Newspaper Page Text
he People’s Party Paper
VOLUME 11.
WASHINGTON LETTER.
A WEEKLY PICTURE OF EVENTS
AT THE CAPITAL.
Some Things that Worry the Big Bugs
—Republicans in lane to Rule
the Bear Old Democracy.
Washington, D. C., Feb. 17.
If this week has not been a lively
one, you may have my hat.
Ub big bugs have just been shaken
up, and jolted around, and kicked
about till we can hardly collect our
opinions upon any given subject.
First, there came upon us the ap
pointment of % a Democrat by Ivlr.
Harrison to fill the vacancy on the
Supreme Bench.
Then came the selection by Mr.
Cleveland of a Republican to be the
chief cook and bottle washer in the
new Democratic administration.
Jackson’s appointment by Harri
son gave us nervous trembles, but
Gresham’s selection by Cleveland
throw us into the blind staggers.
While we were thus afflicted the
Pension Debate come on in the
House.
This question is one of the stand
ing temptations to oratory. Unlim
ited talk, talk, talk, can always be
expcted when it bobs up.
So this week we have had Pension
eloquence till you couldn’t rest.
Among others, that gay old Gideonite
who represents the Atlanta Demo
crats, Lothario F. Livingston, got
his able jaws to work on a Pension
speech. He fuddled along first rate
until he struck the place where he
felt called on to denounce Cal. A. E.
Buck, of Atlanta. There our es
teemed Gideonite dropped his candy,
for Mr. Boutelle sent up to the De
partment and got the written en
dorsements upon which Col. Buck
had been appointed by the Republi-
- —»ow ho.db. . w •
I r * -1
These endorsements were! -signed
by the said John B. Cordon, A. 11.
■ Colquitt, Henry W. Grady, Evan P..
JIo well, etc., etc.
While Boutelle was reading these
names every Democrat in the liall
looked as though he had an eager
. desire to kick the worthy old Gid
eonite out at the skylight.
As for Livingston himself, he was
more completely “quashed” than any
statesman I’ve yet seen. He seemed
to break up and dissolve into ele
mental mush.
To-day it was just too funny for
anything to see the old humbug
hanging around Boutelle and trying
to get him not to publish that part
of his speech.
A DEAF DEMOCRAT WHO HEARS.
Another scene still more comical
occurred yesterday. Turpin of Ala
bama (Democrat) made the statement
that there was a Pensioner who drew
$11) per month on the ground of
total deafness; that in spite of this
infirmity the Pensioner held a posi
tion here in Washington which paid
SI,BOO per year, and that this man’s
work was at the Telephone, which
of course requires a hearing capacity.
“FIGHT, YOU ain’t NO KIN I”
The moment this statement was
completed, Mr. Waugh of Indiana
(Republican) denounced it as false.
Immediately the two distinguished
statesmen advanced on each other in
battle array. Mr. Crisp ran up on
the Speaker’s stand and resumed the
gavel and did his best to stop the
fight. Cooper of Indiana got in be
tween the combatants and prevented
them from lauding any square licks.
They simply thumped Cooper on
both sides and clawed at each other
over his shoulders.
Great confusion prevailed and
members were greatly excited, but
the storm finally passed off by the
adjournment of the House. It looked
for a while as if us big bugs were
going to have a general scrimmage.
THE REAL TRUTH ABOUT IT.
This morning no reference was
made to the fight at all. No apolo
gies were offered on either side.
But later on in the day, Mr. Waugh
made a statement of the facts which
he had learned from official sources
during the night. His statement was
• not questioned by anybody and was
accepted as the truth of the case.
Here it is. Read it well. Mr.
Wm. E. Davis, of Indiana, is the man
alluded to. He was rated for “To-
“LCcjuieil to _A.II Sjo.escial Hrivilegee to IXone.”
tal Deafness” in one ear with partial
deafness in the other. He draws
sl9 per month for. this disability.
He holds an office in the Department
which pays him SI,BOO per year.
The duties of this office sometimes
require his services at the Telephone.
