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2 said, in speaking in behalf of Mr. Black against myself. According to the plug ugly idea, this year, there is not a man in the tenth District who knows how to vote. Fellow citizens, this is not strictly in the dis cussion, but I think that I have just cause to complain that this campaign has not been one of open and fair discussion of public issues. Such men as Senator Gordon and Gov ernor Northen went into the tenth district and denounced me personal ly, and bitterly denounced my friends. And while denouncing me falsely, selected a man for them to vote for, Mr. Black. (Howling galore, which was kept up several seconds.) Mr. Watson. Now look at the Augusta crowd, A voice : The imported drunken crowd. They had better behave themselves here. Mr. Watson. Why, they are not only afraid to hear me in the Tenth district, but they follow me over the State to prevent you farmers from hearing the truth. Why ? Because they fear the effect of the truth on you. To return to the course of Gov ernor Northen and Senator Gordon, I would not dare to tell you how you should vote. I shall confine myself to public measures, and will not pre sume to ask you to vote for Mr. Tal iaferro. A voice. What are you doing up there ? Mr. Watson. lam discussing these issues. Have not you got ?ense enough to understand ? (Laugh er.) Why, even the sober Demo crats have to stop in helpless confu sion and ask, “Where am I at? (Up rqaraus laughter.) I am advocating certain public policies and basing my arguments on public records, as I agreed to. What did Governor Northen say in behalf of a man who repudiates the St. Louis platform and against a man who made the fight for him on the St. Louis platform, which he helped to frame, against a man who is making his fight on the platform •which is a readoption of the St. Louis platform? The platform of 1886. Here is what Governor Nor then said: Strike your wife, who in early life gate you her warmest affections, but do net strike the grand old Democratic party. (Great confusion and angry demon stration.) Mr. Watson. What, are you afraid to have speeches of your Gov ernor read to you? Now, I want to see what sort of a fix this gentleman over here has got into, and now these gentlemen relish it. (Resumes read ing) : strike your little child, clad in white, kneeling At her mother’s knee, as she lisps the first prayer of infancy, “Now I lay me down to sleep,” but do not strike the d|ar old Democratic party. AV hy don’t you holler ? It was a Etie too stiff for you that time, eh ? I am going to say it again, boys, to give you another chance. I will zive you an opportunity to analyze It and show how far Democrats do themselves credit as husbands and fathers in giving indorsement to a sentiment like that. Strike your wife, who has been your faithful companion in the years that are passed; nursed you when sick ; been your comfort when well; shared with you the toils of poverty, and has been your greatest source of enjoyment when you got out of pov erty; has been always loyal, confid ing and true; the mother of your children; the joy of your home; the dream of your life—strike her, but do not lift your hand against the dear old Democratic party. (Howls of rage, and traitor, traitor, and great sonfusion.] Strike your child—your beautiful little daughter, robed in white, be coming more like an angel every day, on account of the spotless raiment she wears. Not only that, but strike her as she kneels at the knee of her mother, your wife, at even’s holy hour when every man’s thoughts ought to be quieted as he sees the end of the day, typical of the end of life. Not only that—strike her as she is learning to lisp that beautiful prayer that all of us learned at our inother’s knee; strike her without offense or provocation, this first born of yourself and wife, or may be the last pledge of your affection, but do not strike the grand old Democratic party I That is one of the men you are asked to vote for! If you in dorse that sort of sentiment, go ahead and do it. But when you in dorse that sort of sentiment you in dorse a sentiment that no Christian magistrate of a Christian State ought to utter. He said that in favor of whom? A man who has denounced your Al liance methods and platform. He said that against whom? Against a man who has never in a single in stance shown a quailing lip, a fading color, or white feather in any contest where your interests were at stake. A voice. And you never will. (Great cheering.) One of the reporters sotto voce to a neighbor.) Oh, he is great! He is taking this crowd, I tell you. Mr. V atson. That speech was made in the presence of Mr. Black, and he did not repudiate it. 1 say this to you. If you want to vote for the man who gave utterance to such a sentiment, then go and vote for Governor Northen. Voices. We will never do it; and others, Hurrah for Northen. Mr. Watson. Go home and strike your innocent child and wife of your bosom. A voice. I hain’t got none, mingled with every conceivable sort of abbulitions common at such