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THECONSTITUTIOH
CLARK HOWELL Editor
ROBY ROBINSON Business Manager
J-nferrdar tb« Atlanta Powtaffice an Sncaai
Class Mail -Hatter. Nav. 11, 1973.
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Gorman and 1904.
The members of the Virginia legis
ature, all of whom are democrats,
were polled the other day on their
i hoiee ol presidential candidates loi
l‘.*i't. Every member of both houses,
with the exception of three, expressed
themselves in favor of Senator Gor
man. of Maryland. and these three
ami iineiul themselves lor Judge Par
k. r. of Now York.
This does not. of course, settle the .
matter by any means, lint, it is just ■
of those straws in the political
wit.d itiat tarries with it some signiti
am- . .'Jnr.- than ordinary interest
attache- to it. too. because it is the .
lirsi straw vote so tar announced in
onnection with the next national
campaign.
in the same connection. Senator Gor ■
trans •.•■tuci to his old position of
■ moor.' 1 .. ■■'uh'!’ in the senate is not
without i. al significance. In this
■wa< the < (Tnlidenee which the
leading men of his party have in him;
while the Virgini. incident adds to it.
to an extent, the indorsement of the
rank and file.
Furthermore, there is no less signiti- .
< ar.ci in Ih< fact that the press of both
parties seems disposed to regard Sen
ator Got man’s reappearance in politics
ns being lull ot meaning, not to say
ci.upled with hope for his party. The
way in wiijeb. the opposition papers
have turned thc.fi' batteries on him
would scent to indicate, also, that they
are disposed to regard him as the one
igure in the democratic party that
needs to be i'< Aonetl with just now.
All tins is encouraging in one re
spect. at lea • it demonstrates very
lent that lie party will not lack tor
!:>a<iers when the time comes. It is too
early to speak with any degree of cer
:aiitt.y about tne next nomination, but
verylhing in.mates that the party
cognizes in Senator Gorman a pow
erful leader, whether his name heads '
.he ticket, or whether his hand is at
lie helm in the next campaign.
That he is the peer of any man in
he. senate has been often demonstrat
ed; i hat he is a great political gen
ial is also acknowledged: that he
■as the confidence of the eastern wing
Li party is admitted; that he can
. ai: ■; Maryland and scare the repttbli
.ins out <;1 their boots in New York
- also true; that he is a loyal party
man has been proven.
There are abundant reasons, there
’■<>’e. why Mr. Gorman's name figures
■onspicueusly in all the calculations
'or It" 1-!. Ho is. undoubtedly, one of
.he most important sac tors to be reck
oned with.
Prospe ts of Prosperity.
George t'louid. who lately returned
to New York from an extensive west
can trip, echoes I. Pierpont Morgan's
proph' e-.- thai the high tide of pros
perity will not recede, even with a
presidential election imminent. Mr.
Gould's picture of financial conditions i
in the west could not well be more
rosy, lie does m>: believe, even with
bumper c iops this ye '., that the west
will have to draw on the east to
move them, as is its wont. “It will
In some time,’’ opines Mr. Gould, “be
fore the west will ever need to call
on New York for money.’’
Senator Allison, of lowa, who repre
sents an almcist purely agricultural
. on tituet iy. gave a most optimistic
interview in New York, the other day. -
declaring that "the farmer is not dis 1
t übed by the financial flurries tn the
money market. He is going right ■
ahead. continued the senator. “We ■
are prosperous and we are expanding.
It is a healthy, natural and logical :
growth.’’ * j
While many will take issue with Mr.
Gould's opinion that the western finan j
rial tub is able to stand on its own :
bottom in the emergency of a tre- i
mondoits harvest, all seem agreed that i
conditions were never more promising i
for a bumper crop and general pros- j
perity. The forecasts all point that
way. the federal weather bureau de- i
- laving that the condition of the crop
in the winter wheat belt east of the
s ‘ .' ’ mountains “is more promising j
’ or years.' The government stat- i
mm reports that the average con ,
-'■dition of tire wheat c rop is 97.3 per I
.'■ent. as against 78.7 per cent for 1902. ;
•i.7 per eent. for 1901. and an average I
of 82.1 tor the previous ten years. !
