Newspaper Page Text
The Cartersville Express.
VOL. XX.—NO. 43.
FELTON TO A FRIEND.
He “Skins his Teeth” to Abuse Demo
crats and Commend Republicans.
Washington, Nov. 14.—Representa
tive Felton, of Georgia, who is an inde
pendent democrat, and who was elected
to the forty-fourth, forty-fifth and forty
sixth congresses against the regular dem
ocratic candidate, has written the follow
ing letter to a friend in this city.
Cartersville, Ga., Nov. 14,1879.
Dear Sir — l received your letter re
questing for publication mj r views on the
situation and future outlook for the dem
ocratic party; the extent and probable
future of the independent movement in
this state; if the south would be satisfied
with the nomination of Mr. Tilden; also,
what effect will the spirit of repudiation
In several of the southern states have on
the commercial relations of the south?
Each of these questions would require a
long article to answer them satisfactorily,
but 1 must content myself with a brief
reply to your entire letter.
First—The present and future of the
democratic party. lam a democrat, and
sincerely believe that the principles of
democracy, as enunciated by Jefferson
and illustrated in the past by the teach
ings and example of distinguished states
men, are essential to the perpetuity of
our form of government. To establish
and preserve those principles should com
mand the untiring attention and labor of
every citizen, whether in public or pri
vate life. In doing this we must careful
ly separate the true from the false. We
must remember that men and organiza
tions may grow corrupt, and that some
times, by a blind allegiance to both, we
may sacrifice the very principles we cher
ish. We must remember that after the
late civil war the democratic party was
placed by its opponents in the attitude of
defending the south against the stalwart
element of the republican party; or, more
plainly, the democratic party was unjust
ly represented as antagonizing the union
sentiments of the north. We have lost
the confidence of the north, and we can
never regain control of the government
until we convince the citizens of the
United States that we are more conserva
tive, more observant of the constitution
and the laws, more honest and econom
ical, more capable and better fitted to
guard the integrity of the union and the
rights of the citizen than the republican
party. We must recover the confidence
of the people before we can recover po
litical power. During the extra session
of the forty-sixth congress, I privately
and publicly expressed the opinion that
the proceedings of that session would re
sult in the defeat of the democratic par
ty. It was manifest to me that the pas
sions and prejudices of partisanship,
rather than reason and wise statesman
ship, were guiding the co#ncils of demo
cratic leaders; that they were making
capital for their opponents, instead of
strengthening their own party, and that
they were solidifying the north against
an already solid south.
I need not recapitulate the mistakes
and criminal blunders of that session—
our threat to withhold the appropriations
until certain repeal measures were ap
proved by the president; our indirect an
nouncement to the world that we intend
ed to ignore the executive branch of the
government and to make congress with
its factious turbulence the absolute dicta
tor of this country; our unsuccessful ef
fort to repeal the election laws, not upon
the ground of inexpediency, but upon the
ground of their unconstitutionality, and
vehemently pressing that object in the
fi.ce of the following section ot the con
stitution: “The time, places, and manner
of holding elections for senators and rep
resentatives shall be prescribed in each
state by the legislature thereof, but the
congress may at any time, by law, make
or altar such regulations, except as to the
places of choosing senators.” The dis
cussion upon these various questions
made the impression upon the northern
mind, that democracy was nothing but
state rights run mad; that we would
sweep from the statute-book the last war
measure if we, as a party, were in power;
that secession and rebellion would again
follow as necessary sequences of this ex
treme view of state rights. Thus that
most wholesome axiom, “Support the
state governments in all their rights as
the most competent administration for
our domestic concerns, and the surest
bulwarks against anti-republican tenden
cies,” was perverted by the impolitic
speeches of our unwise leaders into the
rock upon which our party went to pieces.
