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Circulation - • - - 22,847-
Speaker Fleming’s Letter.
Hon. W. H. Fleming, Speaker of
the Georgia House of Representa
tives, has a three column letter in
Thursday’s Constitution, express
ive of his political creed in the past,
present and future.
Coming as it does from the Tenth
Congressional District where a can
didate is to be nominated by the
Democratic party to contend for the
vacancy caused by the resignation of
®llon. J. C. C. Black, Mr. Fleming’s
letter assumes an importance greater
than attaches to the mere opinion of
a member of the General Assembly.
It. is to be regretted that Mr.
Fleming did not control his patisan
zeal in the preparation and expres
sion of his sentiments as dexterously
as he has skilfully manipulated his
political opinions to fit the emer
gency surrounding his party in the
Tenth district.
There are two parties in Georgia
among the whites and the blacks.
The division has occurred. Whether
wise or unwise, it is an accomplished
“fact and not a theory that confronts
us” on that line. Recruits from the
one to the other is the means by
which dominant strength will be ob
tained in the future. Democrats
outside of the Tenth district are be
ginning to recognize this fact and
are trimming their sails with argu
ment. The Populists have recog
nized it from the start and will fight
it out on that line to the finish. Why
the Democratic leaders in the Tenth
district, and especially Augusta, in
sist upon dealing in slurs and abuse,
which alienate friends and damage
the city’s commerce is an enigma
hard of solution.
Speaker Fleming’s arraignment of
the Democratic party for duplicity
is patent whether so intended or not,
and as we have endeavored for four
years to convince “the great mass of
the common people who form the
backbone of the nation’s strength
and power” that the “men who con
trol” the Democratic Party were po
litical thimble-riggers and deceivers,
we will be excused by the conserv
ative Democrat for our present com
ments upon Mr. Fleming’s utterances.
He says:
“Both the great political parties
I Democrat and Republican] have
heretofore in their plats- rms pro
leseed a desire to preserve both
metals as redemption money and
have succeeded by aptly turned
phrases in beguiling the people into
fancied security. Perhaps that
course was wisest. Perhaps the
times were not ripe. But the time
for dallying is gone. Equivocation
is no longer possible.”
That is an exceedingly bold charge
of duplicity against the Democratic
party from the Speaker of the Dem
cratic House of Representatives; and
while Speaker Fleming may think
“aptly turned phrases,” used “in be
guiling the people” is “wisest,” when
practiced upon a confiding but igno
rant constituency, he has discovered
that it won’t do to practice an old
lie upon a people who have success
fully exposed the deceivers. Hence
he says, “equivocation is no longer
possible.” Evidence of penitence is
not an unusual manifestation, but the
verdict “guilty” generally \precedes
the manifestation.
“Once before the
to open when a tri-1
through 111
the I-
PEOPLE’S PARTY PAPER, ATLANTA, GA., MAY 3, 1895.
the battle to be fought. Let us be
thankful that the field is open and
let us hope that no politician’s inge
nuity will be able to obscure the
view.”
Let’s see who arranged “the truce”
which produced the “delusive com
promise.”
House Bill No. 5690 for the free
coinage of silver was voted upon
April Bth 1884. It received 126 yeas
and 163 nays. Among the latter is
found 63 Democrats. To the votes of
of these 63 “ingenious politicians”
must be ascribed the honor of crea
ting a nectssity for the ‘’delusive
compromise,” known as the Sherman
act.
In 1892 a bill for the “free coinage
of silver” passed a Republican Senate
and was killed by a Democratic
House, but they did not tackle the
“delusive compromise.”
The Democratic platform of 1892
having demanded the repeal of “that
purchasing clause,” Democrat Cleve
land convened the Democrats in
extra Congressional session in ’93
and they repealed it. Therefore Mr.
Fleming’s political party is the “gold
monometallists” at whose “bidding”
the “delusive compromise” was re
pealed.
Having gotten the “delusive com
promise” safely coffined, an excellent
opportunity to resurrect “free coin
age of silver” from the tomb was
presented. But its Democratic
friends (?) were too obedient to the
“bidding of the gold monometallists”
to remember their pledges to the
people.
