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THE CONSTITUTION.
Entered at ttm Atlanta postoffice as sec
end-class nia mJitter. November 11.1873
The Weekly Constitution 81.00 per annum
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The Constitution as an Issue.
Our readers cannot have failed to no
tice certain peculiar features of the back
room denunciations of The Constitution
that have made their appearance re
cently. The most significant of these
features is the fact that the cut-and
dried resolutions attacking The Con
stitution for standing on the Chicago
platform, and questioning its democracy
because it is too firmly grounded in
democratic principles and too unyield
ing in its devotion to the party pledges
to suit the views of certain ambitious
men, have been almost entirely con
fined to the territory comprising the
eleventh congressional district, where
the counties are large in extent and the
democratic voters so widely scattered
that ih»j' cannot assemble on a day s
notice to take part in town meetings.
Why this sudden and apparently fero
cious attack on ’The Constitution should
suddenly develop in the eleventh dis
trict -and die.within its borders we leave
shrewd readers to guess. Wo have hold
of some of the ends of this tangled
skein, and the facts will come forth
after awhile. Meantime, the counties
in the rest of the state, wherever the
people have expressed themselves, have
endorsed the Chicago platform, and
this is all the endorsement The Consti
tution asks for. As fast as the counties
act, they endorse the platform, and
whenever and wherever the platform is
endorsed the course of The Constitution
is commended. for on the platform we
have taken our stand, and we refuse to
be driven therefrom.
'llie eleventh district resolutions de
nouncing Tin* ('onstitution first made
their appearance in the celebrated mass
meeting held in Coffee county, where
five men assembled together and. by
uu overwhelming majority, proceeded to
adopt resolutions denouncing The Con
stitution for “attacking the administra
tion,” and followed this up by endors
ing a. candidate for governor a gen
tleman who had gone just as tar, if not
farther, than The <'onstitution in criti
cising the financial policy of Mr. Cleve
land. so far as that policy is under
stood. But this celebrated mass meet
ing of five men didn't care to be con
sistent. It had its orders in its pockets,
vo to speak, and it proceeded to carry
them out without investigating the il
logical and inconsistent attitude in
volved in an endorsement of Mr. At
kinson and a condemnation of The Con
stitution. The five men composing the
celebrated mass meeting went right
ahead ami pretended to speak for the
democratic party of Coffee, and endeav
ored to place the democrats of that
county in the position of denouncing a
democratic newspaper for standing im
movably upon tl’.e Chicago platform,
and demanding 1110 redemption of the
pledges made to the people by the
party.
Nevertheless, although the celebrated
mass meeting in Coffee county was a
mockery and a sham, but few of the
“mass meetings” in the eleventh con
gressional district that placed the seal
of their displeasure ou the activity of
The Constitution as a genuine demo
cratic newspaper, had any great, ad
vantage over the Coffee county assem
bly. Think of sixty or a hundred men
pretending to represent the views of
two and three thousand democrats in
a matter involving the arraignment of
A party newspaper for standing square
ly on the platform and criticising a
financial policy directly contrary to that
laid down in the bimetallic pledge made
to the people.
Let any honest and just man—any
true democrat —consider the snap judg
ment that has been taken on The Con
stitution by the automatic conventions
held in the eleventh district, and then say
whether they represent the sentiments
©f the party in this new issue of de
nouncing a democratic newspaper for
standing on the democratic platform.
Let any just and genuine democrat, not
Infected by the hope of getting his head
in the federal slop barrel, consider
whether it is advantageous to party
discipline or calculated to promote party
harmony, to set before the democratic
voters of Georgia the spectacle of a
few automatic mass meetings in parts
of one congressional district passing
cut-and-dried resolutions denouncing a
democratic newspaper because its devo
tion to democratic principles will not
permit it to regard the platform pledges
as “a collection of glittering generali
ties.”