Then we had the wild effort to create ex
citement about the use of the army at the
polls. Had there been an army at the
polls there would have been some sense
in this theatrical display, this rehearsal
of pounding an imaginary foe. There
should be no army at the polls, and our
countrymen, while they enjoy their liber
ties, will never again permit an armed
soldier at the ballot-box. His presence
there is a symbol of despotism, but one
of the first acts ot President Hayes after
his inauguration was to withdraw the
army from every southern state where
they had been stationed in violation of
law, and during this entire war of politi
cians there was not a single soldier in
terfering with the ballot-box in any of
the states, and we had the direct assur
ance of this patriotic president that dur
ing his term of office no soldier should
approach the ballot-box to interfere with
the freedom of elections. Yet we receiv
ed his protestations with ribald jest and
hiting sarcasm, and “his Fraudulency”
was the mildest epithet we applied to this
president, who, for this patriotic work,
should receive the respect and gratitude
of every southern man. I need not con
tinue these recitals, these demonstrations
of incapacity, of blind passion. Suffice
it to say that our democratic congress has
alarmed the northern people. They are
afraid to intrust the administration of the
government to the hands of violent men.
They would rather risk the perils of cen
tralization than again endure the horrors
of revolution. They would as soon see
the government “shot to death,” as to
have it, “starved to death.” All this has
been the work of our self-constituted
leaders.
The great mass of the democratic party
are conservative in their opinions, and as
true as steel to the constitution and the
union. Yet the toiling millions, partic
ularly in the south, are unjustly held re
sponsible for the vaporing follies of these
hot-heads. In addition to these blunders
of the extra session, there have been in
some southern localities outrages upon
lavy and the freedom of the ballot-box,
which, though they may not exceed in
violence similar outrages in the nort, yet
they have served to influence the north
ern mind against the southern people,
who, as a whole, condemn such outrages
as any man in the north —the Dixon mur
der, the Chisolm murder, the frequent
acts of intimidation, and the efforts of the
advocates of the “caucus dictation” to
drive, nolens volens, all men into the sup
port of their nominees. I repeat, these
acts of violence and attempted violence,
while confined to the south, and
many of them greatly exagerated, have
contributed largely to the present and
prospective defeat of the democratic par
ty, and if we fail next year in electing a
democratic president, which now r seems
inevitable, I can only say: “Democracy
has qeen slaughtered in the hands of its
friends.”
You ask me to what extent the inde
pendent movement is spreading in this
state. I answer, it promises to sweep the
state from the mountains to the seaboard
next year. I believe our next governor
and a majority of our next congress and
of our state legislature, will be elected as
independents. The honest and intelli
gent citizens of this state are determined
to throttle and overthrow that organized
bourbonism, which has well-nigh de
stroyed the very bulwarks of genuine de
mocracy, that never learns and never
forgets; that stands as a barrier to our
material progress, narrow, selfish and il
liberal, its only bond of union a struggle
for spoils, its only hope of success the
tricks of the caucus and the lash of the
party. Its fruit has turned to ashes in
the hands of our countrymen, and Geor
gia democrats are resolved to rescue the
democratic party from its destructive
grasp. Independentism does not rely
upon party machinery; confides in prin
ciples; enthrones country; and trusts
the people rather than party leaders.
You ask if Tilden** nomination would
be satisfactory to the people of this state,
and if the south would give him a solid
and cordial support. The people of
Georgia would not be satisfied with Mr.
Tilden’s nomination. He might, and I
think he would, carry the state, but it
would be “by the skin of his teeth.”
The people of Georgia are convinced
that he loves his money more than the
democratic party. They believe that had
Mr. Tilden never been heard of, democ
racy would to-day be triumphant in this
union. They are tired of his grievance,
and hundreds of the best democrats in
the state will not vote if he is nominated.
There is no use in talking about Mr. Til
den. I imagine that to-day’s work in
New York will quietly lay him away
among the other relics of antiquated
bourbonism, and hereaftar men will
study him as a rich specimen of the
“ways that are dark and the tricks that
are vain.” I believe there is but one
man in the United States who, as a dem
ocrat, can win the presidency next year.
That man is David Davis, of Illinois.