Two little lines, repealing the act
of 1873 added to the act repealing
the “delusive compromise” would
have done the work. Mr. Fleming’s
party had overwhelming control of
the Legislative and Executive bran
ches of the Government. The
“chance” they had asked was theirs.
Why did they not utilize it ?
One of the reasons may be found
in Mr. Fleming’s analysis of the sil
ver plank of ’92, which follows:
“The simple truth is the Chicago
platform contained two declarations
on money. One was the free coin
age plank, the other the parity plank.
One was meant to hold the South
and West in line. The other was
meant to attract the North and
East.”
We believe Mr. Fleming made
some speechesduring the Presidential
campaigns of ’92 and ’93. Did he so
proclaim to the people, or did he use
“aptly turned phrases to beguile the
people?” An honorable man like
Speaker Fleming would tell the truth
in a campaign year as boldly as he
would proclaim it through the news
papers in an off year. Certainly he
would.
“The Georgia State platform of
1894 was merely an ingenious para
phase of the Chicago ‘straddle,’
agreed upon under stress of danger
imminently threatening tne prosperi
ty of the State.”
The lexicographers define the word
paraphrase, as an amplified transla
tion, an explanation consisting of
many words. According to our re
collection the silver plank of the
Georgia platform consisted of a few
words while the silver plank in the
Chicago “straddle” was prodigiously
prodigal with the queen’s English.
Therefore, as the Georgia platform
did not explain, it could not have
been a paraphrase of the “straddle”
in the Chicago platform. Perhaps
it was an “Equivocation.” (?)
The cause assigned by Speaker
Fleming for resorting to “an ingeni
ous paraphrase of the Chicago ‘strad
dle’ ” deserves some thought. What
“danger imminently threatened the
prosperity of the State” at that time?
As there were only two political
parties—Democrats and Populists—
contending in Georgia in 1894 it must
be inferred that the probable success
of the Populists was the danger that
“imminently threatened the pros
perity of the Slate” in the mind of
Mr. Fleming and his conferee.
The Populist party in Georgia has
in its ranks a majority of the “com
mon people who form the back
bone of the nation’s strength and
i power,” and which makes Georgia
Empire State of the South,
only a small per cent of them
MBatfSLtoed in professional and mer-
Bftiursuits, yet they are all
the mannor born, hohl-
Bgfey.erity of the State as
■- l i Sfe,' 4l as Mr- Fleming
'' I' |®L lull g knows, as
Speaker of the House, that the
Populist members of the General
Assembly never introduced a bill or
advocated a measure that “threat
ened imminent danger to the pros
perity of the State,” and yet in the
face of these facts, of which he has
personal and official knowledge, he
goes to the public branding them as
unworthy to wear public honors and
discharge official functions,and pleads
with them to prove they are not
“partisans but patriots” by casting
their ballots for representatives of a
political party which he openly
charges with duplicity, deception
and equivocation ! ! !
“Why should they [the Populits]
not cease their vain struggles and en
list with us again ?” he asks.
Because your party has been un
true to the principles of Thomas Jef
ferson ; because your party has been
untrue to the example of Andrew
Jackson; because your party is the
twin brother of Repblicanism—the
father of protection, and promoter
of monopolies, trusts and combines ;
because your party has been untrue
to the promises it made, the prom
ises you made, and the promises
your State platform made; because
your party leaders helped demone
tize silver in 1873; because your
party was given a chance by the
people and by President Cleveland
to remonetize silver in ’93 and it
struck down the only law by and
through which silver found its trick
ling way into our currency ; because
your party has forfeited the confi
dence of every man in the Populist
party and ninety per cent of the
members of your own party; be
cause your party has lied to the peo
ple, and your leaders have lied
about us ; because self-respect is the
foundation of individual character
and”the™mdividual is a part of the
foundation of the Republic the
TossTof the”former involves the ruin
of the latter.
Lastly because our “struggles”
have not been vain. We have kept
the ark of the covenant of Democ
racy safe from the destroyinßMßjfc
of Cleveland, the
and his deluded QH
»'«„• “'I ’■> guard
houo.-d in tli- .-•ASgS I ,
That wld;jfl|
l< rm '‘Min MBH
l.caiihy public
tud-, as .
letter and the L
your
acts of the last General
It is further evidenced by the Gov
ernor forcing the banks to pay in
terest upon the State’s deposits.
