The People's party paper. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1891-1898, September 30, 1892, Page 6, Image 6

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6 THE TENTH DISTRICT. [continued frcm third page.] Mr. Black. Suppose that I admit ihat the government lends money to the whisky men at five per cent. That is wrong, ain’t it? Voices. Certainly it is wrong. Mr. Black. Why of course it is wrong. Well, I say this, that if there is not a wrong of that kind on the statute books that I will not go as far as any man in the land to remove ; but how do you propose to right it ? You can do nothing until you have control of the government. Now, sup pose that you had the lower house, and that Weaver was in the Presi dential chair, what is the first thing you propose to do ? To commit the same wrong—the same iniquity that you say has been committed in favor of the whisky ring. A voice. That is right: You want to help the monopolists; we will help ourselves. Mr. Black. Now, if we want to do right, let us do right, and not if we get into power, enact bad laws be cause somebody else has enacted, when they had power, another bad law. Your platform says that you want fifty dollars per capita, at least. You do not say how much more. I asked my friend before if he issued money on the cotton product of the United States, if he issued money on the corn product, if he issued money on the wheat product, if he issued money to buy the railroads of the country, if he issued money to re claim the lands, how much the per capita circulation would be to do all this? Suppose a man came along who was running a saw mill and said, “1 want money on my lumber,” and then a man who owned a mine came along and said, “I want money op my mine,’' would it not be just as reasonable as for the man who raised wheat, or corn, or cotton ? Suppose that the laborer wanted money on his muscle, or the manu facturer on his manufactured pro ducts, would that not be just as reasonable as the other? Why, my friends, in the first place, there is no more likelihood of such a law as that ever being put in force as there is of you getting paid for your emanci- Cated slaves, and if you had such a kw it would bring the direst disas ter to every industry—to the farmer and the laborer as well as to the merchant and the banker; to the professional man and the mechanic, all alike. Now, my competitor may enter tain you. He may make you laugh. He may say many things, and doubt less he will, that is pleasing. He may indulge in his gifts of retort and repartee; but come, let us reason together. I call a halt on this mad current of public opinion into which the public has been lashed. I appeal to their reason, to their intelligence and better judgment; to think well; to not put their feet in uncertain ways; to feel their way ere they start on a road the end of which is not peace and prosperity, not justice or happiness. It would flood our country with a currency which would inflict its greatest curse upon the poor and the helpless laborer of the country. That is the prescrip tion that these wise, latter day phy sicians prescribe for the sick body politic. You say that here is an un just law, here is iniquitous class leg islation, and what remedy do you propose? You say, “You infernal scoundrels when you were in power you went into an unholy alliance with the whisky men and passed bad laws, attd have arisen in our might and cleansed the temple of these devils— [The speaker’s voice was drowned amid a babel of approval and disap proval of what was anticipated. The concluding words could not be heard by your reporter, and I doubt very much whether the speaker heard them.] Mr. Black. Now, Ido not know that it is necessary for me to say a word about the sub-treasury bill. The only reason I have heard ad vanced in its favor is that the Gov ernment has done things as bad. Now, my friends, the only way to remedy these evils after you have cleansed the temple, is to repeal these bad laws. A voice. Put in the right men and they will do it. Mr. Watson. Boys, be quiet. My time is coming directly. [Laughter.] Mr. Black. Why, the sub-treas ury is not fair even to the farmers of the country. A man sits down here in Georgia and says, “I will rai-e cotton and I can borrow so much on it, and the same is said by the man that raises corn and wheat. Now did you ever think of the proposi tion ? It gives nothing to the man that raises hay, and I am informed that the hay crop of the United States amounts to more than the cot ton crop. Do you think that this thing is right? Do you not know, fellow-citizens, that that is unjust. Do you not know that when you start in to such a scheme that you will have a Government that, instead of helping one class you will have succeeded in establishing a central ized despotism ? There are a great many other ob jectionable features in this platform which I have not time to take up in detail. But it seems to me that the people have allowed themselves to be carried away with a perfect trans port of passions, and prejudice, and feeling, by the sub-treasury plan. They seem to have forgotten that there is another plank in this plat form, and that is the plank about the railroads. My competitor said the other night in Augusta, I be- I PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30. 