Mr. Bayard is an honest, incorruptible
man, but his position on the silver bill at
the last session of congress, and his fi
nancial views generally, will array the
whole greenback party against him. And
here let me say, that party is not dead
nor does it sleep. The people believe
that if Mr. Bayard’s views on finance are
correct, then General Grant and Secre
tary Sherman and other republicans are
entitled to all the credit of their estab
lishment, and should enjoy all the honors
which may accru 3 from their successful
advocacy. In addition to this objection,
his candidacy would fail to quiet the
north. The scarecrows that republican
leaders, aided and abetted by bourbon fa
natics, have erected among the people,
w r ould not down at Mr. Bayard’s bidding.
David Davis would be acceptable to con
servative men in all sections—to green
backers, to working men, to capitalists,
to democrats, and to thousands of repub
licans. His candidacy would reassure
the north. It would give assurances that
the democratic party would be conserva
tive, and that the party would not starve
or shoot the government. But I fear he
will not be nominated. He is not the
sort of man who is popular with the ma
nipulators of state and national conven
tions.
Your last question is: What effect will
the spirit of repudiation have on the
commercial relations Of the south ? Let
me say that I do not believe the spirit of
repudiation exists to any considerable ex
tent in the south, certainly not in Geor
gia. We fay or the payment of every dol
lar of public indebtedness, state and fed
eral. In the midst of our poverty we are
willing to labor and to be taxed for the
preservation of the honor and credit of
the government. lam sorry if there are
any states or individuals who advocate
repudiation as a remedy for the financial
ills we are suffering. The remedy would
increase our poverty a hundred-fold. We
also insist on paying this indebtedness in
good money—just such money as our
farmers, merchants and mechanics are
compelled to receive every day—silver
and greenbacks. Business is now’ re-
CARTERSVILLE, GA., FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 1879.
viving. The stimulant of a large influx
of gold into this country fiom Europe,
good crops here and bad crops there, has
brought it about, because the volume of
money has been increased by a favorable
balance of trade. This revival oi busi
ness is now blessing the country; but
when the gold takes the back track, as it
is liable to do at any time, then comes
the crash. Let us have free and unlimit
ed coinage of silver; let us increase our
greenback circulation pari passu with the
increase of silver and gold, and thus, by
keeping up the volume of money, make
the present “business boom” permanent.
Then, my w r ord for it, repudiation, and
the very spirit of repudiation, would
perish in the land.
In conclusion, whatever party shall be
in power, may the different sections of
the union reap the benefits of a wise and
liberal policy, growing in wealth and
population, in virtue and ihtelligence.
May the liberties of our countrymen be
perpetual. Very respectfully,
W. H. Felton.
Maj. Wallace on Col. Cole.
[Atlanta correspondent Cincinnati Enquirer.]
“Your correspondent called on Maj.
Campbell Wallace, the head of the
State railrod commission, and asked
him what he thought of the railroad
situation. He said:
“I regret very much that the Cm-*
cinnati Southern people should have
any uneasiness, and I assure you
there is not the slightest cause for it.
lam the first man in Atlanta that
Col. Cole divulged the secret of his
purchase to. He reached here Mon
day night and came to me the next
morning at my bank, early. He
then said that he feared that our
merchants might be apprehensive,
and he knew that I could reassure
them. He then pledged me in the
most positive manner that never, as
long as he was in power, should the
slightest discrimination be made
against the Cincinnati Southern. * I
had rather, 1 he said, ‘concede rights
that I knew were mine as a Nash
ville & Chattanooga railroad man
than give the Cincinnati people the
slightest cause of complaint.* I have
known Cole for years. He will do to
trust. What he says may be relied
on, and he was very much in earnest
when he me me these assurances.
They perfectly satisfied me tnac the
connecting roads of the Western &
Atlantic would have precisely the
same treatment.”
Future of the Texas & Pacific.
Col. Thomas A. Scott, president of
the Texas & Pacific railroad, says
that his railroad is getting along all
right, and that “within a year the
Memphis & Little Rock railroad will
connect with the Texas & Pacific by
an extension of their road from Du
vall’s Bluff to Texarkana, the eastern
terminus of our road. Then, by the
way of the Memphis & Charleston
road, connection will be made with
the Cincinnati Southern railroad at
Chattanooga, thus bringing Cincin
nati in direct communication with
all that stretch of country to be
reached by the Texas & Pacific rail
road.”
