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TO THE VOTERS OF GEORGIA:
Georgia is in a state of political chaos. There is unreai, uncertainty—
poverty—privation—-suffering—gloom— distress of mind—bankruptcy, and
general financial depression among the laboring classes of the State.
There is arrogance, insolence, bull-dozing, insults and intolerance in the
cities whenever there are speakers present who propose remedies for these
evils that arc oppressing the labor of the country.
Thus it was in old France in the days preceding the Revolution—when
the opulent classes and moneyed aristocrats made light of the evils every
where present; and these well-to-do people attempted to beat down all opposi
tion and suppress an expression of public opinion.
It is so in Georgia to-day. The scenes that have been enacted in Georgia
during the month of September are only repetitions of revolutionary France
before the crisis came. The “howling down” process is the forerunner of
the “counting out” process. It is genearally believed that plans are being
perfected to defraud the People’s Party of its vote. Vehement rage prevails
xvhercvci People’s Party speakers obtain a hearing, here they have orators
ol line ability, the mob is encouraged to howl down the orator and create
general confusion. In country places better order is maintained, but in cities
there is disgraceful conduct and most unfair behavior as a rule. General
eaver s treatment in Georgia is a disgrace io the state and the nation.
General Weaver was maltreated because he was a union soldier and obeyed
the commands of his superior officer in authority. This conduct is not only
disgraceful and revolutionary, but it is dangerous. It will bring its inevitable
result. Next winter when drunken hoodlums and foul-mouthed Clevelandites
have eaten and drank up the money that has been paid them to disgrace
themselves and the State, this disorderly conduct and these attacks on a
federal General in time of peace will doubtless become matters of federal in
vestigation. If Georgia had a Governor worth a cent, the disgraceful antics
of the drunken mob at Macon and at Albany would have been promptly
rebuked, even if it had taken the military to do it. But when rotten eggs
were collected in the Capitol of Georgia to be ready for General AVeaver and
his wife, and Gov. Northen took possession of the meeting to make a Northen
demonstration, after General Weaver declined to expose his noble wife to the
filth and stench of the State Capitol, this Executive is necessarily held re
sponsible for the suppression of free speech in the Capitol of Georgia.
The times are ominous. They resemble the days that preceded secession
and civil war. There will bo bloodshed and death unless there is a change.
The people of Georgia were uniformly taxed to build the State Capitol. They
will not be denied the right to invite Presidential and Congressional candi
dates to this building—especially when Gov. Northen has opened it to the
use of all the politicians in the State who agreed with him in regard to mat
ters of public interest. It is a notorious fact that Gen. Dan Sickles, a demo
cratic politician from New York State, could be entertained by Gov. Northen
and the freedom of the city given him to speak for the democratic party.
Sickles had abused the South until Southern newspapers denounced his ap
pearance, but Gov. Northen found no contamination from his presence. He
had the eulre of the Executive Mansion and the State Capitol. This failure
to allow General Weaver, (the chosen candidate of the People’s Party, with
tens of thousands of supporters in the State of Georgia) to speak in the
Capitol building, after it had been opened to Northen’s followers and Cleve
land’s adherents marks the Governor as a bitter partisan and unworthy of a
re-election to his present position.
The rotten egg that was hurled at the wife of General Weaver in Macon
is like the cannon shot that was heard around the world—it will be heard
from in more places than is now expected. It will not down. It was an
insult to the intelligence of Georgia. It was also an insult to the farmers
who were taxed to build the Capitol—that their candidates were shut out in
Atlanta, because of Governor Northen’s antipathy to Gen. Weaver’s followers
in Georgia. It was an insult to the laboring and producing classes, that no
man can be given a quiet and respectful hearing unless he belongs to Gov.
Northen’s political party; for it is a well-known fact that gangs of yelling
hoodlums are transported from speaking place to speaking place to howl
down the People’s Party speakers and to cheer the Clevelandites.
