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Voices. Hurrah for Watson! Hur
rah for Black! (Cheering and coun
ter cheering.)
Mr. Black. Now to return to
some questions which my distin
guished friend put to me the other
day at Sandersville. He asked me
if I admitted that there were evils
growing out of the legislation of the
country. I do not know that I quote
his exact language.
Mr. Watson. I said said, “suffer
ing among the people growing out of
vicious legislation.”
Mr. Black. My friend says, “Do
you believe there is suffering among
the people growing out of vicious
legislation ? ” Ido believe that there
is suffering among the people grow
ing out of vicious legislation. But I
told him there, and I repeat it here,
that I believe it is exaggerated.
(Great cheering and cries of derision.)
Now, in his reply he said that I did
not read my platform—my own party
platform. Now, mark you, I did not
say, even by intimation, that the
Democratic platform exaggerated
these evils; but I do say that the
People’s party platform exaggerates
these evils. (Long continued cheer
ing and great confusion.)
Mr. Black. Now, my friends, let
me go on. You are my frends, but
you are annoying me.
A voice. Oh, let us holler; let us
enthuse, Mr. Black.
Mr. Black. Now, let me say to
you, as I stated here to-day, and look
into your honest faces, that there are
some evils that are not the effects of
legislation, and for which no legisla
tion can furnish you a remedy.
A voice. We will send Mr. Wat
son to find the r’emedy.
Mr. Black. That is your privilege,
my friend, but give me your atten
tion, and I say here to my friends,
now, that you will confer a favor
upon me by giving Mr. Watson the
same respectful attention you gave
me.
Same voice, evidently. Yes, we
will listen.
Mr. Black. Listen! I say that
this platform of this new party —no,
not this new party, but an old party
under a new name. That old party
with the same platform and princi
ples; this old party that has done
what has never been done before,
and what could not be done in thirty
years by the Republican effort; this
old party that has made inroads on
the people of the South, and made
inroads and dissensions that ought
not to exist. Now, what does this
party say in its preamble. (Reads.)
The conditions which surround us best
justify our co-operation; we meet in the
midst of a nation brought to the verge of
moral, political and material ruin. Cor
ruption dominates the ballot-box, legis
latures, congress, and touches even the
ermine of the bench.
I say that, in my opinion, that ex
aggerates the condition of the coun
try at large. Ido not deny that there
has been corruption; I do not deny
that there has been corruption in high
pjaces. There s always has been and
always will be. But Ido deny most
emphatically that the conditions sur
rounding us justify such exaggera
tion. I deny that we are brought to
the verge of political and material
ruin. 1 say that corruption does not
dominate the ballot-box, Congress,
legislatures and the ermine of the
bench.
A voice. Where am I at, Mister
Speaker ?
Mr. Black (without noticing the in
terruption). I say that there is yet
some virtue in the land; I say that
there are good men and virtuous wo
men in the land ; I say that there are
good men in high places—uncorrupt
ed and incorruptible; I say that cor
ruption has not touched the ermine
of the bench; and I say that while I
would not attempt to explain away
any of the evils that exist in our po
litical and social life, yet these things
do not demand the intervention of
this new old party. I say that there
is more virtue than vice; there are
more good people than bad people;
there is more incorruption than cor
ruption ; there is in our midst more
of the characteristics of a great and
good civilization than the reverse;
and over all, and in it all, and through
it all, the Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth.
(The cheering was so prolonged at
this point, and the confusion so great
on account of it, that some remarks
addressed to the speaker by his
friends could not be heard by your
reporter.)
Mr. Black. Please keep quiet, my
friends; you are my friends.
A voice. Undoubtedly we are.