—One reads Bob Toombs’ “Death
to the Union” with much the feelings
of the Irishman for the red-headed
wood-pecker, which had hammered
his head agaiust a tree until it seem
ed all bloody-red with gore. It don’t
hurt anybody else, and if it amuses
him, all right. There is one reflec
tion, however, which might induce
even Mr. Toombs to be quiet—nay,
there are two. One is that he can
never astonish anybody again, and
the other that it does not require the
slightest courage for one man to
strike a heroic attitude and defy a
crowd. The crowd can always afford
a good-natured laugh at one man
who has worked himself up into a
heroic passion. If there were more
of Mr. Toombs there might be dan
ger enough of serious results to make
it require some courage to get into a
passion. As it is, it is a cyclone in a
tea-spoon '.—Nashville American .
Humbugged Again.
I saw bo much said about the merits of Hop
Bitters, and my wife who was always doctor
ing, and never well, teased me so urgently to
get her some, I concluded to be humbugged
again; and lam glad I did, for in less than
two months use of the Bitters my wife was
cured and she has remained so for eighteen
months since, I like such humbugging.— H.
TANARUS., St. Paul.
Experience has proven that the best remedy
for Colic, Diarrhoea, Teething and other trou
bles of Infancy is Dr. Bull’s Baby Syrup. Price
25 cents.
OUR POSTMASTER GENERAL.
We are gratified to see the conser
vative press of the country gradually
giving out its recognition of Judge
Key’s efficiency and faithfulness as
postmaster general. He has never
failed to honor the south, much as It
has abused him, and he will retire
from the high office he holds without a
blemish—bitter as have been his op
ponents—upon his integrity or the
enlarged capacity necessary to effi
cient service. Not only so, but he
will be remembered as the boldest
champion of moral honesty ever In
any presidential cabinet. His refu
sal to serve the many swindling con
cerns of the country brings great dis
appointment to interested parties,
and its result will tell well upon the
affairs of men. The suppression of
obscene literature has also more vigi
lant attention from him, we think,
than of his predecessors. The Spring
field (Mass.) Republican , one of the
soundest secular papers in morals in
the country, says: “Postmaster Gen
eral Key comes out strong in zeal
for reform, as Secretaries Evarts and
Sherman pale their ineffectual fires
in the glow of A. B. Cornell’s tri
umph. Judge Key went into office
an obscure Tennessean, whose prin
cipal virtue was his having served in
the rebellion and become well recon
structed. He is administering his
department with a good deal of spirit
and pains, and it never was less used
in politics since this generation came
in. The postmaster general is likely
to go out with a very good record,
while some of his colleagues in the
cabinet with less credit than they
started with.”
Additional Mail Facilities.
Second Assistant Postmaster-Gen
eral Brady, in his annual report, says
the estimates for next fiscal year are
made with a view to provide for the
continuance of the present efficient
service and to afford largely increased
service in the States of Indiana,Ohio,
Kentucky, North Carolina, South
Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississip
pi and Alabama, which have all been
advertised to go into effect July 1,
1880, and which will improve pres
ent mail facilities.
—A postal arrangement has been
in force now for two months, which
is not well known among business
men, or it would be more generally
availed. We refer to the fact state
ments, bills, etc., can now be mailed
in an unsealed envelope with a cent
stamp. Thus the many monthly
statements which are made out by
wholesale and retail dealers each
month can be mailed for one cent,
but no writing other than the legiti
mate bill can be placed upon the
statement. No such words as “please
remit” can be, neither can a bill re
ceipted be sent. If it is necessary to
have the words “please remit” on
the statements or bills, they can be
printed as part of the heading. Pub
lishers of newspapers have the right
to enclose bills for subscriptions in
their papers, and also receipted bills
for the same; but not to write the
words “please remit,” which, how
ever, may be printed on the bill with
out infringing the law.
