Newton, Oct. 21—Addressing a courthouse full of Catawba republicans, Marion Butler this afternoon made a vigorous onslaught on what he termed the “machine” government, declaring that the time had come for the manhood and womanhood of the state to wrest control from the machine in country and state, as they had in nation, when they elected Harding by over 24,000,000 majority to clean up “the dirtiest job” a President ever faced.
He appealed to the people of Catawba to unloose the grip the machines had on the school system of the county and state, to stop corruption of the ballot, and to clean house generally. He pointed to the fact that a common chicken thief might appeal to the supreme court but said that any case against an alleged ballot box stuffer was halted by the court which said it could not go behind the returns. This he said was enough comment on the iniquity of the election law.
Once the people freed themselves from the control of political bosses, he said, and voted their own thoughts, North Carolina would take its rightful place among the states, pointing to Ohio, Indiana and Illinois as that’s which had let bosses know the people were tied to no party. He took a shot at Josephus Daniels, said “Mary Ann” always told the people the truth, and that the democrats “cussed” him from afar off but always kept their distance.
People abroad often asked him if North Carolina really endorsed the Wilson regime at the last election by an increased vote, and he admitted with shame, that it had, but he said that the people were learning.
Senator Butler made a strong appeal to the men and women of Catawba county to pile up a big county majority, to elect Dick Shuford of Hickory on Congress and to send a representative to Raleigh who would sit on guard. The changes in the districts by the last legislature were fiercely denounced.
From the front page of the Charlotte Observer, Oct. 22, 1922
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