1892. lieve, that that plank was put in there, if not at the instance, in the interest of the country. Mr. Watson. No, I said that the distinctive feature come down through Knights of Labor and they agreed to tight for those principles irrespective of party. That one of the planks which your party, and yourself, so strongly condemn was that the government should own and operate the railroads. Mr. Black. Well, my point is that the financial plank of the sub-treas ury plan was in the interest of the man that had something, and against the interest of the man who had nothing. W here is the poor man who has not a foot of land—not even enough to bury his child—- where are you going to raise the cotton to borrow money on this sub treasury plan? Why, it helps no one but the man with the land. It is not in the interest of the black man; it is not in the interest for any man. It is at w*ar with every in terest, it is class legislation and ought to be condemned by every man. If you get into power the first thing you propose to do is something for which you have curs ed the party already in power. I say no. No party can pass a law until it comes into power. You have to get both houses of Congress, and you have to get the Presidency, before you can pass a single law. Have you as good a chance to do tnat as the Democratic party? Voices. Yes, we have only to vote right. Mr. Black. My friend, you are mistaken. You will never live to see that day. Now listen. Let us be practical. There is no use in having impracticable theories. lam assured that you want something practical. Something that you can use to benefit you. Well, will any man tell you confidently, that he expects to see your party get into power at the next elections. Now don’t you know that you have only nine or ten members of Congress out of 333, and do you expect to get a majority? When do we expect the Senate? Do not consult your prejudices against rich men, against city men, against right and justice. Sit down and consult the reason with which your Creator has en dowed you. How is it possible if you cannot have the faintest hope of getting control of the government. Now I do not believe in abandon ing principle because you are in the minority any more than my compe - titor. I say that a man ought to stand for principle, without compro mising or swerving if he was the only man in the world who was for that principle. (Cheering and laugh ing.) I say this, we ought not to lose our senses. Voices. We ain’t going to. (Laughter.) What is the use for us to try to do something that is impracticable, that is impossible,when there is a fair chance to obtain, possibly not so much, but a great deal ? * Now listen. He talks about in come tax, taxing the millionaire. I am as much in favor of taxing the millionaire as he is. (Laughter.) I will go as far if honored with your suffrages, as any just and fair man will go. I will not be controlled by any prejudice against the rich man, I will tell you that. A voice. We know that without you telling us. (Renewed laugh ter.) Mr. Black. I would not do the rich man an injustice any sooner than I would do the poorest man in your midst an injustice. I would do all men justice alike. And no pub lic clamor could swerve me from the path of rectitude. No,not if it was as loud and terrific as the thunder that shook the base of Sinai or as vivid as the lightning that played about olympias sacred summit, would I be moved to do injustice to any man, rich or poor. But while I say that I will say this also, that I will go as far as any just man can go to im pose upon the wealth of the country its just and fair proportion of the burdens of government. I admit that there is no plank in our plat form demanding an income tax. I say what I said before, that I go on the Georgia State platform, and that I will go as far as I can to carry the platform out. I say, too, that there are more Democrats in the Congress of the United states that will vote for the income tax than there are Third party men. Voices. Oh, oh! Mr. Black. I repeat it, and I challenge successful contradiction. A voice. That is because you have so many more, but wait till af ter November and then where will your party be? Mr. Black. Listen. There is no more prospect of your party getting in power than of taking wings and flying. You want to know the party that will serve you best, and that has the best -opportunity to serve you. That will bring you the most pros perity. Here is one that is willing to concede some of your demands, and has some prospect of getting into power. Here is another full of promises, but mixed up with so much that is impracticable that it does not illuminate the sky of your demands with the first ray of hope. Now listen! I wish that I had time to go into this State bank ques tion. He says that Jefferson ap proved the financial scheme of your platform. From that proposition I dissent. 