ixath. PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 7, 1892. erings. Howls of rage, cries of ex ultation, cheering and laughing. Mr. Watson. Oh, that hurts, don’t it? What platform does Northen stand on to-day, my friend? Where is he at? (Laughter.) A voice. He does not know where he is at. Another voice. Livingston will tell you where he is at. Mr. Watson. Ah, my friend, would to God that he were to-day where he was at two years ago when he stood squarely on the St. Louis platform, which is almost word for word the same as the Omaha plat form. Can any of you defend what he says is rank communism? The product of his own pen. If you can explain that you can get oil out of water. To-day he denounces his own handwork, and that of Coh Livingston. He says that it is rank communism, and that the people of the Tenth District should vote for Col. Black, who al ways held these views. That plat form meets the necessities of our condition. That platform has been taught to our people until they be lieve it. That platform meets their ideas of government, and no man on the face of the earth is going to succeed in driving them away from that platform. (Long continu ed applause.) Why do we say that we should leave Cleveland and vote for Weav er? Let us discuss it fairly. Let us look at the question as it is. You know very well than the single ex ception of tariff reform Cleveland represents everything that you dis like, especially on the finance ques tion. Now they tell you about old Jeffersonian Democracy. They talk about modern Democracy. They say that Jeffersonian Democracy is the true test. Let us compare them a moment. Does anybody doubt that Jefferson favored the free and unlimited coinage of silver? Is that in the Democratic platform to-day? No, it has got the same tangle of confused words as the Republican, so nearly alike that if they were a pair of twins and shook up you would not know one from the other. Which is the platform that comes the nearest to Jefferson’s idea of the free and unlimited coinage of silver? Why, it is the Omaha platform, reaching back through the St. Louis and Ocala platforms. Voices. Time out! Time out. We’ve had enough of you. (That came from the same old gang.) Mr. Watson. Now thai is one of the distinguishing principles of our platform. What is the next? The national banking system, which has been so well explained to you by your leaders for the last four years. You know that Jefferson hated na tional banks as being dangerous to liberty. He opposed them as be ing calculated to concentrate the money power and antagonize the peo ple. AV here is there any antagonism to the national bank system? Is it in the Republican platform? No, is it in the Democratic platform? Voices. No, no, no! (Cheer ing.) Other voices, les, Yes! Mr. Watson. Where? A voice. The repeal of the ten per cent tax. Mr. Watson. Now my friend, do you really know where you are at? (Laughter.) Do you really know Democracy when you see it? (Re newed laughter.) Do you know that it means State banks? Same voice. Yes sir, I know that. Mr. Watson. Do you know that Thomas Jefferson denounced State banks as swindlers and shavers? One of the ring reporters. He got in a Corbett lick that time. Mr. Watson. Do I understand you to dispute the proposition? (No response.) It seems to me that the nearer a man comes from a big city these days, the less he knows. (Laughter.) Why, it is astounding how little these men seem to know these days on the question of finance. (Renewed laughter.) There is no doubt but that these rough country men know a great deal more about finance than the finely clad city dudes who have been abusing, ridiculing, and denouncing them. (Uproarous laughter.) Let me give you an in stance of that. Mr. Black, the peer less candidate, in our last debate at Thomson, said to the farmers tnat the government never would let them have money on two per cent., and he very much doubted whether the government could float its own indebtedness at two per cent. He did not actually know that the gov ernment is now floating two per cent, bonds. A voice: Centre shot. (Great enthusiasm and laughter.) Mr. Watson. [To the gentleman who volunteered the information,] You said that the Democratic party is fighting the national banks by the plank about the State banks. I asked you if you knew that Thomas Jefferson denounced national banks and State banks, and said that the government ought to issue money directly to the people, as Col. Liv ingston had so eloquently explained on former occasions. I want to show you that Thomas Jefferson not only denounced national banks, which the Democratic party does not do, which the Republican party does not do, and which the People’s party does do, but I want to show you that he denounced State banks as being swindlers and shavers under the cover of private banks. [Reads:] And so the nation may continue to issue its bills as far as its wants require and their limits of circulation admits. That is from a letter to John AV. Enns. June 24th. 181SL What kind of bills does he mean? Why, notes direct from the treasury. How many people were there