• Mr. Black. Now, my friends,
there are a great many statements
made in this preamble not sustained
by the facts of the case. For in
stance, that workmen were denied
the right of organization for self-pro
tection. Who does not know that
there is not a city in the United
States where there is not an organ
ized society for the protection of la
bor? Every man knows that. The
engineers, the firemen, the shoe
makers, the bricklayers, the tailors,
and every other department of hu
man industry in this country, is or
ganized. Ido not say that there are
not evils in this department to be
corrected. Ido not say that m 7 dis
tinguished firend did not address
himself to the correction of one of
these evils, to wit: the Pinkerton
detective agency. But Ido say that
the State of Georgia has a law on
the statute books to protect the peo
ple against that abuse ; and I believe
that with, certain limitations that it is
better regulated with State than
United States legislation.
(Voices in the audience that Major
Black evidently did not understand,
and neither did your reporter.)
Mr. Black. I did not hear what
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 16, 1892.
my friend said. We have witnesses
in abundance of the evil effects of
power and plunder. Now, here is
an able indictment of the Democratic
party, but my answer to that indict
ment is, that while all these wrongs,
all thesejevils were being perpetrated,
all of you, my friends of the third
party, were members of the Demo
cratic party. While putting faith in
this indictment, you are only arraign
ing yourselves.) You may make
it as black as you please, but, as I
said at Crawfordsville, you might
make every Democrat a devil, and
every follower an imp, but you would
only be blackening your own politi
cal record and the record of your
associates. You have laid down in
the same political bed; you have
.partaken of nourishment at the same
political table; you have been fed
out of the same spoon, and whatever
sins of omission and commission you
prove on the Democratic party, you
are particeps criminis, and the blacker
you make out this indictment against
the Democratic party, the blacker
you make your own record. (Great
cheering and long continued applause
interspersed with shouts of derision.)
Where were you then? You farm
ers, who are going to purify every
thing; you men who are going to
tear down the old flag and put up a
new one in its place; you who are
going to abolish poverty and bring
abundance to everybody, where were
you then, I ask? You cannot say
you did not know it.
A voice. Our leaders did not tell
us about these things.
Mr. Black. Why did not your
leaders tell you so?
The same voice; We let the old
leaders go; we have young leaders
now. (Laughter and cheering from
both sides.)
A voice. Hurrah for Watson,
where are you at?
Other voices. Hurrah for Mr.
Black, hit ’em again, you can do
it.
Mr. Black. (Facing in the direc
tion of the first voice.) My friend,
you have done a timely and a
friendly service. (Turning to the
audience.) He has come to my re
lief, even if I have not got any relief
for him, and while he does not know
it, lam always willing to give a
man thanks for a favor even if it is
is unwittingly bestowed. (Turning
to the voice again with mock gravi
ty.) lam very much oblidged to
you, indeed.
Listen now, my friend, when these
leaders come before you on this plat
form and say that for a quarter of a
century they have witnessed the
struggles of the two great political
parties for power and plunder while
grievous wrongs have been inflcted
upon the people, just ask them this
question, why did you not tell us
that long ago?
Listen. They say that this has
been going on for twenty-five years.
Now, if you be gracious, if you be
charitable, if your heart is filled with
milk of human kindness, if you want
the truth, remember that they have
been sleeping all the time that this
has been going on. They belonged
to the same political party, and eat
ing out of the same political crib.
A voice. (Directly in front of
the speaker.) Hurrah for Watson.
Mr. Black. Well now, Mr. Wat
son will have an hour and a half, and
I have no doubt but he will be able
to entertain you. Don’t disturb me,
please.
Mr. Watson. (Directing his words
to the voice.) I can take care of
him; you boys be quiet, please.
Mr. Black. Now then, proceed
ing further on this platform, I do not
know what my friend’s interpretation
of it is. I would be glad if he would
furnish it to me.
I do not want to do him an injus
tice. But you will find in the plat
form of this old new political party,
out of which this has been evolved,
a plank in favor of female suffrage.
Many think that there is nothing
but sub-treasury in it, but there is a
great deal that you perhaps never
sat down patiently and gave earnest
thought. Listen to this, in the pre
amble of that platform. (Reads.)
