The Democratic Hand Book. 1898.
Prepared by the State Democratic Executive Committee of North Carolina:
Electronic Edition.

Democratic Party (N.C.). State Executive Committee

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Source Description:
(title page) The Democratic Hand Book. 1898. Prepared by the State Democratic Executive Committee of North Carolina
Democratic Party (N.C.). State Executive Committee
200 p.
Raleigh
Edwards & Broughton
1898.

Call number C329 N87d c.3 (North Carolina Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill)

        The electronic edition is a part of the UNC-CH digitization project, Documenting the American South.
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Languages Used:

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LC Subject Headings:

• North Carolina -- Politics and government -- 1865-1950.
  
• Campaign literature -- North Carolina.
  
• Elections -- North Carolina.
  
• Democratic Party (N.C.)
  
• Republican Party (N.C.)
  
• Democratic Party (N.C.) -- Handbooks, manuals, etc.
  
• Populist Party (N.C.)
  
• African Americans in the civil service -- North Carolina.
  

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[Title Page Image]

THE
DEMOCRATIC
HAND BOOK.
1898.
PREPARED BY THE
State Democratic Executive Committee
of North Carolina.

RALEIGH:
EDWARDS & BROUGHTON, PRINTERS AND BINDERS.
1898.

ROOMS DEMOCRATIC EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE,
RALEIGH, N. C., August 13, 1898.

        The condition of public affairs that confronts us calls for the most strenuous efforts on the part of all patriotic North Carolinians to restore good government to our beloved State; and it is hoped that this book will be found of value in presenting the issues of the campaign to the people.

F. M. SIMMONS,
Chairman.

JOHN W. THOMPSON,
Secretary.

DEMOCRATIC HAND BOOK.
1898.

Brief Statement of Some Fundamental and
General Principles.

        Under the American system of government the people and the people alone are the sovereigns. They are the final arbiters and judges of all public questions. This sovereignty of the people was first proclaimed to the world as the basic principle of human government on the 4th of July, 1776, by the American colonies, and upon it was constructed our American system of government.

        Thomas Jefferson, the great author of this new system of government, seeing the necessity for some proper method by and through which the people could assert and make effective this sovereignty, organized the Demorcratic Party, laying its foundations by the side of the foundations of the Government itself; and upon this foundation he proceeded to build up a political organization in which all men who really believed in the rule and equality of the people could take part and work together for the upbuilding and perpetuation of a government by the people, of the people, and for the people.

        Men may cry out against government by party; but the fact remains that it is the only means yet devised by which the people can effectively work together in the enforcement of their sovereign will. It is but natural that in a Government like ours, in which every man is a sovereign, different men should have different opinions as to certain questions of governmental policy. It was so in the very beginning of our national existence, is so to-day, and has been all along throughout our wonderful history. Jefferson recognized this, and when he organized the Democratic Party, he sought to unite with him, in that great work, only those, who like himself, believed in the equality and sovereignty of the people,

and who favored making them strong and powerful and independent. The Democratic Party therefore soon became the party of the people, clinging to the American system of government, teaching the individuality, equality and sovereignty of all men, guarding and protecting the rights and opportunities of all, and seeking, by every proper means, to build up a great and powerful people.

        It is no wonder that a party thus organized should have a life coequal with the Government itself. Other parties have risen, flourished, failed, passed away and been forgotten; but the Democratic Party organized in the first days of the Republic, has survived them all, and is to-day still the great party of the people. As we study its wonderful history we find that the most splendid achievements of the American people have been accomplished when it was in power or as a direct result of forces put in motion by it.

        There is above all others one great lesson in the life of this party that every student of history should learn and that every Democrat should know. It is this. That the Democratic people, having been taught the equality of all men, will stand no bossism. They will choose and follow their leaders as long as their leaders consult them and lead where they wish to go; but when those chosen as leaders assume the role of dictators or bosses they will repudiate them, even though by doing so their party goes out of power. We had a remarkable instance of this from 1892 to 1896. The Democratic Party came into power in 1892 with a majority and a unanimity almost without precedent in the history of our country. Some of Mr. Cleveland's Mugwump admirers set agoing the heresy that he was greater than his party and that it was for him to dictate the policy of his party and for all others to support that policy whether they liked it or not. Unfortunately for Mr. Cleveland and his party, he undertook to play the role suggested by his Mugwump admirers. As a consequence, he and the Democratic people soon came to the parting of the ways. He did not deign to consult their wishes; but, relying on the immense power lodged in him, he undertook to command their obedience, and to force them to adopt his policy regardless of their views as to their interest or the interest of their country. Mr. Cleveland had his followers, and the people had their leaders. The conflict between him and the Democratic people split in twain the party that had elevated him to office, and in 1894 the American people recorded their judgment against him, and in 1896 the Democratic people sent their delegations to Chicago

and by an overwhelming majority, repudiated him and his policy.

