USA > North Carolina > History of North Carolina: North Carolina since 1860, Volume III > Part 20
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Senate
House
Joint Ballot
Populists
24
36
60
Republicans
18
38
56
Democrats
8
46
54
The legislature met in January, 1895, Z. V. Walser, a republican, was chosen speaker of the House. The body had before it a difficult task. The democrats were in a hopeless minority, and while the fusionists had unlimited power, its practical exercise was difficult because of the division of the majority into two parties with differing principles, aims, and aspirations. There was no real kinship between the repub- licans and populists-few parties have ever differed more widely in principles-and they were bound together solely by common dislike of the democratic party and desire for vic- tory. The rank and file of populists had a vague idea that fusion would result in large benefits to the people; the lead- ers knew that it would elevate them to office and power if it did nothing else. But fusion involved in the end the surrender of almost every principle of the party. The republicans were in no such evil case. They were better off because they had
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to surrender less to gain party advantage. Dependent upon the populists for every vestige of power, fully conscious of the slender tie which held them united, they, nevertheless, were able by the exercise of great shrewdness, aided by greater political experience, to get in the long run far the best of the bargain, and that without any appreciable sacri- fice of principle. So far as the mass of populists were con- concerned, their direct net gain was nothing save the consid- erable gratification they experienced in seeing the democrats in a minority. Certain populist leaders, however, profited extensively.
Beyond all this was the fact that whatever action the legis- lature took, it would meet with the bitter and unqualified con- demnation of the democratic opposition which was in no mood to see anything good in fusion or its fruits. In the back- ground loomed like a threatening dark cloud the certainty of the reappearance of the negro in politics. The party in con- trol, in the last analysis, owed their success to the solid negro vote. They could not disregard that fact even if they wished to do so. If the county government law was repealed, it meant ultimate negro control in a number of the counties of the East and in many of the towns. Negro rule had meant but one thing and that would spell ruin to the fusionists. On the other hand unless they yielded to the political pressure of the ne- groes, they were equally certain of destruction. The popu- lists seem to have thought that after a short period of divided power they would be able to dispense with the republicans and so be rid of the onus of the negro for whom they had, politically speaking, small love. It was hardly to be doubted that a day of awakening would come when, disgusted with a political alliance with the negro, with memories of Reconstruc- tion revived, they would return to the fold of the democratic party where in fact, in political faith, they really belonged.
The chief political interest of the legislature for the fusionists lay in the choice of the two United States senators. The republicans had wanted the long term, but the populists were insistent upon it and finally won, after making a definite agreement that two years later the republicans should have the succession to the short term. Accordingly Marion Butler
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was chosen to succeed Ransom while Pritchard was elected to fill out the unexpired term of Vance. The democrats sup- ported for the former seat Lee S. Overman, and for the lat- ter, Thomas W. Mason.
In legislation two matters were regarded by the fusionists as of paramount importance-the passage of a new election law, and the change in the system of county government which would put the control of county affairs in the hands of the localities.
The new election law which was finally passed had been described in pre-election promises as a sure guarantee of fair elections. In many respects it was worse than the old one which it replaced. It allowed colored ballots, the count- ing of tickets placed in the wrong box, and did away with all privacy of voting. Instead of adopting the Australian ballot this law really went in the other direction. One provision of the law perfectly reasonable and highly proper, at least for ordinary times, was much criticized by the democrats with utter unfairness, as regards the principle of the thing, but with considerable justice in the particular case. By provid- ing that each party should have a judge and registrar at every precinct, appointed upon the nomination of the county chairmen of the party, the fusionists really gave to themselves complete control. The number of precincts was largely in- creased and a more expensive system was provided for. One very good feature was the requirement of a statement of cam- paign expenses. Another was the one requiring that the bal- lots be preserved. The provision of the old law providing punishment for its violation was omitted when it was re- pealed. Just after the election the fusionists had made charges of extensive fraud. Prosecution was promised but none came. A committee was appointed by the legislature to investigate the second district. The committee reported after investi- gation in Edgecombe, and hearing testimony from other coun- ties, that there was no evidence of any fraud, and declined to visit other counties. Certainly if fraud was the democratic rule, it was departed from widely in this election. It was a favorite populist saying that the democrats had stolen 40,000
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votes and were still defeated but there is no reason to think that there was widespread fraud.
It will be remembered that after the constitution was amended in 1876 so as to permit it, an act was passed by the legislature, taking the election of county commissioners out of the hands of the people and placing it in those of the jus- tices of the peace of the county. The election of justices was then once more given to the legislature. This meant of course that the right of local self-government disappeared. It also meant that the government of every county in the state, regardless of its political majority, was democratic, and negro rule thus had become an impossibility. It worked a grievous hardship upon the republican white counties; it was a bad thing for all the counties in one sense, but there was, in the minds of the mass of white people, no room for doubt that it was better for all the counties to endure the denial of home rule rather than to expose the people of the East to the hor- rible fate that would be theirs should the system be changed.