The greater part of Mr. Fleming’s
letter being a reiteration of the doc
trines which we have heard the
Hon. Thos. E. Watson expound du
ring the last four years, we can
heartily’ endorse them, and consist
ently commend the political progress
being made by the Speaker of the
House of Representatives.
Speaker Crisp in Line.
The interview with ex-Spoaker
Crisp, printed in another column,
sets him in line as one of the most
important leaders of the great popu
lar movement toward remedying the
financial situation.
The record of ex-Speaker Crisp in
congress is that of an unflinching
advocate of the restoration of the
free coinage of silver. Conserva
tive by instinct, opposed to violent
change 0 , and avoiding exuberance of
language, he possesses the essential
qualification for successful leader
ship. Because of his conservatism
of speech, there have been those
who, forgetting his uniform votes,
have been engaged in making it ap
pear that his position was doubtful.
Now Mr. Crisp speaks for himself
and in words bold enough, but not
bolder than the votes he was always
bold enough to cast in Congress. He
declares that silver, now that the
tariff has been settled, l.as become
the main question ; that the com
mon people of the country, irre
spective of party, favor its restored
free coinage; that the Democratic
party is the agency through which it
must be accomplished; that upon
this point the national platform of
1896 must be plain beymd perad
venture, and that the nominee se
lected must come from the West,
where his surroundings will be such
as to guarantee his fiddity to the
platform adopted.
As the leader of the Democratic
minority in the next douse, Mr.
Crisp’s duties will be delicate and
arduous. He will have the shaping,
to a large degree, of he policies
which will enter into the Democratic
campaign, either to help or to mar
it. Mr. Crisp’s past experience quali
fies him for this work, and it is im
portant that on this issue which is to
overshadow all the others, he is en
tirely on the side of the people.—At
lanta Constitution.
Mr. Crisp’s silver record cannot be
measured by his vote, and the Con
stitution does not strengthen its he
roic fight for silver by insisting that
Mr. Crisp’s friendship for silver is to
be ascertained by his votes in Con
gress. That rule would apply to a
member of Congress occupying a
place on the floor. His strength in
affecting legislation is exhausted
when he casts his vote for or against
the pending measure. His speeches
and committee work are, by the pub
lic, considered as corelative matter.
But the rule will not apply to the
Speaker of the House. His vote is
the weakest manifestation of his con
victions on any question. It may
express his individual opinion, or it
may express the policy avowed by
his political party. It is merely an
incident and is more frequently used
to deceive than to affirm. We must
look to the Speaker’s appointment of
committees, his rulings and his con
duct in the chair, for a measure by
which to judge of his fealty to a
policy or a principle.
The “great mass of the common
people who,” according to Speaker
Fleming, -‘form the back-bone of the
nation’s strength” are in the fight
which the Constitution is waging
against gold monometallism. They
have grown distrustful of the Demo
cratic and Republican parties and
their leaders because of “ingenious”
“straddles” and “aptly turned phrases
to beguile them into fancied secu
rity.” They need and demand hon
est, straightforward methods, and
honest, straightforward men to enact
those methods into laws.
However much we may admire
Mr. Crisp as a man, and desire his
labor and influence in rescuing the
country from the hands of wreckers,
we cannot afford to purchase it at the
expense of facts and truthful state
unents. The people are tired unto
■eath of the “ingenious politicians.”
■key know the facts, and the “in-
of politicians” to cloak them
avail.
■k believe that the cause of re-
be advanced by condon
wrong in man or party. Speaker
Wisp’s record upon the silver ques
tion was the opposite of Congressman
votes and public utterances.
As Speaker of the Hcuse it was in
his power in 1892, to have forced the
silver question to a conclusive vote.
He declined to do so, after having
promised the friends of free coinage
of silver that he would.
The Bland silver bill was discussed
for three days. The opponents of
the white metal kept up fillibuster
ing tactics till 12 o’clock on the last
day for the consideration of the bill.
