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to have some reward for his labor. He must have profit on his money after paying eight per cent. He is obliged to charge you profit. So you see that the banker gets the money at one per cent. He charges the merchant eight per cent. The farmer and the laborer have to pay the merchant his per cent, and still the farmer and the laborer have as much right to that money as the banker or the bondholder. There you see one class of men are granted the right to tax the farmer, the mer chant and the laborer. Now, what do you propose to do? The tenants are increasing. Home owners are decreasing enormously. We propose that this money of the people shall be issued in sufficient volume to do the business of the country on a natural basis, allowing the commodities of the people to bring their full value as decided by the requirements of the world for that article and the amount of labor expended on it. That is the natural price of any article, and the price will gravitate to these natural require ments as naturally as the needle grav itates to the pole. Here is a man who has more land than he can han dle. It is run down. You say : “ Boss, I want thirty acres of land. I can get a little money on the cotton when it is made. I can borrow from the government at 2 per cent.” You sell the land. Both are benefited. AVhy? You can pay off laborers in cash. The storekeepers will not boss that man any more. That man will boss the storekeeper. Why? He will make competition between mer chants. (I did not say that in an of fensive sense.) Why ? The mer chant will do a quick business with certain profits, instead of a slow busi ness with uncertain profits. There fore, the man who buys thirty acres of land by means of a government loan, instead of paying two bales of cotton rent, he will pay half a bale as interest, and save a bale and a half of that cotton. In less time than you can shake a rabbit’s foot he will have that place paid for. The cer tainty of reward inspires him. There never was a thing that will jerk gold and silver out of these hills so quick as to fill them with men and women working with a knowledge that they are going to have a chance in the race of life for home and happiness. The happy home taking the place of the rented cabin. There will be the golden fruit hung in the orchard, flowers at the door, the outhouses carefully kept and filled, and every thing bright and happy. Why ? It will be inhabited by the man whose toil has produced it—a man who will say, “ I am monarch of all I survey.” It is under the care of some good woman, under whose roof her children born and reared. That is our 'X <lO HVv SivJMcr.C to v vrn it anywhere. It is our policy to en courage the people to buy the land and establish homes, and give them a fair opportunity to pay for those homes. (Applause.) Now you boys here are told that the Australian ballot system will keep the illiterate man from voting. At present it is well known that the Democrats want to prevent any one from voting who will not vote with them. Why, down in the Tenth Dis trict they make no hesitation in say ing that Watsou has the votes, but we will do the counting. Now we want every voter to go into a little voting booth where he can select whatever ballot he pleases and go out and vote it, and there is not a man who can interfere -with him by persuasion., or threats. But they say that if you cannot read, you cannot vote. That is a mistake. Each political party will be represented on the board of managers, and if you are a Democrat, you will ask the Demo cratic manager to select your ballot, and if you are a People’s party man you only have to ask the People's party manager to do the same thing. The law can be so made as to pro tect the ignorant. It is the same way if you are a Republican or be longing to any other party. The voter,say in the approaching election, can get any man to explain which the Cleveland, the Harrison or the J. B. Weaver, electors are. I will wager that there is not a white or colored man in this crowd, but can tell the difference between Cleve land, Harrison and Weaver by see ing the name on the ticket. A voice. Hurrah for Cleve land ! Mr. Watson. And burning up the greenbacks. Why did you not yut that in ? (Laughter.) Not only that, I believe that the man who cannot read and write would be willing to go to the trouble of learning if by that price he could get an absolutely free ballot and fair count. Why? Because the greatest possible gratification to any one is to know that his ballot will be counted. There is no doubt about that. Are there any other questions that you world like to have discussed? A voice. AV hat about the frac tional currency? Mr. Watson. Both the republi cans and the Democrats took $23,- 000,000 of fractional currency and held it out of circulation, and Cleve land did just as much of that as Hayes, Arthur or Garfield. (Ap plause.) There is no use of talking abuut it. It is a regular case of pot and kettle. There is no difference between the Republicanism of John Sherman and the Democracy of Grover Cleveland, on the money question. Nobody denies that up North. I have heard it claimed that the Democrats ought not be blamed for killing free silver. The New York World,spokesman