Unless nature reverses ail precedents. I
so far as indications are safe at this ■
late season, we are reasonably certain I
of an ’800.000.000 bushel wheat crop ■
in 1903. and a wheat crop of that, di- ■
mensions means national prosperity, '
, if anything can.
.Marshall Field, the great Chicago]
merchant, who has lately returned
from the Pacific coast, shares the gen- :
era! enthusiastic view as to the con- i
■ linuance of good times in the west as i
the result of agricultural success. Re- I
1 erring to the disturbances in the i
stock market, this well-known Chicago I
business man says there is nothing ]
in the situation t> ala th any one. ■
On that head he thus expressed him-I
self:
I believe and had believed for some
tini< that the prices of securitic s were
t ,„, high. They had b* i. tdvanced by
great market activity tn points which
did not represent proper values. There
• iaS been a larger shrinkage as a result
of the recent reaction, lint this. I believe,
is for good. It has operated beneficially
in that, in my opinion, it has merely
placed prices at levels normal and com
mensurate with conditions and true
values.
It is a matter of national congratu
lation that the basis of our much
vaunted prosperity seems so secure
and normal.
Roosevelt and New York.
Try as they may, the republicans ;
cannot conceal the fact that they are j
in danger of losing New York state in ;
the next national election if Roosevelt,
is the party's nominee for president.
And. as matters now stand, there is |
hardly any chance to keep him from j
getting the nomination.
In the first place, the republican
I party in New York is split all to
I pieces, with practically no hope ot
I bringing the warring factions together
between now and the 1904 campaign.
Both the Platt and Odell factions have
at last thrown off the mask and gone
at each other in earnest. That in it
self is enough to make the situation
in New York state anything but pleas- I
ing from a republican standpoint;
: but the trouble is more far-reaching
I titan that.
It will be recalled that Roosevelt, j
was once governor of New York. He |
rode into office, in true “rough rider" ]
style, on the Spanish-American war
craze, upsetting all the plans of the
recognized party leaders and doing i
nothing .after assuming the governor
ship to placate them. He was never—
until lately—very much ol a party
man." and throughout his administra
tion he showed no respect for his par
ty or its leaders. He gave offense
tight and left, and never once took
the trouble to heal any of the wounds.
Roosevelt's friends have always I
claimed that ho singly dealt a deadly
blow to machine politics, of which
Thomas C. Platt was the high priest
in New Yotk state. Governor Odell. •
it seems, has kept up that policy, and I
“commercial politics." as the Odell
people are pleased to term the meth
oils of lite Platt crowd, has not had
full swing in New York for several
years. Nevertheless, the Platt fac
tion have cantrolled nearly everything ■
except the governor, and they are still
strong. The “easy boss" is not yet
ready to pass in bis checks, politically ;
peaking, by any means. He proposes :
to fight it out. if he pulls the house
down in doing so.
Since Roosevelt became president.
Plait has tried to conceal his antago
nism as much as possible, lint the in
evitable clash has come. In its pres- i
ent phase it is a clash between Platt
and Odell, but Roosevelt is involved to
an extent that is calculated to make
him feel anything but comfortable.
The leaders of the Platt faction no
longer make anj effort to conceal thoit
hostility toward President Roosevelt,
and one of the most prominent of
their number. Lou F. Payn, a. Platt
lieutenant who has always wielded
considerable influence among New
Yotk republicans, in an interview
published in The New Yotk World on
Monday boldly proclaims that il
Roosevelt is nominated f ir the presi
dency he will fail to entry New York
state. lie is quoted as follows:
N.i matter who rims for governor, he
will go down in defeat. The repuMii an
part?, hasn’t a man s'rong enough to !•■
deeteil g.i. i rn->r if Roosi vi-it is to lie the
president ja • -andida te. i suppose we will
..t! hav.- to support Mr. Roosevelt, but
il■ • IS .' •»’’ 1 i t».’!I 11,11’1.
•>i tjiii'- -, if men lirj' Bryun control
d-ni> . ;i<- --on vent ion th»r* will no
.. han . . .<;•• it stands today the pros-
ho‘i.l (•■>uldn‘: mako any sort of a ra<
ihiat Pitt-hold trolley »\ar ;»<• id'Kt was
ihat hudit i hapne.ud h" would have goiiu
on making- thoso danger* is ohos up
in N» w England and would have ruined
himself mid the partx He went home
and tin wise men of the party went down
to (Ivst’ i- Bay ami <-.lil--«l him off. ron
notice that his western speeches are en
tirely different, from hi- New England
trust sp-e-.-lies. He has got around to the
right side at lad.
