vent them from learning. * * * They learn it while they 
 rest at noon from the labors on the farm. They learn it by 
 pine knots at night. And here in North Carolina, where we 
 have a splendid public school system, and C. B. Aycock, the 
 next Governor of North Carolina, promises to use all the 
 power of the administration to guarantee every boy an edu- 
 cation, it is an insult to boys to say that they will not take 
 advantage of that opportunity. * * * 
 
 In 1908 there is not a boy who is now under thirteen years 
 of age who will not be educated. We will have an educated 
 citizenship, a citizenship that understands the Constitution 
 and Government of their country. We will have a purer Gov- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 45 
 
 eminent, and wiser and juster laws. These boys are not 
 cowards, either. They are not afraid of this. They have 
 read in their school histories that this great privilege of the 
 franchise was not given to our fathers. It was won by the 
 shedding of the most costly blood that ever crimsoned this 
 world, by the sacrifice of the most heroic lives that ever saved 
 humanity. They have read that their ancestors 800 years ago 
 stood at Runnymede with sword in hand, and defied the king 
 and the armies of the king, and forced him to sign the great 
 Charter of English liberties, and they have stood from that 
 day to this ready to defend their rights. And they tell me 
 that these boys will not learn how to read and write to pre- 
 serve for themselves the legacy that has been handed down to 
 them from their fathers. This young Anglo-Saxon race in 
 whose veins flows the blood of the men of the Revolution! 
 There is no man in all this land that will say that his boy can- 
 not and will not learn. * * * If there be such a man he is 
 unworthy of that boy, and that boy will stand up here today 
 and repudiate that statement. The Democratic Party wishes 
 to educate and elevate the manhood of the State. The Repub- 
 licans would keep them forever in ignorance. * * * 
 
 Perhaps it would not be improper to ask when the Repub- 
 licans got to be the friends of the poor white men of this 
 country ? There was a time when the poor white people needed 
 sympahty and support. Sherman's army had marched to the 
 sea through North Carolina, and left behind it nothing but 
 smoking ruins and wasted country. Around every fireside in 
 North Carolina there was a vacant chair. The young boy 
 that filled it was in an unknown grave in Northern Virginia. 
 North Carolina had felt upon her bosom the tread of em- 
 battled hosts. She had felt to the very quick the scourge of 
 avenging armies. Tears were pent up in the silent desolation 
 of mothers and widows and sisters. All our people were poor, 
 and yet in that day of grief and distress and poverty, these 
 men who are today pitying the poor, sat in the high places of 
 power and luxury. They rode in the second Chariot. They 
 dwelt in the house of feasting while we were in the house of 
 mourning. While we wept they laughed and danced and re- 
 joiced. Now when the poor white people of North Carolina 
 
46 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 are somewhat recovered from the scourge that they brought 
 upon this State they are pitying our poverty and illiteracy. 
 It is not the first time in the history of the world that the 
 hypocrite has used the cause of the poor to accomplish his 
 vile designs. You remember that when the Master was worn 
 and weary by traveling over the burning, scorching desert, 
 He went into the house of the rich Pharisee to rest. While 
 He and His disciples were there, there came in, unannounced, 
 unbidden, all disheveled, all unworthy and all unwelcome too, 
 the poor, despised outcast woman. She saw the stony faces 
 of the Pharisees, but when she caught a glimpse of that in- 
 effable face of love she burst into tears and fell down at His 
 feet and washed them in those tears and wiped them with her 
 disheveled hair. She broke open the alabaster box of precious 
 ointment. It was all she had. She annointed His feet with 
 the costly oil. There was one in all that company that saw 
 unmoved. He raised his voice against it and rebuked her. 
 He said that this ointment ought to have been sold for much, 
 and the money given to the poor. That was Judas, who 
 wanted to steal the money. * * * 
 
 My illiterate friend, how came you to be illiterate? You 
 are illiterate because you never had the opportunity of an 
 education. At the time when you would have been at school 
 you had on a suit of gray; and a confederate musket on your 
 shoulder. You were in the storm of war. But while you and 
 your brothers and your fathers were in a distant land, you 
 had a great friend down here in North Carolina. He was the 
 greatest friend that the poor man ever had. He glorified the 
 poor manhood of this State, for he himself came from the 
 loins of the poor manhood. He glorified the Democratic Party 
 too, for he himself lived and died a Democrat. While you 
 were fighting the battles of your country, old Zeb. Vance, by 
 honesty and frugality, had accumulated a school fund of 
 $450,000, and had it laid away in the public treasury. It was 
 yours. It was there to educate you and your children when 
 you came back from the war. It was your priceless heritage. 
 But as soon as the war was over, by means of the negro vote, 
 the Republicans got into power. They laid their unholy hands 
 upon that sacred fund, and stole and squandered the last cent 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 47 
 
 of it and ran away. School houses were closed because the 
 money was stolen. You had no opportunity to get an educa- 
 tion, because they stole that money. Now they are pitying 
 you because you are illiterate. They are like the fellow that 
 was indicted for murdering his father and mother, and stood 
 up in open court and confessed his guilt and when the judge 
 asked him what he had to say why sentence of death should 
 not be pronounced upon him according to law, he said, "I hope 
 Your Honor will have mercy on the poor orphan that stands 
 before you." You have been robbed, you are the disinherited 
 heirs of a great estate, and these men who are today pitying 
 you for your illiteracy are the ones who are responsible for 
 that wrong, that great misfortune. And now these men are 
 trying to invoke the name of Zeb. Vance, and say they are 
 following in the footsteps of Vance, these men — they de- 
 nounced him and reviled him and slandered him while he 
 lived! They would have stoned him to death. It is not the 
 first time, either, in the history of the world that a generation 
 of vipers has been ready to build the tombs of prophets, and 
 garnish the sepulchres of the righteous. They shall not invoke 
 the name of Zeb. Vance! They shall build no tomb to his 
 memory! You miserable demagogue, he denounced you, too, 
 while he lived. He stigmatized you with infamy. I wish that 
 the great old Senator were living today, that he could speak 
 one word to the people of North Carolina; that from those 
 lips of love, and melting pity and greatness, and fiery wrath, 
 there could come one blast. He would make it more tolerable 
 for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment, than for 
 you in North Carolina. But the Stately Ship is gone to the 
 "haven under the hill" — 
 
 "Oh, for the touch of a vanish'd hand, 
 And the sound of a voice that is still!" 
 
 I submit that the negro has no right to vote. He has the 
 right to vote neither by constitutional enactment nor by in- 
 heritance, nor has he deserved that right by a proper use of 
 it. In 1867, in flagrant outrage of the Constitution, by a mili- 
 tary edict, he was given that right, and 20,000 white men in 
 North Carolina were disfranchised by the Republican Party 
 
48 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 at the point of a bloody bayonet. In defiance of the Constitu- 
 tion, the negroes were enfranchised and the white people were 
 disfranchised, and by that despotic military law the negro 
 ratified the Cander Constitution, which guarantees to him the 
 right to vote. He hardly knew what he was doing when he 
 voted himself the right to vote. They say that down here in 
 Eastern North Carolina, at the first election held under the 
 Reconstruction Acts, when the negroes voted for the first 
 time, they swarmed around that ballot box in great numbers. 
 They say that down here at one of these voting precincts on 
 that day, there was a man who had rat poison to sell. He 
 thought it was a good time to advertise and sell his poison, 
 and so he was standing up in the crowd talking up his drug 
 and advertising it, by distributing among the crowd little cir- 
 culars with the picture of a rat, that had taken some of 
 this poison. The rat was dead and laid out in fine shape, and 
 the negroes got hold of this rat circular and got it confused 
 with their tickets and began to vote it, and they were shoving 
 them into the ballot box just by the thousands. Along towards 
 night one old coon went up to the leader and said, "Look here, 
 there must be something wrong about this thing; I don't 
 believe this is no 'publican ticket. This thing got nothing but 
 a dead rat on it." The negro said, "You fool, that is a 'pub- 
 lican ticket, the very thing you want. Vote that ticket and it 
 means that you vote for to ratify the Constitution." It was 
 with such voters as these that the Canby Constitution was 
 ratified, and the votes were taken to South Carolina and 
 counted in Charleston by Gen. Canby, the Military Governor 
 in North Carolina. 
 
 The negroes certainly did not inherit the right to vote, 
 because they, nor their ancestors, have ever won or deserved 
 that right. In all the ages they have never shed one single 
 drop of blood for the liberties and the privileges which we 
 enjoy. In all our history they have never laid one stone upon 
 another in this great fabric of our Government. 
 
 Have they used the privilege so as to entitle them to the 
 right to it ? The man that was given ten talents so used them 
 that he acquired the ownership. How has the negro used this 
 talent? They were given the right to vote in 1867, and in two 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 49 
 
 years they bankrupted North Carolina. They plunged the 
 State into a debt of forty millions of dollars, and the men that 
 they had elected wasted and squandered the money, and 
 applied not a cent of it to the good of the State. They built 
 no railroads, they made no internal improvements. The poor 
 were not cared for, the innocent and blind lay in dungeons or 
 wandered in the fields. There was no government in North 
 Carolina, either. The course of the law was ended. The 
 sword, and not the sword of the military captain, either, but 
 the sword of the bandit and the cut-throat, stood chief magis- 
 strate in this State. The writ of habeas corpus was sus- 
 pended. Bands of armed men went up and down the State. 
 The authorities were powerless. It was worse than civil war. 
 They made this land a desolation and called it peace. There 
 was a veritable reign of terror. The sun of law and justice 
 was in total eclipse for two years. Political night had come, 
 and all manner of beasts of prey came forth to pillage and to 
 devour. These political hyenas and jackals ravaged this old 
 State of our fathers. These were the dark days in North 
 Carolina's history. 
 
 To the east of the city in which I live there is a little 
 mountain called Beaucatcher. It is called that from the fact 
 that from time immemorial the boys and girls have gone there 
 to loiter on its beautiful summit, and tell to each other that 
 old story that never grows old. I have stood on that mountain 
 in the early morning, and looked beyond the Blue Ridge 
 Mountains over the land where lie the ashes of my fathers. 
 I have seen the day break beyond the eternal hills; the 
 mountains give forth their forms from out the bosom of the 
 darkness; from the dewy branch little snowbirds here and 
 and there with deep warble salute the coming sun — "Stars 
 fade out and galaxies — street lamps of the City of God." 
 Clouds of the night storm are lifted up on sheens of fire and 
 rolled back in pillars of flame. When far overhead they are 
 caught up by the morning breeze and swept away, perfect day 
 is established, and there is peace. So did the morning come 
 to North Carolina in 1870, when a Democratic Legislature was 
 elected ; breaking into the splendors of the day in 1876, when 
 the cohorts of the unterrified came forth to redeem North 
 
50 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Carolina, led by that lion of the tribe of Democracy, old Zeb. 
 Vance. Peace came to North Carolina, sweet as "day spring 
 to the shipwrecked in Nova Zembla." It came to the ex- 
 asperated hearts of our people like strains of music. The law 
 was restored, good government was administered. Great 
 Governors were in the Executive Mansion, and great and pure 
 men administered justice with an even hand alike to all, the 
 great and the small, the white and the black. In every dis- 
 trict a school house was opened, in every town a school house 
 was built for the white boys and girls. Though the Democrats 
 of North Carolina owned all the property and paid all the 
 taxes, they built a school house for the little negroes, too. 
 Asylums were built for the insane, the deaf, the dumb and 
 the blind, and every time we built an asylum for the unfor- 
 tunate of our race, when necessity demanded we built one for 
 the unfortunate of the colored race. It was generosity un- 
 equalled in history. It was good government unexampled in 
 the jurisprudence of the world. Twenty-five years passed 
 away. A generation passed away. We forgot the evil days 
 of 1867 and 1869. We not only forgot but we forgave. The 
 Republicans confessed their sins and said they would not do 
 so any more. Yes, we forgot. We must not forget any more. 
 
 "Lord, God of Hosts, te with us yet, 
 Lest we forget, lest we forget." 
 
 But we did forget. We were like the old preacher said to 
 his congregation. He read in the Scriptures, "Abraham for- 
 got Isaac, and Isaac forgot Jacob, and Jacob forgot his twelve 
 sons." He said, "Brethren and sisters, they were a forgetful 
 people in those days." And we were a forgetful people. For 
 twenty-five years we had fought at every door and room and 
 hall in this house of rest to keep this gang out. At the end 
 of twenty-five years they broke in again, and here they were — 
 the same old crowd, the same old days of 1867 and 1869. A 
 little fellow was reading his Sunday School lesson to his 
 teacher. He came across the names Shadrach, Meshach and 
 Abed-nego. He could not pronounce them. The teacher asked 
 him why he didn't know his lesson. He didn't know why he 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 51 
 
 didn't know it, but he could not pronounce those names. The 
 teacher told them to him, and he went on. Pretty soon he 
 came to the names again, and hung fire the second time. The 
 teacher told him to go on. He could not go. The teacher 
 said, "Now that is Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego, and if 
 you don't know those names the next time you come to them I 
 will thrash you like fury." The little fellow read on. After 
 awhile he came to them again. The teacher told him to go 
 on, and asked him what was the matter. The little fellow 
 broke out crying and said, "Here is them three scoundrels 
 again." And so here they were again, worse than they were 
 before. They turned this State over to the negroes, and the 
 allies of the negroes. They turned the fairest cities of the 
 East over to their control. The East swarmed with negro 
 office holders. In the County of New Hanover there were 
 forty negro magistrates, and in the city of Wilmington there 
 were seventeen negro policemen and deputy sheriffs. Negro 
 postmasters were in most of the leading cities of the East. 
 The white people could not and would not suffer it. Bloodshed 
 and riot prevailed wherever negro domination prevailed. The 
 Wilmington riot came. It will come every time in North 
 Carolina when the negro attempts to rule the white man, and 
 if he has the majority and is entitled to vote he is entitled to 
 rule. These men prostituted every institution in North Car- 
 olina save one to the greed of the office seeker. Our asylums 
 are the most sacred institutions in the State. Take the hos- 
 pital for the insane at Morganton. I stood the other day be- 
 neath the dome of that magnificent building of brick and stone 
 and marble, and as I stood there and saw floating from its 
 dome the ensign of our Commonwealth, I was proud that I was 
 a citizen of this great State, and belonged to the great party 
 that built it. The words of the great Judge came to my mind. 
 They say those words shall be spoken when the great Prince 
 of Peace and the King at the Day of Judgment shall sit upon 
 His throne of suns and stars and pronounce the final judgment 
 to all the sons of men. "I was afflicted and ye ministered unto 
 me," and when some shall ask when this was done, I think 
 that He will point to the poor, the insane, the deaf and dumb 
 
52 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 and blind, and say to the people of North Carolina, "Inasmuch 
 as you did it to the least of these my little ones, you did it 
 unto me." There are little children in North Carolina that 
 never have seen the light of morning break over the hills; 
 they have never seen the beautiful tint of the rosebud. They 
 have never hunted for four leaf clovers. They have never 
 played with the little ones on the lawn. They have never 
 looked up and seen the ineffable love that beams on a mother's 
 face. They have never seen God's rainbow spanning earth and 
 heaven, like a chariot race for the angels to ascend and 
 descend. North Carolina built a heme for them. It employed 
 teachers, that they might move their fingers over the raised 
 letters and learn to be enlightened men and women. 
 
 In all ages of the world there have been places of sanctuary. 
 We read in the Bible that around the Holy City there were 
 cities called Cities of Refuge, and though a man had stained 
 his hand in the blood of his fellow man, if he fled fast enough 
 and got within the gates of a city of refuge he was safe, 
 because the avenger of blood could pursue no further. Victor 
 Hugo tells us a story of the dark ages. A beautiful young 
 girl named Esmeralda was tried for witchcraft in front of the 
 Cathedral of Notre Dame, in Paris. There on the judgment 
 seat sat the Inquisitor. Here was the beautiful girl. Around 
 her roared and raged the mob of Paris, howling for her blood. 
 She was asked what had she to say. In her innocence she 
 said, "I am not guilty." They bared her beautiful limb and 
 placed upon her knee the instrument of torture, and pressed 
 it. She shrieked in pain, but in her innocence she said, "I will 
 not confess. Have mercy." There was no mercy there. Again 
 they pressed the instrument of torture, and in her anguish 
 the poor, frail, tender nature broke down. She said, "I con- 
 fess, but oh, have mercy." There was no mercy there. They 
 bared her beautiful neck for the executioner's knife, and were 
 preparing for the bloody work. All this time Quasimodo, 
 the hunchback bell ringer of Notre Dame, was watching this 
 scene from one of the balconies above. He let down a rope, 
 and with the nimbleness of a cat slid down, and in the 
 twinkling of an eye grabbed Esmeralda in his arms and ran 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 53 
 
 along the balconies of Notre Dame, crying "Sanctuary, Sanc- 
 tuary." Before him the wild, infuriated mob of Paris stood 
 back. There was no bloodthirsty villain that dared violate 
 this Temple of the Sanctuary. But in 1895 and 1897 there 
 was no place of sanctuary in North Carolina. They attempted 
 to break into the asylums. They sent Jim Young, a negro, 
 into that temple which we had built for the deaf and dumb 
 and blind children of North Carolina. They engraved his 
 name in marble on the cornerstone as an everlasting monu- 
 ment to their infamy. The Democratic Legislature of 1899 
 took a chisel of cold steel and took out that name, but the 
 scar remains. This Amendment to our Constitution will for- 
 ever prevent the recurrence of such times of infamy and dis- 
 grace to the white people of this State. 
 
 It is no accident that every time the negroes get in control 
 we have bad government and anarchy and bloodshed. They 
 stand in a solid phalanx 120,000 strong, and have stood that 
 way for twenty-five years. If you wish to find the lowest 
 type of the human race, whether it be man or woman, go to 
 that quarter of the city where whites and negroes associate 
 together on terms of social equality. There you will find 
 humanity crawling in the filthiest slime of moral and social 
 degradation. If you wish to find the lowest type of a public 
 man, a man who aspires to place and power, it is the man 
 who associates on terms of political equality with the negroes, 
 who will go to their night meetings and appeal to their ignor- 
 ance and prejudice and race hatred. Here stands this body 
 of 120,000 voters. Unfortunately there are many white men 
 in North Carolina v/ho will be tempted by the emoluments and 
 power of public office to ally themselves with these negroes. 
 It is the only way that they can control them. With such 
 white leaders they are always a threat to the State, and when 
 the people become careless and inattentive they slip into 
 power. They must obey the dictates of their masters who 
 placed them there, and then we have negro rule, or what is 
 worse than negro rule, the rule of the renegade white man. 
 The people of North Carolina will not submit to such govern- 
 ment. If they should become indifferent and submit, it would 
 be worse than war and pestilence and famine. The scorching 
 
54 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 winds and untimely frost may wither and blight your grain 
 fields, and kill the corn and wheat and fruitage, but God's rain 
 and sunshine will again clothe hill and mead in verdure, and 
 harvest fields will wave in golden splendor. The desolating 
 spirit of war may breathe upon this land as it has done, and 
 leave nothing in its wake but desolation and tears, and 
 mothers and sisters in mourning, but the olive branch of peace 
 will grow, battle flags will be furled ; on the fields of death, the 
 roses of summer will bloom in perennial beauty, and from the 
 soil consecrated by the blood of the brave a nobler race will 
 come. But over such degradation of the manhood and the 
 womanhood of this State as would come from negro domina- 
 tion and negro equality, there would come no rejuvenating 
 spring. The white people of North Carolina do not intend 
 that the negroes shall rule this State. If the negroes are 
 entitled to vote, in every locality, in every city where they 
 have a majority they are entitled to govern. If they are 
 entitled to vote they are entitled to govern Wilmington, New- 
 bern, and many of the fairest sections in North Carolina. We 
 know that this is a lie, a glaring lie, a lie that burns into the 
 heart of every white man in North Carolina, and they will not 
 endure it. When the armies of Louis XIV were marching 
 towards Holland, and it seemed as if the power of the great 
 king was invincible, William, Prince of Orange, called the 
 State's Generals together, and in solemn council they deter- 
 mined that sooner than the armies of their ancient enemy 
 should overrun their country, they would cut loose the dykes 
 and let the ocean roll in; that nothing should be seen above 
 the waves except the towers and steeples of the cities of 
 Holland. We too have come to the same unconquerable de- 
 termination that an alien race shall not overrun and rule this 
 State of our inheritance. 
 
 The negro was not born to govern. In the scale of hu- 
 manity he stands the lowest, the Anglo-Saxon the highest. 
 Consider the poor man, if you please, the one gallus fellow, 
 with no hat on, or his hair sticking through a hat with no top 
 to it. He may not know anything about books. He may be 
 careless, indifferent as to his condition, but that man has 
 flowing in his veins the blood of fifty generations of slave 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 55 
 
 governing ancestors. He has behind him two thousand years 
 of brave manhood and you rouse him, let a negro assert 
 superiority and the right to rule him, and that man is like a 
 devil turned loose. He will not submit to it. We read in 
 Tacitus that 2,000 years ago, on the banks of the Rhine, our 
 forefathers, a race of naked, half armed barbarians, died 
 before the legions of Caesar, but not a man surrendered. It 
 was this blood that thundered in the veins of Cromwell and 
 the soldiers of the Covenant, when on Marston Moor and 
 Naseby Field they drove in headlong, right to the arms of the 
 aliens. It was these men who stood like a granite wall at 
 Waterloo, against which the far glancing chivalry of France, 
 the Grand Army and the Old Guard of the Emperor, broke 
 like surges against a rock. It was our ancestors who re- 
 claimed this New World, who drove back the savage. Before 
 their pioneer axes primeval forests fell down. The eastern 
 marsh and the mountain wilderness were transformed into 
 wide seed fields and steepled cities. In all ages they have 
 gone forth, not as Rome sent forth her legions, to conquer, 
 rule and crush, but to civilize and Christianize, to lay the 
 foundation of great States and Empires and Republics, to 
 establish Constitutional Government and administer equity to 
 the weak. 
 
 And you men assembled here today bear testimony with 
 me. I say it in memory of the glorious traditions of the past. 
 I say it by the right arms of one hundred thousand Anglo- 
 Saxon men, by the prayers of one hundred thousand Anglo- 
 Saxon women. I swear it by the indominitable courage of 
 the men who met the peril at Gettysburg and Bull Run, by 
 the bones of our brothers, that are sleeping in the battle- 
 scarred bosom of old Virginia. I say it by warrant of Him 
 who ordains in Omnipotence the order of Dominion. I say that 
 North Carolina is the heritage of the white man, and shall 
 forever be ruled by the white race. 
 
56 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 SPEECH ON RESOLUTION FOR THE 
 IMPEACHMENT OF JUDGES 
 
 NOTE: The account of the debate in the House, during the Gen- 
 eral Assembly of 1901, is taken from The News and Observer of Feb- 
 ruary 28, 1901, which also gives a vivid description of the scene that 
 day, as well as the speech of Mr. Craig. 
 
 The lightnings of a great excitement on Monday shot 
 athwart the sky of the North Carolina General Assembly and 
 the thunder thereof shook the very dome of the capitol. 
 
 It was the fourth and last day of the debate in the House 
 on the resolution for impeachment of two of the Supreme 
 Court Judges. It ended — as all had seen for days it must 
 end — in adoption of the resolution. 
 
 The vote was 62 to 33, and its announcement was greeted 
 with a roar of applause. The hands on the clock pointed to 
 2:15. 
 
 It was a history-making day, the like of which it is to be 
 hoped North Carolina will not see again. Realizing that to 
 witness such an event was the opportunity of a life-time, peo- 
 ple had gone to the House early. Women folk crowded the 
 galleries, their gay dresses making great splashes of color 
 against the white walls and pillars. In the lobbies men 
 elbowed each other and every available seat on the floor of 
 the House was called into use. 
 
 Argument on the resolution began at 10:00 and the vote 
 was to be taken at 2:00 o'clock. Of this time, the first two 
 and a half hours were allotted to the Republicans. They spoke 
 generally from manuscript or notes, and were plainly very 
 guarded in their utterances. Mr. Ebbs made the principal 
 argument; he was followed by Messrs. Owen, Mcintosh, 
 Petree and Blythe. This exhausted their two and a half hours. 
 
 The first speakers on the Democratic side were Messrs. 
 Alexander, White of Halifax, and Morphew, who consumed 
 five minutes each. Then Mr. Craig, introducer of the reso- 
 lution in the House, was recognized to make the concluding 
 argument. 
 
 When he arose, the hall was packed almost to suffocation, 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 57 
 
 but the stillness of death pervaded it, and every eye was 
 turned toward the speaker. 
 
 He began slowly, deliberately, telling of the gravity of 
 the question presented to the House and the awe with which 
 he approached it. Then he referred to the solemnity of an 
 impeachment proceeding, declared it the keynote of the Con- 
 stitution, not put there as a scarecrow but as a shield of the 
 law. Already the voice of the speaker had risen till he could 
 be heard in the farthest recesses of the hall, his eyes began 
 to gleam with the fire of enthusiasm and a roar of applause 
 swept over his audience when he declared that "today the 
 majesty of the people, exercised under forms handed down 
 from the fathers, speaking through their representatives will 
 remind the highest judges in this land that they too are 
 amenable to law and must answer for its violation at the bar 
 of the High Court of Impeachment." 
 
 Now the speaker's utterances became more rapid, and 
 self-consciousness had passed away, he had forgotten himself 
 in his subject. His words of denunciation went hissing across 
 the hall like hailstones in a storm : "And, gentlemen, I say if 
 there ever was a time when the extraordinary power of im- 
 peachment ought to be invoked it is now. Go search the 
 record of all judges from the time of Jeffries down to the 
 present and you'll find no example in which judges usurped 
 so much power as these." 
 
 People in the lobbies crowded closer and closer to the 
 speaker, but the stillness was unbroken and the speaker's 
 words rang out more clear and more scathing as he proceeded. 
 Old men who had gone through the terrors of war wept as he 
 told how men had sacrificed life and home and all for a con- 
 stitutional principle, and finally, as he pointed to the picture 
 of Vance, and appealed to "those dumb lips to speak and guide 
 aright the people that had so loved to honor him," a perfect 
 whirlwind of applause swept over the floor and gallery, last- 
 ing so long that Mr. Craig had to pause until he could be 
 heard. 
 
 It was a great speech, greatest of this memorable debate. 
 High in thought, broad in conception, convincing in argument 
 
58 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 and terrible in denunciation, but above all eloquent. Men were 
 thrilled and swayed by it as only the true orator and the 
 thinker can thrill and sway them. 
 
 Mr. Craig spoke for an hour and five minutes and when 
 he ceased there was a wild scene of applause lasting many 
 seconds. Members rushed forward to congratulate him on 
 his superb effort. 
 
 Mr. Craig's Speech 
 
 "Gentlemen of the House: It is said by some that this 
 resolution ought to have been introduced in caucus, so that 
 our party friends might have there considered its advisability. 
 It is not a party matter and should not be decided upon a 
 question of politics. It should be considered on a higher plane 
 than that. Each member of this House should consider this 
 question according to the dictates of his own conscience and 
 not according to the dictates of any party caucus. 
 
 "I shall not discuss the gravity of this occasion. I believe 
 that every member of this House sits here in the full realiza- 
 tion of his solemn and momentous responsibility. These pro- 
 ceedings for the last few days, or as my friend from Martin 
 has termed it, this 'spectacle' has been witnessed with great 
 interest by the people. I hope its necessity has been wit- 
 nessed with great sorrow by all good people. It is no difficult 
 task to bring the smaller offender to the bar of justice — the 
 poor, the weak, the feeble — but today the majesty of the peo- 
 ple of. North Carolina, acting under the forms handed down 
 from days of the fathers of the Revolution, and speaking 
 through the voice of their chosen representatives, teach the 
 great truth so plainly that 'he who runs may read/ that the 
 highest judges are amenable to law and must answer for its 
 violation at the bar of the High Court of Impeachment. (Ap- 
 plause.) I rejoice that this is yet a land of law and constitu- 
 tional government. While there is none so low and so feeble 
 as to be beneath its reach, there is none so high and great and 
 powerful as to be above it. (Loud Applause.) 
 
 "The power of impeachment, as I understand it, is the 
 very keystone of the Constitution. It was not put there as a 
 scare-crow. It was not put there as dry bones to be rattled. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 59 
 
 It was not put there for the purpose of shooting fire crackers, 
 as the Chinese did when they attacked the legations at Pekin, 
 but it was put there as a vital force of the Constitution, as a 
 shield of the Constitution; not to protect the right of the 
 private citizen — the law of the State and the Constitution do 
 that, and if the right of any citizen be infringed he can go into 
 court and vindicate himself and claim his rights and have 
 these rights enforced. But this court of impeachment was 
 organized and established by our fathers to protect and main- 
 tain that law. Whenever we fail to exercise our duty as a 
 court of impeachment, sitting here with the power to impeach, 
 while we do not strike directly at the liberty and the rights 
 of the citizen, we are responsible for the destruction of the 
 law and the Constitution, the shield and protection of every 
 man. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the House : I say if there ever was a time 
 in human history, if there ever was a period in this Govern- 
 ment or any other Government when the high and extra- 
 ordinary power given to this high court of impeachment 
 should be invoked, it is here in the year 1901, and by the 
 General Assembly elected by the people of 1900. As I say, 
 you may search all history; you may read the history of all 
 the judges who presided over the courts of English-speaking 
 people — go search the bloody record of Jeffries, read the trial 
 of the seven Bishops, examine the records of all the judges 
 that have presided over the country from then until now, and 
 in all the history of jurisprudence, you will find that never 
 have judges been guilty of such usurpation to destroy a co- 
 ordinate branch of the Government. (Applause.) 
 
 "In 1898 a terrible state of affairs existed in North Car- 
 olina. It was a state of affairs that brought shame and 
 humiliation to every man and woman in the State who was 
 proud of our past record and gloried in our past history. That 
 serpent that had crept in secrecy and filth and slime for thirty 
 years in this Commonwealth, in 1897 and 1895 raised for the 
 first time its head in this capitol, and licked out its forked 
 tongue of fire and poison and ruin. (Prolonged Applause.) 
 The East was under its dominion and the West did not escape. 
 It polluted and disgraced every public institution of this State. 
 
60 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 (Applause.) The people of North Carolina were aroused ; not 
 only the men but the women also. They were determined to 
 come to her defense and take possession of the State of our 
 fathers, and preserve the heritage which they bequeathed 
 to us. 
 
 "There was a great social and political revolution in North 
 Carolina. The General Assembly of North Carolina came to 
 this capitol in 1899 with a great mission. They came here 
 with the great command of the people; they came here, if 
 you please, to right this wrong ; to drive these rascals out and 
 keep them out. They came to clean out this Augean stable. 
 (Laughter and Applause.) They cleaned it out. I thank my 
 talented young friend from the County of Franklin for his 
 eulogy on that Legislature. They cleaned it out according to 
 the Constitution and according to the written law of this 
 land. (Applause.) 
 
 "I shuddered when my friend from Martin said that they 
 passed these laws in subversion of law and to over-ride the 
 law. I can see how the gentleman from Madison can say that, 
 or the gentleman from Stokes. I can remember how, on this 
 floor, he (Stubbs) stood here and voted for these laws, and 
 now says that the laws were intended to subvert the Consti- 
 tution. (Applause.) The Legislature of 1899, after perform- 
 ing its great and arduous duty, adjourned and left this capitol. 
 We left with forebodings of alarm. We left with feelings 
 that our work might be undone, because we knew the political 
 education and the feeling of the men who controlled another 
 co-ordinate branch of the Government. No sooner had we 
 adjourned and gone home than the Supreme Court of North 
 Carolina, in violation of the prerogative conferred on them by 
 the Constitution, began a systematic, continuous and deter- 
 mined attack upon the work of the General Assembly of '99. 
 My distinguished friend from Mecklenburg said, that when 
 the decision in the Day case was rendered, it shocked his moral 
 conscience. It shocked the moral conscience of every lawyer 
 and every man in North Carolina. (Applause.) It was an 
 admitted power of the General Assembly of North Carolina 
 to abolish an office. That was decided expressly in Hoke vs. 
 Henderson ; but when the Day case was decided by that court 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 61 
 
 it established the unheard of doctrine that no office could be 
 destroyed until the term was out. They held that Day was 
 not only entitled to the office, and to the emoluments thereof, 
 but that he was entitled to the duties of the office, and until 
 its duties ceased, the office could not be abolished. Of course 
 the duties cannot be abolished as long as the Government 
 stands. This is in the case of Hoke vs. Henderson. The Day 
 case was the first. Every man in the State who had tried to 
 keep back the social and political revolution; every man who 
 had stood in defiance of the will of the people, the great peo- 
 ple of this State, sent up a shout of triumph ; and from those 
 who had over-ridden North Carolina and ruined her and 
 brought her to degradation, there went up a shout of triumph 
 because they knew that this was the beginning of the work 
 of destruction, that these judges had the power and would 
 exercise that power flagrantly and defiantly. 
 
 "We effected the great reformation and went home. 
 Within six months there was scarcely an act of that great 
 body left; a few stock laws, some bills to protect fish in 
 Hanging Dog Creek (laughter), a few dispensary bills and 
 acts of incorporation. (Applause.) But the great reforms 
 which we promised the people to carry out and which we did 
 carry out were destroyed. What became of these? They 
 were trampled down and ignored amid the scoffs and jeers of 
 the men who had stood in the way of the social, moral and 
 political progress of this State. This court wiped out the law 
 and scoffed at the lawmaker. There was one great act that 
 was left standing. Yes, we went before our constituents and 
 promised these reforms to the people, and we complied with 
 our promise. (Applause.) But if the Supreme Court is right 
 we were wrong, and we came here under false pretenses, and 
 the Legislature of 1899 was a sham and a delusion and a fraud. 
 There was one law that they did not abolish; I believe there 
 was only one act of political import of the General Assembly 
 that was not abolished ; that was the Election Law. How did 
 we prevent that? Gentlemen of this House tell us that the 
 court did not intend to do wrong; that it did not intend to 
 abolish the law and ignore the General Assembly and trample 
 on the Constitution. There is not a man in North Carolina 
 
62 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 that does not know better. We all know it ; we feel it in our 
 consciences. (Applause.) 
 
 "This one law was not abolished, and it was not abolished 
 because the Legislature did not adjourn. This General 
 Assembly was seated here in perpetual session, from the 10th 
 of March, when the regular session ended, yes, in perpetual 
 session to the 1st of August, 1900, sitting like the Constituent 
 Assembly of France in the throes of the Revolution. For 
 what ? Sitting here holding, as it were, a sword to protect us 
 from our own Supreme Court. That was the only way we 
 could protect our election law. (Applause.) Gentlemen, listen 
 to it: You who came here, yes, every Democrat came; I do 
 not care how poor he was ; and I know many of them left home 
 and took the last dollar out of their pockets to come here, and 
 paid their own expenses and stayed as long as it was necessary 
 to stay; came here when the capitol was in a state of terror! 
 Why? Good lawyers had been employed and were in con- 
 sultation with these men who were seeking to overthrow the 
 laws of the State. We found it necessary, gentlemen, to strike 
 from our books, so far as the election law was concerned, the 
 great writs of mandamus and injunction. That is how this 
 election law was protected by that General Assembly. I hated 
 to vote for the abolition of those writs. They were a part of 
 the great common law handed down to us from the men who 
 laid the foundation of the English Constitution. We voted for 
 the abolition of those writs to curb the power of this judicial 
 oligarchy, that was the willing instrument of the men who 
 wished to bring into contempt the Legislature of 1899 that 
 they might again assume control of this State, and bring back 
 to high places the minions of the black horde that had plun- 
 dered the State. Who does not fear these judges? Who does 
 not think they are dangerous? 
 
 "A great deal has been said about the court of impeach- 
 ment. The court of impeachment is not a court for the pun- 
 ishment of the offenders; not at all. We do not deal with 
 these judges as we deal with individuals, but we deal with 
 them in their official capacity. It matters not what they may 
 do, so far as this court is concerned. They may commit mur- 
 der, burglary, or violate the criminal laws of this State, but 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 63 
 
 the court of impeachment could not lay one finger upon a hair 
 of their head or one dollar of their property. Where is the 
 man that will say that they are not dangerous to the law of 
 this land? The General Assembly of 1899 adjourned and 
 went home with the earnest hope for peace. Yes, gentlemen, 
 let's adjourn and go home again with a prayer and with a 
 hope of peace. (Laughter.) A General Assembly that will 
 stay here from day to day in perpetual session and then be 
 destroyed can fulminate as much as it pleases. What will it 
 amount to ? It stands discredited in this State so far as these 
 judges can discredit it. Every single political decision that 
 was made was made in antagonism to and to destroy the 
 Legislature of '99, and that we all know. (Applause.) 
 
 "Gentlemen, I do not believe that these judges over-rode 
 the Constitution and destroyed our statute law for the sole 
 purpose of reinstating the fusion office-holders. There was a 
 greater purpose beyond. They were going to the destruction 
 of that which was permanent, that which guarantees that this 
 State and her future destiny shall be controlled by the moral 
 and intellectual manhood of North Carolina. They were 
 blazing the way. 
 
 "Finally they came to the case of White against the 
 Auditor. The gentleman from Forsyth was talking the other 
 day about mental gymnastics, but by some kind of judicial 
 gymnastics these judges leaped over all repealing statutes, 
 they got upon the stilts of 'In Paria Materia' and leaped over 
 the Constitution and the law and turned out Hill and the six 
 other commissioners. They went to the dusty archives and 
 searched up the old English doctrine of 'In Paria Materia.' 
 They gave to it a meaning which it never had. In order to 
 perform their duties, the law prescribed that these seven 
 Shell Fish Commissioners must be at their posts of duty in 
 seven different places at the same time. Although in the 
 case of the State's Prison vs. Day they have decided that the 
 duties of an officer could not be transferred to another, in 
 White vs. Hill they clothed White with duties that were never 
 given to him by any statute ; and in the opinion in Abbott vs. 
 Beddingfield they invested Abbott with the powers not only 
 of Railroad Commissioner, but a Bank Examiner and powers 
 
64 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 therefore exercised by the State Treasurer and the State 
 Auditor. This was not only in violation of law and every 
 statute, but in violation of the doctrine laid down in State's 
 Prison vs. Day. 
 
 "Why did we pass Chapter 21, Laws of 1899 ? Why did we 
 pass it, gentlemen? We were afraid that the Supreme Court 
 would turn Hill and the other six commissioners out, were we 
 not ? And we did not intend that the court that turned them 
 out should usurp the powers of the Government by placing any 
 one else in, and we knew that White wanted the money that 
 was in it, and that was all that he cared for ; and so the statute 
 provides that he could not get his money. Would the judges 
 say that they did not know that was what the Legislature 
 meant? I read Chapter 21, Laws of '99. 
 
 "Now, gentlemen, I thought that was where the gentle- 
 man from Franklin got confused in his argument. The act 
 says, 'The State Treasurer shall not pay any person or per- 
 sons unless such person or persons be authorized' — authorized 
 by what? By the act of 1899. He is not forbidden to pay 
 any person unless he is performing the duties prescribed by 
 the Act of 1899 ; he is not forbidden to pay any persons unless 
 they are carrying out the objects of the Act of 1899, but he 
 is forbidden to pay any person unless that person is authorized 
 by the Act of 1899. He must go to the Treasurer clothed with 
 the authority of the Act of 1899. Hill and six other men are 
 the only ones authorized by the Act of 1899; White is not 
 authorized. Chapter 21 says in words as plain as can be 
 written that he should not be paid by the Treasurer. That is 
 the legislative mandamus. It estimates from the only power 
 that has the right to control the finances. The Legislature 
 had the right under the Constitution to say that he should 
 not. When the judges said that he should it was a plain and 
 unmistakable usurpation of power, and in defiance not only 
 of the statute, but of Article 4, Section 9, of the Constitution. 
 This law is so plain that no one can misunderstand it. 
 
 "What shall we do with these judges, gentlemen? That 
 is really the only question. It is almost unanimously admitted 
 by the Democrats of this House that they have wilfully vio- 
 lated the law and the Constitution ; that they are impeachable. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 65 
 
 The question is, what shall we do ? The gentleman from Wil- 
 son in his speech in their defense, said in substance that they 
 had violated the law and culminated in violating the law, and 
 that we ought to fulminate against them. What ? Fulminate 
 and fulminate and culminate in fulminating? (Laughter.) 
 Was there not a fulmination from this General Assembly in 
 June, 1900, and when every one of these opinions had been 
 handed down? Has there not been delivered a warning to 
 these judges in the shape of a dissenting opinion? Why shall 
 we fulminate? Has not the Chief Justice defiantly declared 
 that any threat of impeachment will not deter him. A ful- 
 mination such as the gentleman jf Wilson would have us 
 adopt, is nothing more nor less than a threat of impeachment. 
 The gentleman from Wilson properly says that if a threat 
 would not deter him he ought to be Impeached; if it would 
 not deter him it is futile. I do not mean to reflect upon the 
 gentleman from Wilson. He is one of the ablest men in this 
 State and one of the best beloved men, whose presence honors 
 this General Assembly. I certainly would not reflect on the 
 courage of men who favor the substitute, for men who can 
 walk up and face a proposition like that, could stand unterrified 
 before an army with banners. 
 
 "What shall we do ? The gentleman from Wilson says we 
 must not apply the heroic remedy. We have applied heroic 
 remedies in North Carolina. But for heroic action we would 
 not be here. I will ask the gentleman from Scotland how was 
 it that only two votes were cast against the Amendment in 
 his county if it were not on account of the heroism of the 
 men of Scotland? (Applause.) Why is the high-minded and 
 able son of Wilson here to serve his County and his State 
 except by heroic action of his constituents ? In the mountain 
 section of this State I have stood in the presence of armed 
 and enraged multitudes, where there were three Republicans 
 to one Democrat, and proclaimed the truth of Democracy. 
 The men that stood by me were heroes, every one of them. 
 (Applause.) They feared not death itself. They defied the 
 power of the enemies of this State. Yes, in defiance of the 
 Federal Judges and Federal Power, the people of this State 
 have dared to do their duty and enforce the law. (Renewed 
 
66 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Applause.) That was heroic action. And, gentlemen, re- 
 membering those men, how they did their duty like heroes, 
 I propose to take heroic action here today. 
 
 "You (pointing to the gentleman from Scotland, amid ap- 
 plause), and you (pointing to the gentleman from Wilson), 
 have sat here and had it hurled in your face by the gentleman 
 from Madison that you were here by fraud and violation of 
 law. I have stood upon this floor and hurled back their 
 charges of slander upon the brave men of the East. (Pro- 
 longed Applause.) The 175,000 men that stand behind us are 
 heroes, and were willing to apply heroic remedy to save North 
 Carolina. Shall the heroism cease with them? The hour has 
 come when we must pull down from the high places the men 
 who would destroy the work that the people of North Car- 
 olina have accomplished. Yes, I for one, am willing to apply 
 the heroic remedy. (Loud Applause.) 
 
 "Talk about public sentiment: I do not know how public 
 sentiment is. It is not my greatest concern how it is. My 
 greatest concern is to know the right and do it. I think that 
 public sentiment is about all one way. I have heard from the 
 men of the mountains, and know that they are with me. In 
 the towns of the State there are some, I will admit, who are 
 afraid of what other people may think, and they are alarmed. 
 There is a public sentiment here against the impeachment, a 
 public sentiment manufactured by a powerful lobby. (Ap- 
 plause.) It is always thus, when you attack men in places of 
 power. The people have no lobby. They are at home attend- 
 ing to their daily occupations. We gentlemen are here to 
 represent them, that great constituency that has no lobby. 
 So far as I am concerned, I defy that lobby. (Loud and Pro- 
 longed Applause.) Members of this House can hardly walk 
 the streets without being button-holed off in corners, and even 
 the Senate itself — the court to try this case, has been ap- 
 proached. 
 
 "There was a public sentiment in this State when Holden 
 was impeached. Some people were frightened, and advised 
 against it. He, too, employed great lawyers to defend him. 
 There was one that he could not employ. Vance was offered 
 a fee of $5,000, and though he was poor, almost needing the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 67 
 
 necessities of life, he replied that no amount of money could 
 purchase his services against his people. He said he could 
 live and die in poverty, but there was not gold enough in their 
 coffers to buy him. (Applause.) You older men remember 
 those dark days of '68. There were great men in this State 
 that counselled submission to a victorious enemy. You re- 
 member how the great leader of the people stood upon the 
 portico of the National Hotel and hurled defiance at the 
 carpet-baggers and scalawags. (Applause.) His voice rang 
 like a trumpet note from the mountains to the sea. He saved 
 North Carolina. I wish that we had a Vance today. (Ap- 
 plause.) Would that (pointing to Vance's picture) that lion 
 heart could speak again; that from those lips of 'love and 
 melting pity and greatness and fiery wrath/ there could come 
 one bugle call. This public sentiment would vanish. He would 
 make it more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the day 
 of judgment than for these men in North Carolina who are 
 trampling down our Constitution and destroying our State. 
 (Loud Applause.) Oh, that his spirit could descend upon 
 some of his beloved and talented followers today, and breathe 
 into them the spirit of the men of '68 and '70 and '76. There 
 would be none of this lobbying here. 
 
 "This is not the Constitution of '37 nor of '68 nor of '75. 
 It is the Constitution that has been building since the day 
 when William the Norman set his foot upon Britain. It is 
 Magna Charta, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Meck- 
 lenburg, the Declaration of Philadelphia, moulded into one 
 great organic law. 
 
 "The question is, shall we preserve this Constitution, this 
 heritage, from our fathers? The $825.00 is a small matter, 
 but if they violate the Constitution for that, then for a million 
 dollars — for the special tax bonds, they would destroy it and 
 leave not one stone upon another. It was for this Constitu- 
 tion that our fathers went to battle in 1861. (Applause.) It 
 was not for the preservation of slavery but for the preserva- 
 tion of their rights guaranteed by the organic law. It was 
 when the Constitution was violated that the drums began to 
 beat, armies set out, artillery rattled along, clouds of cavalry 
 
68 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 galloped in the storm, and Stonewall Jackson, transfigured 
 into an arch angel of war, advanced amid the thunders of 
 battle with a united people at his back. (Loud Applause.) 
 It was not until the bodies of our brothers and fathers had 
 been crushed into the bloody earth by the heel of an invading 
 army that the Constitution was destroyed. The spirit of our 
 people was not broken; they hobbled home on crutches from 
 Appomattox ; with empty sleeves they came ; they had nothing 
 but the old Confederate uniform, but they vouchsafed to us 
 an undying devotion to Constitutional Government. In the 
 name of the men who died on Cemetery Hill, in the name of 
 the men who met the peril in the Wilderness and in trenches 
 around Richmond, in the spirit of those men we will defend 
 and preserve our Constitution today, I tell you it does require 
 heroic action. (Loud Applause.) 
 
 "It is a time of judicial usurpation. I wish I had time to 
 talk about it. One of the great political parties of this country 
 has felt it necessary to make a solemn declaration against 
 government by injunction. We have felt the power of a 
 Federal Judge from South Carolina. He enjoined the con- 
 stituted officers of this State from levying taxes on powerful 
 corporations. (Applause.) The usurpation of power by 
 judges must be stopped. It is more to be dreaded today than 
 the advances of an imperial army, (Loud Applause.) 
 
 "If this supreme oligarchy can flagrantly and imperiously 
 destroy the statutes of this State one after another, what has 
 become of the government by the people? Do these judges 
 expect that they can forever continue in their unprecedented 
 usurpations and never be stopped? Do they think that they 
 can tear down one after another every rule of law and every 
 statute that conflicts with their partisan will, and that one 
 will say to them, nay? They cannot forever shield them- 
 selves behind this veil of sanctity with which a false senti- 
 ment has protected the courts. (Applause.) The time has 
 come when the temple must be purified and the sacrilegious 
 priests must be driven out. If what we have seen during the 
 past two years is in accordance with the law and the Con- 
 stitution, then indeed is this Government, with its boasted 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 69 
 
 institutions and three co-ordinate independent branches come 
 to naught. 
 
 "It is a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the 
 stage, and then is seen no more. 
 
 "It is a tale by an idol, full of sound and fury, signifying 
 nothing 
 
 " 'And tomorrow, and tomorrow, and tomorrow, creeps in 
 its petty pace from day to day till the last syllable of recorded 
 time, and all our yesterdays have lighted fools the way to 
 dusty death.' 
 
 "We are here to protect our Constitution. That is our 
 first and highest duty. There are no politics in this proceeding. 
 We have not allowed politics to be dragged into it. The 
 official heads of the Republican Party have denounced this pro- 
 ceeding as wicked, and declared that it was instituted for the 
 purpose of packing the Supreme Court to consummate a 
 scheme of disfranchisement. In the name of every honest 
 man in this Legislature, in the name of our great constituency, 
 I denounce that as a vile slander. (Applause.) If the Supreme 
 Court, as Pritchard and Pearson and Linney have intimated, 
 intend to declare our amendment unconstitutional, that this 
 court has been packed for that purpose, it ought to be un- 
 packed. (Applause.) We adopted that great measure. After 
 thirty years of struggle we came up to it through tribulation 
 and tears and heroism. The people of this State ordained as 
 amid fire and trumpet voices that it should be a law unto us 
 and to our children, that it should bring peace and good gov- 
 ernment and a feeling of security and when Pritchard and 
 Pearson throw that down before this House as guage of battle 
 we pick it up, we will defend it, we will maintain it at all 
 hazards. We will strip from the shoulders of unworthy 
 judges the ermine that was worn by Gaston and Battle and 
 Merrimon, and Smith and Ruff in, the great judges and chan- 
 cellors whose learning and virtues have adorned the judicial 
 history of the English-speaking people. (Loud Applause.) 
 
 "We may build monuments to the great men of the past; 
 we can best honor our fathers by preserving the institutions 
 which they have left us. In stern condemnation of this crime 
 
70 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 against our law, in dutiful respect of our fathers whose tra- 
 ditions have been ignobly thwarted, in the name of the Con- 
 stitution which has been outraged — of the laws trampled 
 down — of peace destroyed, of the will of the people crushed 
 to earth, and in the name of the Heavenly Father whose ser- 
 vice is perfect justice, I demand that David M. Furches, Chief 
 Justice of North Carolina, and Robert M. Douglas, Associate 
 Justice of the Supreme Court of North Carolina, be impeached 
 of high crimes and misdemeanors in office." (Loud and Pro- 
 longed Applause.) 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 71 
 
 JOINT DEBATE WITH SENATOR 
 PRITCHARD 
 
 (Charlotte, October 9th, 1902) 
 
 NOTE: Mr. Craig said he always felt that he got the best of 
 Senator Pritchard, but that nobody else seemed to agree with him. 
 The fact was that a large majority of Democrats at that time were 
 not for him for Senator, neither were any of the Republicans, so that 
 when he faced Senator Pritchard in debate, he faced the solid oppo- 
 sition of the Republicans, and the opposition of the friends of all the 
 other Democratic candidates, leaving his boosters in the minority. 
 Nevertheless, the Democrats were loyal and enthusiastic for him at 
 all of the joint debates. 
 
 Vast audiences greeted the two everywhere, and by the close of 
 the campaign, which was in Asheville, Mr. Craig had begun to feel 
 the strain, and well wishing friends had prepared for him, instead of 
 the customary glass of water on the rostrum table, a glass of crystal 
 "Mountain Dew," properly diluted and sweetened! Mr. Craig spoke 
 first, and did not feel the need of this stimulant, but he was followed 
 by Senator Pritchard, who after speaking some time, saw what ap- 
 peared to him to be a glass of clear spring water, and drank the whole 
 contents, much to the amusement of those who knew, as it was a well 
 known fact that the Senator was a teetotler. However, he seemed to 
 enjoy the refreshment, and was afterwards frequently known to com- 
 ment on the excellence of Asheville water! 
 
 Mr. Craig and Senator Pritchard (afterwards Judge Pritchard of 
 the United States Court of Appeals) were always the best of friends 
 during and after this debate. Their friendship felt no reaction in spite 
 of the heated strife often reached between their respective adherents. 
 
 After the death of Judge Pritchard, a few years ago, Ex-Governor 
 Craig, at the invitation of the family, pronounced a eulogy on the late 
 Judge and Senator, at the memorial services before the United States 
 Circuit of Appeals, in which he spoke most feelingly of his friendship 
 for Judge Pritchard, paying a high tribute to his personal character 
 as a citizen, a statesman, and a judge. Among other things he said: 
 
 "Judge Pritchard came from East Tennessee — a blue-eyed, curley- 
 headed boy, without money or influence, to work out his own fortune 
 and destiny. The primitive, unharnessed men of the mountains knew 
 then that the heir-apparent to the throne of their allegiance had ap- 
 peared. Ever afterwards they followed and trusted him as their friend 
 and leader." 
 
 SPEECH OF HON. LOCKE CRAIG 
 
 Delivered At Charlotte In Joint Debate With Senator 
 
 Pritchard On October 9th, 1902. 
 
 (Mr. Craig spoke one hour and fifteen minutes. Mr. Pritchard 
 replied in a speech of one hour and twenty minutes, and Mr. Craig had 
 a rejoinder of fifteen minutes. Mr. Craig's opening speech is given 
 below.) 
 
 To address an audience like this on questions of great 
 moment is to assume a serious responsibility. Charlotte is 
 not only a centre of southern industry but it is a thought- 
 
72 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 germinating centre as well. When I look upon this assembly 
 of intellectual men and women I realize that today, as in the 
 important epochs of the past, the people of Mecklenburg are 
 a potential factor in the building of the State and in the 
 making of her laws. 
 
 "Equal rights to all; special privilege to none," is the 
 axiom of just government and the corner stone of Democratic 
 faith. While the truth of this aphorism is universally ad- 
 mitted as a theory, its practical application in matters of 
 government has been and is strenuously denied. 
 
 The present condition of business and industry is forcing 
 again upon the American people the question of tariff tax- 
 ation. The Republican Party stands today for the theory of 
 protection in the extreme. The Democratic Party advocates, 
 as it always has, a tariff for revenue to meet the expenses of 
 the Government honestly and economically administered. The 
 Republican Party believes that the way to promote the wel- 
 fare and happiness of the people is to legislate for the benefit 
 of the privileged classes, and that if certain privileges be con- 
 ferred upon the upper classes so as to promote their welfare 
 the prosperity resulting will leak down and finally reach the 
 people. The Democratic Party believes that the way to pro- 
 mote the welfare of all the people, is to do justice to all peo- 
 ple, to grant equal rights to all and special privileges to none. 
 