—The postmaster general has re
ceived notification from the postal
authorities of Canada that all publi
cations styled “Police Gazettes,” etc.,
are prohibited circulation in the Do
minion, on account of their obvious
ly Immoral character, but that de
spite the utmost precaution of the
Canadian postmasters, some copies of
the obnoxious papers are still receiv
ed in the mails from this country. Jft
is requested that the United States
government take measures to prevent
the forwarding of this class of matter
in the Canadian mails. In compli
ance with this request, the postmas
ter general has issued an order that
all such publications addressed to the
Dominion of Canada shall be consid
ered unmailable.
Mothers, do not let your darlings suffer
with the Whooping Cough, while you have a
remedy so near at hand. Use Dr. Bull’s Cough
Syrup, and the little sufferer will soon find re
lief. Price 25 cents.
For all kinds of Job Printing call at this
office and get our bid before going elsewhere.
S. A. CUNNINGHAM
PUBLIC HEALTH.
What American Medical Scientists are
Doing to Promote it.
Theseventh’annual convention of
American Public Health Association,
which has been in session at Nash
ville this week, has been the most
important since its organization. The
proceedings are of great length and
not nearly enough concluded at this
writing for us to give even a summa
ry. It has been an occasion actively
improved by the people of Nashville
to impress a great body, comprised
largely of the most learned men in
the nation, with the culture and be
neficent characteristics of her citizens:
The south, entire, may justly feel a
pride in, and the northern delegates
will cherish grateful remembrance
of the occasion. The following para
graph, from the proceedings at the
meeting of the State board Monday
night, indicates the sentiment of the
local authorities in their successful
endeavors to entertain the illustrious
assembly.
Dr. J, Berrien Lindsley said there
was very great reason for the people
of Tennessee taking unusual interest
in the meeting of the American Pub
lic Health Association. It was for
the people to show what appreciation
they had for the labors performed by
those visiting Nashville and the peo
ple they represented, by the hospit
able and open-hearted manner in
which they received and treated them
The object of the American Public
Health Association was to promul
gate proper sanitary knowledge. The
meeting of the association at Rich**
mond had an interest far beyond all
the previous five meetings, and the
meeting here would be of still great
er interest than all the previous six
m eetings. He desired to see the phy
sicians of Nashville and Tennessee,
and all the citizens having an inter
est in sanitation, identify themselves
with the association.
HIS HUNDREDTH YEAR.
Mr. Joseph Williams has been quite
feeble for two or three weeks. He
was out on Wednesday of last week,
but complains of being on the decline.
It will be remembered that he is in
his hundredth year. He attributes
much of his frailty now to hard
straining in his earlier years. From
the time he was twenty until log
tolling ceased to be a custom, he
never let his “ stick down to any liv
ing man.” Fifty years ago, he built a
stone jail at Washington, Tennessee,
and from it there has never been an
escape except through the entrance.
It was in Rhea county, near Wash
ington, that he joined the Methodist
church, July, 1814* He is ready for
the change. Now that “old age,” as
we call it, has given him nearly the
longest lease possible, he sums It up
as a mere span, and says he would
not exchange his hope in future hap
piness for a title, in fee simple, to
North America. It was to talk with
him about the lamented Dr. Lovick
Pierce that we sought him on this
occasion. They were good friends
many years ago. Mr. Williams was
five years the senior of the minister.
We wish the old soldier the least
bodily pain possible, pending his
exit.
German Carp.
Judge J. T. Henderson, commit
sioner of agriculture, has just receiv
ed from Prof. Spencer F. Baird, U.
S. fish commissioner, five hundred
German carp, which he proposes to
distribute in waters of Georgia. Those
having ponds, free torn game fish,
should apply at once to Commission
er Henderson for some of these fish.
They Jive mainly on vegetable food,
and do best in ponds with muddy
bottoms and in which there are
equatic plants. They may be fed up
on bread, or finely-cut cabbage or let
tuce.
J. J. Howard & Son.
With a view of insuring absolute security for
all deposits left with us, we have purchased a
large safe with Hall’s double time lock attach
ment, which is absolutely impossible to open,
except during the hours when it is desirable
to open it. The safe is fire-proof and burglar
proof. Merchants and others who desire a
safe place for their accounts and money, in
vited. J. J. HOWARD & SON.