The county government bill, called "an act to restore to the people of North Carolina local self-government," was carefully designed to give home rule and to restore to the East the conditions which had made Reconstruction a horrible memory. As a part of the same policy, the charters of a num- ber of the larger towns, notably Wilmington, Raleigh, Green- ville, Goldsboro, and Elizabeth City, were altered so as to change their government considerably. Wilmington was put into the hands of a police board, chosen by the legislature, which proceeded to appoint a large number of negroes to office. In this and the county government law, more than anywhere else the fusionists planted the mine, the explosion of which would destroy them and with them unrestricted ne- gro suffrage.
By the new law the election of the county commissioners was taken from the justices of the peace and given to the people. All the governmental powers of the justices were at the same time transferred to the commissioners. There were doubts in the minds of the framers of the law which served only to increase their guilt and responsibility. As a mani- festation of these, the power of passing finally upon the bonds
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of county officials was taken from the hands of the commis- sioners and given to the judges of the Superior Court of the district in which the county was situated. The judge was also directed, upon the affidavit of five citizens that the affairs of the county would be mismanaged unless a change was made and upon petition of two hundred voters to make the change, to appoint two additional members of the board of commis- sioners of another party than the one having a majority.
The fusionists, like all parties coming into power were hungry for office and keenly interested in displacing those who were in. A law was passed providing for the addition of nine new directors of the penitentiary and making all em- ployes removable after April, 1895. The state librarian was ousted. A bill was introduced to abolish the existing rail- road commission, the underlying purpose being to establish a new one with different incumbents. This failed to pass. Bills intended to turn over to new officers the Board of Agricul- ture and the A. and M. College, the North Carolina Railroad and the Atlantic and North Carolina Railroad failed only be- cause they came up at the end when a quorum could not be secured. Provision was made for three new magistrates in every township in the state. As there was already a suffi- ciency of magistrates the addition of 3,591, with an appro- priation of $26,000 for furnishing them with the necessary copies of the laws, was for one purpose only. More than 100 of the new magistrates were negroes. Two new criminal courts for groups of counties were created and Charles A. Cook and H. G. Ewart, both republicans, elected judges. The former county courts were a charge upon their respective counties but the expenses of these were to be borne by the state. A code commission consisting of two republicans and a populist was decided upon but failed to pass its third read- ing in the Senate. The public printing was let out, after ad- vertising for bids, considerably above the lowest bid. To themselves the members of the legislature, following a cus- tom, common in North Carolina and elsewhere, gave a large number of appointments as trustees, directors and the like.
The legislature failed to carry out much that the populists, at least, had expected of it. In spite of the agitation for better
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schools, no change was made in the school law other than to abolish the county superintendents, the county boards of edu- cation, and raise the school tax rate 2 cents. The schools were put in the hands of county commissioners. Elected on the issue of retrenchment and reform and pledged to reduce sal- aries and fees and to economize in every direction so as to lower taxes, they did not lower salaries or fees, or in general economize. Appropriations were not in most cases decreased, nor in fact should they have been, for in that direction at least there was no extravagance. There is scarcely any doubt that the University, which was unpopular because of the long and bitter fight made upon it by certain of the denominational colleges, and the belief of the farmers that they were not con- cerned in its welfare, would have been forced to close its doors but for the influence and labor of Marion Butler who stead- fastly opposed such action. The state guard appropriation was also cut $20,000 and the soldiers' home $2,000. The total amount of appropriations was increased $125,000. In some small ways the legislature was extravagant, as in having more clerks and pages than were needed. But the total cost of the legislature only exceeded that of its predecessor by a little more than $6,000. Taxes were increased under the new revenue law, going from 39 cents on the $100 to 43. The 6 per cent interest law was finally passed but no anti-trust legislation was completed and the republicans, in spite of the fact that their platform had declared for it, succeeded in de- feating any endorsement of free coinage.
The legislature, naturally, was composed largely of in- experienced men. Some of the majority members had served before and a few of the figures of Reconstruction reappeared. "Gizzard" French, one of the most notorious of the evil brood of carpet-baggers again insulted honest men by his presence in the House. Another carpet-bag member of the convention and legislature, H. L. Grant, was a member of the Senate. The business of the legislature was directed by a small group of leaders, dominated for the most part by the republicans. Oc- casionally they broke from the rather strict restraint in which they were held and sometimes the unexpected happened. One of the things which did more to bring the legislature into
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contempt than anything else was the passage by the House of a resolution, introduced by a negro member, in honor of Fred Douglass, who had just died, after adjournment in honor of Lee's and Washington's birthdays had been refused. The at- tempts at explanation of the fusionists helped the case but little, and democratic resentment, already keen because of the election of a negro as doorkeeper over a one-legged Confed- erate soldier, was intensified. It had one interesting result immediately. Earlier in the session the legislature had been petitioned by the Ladies' Memorial Association to appropri- ate the amount of money necessary to finish the Confederate monument in Capitol Square. This had been refused, but it was now suggested that it would be well to do something to palliate the hideous offense of which they had been guilty and to conciliate the opposition, and consequently an appropria- tion of the necessary $10,000 was made.