In effect these cut-and-dried resolu
tions, passed by automatic and irre
sponsible mass meetings, are an arraign
ment of every democrat who believes
in democratic principles and who stands
on the democratic platform. They are
demoralizing in tendency and (we be
lieve) in purpose. We have no idea
’* men who will permit themselves
m WEEKLY CONSTITUTION; ATLANTA, GA., MONDAY.JUNE 18.1894.
to be so cheaply used by outside influ
ences care whether the party is har
monious or Whether it is disorganized;
whether the pledges of the platform
are carried out or whether they are re
pudiated.
Apart from all this, we have in our
possession substantial evidence that
these clap-trap resolutions denouncing
The Constitution for putting democratic
principles far above individuals in im
portance are not endorsed by the coun
ties that the automatic mass meetings
pretend to represent. If we were to
open a ballot box in The Constitution
office tomorrow and deposit in it the
protests we have received from leading
citizens of these very counties declar
ing that they and their democratic
friends regard the resolutions referred
to as an outrage, we could show a
larger democratic vote in behalf of The
Constitution than the authors of the
clap-trap resolutions were able to mus
ter against it.
And these protests that have come
to us are entirely voluntary. They have
come to us unsolicited. To this extent,
therefore, the effect of the resolutions
has been salutary—they have been the
means of bringing to us hundreds of
letters from men who really represent
the democrats of the eleventh district
and the endorsement of these men is
the result of the clap-trap resolutions.
This is all the clap-trappers have had
for their pains. They have served The
Constitution instead of injuring it.
They have brought to it expressions
of sympathy and evidences of support
that otherwise it would not have re
ceived; and these expressions, coming
from every county where the clap-trap
resolutions wore passed, largely out
number the men who manipulated the
mass meetings to the enactment of the
resolutions.
The people stand with The Constitu
tion on the Chicago platform, and they
will give abundant evidence oi. this
fact at the proper time.
The People Moving.
The Courier-Journal, touching upon a
very timely subject, begins an editorial
article as follows:
The defeat for renomination of the lion.
Clifton It. Breckinridge in Arkansas, and
the Hon. Jason B. Brown in Indiana-two
of the very ablest and truest, most experi
enced and efficient democrats in congress
—is pregnant with meaning, and, if it were
not too late, might serve as at once a
warning and a suggestion to those of then
colleagues and associates whose seats
tremble in the balance of dangerous oppo
sition. . , _ ..
There was no charge that either of these
good men and true had perpetrated any
overt act of failing duty; that either had
violated his trust; that either had been in
any way unworthy of a seat in congress.
It was that, tried by the average home
standards, a majority of the people could
see no reason why they should be given
a perpetuity or monopoly in the business
of representing their districts at Washing
ton, and of limiting their suffrage to them
as against other claimants, who made
promises as fair and set up claims at least
equal to theirs in point of personal merit.
It was that, in a great public exigency,
neither of them had fulfilled a certain pub
lic expectation, which a great body of
their constituents felt they had a right to
entertain, and which, instead of being ful
filled, was disappointed. If they had net
this reasonable expectation, no rival, no
power could have supplanted either of
them.
So far so good. Up to this point the
statement of The Courier-Journal ad
mits of no dispute. Mr. Breckinridge,
of Arkansas, and Mr. Brown, of Indi
ana, have been repudiated by their con
stituents because “in a great public exi
gency neither of them had fulfilled a
certain public expectation.”
It is only when our Louisville contem
porary comes to explain the nature of
the exigency in which the two distin
guished congressmen failed to meet pub
lic expectation;, that it fails to state the
obvious facts. Il says that when the
Wilson bill was reported from the ways
and means committee it was received
with amazement by disinterested and
thinking democrats, and that this
amazement soon took the shape of in
dignation. The bill remained a source
of bitter disappointment, The Courier-
Journal says, in spite of some mitigation
that was obtained in the open house.