then in the United States ? Having found that, run one into the other and see how much Thomas Jefferson thought the coun try could stand at that time. [Reads.] Those limits are supposed to extend with us at present to S2OO 000.000 -a greater sum than would be necessary for any war. Eut this, the only resource which the government could command with certainty, the States have unfortu nately fooled away, nay, completely alienated to swindlers and shavers under the cover of private.banks. Now you see, my friends, that in that celebrated letter to John W. Epps, he said that there should be no private banks except for deposit, and that the issuing of paper should not be delegated to those who incor ate themselves under the names of State banks, whom he designated as swindlers and shavers, giving them the opportunity to rob the laborer of the product of his labor. [Atlanta and Augusta try the howling argument, w'ith less effect, however, than in the Capitol or the cotton warehouse, the elements be ing against them.] Mr. Watson. How nervous the Democrats are. Now, don’t they want to hear a fair discussion very badly ? Ain’t they anxious to hear what Thomas Jefferson said ? There is not a single doctrine of Thomas Jefferson that does not hit them squarely between the eyes. I am here to show you Jeffersonian de mocracy. I have already shown you that free silver was Jeffersonian de mocracy. I have shown you that they have not got it in their platform and we have. [Great confusion at this point. Mr. Watson continued, although he could scarcely be heard by the audi ence.] Mr. Watson. It is exceedingly difficult for me to get my argument in under these circumstances. I hope that you will be quiet and allow me to proceed without interruption. I am dealing fairly with these grave questions and striking above the belt. A voice out in the crowd. Don’t I you cuss me. Another voice. You behave your self. No fight here. Mr. Livingston. If you all sit down you can hear better and give | the others a chance. Keep that man quiet. There! he has two police men over him now. You two police men keep that man quiet! Bill Ventebrate, for God’s sake, keep your mouth shut. I will come over there directly and settle you all if you do not be quiet. Ha! you straw hat man ; shut your mouth and sit down. Here! You man with the straw hat, sit down. Do you want me to come olit Man with thv'Mtaw hat. Yes; come on. jj A voice. Holler lounder! Call If i William. At this point some ladies ap proached and there was a general demand to make way for them. A man in the audience blew a whistle, and what threatened to be a serious matter blew over. That showed the difference between a city and a coun try audience. It Atlanta and Au gusta the “bloods” showed respect for neither sex nor age. Those who were imported to this point saw themselves confronted with an equal number of stalwart, well behaved countrymen, and they behaved them selves. t .bfr: rxe Mr. Watson. I was proceeding to show, fellow-citizens, that on the great question of finance our plat form squared up with Jefferson’s idea. 1 was showing you that on the question of free silver, as well as on the question of national banks and State banks, that our platform represented Jefferson’s idea. I want to say, also, that Jefferson was strongly in favor of the encourage ment of agriculture, of manufactures and commerce. He said that the three were sisters, and on their sta bility depended the welfare of the country. You have heard about the crime of the demonetization of sil ver. You have heard that free silver was struck down at the in stance of Ernest Seyd, who came here from England himself. Col. Livingston has made the charge; the Augusta Chronicle has made the charge;-the Atlanta Constitution has made the charge. It is crystalized in the minds of our people that it is a crime. Why ? Because it has struck down $150,000,000 of legal tender silver currency and to that extent contracted the currency, thus robbing the people to that extent every year from them until now. They say that General Sherman did it. The point I want to make is that General Sherman had to have Democratic help to do it. What was the amendment to that law which struck down the silver dollar ? Who inaugurated the crime in 1873 and consummated it in 1879, taking away the legal tender quality of silver— silver which was good from Jeffer son’s time down to 1873? It was an amendment put on by the Senate. It went to the House. At first it was disagreed to. Then there was a conference committee to adjust the differences between the two houses. Who were the conferees ? By the side of John Sherman I find the name of Thomas F. Bayard, who afterwards became Cleveland’s Sec retary of State. Now, if the Re publicans did it, were not the Demo crats equally culpable ? Voices. Yes! Yes! (Long con tinued applause.) Mr. Watson. How many of your knew that Thomas F. Bayard, one of the leading Democrats of America. put his hand to that great crime which took away the legal tender qualities from $140,000,000 —money that was helping every man in this country; the