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J?A.RTY P A PER VOLUME 11. WATSON AT CEDARTOWN. WHAT THE DEMOCRATS DID WHEN THEY HAD A CHANCE. The Seventh District Well Represented in the Audience, but no Demo cratic Speakers Present. Cedartown, the county seat of Polk county, is a beautiful little city, situated midway between Cartersville and Rome, on the East and West Railroad of Alabama. What promised to be a discussion of unusual interest between the lion. Thomas E. Watson and Judge Mad dox, turned out to be an address by the former gentleman to the people of the Seventh District. Why? Simply because the wary Judge chose to let his friends, Go seek for some abler defender of wrong, He’d array himself not against reason and right; At least when the foe was a champion so strong, ’Twas the part of discretion to shun such a fight. Os course, the learned Judge did not word his declination in the words above. I believe that he posed on a point of etiquette. Fling ing the gauntlet at his feet did not warrant his Judgeship in throwing his own targe upon the ground- His esthetical taste called for such a challenge as the following: Hon. Thomas E. Watson presents his most respectful compliments to his Mighty Highness, Judge Maddox, R. C. D. P., and requests his presence at Cedars town, September 21, 1892, at 10 o’clock a. m., to engage in an animated chinning bee. Well, well, I congratulate the Judge on his discretion. I believe the common sense definition of the word conservative is, let well enough alone. The Judge is, I believe, a conservative. If he should be elected he would, doubtless, assume the conservative course in the inter est of his masters, the monopolists. **-**'" KN .route, courage > -^tlan 4 *’ to Cedar- 4own was ‘ was on the train that ’ your repeater. To the ordinary looker-on in Venice, there was considerable in terest token in the coming elections and the great issues now engaging public attention. To him who had passed through the fiery ordeal of a Tenth District campaign, with its baggago-car bar-rooms and movable gangs of thugs, it was common-place enough. Some gentlemen approach ed the train at Cartersville and asked for Mr. Watson. The train pulled out, however, before an opportunity was given to see him. On our arrival in Cedartown we were taken in hand by Mr. Miller Wright and right royally entertained at his beau tiful residence, across from the court house, which may be very aptly called “the white gables.” The genial hospitality of the host, the gentle amiability of his wife and the graceful loveliness of his daughter leave a lasting impression upon the guests. Morning’s dawn disclosed the fact that rain had fallen copiously during the night. Roads were heavy and clouds lowering. It would seem that the hand of Providence, and J udge Maddox, had thrown a wet blanket over the arrangements for the day. At eight o’clock, however, the sun showed his face and the day was still young. At nine the streets began to show quite an animated ap pearance. At 9:35 we took up the line of march to the place of meet ing. ON THE GROUND. The railroad at the depot runs through a beautiful grove. The railroad authorities, more generous than the Georgia road, tendered the use of a flat car, which they run in on a side track, for a stand. It was at least substantial. No danger of this breaking down, like the stand at Crawfordsville. The grove extend ed to the side of the road, and the audience were sheltered from the rays of the burning sun. Not so, however, ths speaker, the reporters, and the emi nent citizens on the platform; but then who would not suffer for the honer of being a speaker, a reporter, or a distinguished citizen ? When everything was in readiness or the speech to commence, it was “Equal Rights to A.ll Special Privileges to None." found that there were about two thousand present, and during the first fifteen minutes, it swelled to about twenty-five thousand. Every meeting has its own characteristics. This had three. 1. It can be safely said that there were not more than twenty-five or thirty Democrats present. Whether Judge Maddox’s slump bad anything to do with producing this result, I know not. 2. The earnest attention of the audience at large, and the respectful manner in which the few Demo crots interrogated the speaker, in contradistinction from the brutal idiocy of the clacquers of Atlanta, Augusta and Hancock county. 3. The conspicuous absence of the young men of the press, who let out for hire their words, their sarcasms, and their falsehoods. FLITTING. The meeting had not progressed more than ten minutes when it was discovered that a mistake had been made. A railroad employee came up and gave notice that some men, who had taken seats on two passen ger cars adjoining, would have to vacate, as they were going to move them. An engine approached, too, and the noise was so great that it was deemed advisable to adjourn down in the grove. A wagon was improvised for a stand, the trees were soon filled with agile youths, and the meeting proceeded uninter ruptedly. Mr. Watson, as on most other oc casions,began without any formal in troduction: Mr. Watson. Fellow citizens, in this campaign I have endeavored to discuss the issues, and not the per sons concerned. I have endeavored to make it a campaign of measures, and not of men. I think that is best for myself and best for you; because the character of any person