for the De mocratic party said that they had de feated freq silver, just as it claims PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER. ATLANTA, GEORGIA, FRIDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1892 that Northern voters ought to vote for Cleveland because he dished out more pensions than any Republican president. A voice. Yes, and he vetoed more pensions, too. Mr. Watson. Yes, and he signed more, too. (Laughter and applause.) Why, according to my recollection of the figure President Grant signed between four and five hundred of these private pension bills, while Cleveland, during the same period, signed over twelve hundred. The New York World also show, that Cleveland paid out $34,000,000 more for pensions during three years than any Republican president ever paid, and asked the votes of Northern soldiers on that account. Do you deny it? Old gentleman with the ear trum pet. Was he not compelled to pay that out? Mr. Watson. This gentleman asks me if he was not compelled to pay that money out. Let me say that he was compelled to pay it by virtue of laws passed in Congress; and I answer in that connection, that Democrats and Republicans passed those laws jointly. (Great ap plause.) Same old gentleman. Will you give the vote? Mr. Watson. I will say this, that the Democratic national platform took credit for that act, and those laws were passed by the almost un amimous vote of both parties. (Ap plause.) I say further, that the arrears of pensions act passed in 1879, giving $26,000,000 to these pensions as back pay, reaching back to the time that they left the service, and Gen. John B. Gordon and Benjamin Hill voted for it. Old gentleman, (peevishly). I knew you would dodge it. Give the vote, and that would place the re sponsibility where it belongs. Mr. Watson. Oh, yes; the truth hurts. We understand that. I an swer you farther that the Democrats of the North and East stand pledged !to these very pension laws. A voice. lam a Northern man, and I do not see how a Southern man can be anything else but a true I Democrat. Mr. Watson. All Southern men ought to be true Democrats, but the man who goes back on Jeffersonian Democracy, whether Northern or | Southern man, is a false Democrat. I have said this, and maintain it, that every principle of our platform is founded on Jeffersonian Democ racy, and the trouble with our mod ern Democracy is, that it has’ not a particle of Jeffersonian Democracy in its platform. Jefferson favored our land plank. Jefferson favored the direct iskue of the money to the peo pffi Jriffergon favored our antagon ism to 'State banks, mid if he were alive, lihave n<L the least doubt but he would favor the income tax. A voice. Would he favor the rail road plank ? Mr. Watson. I rather think he would. In the very fundamentaljlaw of this land, the framers of the consti tution said that navigable streams never should belong to the States or to private persons. Why was the State of Georgia never permitted to own the Savannah River or any other navigable stream within her bounda ries ? Simply because it was a water highway, a national avenue to travel and merchandize, and the fathers who formed our government said that they ought to be kept for the benefit of all the people. That [they should not be allowed to go into the hands of private parties, corporations or of the State. Would you be willing to vote for a law that would turn your roads into private property of individuals or corporations ? A voice. They used to be owned by private parties, and they were good roads, too. Mr. Watson. But would you do that to-day ? Same voice. Oh, no. (Laughter.) Mr. Watson. Now, by the evolu tion of modern’society, the railroad takes the place of the river. That railroad is the public highway over which traffic is conducted. Now, does not the same argument apply to keeping of the rivers open ? Voices. Yes, yes. (Applause.) Mr. Wstson. Now. I want to ask my Democratic friend over here, if he would be in favor of keeping the dirt road, which accomodates him, out of the hands of monopolists; and if so, why the same should not apply to the iron road ? Voice. How will you buy the railroads ? [The audience began to impatience at the interruptions.] Mr. AVatson. My friend is asking fair questions, and I am going to knead him into People’s party dough. (Laughter.) Same voice. You will never knead me into AA T eaver dough. Mr. Watson. We will see. He says, how will we get the railroads ? The government gave much of their lands to them by the law of eminent domain. AVhen you foot up the first cost of all the railroads in America, and balance that with the amount of the donations -which the States gave them, which the counties gave them, and thedownships gave them, the rail roads have not cost the corporations one cent. How did they get your land when you did not want to sell it ? They go to the legislature and invoke the right of eminent domain, and say, “you will have to accept so and so" for your land, for public necessity requires that we should have it.” They have a commission, appointed to go there and map out your land, assess its value, and when the rail road pays that assessment the land goes from ’ you. That is what the law calls taking land by the right of eminent domain. Now, what the