But to the lessening of this bitter dis
appointment, “neither Mr. Breckinridge,
as true a tariff reformer as lives, nor Mr.
Brown, who is a good second to Mr.
Breckinridge, contributed one word.”
This gives a cue to The Courier-Jour
nal's explanation of the defeat, of Mr.
Breckinridge, of Arkansas, ami Mr.
Brown, of Indiana, and it shows that
our contemporary, in common with a
great many congressmen and public
men, is blind to the real issue that in
fluenced tho constituents of Messrs.
Breckinridge and Brown to repudiate
th*ra.
To what extent was the ’Wilson tariff
bill made an issue in the contest that
has been going on in the districts rep
resented by Congressman Breckinridge
ami Congressman Brown? It was hard
ly mentioned. Tho record of both con
gressmen as tariff reformers is unim
peachable. Neither has ever wavered,
and both have been loudly and earnestly
in favor of a political combination of
the south ami Tvest to defeat the plans
and schemes of the protected monopo
lists of the east. Nothing whatever
could bo said against either of these con
gressmen, ami if the tariff question had
been the main issue in the primary con
test, both Mr. Breckinridge and Mr.
Brown would have been unanimously
renominated by the democrats of their
districts.
This being so, we are forced to the
conclusion that the editor of The Cou
rier-Journal is deliberately closing his
eyes to the real cause of the defeat of
these two congressmen in their efforts
to secure a renomination. Under the
circumstances, we feel it to be our duty
to call attention to the facts in the case,
so that no congressman who is seeking
a renomination, and no ambitious poli
tician who desires to represent the peo-
pie in Washington, may make any mis
take about ihe matter.
If the editor of The Courier-Journal
will turn to The Congressional Record
bearing date of August 29, 1893, he
will find embod .f l in its not over-lively
columns the ons why the con
stituents of Breckinridge
and Congress,w r> have decided
to select otli Tfniotu* ives. There
are seven p CO- ’ clis * all spread
out in th(^ ,A , (]i Tecord of
August -(‘ssinon
voted dl flowed vl‘ of
silver * r or any
two in
tllc ’ 1 back
at 18 • it only o,
(?>rtUs
(i) so ; ' to put<3
Shernit ■’ more
feme
Each • .thout es
was a . . ’w thf>se
ps. 1£ ,
congressim . jt o .jple,
and, taken . woul£d on
the silverqiu .ately*' 11 1 fla '
grant repudiate, mcratic
platform. Their j, never
dreamed of repudiating *s’■ ‘ 1 until they
had repudiated the financial pledge of
the Chicago platform and accepted the
financial views of John Sherman. On
this issue, the people drew tho line, and
they will draw it in every congressional
district in the west and south where
the democratic party has a fighting
chance.
Wo say, therefore, that those con
gressmen who imagine that the people
will place tho onus of a failure to re
deem the financial pledge of the demo
cratic platform on Mr. Cleveland are
likely to have their eyes opened when
the congressional campaign opens. Mr.
Cleveland urged the unconditional re
peal of the Sherman law in a message,
it is true, but those who were nearest
to him gave the public clearly to un
derstand that this repeal was only the
first step toward carrying out the
pledgo of the platform—that uncondi
tional repeal was necessary simply be
cause such a measure could be adopted
more promptly than one embodying sub
stitute legislation.
Since the day this so-called “first
step” was taken congress has given
the president no opportunity whatever
to take another step in the redemption
of tho party pledge. There has been no
movement in the house or in the senate
to restore silver to its old place in our
currency system as a part of the stand
ard money of the country. "Why has
there been no such movement in con
gress? Because the democrats who
voted against the free coinage of sil
ver on any terms last August are op
posed to the employment of silver as a.
part of our money of final redemption.