1 have no’; time now to take the work and read it, but I have raad it. I have put. as fair an interpretation noon it as any moi could. But I do say that the most distinterested and best financial authority in the United States to-day has put its seal of approval upon that plank, which recommends State banks. • He says that the money will not be good outside of Georgia. What is the trouble with you now? The money has been hoarded at the north and east. Money has found its center there and there it goes. Do you colored men think, do you toilers think, do you farmers think that it would be something in your interest if you had a currency that did not have to circulate so far away? Do not you think it would be a good thing to have a currency that would not go to the men who are so covetous that they lay their hands on everything within reach? If the currency pays your tax and grocery bills, what do you care whether the men in these money centers want it or not? It has done it in the past. lam not a very old man and I recollect, and I have no doubt but there are many men who recollect when the bank of Hamburg South Carolina, had a credit from one end of the world to the other. I know that it was the same in my own State of Kentucky. Mr. Watson. Will you allow me to ask you a question? Mr. Black. Certainly. Mr. Watson. Can a State make it legal tender? Mr. Black. No, sir, but a State can throw proper safeguards around it, like the government protects its bonds. The State can protect it and make it legal tender to all in tents and purposes for buying your clothing, groceries, boots shoes, etc., and what do you care whether a man on the other side of the Ohio river wants it or not? Mr. Watson. What is your plan? Mr. Black. Secure it by bonds— by good municipal bonds deposited as security—and it would furnish you with a currency practically sound, practically flexible, and it is a better currency for all interests than a cur rency secured by the agricultural products of this great country that would flood the country, as I said elsewhere, with money as thick as the leaves of autumn and about as worthless. No man is more inter ested in a sound, stable currency than the farmer, the man who lives by his toil. Why do you recollect the Confederate times, when the money was so thick that men had baskets of it—cotton bags of it— enough in some places, I suppose, to roof their beds at night, but what was it worth ? You must look to the character of the money as well as to the volume. And now when my competitor comes in in his fifteen minutes’ reply I want him to tell you how much he proposes to issue on the land, how much he proposes to issue on |he railroads, how much he proposes to issue on the telegraphs and telephones, and how much upon the land in the hands of aliens and corporations. He has been putting questions to me, and I respectfully ask him to answer those. He says in his book that he is going to issue money to buy the railroads of the country; he is going to issue notes to buy the telegraphs and telephones. Did he ever think what that scheme would put on you ? Thousands of Federal officers. Every railroad en gineer, every railroad fireman, every railroad train hand, every railroad superintendent, in a word, every railroad employe, from the highest to the lowest. Did you ever think of that, men, in your sober senses ? Stop and think of this mad passion that has come upon the people and carried thera away from their moor ings. Stop! in the name of your wives Time called. The speaker took his seat amid great applanse, and some handsome flowers were forwarded to the stand for him. When Mr. Watson arose to reply it was the signal for a fresh outburst of applause, which lasted some minutes, when he advanced and spoke as follows: MR. WATSON IN CONCLUSION. Fellow-Citizens : I feel like commencing this reply in the words of the battle hymn of the Hu guenots — “ Now glory to the Lord of hosts, From whom all glories are.” If there ever was a time when anybody doubted that we had got them, they do not doubt it now. (Applause.) If there ever was a time when anybody doubted that we could behave better they could, they do not doubf it now. (Re newed applause.) I never felt prouder than I do now at the mag nificent compliment you have paid me by complying with my request and treating Mr. Black with the re spect in my home that I did not receive in his. (Great applause.) We have a platform in which breathes the spirit of God’s justice, and we can afford to practice that line of conduct enjoined by the Master of returning “good for evil.” (Applause.) He asked me how much money I would be in favor of issuing from the United States government, backed by the power of forty-four States. I tell him that every dollar that is necessary to do the legitimate business of the country, and to keep the capitalists and moneyed kings from robbing the laborer of his just dues. He talks of Confederate money. What was Confederate money ex cept a promise to pay, bearing irre trievable disaster on its face, and going down in the gulf of ruin ? Suppose that he had State bank notes at that time, what would have become of them? Cries of Now you have got