can only be a matter of temporary intesest, at best. Measures, however, affect the future as well as the present, affect the happiness of generations yet un born as weH as th# 1 happiness of peo o i... ti been almost impossible, aayw n r ' the enemy, to discuss these 4 without indulging m perßonalj and that abuse has been specially aimed at myself everywhere. If the Democratic party can show that I am a bad man, they chiefly upon that proof to perpetuate their power, no matter what they may be. If they can show that I am a bad man, they chiefly rely upon that to block tne progress of the People’s party, no matter how sound the platform or how pure the leaders may be. Now, a compaign like that is absurd, is it not ? It treats you not as intelligent reasoning beings, but as instruments of passion or prejudice, not to be controlled by facts, by reason, by any appeals made to you as sensible creatures—as cautious, calculating members of society. Men with whom, in Washington city, I was on the kindest terms of personal intimacy, commenced vilify ing me the moment their feet hit the soil of Georgia ; and yet, there is not a thing they know about me to-day they did not know then. Visitors at my house, receivers of the hospitality of my home—men who gave me every reason to suppose that they were my friends, so far as personal relations were concerned, have stop ped at no abuse however vile. No limit to their vituperation except their own command of language. Now, if there was any man I had kind relations with, it was my friend, R. W. Everett, who was frequently at my house, and a recipient of the hospitality of my home. If there was any one man whom I supposed could discuss the issues of the hour without abuse of myself, it was my friend, R. W. Everett. (Reads.) Hon. R. W. Everett said in a speech at Lime Branch, Ga., September 22d, that Tom Watson was a smart man—a very smart man—and that he knew better than to deceive the people, as he was do ing : but that Watson would deceive any man ; that he would deceive the devil. Now, were any of you there ? Is that a correct statement of what my friend said at Lime Branch ? A voice. Here is one that was there. Mr. Watson. There are two re sponsible names on the back of this; names that I will furnish, if neces sary. I have sent an open challenge to every Congressman of every district in Georgia to meet me at these ap pointments. If I have deceived the people so badly, am I not giving them a good chance to show it? Voices. You certainly are. (Ap plause.) Mr. Watson. Ain’t I facing the music in coming here to the people whom he told I was deceiving, and would “deceive the divil?” When I AlD' GA., FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1892. come to the home of that man, does not it seem that what I say, I believe to be true, and give them a fair op portunity to Reply to it, to expose me before the people. If R. W. Everett thinks that I would deceive the devil, he owes it to you as a truth ful, fair man to come and show it. A voice. Ido not reckon he knows where he is at. (Laughter.) Mr. Watson. I say here and now that the man who is a Congressman from this district, and who will remain a Congressman until the 4th of March, who is within a few miles of this city, if unfortunate circumstances prevented him from being here, should have at least asked Judge Maddox to be here and show me to be* the infamous deceiver I am, ac cording to his statement. Judge Maddox is not sick. Mr. Hargrave saw him yesterday evening. I be lieve that there is no claim that he is sick, or that there is any providential hindrance to prevent him from being here. He is a man of great ability ; so much so, that he was judge of this district for a number of years. If I am as bad a man as that, why cannot Judge Maddox come here and show that to be a fact, and if he cannot, that I may show that I am slandered ? A voice. He cannot show it. Mr. Watson. No, and none of them can do it. There is only one theory on which I can excuse Judge Maddox’s ab sence, and that is, that my scalp has been taken so often according to Democratic reports there is not enough left for him. Mr. Black took it five difierent times. Judge Lawson took it one time, and Judge livingston one time, so as a matter of course, Judge Maddox thinks there is not enough left to bother wuth. (Laughter.) Let me tell you one thing that is a fact, my friends, there are facts in this record that these men dare not face. I will tell you all the scalping in these debates. I have never had a chance to reply to these Congress men. The man they were to down has been met by an organized effort to prevent him from replying. What sort of an opinion have you of a party that doos not dare to have its issues discussed? What sort of an opinion have you of a case in court which does not allow the lawyer on the other side to be heard. Suppose you were a juror in such a case, what would you think? Would you not think the re was a good sized nioroor in tha’ww’ where? -K! (It before m Now, ou* the demonetization/ , silver. We are going to the record. The Atlanta Constitution wrote to each member of the Geor gia delegation, wanting to know the views of each on that subject. It is interesting to know what Mr. Liv ingston said. Let me read a lit tle. “In the Bankers’s Magazine, 1873 we find the following on this subject, viz: The demonitization of silver. “A capital of five hundred