The Morning News

RALLYING FOR LESTER.

THE CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN OPENED WITH A BOOM.

Lester Club No. 1 Organized With a Membership of Nearly 500—A Rousing Meeting at Catholic Library Hall—Speeches by Capt. H. C. Cunningham, Col. Gordon, Hon. W. G. Charlton and Others—An Appeal to the Party—Maj. Ryals' Circular to the Voters of the First District.

Between 250 and 300 democrats met at Catholic Library hall last night in response to the circular sent out by Chairmen Ryals and Charlton, and which was published in Sunday's Morning News. The meeting was called to order a few minutes after 8 o'clock by Hon. Walter G. Charlton, chairman of the Democratic party of Chatham county, who in a few words as to the object of the call announced the meeting ready for business.

On motion of Maj. G. M. Ryals, Capt. Henry C. Cunningham was unanimously elected chairman. On taking the chair Capt. Cunningham was greeted with applause.

CAPT. CUNNINGHAM'S SPEECH.

After thanking the meeting for the honor accorded him, Capt. Cunningham spoke briefly of the necessity for the organization of the club, and of the work before it. He said that every patriot as well as every democrat in this district should put his shoulder to the wheel and roll up such a majority for Congressman Lester that even a Reed congress, backed by a McKinley and a Cannon, would not dare to unseat him. This is not a time, he said, for apathy or saying that Col. Lester is bound to be elected because he is opposed by scalawags. It is a time for hard work, and for that purpose the meeting had been called.

The chairman then stated that the next business in order was the election of a secretary. Dr. Norton placed Capt. Randolph Cooper in nomination, stating that he was both a prominent democrat and alliance man. Capt. Cooper was unanimously elected.

THE RESOLUTIONS.

Maj. Ryals presented the following resolutions by Judge A. Pratt Adams, who sent his regrets in not being able to be present to offer them in person.

Every thoughtful citizen must realize the fact that our government has reached a crisis in its history. The arrogant demands, the shameless schemes and the unconstitutional measures of the Republican party threaten the very life of those institutions which we have ever been taught to regard as constituting the inalienable and priceless heritage of American citizenship.

In the approaching congressional election it is essential that our distinguished leader should receive the suffrage of every democrat who, on that day, can deposit a ballot. It is therefore resolved:

1. We bespeak for the candidate of our party, the Hon. Rufus E. Lester, the earnest and active support of the democracy throughout the length and breadth of this district.

2. We invite every democratic citizen of this county and vicinity to enroll himself under the banner of our club.

3. We urge our political brethren throughout the district to organize at once for the prosecution of a vigorous and enthusiastic campaign.

4. We appeal to every democrat, to every patriotic citizen of the district to go to the polls on the 4th of November and by his ballot unite in the protest against the infamy of republican usurpation and aid in swelling the majority that will secure the triumphant election of the gallant gentleman, in whose honored hands will be bravely borne the unsullied standards of our party.

5. We request all papers friendly to the cause to publish these resolutions.

The resolutions were adopted without a dissenting vote, amid great applause.

A CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE.

The chairman suggested that a committee be appointed to formulate plans and carry on an active campaign in the district until the close of the polls on Nov. 4.

Col. George A. Mercer offered a resolution that the chair be empowered to appoint an executive committee to consist of twelve gentlemen, and that they have the power to appoint whatever sub-committees they deem necessary to carry out the details of the campaign. His idea was to have this committee call personally upon every democratic voter in Chatham county, and urge upon him the necessity of going to the polls on election day and casting his vote for the party nominee.

The resolution was adopted, and Capt. Cunningham appointed the following named gentlemen:

Col. W. W. Gordon, George E. Owens, H. M. Comer, John R. Young, Thomas S. Morgan, W. S. King, John P. McIntyre, Luke Carson, Thomas Ballantyne, L. C. Downs, Dr. R. G. Norton, Capt. R. Cooper.

COL. GORDON'S APPEAL.

Col. Gordon was called for, and he made a brief speech, which was frequently applauded. He said that the resolution of Col. Mercer met his hearty approval and support. There is not the least doubt, he says, that the largest republican vote ever polled will be brought out at the election next month. If the democrats show apathy, it may be possible that Col. Lester's majority will be so small as to give the republicans a chance—should they get the next Congress—to have an excuse for unseating him. And it is possible, if democrats do not work as they should, that there may be a small majority against him. Some people may say that this statement was ridiculous, but he wanted democrats to understand that the contest is not child's play. It is a fight into which Capt. Doyle, the republican candidate, has gone with due deliberation, and one which he proposes to do his utmost to win. If the Democratic party is to win every voter must put his shoulder to the wheel and roll up such a majority for Col. Lester as to allow no question or cavil to be raised about it.

Col. Gordon moved that the chairman of the club, Capt. Cunningham, and the secretary, Capt. Cooper, be also chairman and secretary of the executive committee. The motion was adopted, as was also one by Mr. Comer, to allow the committee to fill any vacancies that may occur in its membership.