him ! (Cheering.) Mr. Watson. Now we have a na tion of forty-four States with sixty two millions of people and sixty-two billions of wealth back of tbe money. Will not this money be good as long as the government is good? Will not that money die as soon as the government dies? (Cheering.) He says you must not have the sub-treasury because it wall help the landlord and not the tenant; because it would help the wheat raiser and would not do anything for the hay man. Mr. Black. I did not say that, Mr. Watson. Mr. Watson. That is a legitimate statement of your position. I did not pretend to quote you literally. Oh, my friends, I tell you they have opened the bars. Mr. Black. You are in conclusion. Mr. Watson. He says, fellow-citi zens, that I misunderstood him. Well, now, I will, with great pleasure, let him re-state his position. Mr. Black. I did not say that I opposed it because it would not help the hay raiser. I said that it was a piece of class legislation, and that it did not lend money on hay, while it did on cotton, corn and wheat. Mr. Watson. Now, my friends, you have heard his own argument again. Don’t you think that objec tion ought to come from a hay raiser, and not from a Central railroad law year? (Upronrous laughter and ap pluuse.) He says that we must not have money that the land owner can borrow on his land and use to pay the laborer with instead of orders. We must not have a currency that the cotton raiser can use to pay his store bills. Why ? Because the hay man can’t get some of it on his hay. (Renewed laughter.) Why in the name of God is he in favor of perpet ating a system by which nobody gets this benefit but the bondholders ? A voice. Tell us about Weaver. Mr. Watson. Oh, I know you would like to get me off this question but you can not do it. One of my friends put it to Mr. Black that the whisky men got favors from the Government, and that the Democratic party was not proposing to tear that down. Mr. Black denies that. I have got the law in my hand and referred it to Mr. Black and he said that he had read it. 1 say that the law reads, thit for the first three years the private owner of that whiskey builds his own ware house and gets a loan of ninety cents on every gallon of whisky at five per cent. (There was some confusion caused by the moving of the Lincoln county band wagon at this point, and 1 mb ,ed a few words of the conclu sion!) Why, in the name of God, can not the people get money on the same terms as the whisky men and na tional bankers? He says the proper thing to do is to repeal the laws that the classes have. Does the Demo cratic party, iu its platform, propose to repeal either of these laws ? Voices. No, no, no. Mr. Watson. No; they make no promise to repeal those obnoxious laws; but they tell you to stand out side the door while the feast is going on. Yet you furnish the feast and set the table, but you must not ask for a mouthful of bread. He says the Government will never grant your demands. Who is the Govern ment ? Voices. That’s it, that’s it. (Cheer ing.) Mr. Watson. He tried to put you colored people against me by saying that this Brad well claim, although it had been paid once, ought to be heard again in preference to having a bill reported by which, if enacted into law, you would have some of this money that the bondholders have a monopoly of and then let you have from eight to any per cent they can squeeze out of you. The man that has been paid once ought to be heard in preference to sixty-two millions of people. The other night in Augusta, talk ing to laboring men, he told them that they ought not to go with us because there was not a* plank in our platform that would do them any good. All for the farmer. Voices. He said it. He said it. I heard him. I heard him. (Great applause.) Mr. Watson. Now to-day, in the country, talking to you farmers, he says there is nothing in it to benefit you. (Laughter and applause.) Fellow citizens, he says that there never was a time when we had mote money in circulation than to-day. Look back to 1856 when we had eight hundred million in circulation of paper money. He says you shall not take medicine out of our spoon because he objects to the doctor. The body politic is suffering and he sits at the door and says, suffer on. The rich manufacturers object; tbe railroad monopolists object; Wall street objects. My friends, no good woman can call down God’s blessing upon the Democratic platform any more than she can pray for God’s blessing on that vote for whisky m Augusta. No good man or no good woman can call down God’s blessing upon this campaign, that is borne through this district with a bar-room attachment on every train. No good man or .woman, or a law abiding citizen, can approve of the open violation ofJJthd laws of Columbia county, of McDrffie. Where is Boy kin Wright, the Solicitor General? I call upon him here, before his con stituents, to prpsecute these violators of law. (Great' commotion and ap plause.) Give I hem free whisky and the Black flagj Give me pure pol itics and the?’ white lilies that the women tw : ne on their pure white brows. We will go forward growing stronger every