thous and dollars was raised, and Ernest Seyd, of the city of London, was sent to this country with this fund, as agent of the foreign bondholders and capitalists, to affect the same object, i. e., the demonitization of silver, which was accomplished.” Mr. Ernest Seyd, of London, a distinguished writer and bullionist, who has given great attention to the subject of mintage and coinage, having examined the first drafts of this bill, made various suggestions which the committee adopted and incorporated in the bill.” So says Mr. Hooper, who at the time was chairman of the committee on coinage. Thus you see that the British capitalists sent here a man to make laws for the American peo ple. (Murmurs of indignation.) That is what Mr. Livingston charged, not Watson. I charge it now. The demonetization of silver in 1873, added to the value of gold in New York, and contracted the vol ume of currency in the interest of the capitalists and gold bugs. That is a formidable indictment against the Republicans. It is partially true in regard to the Democrats. Ought they not to be judged by what the record shows? They tell you that the record is silent in regard to the demonetization of silver. The record ought not to be silent. You there to break the silence when it is necessary to pro test against the schemes of these London bankers. You sent men there to contest every inch of the ground in your behalf, when the bondholders seek to contract the cur rency and hold the power over the commodities of labor. That silence itself condemns the Democratic party. What were they doing when you were seeking information as to the cause of depression ? The record shows that these men were acting together in Congress; that the demonetization of silver was accomplished by the act of the two parties, acting together, under the influence of that half mil lion dollars which the London bank ers sent over with Mr. Seyd, accord so Col. Livingston and the Congres- tional Record. Perhaps that is one of the things I have been deceiving the people about. (Laughter and applause.) Perhaps that is one of the things Judge Maddox could ex pose if he was here. (Renewed laughter.) No party can pass a law, in secret, without the concurrence of the other. If either one said that the other slipped an unjust law through without its knowledge, it would be putting itself in the position of a sentinel whom you put on duty to watch the movements of the army of invasion and came back with the confession that he was asleep on his post of duty and the enemy came upon your slumbering companions without warning. These men, at the very best, show that they were slip ped up on. lam going to show you that they were not slipped up on. I am going to show you that it was done deliberately, and partly by the Democratic party. How was the demonetization of silver accomplished? You will re member that up to 18771 silver had been coined freely and without limit, just as gold had been coined, until there was $140,000,000 of full legal tender silver, exchanging the pro ducts of labor, doing the service of money, and allowing the people to exchange their commodities for fair prices. Well,|the bondholders and gold bugs wanted to strike it down. Why? The less money you have the more power the combination of men who have that money. Why ? You have to swap the products of your labor for that money, and the less money there is in circulation the more of your labor or your products it will buy—the more of your pro ducts or labor it will take to get it, and when you do get it it does not pay any more of your debts. There fore, the man who holds the larger amount of your obligations has a larger amount of your wheat, of your corn, of your cotton, and it takes two bales of cotton to pay a debt that before could be paid with one. Who has stolen that bale of cotton —not one year but every year, reaping where they did not sow? Why, it was the bondholders and goldbugs who struck down your cur rency, and besides getting under their control every branch .of industry and every field of labor. Now, they struck down the silver dollar, how ? By the act of 1873, saying that no more standard silver dollars should be coined. The next year they did wlinf-- They took the legal tender Z from $14O,0iOO;OOO, and as the second and closing act rain a and the crime was com pt. . If tneic Is the Democrats charged the Republicans more strongly with t,han -another, it was the demonetization of silver. If there ever was anything that the Democrats promised Jto; right more than another, it was the wrong of 1873. What are the facts about that crime of 1873 ? When the bill de monetizing silver was on its passage, the House disagreed to it, and thus there was a deadlock between the two houses—the Senate on the one side saying that the coinage of < silver should be stopped, and the House on the other side saying that it should not be stopped. The two houses had to get together. To do that they ap pointed a conference committee, and that committee reported to the Senate on the one hand, and to the House on the other. Now, when you get a law in that fix, neither can dodge the is sue. Why? Because both parties | are put on notice. The highest con tract which the nation knows is when the Democrats appoint their man on the one side, and the Republicans the other, and when the Demo erats ap pointed their man to represent them, they were bound by his action. The same is true of the Republicans. Now, fellow citizens, U liold in my hand the record which: shows that the Democrats and Republicans ap pointed a committee of conference, John Sherman acting for tbelßepub licans and Thomas FI Baysrrd (who became Cleveland’s >-Secretary of State), acting for theeiDemocrats. The House appointed., a I committee man representing the Democrats and a committeeman representing the Republicans, also, and these commit tees from the two houses formed the conference committee. 