        As much as the loss of power by the Democratic people in Nation and in State may be regretted, the loss will not be without its compensation should those who are to be appointed to leadership in the party thereby take warning and fully understand that if they wish to remain leaders and grow in favor they must keep close to the people and learn to know and do their will. The old theory of government--that which prevailed in the world prior to 1776 and which prevails in much of it still--was that all sovereignty resides in the monarch, and that the people are only subjects. The American theory, the Jefferson theory, the Democratic theory, is that all sovereignty resides in the people, and that all office holders, the highest as well as the lowest, are their servants. The Democratic people have no toleration for the old theory, and they will have no trifling with the new. They have emphasized this fact in recent years in a manner and by examples that should never be forgotten.

        The Democratic people in the exercise of their sovereign power, having chosen for their leaders, in Nation and in States, men who are in touch with them and who recognize the right of the people to declare their own policy, cordially invite all men who believe in these policies to unite with them in putting their principles into practice. The tremendous popular vote given in 1896 to their great national leader, William J. Bryan, encourages the Democratic people to believe that the party and principles of Jefferson are soon again to command the approval and endorsement of the American people. All men who believe in the equality of the people, in the equality of opportunity, in the equality of gold and silver, in the equality of burdens of taxation, according to each man's ability to bear these burdens, should unite with this party to make this truly a government of the people, by the people, and for the people.

        In our State the men who have been chosen by the Democratic people as their leaders, or as their candidates, or who may hereafter be chosen, are so chosen because they are in touch with the people and are steadfast believers in the principles of Democracy as taught by Jefferson and promulgated by Bryan. Our party makes leaders and candidates out of lawyers, doctors, farmers, mechanics, laborers, or men of any other honorable vocations. The Democratic people believe in fitness of head, fitness of heart and fitness in character for the work their leaders or candidates are expected

to do, without regard to their vocations in life; and they cannot be driven from their cordial support of these leaders by the senseless cry that they are lawyers or men of any other profession. Our people remember with pride that Jefferson and Jackson and Tilden and Hendricks and Bryan and Bragg and Merrimon and Scales and Fowle and Smith and Vance, and thousands of others who have ever stood for the rights of the people, for Democratic doctrines, for good government, and who reflected honor upon their party and shed glory upon their country, were lawyers. We therefore assert and believe that no man who loves his State and wants to see good government restored to her people will be deterred from uniting with the Democratic Party by the low and contemptible appeal that the Democratic people have sometimes chosen lawyers and other professional men for their leaders. Many men who believed in the principles of the Democratic Party and had ever been warm and earnest supporters of its principles, in 1892, 1893 and 1894 became so dissatisfied with Clevelandism that they withdrew from the party, hoping to obtain desired reforms and relief through the instrumentality of another organization. The conditions which caused them to separate themselves from their old party friends have passed away, and there now remains no reason why they should not return and again unite with their old comrades under the banner of Jefferson, Vance and Bryan in their fight for good government. These old comrades have invited their separated brethren to return, and they stand ready to receive them with open arms and with a hearty welcome. Many have returned, we are glad to say, and many others are returning; but there are others who are either slow or timid in starting back home. We suggest that our Democratic people seek out their estranged brethren and by kind words and earnest appeal bring them back into the only party that is able to give to the whole people of the State clean, honest, economical, and good government.

Republican Rule in North Carolina.

        On the first day of July, 1868, the Republican Party took complete control of North Carolina. It had the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Departments of the Government, and nearly all the counties and towns were likewise under its control. No party ever had a better opportunity to serve a people and win their gratitude, but no party ever treated a people worse. It found a people poor and struggling amid the ruins of a desolating war. They needed good laws, the party gave them bad. They needed peace and rest, the party gave them violence and disorder. They needed low taxes, the party made them high. They needed a reduction of the State debt, the party increased it three-fold. They needed encouragement, the party gave them the bitter dregs of disappointment. They needed protection, the party gave them a reign of lawlessness. They needed economy, the party gave them reckless extravagance. They needed honesty in government, the party gave them an era of corruption. They needed patriots for legislators, the party gave them knaves. They needed additional school-houses for their children, the party closed most of those in existence. They needed teachers for their children, the party misused the school fund. Under the guise of building railroads, the party issued millions of State bonds and then stole the bonds. Under the guise of suppressing disorder, the party declared war and undertook, in a time of peace, to suspend the writ of habeas corpus and try men by military court-martial. The credit of the State had hitherto been good; this party destroyed it. The bonds of the State once at par were hawked about in the markets at a few cents on the dollar. County scrip issued for county purposes were, like the State bonds, almost worthless. The Legislature became a stench in the nostrils of decent men. Gloom settled over the State and the people, sore and oppressed, turned to the Democratic Party for deliverance.

