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ZETTEEJ' THTL PEOPLE
SICK OF THE PEERLESS.
Cochran, Va., Sep. 28, 190 S.
Hon. Thos. E. Watson, Thomson, Ga.
My dear Sir: I have just finished
reading your 11 Sketches from Roman
History. ’ ’ They destroy some of the
illusions of my boyhood and take me
back to my school days. Under your
magic touch, through the drums and
tramplings of 2,000 years, those dry
bones live again. Your style is so
wonderfully lifelike and clear, that in
our mind’s eye, the great Julius again
stands at the head of his veteran le
gions. his standard-bearer grasping
the awful S. P. Q. R., as he gives the
word, “Forward!” and plunges into
the Rubicon—to drive his great rival
Pompey from Rome. I was amazed,
as I read, how a man whose life has
been as full as yours of practical
politics, could have found the time to
acquire such a charming style, and
learn the minutest details of Roman
affairs.
I read your letter of acceptance, as
the candidate of the “Populares,” in
the Richmond Times-Dispatch. I
liked your letter, and agree with you
entirely in one particular—the solid
ity of the South is a grave mistake.
It is only prejudice and intolerance
which keeps her so. It is true that
a society without prejudices is a
world without scruple. Nevertheless,
if the South wishes to resume her
former commanding position in Na
tional affairs, she must rid herself of
some of her prejudices, and all of hes
intolerance. As an instance of what
I regard as intolerance, I will relate
this incident: Wm. L. Royall, a law
yer of Richmond, Va., who has stood
by the Democratic party for years,
although he has refused to be led by
Bryan, and who in November will not
vote at all, as he says that he cannot
vote for Bryan, hired a hall and in
vited all to come and hear his reasons
for not voting, offering at the same
time to divide time with any one who
might wish to speak-—a proposition
which a certain Mr. LeCompte accept
ed. At this speaking, which took
place at the Jefferson Hotel, the au
ditorium was filled with Democrats
who persistently interrupted Mr. Roy
all by cheers for Bryan. “Buck”
Royall—as his friends call him —is a
rather hard man to “down,” and he
went through with his talk. But
what kind of behavior was this to ac
cord a gentleman—a gentleman whose
invited guests they were? I was not
present, and give you the account
published in The Times-Dispatch, a
Richmond paper, supporting Mr. Bry
an. The South now stands —I mean
since the Civil War —toward our Fed
eral Government and the Republican
party as Ireland stands toward the
British Government and the Conserv
ative party. Ireland is dragged about,
and made the toy of the Liberal par
ty, as the South is made the toy of
the Democratic party, and a great
hullabaloo is raised. 'Zealous and elo
quent Democrats rush to the defence
of the South. And so she is tossed
about by these crafty politicians as
a dry leaf by the wind. They pre
tend to be actuated by her good, when
maybe it was a cabinet position, or
some other benefit to themselves, for
delivering her 156 solid electoral
votes to this or that candidate. If
she was uncertain, coy and hard to
count on, there would be no Crnm
packer bills to bother her, and all
suitors would be at her feet, when
the national election come around.
You have had quite a long experience
in politics, and an inside view of af
fairs at Washington, and it seems to
have convinced you that there is
but little choice between the two par
ties which have ruled the country
since the Civil War. I have been
gradually forced to the same conclu
sion, and now think that the appro
priate device on both their shields
would be, “GRAFT.” As the Dem
ocrats were a minority in the last
Congress, their speakers in the pres
ent campaign put all the extrava
gance and corruption on the Republi
cans, but when it was being enacted
in the National Halls, they were
either as dumb as oysters or voted
for it—and for aught that I know,
got a “slice” for their judicious si
lence.
Be this as it may, you and I are
now in perfect accord as to their can
didate for the presidency, the ever
more Dr. Bryan, who quadrennially
“bobs up serenely.” The Doctor
conceives himself admirably fitted for
the office, by having a remarkably
tough larynx—always and at all
times as ready to set out as those
saddled steeds who stood in the stalls
at “Bnanksome Hall.” Calling him
self a Democrat, he confidently counts
upon the South. Yet, to subserve his
own purposes, he outrages the tradi
tions of Southern people by smiling
enticingly upon those negro bishops
who called upon him in behalf of the
fiends who murdered the white women
and children of Brownsville, Texas,
and who were rightly dismissed from
our army. A candidate for the pres
idency—the possible commander-in
chief of the troops —smiling upon riot
and insubordination! And such riot
and insubordination! And why did
he smile? To gain the wretched ne
gro vote, more particularly in the
States of Ohio, Indiana and New
York.
I saw the plain and circumstantial
statement of Mr. Alfred Henry Lewis
of Mr. Bryan’s debut into the Dem
ocratic caucus in 1391. How he
wasted his vote on Mr; Springer, aft
er Springer had retired from the con
test for the speakership, and posi
tively refused to vote for either Mills
or Crisp because they had been Con
federate soldiers. This account is so
minute and explicit that no one can
read it without being convinced be
yond a doubt. What does it prove?
It proves that this impulsive Bryan
has always been a trimmer, who is
looking out for number one all the
time. Posing as a great patriot, zeal
ous for popular rights, and pouring
out fierce invectives against predatory
wealth, he is at the same time hand
and glove with every ringster and
boodler who has grown fat on the
public swill. Tell me such a man can
He clean? Merde!