One of the acts of the legislature, which escaped notice until after adjournment, provided all conditional sales, as- signments, mortgages, or deeds in trust which should be exe- cuted to secure any debt, obligation, note, or bond which would give preference to any creditor absolutely void as to existing creditors. As a result time merchants refused credit for fertilizer and provisions and the banks took a similar stand. Thinking that the court would construe it to apply only to pre-existing debts, a test case was brought and the court so construed it. This decision gave some relief, but the law was a serious menace to business. It was soon discovered that the bill although enrolled had never passed either House. Governor Carr then sought by suit in Wake Superior Court to enjoin Octavius Coke, the secretary of state, from publication of the bill as law. The case went to the Supreme Court which, according to precedent, declined to go behind the signatures of the presiding officers of the two Houses. Later on the two enrolling clerks were indicted and convicted for the offense, a proceeding which fusionists generally pronounced political persecution.
Politics played no great part in the life of the state after the adjournment of the legislature. Democrats were free in their predictions that the populist party being dead because
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of fusion, the coming year would see the democratic party re- stored to power through a complete victory. The populist party was dead, but populism was much alive and still a vital factor in political thought and action and as time passed it became increasingly evident that success would come only to the party with whom the populists fused. Leaders of the two old parties began to flirt with leading populists. In this the advantage lay with the republicans because of their past and, as in a sense it must be regarded, existing, alliance. Then too since most of the populists were former democrats they were, with the zeal of converts, very bitter against their old party. Nor was the democratic party yet transformed by defeat and the retirement of its older men who were out of all sympathy with new and progressive ideas. The repub- licans, on the other hand, had at the time only one absorbing interest which was to defeat the democrats once more and secure as complete a victory for themselves as possible.
In the meantime an interesting situation had developed with respect to the institutions of one sort or another which the fusionists had attempted to control. The law establishing a criminal court for the counties of Buncombe, Madison, Hay- wood, and Henderson was ratified on February 23d. On Feb- ruary 27th, the legislature elected H. G. Ewart, a republican, judge. On March 12th, Governor Carr refused him his com- mission, claiming that it was the governor's place, not the legislature's, to fill vacancies, and on the following day he appointed Thomas A. Jones to the position. The matter came to the Supreme Court and the court, Judge Faircloth writing the opinion, held that since the legislature had re- served the right of election there was no vacancy. Quite an- other result attended the appeal in the case of the other crim- inal court established for Craven, New Hanover, Mecklenburg, Warren, Vance, Robeson, Edgecombe, and Halifax. The law was passed on March 8th, but was not ratified until March 12th. In the meantime, on March 9th, the legislature elected C. A. Cook, a republican, judge. On March 13th, the governor appointed O. P. Meares judge, claiming that as there was no court provided for by law at the time of Cook's election, there was a vacancy which he had the right to fill. On appeal the
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Supreme Court, Judge Furches rendering the opinion, up- held the governor's contention.
In the case of the state library, the legislature repealed that part of the law which gave the board of trustees the power to elect a librarian and conferred it upon the legisla- ture. E. D. Stanford was then elected. J. C. Birdsong, the librarian, declined to yield and the Supreme Court, Judge Furches rendering the opinion, sustained him on the ground that a quorum was not present when the bill was passed. After this decision the new penitentiary board which had elected W. H. Kitchin to succeed Leazer and had been re- sisted by the latter, yielded as did the other claimants for directorships.
In the summer of 1895 the North Carolina Railroad was leased to the newly created Southern Railway for ninety-nine years. The thing was hastily done without reference to pub- lic opinion and was bitterly unpopular. The lease was de- clared illegal by many good lawyers and preparations were made to test it in the courts, the Alliance, particularly, being actively interested in this. Governor Carr, who had as a fixed policy the placing of all railroad property upon the tax-books, had been largely instrumental in bringing the lease about and defended it to the end. The general feeling was that a bad bargain had been made in view of the length of the lease, and since the state road was absolutely necessary to the Southern, that better terms could have been obtained. This was doubt- less true. Another charge was that the Seaboard would have made a better contract. The outstanding benefits of the lease were the guarantee of a high interest rate on the stock and the through rates and connections which it made possible. The matter caused great excitement and was at once a poli- tical question, both populists and republicans, as well as many democrats, opposing the lease and demanding that it be broken.