 The policy of the protective tariff cannot be defended upon 
 the principles of justice. The Government has a right to levy 
 taxes upon its citizens to meet the expenses of the Govern- 
 ment, but if it go one step further and levy taxes for the 
 benefit of any individual or any class it does what it has no 
 right to do. This protective policy always has and always 
 will be exercised in the interest of the wealthy and powerful, 
 and against the interest of the great body of the people. It 
 is by this policy that certain sections of the Union have grown 
 rich and that the South has been kept poor. 
 
 North Carolina is mostly an agricultural State. The pro- 
 duction of cotton, corn and wheat is her principal industry. 
 These articles cannot be protected as their price is determined, 
 not in the home protected market, but in the markets of the 
 world. No amount of tariff on corn, wheat or cotton can pos- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 73 
 
 sibly do North Carolina any good, because the market value 
 of these articles is fixed, not at home, but abroad. So it is 
 with all the staple products of the South. Nearly all of that 
 which the South sells, she sells in the open free trade market ; 
 and most of the articles she buys she is forced to buy in the 
 protected market of monopoly. To demonstrate that the Re- 
 publican policy of protection has not added to the value of 
 the staple crops of the South, I cite the fact that in 1898, 
 under the high tariff of the Dingley Bill, corn, wheat and 
 cotton reached their lowest value. Corn was 28 cents a bushel, 
 wheat 58 cents, hay $6.00 a ton, cotton 4V& cents a pound. 
 
 Senator Pritchard talks about an imaginary trade that 
 Senator Simmons made with a New England manufacturer 
 whereby Senator Simmons promised to put lumber on the 
 free list for the benefit of the New Englander in consideration 
 of the New Englander's voting the Democratic ticket. That 
 is all in Senator Pritchard's imagination. But what trade 
 has been actually made by Senator Pritchard and his party? 
 The people of North Carolina buy their clothing, their farm- 
 ing utensils, and nearly all of their manufactured articles 
 from the Middle and New England States. The price of these 
 is increased from 25 to 100 per cent by the Dingley Bill. For 
 these articles we pay these northern manufacturers the full 
 market price plus a bonus of millions of dollars every year 
 and they buy from us the products of our farms at a price 
 fixed in the open market. 
 
 The Senator and his party have given them protection on 
 all of the valuable necessities of life and in return he boasts 
 of the protection on scrap mica and chicken roosters. The 
 Senator claims that the Dingley Bill has increased the price 
 of our lumber, but his argument on this proves too much. The 
 tariff on lumber is $2.00 per thousand and since 1894 the price 
 of lumber has increased many times that amount per thousand. 
 The tariff of $2.00 could only raise the price $2.00 for as soon 
 as the price rises above $2.00 it floats over the tariff wall and 
 mingles and competes with the price in the outside world. But 
 lumber is like most of the other southern products. Its value 
 is fixed in the markets abroad and its price is regulated by 
 the demand. All of our valuable lumber is exported and com- 
 
74 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 petes with the lumber of the world in the markets of London 
 and Berlin. I admit that the tariff does have a tendency to 
 raise the price of mica, but I submit that the whole govern- 
 ment policy ought not to be based upon the workings of a few 
 little mica mines in Mitchell County. I would like to see these 
 miners prosper but I am not willing for the Southern people 
 to pay millions of dollars on account of the tariff to the nor- 
 thern manufacturers and in return get a few hundred dollars 
 benefit on account of the tariff on mica. 
 
 The future development of North Carolina is dependent 
 largely upon cotton growing and cotton spinning. In 1900 the 
 cotton crop of North Carolina was worth more than twenty 
 million dollars and there are 250 cotton mills in North Car- 
 olina that cost $33,632,080. In the manufacture of cotton 
 this State is advancing more rapidly than any State in the 
 Union. This is the pride of North Carolina and Charlotte is 
 the nucleus of this great and growing industry. This after- 
 noon I rode along the east of your city and looked upon this 
 metropolis of enterprise. Here and there were the tall smoke 
 stacks of the cotton mills, the mainspring of the commercial 
 life of this city and section. Surely the builders of these cot- 
 ton mills ought to be encouraged. They give employment to 
 people and capital; they benefit the farmer by increasing the 
 price of his cotton; they add wealth and population to the 
 State; they are building our cities; they have changed Char- 
 lotte from a provincial town to the leading commercial and 
 industrial city of the State. The party or law that throws an 
 obstacle in the way of the development of our cotton mill in- 
 dustry is a public enemy. The men whose capital and whose 
 energy are building these mills are the benefactors of the 
 State. They ought to be encouraged and this great southern 
 industry now fairly beginning is entitled to consideration. 
 The Republican Party by its tariff schedule has done all that 
 it could to cripple this industry. Seventy-five per cent of the 
 cost of a cotton mill is for machinery; of a two hundred 
 thousand dollar mill one hundred and fifty thousand dollars is 
 for machinery. On this machinery there is a tariff tax of 
 from forty to forty-five per cent — sixty thousand dollars ap- 
 proximately. Before our enterprising man can build a factory 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 75 
 
 and turn a wheel in Charlotte he must pay sixty thousand 
 dollars to some northern syndicate for the privilege. Sixty 
 thousand dollars taken from the industry of this section and 
 given as a bonus to some syndicate in Pennsylvania or New 
 England ! 
 
 The County of Mecklenburg in this way has lost more 
 than a million dollars — more than a million dollars earned by 
 the industry and energy of her people gone forever and with- 
 out any compensation. In this way, on cotton mill machinery 
 alone North Carolina has been forced to pay more than ten 
 million dollars as a bonus to northern syndicates. This ten 
 million dollars our people have earned and others have gotten 
 it by unjust laws without consideration, and yet the Repub- 
 lican Party pretends to be the friend of enterprise in the 
 South. Whenever we build a new cotton mill or buy a new 
 machine this process of extortion goes on. It is not strange 
 that the mill business is not in a flourishing condition. The 
 wonder is that it has done as well as it has. While this great 
 wrong is perpetrated on the people of the South we may ex- 
 pect mills to close down as they have done. It is not strange 
 that "progress halts on palsied feet." 
 
 The tariff affects agriculture as it has the manufacture 
 of cotton. On all the farming utensils and on most of the 
 necessities of life that the farmer has to buy he must pay a 
 bonus from 25 to 100 per cent. As the great body of our peo- 
 ple are engaged in agriculture the bounty that the farmers 
 pay to the protected interest of the North amounts to im- 
 measurably more than the cotton mill men pay. It is this 
 policy that for thirty-five years has impoverished the South 
 while the North has made millions by keeping the farmer 
 poor. It is a policy that will always be enforced as long as 
 the Republican Party controls the Government. That party 
 was born to hatred of the South and its whole policy has been 
 to the ruin of the South. The only hope that the southern 
 farmer and the southern manufacturer has is the restoration 
 to power of the Democratic Party, the party of the people 
 and of the whole Union; the special friend of no section and 
 no class, but the party that would administer even handed 
 
76 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 justice and righteous laws to all the people in every section 
 of the Union. 
 
 Senator Pritchard and the Republican Party claim that 
 the Republican administration and Republican laws have 
 brought to us prosperity. They say that in 1892 times were 
 good, that during the Democratic administration under Cleve- 
 land times were hard and that prosperity came again with 
 the restoration to power of the Republican Party. The basic 
 assumption of their argument is that times were good in 1892 
 and '93. This is not a fact. In 1892 our financial system was 
 in unsound condition and industry was demoralized. As an 
 evidence of this fact Cleveland's administration borrowed six 
 hunderd and sixty-two millions of dollars, but borrowed this 
 money by selling bonds printed upon plates prepared by Fos- 
 ter, Secretary of the Treasury under President Harrison. 
 Senator Pritchard says that Foster knew that the Democrats 
 were going to borrow money and that he had the plates pre- 
 pared because he was a political prophet. It does not take 
 any political prophet to know that it is and always will be 
 necessary for the Democrats to borrow money after the Re- 
 publicans have had a chance at the treasury; it does not take 
 a prophet nor the son of a prophet to know that when they 
 have their hands on the public funds either State or National 
 and are driven out of office they take all with them and leave 
 nothing behind. It was necessary to borrow this money be- 
 cause of the unsound condition of our finances, a condition 
 created by thirty years of Republican profligacy and misrule. 
 As a further evidence of the fact that times were hard in 
 1892 we must remember that it was then the Populist Party 
 was organized. This was a protest, though an unwise protest, 
 against the unjust laws that then bore heavily on the farm- 
 ing people. We were entering the panic which reached the 
 crisis in 1893. Baring Bros., of London, failed in 1890, which 
 was the beginning of this era of financial depression; in 1893 
 and 1894 we were suffering from the disease with which the 
 body politic was afflicted long before the election of Cleveland. 
 From 1893 and after the passage of the Wilson Tariff Bill 
 times began to improve. The condition of the people got 
 better. These are facts of history even now fresh in the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 77 
 
 memory of everyone and it is small politics to assume the 
 contrary. 
 
 I have already attempted to show how the Dingley Bill 
 cannot bring prosperity to us. To take from a man or an 
 industry from 25 to 100 per cent of his just earnings certainly 
 does not tend to make him prosperous. The Republicans can- 
 not claim with any show of reason that the Dingley Bill 
 brought prosperity to this country for the same prosperity 
 we have is world wide. They are enjoying it in England, 
 Germany, France and Japan. Senator Pritchard would hardly 
 claim that the tariff on mica has brought prosperity to the 
 empires of the world. His argument is based upon the old 
 fallacy, "post hoc ergo procter hoc." Whatever prosperity we 
 have has come in spite of the Dingley Bill. Whatever pros- 
 perity our people have had comes to them by unremitting 
 toil and by hard work of muscle and brain. If our farmers 
 have prosperity it is because they have gone out in the early 
 morning and worked hard all day and dug it out of the ground ; 
 it has not come to them by the Dingley Bill. At half past four 
 in the morning at my home in Asheville I hear the long, loud, 
 hoarse whistle of the cotton mill, and when I inquire why it 
 blows so long and so loud they tell me that little children 
 must be awakened out of their beds that they may go to the 
 mill while it is yet dark and work for weary, weary hours 
 until it is dark again. They do this to accumulate a little 
 money to buy clothes and school books when school opens. 
 It is by work like this that the poor people make a living for 
 themselves and their families. 
 
 Man has not only worked with his muscle but he has 
 worked with his brain. He has looked into the recesses of 
 nature and there discovered her mysterious forces. He has 
 harnessed the steam to his trains and drives them across the 
 country with a speed faster than that of the fastest race 
 horse. He looked into the clouds and saw the lightning and 
 bridled it and harnessed it and drives it like a docile animal, 
 and when it springs from the dynamo instead of the rattle of 
 the terrifying thunder we hear the song of a thousand looms 
 and the music of ten thousand spindles. Steam and electricity 
 have taken the place of brute force and the machine performs 
 
78 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 all the delicate functions of human hands. Man by his work 
 and genius has created wealth and in thousand fold abundance. 
 Yes, I will admit that prosperity has come — I will admit that 
 it has come to the men to whom the city of Charlotte has 
 paid more than a million dollars in bounty. I will admit that 
 it has come to the syndicates and trust magnates of the 
 world; it has come to those who "toil not, neither do they 
 spin," but it has not come to the people as it ought to have 
 come. 
 
 The American people are the most industrious people of 
 the world and the smartest people. We have in America a 
 conservative, hardworking citizenship. They do not owe the 
 Republican Party for what they have earned by their muscle 
 and by their brain, and yet they tell us that if the working- 
 man can start out early in the morning with a bucket full of 
 coarse food and work hard all day and every day that he may 
 make an humble living for his family, he must come back 
 home at night and fall upon his knees and thank Mark Hanna 
 and the Dingley Bill for the great prosperity that he enjoys. 
 
 Perhaps you have heard the story of the little fellow who 
 carried his father's corn to the mill for the first time. He 
 didn't know anything about the management of the mill and 
 pretty soon he saw the miller come and dip his toll dish deep 
 into the sack and pour his toll into the bin. Then he poured 
 the corn into the hopper, shaking out every grain. The little 
 fellow was looking on in wide-eyed astonishment and when 
 the miller dropped the sack the little fellow grabbed it and 
 bolted out of the door, he ran home as fast as he could, the 
 miller after him. The little fellow was fleet of foot and outran 
 the miller and got home and fell exhausted into the arms of 
 his father, who inquired what on earth was the matter. The 
 little fellow replied that the miller had stolen the last grain 
 of corn and given him a devil of a race for the sack but he 
 had managed to save that. 
 
 The working people of the country make all the corn and 
 carry it to the mill ; they build all the palaces and all the rail- 
 roads ; they make and spin all of the cotton and if they have 
 even a sack left Senator Pritchard tells them they ought to 
 be thankful for that; that this is prosperity and that they 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 79 
 
 are enjoying this prosperity because he had the tariff put on 
 mica and chicken roosters. 
 
 The Republican Party stands for the policies that prevent 
 an industrial upbuilding of the South as a section, and the 
 deserved prosperity of the people, and it also stands against 
 the great body of her people. It stands for monopoly and the 
 trusts. Any man or corporation engaged in legitimate enter- 
 prise should have the protection and encouragement of the 
 laws and receive just treatment. An individual or corporation, 
 rich or poor, great or small, weak or powerful, should be con- 
 sidered as a vital part of the body politic and should receive 
 encouragement. Corporations are agents of industry and 
 great corporations are necessary to carry on gigantic enter- 
 prise and for the full realization of the possibilities of this 
 progressive age. They are creatures of state and should be 
 the agents of progress, but when a corporation has grown to 
 such proportions that it will not tolerate competition, when 
 it is no longer a legitimate enterprise, when it has for its 
 aim the destruction of all enterprise and the paralysis of in- 
 dustry that it may for its own advantages arbitrarily fix the 
 price of the necessities of life, when in the enjoyment of crim- 
 inal monopoly it extortions upon the helpless, the defenseless 
 and the poor to satisfy its greed, the Government should inter- 
 fere. Such an organization as I have described is the modern 
 "trust." These criminals are protected by the Republican 
 Party. There are about 280 of them in the United States. 
 As shown by the testimony before the Industrial Committee 
 they control about 75 per cent of the manufactured product 
 of the country. In their interest the Republican Party man- 
 ages this Government. 
 
 Senator Pritchard has defined the trust as a cancer and 
 says this American cancer cannot be removed from the body 
 politic without causing death. This is a humiliating admis- 
 sion for the Republican Party to make. After controlling the 
 Government for thirty-five years they admit that we are 
 affliced with an incurable cancer that is eating away our life. 
 Senator Pritchard calls himself a cancer doctor but he is not. 
 He refuses to apply the knife to the cancer. To show his 
 attitude and the attitude of his party on the question of trusts, 
 
80 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 I read the following resolution introduced in Congress by Mr. 
 Richardson, of Tennessee: 
 
 "That when it is shown to the satisfaction of the Presi- 
 dent and Secretary of the Treasury that articles and com- 
 modities are manufactured and controlled or produced in the 
 United States by a trust or trusts, the importation of such 
 articles and commodities from foreign countries shall be free 
 of duty until, in the opinion of the President and Secretary 
 of the Treasury, such manufacture, control, or production 
 shall have ceased." 
 
 This resolution could not possibly affect any legitimate 
 industry in this country. It would do nothing but take the 
 production away from the criminal. The Republicans, of 
 course, refused to consider it. Senator Pritchard says he 
 would not vote for it to save Mr. Richardson's life. Senator 
 Pritchard may be willing to see Mr. Richardson die for apply- 
 ing to his party such a severe test that exposes their hy- 
 pocrisy; but the object is not to save Mr. Richardson's life 
 but to stop the extortions of these criminal organizations. 
 When this test is applied the Republican Senator from North 
 Carolina sent there to represent the people, the honest hard- 
 working people of this State, when he is forced to take a 
 stand, at the dictation of his party he stands by the million- 
 aire combines and against his own people whose interest he 
 should protect. We will repudiate the party and the senator 
 that repudiate us in this hour of trial and we want a Senator 
 who will stand by the people and not by the criminal trusts. 
 
 To demonstrate the iniquity of the trusts I call your at- 
 tention to the fact that they sell the necessities of life and 
 articles of industry, such as agricultural implements, cotton 
 mill machinery and the like, cheaper to the foreigner than 
 they sell the same class of implements to the home people. 
 They have two sets of customers and two sets of prices. One 
 set of customers the people of the United States, the people 
 of Mecklenburg County; the other the foreigners that the 
 Republican Party has always pretended to protect us against. 
 Yet the trust under the protection of the Dingley Bill charges 
 the American farmer and the American mill man from 25 to 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 81 
 
 100 per cent more for the same class of articles than it charges 
 the foreigner. 
 
 The Democrats in Congress propose to stop that. Here is 
 another resolution introduced and supported by the Demo- 
 crats. 
 
 "That when it is shown to the satisfaction of the Presi- 
 dent and Secretary of the Treasury that any article or com- 
 modity which is manufactured in the United States is sold in 
 a foreign country more cheaply than the price at which the 
 same article or commodity is sold in the United States, the 
 rate of duty on such article or commodity shall be reduced 
 by the President and Secretary of the Treasury 50 per cent 
 of the present rate, or to such extent as to prevent the con- 
 tinuance of such irregularity and injustice, and remove the 
 indirect tariff bounty which promotes the same." 
 
 The Republicans refuse not only to protect the American 
 people but refuse to allow anyone else to withhold the hand 
 of the sandbaggar and the robber. They would not allow this 
 resolution which appeals to the justice and fairness of every 
 man to become the law. This protection of the trusts by the 
 law is so notoriously wrong that the Republican Convention 
 in the great Agricultural State of Iowa has declared against 
 it and for the Democratic position. Mr. Babcock, the Chair- 
 man of the Republican Congressional Committee, has declared 
 that this protection of the trusts cannot be defended. Sec- 
 retary Shaw admits that it is wrong and the Rough Rider 
 who charged with waving sword up the bloody, storm-swept 
 heights of San Juan could not face the storm of opposition to 
 this policy that is rising in the great Northwest. He started 
 to the State of Iowa and the Northwest but hurt his leg and 
 had to come back. He now says that the tariff ought to be 
 readjusted. The people say so but Senator Pritchard says 
 not an "i" shall be dotted nor a "t" crossed in this Tariff 
 Bill. He is like the boy who "stood on the burning deck 
 whence all but him had fled." Brave Senator. 
 
 The tariff policy of the Republican Party discriminates 
 against the Southern people and in favor of trusts and syn- 
 dicates at home and tends to prevent the legitimate expansion 
 
82 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 of our trade abroad. If we prohibit foreign nations from 
 trading with us, they will be more inclined to prohibit our 
 trade from entering their ports, if we refuse to neighbor with 
 them, they will not feel as friendly to us. Our trade with 
 other nations cannot continue to increase unless we exchange 
 with them. It is upon this foreign trade that the price of 
 our manufactured cotton goods depends and this trade must 
 be procured by peace — not by war. 
 
 The Philippine War is the most stupendous blunder of the 
 ages. Manila is not the gateway to the Orient, it is five 
 hundred miles out of the current of trans-oceanic commerce. 
 Nor is it necessary to own a country in order to trade with it, 
 that was the medieval idea, but not the custom of modern 
 civilization. In the attempt to conquer these islands we have 
 already expended, according to Senator Hoar, the greatest 
 living Republican statesman, and according to Edward Atkin- 
 son, the great statistician, more than six hundred million dol- 
 lars. Our trade with the Philippine Islands will never be 
 worth the interest on this vast sum of money. Ten thousand 
 American boys have been sacrificed, the life of each one is 
 worth more than all that trade. A mother in Asheville re- 
 ceived a telegram announcing the death of her child, after 
 this came letters day after day from the dead boy written 
 while he was in the full enjoyment of life — voices from the 
 grave. You cannot justify this war, you cannot defend its 
 cruelties. In the language of Senator Hoar: 
 
 "We repealed the Declaration of Independence. We 
 changed the Monroe Doctrine from a doctrine of eternal 
 righteousness and justice, resting on the consent of the gov- 
 erned, to a doctrine of brutal selfishness, looking only to our 
 own advantage. We crushed the only republic in Asia. We 
 made war on the only Christian people in the East. We con- 
 verted a war of glory to a war of shame. We vulgarized the 
 American flag. We introduced perfidy into the practice of 
 war. We inflicted torture on unarmed men to extort con- 
 fession. We put children to death. We established recon- 
 centrado camps. We devastated provinces. We baffled the 
 aspirations of a people for liberty." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 83 
 
 And yet there is no peace. Let this Government proclaim 
 that we will treat these islands as we did Cuba and peace will 
 come at once, and it will not come until then. We, today, con- 
 trol only so much of that territory as is held by the Army of 
 Occupation. You may establish your law by the policy you 
 are pursuing, but it will be the law of Torquemada in Aragon, 
 the rule that the Duke of Alva established in the Netherlands. 
 You may make that land a desolation and call it peace, but it 
 will be "the peace that reigned in Warsaw." 
 
 We believe in the expansion of trade, we need the trade 
 of China and Japan and of all the nations of the earth. Give 
 the expansive energy of the American people an opportunity 
 and it will establish the empire of our commerce all over the 
 world. The flag of the Republic should float on every sea as 
 an emblem of universal emancipation, the ensign of a world 
 power whose supremacy in arts and commerce is acknowledged 
 by all the nations. The policy of the Democratic Party would 
 stop this inglorious war and bring peace with honor and ex- 
 panding commerce. Everywhere else on the earth has the 
 sound of war died away. I say Amen to the prayer of the 
 great old Roman Pontiff when he asked that his eyes might 
 Close on worldwide peace. "Oh, let the bugles sound the truce 
 of God to the whole world forever." Let the iron band of 
 selfishness and force and war with which Republicanism has 
 bound the earth give place to the golden Cestus of peace that 
 shall encircle the world and enlighten and bless the children 
 of men. 
 
 In North Carolina we are in the morning of, I trust, a 
 brighter and a grander day, a day of liberty of thought and 
 speech — full of hope. This is so because two years ago over 
 all opposition our Anglo-Saxon manhood declared it as a part 
 of our Constitution, wrote it there as an everlasting covenant, 
 an immutable decree that never again should this great State 
 be cursed with the damnation of negro domination. Yes, the 
 people are free to think as they please and vote as they please, 
 
84 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 but who brought about this freedom and who exhausted all 
 their energy to hold us in bondage? 
 
 The Amendment has been adopted; it is now the law, and 
 not a single native-born white man has been disfranchised. 
 You say that some have been disfranchised by failure to pay 
 the poll tax; not so. Some have failed to qualify themselves 
 to vote at the next election, but they are not permanently dis- 
 franchised. If an able-bodied man under fifty years of age 
 will not willingly contribute two dollars toward the expense 
 of this great Government, whose protection and privileges he 
 enjoys to the full extent, he ought not to expect to participate 
 in the making and administering of the laws. Senator 
 Pritchard says there are thirty thousand of these men. Thirty 
 thousand able-bodied men in North Carolina unable to raise 
 two dollars after two years' notice! Thirty thousand able- 
 bodied paupers in this State ! In this era of great prosperity ! 
 Senator Pritchard ought to repudiate this statement or hush 
 his prosperity argument. 
 
 But now he tells us that the boys who come of age after 
 1908 will be disfranchised; this might be the case were the 
 Republicans to control the State. Dr. Curry said that in 1895 
 and 1897 they set back the cause of education twenty-five 
 years in North Carolina. In 1868 and 1869 we had a large 
 school fund, it could not be used as it was collected, for the 
 boys were in the army; it had been accumulated there under 
 the honest administration of our great War Governor. When 
 the Republicans came into power they laid their unholy hands 
 upon this sacred fund and stole and squandered it. By this 
 great crime many a good man in North Carolina is now with- 
 out an education — we will never trust them again. The Demo- 
 cratic Party will guarantee to every boy in North Carolina 
 the opportunities of an education. 
 
 For two years the Democratic Party has been in power; 
 the Republicans say that we have spent too much money. How 
 have we spent it? Three hundred thousand dollars for debts 
 created by their profligacy and theft, one of the thieves is 
 now in the penitentiary. Yes, we spent more money, but taxes 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 85 
 
 have not been increased. They complain that we raised the 
 Governor's salary a thousand dollars a year, Governor Russell 
 recommended that, but if we could trade off Governor Russell 
 every day for a chivalrous, high-minded Aycock, the friend of 
 the people, the apostle of education, we would have a pros- 
 perity greater than that of the Dingley Bill. Yes, we spent 
 more money, and two hundred thousand dollars went to edu- 
 cate the children of the State. They complain that we spent 
 the money, yet they are ashamed to complain of the manner 
 in which we have spent it. We regard not their complaints. 
 The people of North Carolina endorsed the appropriation of 
 this money. Yes, we spent more money, two hundred thousand 
 dollars went to pension the Confederate soldiers. We will 
 take care of these old veterans, we owe them a debt of grati- 
 tude. In the wreck and ruin of war we were rich in the 
 priceless heritage of their memory. 
 
 "They were men whom death could not terrify, whom de- 
 feat could not dishonor." They glorified the fallen cause by 
 the simple manhood of their lives and by the heroism of their 
 death. They have cast over the South the glamour of an 
 immortal chivalry and consecrated the cause of Dixie with the 
 blood of an immortal sacrifice. It was devotion like this that 
 made the South, though torn and bleeding, beautiful and 
 splendid in her desolation, and in her woe. For forty years 
 they have been the builders of the New South and the pro- 
 jectors of her larger destiny. The Federal Government pro- 
 vides for the soldiers that followed its flag. That is right. 
 We will provide for the soldiers of the armies of the "storm- 
 cradled nation that fell." When Senator Pritchard was a 
 member of the Legislature in 1895 he and his party voted 
 against giving one cent of pension to the needy heroes that 
 had hobbled home on crutches from Appomatox. 
 
 There is one class of men whom we do not believe in pen- 
 sioning — the deserter. There are men here who remember the 
 last two years of the war. The world was against us. Armies 
 were crashing down upon us like a ring of fire. Sherman was 
 marching to the sea and leaving behind him ashes and deso- 
 lation. In that time there were men whose courage never 
 
86 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 faltered. Ragged and hungry and bleeding they stood in the 
 trenches around Richmond and Petersburg. They stood with 
 an unfailing devotion, though sometimes they knew that their 
 wives and little ones at home were living on the corn they 
 picked up from the wagon ruts of the invading armies. They 
 died remembering Dixie like the Greeks remembering Argos — 
 in the language of the old song: "While one kissed a ringlet 
 of thin gray hair and one kissed a lock of brown." 
 
 But there were some who did not stand. Traitors and de- 
 serters they were. They turned their backs upon the only 
 home and country that they ever had. They sneaked through 
 the lines. They threw away the old gray uniform and put on 
 the blue. They came back to shoot and kill, to rob the de- 
 fenseless wives and mothers of their comrades who were fight- 
 ing and dying at the front ; to burn their homes and to mur- 
 der the innocent. To these men Senator Pritchard has given 
 a royal pension. He said to the hero of the Confederacy that 
 he might starve, but with the money of the honest people he 
 feeds and clothes the deserter. Yes, I denounce this in the 
 name of the forty thousand sons of North Carolina who sleep 
 tonight beneath the sod in the battle-scarred bosom of old 
 Virginia. I denounce it in the name of the men who rushed 
 defiant of death through the storm of Chickamauga and 
 Gettysburg. In the name of every Confederate soldier I de- 
 nounce it. In memory of the women who were robbed and 
 the men who were murdered I denounce it. In the name of 
 all brave men who love courage and despise cowardice, who 
 believe in fidelity to comrades and in love for home and in 
 loyalty to a great cause, I denounce this infamous act. I do 
 not stand alone. Here is the resolution of the last Reunion of 
 Confederate Veterans of North Carolina: 
 
 "Resolved, That we condemn and denounce the Act of Con- 
 gress which rewards treachery and perfidy by giving pensions 
 to Confederate deserters for fighting against their former flag 
 and comrades." 
 
 That resolution was unanimously and enthusiastically 
 adopted. Senator Pritchard has eulogized General Carr as a 
 Confederate soldier. The resolution is what he said for he 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 87 
 
 was there in command. He has eulogized Cy Watson as a 
 Confederate soldier. Cy Watson said at Henderson that he 
 hoped that the last man who wore the gray would die and be 
 buried and be forgotten before the South forgave the men who 
 rewarded the traitors and deserters of the lost cause. The 
 judgment of the South is that the party that starves the sol- 
 dier and pensions the deserter should be accursed forever. 
 
 We provided for the institutions of charity. The humanity 
 of the people demands this, although the Republican Party 
 objected. We provided for the necessities of the University 
 and the State Schools. The Republicans would take from the 
 soldier his pension, withhold the blessed gifts of charity from 
 the unfortunate, and cripple our institutions of learning. The 
 Democrats have appropriated this money honestly, and, I be- 
 lieve, wisely. We defy them to show where a single dollar 
 has been dishonestly applied. The present Democratic admin- 
 istration, as all preceding ones, is honest and above reproach, 
 while every Republican administration has brought shame 
 upon the State and left every Department of the Government 
 reeking with scandal. 
 
 Turn over this State to the crowd that has polluted it, that 
 has humiliated our people? Never again in this generation! 
 We read in the Good Book that in olden times the Children of 
 Israel were in the house of bondage and toiling under the lash 
 of Egyptian task masters. And Moses came to them and 
 spoke to them and told them to gird their loins and get away 
 from this land of Egypt and out of this house of bondage, and 
 to go to their own land and take it. The Children of Israel 
 heard him, and though the Great Sea intervened and a wil- 
 derness of storm and pestilence and earthquake, they obeyed 
 the voice of Moses and started for Canaan. Ever and anon 
 where dangers and difficulties beset them there were those 
 who persuaded them to go back, but under the leadership of 
 Moses they pressed onward. Moses did not enter the promised 
 land, but saw it from afar. The Children of Israel did enter. 
 We have not journeyed for forty years through the wilderness, 
 but near about it. In 1868, we, too, were in the house of 
 bondage, and Zeb. Vance came to us and spoke to us and told 
 
88 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 us to gird our loins and get away from Republicanism and 
 negro domination, and take this land for it was ours and the 
 land of our fathers. For thirty-five years we journeyed in 
 the wilderness, though federal bayonets opposed us, though 
 one hundred and twenty thousand negroes in solid phalanx 
 opposed us, though they put upon us a Civil Rights Bill and 
 tried to intimidate us with Force Bills, though they threatened 
 us with Federal Courts and federal power, and though every 
 Republican fought against the deliverance of his country, yet 
 under the leadership of Vance we pressed onward. 
 
 The great old Senator passed away, but in his spirit and 
 under the leadership of Senator Simmons and Governor Ay- 
 cock and their fellows, we pressed onward. We crossed the 
 river, we passed into the land of Liberty and Enlightenment, 
 and we brought Senator Pritchard over with us, though we 
 had to tie him hand and foot. We always liked him. He 
 didn't want to come. When he got into the new land he 
 thanked God that he had gotten there, and as soon as he got 
 up off his knees he said he wanted to be a ruler in Israel right 
 at once. 
 
 The child has not yet been born in North Carolina that will 
 see the day when the party that has degraded our people, that 
 has attempted to perpetuate the political equality of the negro 
 race, will be restored to power. The new day has dawned, but 
 the judgment has been pronounced against this Republican 
 Party. 
 
 Democracy, united, enthusiastic and steadfast in its pur- 
 pose to guard the welfare of all the people, to protect North 
 Carolina from the hand of the despoiler, to promote the up- 
 building of this great State, marches forward with victorious 
 assurances. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 89 
 
 THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION 
 
 (Greensboro, June, 1906) 
 
 NOTE: This speech, made at the opening 1 of the State Democratic 
 Convention at Greensboro, was two years before Locke Craig was a 
 candidate for the nomination of Governor of North Carolina. 
 
 It is a high honor for me, Mr. Chairman, at your invita- 
 tion, to preside temporarily over this Convention. The men 
 that compose this assembly represent the intellectuality, the 
 virtue and the patriotism of North Carolina. They stand for 
 the policies that embody the highest conceptions of justice 
 and that conduce to the attainments of the loftiest aspira- 
 tions of our people. Never, in all our history, did a conven- 
 tion meet under more auspicious circumstance. Our people 
 are at peace. The political status of the races has been de- 
 termined to the satisfaction of all. The honest administra- 
 tion of just laws guarantees protection to every citizen and 
 every interest. An efficient public school has been opened to 
 every child in the State. The State Institutions of Learning 
 are thronged with eager students and rank with the very best 
 in the Union. The denominational colleges are flourishing as 
 never before. Universal education is the necessary result of 
 this great awakening. The unfortunates have been remem- 
 bered in mercy; hundreds of thousands of dollars have been 
 expended to provide homes for the insane and schools for the 
 blind and the deaf and dumb. The aged and afflicted veterans 
 of the Confederacy have not been forgotten. Their deeds in 
 victory and in defeat are a glory to the race and the priceless 
 heritage of the South. 
 
 Temperance reform has steadily and surely progressed. 
 The sale and manufacture of liquor in most of the towns and 
 in the country districts have been abolished. The settlement 
 of this vexatious question has been put upon a sound and 
 practicable basis. But our people must remember that it is 
 difficult, if not impossible, to enforce prohibitory laws in the 
 larger towns and cities unless they be the expression of the 
 will of the majority, and unless their enforcement be de- 
 
90 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 manded by the substantial moral sentiment of the community. 
 This reform, like all others, to be effective and permanent, 
 must be the work of these municipalities. 
 
 Every Department of the State Government has been 
 ably and honestly administered. No scandal has disgraced 
 our annals since the Republicans were driven from power. 
 Even the State Prison, which for years was an incubus and a 
 burden, is above reproach, and is yielding a handsome profit. 
 
 In every section there are evidences of progress. Our 
 county roads have been improved and the increasing demands 
 of commerce have necessitated the construction of railroads. 
 Diversified industries are springing up. Above the roar of the 
 cataract and the bass voice of the steam engine there rises 
 the song of multiplex wheel and spindle. The farms are cul- 
 tivated and improved by scientific industry. Our towns are 
 growing into cities. I believe that in intellectual and ma- 
 terial advancement, in the brawn and sinew of moral man- 
 hood, North Carolina is the greatest of the Southern States. 
 
 In the retrospect of the last decade the good citizenship, 
 without regard to politics, must rejoice that the party that 
 cursed and blighted the State was overthrown; that the pol- 
 icies of the Democratic Party were enacted into statutes and 
 written into the Constitution; that the era of shame and 
 bitterness has been followed by the era of security and ad- 
 vancement. 
 
 To maintain their power our opponents stood for the per- 
 petuation of negro suffrage. They championed the cause of 
 whiskey. Bar-rooms and still-houses were their allies. Today 
 they stand before us routed, disgraced, demoralized, with pub- 
 lic plunder for aspiration and Marion Butler for leader. 
 Verily, the man and the occasion have met. 
 
 Democracy, with an unsullied record, with an unalterable 
 determination that its future shall be worthy of its past, with 
 plighted faith to the highest upbuilding of the State, and 
 with an exalted conception of her destiny, enters with vic- 
 torious assurance the campaign of 1906. 
 
 The South is entering upon an era of unprecedented de- 
 velopment and prosperity. The increase of population is mul- 
 tiplying the demand for the products of her mines, her forests 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 91 
 
 and her fields. No land but Dixie can profitably produce cot- 
 ton, the most valuable of all the staples of agriculture. Our 
 trade in the East is just beginning. As yet it has but skirted 
 the seaboard of the Orient. The raiment most adaptable to 
 the needs of the Mongolian race comes from the cotton fields 
 of the South. When by ingenuity and energy of our people 
 and by the cultivation of peaceful relations the products of 
 our mills shall be carried to the unnumbered millions of those 
 vast empires, we may realize that Minister Wu knew what 
 he was talking about when he said that two inches added to 
 the length of a Chinaman's shirt would double the price of 
 cotton. With cotton at ten cents a pound, and all indications 
 are that the natural demand will keep it above that figure, 
 the South is the most favored land of all the earth, and will 
 be the richest agricultural country of the world. 
 
 The settlement of one problem is but the evolution of an- 
 other. Having grappled with the race problem; having ad- 
 justed the situation as near as we can to the eternal law that 
 will eventually work out its solution; remembering our obli- 
 gation to the weaker race, as the vast amount of money de- 
 voted to the education of the negro will testify ; realizing that 
 the responsibility for the just and humane settlement of this 
 problem is ours; that we are accountable for the result to 
 ourselves and to our posterity and not to others; the re- 
 juvenated South is now doing and will do a foremost part in 
 the solution of the social and economic questions of the age. 
 These questions are necessitated by our great industrial de- 
 velopment. 
 
 This is the age of material progress. Man's intellect and 
 energies are now devoted to this, and for this he has sum- 
 moned to his service the Genii in whose keeping are the 
 treasures of the earth, and the limitless forces of immensity. 
 
 This is peculiarly the industrial age. As other epochs 
 have been conspicuous for attainments in war or religion or 
 politics, so ours is the era of industrial accomplishment. The 
 spirit of victorious enterprise is everywhere. The men of 
 power are not the captains of armies, or the oracles of sen- 
 ates, but the captains and organizers of industry. They are 
 the potent factors of modern life and create conditions that 
 
92 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 determine the status of people, individually and collectively. 
 It is the age of industry and the age of co-operative industry. 
 In the evolution of progress we have passed from the in- 
 definite, unorganized and homogeneous state to the definite, 
 organized state, in which each department of industry has 
 been segregated and performs its separate functions in this 
 great modern social organism. Co-operation is today the rule 
 and law of commerce and production. There is not a single 
 great enterprise operated in antagonism to or competition 
 with another such enterprise. In defiance of the common and 
 statutory law, both State and Federal, the competitive system 
 has been destroyed, and the other built upon its ruins. Under 
 the old order there developed an attractive civilization, an 
 individuality, strong and comprehensive. In the Old South 
 each plantation was a community within itself. It was 
 equipped with all necessary appliances. The planter produced 
 his own corn and meat. He had his carpenter shop ; his black- 
 smith shop ; his gin house ; his spinning wheels and his looms. 
 He was cultivated, intellectual and knightly. He was broad- 
 minded and understood the policies of government and the 
 duties of citizenship. He was the finest type of manhood. 
 But in that state of society the gigantic forces of modern 
 life would never develop and materialize. The saying that 
 "Competition is the life of trade" does not now apply. Com- 
 petition sharpened men. It made them shrewd and resource- 
 ful. But it is not the law of man's higher life, either in 
 morals or commerce. Co-operation in its high and legitimate 
 sense is the law of our highest life, and it is the law of 
 progress. 
 
 The concentration and control of vast resources is essen- 
 tial to any of our great modern industrial institutions and 
 every such institution has inevitably come to be a monopoly. 
 
 Some contend that monopoly is the result of a progressive 
 business evolution, and is the necessary agency to the cheapen- 
 ing of production and to the realization of the possibilities of 
 modern development. Others contend that it is a public 
 enemy — the monstrous offspring of unrighteous law and un- 
 fair advantage. In both of these contentions there is an ele- 
 ment of truth. But monopoly is here. It is a reality, and 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 93 
 
 the one great vital absorbing question of modern life is, 
 "What shall we do with it?" It is the question which the 
 Sphinx of Destiny asks of our time. The answer constitutes 
 the fundamental difference between the Democratic and the 
 Republican Party. Democracy means that these monopolies 
 shall serve and not rule; Republicanism that they shall rule 
 and not serve. I am speaking of the real meaning of the two 
 political organizations, and not their professions of faith. To 
 be more accurate, the Democratic Party is that agency 
 through which the people may expect to control monopoly. 
 The Republican Party is that agency by which monopoly ex- 
 pects to exploit the people. 
 
 Theodore Roosevelt is, perhaps, the most popular Presi- 
 dent that the country ever had, and all of his popularity is 
 due to the fact that he has advocated policies to which his 
 own party is deadly opposed, which were originated by the 
 Democratic Party, and clearly announced in our national 
 platforms. I would not detract from the President's laurels. 
 As Democrats we honor him for the fact that by the irre- 
 sistible force of public opinion he coerced the stubborn 
 leaders of his party into the support of Democratic measures. 
 
 Since the passage of the Railroad Rate Bill, I assume that 
 it is universally admitted that the Government should super- 
 vise and control the public service corporations. But why 
 should such control be limited to these monopolies ? The con- 
 cern that has and exercises an undisputed monopoly in the 
 production of a necessity of life, is as essentially in the ser- 
 vice of the public, and a public necessity, as is a railway or 
 telegraph company. I am speaking now of those great truths 
 and combinations which have crushed or absorbed all oppo- 
 sition and competition, in whose power the individual is help- 
 less, whose operations are interstate and international, and 
 whose supremacy no rival can dispute. 
 
 Meat and sugar, and oil and coal, are as necessarily and 
 universally used as freight cars and railroad tickets. The 
 actual character and nature of the business and not its char- 
 tered privilege, determine the right and duty of Government 
 to interfere and control. 
 
 Under the old system, competition was the regulator. Com- 
 
94 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 petition having been destroyed, there must be another solu- 
 tion to the situation. You can with impunity trust neither 
 men nor corporations with arbitrary power. It does not ap- 
 pease the appetite nor relieve the public nausea to be told 
 that Packing Houses are not quasi-public corporations, nor 
 does it sweeten the coffee or alleviate extortion to be told 
 that the Sugar Trust has not the right of Eminent Domain. 
 
 The President of the Louisville & Nashville Railway Com- 
 pany denned the position of all monopolies when he said that 
 the public could pay the charges demanded by the railroads 
 or "it can walk," while the business creed of the people is 
 expressed in the saying, "live and let live." 
 
 The evil of monopoly is not in its vast powers for produc- 
 tion. Not in the fact that it can produce enough for all, Not 
 in the fact that it has no competition. Certainly not in its 
 power and capacity to cheapen production. The evil is in the 
 fact that it exercises its power for rapacity and oppression. 
 
 You cannot destroy these great industrial enterprises — 
 these monopolies. They are integral elements of our civiliza- 
 tion itself. They have been built up in accordance with the 
 law of association and co-operation. This is the source of 
 their vigor, the generative force of their growth. I would 
 not destroy them. I would not disturb the equilibrium of 
 business. I would not impede the march of progress. I would 
 not mar a single note in the grand symphony of the music of 
 industry. But I would lay the all-controlling hand of the 
 sovereign power of the people upon every monopoly with the 
 command that it must conform to the law of simple justice 
 to all. 
 
 The present tariff for the protection of trusts enables them 
 to more easily "hold up" the American people. No ingenious 
 sophistry can make a plausible defense for such "protection" 
 by which the American Trust sells to the foreigner necessary 
 commodities, after paying the freight across the seas, for one- 
 half the price exacted from the American citizen. This 
 iniquitous policy is, and forever will be, condemned by the 
 Democratic Party. But I do not believe that the abolition of 
 the tariff would destroy the trusts. If the tariff should be 
 adjusted according to the Democratic idea, instead of a na- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 95 
 
 tional, we would have international trusts, as was effected by 
 the combination of the American Tobacco Company and the 
 Imperial Tobacco Company. 
 
 The right to destroy includes the right to regulate. If the 
 power to oppress and to rob be essential to the existence of 
 any institution, that institution ought to be destroyed. Con- 
 cede that it is the duty of Government to forbid agreements 
 for the artificial and arbitrary fixing of prices, it follows that 
 Government should prohibit the act, be it accomplished by a 
 monopoly or by agreement. It is the act and not the agree- 
 ment that works the mischief. 
 
 Government control has been necessitated by our indus- 
 trial development. How shall it be effectuated? It should, of 
 course, be done with consideration and in the spirit of con- 
 servatism. Not in the spirit of retaliation or retribution, but 
 it must be done efficiently, it must be done in reality and not 
 as a "sop to Cerberus." It must be done by the friends of 
 the people, not by the friends of the trusts. If rightly done 
 it will be by the Democratic Party, certainly not by the Re- 
 publican Party. 
 
 The public utilities of this State exercise and enjoy ex- 
 clusive privileges by grant from the people. A fair return 
 to invested capital and just compensation for business ability 
 is theirs by right, and will be conceded by all. But the Gov- 
 ernment would be false to its trust to permit them, by the 
 exercise of these special and exclusive privileges, to charge 
 the people unreasonable rates for the payment of enormous 
 dividends and the booming of watered stock. 
 
 This governmental control should be entrusted to the im- 
 mediate representatives of the people. Our State Corporation 
 Commission and the National Commission should be clothed 
 with powers sufficient to correct and prevent the abuses of 
 monopoly. These powers rest upon the broad basis that the 
 power of Government for correction is co-extensive with the 
 power of monopoly for abuse. 
 
 The States can regulate commerce within their boundaries, 
 but the great bulk of our commerce is interstate. Transpor- 
 tation facilities and modern progress have done more to con- 
 solidate the nation than sentiment, or sword or Constitutional 
 
96 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Amendment. The railroads have bound the country together 
 with bands of iron. Every section is dependent upon every 
 other section for the every-day needs of life. Greensboro is 
 commercially closer to San Francisco today than it was to 
 Raleigh when the Union was established. Then the States 
 were independent of each other. Now they are dependent. 
 Commerce between the States is of momentous interest to 
 every citizen, and as to this, the States are powerless to pro- 
 tect themselves against the charges of transportation com- 
 panies, no matter how unjust the demand or how grievous 
 the wrong. This power to regulate interstate commerce must 
 be exercised by the general Government. 
 
 There are those who pretend to be alarmed at the sug- 
 gestion of popular interference. I resent the imputation that 
 property is secure and that enterprise is protected only when 
 the disciples of Wall Street are on guard. When, by all man- 
 ner of fraudulent practices and undue advantage, millions and 
 billions have been drained from the earnings of toil without 
 a protest from a long-suffering people, you are estopped to 
 say that they are unjust. 
 
 The enlightened judgment of the people has always been 
 righteous. Its purpose is necessarily to produce the greatest 
 good for the greatest number. The people are now awakening 
 to the importance of this great question. They have deter- 
 mined to assert their sovereignty. You cannot avoid it if you 
 would. They will not stop until their will has found expres- 
 sion in the law of the land. The avalanche has begun to 
 move. It will crush whomsoever would trifle with it, and 
 grind to powder him that would block its way. 
 
 That law that is based upon the universal conscience, that 
 results from the collective will may not be a perfect law, but 
 it is the nearest practicable approach to the ideal law of per- 
 fect liberty and perfect justice. 
 
 In these latter days some are prone to forget the source 
 of sovereign power. In the debate on the Rate Bill it was 
 contended by the leaders of the Republican Party that a court 
 created by statute became, by virtue of its creation, invested 
 with inherent power — such as the power to issue injunction — 
 which could not be prescribed by its creator, the law-making 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 97 
 
 body. This led to the conclusion that the great interstate 
 monopolies were beyond the supervision and control of legis- 
 lative authority, and were amenable only to the decrees of the 
 Federal Judiciary. 
 
 When United States Senators, the leaders of the Repub- 
 lican Party, boldly contend that there is any power beyond 
 and above the people, it is high time that we should take our 
 bearings from the landmarks of the fathers. If the Legis- 
 lature be powerless to limit the power of a statutory court, 
 the people in convention assembled are powerless to limit the 
 power of a constitutional court. Such a conclusion has for its 
 own postulate the "Divine Right of Judges." The opinion is 
 growing that the Federal Courts were created and constituted 
 as the guardians of corporate interests. Oliver Cromwell once 
 walked unceremoniously with covered head and stick in hand 
 into the Court, and shaking his fist at the Lord Chancellor, 
 asked him where he got his meat and bread. I would not com- 
 mend this act of the rugged old Protector, but some of the 
 judges should be reminded that they were appointed as ser- 
 vants of the people to protect and enforce the rights of men, 
 as well as the rights of property. That, in theory at least, 
 they are not the servants of a corporation and not the fellow- 
 servants of its employees. To the Supreme Court of the 
 United States the people can always look with confidence and 
 security. Since the formation of the Republic it has stood as 
 the incorruptible oracle of the law and the bulwark against 
 the encroachments of sectional hate and corporate power. The 
 people of North Carolina too should remember the Circuit 
 Judge who in emulation of the example of George W. Brooks 
 issued his writ for the protection of the liberty of the press 
 and the right of a North Carolina editor. 
 
 The Constitution has been invoked. It has always been 
 invoked to perpetuate the special privilege of the powerful 
 and has been distorted for the protection of vested wrong. 
 But this defense was abandoned by the "technical lawyers" 
 of the United States Senate who always look to the interests 
 of corporations. 
 
 No commission can be infallible; neither are the courts 
 
98 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 infallible. What is needed is a tribunal of justness and fair- 
 ness before which wrongs can be righted without the inter- 
 midable delay and abuses of the right to litigate in the courts. 
 
 In the dawn of civilization the tribes of kindred races were 
 implacable enemies and robbed and slaughtered each other in 
 a state of chronic warfare. As they become more enlightened 
 and civilized the law of justice is evolved. It takes the place 
 of violence and rapine and regulates their relations to their 
 mutual advantage. They are united into a nation and enter 
 upon a higher and a larger destiny. If we apply to our so- 
 ciety, to all hostile classes and conflicting interests the simple 
 law of justice, modern civilization, throbbing with the pulsa- 
 tions of infinite forces, will enter upon its career of greatest 
 achievements. 
 
 The events of the last few years have astonished the 
 world. The little nation of the Orient has by a succession of 
 brilliant victories demonstrated a heroism and a magic 
 prowess in war. In Russia a benighted, sluggish people, agi- 
 tated by the aspirations of liberty and enlightenment, are 
 threatening the overthrow of despotism by revolution and 
 anarchy. In England the Liberals have been restored to 
 power by overwhelming majorities, and mechanics, the repre- 
 sentatives of Labor Unions, sit as influential members in the 
 British Parliament. 
 
 But the policies significant with the destiny of man will 
 be determined not in Great Britain, not by the Japanese, not 
 at St. Petersburg or by the bomb-throwers of Moscow, but 
 necessarily by the most progressive nation of the earth, the 
 American people — "the heirs of all the ages in the foremost 
 files of time." 
 
 The logic of events is vindicating the wisdom of the pol- 
 icies of the Democratic Party. Time and time again has the 
 policy of special privilege triumphed by the organized power 
 of predatory wealth, but the American people are too honest, 
 too strong, too intelligent, to be humbugged beyond the day 
 of redemption. 
 
 The manipulators of finance in recent campaigns have been 
 horrified. They made "broad their phylacteries." They em- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 99 
 
 bezzled the trust funds of the people to corrupt the electorate 
 for the preservation of the national honor. The Democratic 
 holders of insurance policies all over the Union have been con- 
 tributing money to buy votes for Republican candidates. 
 
 They say that ours is a time of greed and graft, but 
 wherever the fight has been made with vigor and earnestness 
 against corruption, whether in St. Louis or New York or 
 Philadelphia or Washington, the people have driven the rascals 
 out. The exiled Dynasty of High Ideals will be restored. 
 
 The forces are gathering for the next great national con- 
 test. Party alignments may be somewhat disturbed, but the 
 Democratic hosts are united and determined. The grand old 
 party, thrown to earth, rises with unconquerable vigor. Her 
 principles were born with human freedom and human progress. 
 They were enunciated in Magna Charta and the Bill of Rights. 
 One hundred and thirty years ago they were proclaimed in 
 the grandest declaration of the rights of man. She hails 
 today as her leader a worthy successor of Thomas Jefferson 
 and Andrew Jackson. In the prime of magnificent powers he 
 is the idol of the American people. More than any other man 
 he stands for them. He is the embodiment of the highest 
 ideals of American politics. He has the earnestness, the 
 courage, the masterful energy of conviction. He has the 
 mental poise and the unselfish patriotism of George Wash- 
 ington and the sublime faith in the wisdom and righteousness 
 of the common people of Thomas Jefferson. 
 
 Another chapter of world history is beginning, and Bryan 
 is the leader of the people of the great nation. 
 
100 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 THE ENERGY OF DEMOCRACY 
 
 Outline of speech delivered by Locke Craig at the annual banquet 
 of the New England Society, of Detroit, Michigan, on the evening of 
 December 19, 1907. 
 
 Plymouth Rock is a cornerstone in history. The landing 
 of the Mayflower was a dayspring in human destiny. An un- 
 eventful day in its actual occurrences, but its inner meaning, 
 how vast, how significant, with the destiny of the world ! In 
 its horoscope there is Concord, Bunker Hill, Lexington, and 
 Yorktown; the birth of the Republic; a people with indomi- 
 table energy and unfaltering faith, pushing their way through 
 difficulties and dangers across the continent, transforming by 
 their victorious industry the plain and the wilderness into 
 wide golden seed fields and steepled cities ; heavens lurid with 
 tempests of war; battle banners unfurled; armies marching; 
 clouds of cavalry galloping in the storm. All this is in the 
 horoscope of that day, and beyond the unfolding, illimitable 
 opportunities and responsibilities of the great nation of the 
 great age. 
 
 The early settlers of America came from the loins of the 
 mother country when the English intellect was in the zenith 
 of its splendor and the English character in the prime of its 
 power. It was the age of Bacon and Shakespeare, of John 
 Milton and Cromwell; an age of stern realities, militant for 
 convictions; an age when men had a faith that was worth 
 dying for. We might call it the heroic age of the English 
 race. Our ancestors were the robust offspring of that great 
 epoch. They came to the New World with no greed for gold. 
 They came to build a State where Justice was the law, where 
 the individual mind and character might have scope for 
 growth and development. 
 
 The Puritans, the Cavaliers and the Pilgrims were of the 
 same race, the same lineage, the same blood, the same re- 
 ligion. In dress and the cut of the hair, in the verbiage of 
 the ritual and in the ceremonial they did not agree. They 
 quarreled about intonations and genuflections. But their dif- 
 ferences were superficial. In bone and fibre they were homo- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 101 
 
 geneous. These Puritans burned witches; they removed the 
 Indians; they talked through their noses, but with all they 
 preached by deed and word the gospel of Manhood and Justice. 
 
 And the sound of their axes and rifles reverberating there 
 in the forests and bleak hills of New England, and their songs 
 in the log meeting houses "already reach like a great elegy, 
 like a stern prophecy," like a triumphant battle hymn, to the 
 ends of the world. 
 