1 This confer ence committee, charged with the re sponsibility of adjusting the difficul ties between the two houses, agreed among themselves that the standard silver dollar should be stricken down knowing that it was a crime against the people. Here is the record. I will give you the page, and date and I respectfully my 1 friend, Judge Maddox, to deny it in this dis trict.—[Congressional Globe of the Session of 1872-3. Part % 3d Ses sion, page 1150.~iJ The House disagreed to amend ment No. 16, proposed by the Senate. This amendment proposed strik ing down of the standard silver dol lar. The conferees, both Demorates and Republicans, agreed that this amendment should be adopted. The amendment, No. 16, -was the dagger, according to the Democrats, that struck home to the vitals of the [At this point an attache of the railroad came up and announced that they were going to move the cars off on the adjoining track, and ordered the men off them. An engine was puffing and blowing, too, ■which added to the annoyance.] Mr. Watson stjid: My friends, let us go down in the grove, where we will be free from the noise and con fusion of the moving trains. This suggestion was carried out, and a wagon was improvised for a stand, when Mr. Watson proceeded. Mr. Watson. Now, fellow-citizens, I have shown you that the Demo crats and Republicans demonetized silver. I have given the Democrats the benefit of the page and the date where the proof is contained, and I challenge anybody, now or hereafter, to dispute this proposition, that the Democrats were represented on the conference committee when the two houses had disagreed, the Senate hav ing agreed to demonetize silver and the House disagreeing. I have shown you that John Sherman acted for the Republicans, and that Mr. Bayard (Cleveland’s Secretary of State in his subsequent administration), acted for the Democrats, and that Mr. Hooper acted for the Republicans in the House, and Mr. Stockton for the Democrats, and that report was con curred in by both houses. The proof will found in the Congressional Globe, part 2,3 d session, 42d Congress, 1872 and 1873, page 1150. Let Democrats go there and see if the proof does not convict them. If so, let the People’s party hurl the charge at both the old parties and say, “A plague o’ both your houses, you are both guilty of this crime against the people.” A voice. They are going to do that, sure. Mr. Watson. The functions of gov ernment ought to interest every citizen. Your material welfare de pends upon your understanding the principles of government, the influ ences controlling legislation, the laws and the whys and wherefores, and the effect of the laws after they are made. You have been studying these questions. You understand them better every year. You have had information and it opened your eyes. You are dissatisfied with the way your representatives have managed your affairs, as those representatives have gone away and neglected your business and then come back and told you lies about it. Misrepresen tations have been made and they say, “We are not guilty as charged in the indictment,” In the South the Dem ocrats say that it is a conspiracy to break up the Democratic party. In the North the Republican party say that it is a conspiracy to break up the dear old Republican party. Down here the Democrats say to the far mers, “We can’t help you; we have not had a chance.” In the North west, where the farms are all plas tered all over with mortgages, the farmers are told by the Republicans, “We cannot relieve you; we have not had a chance ; we have not had control of the finances of the govern ment.” Down South, when the Democrats talk to the farmers, they say that every act which burdens them is the act of Republicans; or else, as my friend Major Black says, they are greatly exaggerated. These are the answers you get to your complaints of the burdens which bring bankruptcy to your doors and misery to your homes. I propose to show that the Democratic platform offers you no relief, and takes no recognition of your troubles; while the People’s party platform honestly and plainly deals with every phase of these evils, and pledges you its honor to remove them. If I can show you that, then without favorit ism, without fear and without affec tation, you ought to do your duty as citizens by upholding that party which recognizes that you are in trouble brought on you by bad laws, and which proposes to repeal those bad laws. You ought to support it out of selfish interests if not from patriotic motives; because the wel fare of your homes, the welfare of your wives, the welfare of your children depends on whether those bad laws are repealed or not and good laws enacted in their place. Os late years it is the rarest thing that both parties have had control of both houses. The Democrats had charge of both houses in 1879-80 and they did not repeal the national bank act. They