The friends of the bill were deter
mined to continue in session so as to
prevent a lapse of the legislature
day. Mr. Bland says:
“Mr. Pierce, myself and other
members of the House asked Speaker
Crisp for advice in the matter. He
assured us that he thought fillibuster
ing had gone on long enough and
that the committee on rules would
report a rule to bring the bill to a
vote. I moved that the House adjourn
at the instance of the Speaker and
with his emphatic statement that he
would report a rule cuttirg off filli
bustenng motions and bring the bill
to a vote. The next day I went into
the Speaker’s room, and he advised
the introduction of a rule to be voted
on today (Monday) preventing all
fillibustering motions and compelling
a vote on the bill. He sat down and
wrote out the rule himself. 1 intro
duced it at his request and suggestion
and had it referred to his committee
with the distinct understanding that
the rule would be reported.”
Speaker Crisp, notwithstanding his
pledges to Mr. Bland, Pierce, Stone
and many others, refused to vote in
favor of the committee on rules
bringing in a rule to shut off debate
and bring the silver question to a
vote.
When arraigned before the public
by Mr. Bland what excuse did Mr.
Crisp render for the duplicity prac
ticed upon Mr. Bland and the friends
of silver ? To the Washington Post
he said:
“That when the rules were being
considered he had in caucus pledged
to his party that no rule should be
reported prohibiting fillibustering or
cutting off dilitory motions except
at the request and desire of a majority
of the Democratic members of the
House.”
In the face of this record how
should we measure Mr. Crisp’s fealty
to the cause of silver ? Shall we ap
ply the yard stick to his weak vote
as Congressman, or to his powerful
manipulations as Speaker.
Shall we establish the rule that
pledges made in secret caucus out
weigh public pledges made to the
people ? If so, Mr. Crisp will make
an excellent leader in the Democratic
battle for free silver at the ratio of
16 to 1.
S. G. McLendon’s Opinion.
Mr. Curtis, correspondent of the
Chicago Record, a few weeks since,
gave Mr. McLendon’s opinion of
politics an airing through the col
umns of the Record.
This week he gives the Thomas
.ville statesman’s opinion of poor
white people.
Mr. McLendon is an attorney so
the Plant System of Railroads, and
sprung from the loins of the po< r
white man. Here is “the opinion
“There’s nothing in the world that
surpasses the contempt of a negro
for a poor white man,” said Col. Mc-
Lendon. “I suppose it is inherited.
A white man who didn’t own slaves
in the old times was considered be
neath the notice of a respectable
negro, and the feeling has grown
more pronounced since emancipa
tion. Then, again, the plantation
overseers were usually poor whites.
The negroes all hated them, and
they may have taken some satisfac
tion in a contempt for the whole
clans they represented.
“The other day I was walking
along the street when a colored man
came by driving before a wagon the
most forlorn specimen of a cow I
have ever seen. She was an ani
mated skeleton, and half her hide
was bare where she had rubbed off
the hair. One horn was gone, and
the other drooped as if it were fall
ing out. She was just able to creep
and drag the wagon along after her,
but the old darkey who was driving
beat the poor beast with a stick and
exclaimed : ‘G’long dar, naow, you
poor white trash 1’ ”
“Guyt” should get an iron band
around his head, and a gag in his
mouth.
One Thousand Papers Subsidized
According to the New York
Herald an important crusade
against Bi-metallism was inaugu
rated in New York last week. Ex-
Secretary Fairchilds, J. DeWitt
Warren, Wm. J. Combs, E. Ellery
Anderson, E. P. Wheeler and oth
ers are identified if not prime
movers in the scheme.
About a thousand newspapers
throughout the country have agreed
to aid the schemers by publishing as
editorial matter articles prepared by
the gold syndicate in New York.
These articles will attack the finan
cial theories of Thomas Jefferson
and the advocates of free coinage of
silver.