 If I could express your conception of New England it 
 would be sublimer than Mount Washington, grander than 
 Daniel Webster, and more beautiful than the serene loveliness 
 of Priscilla. And if I could express the ideal of the South it 
 would be more inspiring than the dome of the Appalachians, 
 more exalted than her noblest man, more lovely than the re- 
 splendent beauty of her fairest daughter. 
 
 Every great people has a distinct meaning, and the spirit 
 of such a people is greater than that of any individual. Such 
 a people is the interpreter of a sublime thought, the embodi- 
 ment of a moral force. 
 
 New England and the South have created the opposing cur- 
 rents of American life, and determined the opposite poles of 
 American thought. The one glowing with earnestness, like 
 the roaring furnace filled with coal — with anthracite coal — 
 determined and uncompromising, standing for universal eman- 
 cipation, setting at naught the ancient formulas; forged the 
 thoughts that found expression in the tramp of embattled 
 hosts, the rattle of musketry, and the thunders of field ar- 
 tillery. The other standing for the natural supremacy of the 
 imperial race, the ideals of the fathers, the sovereignty of the 
 States, the Republic of the Constitution, blazed forth in tem- 
 pests of war, yielded up her bravest and noblest to die for the 
 cause of "the storm-cradled nation that fell." 
 
 The Civil War is a part of the history of the heroic past. 
 Its hatreds have been forgotten. Its glories will live forever. 
 No sane man today cherishes any real sectional animosity. 
 The denizens of the remote places are not so benighted, not 
 so provincial as that. 
 
 The whole fabric of our society has changed. The com- 
 
102 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 munity of interest today is not determined by geographical 
 lines. Our ante-bellum civilization was one of individualism, 
 one of sectionalism, but the civilization of today is one of vast 
 co-operation and organization. The welfare of every section 
 is dependent upon every other section. Our interests are 
 interdependent and interwoven. In the evolution of progress 
 we have passed from the homogeneous, unorganized state to 
 the definite organized society in which each department of 
 industry has been defined and segregated, and performs its 
 separate function in the great modern social organism. Under 
 the old order there developed an attractive civilization, an 
 individuality strong and comprehensive. In the old South 
 each plantation was a community within itself. It was 
 equipped with all necessary appliances. The planter produced 
 his own corn and meat. He had his own carpenter shop and 
 blacksmith shop, his gin house, his spinning wheels and his 
 looms. He was cultivated, intellectual and knightly. He was 
 broadminded and understood the policies of Government and 
 the duties of citizenship. He was of the finest type of man- 
 hood, but he was sectional. His environment made him sec- 
 tional. 
 
 In those days there were no telegraphs and no railroads. 
 Commercially each State was to a large extent separate and 
 independent. This fact necessarily affected its political re- 
 lations. Why should New England have a voice in the legis- 
 lation that affected the South when New England and the 
 South were distinct communities, with distinct and separate 
 interests? Facilities of transportation and communication 
 have changed all this. Greensboro is today closer to Chicago 
 or New York than it was to Raleigh fifty years ago. Each 
 section is now an individual part of every other section. Your 
 cattle are now grazing on the plains of Texas. Your butcher- 
 man is in Chicago. Your looms, that used to be in New Eng- 
 land, are now at White Oak and Proximity, and in Dixie you 
 will hear the songs of the plantation and see the black women 
 and the pickaninnies picking the cotton for all the people of 
 the world. 
 
 The interests of all in the same department of industry 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 103 
 
 are identical, regardless of locality. Sympathy and co- 
 operation born of this identity are not bounded by State lines. 
 The manufacturers and the railroads are affected alike by any 
 general law, whether they exist in Michigan or North Car- 
 olina. Their affiliations are not determined by sectional con- 
 siderations. The same conditions and principles apply to all 
 departments of our industrial life. Facilities for rapid trans- 
 portation have developed this interdependence. The tele- 
 graph and daily newspaper cause every one with a common 
 purpose to throb with the pulsations of the same thought. 
 We glory in the courage of men who will in the last extremity 
 fight for their rights, but interests based upon rights are no 
 longer sectional. The contest cannot be sectional. The evo- 
 lution of modern progress has consolidated the nation as 
 neither sword nor sentiment nor constitutional amendment 
 could do. 
 
 The railroads have bound the country together with bands 
 of iron, the telegraph has united each interest by the electric 
 current of the same thought. 
 
 For the old soldiers to shake hands across the imaginary 
 bloody chasm is noble and pathetic. To be magnanimous in 
 victory is grand, to be magnanimous in defeat is sublime. But 
 there is no chasm. If there were it could not be closed by 
 handshaking any more than it could in the '50s. Progress has 
 obliterated the chasm. The great currents of commerce and 
 the common sense of mankind make any sectional chasm im- 
 possible. Progress proclaims the unity of the race. Hostile 
 promoters cannot withstand modern development. The sym- 
 pathies and the allegiance of every American are necessarily 
 co-extensive with the borders of the Union. The limitations 
 and opportunities of American enterprise are determined by 
 the orbit of the world. 
 
 But to an advancing people the solution of one problem is 
 the presentation of another, more complicated, demanding 
 greater wisdom and courage. Progress involves the respon- 
 sibility of grappling with perplexing questions of vital sig- 
 nificance. We have no conflicting sections, but we do have 
 various classes, and gigantic organizations, whose operations 
 
104 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 ramify into every section and affect the welfare of every 
 section. 
 
 The situation demands for its consideration the wisdom 
 and courage of the American people. In one form or another 
 it has been the rock upon which preceding civilizations have 
 been wrecked. As we pass down the tide of time the Sphinx 
 of Destiny has asked us, too, a question. Our answer will de- 
 termine whether we shall turn backward or go forward to a 
 larger destiny. 
 
 Time and occasion would not permit a particular discussion 
 of this question, but its answer may be found in the utterance 
 of the Sage of Monticello, "Equal rights to all and special 
 privilege to none." And in this the guarantee of equal rights 
 is with the same emphasis as the denial of special privilege. 
 
 The same agencies that have welded together the sections 
 have segregated the people into conflicting classes. These 
 agencies have also enlightened and quickened the conscience 
 of the people. The high court of last resort to which all 
 citizens and all interests must appeal is the people. The judg- 
 ment of all the people is wiser than that of any man or class. 
 The voice of the people is the unified expression of all the 
 governing forces of humanity. This is the Sovereign whose 
 will is the law. It is not the perfect law, but it is the nearest 
 approach to the ideal law of perfect justice. We know that 
 the prosperity of every legitimate enterprise means the wel- 
 fare of the whole country. This strife will cease when it can 
 be realized that the Sovereign will guarantee to all justice — 
 that each shall have his own and shall not take another's. 
 Organized society must respond to new conditions to provide 
 for the consideration of the rights of all and to guarantee 
 with reasonable security, justice to all classes and orders. 
 
 If there be one thing which the American people love more 
 than another, that which they will stand for, which they will 
 contend for, which they will fight for, it is Justice. This is 
 the strength of the Republic, and this is the energy of our 
 Democracy. "It is grander than benevolence, something more 
 august than charity." It is the law of all progress — the life 
 of all civilization. It shed its light upon ancient Greece, 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 105 
 
 "marble grew to shapes of ideal beauty," and men ascended 
 to the realms of Wisdom and Philosophy. Its spirit was 
 breathed into a people toiling under the lash of Egyptian task- 
 maskers, and they went forth a race of conquerors from the 
 house of bondage. To their prophets and poets was revealed 
 the unity of God in the highest exaltation of thought. It was 
 this that glinted from the shields of our ancestors when 
 they died before the legions of Caesar. It made the 
 men of the Mayflower greater than conquerors. It planted 
 here the seed of a mighty tree. If guided by this same Puritan 
 courage, this same justice that our fathers loved, we adjust 
 our institutions to the new conditions and the illimitable 
 forces, who can see the possibilities of American attainment, 
 and who can measure the opportunities of the American man ? 
 
 In the achievements of this mighty people the South will 
 do her part, politically, morally and industrially. The ancient 
 doctrine of States Sovereignty for which she always contended 
 has come again to be a cardinal tenet of our political faith, 
 and is recognized as a vital force in our Government. 
 
 She is coming to the realization of her vast resources and 
 magnificent possibilities. Her cotton crop of 1907, consisting 
 of 11,700,000 bales, is worth in cash $700,000,000. The fact 
 that this great staple must command for this country the 
 money of the world was a powerful factor to relieve our finan- 
 cial distress. Agriculture is not her only industry as in for- 
 mer years. She is manufacturing her timber into furniture, 
 and spinning and weaving her cotton. Above the bass voice 
 of the steam engine, and the roar of the cataract, there rises 
 the manifold song of multiplex wheel and spindle. The South 
 is a part and a great part of this mighty industrial organi- 
 zation. 
 
 We are loyal to the Union. We love the flag. But Dixie 
 consecrated by the blood of our fathers will forever be re- 
 membered in tears of pathos and immortal love. On that 
 altar was laid the fairest and the bravest of the world. Their 
 heroism in war and in peace is the priceless heritage of the 
 race and the imperishable glory of the South. I have faith 
 that the men of the New South are worthy sons of the men 
 
106 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 of the Old South, that, inspired by the fire, the courage, the 
 devotion of their fathers, they will strive for the accomplish- 
 ment of the ever-increasing purpose of the ages. 
 
 In perfect fellowship and brotherhood, as one mighty peo- 
 ple, we work together for the realization of the ideal that is 
 higher than the ideal of the South, of New England or the 
 West — the ideal of the unified Republic — the Hope of the 
 World. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 107 
 
 ADDRESS OF WELCOME TO THE 
 
 TRAVELERS' PROTECTIVE 
 
 ASSOCIATION 
 
 (Asheville, 1908) 
 
 NOTE: Hon Locke Craig represented Hon. John A. Campbell, the 
 
 Mayor of Asheville, and delivered the address of welcome on behalf 
 
 of the City. 
 
 (Stenographic Report) 
 
 Mr. Craig spoke as follows: The Governor has so well 
 and so completely covered the whole ground that there is 
 nothing left for me to say. What I shall attempt to say I 
 fear will fit the reply that an old deacon made to the young 
 minister when asked how he liked the sermon. "Well, Father 
 Brown, how did you like my sermon yesterday?" asked the 
 young preacher. "You see, parson," was the reply, "I haven't 
 a fair chance at them sermons of yourn. I am an old man 
 now 'n' have to set purty well back by the stove, 'n' there is 
 old Miss Smith 'n' widow Taft, 'n' Mrs. Rylan's daughters 'n' 
 Nabby Birt 'n' all the rest setting in front of me, with their 
 mouths wide open, a-swallowing down all the best of the ser- 
 mon — 'n' what gets down to me is purty poor stuff, parson — 
 purty poor stuff." (Laughter.) 
 
 But I will say now, if there is anyone that thinks that he 
 can do any better than I can, let him come forward and he is 
 welcome to the job. (Laughter.) 
 
 I very highly appreciate, however, the honor that it is to 
 welcome to our little city this great convention. These dele- 
 gates have come from all sections of the Republic, from the 
 cities of the northern lakes, and from the seaports sustained 
 by the trade winds of tropical seas, from the valley of the 
 Mississippi, from the Atlantic slope, and from the declivities 
 of the Sierra Nevadas. It comprises within its jurisdiction 
 the greatest commercial empire of all the earth and all the 
 centuries, extending, as it does, in one unbroken domain from 
 the emporiums of the Atlantic liners, that carry the trade of 
 Europe, to the harbors that welcome the tramps of the Pacific 
 carrying the wealth of Asia and the islands of the sea. 
 
108 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 By authority of John A. Campbell, Mayor of Asheville, and 
 the best and most popular mayor that Asheville ever had, I 
 extend to you a most cordial welcome. This Queen City of 
 the Appalachian Hills and all her people — her noble, generous 
 men, her women, finer than the sculptured marble of Carrara, 
 her merchants, her hotels, her boarding houses, her res- 
 taurants (laughter) her livery stables (laughter) her soft 
 drink places and other drink places (laughter) her cigar 
 stands (laughter) her soda fountains (laughter) her boot- 
 blacks, and every electric light, and every flaunting banner and 
 waving flag, with universal acclaim shout "Howdy do and all- 
 hail to the T.P.A." (Applause.) 
 
 We hope that your pilgrimage here may be one of delight 
 "waited on by the choral muses and the rosy hours." We are 
 poor compared with our desire for your pleasure, but abundant 
 in the wealth of the hospitality of the heart. You have met 
 in greater cities of vaster wealth and more magnificent struc- 
 tures. You have met in cities where there were more places 
 of spirituous conviviality (laughter) but you have never met 
 in a place that had purer air and finer water or any more of 
 it. (Laughter.) And this city is rich in the traditions of the 
 heroic past, and richer in the hope and inspiration of a greater 
 future. We cannot point you to the snow-clad altitudes of the 
 Rockies, but from the Battery Park Hotel you can look upon 
 a vast undulating table land as beautiful as Switzerland, and 
 upon mountain peaks where the gods of Olympus would have 
 sat in council had they only known about them. (Laughter 
 and Applause.) We have here the music of crystal waters 
 and fragrance of wild flowers. But the finest music is that 
 which the mountain boy feels when he looks into the depths 
 of the eyes of a mountain girl, and doubts whether he sees 
 there the reflections of the heavenly stars or gleams from the 
 regions of nether fire. (Laughter and Applause.) 
 
 While considering this phase of the question I was re- 
 minded of the wonderful evolution in the form and fashions 
 of society. In the year 1670, in the reign of Charles II, the 
 following law was solemnly enacted by the Parliament of 
 Great Britain : "That all women of whatever age, rank, pro- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 109 
 
 fession or degree, whether virgins, maids or widows, that 
 shall from and after the passage of this Act impose upon and 
 betray into matrimony any of His Majesty's male subjects by 
 scents, paints (laughter) cosmetics, washes, artificial teeth 
 (laughter) false hair (great laughter and cries of "rats") 
 Spanish wool, iron stays, hoops, high-heeled shoes or bolstered 
 hips (great laughter) shall incur the penalties of the laws 
 now in force against witchcraft, sorcery and such like mis- 
 demeanors, and that the marriage, upon conviction, shall stand 
 null and void." (Laughter and Applause.) When I look upon 
 this vast audience and the women of the Twentieth Century 
 I see how far we have advanced beyond the necessity for any 
 such statute. No living man has ever seen any such resorts 
 of witchcraft, and a conviction under the statute would now 
 be impossible. For if any man would give testimony that he 
 had ever seen the like it would be more tolerable for Sodom 
 and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for him. 
 (Laughter and Applause.) 
 
 We live in the age of material development — a commercial 
 age. There was an age of war, an age of chivalry, an age of 
 religious fervor. This is the age of commerce. You, as a 
 gentleman remarked while Governor Kitchin was speaking, 
 are her evangels. The men who are today controlling the 
 destinies of the world are not the captains of armies nor the 
 oracles of senates, but the captains of industry and commerce. 
 We entertain today the men who are directing and driving the 
 commerce of the world. We do not build today cathedrals but 
 railroad stations, faster than the Temple of Ephesus and in- 
 numerable. 
 
 Factory chimneys more costly than sacred high spires, 
 and from them ever stream columns of smoke from the altars 
 of industry. They tell us that Orpheus by the music of his 
 lyre built the walls and the temples of Thebes. Have you 
 ever heard in the morning the awakening of a Lowell or a 
 Pittsburgh or a Birmingham ? — sounding like the boom of the 
 Atlantic breaking upon the everlasting rocks. Ten thousand 
 whistles blowing, ten thousand engines throbbing, generating 
 a power greater than that of all the beasts of the earth com- 
 
HO MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 bined, ten thousand steam hammers ringing, shaping the 
 mammoth guns of battleships and mighty shafts. We too are 
 building by the vast music of this great modern industry. 
 And this modern commerce has done more to cement the 
 Union than sword or sentiment or Constitutional Amendment. 
 (Loud Applause and Cheers.) The telegraph and the railroad 
 have united us. The electric pulsations of the same life throb 
 today in every State of the Union. The country is bound to- 
 gether by bands of iron. The men of commerce have made 
 each section of the country dependent upon every other sec- 
 tion. This is an indissoluble union of indestructible States 
 from the fact that each State is essential to the welfare of 
 every other State. (Applause.) My smoke-house is in Chi- 
 cago. New England must wear the cotton that is grown in 
 the South. My cattle graze upon the plains of Texas. We 
 love the memories of the heroic past, but there is not a man 
 in Dixie who would not die for the honor and glory of the flag. 
 (Applause.) 
 
 We must remember, however, that commerce and com- 
 mercial supremacy are not the ultimate end of a nation's 
 destiny. 
 
 "For heathen heart) that puts her trust 
 In reeking tube and iron shard." 
 
 You may talk of armies and navies and protection to 
 American industry, but give American manhood and American 
 energy a fair chance and they will conquer the world. (Ap- 
 plause.) The Standard Oil Company — and I am not discuss- 
 ing the political or social status of this great concern — this is 
 not the forum for that — the Standard Oil Company invested 
 $500,000, I believe, in lamps and lamp chimneys. They were 
 not dealing in lamps. They bought these lamps, filled them 
 with oil, sent them to China to create a demand for oil among 
 the hundreds of millions of the Mongolian race. Today the 
 tank ships of this company are riding upon the waves of both 
 the oceans, and the Russian serf is reading American theories 
 of government by the light of the oil that is taken from the 
 center of the American Continent. This is the energy and 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 111 
 
 the enterprise that cannot be resisted. The American drum- 
 mer has gone to the weary Pilgrim sitting among the ruins of 
 Babylon and sold him a "Uneeda Biscuit." (Laughter.) He 
 has gone to the sage who sat under the palm trees of Tad- 
 mor contemplating the problems of eternity and immensity, 
 and convinced him that the one thing needful was a sack of 
 Bull Durham Tobacco. (Laughter and Applause.) He has 
 gone to the Hyperborean, standing upon the cliffs of the upper- 
 most North, listening to the peaceful gurgle of the slow- 
 heaving Polar Ocean, and sold him a sealskin grown in the 
 cotton fields of the South and woven in the looms of New 
 England. (Laughter and Applause.) This is the drummer 
 boy that never has and never will beat a retreat. (Applause.) 
 The incarnation of American grit and determination and 
 energy and intelligence and enterprise is the American drum- 
 mer. He is energized by the spirit that was manifest in the 
 young volunteer that went from North Carolina in '62. His 
 father was in the Army of Northern Virginia. And when the 
 boy heard of battles and sieges he was determined to go. His 
 mother begged him to stay at home. He was her only stay 
 and comfort, but he must go. Clad in his bright new uniform, 
 the young volunteer went to the front. He wanted to get into 
 a battle, and it was not long before he was satisfied. They 
 were fighting the Battle of Fredericksburg. There was a bat- 
 tery on a hill that was playing havoc with the Confederate 
 forces. The General ordered a charge upon this battery, and 
 up the hill the Division went. There was 
 
 "Cannon to right of them, 
 Cannon to left of them, 
 And cannon in front of them." 
 
 Their ranks were swept by grape and canister. They fell 
 like ripe wheat before the sickle. They marched on over the 
 dead bodies of their comrades who had fallen in front, "but 
 their's not to reason why," for the iron lips of Stonewall 
 Jackson himself had said "forward." But the General saw, 
 or thought he saw, that the battery could not be taken. He 
 commanded the trumpeter to sound the retreat. And above 
 
112 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 the storm of battle the shrill note sounded. The veterans 
 knew what it meant. They fell back and fell back at once, 
 but this young volunteer in the front rank did not know what 
 it meant. He thought it meant to go faster, and up the hill 
 alone he went. Both armies stopped and looked at him. He 
 rushed to the breastworks, rammed his new cap in the mouth 
 of a cannon, leaped over, grabbed a Yankee by the nap of the 
 neck, and came tumbling down the hill with him. (Applause.) 
 His bewildered comrades exclaimed, "Where did you get that 
 man?" "Why," said he, "I got him up on top of the hill 
 there, and there are plenty more of them up there. Why 
 haven't you got one?" (Laughter and Applause.) 
 
 This is the unconquerable spirit of American manhood 
 that today makes that flag the greatest flag of all the nations 
 and this people the greatest people of the earth. (Loud Ap- 
 plause.) 
 
 I deliver to you the key of our city, but it is unnecessary, 
 for our doors are all open and the latch-string hangs upon the 
 outside. (Presenting Key to the President of the T.P.A.) 
 (Prolonged Applause.) 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 113 
 
 CARLYLE 
 
 Delivered Before The Pen & Plate Club At 
 Asheville In 1910. 
 
 English Literature has had two periods of magnificent 
 flower. The one in the reign of Elizabeth, and the other in 
 the reign of Victoria. One grew from Feudalism and Roman 
 Catholicism, the other from Democracy and Protestantism. 
 Shakespeare was the splendor of the former; the grandeur of 
 the latter was Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 In the Valley of Parnassus there was a fissure in the 
 earth from which issued sulphurous vapors. A goat-herd was 
 tempted to lean over this hole to solve, if he could, the mys- 
 teries of this place. Immediately a shivering ran through 
 his body; his hair stood on end; his eyes blazed with light. 
 He spoke strange things. Some said that he spoke the jargon 
 of delirium; others believed that his words were those of an 
 oracle, and here was built the Temple of the Delphic Apollo, 
 to which the ancients came to seek wisdom. Somewhat 
 analogous was Thomas Carlyle, and the judgment pronounced 
 upon him by modern criticism. He was the son of a Scotch 
 Peasant. With the eye of wonder he looked upon the Uni- 
 verse: the Hebrew Bible, the thoughts of the masters of 
 English and German Literature were his inspiration. When 
 he published his first books, many wagged their heads and 
 pronounced his utterances incoherent, extravagant, the pro- 
 duct of a disordered mind, but already the wise men and 
 seekers for truth from all the nations have come as pilgrims 
 to this oracle. 
 
 The Scotch in many respects bear a strong resemblance to 
 the ancient Hebrews. Strength, earnestness, reverence, an 
 immovable faith that makes martyrs ; that exalted conception 
 of God whose decrees are righteous and terrible, are char- 
 acteristic of both these peoples. This resemblance was especi- 
 ally manifest during the era of religious strife inaugurated 
 by the Diet of Worms and stimulated by the School of Geneva. 
 
 The stern and relentless decrees of the Hebrew Bible ap- 
 
114 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 pealed to the innermost natures of men like John Knox and 
 the Lords of the Congregation, and it was inevitable that they 
 should establish an ecclesiastical state modeled after the 
 Theocracy of Moses and the Prophets. Carlyle was a Scotch- 
 man; he possessed the typical characteristics of his race; he 
 was cast in the heroic mould of the Covenanter; he inherited 
 their religion and their creed; the latter he discarded; the 
 spirit of their religion was the basis and the inspiration of 
 his life. An heir of the Covenant, nurtured in the sublime 
 and awful teachings of the Prophets ; imbued with the trans- 
 cendentalism of the Literature of Germany; unfettered of all 
 dogmas and formulas — a Titan of the Nineteenth Century — 
 such was Thomas Carlyle. 
 
 From his appearance you could tell his country and his 
 lineage. His body was not robust ; his face was rugged. The 
 description of Teufelsdrockh would fit him: "Under those 
 thick locks of his — long and lank — overlapping roofwise the 
 gravest face you ever saw, there dwelt a volcanic brain. In 
 his eyes, too, under their deep shaggy brows looking out so 
 still and dreamy, you would see the gleam of an etherial or 
 else a diabolic fire and could fancy that their stillness was but 
 the rest of infinite motion — the sleep of a spinning top." 
 
 He graduated at the University of Edinborough ; his school 
 days and college life were uneventful. He was the beloved 
 son of his mother. Though unable to read until she was 
 grown, by a mother's intuition she knew that she too had 
 borne a mighty man. She set her heart in seeing him in the 
 Scotch pulpit, a minister of the Presbyterian Church; to her 
 all eminence and distinctions were low and to be despised 
 compared with this. But this son of hers could not be a sec- 
 tarian. He would not accept the dogmas of the Presbyterian 
 Church nor of any other church. Though not a minister or- 
 dained by the church he knew that he had a message to de- 
 liver, and finally decided to make literature his profession. 
 
 He left Edinborough and went to Craigenputtock to begin 
 in earnest his life and his literary work. He was thirty-two 
 years old. Froude says of Craigenputtock that it "is the 
 dreariest spot in all the British Dominion." But it was not 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 115 
 
 an uninteresting place. There were wide billowy straths of 
 grass around it ; the silence was broken by the lowing of herds 
 and the bleating of sheep ; the rolling hills were covered with 
 firs and heather; here could be seen the hill where Agricola 
 built a camp; where Galgarcus at the head of the Northern 
 Barbarians — the race that never crouched in bondage — made 
 his last death defiant stand against the crushing destiny of 
 the Roman power. It was here, according to Tacitus, that 
 this savage hurled at the Romans the words equal to those of 
 Napoleon at the Pyramids, and which live in the oratory of 
 our day : "They make the land a desolation and call it peace." 
 
 Craigenputtock was indeed a remote place — a solitude — no 
 human habitation within a mile and no doctor within fifteen 
 miles. In all our mountain country there is not a home as 
 remote as was this place where Carlyle spent the great years 
 of his young manhood. 
 
 Having refused to accept the faith of his fathers, intensely 
 religious, consumed with a desire to know and to speak the 
 truth, it was well that he, like the Prophets and John the 
 Baptist, should go to the solitude for his life wrestle and to 
 bring order out of the chaos of his own thoughts. The stars, 
 young and clear, sang to him as they did to the shepherds 
 twenty centuries ago upon the plains of Shinar. This is how 
 he looked at the sunrise in his summer walks over the hills: 
 "Right ahead the great Northeast sends up evermore his 
 gray-brindled dawn. From the dewey branch birds here and 
 there with short deep warble salute the coming sun. Stars 
 fade out and galaxes — street lamps of the City of God. The 
 Universe flings wide his portals for the levee of the Great 
 High King." 
 
 His first book, Sartor Resartus, or the philosophy of 
 clothes, was written while he lived at Craigenputtock. This 
 book is his message to the world. The many books that he 
 afterwards wrote are the logical emenation from this his first 
 and greatest work. 
 
 One might think that he named this book in a spirit of 
 drollery. But this is how he defines his theme : "In this one 
 pregnant subject of clothes, rightly understood, is included 
 
116 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 all that men have thought, dreamed, done and been. The 
 whole external universe and what it holds is but clothing; 
 and the essence of all science lies in the Philosophy of Clothes." 
 He uses the term to signify the emblem, the visible mani- 
 festation of the invisible force. Whatsoever represents the 
 spiritual he designates as clothes — a suit of raiment put on 
 for a season and to be laid off. 
 
 Dogmas, creeds, institutions, he calls clothes. Man him- 
 self is clothed with a body. With Carlyle God is the Eternal 
 from everlasting to everlasting; the visible universe is His 
 garment "For was it not written, The Heavens and the Earth 
 shall fade away like a Vesture, which indeed they are, the 
 Time Vesture of the Eternal." 
 
 This book is the struggle of a soul with temptations and 
 doubt, a warfare against the powers of evil, and a seeking for 
 the truth. It is an allegory and it has a power and a grandeur 
 not found in that beautiful and simple classic, Pilgrims' 
 Progress. 
 
 He tells us of an idyllic childhood that we have all experi- 
 enced when he says "time is no fast hurrying stream, but a 
 sportful sun-lit ocean, and we sleep danced around by sweetest 
 dreams," and we now have what is ever after denied us "the 
 balm of rest." Yet among the rainbow colors that glowed on 
 the horizon was the dark ring of care that ever grew broader 
 and broader. He learned then the meaning of Death, and we 
 have the following fine passage : 
 
 "The dark bottomless Abyss, that lies under our feet, had 
 yawned open; the pale Kingdoms of Death, with all their in- 
 numerable silent nations and generations stood before me; 
 the inexorable word, Never! now first showed its meaning. 
 My mother wept, and her sorrow got vent; but in my heart 
 there lay a whole lake of tears, pent up in silent desolation. 
 Nevertheless, the unworn Spirit is strong; Life is so healthful 
 that it even finds nourishment in Death; these stern experi- 
 ences, planted down by memory in my imagination, rose there 
 to a whole cypress-forest, sad but beautiful ; waving, with not 
 unmelodious sighs, in dark luxuriance, in the hottest sunshine, 
 through long years of youth ; as in manhood also it does, and 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 117 
 
 will do ; for I have now pitched my tent under a cypress tree ; 
 the Tomb is now my inexpugnable fortress, ever close by the 
 gate of which I look upon the hostile armaments, and pains 
 and penalties, of tyrannous Life placidly enough, and listen 
 to its loudest threatenings with a still smile. Oh, ye loved 
 ones, that already sleep in the noiseless Bed of Rest, whom 
 in life I could only weep for and never help ; and ye, who wide- 
 scattered still toil lonely in the monster-bearing Desert, dye- 
 ing the flinty earth with your blood — yet a little while, and 
 we shall all meet there, and our Mother's bosom shall screen 
 us all; and oppressions harness, and Sorrow's fire-whip, and 
 all the Gehenna Bailiffs that patrol and inhabit ever-vexed 
 time, cannot thenceforth harm us any more." 
 
 Teufelsdrockh, the philosopher whose sayings and reflec- 
 tions make the book, is thought by many to be modeled after 
 Jean Paul Frederick Richter. He is close akin to Faust, too. 
 He was imbued with the Book of Job. He is not unlike Tenny- 
 son in Locksley Hall, Maud, Sir Gallahad and the Idyls of the 
 King. 
 
 Life to him had been but disappointment and bitterness. 
 His cup of sorrow had run over "and hissed over in a deluge 
 of foam." But in the wild solitude of gorge and mountain 
 peak he feels the throb of nature's heart. There in the twi- 
 light he looked, as he expresses it, upon "a hundred and a 
 hundred savage peaks in the last light of day; all glowing of 
 gold and amethyst, like giant spirits of the wilderness." "And 
 as the ruddy glow was fading into clearness in the sky, and 
 the Sun had now departed, a murmur of Eternity and Im- 
 mensity, of Death and of Life, stole through his soul ; and he 
 felt as if Death and Life were one, as if the Earth were not 
 dead, as if the Spirit of the Earth had its throne in that 
 splendor, and his own spirit were therewith holding com- 
 munion." 
 
 But as yet this philosopher had no lode star of faith; no 
 pillar of cloud by day nor pillar of fire by night to guide him 
 in the wilderness of doubt and temptation. There was no 
 life-warmth to heal the stab of false Friendship and of false 
 Love. "Well might he exclaim in his wild way Ts there no 
 
118 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 God then, but at best an absentee God, sitting idle ever since 
 the first Sabbath, at the outside of his Universe, and seeing 
 
 it go?'" 
 
 According to Carlyle, in this book, the Religion and poli- 
 tics of his day had all been figured up in a ledger of profit and 
 loss. The pharasaical happiness of an approving conscience 
 and residence in the Celestial City were now the rewards of 
 duty. The Devil said to him, too, "Behold thou art fatherless, 
 outcast, and the Universe is mine." To which he replied, "I 
 am not thine, but free, and forever hate thee." 
 
 And then he was possessed of strength and all shams and 
 pretenses, and hypocricies, and cant, and lies and commands 
 to conform thereto, he despised and condemned and defied. 
 He wandered over the earth to learn wisdom and to solve the 
 mysteries of life. He moistened his bread in the clear lakelet 
 of the Pine Chasms of Vaucluse. He sat under the palm trees 
 of Tadmor; he smoked his pipe among the ruins of Babylon; 
 he saw Napoleon's Armies and heard "the tramp of embattled 
 hosts and the sounds of falling cities"; he stood upon the 
 cliffs of the uttermost North, and listening to "the peaceable 
 gurgle of that slow-heaving Polar Ocean," saw the sun at mid- 
 night in his "cloud couch wrought of crimson and cloth of 
 gold." He heard kings speak to Parliaments, and, disguised 
 as a tavern waiter, stood behind the chairs of the wise men 
 and heard things that he did not forget. "Fool," exclaims he, 
 "why journeyest thou to gaze on the stone pyramids of 
 Geezer or the clay ones of Saccahara? * * * " I will open 
 my Hebrew Bible. 
 
 In looking at the Universe he realized the littleness of 
 man. But he heard the God-given mandate, "Work thou in 
 well doing." This command comes to every one. It is mys- 
 teriously written in prophetic characters in every heart. If 
 heard you must be carried of the spirit into grim solitudes, 
 there to do grimmest battle with the Tempter. But, as he 
 says, "Our wilderness is the wide world in an atheistic cen- 
 tury." "Yes," says he, "to me also * * * it was given 
 after weariest wandering to work out my way into the higher 
 sunlit slopes of that mountain which has no summit or whose 
 summit is in Heaven only." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 119 
 
 This he maintains comes from the sacrifice and the anni- 
 hilation of self. It is the renunciation taught by Goethe, and 
 a greater than Goethe said, "he that loseth his life for my 
 sake shall find it." The conclusion is that there is in man 
 something higher than happiness. It is Blessedness and to 
 preach this Higher, "sages and martyrs, the poet and the 
 priests in all time have spoken and suffered, bearing testimony 
 through life and through death, of the God-like that is in 
 man. 
 
 To Carlyle the creed was the temporal manifestation, the 
 imperfect expression of the Eternal, the Spiritual. The old 
 church clothes, the old symbols of faith to him had worn out ; 
 the life had gone out of them. The authentic church cate- 
 chism of the present century had not appeared. These sym- 
 bols of religion and faith are ever changing and evolving into 
 higher and finer forms. The forms and ceremonies are not 
 divine, and all the dogmatic declarations of ecumenical coun- 
 cils can not make them so. He rejected the dogmas of the 
 past like Him who preached the simple and universal and 
 eternal gospel of the Samaritan woman at the well and told 
 her that His worship was confined to no temple and defined 
 by no creed. 
 
 As the old vesture wears out and fades the new is weav- 
 ing with finer fibre. Says he, "In that whirlwind, creation and 
 destruction proceed together. Ever as the ashes of the old 
 are mysteriously blown about do organic filaments of the new 
 mysteriously spin themselves. Tones of the melodious death 
 song are but tones of a more melodious birth song." "The 
 Phoenix soars aloft, hovers with outstretched wings, filling 
 earth with her music ; or, as now, she sinks and with spheral 
 swan-song immolates herself in flame, that she may soar the 
 higher and sing the clearer." 
 
 If I have given a glimpse of this book, it is all that I could 
 hope for. It did not meet with favor. It was something new. 
 The English intellect did not readily grasp its meaning. At 
 first it was unnoticed. Then it provoked opposition and ridi- 
 cule. America furnished its first disciple, Emerson. Years 
 afterwards when the thinkers of the world were bowing to 
 
120 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 the genius of Carlyle, he esteemed Ralph Waldo the finest and 
 purest of them all. 
 
 Sartor Resartus brought its author but little money. 
 Though distressingly poor he went to London and began his 
 history of the French Revolution. The wild tornado in which 
 the French Monarchy had perished was to him an illustration 
 of the Universal Law. He looked at this mighty phenomenon 
 in the light of the Old Testament as he had heard it read and 
 interpreted from the Presbyterian pulpit. He had ceased to 
 believe in miracles according to their accepted significance, 
 and had cast off the form of his creed, but the lesson of his 
 youth was never forgot. It was the germ of his philosophy. 
 He believed that all nations lived under one dispensation ; that 
 God dealt with all peoples as He did with the Children of 
 Israel; that His Law is ever divinely beautiful and divinely 
 terrible ; delivered from Sinai or from any other mountain or 
 place it must be obeyed. The people that puts the greed of 
 gain or the pleasure of iniquity above the Law of Right- 
 eousness will be punished. Of modern nations, France was 
 the greatest sinner. The rich lived in idleness and luxury, 
 while the poor toiled and suffered. French society was based 
 on the lie of the inheritance of rights and privileges without 
 the corresponding sacrifice and fulfillment of duty. The 
 Eternal Law was forgotten. The Papal nuncio esteemed it an 
 honor to get upon his knees and tie the slipper on the foot of 
 a harlot, and Majesty itself waited obsequeously on her glance. 
 France was guilty. Judgment was pronounced "in a horror 
 of great darkness and shakings of the world and a cup of 
 trembling which all nations must drink." In the punishment 
 of iniquity the Revolution was inexorably just. But its theory 
 of Equality was false. The Contract Social a humbug. The 
 guilty had been punished but the new order of things must 
 necessarily result in anarchy. Napoleon or another despot, 
 was inevitable. Carlyle was not a democrat; he did not be- 
 lieve that the people could govern themselves, but that they 
 must be governed. To enthrone the ablest man was with him 
 the ideal of all social procedure, but he did not believe that a 
 man could be made a king by putting a crown on his head. 
 He believed in the aristocracy of worth, but as between the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 121 
 
 dissolute aristocracy of France and the sans-culotte he was a 
 sans-culotte. Consider this passage: When Camille De- 
 mouslins is about to be executed and Foquier asked the formal 
 questions, What is your name, age, and the like?" Camille 
 makes answer: " * * * My age is that of the bon sans- 
 culotte Jesus; an age fatal to Revolutionists. O Camille, Ca- 
 mille! And yet in that Divine Transaction, let us say, there 
 did lie, among other things, the fatalest reproof ever uttered 
 here below to Worldly Right — honorableness." 
 
 I would not call his a history of the French Revolution. 
 It is a reproduction of the principal scenes of the Revolution, 
 a mighty moving picture, with the voice of life. We see the 
 horrors of the death bed of Louis XV; we hear the rush of 
 courtiers across the (Eil-de-Bcef to hail the dauphin and 
 dauphiness King and Queen. It is the doomed young Louis 
 XVI and the Imperial Marie Antoinette. They fall on their 
 knees and exclaim, "Oh, God, guide us; protect us. We are 
 too young to reign." Amid wild shouting multitudes we look 
 upon the procession of the State's General from the Church 
 of St. Louis to Notre Dame. We recognize the faces of men 
 and women who will live long in history. We hear the voice 
 of Mirabeau, the world compeller, rise into "far-sounding 
 melodies of strength" as he mounts the Tribune and shakes 
 his lion mane. We see France girt with fire and sword. The 
 armies of the Imperial allies are marching upon Paris. Dan- 
 ton descends from the Mountain like a lava flood. He rears 
 his huge stature, with clenched fist, his voice reverberating 
 from the domes, with a defiance that startles the world and 
 terrifies kings, he exclaims: "The coalesced kings threaten 
 us. We hurl at their feet as gage of battle the head of a 
 king." 
 
 All France is electrified. We see the banner, "Patre est 
 en denger," flying from all the steeples. A mother leads 
 proudly her first born son by the hand and goes away weep- 
 ing when told that he is too young to be enrolled as a soldier 
 of the Republic. Traitors within and foes without. France 
 blazes up, fired by this wild energy of Danton. In the travail 
 of Revolution unconquerable armies leap from her womb. 
 Thus we see the Revolution in all the details of reality— in 
 
122 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 fire and storm and horror. Orgies and massacres and guillo- 
 tines, insurrection and the crashing of ancient institutions 
 pass in our view. In 1836 he wrote to Mrs. Carlyle : "It all 
 stands pretty fair in my head, nor do I mean to investigate 
 much more about it, but to splash down what I know in large 
 masses of color, that it may look like a smoke-and-flame con- 
 flagration in the distance, which it is." 
 
 When this book was published its triumph was complete. 
 Dickens carried it in his pocket as if it were his Bible. Tenny- 
 son sought the company of its author. Arnold, of Rugby, 
 commended it. Thackeray reviewed it in the highest terms, 
 and Macaulay bore testimony to its genius. The pulpit still 
 criticised, from the hedges of obscurity, some reviewers threw 
 stones, but the primacy of Carlyle was established by the 
 decree of the "Conscript Fathers." 
 
 All the books that Carlyle wrote are fine; you might say 
 the finest. His great books are Sartor Resartus, French Revo- 
 lution, Past and Present, Oliver Cromwell, Frederick the 
 Great; and you might name among these Heroes and Hero 
 Worship. Each one, not only sustained, but added to his 
 reputation. He spoke and wrote the truth as he saw it. He 
 despised the prejudices of his age and spoke with authority 
 to rulers and law-givers. For long years he struggled — 
 crushing years. But in his own lifetime he triumphed. His 
 books were translated into all the languages of the civilized 
 nations. He was acknowledged to be the first writer of the 
 age. 
 
 Carlyle's style was new. Many thought that it was af- 
 fected. He was not a phrase-maker. He had no art for 
 giving graceful expression to current opinions. His thoughts 
 burned within him, and without regard to form or the rules 
 of rhetoric he attempted to speak to others. His words are 
 full of meaning; his sentences rugged, glowing with reality. 
 They come sometimes like stars from the white iron wrought 
 upon the anvil, and he is a Titan and wields the hammer of 
 Thor. 
 
 Carlyle and Herbert Spencer are the potential forces of 
 this epoch. The one was a seer; the other a logician. Car- 
 lyle's "method is not in any case that of common school Logic, 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 123 
 
 where the truths all stand in a row, each holding by the 
 skirts of the other ; but at best that of practical Reason, pro- 
 ceeding by large intuition over whole systematic groups and 
 kingdoms." 
 
 Spencer, all comprehensive, taught by synthesis the ever- 
 lasting evolution of all things. Carlyle by the generalization 
 of genius taught the evolution of man's institutions, political 
 and ecclesiastical, civil and ritualistic. The vast diffusion of 
 Force — the law and will of the Universe — was named by 
 Spencer the Unknown ; by Carlyle, God. He contended for no 
 dogmas; he taught no creed. He called men back to the 
 eternal verities. Confessions of faith and civil institutions 
 are essential, but they wear out. The Vedas, the Korans, the 
 Zend Avestas had once taught men the way of life. The old 
 myths were once true, the old allegories had a meaning, but 
 in the evolution of life the old forms must pass, for old bottles 
 will burst with new wine. Buddah, Odin, Mahomet, were to 
 him not imposters ; they were great and earnest teachers ; the 
 supreme manifestation of the Divine was in Him, of Nasa- 
 reth, the music of whose life has appealed for nineteen 
 hundred years to the hearts of men. He was a Puritan with- 
 out a creed. He was not a Levite, but a priest after the order 
 of Melchizedek. He was a seer who beheld the apocalypse of 
 Nature. He knew that Might is the Right that must prevail, 
 that a lie can not live, that Truth and Justice are as powerful 
 as the Almighty. He sang the epic of man's battlings and his 
 triumphs. Sometimes he rings the Angelus Bells; and then 
 in the twilight, over peaceful meadow and golden field, we 
 hear the tones of everlasting love and forgiveness ; sometimes 
 he sounds the blast of the trumpet of the Day of Judgment, 
 and in the tempest, amid the tumult of the thunders, from 
 blackness the wrath of God is poured out in fire. 
 
 In 1854 a number of the students of Glasgow had urged 
 Carlyle as Rector of that University, but he was scornfully 
 rejected on account of his religious views. In 1855 a like 
 attempt was made by the students of the University of Edin- 
 burgh, with like result. 
 
 After the publication of Frederick the Great, in 1865, he 
 was triumphantly elected Rector of the University of Edin- 
 
124 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 burgh, in opposition to Mr. Disraeli. He had changed none of 
 his opinions, had modified none of his views, but now the 
 leaders of sects were proclaiming him as the champion of 
 their faith. Carlyle accepted this honor from his alma mater, 
 and in 1868 delivered the inaugural address. He was the 
 same Carlyle whom they had denounced as an infidel. He 
 preached the same doctrine, but now with universal acclaim 
 he was recognized as the intellectual and moral force of the 
 century and as the prophet of the living faith. His thoughts 
 and his teaching are now proclaimed by the greatest preachers 
 from orthodox pulpits. 
 
 The masters in painting and sculpture vied with one an- 
 other to preserve for future generations his form and the 
 features of that rugged sorrowful face, and the great of the 
 world "with burnt offerings" acknowledged him a teacher 
 who spoke with authority. But he was yet the plain and 
 simple son of the Peasant of Ecclefechan. 
 
 Disraeli offered him a baronetcy or to confer upon him 
 the highest distinction for merit within the gift of the Crown 
 — the Grand Cross of the Bath. The great Prime Minister at 
 the same time insisted that he should accept a royal pension. 
 With courtesy and with delicate appreciation Carlyle declined 
 both. A royal bounty and titles of nobility were out of keep- 
 ing with the meaning of his life, for he had preached a gospel 
 to the poor and denied with all his vehemence the claims of 
 princes and dukes and lords. To his brother he wrote: "You 
 would have been surprised, all of you, to have found un- 
 expectedly your poor old brother converted into 'Sir Tom'; 
 but, alas ! there was no danger at any moment of such a catas- 
 trophe." He said to his friend: "The Grand Cross would be 
 like a cap and bells to me." 
 
 He was steadfast to the reality and simplicity of that 
 plain Scotch home. He never forgot the Sundays in the old 
 days "with mother, father and the rest getting dressed for 
 the meeting house." 
 
 When his genius had commanded the admiration of wise 
 men and princes, when nations were his pupils and his 
 praisers, he wrote in his private Journal: "0 pious Mother! 
 kind, good, brave and truthful soul as I have ever found, and 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 125 
 
 more than I have elsewhere found in this world. Your poor 
 Tom, long out of his schooldays now, has fallen very lonely, 
 very lame and broken in this pilgrimage of his ; and you can- 
 not help him or cheer him * * * any more. From your 
 grave in Ecclefechan yonder you bid him trust in God; and 
 that also he will try if he can understand and do." 
 
 He has been criticized for many minor faults, but in the 
 weightier matters of the law he was without a blemish. His 
 life was frugal and pure. When in old age his books had 
 earned him an abundance of money he enjoyed no luxury but 
 charity. 
 
 Dean Stanley requested that he be buried at Westminster 
 Abbey. Carlyle had anticipated this and by his direction his 
 body was carried to the rural churchyard at Ecclefechan, 
 there to lie with his humble kin, who slept "under their white 
 memorial stones in hope of a happy resurrection." With no 
 pomp nor ceremonial the greatest born of Scotland was laid 
 to rest in her bosom. 
 
 His heart was of melting pity, and fiery wrath and all 
 embracing love. And his voice, too, fashioned there in that 
 home of faith and earnestness already reaches "like a great 
 elegy, like a stern prophecy," like a triumphant battle-hymn 
 to the ends of the world. 
 
126 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 ACCEPTING DEMOCRATIC NOMINATION 
 FOR GOVERNOR 
 
 (Raleigh, N. C., June 6th, 1912) 
 
 NOTE: The Convention of 1908 was held in Charlotte. Locke 
 Craig and W. W. Kitchin were candidates for Governor. Special trains 
 were run from all over Western North Carolina, bearing enthusiastic 
 Craig supporters. The east, however, held that Governor Glenn, of 
 Winston-Salem, was a representative of the west, and they were en- 
 titled to the nominee. By a close vote, W. W. Kitchin, of Scotland 
 Neck, received the nomination. This caused the keenest disappoint- 
 ment among the western delegates, especially the Tenth District, from 
 which there had been no Governor since Vance. When the convention 
 subsided, after the result of the vote was declared, there were calls 
 everywhere for Locke Craig, the "Little Giant of the Mountains." It 
 is to be regretted that no report can be found of his speech, but those 
 who heard him said it was the finest of his career. He showed no 
 pique in the hour of his defeat, but with an unselfish and patriotic 
 spirit, swept all bitterness among his adherents aside, and with a 
 voice ringing clear for party unity, he called upon the west to give to 
 the Democratic nominee the full strength of their support. And from 
 that time on until the final victory in November, when William Walton 
 Kitchin was elected Governor of North Carolina, Locke Craig advo- 
 cated his candidacy in speeches all over the State. 
 
 Four years later, in June, 1912, Locke Craig was nominated Gov- 
 ernor by acclamation in one of the most enthusiastic and harmonious 
 Conventions the Democratic Party ever held in North Carolina. 
 
 The following extracts, clipped from The News and Observer, of 
 Raleigh, June 6, 1912, give an idea of the enthusiasm which pre- 
 vailed : 
 
 When the State Democratic Convention caught a breath 
 at midnight and looked back upon its first twelve hours of 
 work, it had seen Locke Craig chosen as its nominee for Gov- 
 ernor in one of the most remarkable testimonials of affection, 
 and his running mate, E. L. Daughtridge, as Lieutenant- 
 Governor, after five of the warmest ballots of many conven- 
 tion years. 
 
 It had seen more. It had watched every reference to 
 Charles Brantley Aycock made in the most reverential way 
 and hundreds give their pledge that if he had lived, he would 
 have claimed their homage in life as he has done in death. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 127 
 
 But one other time has there been a nomination tendered 
 a great public servant upon terms of such affection as this 
 prize went to the gallant man of the west. And then it went 
 to the eloquent man of the east, Charles B. Aycock, the be- 
 loved dead, whose memory was tenderly and sweetly brought 
 to the convention in a score of speeches and records yesterday. 
 That was twelve years ago in Raleigh, and yesterday was the 
 return of the party to the unity which marked its choice of 
 Aycock on the eve of the new century in 1900. 
 
 That was a mighty assemblage that clamored for room 
 yesterday at noon. It was made up of the sum and crown of 
 North Carolina citizenship. Ladies of Raleigh and elsewhere 
 occupied the right wing of the upper gallery and the delegates 
 who came to make their choice were from among the flower 
 of North Carolina manhood. The politicians did not have the 
 convention. Business men in every line of commercial energy 
 were there. They occupied the floor as delegates and cast the 
 votes that made law. They were there in great numbers. 
 They came from all sections and in large numbers. They 
 stopped big business to get here, but they came to select, not 
 partisan leaders, but to write patriotic measures into party 
 principles. 
 
 The excessive good nature of the body did not mean that 
 it came there to enjoy the stupid peace that smacks of chloro- 
 form. There were fierce divisions. The sharpest definitions 
 between men and measures were drawn. But there was no 
 viciousness of attack. Four years ago Charles W. Tillett, de- 
 scribing the great Charlotte Convention, likened it unto a 
 storm at sea, the waves rolling high, but the deep waters 
 below indicative of the real patriotism that lies unseen in 
 every breast. 
 
 It didn't look like this was to be said of the body yesterday. 
 It threatened to be a dead calm until the Lieutenant-Governor's 
 nomination was put to the convention and it took just three 
 and a half hours to make its will known. 
 
 There was some cheering when the name of Judge Winston 
 was proposed as Permanent Chairman, but greater excuse for 
 
128 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 joy was given when the further recommendation was made 
 that there be no speeches of nomination for offices not con- 
 tested, barring the Governor's, of course. 
 
 This sweeping attack on convention oratory robbed a dozen 
 men of the glory of being howled down. It included a long 
 list of men of State. 
 
 Governor Glenn presented the Permanent Chairman, pay- 
 ing fine tribute to him as an aid in the administration of which 
 Glenn was the head and Winston the Lieutenant-Governor. 
 
 Governor Winston made a hundred-word speech, the clos- 
 ing words of which were a shout for action, "What is the fur- 
 ther pleasure of this great, representative, North Carolina 
 Democratic assemblage ?" 
 
 And as he sat down, Governor Glenn arose and said: "I 
 move that the convention proceed to the nomination of the 
 next Governor of North Carolina." The convention met the 
 motion with a tremendous shout as the response. 
 
 "The chair recognizes the gentleman from Jackson, the 
 Hon. Felix E. Alley," Judge Winston said, "and the conven- 
 tion will hear him place in nomination the Hon. Locke Craig." 
 
 Again the convention came to its feet and cheered while 
 Mr. Alley was making his way to the stand. The speaker 
 began almost inaudibly, the convention hearing him with great 
 difficulty. But he warmed nicely to it. 
 
 The warmest rebuke that was given was administered by 
 Chairman Winston as Mr. Alley entered the closing para- 
 graphs. He had tried to protest. He was too mild. 
 
 "Gentlemen of the Convention, I am not delivering to you 
 a curtain lecture," he said with a fire of the eye that bade no 
 patience with the unseemly impatience. 
 
 "But the man who is now speaking is naming the next 
 Governor of two million people, and you owe it to them and 
 to your own sense of decency to hear him patiently through." 
 
 What an effect that lecture had ! There was no more noise 
 through that speech and the mighty approval of the silent 
 many arose to rebuke the noisy few. The speech was heard 
 through. 
 
 Governor Glenn then moved that a committee be sent out 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 129 
 
 to escort Governor Craig into the hall. On it were named by 
 the Chairman : Governor Glenn ; S. L. Rogers, State Simmons 
 Manager; Frank R. McNinch, State Kitchin Manager; Walter 
 Clark, Jr., State Clark Manager, and Edward E. Britton, of 
 The News and Observer. 
 
 Then the band raised the battle hymn, while Glenn and 
 Craig marched in to martial music. The Tenth District arose 
 to greet its favored and happy son. Every throat sounded its 
 tribute. Louder and mightier it grew until Craig, boyish, 
 small, humble, in the magnitude of his glory, stood before his 
 people. And he didn't even smile. Did any of you see him 
 four years ago when he stood before the State hosts in Char- 
 lotte? He came up to acknowledge his gratitude in the hour 
 of defeat. He was just as happy, smiled more satisfiedly and 
 pledged his energies more triumphantly to the great cause 
 than he did yesterday. Craig in defeat and Craig in victory 
 are a pair of noble brothers. And the convention four years 
 ago swore that it would name him this year. It never was so 
 happy in its pledge as it was yesterday when it redeemed 
 itself without one discordant voice. 
 
 Governor Glenn, in presenting Mr. Craig, said. "I have 
 the honor to conduct to this platform one of the purest, 
 noblest, manliest patriots in North Carolina, your next Gov- 
 ernor, Hon. Locke Craig." 
 
 MR. CRAIG'S SPEECH 
 
 I am profoundly grateful to the Democracy of North Car- 
 olina. By this nomination for the office of Governor you have 
 conferred upon me an eminent distinction. It comes, not to 
 my deserts, but from your generosity. Only once before has 
 this nomination been made by acclamation. In the year 1900 
 — a time of storm and revolution — the State with one voice 
 demanded the leadership of Charles B. Aycock. With the 
 zeal of a crusader he devoted his intellect and soul to the task 
 we laid upon him. He comprehended its difficulties and its 
 grandeur. In its accomplishment he was sublime. For the 
 first time in more than thirty years this convention meets 
 
13 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 without the guidance of his strength and wisdom. We hear 
 not the eloquence that thrilled and moved us to higher places. 
 There is sorrow and bereavement to all the people, to those 
 who were his neighbors, and to those who dwell in the far 
 mountains and by the far sea. He gave us a hope that we 
 did not know. His work and his life is a legacy priceless and 
 imperishable. 
 