The outstanding difficulty of the republicans and popu- lists in fusing again was of course the arrangement to be made in regard to the distribution of offices. A suggestion of fusion on the electoral ticket seemed absurd, particularly af- ter the republican national convention of 1896 declared for
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the gold standard. The populist . executive committee sug- gested a non-partisan silver ticket but that met with no ap- proval from democrats, republicans, or populists. The repub- lican party in North Carolina was full of silver sentiment and had repeatedly endorsed free coinage, but the declarations and tendencies of the national party controlled the state party with small dissent. Dr. J. J. Mott was the leader of the silver forces in the party but his influence was negligible. Silver sentiment was of course very strong in the democratic party but it was a question if it could effect fusion. Prob- ably to test out the question a silver convention was held in Raleigh in September, 1895, which was attended by a con- siderable number of democrats. Judge James C. MacRae presided. Butler was in complete control and carried through a resolution pledging that support would be given none but silver men. Some of the democrats sought to make it less rigid saying frankly that they did not propose to leave their party, but the amendment was defeated. In February, 1896, a conference was held in Washington, at Senator Butler's in- vitation, at which were present Ed. Chambers Smith, R. B. Peebles, from the democrats, Guthrie, Shuford, and Butler from the populists and Mott from the silver republicans, the last soon to be chairman of the executive committee of the national silver party. A plan of democratic-populist fusion was agreed upon, the democrats to have the governor and all state offices then filled by them, Worth to be re-elected treas- urer, three seats in Congress to go to the democrats, three to the populists and a union to be arranged on the three then held by the republicans. All democratic and populist county officials and members of the legislature were to be left un- touched and the democrats were to have all the places held by republicans. This would of course give them control of the legislature. The plan met with a cool reception from populists, as was to be expected, although many were rather sore with the republicans and inclined toward an alliance with the democrats. Part of this was due to silver feeling. That it met if anything a cooler one from the democrats is surpris- ing since they could not hope for better terms. Indeed many democrats desired to accept and the advocates of fusion in
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the party increased steadily throughout the campaign. Re- publicans were alarmed and worked incessantly to prevent the consummation of the arrangement which could spell for them only disastrous defeat and the loss of not only the lion's share of the state ticket upon which they had confidently counted, but also of the senatorship of which they had been certain.
In April Senator Butler sent out a circular to the popu- lists in which he said the populists could support no man for governor or senator who would vote for a gold man for Presi- dent, and urged them to go slow on the question of fusion. He and Pritchard had recently broken and this may have been the beginning of the fight on the latter. Few republicans were willing to be bound by such terms. They desired, it is true, a silver man for President, but if a gold man won the nomina- tion there was no doubt in their minds as to their hearty sup- port of him. Later in the month a great fusion conference was held in Raleigh at which the populists demanded republican support of free silver as a sine qua non of co-operation. The republicans occupied the same position here that they did with respect to the candidate for President; they would endorse the platform and support the ticket without question. Accord- ingly they refused the offer and replied with terms of their own. According to these the republicans were to nominate and the populists endorse the governor, attorney-general, au- ditor and one justice of the Supreme Court. The populists were to nominate and the republicans endorse the lieutenant- governor, secretary of state, treasurer, superintendent of public instruction and one justice. There was to be co-opera- tion in respect to members of Congress and of the legisla- ture, the republicans having the senatorship. Each was to nominate and run separately their own electors. The popu- lists at once declined to consider this arrangement.
The republican convention met in Raleigh in May and after a furious contest nominated D. L. Russell for governor by three-sevenths of one vote over Oliver H. Dockery and James E. Boyd. The nomination was only secured by seating twenty- two contesting delegates from five counties which were ap- parently clearly for Dockery. Z. V. Walser was nominated for attorney-general, Ruff Henderson for auditor and R. M.
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Douglas for justice of the Supreme Court. The other places on the ticket were left open presumably for the populists to fill when fusion should be accomplished. The platform was devoted chiefly to national matters and declared against the "retirement of greenbacks, the money of the people, the money favored by Lincoln." The portion relating to state af- fairs was of course full of denunciation of the democratic party, but the new county government and election laws, passed by the fusion legislature, received hearty endorse- ment and were declared to be of paramount importance. The section is worth quotation. "The vital and paramount issue for North Carolina in this campaign is the preservation of the great reforms enacted into law by the last General As- sembly, to wit: local self-government and honest elections. No differences as to questions of currency and questions of tariff should deter us from standing together for the right preservative of all rights, the right to vote and have that vote honestly counted." Non-political management of public schools was demanded. The silver question was skillfully straddled.
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