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plains why J. O. Cochran bought up that big
block of subscriptions.
And after working a fraud on the public,
it seems that Seely worked another on Miss
Ingram.
Pond actually talked with the lady, as he
told me he did—and he actually discovered
that the “L.” in Seely’s name stood for “Lor
ing” in the manner that he suggested when
he was here.
Evidently, the impulse which prompted
Seely to betray my “Personal” letter, and
rush to the defense of Hoke Smith—without
even making an inquiry into those horrible
scandals—was born of the natural sympathy
which birds of that foul feather have for
each other.
P. S. —Seely endeavored to put a look of
veracity on his hoax fiction by pretending
that he fixed up the Pond letter, and kept a
copy. He did nothing of the kind. He got
the letter from The Jeffersonian; or he got
it from Pond after Pond returned to Atlanta.
It is my intention to trace Pond and get the
whole story.
I mean to learn whether Seely bought, or
tried to buy, a favorable report on his circu
lation.
Strange to say, my friends were caused
greater uneasiness, by Seely’s outrageous at
tacks, than by any that have ever been made
on me. They cost me one day of worry—but
only one. They have probably cost Seely a
thousand subscribers, many days of self-con
demnation; and probably will cost him a
Federal prosecution which will show up how
he is selling to advertisers what he has not
'
Another Tariff Talk—The Confisca
tion Feature
(concluded from page one.)
consider the tariff on tin. I was a member
of the Congress from which William B.
Leeds secured the enactment of a duty on
foreign tin. I heard the impassioned speech
which Williams, of Illinois, delivered in
favor of it. I saw him when he absented
himself for a moment, and returned from the
corridor with a glossy square block of pig
tin which he, with some difficulty and redness
of face placed upon his desk. He triumph
antly pointed to it as conclusive evidence that
Leeds was really producing tin manufactures.
That was in 1893. Leeds died the other day
and, without expressing any opinion as to
whether he went straight to Heaven or Hell,
I will simply mention the fact that his
widow’s little wad is said to be thirty million
dollars.
He got it by compelling every citizen of
this country who had to buy a tin vessel of
any kind, to pay several prices for it. The
sewing girl’s thimble, the laborer’s dinner
pail, the milk pan, the wash-pan, the drink
ing cup, the coffee-pot—every single article
of tinware on the American continent cost
those who paid for it, at least four times as
much as the tinware of England was selling
for in Europe.
The fortune which Leeds left represented
the value to him, individually, as a private
citizen, the power which Congress had given
to him to confiscate a portion of the bread
winner’s wages, the employee’s salary, the
professional man’s income, and the farmer’s
hard-earned revenue.
To the extent that you and I were com
pelled to pay to Leeds a greater price for his
tinware than would have been extorted from
us by the natural laws of supply and demand,
we were robbed. Our money was confiscated
to his use, and we got nothing whatever by
way of compensation.
And remember that while Leeds was con
fiscating to his private use, under the forms
of Law, thirty million dollars that belonged
to his fellow-citizens, the foreigner who paid
tariff duties at our Custom-houses, and added
them to his original price, confiscated other
11l
I I
THE JEFFERSONIAN
millions of dollars of our property without
compensation to us and without benefit to
him.
And moreover, Leeds was not the only
American who got rich on the confiscatorv tin
tariff.
J. K. Hilliard’s Paper Will Be
Stopped
From Camilla, Ga., the above named writes
me a most obscene letter requesting that we
discontinue his paper. He is furiously angry
at me because of my espousal of the cause of
the inmates of the Soldiers’ Home, near At
lanta.
I would publish Mr. Hilliard’s type-written
letter, were it not so shockingly indecent.
He could be prosecuted and punished for send
ing such offensive matter through the mails.
Does Mr. Hilliard think that the State
should pay for whiskey for Dr. Fox? Isn’t it
the opinion of Mr. Hilliard that Force should
have been succeeded by Miller— who beat one
of those old soldiers to death, a few years
ago ?
Does Mr. Hilliard think it was right for
the management to throw Few into the streets,
after Force had beaten him nearly to death?
Does Mr. Hilliard indorse the conduct of
the management which compels those Vet
erans to clean out the spittoons, to carry the
coal, to buy their own kindling-wood?
Perhaps, if Dr. Fox didn't feast so often
and so sumptuously, out at the Home, and
drink so much liquor at the State’s expense,
he might allow those old men some lightwood
splinters.
Tip Harrison is heartily welcome to such
a champion. I am truly sorry that he ever
got into the reading circle of our Jeffs. And
it gives all of us genuine pleasure to show
him the door.