Os course, there are other New York
republicans who are doing all in their
power to discount this sort ot talk,
but the fact is apparent that there is
an open revolt against Roosevelt in
that state.
Not only is his party badly disrupt
ed. as above shown, but Hie conserva
tive business element of New York is
afraid of him. and would be glad of an
opportunity to support some eonserva- ■
live democrat in 1904 There is no
denying the fact that everything looks
more favorable for the democrats in i
New York state than it has looked in I
ten years, and if the party will only
profit by the confusion that now exists
in the republican ranks, ii is by no
means improbabi ■ that New York will
fall into the democratic column next
yea r.
Cotton in Cuba Unpromising.
Some time since The Constitution
devoted an editorial of some length
to the possibilities of Cuban rivalry j
of the southern states in cotton pro- I
duet ion. particularly in the raising of
sea island or long staple cotton. ]
From the information then at hand it
seemed very probable that the island
was on the eve of a phenomenal cot
ton culture boom. It. now appears i
that, if those Americans who were :
sending out stuh seductive data and j
propiiecies concerning cotton growing '
in Cuba were not merely enthusiasts. ‘
they were likely land syndicate pro
motors or “cappers.”
E. A. Schwartz, custodian of coleop- j
tera in the National museum, has
just returned to Washington from a
thorough tour of Cuba, the object, of j
which was to inspect, the ravage of
the boll weevil in the cotton on the I
island. The report ho brings back is ■
highly discouraging to the future of
the lle'H-y staple in Cuba. The trou- ]
Ide, according to Mr. Schwartz, does ]
not lie in the adaption of the soil and I
climate of the island to cotton as a ,
staple crop, but in the remarkable I
prevalence of the boll weevil and oth- j
er insect pests fatal to cotton produc- ;
tion. Some of these destructive in
sects are of a species entirely unfa- I
miliar to American cotton planters,
and. indeed, to American entomolo- ]
In The Washington Times Mr. j
Schwartz presents an interesting re- i
sume of his Cuban observations. He I
tells us that “kidney cotton,” the na- ]
five wild cotton of the island, which
nourishes luxuriantly and with age
forms veritable trees, has afforded food
and a. breeding place for boll weevil
and .undred insect, pests since time
immemorial, and that hitherto the
successful cultivation of commercial
cotton has been out of the question by
reason of this unfortunate condition.
These swarming insects must be ex
terminated before cultivated cotton
''THE WEEKLY CONSTITUTION: ATLANTA, G A., MONDAY, APRIL 27, 1903.
will be free from their blight, and it
I has been suggested that the kidney
1 cotton must be exterminated first.
! This the coleoptera expert considers
impracticable, as one would well imag
i ine, since the wild cotton is about as
common as the commonest weed. Mr.
I Schwartz says there is yet a long ex
perimentative period before Cuba be
. fore cotton planting can be under
' taken on a considerable scale with
i any degree of security. Experiments
j wiil be undertaken, however, under
i government auspices, though it is ob
• vious in advance that their success
must be largely if not. wholly contin
gent upon the extermination of the
i weevil. There is no tone of encotir
-1 agement in Mr. Schwartz’s reference
to the proposed official experiments
along this line.
There is, furthermore, much differ
ence of opinion, says tiiis authority,
on the proper season to plant cotton
in Cuba, whether at the beginning or
the end of a rainy season, and this
question will have to bo answered by
careful experimenting before many
wiil venture to embark in cotton
planting enterprises. The time of
planting will bear a relation not. only
to the productiveness, but it is believ
; ed will be a factor in enabling the
] plant to resist the weevil.
Incidentally Mr. Schwarts feels con
] strained to utter this warning:
Cuba has an abundance of land which
is admirably suited to the growing ot.
I cotton, and in all parts of the island
they are discussing the possibility of its
introduction, but the natives have neith
er tin- money nor the inclination to ex
periment. and their talk does not produce
results. American land specnlabors arc
finding- many dupes in the United States
who beiicve Unit il wiil be tin thing
to stat t a cotton plantation in tin- favor
able climate and soil of Cuba. Those
nlto have been approached witli litis
.-■cheme should investigate most carefully
iiel'ore spending tin ir money.