They voted against silver in August,
and they are ready to stave off and Kill
any movement intended to expose their
attitude to the people. They are gold
monometallists, they stand by the gold
trust of the east, and they are just as
ready to repudiate the platform pledge
now as they were last August, only
they want to deceive the people by leav
ing it to be inferred that Mr. Cleveland
is responsible for the failure to redeem
the financial pledge of the platform.
The fate of Congressmen Breckinridge
of Arkansas, and Brown of Indiana,
show that the democratic voters know
where the chief responsibility lies.
A Remarkable Declaration.
The Savannah Press, commenting on
the Fulton county mass meeting, makes
the following statement in its editorial
columns—a statement to which we de
sire to direct the careful attention of
the democratic voters of Georgia:
Resolutions endorsing the Chicago plat
form, and calling on the president to carry
out those pledges were adopted. This is
an administration defeat at the capital.
We question if a more remarkable
statement was ever seriously made in a
democratic newspaper, and it is made
more remarkable still by the further
declaration of The Press: “But the
state will not endorse these resolutions.”
A stranger familiar with the general
course of American polities, but not fa
miliar with recent results, would be
bound to infer that the mass meeting at
which the resolutions were adopted be
longs to one party and the administra
tion to another, and that the call upon
the president to carrj out the pledge's of
the Chicago platform is a. piece of grim
political satire. We say this is the un
avoidable conclusion to which a per
son not entirely familiar with recent
events would arrive; and the longer tho
statement of Tin' Press is studied and
the more closely it is analyzed, the more
remarkable does it appear.
We advise thoughtful and intelligent
men to study it carefully and consider
what (‘fleet it and kindred decorations
are likely to have on the ociml’it and
enthusiasm of the deniQf c
and whether they are /%J c '-e‘smJ to
bring about the harnio be h vise .qty
” up to .
necessary to the cc in
Georgia awl «>.
In this state we are .rs. Sargent, ion? i u
lornm?
a campaign in whi — ? e
in twenty years ctory
will meet with orgai>WWV to
position in every c>’.Z ■
sional district. At
there are manyvoters^’ 1 11’ 1 ” 1 ”' here
tofore acted heartily anthvided- ntly with
the democratic party, amH" Ito are still
grounded in democratic principles and
doctrines, hesitating as to whether they
shall resent the failure to redeem the
party pledges and go with the populists,
or whether they shall remain in the
party and depend on the organization
to carry out the platform principles and
redeem its pledges when it shall have
placed in power men who will executa
its will.
The Savannah Press is a democratic
newspaper, ’and we take it for granted
that it believes to son.e extent in dem
ocratic principles. With its declara
tion before us we do not know, indeed,
how far it goes, or whether it has con
ceived new doctrines of its own which
it prefers to those that are set forth
in the Chicago platform. But, making
due allowances for everything of this
sort, we do not see how it can consist
ently put forth and father the state
ment it makes that resolutions endors
ing tho Chicago platform and calling
on the president to redeem the pledges
of that platform are in the nature of a
defeat of the administration. Does The
Press propose to join the little band of
political shysters who are now engaged
in slandering and misrepresenting Mr.
Cleveland in Georgia by claiming that
a ratification of the Chicago platform is
an attack on the democratic administra
tion? If so, does the editor of The
Press sincerely believe that such a
policy is calculated to add to the
strength and harmony of the party at
this juncture.
Remarkable as the declaration of The
Press is, it presents the issue squarely
and in a shape that cannot possibly be
misunderstood. It says that the resolu
tions adopted by the Fulton county
mass meeting, endorsing the Chicago
platform and calling on the president to
carry out its pledges amount to “a de
feat of the administration at the capi
tal.” The editor of The Press, is an
experienced journalist and an able
writer. He does not put words together
without understanding the meaning he
desires to convey. He that the rati
fication of the platform and the call on
the president to redeem its pledges is a
defeat of the administration, ami adds:
“But tho state will not endorse these
resolutions.”
We reproduce the resolutions in
another place and ask The Press to ex
amine them and tell us why “Che state”
will, not endorse them. The state, as
we understand it, is the people. Politi
cally, the state is what a majority of
the voting population choose it to be.