        On the 28th of March, 1870, the few Democratic members of the Legislature issued an address to the people, and the campaign for the deliverance of the State began. As a part of the history of the times and because many of the utterances therein are applicable to present conditions, the address is here published in full. There are many passages in that

address that might be written of these times and be addressed to the present generation. That address was published twenty-eight years ago, and as we read it and look back upon those days it hardly seems possible that the people could ever, under any circumstances risk the Republican Party again to make or execute laws for them. Yet we find twenty-eight years after that address was issued, this same party in power under the leadership of one who was then one of its high priests, and we find the record it is now making but a little less disreputable than it was twenty-eight years ago. We also find the people again turning to the same Democratic Party for deliverance; and some who planned and fought the campaign of 1870 are spared to take part in this second deliverance from Republican legislation. The address of 1870 is as follows:

ADDRESS.

To the People of North Carolina--

        "We, the undersigned conservative members of the General Assembly upon the eve of our return to you, beg leave to suggest a few matters for your consideration, believing, as we do, that they bear directly upon the welfare of the State. We have a great struggle before us in the approaching August election. A struggle with a foe before whose massed columns our banner has twice gone down. What disasters to the State have followed these defeats, we will not stop to recount here; the story is too familiar to you. We but desire to advise you to that course which seems best to us, for ridding our State forever from the calamitous rule of the Radical Party. This Radical Party in the General Assembly have been at last though reluctantly forced, by the potent voice of public opinion, to grant what the State Constitution rightly construed, already secured to you: A popular election on the first Thursday of August next. Esteeming the free exercise of the ballot, as they do, one of the most sacred rights of free men, all of our people, without regard to party, condition, or color, will receive the announcement with pleasure. The right of the people to rigidly scrutinize the acts of their representatives, and to correct the abuses of power by the peaceful remedy of the ballot-box, is one which freemen should never indifferently exercise or tamely surrender. The election in August next, although confined to the choice of the members of Congress,

members of the next General Assembly, the various county officers and an Attorney-General, is one of sufficient importance to call out every voter, and to actively enlist the energies and time of every lover of the State.

        "The dominant party are organizing thoroughly for the approaching campaign, and you imperil every important interest of the State if you flatter yourselves with the hope that they will give up the government without a desperate struggle. We feel confident that an equally zealous and determined effort on the part of the conservative people of the State will insure them a thrice glorious victory in August next. But to achieve it they must be united and thoroughly harmonious. In the presence of a determined enemy we cannot afford to divide among ourselves. The past glories of defeats of old political organizations should be among things of the past. In the battle we are about to join against Radicalism, reckless extravagance, corruption, swindling, imbecility, and partisan tyranny, why should we stop to inquire whether our leaders were in the past, Whigs, Democrats, Unionists or Secessionists, so they but lead us to victory and save us from a defeat, the result of which would be nothing less than absolute ruin to the State? That man who now attempts to exhume the buried past, to revive the prejudices born of issues long since dead, and which ought to be forgotten, will intentionally or unintentionally contribute to the strength of our common enemy. Let the bickerings of the past be hushed; let us rise above the dwarfed idea that would lead us to inquire what a man's politics were in the past; let us but ask, is he an opponent of Radicalism, is he honest, is he competent? Upon this broad and elevated platform you can invite the good of all parties and races to join you against that party, which has levied and collected taxes without stint with one hand, and scattered them with wild extravagance with the other. That has introduced into our Hall of Legislation, corruption, hitherto unheard of there; that has elevated to positions of trust and profit, men wholly unworthy of confidence; that has altered and confused our laws until the administration of justice has become costly, and its attainment uncertain; that has sought to subordinate the civil administration to military power by proclamation of martial law and petitions to Congress for the suspension of the writ of habeas corpus; that has more than doubled the current expenses of the State government; that has enormously increased the State debt; that has cast a foul blot upon her hitherto fair escutcheon,

and, that for want of statesmanship and for utter disregard of the necessities of the people, is without a parallel in the history of this or any other State. With such a cause as ours against such a party, the united ranks of conservatism must prevail.