Prospective American cotton plant
ers in Cuba would no doubt do well
to heed this advice before making in
vestments in the island on interested
1 representations.
Let the South Alone.
The New York American of Mon
day last contains a vigorous editorial
calling upon the country to let the
south alone in its effort to solve the
negro problem.
This is what. The Constitution has
demanded time and time again; but,
of course, anything on that, subject
from litis side of the Mason and Dixon
line is discounted to begin witii.
As strange as it may seem, the very
people who know the most, about this
problem, because they are brought
into contact witii it every day, are the
ones whose testimony is least desired
and seldom listened to by those the
orists who. for want of something bet
ter to do perhaps, nave seemingly de
voted themselves to the task of solv
ing another people's problem for them.
Occasionally, however, some man or
some newspaper, with a little more '
common sense or a greater spirit, ot
fairness than the rest, does arise and
tty to set them straight. If. then, they
will not. listen to those who are on
the ground. let them at. least give
ear to those on their own side of the
line who cannot, be charged with prej
iidice or of entertaining a motive.
We have reason to believe that, the
north wiil take this view of the mat
ter in time. Leading men and leading
newspapers of that, section are al
ready beginning to see the point. We
doubt, not President Roosevelt him
self has had his eyes opened to a
certain extent. He would be blind,
indeed, if lie now fails to see the i
matter in a clearer light than iie did
At any rate, he lias not recently shown
any disposition to press the question.
Tiie American says il is not unrea
sonable to expeci that at least one of
his speeches while out west will be
devoted to the negro problem It is
to lie hoped that, the president will
steer clear of this question if he can.
Even President Roosevelt must see
by this time that the application of
strange ideas to the solution of the
south’s race problem only goes to '
make a bad matter worse. He is stub
born, indeed, if he is not now willing
to admit that Hie only remedy lies in
letting the south alone. As the Amer
ican well says, it is Hie country’s
duty to do so.
Encroachment of the Fair.
Tle-re are few occupations now
left to the monopoly of the male sex,
and those which are left are going ;
glimmering. Even that travesty on
Mercury ot the winged heels —the un
speakable messenger boy. is dailj’
finding himself in Othello's prediea
ment by reason of the fair sex’s usur
pation It is said the experience of the
Chicago messenger service company
which placed girls in the places of the
striking boys was that the girls were
in many respects much the better
messengers.
In London the same experiment is
being mane by Reuter’s, that well
known corporation doing a large bus
iness in individual and commercial
messages transmitted chiefly through
its code. The London messenger girls
are nattily uniformed and receive
two shillings more per week than was
given the boys for the same service.
Their ages average fifteen years. The
change was made because the boys
there, as in America, stood as a syn
onym for slowness ami unreliability.
The manager despaired of managing
them in away to give their cus
tomers anything approximating de
cent service. With the girls it is dif
ferent. The managers report them to
be amenable to discipline, intelligent
in the following of directions, swift,
of foot and thoroughly trustworthy.
As yet these female messengers are
used entirely in the daytime, and on
routes which will coniine them to cer
tain sections of the great city. In this
respect the corporation admits a de
gree of moral responsibility.
A contemporary states that the
District Messenger Company, like
wise of London, employs girls to run
errands, though they are hired only
by the day and not carried on the
regular force. Girls are also employ
ed in carrying messages from some
of the country postotffioes. and at.
several of the seaside offices during
the season girls are employed almost
exclusively, most of them being fur
nished witii bicycles for their work.
While not questioning the capa
bility of young women to fill this spe
cies of employment, the pity is that
necessities of bread-winning should
force them into any kind of employ
ment. that throws them in constant
contact, with men and with the un
favorable conditions of commercial
ism. The line should be drawn some-
where, and on flft.een-year-old girls
chasing the streets with messages
would be one good place to draw it.
Promoting Good Rxiads.
i It is gratifying to know that the
] national movement for improving the
■ condition of country roads is gather
] ing momentum right along and results
i were never more tangible. It is stated
I by those who assume to know that at
i least 20 per cent more improving is
i now under way or about to begin on
I the highways of the country than ever
j known before. The legislature of
Pennsylvania, recently adjourned, ap
i propriated the enormous sum of
$11,500,000 for road improvement
j throughout the state for the next six
I years. It matters not whether the
I bicyclists and automobilists or Ihe
' farmers are urging this legislation, it
is in the general public interest, and
the appropriation, honestly and judi
ciously expended, will do wonders for
the development of Pennsylvania.