black man and the white man; the farmer and the mer chant ; the laborer and the mechanic, whether working in shop, field or factory; in city, town or country. For what purpose was that done? Simply that they could have an ab solute mastery over the products of your labor, and over the labor itself. Ah, my, triends, the Atlanta Consti tution has shown you from that dav to this how the depreciation of silver has gone hand in hand with the de preciation in this countrv and in India; in one country silver being open to free coinage and in the other not open, you have lost from ten to twenty dollars on every bale of cot top from that to the present time. Ah, the poverty that hangs like a pall over this country is due, pri marily, to the demonetization of sil ver. The Democrats of the country went before the people of the coun try pledged to the free coinage of silver; yet, when the Republican Senate passed the bill, a Democratic House killed it. [Tremendous ap plause.] Now, I know very well that the passage of a free coinage act would only add about $1.50 per capita to the circulation, but that is not the point. You would have two kinds of money instead of one. The man who does not see that the more money there is in the country the more he gets for his products and for his labor is hopelessly blind. The man who does not see that the less there is the less he gets for his pro duce and labor, while the dollar will not pay a cent more of his debts. Thus it is that when you contracted a debt, say two years ago, and one bale of cotton would pay it off, by this contraction of the currency it now takes two. If I had time to amplify it I could show it in every phase, but I want to come to the remedy. Now, the country is in trouble. Nobody denies that. Democrats, Republicans, People’s party, non partisans, all acknowledge that. That is especially true of agriculture, which Thomas Jefferson says ought to be encouraged as the hand-maid of commerce and manufactures. How do the Democrats propose to help you ? In one breath they say that we propose to do too much for you, and in another breath they say that because we propose to do too much they will not do anything at all. [Laughter and applause.] One says that they are going to reduce the tariff, and Governor Northen speaks to you about sixty cent plow lines. [Laughter.] Where is the bill they have formulated for your relief? Shall it be the Mills bill ? Why, the Augusta Chronicle and the Atlanta Constitution fought that as hard as McKinley himself. A voice. That is so! Hurrah for Watson ! Hit ’im again ! Mr. Watson. They tell you that a forty-eight per cent tax is an un mixed blessing and that a fifty-six per cent tax is an unmixed curse. Look at the schedules of the Mc- Kinley and the Mills bills and you will see that eight cents is the dif ference. What patience have you with a party that suys it will reduce a fifty-six pet cent robbery eight cents? There are fifty-six wounds sapping the life blood out of a wounded body, and they propose to plug up eight and let the other forty eight continue draining the precious fluid. A voice. Hurrah for McGinty ! Mr. Watson. It is impossible for these Democrats t« find out where they are at. He could not think of the name of his man. There are fifty-six evil spirits infesting the body, and this Democratic savior passes by and—does what? Exor cizes eight and leaves the poor body to be torn and tended by the other forty-eight. I say that you can never have a substantial attack upon the tariff un til there is some other way proposed for raising the revenue, and the Peo ple’s party proposes a remedy by levying a tax upon the income. Draw the fangs of these millionaires, who. made their immense fortunes by favoritism shown them, and say, “You must pay half the tax as long as you own half the property. Voices. That is right; that is just. (Cheering.) Mr. Watson. If ever that be comes engrafted on the system of taxation it will supplant the tariff sy. tern, and supply the revenue lost by a reduction of the tariff. Voices (from the gang). No, no, no; followed by jeering, and coun ter cries of approval, followed by cheers. Mr. Watson. Now, I know that they will talk to you about these little free trade bills that save, so they say, $148,000,000 in taxes. Whal are the facts ? The govern ment is using every dollar it collects. Where are the Democrats going to raise these $148,000,000 to supply the deficiency? I know they say they are going to reduce the expen ditures. They have no right to make the assertion. I said, and I repeated it in my discussion with Mr. Black, and I now repeat it here, I am now speaking of the Demo cratic House: Pledged to reform, they have not reformed. (Applause.) Pledged to economy, they have not economized. (Cheering.) Pledged to legislate, they have not legislated. (Great applause, and cries from the other side of Livingston, Northen, etc.) Oh, ain’t it funny ? They say that they will remedy your wrongs by leaving a tariff of forty eight per cent on your necessaries, and then save you State banks. I have already shown you what Jeffer