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THE ATLANTIAN
and thought on his part to bring him around to the support of them.
As an honest man and true Democrat, he was compelled finally to
accept them as sound and needed Democratic principles. Every
reactionary in the country is opposed to them. Very recently Judge
Adams has rushed into print, in Savannah, to characterize these
great principles as fostering a government of mohocracy in place
of what he calls our present representative government. The trouble
with men of Judge Adams’ type is that, no matter how honest they
may be, they travel in a narrow groove, and refuse to look over the
bank of the little groove in which they are running unless they can
find a precedent for it. Such men have never been responsible for
any advancement in the world. Their arguments are not entitled to
consideration by the people who are seeking to improve conditions.
The greatest outcry of these men is made against the recall of the
judiciary, and some men, who actually think they are Democrats,
seem to believe that when a man becomes a judge he is thereby in
vested with that infallibility in the law which some people credit to
the pope in religion.
For the consideration of these Jeffersonian Democrats I want to,
quote a paragraph from a letter written by one Thomas Jefferson
on October 23,1821, to John W. Eppes. . The letter is very long, and
I can only take space for one paragraph. He says:
“It is the judiciary I fear; independent as they feel themselves of
the nation and all its authorities, they already openly avow the dar
ing and impudent principle of consolidation, and arrogate to them
selves the authority of ultimately construing the Constitution for all
the other departments and for the nation itself. It is that body
which is to sap the independence of the State, to generalize first and
then to monarchize the Federal authority.’’
It will be observed in this quotation that Mr. Jefferson disputes
the right of the judiciary to construe the Constitution, and that he
also speaks of this country as a nation—two startling propositions,
coming as they do from Thomas Jefferson. Later on, in this same
letter, he favors the appointment of judges for a term of six years,
subject to re-appointment only upon the approval of BOTH Houses
of Congress.
The initiative, the referendum and' the recall, already widely
used, contain the strongest safeguards that can ever be used for the
preservation of real Democracy. The man who opposes them thereby
stamps himself either as a non-thinker or as an upholder of the
present abuses which are placing in peril the life of this nation.
I can not enter into them in detail here, but a brief discussion which
I made of these principles, in a previous issue of this journal, will
(I think) convince any unprejudiced mind of their necessity.
The next charge that these gentlemen bring against Governor
Wilson is that he is unfriendly to the laboring people. It is hard
for one to possess his patience against such a total perversion of
fact as this statement. Governor Wilson, in his brief term of office
in New Jersey, has put upon the statute books of that State, in the
teeth of a hostile legislature, which he fairly had to drive, more
good laws for the benefit and protection of laboring men than has
ever been done by any previous American governor in his whole
life-time. The record of his accomplishment in this direction, as
published by Mr. William S. Weir, in a recent issue of the Atlanta
Journal, is absolutely startling, and reveals Governor Wilson as a
man of tremendous force. The laboring men who would oppose
Governor Wilson, in the face of the facts, deserve nothing.but
slavery; and if the interests allied against Mr. Wilson should suc
ceed in defeating his these laboring men stand to get all that is
coming to them.
Again it is urged that he is not a practical man. His political
enemies in New Jersey would hardly bring that charge against him;
that comes from the outside. He is not the usual type of practical
politician; that must be conceded, and we should be duly grateful
for it. He has not spent his life-time in public office, conniving and
scheming to keep his hands in the public trough; but since his entry
into politics, he has thoroughly satisfied the practical politicians that
he can neither be deceived, nor driven, nor bought—hence they are
unanimously opposed to him because he does not suit their purposes.
The supporters of Clark, Underwood and Harmon now defiantly
admit that they are co-operating together for the defeat of Wilson.
This means that the politicians of the country do not want in the
office of president a man whom they can not control. It means that
the “BIG INTERESTS” of the country do not want a man they
can not control. .The matter, therefore, resolves itself into this:
That if. the people want their own man in office, a man who will
be loyal to them rather than to the politicians and the “BIG INTER
ESTS,” it stands them in hand to get very busy and send to the
Baltimore Convention .men who will nominate Governor Wilson,
and thereby put forward as their leader the most commanding figure
that has appeared in American public life within the last fifty years.