Good roads may be said to be the
basis of agricultural prosperity, and
agriculture is the basis of all pros
perity.
Next week the international good
roads convention will be held in St.
Louis, and it is confidently predicted
that the gathering will be impressive
enough to convince the country that
the good roads movement, represents
a majority sentiment very much in
earnest. A number of prominent men
are on the programme as speakers,
among them President Roosevelt,
This convention should and doubtless
will exert a strong Influence in be
half of the salutary reform it seeks to
further. The federal government, is
evincing a good deal of interest in
this question, and its literature and
practical demonstrations on the sub
ject have borne fruit There is al
ready a strong sentiment in congress
for a national good roads law some
thing on the lines of Represen ative
Brownlow's bill.
The success of the great interna
tional good roads convention in St.
Louis is much to be desired.
Illiteracy in the South.
Dr. W. H. Page, one of the gentle
men prominently identified with the
“southern education" movement,
made the statement in an address de
livered recently that “there are more
illiterates among the negroes of the
south today than there were in 1865."
Illiteracy among the southern ne
groes. he said, has increased faster
than educational facilities could be
provided for them.
Os course, any one who is at all
familiar with the south can see the
absurdity of this statement at once,
for it is no exaggeration to say that
ten negroes in the, south can read
and write today where one possessed
these accomplishments at the close
of the ware
But The Manufacturers’ Record has,
fortunately, taken the pains to con
trovert. Dr. Page’s statement with
some figures that are absolutely con
clusive. Tiie Record makes it. very
clear that thjs many millions of dol
lars spent by the southern whites —
for it is upon the whites mainly that,
the school tax has fallen —in educat
ing the negroes have had a better re
sult than Dr. Page believes. Tiie Rec
ord shows that, in the former slave
holding states, excepting Delaware
and Missouri, “while the colored peo
ple of the south 10 years of age and
over increased during the twenty
years from 3,961,933 to 5,612,225, or
41 per cent, the illiterates of that age
decreased from 2.996,922 to 2,699,370,
or 9 pet cent. At the same time tiie
colored population ol that age in the
rest of the country increased from
639.274 to 1,086.681. or 69 per cent
while the illiterates among, them in
creased from 31.761 to 40,299. or 26
per cent.” Meanwhile, in New Eng
land the native white illiterates in
creased from 31.761 to 40,299, of 26
per cent. There was an increase in
white illiterates in New York state
alone of 46 per cent, while the popula
tion increased 45 per cent.
The south very much appreciates '
what those who have interested them
selves in the cause of southern edu
cation are endeavoring to do. but it is
wel' that, they get. their facts straight,
before they begin. As much as we '
value the help that these gentlemen j
offer us. we prefer that they give us :
justice first.
WISE AND OTHERWISE.
Knew Her Opinion.
"Bre'r Williams, what docs you think er ;
de devil, anyhow?"
"I dunno. r.et.ter ax my wife;—but wait .
'till I'm fur fuin home—kaze 1 don't want
ter lose my temper!'’
A Pat Hand.
Puck: Mik- Well, what hov yez got?
Pat Four trowels and a black sham- ;
rock.
The Only Way He Knew.
Chicago Journal: Kind T.ad} AVhy are]
you crying that way. little boy?
Little Boy ’Cause dat's do only way T -
knows how to cry.
Ought To Be Something Coinin'
Kansas City Star: It is certain now. i
since the czar of Russia has proclaimed '
religious liberty throughout his empire. I
that he is deserving of a boy baby. |
An Important Difference.
Now York Sun Madge-Don't vou think i
a girl should mariy an econ.imical man’’ ■
Dolly 1 suppose so. but ft’s just awful i
living engaged to one.
Don't Monkey with an Undertaker.
Chicago News: The Doctor—Are you
sip-o you never buried any one alive?
The Undertaker—Well, none of your
patients, at least
What's It for Anyway?
Chicago Nows: ’“The cranks who object
to kissing make me wearv.” remarked the
Tavville nhilosonher. “One would think
to boar them talk that a nirl's mouth was
merely a hole in her face for pie.”
The Whole World To Him.