 I wish that I were worthy of this exalted honor and quali- 
 fied for the responsibilities of the great hour. I shall forever 
 cherish this manifestation of your confidence and esteem. 
 I welcome the opportunity for service that quickens and calls 
 for all my strength and more. If elected I shall be the exe- 
 cutive of all the people regardless of race, or creed or politics. 
 I shall stand for the policies that I have professed, steadfast 
 to the principles of Democracy. I shall devote myself to the 
 State and to the welfare of all her citizens. I know that all 
 honor must eventually lie in the earnest and fearless and 
 conscientious discharge of duty. 
 
 By placing in my hands at this eventful time the standard 
 of Democracy, you have invested me with a trust, of the im- 
 portance of which I am conscious. I do promise to fulfill this 
 obligation to the limit of my ability, confident in the right- 
 eousness of our cause, and with an unfaltering faith that the 
 cause and the principles for which we have long contended 
 will triumph in the conflict that is now beginning. 
 
 Ours is an epoch significant with human destiny. If we 
 would realize the magnificent possibilities of the future, we 
 must adjust our laws and institutions to the conditions and 
 forces of modern progress. This is the mission of our party — 
 the striving of this fierce, militant, progressive Democracy. 
 The crisis is upon us. 
 
 The problem has been evolved and emphasized by this era 
 of industrial accomplishment, unprecedented and undreamed 
 of. Like the dervish in the Arabian tale, man has gotten hold 
 of the casket with the mysterious juice that reveals to him 
 the hidden treasures. The genii, in whose keeping are the 
 streaming forces of the universe, have whispered to him their 
 secrets. He has tamed and harnessed the steam and the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 131 
 
 lightning, and in obedience to his will they exert for him a 
 power greater than that of all the beasts of burden on the 
 earth combined. The world is pulsing with the currents of 
 newly discovered energy. All the necessities of life, and all 
 that can gratify the luxurious desires of men are created in 
 manifold abundance as with a magician's wand. Riches have 
 been piled up beyond conception. The gifts from Heaven to 
 the Israelites in the Wilderness were niggardly compared with 
 the bounty bestowed upon us. 
 
 This material development has not been accompanied by 
 a corresponding intellectual and moral development. Condi- 
 tions have been wrong. Has the burden been lifted from the 
 shoulders of those who toil? Has the curse that man should 
 eat bread by the sweat of his brow been lessened one jot or 
 one tittle? Has there come to all the opportunity and the 
 encouragement for the cultivation of nobler impulses and a 
 purer life? Has the moral status of the individual been im- 
 proved and society lifted to a higher plane, or do the "fruits 
 of the tree of knowledge turn as we grasp them to apples of 
 Sodom that crumble at the touch?" 
 
 "Ye build, ye build, but ye enter not in, 
 Like the tribes whom the desert devoured in their sin." 
 
 The consciousness that there is something wrong, some- 
 thing grievously unjust, is deep and universal. It is gather- 
 ing strength; it will find expression; it will seek a remedy 
 somewhere, somehow. John Ruskin says to England, and to 
 us, too: "Shall the Parthenon be in ruins on its rock, and 
 Bolton priory in its meadow, but these mills of yours be the 
 consummation of the buildings of the earth, and their wheels 
 be as the wheels of eternity? Think you that 'men may come 
 and men may go,' but — mills — go on forever? Not so, out 
 of these better or worse shall come; and it is for you to 
 choose which." Let us look in earnestness. We have failed 
 to adjust the law of equity to new conditions. The law itself 
 has been the bondservant of unlimited extortion and insatiable 
 greed. 
 
 It is not surprising that the equilibrium should have been 
 
132 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 disturbed; for this modern progress has with such rapidity- 
 reconstructed the whole fabric of our social organization. The 
 transformation has been wrought within the memory of men 
 still living. Until our time there had been no essential change 
 in the methods of industry, since the time when Abraham 
 looked upon the Pyramids. The American and the European 
 tilled their fields, manufactured their wares and transported 
 their merchandise as did the people of Tyre and Babylon. The 
 law that was adapted to the simplicity and individualism of 
 the old order is not sufficient for the complex organization of 
 the new order. Under the old order, competition regulated 
 trade. The modern organization of industry has destroyed 
 competition. 
 
 The law of the spinning wheel and the stage coach does 
 not fit the vast mill, and the locomotive. In the old bottles 
 the new wine is fermenting, and the new cloth is rending the 
 old garment. The individual citizen cannot protect himself 
 against the organized forces of modern life. He cannot pro- 
 tect himself against monopoly. It is the essential function of 
 government to protect him. 
 
 By natural processes dictated by the spirit of enterprise, 
 unrestrained by law, stimulated by avarice, these gigantic 
 combinations have been evolved in natural order. They con- 
 trol every department of industry. They have arbitrary 
 power. They take thought what we shall eat and what we 
 shall drink and wherewithal shall we be clothed. They deter- 
 mine the cost of meat and bread, the cambric needle, the loco- 
 motive, the plow, the wagon, the automobile, the Parisian 
 gown, the calico dress, the swallowtail coat, the overall. The 
 price which we must pay for the necessities of life is arbi- 
 trarily fixed by this despotism of monopoly. 
 
 Our fathers would not tolerate a king because without 
 right he levied a tax on tea. The citizen as an individual is 
 powerless. We have seen these great concerns organized and 
 existing in defiance of statute law and common right. In the 
 broad light of day we have seen one conspiracy after another 
 gather in the earnings of labor. The Government has not 
 protected the citizen against this extortion; it has protected 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 133 
 
 extortion. The law does not restrain the extortioner, it guards 
 every port of entry; the merchant vessels that would lessen 
 his illegitimate profits have been excluded as public enemies. 
 It has not withheld the hand of the extortioner, and by its 
 statutes it has declared that no one else shall interfere. 
 
 The fixed policy of the Republican Party has been protec- 
 tion, protection for the trusts, or rather the fixed policy of 
 the trusts has been protection for the Republican Party, the 
 agency by which they exploit the people. This wall of pro- 
 tection has been raised higher and higher, not for the purpose 
 of revenue, but for the purpose of conferring upon these con- 
 cerns the power to levy extortion greater and greater. This 
 is the only purpose, the only plausible pretense for our present 
 tariff. 
 
 This license to plunder has been exercised to the limit. 
 The people of this country are the most industrious, the most 
 intelligent, the most creative people of the earth. Yet the 
 great body of our workers receive as compensation for their 
 work a smaller proportion of what they produce than any 
 other people with whose condition we are acquainted. They 
 may have more, but they produce much more. They submit 
 to more injustice. The exactions of war levied upon the 
 countries overrun by the armies of Ghengis Khan; the vast 
 revenue that was gathered from all the conquered provinces 
 of the Roman Empire when there went forth a decree from 
 Caesar Augustus that all the world should be taxed; or that 
 collected from the kingdoms of Europe in obedience to the 
 imperial edicts of Charles V ; the riches rung from the ancient 
 princes and people by the rapacity of Warren Hastings, the 
 proconsul of India; or the tax money paid by any people 
 under any despotism, is insignificant compared with the in- 
 conceivable wealth taken from the industry and genius of the 
 90,000,000 American people — not for the purpose of govern- 
 ment, but by the extortion of monopoly to swell the private 
 fortunes of the privileged few. This goes on under laws and 
 constitutions that ordain freedom and equality. In our vast 
 complicated social organism we do not realize the subtle pro- 
 cess, but we see the monstrous result. 
 
134 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 We would go to war rather than yield a penny contrary to 
 the accepted formula of our democracy. We would rise in 
 insurrection if any man among us should claim to be Sir John 
 or Lord Andrew. On every Fourth of July we march and blow 
 horns and orate, and fling fireworks, for on that day it was 
 declared that there should be no tax on tea or horseshoe 
 nails. The tax paid to monopoly on the tin horns and the 
 flags and the firecrackers is greater and more unjust than the 
 tax that our fathers went to war about. 
 
 The burden of this injustice has fallen heaviest upon the 
 agricultural sections, upon the men that plow the fields of 
 the South and the Northwest. But, it is levied upon the earn- 
 ings of men everywhere; upon the miner that digs in the 
 darkness under the ground by the light of the candle on his 
 cap; upon the women that stand by the looms in Massa- 
 chusetts and North Carolina. It devours widows' houses and 
 spares not the puny infant that suckles the dry breast. 
 
 They who profit by this wrong, and the financiers who 
 stand behind the Republican Party cry out that business is 
 threatened whenever this wrong is attacked. They have in- 
 timidated the country to a long-suffering submission, and 
 would now intimidate the country by the threat to demoralize 
 all industry and precipitate universal disaster if we elect for 
 President a man that would stop this. 
 
 The effect of this legalized graft on economic conditions 
 is co-existent with the more serious effect upon moral con- 
 ditions. Opportunity and the encouragement for develop- 
 ment is taken away. In this age of genius and plenty it has 
 condemned men to material and to moral penury; it has com- 
 mercialized our people and their ideals; it is corrupting our 
 citizenship, and has made money and money-getting the con- 
 suming madness of the age. It sends greed and avarice and 
 evil passions ravenous through society as a hard winter drives 
 the wolves to the abodes of men. It has been proclaimed and 
 maintained in the name of the men who toil, in the name of 
 prosperity and patriotism; it has been embellished with all 
 plausibility and sophristy, but like the whitened supulchre it 
 is full of rottenness and dead men's bones. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 135 
 
 The hour of awakening has come. The enlightened con- 
 science of the people has at last been aroused. By half a cen- 
 tury of unrighteous Republican rule the land was sowed with 
 dragon teeth. The fierce contending factions have sprung up. 
 The Republican Party is torn by internecine war — a field of 
 Armageddon, where Gog and Magog, Taft and Roosevelt, are 
 contending in their exposure of the crimes of Republican ad- 
 ministrations. Each is boasting of his nearness to democratic 
 teachings and denouncing the other for his proximity to Re- 
 publican rascality. The Republican tariff policy is as dis- 
 credited today as is the Force Bill and Reconstruction. They 
 promised the people; they promised the trusts; the day of 
 exposure and condemnation has come. 
 
 This country is today humiliated in the eyes of all the 
 civilized nations by the fact that a man who was for seven 
 years President of the United States is denouncing to shout- 
 ing multitudes the now President of the United States as a 
 timeserver, a crook, a liar, a man of dishonor, a weakling, the 
 tool of bad men who use him to plunder the people. President 
 Taft is the man whom Roosevelt after a long and intimate 
 acquaintance named as his successor. The Republican Party 
 in many States and in North Carolina has endorsed this char- 
 acterization of the Republican President, and his adminis- 
 tration. 
 
 At the outset of the campaign Roosevelt announced that 
 he would accept the nomination if tendered. Now he intends 
 to take it by violence. He will run for President if he has to 
 destroy the Republican Party, upset the Government, and 
 bankrupt the "good trusts" that are supporting him, the Har- 
 vester Trust and the Steel Trust. The Trust that will not 
 stand in with this "practical statesman" he denounces as a 
 "bad trust," "a malefactor of great wealth." 
 
 No man that is honestly supporting Roosevelt and the 
 policies for which he stands can honestly support Taft and the 
 policies for which he stands. Roosevelt, reckless, violent, il- 
 logical, irresponsible, represents the lawless insurrection in 
 the Republican Party against Republicanism ; a man of power 
 and daring and inordinate egotism he would overthrow con- 
 
136 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 stitutional government, the laws of the institutions which 
 are the guarantee of the liberty of the English race, and 
 which have been built by a thousand years of wisdom and 
 sacrifice. By the impassioned utterance of revolutionary doc- 
 trines he is winning the plaudist and the votes of a large class 
 who regard not our institutions and ideals. What, they ask, 
 has the Government done for them? As they have seen it 
 and felt it, favoritism, not to them but to the few, has been 
 the law; equal rights to all and special privilege to none a 
 Fourth of July mockery. This is the result of Republican 
 rule. 
 
 If we would cultivate a spirit of patriotism and loyalty to 
 our institutions we must see that the law is made and ad- 
 ministered in justice to all men alike, that this Republic is 
 worthy of the highest devotion and fealty. Is it any wonder 
 that thousands of toilers prefer the daring rough rider who 
 promises, law or no law, to "turn more of their earnings into 
 the pay envelope?" 
 
 By fifty years of misrule, growing worse; by the plunder 
 of all the people for the benefit of the few, the Republican 
 Party has brought the country to this appalling crisis. It 
 presents to us on the one side President Taft, the representa- 
 tive of the same old system of injustice and rottenness now 
 repudiated, and against which the people have risen in con- 
 demnation and universal revolt ; on the other side, Roosevelt. 
 He too is responsible for present conditions. During his ad- 
 ministration nearly all the trusts in the United States were 
 organized. He forbade them not. They financed his cam- 
 paign. He is a "practical man," with the mask of the people 
 and the money of Wall Street, the "cestui qui" trust of the 
 trusts. He stands for personal despotism. His election would 
 be the end of the Republic and the breaking up of laws. 
 
 In this time of confusion and injustice and threatened 
 revolution the American people must turn for hope and safety 
 to the Democratic Party ; the party that is the logical, earnest 
 exponent of constitutional government, and the progressive 
 thought of the age. It is the party that stands for the liber- 
 ation and for the protection of the people and all legitimate 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 137 
 
 enterprise from the men and the organizations that prey upon 
 the public; it stands for the punishment of the criminal, 
 whether he shouts under the red flag of anarchy, or whether 
 in treason at the directors' board he conspires against the 
 general good; it stands for the security of property and for 
 the rights of labor, for that prosperity which comes by the 
 guarantee of equal and exact justice and for that progress 
 which comes when the honest hope and opportunity to the 
 high and to the low are not denied ; it stands for the govern- 
 ment of law and for the restoration of the union to the high 
 and holy purpose of human welfare. 
 
 Though the minority party it has been the author of the 
 constructive policies that have prevailed. It stood for the 
 restoration of the South, and it was done. It stood for the 
 settlement of the race policy, and it was done. It stood for 
 the control of public service corporations, and it was done. 
 It stood and stands for the reform of the tariff, and against 
 the tyranny of the trusts. It stands against Taft and it 
 stands against Roosevelt. 
 
 The ardent dream of the Democrat of yesterday is today 
 "the vociferate voice of public opinion" and tomorrow the 
 Charter of the Nation. Democracy is everywhere advancing, 
 united, determined, as never before. The victory of 1910 was 
 the promise of the triumph of 1912. 
 
 In this crisis of the nation's life the Democratic Party has 
 the greatest responsibility of its history. If the Republic is 
 to be saved, the Democratic Party must save it. Roosevelt 
 and the Rough Riders are crossing the Rubicon. If we are 
 to have a Caesar, let us have one that at least can represent 
 the grandeur of the American people. The Romans had 
 Julius, the English had Cromwell, the French had Napoleon. 
 Do "we want Teddy ?" Not yet. Not yet will we forsake the 
 ideals of Washington and Jefferson for Roosevelt. Let him 
 run. The descendants of the men of Lexington and Kings 
 Mountain will teach mankind another lesson in Democracy. 
 
 When in calmness we review our history all good people 
 must rejoice that in recent years the Democratic Party has 
 controlled this State. This feeling must come to all, regardless 
 of politics. 
 
138 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 In 1900, the era of bitterness and strife and shame was 
 succeeded by the era of security and prosperity and peace. 
 The State entered upon a career of material and moral and 
 intellectual development unprecedented in her history. She 
 was free. She rejoiced in her freedom. Agriculture was in- 
 vigorated. The towns grew to cities. The wasting energies 
 of her streams have been transformed to currents of electric 
 power. Mills for the manufacture of the product of forest 
 and farm have been built, the blast of the locomotive has 
 waked the echoes in the remotest sections. In spite of the 
 restraint of unjust national law, and unjust transportation 
 discrimination, wealth has been multiplied, for enterprise has 
 felt the security of the wise and honest administration of the 
 State Government. Never before has there been such a 
 moral awakening, such an intellectual revival. An efficient 
 public school has been opened to every child in the State. The 
 State institutions of learning are thronged with eager stu- 
 dents and rank with the very best in the Union. The de- 
 nominational colleges are flourishing as never before. The 
 dream of universal education is about to be realized. 
 
 The unfortunate have been remembered in mercy. Mag- 
 nificent homes have been provided for the insane, and schools 
 for the blind and deaf and dumb. The aged and afflicted 
 veterans of the Confederacy have not been forgotten. Their 
 deeds in victory and in defeat are a glory to the race, and the 
 priceless heritage of the South. The Democratic Party has 
 provided and will provide for the necessities of their declining 
 years. 
 
 "When we remember that the Democratic Party was the 
 Guardian Angel of the South in her darkest hours; that it 
 was the Democratic Party that took the South by the hand 
 in the hour of desolation and lifted her up and set her again 
 in the house of her fathers — when we remember these forty 
 years — well may we paraphrase the adjuration of the faithful 
 Hebrew: 'If I forgot thee, O Jerusalem, may my right hand 
 forget its cunning and my tongue cleave to the roof of my 
 mouth!' * * * The South will be faithful to the De- 
 mocracy !" 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 139 
 
 We will never again turn the State over to the party that 
 has the record of 186S, and 1869, and the blacker record of 
 1895 and 1897. 
 
 Compare these two periods of shame and disaster to the 
 unsullied record of every Democratic administration since the 
 war. We remember with thanksgiving the glorious adminis- 
 tration of Aycock when the State rose like the Phoenix from 
 the ashes of her humiliation, hailed the coming of the morn- 
 ing, and poised herself for the light of a grander day. We 
 remember with pride the administration of Governor Glenn, 
 notable for the settlement of the temperance question ; notable 
 too for the courage and determination with which he met the 
 issue between the State and the railroads. Then more was 
 done toward the control of the public service corporations 
 than Roosevelt with all his bluster and big stick has ever 
 done. We contemplate with satisfaction and congratulations 
 the present administration of Governor Kitchin, when the 
 government of the State and all of her institutions have been 
 administered with economy and wisdom and honesty above 
 reproach. In the Lower House of Congress we have ten 
 Representatives who have been among the foremost in the 
 great fight that has been made against special privileges, and 
 in the Upper House we have Senator Simmons and Senator 
 Overman who stand with fidelity to the interests of their State 
 and their party, and who have been put forward by their 
 associates as the ablest leaders and exponents of Democracy. 
 
 I believe that North Carolina is beginning the era of her 
 highest development. We have 2,500,000 people of pure Eng- 
 lish and Scotch-Irish blood. We have no large cities. Ours 
 is a rural population, good, strong, farmer folks. We value 
 the men that have built our towns and cities, the men who 
 had the ability and the enterprise to make the Old North 
 State one of the foremost in manufacture and commerce, but 
 North Carolina is essentially a Farmer State, and the farm 
 is beginning to reveal the hope for her finest life. Only a few 
 years ago the home on the farm was isolated and the cultiva- 
 tion of the fields grudgingly yielded a meager support for the 
 family. There was no encouragement for the farmer, and 
 no opportunity, on the farm, for the farmer's children. 
 
140 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 These conditions have changed. The increase of urban 
 population throughout the civilized world, and the extending 
 of the markets have enlarged the demand and increased the 
 value of the great staples. The improvement in transporta- 
 tion has not only added to the profits of the standard crops, 
 such as corn and cotton, but it has enabled the farmer to use 
 his land for the production of the crop to which it is best 
 adapted. His vegetables, his strawberries, his apples, his 
 cantaloupes, are no longer limited to home consumption, but 
 are carried by the lightning express to the metropolitan cities, 
 and served on the costly tables of those who can afford the 
 luxury of North Carolina products. The telephone puts the 
 farmer's home in immediate communication with his neigh- 
 bors, and with his town, and with the markets of the world. 
 The old country road of monotonous mud, diversified with 
 gulleys and boulders, has been replaced by the modern high- 
 way. The old road wasted untold energy and cost uncounted 
 money. It was a barrier to prosperity and culture. It is no 
 longer to be tolerated. The modern highway is one of the 
 greatest modern instrumentalities of opportunity. It enriches 
 the soil, multiplies the ears of corn, paints the church, puts 
 music in the home, inspires the boy with ambition, clothes the 
 maiden in better taste, and puts a finer bloom upon her cheek. 
 
 The time has come for the State to adopt a policy for the 
 building and improvement of the public roads that will insure 
 a system of modern highways to the State and to every com- 
 munity in the State. The old southern home of chivalry and 
 culture is coming back with the multiplied opportunities of 
 modern progress. The fertile, well-tilled farm, generous in 
 its returns, adorned by the home of culture and independence, 
 is the highest hope of a nation's life, and the safe-reliance in 
 the time of danger. Relieve the farmer of unjust burdens 
 and the South is the most favored land of all the earth. Give 
 the expansive energy of the American people a fair chance 
 and their supremacy in arts and commerce will be acknow- 
 ledged by all the nations. 
 
 Just government is essential to all real progress. If one 
 sow and another reap, the curse is upon him that sows as 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 141 
 
 well as him that reaps. "Thou shalt not steal" is not limited 
 to petty larceny of the statute. There was no discrimination 
 by the Law-Giver of Sinai between the footpad and the mil- 
 lionaire. The pillage of the night is nothing to the plunder in 
 the face of day. 
 
 If North Carolina would fulfill her obligations as a Sov- 
 ereign State she must guarantee to all her people, and to all 
 her industries that opportunity which comes with justice — 
 justice that is "grander than benevolence, more august than 
 charity." Let her statutes be the law of righteousness for 
 the protection of the weak, and for the encouragement of every 
 enterprise of field and steepled city. Let her unalterable 
 judgment be that property shall be safe; that the rights of 
 those who toil shall be sacred; that no monopoly wherever 
 organized shall exist within her borders to strangle her legi- 
 timate business, and to despoil her children ; that her material 
 development and her moral and intellectual development shall 
 proceed together. 
 
 The mighty contest is opening, great as any that was ever 
 "proclaimed by the trumpet or pleaded by the sword"; the 
 elemental forces are gathering for the strife. The squadrons 
 are marching. 
 
 North Carolina has a past that is glorified and sanctified 
 by heroism and martyrdom. We are the heirs of this in- 
 heritance, and are for a time the custodians of her destiny. 
 We lift up the banner of equal justice. We will write De- 
 mocracy not only upon the leaves of her statutes, but in the 
 lives of her people. We appeal to all men who love the tradi- 
 tions of the past, and revere the constitution of the fathers ; 
 to the young men especially, with the noble ardor and courage 
 of youth, to all who hate unjust privilege, who believe in equal 
 opportunity to men. 
 
 "And he who will hear to him the clarions 
 of battle call." 
 
PART II 
 
 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 OF 
 
 LOCKE CRAIG 
 
 INCLUDING A BRIEF ACCOUNT OF HIS 
 
 INAUGURATION AT THE STATE 
 
 CAPITAL, JAN. 15TH, 1913 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 146 
 
 THE WIDOW'S SON 
 
 "Let Her Works Praise Her In The Gates" 
 
 (In Memory of the Mother of Locke Craig on his Inauguration 
 As Governor of North Carolina) 
 
 The husband of her life forever gone, 
 
 Her fortune wrecked in war; herself alone 
 
 Two tender sons to rear — O every day 
 
 Her heart must crush with fear and dark dismay ! 
 
 She faltered not, nor sat disconsolate ; 
 
 Her sons each side she clasped, full facing fate, 
 
 And guided straight to Wisdom's Door; where youth 
 
 By teachers true are fired with zeal for truth, 
 
 Where eyes undimmed gaze up the steepest height, 
 
 Where soul enkindles soul to loftiest flight. 
 
 O spirit pure, look down today on earth! 
 
 Men shout the name of Craig, whom thou gav'st birth ; 
 
 He whom thou taught'st to face and conquer fate, 
 
 The widow's son, doth rule a mighty State. 
 
 —GEORGE TAYLOE WINSTON. 
 Asheville, N. C, Jan. 14, 1913. 
 
 NOTE: This beautiful poem appeared in The Raleigh News and 
 Observer, Wednesday morning, January 15th, the day of the inaugura- 
 tion of Locke Craig as Governor of North Carolina. The writer, Dr. 
 George T. Winston, has been a life-long friend of the Craig family, 
 and was a boyhood friend of the Governor's. He knew well and greatly 
 admired the mother of Locke Craig. 
 
146 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 THE INAUGURATION 
 
 NOTE: Wednesday, January 15, 1913, Locke Craig was inaugu- 
 rated Governor, the oath of office being taken about noon, in the Audi- 
 torium at Raleigh. The ceremonies incident, began at about eleven 
 o'clock, when the Governor-Elect and his escort left the Yarborough 
 House, then Raleigh's principal hotel, accompanied by a magnificent 
 military escort, civic authorities, local and state committees, etc. The 
 newspaper accounts of the ceremony are well worth preserving, and 
 give a graphic description of the events leading up to and including 
 the inauguration, which is always an impressive one in North Carolina, 
 but on this occasion, owing to the good feeling that prevailed among 
 all classes of our citizenship, from the fact that the new Governor was 
 the unanimius choice of the whole State, this inauguration was un- 
 usually impressive. Therefore the following clippings are given below 
 as souvenirs worth preserving, as well as fitting preliminaries, leading 
 up to that greatest of all the Governor's speeches. — his Inaugural Ad- 
 dress. 
 
 The Inaugural Events 
 
 (The Raleigh News and Observer, Jan. 15, 1913) 
 
 10:15 to 10:45 A.M. — Escort, Mayors and Press Committees assemble 
 
 at Yarborough Hotel. 
 10:30 A.M. — Receptios Committee meets in New Municipal Building. 
 10:50 A.M. — Committees call on Governor-Elect Craig. 
 11:00 A.M. — State Officers assemble at Yarborough Hotel. 
 10:45 A.M. — Military and other Organizations form at Nash Square. 
 11:15 A.M. — Parade Moves. 
 
 11:40 A.M. — Parade passes Governor's Mansion. 
 12:00 M. — Inaugural in Auditorium. 
 
 1:30 P.M. — Review of Parade. 
 
 2:30 P.M. — Luncheon to Governor Craig and Party. 
 
 7:30 P.M. — Public Reception at Mansion. 
 
 9:00 P.M. to 1:00 A.M. — Inaugural Ball in Auditorium. 
 
 In The Raleigh Auditorium 
 
 1. Dixie Third Regiment Band 
 
 2. Prayer Rev. Dr. R. T. Vann 
 
 3. America Raleigh Choral Society 
 
 4. Administration of Oath of Office to State Officers by the Associate 
 
 Justices of the Supreme Court? of North Carolina. 
 
 5. Administration of Oath of Office to Hon. Locke Craig, by the Chief 
 
 Justice. 
 
 6. Old North State Raleigh Choral Society 
 
 7. Presentation of His Excellency the Governor, by Hon. W. W. Kitchin. 
 
 8. Address Governor Locke Craig 
 
 9. Star Spangled Banner Raleigh Choral Society 
 
 Governor-Elect Locke Craig is in the city. With his party 
 from Asheville he arrived last night, the military of that city 
 and many citizens coming as an escort. Today at noon he will 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 147 
 
 be sworn in as Governor of the State amidst impressive cere- 
 monies in the Auditorium. 
 
 For this great four-yearly event in the history of the State 
 of North Carolina, Raleigh is ready to give welcome to all of 
 the visitors. In fact, it has welcomed them in great numbers 
 already, for in ever growing numbers they arrived in the city 
 yesterday and during the night. Today they will come by the 
 thousands, and with the splendid weather plus the many at- 
 tractive features of the inaugural exercises, there will be any- 
 where from 20,000 to 25,000 here to take part in the events 
 which surround the inauguration of Locke Craig. 
 
 The City is decorated in a most beautiful manner along the 
 line of the parade over the principal streets. Great arches, in 
 United States and State flags and parti-colored bannerets span 
 the streets, and pennants on the "side lines" add to the decor- 
 ative features. Many thousands of people will be on the 
 streets during the parade, and with the moving of the mili- 
 tary, the music of the bands, the rush of the automibiles, the 
 dash of the horses, and the other features of the big inaugural 
 parade, the moving scene will be one that will impress itself 
 on the memory of all. 
 
 The beginning of today's events properly began last even- 
 ing at 7:30 when on a special train Governor-Elect Craig and 
 Mrs. Craig, Democratic State Chairman Charles A. Webb and 
 Mrs. Webb, and the guests who accompanied them arrived in 
 the city. The train left Asheville at 9:00 o'clock yesterday 
 morning with the Asheville delegation and the Asheville Mili- 
 tary Company aboard. At all points along the route there 
 were accessions, and at Greensboro the Legislative Inaugural 
 Committee met the Governor-Elect, while at Durham a large 
 delegation of the citizens, Reception and Escort Committees 
 gave indications of the warm welcome to be extended by 
 Raleigh. 
 
 The arriving party last night told of ovations given to 
 Governor-Elect Craig all along the route. Time after time he 
 was called to the platform and from the train to shake hands 
 with delegations of citizens. There were demonstrations of 
 this kind at Swannanoa, Black Mountain, Old Fort, Marion, 
 
148 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Hickory, Newton, Statesville, Salisbury, Lexington, Thomas- 
 ville, High Point, Greensboro and Durham. Wearing badges 
 showing they were members of the committee to escort him 
 to Raleigh there entered the train at nearly every stopping 
 point many North Carolina citizens. It was proof of the 
 State-wide interest in the inauguration of Locke Craig. 
 
 Charles Aycock saw the ultimate reward of Craig. Stand- 
 ing before a convention in Charlotte four years ago and ask- 
 ing it to nominate Craig, he called attention to the fact that 
 North Carolina had rewarded him and Robert B. Glenn, Cleve- 
 land electors, by making each District Attorney and later lay- 
 ing the choicest chance for service before them, the governor- 
 ship. "Shall the Cleveland electors be rewarded while the 
 Bryan electors" — but he never finished the sentence. The 
 crowd cheered fifteen minutes. Of course everybody knew the 
 antithesis. And again when Aycock described his own love 
 for Eastern North Carolina, its broad fields and its seas, he 
 burst into another beautiful piece of patriotism : "But I love 
 the east too much to see it forever the debtor of the west." 
 And again the assembly cheered like mad. 
 
 The west today comes into its own. The first time since 
 Vance was given to the Commonwealth does a Governor come 
 from the heart of the great hills. Buncombe, which gave a 
 new word to the language, today gives a new Vance and a new 
 Aycock to the State. This is the feeling everywhere. 
 
 It is published on the streets, but better, it is written in 
 the hearts of men. Never was such preparation made for a 
 Chief Executive in North Carolina. All over the city pennants, 
 streamers, flags and "Welcome to Craig" are floating in the 
 glorious breezes without an equal in all the atmosphere. 
 "What does it mean?" asked a man yesterday, who had never 
 voted for Craig until November. "There never was any such 
 business as this before," he declared. And he was asked if 
 he didn't have the feeling. He said he did. 
 
 Locke Craig is made Governor today. It is twelve years 
 to the day since Charles B. Aycock took the oath of office. He 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 149 
 
 went in Tuesday, January 15, 1901. Locke Craig comes in 
 Wednesday, January 15, 1913. Aycock's administration be- 
 gan with a new State Constitution, a change of political party, 
 a new century and a new duty, that of educating all the peo- 
 ple. Locke Craig comes in with a change of party in the 
 nation, a new policy, and with growing sentiment for changes 
 in both the State and the National Constitutions. He faces a 
 new and a great duty, that of putting all North Carolina 
 places in calling distance of each other by a system of good 
 roads. 
 
 Even the weather promises to duplicate its performance of 
 twelve years ago. A finer day above and below, was never 
 seen. In that connection it is well to call to mind the error of 
 Sunday which said that Aycock's administration began with 
 his inaugural in the Academy of Music. It didn't. It took 
 place in the open and the whole city stood up and heard him. 
 This afternoon Governor Craig speaks in the Auditorium an 
 inclosed indoors almost as large as the great outdoors of his 
 great predecessor. So faithful has been the similarity of their 
 careers that the weather promises not to spoil the final effect 
 of the ceremonial. * * * 
 
 (The Asheville Citizen, January 16, 1913) 
 
 The progress of the "Craig Special" which left Asheville 
 at 9:10 yesterday morning had been in the nature of a tri- 
 umphant advance from the time that the Governor-Elect and 
 warm friends and admirers left the mountain metropolis, but 
 it was eclipsed by the scenes enacted on the streets of Raleigh 
 when the inauguration parade left the Governor's Mansion 
 for the Auditorium, where the crowning feature of the cere- 
 mony with which Asheville is so prominently identified, made 
 her illustrious citizen the Governor of the State. It is con- 
 servatively estimated that fully 20,000 people lined the streets 
 when the first carriage containing the Governor-Elect, Gov- 
 ernor Kitchin, Chairman Weaver, of the Inaugural Com- 
 mittee, and Chairman Bunn, of the House Inaugural Com- 
 mittee, moved away from the Mansion. Other carriages to 
 the number of thirty or more followed, moving through two 
 
150 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 files of militia companies drawn up at "attention" on both 
 sides of the streets leading to the Auditorium. The Third 
 Regiment was represented by Company B, of Raleigh; Com- 
 pany C, Henderson; Company D, Louisburg; Company F, 
 Franklinton; Company H, Warrenton; and Company M, Dur- 
 ham. 
 
 The Second Regiment sent Company E, Goldsboro; Com- 
 pany F, Fayetteville ; and Company H, Clinton. The First 
 Regiment sent sections of three companies and the recently 
 formed Cavalry Troop from Asheville. The Third Regiment 
 was also represented by the Coast Artillery, of Greensboro, 
 and the Ambulance Corps. 
 
 The parade advanced slowly up Fayetteville Street across 
 Capitol Square around West and North Streets to Wilmington 
 Street, thence back to the Square through Edenton, Salisbury 
 and Morgan Streets into Fayetteville Street, reaching the 
 Auditorium shortly after 11:00 o'clock. 
 
 A mighty cheer rang from stage to roof of the great 
 building when Governor Craig, accompanied by Governor 
 Kitchin and the inaugural party, advanced into the hall. The 
 great audience rose to its feet, mounted chairs, and cheered 
 for more than ten minutes. Many of the lavish decorations 
 in the building, including the national colors and tri-colored 
 streamers, were torn from their fastenings and waved aloft. 
 The galleries, not to be outdone by those on the main floor, 
 laid violent hands on the festoons of evergreens that hung 
 from the giant girders within reach and waved them as they 
 cheered. Above the tumult of the cheering could be heard 
 insistent cries of "Craig! Craig! Give us Craig, the Good 
 Roads Governor!" 
 
 One old veteran who was close to the stage stretched his 
 hands toward the Governor and with tears streaming down 
 his cheeks was heard to say: "God bless you, Locke. You 
 were always the soldier's friend." 
 
 Governor Craig repeatedly bowed his acknowledgement as 
 the ovation continued and now and then he smiled in pleased 
 recognition of his friends from the mountain section who ap- 
 peared to be bent on making the most noise. When quiet was 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 151 
 
 finally restored, the impressive moment of the inauguration, 
 the administration of the oath of office, was at hand. In a 
 clear, firm voice audible in all parts of the hall, Governor 
 Craig vowed fealty to his great trust. Intense silence pre- 
 vailed as the Governor took the oath and then there was re- 
 newed outburst of cheering. Following the Chief Executive, 
 the other State Officers, as named above, were sworn in, and 
 at 12:30 Governor Craig began his inaugural address. 
 
 At its conclusion the military parade was re-formed and 
 reviewed by Governor Craig and his party from the balcony 
 of the Yarborough Hotel. The soldier boys made a brave 
 showing and were received with repeated ovations from the 
 assembled thousands. The marchers dipped colors and "pre- 
 sented arms" as they passed the reviewing stand. 
 
 The boys from the A. & M. College, numbering 500, re- 
 ceived the greatest ovation as they marched past the Gov- 
 ernor and his staff. They wore their regulation gray uni- 
 forms and all the officers were mounted. 
 
 The Naval Brigade from Wilmington and the Boy Scouts 
 of Raleigh also received much recognition from the crowds. 
 The troops dispersed in front of the Capitol and the Governor 
 and his staff were taken to the Executive Mansion for lun- 
 cheon, to which about 200 guests had been invited. 
 
 The inaugural ball which began at 10:30 o'clock tonight 
 at the Auditorium was a brilliant affair. The grand march 
 was led by Governor and Mrs. Craig with the Governor's 
 Staff in full uniform and the new State Officers following. All 
 the civilian dancers were in evening dress and the brilliant 
 uniforms of National Guard officers formed a picturesque con- 
 trast. Dancing was continued until after midnight. 
 
 It is stated on the best authority that all records for at- 
 tendance at gubernatorial inaugurations were broken today. 
 Some estimates place the number of strangers in the city at 
 30,000 but previously stated, conservative estimates range 
 from 20,000 to 25,000. 
 
 The largest crowds on record up to this time were those 
 which attended the inauguration of Governor Vance, when 
 almost the entire State poured into the capitol to celebrate the 
 
152 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 redemption of North Carolina from the bonds of reconstruc- 
 tion. It is worthy of note that in this instance, too, Asheville 
 furnished the central figure of the inauguration exercises. 
 
 (News and Observer, Raleigh, January 16, 1913) 
 ******** 
 
 The applause that met Governor W. W. Kitchin as he was 
 introduced by J. W. Bunn, of Wake, lasted fifty-five seconds. 
 Mr. Kitchin stood and waited until the people were quiet. 
 Then he uttered this very tasteful sentence: "Honorable 
 Members of the General Assembly, Ladies and Gentlemen: 
 I take pleasure in presenting the Hon. Locke Craig, Governor- 
 Elect, who before making his inaugural address will qualify 
 by taking the prescribed oath of office, administered by the 
 Chief Justice, Walter Clark." The Choral Society sang the 
 Old North State. 
 
 Mr. Craig advanced to the speaker's stand which was dec- 
 orated in the gorgeous ensigns of the State and the Republic. 
 The whole assembly arose and gave the new Governor a greet- 
 ing as vigorous as it was deep. Sectional pride may have 
 moved many, but Buncombe did not beat Brunswick and Bertie 
 was not more voluble than Burke. It was the uprising of all 
 the counties for Craig. 
 
 The new Governor stood and smilingly waved the people 
 to silence. It was his turn to talk and theirs to hear. The 
 odds were against him for a moment, but he warmed quickly 
 to concert pitch. Once from out the moving throng, so many 
 of whom came for the pyrotechnics, there rang out the un- 
 known and irrepressible quantity, "Louder." The sharp re- 
 buke of a woman who wanted to know, "Why do the foolish 
 people all stand up? They can see just as well sitting down," 
 reminded one of the woman who assured the rising congrega- 
 tion as it stood to worship in song, that it "needn't get up 
 for me ; I can find a seat." This censorship of inaugural man- 
 ners touched many ladies. 
 
 With the moving stilled, Governor Craig had little diffi- 
 culty in reaching everybody. For each person who came not to 
 hear the message and retired, there were three who pushed 
 for a seat, this momentary demoralization kept the speaker's 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 153 
 
 first words from the great bulk. The first manifestation of 
 applause was the climax to his Biblical picture of the leaven- 
 ing loaf. "In this time of difficulty and hope the nation turns 
 for guidance to the Democratic Party," was the sentiment that 
 spread widely. 
 
 Again, when Craig quoted the dictum of Vance, that it 
 ought to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the 
 Day of Judgment than for the exploiters of the people, the 
 audience burst into terrific applause. 
 
 Governor Craig read his paper, but passionate and spon- 
 taneous oratory never sounded to better effect. One removed 
 from sight would never have thought he had manuscript. His 
 beautiful voice thundered when it was necessary; it pleaded 
 at his slightest behest. 
 
 INAUGURAL ADDRESS 
 
 Gentlemen of the General Assembly and My Fellow 
 Citizens: Democracy gives to the people the pledge of pro- 
 gress. The thought of the age has created a nobler purpose 
 in government. The Democratic Party intends to effectuate 
 this purpose by legislation in recognition of the equal rights 
 of man, and for the progressive welfare of all the ranks of 
 life. 
 
 In our material prosperity, privilege has been substituted 
 for justice. The vast wealth of modern industry, the products 
 of labor and genius have not been divided in equity, but have 
 been gathered into the enormous fortunes of the few. 
 
 We have not realized the moral benefits that should have 
 resulted from modern progress. Avarice has been stimulated ; 
 hope and opportunity have been denied; antagonism and re- 
 sentments have been generated. All classes have suffered. 
 We realize the conditions; the injustice has been uncovered. 
 It can not stand in the clear, calm and resolute gaze of the 
 American people. They are determined that our law shall be 
 based upon a higher conception of social obligation and that 
 our civilization shall mean a higher social life. They have 
 put their hands to the plow and will not look back. 
 
154 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 A new era has dawned ; the last election marks the begin- 
 ning of an epoch in our Government. The Republican Party- 
 had the prestige of victory and tradition ; it had the power of 
 place and of organized wealth; but it stood for privilege — it 
 took from the Republic its highest meaning, that equal justice 
 is the inalienable heritage of men ; it stood for that prosperity 
 which is not the handmaid of moral and intellectual growth; 
 it stood in the path of the progressive thought of the age; 
 with all its power and prestige it was crushed. Like the 
 leaven which the woman hid in three measures of meal, the 
 leaven of Democracy has been at work. 
 
 In this time of difficulty and hope the country turns for 
 guidance to the Democratic Party. 
 
 The spirit of progress pervades the Union and the people 
 demand legislation responsive to the impulse of the age. 
 
 North Carolina will not continue to march in the rear of 
 the procession of States. She is impatient for the advance. 
 Throbbing with energy, potential with accomplishment, she 
 looks expectant to this administration and to this General 
 Assembly. I believe that you Senators and Representatives 
 will perform your task with wisdom and courage and that 
 your work will be for the welfare of this generation and of 
 our posterity. The responsibility is ours, the opportunity is 
 ours. 
 
 Constitutional government and the ideals of the fathers 
 have ever been sacred to the Democratic Party; but these 
 ideals must be vital for practical accomplishment and militant 
 for justice. It was said of the celebrated opinion of Chief 
 Justice Taney, that "it gave the law to the North and the 
 nigger to the South." We are not content with the forms and 
 ceremonies of the law. The ideals of our Government must 
 be applied to present conditions. 
 
 The first duty of the State is to protect the citizen in the 
 enjoyment of his rights, to protect the weak from the oppres- 
 sion of the strong. This is what the men were doing at 
 Runnymede. 
 
 The discrimination which the railroads have made against 
 North Carolina in freight rates is the injustice of arbitrary 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 155 
 
 power. It has already worked irreparable injury; it has al- 
 ready cost our people millions of dollars and driven from our 
 territory industries the value of which we can not estimate. 
 These corporations have the protection of our laws, they 
 operate by our license, they enjoy privileges, and exercise the 
 sovereign power of eminent domain granted by the State. 
 They collect excessive rates from our people that cheaper 
 rates may be granted to the people of adjoining States. 
 
 I feel no antagonism to railroads. I know that our welfare, 
 to a large extent, is dependent upon their efficient operation, 
 which can only result from just remuneration. I know that 
 their prosperity is co-existent with our prosperity. Besides, 
 for no consideration can the State afford to be unjust. I in- 
 tend, as the Chief Executive of this State, to administer her 
 laws with impartiality and with even-handed justice to cor- 
 poration and to individual, to the great and to the lowly. But 
 when any corporation or any person shall persistently and 
 defiantly by arbitrary wrong cripple the industries of this 
 State and despoil her people, such person or corporation may 
 expect relentless resistance and resentment. 
 
 Vance said of those who were exploiting the State in 1876, 
 that it ought to be more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah 
 in the Day of Judgment than for such in North Carolina. The 
 spirit of Vance and 1876 lives today. 
 
 The city of High Point is to be congratulated that in the 
 shipment of its furniture to the West it will have the same 
 freight rate as rival cities of Virginia. The same rule must 
 apply to all our cities and to all our commerce. 
 
 This administration is ready to put into operation the exe- 
 cutive power of the State to prevent the continuation of this 
 wrong. I feel sure that this General Assembly is ready to 
 exercise any constitutional power to compel justice. 
 
 Is it possible that any person or any industry within our 
 territory shall not be accorded by common carriers the same 
 rights that are enjoyed by the people of other States? If 
 this be true, then ours is a territory to move out of. And 
 hundreds of industries have moved. We occupy the land and 
 boast of the lineage and bear the names of the Englishmen of 
 
156 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Halifax and of the Scotch-Irish of Mecklenburg. We have 
 inherited Magna Charta, but it is worthless without the spirit 
 of the men who made it. 
 
 We will win. The State will receive immense benefit. Our 
 industries will feel the impulse and new ones will spring up. 
 
 North Carolina has paid, too, her quota of tribute to the 
 rapacity of unlawful monopoly. We have been preyed upon 
 by trusts abroad and by trusts at home. They take from the 
 earnings of all. The poor must suffer most. The farmers 
 especially have been plundered and oppressed in the open day, 
 without hindrance, by a great concern adjudged now to be in 
 violation of law. We have been a patient, long-suffering peo- 
 ple. In our platform there is promised legislation that "will 
 make the existence of these concerns impossible." There is 
 promised the enforcement of the civil and criminal law against 
 the trust and against the man behind the trust. 
 
 In the fulfillment of this promise we need a trust law, clad 
 in blue uniform, that can raid a trust den with a warrant and 
 handcuffs in its hand. The guilty should be made to tremble, 
 the innocent may fear not. While I am Governor no innocent 
 man shall suffer by the criminal law. 
 
 The cry will be raised that such legislation will injure 
 business. The trust will shield itself, if possible, behind le- 
 gitimate industry. It will paralyze, if it can, the hand of 
 justice by warnings of disaster from the interference with 
 business. 
 
 The destruction of piracy is the protection of industry. It 
 is the duty of the State to protect and to encourage every 
 enterprise, small and great. And this is the age of large 
 enterprises. They are essential in the economy of our civili- 
 zation and are the agencies of its tremendous power and ac- 
 complishment. "All the currents of the time run to central- 
 ization. To successfully resist it we must throttle steam and 
 discharge electricity from human service." But these forces 
 should be for the service and not for the oppression of man- 
 kind. 
 
 One of the greatest works to be done in North Carolina is 
 the development of her water powers. This enterprise is now 
 beginning to assume its splendid proportions. It is potential 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 157 
 
 with magnificent upbuilding. The energy of our rivers, which 
 has been wasted in wild cataract and cascade, has been har- 
 nessed and driven to cities and towns in currents of power 
 obedient for all manner of service. This industry should be 
 welcomed and encouraged. The men behind it are benefactors 
 of the State. The policy of our law is that the State shall 
 regulate and control public service corporations. These water 
 powers are the natural agencies for public service. They are 
 natural monopolies and since the time of the ancient grist 
 mills have been subject to governmental regulations. The 
 corporations operating these water powers for public use 
 should be controlled by our Corporation Commission. This 
 must be done eventually, and it is but fair and right that it 
 should be done now. We should always remember, however, 
 that remuneration should be in proportion to the boldness of 
 the conception and to the risk of the enterprise. This is just. 
 
 For the protection of the people who work in factories and 
 on the railroads we should have an employer's liability law. 
 It should provide reasonable compensation for injury or death, 
 without the delay and the expense of litigation. This law 
 should be just to employer and employee, and it would be to 
 the advantage of both. It would eliminate the contingencies 
 and expense objectionable to both. It is demanded by good 
 business as well as by the progressive humanity of the age. 
 
 From the task of protection we proceed to the grander 
 task of construction. 
 
 We have in North Carolina two and a half millions of peo- 
 ple of pure English and Scotch-Irish blood. We rejoice in the 
 enterprise and industry and courage of our urban population, 
 and we honor our leaders in business, the master men who 
 have built up and organized great industries and developed 
 our expanding commerce. But this is essentially a Farmer 
 State, and will be for generations. We have no large cities. 
 Eighty per cent of our population is rural — good, sturdy 
 farmer folks. They grow and spend their lives in the country. 
 Their destiny, the destiny of our Commonwealth, the destiny 
 of us all, must be determined by the conditions that exist in 
 the country. 
 
158 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 North Carolina is a grand old State, her past has been 
 heroic in peace and in war. But we must confess with hu- 
 miliation, that we have neglected our country children worse 
 than any other State in the Union, save one or two. In the 
 discharge of the sacred duty of protecting their health and 
 the paramount duty of providing for their education, we stand 
 among the lowest. We must expiate this sin before we can 
 longer claim our noble heritage. 
 
 The State has been blessed with all the natural conditions 
 conducive to health and strength. Sufferers from far countries 
 come here to recover from disease and to renew the vigor of 
 youth in our salubrious air. But we have allowed disease and 
 death to stalk abroad at noon-day. Most of the serious dis- 
 eases are preventable diseases. Formerly the work of the 
 doctor was to heal the sick, now it is to preserve health. The 
 beneficence of scientific medicine is to drive back disease and 
 suffering. Men and women and children suffer and die from 
 causes that could be removed. They are deaf and dumb, and 
 feebleminded, and are stricken with blindness and insanity, 
 condemned to lives of darkness and hopelessness, not by the 
 inscrutable decrees of Providence, but by the failure of society 
 to protect them against the enemy more cruel than death. 
 The courage and energy of a conquering race must spring 
 from robust health. 
 
 We must provide for the accurate record of births and 
 deaths and the causes of disease in every community. We 
 can thus ascertain with accuracy the sanitary conditions in 
 each community and intelligently work for the prevention of 
 disease and for the promotion of health. Each county and 
 each city should have an intelligent, efficient, well paid health 
 officer. We can appeal to our citizenship through the press, 
 the school house and the pulpit and encourage them to purer 
 and more healthful home conditions, to the inestimable bless- 
 ings of all the people. 
 
 The mill men of North Carolina deserve commendation for 
 the humane spirit with which they have cared for the health 
 and education of their employees and the children of their 
 employees. In many places they have provided schools and 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 159 
 
 libraries and comfortable reading rooms. Some of the great 
 organizers and heads of industries take the most active in- 
 terest in the cleanliness of their factory towns and the wel- 
 fare of their workers. But the State should not neglect her 
 duty longer because individuals have sometimes done then- 
 duty. 
 
 I doubt not that the General Assembly will ratify by 
 statute the humane recommendations made for the protec- 
 tion of women and children by the Committee of Mill Men 
 and the Committee of the Society for the Protection of Child 
 Labor. 
 
 The highest duty of society is the education of the children. 
 The command to educate our country children has been thun- 
 dered from the conscience of the age. When in obedience to 
 the demands of the people and of justice to the child, the 
 General Assembly shall provide for a six months' rural school, 
 North Carolina will feel the impulse of an exalted hope. Then 
 it will not be long before the stigma of ignorance will be wiped 
 out, the stigma which through the long years has been our 
 misfortune and our humiliation. 
 
 This act of beneficent wisdom will reach down to the 
 children of the lowliest and lift up to a clearer vision. It will 
 show them hope and endow them with a new strength. It 
 will lift the whole State up and give to her a nobler and a 
 grander meaning. And prosperity, and juster laws, and nobler 
 institutions and ideals will follow in the train of universal 
 enlightenment. 
 
 The time has come for the State to exercise her sovereign 
 authority and compel the attendance of her children upon the 
 schools. The child cannot work to advantage, but his mind is 
 eager for knowledge and most retentive. His character is 
 responsive to culture. The factory is no place for the child. 
 The drudgery of toil is not his rightful inheritance before his 
 bones are hard or his muscles are firm. If we grind the seed 
 corn, there will be a failure in the crop of men. 
 
 Our institutions of higher learning must be sustained in 
 their full vigor and efficiency. They are the dynamic centers 
 of culture and are essential to the life of the State. If we 
 
160 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 should allow them to begin to degenerate, our whole educa- 
 tional system would begin to lose its vitality and power. 
 
 Our eleemosynary institutions must be maintained in the 
 high state of efficiency for which they have been noted. We 
 must make provision for the deaf and the dumb and the blind 
 and the insane and the feeble-minded. When in their distress 
 and weakness they stretch forth their hands to us, they should 
 not be driven back as were the blind men in the way to Jeru- 
 salem, for it was the Christ who said: "Inasmuch as ye did 
 it unto the least of these, my little ones, ye did it unto me." 
 
 I hope that you can provide a more generous pension for 
 the Confederate soldiers. More than a half century ago 
 they went in youth and strength to meet the invading host. 
 Some fell amid the fierce tumult of historic days beneath the 
 advancing flag, enshrined in eternal youth ; many have passed 
 since the war; the remnant of the heroic army is with us yet. 
 Most of them are poor, all are disabled by age and the wounds 
 and hardships of war. Our privilege to help them is closing, 
 for the captains and the soldiers are departing. Soon it will 
 be written what we did for the last of the battle-scarred men 
 of Dixie. 
 
 We should encourage all of our industries, but especially 
 should we stimulate the growth of agriculture. Its wonderful 
 improvement is already an inspiration. Our famers are be- 
 ginning to reap the harvests of the intelligent utilization of 
 the soil. 
 
 We should provide, by every feasible method, for their pro- 
 tection, and for their obtaining the credits and the means, 
 that increasing prosperity may come. 
 
 Improved highways are the arteries of the country. They 
 create organized communities of isolated families and make 
 these communities a part of the life of the great world. Dyna- 
 mite and the steam shovel are making through the hills and 
 through the granite of the mountains, pathways for the loco- 
 motive. The improved road would give the farmers access 
 to the railroad, to the church, and to the school during all 
 seasons of the year. Good roads stimulate improvement. 
 Then enrich the soil. They arouse ambition and generous 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 161 
 
 emulation. They increase the value of every acre of land that 
 they touch and the value of every man, woman and child whose 
 home they pass. No community can hope for progress without 
 the good road. We cannot have the benefits of modern civil- 
 ization without it. It is not an expense; it is an investment 
 that pays one hundred per cent dividend every year. And 
 more, it brings culture and contentment and a better social 
 life. Every community in the State must have it. The cost 
 is much less than it was a few years ago. 
 
 I think that a general statute should be enacted, conferring 
 upon the townships the power to levy taxes and issue bonds 
 for road construction and providing administrative machinery. 
 The counties can continue what they have been doing. The 
 townships can complete and perfect the system. The State 
 should supervise and encourage this great work by lending 
 its credit and by all practicable, feasible means. All available 
 convicts should be worked on the public roads. In this way 
 they can be used more appropriately and more to the advan- 
 tage of the public than in the cultivation of the field or in the 
 mechanical arts. 
 