He is a Democrat!
He was appointed on the recom
mendation, among others, of Judge
Walter Q. Gresham Cleveland's
Secretary of State !
When these official statements
were made, the Democrats were re
joiced to let the subject drop.
ANOTHER CASE OF THE SAME SORT.
Gen.' Black, as we all remember,
was a Union Soldier.
He applied for a Pension upon the
ground that was and
physically disabled from any work.”
Upon this ground he obtained a
Pension of SIOO per month.
The “mental and physical wreck”
was appointed Commissioner of Pen
sions by Cleveland. He thus drew
the large salary connected with that
office at the same time that he was
drawing SIOO per month from the
patient tax-payers on the specific
ground that he was totally unable to
do any work, mental or physical.
Gen. Black continues to draw that
Pension from the patient public, and
the Democrats of his State have
elected this “mental and physical
wreck” to represent them in the
next Congress.
Thus we will have the pretty
picture of a Democrat drawing
$5,000 per year because he can
work, and $1,200 because he caret.
Ain’t “the dear old Democratic
party” a honey ?
VILLARD AND HIS SIOO,OOO.
Nobody has yet denied the charge,
openly made in the press, that Henry
Villard gave SIOO,OOO to the Demo
cratic boodie fund upon the con
dition that Hon. W. R. Morrison, of
Tfiiaxi'-, suvuid not bd appointed
Secretary of the Interior. Mr. Vil
lard is President of the Northern
Pacific Rail Road Co., and he con
trols 30,000,000 acres of land -which
a corrupt Congress gave that Cor
poration. He is also Agent of Ger
man Capitalists. Mr. Villard is like
wise the man whom Cleveland sent
over here to give us his orders on
the Silver Question. So powerful
was his influence that the vote stood
143 to 152. Free Silver won by
only 9 votes. Without the Ten
Populists, Villard would have suc
ceeded in dictating to Congress just
as lie has succeeded in shutting out
from the Cabinet a man whom the
Tariff Barons and Wall Streeters
fear.
’taint so I
The statement that Mr. Cleveland
has tendered Mrs. Lease a position in
his Cabinet is a mere fiction invented
by our enemies for the purpose of
injuring us in the eyes of the public.
macune’s sell out.
At 115 Fifth Avenue, New York,
Air. Horace Kenney publishes a gilt
edged journal called “Awma/i In
dustries'' It is devoted, heart and
soul, to Wall Street. I have ex
amined its pages carefully and speak
from personal knowledge. In its
last issue it bitterly denounces the
Congressmen who voted against the
infamous Cate Bill which was pub
lished in these Columns last week.
This was the measure the New
York Bankers desired, which Cleve
land dssired and which the Ten
Populists alone prevented from
passing the House.
This Mr. Horace Kenney is the
man who is now running The
National Economist, the organ of
the Alliance !
THE MESS OF POTTAGE.
I have it on the best authority
that Dr. Macune sold out to Wall
Street at SIO,OOO cash and $5,000 on
time.
MAY BE A REPUBLICAN PRESIDENT.
Under the law, if the President
and Vice-President die, then the
Secretary of State becomes Chief
Magistrate.
It’ Mr. Cleveland should over-eat
himself some day and kick the
bucket, who would be our Presi
dent ?
Adlai E. Stevenson, who -was a
straight-out Greenbacker, a follower
of James B. Weaver, a bolter from
the Democratic party who refused to
vote for the Demooratio Speaker
ATLANTA, GA., FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1893.
when he was in Congtess, and who
is put down on the Official Roster
not as a Democrat but as a Green
backer.
But suppose Adlai should sicken
unto death, who would then be
Democratic President ?
Walter Q, Gresham, who so late
as October, 1892, claimed over his
own signature to be a Republican!