At last accounts, it was democratic.
Has The Press any reason to believe
that it is other than democratic now?
If our contemporary knows that the
state is not democratic—that the Chi
cago platform has suddenly and mys
teriously become obnoxious to those
who rushed to approve and applaud it
two years ago—and that a majority of
the voters of Georgia have suddenly
become weary of democratic principles
—then the declaration we have quoted
ceases to be remarkable, and is a simple
statement of Georgia’s change of views.
But if the white voters of the state are
still democrats then there is not. a word
nor a sentiment in the Fulton county
resolutions that they cannot heartily
endorse ?
Will The Press kindly take up the
Fulton county resolutions examine
them carefully ami critically and then
tell us frankly why it considers their
adoption a defeat for the administra
tion? We take it for granted, of course,
that so sensible a newspaper will not
make a serious effort to give respecta
bility to the demoralizing and undem
ocratic clamor that an endorsement of
the democratic platform is an attack on
Mr. Cleveland. The Press can well
afford to leave that dangerous issue to
the lly-up-the-creeks that hatched it.
<
Silver’s Friends and Enemies.
The casual observer who surveys the
silver situation cannot fail to be sur
prised at the great number of alleged
bimetallists in this and oilier countries,
and in view of their apparent, numerical
strength it seems unaccountable that
they should be in such an utterly help
less condition.
In the United States every political
parly has committed itself to bimetal
lism—to the use of both gold and silver
as the standard money of the country.
Yet, whenever there is any legislation
touching silver it tends to further crip
ple it and demonetize it. When there is
any effort to remonetize it the move
ment is denounced as a scheme to force
a 50-cent dollar on the people in place
of a sound dollar worth 100 cents; some
of tho alleged bimetallists begin to hedge
and dodge; political parties split on the
issue, with the exception of the repub
licans; the bill is killed, and then there
is great rejoicing in the money centers.
When the lime approaches for the
elections political • conventions assem
ble, and silver is eulogized and bimetal
lism is endorsed, as was the case in the
McKinley convention in Ohio, the other
day. The silver plank in the Ohio
republican platform sounds like a
quotation from Stewart, of Ne
vada, or Teller, of Colorado. And
yet Ohio is the home of the
republican leader whose party has done
more than any other thing to bring
about the demonetization of silver.
There is very little in some of the per
functory expressions in favor of bi
metallism. The men who make them
claim to be working for an international
agreement to restore silver to its place
as standard money, and as this is a
very desirable thing they in many in
stances are regarded as the true friends
of silver. The fact is, however, that
most of these advocates of international
bimetallism favor that plan because
they do not believe that it will material
ize for a long time to come. They are
among the loudest champions of silver
because they believe that when they
stick to the condition that bimetallism
must, be an international affair they are
postponing the day of free silver. The
international conferences held from
lime to time to discuss bimetallism nev
er come to any definite agreement. Only
the other day the Berlin commission
adjourned without, making any recom
mendation. and Congressman Bryan,
of Nebraska, criticised it to the point
when lie sa s d:
As long as we wait for Germany and Eng
land, nothing will be done towards restoring
silver, but as soon as we recognize that the
interests of our people are too important to
be submitted to the wishes of foreign
countries, and act ourselves, the sooner
will silver be restored to its former place
on equality with gold, and the sooner will
prosperity return to our industries.
The genuine friends of silver will
agree with Mr. Bryan. In this matter
America must act independently for het
self, lead the way, and let other coun
tries follow. This is the sentiment of
tho democrats of Georgia. Both of om
gubernatorial candidates hold this view.
Tho Wiman Case.
The developments in the case of
Erastus Wiman will doubtless surprise
and shock thousands of people who
have had confidence in the defendant
for many years.