 It is not strange that in the past thousands of young men 
 and women, yearning for a larger life, have left the loneliness 
 and poverty of the farm with its denial of culture and social 
 enjoyment. These conditions are passing away; the telephone 
 now puts the home of the farmer in communication with his 
 neighbors and with the men and the markets of the world. 
 The mail carrier brings the daily paper pulsing with "the 
 thoughts that shake mankind." The home on the farm with 
 its freedom and purity, with all the opportunities of civiliza- 
 tion, is the hope of our finest development. 
 
 The legislation of North Carolina has heretofore been con- 
 siderate of the welfare of the people and fairly responsive to 
 their demands. This State has not suffered as other States 
 have suffered from corrupt and sinister influences, but these 
 evils will come to us too unless we provide against them. 
 
 The primary election is already a recognized institution in 
 our politics. It is a logical evolution of our democracy. We 
 have it and let us have it in its best possible form. Let us 
 
162 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 provide for it by law and let us protect it by law. To the 
 limit of the law let us guarantee purity and fairness in all 
 elections. The Democratic Party has set its face steadfastly 
 against all manner of corruption. This General Assembly, in 
 accordance with the declaration in the platform, will enact a 
 statute for the conviction and punishment of all persons that 
 would by any method of corruption whatsoever attempt to 
 influence elections or the making or the administration of the 
 law. 
 
 The most difficult question for this General Assembly is 
 the raising of a sufficient revenue to meet the necessities of 
 the State. The problem of taxation is always difficult and 
 vital. The Government must be economically administered. 
 No extravagance should be tolerated. We must provide 
 revenue for all appropriations and necessary expenses. With 
 the State, as with the individual, the elementary rule of bus- 
 iness is, to live within your means. We are going to inevitable 
 bankruptcy if we continually spend more than our income. 
 
 But North Carolina has ample resources with which to 
 meet all her financial obligations. Within the last decade the 
 value of her lands and the amount of her wealth have been 
 multiplied. The railroads of North Carolina are more valuable 
 today than was all her property put together in 1876. 
 
 We cannot repudiate the obligations of Christian civiliza- 
 tion. Now that the land is yielding the bountiful harvest, 
 now that the stagnant towns of the last generation are grow- 
 ing cities of increasing wealth, now that industry is tri- 
 umphant, now that destiny is unfolding to us in grander reve- 
 lation—shall we in this day of strength and prosperity with- 
 draw any support from our institutions of learning, shall we 
 deny the efficient administration of justice, shall we not hear 
 the appeal of the unfortunate, shall it be written that to the 
 Confederate soldiers we give less than any other Southern 
 State, and for the education of our children we do less than 
 any State in the Union ? In this new century, when southern 
 ideals are about to be restored to the Union, when southern 
 statesmen are coming again to the places of power, when the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 163 
 
 future beckons with renewed strength and life; forward, is 
 the order. 
 
 The fault is that we do not assess our property for tax- 
 ation. The land has been greatly undervalued and most of 
 the personal property has not been valued at all. It seems 
 that an immediate reassessment is necessary, and it should 
 be done before this General Assembly shall adjourn sine die. 
 It should be understood that the assessment is not ordered 
 with the view of increasing the rate of taxation, but with the 
 view of lowering the rate and with the determination of se- 
 curing a more equitable and more complete listing of taxable 
 property. The tax on inheritances should be increased and it 
 should be collected. 
 
 In my opinion the impelling reason for undervaluation and 
 concealment of property is not that men and communities 
 desire to shirk the payment of their just proportion of taxes, 
 nor that they desire to take advantage of other men and other 
 communities, but the reason is that they do not desire that 
 other men and other communities shall take the advantage of 
 them. The taxpayer and the assessor, to insure a square 
 deal for themselves and their communities, are actuated by 
 a common purpose to undervalue property, and for this reason 
 undervaluation and concealment have come to be the estab- 
 lished custom. 
 
 The personal property of the average man can not be con- 
 cealed. The securities of the wealthy can be concealed. The 
 poor pay this tax. The wealthy escape. 
 
 If we could segregate property and provide that the 
 property in each community should bear the governmental 
 expense of that community and that property of a general 
 character should meet the requirements of the State, the 
 temptation to depreciation would be greatly lessened and the 
 effort to conceal less successful. This is the essence and the 
 strength of local self-government, the taxation of each com- 
 munity by its own people, for its own purpose and benefits. 
 The unit should be no larger than is necessary to assure the 
 advantages of co-operation. 
 
 The application of this principle has enabled our cities and 
 
164 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 towns and many of our rural communities to enjoy the ad- 
 vantages of improvement and progress. We must eventually 
 resort to this principle of local self-government for the highest 
 development of local institutions. We must resort to this to 
 obtain the best roads, and the best schools, and electric lights, 
 and pure water, and the opportunities of modern life. To 
 realize the full measure of the blessing of this beneficent 
 principle we need an Amendment to our Constitution. 
 
 The formation and the submission to the people of such an 
 amendment would be the supreme work of this General 
 Assembly. Such an amendment would be of mighty sig- 
 nificance in the life of the State. I believe that it could be 
 framed to result in her enduring welfare. 
 
 In assuming the office of Governor I am deeply conscious 
 of the solemn responsibility. I follow in the line of my able 
 predecessors, whose administrations have been blessed with 
 peace and plenty. There are difficulties to be met; as always 
 the law must be enforced for the suppression of crime and for 
 the maintenance of order, and as to the policies that vitally 
 concern the State and all her varied interests, sharp differences 
 must necessarily arise among able and patriotic men. 
 
 I am profoundly grateful to the people for calling me to 
 the place where earnest endeavor is potential for the welfare 
 of North Carolina. I welcome the opportunity. I do not shirk 
 from the labor. I realize my limitations, and I am eager for 
 the support and counsel of my friends, and of all good citizens 
 who would guide me in the straight way and help me to do 
 the best service. 
 
 I will strive to prefer uprightness to the approval of the 
 mighty or to the applause of the multitude. My ambition is 
 to perform this, my task, with fidelity and courage; I pray 
 for that wisdom and strength vouchsafed to him who is stead- 
 fast in the resolve to do right. 
 
 On this day I dedicate myself to the service of all the peo- 
 ple; and for them I do promise to administer this office con- 
 stant in the obligation to do exact justice to every man with- 
 out regard to race or politics, to class or condition ; sealed with 
 the oath that I have taken, this with them is my Covenant. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 165 
 
 And may the Almighty Hand be upon this, His State, to 
 order it and to uphold it with Judgment and with Righteous- 
 ness henceforth, even forever. 
 
 THE GOVERNOR'S ADDRESS 
 
 NOTE: How many of the Governor's recommendations voiced in 
 his Inaugural Address became realities, history now records. The re- 
 duction of freight rates, the beginning of the building of a state-wide 
 good roads system, and tax assessment reform are among the most 
 notable. The Asheville Gazette-News of January 15th sums up the 
 progressive program advocated, in the following editorial: 
 
 Ranking easily among the great State papers in style and 
 in spirit, voicing the convictions, the yearnings, the ideals of 
 a new time, yet with reverence of sacred memories and tra- 
 ditions, Hon. Locke Craig's address delivered today, on the 
 occasion of his induction into the office of Governor of North 
 Carolina, will be read, studied and preserved, by his friends 
 and neighbors in the western section, heightening their 
 especial pride in today's event, and by the people of the whole 
 State. For he voices the hour ; simply, eloquently, powerfully. 
 The address is a finely wrought literary production. Some 
 passages, in conformity with the theme, are pure poetry. 
 
 With the assurance of one who sees a pathway, the Gov- 
 ernor says that one goal ahead is the abolition of the monu- 
 mental tax of freight discrimination ; it must end. The water 
 powers should be controlled by the Corporation Commission. 
 There should be an employer's liability law. The State's 
 destiny depends upon the conditions of country life, since 
 eighty per cent of our population is rural, and our betterment 
 enterprises must conform to those conditions and be largely 
 directed by them. Failure to provide for protection of the 
 health of the children of the State and for their education the 
 Governor names by its true name — it is a sin. He is em- 
 phatic on the subjects of the conservation of the public health, 
 the work of women and children in factories, good roads build- 
 ing, a primary law. The climax of the address emphasizes the 
 paramount necessity of tax assessment reform. 
 
166 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Like the preacher of the Gospel, the Governor's task has 
 been to emphasize things already stated, to say old things in 
 a new way, rather than to state new facts. He says of good 
 roads that they enhance the value of every man and woman 
 and child whose home they pass, and of every acre of land 
 fronting upon them. What a magnificent task of conserva- 
 tion, of economy, is thus pictured. 
 
 No vast nor impossible scheme of legislation is outlined. 
 It is presumed that Mr. Craig has made a program which he 
 considers well within the limits of the present Legislature. 
 Most progress is by compromise. If even a major portion of 
 the things suggested in the address are done, the State will 
 have made great progress and cleared the way to much 
 greater. The Governor is of the opinion that there should be 
 a reassessment of the property of the State before final ad- 
 journment. This will enable the people to see what the effect 
 will be of a proper adjustment of taxation, before the tax is 
 levied. Two years ago the budget was made up by guess. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 167 
 
 OPENING OF THE GREAT 
 STATE FAIR 
 
 (October, 1913) 
 
 NOTE: The Public Letters and Papers of Locke Craig, published 
 at the close of his administration, give all his messages to the Genera r 
 Assembly, and official communications. It is not attempted here to 
 repeat these, except the Inaugural Address and the final message to 
 the General Assembly. The speeches that follow are selected from 
 those made while he was Governor of the State. 
 
 North Carolina is buoyant with energy. Plenty is the re- 
 ward of labor. Her cities teem with commerce and her fields 
 are robed in harvest. Thrift and frugality are the inheritance 
 of this generation that remembers the days of our adversity. 
 
 The State is victorious in industry. Amid the roar of the 
 cataract and the throbbing of the steam engine, there rises 
 the manifold song of multiplex wheel and spindle. We have 
 today two hundred and ninety-four cotton mills, with more 
 than three million spindles and more than fifty-eight thousand 
 looms ; ninety-one furniture factories, employing thousands of 
 people, and sending the finished products of our forests to all 
 civilized countries. All kinds of industries are prospering and 
 adding to the wealth of the State. 
 
 Our mountain section is becoming a land of orchards. The 
 apples wear the royal colors of their native hills, and are 
 flavored by the aroma that is fragrant in the flowers. Their 
 quality is unequaled. They take the first prizes at the world's 
 expositions, and command a higher price than the oranges of 
 the tropics. 
 
 In this land corn and wheat are more prolific than the 
 harvests gathered in the realms of Rasselas, Prince of Abys- 
 sinia. Our tobacco, peanuts, berries and cantaloupes are 
 profitable to the producer and the most delicate luxuries 
 wherever they are known. 
 
 The cattle of a thousand hills are ours. The fertile slopes 
 of our mountains make pastures as rich as those that Abra- 
 
168 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 ham looked upon when he turned his eyes to the plains of 
 Mesopotamia. 
 
 Cotton is the commanding staple of all agriculture, and 
 from this product alone North Carolina in 1912 realized more 
 than sixty million dollars. 
 
 This Fair is the Annual Festival of Industry. For exhi- 
 bition, here is brought the unblemished of every herd and the 
 finest fruits of every section. The experience of each is the 
 teacher of all. We are awakened to our powers and oppor- 
 tunities. The spirit of generous emulation is engendered and 
 stimulates to higher hope and endeavor. We do not know 
 what North Carolina can do; we do not know what we our- 
 selves can do, until we see what has been done by superior 
 energy and intelligence. This fair is a grand object lesson; 
 an encouragement that arouses the manhood and the woman- 
 hood of the State to more determined effort. It is and has 
 been a large factor in accomplishment and in progress. It is 
 the list where the knights of useful achievement contend. 
 The victors here are rewarded with a high consciousness that 
 they are foremost in the peaceful contest for the welfare of 
 mankind. 
 
 But the noblest exhibit of this Fair is not corn or cotton 
 or fruit or cattle, but men and women. From the mountains 
 and from the plains they have gathered — these sons and 
 daughters of the State, sprung from the loins of a sturdy race, 
 thoroughbred they are from Norman and Saxon sires. These 
 constitute the State — her wealth and her glory. Like Cor- 
 nelia, the mother of the Graccii, she points with pride to these 
 as her jewels, and all industry, all achievement, all progress, 
 all law and all government should have the supreme purpose 
 of a more exalted ideal, a finer citizenship, the guarantee of 
 justice, an equal opportunity to all the sons and daughters of 
 this Commonwealth. , 
 
 I have the faith that the State is entering upon a career 
 of grander progress. We are inspired by a history of heroism 
 in war and unfaltering courage in peace. We can reap in our 
 strength the golden harvest from the fields that were sown 
 in weakness. The men of the South, and the men of North 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 169 
 
 Carolina are now in the seats of power to restore the ideals 
 of the Republic, to unfetter our industries, and guarantee 
 opportunity to all of the people. 
 
 We see the coming of the day when privilege shall no 
 longer plunder with impunity. We see, too, the coming of 
 the day when justice shall be done in the transportation of 
 commerce, when natural monopolies shall be subservient to 
 the public welfare. 
 
 We are in the midst of an era when highways, the arteries 
 of the body politic, shall carry the blessings of progress and 
 civilization to every home in North Carolina. Inventive genius 
 has employed the powers of men and revolutionized industry. 
 
 The day is coming when wealth and progress shall be the 
 handmaid of enlightenment and humanity, when the State 
 shall protect the weak, and offer to every child the hope of a 
 higher life. Already there are in the State more than six 
 hundred thousand children upon the rolls of the public schools. 
 
170 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 NEEDS OF NORTH CAROLINA ALONG 
 EDUCATIONAL LINES 
 
 (Roanoke Rapids, N. C, April, 1914) 
 
 Mr. W. L. Long introduced the Governor to the audience 
 with a few brief but clever remarks. Mr. Long spoke of the 
 duty of the community to educate its children, complimented 
 the work of the Superintendent and Faculty of the Graded 
 School and emphasized the fact that the growth and progress 
 of this community had been such as to far exceed our present 
 school facilities. He introduced Governor Craig as "North 
 Carolina's most distinguished son; a man worthy in every 
 way to succeed our beloved Aycock." 
 
 Governor Craig's speech was both humorous and pathetic ; 
 entertaining the audience every minute he was speaking. He 
 referred humorously to his introduction by Mr. Long. 
 
 "I wish to thank my talented young friend for the hand- 
 some way in which he introduced me to this great audience. 
 Of course I know I do not deserve to be presented in any such 
 way, but I am obliged to him all the same. It makes me feel 
 good to hear anybody talk about me that way, although I 
 know it is not so. My folks in the mountains will come to 
 the conclusion that I have gotten to be a different kind of a 
 man since I have become Governor." He mentioned the fact 
 that this was the first time that he had had the pleasure of 
 speaking to an audience in their county. He mentioned the 
 astonishing progress made by this community in such a brief 
 while. "I could not have spoken here so very long ago, 
 there was nothing here but peanuts and cotton and now there 
 has been built here one of the great industrial centers of the 
 State. I was astonished to see such an industrial center 
 here. 
 
 "But industrial accomplishment is not the highest aim of 
 men; to make money is not the highest aim of men. It is a 
 great thing to make money. I wish I could make money. I 
 do not condemn the man who makes money. It is a mag- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 171 
 
 nificent thing to build railroads that stretch across a con- 
 tinent, to erect cotton mills and paper mills and vast manu- 
 facturing industries; to start in motion machinery; to start 
 the song of the spindle and the clack of the loom. 
 
 "But that is not the highest thing in life. The object of 
 all human endeavor, the highest aim of all human civiliza- 
 tion, ought to be the culture of the individual man and woman. 
 The greatest thing in this world is the building of men and 
 women. If everything on this green footstool of Almighty 
 God were for the sole purpose of making money, if that were 
 the sole object, He would stamp it out of existence. The 
 highest object of all human endeavor is the improvement of 
 men and women, and it is the highest object of government. 
 The highest object of government is not to build great battle- 
 ships, to erect magnificent public buildings. The symbol of 
 our government is not the rapid-fire machine gun, or the hang- 
 man's noose. I would rather compare the government under 
 which I live to an old hen. I do not mean any jokes by com- 
 paring it to an old hen. It is one of the grandest symbols I 
 know of. When our Saviour stood upon the Mount of Olives 
 overlooking 'Jerusalem the Golden' he said: 'Oh, Jerusalem, 
 Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets and stonest them 
 that are sent unto thee. How often would I have gathered 
 thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens 
 under her wings, and ye would not.' 
 
 "I would not typify this government by the sword, the 
 hangman's noose or the policeman's billy, but I would have it 
 a government for protection of the people and to lift up all 
 the people to a higher plane and a nobler purpose in life. 
 Liberty and Justice are but means to an end, and Liberty and 
 Justice have as an end the betterment of every person that 
 comes under their sway. 
 
 "That is the grandest republic which guarantees to every 
 child in its borders the opportunity of attaining his highest 
 possibilities. That community is governed by the noblest 
 ideas, that community is striving for the highest and best in 
 life, which guarantees to every child in its borders the possi- 
 bilities of attaining to its highest ideals. 
 
172 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 "Unless this community and this Government guarantee 
 these possibilities, it is all a fraud and a humbug, and it is 
 wrong! 
 
 "There are three main influences with a man or a woman ; 
 in the first place, the influence of heredity. We are apt to be 
 somewhat like our parents are and to receive from them some 
 of our characteristics. And then there is the influence upon 
 human character of that thing which you call personal will. 
 Every boy, girl, man or woman has within him a throne of 
 power from which he can defy the decree of Almighty God. 
 And then there is opportunity — the influence of environment, 
 the influence of the circumstances in which we live, and I 
 think that counts for more than all of the other influences put 
 together. 
 
 "The intellectual and moral differences between men and 
 women by nature are not more pronounced than their physical 
 differences are. But take the most pure and beautiful woman 
 in Roanoke Rapids and compare her with the lowest, most 
 degraded woman in Roanoke Rapids. The difference between 
 them is the difference between a demon and an archangel — as 
 far as the East is from the West. Why this great difference ? 
 It does not exist by nature and ought not to exist at all. You 
 say it does. Suppose you go to the poorest and worst kept 
 home in this town and take from it an infant at the moment 
 of birth. Suppose this child is exchanged for a rich child, 
 unknown to anyone. Do you think that after life would ever 
 reveal the horrible secret? Lady Clara Vere De Vere, with 
 all her culture, grace and refinement, if she had been trans- 
 posed at birth to a cradle of ignorance, vice and sin, do you 
 suppose that the blood of an hundred earls would have made 
 her the graceful, talented, Christian woman that she was? 
 
 "Circumstances, environment, opportunity, or the lack of 
 these things, make up these differences between men and 
 women. You might take the child of the wildest savage and 
 put him in a Christian home, why he too would be 'the heir 
 of all the ages in the foremost files of time.' My friends, I 
 claim that the greatest influence upon human character is 
 opportunity. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 173 
 
 "A boy or girl is like a wireless tower standing ready to 
 receive messages of love, culture, hope — ready to receive 
 power. Every child, every human being, wants the oppor- 
 tunity of that message. It wants its mind tuned for a higher, 
 nobler and grander life. 
 
 "The great differences you see between men are only dif- 
 ferences in the opportunities they have had. Every man, boy, 
 or girl, ought to be taught to do that which he is best capable 
 of doing. I had rather be a good hog feeder than a sorry 
 preacher and sometimes a powerful good hog feeder is spoiled 
 in making a poor preacher. Every man ought to be taught 
 to do that which he can do the best. We cannot all be gov- 
 ernors, spinners, or preachers, but there is a place for every 
 one. 
 
 "You can take two acorns from the same tree, with the 
 same possibilities, the same germ of life, the same energy 
 for development. You can plant one in sterile soil and let it 
 be choked by weeds. It will grow up into an ugly, knotty, 
 scrubby oak. Take the other acorn and put it in good soil, 
 give it sustenance, give it a chance to grow. It will grow into 
 a great, widespreading monarch of the forest. It will wave 
 its giant arms in defiance of the storm. If there is a great 
 difference in what came from the two acorns, what must be 
 the difference that develops between two human beings, be- 
 cause these human beings have no limitations? All possi- 
 bilities are theirs. For them everything hopes. There is no 
 limit to their development; no limit to the heights to which 
 they may rise; no limit to their degradation to the lowest 
 depths. When a community is dealing with its young, it is 
 dealing with infinite possibilities." 
 
 Governor Craig then alluded to the coming bond election 
 for the purpose of enlarging the educational facilities of the 
 community. 
 
 "They tell me that the corporations of this District are 
 going to pay eighty-five per cent of the taxes and the people 
 of the District will only have to pay the other fifteen per 
 cent. A man who would vote against that kind of a proposi- 
 tion would vote against the interests of his child. 
 
174 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 "When I look at my boys, it seems to me that the highest 
 and noblest thing that I can do is to give them the best oppor- 
 tunity in life. I know that if my boy is educated and your 
 boy is not educated, I know that my boy grows like the 
 mighty oak in fertile ground and your boy is fated to grow 
 like the scrub oak. I know that one boy would occupy an 
 exalted place in the world and the other boy must be a hewer 
 of wood and a drawer of water. If my boy has the chance and 
 yours has not, it has got to be your boy and not mine. 
 
 "Of course you are going to vote those taxes. North Car- 
 olina is voting this tax everywhere for the benefit of the 
 children of North Carolina. I hope that everyone of you will 
 go to the polls and vote for the progress of your children. 
 
 "There are just as intelligent faces among the Roanoke 
 Rapids boys and girls as you will find in the most fashionable 
 community. They need but culture. The highest product of 
 the human race is to be found in the modern, cultured 
 American men and women. I believe the boys and girls here 
 in Roanoke Rapids are capable of all culture and develop- 
 ment. Unless this community does lift them up and point 
 them to the very highest opportunity, this community is a 
 failure. 
 
 "The corporations say if you will note this tax, we will pay 
 eighty-five per cent and you are to pay fifteen per cent. They 
 are willing to do this because their business will be worth 
 more. Every human being in Roanoke Rapids will be worth 
 more. It is a question of whether or not you want to educate 
 your child. 
 
 "You should vote this tax and give all welcome to the 
 great and glorious opportunity vouchsafed to your children. 
 My friends, the responsibility is yours, the duty is yours, and 
 I believe that every man will do his duty to himself and to his 
 children and let his children take hold of the glorious oppor- 
 tunity offered them in this beautiful city on the banks of the 
 Roanoke." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 175 
 
 INTRODUCTION OF VICE-PRESIDENT 
 MARSHALL AT CHARLOTTE 
 
 (May 20th, 1914) 
 
 NOTE: This occasion was the celebration in commemoration of 
 the signing of the Mecklenburg Declaration of Independence, May 20, 
 1775. 
 
 Mr. McDowell, in presenting Governor Craig, recalled that 
 at the great' centennial celebration of 1875, the chief speaker, 
 Governor Thomas Hendrix, of Indiana, was introduced by- 
 North Carolina's idol, Governor Zebulon B. Vance. "When 
 these two luminous figures faced the audience they formed 
 a picture never to be forgotten," said he, and added that it 
 was highly appropriate for the guest of the day, a celebrated 
 Indianian, to be introduced by "our own loved Governor Locke 
 Craig." 
 
 There was an outburst of applause as the Governor arose. 
 "Ladies and Gentlemen of Mecklenburg and all the other 
 counties of North Carolina," said he. "If the men of Meck- 
 lenburg and surrounding counties of 139 years ago could re- 
 visit this city and witness the scenes that are being enacted 
 here today, they would conclude that their descendants had 
 kept at least one of the commandments, that they should 
 multiply and replenish the earth. (Laughter.) 
 
 "North Carolina is gathered here today to celebrate the 
 clear-sightedness and heroism of the pioneers of human 
 freedom, or as the poem has put it, the vanguard of the Revo- 
 lution. We come to acknowledge our obligation and to express 
 our gratitude to the men and women who, though few in num- 
 bers as compared with us; 139 years ago, in defiance of the 
 principalities and powers of earth, declared for the inalienable 
 rights of all men. We come, my friends, today, and on the 
 soil made sacred by their dust, and under the same skies 
 beneath which they lived, and with the same Scotch-Irish 
 blood coursing through our veins that burned in them, we 
 come to renew our covenant to do our part with fidelity and 
 
176 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 courage. We acknowledge our indebtedness for this heritage 
 and realize that it is our responsibility to transmit it in its 
 purity to the generations that are to follow us. 
 
 "It is appropriate that your orator today should come from 
 the great Northwest, a section whose people, during the try- 
 ing years of Reconstruction and the political contests that 
 have come since, have had hearts that responded in sympathy 
 and co-operation with Southern wrongs and Southern ideals. 
 
 "We have with us today a man, who, by grace of the 
 grandest Republic that ever existed among men, has been 
 exalted to the second eminence in all the world. (Applause.) 
 He comes to us, not merely as a distinguished person, but he 
 comes as the representative of ideals that have come back to 
 the sovereign places in this Government. He represents an 
 administration that stands for justice to all men, a vitaliza- 
 tion of the principle for which the men of Mecklenburg strove ; 
 an administration that stands for peace with and among all 
 the nations of earth but one which, with all the power of the 
 greatest nation in the world, stands for war if war must 
 come. (Applause.) 
 
 "The men of Mecklenburg 139 years ago planted here the 
 seed of a mighty tree. It has grown up into the magnificent 
 city of Charlotte. The vanguard of the Revolution, it has 
 always maintained its position of leadership. I welcome you, 
 sir, to the largest and most important city in North Carolina; 
 in commerce and in spirit and in progress, the largest city on 
 this hemisphere. Ladies and gentlemen, I have the great 
 honor to present to you the Vice-President of the United 
 States." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 177 
 
 MEETING OF THE SCOTTISH SOCIETY OF 
 
 AMERICA AND ADDRESS OF 
 
 GOVERNOR CRAIG 
 
 (May 29th, 1914) 
 
 NOTE: The account of this meeting was taken from The Raleigh 
 News and Observer of May 31st>. 
 
 When the Scottish Society of America celebrated its fifth 
 time in Fayetteville, Thursday, Governor Locke Craig wore 
 plaid, spoke, and was the most delighted Scotchman in the 
 crowd. 
 
 Governor Craig took his staff with him and while the "God- 
 Blessed Macs" were dressed up, the State of North Carolina 
 was putting on some airs also. The Governor's party attracted 
 the big attention. The Scotch had seen the Macs, their 
 clothes and their ornamentals, but they had not seen real regi- 
 mentals since Sherman went through fifty years ago and 
 raised a little of the stuff that he said war is. He paid Fay- 
 etteville a delightful visit and helped himself to the good 
 rations of that town. 
 
 Governor Craig began his speech with a story that brought 
 the crowd to great laughter. He said that while he and his 
 staff were sitting in their automobile waiting for the parade 
 to begin, a crowd of boys came out and looked at them. 
 
 General Laurence W. Young was the man whom they sur- 
 veyed. The General had on his military best. The boys 
 looked him over too awed to talk. But there was one brave 
 fellow and he personified the sentiment of the others. Look- 
 ing at the Colonel, the youngster said: "There is one man 
 what shore is dressed up!" 
 
 "They are a people that never crouched in bondage. It 
 was the red-headed Scotchman, Galgarcus, according to Ta- 
 citus, that hurled at the crushing destiny of Roman power his 
 
178 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 last defiance, at the foot-hills of Scotland, that is perpetuated 
 in the oratory of our day: 
 
 " 'You plunder our homes, and violate our women, and call 
 that civilization ; you make the land a desolation, and call that 
 peace.' They died before the legions of Caesar, but not a man 
 surrendered. It was the same inspiration in the young piper 
 of the Seventy-Fifth Highland Regiment at Waterloo. He sat 
 on a drum, playing the airs of Scotland while his comrades 
 were annihilated around him. They died remembering Ben 
 Lothian, like the Greeks remembering Argos. The music of 
 the bag-pipe did not stop until the piper was dead. 
 
 "Wherever English-speaking armies have marched, and 
 the conclusions of battle have been tried, whether on the 
 Heights of Abraham, or on the Heights of Gettysburg, or the 
 Moor of Culloden, there Scotchmen have fought and fallen 
 among the foremost. Their free-born spirit, their knightly 
 character and their courage are the themes of romance and 
 chivalry. 
 
 "Not only in war, but in the thoughts that shake mankind, 
 they have maintained their primacy. That small land has 
 produced thinkers and philosophers and orators equalled only 
 by ancient Athens. A land of poor soil, and rugged mountains, 
 it has been worth more to the world than the vast empires of 
 the Czars and the Manchus. 
 
 "The most powerful thinker of modern times is the Scotch- 
 man, Thomas Carlyle. With the exception of Shakespeare, 
 the crowning glory of English Literature. He is one of the 
 forces of the ages. He is a seer who beheld the apocalypse of 
 nature, a prophet who called men back to the eternal verities. 
 Sometimes he rings the Angelus bells, and then in the twi- 
 light, over peaceful meadow and golden field, we hear the 
 tones of everlasting love and forgiveness ; sometimes he sounds 
 the blast of the trumpet of the Day of Judgment, and in the 
 tempest amid the tumult of the thunders from blackness, the 
 wrath of God is poured out in fire. 
 
 "The songs of Robert Burns have interpreted the thoughts 
 of love wherever lovers have wooed, and in all lands wherever 
 the bonds of friendship bind men together, they sing: 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 179 
 
 "Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 
 And never brought to mind; 
 
 Should auld acquaintance be forgot, 
 
 And days of auld lang syne." 
 
 "The hard-headed Scotchman stood for self-government in 
 Scotland. He has stood for self-government everywhere. In 
 1775 he stood for self-government in North Carolina. With 
 the resolute daring of his ancestors he defied the power of the 
 British Empire." 
 
 Governor Craig then showed how the Scotchmen have been 
 leaders of political thought, and how their spirit of independ- 
 ence had formulated the ideals of democracy, that are po- 
 tential in the Republic today. 
 
 In speaking of the part which Flora MacDonald played in 
 connection with Prince Charlie, Governor Craig somewhat 
 took issue with Dr. MacDonald. He said that he thought that 
 Charles Edward was unworthy of the devotion and heroism 
 of the MacDonalds, that the Scotch people were finer than the 
 Stuart Dynasty. 
 
 He compared the determination of the people of the South 
 and the tenacity with which they held to their ideals of gov- 
 ernment, to the loyalty of the Scotch for the principles which 
 had always made Scotland a free and unconquerable country. 
 There was a great cheering when he said that in the hour of 
 her greatest travail and darkness, the people of the State 
 were inspired and led by the Scotchman, Zeb. Vance. He told 
 how in the time of trial in North Carolina, when our civiliza- 
 tion was threatened, the lion of the Tribe of Democracy stood 
 upon the portico of the National Hotel in Raleigh, and with a 
 voice that sounded like a trumpet from one end of North Car- 
 olina to the other, said that it ought to be more tolerable for 
 Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judgment than for those 
 enemies of the State in North Carolina. 
 
180 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 THE LEGACY OF THE CONFEDERACY 
 
 Accepting The Monument To The Women Of The Confederacy 
 
 On The Occasion Of The Unveiling At Raleigh, 
 
 North Carolina, June 10th, 1914. 
 
 NOTE: This speech was re-printed many times by special request, 
 and has received more commendation perhaps than any speech ever 
 delivered by Governor Locke Craig. 
 
 The State accepts this monument with grateful apprecia- 
 tion. It is the tribute of a knightly soldier to the Women of 
 the Confederacy. 
 
 The statue is epic: Arms and the Man. Its theme is 
 heroism and devotion; the inheritance of the children of the 
 South. The bronze group represents the grandmother un- 
 rolling to the eager youth, grasping the sword of his father, 
 the scroll of the father's deeds. The bronze etchings on the 
 faces of the pedestal suggest the outlines of her story. To 
 the earnest beholder the statue is illumined with unfolding 
 meaning. His vision will determine its revelation. 
 
 As we look upon it, there rises out of the past a time when 
 the spirit of war moved upon the depths of human thought, 
 and summoned the elemental forces to titanic strife. We feel 
 the throes of the mighty upheaval. The heavens are black 
 with tempests, and ominous with the voices of ancient war 
 and unutterable woe. We see "the marshaling in arms, and 
 battle's magnificently stern array." Lovers say good-bye 
 with tokens of plighted troth; the young mother and the 
 father in uniform, kneel together, weeping over the cradle of 
 their new born babe; there are tears and everlasting fare- 
 wells; the cavalcades are filing off; the tramp of innumerable 
 armies is heard. In secret the mother — this Woman of the 
 Confederacy — prays and weeps with breaking heart for the 
 boy who marches away to the wild, grand music of the bugles. 
 
 We hear the din of martial hosts, and squadrons galloping 
 in the storm. They rush to the onset amid the rattle of 
 musketry and thunders of field artillery. They defy carnage 
 and death; they are torn by bursting shells, they are pierced 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 181 
 
 by bullets and cut with steel; they stagger and fall on the 
 bloody ground; the resolute survivors close in and press on. 
 In the crash of doom the gray line stands, despising hunger 
 and pain and death. Before the numberless battalions they 
 are Vikings in the hour of despair. They feel the pulsations 
 of the unconquerable hearts that beat at home. At home 
 alone, the wives and mothers, these Women of the Con- 
 federacy, in patience and suffering, are listening for the com- 
 ing of those who will never return — will never return, but 
 march on forever in the militant hosts of the heroic of all 
 kindred and nations, that have redeemed and glorified the 
 world. 
 
 We dedicate this monument as a symbol of our veneration. 
 We dedicate this monument as a covenant that we too, in 
 blessed remembrance of them, shall strive for fidelity and 
 courage. 
 
 In unfaltering obedience Abraham would have sacrificed 
 Isaac. For this, "the Angel of the Lord called unto Abraham 
 out of Heaven and said, By myself have I sworn, saith the 
 Lord, for because thou hast done this thing, and hast not 
 withheld thy son, thine only son, that in blessing I will bless 
 thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars 
 of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the seashore; 
 and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies ; and in thy 
 seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed." 
 
 The Women of the Confederacy, in supreme consecration, 
 did lay upon the altar of Dixie their first born, the fairest and 
 the bravest of the world. And because they did this thing, 
 we too are the Children of the Covenant. The promise to 
 Abraham was not alone for the seed of Abraham. It is the 
 universal decree, divinely beautiful and divinely terrible. It 
 is the law of development for all the children of men. Ever- 
 lasting faith is a well of strength springing up into everlast- 
 ing life. 
 
 Had the men and the women of the South been recreant, 
 had they shrunk from the sacrifice of war, their children 
 today would be the disinherited heirs of the promise, a dis- 
 honored and a degenerate people. 
 
182 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 In the onward march of the race, these world conflicts must 
 come. That people survives, gathers strength, becomes puis- 
 sant in human destiny that has the faith and the courage for 
 the supreme issue. The immediate result is not the final 
 judgment. Who won at Thermopylae, the Persians or the 
 Spartans? Who was victorious at the Alamo, Santa Anna 
 or Travis? Who triumphed, Socrates or his judges; Jesus or 
 Pontius Pilate? 
 
 The glory of France is the Old Guard at Waterloo. The 
 noblest feelings of the English heart are stirred by the Light 
 Brigade charging to death at Balaklava. Lexington and 
 Guilford Court House are as dear to us as Trenton and York- 
 town. 
 
 Disaster does not always destroy. The winds may blow; 
 the rains may descend ; houses and lands may be swept away ; 
 but God has placed His bow in the heavens as a promise that 
 the storm shall cease, and the waters subside; the scorching 
 drouth may wither the fields, untimely frost may kill our corn 
 and fruit; yet in the procession of the seasons, the rain and 
 sunshine will again clothe hill and mead in verdure, and har- 
 vest fields will wave in golden plenty. Armies may be de- 
 stroyed, "Far called, our navies melt away"; yet from a land 
 consecrated by the blood of the brave, from a soil enriched 
 by glorious tradition, tried and purified by fire, a nobler, 
 stronger race will come. But over the waste of moral desola- 
 tion, there comes no rejuvenating spring. Upon a land 
 blighted by the cowardice of those who should defend it, there 
 is the judgment of decay and death. 
 
 The heroic past is our priceless inheritance. Our armies 
 were destroyed ; our land was smitten by war ; our homes were 
 ravaged by avenging armies. We were plundered by the 
 hordes of reconstruction. But standing in this land that has 
 suffered, amid this throng of gray-haired veterans, and their 
 kindred and descendants, I declare that the legacy of the war 
 is our richest possession. I utter the sentiments of every 
 maimed soldier; of every soldier who gave the best of his 
 young life to "the storm-cradled nation that fell," of every 
 bereaved widow and mother; and if I could speak for the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 183 
 
 dead, I would utter the sentiment of the forty thousand sons 
 of the State who fell upon fields of battle, when I declare that 
 they would not revoke that sacrifice. 
 
 Some of you can remember when the young soldier was 
 brought home dead, when the maiden was clothed in her first 
 sorrow, and the old gray head was bowed in the last grief. 
 The mothers of the South had sent their sons to the front as 
 the Spartan mother when she delivered the shield to her son 
 with the command: "Return with it, or upon it." They 
 wept in silent desolation, but in their grief there was exalta- 
 tion, for they knew that their sons had done a soldier's part, 
 that in the tumult of historic days they had fought and fallen 
 beneath the advancing flag; that in strange lands, wounded 
 and neglected, they had suffered without complaint, and be- 
 queathing a message for home, had died, as conquerors, with- 
 out a murmur. 
 
 "While one kissed a ringlet of thin gray hair, 
 And one kissed a lock of brown." 
 
 Hail to you, Women of the Confederacy, that bore them 
 and nurtured them, and offered them for sacrifice! In you 
 and in your descendants is vouchsafed the promise to Abra- 
 ham: Henceforth all generations shall call you blessed. 
 
 From the shadow of war we sweep into the grander day. 
 The earth is hallowed because it is the sepulcher of the brave ; 
 not men whose victories have been inscribed upon triumphal 
 columns, but men whose memorial is, that in courage and 
 loyalty for conviction, they were steadfast unto death; men 
 who have been stoned and scourged, and quailed not before 
 the mighty. "Their heroic sufferings rise up melodiously to- 
 gether to Heaven out of all lands and out of all times, as a 
 sacred Miserere; their heroic actions as a boundless everlast- 
 ing Psalm of Triumph." They are the conquerors. The South 
 has forever a part in that chorus of victory. 
 
184 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 OPPORTUNITIES TO THE STATE AND 
 
 NATION THROUGH TRIUMPH OF 
 
 DEMOCRATIC PRINCIPLES 
 
 (Winston-Salem, October 20, 1914) 
 
 NOTE: The account of this speech is from The Winston-Salem 
 Journal. 
 
 Before an audience numbering fully 1,000 people, Governor 
 Locke Craig, of North Carolina, last night delivered at the 
 courthouse one of the most superb addresses ever heard in 
 Winston-Salem. While primarily a political address, at times 
 the speaker forgot all political parties in his vision of the 
 ultimate grandeur of the American Nation, the magnificent 
 destiny that awaits North Carolina, and the potential factor 
 that the Nation is destined to become. 
 
 The speaker paid a glowing tribute to the splendid sates- 
 manship of Woodrow Wilson; graphically described the inate 
 tendency of mankind to seek for the highest and the best, and 
 showed how the broad-minded policies of Democracy have 
 played an important part in enabling mankind more readily 
 to approach his ideals; spoke beautifully of the great strides 
 that this Nation has made, and its ever-increasing importance 
 in the commercial world, and also along those lines that look 
 to soul-culture. 
 
 He told of weakness of Republican policies; spoke of the 
 Forsyth County Democratic candidates in terms of highest 
 praise; looked upon the magnificent strides in the building of 
 good roads in the State with great pleasure; longed for the 
 day when the comforts and conveniences of the city may be 
 seen on the farms in the State ; and likened the great progress 
 that North Carolina is making now to the beautiful flight of 
 an eagle soaring skyward, its vision of glory and grandeur 
 constantly becoming greater and greater. 
 
 Governor Craig preluded his address with reference to 
 the words of introduction by Editor Santford Martin, of The 
 Journal, stating that it was the second time he had been 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 185 
 
 introduced by his talented friend. "He made fine speeches 
 both times," said the Governor. "I wish he would keep on 
 speaking all night. I thank him for his words of eulogy and 
 I wish that I were worthy of the encomiums of praise that he 
 has placed upon me. I thank him for it the more because I 
 know they spring from a generous heart and from loyal 
 friendship." 
 
 Governor Craig referred to the elections in the State every 
 two years, when numerous speeches are made; and the pro- 
 blems before the people are closely considered. It is in the 
 elections that the problems of the Nation are solved. He 
 characterized the United States as the greatest country in 
 the world ; there is no other country in the world like it. One 
 can get on a train in the East and travel westward for 3,000 
 miles and everywhere he stops he will see people like himself, 
 speaking the same language, inspired by the same ideals, and 
 having about the same religion. Whether the people come 
 from Norway, Sweden, Germany or from elsewhere they soon 
 become part and parcel of this great Government. 
 
 Following his tribute to the greatness of the American 
 Nation, Governor Craig, likewise, paid a glowing tribute to 
 the American people. He characterided them as being the 
 most industrious people in the world, the most intelligent, the 
 best educated, the hardest working. Through the genius of 
 the American people, more has been accomplished in an eco- 
 nomic way in the past century than ever before. 
 
 Man, he declared, is a progressive animal. He is not con- 
 tent with the real but conceives of an ideal and promptly sets 
 about to realize it. He pictured primeval man with all his 
 crudeness, striving through the centuries to better his condi- 
 tions. In matchless flow of eloquence he pictured mankind on 
 his upward march, through the early stages of his develop- 
 ment, his early methods of transportation. 
 
 From the scanty desires that first took possession of the 
 human heart, he pictured the growth of culture and refine- 
 ment; from the crude early days and desires to the time when 
 man began to build palaces and to strive for those things for 
 which the soul aspires. 
 
186 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 And today, humanity's commerce is carried on everywhere. 
 Man has harnessed steam and electricity, drives them like an 
 ox, and forces them to do his bidding. And they create 
 wealth for him and serve him as an errand boy. America is 
 the foremost Nation in this great march of progress. 
 
 After graphically picturing the rise of the individual in 
 this great Republic, the speaker attacked the Republican 
 Party's use of power in the government in years gone by; 
 told how they pursued the policy of enriching a few people at 
 the expense of the many. Showed how the national Repub- 
 lican policies had a tendency to aid the few, how it was op- 
 posed to the great principle of equal justice for all, the key- 
 note of Democracy's appeal. He told of how the tyranny of 
 the Republican rule caused many Republicans to revolt, finally 
 resulting in the election of Woodrow Wilson. He pictured 
 the demise of the Republican Party, declaring that only one 
 well organized party now exists in the Nation — the Demo- 
 cratic Party. 
 
 He told of a colored minister who sometimes got mixed in 
 his Scripture who was telling his congregation about Jezebel. 
 He declared that the minister said that while Paul was preach- 
 ing in Ephesus that Jezebel fell from the temple and was 
 broken into a thousand pieces; that the dogs came and licked 
 her sores, and that of the fragments twelve baskets full were 
 gathered up! He applied the illustration to the Republican 
 Party but saw no resurrection for it. 
 
 He pictured the great opportunities offered for advance- 
 ment along all lines with the advent of Democratic principles. 
 The decks are cleared for action, he said, and politically speak- 
 ing, the Democratic Party is the "Old Ship of Zion." He paid 
 a glowing tribute to the men who through forty years of 
 adversity have clung to the Democratic faith, knowing it to 
 be the party that is right and that it could not be destroyed. 
 
 He declared that a certain Progressive has characterized 
 the Republican Party as "a rotten hulk, loaded with plunder, 
 with lead for its sails, filled with the wrath of God, and having 
 Hell as its nearest port." He told of another charge that it 
 was in league with the invisible empire of greed at the ex- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 187 
 
 pense of the people. He said that all these years the Repub- 
 lican ship has been a pirate ship, preying upon the great mass 
 of the people of the country. But, he declared, Woodrow 
 Wilson has driven the pirate from the high seas. The ma- 
 chinery of government has been returned to the people where 
 it belongs. No longer is $10.00 paid into the public treasury 
 while hundreds are poured into the coffers of the immensely 
 rich. 
 
 In eloquent words, Governor Craig told of how Woodrow 
 Wilson has brought about a great change in heretofore exist- 
 ing conditions; how the vast tax on the people at large for 
 the benefit of the wealthy has been removed, and the enor- 
 mous incomes of the wealthy have been taxed to help bear 
 the burdens of administering the affairs of the Nation. The 
 almost inconceivable tribute that has heretofore been levied 
 on the common people has been removed. He told of the new 
 tariff law; how the Government has been restored again to 
 the people, and taken from the hands of organized greed. 
 
 Governor Craig declared that the financial center of the 
 Government is now no longer in Wall Street but in the Federal 
 Treasury, how no panics can occur now through scarcity of 
 money. 
 
 The speaker said that some Republicans say that the Dem- 
 ocratic Party is responsible for the low price of cotton. He 
 declared that if that is true that the Republican administra- 
 tion is responsible for hookworm and pallagra, as they broke 
 out during a Republican administration. 
 
 Interestingly, the speaker told of the international law of 
 commerce upon which the price of cotton is based; upon the 
 world's visible supply and the demand. He showed how only 
 something over one-third of the crop is consumed in this 
 country, and the remainder is exported to those European 
 Nations now engaged in war. Cotton is not low, he explained, 
 but the coming on of the war stopped the demand for it. He 
 showed how at the beginning oi the present year that cotton 
 was selling for fourteen cents, but the great conflict had its 
 result. However, he stated that cotton has sold low before, 
 for instance under McKinley's administration in 1898 when 
 
188 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 it brought four cents. Likewise during the latter part of 
 Taft's administration it sold for eight cents. 
 
 The speaker explained why the cotton crop cannot be sent 
 to Europe now. The channels of trade have been stopped. 
 But Governor Craig expressed the hope that the same fine 
 diplomacy of Wilson in avoiding a conflict with Mexico would 
 devise some way in which to get cotton to Europe, and thus 
 relieve the cotton planters of the Southern States. 
 
 In the great misfortune that has overtaken the Southern 
 farmers by the lack of a market for the surplus cotton raised, 
 the speaker declared that he is glad that there are men in 
 power at the White House today whose sympathies are with 
 the common people and not with organized wealth. That the 
 men in Washington are busying themselves in every way pos- 
 sible to help the farmers in whom they are deeply interested. 
 He referred to the splendid efforts of Secretary McAdoo to 
 meet the many difficult calls made upon his ability. 
 
 In the restoration of the affairs of government to the peo- 
 ple, Governor Craig told of the splendid part the South has 
 played. He referred to the devotion of the South to the cause 
 of Democracy through many years, how its people remained 
 true to the principles of the party without deviation, although 
 the Republicans asked them to come over to their side and 
 share in the fruits of Republican victory in the Nation. 
 
 He told of the constant struggle of the South to bring 
 Democratic principles to victory again, and how against great 
 odds the people always stood solidly for the party and its 
 principles which are immortal. And he told of how finally it 
 came to pass that a man born in Virginia and educated in 
 North Carolina was elected as President; and how he has 
 come to formulate laws that guarantee justice and equal 
 opportunities to all men. 
 
 Governor Craig likened the Democratic Party to Sir Isaac 
 Newton, and the Republican Party to his dog. An apple fell 
 from a tree and the mind of Newton thereby discovered the 
 law of gravity; while the dog only saw the apple fall from 
 the tree. The mind of man is not satisfied with anything 
 short of the infinite. Democracy believes in the everlasting 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 189 
 
 progress of humanity. Democracy believes in the universal 
 equality of men. In the difference in men, the speaker only 
 saw a difference in environment; in opportunity. He told of 
 the ugly woman Sam Jones saw. The woman's husband re- 
 sented the way in which the famous evangelist looked at her 
 for she had a reputation for her ugliness. He saw Jones after 
 the service and said, "Look here, Mr. Jones, I want you to 
 know that my wife is the most beautiful woman in the world. 
 Beauty is only skin deep." And Jcnes replied, "Well, for 
 heaven's sake skin her." 
 
 The speaker took the opportunity offered to briefly discuss 
 the proposed constitutional amendments. He spoke especi- 
 ally of the amendment relating to taxation. He said that 
 there is no effort to increase taxes; but that it is desired to 
 give the Legislature power to segregate taxes; so that 
 property may be taxed for county taxes; and railroads and 
 corporations taxed to support the State. 
 
 He declared that the land values are too low; that they 
 will continue to be as long as the present system of taxation 
 obtains. He declared that there are men who hide their sol- 
 vent credits, that it is a universal custom in the State; that 
 the system now is responsible for it. 
 
 Likewise, the speaker wanted the counties to transact their 
 business at home without carrying purely local matters to 
 the State Legislature. He would also strike out the word 
 "rebellion" from the Constitution of the State. 
 
 Governor Craig referred to the magnificent progress that 
 the State is making in the building of good roads ; he declared 
 that by the time his term of oifice is completed that every 
 county in North Carolina will have a great system of good 
 roads. He spoke of the splendid work that Mr. P. H. Hanes, 
 of this city, has done for the cause of good roads; how the 
 disposition of the people of Forsyth County to help them- 
 selves in the matter of building good roads led to his interest 
 in having a part of the government good road appropriation 
 spent in Forsyth County. 
 
 He declared that good roads are great civilizing factors; 
 that they will paint school houses, build fine churches, place 
 
190 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 music in the rural homes, make better and happier women 
 and children on the farms. He rejoiced in the rapid growth 
 of the cities of the State but desired to see greater improve- 
 ments on the farms of the State ; conveniences for women on 
 the farms to make their burdens lighter. In a prophetic man- 
 ner, the speaker pictured the North Carolina of the future 
 when the farms of the land will blossom as a rose of a 
 thousand leaves, and everything possible will be done for the 
 comfort and convenience of the women in the rural sections 
 of the State. He pictured it as an era of sanitation, con- 
 venience, and happiness and for the people on the farms of 
 the State. 
 
 Likewise, Governor Craig spoke of the Forsyth County 
 Democratic ticket. He declared Hon. H. G. Chatham, the 
 Democratic candidate for the State Senate, to be a tried and 
 proven knight of Democracy. He characterized him as com- 
 ing from a race of men who have always done their utmost 
 to build up North Carolina in every way possible; as a man 
 who will falter at no time in his duty ; and as a man who will 
 represent poor men and rich men in the same way. "He is 
 the friend of all men," declared the speaker. "He believes in 
 equal rights and equal justice to all." 
 
 He also declared that the Democratic candidates for the 
 Legislature, as well as all the other Democratic candidates, 
 are men eminently fitted to serve the great people of Forsyth 
 County. 
 
 Governor Craig concluded his address with a beautiful 
 word picture. He told how he was standing on Mount Mitchell. 
 That he saw an eagle rise in the billowy clouds. On and on, 
 higher and higher it mounted into the skies, brushing away 
 the billows here and there, soaring upward until at length its 
 royal plumage was bathed in the grandeur of the sun's rays 
 as it looked out upon the entrancing scene. That, said the 
 Governor, is the way North Carolina is climbing now, its part 
 in the development of the Nation is becoming grander and 
 grander, and the future is most encouraging. 
 
 Introduced By Mr. Martin 
 
 After making some announcements relative to some Demo- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 191 
 
 cratic speakings in the county, Chairman Gilbert T. Stephen- 
 son, of the Forsyth County Democratic Executive Committee, 
 introduced Mr. Santford Martin, Editor of The Winston- 
 Salem Journal, and he introduced the distinguished speaker 
 in a brief, but eloquent manner. 
 
 Mr. Martin referred in an interesting manner to the great 
 achievements of the Democratic Party in the Nation; of the 
 matchless leadership of Woodrow Wilson ; and of the splendid 
 stand that North Carolinians have taken in the halls of Con- 
 gress. 
 
 Likewise he told of the splendid progress in North Caro- 
 lina; and he asserted that Governor Locke Craig's adminis- 
 tration means as much to North Carolina as Wilson's does to 
 the United States. He said that Governor Craig's adminis- 
 tration has been characterized by constructive achievement — 
 notably his magnificent work for the State in the solution of 
 the freight rate matter without having the matter entangled 
 in long and tedious litigation. Also under his administration, 
 the ten proposed amendments, the adoption of which will 
 enable the State to grow properly, have been put forward. 
 
 Mr. Martin told of the Governor's faithful attention to 
 duties ; that not a single charge has been lodged against him. 
 
192 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 ACCEPTING THE BUST OF JUDGE 
 WILLIAM GASTON 
 
 (November 24th, 1914) 
 
 We have listened with delight and profit to the scholarly, 
 masterful and sympathetic portrayal of the character of 
 William Gaston. We have heard the elegant and graceful 
 presentation of the marble bust. 
 
 The State accepts this statue, and with gratitude to the 
 Bar Association of North Carolina. It will be placed in one 
 of the halls of the Supreme Court Building, there to dwell 
 through the coming centuries with the portraits and the 
 statues of those who have ennobled the State, and contributed 
 to the strength and glory of the English-speaking race. 
 
 William Gaston has of right a place in this Pantheon of 
 our great men — primus inter pares. His profound mind was 
 enlarged and adorned by the erudition of the student, and 
 the culture of the man of letters. As orator, statesman and 
 judge, he was among the very foremost, and devoted all of 
 his splendid gifts and attainments to the service of his 
 country, and to the service of men. He belonged to the first 
 order of nobility, and ever maintained his ideals and his 
 character in exalted purity. He set the highest standard for 
 private place and for public office. He gave a tone to the life 
 of the State in the time of her youth that vitalizes and 
 strengthens her now, and in the future. North Carolina will 
 ever remember and cherish him, for he is to us an inheritance 
 more precious than wealth or rich gifts, or princely endow- 
 ments. 
 
 The men and the women of this and other generations, 
 who aspire to higher things, will look upon this statue to re- 
 member, to admire, and to emulate his life. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 193 
 
 ACCEPTING THE STATUE OF CHIEF 
 JUSTICE EUFFIN 
 
 (February 1st, 1915) 
 
 We have listened with pleasure and profit to the fitting 
 and eloquent tributes pronounced upon Judge Ruffin. 
 
