In 1898, the Democratic party’s White Supremacy Campaign crushed the half
decade-long fusion of Populists and Republicans. With the Populists defeated,
and many finding their way back into a conservative Democratic party, no grassroots
movement stood in the way of the Southern Power Company’s bid for electrical
control. Despite a 1913 grant of statutory authority to police regulatory rates,
the state’s Corporation Commission cautiously avoided conflict, reluctant to use
its authoritative power. As a result, only the state’s court system could prevent the
company’s dictation of the state’s public energy policy. At the head of the court
was North Carolina’s patrician Populist (a registered Democrat) and Supreme
Court Chief Justice Walter Clark, whose outspokenness blurred the lines between
jurist and progressive reformer. Clark had advocated for full public ownership of
public resources in popular addresses and national journals. For Clark, mere regulatory
control of a corporate monopoly on North Carolina’s water resources, and
the energy acquired through their use, was an unnecessary compromise that fell
short of the ideal. To achieve his goals of public ownership, Clark pitted himself
against Duke in editorials and courtrooms