railroads got by the right of eminent domain from the people, the govern ment can get by eminent domain from the railroads and restore to the people. Do we propose to get them, and pay nothing? Not at all. We purpose to make the same rule apply by which they got these lands. Ap point a commission. Let them as sess the real value of the roads. Let them squeeze out the fictitious value. Every man, Woman and child in America is taxed at present to pay interest annually on five billion dol lars of watered stock. The Democrat from the North. That is right, Mr, AA’atson. Mr. Watson. Now, that is a very clever fellow. It is a pleasure to argue with him. (Laughter.) He owns up like a little man. (Renewed laughter.) Now, we -would get these roads and pay for them by issuing legal tender notes. That would do what? Relieve the people from paying trib ute on the five billion watered stock. AVe would save fifty million dollars on the salaries of fellows who do nothing only sit in their offices and look pretty. Same Northern Democrat. That is right. Mr. Watson. What is the form of abuse under the present system ? It makes the community at large pay enormous salaries to a few favored individuals. Some of the Democrats who denounce the railroad plank in our -platform are going around with free passes in their pockets. Voices. That’s so, as sure as you live. [Laughter.] Mr. AVatson. Don’t you think it is right when a man is speaking against the government ownership of railroads that the people should know that he has a two hundred dollar free ticket in his pocket? I do not say that because a man takes a free pass he is necessarily bought, but I do say that when a man is arguing for the railroads the people ought to know that he has got a free pass in his pocket. A voice. AVho passed you here ? Mr. AVatson. I paid my own way. Ain’t it a pity that the men who are traveling around speaking in the in terest of railroads and against the interests of the people could not say as much? [Applause.] I say that the Congressman who takes the twenty cents per mile that the gov ernment allows him and puts it in his pocket and accepts a free pass from the railroad is not in a position to speak as a disinterested servant look ing to the interests of his constitu ents. I say that he is not the proper man to argue against the man who pays his own expenses. AVe have already shown what you on the payment of five billion dollars -watered stock. Don’t you know that we could run the rail roads on practically the same equip ment and in fifteen, twenty or thirty years give the people the advantage of all the savings. Don’t you know that Thomas Jefferson bought 757,000,000 acres of land at one trade ? Voices. Yes; hurrah for Jeffer son. Mr. AVatson. AVell, that was a bigger trade for the country at that time than for the country to buy the railroads to-day. Now, do you know this, that some of Jefferson’s friends admitted that he violated the consti tution when he did that ? I do not say that we will be violating the constitution. I say that we will be keeping both within the letter and spirit of the constitution in buying the railroads and restoring them to the people. Don’t you know that the railroads can destroy your town or build it up at their sweet will and pleasure ? A voice. So far as monopoly is concerned, you know as much about them as I do. Mr. Watson. AA T ell, that is a gen erous concession. lam very thank ful for it, my friend. [Laughter.] Now, he admits that this is one of the worst features of the railroads to day. Don’t you know that if the railroads were under the control of the government that your town, and every other town, would get fair play. AVhy ? It is not the postmas ter’s interest to build up this town at the expense of that* Remove the motive and the crime disappears. Put the railroads where they are operated at no man’s individual pleasure. I could go further and show you many other benefits to ac crue from the government ownership of railroads. Colonel Livingston said down here at Conyers Monday, “Suppose you got a leg cut off, or had a horse or a calf killed, how are you going to get paid for it by the government ?” AVell, every man knows, I suppose, that there is such a thing as a Court of Claims at AVashington, where any citizen can present a claim against the government, and the jurisdiction of that court can be extended to these cases. But they say that if your railroads go into the hands of politicians you never can get that party out of power. Where are they now? They are in politics and control politics. Is it possible for the legislature to deter an illegal railroad combination ? Who de terred it in the case of the Central Railroad? AVhy, it was Judge Emery Speer, who took the thing by the nape of the neckj and shook the life out of it. And even then he could not do it until the Wall street combination destroyed the railroads of the State. Then he says that if the govern ment runs the roilroads of the State it will put in all the engineers, con ductors, etc. Well, my friends, if you put one man in office do you not leave five outside wanting it? Aly opinion is that you would have as much chance against his influence as to-day. The same argument stands against the railroads ashman aged now. A voice. Does