        In the last contest in this State the principal issue was upon the question of colored suffrage and the civil rights of the colored race. That matter has been decided upon a solemn appeal, by the people of the United States. The guarantee of their rights has now become a part of the Constitution. To that Constitution we have ever been willing to defer, to the laws made in pursuance of it, we yield, and ever have yielded a ready obedience.

        "The reconstruction acts of Congress, with the civil and political rights they confer on the colored race, we regard as a finality, we accept them in good faith. We are one of the States of the Union. Let us seek to forget the bitterness of the past, to build up the places made waste by the unfortunate war, and to promote the harmony and prosperity of all sections of our great country.

        "The colored man now enjoys the same political and civil rights as the white man. We accept his status as fixed by the Constitution of this State and the United States in good faith. We regard it as a final settlement of the question. It now becomes our duty as good citizens to elevate him morally and intellectually.

        "The Chief Magistrate of this State, the head and front of Radicalism, has seen fit to declare one of our counties in a state of insurrection, and to call upon Congress to suspend the writ of habeas corpus throughout the State. We declare there is no sufficient cause for this extraordinary action of Governor Holden. There is and has been no armed resistance, no uprising of the people, no outbreaks to disturb or hinder the administration of the civil law. We assert that there is not a county in the State in which any sheriff or other peace officer may not go unattended, and with perfect safety, and execute any process upon any citizen of the State. It is true that murders and other outrages have been committed, but they have not been confined to any particular locality or to any political party, and when Governor Holden represents to the President that these acts are evidences of disloyalty, he is guilty of a wilful libel upon the people, whose rights he has sworn to protect. When he seeks to convince the Federal authorities that these violations of the law receive aid, countenance, or encouragement from the

Conservative Party of the State, he knows that his allegations are unfounded, and that he perpetrates a great wickedness purely in the interest of a political party. He hopes by magnifying these outrages, by giving them the appearance of disloyalty on the part of the people, to procure the aid of the Federal troops in overawing them in the next election. And he further hopes to wreak vengeance upon his political opponents through the agency of courts-martial, hedged in by bayonets. Surely there never was so base a betrayal of a people by their Chief Executive officer. We denounce crime wherever and by whomsoever committed, be the perpetrators white or black, Loyal Leagers or Ku Klux, if such organizations exist; and we here declare them enemies of society and wicked ministers to that spirit of lawlessness and contempt of the forms of law from which our unhappy country has suffered so much, under Radical rule. Secret political organizations are productive only of evil, let them, at once, be disbanded and let men succeed at elections upon their merits and not by a terroism exercised by their oath-bound confederates. That man who upon his own impulse or in obedience to the mandates of others, seeks to punish crime without due course of law, himself becomes a criminal. If crimes are to be punished, if wrongs are to be avenged, the court-house shall be the place and daylight the time. It has ever been the boast of our people, even in our country's darkest hour, that they appeal for protection only to the guarantees of the Constitution and to the forms of the civil law. It was reserved for the Radical Party, in violation of the great principles of civil liberty, to drag men and women from their doors, try, convict, and punish them without the due course of the law. Emulate not their wickedness. Our hope for the security of our life, liberty, and prosperity is in a strict obedience to the law. The peace, harmony and good of society require that every man should feel secure in these inalienable rights. Let the power of public opinion, more potent than an army of bayonets, be brought to bear in unmistakable terms to put down those who would recklessly disturb the peace of society. When this is done there will remain no pretext for that abandoned wickedness which would make the crimes of a few men a pretext for depriving the whole people of a whole State of the protection of the writ of habeas corpus.

        "In order to make success doubly sure organization is absolutely necessary. * * *

        "In the selection of a candidate let eligible men be selected,

let self be lost sight of, let the good of the State be your aim and success your battle cry. Let all the elements opposed to Radicalism be organized into one solid irresistible column. Let the Grand Army that is to overthrow Radicalism unfurl its banner; let the camp fires be lighted; let every discordant feeling be hushed, and with serried ranks, shoulder to shoulder, let us march with a triumphant tread to a glorious victory.

        "Signed March 26th, 1870.