On ordinary occasions this can be tolerated, but when the Capitol of
Georgia is turned over to Gov. Northen’s friends, and the friends of the
People’s Party are rotten-egged—then has come the time to assert the rights
of freemen, and put a fairer man in Gov. Northen’s place. It will not be
forgotten that the Legislature of Georgia was once adjourned, the mob
mounting the Speaker’s desk when Cleveland was declared elected eight
years ago. This unlawful act in a northern state would have been denounced
all over Georgia. That might be tolerated in one case, to be no more
repeated; but the usurpation of power to shut out freemen from a Capitol
building, built for the entire people, and for which purpose the farmers of
the State were uniformly taxed, cannot longer be borne. This outrage de
serves a thrilling rebuke. No man was compelled to hear Gen. Weaver who
was unwilling to listen to what he said. The people who object to his views
were at liberty to stay at home; but no man had the right to rotten-egg the
speaker, who was invited by any number of people to speak in this building
that belongs to the State, and not to Gov. Northen and his yelping pack of
Clevelandites. The people of Georgia owe it to themselves to assert their
rights and privileges.
The People's Party raised Gov. Northen from obscurity, and gave him
prominence. Nine-tenths of the alliance in Georgia are members of the
People’s Party. Wm. J. Northen advocated the sub-treasury, government
ownership of railroads, as well as all the tenets of the People’s Party. He
would never have risen above his natural mediocrity, unless he had been an
allianceman and taken the obligation that alliancemen take. He was elected
two years ago as an allianceman,and not as a democrat. Livingston run as an
allianceman opposed to Stewart as a democrat. It was alliance doctrine as op
posed to democracy that these alliancemen, each and severally, adopted.
Not until Gov. Northen was taken up into the mountain, did he betray
the alliance that made him and supported him. The “Mansion Caucus” and
the election of a railroad lobyisc to the United States Senate followed. A
man that would thus betray a constituency to whom he was bound by ties
that no honorable man would recklessly break, is unworthy of trust. He
will betray any other party when opportunity is offered. There is no zeal that
will compare with that of a turncoat. Northen hates the alliance because
he betrayed the faithful men that elected him two years ago. The blandish
ments of office seekers and his desire for re-election transformed him into a
malignant foe to the farmers of Georgia, and an insane follower of Wall
street and its candidate, Grover Cleveland. No man is so far removed from
the producing and laboring classes today, as Wm. J. Northen, the ally of
plutocracy and gold bug politicians. He says “poor men are a burden to any
community.” They are obnoxious to his excellency. He is above and out
side of the necessities of the common people. He forgets the rock from
which he was hewn. He consorts with people who mock the suffering
farmers of Georgia. They are “calamty howlers,” and not worthy to sit in
the capitol building over which his excellency rules with a tyrant’s rod. The
people of Georgia are not fond of bloaters, as a rule, and a bloated office
holder is especially a nuisance to all fair minded, sensible people.
Another two-years in the executive’s position would be more than even
his new associates could tolerate with patience, for the People’s Party left
him long ago in supreme contempt and disgust.
Wm. J. Northen tells the people to “strike down their wives, strike down
their children, strike down their homes, but never strike down the grand old
democratic party.” * Ten thousand Alliancemen in the state of Georgia can
bear witness that two years ago he was equally anxious to strike down any
party that was striking down the wives, striking down the children and strik
ing down the homes of Georgia farmers.
Men of Georgia! Protect yourselves from such tergiversation and
political trickery! Vote out all such failures as he has proven himself to be!
His administration has done less and cost more than any administration since
the war. The state and county taxes are a long way ahead of Bullock’s. He
is paying out £25,000 per annum to train the military to shoot down strikers
and poor men made crazy by poverty and unjust legislation. Occasionally
they parade in company with his excellency, but the whole thing comes high.
It is an expensive luxury to the tax payers, who raise seven cents cotton to
pay for it. It is time to put a check on spendthrift extravagance. Men of
Georgia vote down these purse-proud tricksters that played with the farmers
to get into office and are now playing with Wall street to continue to be
office holders.
Two years ago the democrats scoffed at the Alliance because they dug
un and elected an unknown school teacher down in the 4th district, because
he was supposed to be unused to the tricks of politicians. He xxas elcctcu on
the platform of honesty and reform, and xxbile conscious of his iniciioiitj,
they banked on his supposed fidelity. Washington atmosphere and AV m. a.