day ; growing juster in our demands every day ; growing firmer in our convictions every day ; and knowing that we can fall upon our knees and ask God’s blessing upon our platform and our purposes. (Great applause.) He says that you ought to get together and think over these things ; to take them home and compare them; and study them. Well, you have got together and studied them until there is not a lab orer here in this great assembly that does not know more about finances than he has shown in his speech that he knows to-day. (Cheering.) When we did get together and agreed upon a platform and the thing we think is right, he denounced it with all the vehemence at his command. He denounced the people that form ulated it. Now, fellow citizens, we cannot let them dictate our platform; we cannot let them dictate our poli cies. He asks “where is the xMliance ?” A voice. Solid; solid. Mr. Watson. I will tell you where the Alliance is. Although Livingston and Moses tried to make it a tail to the Democratic kite it is still in the middle of the road standing upon the platform that they, themselves form ulated. And the Alliancemen swear to themselves that they will never abandon the fight until the victory is theirs. Voices. Never; never; never. Mr. Watson. They tell you you must not have partisan politics, but I notice they never object to Alli ancemen being partisan Democrats. But whenever Time called. From Harris County. Shipley, Ga., Sept. 21, There has been a great deal said in the present campaign on the sub ject of economy. It has been thtt advice of nearly every campaign speaker in the democratic ranks, and especially has it been the hobby of Governor Northen. Now, I, for one, say that it is good advice. Not withstanding the fact that the far mers of Georgia have already stinted themselves almost to the point of starvation it is still possible that, being hungry, we can live on just a little bit less food; that, being ignor ant, we can become more so by tak ing the little children from our school rooms and send them to the cotton field to labor for money to pay the tax on a privilege that they are too poor to enjoy. If there are any who do not believe this to be the situation I ask him just to go into the rural districts of the country and see for himself. That being al ready weary, worn and bowed down with the toil of many burdensome years our old men, though their heads are white and hoary, and a totter in their gait, yet these old men can still rise a little earlier in the morning, can wield the spade a little more vigorously even though they do it in pain. I, for one, am perfectly willing to make these sacrifices, because grim necessity forces me to make them; for it is physically impossible for me to make, on a one-horse farm, enough money that my family may have enough to eat and clothes to keep them warm, and send little Johnnie and Mary to school, and pay up the doctor’s bill, pay the preacher, and then to pay tax to keep up the State military encampment, the Experi mental station, and to pension all the widows. We accept and keep up the Con federate home; to give SIOO,OOO to the world’s fair, and many other useless expenditures. Now, as a matter of course, I would be in favor of all these things if we were able. Everybody knows that the farmers of Georgia are Jess able to pay taxes now than ever be fore in their history; yet the tax rate is higher than ever before. So you see that Governor Northen ought to economize some, too. He ought not to want the poor people of Georgia, distressed and debt-ridden as they undoubtedly are, to pay tax to keep up Camp Northen. We have got State pride enough to be willing to it if we were only able, but we don’t think it is right for the State to re duce us to the necessity of sacri ficing the education of our children, home comfort, etc., to pay this tax, for it is not a necessity. There is the world’s fair, to which our economical Governor wanted us to give SIOO,OOO. Now, we know we are an ignorant set, but to our lives we can’t see its benefit to us. Oh, says the Governor, it will show to the world what a prosperous country we have. But, said we, Gov ernor, we are not prosperous; there is not one out of every fifty of us able to pay up his debts and have money enough left to pay his fare to Chicago. Then he told us it would turn immi gration towards thq* South. You ought to have seen how scared we old farmers got when the Governor told us this, for he had just been ex plaining to us how we had made an overproduction of everything that mrde prices so low. and we were thinking of the competition. In fact, we old farmers believe the whole business is nothing short of a scheme of a gang of rich real estate boomers. The governor seemed very much fretted that we did not help him out in his scheme, but he ought not to have got mad with us, for we needed the very money he wanted us to give to the world’s fair to pay up the preacher and get our winter clothes, now didn’t we, Governor ? Be hon est, and own up. Now, in conclusion, I want to say a word to the campaign speakers: You ought not to abuse we old farm ers like you do, when you know we are working all the day and part of the night to make a living for you ; and notwithstanding the fact that we are People’s party men and you are Democrats, you ought to recollect that we are all Americans. Just as “ house divided against itself must fall,” it is even so with a government. 