New York 'World: Uncle Sam has nur- |
chased 350.000 pounds of Richmond tobac- |
co for his “blue jackets.” This recalls I
the old story about Jack Tar's three
wishes—all the 'bacy in the world, all the
rum in the world, and for the third "a i
little more ’baccy.”
Identifying Him.
Punch: Estate Agent (to Laborer's Son)
—Here, my boy, where can I find your
father?
Boy—in the pig sty, sir. You’ll know
'irn by ’is brown ’at!
Going to the Bottom of It.
Cleveland Plain Dealer: "You say your
leading detective fell into a quarry while
endeavoring to ferret out tile murder
mystery?"
“Yes."
“I wonder why he did it?"
“I suppose it was because he didn’t
waul -uu leave a stone uatusued.”
Isfeeklt/ Constitutions &hree”
jC. Stanton.
To the Summer Winds.
Blow in. O. winds, from summer brinks
of violets drippin’ dew.
Ami whisper all the secrets the summer
sings to you!
From groves where starlight shines
On honeysuckle vines,
And wildwood vineyards reeling with
ripening muscadines!
Blow in. O. winds, from meadows green,
where soft the moonlight dwells.
And waft us dream-sweet echoes of tink
ling cattle-bells;
| From rivers coot and deep
That .seaward sing and sweep.
And rills that ripple sunshine and rock
the flowers to sleep!
Blow in. O. winds, with blessing for all
the stormy years.
And he your breath the breath of Love,
in light that shines through tears!
| And blow the blossoms sweet
From many a dim retreat.
I And twine them in I.ove’s tresses, and
| lay them at Love’s feet!
Trouble in. the Sun.
“Some folks sez de Sun got people in it.
des lak dis worl’.” said Bre'r Williams.
I “You reckson so?"
' “Well, I ain’t sayin' it is. en I ain't
I sayin’ it ain’t, but dem black spots dey
sees on it looks mighty suspicions!"
■ “What you reckon makes ’em?”
“Do race problem. Ever’ time dey tack-
I les it. it flings de niggers sky-high, en
| dey heads hits de ceilin’!"
A Song- o’ the Picnic.
j High up in i lie bluest heaven the clouds
■ of April float.
| But—“A blizzard from the west, sir.” ts
the latest weather note;
I Hang up my linen duster—hand out my
I overcoat.—
! I'm goin' to tiie picnic in the morning'!
I hear the breeze a-blowln’ all the velvet
vales along.
An' the birds are makin’ music like their
souls were in the song.
Yet they prophesy a blizzard, an’ it’s
cornin’ mighty strong.—
I'm goin’ to the picnic in the mornin’!
But never heed the frownin' of the stormv
April sky—
The winds that toss the lilies as they
gallop howlin’ by;
Me.’ll soon be slicin’ melons in the red
deeps of July.
, An’ we ll all take in the picnic in the
mornin' I
An April Protest.
He dunno what he doin’
He projiek all erbout;
One minute burn de rose ter red.
De next—he drown him out!
He storm do fiel’ en. river
En promise sunshine, too;
He make de Lily shiver—
De Violet look blue!
Hit's riches, en hit's ruin’.
Hit's blue sky—den de gray;
He dunno what lie doin’.
But yander come Miss '.May!
The Old Man “Treed.”
This is a Georgia boy « account of his
father’s entrance into polities:
"Dad has took the Stump. 1 d mno who
run him up It.—but he’s on ft jest the
same. Dad Is after .< offls. One paper
says tic Is a born liar: not her one says
he stoled a boss, an’ nuther one says he
run off with a. widder. When ma. heard
all them things she said she thought that
she knowed him before; but she’s glad
she’s done found him out al last, an’ jest
wait till she ketches him again!
A Song of the New South.
A song of the South, in new glory
fronting a day that Is bright;
Tiie shadows fall back from her forehead;
she stands in the light! the light!
She heard, in the tempest's wild warning,
the prophets that prated of doom.
But fared, with her face to the morning,
to starred, heights of beauty and
bloom.
To beautiful valleys enchant'd. she
passed from the thrall of Hie night.
By the dust of her grave, ail undaunted,
she lifted her brows to the light;
On seas of the thundercloud riven, and
tossed of the wind and Hie foam.
Site saw, where the black wrecks- were
driven, the glimmering shoreline of
home.