Northen’s exampit* soon wrought a change. “Leetle Moses has noxx the
check to sav “that any man who votes against Cleveland is a t.aitoi. Ixxo
years ago Moses would have said that any man who would vote for Cleveland
would be a traitor. Beware of small politicians. They are of no value
except as spies and traitors. So soon as the Cleveland democtacy uses idle
Moses for their present purposes he will be retired to seek his lex el. Let
the honest voters of Georgia, black and white, rise up and put a man in his
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 30, 1892.
place that can be relied upon, to be faithful to his party, faithful to his
pledges and faithful to common honesty. Vote him down and out!
Leonidas Livingston is the man who, bne year ago, was the chosen com
panion of General eaver, Congressman Jerry Simpson and Mrs. Lease. He
is the man who brought them to Georgia—who encouraged them to come to
Georgia as exponents of the People’s Party. He told General Weaver he
xvould support him as the candidate for the presidency oh that issue. He did
more than any living man to induce the revolt in Georgia against Abe demo
cratic party. No man denounced the intolerance, the injustice, the unfair
ness of democratic methods more violently. As president of the Farmers’
Alliance, he became the head and front of the revolt. Less than a year ago,
he was denouncing Grover Cleveland as unxvorthy of support of the farmers
of Georgia. Yet this man has been turned into a rabid zealot for Cleveland.
To denounce the farmers of Georgia who now oppose him, is his meat and
drink. He has, like Northen, become the representative of the bull-dozing,
egg-throwing, hoxvling, unfair and unjust democrats, who aim to prevent the
People’s Party from getting a decent bearing on the hustings. This change
means more than appears on the surface. He has proven himself a traitor
and it is a rule in law—once false, always false. AV e warn the people of
Georgia, Beware of Livingston! He betrayed the Alliance! He will betray
the interests of the country! Men of Georgia, we warn you to look out for
your own!
To sum up the dangers that threaten the people of Georgia at the ap
proaching state election, there is one fact clearly apparent, that these traitors
to the Alliance are not to be trusted longer in the prominent positions they
are noxv holding.
Governor Northen has shoxvn himself inimical to labor, for he did not wait
to be requested or entreated by the governor to send ammunition to shoot
down the free miners in Tennessee, but he forwarded sixty thousand rounds
of ammunition upon a mere hint from a subordinate oflicer in the goxeinor s
office. He congratulated the state of Georgia in a public interxiexv that he
could move a small army with more facility than either Tennessee, Nexv
York, Pennsylvania or Idaho, to suppress .labor troubles.
It is apparent that xve need a great change of methods to reduce taxation
for the common people. It is xvell known that our taxation, state and fed
eral, is enormous and exceedingly burdensome to the labor of the countiy.
The destruction of the free coinage measure in the present congress has run
out farm products doxvn to starvation prices. Yet it requires nearly three
millions of dollars to keep up the state officials and the expenses of Goxeinor
Northen’s administration. Every man xvho thinks for a moment on this
subject must be convinced that it is time to call a halt, foi self preservation
and self protection. It is folly to expect the old moss backs in cilice to
deduct a cent of salary or relieve the people of a single burden. A ote them
out, and save your own pockets. Put in a nexv set. There is nothing to be
lost by a change of men in state matters, and much to be gained in federal
affairs, for reasons that xvill now be presented.
Be it noxv remembered that Governor Northen is considered abroad as
the promoter of the attacks on General AVeaver at AVaycross, Albany, Colum
bus and Macon, as well as in Atlanta. One word from him, one proposition
to suppress these rioters, one small effort to promote good government in
either of those cities would have put a stop to the disorder. He knoxvs
these men were not rebuked by any of’ his public speakers or democratic
newspapers, and the whole state was alive with democratic spouters and
heelers on the bastings and in the crowds. These indignities were open,
brazen and malicious, and endorsed by that party. It was a pander to the
worst elements in the state. The attack on General AVeaver’s military
record pleased the wild, drunken men who gave no thought to the issue that
will grow out of this assault on General AVeaver in the north and west.