 It has been the duty of the State to erect a statue to our 
 pre-eminent jurist. We accept this splendid statue with 
 gratitude to those who gave it. In just recognition of the 
 character and the intellect of the great Chief Justice, we will 
 place it in the entrance hall of this building, the place for the 
 memorials of the highest and the noblest of our men in all 
 generations. There it will live through the centuries typify- 
 ing in majestic form the majestic man of pure purpose and 
 master mind. In the plastic years of our history he gave 
 form and order to our jurisprudence. He interpreted statutes 
 and constitutions with the wisdom of the sages, and delivered 
 judgments that are enduring precedents of righteousness. 
 He was our judge, a distinctive product of North Carolina, 
 but his influence is beyond the limitations of the State and 
 the Nation. He is recognized everywhere as one of the 
 greatest judges that our race has produced. In the uttermost 
 parts of the earth, where the English jurisprudence exercises 
 its beneficent rule, he speaks and will speak to legislatures, 
 to courts, and to executives, directing and enlightening them 
 in the way of truth and in the conception and the administra- 
 tion of justice. 
 
 We raise the statue in gratitude that the Old North State, 
 too, has produced a judge that gives laws to the judges of the 
 earth. We raise the statue to teach to us and to our children 
 the power and the majesty of an exalted life. 
 
194 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 ACCEPTING THE BUST OF JUDGE 
 W. P. BYNUM 
 
 (April 12tth, 1915) 
 
 With gratitude North Carolina accepts from the Bar 
 Association this statue of William Preston Bynum. It shall 
 be placed in this our Pantheon with the statues of our fore- 
 most and noblest men. 
 
 He established his title to this high place by intellect and 
 character. Through a long and eventful career, he performed 
 his task with fidelity and courage; in peace and in war; in 
 public and in private life. His broad sympathies were ex- 
 pressed in acts of kindness and in generous munificence. His 
 obligations to society were discharged by stern and truthful 
 maintenance of his own convictions. 
 
 As a Supreme Court Judge he ranks with the masters of 
 our jurisprudence and the builders of the English Law. His 
 opinions are the clear and virile expressions of the just and 
 robust heart and mind. 
 
 The most conspicuous part of his life was through the 
 stormy and intolerant period that followed the war. Judge 
 Bynum was not in accord with the convictions of the State, 
 but with the determination and force of his race he was 
 steadfast to his own convictions. Through this time of bitter- 
 ness and strife, he never forgot that he was a citizen and a 
 patriot, inspired by the sentiments and traditions of his State, 
 true to the highest allegiance of his land and people. The 
 exalted estimate accorded him at all times is the finest 
 tribute to him and to the just judgment of the people of 
 North Carolina. 
 
 We erect to him this memorial in marble to dwell here 
 through the generations, that men may look upon it to admire 
 and to emulate his virtues. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 195 
 
 INAUGURATION OF EDWARD KIDDER 
 
 GRAHAM AS PRESIDENT OF THE 
 
 STATE UNIVERSITY 
 
 (Chapel Hill, April 21st, 1915) 
 
 This assemblage is worthy of its purpose. Great seats of 
 learning in near and distant States have sent their Presidents 
 with messages of cheer and wisdom. Scholars who cultivate 
 ideals, and statesmen who construct policies of government 
 have come. From field and factory and busy mart, represen- 
 tative men and women who build and support the State have 
 gathered today. We are grateful that you are here. We feel 
 the encouragement and sustaining power of your presence. 
 We realize, too, that throughout our Commonwealth the pul- 
 sations of an earnest people beat in sympathy with us. 
 
 We come to dedicate a man to his work. It demands the 
 energy of his life always steafast to the high obligation that 
 he assumes. The task calls for the noblest, for it is the keep- 
 ing and the development of this institution sanctified by tra- 
 dition, potential for infinite good. 
 
 On this day of the inauguration of the new President, by 
 simple ceremonial we devote anew this University to the ser- 
 vice of men, and in this time of militant altruism significant 
 of human destiny, with victorious assurance we give the for- 
 ward order. We raise him to this exalted place because he is 
 worthy of our past, equal to the opportunities of the future, 
 and because he will lay upon the altar of this his alma mater, 
 a priceless sacrifice, essential in every scheme for the redemp- 
 tion of men: a pure and earnest life. 
 
 This place is endeared to us by precious memories. The 
 finest spirit of the past is perpetuated here and ever evolves 
 unto higher and broader meaning. Through all our genera- 
 tions, this University has been to us a well of strength spring- 
 ing up into perennial life. She enlarges her efforts with 
 larger opportunities and with faith and courage welcomes in- 
 creasing responsibilities. 
 
196 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 In the age of "the steamship and the railway, the thoughts 
 that shake mankind," this is no academy of the cloister, nor 
 the voice for every wind of doctrine. This University has 
 been and will be the exponent of the State's power, the dy- 
 namics of the State's life. Amid the strife and confusion of 
 our aggressive democracy she shall be vitalized by the cur- 
 rents that flow from humanity, and in full sympathy strike 
 the clear note for higher aspiration and nobler achievement. 
 Sustained by all the people, owing allegiance to no man, and 
 to naught but God's truth, she can declare with authority the 
 creed of enduring progress. Reaching to all classes, and con- 
 ditions she shall gather unto her bosom the robust sons of 
 the State to send them forth as ministers of a splendid des- 
 tiny, "With power in this dark land to lighten it, and power 
 on this dead world to make it live." 
 
 The man and the hour have met. We are opening a new 
 chapter in the history of the University of North Carolina. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 197 
 
 COMMUTATION OF THE SENTENCE OF 
 IDA BALL WARREN 
 
 (March, 1916) 
 
 NOTE: The only woman ever sentenced in North Carolina to the 
 electric chair was Ida Ball Warren, of Forsyth County, who was con- 
 victed of first degree murder in the killing of her husband, in which 
 crime she had been assisted by her lover, Samuel P. Christy. Their 
 prayer for commutation of the death sentence to life imprisonment 
 came before Governor Craig. There was much feeling at the time 
 over the enormity of the crime committed, and the Governor was 
 urged on all sides to mete out to this murderess the same justice that 
 a man would receive, and to allow her to pay for her sin by going to 
 the death chair. On the other hand, there were some who chivalrously 
 contended for her womanhood. All were anxiously awaiting the action 
 of the Governor, believing that it would establish a precedent in regard 
 to women criminals in North Carolina. Finally he gave his decision, 
 using his mighty power as the State's Chief Executive, and stepped 
 between this wretched woman, and the death sentence which she had 
 admittedly incurred. His reasons are given here below, and are an 
 eloquent tribute to all womanhood: 
 
 Granting the commutation, Governor Craig made the fol- 
 lowing statement concerning his action: 
 
 "The people of North Carolina in their constitution declare, 
 'The Governor shall have power to grant reprives, commuta- 
 tions and pardons after conviction for all offenses (except in 
 the case of impeachment) upon such conditions as he may 
 think proper and subject to such regulations as may be pro- 
 vided by law relative to the manner of applying for pardons.' 
 The power to pardon or to commute thus conferred upon the 
 Governor has no limitation but his own conception of duty. 
 It is the highest and most sacred trust vested by law. It 
 must be exercised in humane regard for the condemned and 
 for the rights and welfare of society. 
 
 "When a petition for pardon or commutation is placed be- 
 fore the Governor he must act. He cannot avoid the respon- 
 sibility. His action is in the orderly process of the adminis- 
 tration of justice, provided in the Constitution. His judgment 
 is the final decree of the people and the law pronounced by the 
 ultimate tribunal. 
 
198 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 "There is no escape from the conclusion that this woman, 
 Ida Ball Warren, is guilty of murder, deliberate and pre- 
 meditated, conceived and executed in determined wickedness. 
 The verdict of the jury is fully sustained by the evidence; the 
 sentence of the court is fixed by the statute. 
 
 "But, as the Governor of the State of North Carolina, it 
 is not my judgment that the majesty of the law demands that 
 this woman shall be put to death. I cannot contemplate with 
 approval that this woman, unworthy and blackened by sin 
 though she be, shall be shrouded in the cerements of death, 
 dragged along the fatal corridor and bound in the chair of 
 death. The spy has in all countries been punished by death. 
 Germany executed the woman spy; England did not. The 
 action of the Military Governor of Belgium was condemned 
 by the conscience of the world. 
 
 "The killing of this woman would send a shiver through 
 North Carolina. Humanity does not apply to woman the in- 
 exonorable law that it does to man. This may arise from 
 misconceived sentimentality; it may arise from the deep and 
 holy instincts of the race. 
 
 "The participation of Christy in this murder makes more 
 difficult the question presented to me. He, too, is guilty. He 
 bought the chloroform with which she drugged her husband. 
 Either Christy, or Stonestreet, her son-in-law, twisted a cord 
 tightly around the husband's neck to make sure that he could 
 never awake from the deadly sleep. The body was placed in 
 a trunk, Christy and Stonestreet hauled it away and threw 
 it, weighted with irons, into a deep hole in Muddy Creek. The 
 woman conceived the design and was the directing and domi- 
 nating personality of this tragedy. Since life has been spared 
 to her, Christy, too, must escape death. 
 
 "This action is in accord with my conception of the just 
 and humane administration of the law. It is recommended by 
 many of our strongest, wisest and best people. Many good 
 men do not approve of any commutation of the judgment of 
 the court. The responsibility of the decision rests with me." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 199 
 
 INTRODUCING PRESIDENT WILSON 
 AT CHARLOTTE 
 
 The Anniversary Of The Signing Of The Mecklenburg 
 Declaration Of Independence. 
 
 (May 20th, 1916) 
 
 "My fellow-citizens of the State of Mecklenburg," said 
 Governor Craig, "I wish to assure our honored guest today 
 that he has never come to a State, or spoken to a people more 
 loyal to him and the great work he has done and the great 
 cause for which he stands than this. I have the honor, my 
 fellow-countrymen of North Carolina and South Carolina and 
 the region round about, to present you to the President of the 
 United States!" 
 
 COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS 
 
 A. & T. College (Colored) Greensboro, North 
 Carolina, May 26th, 1916 
 
 Our government and liberty should guarantee to all our 
 people the possibilities to attain to the highest and best that 
 is in them, and unless it does this it is a mockery and a fraud 
 and an insult in the face of God, said the Hon. Governor Locke 
 Craig in addressing a great throng assembled to witness the 
 graduating exercises of the Agricultural and Technical Col- 
 lege, of this city, this morning. The greatest commencement 
 exercises in the history of the school were brought to a close 
 by the awarding of the diplomas and certificates to the grad- 
 uates by Prof. M. C. S. Noble, Head of the Department of 
 Pedagogy at the University of North Carolina and Chairman 
 of the Board of Trustees for the A. & T. College. 
 
 Governor Craig took occasion to state in his opening re- 
 marks: "I have been beseiged by so many requests to speak 
 at commencement exercises at different points in the State 
 
200 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 that I have found it exceedingly difficult to attempt to even 
 fill a few of the invitations. However, I resolved to attend 
 this commencement exercise because I had been deprived of 
 the privilege so many times of attending and because of my 
 personal acquaintance and admiration for your President, Dr. 
 James B. Dudley, and I wish to congratulate the people of 
 North Carolina upon having a man like Dr. Dudley who is 
 admired for his ability and leadership everywhere. 
 
 "We are living in the greatest age of all history. We have 
 done more during the past generation than all other genera- 
 tions put together. We have accumulated great masses of 
 wealth and built mansions and laid railroads and dug canals 
 and built macadamized roads and what are we going to do 
 with all this wealth? We all enjoy money but this is not the 
 ultimate end in life. Government itself is only a means to 
 an end. We glory in our government and its flag but this is 
 not the end of society. Liberty itself is only meant for an 
 end. That end is to guarantee to each the privilege to attain 
 to his highest possibilities and unless our government means 
 this it means nothing; unless it means this, it is a mockery 
 and a fraud and an insult in the face of God. 
 
 "If you contemplate man, one fact is most prominent; the 
 moral and intellectual difference in men. If you consider the 
 worst man with the best man, the difference is as great as 
 the east is from the west or a demon from an archangel. 
 Three things make up life; blood, will power and environ- 
 ment. Take one of these boys and give him a chance and 
 encouragement and let him know what he can do for society 
 and he will be better than those who have been left behind 
 him." 
 
 Speaking further, Mr. Craig said: "I regret very much 
 to have to go before hearing all of this program, but I do not 
 believe that the beautiful and grand of our Southern life can 
 be more adequately expressed than in those old melodies you 
 have so well sung just now. No wonder you get religion when 
 you hear these songs sung at campmeetings and revivals. We 
 all would." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 201 
 
 COMMENCEMENT ADDRESS 
 
 At The Closing Exercises Of The North Carolina 
 School For The Deaf, June 1, 1916 
 
 (From The News-Herald, Morganton) 
 
 Hon. Locke Craig, Governor of North Carolina, was at his 
 best in an address which he delivered at the Deaf School yes- 
 terday morning. The large auditorium was filled with the 
 teachers and older pupils of the school and numbers of ad- 
 miring friends from the town. 
 
 The Governor was introduced in a most pleasing and elo- 
 quent manner by Rev. J. O. Atkinson, of Elon College, Presi- 
 dent of the Board of Trustees of the School. 
 
 This occasion, Governor Craig stated, was his first visit 
 to the school since he became Governor. He has been very 
 much impressed with the wonderful results that are being 
 accomplished in the work of educating the deaf. He said that 
 Morganton, already renowned for the high type of her citizen- 
 ship, had been placed on the map by the location of two of 
 the State's splendid institutions here. 
 
 With warm words of praise for the fine bearing and mili- 
 tary precision of the deaf cadets from Morganton in the pa- 
 rade in Charlotte on May 20th, Mr. Craig said that he had 
 been proud on that day to tel! the wife of the President who 
 the boys were. 
 
 The Governor grew eloquent as he spoke on the objects of 
 human endeavor. He said that the making of money is all 
 right, but should not be the aim of our efforts. It is not so 
 much the attainment of power that counts (and money repre- 
 sents power) as what we are going to do with that power. 
 Even liberty and justice, which are idealized, are only means 
 to an end and that end is to lift up every human being, and 
 to give all equal opportunities. That government is the finest 
 government, that State the best State which comes nearest 
 to accomplishing this end; that flag means the most, which 
 
202 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 waves over the land where the fortunate and unfortunate are 
 alike given the opportunity to develop the highest and noblest 
 instincts with which the Creator has endowed them. It is 
 North Carolina's privilege and opportunity to enable all her 
 sons and daughters to have an equal chance. 
 
 The Governor stated that environment and training play 
 a much greater part in the individual life than inheritance. 
 The difference between us physically is not so great. The 
 State reaches its highest attainment when it gives to all alike 
 the opportunity to attain to their highest possibilities. 
 
 He said that when in one of the classrooms in the school 
 he saw, just before his address, a girl reproduce from mem- 
 ory on the blackboard a long narrative her teacher had just 
 finished telling, he thought that she had gained more in in- 
 tellect than she had lost in hearing. The loss of hearing or 
 of any of the senses has been demonstrated not to be an im- 
 passable barrier of all knowledge. 
 
 There is the same difference in nature between neglect and 
 cultivation as there is between the untrained and trained hu- 
 man being. The State and society are responsible for ugliness 
 of character which grows out of environment. Such a school 
 as the Deaf School is absolutely necessary, considering the 
 obligation of the State. 
 
 The Governor took occasion to say that the tax rate in 
 North Carolina is the lowest except one, and yet we have one 
 of the finest school systems in the country. 
 
 "The wealth of the world is ours; to transform it into 
 moral and intellectual womanhood and manhood is our oppor- 
 tunity. North Carolina's highest obligation is to protect her 
 helpless ones in the period of their helplessness. By thus 
 doing we shall be living up to our destiny of high and noble 
 life." 
 
 The address was interpreted to the deaf pupils present by 
 Superintendent Goodwin. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 203 
 
 ZEBULON BAIRD VANCE 
 
 (Washington, D. C, June 22, 1916) 
 
 NOTE: This speech was made by Governor Craig in behalf of the 
 State of North Carolina, in presenting to the Nation, for a place in 
 Statuary Hall, at Washington, a statue in memory of her most dis- 
 tinguished son. The statue is the work of Gutzon Borglum. The 
 movement for its erection and presentation was inaugurated by Gov- 
 ernor Craig soon after he became Governor. 
 
 Mr. Chairman: You and each member of your Commis- 
 sion are entitled to the grateful appreciation of the State. 
 You were appointed by the Governor and Council of State 
 under a resolution of the General Assembly authorizing the 
 placing of the statue of Zebulon Baird Vance in this hall. 
 You have done your work without compensation, but with a 
 zeal which no money could buy. You secured one of the most 
 eminent artists of the age, and have delivered a magnificent 
 statue that excites the enthusiastic admiration of all that 
 have seen it. It speaks the force and the character of our 
 greatest man. 
 
 I should acknowledge, too, the obligation which all of us 
 feel for the invaluable assistance of Mr. Silas McBee and 
 Mr. Peter M. Wilson, generously and patriotically given. 
 
 And now, Mr. President, the State of North Carolina pre- 
 sents through you to the United States the statue of Zebulon 
 Baird Vance. This is done by authority of a resolution of 
 the General Assembly of North Carolina passed without dis- 
 sent. The recognition of Vance as the greatest of our men, 
 and the placing of his statue in this pantheon of the Nation, 
 is but the execution of the judgment of all of the people of 
 North Carolina. His personality, his character, and his deeds 
 confer upon him the right to stand here, a peer among the 
 foremost of the Republic. 
 
 Our State has not been in a hurry to occupy the two places 
 assigned to her in this hall. In preferring Vance as the first, 
 she has been mindful of her obligation to consider with justice 
 all of her noble sons. And she has realized, too, her obliga- 
 
204 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 tion to do justice to herself. This statue shall be a perpetual 
 memorial of him and of her. The State must be judged by 
 the best that she can produce. He is our most precious gift 
 to the world. Since we have set him up as the finest con- 
 ception and expression of North Carolina life, he must be the 
 standard by which this and coming generations shall measure 
 the significance and worth of the State. 
 
 He was a son of North Carolina, bone of her bone, and 
 flesh of her flesh. He was born and reared among the moun- 
 tains, and was of Scotch-Irish lineage, but his sympathies 
 were not limited by sectional lines nor by the dogmas of 
 creeds. Wherever he went, among all classes and conditions 
 of men, from the humblest to the greatest, he was primus 
 inter pares, and exemplified the universal brotherhood. In 
 fashionable salons, among scholars and statesmen, he was 
 simple, natural, brilliant, easily the center. With the same 
 unpretentious manner, on terms of perfect equality he 
 charmed the men in working clothes, with rough hands, and 
 was loved by them as their wiser and stronger brother, whose 
 fidelity could never be doubted. He taught dignity to no- 
 bility. He was "a legist among the lawyers, a sidereal among 
 the astronomers." 
 
 Vance was trusted and honored and loved by the people 
 of North Carolina as no other man has been. He was elected 
 and re-elected to the places of highest honor. He was vested 
 with the greatest trust and called in every crisis to do the 
 foremost part. From the time that he was thirty years old 
 until the day of his death at the age of sixty -four he was the 
 unrivaled leader. Faith in his loyalty and prowess never 
 faltered. 
 
 Pre-eminent merit is not always the necessary pre- 
 requisite to high official position, but for thirty years, in 
 times of war and revolution, disaster and suffering, Vance 
 was the chosen champion of the people. He declared their 
 policies. He voiced their highest aspirations. He was always 
 in the fiercest of the conflict to meet and to overcome with 
 blow for blow the mightiest that opposed. He was the voice 
 of the State, the incarnation of her passion, her hopes, her 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 205 
 
 determination, and her purpose. He was the leader to call 
 her to duty, to rescue her victoriously from ruin and strife 
 into the way of peace and to point her to a triumphant des- 
 tiny. This entitles him to a place among the immortals. 
 
 In 1860 Vance attended the State Convention of the Whigs 
 in Salisbury. This was his first appearance before the whole 
 State. He was thirty years old, a Member of Congress from 
 the mountain district, having been elected for the first time 
 in 1858. The greatest men of the State were there, among 
 them William A. Graham and George E. Badger, statesmen 
 of national prominence. Reports about the young Congress- 
 man from the Mountains had spread down into the State. 
 When he spoke to the convention it was realized that the man 
 for the times of approaching storm had appeared. Men heard 
 him with wild delight, and the multitude bore him on their 
 shoulders through the streets of the city. Nothing like him 
 had been seen. He was young, splendid in courage and in 
 humor, in logic and eloquence. They acclaimed him then the 
 born leader of men. He held and was worthy of this dis- 
 tinction as long as he lived. 
 
 In 1861 he resigned his position in Congress and went 
 into the Confederate Army. He was Captain and then Colonel 
 of the Twenty-Sixth North Carolina Regiment, a regiment 
 glorious for heroism and sacrifice. The men emulated the 
 daring and the courage of their Commander. In 1862, with- 
 out his seeking, he was elected Governor. No man was ever 
 called to a task more difficult, and no man ever performed 
 his task with more consummate ability and determination. 
 
 North Carolina was a Union State; Vance was a Union 
 man. He and she were steadfast to the Union until the awful 
 choice was presented, either to. join the armies that were to 
 crush into submission the seceding States in the exercise of 
 constitutional right, or to join the sister States of the South 
 in resisting invasion. When North Carolina joined the Con- 
 federacy, and plighted her faith to the cause, Vance was de- 
 termined that his State should be true to the covenant even 
 unto destruction and death, that she should never surrender 
 until the last soldier had laid down his arms. 
 
206 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 In 1863, after the Battle of Gettysburg, when the cause 
 of the Confederacy was desperate, there were strong men in 
 North Carolina who demanded that the Governor should make 
 peace separate from the other Southern States. They made 
 to the old Union men an appeal of plausibility and power. 
 There were thousands of men in the State who would not join 
 the Confederate Army, and thousands who had left it. 
 
 The conscript laws must be enforced; the laws and the 
 jurisdiction of the State must be maintained; there was uni- 
 versal uncertainty and confusion. But always the young 
 Governor was firm and clear. He held the State true to the 
 Confederacy. But he made the Confederate Government to 
 know that the civil tribunals of this State were supreme for 
 the protection of the rights of the humblest citizen against 
 military power; that the writ of habeas corpus must be re- 
 spected, and that it should never be suspended, neither for 
 the enforcement of the conscript laws nor for any other cause ; 
 that if under this writ a citizen of North Carolina should be 
 released from arrest or prison, for the protection of such a 
 citizen he would, if necessary, make armed resistance to the 
 Confederate Government with the whole military power of 
 the State. 
 
 He trampled down disloyalty to the Confederacy at home. 
 He resisted the unlawful exercise of military power from 
 Richmond. It required a master arm to guide the Ship of 
 State in this tempest between Scylla and Charybdis. 
 
 In the political campaign of 1864 his enemies threw down 
 to him the gage of battle — peace against war. The strong 
 Union sentiment of the State that prevailed until the very 
 breaking out of the war, the reverence that had always ex- 
 isted for the Union, made the situation dangerous and fraught 
 with more difficulty in North Carolina than in any other 
 Southern State. Vance was the storm center. Destiny shook 
 her doubtful urn. The material considerations were all with 
 his opponents. The State could cut loose from the Con- 
 federacy and make an advantageous peace if she would. 
 Vance went to Virginia to speak to the North Carolina soldiers 
 of Lee's Army. They were the men who bore the hardships 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 207 
 
 and the brunt of the battle The supreme issue was clear— 
 the separate peace or continued war. Already the land was 
 robed in the consuming fire of war. North Carolina was 
 bleeding to death, a land of sorrows and acquainted with grief ; 
 the flower of her sons had been slain; wives and children 
 were suffering at home, sometimes gathering for bread the 
 corn that was spilled out of the wagons of invading armies. 
 The men had heard this cry from home, but they heard, too, 
 the clarion voice of the Governor that called to battle and to 
 sacrifice. Wellington said that the presence of Napoleon in 
 battle was equivalent to 50,000 men. Lee said that Vance's 
 visit and speech to his army was equivalent to a re- 
 enforcement of 50,000 men. 
 
 He spoke in various parts of the State. Not only the 
 army but the people were inspired with his heroic spirit. 
 The opposition, born of selfishness, wilted before his burning 
 eloquence. The men who had left the camp returned to the 
 colors. North Carolina sent more soldiers to the armies of 
 the Confederacy than any other State, and they were con- 
 stant even unto the end. 
 
 In 1864, on the issue of separate peace or continued war, 
 and on his administration as War Governor, the soldiers 
 voted for Vance. The people voted for him. He was tri- 
 umphantly elected. North Carolina kept her faith and en- 
 dured the sacrifice. 
 
 When Xerxes was invading Greece, he sent ambassadors 
 to Athens to portray the ruin of resistance and to propose a 
 separate peace that would bring to the Athenians wealth and 
 make their city the ruling city of Greece. The Spartans had 
 been slain at Thermopylae, the Persian armies — innumer- 
 able — were sweeping down from the north. The Persian 
 fleets covered the JEgean Sea. Some favored the proposal for 
 the ignominious peace in the Assembly of Athens. Cyrsilus 
 urged that the terms of the great king be accepted. Them- 
 istocles declared that it were better for Athens to be de- 
 stroyed while fighting for the honor and independence of 
 Greece than to accept all of the gold of the Orient. The men 
 of Athens followed Themistocles. They sent away the Persian 
 
208 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Ambassadors; they stoned Cyrsilus to death. And in the 
 day when overwhelming armies were marching upon our 
 land, when the State was drinking the cup of trembling to 
 the very dregs, under the leadership of Vance she gave to us 
 the inheritance that shall never be taken from us. 
 
 While mastering the difficulties of politics, and harmon- 
 izing contending factions, he did not forget the needs of the 
 soldiers, nor the people, nor the destitute families of the de- 
 serters. His ships defied the blockade and brought into our 
 ports from England, rifles, munitions, clothing, shoes, and 
 blankets for the Army, necessities and comforts for all of the 
 homes of the rich and the poor. Our soldiers and people were 
 better provided for than any of the South. He is known to 
 us and to history as "The Great War Governor." 
 
 After the carnage of battle, after the wreck and desola- 
 tion of war, the night of reconstruction set in. North Caro- 
 lina's wounds had healed, but her heart was bleeding. All of 
 the beasts of prey came forth to plunder and to devour. 
 Darkness and demoralization prevailed., There were many 
 who thought that we should seek admission to the Union in 
 humility and contrition, that we should accept the new order, 
 that we should join the dominant party with its dogmas of 
 social and political equality, that we should submit to the 
 disfranchisement of the foremost and the bravest, and not 
 cry aloud against the control of elections by Federal soldiers. 
 Many of these men were strong men. They thought that 
 further contention with a victorious party was hopeless, and 
 would be disastrous. But there were those who stood for the 
 integrity of the State as a member of the Union, who did 
 not surrender their ideals, who believed in the supremacy of 
 our race, who knew that the policies of reconstruction were 
 impossible, except to our shame and ruin. Vance was the 
 leader, the voice of these, the inspiration of a State that was 
 crushed. In a speech in Raleigh at the beginning of this era 
 of chaos, referring to the men v/ho were advocating the pol- 
 icies that in his opinion would bring ruin to the State, hu- 
 miliation to the people, and threaten the overflow of our civil- 
 ization, after pouring out upon them his ridicule and invec- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 209 
 
 tive, as with the blast of a tempest he said: "It shall be 
 more tolerable for Sodom and Gomorrah in the Day of Judg- 
 ment than for them in North Carolina." He made good the 
 prophecy. 
 
 After the surrender and the dissolution of the Confederacy 
 he was loyal to the Union. He had left it with sorrow. He 
 had no venom, no hatred, in his heart, he was charitable to 
 all of his foes, even in his own adversity, but he made re- 
 construction odious in North Carolina. He poured out the 
 lava of his wrath upon the men who were plundering the 
 State and trampling down her pride and her life. 
 
 In 1870 the State elected a Democratic General Assembly 
 over military power and enfranchised slaves. Vance was 
 elected to the United States Senate. He was denied admis- 
 sion on account of disabilities — proscribed because of his 
 service to the Confederacy. The devotion and trust of 
 the people in him was stronger than ever. The storms grow- 
 ing out of the war had not abated. The violence of the con- 
 test for the rehabilitation of the State and the restoration of 
 her government to virtue and intelligence continued with de- 
 termination. Vance was nominated for Governor in 1876. 
 Judge Thomas Settle, a man of character and eminent ability, 
 the foremost of the Republicans, was his opponent. Their 
 joint canvass has never been equaled in our State, nor in my 
 opinion surpassed anywhere. The problems resulting from 
 the war, the political status of the State, the constitutional 
 rights of the people, the new social order, the administration 
 of our government, were debated with consummate power. 
 These men standing for opposing ideas had grappled to try 
 conclusions. The time was fierce and the people were intense. 
 Multitudes gathered to hear them. The Republicans hailed 
 Settle with enthusiasm as a splendid and undaunted chief. 
 Vance was acclaimed as a deliverer. He was escorted by 
 cavalcades and surrounded by cheering thousands. Vance was 
 elected. The supremacy of his party, the ideals and the pol- 
 icies for which he stood were firmly established in North Car- 
 olina. Order came out of chaos, the hatreds of the war were 
 forgotten, the fields were glad with harvests, the university 
 
210 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 was opened, schools were established, the State rejoiced in 
 peace and in her growing strength. She turned to the work- 
 ing out of her destiny, loyal to the Union of the fathers and 
 under the flag. 
 
 In 1879 Vance took his seat in the Senate of the United 
 States. The volcanic force and fire of the period of storm 
 and revolution subsided into the calm and clear strength and 
 dignity of the Senator. At no period in our history have there 
 been so many men in the Senate of power and accomplished 
 statesmanship. Every State sent her strongest men. The 
 floor of the Senate was the arena of intellectual giants. There 
 were Blaine, of Maine; Edmunds and Morrill, of Vermont; 
 Hoar, of Massachusetts; Conkling, of New York; Bayard, of 
 Delaware; Ransom, of North Carolina; Hampton, of South 
 Carolina; Benjamin Hill, of Georgia; Morgan, of Alabama; 
 Lamar, of Mississippi ; Blackburn, of Kentucky ; Vest, of Mis- 
 souri; Voorhees, of Indiana; Thurman, of Ohio; Ingalls, of 
 Kansas. In this great company, Vance was recognized as the 
 equal of any, an intellectual gladiator who never lowered his 
 arm, a statesman who dedicated himself to labor and to the 
 service of the State and of the whole Nation. He mastered 
 the problems of his time, and added to his national fame. His 
 speeches gave evidence, not only of his known ability, but of 
 classic culture. In debates on the policies and fundamental 
 questions of controlling importance he was generally put for- 
 ward as the spokesman of his party. He was by constitution, 
 and by culture a democrat. He was the unrelenting foe of 
 unjust privilege of all kinds, the apostle of equal rights. He 
 delivered the faith that is now the creed of Democracy. For 
 half a century the advocates of political dogmas have conjured 
 with his name, or tried to conjure with it. 
 
 There was nothing of the demagogue about Vance. He 
 was nearly always on the popular side, but often by his own 
 genius he made his side popular. He was one of those men 
 of genius of universal type. He was one of the people, in full 
 accord and sympathy with them. His single purpose was the 
 common good, with a passion for justice and against un- 
 fairness and oppression. General Theodore F. Davidson, a 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 211 
 
 kinsman of Vance, who knew him perhaps more intimately 
 than any living man, says of him : 
 
 "Another characteristic, particularly in public matters, 
 was his capacity to divine the right; it seemed to me that 
 with less effort than any public man of whom I have any 
 knowledge, he could almost instantly comprehend a public 
 question with its results, by intuition. This quality was an 
 endowment of nature, developed and strengthened by the cir- 
 cumstances of his unusual career. 
 
 "Another distinguishing characteristic which made him 
 the first of the 'leaders of men," was his absolute devotion to 
 that which he believed to be the best for his country and his 
 people. I do not believe there ever was a moment in his life 
 when he was not perfectly willing to offer himself and all he 
 had for the benefit of his countrymen without the slightest 
 consideration whether it brought to him compensation in any 
 form." 
 
 If you strike the chord of a musical instrument in the 
 midst of other musical instruments, all of the chords that 
 are in perfect harmony will vibrate with the same rhythm. 
 Vance was in harmony with the people. The same causes 
 that stirred them stirred him. He uttered the dominant note. 
 His vision was farther and clearer. His conception stronger. 
 He expressed what they vaguely felt, and what they had been 
 longing to hear, and he gave tone and unity to their thought, 
 their aspirations, and their life. 
 
 He was sympathetic and tender as a child. On the 13th 
 of May, 1865, he was arrested without notice by Federal sol- 
 diers in Statesville. As he went along the road to his un- 
 known destiny, a prisoner surrounded by soldiers, through a 
 State where in other days every journey had been a triumphal 
 procession, Mr. Samuel Wittowsky, who was with him, says 
 that for a moment he was overcome and shed tears while they 
 drove along in silence. "This will not do," said Vance; "I 
 must not allow my feelings to unman me, but it is so hard to 
 bear. I am not so much concerned about what may be in 
 store for me, but my poor wife and little children; they have 
 not a cent of money to live on." When Danton, the giant of 
 
212 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 the French Revolution, who had defied imperial armies, who 
 had hurled at the feet of the coalesced kings of Europe as 
 gage of battle, the head of a king ; who had organized armies 
 and had saved France, when he stood upon the platform of 
 the guillotine, surrounded by soldiers and the populace howl- 
 ing for his blood, he, too, broke down in tears, saying : "I will 
 never see my poor wife any more, then." He, too, nerved 
 himself with the expression: "Danton, no weakness." 
 
 Vance never quailed nor bowed the knee to power. When 
 he was down, when his enemies were in control and his future 
 seemed darkest he wrote the following letter: 
 
 "To the editor of The New York World : I see by the pub- 
 lic prints that General Kilpatrick has decorated me with his 
 disapprobation before the people of Pennsylvania. He informs 
 them, substantially, that he tamed me by capturing me and 
 riding me 200 miles on a bareback mule. I will do him the 
 justice to say that he knew that was a lie when he uttered it. 
 
 "I surrendered to General Schofield at Greensboro, N. C, on 
 the 2nd day of May, 1865, who told me to go to my home and 
 remain there, saying that if he got any orders to arrest me 
 he would send there for me. Accordingly I went home, and 
 there remained until I was arrested on the 13th of May by a 
 detachment of 300 Cavalry, under Major Porter, of Harris- 
 burg, from whom I received nothing but kindness and cour- 
 tesy. I came in a buggy to Salisbury, where we took the cars. 
 
 "I saw no mule on the trip, yet I thought I saw an ass at 
 the General's Headquarters; this impression has since been 
 confirmed. Respectfully yours, 
 
 "Z. E. VANCE." 
 
 His humor was inimitable ; it was spontaneous. Audiences 
 were convulsed with laughter by his witticisms and his 
 stories; but his humor was always an incident. It always 
 illustrated. It was always used for a purpose. It was over- 
 whelming and brought his antagonist irresistably into ridicule. 
 When the southern leaders in Congress were accused of dis- 
 loyalty, he said: 
 
 "What motive have we to injure this country? Having 
 surrendered the doctrine of secession and abandoned any in- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 213 
 
 tention whatsoever to divide this Union, how could we expect 
 that the democracy to which we belong could obtain and hold 
 the control of the Government except by showing the people 
 by our acts that we are patriotically desirous of promoting its 
 welfare and its glory. But you say you distrust these ex- 
 pressions. My friends, in your hearts you do not. On the 
 contrary, a man who has offered his blood once for his plighted 
 faith you believe when he plights his faith again. There is 
 not a southern rebel, no matter how bitter and rampant he 
 may have been, that you have not received with arms wide- 
 spread and rewarded with offices of honor and trust who came 
 to you with craven repentance on his tongue, ready to vote 
 the Republican ticket and eating dirt with the same gluttonous 
 appetite with which he once ate fire. You profess to believe 
 him, but you despise him in your hearts. You are not alarmed 
 to receive him and you cast no suspicion upon his professions 
 of sincerity, though, as has more than once happened, he asks 
 you to believe he tells the truth today because he told a lie 
 yesterday." 
 
 His personal appearance was unique. He did not look like 
 other men. No man who saw him ever forgot him. His mag- 
 netism charmed with a peculiar and indescribable power. 
 When you looked upon him, you knew that you beheld the 
 lion-hearted leader of men. 
 
 When known and understood, men of all parties admired 
 and honored him for his convictions, his courage, his kindness 
 of heart, his abiding loyalty and devotion to the whole country. 
 
 When he died, the State was awed into a solemnity that 
 we had not known. It was realized that the foremost had 
 fallen. The train bearing him for the last time to the bosom 
 of the mountains that bore him and nurtured him passed 
 through the State while the assembled people with uncovered 
 heads bowed and wept. Meetings were held in almost every 
 county in expression of universal sorrow. The State was his 
 funeral cortege. 
 
 "No hollow formalist was he, deceptive and self-deceptive, 
 ghastly to the natural sense, but a very man, fiery, real, from 
 the great fire bosom of nature herself." 
 
214 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES . 
 
 OPENING OF THE GREAT STATE FAIR 
 
 (October 17th, 1916) 
 
 Industry is victorious. She comes to celebrate her triumph 
 and to show her accomplishments. From the hills she has 
 reaped the yellow harvest, and from the wide fields she has 
 gathered the silken fiber, more valuable than the Golden 
 Fleece for which the Argonauts sailed. On her pastures are 
 the finest herds of cattle. Her fruits are wrapped in the 
 crimson and gold of autumn, flavored with the royal aroma 
 of the flowers. All the staples of food and raiment and 
 luxury have been produced in abundance. 
 
 In manufacture and commerce, intelligent industry has 
 been rewarded with equal bounty. Our factories send furni- 
 ture to the farthest States of the Union, and our mills send 
 fabrics to the farthest countries of the world. 
 
 The towns and cities are pulsing with energy, and grow- 
 ing in trade and commercial importance. 
 
 From the year 1901 until now no country ever went for- 
 ward in economical development more than the State of North 
 Carolina, nor did any ever manifest more progress in moral 
 and intellectual development. 
 
 It may encourage us to renewed activity and strength to 
 remember what our people have done within the last sixteen 
 years. The facts and the figures eloquently tell the story. 
 
 Mr. Bion Butler states that in the census period of 1900- 
 1910 North Carolina doubled the value of her farm products, 
 and that in the first five years of the present census period, 
 she has almost doubled again ; that within the ten years from 
 1900-1910 the State made the phenomenal record of advanc- 
 ing as much in agriculture as she did in the three hundred 
 years of her history from the planting of Raleigh's first colony 
 to the beginning of this century ; and that within the last six 
 years she has made an equal advance. "This," concludes Mr. 
 Butler, "is without pg-rallel in history." If this magnificent 
 progress be continued for another ten years, North Carolina 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 215 
 
 will leave behind her rival sister States, and forge to the 
 front among the very foremost of the Union. I never travel 
 with a stranger through our territory without hearing his 
 enthusiastic comment on the wonderful improvement and the 
 spirit of enterprise manifest along all railroads and highways. 
 
 In the year 1900, the disheartened farmer with his ox or 
 bony horse scratched the sterile, stingy soil and it yielded on 
 an average of thirteen bushels of nubbins to the acre ; now he 
 produces on an average of twenty-two bushels of corn to the 
 acre. Then he got on an average from an acre six and seven- 
 tenths bushels of wheat; now he reaps eleven bushels. Then 
 he got twelve bushels of oats ; now he gets twenty-three 
 bushels. Then he produced on an average seven bushels of 
 rye to the acre, and it was destined for twenty-one gallons of 
 liquor, three gallons to the bushel, with all the disorder and 
 misery that liquor can bring and more, for red pepper and 
 sulphuric acid were thrown in for good measure ; now he pro- 
 duces eleven and five-tenths bushels of rye to the acre, all of 
 which is food for man and beast. 
 
 In that time after the toil of the long hot days of summer, 
 he gathered in hopeless poverty one hundred and sixty-seven 
 pounds of cotton from the average acre, worth twelve or fif- 
 teen dollars; now he gathers two hundred and sixty pounds 
 worth fifty dollars. The cotton seed that he now produces to 
 the acre is worth more than was the cotton fiber in the latter 
 years of the last century. 
 
 This year the State will produce 65,000,000 bushels of 
 corn; 10,000,000 bushels of wheat; 12,000,000 bushels of po- 
 tatoes; 197,000,000 pounds of tobacco; 650,000 tons of hay; 
 and 650,000 bales of cotton, every bale of which together with 
 the seed is worth more than a hundred dollars. The cotton 
 crop of North Carolina alone this year is worth $70,000,000, 
 and all of the crops of the State combined have a value of 
 more than two hundred million dollars. This does not take 
 into consideration the cattle which are shipped out of the 
 State, and which constitute now a rapidly growing industry. 
 
 North Carolina ranks now, and has ranked for six years, 
 
216 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 as the first State of the Union in the production of cotton per 
 acre. 
 
 The soil has been strengthened. Man can sow in faith to 
 reap the harvest of plenty. Agriculture has evolved from 
 penury to profit. 
 
 In recounting this unrivaled development it would not be 
 just to fail to acknowledge the invaluable work done by the 
 College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts, and by the Depart- 
 ment of Agriculture with the present earnest and able Com- 
 missioner of Agriculture at its head. The College has sent its 
 alumni to all sections of the State equipped for the practical 
 and scientific cultivation of the fields and for the higher de- 
 velopment of the profession of agriculture. 
 
 The Department of Agriculture has stimulated farming to 
 increasing activity. It has protected the farmers from impo- 
 sition, it has ascertained and encouraged the most profitable 
 crops and methods by intelligent experiment and demonstra- 
 tion. 
 
 In manufacturing, our development has kept pace with the 
 progress in agriculture. North Carolina is now one of the 
 leading manufacturing States of the South. In 1900 our cot- 
 ton mills were capitalized at $22,000,000; now we have three 
 hundred and eighteen cotton mills with a total capital of 
 about $58,000,000. These mills are operating 4,000,000 
 spindles with 67,000 looms, requiring 178,000 horsepower. 
 We manufacture all of the cotton that we produce and some- 
 times more. The value of the yearly output of these mills is 
 near $90,000,000. They give employment to more than 51,000 
 people, whose wages amount to $17,000,000. 
 
 There are in the State one hundred and two furniture fac- 
 tories, with a capital of more than $8,000,000, giving employ- 
 ment to 6,000 people, whose wages amount to a half million 
 of dollars, with an output worth more than $10,000,000. 
 
 All over the State, mechanical industries are doing a 
 thriving business, and making for home and for export all 
 kinds of manufactured articles. From one end of the State 
 to the other are stretched the electric cables through which 
 stream the harnessed powers of the French Broad, the Ca- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 217 
 
 tawba, the Yadkin, the Pee Dee, the Cape Fear, and the Roa- 
 noke, delivering exhaustless energy to the centers of industry, 
 lighting cities and towns and setting in motion millions of 
 wheels and spindles. 
 
 In the last sixteen years there have been built in North 
 Carolina 1,500 miles of railroad, and 15,000 miles of improved 
 highways. The facilities of transportation have been carried 
 to the remote sections. Our cities and towns have been in a 
 large measure relieved from the unjust discrimination in 
 transportation that has heretofore prevailed against them. 
 By this freight rate adjustment the saving to North Caro- 
 linians has amounted to millions of dollars. The effect is 
 manifest in the increasing prosperity of our cities and towns. 
 The unjust discrimination has to a large extent been cor- 
 rected. Our wholesale merchants are now competing with 
 the merchants of other States. 
 
 In 1900 we had no highways. The roads were avenues of 
 mud and hills. During the last four years we have built ten 
 thousand miles of improved highways — twice as much as in 
 all the preceding history of the State. In addition to this, we 
 have graded about all of the principal roads of the State. 
 From the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Smoky Mountains, and 
 across the State from South Carolina to Virginia, there are 
 now the finest roads for citizens and for tourists. 
 
 During the last four years, North Carolina has spent more 
 than fifteen millions of dollars on roads. This is not an ex- 
 pense. It is an investment that pays a dividend of one 
 hundred per cent every year. The last Legislature estab- 
 lished a Highway Commission to provide for a more efficient 
 and a more systematic expenditure of the people's money. 
 
 Nothing has contributed more to the prosperity and the 
 happiness and social development of our country than these 
 improved roads. The movement has gained a momentum that 
 will result in the establishment of the best highways to every 
 community. No community can be without good roads, unless 
 it be satisfied to lag behind in all the improvements of modern 
 life in this day of enlightenment and progress. The old 
 country road of rocks and mud and steep hills is a thing of 
 
218 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 the past. The highway immeasurably finer than the "King's 
 Highway" of old, has been established, with the swift and 
 powerful vehicles of modern transportation. 
 
 There pass in review no soldiers today. They are on the 
 southern border, for the protection of the people and the 
 territory of this Republic. But in imagination we can pass 
 in review the grand army of North Carolina workers; 3,000 
 corn club boys marching in the van; 250,000 cornfield men 
 with brown faces and brave hearts, the producers of bread; 
 60,000 textile workers, spinners and weavers, with lint on 
 their garments and hair; 50,000 men in overalls whose levers 
 turn the driving wheels of mills and locomotives ; 250,000 wo- 
 men, the mothers of the sons and daughters of Carolina, the 
 priestesses who preside with vestal devotion over the sanc- 
 tuary of home. These with the captains of industry and all 
 men and women who work, constitute the State, and are the 
 builders of the State. These plowers, spinners, weavers, 
 builders, unstained by the heart's blood of men, ennobled by 
 fruitful labor, growing ever nobler, whereby man has risen 
 from the low places of earth. Hail them with triumphant 
 acclaim ; invest them with the cestus of victory, for they have 
 overcome! They belong to the "Grand Host; immeasurable; 
 marching ever forward since the Beginning of the World. 
 The enormous, all-conquering, flame-crowned Host, noble 
 every soldier in it; sacred and alone noble. Let him who is 
 not of it hide himself; let him tremble for himself. Stars at 
 every button cannot make him noble; nor any other con- 
 trivance, but manfully enlisting in it, valiantly taking place 
 and step in it." 
 
 This wonderful advancement of the State is manifest in 
 the financial condition of the people. In 1899 there were 
 ninety-five Banks, both State and National, in the State. 
 Today there are four hundred and twenty-six State Banks, 
 and eighty-one National Banks. In 1899 there were $14,836,- 
 000 on deposit. Today the people have on deposit in their 
 banks $107,424,000. The farmers, the manufacturers, the 
 merchants, have made money for the extension and the im- 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 219 
 
 provement of their industries, and besides have deposited 
 more than a hundred million dollars in the banks. 
 
 But economic development is not the object of man's 
 highest endeavor. It is not the ultimate aim of civilization. 
 All wealth and all laws and all government and all institu- 
 tions must have for their final aim and result the guarantee 
 of an opportunity for every citizen to attain his highest de- 
 velopment. 
 
 North Carolina's moral and intellectual growth has kept 
 pace with her material growth. 
 
 We have not forgotten that the child is the hope of the 
 State. There are now in attendance upon the public schools 
 more than twice as many children as in the year 1900, and 
 they are going to school nearly twice as many days in the 
 year. The houses in which they are taught cost nearly nine 
 times as much, and their teachers are paid two and a half 
 times as much. Then the average value of a school house 
 was $158.00 ; now it is $1,162.74. Then there were 1,190 log 
 school houses; now there are but sixty-five. Soon these will 
 give place to handsome structures similar to those that are 
 the ornament and the pride of nearly every School District 
 in the State. This has cost money, but money that the pa- 
 triotic citizens of North Carolina have willingly paid. 
 
 It will not be long until illiteracy in North Carolina will 
 disappear; and in the Moonlight Schools the people who grew 
 up in a less fortunate era are receiving the opportunities 
 which they should have enjoyed in their youth. All of our 
 institutions of learning are thronged with students eager for 
 that strength and equipment in a State where merit is re- 
 warded, and where the honest hope of all men is not denied. 
 
 We have established a Department of Health in recent 
 years that has brought untold blessings to our people. This 
 department is stamping out the preventable diseases. It is 
 protecting the homes of the high and of the lowly against 
 the invasion of disease and death. Pestilence no longer stalks 
 abroad unchallenged in the noon day. Men and women and 
 children suffer and die from causes that can be removed. 
 They are deaf and dumb and feebleminded, and are stricken 
 
220 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 with blindness and insanity, condemned to lives of darkness 
 and hopelessness not by the inscrutable decree of Providence, 
 but by the failure of society to protect them against the 
 enemy that is more cruel than death. North Carolina is dis- 
 charging this sacred obligation. It costs money that a noble 
 State will gladly pay. But withal our government is the 
 cheapest, the most economical, in all the civilized world, and 
 taxes are lower per capita than in any other State but one. 
 We should not boast of this. The courage and energy of a 
 growing race must spring from robust health. 
 
 And North Carolina is now one of the healthiest States in 
 the Union. Her death rate is among the lowest of all the 
 States of the Union. Her birth rate is the highest of any 
 State in the Union. We produce not only more corn per acre 
 than any of the Commonwealths, but we produce more babies 
 per capita than any. This infant industry cannot be dis- 
 couraged by tariffs or free trade, nor by wars nor rumors of 
 wars. 
 
 The prosperity and the development which we have en- 
 joyed in North Carolina demonstrates that the people have 
 full confidence and the security of good government. From 
 the opening years of this century until now no scandal has 
 been suggested. The public officials have honestly discharged 
 their duties and the Legislatures have enacted laws for the 
 welfare and encouragement of the people of the State. No 
 country can prosper without good government. The territory 
 of Turkey is as fertile as ours. The people of that country 
 would develop an enlightened and advancing civilization but 
 for the discouragement that comes from tyranny and corrupt 
 government. 
 
 Every dollar invested in railroads, every dollar invested in 
 factories, and all of the energy expended upon the farms of 
 this State are protected by just laws honestly and economic- 
 ally administered. 
 
 The country is enjoying prosperity that never before has 
 been ours. By a currency system, elastic, adjustable to the 
 demands of commerce, panics for scarcity of money have 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 221 
 
 been made impossible, and by an administration determined 
 to protect the producers, the speculators that have heretofore 
 preyed upon them have been driven away. Wall Street can 
 no longer paralyze the enterprise of the Nation. It can no 
 longer strangle commerce by contracting the currency and 
 depreciating values. If President Wilson was responsible for 
 the temporary low price of cotton in 1914, "a fortiori," he is 
 responsible for the lasting high price of cotton in 1916, and 
 unprecedented prosperity. With the unlimited resources of 
 this country as yet in the beginning of development, with just 
 laws, the future unfolds in grander revelation to the genius 
 of the American people. 
 
222 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 OUR OPPORTUNITY 
 
 Extract From A Speech Delivered By The Governor To The 
 
 Southern Commercial Congress, At Norfolk, 
 
 Virginia, December, 1916. 
 
 The South is endeared to us by the heroism and sacrifice 
 of our fathers and kindred. Her soil is consecrated by the 
 lives and by the blood of the bravest, and the roots of our 
 tradition grow deep, hallowed by the memories of the past. 
 
 We love the Union; we rejoice that we were born beneath 
 the ample folds of the Stars and Stripes. We will defend it 
 forever. It stands for Law and Freedom and Justice for all 
 mankind. More than any other flag, we hope and believe it 
 stands for the Altruistic. 
 
 The patriotism of sectionalism is past — no longer deter- 
 mined by geographical lines. All civilized nations are inter- 
 dependent — bound together — correlated in one Federation of 
 the World. Humanity has no frontiers. The locomotive, the 
 gasoline motor, the electric current, the morning newspaper, 
 are the Evangels of our time — economically — spiritually. The 
 race realizes its kinship, and the world throbs with the pulsa- 
 tion of the same thought, the same aspirations. The day of 
 the hostile tribe and the hostile state has passed. 
 
 Dumas tells of the political prisoner, the Count of Monte 
 Cristo, confined in a stone fortress for fourteen years on the 
 rocky coast of the Atlantic Ocean. A fellow prisoner occupied 
 a communicating dungeon. At the end of fourteen years this 
 prison mate died. They sewed the body in a coarse winding 
 sheet, and laid it upon the stone couch. As the Count of 
 Monte Cristo, in the gloom of his dungeon, looked upon the 
 dead form, and realized that the only voice that had spoken 
 to him in friendship and sympathy for fourteen years was 
 forever hushed in death, he was almost a maniac. But the 
 lightning flash of a thought ! He knew that when the darkness 
 came, the jailors would bury the dead body by casting it over 
 the rampart of the castle into the sea. He unravelled the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 223 
 
 stitches of the winding sheet. He placed the dead body upon 
 his own couch, and sewed himself in the hempen shroud. 
 Sure enough, when it was dark he heard the footsteps of the 
 jailors ; the door to his dungeon swung upon its rusty hinges. 
 He feared that they would hear the drum beat of his heart. 
 The rude hands of the jailors took, as they thought, the dead 
 form along the damp corridors of the fortress to the open 
 deck. They swung the body to and fro — and then, with a 
 mighty heave, they cast it over the rampart into the sea. As 
 the Count of Monte Cristo touched the water, with his knife 
 he ripped open his shroud. He swam to the nearest rock that 
 projected out of the water. He clambered up. For the first 
 time in fourteen years he felt upon his pallid brow the breath 
 of Heaven's air. He looked upon the broad expanse of sea 
 and sky. Naked, like a gladiator in the circus; "for Circus, 
 he had the vast horizon; instead of the Vestals, the Stars; 
 instead of Caesar, the All Powerful!" By the winds of the 
 illimitable oceans, by the radiance of the stars, God sent a 
 message to him, and he shouted : "The World is mine !" Yes, 
 the lone man upon the rock, the seething serf lashing his feet, 
 his face covered with its foam — free! In the glory of his 
 manhood he could say, "The World is mine!" 
 
 The World is Ours ! — not for conquest — not for exploita- 
 tion — not for oppression; but for co-operation and mutual 
 opportunity, to the realization, by the forces and ideals of our 
 enlightened age, of the finer civilization, the finer individual 
 life. The great day of Crisis and Awakening calls for the 
 brave, clear and steadfast in the Faith of Righteousness, 
 "With power on this dark land to lighten it, and power on 
 this dead world to make it live." 
 
224 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 MOUNT MITCHELL 
 
 Extracts From A Pamphlet Published By The Governor In 
 1915, Entitled "Mitchell's Peak And Dr. Mitchell." 
 