'Jeffersonian
Very recently, it seems that a
blight has fallen upon Democratic
•headquarters, or rather, should we
say, a new “comedy of errors”?
Their “bag-bearer,” Gov. Haskell, of
Oklahoma, has been mistaken for an
other Haskell —unfortunately of the
same initials —who had been guilty of
some malfeasance. The governor,
after a little consideration, to “save •
the face” of his chief —Mr. Bryan—•
and the party, generously resigned
“the bag.” But he stoutly maintains
that he will be able to prove himself
entirely orthodox—after the election.
This is an unfortunate contretemps,
as both Messrs. Hearst and Roosevelt
insist that both “the bag” and the
funds are tainted by contact —'and be
fore the new man, Mrr Herman Rid
der, buckles “the bag” around him,
no doubt he will insist upon its be
ing fumigated and sterilized. In
these days of germs, you can’t be too
cautious and it might happen that the
governor would be unable to estab
lish a clean bill of health—after the
election. Napoleon, it is said, caught
the itch by seizing a rammer which
had just dropped from the hands of
a slain gunner, at the siege of Tou
lon. It is to be hoped that, after
their purification, these hard earn
ings of the people will be safely re
placed in “the bag,” and used “as
the law directs.”
With my best wishes for your suc
cess in Georgia, very truly yours,
T. J. TAYLOR.
IN THE INTEREST OF TOM
WATSON.
September 22, 1908.
I am happy to say that I was pres
ent at Cornelia, Ga., on Friday the
18th instant, and heard Watson’s
brilliant speech he made to six or
eight hundred people, which was re
ceived heartiy and with much ap
plause. His speech gave great sat
isfaction and made him many votes.
He shows Bryan’s crooked campaigns
of the past and present; yes, he ena
bled me to see that Bryan is a trick
ster and as wavering as the sea and
adapts himself to every condition,
and smiles at his reversible nature,
and sets his sail to catch every breeze
that blows and rides on top of every
wave of every outside sentiment.
Yes, he tumbles to everything and
sticks to nothing; he reverses him
self so suddenly that sometimes the
hind part of his pants are in front;
his policy is for the money and to
give the negro race the balance of
power and encouraging the race in
social equality, which leads to out
ragious deeds, mostly among our
Southern women who, many times
through fear and dread, have had
their blood to curdle in their veins
expecting to be assassinated by the
brutish fiends. Oh, how I wish our
Southern women could vote in this
election, that they might cast their
votes against Bryan to gratify their
hearts in putting down a man that
holds his own personal interest more
than he does the interest of the white
people at large, including the depend
ent women and children of this na-
tion, while the pure-hearted Tom
Watson has been defending the com
mon and oppressed laboring people
for eighteen long years, and he says,
if God lets him live, he is going to
continue blazing out the way for the
enslaved farmers and wealth produc
ers of the South and the nation at
large. You will remember he has
never failed to work for the interest
of the farmers and the morality of
the nation and especially the South.
Watson is the man who fought and
put down the barroom under the
White House when he was in Con
gress. Watson is the man who got
the first appropriation for the rural
mail route, which is today bringing
the mail to the doors of many mill
ions of people. Watson is the man
who fought 6,000 national bankers in
last fall’s panic. Watson is the
man who has fought for the high or
true value of our cotton of the South.
Watson is the man who went to Con
gress mostly on the Farmers’ Alliance
and laboring man’s ticket. Watson is
the man who is standing by the
Farmers’ Union men; yes, watching
over them with an eagle’s eye, and has
made many speeches in their interest
and declares in his editorials that
their successful organisation is the
only salvation for the farmers and
producers of the wealth of the nation.
Watson is the first man who fought
for the parcels post law; also the
first one who fought for the postal
savings bank law. Watson is the
man who has for many years been
fighting for pure and unadulter
ated Jeffersonian democracy. Wat
son is the original planner and work
er of Georgia for negro disfranchise
ment. Watson is the founder of a
white man’s supremacy. Watson has
always fought for prohibition and so
briety. Watson has always fought
high tariff. Watson has ever been a
fighter against the Wall Street money
power and national banker, which has
brought the common people to hard
ship and slavery. Watson, who is
able to stand in rank with the high
grade and robbing class, but who has
made choice to defend the dependent
and working class. Then, if the fore
going- is true, how is it possible that
there is a single laboring man who
can fail to cast his vote for Tom
Watson and against a negroite Bry
an man that is rallying the negro to
do more devilment than hell itself.
Now, for fear I will be too long and
tedious, I will stop right here, feeling
that we common farming and toiling
men should be willing to die by and
vote for Tom Watson.
ALLISON W. SMITH.
C. C. Benefield, Pontotoc, Miss.
A great many people are for you
here. Many will vote for you, and
many say that if there was a chance
to elect Watson they would vote for
him, but will vote for Bryan. Now,
I don’t see how a Southern man can
support Bryan, after his play for ne
gro votes, but many say they will vote
for a dead dog on the Democratic
ticket. Well, they have as near a
dead one on both ends of the ticket
as any one could wish.