Georgia stands in the most unwise and unenviable position known to any
commonwealth in the union at this time. The politics of Georgia noxv center
about these disorderly attacks on a union general. The bloody shirt is noxx r
revived all over the north. It will solidify every soldier in the north, either
to vote with AVeaver or to vote for Harrison as a measure of safety to the
union.
General Sherman devastated Georgia from the mountains to the sea,
gave orders to burn Atlanta, and his inhumanity has been the text of rabid
Georgia speakers for twenty-six years. Yet General Sherman was hospitably
received in Atlanta, and apologies were made for the inhumanities of civil
war, at the banquet given to GeneralSherman,xvhere everything xvas condoned,
forgiven and wiped out by prominent democrats. General Weaver, a clean
man in public and private, xvho only obeyed orders when commandant of the
military post at Pulaski, Tenn., a quarter of a century ago, is'now arraigned
in Georgia and rotten-egged out of the state, because he opposes Grover
Cleveland for the presidency, and threatens to carry a large; farmer vote in
the state. This persecution of a union officer, for acts alleged to have been
committed as a general in the army, indicates surely the insurrectionary
spirit of the democratic party, -whenever they are opposed- in a political .
campaign. One prominent candidate for congress denounces General Weaver I
as “that xvretch,” because of his sayings against the Bourbon democracy of i
the south and his alleged acts as a union officer. General Weaver xvent into
the federal army to fight as a brave soldier against the south—while Grover
Cleveland fought the south as fiercely through a hired Hessian substitute.
Men of Georgia, which man is most xvorthy of respect?
AA’hen General AA 7 eaver came to Georgia, he xyas the courteous gentleman
to all visitors—and to ladies. When he met southern ladies in Washington
he was ever the courteous host and perfect gentleman.
Compare this conduct xvith Grover Cleveland’s when he xvas invited to
Richmond, Virginia, to meet the elite of the city and make the acquaintance
of the southern ladies xvho xvere # ever loyal to refinement as xvell as to the
confederacy.
To please his masters in AVall street, Grover Cleveland—a president
elected by a solid south—coolly declined to alloxv the ladies of his family to
appear in Richmond, lest they might meet Miss AVinnie Davis, the daughter
of the confederacy.
Such is the difference betxveen the candidates! One proves himself a
cultivated and refined gentleman—the other a rough man—xyithout the sen
sibility of average frontiersman or Hottentot. Yet this is the candidate
that is embraced in Georgia politics—xvho spurned the hand of Jefferson
Davis’ beautiful and innocent daughter! This is the candidate that Georgia
soldiers, xvho folloxved Jefferson Davis to Appomattox are commanded to fol
low. This is the person, whose folloxvers threw rotten eggs at General
Weaver’s good wife at Macon! This is the south hater, that Governor
Northen eulogizes, and General AVeaver is the man that Governor Northen
denounces from every stump in Georgia. Men of Georgia! Remember you
are being led into mistakes by these corrupt politicians.
So far this has been a campaign fight on ladies as well as farmers, by
Governor Northen and his friends. Georgia is disgraced by these attacks on
women. It is a pity that General Toombs is not in the flesh to wither xvith
his inimitable sarcasm, any man or speaker xvho xvould dare to insult xvoman
hood as Mrs. AVeaver xvas insulted, and driven from the state!
Men of Georgia, xvhenyou go to the ballot box on the sth day of Octo
ber and the Ist Tuesday in November, do not forget that this political
madness is driving capital from your state,that it is destroying the confidence
of outsiders in your ability to make good laws or enforce them afterwards.
Do not forget that Georgia will stand disgraced as a lawless and ungoverna
ble lace of people unless you vote doxvn such promoters of dissension and
discord. Always remember that you xvill be judged by your votes and not
by the blatant boasts of Cleveland’s folloxvers. V’ote doxvn the insurrection
ists! Shoxv to fair-minded northern and western men, that Geargia xvelcomes
all good citizens to her borders, by rebuking these unxvise and disorderly
politicians, and removing them from official positions. AVe are tired of war;
xve xvant peace. AVe must no longer be dominated by madmen in tne state
capitol or be represented by tricksters in AVashington. Yote the People’s
Party ticket, and give your enemies a final overthrow at the ballot box.