Col. Mercer moved that when the committee is ready to report its plans for the campaign the club be immediately called together by its chairman. The motion was carried.

TO WORK FOR LESTER.

Mr. McIntyre moved that the gentlemen in attendance at the meeting be requested to enroll their names as members of the club, known as Lester Club No. 1. The motion was carried, and nearly every one in the hall went up to the stage and placed his signature on the roll.

Hon. Walter G. Charlton was called for and made a ringing speech, in which he appealed to his hearers to use their influence to have every democrat in the county go to the polls and cast his vote for Col. Lester on Nov. 4. The Democratic party of this district, he said, is passing through a crisis as great as that which confronted it twenty years ago. Chatham county, he said, is the place looked upon to make sure of the election of the party nominee. There are many republican counties in this district, but if the democrats put their shoulders to the wheel and do their duty there can be no doubt as to the result.

HARD WORK AHEAD.

It will require hard work, however, to accomplish this, but as Col. Lester has done more for the First district than any other congressman who has represented it, he is not only entitled to the suffrage of his constituents, but also to a large complimentary majority, and he hoped he would get it. Congressman Lester has gotten a large appropriation for Savannah and other seaports, in the face of the most tyrannical form of government that has existed for many years in the United States.

In closing, Mr. Charlton warned the club that it is only through hard and earnest work that anything can be accomplished.

Thomas S. Morgan, Esq., was the next speaker, and he made an eloquent address in which he paid his compliments in very strong language to both the Republican party and its standard bearer for congress in this district.

Maj. Ryals was called on for a speech, but stated that while he was not an orator he would do his share of hard and earnest work for the success of the party nominee, as he had always done in the past.

The meeting adjourned subject to the call of the chairman.

AN APPEAL TO THE PARTY.

Maj. G. M. Ryals, chairman of the democratic executive committee of the First district, has issued the following appeal to voters in the district to go to the polls on election day and to support the democratic ticket:

To the Democratic and Conservative Voters of the First Congressional District of Georgia:

On Tuesday, Nov. 4, you will be called upon to vote for one to represent you for the next two years in the House of Representatives of the United States congress. This may be the last time that you will be permitted to exercise this, the highest privilege and prerogative of a freeman in a fair, free, honest and untrammeled manner. The present congress may pass the federal election bill, a measure infamous, oppressive, intended to defraud the people of the south of their right, inherited from their forefathers, to vote for men of their own party and choice under the regulations and laws of their state. Unless a democratic House of Representatives is chosen in November, you will see federal supervisors, managers of elections and judges and soldiers controlling our polls and counting in our enemies instead of our friends, who will be really the receivers of a majority of the votes.

The only way to check the inroads of radical power is to elect, by an overwhelming majority, enough democrats to control the next House of Representatives. Let this chance slip from us and in my opinion the last hope of a perpetuation of free constitutional government in this country is gone forever. The crisis is upon us. Radical rule is ruin, utter ruin to us, to the liberties and rights of the people and to the domestic peace and tranquillity of our section. The present administration seems to regard southern white men as having no rights under this government. They are overriding all law and all the forms of constitutional precedent. They mean to degrade us. We are not waked up to a realization of the dreadful situation we shall find ourselves placed in if we are to have radical rule again.

The issue is made up in this section. The Democratic party is the party of law, order, decency and respectability. Its success is for the general good; its defeat is full of evil to all. The Democratic party has protected the rights of all, without regard to race, color or nationality. The Republican party seeks to degrade every white or black democrat, for that, and to rule us by a class of people utterly unfit to dictate to us on political or any questions. We are to-day in great danger of losing what liberties we enjoy. If every democrat will lay aside his business for one day and go to the polls, will make it his business, as it is his bounden duty, not only to go himself but to urge his friends to do the same, we shall have such an overwhelming victory that we cannot be counted out. If we elect our candidate by a small majority on some pretext or another they will count him out.

You certainly do not wish to be represented in congress by a republican. Do you wish this district to have its vote cast for the federal election bill? For all these laws are in favor of trusts and monopolies, and against every interest of the farmers and workingmen, the wage-earners of the country. I know you do not. Then, my countrymen and brother democrats, listen to me, and take to heart personally, every one of you, my urgent appeal to work from now until the day of the election for Rufus E. Lester, the democratic nominee.

You all know him. He is a man of the people. Without influential friends and backing, he has won his way to where he is by energy, ability, honesty and fearless advocacy of the best interests of the party and the people. In the legislature, as president of the Senate, in the halls of congress, he has been faithful, able, true. A plain, unassuming man, a man of the people, a democrat of democrats who has never faltered or hesitated when his party and his people have needed him. He is worthy of the confidence and the support of every true man in the district. Let us all work and counsel together for his triumphant election, and let there be no laggard or lukewarm democrat among us.

G. M. RYALS,

Chairman Democratic Executive Committee, First Congressional District.