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The True Citizen. W AYNESOOHO, GA., FRIDAY, JUNE 9, 1882 “ The Survival qf the Fittest." [ Communicated. j In 1880 Burke county suffered from too much politics. But for the Colquitt- Norwood campaign the cotton crop would have been gathered before the rainy weather commenced, which cut off in quantity and quality one-fourth of the value of that crop. Last year both the cotton and grain crops were failures, so that few planters made any money, and mo9t of them failed to pay out.— The consequence is the county is poor, for the planters are behind in money matters. So far this has been a good season, and the prospects flattering. If the people will work, the recuperative powers of the county are so great that they will be able to reinstate them selves. The gubernatorial and Con gressional elections will be quiet af fairs. It may be early in the year to name the Legislative ticket, but to put out a good one—to name men who will fully meet the demands of the occasion, to put out a ticket which cannot be de feated, may have the effect of keeping down excitement, and preventing a con test in the election of these officers.— The people do not wish a contest, and the friends of the different aspirants will not make an issne unless the as pirants press them into trouble. This is peculiarly a time when the office should seek the man, and not the man the office. I would name Dr. E. A. Perkins, Judge II. E. W. Palmer and Capt. P. D. Cox. Burke. to foresee nothing but trouble and perplexity as the inevitable result of this wrangling within the party. If the convention nominates him he will be elected by a large vote and majority if he has an opponent, than our present incumbent received. If they should not select him as the Democratic standard bearer, we have nothing to fear from hitn because he will not oppose but affilliate with us. If thi#> is not pure Jeffersouian Democracy, where are we to look for it ? Whilst writing a friend passes my sanctum remarking to his com panion—“Stephens is too old,” One would suppose from these re marks, of his feebleness, age, &c., that one must be a Sampson in strength and an acrobat in activity to do the office or people justice. There can be no other possible objection than this which is too weak for con sideration. We want just such a head as he has. We want just such a heart and even should he not live to fill his term of office, his example will be one of such executive purity that his successor for the unexpired term would not dare deviate lrorn it, had he even no higher motive prompting him to a proper discharge of his duties. For party peace and success for our peace and interests, for God’s sake let’s have peace. D. the C OSS n TUT I ON— SPEER VERST. C 0 NT 110- [ Comm unieated. ] Waynesboro, Ga., June 5, 1882. Dear Sir : I am no politician ; but from the ill feeling already ens gendered previous to any nomina tion for governor ; I fear that there is a storm brewing to the injury of our party, and one too which will seriously affect our agricultural in terests. Under the excitement labor ers will leave the farms and the material prosperity which is now apparently evident in store for tv, will be dissolved like mists before the sun, if some oil is not poured upon the troubled waters of the political sea. The Republican party would storm hell to remain in the government crib, and a taste from the government pap bowl lias crazed not a few of the Coalitionists and In dependent Democrats who would sacrifice principle and the interest of our common country to get filled from the swill-tub of iniquity. Lit tle as the latter may think, they are none so strong but that general dis aster will more or less affect their interests and totally destroy all future aspirations upon their part. The people under excitement may not be cpahle of appreciating the political volcano ahead ; hut woe ho to those who precipitate their doom, for when suffering comes they can easily then trace effect to cause whereas few * can under excitement trace things from cause to effect. Will not this apprehension of trouble cause these to desist 1 Can nothing he done to allay dissatisfac tion ? If wo cannot ceineut the parly bv plain truths oandidly and mildly presented, agitation will cer tainly avail nothing. If those journ al:* protesting with vehemence against Mr. Stephens’ candidacy could only sec that they are doing more to dis integrate the party than he has over been accused of having done and eouhl be prevailed upon to cease their unjustifiable warfare upon him ; we would have peace. When the uberuatorial conventh n assembles, t will act then for the best interests f tiie country in its selection, so all his quarreling is premature and can lly do harm. Follow the example he old stand-by—the Chronicle institutionalist—which has ever uneed wrong and accredited it where due irrespective of party ersou. But has bad fle wisdom CONCEALING THK TRUTH TO DECISIVE. Washington, May 81, 1882.—Editors Constitu tion : 1 hesitate to address you this letter. It would be perhaps more in accordance with the rules used among gentlemen to iguore the publi cations which you have of late made with per sonal reference to me. It is in some sort, how ever, proper that yon should be compelled to publish the reply to your calumnies in the same medium through which you gave them currency. Surely you dare not supplement your defama tion by a cowardly refusal to publish this de fense. Convert.ant as I am w ith the unspeaka. ble littleness of your conduct, 1 am fully prepar ed for even this last resource of prostit uted journalism. You say, ‘'and we are perfectly willing to hear from him.” Now, listen to me. On May 2fith you charged me with misrepresenting Mr. Stephens and with using his name without authority. In express terms you impute to me an “insidious attempt to deceive and entrap.” On the 28th of May you say my words were “more-than in. idious."