If Mr. Hilliard has been a reader of this
paper as long as he claims, he has learned
from it that my wife opens and handles all of
my mail: if he is a gentleman he will realize
the enormity of his breach of the rules of
good breeding. He might have ordered his
paper stopped, without indulging in the stale
and obscene allusions which properly belong
to the vocabulary of the black-guard.
Some Political History
Mr. Louis Post, in a recent number of The
Public, makes the assertion that Bryan’s cam
paign of 1896 “was incontestibly the first
great battle at the polls between democracy
and plutocracy.”
Incontestibly?
Why, the very nomination of Bryan was
caused by the great fight which we Pops had
made in 1892. We not only rolled up more
than a million votes for James B. Weaver,
but we polled 1,800,000 votes in the State-elec
tions of 1894.
This advance of Populism made it neces
sary for the Democratic managers to side
track our principles and engulf our organiza
tion bv the fusion movement of 1896.
In fact, the Southern politicians and editors
were so elated by the ruin brought upon us,
by the nomination of Bryan, that they openly
and loudly boasted of how they had “buried
the damned Populist party.”
But wasn’t the Greenback movement of the
Seventies also a “great battle between democ
racy and plutocracy?”
We Must Have a Faster Press
Our circulation has grown to such propor
tions, and we have to print so many of the
Watson books, that our two big presses are
unable to keep up. We are already badly be
hind in the matter of publishing the books.
Consequently, we must have a press which
runs off five or six thousand papers an hour.
We are negotiating for one, and will install
it as soon as possible.
SHORT TALKS TO YOUNG MEN
(No. 6.)
Seem to be attracting the attention of the
grown-ups. In fact, I have observed—with
out commenting on it—“quite a few” little
alterations for the better, in the deportment
of those with whom I habitually come in con
tact.
We get careless, you know; and before we
know it, our good manners have become in
termingled with bad habits, which lessen the
pleasure others find in our society. We
are so absolutely dependent upon our fellow
creatures for enjoyments of the social sort,
that we cannot be too careful and considerate
of the tastes, feelings and opinions- of our
companions.
Those simple instructions about Table Man
ners are doing good—in that they not only
give the young people the correct'rule, as to
many thing's; but they have also—as- our
Mrs. Lytle laughingly exclaimed, last Sunday
night - they are making all of us grown
folks sit up and take notice.’’
Consider, for instance, this letter, from At
lanta :
Atlanta, Jan 14, 1911
Dear Mr. Watson: Now that we are informed
how to safely break a soft boiled egg and get its
contents into a glass at the table, without accident
or tear and trembling, life has become something
worth living for after all
Os courst, first you must get the egg. This is
nto the least of the difficulties at prevailing prices,
if you live in the city and can’t keep poultry.’
Assuming, however, that by hook or crook you
manage to get some of the hen fruit, that hither
to burdensome —not to say risky—ordeal of get
ting away with it at the table in company has been
dispelled, and the joy of eating the delicious con
tents of Humpty-Dumpty, soft boiled, will here
after be unhampered by the harrowing fear of
splashing the elusive contents upon your guest’s
frock.
Mr. Watson has come to the fore;
Has he not explained how it is done?
Be properly thankful, ye disciples of
Lucullus.
You take the egg in one hand, rap it gently
with a spoon that you are holding in the other.
Gently, mind you! Else Mr. Watson can’t vouch
for what might happen, especially if the egg is
over-ripe. The accident befalling you in that
interesting event would assume the proportions
of a calamity.
Let us desist.
You then lay aside the spoon, give the egg a
gentle pressure with the thumb and forefinger,
and —presto, the thing is done.
How simple it is, after all!
One of life’s most perplexing and vexing diffi
culties explained away with a few timely words of
instruction. I, for my part, had hitherto eschewed
soft boiled eggs entirely, especially in company,
but having a particular fondness for them which
manifests itself at times by an irresistable tempta
tion, it was my custom to retire behind a fence,
where mortal eye could not see how unhappily
it was done, else I felt that I would be everlast
ingly disgraced in the community in which I re
(CONTINUED ON PAGE TWELVE.)
JEFFERSONIAN PUBLISHING CO.
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(Shares: $5.00, SIO.OO, $50.00 and $100.00)
Gentlemen: I hereby make application
for shares of stock in THE JEF-
FERSONIAN PUBLISHING CO., value
$ each, and enclose my check
for $
Name.
R. F. D Town
State
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in the allotment of shares.)
PAGE NINE