 Mitchell's Peak is the highest mountain in North America 
 east of the Rockies. Its altitude is 6,711 feet. It is one of 
 the peaks of the Black Mountains, the loftiest range of the 
 Appalachian System. The Peak is situated in Western North 
 Carolina in the County of Yancey, twenty miles from the 
 Town of Black Mountain, on the Southern Railway, and ten 
 or fifteen miles from Mount Mitchell Station on the Carolina, 
 Clinchfield & Ohio Railway. 
 
 The Black Mountains are covered with luxurious growth 
 of balsam or spruce. From the dark, rich green of this forest, 
 the mountains derive their name. Their dark, somber color 
 is in distinct contrast to the blue of other neighboring 
 mountain ranges covered with forests of lighter green. 
 
 This balsam or spruce timber is now very valuable for 
 lumber and wood pulp. It has been purchased by companies 
 who are rapidly removing it in immense quantities, and de- 
 nuding the slopes of the mountain of its magnificent virgin 
 growth. The ground is left covered with the resinous leaves 
 and laps of the trees, which when dry are most inflammable. 
 It seems impossible to prevent fires. On the areas which 
 have been cut over, conflagrations sweep with terrific fury, 
 burning everything. The rich and gorgeous slopes of the 
 vast mountains are left a desert of blackened ruin. 
 
 In the summer of 1914 the lumbermen who had purchased 
 the timber on Mitchell were proceeding to remove it. Large 
 areas on the sides of the mountain had been destroyed by axe 
 and fire. The summit and the whole mountain were threat- 
 ened. I had a conference with Messrs. Pearley and Crockett, 
 who owned and were cutting this timber. At my solicitation 
 they generously agreed to suspend operations on and around 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 225 
 
 the summit of the mountain until the General Assembly- 
 should meet. I stated to them that I would urge the General 
 Asssembly to protect this mountain and provide a reasonable 
 compensation to them for the timber. But for this arrange- 
 ment Mitchell's Peak would have been devastated, and its 
 beauty destroyed. The General Assembly did make an appro- 
 priation of $20,000 to be used in the purchase of land for a 
 park on the mountain, including the summit. By this enact- 
 ment, the most noted mountain in the eastern portion of the 
 United States was preserved in its original beauty and 
 grandeur for ourselves and our posterity. 
 
 One of the considerations moving the General Assembly 
 to the establishment of the park was to relieve this famous 
 mountain from private control, that the people of North Car- 
 olina and tourists from all parts of the world might have the 
 privilege of free access. 
 
 The bill making the appropriation for the establishment 
 of the park was introduced and advocated in the Senate by 
 Senator Zebulon Weaver, of Buncombe; and in the House by 
 Hon. G. P. Deyton, of Yancey. It passed both houses by a 
 large majority. 
 
 This Act of the General Assembly provided for a Com- 
 mission to purchase and condemn the land for the park. I ap- 
 pointed on this Commission: Messrs. G. P. Deyton, of Yan- 
 cey; E. F. Watson, of Yancey; M. C. Honeycutt, of Yancey; 
 Wilson Hensley, of Yancey; and T. E. Blackstock, of Bun- 
 combe. 
 
 The Commission has agreed with the owners as to the 
 price and has purchased the land for the park except five acres 
 near the summit. To secure this five acres, condemnation 
 proceedings have been begun, as provided by hte statute. 
 
 The land on the summit, including the grave of Dr. Mit- 
 chell, was conveyed about forty years ago to Miss Margaret 
 Mitchell, a daughter of Dr. Mitchell. Her heirs have expressed 
 their willingness to convey this land to the State. 
 
 When on the top of Mount Mitchell you feel that you are 
 in a lofty altitude, and amid the mighty upheavals of the 
 
226 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 primeval ages of the planet. Geologists tell us that this is 
 the oldest land of the earth. In the beginning the Spirit of 
 God moved upon the face of chaos, and God said let the waters 
 under the heavens be gathered together in one place, and let 
 the dry land appear, and it was so. At this command of the 
 Almighty the tide of the boundless ocean receded; the dome 
 of the Appalachians appeared above the waste of waters. 
 Before Abraham was, this mountain was. It was old when 
 Sinai was built. It was dry land when Noah's deluge swept 
 over Asia, for the waters did not rise above this summit. 
 
 On this mountain, covered with forests dark and somber, 
 you hear in the ancient winds "The voice of days of old and 
 days to be." For ages it has stood in primeval solitude and 
 solemn grandeur, while above and around and beneath the 
 clouds have swept and the storms raged. It will stand in 
 silent and august majesty when austral seas shall bury our 
 civilization under ocean wastes. 
 
 Here nature has riven the awful gorges and built the ever- 
 lasting cliffs. The neighboring peaks of the Black Mountains, 
 all over six thousand feet, clad in the dark rich green of the 
 balsam, rank worthily with the commanding monarch. Across 
 the dizzy depths is the Pinnacle of the Blue Ridge ; across the 
 Gorge of the Swannanoa rise the Craggies — The Dome, The 
 Pinnacle, and The Bull's Head; on the far horizon are the 
 towers and domes of the vast amphitheater of mountains — 
 Table Rock, The Roan, Grandfather, Tennessee Bald, Pisgah, 
 and a hundred others. Peaks and ranges, fold behind fold, 
 higher and higher, in the purpling distance, 
 
 "Loom grander far than any sea." 
 
 Mitchell's best view is at sunrise. In the light of Dawn 
 the world of mountains seems to rise out of the darkness of 
 the infinite abyss ; below great lakes of white clouds cover the 
 valleys ; the chambers of the East are hung with crimson and 
 cloth of gold, for the Majesty of Day is approaching with his 
 escort of splendor ; "From dewey branch birds here and there 
 with short deep warble salute the coming Sun. Stars fade 
 out and Galaxies — Street Lamps of the City of God. The 
 Universe is flinging wide its portals for the Levee of the 
 Great High King." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 227 
 
 THE ACCOUNT OF HIS STEWARDSHIP 
 
 Governor Craig's Last Message To The General 
 Assembly, January 5th, 1917. 
 
 To the Honorable the General Assembly of North Car- 
 olina: The days of my ministration are accomplished. In 
 obedience to the Constitution and in compliance with your 
 will, I speak to you my last word as the Governor of the State 
 of North Carolina. 
 
 Four, years ago you invested me with the responsibilities 
 of this high office. I have welcomed every opportunity for 
 service, and my strength and energy have been devoted to 
 the State. I have administered this office steadfast in the 
 resolve to do exact justice to all — to the rich and to the poor, 
 to the strong and to the weak, without regard to race or 
 politics. In delivering up this place to my able and patriotic 
 successor, it is with regret that I have not been able to do 
 more for the people that conferred upon me the honor and 
 the trust to be the Chief Magistrate of the State. 
 
 I acknowledge with gratitude the courtesy and co- 
 operation, the faithful work of all my associates and as- 
 sistants in office. 
 
 I reflect with some pride and satisfaction that the people, 
 by an overwhelming majority, have placed the seal of ap- 
 proval upon my administration, and have declared their con- 
 fidence in my successor and his administration. 
 
 I do not come with a full program for your consideration ; 
 that task will be performed by my successor. 
 
 In my opinion, the salaries of State Officers should be in- 
 creased. The Constitution forbids any increase of the salary 
 of Governor and Officers created during their terms of office. 
 Any increase for them must be before the inauguration. The 
 greatly increased cost of living has made all salaries less 
 valuable. It seems but reasonable that we should pay our 
 Chief Executive as much as the Federal Government pays the 
 Senators and Representatives in Congress. The Governor can- 
 
228 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 not live in the Mansion provided by the State at the present 
 salary and do the things expected of him, and Which he must 
 do in accordance with established custom and the require- 
 ments of hospitality. I know whereof I speak. He must pro- 
 vide the means from other sources, and this the State does 
 not desire. 
 
 The same observation applies to all the State Officers, but 
 the Legislature will have full time for consideration of re- 
 muneration to all of them except the Governor and the mem- 
 bers of his Council. We have able, conscientious officials. 
 They are worth more, they earn more than they receive. The 
 people of North Carolina would willingly pay a reasonable 
 and just compensation for efficient service. 
 
 All the offices and all the places in our Government have 
 been administered in economy and honesty, above the breath 
 of scandal, and by men of upright lives and high purpose, 
 whose daily walk is in the Democratic plainness and simplicity 
 of the tribunes of ancient Rome. 
 
 At the last election, the people ratified Amendments to 
 the Constitution. This General Assembly must enact statutes 
 to make them effective. You will, by the Amendments, be 
 relieved of a vast amount of local legislation, and have time 
 for the consideration of problems of general importance. 
 
 Recently, the Republic of Cuba has come into possession 
 of "Reconstruction Bonds" amounting to more than two mil- 
 lions of dollars, and is attempting to enforce the payment of 
 these bonds in the Supreme Court of the United States. The 
 bonds were issued in the evil days that followed the war, when 
 corruption and plunder were shameless, when marauders in- 
 fested this capital. The State received no benefit from them. 
 They were promptly repudiated, and the Constitutional Con- 
 vention of 1875 made unlawful their payment by any official 
 or by any General Assembly. Their dishonor was published 
 to the world, and no interest upon them has ever been paid. 
 
 Adventurers and unscrupulous speculators have procured 
 or gotten control of many of these bonds, and have by devious 
 methods attempted to collect them. The Federal Constitu- 
 tion provides that no individual can sue the Sovereign State. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 229 
 
 On this account, the holders and their agents have attempted 
 to force collection through the agency of other States of the 
 Union, and for this purpose have offered most liberal gifts to 
 States with whom they have negotiated. After these States 
 became informed of the facts, they refused to touch the un- 
 clean thing. 
 
 If North Carolina owed the bonds, she would pay them, 
 and would have recognized their validity. She does not owe 
 them, and will in every way possible resist their payment. 
 
 The citizens of North Carolina have always felt the deepest 
 interest in the welfare and destiny of the Republic of Cuba. 
 In 1898, thousands of young men volunteered from the State 
 to enlist in the Army for the relief from oppression and for 
 the liberty of the people of that island. The blood of the 
 bravest was shed in the war of emancipation and humanity. 
 We were, for these reasons, astonished that the Republic of 
 Cuba should make herself a party to the unholy alliance for 
 forcing from North Carolina the payment of these dishonored 
 and fraudulent bonds. 
 
 I have declined to consider any suggestion of compromise. 
 I have declined all suggestions of negotiations with the view 
 to securing a withdrawal of this suit by the Republic of 
 Cuba. These bonds are not like the South Dakota bonds. It 
 is inconceivable to me that the action can be maintained in 
 any jurisdiction, or that their payment by this Sovereign 
 State can be enforced by any power. I have employed able 
 counsel to assist the Attorney-General. The case is set for 
 argument in the Supreme Court of the United States on Mon- 
 day, the 8th of January. We will fight it to a finish. I am 
 convinced that the State of North Carolina will prevail in 
 the great case now pending, and that this last cloud of Re- 
 construction which has threatened for fifty years upon our 
 horizon, will disappear forever. 
 
 I rejoice to declare that the State is in better condition 
 than at any period in her whole history, that the governing 
 party that placed me here is stronger and more secure than 
 ever in the loyalty and harmonious union of its members, and 
 that by the long continuation of a government of integrity 
 
230 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 and devotion to the public weal, it has justified the confidence 
 and trust of the people. 
 
 In our memory there are years of darkness and hardship 
 with tempests of war for a background, when political might 
 prevailed, and its minions went forth to plunder and to de- 
 vour, when fields were barren, when people were poor and 
 discouraged, and when opportunity was denied. This was 
 indeed a land of sorrows and acquainted with grief. We, our- 
 selves, have been witnesses and partakers in the transforma- 
 tion of a State and her people. Out of the darkness of Re- 
 construction, there was the day spring of '76. The people 
 girded their loins to overcome adversity. They re-established 
 a government of law and security. They rehabilitated the 
 State and her institutions. They opened the university and 
 built the school. 
 
 During the sixteen years of this century, North Carolina 
 has made more progress than in all the years of her preceding 
 history. In substantial development she has been surpassed 
 by no State of the Union, nor by any civilized country whose 
 history we know. Her growth and accomplishment is like a 
 tale of Arabian romance. 
 
 We are an agricultural people, and agriculture measures 
 our national progress. By the intelligent cultivation of the 
 soil, the yield of all staple crops per acre has been about 
 doubled. The acreage of tillage has been increased until now 
 the State, once far behind, ranks in agriculture among the 
 first of the Union. The prosperity of the farm appears to 
 the passerby in improved fields, improved dwellings, and all 
 the appointments of the farm. 
 
 The College of Agriculture & Mechanic Arts and the De- 
 partment of Agriculture have been potential agencies in this 
 wonderful development. The college must be manned and 
 equipped for its larger usefulness. It should have 5,000 stu- 
 dents. Its alumni will go to all sections of the State, and of 
 the country, trained for captains of industry, for the practical 
 and scientific cultivation of the soil and for the higher de- 
 velopment of the profession of agriculture. 
 
 The Department of Agriculture has stimulated farming to 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 231 
 
 increasing activity. It has protected the farmers from impo- 
 sition, it has ascertained and encouraged the most profitable 
 crops by methods of intelligent experiment and demonstra- 
 tion. The building now occupied by the Department is not 
 fit. In its stead there should be erected a building commen- 
 surate with the requirements, typifying the finest and the 
 greatest of all of the industries of North Carolina. 
 
 Manufacturing is prospering as never before, and is de- 
 veloping in every section of the State. The cotton mills alone 
 require for their operation 187,000 horse-power. They manu- 
 facture all the cotton that we produce and more. The value 
 of their product for the last year was $100,000,000. 
 
 The utilization of water-power is assuming large propor- 
 tions. On a twenty-mile section of the Yadkin River, 250,000 
 horse-power is now in course of development. From one end 
 of the State to the other are electric cables through which 
 are poured the transformed power of the French Broad, the 
 Catawba, the Yadkin, the Pee Dee, the Cape Fear, and the 
 Roanoke, delivering exhaustless energy to the centers of in- 
 dustry, lighting cities and towns, and driving millions of 
 wheels and spindles. The commercial advancement of our 
 towns and cities is keeping pace with manufacturing and 
 agriculture. 
 
 The country home is no longer a place of isolation and 
 desolation. Improved farming brings the comforts of life; 
 the telephone, the mail box, good schools, and good roads 
 enlarge and illuminate the horizon of country life. As rural 
 conditions improve, ambitious youth and manhood will abide 
 and grow in the free and pure atmosphere for the breeding 
 of a robust race. The country home should be provided with 
 all modern appliances of comfort and economy. Rural com- 
 munities should be empowered by statute to incorporate them- 
 selves for the purpose of securing water and light, and all 
 available public utilities. Running water in the home is the 
 most desirable of all modern conveniences. It saves women 
 and children from drudgery in the heat and in the cold. It 
 brings comfort and cleanliness. It preserves health. Every 
 farmer of modern means can have this convenience. It is not 
 
232 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 an expense. It is an economy. With screens in the windows 
 and pure running water in the house, the home will be clean 
 and sanitary, and the people who dwell therein will be cleaner, 
 healthier, stronger and better. 
 
 We have always the perplexing question of taxation. The 
 Constitution makes the solution difficult. The large per cent 
 of the personal wealth of the State is not listed for taxation. 
 One cause for this is the alleged under-valuation of the land. 
 
 The Corporation Commission made an intelligent and 
 courageous effort to equalize the tax values of the State, and 
 have accomplished much, but the situation is by no means 
 satisfactory. 
 
 There are in the State vast acres of unused land held for 
 speculation. The owners neither use it nor intend to use it. 
 These lands are listed for taxation at a very small part of 
 their sale value. In assessments, the discrimination is in 
 their favor and against the lands that have been improved. 
 These unused lands should not be favored by the tax assessor 
 for their owners are appropriating the value — the unearned 
 increment created by the growth and enterprise of the whole 
 community. If there be any discrimination let it favor the 
 man who has improved by industry his holdings, and made 
 his land productive; not to the man who refuses to improve 
 and who prevents the natural development. A proper assess- 
 ment would discourage the holdings of vacant land for pur- 
 poses of speculation, and encourage the industrious and the 
 energetic to buy their own homes. This is especially true of 
 city and suburban property. 
 
 There is nothing that contributes more to the strength 
 and patriotism, the highest development of citizenship, than 
 the ownership of homes. A proprietor is independent. He 
 cannot be a serf. Every farmer in North Carolina should de- 
 termine to own the land upon which he lives, though the 
 acreage be small. He will then have a firm dwelling place, a 
 steadfast interest in country and government. 
 
 The Federal Reserve Act has destroyed the money mo- 
 nopoly. The Farm Loan Bank recognizes the land as security 
 upon which money can be obtained on long and easy terms. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 233 
 
 Land in North Carolina is comparatively cheap. A man of 
 energy and determination can own his home if he will. 
 
 Good roads have been a potential agency for the welfare 
 of the State. In obedience to the dictates of common sense, 
 business requirements and the progressive spirit of the age, 
 the people of North Carolina have determined to have good 
 roads. During the last four years, we have built twice as 
 many miles of improved highways as in all our preceding his- 
 tory. We now have about 15,000 miles of well graded, sur- 
 faced roads. In January, 1913, we had about 5,000 miles. 
 We have built 10,000 since then. 
 
 During the last four years, the Central Highway* has been 
 built from the Atlantic Ocean over the coastal plain, over the 
 hills of the Piedmont, over the Blue Ridge to the Canyon of 
 the Great Rocky Mountains. The section of this road from 
 Old Fort to Ridge Crest, and a section in Madison County, 
 were built by State convicts. Within the last four years, the 
 highway from Charlotte to Asheville has been completed. 
 The State convicts built that difficult section from Chimney 
 Rock to Hickory Nut Gap. Similar highways have been built 
 across the State and into every section. Road building goes 
 on with increasing momentum. No community will be with- 
 out unless it be satisfied to deny itself the improvements of 
 modern life in this day of enlightenment and progress. The 
 old country road of rocks and mud and steep hills, consuming 
 energy, forbidding progress, is past. With good roads, com- 
 munities are correlated, markets are available, schools and 
 churches are accessible, land rises in value, progress is in- 
 evitable. Our highways are immeasurably finer than "The 
 King's Highway" of old, and they are the tracks for the swift 
 and powerful vehicles. 
 
 The automobile is the modern machine for local trans- 
 portation. They are rapidly coming into universal use. We 
 cannot get along without them, and they cannot get along 
 without the good road. Their indispensable efficiency is not 
 available without the graded, surfaced highway. They are 
 monopolizing the roads, and they make road building and 
 road maintenance far more expensive. They should bear a 
 
 ♦Now the Old Hickory Highway. 
 
234 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 large part of this burden. The tax on them might be in- 
 creased, and their owners would not complain, provided the 
 money be applied to the betterment of the roads. 
 
 The State Highway Commission was established by the 
 General Assembly of 1915. This Commission has justified its 
 creation. Its usefulness has been limited by lack of funds. 
 The revenue from automobiles might be largely administered 
 by the Commission. The modern highway is no longer a 
 neighborhood affair, but a State institution for communica- 
 tion and use by the people of different sections. By improper 
 location and construction, a vast amount of money has been 
 spent not to the best advantage. This can in the future be 
 remedied by conferring upon the Commission supervisory 
 powers. Competent and experienced engineers could be furn- 
 ished. 
 
 On all of the principal highways, railroad grade crossings 
 should be abolished. This is demanded for the utility of the 
 road, for the economy of the railroad, and in the interest of 
 safety and human life. The railroads are now more pros- 
 perous than ever before. Their net earnings are greater. For 
 the last fiscal year, the net earnings of the railroads of the 
 South were approximately $3,500 per mile. They have already 
 realized the duty which they owe to the public of removing 
 this inconvenience and danger. They have begun the work, 
 and should proceed with all possible expedition while the 
 expense can be easily borne. 
 
 The authorities of the State have the right to compel the 
 abolition of grade crossings. I do not mean that the whole 
 evil should be remedied at once. Due consideration should 
 be given to the transportation companies, but in the location 
 and the building of our highways we should avoid the grade 
 crossings. The State Highway Commission might designate, 
 after consultation with the Corporation Commission and with 
 the companies, what crossings should be abolished. 
 
 Through the Highway Commission, the State is enabled 
 to receive the benefits of the Federal Aid Road Bill, which 
 places at our disposal for road construction $115,000 for the 
 present year, and an increasing amount for each succeeding 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 235 
 
 year. One of the provisions of this Federal Act is that funds 
 must be provided for the maintenance of roads upon which 
 the Federal money is expended. The State must therefore 
 provide a maintenance fund if we are to take advantage of 
 this Federal aid, and co-operate with the Federal Government. 
 
 It has been the recognized policy of the State to aid in the 
 construction of certain railroads in the Piedmont Section and 
 across the Blue Ridge Mountains. Convicts have been furn- 
 ished to the Statesville Air Line Railway, the Elkin & Alle- 
 ghany Railway, and to the Watauga & Yadkin Valley Rail- 
 way. These convicts are not paid for in cash, but as au- 
 thorized by law, are paid for in stock of the companies. This 
 stock has no market value. But the consideration is not the 
 value of the stock, but the value to the State of that mag- 
 nificent country west of the Blue Ridge. These railroads, 
 when built, will connect that country with the State. In trade 
 and commercial intercourse, it is cut off from North Carolina 
 by impassable mountains and has been forced to trade with 
 the cities of Virginia, and send to them its valuable products. 
 This is a section with a splendid destiny. We need its fertile 
 lands and vast forests. It is equal in beauty and natural 
 richness to the famous Southwestern Virginia Section which 
 it adjoins. As a matter of justice to the patriotic citizenship 
 that dwells in the counties of Alleghany, Ashe and Watauga, 
 the State should aid in securing for them railroad transporta- 
 tion for their development and for our mutual benefit. 
 
 At the beginning of my administration, freight was 
 hauled from the North and the Northwest through the State 
 of North Carolina and delivered to the cities of Virginia at 
 a lower rate than the carriers would stop this same class of 
 freight and deliver it to the cities of North Carolina. By this 
 lower rate, the merchants of Virginia were enabled to sell 
 goods in the State of North Carolina cheaper than the mer- 
 chants of North Carolina could sell the same class of goods 
 at their very doors. Business was obliged to leave the State. 
 The cities of Virginia flourished at our expense. 
 
 The Federal Government had jurisdiction of this question. 
 The injustice was indefensible. The people of North Carolina 
 
236 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 had borne it for many years. In 1913, this unjust discrimi- 
 nation was remedied to a large extent. Public opinion was 
 the compelling power. It found expression through the Just 
 Freight Rate Association, and encouragement in a General 
 Assembly that was ready to go to the limit to compel justice 
 and secure the rights of the people of North Carolina. Earnest 
 men held meetings in various cities. The wrong was exposed, 
 the General Assembly was called in extra session. The 
 difficulties were great, and while complete equity was not 
 obtained, the remedy was substantial. Under present con- 
 ditions, North Carolina wholesale merchants have the ad- 
 vantage in our territory over competitors in any other State. 
 
 By this extra session of the General Assembly of 1913, a 
 statute was passed for the reduction of intrastate freight 
 rates. In accordance with the power conferred upon the 
 Governor, a Commission was appointed to fix transportation 
 charges within the State. The report of this Commission 
 was accepted by the people, by the carriers, and by the 
 General Assembly. The railroads have sought before the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission to raise some of our State 
 schedules, but in all controversies the State has prevailed, 
 and the rates fixed by the Commission are now established. 
 
 By the reduction of interstate rates and intrastate rates, 
 our people have saved by careful estimate $2,000,000 a year. 
 The spirit of progress has been relieved from unjust oppres- 
 sion. Commercial and industrial enterprises have been en- 
 couraged and established. A prosperity has come that could 
 not have resulted under former conditions. 
 
 There is another phase of this subject that I would im- 
 press upon this General Assembly, upon the Corporation Com- 
 mission and upon the people of the State. Freight originating 
 in North Carolina going to the States south of us is subjected 
 to the same tariff as the same class of freight originating in 
 Virginia. North Carolina is entitled to a decided advantage 
 upon all such merchandise. The haul is much shorter. Mak- 
 ing all fair allowances, this freight originating in North Car- 
 olina going south should bear an average tariff of twenty 
 cents less on the hundred pounds. There is no justification 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 237 
 
 for fixing the same tariff upon south-bound freight for the 
 two States, when the Virginia freight must be hauled through 
 the State of North Carolina. We are entitled to the advan- 
 tage of our geographical situation, and we should not rest 
 content until this unjust discrimination be corrected. Eternal 
 vigilance is the price of liberty. 
 
 In recent years, the railroads have manifested a disposi- 
 tion and a desire to treat the people with fairness and to con- 
 duct and to regulate their business in accordance with a well 
 conceived public sentiment. Their managers are men of pa- 
 triotism and broad views. I hope for the continuation of 
 peace and co-operation between the people and the carriers 
 for actual welfare in just regard to all concerned. 
 
 The State has done well. She is just emerging into her 
 strength. Destiny calls. She can accomplish vastly more. 
 Higher things demand to be done. To the energy, the faith 
 and genius of our people, the future is unfolding in sublime 
 revelation. 
 
 "But, oh, not the hills of Habersham, 
 And, oh, not the valleys of Hall. 
 Avail: I am fain for to water the plain. 
 Downward the voices of Duty call — 
 Downward, to toil and be mixed with the main 
 The dry fields burn, and the mills are to turn, 
 And a myriad flowers mortally yearn, 
 And the lordly main from beyond the plain 
 Calls o'er the hills of Habersham, 
 Calls through the valleys of Hall." 
 
 But material development is not the object of man's 
 highest endeavor. Life, not economics, is the purpose of 
 society — the ultimate aim of civilization. All wealth and all 
 laws and all government must have as their purpose a fuller 
 and a finer life, a better social order. In the day of our pros- 
 perity, we must not forget our institutions of learning. We 
 must not forget the places where children and men and wo- 
 men are educated to the higher conceptions. I do not like our 
 boast that we are running the cheapest university, and the 
 cheapest normal schools in the world. We need the best in 
 
238 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 the world. These institutions have done splendid and in- 
 dispensable work. They must grow or we go backward. Hope 
 must not be denied to aspiring youth. Who can estimate the 
 worth of our university, the normal schools, the denomina- 
 tional colleges, the public schools ? Our intellectual and moral 
 growth must be commensurate with our material growth. 
 We rejoice that the old log school houses have disappeared, 
 that now in every community there is a school building, the 
 pride of that community, and equal to the college buildings 
 of the days of our childhood. These measure the efficiency 
 of the school. The patriotic citizens of North Carolina will- 
 ingly pay taxes for the education of the young. They are not 
 willing that our educational institutions should not develop 
 with the increasing demands of the age. Facilities must be 
 provided for the boys and girls in North Carolina who are 
 eager for the strength and equipment of life. 
 
 During my administration, every institution in this State 
 and every Department of the State Government has been sub- 
 jected to the most thorough investigation. Everything has 
 been uncovered. No dishonesty has been anywhere found. 
 The Board of Internal Improvements has done its work fear- 
 lessly and without favoritism. The institutions are of the 
 highest order. 
 
 We are expending hundreds of thousands of dollars every 
 year in taking care of the insane, the deaf and dumb, the 
 blind and the feeble-minded. This is an obligation that no 
 State can avoid. For if in the days of our good fortune we 
 do not remember them, our hearts would be hardened and 
 our land would be accursed. And when, according to the 
 plan of the last General Assembly, we build the new school 
 for the blind, let us not be more niggardly to them than any 
 other State. 
 
 The Jackson Training School for youthful derelicts is 
 doing a noble work. Humane consideration for wayward 
 boys demands its enlargement. 
 
 We have not forgotten the soldiers of the Confederacy. 
 We have provided for them a home, clean and comfortable, 
 kept in a high state of efficiency. These veterans are fast 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 239 
 
 disappearing. They are all disabled by age, and by the wounds 
 and the hardships of war. Our privilege to help them is 
 closing, for the captains and the soldiers are departing. 
 
 It is noble to provide for the sick and the afflicted, but 
 the prevention of disease of mind and of body is the aim of 
 the higher and wiser humanity. This is the task for modern 
 pathology. Men and women and children suffer and die from 
 causes that can be removed. They are deaf and dumb and 
 are stricken with blindness and insanity, condemned to lives 
 of darkness and hopelessness, not by the inscrutable decrees 
 of Providence, but by the failure of society to protect them 
 against the enemy more cruel than death. 
 
 The State has no duty more imperative than the conser- 
 vation and the promotion of health. Four years ago, the 
 General Assembly passed the vital statistical law. It has 
 done immense good in ascertaining the causes of disease and 
 death. The work for the prevention of disease has been stim- 
 ulated. The State Board of Health is waging a campaign of 
 energy and intelligence against tuberculosis, typhoid fever 
 and malaria, and such diseases that can be exterminated by 
 intelligent and determined action. Many counties have em- 
 ployed health officers. They are doing good work, but as yet 
 the health work is by the county as a unit. The conserva- 
 tion of health is not a local question. The State has an in- 
 terest. The State Board of Health should have general super- 
 vision of this work, and each community should have the 
 benefit of its expert knowledge and wide experience. This 
 Board should have power to know by systematic reports the 
 conditions and the work in each locality. Such correlation 
 and publicity would increase efficiency and excite emulation 
 of every health officer in the State. The State Board should 
 be given the power to locate and reasonable means to prevent 
 the spread of contageous diseases. Modern facilities for 
 travel give wings to disease. Infantile paralysis, scarlet 
 fever and other contagions may in a day be transported to 
 distant counties for the establishment of new centers of in- 
 fection, with dire calamity. The State Law provides no pro- 
 tection against this. The Federal Statute provides against 
 
240 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 interstate contagion, but there is no State Statute to provide 
 against intrastate contagion. 
 
 North Carolina has the largest birth rate as to white 
 children of any State in the Union — more babies per capita 
 than any other country. This "infant industry" deserves and 
 demands protection. They are the most desirable immi- 
 grants — thoroughbred from Norman and Saxon sires. 
 
 During the last four years, the State's Prison has been 
 successful beyond precedent. Above all expenses of every 
 kind, it has earned for the State the net sum of $350,000. To 
 the Superintendent of the Prison, the Board of Directors and 
 their subordinates credit must be given for this result. The 
 institution has been managed with ability, honesty, economy 
 and in humane consideration for the prisoner. This money 
 has been made for the State by the work of the prisoners on 
 the State Farm, on the State Highways, on the railroads, and 
 at the quarries and dams of the Yadkin River. 
 
 The making of money for the State is not the principal 
 purpose of prison management. In this flood-tide of pros- 
 perity and plenty, the families of most of the prisoners were 
 in need of food and raiment. In many instances women and 
 children were destitute. The poor and little ones suffer in 
 winter. To me it seemed just, and to the Prison Board it 
 seemed just that out of the earings of the unfortunates a 
 small amount be sent to their scanty, needy homes to relieve 
 some distress, and as a testimonial of justice and sympathy. 
 This seemed especially appropriate in these days of good-will 
 and benevolence. Some may criticise this act as unauthor- 
 ized, and object to it as an unsafe precedent, but if this 
 General Assembly condemns it, every dollar of the money 
 will be promptly returned. "Swear," said the captuous Roman 
 tribune to the consul, "swear that you have observed the 
 laws." "I swear," said the consul, "that I have served the 
 Republic." And we too in this have obeyed the law of hu- 
 manity and righteousness, and done the will of the people of 
 North Carolina. 
 
 I hope that this General Assembly will by statute, con- 
 sistent with the economic welfare of the Prison, provide for 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 241 
 
 some return to the dependent, needy families of prisoners in 
 times of prosperity like these. 
 
 I do not believe in "coddling" criminals. Crime must be 
 punished. Justice is stern. The innocent suffer for the sins 
 of the guilty. It was so declared on Sanai. It is the in- 
 exorable decree. But the law grows "with the growing hu- 
 manity of the age, and broadens with the process of the suns." 
 At the final judgment, in divine commiseration may be spoken 
 of us too: "I was in prison and ye ministered unto Me. 
 * * * For inasmuch as ye did it unto the least of these My 
 brethren, ye did it unto Me." 
 
 Out of the surplus already earned by the institution, this 
 General Assembly, in obedience to the plainest duty, should 
 allow and direct the Board of Directors to build on the Cale- 
 donia Farm a modern prison, equipped with appurtenances 
 and appliances for the proper care, custody and training of 
 the State's convicts. It seems to be the established policy of 
 the State to maintain this farm as the place of penal servi- 
 tude. The buildings there are not adequate, and no longer 
 tolerable. I do not see the necessity for the continued main- 
 tenance of the Central Prison at Raleigh. The whole institu- 
 tion can be centralized at Caledonia. 
 
 During my term of office pardons and commutations have 
 been granted to four hundred and twenty-eight persons con- 
 victed in the courts. Most of these convictions were for mis- 
 demeanors, and in many cases, judgments were pronounced 
 in contemplation of a conditional pardon, with the object of 
 restraining the offender from further violations of law. In 
 my opinion such judgments are not in accordance with the 
 proper administration of justice. It places upon the Exe- 
 cutive the labor and the opportunity to accurately ascertain 
 the facts. The courts might be invested with power to pro- 
 nounce conditional and indeterminate sentences, but the judg- 
 ments of the courts should be pronounced as a finality. 
 
 I have granted no pardon nor commutation except upon 
 the conclusion, after most careful consideration, that justice 
 and humanity demanded it. In each case, the facts have been 
 fairly stated, with the reasons. The press of the State has 
 
242 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 generally approved. The disappointment and sorrow of those 
 whose petitions have been denied have touched me deeper 
 than criticisms for judgments that to me seemed just and 
 merciful. 
 
 During my term, seventeen men have been punished by 
 death. I have spared human life unless the extreme penalty 
 was justified by the evidence and demanded by the law. 
 
 On the 16th of last July, a great flood wrought disaster in 
 Western North Carolina. There has been no such swell of 
 waters since the country was settled by the white people. 
 The flood gates of heaven were lifted and the deluge poured 
 down. The sides of the mountains were torn loose. The val- 
 leys were flooded by raging torrents. Trees, crops, buildings, 
 roads, railroads and the land itself were swept away. Ani- 
 mals could not escape, and many human beings were lost. 
 The homes and fertile fields by the rivers were destroyed. 
 The rich bottom lands of the Yadkin, the Catawba and tribu- 
 taries were turned to desert waste. 
 
 In this overwhelming disaster the people were bewildered. 
 They were for a time without food and shelter. When the 
 extent of the calamity became known, the people of the State 
 nobly responded. Eagerly, generously, they gave, not in the 
 spirit of condescending charity, but in the discharge of an 
 obligation to the unfortunate of their own race and kindred. 
 
 Edward E. Britton was made Chairman of the State Relief 
 Committee. More than $45,000 have been received by him. 
 Local Committees were organized in every county that had 
 been stricken. Through the various local organizations at 
 least $50,000 more have been contributed. All destitution was 
 relieved. There has been no suffering. At present, there is 
 money in the hands of the Chairman of the Committee in 
 each county that has asked for relief. The leading men in 
 the State offered their services without compensation, and 
 went to carry relief and encouragement. Neighbors divided 
 with the needy whatever they had, and throughout the State 
 the finest spirit of sympathy was manifest in contributions 
 by all classes of people. 
 
 The forests of North Carolina furnish annually a product 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 243 
 
 of immense value. On the coastal plain and in the mountains, 
 we once had a forest and a timber supply unsurpassed in any- 
 country. A vast portion of this has disappeared by unwise 
 and wasteful cutting. The pine of the east and the hardwood 
 of the mountains would readily come again on our fertile soil 
 if properly protected. The lumberman should be controlled 
 by laws for the economic use of the forest. Destruction by 
 fire should be prevented. Though the fairest part of this in- 
 heritance of ours is gone, much remains, and can be saved for 
 this and the next generation. The sources of supply of the 
 rivers that water the plains and turn the wheels of industry 
 can be protected and conserved. Ruinous floods can be to a 
 large extent prevented. 
 
 Under an Act of the General Assembly of 1915, the State 
 has a clear title to about six hundred acres on and around the 
 summit of Mount Mitchell. This area is covered with a virgin 
 growth of luxuriant spruce or balsam. Around this section 
 now owned by the State, the forest has been mowed down by 
 the lumberman. The diy resinous debris is most inflammable. 
 After the lumberman, conflagrations with terrific waste have 
 swept these mountain areas, leaving the vast slopes of black- 
 ened desolation. But for the purchase by the State, the whole 
 of Mount Mitchell would be a barren waste. Now, as far as 
 this majestic mountain, the highest east of the Rockies, can 
 be seen, the dark green of its summit is discernible above the 
 ruin. A railroad runs from the town of Black Mountain to 
 the edge of the park established by the State. Its terminus 
 is about three-fourths of a mile from the top. Thousands of 
 people visit this mountain during the summer. Each year 
 multiplies the number. The State should recognize and regu- 
 late this railroad as a common carrier of passengers, and 
 should confer upon the Governor the power to appoint a Com- 
 mission composed of patriotic, interested citizens to serve 
 without pay, for the protection and the management of the 
 park on the summit of Mount Mitchell. General Julian S. 
 Carr has consented to head a Committee for the building of 
 a memorial to Dr. Elisha Mitchell upon this mountain. This 
 insures a structure suitable to the solemnity and the majesty 
 
244 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 of the sublime height, the most famous in Eastern America. 
 
 The General Assembly of 1915 enacted a law for the regu- 
 lation of the fishing industry and for the conservation of the 
 fish of Eastern North Carolina. Our waters have been and 
 are the source of a valuable food supply. They have been 
 wastefully exploited and the yield largely diminished. But by 
 wise and economic management, conditions will improve and 
 the fishing industry be restored for the welfare of the whole 
 State, and the eastern section especially. 
 
 The law of 1915 has been administered by proficient men 
 who have earnestly devoted themselves to the important 
 work. Heretofore the subject has been dealt with as local, 
 but now as one of State concern, properly under the jurisdic- 
 tion of the State. These waters are not private property. 
 Opposition has been encountered. The Fisheries Commission 
 Board and executive officers have enforced the law firmly, 
 but with discretion and consideration. The healthy public 
 sentiment now approves. The people are coming to realize 
 that this law is necessary for the protection of the fishing in- 
 dustry from destruction, for the ultimate good of the fisher- 
 men, and for the good of the public. We have the most val- 
 uable fishing waters on the Atlantic Coast, and must not allow 
 them to be destroyed. 
 
 During the month of June, the National Guard was called 
 to mobilize for the defense of the Southern Border and to 
 meet the dangers that threatened. The soldiers of every com- 
 pany in the State willingly volunteered. Some went at much 
 sacrifice, but they did not complain. At El Paso, under the 
 command of Brigadier-General Laurence W. Young, they have 
 distinguished themselves for discipline and for military train- 
 ing and efficiency. They have reflected credit upon the State 
 in peace, and were ready with the courage and patriotism of 
 their fathers to carry the flag to the farthest front of battle. 
 The love and the admiration of the folks at home have been 
 with them and we hope for their return as soon as their 
 presence on the Rio Grande is no longer demanded. 
 
 It is unfortunate that those brave men in the service of 
 their country were in the last election deprived of the right 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 245 
 
 of franchise. We need a statute to enable any citizen of this 
 State to cast his vote when away from home by unavoidable 
 necessity. 
 
 In this State, every citizen, every corporation, every le- 
 gitimate enterprise, has had and should forever have the pro- 
 tection and the encouragement of just laws and fair and 
 honest government. The civic purpose and effort has been to 
 guarantee universal opportunity and the betterment of all the 
 ranks of society. 
 
 And now we should remember with devout gratitude that 
 we dwell in this land of freedom, of prosperity, and peace. 
 With the Hebrew poet we can say: 
 
 "How goodly are thy tents, oh, Jacob ; and thy tabernacles, 
 oh, Israel!" 
 
 In this time of war and confusion, our Nation has stood 
 for the law of civilization, for the freedom of the seas, for 
 the rights of American citizens in all lands. Every American 
 demand has been acknowledged, and every American right 
 has been conceded. The Schoolmaster of Princeton College 
 has become the world teacher of a new diplomacy. His 
 dogmas of righteousness are more powerful than forty-two 
 centimeter guns. He has dictated to militant kings and em- 
 perors the principles of humanity, and has exalted the majesty 
 of justice above all thrones. 
 
 The countries across the Atlantic are consumed by the 
 vast conflagration of desolation, Europe is crushed and bleed- 
 ing. The flower of her men have been destroyed, and are halt 
 and maimed and blind and maniac by the savage weapons of 
 this war. All her women and children are in mourning. 
 Lurid, ghastly and relentless War still strikes and strikes 
 with unabated fury and reaps his boundless harvest of death 
 and destruction. Thus far we have been spared. We have 
 been spared through the wisdom, the patience, the steadfast 
 courage, of this great servant of God — reserved for a supreme 
 duty, when the fullness of time shall come. 
 
 When the peoples that drink the cup of trembling in the 
 horror of great darkness shall behold the dawn of the coming 
 day, Woodrow Wilson will stand forth as the Prophet, and 
 the Arbiter of the Peace of Righteousness for the World, to 
 point the nations to the higher way of truth and freedom, to 
 turn the hearts of the disobedient, to the Wisdom of the 
 Just. 
 
246 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 THE account of his stewardship rendered, through his 
 farewell message to the General Assembly, his trust 
 discharged with honor to himself and the State, 
 Governor Craig turned over the affairs of his office to his 
 duly elected successor early in January, 1917. It was a 
 typical January day. The skies were overcast, and the chill 
 penetrating — the Governor broken in health. His great public 
 service had been rendered. His promises had been brought 
 to fruition. He had kept the faith. Again he came before 
 his people, and again his beautiful voice rang out in the place 
 where cheering thousands had gathered for his inauguration 
 four years before: 
 
 "By authority of the People of North Carolina, 
 And of the General Assembly, Mr. Chief Justice, 
 I present to you Thomas Walter Bickett, 
 Governor-Elect, and ask that you administer to him 
 The oath of office." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 247 
 
 ASHEVILLE'S WELCOME HOME 
 TO LOCKE CRAIG 
 
 (January 12th, 1917) 
 
 NOTE: On his return, the people of Asheville gathered at the 
 Majestic Theat<re to welcome their Governor and his family back home. 
 They presented him with a beautiful service of silver, and there were 
 cordial welcoming addresses from prominent citizens. The following 
 account is from The Asheville Times, though only a part of it can be 
 found : 
 
 Asheville gave Governor Craig a royal as well as a neigh- 
 borly and hearty welcome when he arrived in the city Fri- 
 day. 
 
 Southern Passenger Train No. 15 was late — reaching the 
 station close to the noon hour. A goodly company of repre- 
 sentative citizens were ready to grasp the hand of Locke 
 Craig and speak their joy at his home coming. There was no 
 blare of trumpets — no noise of drum — but the dignity of the 
 occasion was present. It was the return of an esteemed 
 citizen, who had been away for a time at the call of his State, 
 one who had honored his community and section with efficient 
 service. 
 
 Surrounded by friends, men of varied stations, merchants, 
 manufacturers, bankers, lawyers, physicians and preachers, 
 Governor Craig and Mrs. Craig were escorted to the waiting 
 car and followed by the reception party directly to the Ma- 
 jestic Theatre where the formal reception followed. 
 
 Locke Craig, Jr., was the first to start the cheering in the 
 Majestic Theatre. Sitting in Judge Phil. C. Cocke's arms, he 
 saw his father on the stage, surrounded by members of the 
 Reception Committee, and called out to him, and then gave 
 a boyish yell of greeting. The audience broke into applause. 
 
 The splendid tributes of the speakers were frequently in- 
 terrupted by cheering, and the Governor was given a rousing 
 ovation when he rose to reply. 
 
 Locke, Jr., did not know that he was to figure largely in 
 
248 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 the speechmaking, but he did. Dr. Winston paid Mrs. Craig, 
 an eloquent tribute. Thomas J. Harkins presented the chest 
 of silver and the silver water set. Part of this testimonial 
 was on the stage during the exercises. 
 
 When the curtain rose at 12:30 o'clock, the orchestra 
 struck up "Are You From Dixie?" and the audience gave the 
 distinguished guest a round of enthusiastic applause. Judge 
 J. D. Murphy, General Chairman of the Committee for the 
 Reception of the Governor, then delivered the following ad- 
 dress : 
 
 "Ladies and Gentlemen: Four years ago Governor Craig 
 left Asheville to enter the service of the State as Chief Exe- 
 cutor, upheld by the prayers, and followed by the good wishes, 
 of the people of Buncombe County and Western North Car- 
 olina. 
 
 "Today, he returns to us to receive the welcome plaudits, 
 'Well done, good and faithful servant'; you have fought a 
 good fight, you have kept faith with the people, you have 
 served the State's best interests, you have done justly, you 
 have loved mercy, you have walked humbly among your peo- 
 ple; henceforth there is laid up for you a crown of the love 
 and esteem of the people of a great Commonwealth to whose 
 service you have devoted your talents and energies. 
 
 "May I be permitted to say that one of the most widely 
 known public men in this State, recently told me in a private 
 conversation that Governor Craig was one of the purest and 
 best men he had ever known. Another gentleman, high in 
 official life in this State, remarked in my presence recently 
 that Governor Craig was one among the most unselfish men 
 he had ever known. Such are the impressions left upon the 
 people of the State by our distinguished fellow-townsman. 
 
 "Buncombe County has given this Commonwealth three 
 great Governors, who have glorified her annals and adorned 
 her history, who have presided over her destinies in epochal 
 and distinctive periods— David Lowry Swain, Zebulon Baird 
 Vance, and Locke Craig — men who tower among men as does 
 Mount Mitchell, Mount Pisgah and Craggy Mountain, among 
 our mountain peaks— men whose record of achievement and 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 249 
 
 service to the people of the Commonwealth, will ever shed a 
 gentle and beneficent radiance to lighten the pathway of men 
 through the coming time. 
 
 "It is now my pleasure to present to you our distinguished 
 and scholarly fellow-townsman, Dr. George T. Winston, who 
 will deliver an address of welcome to Governor Craig in be- 
 half of our people." 
 
 Judge Murphy also read extracts from a letter he had re- 
 ceived from a prominent North Carolinian who paid a tribute 
 to the Ex-Governor as an orator and a public servant who had 
 labored with brilliant success for the welfare of his State. 
 Dr. Winston spoke, in substance, as follows: 
 
 "To speak words of welcome to you, Governor Craig, is as 
 useless a superfluity as to add perfume to the violet or color 
 to the rose. Wherever North Carolina is mentioned, men think 
 of you. The welcome of the people of Asheville and Western 
 North Carolina is written in their hearts today and is pro- 
 claimed in their faces. If I should tell you how much we love 
 you, our wives would be jealous. You, of noble heart and 
 brain, you who have achieved so well for the welfare of the 
 State, we welcome home. We welcome ourselves to your 
 midst, instead of you to our midst. 
 
 "This occasion is not only a personal welcome. Your cares 
 have been a part of the progress and development of this 
 Commonwealth. Lincoln said that no man had a right to 
 govern any other man without that man's consent. For four 
 years you have governed North Carolina with the consent and 
 loyalty of 2,000,000 people. 
 
 "You have introduced a new system of government in 
 dealing with crime. You have adopted kindness instead of 
 force and violence and in your Christmas remembrance of the 
 convicts you have set a precedent that future Governors will 
 follow. In recommending that some of the profits of the con- 
 victs' labor should go to the support of their families you 
 will be supported by the people, whatever peanut politicians 
 may say. 
 
 "You have helped to establish a great National Forest 
 Reserve here for the people of the United States and you 
 
250 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 alone led the way for the location of a great State Park in 
 the mountains. You have launched the movement for the 
 building of a monument on Mount Mitchell that will be worthy 
 of the sainted bones of Elisha Mitchell who lost his life ex- 
 ploring the peak. You have established a State Highway 
 Commission and stretched great highways across the Blue 
 Ridge. You have enriched rural life. 
 
 "I do not know how many of your good deeds were inspired 
 by your better half. 
 
 "When you became Governor, you said to the people, 'All 
 that I have is yours.' We now say to you, 'All that we have 
 is yours.' This is your recall by referendum of your people." 
 
 Judge Murphy then introduced Mr. Harkins, who in the 
 name of the people of Asheville presented the Governor with 
 an elaborate chest of silver and a silver water set. Mr. Har- 
 kins said: 
 
 "Governor Craig: After four years' devotion to the service 
 of the people as Governor of our Commonwealth, you have 
 returned to live with us again in good old Asheville, and the 
 hearts of our people are gladdened. We rejoice that we shall 
 again, for many uninterrupted years we hope, enjoy the priv- 
 ilege of your daily associations. 
 
 "Four years ago," replied the Governor, in substance, "I 
 was inaugurated with Military and State ceremony. Of course 
 I valued that demonstration. And while I have been Governor 
 I have received many honors from people from all sections, 
 at home and elsewhere. But no testimonial of esteem, no 
 honor I have received, has touched me as has this welcome 
 from my own people. Your friendship and trust means mil- 
 lions of times more to me than all the encomiums and honors 
 bestowed." 
 
 GOVERNOR CRAIG had heretofore had an iron consti- 
 tution, but his untiring labors for his party, and for 
 the advancement of the State, followed by the arduous 
 duties of the Governor's office, had drawn upon his reserve 
 strength to such an extent, that he returned home an invalid — 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 251 
 
 wounded in battle for the public weal, and accepting the pen- 
 alty inflicted as a true soldier would. 
 
 Soon the World War swept the country into its vortex, 
 and carried with the Colors bis three sons, Carlyle, George, 
 and Arthur. Governor Craig, though eager to go with them, 
 was only able to urge them on, while he himself gave inspira- 
 tion to the parting hosts in words of encouragement and 
 cheer. 
 
 It is to be regretted that no notes can be found of his 
 speech at the Auditorium Mass Meeting in Asheville at the 
 beginning of the war; nor of his speech bidding farewell to 
 the local members of the now famous Old Hickory Division, 
 delivered from the portico of the County Court House. His 
 speech to the first contingent of the National Army, later to 
 become a part of the Wildcat Division, is taken from The 
 Asheville Citizen, and follows: 
 
252 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 TO THE DEPARTING SOLDIERS 
 
 Speech Delivered From The Portico Of The Pack Memorial 
 Library, On Pack Square, Sept. 20th, 1917. 
 
 NOTE: The demonstration on Pack Square that preceded the 
 departure to the station, eclipsed anything of the kind ever attempted 
 in Asheville. Fully eight thousand people deserted homes, business 
 and dinners to gather around and pay a parting tribute to the young 
 men who are to "help make the world skfe for democracy." Every- 
 thing passed off just as it was planned, except the crowd and the en- 
 thusiasm. These surpassed all expectations. 
 
 Next followed the principal address of the afternoon, de- 
 livered by former Governor Locke Craig, who was introduced 
 by Mr. Frank M. Weaver, President of the Chamber of Com- 
 merce. The Governor said, in part: 
 
 "This is a day long to be remembered in history — in our 
 local history — in universal history. It is a day significant 
 with the destiny of the world. On this day throughout the 
 vast domain of the Republic, the strong and valiant youth of 
 America are leaving home to constitute the grandest army 
 that ever marched, to fight for the grandest cause 'ever pro- 
 claimed by the trumpet, or pleaded by the sword.' 
 
 "You, my own young friends, sons of my neighbors, are 
 making this day historic and constituting this army. You 
 are no longer the civilian boys, but you are the soldiers of the 
 Republic. 
 
 "I congratulate you that in this mighty day you are to 
 occupy the place of honor; that you are to carry the flag to 
 the front in the battle line that is defending civilization 
 against Goths and Huns and Mohammedans; that you are to 
 unhorse the savage militarism that would ride down and slay, 
 and overrun the earth that you are to establish the order in 
 which civilization may, with security, beat its defensive sword 
 into a plowshare, in which nations in trustful federation and 
 

 Lt. Carlyle Craig George Winston Craig 
 
 U.S.N. 
 
 
 m ■ 
 
 £%~ \m m 
 
 Locke Craig Jr. Ij. Arthur Burgin Craig 
 
 U.S.N., 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 253 
 
 co-operation may develop and achieve in permanent peace with- 
 out the burden of armies and armaments. Blessed are you in 
 all generations. 
 
 "From the sanctuary of every home, from the altar of 
 every temple, whether it be the grand cathedral, or the little 
 church in the heart of the remotest mountains, petitions will 
 constantly go up to our Heavenly Father for your safety and 
 your welfare. You will never be forgotten by the folks at 
 home. They will watch with hope and faith and prayer for 
 your safe return. But above that, we depend with unfaltering 
 faith that at the front you will do a soldier's part, that you 
 will remember the obligations to home, that you are the cus- 
 todians of the honor of your country, that you will glorify 
 this country by the pure manhood of your lives, and by the 
 courage that never wavers. 
 
 'The Spartan mother delivered the shield to her son going 
 to war with the injunction, 'Return with it, my son, or upon 
 it.' Remembering this mother's command, the last dying sol- 
 dier wrote upon his shield at Thermopylae, 'Go tell at Lace- 
 demon that we died in obedience to her law.' If you should 
 fall, let it be beneath the folds of the advancing flag. The 
 Archangel will tell before God's judgment seat that you died 
 in obedience to His Law. 
 
 "On this day, my friends, when we dedicate these young 
 men to the holy cause of this war, let us dedicate and conse- 
 crate ourselves anew, that we may be worthy of them, and 
 of their heroism and sacrifice. 
 
 "For you, my young friends, for us all, a mighty day has 
 dawned, a day of crisis and of altruistic awakening. 
 
 "You are going across the far seas, but you will be con- 
 voyed safely by the battleships and cruisers and dreadnaughts 
 of the Republic. You will look upon the vine-clad hills of 
 heroic France, and of fair lands and cities blasted and desolate 
 by relentless, revengeful war. Weak and oppressed people, 
 starving women and children, will stretch forth their hands 
 in gratitude to you in the day of their deliverance. You will 
 see the great captains of the world, and the great men of 
 the world. You will march on battlefields immortalized by 
 
254 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 Caesar, Clovis, Charlemaine and Napoleon. You will hear the 
 tramp of embattled hosts and the sounds of falling cities. 
 When bloody fields are won, you will behold the broken and 
 retreating squadrons of the enemies of freedom. And I hope 
 that over the broken ramparts in the day of triumph, some 
 boy from Buncombe will carry the stars and stripes at the 
 head of the victorious columns into the City of Berlin ! 
 