not the People’s party indorse the one term idea ? Mr. AVatson. That is true, but I was going upon the broader idea than that. AVe are arguing, like the early fathers, that there should not be more than one term for the president, so that he would not be using the pa tronage of the government for his re-election. A voice. If we get a good Presi dent, why not keep him ? Mr. AVatson. In a government of sixty millions of people there is no man so much. Yetter than, all others thathe must be continually selected for the high office of President. AVe do not rule on the.kingly idea, AVe say that the civil Service law ought to be enforced. AVhat is that?. ; The ap plicant must come before, a beard and be examipyd. He must be qual ified to fill the position or he cannot get the place. Therefore, ihen of one political party could not get all the railroad jobs and offices.; I cannot talk to you greater length. I appreciate your attention, and unless you have some questions which interest you, I will A voice. AVq will elect Cleveland. AVell, let us see. This is the first time that I have looked ipto your faces. I have talked to you to-day the same doctrine I have talked to my own people.. I am glad to see that you have received it as you did. Now, I want to see how many of you people, white and black, ladies and children, indorse the position that I have taken to-day. As many as do, hold up your hands. [The vote gave, to all appearances, a unanimous show of hands.] Mr. Watson. „ Now, I am going to take the other side. As many as are opposed hold up your hands, f About twenty-five hands wfent up.] Mr. AVatson. ..Now, I want to say this : the People’s party is pledged to unity and reconciliation of, the two sections. The grandest speech Ben Hill ever made -was when he pleaded for the restoration of good feeling between the North and South. The grandest act of Henry AV.. Grady’s life was when he gave his life as a sacrifice to a reunited country, and pleaded for friendly relations between the sections. The grandest thing that the Alliance ever claimed was through the mouth of such a man as Livingston, up to this year,[that they had finally buried hatred too deep to resurrect. (Great ap plause.) To-day these men are wav ing the bloody shirt as determedly as the Atlanta Constitution and the At lanta Journal did two years ago, to rekindle the embers of sectional hate. (Great applause.) In? .the name of th? |Prince of [Peace, I say, let us have peace. Let preach and act the doctrines of reconciliation between the sections.;, Let us put the seal of condemnation upon that man, or men, who seek to array us in , hatred against our brethren across she, Season and Dixon’s line. (Renewed applause.) Let us say to every man who will help us; come. If /he be, from the East, let him come. H lf hq be from the AVest, let him cpme. If he be from the North, let him come. If he be from the South, let hjm come. If he be a black man, let us say, come. If he be a brown man, let us say, come. If he be a white man, let us say, come. Let all come and help us to redeem this people and this land ; to rehabilitate and reestablish the principles of “equal au 4 exac t justice to all men.”., / Alices. That is, right; we are in for that. Mr. AVatson. They say that lam in for social equality between the whites and blacks. I most emphatic ally say that it is untrue. I have never said anything, to the blacks except in the presence of the whites. I have never said anything to the whites except in the presence of the blacks. I say here and now that social equality is not a good thing for either race. Yo,u colored people, as well as the whitbs, are better apart. You go to,.your churches, without any interference, ; and we will go to ours. I have said that what, injures the black tenant injures -the white tenant. AVhat injures the Ifiack farmer in jures the white farmer. That we should live under a of just laws where the (he , farmer, or the mechanic will.be.treqted right. That the farmer, the . mqqhanic, the tenant or the laborer ought to be treated with the saipe consideration as the national banker or bondholder; the railroader or th er,capitalist. Thus I said that this new spirit infused by the People’s party had, great things for you black men;as,, welt as for white men. > 0 ; The infamous laws, must be chang ed. Our people are being oppressed. The hand of ruin is on thousands to day, and will be on thousands more to-morrow. The Democracy makes no promise to help you. Distress is here as well as in Europb. If we do not change them, 1,. for one, believe that the people will be driven to conflict which I would deplore. Be earnest in this work, my friends. The appeal to duty was never plainer than to-day. Every man who loves home, let him follow. Every man who loves what is fair ami, true, let him follow the People’s party. On with the fight to-day. On with the fight to-morrow. On with the fight this week. On with the fight next week. On with the fight, in victory or defeat, in sunshine or in shadow; until we see the day which will bring dease, contentment and happiness. A DEMODRATIC DISSENTER. Judge George Clarke, candidate of one of the branches of organized Democracy of Texas, dissents from the demand for the repeal of the 10 per cent tax on circulation. He