— “According to Mr. Stephens th >;/ -/ere,” you soy, false in words and in spirit, “it is,” you say, with well feigned sincerity, “indeed difficult to restrain the indignation which is bareiy veiled in Mr. Stephens’ word::.” These are your charges, or some of them. They were all based on my open telegram to Dr. Felton—on nothing else, for I wrote nothing else. Now, “mark how plain a tale shall put you down.” Before me on my desk, appended to an Associated Press dispatch, are a few lines over the well known signature of Alexander H. Stephens. They read as follows: “The above is substantially true. What Mr. 8p« or telegraphed to Dr. Felton was strictly true, though not by authority from me. There is no issue between me and Mr. Speer.” To an impartia. miiul tins would seem conclusive. The evidence is undoubted—the signature is genuine—the witness is your candi date for governor of Georgia, he it said to your credit. Where, now, Are the “insidious” words —“according to Mr. Stephens’’—“false in words and inspirit”—and oh, where “gentle shepherd, tell mo where” the “indignation” which is ‘ re- str it ed witli difficulty” and is “barely veiled in Mr. Stephens’ words,” Your efforts to prejudice mo in the minds of the people whom I represent is deliberate and most malicious, and yet your exposure here made Is so complete, your nakedness, as you stand l>e f oi'e the eyes of an amused and contemp tuous public, is so ludicrous that 1 have not the heart to be mad with yon, Let us return, however, to Mr. Stephens What is it that, lie says is “substantially true?” I quote from the Associated Press dispatch : “I (the undersigned) told Mr. Stephens that I would telegraph them to recommend 1dm as the peo ple’s candidate for governor. Jlis secretary fur nished me some telegraph blanks and I wrote die telegram in ids room, read it to him, and at his suggestion altered it in two particulars." What is it that lie says was “strictly true?" The recital in the telegram, “I know positively lie will not rejeet sucli recommendation, and th: if elected ho will be the governor of all the peo ple, without regard to party.” The statement 1 have now given is sufficient to conv^liee any can did mind that you have grossly misrepresented what was a patriotic and honest action on iny part. I believed, and still believe, that Mr, Stephens was of all men the best and most suit able candidate for governor of Georgia at tills time. Personally, it did not concern mo more than any other oltUou of tiie State, who was to be the governor. It did not affect my political usplrutlons. I have been twice elected to Con gress without assistance from the governor of Georgia. Is It patriotic and commendable ttiat you should support Mr. Stephens, a id insidious and treacherous that I support him? Is there no patriotism in Georgia, save in the delegates to a convention? I claim that I have as much interest in the spite—In its future—in its renown—ostinr other Georgian, and I have the same right with others to support a candidate for governor. Mv I'ldepeuduntlsm leads me to advocate tiie elec tion of him whom I esteem the best. Your in tolerance and spirit of proscription impels you to malign me bocause I dare be Independent to support your candidate. . Allow me to adinoulsh you that a paltry warfare on individuals, direct ed by Ignoble motives, is never successful In those happy countries where the people are free to act for themselves, and for each other. Your object is to defeat my re-election. You will fail. You have not even discomposed me, while you are confounded. You have made many attempts, in several ways, to injure me. You have failed in all. You will continue to fail as long as pre judice and partisanship are your motives, and calumny your most potent weapon. Emory SrEKH. A WORD WITH A BLACKGUARD. We print in another column a letter from Emory Speer. We made the same mistake iu asking him t< explain in our columns ills connec tion with this telegram that any gentleman is liable to make when he invites a man into his house, and finds out as soon as lie opens the door that his guest is a blackguard. And we shall deal with Mr. Speer just as any gentleman would be forced to do when lie lias been deceived in that way. It would have been mors in accord ance with the lules usual among gentlemen if Mr. Speer hud first written his explanation, if lie had oue, and then if the Constitution had failed to do him justice, to have denounced it if lie chose to do so. But the course of a gentleman would make Mr. Speer hesitate any time, and he has shown himself in his conduct in this matter as unfamiliar with the conduct of a gentleman as he is with the truth. We admit that it would bo cowardly in us to ask a man to explain iu our columns and then deny him the right, but when a man comes on the invitation we give and acts the ruffian, the bully and the braggart, we will treat him as hl 8 conduct deserves, even while we give publicity to his willful and malicious falsehoods concern ing our course to him. Now, Mr. Speer, we have listened to you. and heard what you have to say. We have nothing but your statement, and even you admit that what you did was without Mr. Stephens’ author ity. Why did you go to Mr. Stephens and get his views on the Coalition? Uad Mr. Stephens given you any room to think he would reject a nomination from your friends ? Your telegram was published on tiie 16th of May. Everything we had from Mr. Stephens from that date until you furnished the press dispatch a few days ago, was positive and plain in its assertion that what you said was on your own motion, and without authority from him. Tills is what we called “insidious. You knew when you sent the tele gram that Mr. Stephens would not be a candi date uuloss nominated by the Democratic conven tion ; that he bol eved in correcting any errors of tho party inside rather than outside the parry.