11. A. Poeii. The Bloody Shirt. National Watchman, For many years the Democratic party has soundly abused the Repub licans for making use of the bloody shirts in their campaigns. It has been denounced as unfair, as calcu lated to stir up strife, and keep the people of the sections antagonized over a dead issue. To such an ex tent have the Democrats of the South, and for that matter the whole country, condemned this practice that the in ference has obtained that similar methods could find no supporters in that section. But, alas I now that the “other ox is being gored,” all these highsounding protests turn into the most miserable hypocricy. This assumed highbr plane of political ethics sinks cut of sight amid the unblushing enforcement of the most revolting methods that depraved nature can suggest, and reveals the true status of bourbon Democracy in its hideous deformity. The present attack on Gen. Weaver by the domi nant Democratic element of the South for brutal viciousness was never ap proached, even in the palmy days of John J. Ingalls. It is hard to con sent, much more to believe, that such brutality could exist among a people who have held for years the prestige of being both generous and chival rous. This claim must now be sur rendered, and the plain fact acknowl edged that for a total absence of manly instincts, for an absolute want of manly principles, the average Bourbon Democrat stands unrivaled before the world. Not daring to meet the great issues of the campaign, and too cowardly to face the people upon the last political record.these hu man ghouls, with all the malignity of their species, attempt to blacken or destroy the characters of the appos ing candidates. They have begun a campaign of mud slinging, filth and sectional hate that should fill the lowest and most debased with dis gust and astonishment. They have, with studied brutality, dug up every scrap, every word, and every move of General Weaver to which an evil coloring could be attached; these they have distorted with venomous interpretations until he is made to appear as a veritable monster in human form. These vile and sland erous statements are printed in every Democratic paper, read at every Democratic meeting, and sent broad cast among the people to rekindle the almost extinguished flame of sectional hate, and thereby continue the South “solid.” Remember this is not done by the ignorant and lower classes, but by such leaders of public thought as Gov. Northen, Speaker Crisp, Gov. Jones, and the higher class of political manipulators, assist ed by the Atlanta Constitution, Char leston News and Courier, and all the other great Southern papers. But thank God, even under this heavy load, the cause of reform is growing and strengthening ami ng the people of that Democratic ridden section. The people have learned the lesson of Bourbon Democracy amid the hard lines of debt, want and unremunera tive labor. They realize that recently a cowardly Democratic majority re fused to grant them relief and struck hands with the despoiler in Wall Street. They will not listen, much less believe, these vile attacks on their fearless standard bearer, but will trust him, wmrk for him, and at the end vote for nim. Gen. Weaver is a kind-hearted, true-hearted, Christian gentleman, lie is intelligent, fearless and a model of integrity. He is worthy to be trusted, and if successful in this con test will give the people a pure, up right and acceptable administration. A vote for Weaver is a vote against tyranny. Illustration From Alabama* “As an illustration of some of the work resorted to to return Jones as elected, it is only necessary to review the course of the Bourbon managers in Dallas county, where, in the city of Selma, there are but 1, GOO voters. The returns show 213 for Kolb and 2,4'29 for Jones, while 575 men swear they voted for Kolb. “In Boykin’s Beat only twenty-five votes were polled. The managers returned 111 for Jones. In Brown’s Beat only thirty-two voted. Returns show Kolb 11 and Jones 338. At Liberty Hill Beat, Kolb voters cast thirty-two ballots, and Jones voters thirty-three, yet the returns show 300 for Jones and none for Kolb. In Mitchell’s Beat only thirty votes were polled. The returns show 11 for Kolb and 435 for Jones. “In Orville Beat, where only fifty votes were cast, the returns show 400 for Jones. In Portland Beat only twenty votes were polled. The returns show 300 for Jones. In Martin’s Beat, where thirty votes were polled, the returns show that Jones has 740 and Kolb none. In Brownsville Beat where Kolb receive ed 338 and Jones eleven, the Jones managers certify 338 for Jones and 11 for Kolb. These are some of the voting precincts m Dallas county, which county was entirely under the Jones managers and supervisors, and gives Jones nearly 6,000 majority. Let every one endeavor to secure