THE TARIFF AS A CLUB/
There was a time when the Demo
crats were denounced for asserting
that the tariff was a tax—Republi
cans then asserted that the foreigner
paid it and, j since we could not tax
him the tariff could not be a tax. The
Cleveland campaign of education re
duced them ||tp silence on this point
Two presidential campaigns wero
won on the dlaim that the tariff gave
the American workman higher wages
than were paid outside the wall; it
has been proved beyond dispute that
in proportion to the cost of living and
the service performed the American
laborer under the tariff shield is the
poorest paid man known to civiliza
tion, and Republicans have ceased to
speak on that point since Mr. Carne
gie furnished figures and facts in sup
port of .the position assumed by the
Democratsin 1904.
Republicans during two administra
tions have asserted the necessity of a
world-policy—Democrats have pointed
out of isolation, and that such a posi
tion in'business goes further in one
direction than a great fleet and the
possession of a number of islands can
possibly go in another, but Republi
cans haVe constantly denied that the
effect the tariff and navigation laws
is to isolate us and drive our mer
chant marine from the seas.
We now have the Payne tariff bill,
which assumes to correct the Ding-
ley schedules in certain particulars,
and the Times-Union has already ex
pressed its opinion as to the manner
and spirit in- -which it keeps the prom
ise of tariff revision made by five na
tional conventions and repeatedly by
Mr. Taft'. Still another view of it is
that sent forth by its friends through
the Washington correspondent of the
New York Tribune in this significant
expression:
The principal object in making
the new bill a maximum and mini
mum measure was to use this
provision as a means of forcing
other countries to grant to Ameri
can industries the same opportuni
ties for trade that they grant to
other countries.
Now, as to the good faith underly-
j ing this promise, we need only re
mark that a maximum and minimum
wais proposed seven years ago and
put on the statute book with the same
purpose in view—-that of cheating the
public by offering a deceptive hope
never to be realized. Why should we
be cheated again? Why should the
party hope to cheat us with the same
transparent device except that it cal
culates on our credulity and presumes'
on its power? Doubtless we shall be
cheated again and we have little rea
son to complain of the robber who
! deals with a public so simple.
If a. maximum can scare our rivals
why have they continued to win at the
game Since McKinley's death robbed
the proposition of all real meaning?
If a. minimum can bring them into
our drag-net, why are they still on
the wrong side of the wall? Since
these have not done their appointed
work in the past, why hope anything
from them for the future? Payne and
Dalzell' and Cannon do not declevc
themselves into thinking that our ri
vals can be driven to their knees by
a maximum club or bought by a mini
mum concession—these are designed
strictly for home consumption and
here and there they will win votes by
soothing a rapidly rising tide of pro
test .
THE RURAL EDITOR’S SCRAP
BOOK.
New York American.
Although Spring is backward, several
robbin’s have been reported on the prin
cipal streets of New York City. The
italics are ours, leastwise they are ours
until the type foundry puts a mechanics’
hen on ’em.
Hipe Cronk came rushin *■ into the gen
eral store all out of breath the other
day. “Juarez has fallen,” he shouts.
“Well,” says Ben Miller, “if them
their aeronuts will take chances they will
have to abide by the consekences. ”
It is rumored that a certain gentleman
prominent in public affairs, who has just
thrown his hat in the ring, and is now
in light marching order, will start in
training for a strenuous campaign by
taming wild cherries at the Mills farm
out in the Hollow.
Through the high price of pork, pig
iron has reached an almost prohibitive
price. Even malleable iron is getting all
wrought up about it
According to the monetry table, ten
mills make a cent, but the one rubber
mill over by the depot can make scent
enough for us.
Neb 'Collins has a new suit, of clothes.
He wore it to church last Sunday morn
ing, and it was so loud the congregation
couldn’t hear Deacon Scrubbs snore. It
was cold Sunday night, and Neb’s girl
made him wear a muffler, which helped
some..
Thrifty Eben writes to ask us if we
don *t find it economical to wear two dol
lar shirts. Sure. We always have two
dollar shirts. Wear one this week and
the other next week.
In the way of a suggestion, we think
that green lawn would make ah appro
priate dress material for grass widows
this Spring.
The up mail train was one hour late
last night. Some facetious person asked
the station agent if it was on account
of a cow on the track. “No,” answer
ed the station agent, “a bull in the train
orders. ’ ’
We had meant to write an editorial
this week on the evils of lamping at the
wine when it is red, but some kind soul
invited us over to the Commercial House
bar, and our train of thought was divert
ed, so to speak.
If you can’t see the point of-some of
the things we print it is a sign that you
need glasses. Go to Winke, the opiti-
cian, on Main street. You see some great
specta'cles there. (Adv).