Believing that the forces of reform
this day organized, will ne*er cease to
move forward until every wrong is
righted, and equal rights and privileges
established for all men and women in
the country.
Now, I do not claim that that is
in the platform, but it is in the pre
amble. If woman’s suffrage is not
a settled purpose, the trend at least
is in that direction. Some of their
leaders certainly favor it, but I do
not say that it is announced as a
distinct principle, but they do say
that they intend to keep up this agi
tation until equal rights and equal
privileges are securely established
for all men and women in this coun
try. Does that mean female suf
frage? Does that mean that this
agitation is to be kept up until they
ingraft upon the future statutes of
the country that female suffrage is
to be established? God forbid the day!
God in His infinite mercy forbid the
day when Southern women, or
Northern women, when Western
or Eastern women—but particularly
Southern women, shall leave the re
tirement of their homes to mingle in
the strifes and contentions of the
polling places around the ballot box.
I believe in the rule of woman in
the realm in which the God Almigh
ty has placed her. That is the rule
of the fireside, the home, the hearth
stone; there they hold the reins in
their hands, not in the public ave
nues of life; not in the strife and con
tentions surrounding the ballot box.
(Cheering.) As long as we keep
the home pure the body politic is
pure, as long as we keep the foun
tain pure, the stream will be uncor-
rupted, and God forbid, I repeat,
that any political privileges should
be adopted that even has a tendency
in the direction of female suf
frage.
Now, to come to the platform
itself, distinctly. What is the first
plank in it? I won’t stop to read.
It was what we call the sub-treasury
pl in. Now, I venture to say that
there are many men here that never
read the sub-treasury bill. A man
may commit himself to a purpose
and yet, possibly, the methods for
the accomplishment of that purpose,
if understood, would not commend
themselves. Now if I understand
this plan—and if I am mistaken I
call upon my distinguished friend to
correct me—no country could get a
warehouse unless one hundred or
more shall petition with evidence
that the gross amount of cotton,
wheat, oats, corn, tobacco, for the
last preceding two years exceeds the
sum of $500,000. Could you get a
sub-treasury in Hancock county? I
have not examined the statistics, but
my own opinion is that you would
not be able to get a warehouse in
this county.
A voice. That is right.
Mr. Black. Now let me tell you,
while I think that there ought to be
legislation for the benefit, not only of
the farmer, but all other interests,
yet the day will never come when
yon will get relief from the sub
treasury warehouse scheme—when
warehouses are to be built and money
loaned to you at 2 per cent, per an
num. Your own party do not agree
on this scheme. We are often
twitted because there are divisions in
the Democratic party. I admit it,
but there are divisions in your own.
Do you not know that the best men
in your Alliance are opposed to the
the sub-treasury in your platform ?
I do not say all the best, but some of
the best. Here is the record. One
of the most distinguished leaders of
the People’s party has announced
that he himself is opposed to the sub
treasury. Listen to what he says;
he is one of your own witnesses.
You want to hear the truth, do you
not? I believe that you want to
follow the truth, but at the same
time I believe with all the earnest
ness of my soul*—while I am making
no claim to infallibility, no pre
eminence of wisdom, while I concede
to every man the same honesty as I
ask for myself, yet I deplore the un
folding of this idea of relief by the
the sub-treasury plan. You are fol
lowing a will o’ the wisp that will
carry you further and further into
irretrievable disaster. Let me ask
you this : How do you conceive the
idea that any class wants to oppress
the farmer ?
Several voices. We see it; we
feel it. (Cheering from the other
side.)
Mr. Black. Suppose that the mer
chant was to put his foot on the neck
of the farmer, is he not killing off
his best customer? Who does the
doctor depend upon for his patients?
Who does the lawyer expect to have
for his client ? Who must the
banker depend upon? Now I say
this, that there are evils to be cor
rected ; that there are burdens to be
lifted ; but let me tell you that when
you are sick, and the sicker you are
the more you stand in need of a
wise and careful physician; the more
you stand in need of a man of broad
statesmanlike experience, with cor
rect views on the great economic
questions. And I say that it is not
friendly to the farmer—l do not say
that it is meant that way, but it is
unfriendliness to the great agricul
tural interests to be prating about
their wrongs and disasters, and cre
ating such discontent. I believe in a
certain kind of discontent. I believe
that no man ought to be content with
himself, but should be forever strug
gling and striving for higher and
nobler things; but I do not believe
in the discontent that breeds a lack
of confidence. No wise physician
would go into the sick room and say
to his patient, “Sir, I see the strug
gle for life—the film of death gath
ering over your eyes.” No, sir; but
the better and wiser physician will
say, “While candor compels me to
say that you are sick,” yet he will
take him by the hand seek to en
courage him; to infuse new hopes
into his breast. That is the kind of
a remedy that these people want, but
I digress.
This is the speech that Mr. Mc-
Keighan delivered in the House of
Representatives. He says:
“The organization known as the Far
mers’ Alliance has been brought into
this discussion. lam a member of that
organization.”
Listen, my friends. These are not
my words, but the words of one of
your own leaders. He continues:
“I am not a believer in the sub-treas
ury for the reason that I find no warrant
for it in the constitution.”
The subject under consideration
was the appropriation for the world’s
fair, and my distinguished friend
may say that still Congress made
the appropriation for the world’s
fair.
But, to come down to the bill, how
will you get the sub-treasury into
operation? You cannot do it, be
cause you have the president and
both houses of Congress against
you. What do you propose to do ?
To enact a bad law because there is
another bad law upon the statute
books? You cannot do that until
you get the two houses and presi
dent. Admit that the government
has done many unwise things. Ad
mit that it lent the money of the
people to bankers and whisky manu
facturers. What is your remedy ?
Call a halt and re-establish wise
laws—just laws. Can you get the
sub-treasury ? Here is one of your
own leaders on the floor of Con
gress who is opposed to it because
he can find no warrant for it.
What else ? I regard the sub
treasury as a crude idea of ’the peo
ple to protect themselves against
certain abuses without understanding
the causes. We all recognize these
evils ; they arise from class legisla
tion, but I propose to tell you in all
fairness and in all candor that it is a
delusion. Now, he gives his rem
edy:
The real remedy will be found .in the
proper regulation and control of rail
roads.”
He does not say own them or buy
them. lam with him there. I be
lieve with Mr. McKeighan that I
believe in honest truth, but I say
that we have had untruth. We can
not expect perfection in man. Do
you expect leaders that will not
make mistakes; that will not fall
into errors? Why, listen! listen!
Hear what my distinguished friend
said in one of his addresses to the
people of Georgia, March 17. Lis
ten ! It seems that this domination
is necessary in the People’s party as
well as in the other parties. Listen :
Let us all be generous enough to sink
individual opinion in the absolute ne
cessity for harmonious action.
“Behold,” my friends, “how good
and beautiful it is for brethren to
dwell together in unity. It is like
the precious ointment that run down
upon the beard of Aaron—even unto
the hem of his garment.”
It* is only by yielding personal likes
and dislikes touching details that any
great movement can achieve success.
Now listen ! Listen to this :
It is no time for squabbles over details ;
no time to fall apart into jealous dis
cordant factions, because we cannot all
have the platform or the candidate just
to our notion.
(At this point the speaker was
reminded that only eight minutes
remained.)
Mr. Black. Well, fellow-citizens,
it seems that my time is nearly ex
hausted. I have spoken under em
barrassments that you cannot realize.
I have tried to be fair, to be honest,
and I made no appeal to passion or
prejudice; and I ask my friends to
give Mr. Watson the same patient
attention that his friends have given
me. And I say to him now that if
he could prove to me on this plat
form before the honest people of the
State of Georgia that he was right
and I was wrong, I would withdraw
from the race, give him my hand
and join with him in any movement
that I conceived to be for the best
interests of the people. (Cheering.)
But I cannot go with him. Not
because I am not in sympathy with
the people of the great State of
Georgia and other States, but be
cause I do not see any relief in his
visionary schemes. I do not care
who he is, lawyer, farmer, merchant,
minister, who is more in sympathy
with the struggles of the poor and
the friendless than I. There is no
sorrow that does not touch a sympa
thetic chord in my heart. There is
no man, there is no woman, there is
no child in this broad world of ours
in whose pathway I would throw a
straw. Nay, I would rather follow
the gospel of the Son of God, and
pray for them that despitefully use
me than put myself in antagonism
with any man. But I cannot follow
him. Why ? Because it leads to
deeper and deeper disasters. Its
principles are wrong.
There are several ether questions
that I would like to discuss; espe
cially the laud plank, but I have not
got time.
I pray the merciful Father—the
one God and Father of us all—that
he will guide the people into peace,
into harmony, into prosperity; and
that his great common love may
make us all prosperous and happy,
and his own merciful name may be
glorified.
Mr. Black sat down amid great
applause, and immediately cries rent
the air for “Watson ! Watson ! Wat
son !”
The chairman advanced and said,
Fellow-citizens, I now introduce to
you the Hon. Thomas E. Watson, of
McDuffie county. v
The concluding words of the
chairman was the signal for another
outburst.
MR. WATSON’S SPEECH.
Fellow-citizens : I am glad that
the speech of to-day is cast in a
much more lofty mould than the
speech of last Saturday. lam glad
that the speech of my distinguished
friend is so different from what it
was last Saturday. lam glad that
he has ceased to denounce me per
sonally, and that the issues in this
campaign are more important than I
am, more important than he is, and
must be discussed by any man who
wants to represent the Tenth Con
gressional district. (Applause.) I
knew quite well when he spoke so
vehemently about bringing back the
flag—
A voice. Yes, Watson, bring it
back ; and cries of, Hurrah for Wat
son !
Mr. Watson. I say here that I
endeavored to give you everything
I promised to give you (addressing
himself in the direction of the voice)
and the man who says I didn’t do so,
and the man who says that I have
wrongfully taken the flag, lies.
A voice. Yes, bring it back!
bring it back!
Mr. Watson. Whenever an insult
is dashed in my face the cowardly
wretch who utters it may expect
here or elsewhere to have it hurled
back in his lying teeth with all the
emphasis that honor and courage
demand. Now, let it be understood
that I am as anxious to discuss these
questions and laws with all courtesy,
free from passion and bitterness, as
any man in this audience, but I am a
gentleman myself.
Cries of, Yes, you are.
Mr. Watson. lam the represen
tative of gentlemen; I have the
prayers of honest men and good
ladies myself, and no man shall in
sult me without getting the reply, as
I just said, that honor and courage
demand. (Great applause.) If
there is any one thing that ought to
be made plainer than another it is
that no white-feathered man shall
represent the Tenth Congressional
district. The Tenth is no white
feathered district. (Wild and long
continued applause.) Up at Craw
fordsville last Saturday, as I said,
there was nothing but denunciation
of Watson.
What remedies do the Democratic
party demand ? The death of Wat
son.
What &re the abuses from which
the country is suffering? The life
of Watson.
What are you going to give the
people in order to relieve their dis
tress? Disgrace Watson.
What is going to ruin the country
if he is elected ? Securing the prin
ciples which the people demand.
Should such a campaign succeed,
my friends, you will sooner or later
curse the vile passion and prejudice
which deterred him from meeting
me face to face to discuss the issues
just as they should be discussed, and
with calmness, with fairness, to ana
lyze the position of the parties.
Civilization would suggest the reme
dy. The heart of the Tenth Con
gressional district is in the right
place and sooner or later will select
the man to elevate the condition- of
the laborer, the farmer and the me
chanic without injury to any one.
I asked him in my Crawfordsville
speech if he would endorse this busi
ness of raking up my private feuds
in bygone years; if he would en
dorse the method of going into my
legislative record; if he would en
dorse these contemptible dodgers
like that Bradwell business that has
been thrown among the colored peo
ple to prejudice them against me.
His answer was that he said nothing
against me, but declined to answer
or justify the dastardly course by
those men who have neither the
honesty to tell the truth nor the
courage to face me in telling a lie.
Now, let me put it to the honest
judgment of both black and white
alike; is not Mr. Black, the man| as
piring for the seat which I now hold,
the man who ought to make those
charges against me?
Cries of. No! No! No! and
Yes! Yes! Yes!
If anybody makes them, ought not
he to be the man? His skirmish
line ought not to sling their poison
ed darts; they ought not to put him
in the contemptible attitude of ac
quiescing in their contemptible
methods if he has not the manliness
to denounce them or face me in en
dorsing them. He ought to endorse
the methods or condemn them.
(Turning around and facing Mr.
Black.) You bring to my mind a
single disrespectful word that any of
my followers bring against you, and
I will either endorse it or if justifia
ble, or correct it if unjustifiable. I
believe in fair aggressive fighting.
(Turning to the audience.) If they
can throw me under these circum
stances, let them do it. One of us
is going to get whipped, and get
whipped badly. (Cheers.) This is
not a little dog-fall business; this is
not a compromise business; this is
a war to the knife, and the knife to
the hilt; it is a contest to the finish;
one of us is going to hit the ground
and hit it hard.
Cries of “You bet he’s hit the
ground now, Tom.”
Mr. Watson (handing Mr. Black a
picture headed “ Congressman Tom
Watson defeats a worthy colored
man’s claim in Congress. Read what
the Rev. Charles L. Bradwell says,”
and the picture of Charles L. Brad
well). Now, of the man or men who
circulated such dodgers as that, I
have only this to say : I brought that
to the notice of your leader at Craw
fordsville, and he scorned to take any
notice of it. Now, the Democrats
or the papers that circulate this story
are putting Mr. Black in a very hu
miliating position. They are either
dirty enough to do the dirty work
for which Mr. Black is not responsi
ble, or Mr. Black is willing enough
for them to do it and not man enough
to take the consequences. (Wild and
long continued applause.)
As I said at Crawfordsville, I will
not go into these personal matters
any more until he repudiates them or
dignifies them by his silence. And I
say here now to his face, let him dare
to mention the Bradwell matter here
to-day, or if not to-day, let him no
tify me now that he intends to allude
to that matter in the future, and I
will expose that thing in such away
that the most ignorant colored man
in this town will have the most in
finite contempt for the man or men
who got up those circulars.
Cries from the colored. We know
it, Mr. Watson; we know it. God
bless you! We know you, and we
know them.
Another voice. Where are you at ?
Mr. Watson. Yes, let the Demo
crats ask where I am at. I know
where I am at. I am running the
Democrats to cover; I am here in
the middle of the big road, and I am
putting my fist squarely between the
eyes of their leader, and he dare not
endorse the scoundrelly slanders from
the outside. That is where lam at.
(Wild applause.)
Now listen. Major Black said that
he thanked my friend over here who
interrupted him by saying that th
leaders had not told them of the w
they had been misled. He thong
he could get great capital out of tha
Now let us see. Suppose two trns
tees had been managing a large es
tate five or six hundred miles away
from you; you took the returns they
forwarded; on the face of these re
turns the estate was being honestly
managed; it went on, say, for fifteen
or twenty years ; you thought that it
was all right; that the books were
all right. Then you began to sus
pect these trustees from the fact that
they were getting richer day by day,
while you were getting poorer and
poorer day by day; they were thriv
ing on that estate while you were
starving. (Grea.t applause.) Suppose
that these facts put you upon inquiry,
those circumstances aroused your
suspicions; that you began to in
quire into them, and the more you
inquired the more dissatified you
were.