discusses economics in advocating his claim to be Governor, and states his position as follows: The tenth plank of this platform proposed and adopted by the car stable convention, is as follows: “We oppose the national banking system, we demand the repeal of the federal tax on State banks and favor an amendment to our State constitution permitting the incorporation of State banks under proper restrictions and control for the protection of depos itors and the people.” Evidently the author of this plank of the platform is scarcely out of his teens; other wise, he would have known what old er men know, that the greatest curse to this country anterior to the war was the existence of State banks, which Hooded the country with irre deemable private paper and subjected the citizen to enormous discounts in the transaction of his business. These banks promise well on paper, hut al ways disappoint in performance. Their history is one series of finan cial blunders and calamities, result ing alway s in the robbery of the peo ple. Evidently it, too, is a part of the system of vote catching inaugurated under the roof of that car stable in Houston, by which it is proposed to Hood the country with wildcat money with a vain hope of appeasing the clamor of the people for a redress of financial grievances. The consti tutional history of Texas should have admonished them to a different line of political declaration, for Texas has always been inexorably opposed to the incorporation of banks even of discount. An inhibition to that ef fect was contained in her constitu tion of 1855. It was never super ceded except during the existence of the constitution from 1870 to 1875, and in 1876, the same fundamental declaration was again inserted in our organic law. Clearly there must have been some reason among our fathers in Texas for their unalterable opposition to State banks, and one acquainted with the financial history of our country anterior to the warneed have no diffi culty in determining the reason for the inhibation. We can recur again with profit to the utterances of Mr. Jefferson as a test of the Democracy of this State bank declaration in the street-car sta ble platform. In terms of absolute severity and denunciation he repro bated the system of State banks and did not hesitate to stigmatize them as public robbers and swindlers. He even went so far in his condemna tion as to urge most vehemently and continually that in the interest of the public welfare the States should sur render this right to charter banks, claiming that it was a blot left in our State constitutions, which, if not re moved speedily, would end in their destruction. I quote some few of his many expressions upon this sub ject. Bank paper must be suppressed and circulating medium to be restored to the nation to whom it belongs. The State legislatures should be im mediately urged to extinguish the right of establishing banks of discount. Most of them will comply on patriotic princi ples, under the convictions of the mo ment; and the non-complying may be crowded into concurrence by legitimate devices. The system of banking (State banks) we have both equally and ever repro bated. I contemplate it as a blot left in all our constitutions, which, if not cov ered, will end in their destruction, which is already hit by the gamblers in corrup tion. and is sweeping away in its progress the fortunes and morals of our citizens. Everything predicted by the enemies of banks (State banks) in the beginning is now coming! to pass. We are to be ruined now by the deluge of bank paper, as we were formerly by the old conti nental paper. It is cruel that such revo lutions in private fortunes should be at the mercy of avaricious adventurers, who, instead of employing their capital, if any they have, in manufactures, commerce, and other useful pursuits, make it an in strument to burthen all the interchanges of property with their swindling profits— profits which are the price of no useful industry of theirs. * * * I am an enemy to all banks discounting bills or rates for anything but coin. These quotations from the great expounder of Democracy could be ex tended at great length, but there is no necessity for further evidence as to his views. Every prediction he made as to the inherent rottenness of the State bank system was complete ly verified by their subsequent ca reers, and multiplied calamities came upon the people because of a disre gard of his prophetic utterances. We are invited back to this feast of ruin by the platform of the Hogg follow ers. We are asked to forget the teachings of our past experience, to ignore the solemn warnings of our greatest Democrat, and to assist in embarking our State and country upon the treacherous sea of financial disaster, in order that a sufficient number of People’s party people may be gulled into voting for Hogg to elect him. Every true Democrat in Texas will decline to join in such criminal carnival. Every conservative and sensible business man and citizen must realize from this declaration the desperation which prompted its utterance. Not content with the prostration of our industries and the destruction of our values and our prosperity, these people now invite us to the ghost dance of State banks in the vain hope that amid howling