 "We pray for the return of peace. '0, let the bugles sound 
 the truce of God to the whole world forever.' May the reign 
 of the Prince of Peace be restored to all the kingdoms of this 
 earth. But it will not be until the seven vials of God's wrath 
 shall consume iniquity, and shall destroy all dynasties and in- 
 justice of privilege. From the conflagration of this war must 
 come a purified civilization with a higher social order, that 
 shall guarantee to all mankind their inalienable rights ac- 
 cording to the everlasting Covenant of God. 
 
 "When you shall return, my young friends, in that im- 
 mortal day we will welcome you with universal acclaim, and 
 honor you and your children as the soldiers of the great 
 struggle for the liberation and for the redemption of man- 
 kind." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 255 
 
 THE CASE OF THE RAILWAY COMPANIES 
 
 VERSUS STATE COMMISSIONER 
 
 OF REVENUE, ET AL. 
 
 Argument By Hon. Locke Craig Before The District Court 
 Of The United States, January, 1922. 
 
 NOTE: The State won this case, involving millions of dollars in 
 revenue. Governor Craig presented his argument by brief, and his 
 forceful presentation of the case for the defendants, shows his great? 
 power as an advocate, and his clear reasoning ability. 
 
 May it please the Court, I appreciate the honor and the 
 responsibility of my participation in this great trial by this 
 High Court of Equity. 
 
 When I consider the learning, the ability and the experi- 
 ence of the judges who constitute this tribunal, I approach 
 the discussion with embarrassment. But I do feel the pro- 
 found conviction of the righteousness of our cause. I know 
 that it will be presented in eloquence and power by my emi- 
 nent associates, and will receive from the Court the consider- 
 ation demanded by this issue, involving as it does constitu- 
 tional questions, and the administration of the affairs of the 
 State. 
 
 The partisan zeal of ordinary litigation is overshadowed 
 here by the universal desire for a just judgment. The 
 Plaintiffs are the public carriers of our traffic, and constitute 
 the arteries of our commerce between ourselves and between 
 us and the civilized world. The Defendant is Alston D. Watts, 
 who represents in his official capacity every man, woman and 
 child in the State. Their collective will and conscience con- 
 stitute the sovereign majesty of the State. And the State 
 desires, above all other considerations, justice and equity for 
 all her citizens, corporate and individual. She realizes that 
 justice is the handmaid of security and patriotism, that 
 plenty and prosperity follow in her train. 
 
 Resistance to taxation is not without precedent with 
 
256 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 English and American people. It has been the issue in the 
 front line of the defense and development of their constitu- 
 tional liberty. The tyrannical imposition of an unjust tax 
 cost Charles the First his head, and George the Third would 
 not profit by his example. In our day, resistance by violence 
 has ceased, for in the evolution of the English Law, our Court 
 of Equity is the tribunal before which all grievances may be 
 redressed in this day of peace. And the decrees of our Courts 
 of Equity have commanded the dutiful obedience of good 
 citizens, for the extraordinary power of this Court has from 
 time immemorial been continuously exercised by chancellors 
 with a clear conception of the processes and relations of our 
 governmental system, guided by the precedents and the wis- 
 dom of the masters of English Jurisprudence. The Supreme 
 Court of the United States, in the case of Irwin v. Dixon, 9th 
 Howard, 33, has termed this "a transcendent and extra- 
 ordinary power, and is therefore to be used sparingly, and 
 only in a clear and plain case." 
 
 Shaffer v. Carter, 252 U. S., 37 ; 
 Coulter v. Louisville & Nashville R. R. Co., 196 
 U. S., 599. 
 
 And in Cavanaugh v. Looney, 240 U. S., 453, the Supreme 
 Court says that the injunction should not be granted, "unless 
 in a case reasonably free from doubt, and to prevent great 
 and irreparable injury." 
 
 While it is the duty of patriotism to resist taxation clearly 
 unjust, it is equally the duty of patriotism to submit to just 
 taxation. We concede to the Plaintiffs the right to resist the 
 payment of a tax, when strongly convinced of its injustice, 
 but for reasons just as compelling is it the duty of the State 
 to enforce the payment of all taxes that are just. If the 
 Plaintiffs shall avoid any part of the taxes laid upon them by 
 the duly constituted authorities of the State in the necessary 
 administration of her government, this additional burden 
 must be borne by the people. For their protection, and in 
 justice to them it is imperative upon the State to uphold her 
 acts in their defense, in equity and for the common good. 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 257 
 
 For a quarter of a century the conviction has prevailed in 
 North Carolina that property was improperly assessed for 
 taxation, and that taxes were not levied in accord with new 
 conditions to meet the obligations of an enlightened and ad- 
 vancing State. 
 
 The defects of our tax system became more pronounced 
 and more intolerable. In 1919, the General Assembly, under 
 the leadership of Governor Bickett and statesmen of experi- 
 ence and patriotism, determined to reform the antiquated and 
 discredited conditions. For this and other noble service, 
 North Carolina will keep in affectionate memory this Gov- 
 ernor who devoted himself to the State with a splendid con- 
 ception of her destiny, and of his high trust. 
 
 The Plaintiffs contend that in the revaluation provided by 
 the General Assembly of 1919, their property was assessed 
 for taxation at a value that is excessive. 
 
 By this revaluation the value of railroad property in the 
 State was increased from about 40 per cent to 100 per cent. 
 The property of the Coast Line was increased from 
 $34,645,345 to $50,867,800 ; the property of the Seaboard Air 
 Line was increased from $20,191,720 to $34,768,440 ; and the 
 property of the Southern Railway from $46,869,942 to 
 $96,306,357. The Norfolk & Southern applied to the Com- 
 missioner of Revenue and secured a reduction of $4,000,000 
 in its assessment. It seems to have gotten about all it asked 
 from the State authorities and yet it is not at all backward 
 in coming forward to ask for more. The value of the real 
 estate in this State was increased fully 200 per cent. Prior 
 to the revaluation, the Southern Railway Company and 
 $46,000,000 of the real estate bore equal parts of the burden 
 of ad valorem taxes. By the revaluation the Southern Rail- 
 way property was assessed as $96,000,000, and this same real 
 estate at $140,000,000. Now, except as modified slightly by 
 the horizontal reductions, they bear the burden in the ratio 
 of 96 to 140. Yet the Southern Railway is resisting. The 
 landowner is submitting. The ratio of the increase of the 
 burden of taxation was much more favorable to the other 
 railroads of the State than to the Southern, and yet these 
 
258 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 other railroads are resisting, while the landowners are sub- 
 mitting. The real estate in North Carolina was all assessed 
 on an average by the 200 per cent increase, and bears ac- 
 cordingly the increased proportion of the burden. 
 
 The equitable assessment between citizens depends on the 
 relative valuation, and this relative value determines the por- 
 tion of the burden to be borne. 
 
 When the value of railroad property for taxation was in- 
 creased from 40 per cent to 100 per cent, and the value of 
 real estate by 200 per cent, I submit that the railroads had 
 no right to complain of excessive valuation. As a fact, the 
 railroads paid less tax in 1920 under the new assessment than 
 they did in 1919 under the old assessment. The Southern 
 Railway paid $50,958.82 less under the new than the old as- 
 sessment. The Atlantic Coast Line paid for the year 1919, 
 $680,811.89; for the year 1920, $489,686.79; that is, this 
 Plaintiff paid nearly $200,000 less tax in 1920 under the new 
 assessment than it did in 1919 under the old assessment, and 
 yet this Plaintiff was paying this tax under protest, while 
 the landholders of North Carolina were bearing the greater 
 proportion of the tax burden willingly and without a protest. 
 In the face of commanding facts like these, how can these 
 Plaintiffs allege that their property was over-assessed for 
 taxation, and how can they justify themselves before the fair- 
 thinking people of North Carolina, and how can they come 
 before this Court of Equity and ask that the processes of the 
 State Government be stopped by "the transcendent and extra- 
 ordinary power to be used sparingly and only in a clear and 
 plain case?" Irwin v. Dixon, supra. 
 
 This complaint comes too late. A decree to the effect that 
 the assessment of railroad property is excessive and in- 
 equitable involves the conclusion that for many years North 
 Carolina has taxed her property by systematic and continued 
 injustice, and has done this by the acquiescense of the rail- 
 roads for a quarter of a century. General Assemblies have 
 biennially met, and Courts of Equity have always been open. 
 Not a complaint from the Plaintiffs on account of excessive 
 valuation until the year 1921, when their property has been 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 259 
 
 increased from 40 per cent to 100 per cent, and the landed 
 property of the State 200 per cent. By this assessment and 
 revaluation, the railroads were relieved of one-third of the 
 burden of ad valorem taxation compared with the land, and 
 that proportion of the burden theretofore borne by them was 
 placed by this re-assessment upon the land. 
 
 They now ask this Court to issue a decree that would be 
 tantamount to a condemnation of the administration of our 
 government for a quarter of a century, that would set at 
 naught as ineffectual and unrighteous the system of our tax- 
 ation carefully devised by the General Assembly of 1919 and 
 1921 in an earnest and an honest effort to meet the just re- 
 quirements of our time; a decree which would relieve the 
 carriers from taxation which they should bear, and place this 
 burden with increased proportion upon the shoulders of the 
 people; a decree which would relatively decrease the taxation 
 of the railroads, and in the same proportion relatively increase 
 the tax upon the people. 
 
 If any class of people in this State have the right to com- 
 plain and to invoke the strong arm of a Court of Equity for 
 relief, the land owners have that right. Their property has 
 been increased three-fold in value for taxation. They have 
 borne their burden in financial stress and in the presence of 
 impending calamity with patience and patriotism, and have 
 not attempted to interfere with the processes of government. 
 There are a half-million land owners in North Carolina that 
 have a far better right to complain of this re-assessment than 
 have the railroads in North Carolina, as the assessment now 
 stands. If they were as swift to enjoin the collection of 
 taxes as the railroads, the government would have to sus- 
 pend — the courts would be crowded with a half million of 
 litigants. 
 
 But it may be contended that heretofore real estate has 
 been valued too low, and has not paid its pro rata share of 
 taxes as compared with the railroad; that the revaluation of 
 1920 was therefore not as great an increase in accordance 
 with value as the increase in the value of railroads. 
 
 In consideration of such contention, I appeal to the higher 
 
260 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 understanding of Your Honors, that comes of your associa- 
 tion and environment, and human sympathy — the understand- 
 ing that illumines the learning and the conscience of every 
 great chancellor and law giver. The land of North Carolina 
 has been an inheritance sacred in tradition and rich in hope, 
 but not an inheritance of wealth. The farms of North Car- 
 olina have been tilled by a frugal and industrious people. 
 They have been the homes of virtue and strength, with oppor- 
 tunity to labor and to earn bread by the sweat of the brow. 
 
 Adam Smith, in his "Wealth of Nations," declares that the 
 first maxim of taxation is: "Subjects of every State ought 
 to contribute towards the support of the government as nearly 
 as possible in proportion to their respective abilities; that is, 
 in proportion to the revenue which they respectively enjoy 
 under the protection of the State." 
 
 The Department of Agriculture, in an estimate from the 
 consideration of 160,000 American farms, makes the state- 
 ment that the annual rental value of the farm is 3.54 per 
 cent, and that does not take into consideration the taxes that 
 are paid. I feel sure that the annual net rent of the farms of 
 North Carolina does not amount to more than this per cent 
 of their tax value. To show the conditions under which the 
 people of North Carolina live, and as indicating the value of 
 their homes and farms, it is stated by the Department of 
 Agriculture that only 25 per cent of the farmers have running 
 water in their homes. Really, they do not have, as they 
 should have, the advantages and conveniences of modern civ- 
 ilization. They earn for themselves no high salaries, and live 
 without extravagances and luxury. 
 
 The farmers and their families work from childhood on, 
 and if the sons and daughters have the benefits of a college 
 education, it is generally by self-denial and sacrifice at home. 
 This shows the value of the farm property of the State. I 
 know that there are some farms that are an exception to this 
 rule, but the farmers and their wives generally in the State 
 live plain and dress plain because they have to. 
 
 The farmer women may spend more on their backs than 
 is sometimes customary in fashionable circles, but at least 
 their overhead expenses are not so great! 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 261 
 
 Here there are no "Rajahs with white parasols and ele- 
 phants mad with pride." Here there is no princely compensa- 
 tion for continuous labor. Here wealth does not accumulate 
 and men do not decay. 
 
 For fifty years the people of North Carolina have been a 
 comparatively poor people, and the farms have been compara- 
 tively poor as money-making agencies, but through all the 
 years of hardship and financial stress, the people have never 
 uttered a note of disloyalty to their government, it mattered 
 not what political party was in the ascendency. She has been 
 a land of sorrows and acquainted with grief, but we rejoice 
 that she is coming through the travail of toil and hardship 
 into this better day. 
 
 It may be that taxes in North Carolina will be increased, 
 but the fear of this increase does not justify the Plaintiffs 
 before this Court. They should be increased if necessary. 
 We have heretofore paid less taxes than any civilized country 
 on earth. Our government has been good and pure. It has 
 been too cheap. Able officials have been niggardly paid for 
 the best kind of service. Our public institutions have been 
 supplied with a parsimonious hand. But North Carolina is no 
 longer the puny child that suckles the dry breast. We have 
 cleared new fields. The land responds with increasing har- 
 vests to the faith of the sower. We build new cities and en- 
 large the old. We are harnessing the cateracts to the dy- 
 namos, and from the rivers to the ends of the earth there 
 stream the volts of infinite energy to illuminate the darkness 
 and drive the myriad wheels of industry. 
 
 There was and there is the aspiration surging in the peo- 
 ple of North Carolina — there is the divine command to the 
 conscience of North Carolina that this mighty industrial power 
 and progress shall be expressed in nobler opportunities and 
 higher social conditions; in good roads for the correlation of 
 the communities, the utilization of the instrumentalities of 
 modern civilization ; in efficient public schools for the best and 
 finest intellectual development; and hospitals for the rescue 
 and for the grateful refuge of our kindred who suffer in sore 
 affliction. 
 
262 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 The General Assembly has provided the ways and means 
 in a just consideration of the right of all. 
 
 It is well established by authority and by reason that this 
 Court has no power to review or to reduce the assessment 
 made by the constituted authorities of the State of North 
 Carolina, unless it appear to the Court that such assessment 
 is in violation of constitutional right, or not in accordance 
 with the directions of the statute, or that the assessment is 
 inequitable by reason of a general and systematic understand- 
 ing expressed or implied. 
 
 Shaffer v. Carter, supra ; 
 
 Legal Tender Cases, 12 Wallace, 457; 
 
 Magoun v. 111. Trust & Savings Bk., 170 U. S., 
 
 293; 
 St. Louis R. R. Co. v. Arkansas, 235 U. S., 350; 
 L. & N. R. R. Co. v. Greene, 244 U. S. 
 
 We contend that the Plaintiffs have not set forth in their 
 complaint facts sufficient to justify the interference by this 
 Court on any of the grounds above stated. 
 
 They have not alleged that there was an unlawful combi- 
 nation and design to overvalue their property. 
 
 They have not alleged that there was any general or sys- 
 tematic understanding, expressed or implied, to do them any 
 injustice. 
 
 They could not make this allegation, for such would be an 
 unwarranted attack upon the officials of the State of North 
 Carolina. After long consideration and careful preparation 
 they have not made this allegation before this Court. 
 
 The allegation in the complaint that the Plaintiffs adduced 
 before the Revenue Commissioners facts "showing that said 
 valuation was in excess of the true value, actual value of the 
 property," is not conclusive. We assume that the Plaintiffs 
 present here and now for the consideration and determination 
 of this Court, all of the facts and arguments germane to this 
 cause. 
 
 Plaintiffs do not complain of the constitutional provisions 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 263 
 
 of North Carolina, nor of the statutory provisions directing 
 and regulating assessment for taxation, but they do complain 
 and allege that the valuation of their property is predicated 
 upon an income that is excessive, and that in arriving at the 
 value by this method, the Tax Commission did not obey the 
 statute. Hence a defective result. 
 
 The Southern Railway Company alleges that the Tax Com- 
 mission fixed its income at $6,117,625; that its income in 
 North Carolina is not this much. This Plaintiff admits that 
 this amount of income was ascertained by deducting operating 
 expenses and taxes in North Carolina from operating revenue 
 in North Carolina. There can be no question that this is the 
 proper and natural method to ascertain the net revenue in 
 North Carolina. It is the method prescribed by statute. The 
 Machinery Act of 1921 directs the Tax Commission to deter- 
 mine the value of Plaintiff's property by due consideration of 
 the gross earnings as compared with operating expenses with 
 other acts affecting value. 
 
 Plaintiff does not contend that in this method there is any 
 error in the statement of its operating revenue in North Car- 
 olina, but does contend that there is error in the statement of 
 the amount of its operating expenses in the State. 
 
 If there was error in the amount of these operating ex- 
 penses, the Plaintiff, Southern Railway, as well as the other 
 Railroad Plaintiffs, are responsible for this error. It admits, 
 states in the complaint, that in its report made in accordance 
 with law, it reported to the State Tax Commission the amount 
 of operating expenses used by the Commission as a factor in 
 ascertaining its net revenue. The Tax Commission took the 
 figures from the Plaintiff. The Plaintiff admits now that the 
 operating expenses reported to the Tax Commission are the 
 actual expenses incurred in North Carolina in the conduct of 
 its business, but says in its complaint that the report made 
 to the Tax Commission was erroneous in that the operating 
 expenses in North Carolina were understated — that there are 
 terminal expenses outside of the State which rightfully should 
 be charged to North Carolina in determining the amount of 
 its net revenue in this State. 
 
264 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 We conceive the Plaintiff to be an "organic unity," with 
 correlated lines and terminals. The terminal expenses of 
 transportation are a part of the cost of transportation as 
 certainly as the expenses of driving the locomotive and oper- 
 ating the trains. 
 
 The expense of transporting any merchandise should be 
 apportioned to each State in or through which such mer- 
 chandise is transported in perfect equity if possible — not with 
 mathematical precision, for that is not feasible, except by the 
 elimination of elements of expense and value which should be 
 considered under the varied conditions and complicated prob- 
 lems of transportation. Especially should these differences in 
 value of Plaintiff's lines in this State be considered where the 
 cost of construction was immensely greater and where the 
 lines are much more valuable on account of the larger volume 
 of traffic. 
 
 The initial terminal expenses in carrying, for example, a 
 carload of peaches from Atlanta to Winston-Salem is a le- 
 gitimate part of the cost of transportation. And so is the 
 initial terminal expense of a carload of tobacco from Winston- 
 Salem to Atlanta. Under the present method of allocation 
 which has been used by the Plaintiff, and is still in use, the 
 former expense is charged to Georgia, and all the latter ex- 
 pense to North Carolina. This method we must conclude 
 from the complaint is applied to the transportation of all mer- 
 chandise. That is, the terminal expenses are charged to the 
 State in which they actually occur. 
 
 Now, assuming, as stated in the complaint of the Southern 
 Railway Company, page 19, " (a) that the traffic which moves 
 through the State of North Carolina greatly exceeds the 
 traffic originating in or destined to North Carolina," and, 
 "(b) that the terminal expenses on traffic originating or des- 
 tined to North Carolina are very much less than those with- 
 out the State," it does not follow from this allegation that 
 North Carolina escapes its equitable proportion of terminal 
 expenses. The Plaintiff does not state the amount of ter- 
 minal expenses incurred in North Carolina and in other States, 
 and does not show to the Court the proportion between the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 265 
 
 North Carolina terminal expenses and traffic in North Car- 
 olina. It may be impossible to do this on account of the many- 
 complications. 
 
 The traffic originating in North Carolina, as alleged in 
 this paragraph, is certainly less than the traffic originating 
 in all the other States served by the Plaintiff, and therefore 
 its terminal expenses are less than all other terminal expenses 
 as alleged in the complaint. The same is true of the traffic 
 destined to North Carolina, or passing through, and North 
 Carolina is charged with no such expenses on this larger 
 amount of traffic, and of course should not be charged with 
 any such expense. 
 
 "While it may be true that under such a plan so employed 
 the result is a showing that the ratio of operating expenses to 
 operating revenues in North Carolina is less than that of the 
 entire system," as alleged in complaint, we deny that this 
 ratio is less than it justly and equitably should be. There are 
 no facts set forth in the complaint that logically contravert 
 this position. 
 
 The Plaintiff suggests, on page 20, a method by which to 
 arrive at its actual operating expenses and money value in 
 North Carolina. It suggests the capitalization of the net 
 revenue of the whole system and the apportionment of a part 
 of this value to North Carolina on a mileage basis. That would 
 be manifestly unjust, for that would assume that each and 
 every mile of all the lines of the Plaintiff has identically the 
 same value. This conclusion, we assume the Court will not 
 entertain in view of the expensive construction and larger 
 traffic in North Carolina. 
 
 The Plaintiff admits, on page 20, that on a gross earnings 
 basis, its property is worth $78,004,769, and on a mileage 
 basis it is worth $71,267,994. These figures themselves show 
 the greater importance of the Plaintiff's North Carolina 
 property and its greater value. 
 
 The Plaintiff's other suggestion as a method by which to 
 ascertain its total value in the State is by the capitalization 
 of its total net revenue in all of the States combined, and 
 apportion to North Carolina its pro rata part of this greater 
 
266 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 total value on a gross earnings basis. The injustice of this 
 suggestion is as manifest as the other suggestion. It elimi- 
 nates from the problem the more economic handling of large 
 volumes of traffic, and the expensive construction and import- 
 ance of the lines through Piedmont and Western North Car- 
 olina. 
 
 The Plaintiff, Southern Railway Company, shows in its 
 complaint that North Carolina furnishes for transportation 
 more merchandise — more than its proportion of mileage. On 
 the latter suggestion the value in North Carolina would be as 
 above stated, greater on gross earnings than on mileage basis, 
 showing a much larger value on gross earnings basis in North 
 Carolina. 
 
 On the mileage basis by the method suggested by the 
 Plaintiff, Southern Railway Company, at 6 per cent its total 
 property in North Carolina, tangible and intangible, rolling 
 stock, and all, should be assessed at $71,267,994 or $50,863 a 
 mile, and if we consider the double tracks, it would be as- 
 sessed at $47,300 a mile. On the gross earnings basis, it 
 would be assessed at something more than $50,000 per mile. 
 Neither of these assessments would accord with the value of 
 the Plaintiff's property. They would not be just to the peo- 
 ple of North Carolina, for it is known and recognized that the 
 Plaintiff's property, tangible and intangible, with rolling 
 stock, is far in excess of any such value, and that its replace- 
 ment would cost several times that amount. 
 
 A large proportion of the traffic originating in North Car- 
 olina is of such a kind as not to require the ordinary initial 
 expense; for example, lumber for the eastern markets, wood 
 pulp, tobacco, furniture carried in large quantities by the car- 
 load, and by the trainload to eastern markets. These com- 
 modities are loaded by the shipper without any expense to 
 the Plaintiff. North Carolina is credited with comparatively 
 a small per cent of the revenue from these vast shipments, as 
 in many instances they are hauled over short distances within 
 this State into and through other States. 
 
 Considering the unprecedented growth and development 
 of the State, her vast and varied industries contributing to the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 267 
 
 lines of the Plaintiff, her increase in the products of the field 
 and factory, the number and commercial importance of her 
 many thriving cities and towns, it cannot be that with equity, 
 she must bear not only all of her own terminal expenses of 
 transportation, but must contribute to the terminal expenses 
 of other States in which, as Plaintiff shows in its complaint, 
 the volume of traffic is less and necessarily entailing larger 
 expense in the initial handling thereof. 
 
 The method adopted by the Tax Commission to ascertain 
 the net revenue of the Plaintiff is the natural method, the 
 method adopted and used by the Plaintiff, when by the law 
 it was required to furnish the Tax Commission a statement of 
 its gross revenue in this State, its operating expenses and its 
 net revenue. The Plaintiff itself stated its own net revenue 
 to the Tax Commission. 
 
 For the first time the Plaintiffs complain of their own 
 methods. They offer and can offer no substitute as fair as 
 this method, established, approved by reason, and sanctioned 
 by custom. 
 
 The Plaintiffs, Southern Railway and Atlantic Coast Line, 
 object to the capitalization of their values at 6 per cent and 
 contend that a just per cent by which to arrive at their values 
 should be 8 per cent. 
 
 This is rather an astonishing contention in North Car- 
 olina, where from time immemorial, the legal rate of interest 
 allowed is 6 per cent, and where in accordance with our ex- 
 perience and observation, the great majority of investors are 
 fortunate if they can realize this 6 per cent clear of taxes, as 
 has been credited to these companies. 
 
 We have seen that the farmers realize a rental of 3.54 per 
 cent and must pay the tax beside. 
 
 If the Tax Commission adopted the 6 per cent in consider- 
 ing and estimating the value of these carriers, the judgment 
 of the Tax Commission is final and cannot be reviewed. This 
 point is expressly decided in L. & N. Railroad Company v. 
 Greene, 244 U. S., 522. 
 
 In fixing the taxable value of the Plaintiffs, it was the duty 
 of the Tax Commission to consider the market value of their 
 
268 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 stocks and bonds. But in fairness and equity, it was not the 
 duty of the Tax Commission to fix the taxable value of these 
 carriers in accordance with the stock and bond method, when 
 their securities were at the lowest on account of unprece- 
 dented depreciation in the value of securities. 
 
 On page 23, paragraph 6, of the complaint, the Plaintiff, 
 Southern Railway Company, contends that in accordance with 
 the figures found by the Bureau of Valuation of the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission, the property of the company should 
 have been valued at $59,904,438, and the company avers this 
 "to be the limit of true value in North Carolina for ad valorem 
 taxing purposes, beyond which the Plaintiff's property should 
 not be assessed." This Plaintiff seems to have forgotten that 
 this amount does not include the value of the franchise, and 
 this amount was arrived at by the Bureau of Valuation of the 
 Interstate Commerce Commission from values as of June 30, 
 1914. Since then we know that all kinds of construction, the 
 building of railroads and houses, have about doubled in cost. 
 
 The Southern Railway Company in its report to its stock- 
 holders for the year ending December 31, 1919, stated that 
 the laying of a double track on a revised grade between Wash- 
 ington and Atlanta that was expected to cost $34,838,000, 
 actually cost $52,134,000, on account of advancement in prices. 
 This was the cost of the construction of 625 miles of second 
 track, the cost of laying which is much less than the cost of 
 first track. The cost of laying this second line track along- 
 side of the track already constructed cost the Plaintiff, 
 Southern Railway Company, in 1919, $82,884 per mile, and 
 yet the Plaintiff, Southern Railway Company, is contending 
 before the Court that on the valuation of the Interstate Com- 
 merce Commission the limit of valuation of its track in North 
 Carolina, considering first and second lines, should be $36,504 
 per mile. 
 
 About the time that the State was valuing the property 
 of the Southern Railway Company at $96,306,000, this com- 
 pany appeared before the Interstate Commerce Commission 
 in a petition to the Commission to allow an increase of freight 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 269 
 
 and passenger rates. In this showing before the Interstate 
 Commerce Commission at this very time when the State 
 valued its property, the Southern Railway Company contended 
 that from its investment account, its property should be 
 valued at $111,308,323, and it contended that the actual value 
 of its property in North Carolina was in excess of this amount, 
 and should be estimated by the Interstate Commerce Com- 
 mission in excess of this amount when the Commission should 
 fix a tariff for freight and passenger traffic. 
 
 He who comes into a Court of Equity, must come with 
 clean hands, with a consistent plea. He cannot be allowed to 
 contradict himself to his own advantage. The location of the 
 Court cannot change the lav/ and the facts. He who asks 
 equity, must do equity in Washington as well as in North 
 Carolina. With what measure he metes to himself in Wash- 
 ington, it should be measured to him again in North Car- 
 olina. 
 
 There was a tribunal in the City of Washington to con- 
 sider the value of the Plaintiff's property for the purpose of 
 fixing the tariff which should be allowed to the Plaintiff, upon 
 the people of North Carolina, just as the State Tax Commis- 
 sion in Raleigh, and just as this Court must consider the value 
 of the Plaintiff's property as determined by the tariff that it 
 can levy upon the people of North Carolina, and the tariff that 
 the people of North Carolina can levy upon it. It does not 
 signify that these tribunals do not sit in the same building, 
 and in the same city. They are both constituted — that court 
 and this high court — for one ultimate purpose, and that is, to 
 do justice between the carriers and the people ; and when this 
 Plaintiff was asking and receiving from that court in Wash- 
 ington the power to levy a tariff predicated on a value of 
 $111,000,000, it is estopped in good conscience in this Court 
 to say that the limit of value in this State is $59,904,438. 
 
 Whatsoever things you would that men should do to you, 
 do you even so to them. 
 
 This is no arbitrary law, but the expression of the law 
 that pervades all nature, all life, the law of order and civil- 
 ization, of progress and of liberty ; the law of our being and 
 
270 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 all our social relations, and growth and strength. It was an- 
 nounced by the Highest Chancellor from the Highest Court 
 of Equity. I invoke that law when Your Honors shall pass 
 judgment between the Plaintiff, Southern Railway Company, 
 and the people of North Carolina. 
 
 In accordance with this contention of the Plaintiff before 
 the Interstate Commerce Commission, it was allowed the 
 power to exact from the people of North Carolina a 25 per 
 cent increase in freight rates, and 20 per cent increase in pas- 
 senger rates. 
 
 If this Court should adopt the valuation which the Plaintiff, 
 Southern Railway Company, contends for, and the method sug- 
 gested by the company, the value of the company's property 
 on a basis of 6 per cent would be $43,429 per mile. On a basis 
 of gross earnings it would be $47,534 per mile. This, against 
 the Company's own statement that its secondary track in 
 1919 cost more than $82,000 a mile, and against its solemn 
 statement before the Interstate Commerce Commission that 
 its property in North Carolina was worth more than 
 $111,000,000. 
 
 How can it expect this Court to exercise its "transcendent 
 and extraordinary power, to be used sparingly and only in a 
 clear and plain case," in the face of these glaring contradic- 
 tions ? 
 
 But the Company contends that if the capitalization 
 method is to be used it should be on a basis of 8 per cent. 
 On this basis, considering secondary tracks in North Carolina 
 the Plaintiff's property in this State would be valued at 
 $53,460,995 or $32,578 a mile. 
 
 If this process of shrinkage in value continue, the stern 
 metaphor of the camel and the needle's eye will not debar the 
 Southern Railway from the Kingdom of Heaven. 
 
 The Plaintiffs all, I believe, complain that the horizontal 
 reduction made in the value of lands in North Carolina by 
 the Board of Review, should be applied to their property to 
 effect the uniform taxation provided for by the Constitution. 
 But we respectfully submit that the landed property of North 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 271 
 
 Carolina and the transportation property of North Carolina 
 are not at all similar in their functions, and that their value 
 is not affected by the same causes and that the increase or 
 decrease in the value of one does not logically necessitate the 
 increase or decrease of the value of the other. 
 
 In 1919 and 1920 farm products were abnormally high — 
 higher than ever before in the history of the country. When 
 they fell in value, "a priori," land fell in value. Land is 
 worth what it will produce. Land that produces corn worth 
 $2.00 a bushel, cotton worth 40 cents a pound, tobacco worth 
 $1.00 a pound, is of more value than land that produces these 
 staples today, worth one-third of the former market price. 
 The decrease in the value of land is much more in proportion 
 than the decrease in the valae of its products, for the higher 
 value of the products carries the profits. On the same reason- 
 ing the value of a Transportation Company is determined not 
 by the value of the merchandise that it carries, but by the 
 rate of carriage. It is worth today as much to the Plaintiffs 
 and more to carry a bale of cotton worth $80.00 than it was 
 in 1919 to carry a bale of cotton worth $160.00. While cotton 
 has fallen in value, the freight rate has been increased 25 per 
 cent. 
 
 When the land fell in value "non sequitur" that the value 
 of railroad property fell. The causes that brought down the 
 value of the farm did not apply to the railroad. 
 
 And there are no such fluctuations in transportation tariffs 
 as there are in the market prices of farm products. We do 
 not know what the price of cotton will be next year, not even 
 what it will be tomorrow, but we know with reasonable cer- 
 tainty what freight rates will be. And in the future, as in 
 the past, tribunals established by law will maintain these 
 rates for the just remuneration of the common carriers of the 
 country. 
 
 It was eminently just and fair that the assessment of the 
 farms should be reduced in 1921, and it would be equally 
 unjust and unfair to reduce the railroad property in 1921. 
 
 If there be one stable value in all the country, it is the 
 value of the property of the common carriers, upheld and pro- 
 
272 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 vided for by administrative power, and by the all-pervasive 
 and supreme law of commerce. They are sustained by the 
 law that correlates commerce and supplies with the elements 
 of life all portions of civilization. 
 
 Until the structure of our society changes, the products of 
 industry will flow along the lines of the Plaintiffs in volume 
 increasing with the enlightened energy of mankind — as in- 
 evitably as the rivers carry their waters to the sea — in obe- 
 dience to that law of human association and human progress, 
 in its benevolence and power like unto the law that was re- 
 vealed in the Apocalypse of Newton, the law that orders the 
 winds and the tides, the law that binds the sweet influences 
 of Pleiades and guides Arcturus and his sons. 
 
 The Plaintiffs further contend that the franchise or priv- 
 ilege tax imposed by the State is in truth an ad valorem tax, 
 in violation of Section 3, Article V, of the Constitution, and 
 of the Fourteenth Amendment to the Constitution of the 
 United States. 
 
 It is clear, in consideration of the history of the Revenue 
 Act of 1921, that Sub-Section (3y 2 ) of Section 82 does not 
 apply to the railroads; that Sub-Section (6V2) of Section 82 
 levied and intended to levy the tax of one-tenth of one per 
 cent on the assessed value of railroad property in North Car- 
 olina as a privilege for doing an interstate commerce business. 
 
 It is apparent that Sub-Section (3V2) fixing the measure 
 of the privilege tax of certain corporations by one-half of the 
 capital stock, is dealing with corporations other than railroad 
 corporations. The whole tenor of this Sub-Section shows this. 
 Sub-Section (31/2) was in the Act of 1920, just as it is now 
 in the Act of 1921. Sub-Section (6i/ 2 ) in the Act of 1920 was 
 numbered 78. It was brought forward and numbered (6V2) 
 and made a Sub-Section of Section 82, while Sub-Section (8V2) 
 was allowed to remain just as it was in 1920. 
 
 Instead of measuring this privilege tax by gross earnings 
 per mile, as heretofore, the new measurement in accordance 
 with the value of the property in the State was adopted. 
 
 We must conclude that the Legislature intended to levy 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 273 
 
 this privilege tax on the business of intrastate commerce, and 
 not on interstate commerce. To assume that the tax was 
 levied on interstate commerce would assume that the General 
 Assembly passed an unconstitutional law, when the history 
 of this legislation shows, and the legal inference is, that it 
 passed a constitutional law in accordance with its power. 
 
 It was certainly within the power of the Legislature to 
 measure this privilege tax on intrastate commerce by the 
 value of all the property of the carrier in this State engaged 
 in intrastate commerce. 
 
 This contention is expressly decided in favor of the State 
 in the case of St. Louis, etc., Railway Company v. Arkansas, 
 235 U. S., page 350. 
 
 In this Arkansas case, the privilege tax was based "solely 
 upon the portion of outstanding capital stock of the corpora- 
 tion represented by property owned and used in business 
 transacted in this State." 
 
 In the brief of counsel for the State of Arkansas, there is 
 cited a long list of authorities sustaining this position. 
 
 And in United States Glue Company v. Oak Creek, 247 
 U. S., page 326, Mr. Justice Pitney, speaking for the Court, 
 says: 
 
 "But property in a State belonging to a corporation, 
 whether foreign or domestic, engaged in foreign or interstate 
 commerce, may be taxed, or a tax may be imposed on the 
 corporation on account of its property within the State, and 
 may take the form of a tax for the privilege of exercising its 
 franchise within the State if the ascertainment of the amount 
 is made dependent in fact on the value of its property situated 
 within the State (the exaction therefrom not being susceptible 
 of exceeding the sum which might be leviable directly 
 thereon) and if payment be not made a condition precedent 
 to the right to carry on business, but its enforcement left to 
 the ordinary means devised for the collection of taxes." 
 
 The statute of North Carolina, 82 (6V2) levies a privilege 
 tax on railroads and measures that tax by the value of rail- 
 
274 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 road property within the State. This is almost identical with 
 the statute of the State of Arkansas,, and passed upon by the 
 Supreme Court in the case of St. Louis, etc., Railway Company 
 v. Arkansas, supra. The Supreme Court in that case refused 
 to hold the Arkansas statute unconstitutional on the ground 
 that it could not assume that the Legislature of Arkansas in- 
 tended in any way to levy a tax on interstate commerce, as 
 that would be beyond the power of the Legislature. But the 
 Supreme Court, took the view that the Legislature of Ar- 
 kansas acted within its rights, and levied a privilege tax on 
 the intrastate traffic. In our case there is no disposition, no 
 contention, to levy any tax upon interstate commerce, but on 
 intrastate commerce. It is practically the same statute that 
 has been in effect for many years. To hold that our statute 
 is unconstitutional would be in conflict with the judgment of 
 the Supreme Court in the Arkansas case ; in the Glue Company 
 case ; in Maine v. Grand Trunk Railway, 142 U. S., 217 ; United 
 States Express Company v. Minnesota, 223 U. S., 347; and 
 many other cases cited in these opinions. 
 
 In Postal Telegraph Cable Company v. Adams, 155 U. S., 
 688, the Court says a tax is not obnoxious to the commerce 
 clause merely because imposed upon property used in inter- 
 state commerce, even if it takes the form of a tax for the 
 privilege of exercising its franchise within the State. 
 
 When the State Tax Commission, in obedience to the law, 
 valued for taxation the property of the Plaintiffs, we must 
 assume that the Commission acted in accordance with the 
 statute, and performed its duty according to law, until the 
 contrary be shown to the Court. This point is decided in 
 Illinois Central Railroad Company v. Greene, 244 U. S., 556. 
 
 We must conclude according to the Supreme Court of the 
 United States in this last cited case, unless the contrary ap- 
 pear, that the Tax Commission considered "the actual cost 
 of replacing the property with a just allowance for deprecia- 
 tion on rolling stock, and also of other conditions to be con- 
 sidered in case of private property." 
 
 We must conclude, unless the contrary be shown to the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 275 
 
 Court, that the Tax Commission obeyed the law which pre- 
 scribes that it "shall then assess the value of the franchise, 
 which shall be determined by due consideration of the gross 
 earnings as compared with the operating expenses, and par- 
 ticularly by consideration of the value placed upon the whole 
 property by the public." And we must conclude that, in ac- 
 cordance with the proviso of Section 65 of the Machinery 
 Act, the Tax Commission, in valuing the fixed property in 
 this State, gave due consideration to the character of the 
 roadbed and fixed equipment, number of miles of double track, 
 the amount of gross and net earnings per mile of road in this 
 State, and any other factor which would give greater or less 
 value per mile of road in this State than the average value 
 for the entire system. 
 
 But the Plaintiff, Southern Railway Company, complains 
 that neither the State Tax Commission, nor the Revenue 
 Commissioner, advised it as to the amount at which its 
 tangible property was assessed, and the amount at which its 
 intangible property was assessed. But on page 25 of its com- 
 plaint, there is the statement : "The Commissioner of Revenue, 
 the Plaintiff is advised, believes, and hence states, assessed as 
 the total value of Plaintiff's property the sum of $78,778,169, 
 and to this he added the intangible or franchise value, the 
 sum of $17,528,188, making a total assessment for ad valorem 
 purposes of $96,306,357." The statute does not require that 
 the Tax Commission should notify the Plaintiffs of these dif- 
 ferent values and we cannot see how this failure, if there 
 was any failure, to notify the Plaintiffs should affect them in 
 any way. The tangible and the intangible are both assessed 
 in the same way, and taxed at the same rate. The proviso 
 added to Section 65 of the Machinery Act makes it the duty 
 of that tribunal, assessing the property of the Plaintiff, to 
 take all elements into consideration in assessing both the 
 tangible and intangible property. 
 
 If the Tax Commission assessed the whole property as 
 provided in Section 64, and then deducted therefrom the value 
 of the physical property, we see no benefit that this process 
 
276 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 conferred upon the Plaintiffs, for Section 64 further provides 
 that the Tax Commission shall add together these two values 
 to ascertain the aggregate of the tangible and intangible 
 property — the same result that it started with. We fail to 
 see how this arithmetical exercise of subtraction and addition 
 should give the Plaintiff any right of equitable relief. 
 
 It is not alleged in these complaints, that there was any 
 design on the part of the Tax Commission to defraud the 
 Plaintiffs. It is not alleged that there was any understand- 
 ing expressed or implied between the different taxing tri- 
 bunals by which the property of the Plaintiffs should be over- 
 estimated, and the property of the other taxbearers under- 
 estimated. 
 
 There was an honest and an earnest effort by the Legisla- 
 ture and by the taxing authorities, to revalue the property of 
 North Carolina in justice to all, in fairness to all, and in ac- 
 cordance with our obligations as a people and as a State. The 
 Tax Commission obeyed in all things the statute, considered 
 the property of Plaintiffs by all methods prescribed by law, 
 pronounced an honest judgment. That judgment was reviewed 
 and approved by the Commissioner of Revenue. 
 
 But, in addition to all this, the General Assembly of 1919 
 did not direct nor empower the State Tax Commission, nor 
 the taxing authorities to assess for taxation the railroad 
 property and other property of the State, but this General 
 Assembly did direct and empower the State Tax Commission 
 and the taxing authorities to re-assess all of the property of 
 North Carolina at its true value, and submit those values to 
 the Special Session of the General Assembly called for 1920. 
 After the greatest publicity, and after long and careful con- 
 sideration by all of the taxing authorities in North Carolina, 
 the railroad property and other property was revalued as set 
 forth in the complaints. The General Assembly of 1920 met, 
 and although it was known by probably every intelligent 
 citizen of the State, that these tax values would be passed 
 upon by this Assembly, the assessment recommended by the 
 State Tax Commission and other taxing authorities of the 
 State was approved and ratified by the General Assembly, and 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 277 
 
 the General Assembly by a solemn statute enacted that these 
 values should be the basis of taxation for the State for the 
 succeeding four years. I do not believe that there was a dis- 
 senting vote. Certainly these Plaintiffs did not protest nor 
 object. 
 
 This Court is now asked to strike down the judgment of 
 the State Tax Commission and by its decree to annul an Act 
 of the General Assembly. 
 
 Let us remember that just taxation depends upon the 
 equitable and relative value placed upon all the property of 
 the State. We have seen how, by the large increase in the 
 value of real estate, the proportion of the burden borne by 
 the railroads has been decreased, and the proportion of the 
 burden borne by the real estate has been increased, and this 
 is so notwithstanding the horizontal reduction of the real 
 estate. The horizontal reductions in the sixty-seven counties 
 does not seriously affect the proportion. These reductions 
 did not average over 20 per cent at most while the value of 
 all land had been increased 20 per cent. The reductions were 
 greater in the territory of the Coast Line and the value of 
 this Plaintiff's property was increased only 40 per cent. 
 
 The fear that hereafter the railroads may pay more taxes 
 than they have heretofore paid, cannot justify this proceed- 
 ing any more than the hundreds of thousands of landowners 
 would be justified to resist their taxes because of an increase. 
 If the State needs the revenue, the wealth of the State is 
 sufficient, and the legitimate purposes of government should 
 be supplied. There rests upon us the supreme obligation of 
 a just, resourceful and prosperous people. 
 
 The fact that in the opinion of these Plaintiffs their assess- 
 ments are too high, does not justify them. Though it might 
 be the opinion of this enlightened tribunal that the property 
 of the Plaintiffs was over-assessed, this would be no justifica- 
 tion for this injunction. Differences of opinion always occur, 
 and unless this Court shall find that there was some scheme 
 
278 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 or plan or conspiracy by the taxing authorities of the State 
 to discriminate against the Plaintiffs, this injunction must 
 be denied. 
 
 The Supreme Court of the United States said in Chicago 
 Railway Company v. Babcock, 204 U. S., 585: "A point less 
 pressed than the foregoing was that the other property in 
 the State was greatly undervalued, and that thus the rule of 
 uniformity prescribed by the Constitution had been violated. 
 Upon this matter it is enough to say that no scheme or agree- 
 ment on the part of the County Assessors who taxed the 
 other property was shown, or on the part of the Board of 
 Equalization and Assessment." And the Court said: "We 
 have nothing to do with complaints of that nature, or with 
 anything else than fraud or a clear adoption of a funda- 
 mentally wrong principle." 
 
 Coulter v. Louisville & Nashville Ry. Co., 196 
 
 U. S., 599; 
 L. & N. Ry. Co. v. Greene, 244 U. S., 536; 
 State Railroad Tax Cases, 92 U. S., 610 ; 
 Pittsburgh, etc., R. R. Co. v. Backus, 154 U. S., 
 
 421. 
 
 As stated above, these Plaintiffs do not allege any fraud 
 or scheme or disposition or intention by the taxing authorities 
 of the State of North Carolina, and none could be truthfully 
 alleged, and yet they ask this Court to exercise the extra- 
 ordinary power of the chancellors to halt the program of the 
 State, and interfere with the administration of our govern- 
 ment. 
 
 In the language of the Supreme Court in the Ohio Tax 
 Cases, 232 U. S., 576: "The present act does not on its face 
 manifest a purpose to interfere with interstate commerce, 
 and we are unable to accept the historical facts alluded to as 
 sufficient evidence of a sinister purpose, such as would justify 
 this Court in striking down the law. We could not do this 
 without in effect denouncing the Legislature of the State as 
 guilty of a conscious attempt to evade the obligations of the 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 279 
 
 Federal Constitution." That is what these Plaintiffs are 
 asking of this Court. If the State, by an unconstitutional 
 statute or if her officials by any unlawful and sinister methods, 
 have attempted to dispoil these Plaintiffs under the forms of 
 law, then they should be commanded to stop to our discredit 
 and humiliation. 
 
 We earnestly submit that there is no justification for this 
 injunction, no jurisdiction for it in the law or in equity. 
 
 We have an abiding regard for the welfare of the Plaintiffs. 
 They are essential and integral elements of our life and 
 progress. They are manned and controlled by men of pa- 
 triotism and great ability. It is for this reason more to be 
 regretted that, as we contend for reasons totally unjustifiable 
 and at variance with the law and the facts, they have placed 
 themselves in antagonism to the authorities of the State, for 
 the welfare of none. We have the greatest respect for their 
 able counsel, but when examined in the light of facts and law 
 and equity, their case is a case of "shreds and patches." 
 
 We live in a time of larger conception and higher ideals. 
 The Great War convulsed the world with desolation, and woe, 
 but it awakened the conscience of men, and enlisted all classes 
 and conditions in universal fellowship of self-denial and sacri- 
 fice, even unto the Supreme Sacrifice. It enlarged and sancti- 
 fied our conceptions of human relations, and human obligation. 
 It extended the frontiers of our patriotism and sympathy to 
 the frontiers of humanity; for we realized that Nations and 
 the Oppressed of Nations are too of our tribe and kindred. 
 We sent two million of our sons across a thousand leagues of 
 sea to unfurl a star-lit Flag for the emancipation and for the 
 redemption of mankind. It was the altruism of a mighty race, 
 grown militant. 
 
 Let this awakened spirit of altruism move with quickening 
 power for the homeland. 
 
 Our Governor has sounded the clear, strong note of the 
 new day. With faith and courage he has called the Old North 
 State to the front line of advancing civilization for the greatest 
 accomplishment of her history. He has put to silence the 
 
280 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 prophets of pessimism, the conservitors of stagnation. The 
 people have responded with the pulsations and with the en- 
 thusiasm of the Great Age. Even today the landholders are 
 paying of their necessities the increased taxes for the larger 
 public good. They are the bulwarks of the State. They are 
 the heirs, loyal and lineal, of the "Embattled Farmers" of 
 Guilford Court House. These Plaintiffs alone obstruct and 
 resist. "They alone break from the Van and the Freemen." 
 
 We have the abiding faith that this magnificent concep- 
 tion and program will not be deranged and crippled by a 
 judgment of this Court, that the orderly processes of govern- 
 ment will not be discredited, nor the confidence of the people 
 therein be shaken by uncertainty and distrust. 
 
 With victorious assurance let us do the task of our time, 
 in the hope that our children may come to the realization of 
 the "Golden Age of which poets have sung, and high-raised 
 seers have told in metaphor." 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 281 
 
 BISHOP KILGO 
 
 (June 21st, 1922) 
 
 NOTE: The farewell to the members of the National Army was 
 Governor Craig's last public speech. He has from time to time, how- 
 ever, been heard through the press. Of Bishop Kilgo he wrote the 
 following tribute: 
 
 "Bishop Kilgo is, in my opinion, the greatest preacher of 
 the age. I have heard many powerful men. Bishop Wilson 
 was a man of tremendous force, moving and exalting; Dr. 
 J. L. Curry was a cyclone, sweeping all with eloquence and 
 power. George Truitt is a wonder. He stirs great congrega- 
 tions and makes strong men tremble and weep with emotion. 
 
 "I have heard Talmadge, Dr. Hawthorne and other 
 preachers and platform speakers of world reputation, but, at 
 his best, I rank Bishop Kilgo first of all. I have heard him 
 many times and he always had fine thought and eloquence of 
 original grand conception. On one occasion I heard him at 
 his best, and had I not heard him then I would never have 
 known him. That was before he was Bishop. 
 
 "The General Conference was held that year in Tennessee 
 and many preachers passed through Asheville on their way 
 home, Dr. Charles Wesley Byrd among them, a rising star of 
 first magnitude in Methodism. He and Dr. Kilgo were con- 
 sidered rivals in this section. 
 
 "There had been a contention between the late Colonel 
 J. P. Kerr and myself as to who was the greater, Byrd or 
 Kilgo. Colonel Kerr was a man of the finest ability and char- 
 acter. He had to be known to be appreciated. 
 
 "On one Saturday he came to me and told me that Charles 
 Wesley Byrd would stop over and preach here tomorrow and 
 he wanted me to go and hear him — saying he was 'loaded' and 
 would unlimber his biggest gun. I told him that I would go 
 with him, and that I had seen the announcement that Dr. 
 Kilgo would preach here Sunday night and that we must go 
 to hear him, too — 'all right.' 
 
282 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 "Dr. Byrd was then in the full maturity and enjoyment of 
 his physical and intellectual strength. He had attained to his 
 best. He took as his text: 'If ye have not the spirit of 
 Christ ye are none of His.' He made a masterly deliverance — 
 strong and earnest in its appeal to the mind and conscience, 
 moving to nobler conceptions of life and religion. 
 
 "That night Dr. Kilgo stood upon the same platform and 
 drolled out his text: 'If ye have not the spirit of Christ ye 
 are none of His.' He did not know that Dr. Byrd had used 
 this text. 
 
 "For two hours, crescendo, Dr. Kilgo unfolded with logic 
 and eloquence his inspiring theme. He had no limitation of 
 creed or dogma. Emancipated from all theologies, free as an 
 angel, with glowing metaphor and intellectual daring he swept 
 into realms of subtle and sublime thought. In the rapt vision 
 of a seer he spoke like a prophet sent from God — His minister 
 plenipotentiary to deliver His ultimatum to the world — the 
 message of infinite love and divine redemption. 
 
 "As Colonel Kerr and I walked out I asked him what did 
 he think of that. He replied: 'Of course, nobody else can 
 preach that way.' 
 
 "As to forms and dogmas, Bishop Kilgo appears to be 
 orthodox after the straitest sect. When he gives expression 
 in his big, original way, to some dogma of the mediaeval 
 councils the benches of the clericals and deacons resound 
 with 'Amen' and sanctimonious groans. With thankfulness 
 they hear the enunciation of traditions — tottering with age — 
 by this great thinker and preacher who speaks with authority 
 and not as the Scribes. 
 
 "The finest funeral sermon I ever heard was by Dr. Kilgo 
 on Charles B. Aycock. He loved Aycock as one fine spirit 
 loves another. Aycock had defended him in his famous trial 
 and the severest ordeal of his life — Gattis vs. Kilgo — un- 
 equaled, certainly never surpassed in our forsenic history. 
 His enemies sought to compass his destruction. Cy Watson 
 led the prosecution, the trained gladiator of the forum, en- 
 dowed with humor, logic, powerful invective — all the prowess 
 of the master. Aycock, the defender of Kilgo — Aycock was 
 
MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 283 
 
 in the full enjoyment of the majesty of his manhood — in- 
 tellect like the Scimitar of Saladin — gifted with eloquence and 
 resistless persuasion. 
 
 "When he closed his speech, Kilgo threw his arms around 
 him, pressed him to his bosom, weeping with profound and 
 grateful emotion. 
 
 "Now Aycock was dead. The eloquent lips were hushed 
 in the pale repose. When the funeral cortege entered the 
 church, Dr. Kilgo, with a large group of distinguished min- 
 isters, occupied the platform, Kilgo the conspicuous and 
 central figure. He stood like a fine marble statue, unmoved, 
 with fixed gaze, beholding the eternal mystery. Yet in form 
 and chiseled feature and eye expressive of the awe and be- 
 reavement of a State mourning for her best beloved son. He 
 presented a worthy conception of Aycock. He had felt and 
 he knew the pulsations of the heart of his dead friend. He 
 told of his princely personality, his passion for justice and 
 truth, his fellowship and sympathy for men, the qualities 
 that made him the trusted and idolized leader, the preacher 
 of the new Gospel of universal enlightenment and liberation. 
 
 "Dr. Kilgo, in my opinion, in his younger days, was un- 
 bending in his own convictions and his determination to en- 
 force them — aggressive — an autocrat — intolerant of opposi- 
 tion. Opposition to him was heresy. Had he lived in the 
 days of priestly power he would have persecuted the heretics. 
 
 "But he is not a Pharisee, not a Levite, withal he is a 
 priest after the order of Melchisedeck." 
 
284 MEMOIRS AND SPEECHES 
 
 GOVERNOR CRAIG has now for some 
 months been ill at his home near the 
 Swannanoa River attended con- 
 stantly by his devoted wife and little son, 
 Locke Craig, Jr. Crowds of friends and ad- 
 mirers visit him in his home, and draw from 
 his presence the inspiration of old. He re- 
 ceives them all in his ever gracious spirit of 
 friendship, and never turns a deaf ear to 
 the unfortunate. The beautiful example of 
 his patience in suffering doubly endears him 
 to all his people, and the lesson he is giving 
 them is more eloquent than speech. 
 
 — M.F.J.