To the poor man xve-xvill say, there is no hope for you, unless you
change men as xvell as methods. The Wall street agents xvill never give you
an increase of currency. Y"ou have tried Bourbon democracy twenty odd
years,-and you are growing poorer every hour. Vote for free silver candi
dates! Be content with nothing else. YMur remedy lies in the ballot alone.
To the colored voter xve would say: vote solidly for your oxvn interest as
laborers and as freemen. The colored man has liberty at this time to vote
his oxvn convictions and have his ballot counted; provided the People’s Party
themselves are not counted out by the managers of Gov. Northen’s party.
Time and again have requests been presented to democratic committees and
to Gov. Northen himself to alloxv managers of both parties to superintend
the October election; but up to this time no answer has been made, and no
permission has been granted. This has a bad complexion. To off-set this
in justice, let the colored people vote in such numbers that no opportunity
for counting out may be entertained. This is the poor man’s fight. Money
has been imported to keep the poor man doxvn; and noxx' is the grand oppor
tunitx' to redeem the land from ballot-box stuffers and shot-gun democracy.
If the farmers fail in this fight, their enemies xvill gain increased strength
and arrogance. On the October election depends yoar deliverance from local
evils. Y’ou xvill get deliverance from AVall- street corruptionists and those
xvho degrade honest men by bringing convict labor in competition xvith
honest labor. t
AVhtte men and colored men of Georgia! Laboring men of every class!
Rally to the polls on the sth of October! It xvill be the battlefield where
your liberties xvill be lost or won. The question is; Shall you be slaves to
the bankers, capitalists and monopolists of this State, or of the United States?
Shall you enjoy tl e ro vard of your honest toil, or shall you be serfs to con
tinue to enrich the millionaires of the land? Shall you pauperize yourselves
and your children for the aggrandizement of AA’all street and its money kings?
The ballot-box is your only xveapon. It may be mighty, through God, to the
pulling doxvn of the strongholds of the oppressors and the tyrants of this
country. Rally to the polls! Come, trusting in God and your own righteous
cause, to hurl from power these men xvho, with their rotten eggs, have for
ever stained the honor and chivalry of our native State ! !
M. D. TRAVIN,
Chairman People’s Party of Georgia.
lit Is Easy
PURCHASING AT
The Fair.
Because Every Article is Marked in Plain Figures, Very
gPlain, so a Child Can Buy as Safely as a Man ; One Honest
iPrice, too; No Sliding up of Prices. Our
| Dress Goods
Stock is the Completest to be Found. Five Thousand
lYards All Wool, 40-Inch Henrietta, 44c. Yd. Our CLOAK
|otock, Under the Care of Mr. Orchard and Assistants, is a
I Most Inviting One.
> The Fair,
74, 76, 78 Whitehall Street.
ATTENTION, TENTH DISTRICT.
Let every Peoples’s party candi
date in the Tenth District remem
ber that Air. Black has entered into
an agreement with Mr. Watson that
at every voting precinct in the dis
trict there shall be one People’s
party man on the board of mana
gers.
See to it that this agreement
IS OBSERVED.
Demand that one of our men sit
on the election at each precinct, and
see to it that this man is one whose
intelligence and fidelity and courage
are above question. He must see
every vote counted and never alloxv
the ballot box to get out of his
sight.
The Democrats in Sparta and
Augusta especially need watching.
They will do anything on earth to
i carry this election. Demonstrate to
them in a firm, conservative spirit
that the agreement between Mr.
Black and myself shall be kept.
Demonstrate to them that while we
mean to be the cause of no trouble,
we also mean to have our rights, as
men and as citizens. T. E. W.
THE PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER.
Friends, we ask you to do all you
can for us in the way of new sub
scribers. AVe have given you a first
class xveekly paper for nearly a year
at a dead loss of ox’er $3,000. All
this burden has fallen on Mr. AVat
son. He has not only lost $3,000 on
the paper, but has given it eight
months’ work free of charge.
AVon’t you do your share in the
reform work by aiding us?