The “dear old Democratic party”
would have for its Chief the Repub
lican who was a member of Arthur’s
Cabinet; who as candidate for the
Republican nomination for President
in 1888 got 123 votes in the .Repub
lican National Convention ; who only
voted the Democratic ticket once in
his life and claimed to be still a
Republican while doing so; who left
Indiana and became a Mugwump
because Harrison had downed him
in his own State; who received the
office he now holds from tSe Repub
licans, and who would thus step from
the position of a Republican Judge
to that of a Democratic President 1
Ain’t “the dear old Democratic
party” a honey ?
Boys, hit your wife and youj
child—as Billy Northern advises—but
don’t you strike the Democratic
Bosses. T. E. AV.
A Correspondents Discovery.
Apropos of the current Cabinet
gossip a good story is told of the way
in which the selection of Hoke Smith
for the interior Department became
known. The first newspaper man to
get the news was Mr. Stealey, of the
Courer- Journal. While it was sup
posed that Mr. Stealey obtained his
information from Mr. Carlisle, such
was not the case. It happened this
way : Mr. Stealey was strongly advo
cating Col. Morrison for the Interior,
and he made a trip to New York
especially to see Mr. Cleveland in be
half of the former’s appointment.
Mr. Cleveland listened attentively to
all Mr. Stealey said in regard to the
good qualities of Col. Morrison for a
Cabinet position, and, indeed, in
dorsed his arguments, but told Mr.
Qto-ioy to satisfyv him tta?'
Col. Morrison was not in it. He
came back to Washington and told,
among others, Mrs. Carlisle, who was
also a strong advocate of Morrison,
the result of his interview. Mrs.
Carlisle never had a doubt of Morri
son going to the Cabinet. She could
not see how Cleveland could pass by
such a splendid man and good old
line Democrat. So notwithstanding
Mr. Stealey’s story she was so confi
dent that she bet him a pair of gloves
that Morrison would be Secretary of
the Interior. The next day Mr. Car
lisle went to New York, and the part
ing words of his wife were: “You
tell Mr. Cleveland that if I were not
sick I would have come with you,
just to urge him to put Col. Morrison
in the Cabinet.” Mr. Carlisle deliv
ered her message, and also strongly
urged Mr. Cleveland to give him
Morrison as a yokemate in the Cab
inet, but it was not to be so. Mr.
Carlisle returned from New York
Sunday morning, and on that evening
Mr. Stealey called to hear the latest.
He found Mr. Carlisle unusually nerv
ous and reticent. When Stealey ap
proached Cabinet topics Carlisle
tried to change the subject. Stealey
was persistent, and finally Carlisle
said :
“Now, Stealey, you know I would
tell you anything in reason, but you
ought not expect me to divulge con
fidential matters of this kind which
passed between Mr. Cleveland and
myself.”
“Very well, then,” said Stealey,
“but you can tell me whether or not
Morrison is going in the Cabinet.”
“No, he is not,” said Carlisle.
Stealey thrust both hands deep
down into his pockets, muttered, “It’s
a bad break,” and walked up stairs,
where he found Mrs. Carlisle, to
whom he said :
“Well, the ex-Senator tells me that
our friend Morrison is not in it.”
“Yes,” answered Mrs. Carlisle,
“and if it is true, which I don’t be
lieve, it is a shame—a downright
shame.” '
A pause here for about a minute,
when Mrs. Carlisle turned round and,
facing Mr. Stealey, said:
“Mr. Stealey, 1 want you to tell
me who this man Hoke Smith is, any
how. I never heard of him in my
life.”
This knocked Stealey out, but he
kept his wits, and repeated, “Hoke
Smith ?”
“Yes, Hoke Smith; this man who
is going to get the place I wanted for
Col. Morrison.”
“Oh 1” said Stealey, the whole
thing Hashing through him like a
revelation. “Hoke Smith, why Hoke
Smith, certainly. I ought to know
Hoke Smith. Os course I do. Hoke
Smith is a Georgia lawyer, and edi
tor of the Atlanta Journal''
And this is how the Courier- Jour
nal was the first newspaper in the
country to announce that Mr. Hoke
Smith, of Georgia, would be in the
Cabinet of Mr. Cleveland.