did not reduce taxation. They did not give us an income tax. They did not add to the volume of cur rency. In nearly every session since 1873 the Republicans have had one branch and the Democrats another. Therefore, what ? Each has been in a position to say, “I have not had a chance, because the enemy have had the other branch.” And in this last year, in this Congress to which Mr. Everett and myself went—ele vated by this great reform move ment—the Democrats had a majority of 148. They were able to do any thing they chose to do. They went there pledged to economise. They went there pledged to give you more currency. They went there pledged to right the wrong in reference to free silver. That Congress has ad- NUMBER 3 journed, and I say here and now without fear of contradiction from any man that the session just closed has spent more money than any Congress that ever sat in the United States. I know they say that 879,- 000,000 ought to be credited to them because the Republicans put it on them. What -were the items the Republicans put on them? Have they made any effort to remove those items? Not one of them, and they every one stand there binding the people in the future. Then have we any right to complain of these bur dens which w r e did not remove ? Surely not. Forty-eight million dol lars, which the Democrats say they ought to have credit for, were put there by the Republicans for pen sions. Did the Democrats repeal them, or pass them over to the next Congress ? They passed them over to the next, and the next Congress has the same right to say that we passed the burden over to them. What else ? The sugar bounty of $10,000,000. What is the sugar bounty ? A tax of two cents levied on the cotton laborers, on the wheat raisers, on the corn raisers, and on the laborers of the country and put into the pockets of the men who raise the sugar. What does he do to get it ? He simply makes sugar as you make cotton. Who are the sugar planters ? The millionaires of the Louisiana and Texas valleys and the Florida Everglades. Are you going to indorse by your silence this fraud and pay ten millions of dollars just in order that the others may have encouragement to make sugar ? Now, ain’t that a sweet thing ? A voice. We all get the price off; we all eat sugar. It’s very cheap. Mr. Watson. Well, how does anybody get the price off by eating it ? If sugar is cheap it is for the lack of something to buy it with. Do you not know, my friend, that you would get it for two cents less but for this tax ? In other words, the man who raises it would get two cents less of your money. Then, if it is cheap would it not be two cents cheaper ? (Laughter and applause.) Any one who wants to see it can see it, but we have a class of people in the country who make up their minjgjiot to see anything. (Laugh ter.) And it takes that kind of a man to make a real old genuine moss back Democrat. (Renewed laugh ter.) What else do the Democ??ats say that they should charge the Republi cans with ? Why, the appropriation for the Chicago fair. Because the last Republican session of Congress passed a bill and gave the managers a million and a half, they say they are warranted and excused for giving two millions and a half. Did not they have as goed a chance to give it to you as to the managers of the Chicago fair ? Did not they have as good a chance to work for you as for the Louisiana sugar raisers ? When they say they had no chance, ask them what chance they had to give your tax money to the Chicago fair. Ask them what chance they had to tax you two cents on every pound of sugar for the benefit of the sugar raisers. Why can not you treat us as fairly as you did the oth ers —no fairer, but just as fairly ? That is not all. We passed the river and harbor bill of $21,000,000. We entered into a contract to the extent of $31,000,000 more, there fore that ought to be charged up against us to rebut the $79,900,000 which they say the Republicans put on us. Then there were $5,000,000 for a war ship which was ordered and not paid for. Add up all these items and you will see that the $79,000,000 is outbalanced by these enormous sums of money which will have to go on the next Congress. Therefore, I say that this Congress, pledged to economy, did not economize. Where is the Democrat who can success fully deny it ? Voices. It is a plain case; they can not do it. Mr. Watson. Let us discuss the currency again. I have shown that the Democrats struck down free silver as well as the Republicans. Let us consider in the light of reason. I appeal to your judgment, not to your prejudice or passions. I appeal to sound logic and facts that can not be disputed. Some people think that money was born mysteriously, or born of God ; that it happened so at some time by some miraculous power. There never was a greater mistake. Just as the wagon was made as a better way to carry cotton than in hampers, so money was made for the purpose sf exchanging one commodity for another. You may say that God made this wagon. He did not do so. God made the materials and man made the wagon. God did not make the money; he made the materials just like he made the ma terials that go into the wagon or the hat or the pair of shoes. Man made the money for his convenience; for certain purposes. Now that is a thing everybody ought to under hand. I think that public speakers frequently fly above the heads of their audiences. There may be