        "Thomas J. Jarvis, of Tyrrell; H. C. Jones, of Mecklenburg; C. T. Murphy, of Sampson; F. N. Strudwick, of Orange; W. H. Malone, of Caldwell; Plato Durham, of Cleveland; J. A. Moore, of Alamance; R. P. Matheson, of Alexander; John L. Smith, of Alleghany; J. H. Davis, of Carteret; Philip Hodnett, of Caswell; Joshua Barnes, of Wilson; J. Scott, of Onslow; J. W. Graham, of Orange; C. Melchor, of Cabarrus; A. M. Robbins, of Rowan; J. M. McLaughlin, of Iredell; L. A. Mason, of Gaston; R. S. Beal, of Caldwell; W. L. Love, of Jackson; B. P. High, of Columbus; W. T. Ferebee, of Camden; T. C. Humpries, of Currituck; J. A. Kelly, of Davie; J. C. McMillan, of Duplin; W. E. Armstrong, of Duplin; John Gatling, of Gates; B. C. Williams, of Harnett; W. P. Welch, of Haywood; Tilman Farrow, of Hyde; T. A. Nicholson, of Iredell; G. F. Dardson, of Iredell; E. M. Painter, of Jackson; J. L. Robinson, of Macon; R. D. Whitley, of Mecklenburg; W. W. Grier, of Mecklenburg; W. W. Bodie, of Nash; Frank Thompson, of Onslow; T. M. Argo, of Orange; J. Hawkins, of Rowan; J. M. Shaver, of Rowan; J. C. Williams, of Sampson; J. W. Clayton, of Transylvania; D. E. Smith, of Wayne; David Proffitt, of Yancey; J. O. Hicks, of Clay."

Democratic Rule in North Carolina.

        The election in 1870 for members of the General Assembly was hotly contested by the Republican and Democratic parties. The Republican Party made a supreme effort to retain control of the law-making branch of the government. The Democrats made the fight against the Republicans, then as now, on their bad, extravagant, disgraceful record, and they carried both houses by large majorities. It is true there was no Populist Party then to help the Republicans. Many men who are now acting with the Populist Party were then found in the Democratic ranks manfully struggling to rescue the State from the Republican Party. As the campaign progresses in this second great battle for the rescue of the law-making branch of the government and these men learn more of the evils of Republican rule, it is hoped they will again be found doing battle for Good Government and White Supremacy.

        So, in 1870, the Democratic Party obtained control of the legislative branch of the government and held it continuously till 1894--a period of twenty-four years. During these twenty-four years the Democratic Party and the Democratic Party alone was responsible for the legislation of the State. The challenge is made to the most malignant enemy of this party to institute the most rigid, searching investigation into the record of that party during all these long years, and it is boldly asserted that he will be unable to find a single scandal, or a single act of dishonesty or extravagance.

        When this party came into power in the Legislature it proceeded to repeal bad laws and to enact in their stead good ones; to reduce taxes and expenditures; to economize in every possible way; to restore law and order; to provide for better schools, and to do all things within the power of the legislative branch of the government for the protection and betterment of the people.

        The executive department of the government, however, remained in the hands of the Republican Party till 1876, when it was secured to the Democrats under the leadership of the immortal Vance. This department of the government was held by the Democrats from the first of January, 1877, to the first of January, 1897--a period of twenty years. So the Democrats held both the legislative and executive departments

of the government at the same time for a period of eighteen years, to-wit, from January 1, 1877, to January 1, 1895. We find then that the law-making and the law-executing power of the government passed into the hands of the Democrats the first of the year 1877. From that time to the first of January, 1895, the Democrats should and must be justly held responsible for what took place in the State so far as these things were effected by the making or the executing of the laws of the State.

        While it is true that the legislative department of the government had, in 1877, been in the hands of the Democrats for six years, it is also true that under the then existing Constitution, as construed by the Supreme Court, the Executive had the appointment of the Board of the Penal and Charitable Institutions and the works of Internal Departments, in which the State had an interest. Thus it happened that while much had been done in the way of repealing bad Republican laws and replacing them with good ones, of improvement in the school system and in the management of the State institutions, and of reducing taxes and expenditures, the most splendid achievements of the party were not accomplished until after the executive department had also passed into the hands of the Democrats. The record shows that these eighteen years of complete Democratic Rule in North Carolina were eighteen years of law and order, of progress and development, of peace and prosperity, of protection to life, liberty and property, of economy in public expenditures and fidelity in public life, of educational growth and intellectual developent, of good will and kind relations between the two races and of higher aspirations among all classes of our people. To that admirable record the Democrats of the State point with great pride and unbounded satisfaction, and by it they are always willing to be judged.

        Let us notice briefly some of the things done by this party and which enter into this record: