Below is the OCR text representation for this newspapers page.

2 in Mr. Stephens? In me it is a damnable crime, and I ought to be covered wish disgrace for doing the same thing that Alexander Stephens did. f Laughter.] And yet, he catches hold of Alexander 11. Steph ens’ coat tails to save him from the consequence of his vote on the Bul lock bonds. [Renewed laughter.] [Reads.] But the Democrats with Herschel V. Johnson as their candidate for Governor, fell back upon their old platform. The contest was warm and close, resulting in the election of Mr. Johnson by about five thousand votes. There are plenty of men here to day that remember that. A voice. Yes, I do. Mr. Watson (continues to read): Mr. Stephens was very anxious that old party issues should be abandoned, and that the Southern men should stand united upon the Georgia platform of 1850, but when the union formed upon this basis showed so little cohesion and permanence he lost still more of the con fidence he had in the ability of the South to hold her own amid the penis and trials that were gathering thickly and in many forms about her. Let us see where he next was. In 1849 you had him an organized Whig refusing to vote for Howell Cobb. Then you find him organiz ing a new party. That new party got defeated, and where did he go? Why, into the ranks of the despised Democrats. A voice. Tommy, that’s where you once were. Mr. Watson. Now what? Old party lines were very much broken up. Mr. Stephens went to Augusta, where I went the other night. A voice. Tell us about that, Mr. Watson. (Murmurs of indignation through the audience.) Well, Mr. Stephens went to Augusta and said that he was going to run for Con gress. How? As a Whig? On the ticket of the party which had given him his first honors ? Why did they not ask him “ What have you done with the flag ? ” Why did not they stand up and howl at him‘ “Traitor, traitor, traitor?” Why did not they send men from point to point, armed and bent on mischief, trying to draw that little man into a difficulty and take his life ? Look at his course at Washington. In that speech he an nounced himself as a candidate for Congress irrespective of any conven tion. Independent, running on his own merits, toting his own skillet. Why did not they ask him, “ Little Alex., what have you done with the flag?” (Applause.) Air. Stephens went right on to Washington, elected as an independent, and immediately began— [At this point considerable confu fusion ensued, from some cause I could not discover.] Mr. Watson. Boys, be quiet. A voice. Mr. Watson, w T e could not help it; Black fell. (Alluding to the banner.) Mr. Watson. Why cannot you ail be quieA as that man up the tree yon der going to sleep ? (Laughter.) He knows that when I am preaching he need not keep his eye skinned, and he is taking his nap. But when Air. Black gets up he will have to keep his eyes open to catch every word he says. • Well, he (Stephens) says, Decem ber 2d, just after he has been elected as an independent, speaking to this very people, some of whom I am looking at here to-day. After he had left his party and creed, was the charge made against him, as against me, of abandoning his flag and com ing back with the red sword of an enemy in his hand? After he had done what my friend, Air. Black, with a rhetorical flourish -would call tramp ling the flag under his feet, what did he do, I say? [Reads] : I am very well pleased with the politi cal prospects as far sb I have yet seen. 1 find that a better state of feeling is now existing among the Northern Democrats than I have ever seen before. I drew up the resolution for their caucus last night, which was presented“by General Clancey Jones, of Pennsylvania, and unanimously adopted. That is to say, he went out of the Whig party into the Constitutional party, and from that into no party at all. [Great enthusiasm and laugh ter.] Elected as an independent, toting his own skillet and acknowl edging no party ties, he went straight into the Democratic caucus as quick as his nose could carry him. [Laughter.] Why? Simply because that grand old statesman saw with the vision of prophetic instincts where the path of duty led them,and like a brave old Democrat he did not hesitate to tread that path. [Great applause.] Furthermore, according to Air. Johnson, from that time on Air. Stephens acted with the Democratic party. So he did until he got into this crowd of Atlanta and Augusta thimble riggers. Until this very crowd that is to-day thirst ing for my disgrace and my defeat turned against the old man because he -would not knuckle down and take soup out of their spoons, and he said U I am going to run for Congress, and I will allow no convention of thimble riggers to dictate my actions.” [Great applause.] Now, I want to scour some Deinocratict skulls this morn ing, that they will be in better con dition to take in some information. 1 want to tell them something that they do not know, because in their willful blindness they make up their minds not to see, but that does not obscure the glorious truth. Truth is mighty, and it will break through the clouds sooner or later, and men will fall down and worship at its shrine. [Applause.] The Augusta ring, through its minions, called me traitor. The thimble riggers of At lanta tried to provoke him into a duel. Ben Hill had said that he was a worse man than Judas Isca- PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30. 1802. riot. They say that I not only left the Democratic party, but heaped scorn upon it. So I did, and I in tend to stick to it. • [Applause.] Why do I say that? Because they have deceived us. Because • they have made promises to us that they have not kept. Because they have promised us free silver, and have not even made an effort. Because they have promised to give us more money and decrease the expendi tures, and they have done neither. Because they have promised to give us an income tax. Voices. Traitor traitor, traitor. Hurrah for Black! Air. Watson. You boys postpone your hallooing for about twelve years and you can do it with more sense. Well, here Ben Hill was put for ward to go into this district and de nounce Air. Stephens as a Judas Iscariot, and Stephens threw down the gage of battle and challenged him to fight a duel. Air. Hill very properly, I think, refused that chal lenge, and I simply cite that instance to show how bitter they were against Alexander 11. Stephens, the man whose picture they carry around as an indorsement of the Augusta ring. [Great cheering.] Voices. ’Rah for Black! Traitor traitor. There seemed to be a de termination on the part of the im ported crowd to create such confu sion that the speaker could not pro ceed.] Air. Black. Aly friends, be quiet, please, or it will appear that Air. Watson has more influence over his friends than I have on mine. Air. Watson. Now, I know it hurts, boys, but then that argument, as your candidate will tell you, does not count. Air. Black can take care of that better than you can, and then when he is done, I can take care of him with all ease. Here is what Air. Stephens said, in that Augusta speech when he faced, as I had to face the other night, an audience of dissatisfied constituents, many of them calling him traitor. W hat did he say to the howling audience? Did he say that he was afraid? No. Here is what he said: [Reads.] I am afraid of nothing on the earth, or above the earth, or under the earth but to do wrong. The path of duty I shall endeavor to travel, tearing no evil and dreading no consequences. 1 would rather be defeated in a -good cause than tr.umpb in a bad one. Voices. Right, right, right. Hur rah for Alex Stephens. Air. Watson. I am ready to re peat that sentiment to-day. The path of duty I shall endeavor to travel fearing no consequences, even if I knew that the snows should be dimmed by my life’s blood and these principles should be covered by my tomb. (Prolonged cheering.) A voice. (Put water on his head; oh; you old w : ater head. Air. Watson. I would rather have water on my head than inside of it. Now get your friends to squeeze the sap out. (Laughter.) In Crawfordsville, at the opening of these discussions, I tried to get it away from these personal issues. Not because I am afraid to meet them anywhere but because it is not the question at issue. The question at issue is not whether I betrayed any one two years ago. The ques tion is whether the People’s party should march on to victory or the Democratic party should wear the laurels. The question is whether our platform ought’to be indorsed rather than theirs ; should our prin ciples be indorsed rather than theirs. This issue at stake is this. The in dustries of the country are at a dis advantage. The laborers of our country have not an equal showing in their contest with the world. The farmers of the country are pressed down by a system which empowers a syndicate to force down to six cents cotton -which costs eight in the field. And our people are asking themselves which one of these par ties by its declaration of principles comes nearest to meeting these wants ? A voice. God bless you, Tom. Air. Watson. Now, brother Far rar, do not interrupt me, please. It is vastly more important that you should all hear this than that I should receive your commendation, however gratifying it may be to me. (Applause.) What are the reme dies that we propose? On a fair discussion of these questions will be decided the contest now waging. He says that the tariff is the pabu lum for all your evils. He cannot denounce the tariff evil more bitterly than I do; but, I say that the Peo ple’s party is pursuing a better way to reach the goal than they. How? By substituting a better w r ay of rais ing the money to run the govern ment. The Democrats cannot give you the relief you demand on the tariff question. Why ? Because the money must be raised to run the government and they have proposed no other method of raising it. We can. How? We say we will raise it by an income tax. (Great ap plause.) When I asked him down at Crawfordsville how he was going to raise this revenue for the expenses of the government he was silent; but down at Sandersville he had re covered his tongue and said—what ? “We are going to do it by the income tax, because it is in the Georgia State platform.” Now, mark you! The people of AlcDuflie county met and adopted a platform. The people of Lincoln county met and adopted a platform. And so on, other coun ties adopted a platform, all having a distinct leaning tow’ards the Ocala platform, taking in everything ex cept the sub-treasury, Well, they all went up to Atlanta and incorpor ated their wishes in the State plat form, putting in a demand for more money and a resolution against State banks, and they pledged those dele gates to go to the national conven tion at Chicago and vote for that platform. They went there and met the delegates from the East, West and North, and made no fight for the principles of that platform, and came back home like the cow ards they were, recreant to their trust. Cries of right, right, right you are. [Loud and long continued ap plause.] Air. Watson. Why did they not stand up and fight for the income tax? Because they knew they had no more chance to effect anything than a feather in a cyclone. And when Air. Black talks about the Geor gia platform, he knows well that he is indulging in the most idle fan faronade of nonsense. [Great cheer ing.] There is not a man in the State of Georgia, with enough sense to come in out of the wet, who does not know that national questions must be decided by national plat forms, and that State platforms cut no figure. [A wave of enthusiastic endorse ment swept over the audience, last ing several minutes, coupled with a feeble attempt by the enemy to turn it by insultingly referring to the Corbin bank myth, which the speaker so deeply buried at Sparta.] Air. Watson. He says that they will reduce the tariff. How much? They do not say how much. They have not formulated a bill, and can not. AVhy? Because it requires all the present revenue for the current expenses of the government. But let us say that they will reduce it ten per cent, which they cannot do, in my judgment, without devising other means of supplying the de ficiency. How much does the tariff amount to ? It raises in round numbers, $200,000,000 for the gov ernment ; and for every dollar it robs the people of, it gives the manu facturer from four to six. Now it proposes to the robber to reduce the robbery one dollar out of every ten, and we will say that you are a scholar and a gentleman, and go on doing the best you can, contenting yourself with nine in place of ten. In other words, a 56 per cent tariff is an unmixed curse, and a 48 per cent tariff is an unmixed blessing. [Cheering.] That is Democracy. [Derisive laughter.] Why, my friends, in 1892, even supurb Demo crats like my distinguished compet itor had to pause at Crawfordsville and ask, “Where am I at ?” [Loud and long continued applause.] Why, my friends, less than one hundred thousand men in this America of ours own more than half Lthe wealth 'thereof. Under the present system they do nd pay- taxes on their im mense fortunes, made by this iniquit ous system, and when people demand a reform of the abuses the Demorats propose to reduce the robbery to nine dollars where before it was ten. [Great applause.] What do we say in our national platform? I do not mean in the AlcDuflie county plat form or the Georgia platform, but in our national platform? We say that the hundred thousand men who own half the wealth of the country should pay half the taxes. Cries of That’s the talk; that’s right and just. [Cheering.] Air. AVatson. And the moment that was enacted into law, there is not a poor white man in the crowd, there is not a poor black man in the crowd, that would not feel a bur den lifted from his shoulders, a cloud swept from his horizon, and God’s sunshine illuminating his heart. [Great applause.] Why should not the millionaire pay taxes? His rage has been more cruel than that of Alexander, more desolating than that of Napoleon. [Renewed ap plause.] They have taken your public land—paid for with your tax money, paid for with your blood— and to-day the man who marched under the conquering banners to give us this vast domain, or the men whose taxes purchased the splendid territory under Jefferson, does not have the poor privilege of marking out his homestead without paying a bounty to the railroads -which re ceived it as a gift. The grandest act of Thomas Jefferson’s life was that he purchased 147,000,000 acres from France and Spain and consecrated it to the homes of a happy and con tented people. (Applause.) To-day, who has that land ? The monopo lists and railroad corporations, and the people w T ho paid for it writh their blood and treasure holding banks in the lottery. (Tremendous cheering.) Where are the Alexican soldiers to - day, like my friend Emanuel Bush, who served valiantly in that campaign, feeling that it would secure homes for his children and children’s children, and that the American eagle -would spread its wings over it for all time to come ? And yet, to-day the monopolists have that land while the Alexican soldiers, who poured their blood out like a sweet liberation, are dragging their bones do wn in a comfortless old age. AVe say that these millionaires -who monopolize your lands, your coal fields, your silver beds and your money ought to pay their share of the taxes. Voices. Yes, and they will, they must, we wall make them. [Cheers.J Air. AVatson. Now let us come to the money question. Do not you all understand that you have to swap your skill, and product of your skill, the product of your farms, for the necessaries and comforts of life? [Yelling and confusion by the im ported crowd.] Air. AVatson. That is a knock down argument for the Democrats, but you may as well be qgjet. lam going to make it. You are not in Augusta to-day, my intelligent Dem ocratic [Laughter and waving of handkerchiefs by the ladies.] I say this, that where there is fif ty dollars in circulation in one com munity, and twenty-five in another, that it is easier to get a part of the fifty than of the twenty-five. Don’t the most stupid moss-back Democrats here know’ that? Voices. If they were blind they could see it. [Cheers.] Air. Watson. Let me tell you, my friends, that the best thinkers of the past as well as the present, men like Adam Smith and Thomas Jeffer son, saw that the money of the coun try ought to bear a fair proportion to the business of the country. The business of the country to day requires more than two dollars where one now circulates. Do you not see, then, that it requires two bales of cotton to buy your necessa ries where before it required only one. [Another effort was made at this point to drowm the speaker’s voice, but good natured determination, coupled with overwhelming num bers, overcame the imported row dyism.] Air. Watson. Cannot the most obtuse Democrat see that when money is the representative of value, that when money is the medium of exchange, that w’hen money is the mere tool of trade, you have to sw’ap your products, and that the less money there is in circulation the more of your products you have to give for it. One of the ring reporters (so toto voice.) That is unanswerable. Air. AVatson. Do you not see that you have not money enough to do your business; that many a man is struggling along under a debt contracted when one bale of cotton would pay as much on it as two will now; that takes two days labor when one would have done; takes two bushels of corn, or wheat, or any other'commodity where one was suf ficients, We say that it is to the in terest of every professonal man, of every mechanic, of every laborer or cropper in the country to have a sufficient volume of money to do the business of the country. AVhy, that ought to come with force enough to penetrate even the skull of a Demo crat. [Applause.] • AVhat do they propose? They propose to give you State banks, whil we insist on giving you national money, issued by the government. [Turning to the reporters of the ring power.] I w’ant you reporters to catch that as I said it, and for that purpose I will repeat it. I just said that they propose to give you State banks, and while we insist on giving national treasury money. Air. Black. [Addressing both Air. Watson and the audience, with out rising from his seat.] AA hy, you have a reporter here, and what is the necessity for this? Air. Watson. Air. Black calls my attention to the fact that that I have a reporter here. I have and lam glad he mentioned it, for I will state here, and challenge contradiction, that Air. Driscol, in my much des pised little paper, has given the only full and fair reports of these discus sions. Air. Watson. They say that I have made twenty thousand dollars off my paper; I have lost over three thousand. They say that I have made five thousand dollars off my book ; I have lost money every day. I work for nothing and feed myself besides. (Laughter.) I will say another thing that some of you may not kno-w, the reports of these de bates, published in full, are as un known to me until they come out as to Alajor Black. [Turning to Alajor Black.] Ido not see the notes or revise a line any more than you do. [Facing the audience.] Now, is not that fair ? Cries of Yes, Tom, yes; that’s just hke you. [Great applause.] Alajor Black [to Alajor McGregor and others.] I will concede, gentle men, that you have the most compe tent reporter.] Air. AVatson. Look here, business men! I want you to compare onr plan with theirs. You owe it to yourselves and to your neighbors to compare these two methods. Fin ance is the life blood of the nation. Thomas Jefferson denounces State banks as alienated to shavers and swindlers under the cover of private banks. You [to Air. Black] talk to us about flooding the country with paper money with one breath wriiile you propose doing the same thing writh another. Under on plan the strength of forty-four States would be behind every dollar. Under your plan every dollar would have the strength of but one State. Ours would have the strength of the Re public. Yours would have only the strength of one member of the Re public. Ours would have the power of the nation, issued on a uniform plan, and good anywhere. Yours would have a local power behind it without legs strong enough to carry it beyond the borders of the State. In a word, ours would be issued under the acts of Congress, issued in sufficient volume to meet the require ments of the business needs of the country and secured by the lands and the industries of the entire na tion, and would live as long as the nation lived. Under your plan each State w’ould hate its ow ; n plan and the paper issued would not be legal tender—would be mere prom ises to pay—and the banker would be