THE ONUS ON VILLARD.
MORRISON’S FRIENDS CLAIM TO
HAVE MADE A DISCOVERY.
Biggest Contribution to the Democratic
Campaign Fund a Condition as
to the Interior Portfolio.
New York, Feb. 16.—A some
what sensational bit of gossip con
cerning the portfolio of the Interior
Department has escaped from its
keepers and is beginning to run at
large. It will be remembered that
a little earlier in the cabinet making
season the Democratic leaders as
sumed that as a matter of course
Hon. William R. Morrison would be
in the cabinet. He was the pioneer
of tariff reform. Years before Mr.
Cleveland was known outside of Buf
falo, and while yet the tariff was re
mote from his philosophy, Mr. Mor
rison was the gallant, the dauntless,
the devoted apostle of the movement.
He consecrated to that cause the best
years of his life, the energies of his
matured manhood, the forces of his
vivid and impassioned nature. Mr
Cleveland, after three years of ex
perience and observation in the ex
ecutive chair, became a convert to
Mr. Morrison’s propaganda, and
his famous message of December,
1887, brought him into the commun
ion of which Morrison, Carlisle, Cox,
Dorsheimer, and Mills were prophets
and exponents.
From that day to this Mr. Cleve
land has made tariff reform the dom
inant feature of his political faith.
Throughout the four years of his re
tirement from office he was kept be
fore the country as the one hope of
our relief from the evils of protection,
and last year he received the nomina
tion because of his identification with
the movement of which Mr. Morri
son had been for years the recognized
Exponent.
Lolling could have been more
natural than for Democrats to expect
that a Democratic president elected
to carry out .an explicit policy of re
form would call to his councils the
man who, more than any other, had
given that policy vitality and defini
tion. And, indeed, the leaders of
the party, whether they were per
sonal friends of Mr. Morrison or not,
took it for granted that he would be
invited to enter the cabinet, and so
to take part in the consummation of
his life-long work.
When it became known, as had
really been expected, that Mr. Car
lisle was to be Secretary of the
Treasury, it seemed to follow as a
matter of course that Mr. Morrison
would be slated for the Interior.
That he might not be slated at all
does not seem to have occurred to
anybody. His appointment sug
gested itself generally as being much
more logical and appropriate than
even Col. Lamont’s, and to say that
it took precedance among probabili
ties over that of Judge Gresham is
to propound the most obvious of
axioms.
As the time went by, however,
and place after place was filled, Mr.
Morrison’s friends began to wonder
among themselves, and when, at last,
the appointment of Mr. Hoke Smith,
of Georgia, transpired, and it became
evident that there was no portfolio
left to which he could be profitably
assigned, amazement, mingled with
conjecture and chagrin, broke out
with almost violence.
What did it mean—what could it
mean? A tariff reform
tion without Mr. Morrison,* the pio -
neer £>f the faith—was such a thing
to be ? The party had looked con
fidently for William R. Morrison and
it had received—Hoke Smith 1
Perhaps the incident that first pro
voked suspicion and so gave direc
tion to the theory that now prevails
was the assignment of Mr. Gresham
to the State of Illinois. He had al
ways previously been regarded as an
Indiana man. It was as a force in
the politics of that State that he
had clashed with Mr. Harrison.
From Indiana he had been appointed
to Mr. Arthur’s cabinet, and as one
of Indiana's favorite sons he aspired
to the presidential nomination in
1888. At what conclusion, then,
could the gossipers arrive except that
Gresham had been assigned to Illi
nois for the purpose of shutting out
Morrison? Anyhow, they did ar
rive at just that conclusion, and now
comes the sensational end of the
story.
Men who claim to be on the special
inside and to know whereof they
speak have within the last day or
two declared that the largest indi
vidual subscription to the Cleveland
campaign fund (and it is said to have
amounted to more than $100,000)
was made by Mr. Henry Villard.