Site stands, with fair Faith for her lid
met. in the strength of high purpose
and trust;
Dead hopes to the d ad past forex'. r. and
the red sword of Hate to the rust.
F.trong-sinewed, unswerving ami ioyai.
she fearlessly faces the years;
Jn Hie white path of Peace and Progress ,
o'er landway and seawar she tares.
From her fields ir. tiie flowering valleys,
all strifes and all discords retreat,
Tiie summers sing to Iter; the harvests :
roll golden and rich at her feet.
Wliite-risen from the wrath and ruin, an ■
autumn exultingly swells;
The dream is tiie deed as site listens to i
the chime of the liberty bells. I
Onward! to highest endeavor, crowned of I
the sisterly states;
Onward! and, faltering never—the world ■
at her welcoming gates!
Onward! in grace and in glory—veiling
the past and its scars;
Onward! till splendid her story is writ
in the roll of the stars.
A Rural Romance.
“Yes." said the Billville citizen, “the i
old man went to sleep on the river j
bank, an' made a piller of wh.it. looked I
to him like a bunch of green moss; but. ;
whilst he wuz a -dreaniin’ of k' tchin’ fish i
weighin' twenty pound each, be felt the
Piller a-slidin’ from under his head, en
he rfz up. an' rubber! his eyes, an' look >d
roun', stupefiedlike. an' io. an’ behold’
the piller wuz nothin’ but a ton foot
water-moccasin! An’ flic old man wuz so
skee'red that he jumped squar' into the
river, jest in time to bo swaliercd by a
hungry alligator that had been a-watch
in’ of him: an’—"
“Bill,” interrupted one of the listeners,
“what have you been a-drinkin’ of this
mornin’?”
’'Well." drawled the story-teller, “hit
tasted like ginger-an’-cider!”
The Old Boy's Idea.
Toor bat has trimmin's on it.
But f tell you. I don’t keer!
Gimme the old-time bonnet
That the old girls use to wear!
They Jest looked so bowitchin’.
Love read his titles clear:—
Gimme the old-time bonnet
That the old girls use to wear?
But the good old times have left us;
The girls—they still are dear.
But oh! for the old-time bonnet
That the old girls use to wear!
A southwest Georgia darky ts suing a
preacher who baptized him for “holding
him under the water until he didnt have
brealU enough to holler hallelujar*'*
WHERE is my grindstone? Where
is my rake and my axe? Did any
body ever hear of a. negro steal
ing a grindstone. He stole it to s.-li or
else he thought it was a. cheese.' J’il bet
there are twenty npgroes in sight of my
house who know all about that grind
stone. but they won’t tel'. That is a
| lace trait —not to tell on one another.
I Who steals my young pigeons before we
gel up in tiie morning? We haven’t had
I a squab to eat in three months.
Mr. Gleveland made a good speech in
| New York on the race problem, and so
I did Mr. Parkhurst, but you can’t make
la, good citizen out of a negro without he
i > as a master or a boss on whom lie has
ito depend. My opinion from observation
I is that Tuskeegee can’t do it nor any
j other school. The more education, the
| less inclination to work for a, living.
. Where are tiie Tuskeegee graduates.’
I Just lazying around or teaching school.
. I read in yesterday’s paper where a negro
school teacher was caught in having made,
a fake list of his scholars and drew more
money than ho was entitled to. But
neither Cleveland nor Parkhurst nor any
other northern man knows enough about
the negro to talk intelligently about him.
Nor does tiiis generation of southern men
i know much more. Nobody knows now
I but the few old men who are left. Our
I editors and newspaper men do not. know.
I They are all too young and most of them
came from stock that did not own ne
groes in thi> old slavery times. I do not
I assert tiiis through conceit, but it pains
! : nd astonishes me to hear northern speak
] i rs and some editors from the south say
ing that since tiie negro was set free he
I had made wonderful progress, consider
ing that for a thousand years lie had
been either a savage or a slave Mr.
Cleveland said “there is still a grievous
amount of ignorance, a sad amount, of
viciousness and a tremendous amount of
laziness and thriftlessness intermingled
. with their citizenship.”
if .Mr. Cleveland had been an old citizen
■ of the soytli he would have said:
“Before freedom came the negro was
docile, moral, industrious, and as intelli
gent as thousands of the uneducated
white people of the south. Not an out
i rage was committed by them during the
war from tiie Potomac to tiie Rio Grande.
