Mrs. Lindsay Patterson, Republican candidate for Congress in the Fifth district of North Carolina, fired the opening gun of the G.O.P. campaign in Winston-Salem with a most interesting address to the voters of the Third Ward at the North school yesterday evening at 8 o’clock. She was heard by a small but highly appreciative audience, the inclement weather keeping many away.
Mrs. Patterson is the first woman candidate to make the Congressional race in North Carolina, and her campaign is attracting much attention. She has been making campaign speeches for the past four months but her address last night was her first political speech in her home town. Those who heard Mrs. Patterson last night were impressed with the ease and grace with which she occupied the platform, and her remarks were clear cut and to the point. In a well modulated voice that bespoke precision and careful thought, she outlined her reasons for aspiring to the office for which she is a candidate.
Introduced by Horton
H.O. Sapp, chairman of the Forsyth County Republican committee, introduced Attorney E.A. Holton, who in turn introduced Mrs. Patterson. Mr. Holton’s remarks were prefaced with an urgent request that all voters who have failed to register do so at once. He declared that “mudslinging” politics is now out of order and that North Carolina is entering upon a new era of politics. “However,” said Mr. Holton, “there is only one man in the Fifth district who will not give his seat to a lady, and that is Major Steadman, our present Congressman.”
He paid a high compliment to Mrs. Patterson in his remarks, classing her as a woman of the highest intelligence and unquestioned ability. “If we will elect Mrs. Patterson to congress she will have more influence at Washington and do more for North Carolina than any Congressman now in Washington, or who has been there during the past 20 years.” When Mrs. Patterson was presented she was given many rounds of applause.
In beginning of her remarks she thanked Mr. Horton for his introduction and asked a stenographer present to “be sure and get down every word of that for I want it for my tombstone.”
Having Lots of fun
“Running for Congress beats being a 16-year-old girl with a beau all to pieces,” declared Mrs. Patterson. “I am having the best time I ever had in my life. Did you know that we haven’t had a Congressman from Winston-Salem in more than 60 years? Well, we haven’t, and it’s high time we did have. There are enough voters in the Third Ward to elect me to Congress and all we have to do is to get out and hustle.”
“I think I want this more than I have ever wanted anything in my life,” she said, “and if I could be elected my hole heart and soul would be given in helping my district. I would want my two years to be two years of labor for my town and my district.”
Mrs. Patterson stated that it was a strange thing that Winston-Salem men will sharpen up their knives to defeat a Winston-Salem woman, and to help a Greensboro man get to Congress, especially when that man has never done anything for us. “He doesn’t buy his clothes here; I do! He doesn’t buy his food here. I do! He has not spent his life in trying to build up Winston-Salem. I have!” was the emphatic declaration of the speaker.
The speaker declared that the congressman from this district should be a person well versed in foreign affairs. She referred briefly to her experience abroad and the study she has made of foreign conditions and politics.
Taxes Must Be Lowered
“Anybody with any sense at all knows taxes must be lowered,” said Mrs. Patterson. “The people are very bitter against the present high taxes, and they won’t stand it much longer.” She commented on the accomplishments of the Republican party in cutting down the expenses of the government, saying that the curtailment of ship-building for a period of 10 years effecting savings of millions of dollars was a big thing within itself. “When it comes to saving money we women can beat you men all to pieces,” she averred, “and when a few of us women get to congress there will e the biggest economizing you ever saw.”
Mrs. Patterson commented at length on the league of nations and the difficulties and intricacies involved in entering such a pact, and the dangers that might be encountered. “I’m just as sorry for the Armenians as anybody, but I’ll be blest if I am in favor of killing Americans to save ‘em.”
She stated that the big problem of America for the next five or 10 years would be four foreign policy, and that before we guarantee the safety of others we must first save ourselves. She stated that it was one of her highest ambitions to have a share in bringing about such relations between the nations of the world as would forever bar wars.
Open Up Avenue
The handsome salaries paid those in the diplomatic service was another subject of discussion by Mrs. Patterson. She declared that these positions of honor were denied women and that if she was elected to congress she would do her best to open this avenue to women. “It wouldn’t do to send a girl of 18 as ambassador abroad, but there are plenty of school ma’ms who could fill these positions most creditably.” She said that it is time, that there was something done in order to give a girl something more in life to look forward to than mere drudgery. She pointed out how the girls beat the boys in the Constitution contest as an example of their ability.
“I can’t go to congress unless my Democratic friends vote for me,” she said, “for there are not enough Republicans in the district to elect me, but if my friends who know me will help me, we can put it across.”
Just here came a downpour of rain, which rattled on the roof so loudly that the voice of the speaker was almost drowned out, but she was not perturbed. “You see, I can also make it rain when I speak, and I’m sure the farmers will vote for me because of that,” was her humorous remark.
Imperial Fifth
Mrs. Patterson commented at length on the “Imperial Fifth,” pointed out its wealth, its educational resources, and above all that more than 90 per cent of its population is of pure American ancestry. “We are the real American district,” she said, “and we Americans must guard the American spirit.”
Mrs. Patterson closed her remarks with a most humorous story of the Democratic dog who joined the Republican ranks when bumped with the brick of taxes.
From the front page of The Winston-Salem Journal, Sunday, Oct. 8, 1922
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