son said about State banks. It can not be made a legal tender. It won’t pay your tax fi. fas. It will not pay your grocery bills. It is nothing but a due bill, and yon will have to pay eight per cent for the privilege of using a due bill that dies the moment it crosses the State line. Having sold your cotton, your wheat, your corn, your horses or mules, and receive this kind of cur rency in payment, the very first man you meet has a perfect right to say, “This is not legal tender, sir, I will not take it.” On the other hand, under the plan proposed by the Peo ple’s party, money issued on your land, on your cotton, on your corn or your wheat, would have the strength of forty-four States behind every dollar. Why should not your products, deposited with proper cer tificates, be as good collateral as the bonds of the national bankers ? Voices. Yes, and we will get it, too; hurrah for Watson. Counter cries of derision and contempt. Mr. Watson. They ask, “How is the laboring man to get this money ? It always gives me pleas ure to answer this or any other fair question. At the present day you find it exceedingly difficult to get money for work or anything else. Why? Because they have not got the money. They cannot get sup plies from the store without paying a ruinous rate of interest. Why ? The national bankers have got it all. Mr. Cleveland pledged himself that even the $346,000,000 going on its mission of mercy in exchange for labor and labor’s products shall be burned up and substituted by na tional bank currency. These green backs go to the people without in terest ; the national bank notes will be issued to you at eight per cent. Do you see the point ? [At this point the applause and enthusiasm of the People’s party men got to fever heat, and there was corresponding irritation on the other side. The Democrats on the stand, and one of them a very prominent speaker, openly showed acquiescence and admiration.] Mr. Watson. Now, is it not true that you farmers are land poor ? You have more land than you can use. It lies out in the fields, fur rowed and running to decay. You cannot get money to work it as you desire. You are cramped in getting supplies for your leasers for want of cash. We propose what ? That the man who owns that land has the privilege of borrowing money on that land. The same privilege ac corded the bondholder or the whisky man. Thus he will be enabled to hire and have better control of his labor. There is no music so sweet to the laborer as the jingle of the silver dollars on Saturday night as he returns to his loved ones. A colored man. That’s so, boss. (Cheering.) Mr. Watson. We all know that when there is a good deal of money in a community we all stand a chance of getting a little of it. Voices. That is the God’s truth. (Applause.) Mr. AVatson. We say to the farmer, cotton is a valuable product. Cotton has a value around the world. We will give you money on equal terms with the bond holder. “Equal rights to all” has been our cry for four years and it is mine to-day. (Cheering.) Under our land loan plank, how would that work. You buy thirty or forty acres. You borrow money at two per cent and improve that on, say, S4OO. You go to work, and in stead of having no interest in it you begin to love the land. You plow and cross plow, gullies are filled up, flowers bloom about your door, you and yours will be more happy, more contented and better People’s Party men. Now, instead of paying a thousand pounds of cotton in rent he pays $8 interest and he is soon free from even that little tax. (Applause and sneering.) A voice. How will the laboring man get it ? Mr. Watson. How will a laboring man get it? Why, he will work for it like a man. When there is no money in the country, where or how will anyone get it ? How does the laboring man get it now? How can anyone get blood out of a turnip ? (Laughter.) When the land owner gets some of that money without gt tting it second hand and paying usurious interest on it, and thus puts more money in the community, he is better able to pay the' laboring man. When the tenant makes his cotton he gets better prices. Why ? Because there is more money in the community. A voice. You know better than to be deceiving the people. Mr. Watson. Yes. You strike a Democrat and he squeals every time. We say this: That the grandest conception of the human mind is that which had its inception at St. Louis, uniting the laboring forces, and whose central idea was that of Gladstone in England, and the idea of Con stans in France, and the idea of the greatest statesmen of Germany, that the people ought to be encouraged to own their homes. The idea that a race of mere renters cannot be as content, as happy or as patriotic as a race of home owners. The men who have an interest in the land are the men who are content, good citi zens anywhere. We propose to restore free silver, and we say that we are warranted in saving that they do not intend to pass the silver bill. Why? Be cause the Eastern and Northern Democrats are in line with the Re publicans of the North and East on that subject just as the Western