They have stated, further, that it
was made —and accepted—on the ex
press condition that Mr. Morrison
was not to be made Secretary of the
Interior. Just why Mr. Villard did
not want Mr. Morrison in that par
ticular place these very richly in
formed gentlemen do not say. They
prefer, perhaps, to leave that to the
imagination of the individual citizen.
Neither does any one come forward
with the assertion that Mr. Cleveland
was party to the compact, or with an
explanation of its having been so re
ligiously consummated without his
connivance. They content them
selves-with three sfatements—
, 1. The largest subscription to the
campaign fund was made by Mr.
Henry Villard.
2. The condition ot this subscrip
tion was that Mr. Morrison should
not be made Secretary of the Inte
rior.
3. Mr. Morrison has not been asked
to take the Interior.
To say that this story has raised a
tremendous buzz of excitement is to
offer a purely unnecessary sugges
tion. It has simply set the politicians
on fire, and tongues are wagging as
they never wagged before.
~ Villard In ItT~
Henry Villard, it is whispered in
political circles, will be the next
United States Minister to Berlin.
According to the gossip in the inner
circle, Mr. Villard is said to have two
reasons for desiring the mission. The
Northern Pacific Railroad and its al
lied companies, of some of which-Mr.
Villard is president and of others
chairman or director, owns 30,000,-
000 of acres under the control of this
corporation. If German emigrants
can be induced to locate on these
lands it will materially enhance the
value of Mr. Villards holdings.
It is said that Mr. Villard is re
sponsible for the selection of Mr.
Hoke Smith of Georgia for Secretary
of the Interior. With Mr. Villard as
Minister to Berlin and a friendly
Secretary of the Interior at Wash
ington, many large American invest
ments of the brilliant speculator will
prosper.
TO ISSUE BONDS.
On motion of John Sherman, an
appropriation bill from the House hqs
been saddled with an amendment
authorizing the issue of $50,000,000
of 3 per cent bonds, to be sold for
gold to maintain the parity of treas
ury notes issued against silver. The
fate of the amendment when it comes
back to the House for concurreece is
problematical. No doubt the first
step of the House will be to non-con
cur, after which it will go to a joint
committee. Here the probability is
that it will be accepted and finally
become a law, just as suspension of
silver coinage did in 1873.
Mr. Bland, of Missouri, in au inter
view, expresses himself staunchly for
the people, but it is gravely doubtful
if he be not in a minority in his own
party on this question. He says:
The Treasury is now empty owing to
the extravagant appropriations of Con
gress. and hence there is no surplus un
der rhe resumption act to be used. This,
however, is not the fault of the coinage
of silver, nor of the greenback nor any
financial legislation, but is the result of
extravagant appropriation of the public
money. Consequently the issue or $50,-
000,000 bonds for the purpose of main
taining the parity of- greenbacks and the
silver currency is wholly unnecessary.
There is no difficulty about our green
backs nor our silver, nor our gold ; it is
all at par to-day and will remain so. If
anyone wants gold for his greenbacks
there is that $100,000,000 gold in the
Treasury, put there for the purpose of
being paid out when called for.
If this $100,000,000 was reduced to $50,-
000,000 there is still sufficient for resump
tion purposes and to meet all emergen
cies. The time might come if it should
run below that to make provision such
as is now proposed, but it is evident to
any one that the plea for issuing bonds
for the purpose of maintaining the parity
of our currency is a mere pretext, the
real object being to increase the bond
debt of the country as a basis for a per
manent national banking system. If the
$50,000,000 of bonds are issued and they
are sold for gold, the gold may be paid
over one counter and the greenbacks
presented at the next, and the gold re
turned again to the banks and the Treas
ury would have no more -gold than it
•would have at the beginning. This pro
cess could be repeated without end until
$1,000,000,000 of bonds were issued, or
$2,000,000,000. or as many as you choose.
In all probability if the law is enacted
and the bonds are issued on the conven
ing of the next Congress the gold will be
gone and Wall street will again be in the
same panic she pretends to be in now
and demand the issue of $100,000,000;
and on the issue of $100,000,000 one day
they could take it up the next with
greenbacks. It is a deep laid plan to fix
upon the country a permanent bonded
debt in the interest of national banks.