The most damaging thing against
Wiman was his own letter to Mr. Dun,
of Dun’s Commercial Agency, in which
he admitted that lie had fraudulently
signed the name of E. W. Bullinger to
two checks of the firm made payable to
Bullinger’s order. Wiman said that he
had no excuse to make, but for the sake
of his wife and children and his long
service to Dun he begged the latter to
overlook his offense and take no legal
steps against him.
The reading of this letter in court pro
duced a tremendous effect. It clinched
the case against the defendant, but his
lawyer bitterly denounced the prosecu
tion, and claimed that his client was a
soft-hearted fool, who- had built up
Dun’s fortune. He declared that Wi
man had served Dun for forty years
and was not guilty of any intentional
crime, and that the prosecution was in
stigated by an enemy of Wiman’s, who
had poisoned Dun's mind against him.
It is admitted that Dun is mainly in
debted to Wiman for his present pros
perity, but it is very evident that he
presumed upon his friendly relations
with his employer, and was guilty of
great irregularities in financial matters,
although it does not appear that he in
tended to defraud anybody. Friendship
and finance do not rim together these
days.
Contraction Here and Elsewhere.
A correspondent of The Charlotte Ob
server gives some interesting points
from a recent interview with Senator
Jarvis.
The senator says that when he first
went to Brazil as minister, that country
was in a prosperous condition. 'I ho Bra
zilians had a currency that was neither
abnormally inflated nor contracted. It
was about such a currency as we had
in the period after the war, when our
greenbacks were worth about $1.40 to
one of gold. With this currency the
stores in Rio Janeiro did a thriving bus
iness. real estate sold readily at good
prices, working people found employ
ment at good wages and everybody was
prosperous, except the idle and incapa
ble. The situation was all that could
have been desired until a new set of
ministers decided to bring th* 1 currency
to a gold basis. A lot of it was called in
and destroyed. As the process of con
traction went on times grew harder and
harder. At stores where ten clerks had
been employed tho number was gradu
ally reduced to eight, then six. then
four, and then two. Real estate declin
ed in value and was hard to sell at any
price. Discontent increas'd with the
hard times, and finally revolution and
anarchy came.
All this reads like a chapter of our
own history. Like causes produce simi
lar results everywhere. Tin I’nitefl
States and Brazil both made tho mis
take of contracting their eurrrency in
order to get on a gold hfiffis at a time
when tho two nations had proved by
actual experience that they had just
enough currency to meet tin* demands of
legitimate business and a growing pop
ulation.
The disastrous contraction experi
ment of these two countries requires no
elucidation or comment. We see its re
sults everywhere around us in the shape
of idle marts, deserted workshops, suf
fering women and children and desper
ate mon clamoring for work or broad.
Such a. financial policy will never be en
dorsed until we have a nation of fools,
or a. nation of serfs under the absolute
domination of the gold shylocks.
A Cal! for Standing Armies.
A New York newspaper, which has
been untiring in its efforts to crush la
bor and its products by establishing tho
gold standard, now argues shat each
state should have a standing army in
the shape of a state police “for tho
preservation of order and the protec
tion of prosperity.”
This is a hint of the conditions that
will follow tho new financial policy of
our money kings, if the gold standard
is to become a. fixture.
A quarter of a century ago, when we
had a large volume of currency and the
masses were prosperous and contented,
there was no demand for standing ar
mies. Tim sheriffs and their posses,
and the police of the cities and towns
were able to meet any emergency.
But the distress brought upon the
people by the policy of contraction has
reduced millions of toilers from com
fort and contentment almost to the
European level of poverty and misery,
and it is natural that there should be
loud complaints and emphatic protests
from tho victims.
The policy of force is no remedy for
our present evils. Justice is the only
euro. With a just financial system and
just taxation there will be no need for
standing armies. The way to make this
a. peaceful and happy country is not to
send soldiers with Winchester rifles
marching through the land. That
method would only create disorder. The
wiser, better plan would be to return to
the financial system under which there
was so much general prosperity that
people were too busy and too happy to
be tempted into strife and anarchy.