charging you interest on what he ow r ed you. (Applause and laughter.) The lending of money is an inci dent. The government is the lender, and w’e propose to get it among the people by any plan that will not give a monopoly to any class. AVe propose to give the raiser of cotton, the raiser of wriieat, the raiser of corn, or any other staple commodity, the same chance as the holder of bonds. AVe propose to destroy the monopoly now’ existing, and give other classes a chance, with reasonable limitations. You propose to remedy the evil by adding another privilege to a class that is already in existence and to perpetuate an injustice by which the vast majority of the citizens are for over shut out from the equal enjoy ment of that which belongs equally to all. Our plan contemplates a cur rency good in every State, stable as the government itself, costing no roy alty in the w r ay of discount or inter est on its way to the people. A ours demands that no currency shall, issue directly from the government to the people, but that there shall always be a special class standing between the government and the people, and that this special class shall receive the money from the government on its own terms, and then impose on the people at large just such terms as they please. AVe propose a currency that will pay debts and taxes, coming to the people untaxed. You propose a system of due bills issued to a special class, and that the people of the country shall pay these men for the privilege of using their due bills, and at the same time these due bills are not and cannot be money—can not be used as money to pay off the mortgage on your farms or transact any business except by special con tract, and even in your private busi ness is subject to be rejected by any man w’ho chooses. In this age of progress, when the man in Thomson trades writh New York, w’hen the man in Augusta trades writh Chicago, and a sound, uniform currency is de manded by every principle of busi ness, the Democrats propose to do the crawfish act and go back to the practices w’hich Jefferson denounced, by issuing a currency which is only good in the State w’here it made its debut. AVe say give us a currency that is good everywhere. You pro pose to give us money that must be used at home. How? By having money so cheap that no one will have it. So w’eak that its delicate limbs will not carry it across the State line. So mean and worthless that the great satraps of finance do not want it, while the lesser satellites of State banks do. Now, if our people want that sys tem, let them take up with this fu neral wdiich followed this crepe ban ner to-day. (Great laughter.) I wish I had time to show you that our land plank has been misunder stood and misrepresented, and that it is the correct idea. I would like to show you that the purchase of rail roads is not w’hat they claim, but strictly in harmony with the theory of government embodied in our con stitution and laws, viz.: that the great channels of commerce should not be monopolized by private par ties. I have not time to do that. In conclusion, my friends, let me beseech you, as People’s party men, as gentlemen, to listen to Air. Black writh respect and patience, and no matter what the pro vocation may be, leave him to me, in my fifteen min utes, to take care of him. I tell you, friends, in this government no unfair means can flourish permanently, and every time that I am howled down it will make me stronger. If he should be howled down it will make him stronger. The great body of the people are sound to the core, and you cannot get them to adopt the unfair conduct of unfair men. Our platform represents our wushes; our fight is for the right; we have nothing to fear from open and fair discussion ; and if it is wrong we ought to be silenced and driven from our position. As for myself, I have no doubt but that every day our movement grows stronger. Every time they try to check the progress of this flood it gains in strength, and it is going on and on with the impetuosity given by the stout hearts of brave men and the prayers of Christian women. And I tell you that the orisons of fair w’omenhood and the thanks even of our enemies will follow us for the blessings we have brought them. The time was called at 11:15 and the speaker took his seat in the midst of enthusiastic applause and a co pious shower of flowers. Air. Black was introduced by the chairman of the Democratic execu tive committee and received writh great enthusiasm by his followers, while not an insulting w’ord was leveled at him by the People’s party men. ME. BLACK’S REPLY. Ladies and gentlemen—l con gratulate you upon the good order maintained by this large concourse of people, and upon their good tem per. 1 congratulate you upon what I think is a disposition to hear both sides of the question. That spirit ought to characterize all public dis cussions. It is to be presumed that the supreme desire of every man to hear the truth—to know the truth — and when he has found the truth to follow’ it. You have heard my com petitor writh patience, and now I ask from you the same patient and fair hearing. A voice. AVe’re agin’ you, but we will give it to you, Air. Black. Air. Black. I believe