The Reform Club of New York,
which entertained Speaker Crisp be
fore he showed his animus against
the free coinage of silver, is the
head-center of gold-bugism and ma
nipulator of the movement. For
months past this club has been
quietly working among its two or
three thousand members scattered
through ut the country preparatory
to opening the crusade. The rapid
advance made by the free silver sen
timent at the South and West forces
the club to come out into an open
field fight. Therefore they have
concluded to use such newspapers
as they can in the effusion of a New
York gold monometallist sentiment
and not the thought or sentiment of
the editor of the paper. Democratic
and Republican newspapers will
agree upon sound money however
much they may disagree as to other
policies. The only hope for this
country to escape gold monometal
lism is through the success of the
Populist party. And the sooner
Southern and Western free silverites
or bi-metallists recognize the fact
the better for the prosperity of
America.
How they are Manipulated.
The largest grocery and canning
house in America in 1892 was the
firm of H. K. Thurber «& Co. The
leading members of the firm were
two brothers, H. K. & F. B. Thur-
ber. H. K., was a Republican and
F. 8., was a Democrat. It was
alleged that they usually contributed
§100,060 each to the campaign fund
of their respective parties. This
liberal tontribution gave the firm a
“pull” on the party that got into
power. It should be remembered
and never forgot that the Demo
cratic party had what was called a
free silver plank in their platform of
1892. F. B. Thurber, the Democrat,
was solicited to publish in the North
American Review in August 1892
an article setting forth the effect a
Presidential year had upon business,
from which we clip the following:
“Sentiment has a powerful influ
ence upon business, notwithstanding
the proverb that there is ‘no senti
ment in business.’ The silver ques
tion is an illustration of this. It is
safe to say that an infinitely greater
number of new business enterprises
await the settlement of this question
than any other upon which the Pres
idential election has a bearing. There
is a feeling among investors—the
men who furnish the money for
large business enterprises—that they
want to go slow until this question is
out of the way. * * * The men
who are agitating ‘free silver’ are
retarding business activities and pre
venting the investment of capital in
this country, however just their con
tention may be. * * * * As
to the differing policies of the two
principal parties affecting business
interests, they are not likely to dif
fer as much in performance as they
do in the promise of a political cam
paign. * * * * The business
men of the country should make
their voices heard upon these main
questions of policy no matter which
party wine, so that radical and un
wise action from any source may be
discouraged.”
The agitation of the silver question
was thought by Democratic Thur
ber to be very dangerous to the
“men who furnish the money for
large business enterprises,”, and
while he believed the Democratic
party would not do what they prom
ised, he advised the business men to
“make their voices heard upon the
main question of policy.”
It was the Congress of ’92 which,
under the manipulation of Speaker
Crisp, killed the Bland Silver bill.
Mr. Crisp promised Mr. Bland
that he would stand by his bill and
force it to a vote. At the criticajS
moment Mr. Crisp not only failed
stand by bis promise, but backed
completely. TH
The business men—the “men who T
furnish money for big enterprises”
had succeeded in making a Demo
cratic Congress hear their voice.
But it didn’t save the firm of
Thurber & Co.—they were bor
rowers—and the advanced value of ,
gold forced them to the wall in 1893.
Clayton County Election Case.
The Populists have a majority of
the votes in Clayton county. Nobody
doubts it.
Their vote was legally pclled in
the January election. Nobody
disputes it.
But the Democrats hold the offices
in Clayton county and will continue
to draw the salary for two years
from January 1895.
How is this outrage upon the right
of the people to choose their officers
perpetrated ?
By Democratic election Managers
refusing to count the Popuist major
ity and the Democratic Judiciary
of the state sustaining the managers’
illegal action.
Why did not Governor Atkinson
refuse to issue the commissions and
order a new election ?
Because the Democratic Attorney
General says a Democratic Governor
cannot go behind the fraudulent re
turns made by Democratic rascals!
And Democratic ex-Governor
Northen is inviting northern and
western freemen to buy land and
settle in a state whose judiciary and
executive unite in disfrancising them
by refusing to count their ballot as
cast.
And the Silver Democrats of
Georgia expect the Populists of
Clayton county to lick the hand that
smites them by uniting with a party
whose judiciary and executive re
fuse to recognize their American
born rights!
Such brazen-brass irritates the
vomiting machinery.
PROFESSIONAL CARD.
THOS. E. WATSON,
Attorney-at-Law,
Office at Court House, - - THOMSON, GA
Will give prompt attention to law
business in the State and Federal
Courts of Georgia.