dervishes we may forget the gospel of true Democracy. The hope is a vain one. The invitation will be spurned and true Democracy and conservative business methods will join forces in the patriotic task of saving our State from the hands of such buccaneers in finance and such adventures in politics. No sane man desires to see this country again flooded with wildcat money, producing a mania for specu lation, paralyzing legitimate industry, destroying confidence and finally cul minating in the financial ruin of the people periodically almost every decade. We want more money per haps, but we want good money, money coined and issued by the only sovereignty in America capable of making money, the National Govern ment, free from control by private corporations or associations of indi viduals, and of sufficient volume to satisfy the demands of commerce and the necessities of the people. State banks of issue are a long step back ward in the proguess of civilization. They will prove a snare and delusion to the people, and instead of lighten ing their burdens, judged by their past history, will bring periodical ca lamities upon them and destroy their substance and their accumulations. If 50,000 votes are to be secured only by this method our friends of the street-car stables will pardon me if I suggest that they abandon their present fraudulent organization and go over “body and’ breeches” to the People’s party. Honesty is the best policy, even in politics, and I com mend the aphorism to them for leis urely digestion. Presidential Campaign. Jonesboro News. The question every Southern and Western man may now ask, is, Will Cleveland and the Eastern Democrats change their policy or must the South and West and North-west sacrifice, the principles the right for which they have so gallantly stood. The free coinage measure and the bills pending in congress known as the Hatch bill and Washburn bill affects directly the interest of the producers of cotton and grain to such an extent that if fully under stood would be with these sections paramount to all other issues. That Mr. Cleveland was untiring in his efforts to stop the coinage of silver no one could doubt who will read his message, and study his public and private record. That the policy represented by Mr. Cleveland and his confederates are inimical to that demand and need ed by the South and West cannot admit of an honest doubt. As he stands committed upon a platform of principles more injurious and damag ing to*the debtor class than that of Gen. Sherman, who advocates the gold standard with limited coinage as now in vogue. Mr. Cleveland and the Democratic party at Chicago have repudiated* silver as money, have undertaken to stamp a falsehood upon the silver money, which is not true and which the American people cannot afford to iidmit, or endorse, and which forces the South and SVW tv either repudiate Cleveland and his financial policy or endorse the declaration that one-half of the money of the country is dishonest money. Will the South and the West join Mr. Cleveland and say that it is dishonest and depre ciated currency, palmed off upon the people by the government as such. Will the Democratic party persist in a policy that repudiates it? If so then silver should be driven from commerce and the present circulation contracted to one-half its present volume. Until 1873, if the history of com merce is true, there was an unlimited demand for both gold and silver at the mints, and as a result no such thing as a contraction of the currency was known, business prospered, com merce flourished. Why not restore silver to its legitimate value upon the proper rate of value and let the price at the mint control, then its full market value will be realized as it was before it was striken down by the conspira tors of honest money and the people. With this campaign will rise or fall at least two or four years, the correct and truthful representative of that system demanded by the people. The competition of parties, the contending of factions, devoted to the fortunes of their leaders may obscure the real issues involved and for a time subordinate principles and problems that demand a solution. But the avowed principles of the common people, the producers of the wealth, will furnish an unmistakable basis for future success and p) os perity of the American people. For a party to nominate a candi date, adopt declarations of principles opposed to our interest and our views on these questions is simply to for feit the right to our votes and as to Mr. Cleveland and the policy of the present democratic party. We could under no circumstances support either. We hope to see a pure and aggressive policy with a higher regard for methods and principles inaugurated in the south, then and only then will it meet with public favor. Neither the Associated Press nor the special correspondents of the great dalies sent out accounts of the infamous events in Atlanta last Thursday night and Friday. The party of high morality in the South depends more on “the better art o’ hidin’ ” them on freedom from sin. To-day the People’s party has a good third of the popular vote. Brothers, will you stick until the sun sets November 8, and skirmish for converts, or will you return to your old party bondage ? 3