The platform Is the bed-rook of demo
cratic? harmony. On that, all democrats
can unite and agree to disagree on minor
matters of policy.
.... 4
The theory that an endorsement of the
Chicago platform is a repudiation of Mr.
Cleveland doesn’t seem to be working as
smoothly as the manipulators thought it
would. *
The real slanderers of Mr. Cleveland are
those who have shouted it abroad that a
ratification of the Chicago platform is a
repudiation of the administration.
EDITOHIA L COM MENT.
At the age of ninety-one Lawyer Carpen
ter still practices in the courts of New
York. He has never been sick a day and
expects to practice for years to come.
It was Artemus Ward who said of a
certain congress years ago: “Go home, you
miserable devils, go‘home.” If Mr. Ward
were alive it would be interesting to hear
his comment on the present conglomeration
at Washington.
The death of Dr. William T. Briggs, or
Nashville, removes one of the foremost
physicians and surgeons of this country.
Dr. Briggs was an ex-president of the
American Medical Association, and was
widely known throughout the country. He
leaves many friends in Atlanta who regard
his death as a serious loss to the profes
sion.
Rev. Myron W. Reed, a popular minister
in Denver, has resign.ed because his so
cialistic views do not suit his rich congre
gation. In an address the other night Mr.
Reed said of the Colorado mine troubles:
“1 am not a prophet, but 1 am the son of a
prophet. My father foresaw the beginning
of the war. I see the beginning of a war
now. Those men on the hill are fighting
the first battle. Special advantages to
none, equal opportunities to all. Under
this banner we fight this fight.”
The statement has obtained currency that
Queen Victoria believes herself to be a
descendant of David, king of Israel. The
theory is that the eldest daughter of Zede
kiah fled to Ireland with Jeremiah, when
the latter was an old man, and afterward
married Heremon, king of Ulster. A quar
ter of a century ago, as the story goes, a
clergyman, named Glover, told the queen
that she was a descendant of King David,
only to be informed that she and the prince
consort had discovered that interesting
fact many years before. As a consequence
of this discovery it is given but that the
queen ?s anxious to make a trip to Pales
tine, in order to look upon the land over
which her ancestors ruled. This may be
true, but there is no reason apparent why
the queen might not long ago have visited
the holy land if so disposed.
There is merriment in some of the news
papers over the proposition of Mr. Dickey
in the New York constitutional convention
to amend the fundamental law so as to
allow a man to vote at twenty years of
age. Come to think of it, however, there
is no reason why the voting should be fixed
arbitrarily at twenty, and most young men
are quite as well qualified to vote at twenty
as at twenty-one. Much less is required
in many states of the foreign born voter,
and nine out of ten of these naturalized
voters are less fitted than a boy of eighteen
to exercise the right of suffrage. It is
not generally known that in several of the
western states a foreign born man is al
lowed to vote on his rst papers, or declara
tion of intention to become a citizen—which
is an outrage that ought to be counteracted
in some way.
Some revolutionary changes seem to have
crept over old England, seriously endan
gering the safety of the famous British
constitution. When before was the time
that everybody, but the disreputable Stig
ginses, did not throw up his hat and cheer
when the prime minister won the derby?
His victory was a victory for the whole
country anil established his administration,
however shaky it might have been before.
Now the victory of Lord Rosebery’s horse,
and his satisfaction over it, has awakened
a storm of indignant protest. A prominent
non-ccnfonnist minister has written a pro
testing letter to The London Chronicle, say
ing: "The premier’s utterances are boun/
to further popularize an institution whic
is the most corrupt and most dangerous o
our national life. The non-conformist con
science will not much longer tolerate a
horse-racing prime minister.” And The
Westminster Gazette thinks that the letter
expresses the opinions of an element strong
enough to hurl the liberal minister and his
party from power.