you will. I have no doubt but you will—none whatever. Air. AVatson has made some personal allusions to myself which it is necessary for me to no tice. He has sought to vindicate before you his own public record, and that I feel called upon to notice. It is admitted by him, it is admitted by all candid men, that when a man presents himself before the people soliciting their suffrages for any high office that his public record is the subject of fair, just and legitimate criticism. A voice. That’s all right, Colonel; do it fair. Mr. Black. lie says that he has enlightened us. He says that we lack information. He has said in other places that we did notread. I believe that in one of our discussions he asked the question, with an air of triumph, whether or not the Demo crats could read. [Laughter.] Well, I think they can read. I think they have read his public record. I think that they have read the ridicule, the invective and the abuse that he has heaped on the Democratic party —• the very party that put him in power. The very party that entrusted him with its commission when it sent him forth with an honor rarely con ferred on one so young, to Congress to take the place of Alexander 11. Stephens. How did he go there ? Did he go there representing the farming element? Did he go there representing the Alliance ? Did he go there representing any particular class or interest? No. He went there representing the great Demo cratic party of the Tenth congress ional district. Many voices. Hurrah for Black. Counter cries—Hurrah for Watson. Other voices—traitor, traitor. A gentleman on the corner of the stage, shaking his head deprecatingly, You had better stop that, boys. Mr. Black. If you have any re spect for me, my friends, be quiet and respectful. [The influence of fear did what the appeals of Dlr. Black failed to do Monday night in Augusta, namely, made them act like gentlemen dur ing the remainder of the speech] Mr. Black. I was saying he went there representing the great Demo cratic party of the Tenth congres sional district. (Addressing his re marks to Mr. Watson.) The very party in which you were brought up. (Facing the audience.) The very party that had nursed him. The Democratic party is his own political mother. In the arms of that mother he was tenderly nursed; from the breast of that mother he drew the milk thatj gave him sustenance and sustained his life. He went out of the Tenth congressional district and into the Congress of the United States with the now hated, and de spised, and deprecated name of Democrat written with his own hand upon his own brow’, and now he comes back with the red sword of an enemy in his hand. (Cheering.) Now, be quiet. I cannot consume my time going into his political record in detail, beginning with 1888, when he was a Democratic elector. When he went before the people of the State of Georgia as an elector on the Democratic ticket of Grover Cleveland, this same Grover Cleve land who is to-day the standard bearer of the Democratic party. This same Grover Cleveland whom he tells you entered into an unholy alliance w’ith the monopolists of Wall street. Why did he not tell you that in 1888 ? We had three political parties then. Do you not know that ? No voter in 1888 was confined to the Democratic and Re publican parties. We had a party known as the Union Labor party —a party that has the same financial platform as your Omaha platform ; a party almost identical with your own ; substantially the same on the income tax, and the land question, and these great distinguishing planks of the parties of the present day, with Mr. Streetor as its candidate for the presidency, and in the face of that party, and in the face of that platform, and in the face of that can didate, representing these very prin ciples, he went before the people of the State of Georgia as an elector for Grover Cleveland and advocated his claims as a man who had the courage of his convictions, as a man who had the courage to meet every issue, as a man who had the bravery to strike at every abuse. A voice. But we were not in formed then. Dlr. Black. You say you were not informed. Why did your leaders not inform you? You say to day that for twenty-five years the Democratic party has been deceiving you. Then why did not your lead ers undeceive you ? A voice. Because w’e were not organized. Voices from the Demo crats. Be quiet now, and don’t in terrupt. Mr. Black. Those statements are not disrespectful. Listen, honest mad men. You w r ant to know the truth. Where w r ere your leaders ten or fifteen years ago ? Where w’ere they four years ago ? Mark you, Cleveland was a candidnte for president four years ago ? Streetor was a candidate for president four years ago. Streetor had substan tially the same platform that you have to-day. I do not single out my competitor as an exception; but all the leaders who are associated with him in this new r movement, with a few exceptions, were leading you then in the Democratic party. They told you four years ago that Cleve land was the man to vote for. They told you that the tariff was the great issue in the country. They told you that that was what was bringing ruin upon the country. Now, I want to write it on the