AVe have had to contend with
very many difficulties, and have done
the very best we could.
the future we hope there will
be less complaint about the mail, for
we are exerting every energy to rec
tify every mistake.
The joint debates outlined by
Mr. AVatson will appear regularly in
this paper, stenographically reported
by,Air. Driscol. No other paper in
the State has them.
Help us friends. Each ought to
do his part in this noble work.
People’s Paper Co.
Please Take Notice
Os the change m price of this pa
per in clubs. Our temporary offer
of the People’s Party Paper in clubs
of 10 for 50 cents per year is with
drawn, and in the future we will be
compelled to have 75 cents in clubs.
We will, however, permit those who
ire now making clubs on that rate
to complete the clubs already begun
at the 50 cents rate, but after that
will be obliged to require 75 cents.
IMPORTANT NOTICE.
The chairmen, secretaries and
others friendly to the People’s cause
in the various Mihtia districts in the
several counties of the Fifth con
gressional district are requested to
send their names to me at once, so
that we may put ourselves in close
touch and harmony for the approach
ing campaign. Immediate action re
quested? L. P. Barnes,
Sec. Fifth Cong. Dist.,
49| E. Hunter St., Atlanta, Ga.
1 June 28, 1892.
CHANGE IN MR. WATSON’S AP
POINTMENTS.
Owing to the fact that Mr. Wat
son was denied a hearing in Augusta
by the Democrats on the night of
the 12th inst., he finds it necessary
to make another appointment there,
and in order to do so is compelled to
cancel the engagement at Sylv
vnia.
This he regrets, but cannot help. t
He will speat at Gordon on Thurs
day, September 29, and at Augusta
on the night of October 1,
This cancels the engagement at
Gordon, October 19.
J. 11. Turner’s Appointments.
Lagrange, Troup county, Sept. 26th,
11 o’clock a. m.
Union Grove, Heard county, Sept.
27, 10 o’clock a. m.
Texas, Heard county, Sept. 27th, 3
o’clock p. m.
Walnut Hill, Heard county, Sept.
28th, 10 o’clock a. m.
Roopville, Carroll county, Sept. 28,
8 o’clock p. m.
Carrollton, Carroll county, Sept. 29,
1 o’clock p, m.
Whitesburg, Carroll county, Sept 29,
8 o’clock p. m.
Newnan, Coweta county, Sept. 30,
1 o’clock p. m. ■
Hogansville, Troup county, Oct. 1
1 o’clock p. m.
Greenville, Meriwether county, Oct
3,1 o’clock p. in. *
Chipley, Harris county, Oct. 4, 11
o’clock a. m.
Hamilton, Harris county, Oct. 5,
1 o’clock p. m.
Columbus, Muscogee county, Oct.
5, 8 o’clock p. m.
Chattahoochee county, Oct. 6th and
7th.
Talbott county, Oct. Bth and 10th.
Marion county, Oct. 11th and 12th,
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPERS IN GEORGIA
The Voice of the People, Way cross,
Ware county.
The Revolution, Augusta, Ga.
The Globe, Bainbridge, Decatur
county, Ga.
The People’s Voice, Cartersville,
Bartow couniy.
The People’s Herald, Bloomingdale,
Chatham county.
The People’s Rights, Montezuma,
Macon county.
Farmers’ Light, Harlem, Columbia
county.
Farmers’ Friend, Waynesboro,
Burke county.
News and Allianceman, Jackson,
Butts county.
Banks County Gazette, Homer,
Banks county.
Hinesville Gazette, Hinesville,
Liberty county.
The Allianceman, Atlanta, Fulton
county.
Southern Alliance Farmer, Atlanta,
Fulton county. . - • \
The Enterprise, Carnesville, Frank
lin county.
The News, Ball Ground, Cherokee
county.
People’s Party Paper, Atlanta.
Farmers’ Herald, Wrightsville,
Johnson county.
Alliance Plow Boy, Buford, Gwin
nett county.
People’s Advocate, Greensboro,
Green county.
Signal, Dahlonega, Lumpkin coun
ty.
Bullock Banner, Statesboro, Bul
lock county.
News, Jonesboro, Clayton county.
The Wool Hat, Gracewood, Rich
mond county.