(The speaker going to take a
drink of water, and finding the glass
gone): Do not these Democrats
steal my water? (Laughter) I did
not expect much of those Democrats,
but I think they might let me have
a little fresh water. (Renewed
laughter.)
Well, the more you inquired the
more dissatisfied you became, and
you found oui: the cause of your
want of success and their prosperity
to be the dishonest manner in which
they had been administering the
estate, having elected other trustees
who went there and got the informer
tion upon the spot, and made a full
exposure of what has been going on
for the past fifteen or twenty years.
Did not you do that ? ,
Many voices. Yes! Yes! and
No ! No! the yeas having it.
Mr. Watson (addressing his
friends). Be quiet, my friends. Let
me go right ahead. You see that
the crime for which I have been ar
raigned, and my condemnation
sought, is because I told my white
and black friends alike just how
these trustees have been robbing
them; and I told them their future
welfare depended upon the honesty
of the trustees whom they elected in
the future.
Voices. Yes, that is true, and
you bet we will see to it.
Mr. Watson. Now, who are so
mad with me ? Why, these same
trustees who have nothing to lose
and everything to gain by continuing
to deceive you, and destroying the
characters of the trustees who have
been representing you since you, the
people, came into power and looked
after your estate. Now, you might
just as well say that the heirs at law
of this estate were equal in crimi
nality, with the dishonest trustees;
to say that the people who were out
raged and deceived were equally
guilty with the trustees because they
did not find it out sooner, as to
charge the rank and file of the
Democratic party with criminality,
when they did not have the means
of knowing it. The proposition not
only defeats itself for absurdity, but
it is insulting to your intelligence.
The idea! You who have been in
your places of business—in the fields
making your crops, in the shops at
your work-benches, at the forge
making the anvil ring, in the facto
ries and other places of honest in
dustry—and now because you did
not find it out ten, fifteen, twenty
years ago, these same dishonest trus
tees come up and insult you by tel
ling you to your faces that you are
equally guilty with them in theil
rascality. (Wild applause.) What
do you think of the men who say,
“You ought not to say a word now,
but let us continue fifteen or twenty
years more because you did not find
out sooner.” (Uproarious
long continued cheering, and cries of
“Good-bye, Jimmie!”)
Now listen ! You Democrats ought
to keep quiet, because it is so awful
funny that even you will enjoy it if
you will consent to take it in.
Twelve years ago no man de
nounced corporations and cliques in
Georgia with more bitterness than
my friend Mr. Black. Twelve years
ago hs denounced the ring rule which
I now denounce, and the only differ
ence between him and me is that ha
has gone over to the ringsters while
I ana still making my fight for the
people with the strength that God
Almighty has given me. (Great ap
plause.) At that time I was stand
ing by his side denouncing ring rule
that had brought corruption into
Georgia politics, and which corrup
tion I no w denounce and he upholds.
(Long continued cheering.) Listen
to what he says :
They now call me a dreamer, and I
have expelled to Arcadia, but I would
like before I go to get a little Arcadian
atmosphere into Georgia politics.
Sneers and jeers from Mr. Black’s
friends.
Mr. Watson (continuing after long
confusion). I say now, as Mr. Black
said then, that I would rather have
the dream of an honest man, looking
to the wellfare of am honest people,
looking, forward to the enactment of
pure and just laws by which every
man’s home, however humble, would
be protected, than with my eyes
open take chains in my hands and
go to the industrial classes and try
to rivet them forever.
A voice. Where is the flag? and.
long continued cheering from Mr,
Watson’s consthuents.
Mr. Watson. Where is the flag!
Where is the flag! y)h, my good
friends, the easiest man in the world
to handle is the old moss-grown
Democrat who cries out, “Where’s
the flag ?” Why, that fellow has not
got even sense enough to get away.
r Note—This was the same fellow