Re. publicans are in line with the South ern Democrats. But you never can hope for relief as long as the Eastern and Northern Democrats dominate the Democratic party. Why, the At lanta Constitution says, in a recent is sue,that you have heard but little about the force bill. The force bill to-day is the only thing that keeps the in dustrial masses from coming together and throttling this money power with a resistless emphasis that nothing can withstand. And it says again, ~ that the most serious difficulty confront ing the Democracy is the probability that the Republican party will aban don the bloody shirt issue. Here is one of their organs saying tjiat it is to the interest of the Southern De mocracy that the force bill shall be kept to the front. Why ? It keeps you and the farmers of the West separated. The AV estern farmers are suffering by these unjust laws just like you, and you must be kept es tranged in order that the national bankers shall have their usurious profits. A voice: That is the God’s truth. Another voice: I will swear tc that, Mr. AVatsou. (Followed by great applause.) AVhy, even the Atlanta Constitu tion stumbles on the truth once in a while. (Laughter.) The Republi cans of the North by howling “rebel brigadier,” and the party leaders in the South crying out, “force bill,” they expect to drive you back into the old parties and thus keep you under their feet. Here in the South the Democrats denounce AVatson and try to howl him down for going with Jerry Simpson, yet the Demo crats of the North indorse this same Jerry Simpson. Now, don’t you think that if the Democrats of the North can indorse Jerry Simpson that the Democrats of the South could afford to swallow me. They say that I preach social equal ity with the blacks. That is false. I have never said so. I said this: You visit your friends and I will visit mine. A r ou invite your black friends to your home, and I will invite my white friends to mine. You send your children to your schools, and I will send mine to ours. I also said, what is to the interest of a poor white man, is to the interest of a poor black man. AVhat is to the interest of a white farmer, is to the interest of a black farmer. AVhat is an injury to a black laborer, is also an injury to a white laborer. Voices: That is the God Al mighty’s truth. Hurrah for AVat son. Mr. Watson. Ah, you may try to hide it, you may disguise it as you please but there is a new life brought into the old South. The scales are falling from the eyes of our people. They are breaking away fyom old/ party lines, and marshaling under banner—the pure banner of equal rights to all men, w r hite and black, rich and poor, city and country, town and village, all classes alike reaping the benefit, and your children and children’s children will go down tne stream of time thanking God for the People’s party. (Great applause.) In this great movement, no man was earlier in the fight; no man was more earnest in the fight than General AVeaver, of lowa. Voices: Hurrah for Weaver; down with AVeaver, and general con fusion. Mr. AVatson. Take it easy, boys, you are not in Augusta now. You are visiting, and you had better be on your good behavior. I repeat it, that one of the first men to engage in this reform move ment, and one of the most untiring and conscientious, was James B. Weaver. [General howling.] Now, boys, you see the sort of methods the Democrats resort to. You see how fair a chance they want to give a man to talk to you. [More howling, and indignation from decent people,] You see, boys, how anxious they are to hear a fair, honest discussion. I have become used to it in the Tenth, District, but such conduct is proba bly strange to you here. (Address ing the disturbers.) You talk about AVeaver’s hatred to the South. AVhere is there a man in the crowd who away back yonder when the passions were heated by war that did not say as bitter things of the North as ever he said of thb Sout? AVhen the Congress of the United States had under advise ment the pensioning of the Mexican soldiers, and the question of giving the benefit to those men who were in the Confederate army came up, General AVeaver at the head of thd entire greenback force, marched right into the Democratic camp and said that every Mexican soldier, whether he was in the Confederate army or not, should be pensioned. A voice. That was more than Stevenson did. This was followed by a scene of great disorder, lasting two or three minutes. Mr. AVatson. I wonder if they know who their vice-presidential candidate is. A general who never got his title in the field, but, like Cleveland, fought by substitute, while Weaver won his title on the field. A voice (mockingly). Do you think old AVeaver had enough of brains? Mr. Watson. Well, my friend, I I would hate to be measured by your standard. My friend, in 1879 or 1880, Mr. Weaver introduced in Congress, a bill identical with these principles we are fighting for to-day. Free silver; destruction of the national banks, and the control of the issue of money to the people. I tell you a man who has stood souarely on these