When it is considered that the en
tire bonded debt of the country is
payable in coin of the weight and
fineness fixed by law when the debt
was created, and that under the con
tract the silver dollar is a legal ten
der for payment equally with gold,
the glaring criminality of the con
templated issue of bonds should
rouse every citizen to a forcible pro
test. But no protest- will be made,
and we may expect the amendment
to become law.
NUMBER 23
WATSON YS. BLACK.
HOW RICHMOND COUNTY DEMO-
CRATS CONDUCT ELECTIONS.
A Synopsis of Testimony-—How 2,700
Democrats Cast 10,800 Ballots.
Illegal Voters in Troops.
This week closes the taking of di
rect testimony in favor of contestant
in the Watson vs. Black contest case.
As hinted in last week’s report, the
time closed with more than one hun
dred of Mr. Watson’s witnesses yet
unexamined. The total number of
witnesses available, without counting
the Democrats examined and sum
moned, was very little short of two
hundred. Os these possibly forty
have been examined. Mr. Watson
loses the testimony of the remainder. \
Why was this so ? It is easily an
swered. In the cross Mr. Black’s
attorneys killed as much time as pos
sible. They never confined them
selves to the testimony given in by
any witness they saw fit to cross ex
amine. Usually they displayed a de
sire to know the witness’ past his
tory, wished a description of some
past action, and in some instances
crossed him on his war record. So
persistently has this method been
followed that every one saw and re
cognized that it was a time-killing
trick.
In spite of the witnesses being con
stantly examined day by day, Mr.
Watson’s attorneys could not lessen
the number to be examined. Two
more witnesses would develop where
one was examined. Each day men
would send in their names or CQme
to the attorneys and signify their
wish to go on the stand. Witnesses
could have been examined until next
Christmas at the same rate as has
been maintained during the investi
gation.
The Chronicle— and by her sug
gestion a few of the rank Democrats—
were very much exercised over the
fact that we placed a few of their
leaders on the stand—those we
thought would talk under oath. W'e
knew that it placed the boys in an
awkward position, one not to be en
vied, and we thoroughly enjoyed
their endeavors to successfully evade
some of the direct questions pro
pounded. When asked about frauds
or repeating at the polls, they saw
none, being only a few moments at
the polls, or else they saw no one re
peat whom they could lay hands on
and swear to. See ?
The Democratic press having per
sistently called the evidence given
from day to day as nothing, and have
systematically belittled and ridiculed
it during the progress of its gather
ing, the reader will agree with me,
now that it is finished, that they will
not take any testimony in rebuttal if
they were sincere in calling it nothing.
It would be a waste Os time to rebut
nothing, wouldn’t it ? They can gain
little and and may lose much by re
butting nothing, can’t they ? But
will they? Guess ! When they do
begin the taking of testimony in re
buttal, it will belie the cry of “noth
ing and a farce,” won’t it, brother?
You can safely bet that they are go
ing to take evidence, pard. Catch on ?
In his cross, Mr. Hamp Howland
acknowledged that he did not know
the name of the candidate who got
his ballot for the governorship, but
thought he voted for Cleveland. The
Chronicle and \Evening News ridi
culed and derided his ignorance, or
forgetfulness. Why ? Because he
was a witness in behalf of Mr. Wat
son. Did these papers tell the public
that he was a Democrat, and voted
the Democratic ticket and for J. C.
C. Black ? Never said a word about
it. Left the public to think him a
People’s party man. Don’t we catch
them ?
Now, we think that each daily pa
per in this city should be as eager to
break up the farcical, rotten methods
of holding elections in Richmond
county as we are. them.
They have seen these methods. Some
of these- papers have cried out in the
past against' them. This State has
heard the cry. They could help
in the good work. By joining hands
with us they could forever stamp out
this crime against morality, humanity
and God. At any sacrifice, what a •
glorious result it would show.
Do they help us? Not a bit. They