The crowned heads of Europe seem to
take a good deal of stock in life insurance.
It is announced that the king of Portugal
has just t .ken out a S2OO,<M)O policy on his
life, but that is an insignificant investment
compared with these of the other poten
tates. The late Emperor Frederick of Ger
many was insured for 84,000.000. The queen
regent of Spain lias her life insured for a
large amount, in behalf of her two little
daughters, following the example of her
husband, whose death mulcted the various
companies in which he was insured for
$5,000,000. The life of King Leopold,
of Belgium, is heavily insured, as
is also that of ueen Victoria. The
queen’s husband, the late prince
consort, was insured for close upon
$5,000,000, the income of which has been en
joyed by his widow. About the only sover
eign in Europe who is not insured is the
czar of Russia, the companies regarding
him as too unsafe a risk on account of the
nihilists.
C:*e A THE MISSING
rind word.
To July ist.
An interesting; Contest in Which Ev
er? body IJus the Same Chance.
The Missing Word competition craze is the
latest fad in England. It is exciting the
whole country, and hundreds of thousands
of people are racking their brains for miss
ing words.
Several London weeklies have started
what they cail “missing word competi
tions,” and the craze has affected all Eng
land to such an extent as to block the
money or'? t office, and embarrass the
whole postal service. The scheme is this;
A sentence is printed every week from
which one word is omitted; for instance,
“Smith is a——” and people are invited to
send in their guess with a money order for
a shilling. The money sent in is divided
among the gucssers who name the correct
word. A few weeks ago one paper distrib
uted $35,000 among forty-three correct guess
ers, each man receiving over SBOO for h.'s
shilling. The money order blanks have all
been used up at many postoflices, the mahs
are clogged and clubs have been organized
to go into the guessing business.
TO < ON’STITUTION
BEADERS.
The Constitution makes this proposition
Among those who supply the missing wor
in the following sentence between now and
the Ist of July, 1891. we will divide one
fourth of the subscription receipts of all
those who send guesses with their subscrip
tions.
This leaves u's the bare and actual cost
of furnishing the paper to subscribers for
the year.
THE SENTENCE.
“Patiently, with the dark lantern closed
and hid under his arm, he waited behind a
ragged rock in the crevice next to the
clothes for the ——— to return.”
Supply the missing word in the above
sentence and if you guess the correct word
you will share with the others who are as
fortunate one-fourth of the receipts from the
subscriptions of all those who guess.
THE GUARANTEE.
No one knows the word missing except
the managing editor, who has placed it in a
sealed envelope and which will be opened
on July Ist. We pledge our honor that the
division will be made and published Just
as outlined.
HIE PROSPECT.
Suppose 5,000 guesses were made. This
would leave $1,250 as one-fourth of the
subscription receipts, for so many names
to be divided among the successful guess
ers. Supposing ten persons guessed the
word, this would give them $125 each; if
twenty, $62.50, etc. Suppose there are 10,000
guesses—which is not improbable—this may
give from SIOO to SSOO each to the success
ful guessers. Checks will be mailed imme
diately after July Ist.
CONDITIONS AND
INDUCEMENTS.
The terms of the contest are few and sim
ple:
1. Every guess must be accompanied by
one year’s subscription to The Weekly Con
stitution, sent to any address at sl.
2. The sender of a club of five at $1 each,
for one year, is entitled to a free paper
one year and also a guess.
3. With every subscription the missing
word should be written plainly, with the
name and address of the guesser. It is not
necessary to rewrite the sentence —simply .
write the word and label it “the missing
word for July Ist.”
4. Renewal subscriptions are entitled to
guesses just as new subscribers.
Remember that you get the greatest and /
best of all American weekly newspapers for /
every guess. You cannot do without The ]
Constitution for 1894. Address all communi-/
cations to THE CONSTITUTION, /
, * Atlanta, Ga.