— Was it not “insidious” in you to conceal tills fact? and can’t you lie as we.il by concealing the truth as by writing a lie? We admit that you are an expert in this business; that you have no regard for the truth when it serves your pur pose to omit the truth or write or act a falsehood. What you are pleased to call a “patriotic and honest action on your part” was an attempt to deceive not only your friends but you enemies.— It is to you the light type of honesty and patriot ism. You deceived the Congressional campaign committee whqn you procured the insertion of your speech on the Chinese question in their public documents, and they told you so, and had it stricken. You deceived Mr. Orr at Athens about the appointment of postmaster. You de ceived Mr. Mill by accepting every favor he could grant you ufitil the poor man was stricken with disease and his life was des, aired of, and then you turned your back on him. You have deceived your constituents by tell ing thorn you would help them to have the tax on whisky abolished, and now 4 1 umber as your best friends in your district tnen who have shot down poor, weak, Inoffensive old men. You are not jailed upon to vote on a single quest on that you do not have to apologize to one party or the other, and that is your pattern of “honest and patriotic conduct.” If we refuse to believe your statements when they were made you have no one to blame but yourself.— If a majority of the people of tiie ninth district want you as their lepresentative, vve have no objection. We have said nothing about that since your election. You certainly have done nothing hut deceive tl/tn. If they want that kind of a man to represent them, you will fill the bill. You took occasion without cause to write tills Insulting letter, when you knew that the Ccnstir- tutlon had never failed to do you justice. You have been repeatedly assured that we would always do you justice. It was a hal'd job. You were dodging from side to side, and yotiirg first witli one party and then with the other. You v/cre a friend to the whites when talking to them and against tho colored mau, and a frigid to the colored man when talking to him, and against tho whites. Not half of your inconsis tencies have come to the surface, because you have been skillful in concealing the truth. . Wo have a letter from you to tho cd tor of tho Constitution, signed witli your well-known unhistorlc signature, under date of January 4, 1880, in which you say : “You were good enough to tell me ou more than one occasion that if your paper did me (E- Speer) injustice to write to you and point it out," You did so, and we corrected it as well as could te done. Under date of March 4, 1880, we have tho following tetter: THE TRUE CITIZE PUBLISHED EVERY FRIDAY, AT WAYNESBORO, C‘ -BY TIIE- SULLIYAH OTHERSfl -:oOo:- % Independent in All Things, Neutral In Nothin -o:0:o N Not Pledged to Any Party, Faction, or Individual -o:0:o- A JOURNAL FOR THE PEOPL “Pray accept my acknowledgement for your courtesy in publishing extract from Springfield Iti'iwblimn relating to mein yesterdays Consti tution. if I can serve you in any manner 1 trust you will not hesitate to call on me. 1 atn dear sir, very truly yours, [Signedl Emory Speer.” No longer than a few weeks ago we published part of a speech by you. You wrote us that full justice to you required we should publisl it all. Wo promptly did so. We have numerous letters from you on tills lino asking favor* which wo granted when we could, and which we refused when wo could no* grant thorn. Were you deceiving us iu those letters, or do you lie about us in tills lastlettery Wo are prepared to believe that you were doing so in all of tlmm. Now, sir, wu have treated your letter as it de served. Your conduct was insidious, even grant ing (which we decline to believe on your unsup. ported statement) that Mr. Stephens saw your dispatch before you sent it. Foi in that dispatch You attempted to make the public believe that Mr. Stephens was in sympathy with tho Coalition movement, when you knew positively that he was not, and that while tolerating the in iorsement of the Coa litionists lie would only run as a 'Democratic candi date on a Democratic platform, pledged to abide the action of the Deriiocratic convention. The Insidious attempt to deceive the people of Georgia as to Mr. Stephens’ true posh Ion is but a part of yutr eiti re- political career. In conclusion, sir, having Invited you into our house, and having discovered tfllR you arc a blackguard, and having disposed of you as you deserved, we now show you the door. Should you have anything further to say to us you will have no trouble in finding us at the front gate, ns we do not wish to disturb our decent guests by branding you la a more emphatic way witli your true name and character. —o:0:o Devoted to the interests of the people of Burke county, their struction, entertainment and advancement—a faithful and imparl chronicler of all Burke county happenings—-a fair recorder of all imp<f ant events elsewhere occurring—a sturdy advocate of correct Jefferson? principles of government by the people and for the people—a just, upriglj and honorable journal. In all these things the CITIZEN hopes not to prove remiss in dutv— it is a public institution, and every subscriber and patron is stockholder— the Publishers are merely their agents, and their duties an<! responsibilities are reciprocal—we think we can promise that the man agement will do its duty, and if the public will do theirs, it will prove immense power for good in the community. -o:0:o- TERMS W SU'RSUatRTlRfC s One copy one year, Cash “ “ six months “ “ throe months 1