There was not a convict camp nor a
ehaingang in all the south. The mar
riage relation was faithfully observed.
• ind i. :ro families were contented and
happy, for most, of them had kind mas
ters and mistresses, who would get up m,
the night and minister to their sick
' Bad negroes had to be punished, of
course, and so do bad white, children.
I tint it seldom had to he done.
| Talk about the shackles and the chains
I of slavery. It is all rot and imagination,
i Our children have a. master until they are
-I. Tiie negro had one all his life, and.
as Dr. Parkhurst said, most of them
j needed one. and need one now. and so do
thousands of white people. The. fact
( is there are but few people who have not
, got one. I do not admit, that 1 have, but
> 1 have a. mistress, and that is the same
' thing. There is not a. clerk in a store,
whether male or female, but is under the
i control of somebody; not a conductor on
a railroad nor a sailor on a ship nor a
: pupil in the schools nor a. policeman in
, the towns. Nine-tenths of (he people in
I civilized countries are subordinate to the
oilier tentli. and it looks like everybody m
: these United States belongs to Teddy
! Roosevelt, slave a few besides myself and
' some .Mississippi 'near-.
I The old-time slaves got a good, fair
education from contact with their mas
] tors and their master s eliildr*‘ii and that
i is where they h.'id lite advantage of the
I poor whites. Most ail of the family ser
vants could read, notwithstanding there
was a law f.iroidding their being taught,
shackles and chains! Where is my grind
stone and my rake and my ax? The ne
gro. especially those of the copper colored
type (I don’t mean mulattos) are natural
born mechanics. We had in Georgia more
negro carpenters, blacksmiths and shoe
| makers than there were whites of the
. same trade. These kind of mechanics ate
all over the state now. li’ut they didn't
'oine from Tuskegee. For several year--
1 have been looking for a laboring grati
i cate of that school or any other negro
■ school, but have not found one. A New
York friend told me not long ago Hint. I
could find fifty of them as waiters in one
hotel in N w York city That is all right.
The money their education came from
up there and we can spare the whole
turnout. "Just, emerged from bondage
and ignorance ami were a thousand years
behind the white race when their slun k
les were knocked off." Oh, my country’
where is my grind stone? Before those
imaginary shackles were knocked off our
slaves w re so obedient and law-abiding
we did not need a prison, and now ther
are 4.100 in the chain gangs of
Georgia. Wonderful progress! With all
their education they are meaner, lazier,
dirtier and ten times more immoral lu
their domestic relations than ever before.
Ami yet some southern editors boast of
their acquisition of property and run it j
up in Hie millions, of course there are
-on M > good and some thrifty negroes who
have made money, but they are not 5
per cent of tiie masses. One negro in tiiis
town i« worth more money than all the
rest. The cities are full of vagabonds who
play craps and steal and snatch purses
from women and burglarize houses and
'keep women and children in a state of
constant alarm. Stealing Is as much a
race trait witii them as it is among th'
Bedowin Arabs. here ar.- my young'
pigeons and what becomes of" my stove
wood and coal?
No our editors are too young tn realize
the difference between now and then
Why. my faithful man servant Tip could
tell them more about slavery than they
all know. Did I over whip Tip? No. nev. r i
I never thought of such a tiling. I never
whipped but one of my negroes My
wife's father. Judge Hutchine, owned
•over a hundred and I never heard of
him whipping one of them. He had one
very bad negro who got mad and run
away and stayed In the woods a month
out of spite and when lie got tired and
• ame home the old judge drove him off
again and told him to stay in the woods,
that he didn't, want him any more, but
Tie finally begged his way back and gave
no more trouble. Chains and shackles!
1 wonder where General Grant was when
Mr. Lincoln knocked them off of his.
There are many kinds of chains, but the ;
chains of slavery were not to be corn- j
pared with the chains of the chain gang ,
or the chains of matrimony that many -
a poor wife is suffering from.
Now let us hear no more about shackles |
nor about the negro being a thousand j
years behind the white man. Tiie truth
is the old-time negro was morally a thou
sand years ahead of the rascals up north
who brought him here in slave ships and
sold him to us because they could not
use them at home. But the Lord is r
merciful and we had rather endure the
negro than listen to northern
They have just found a mare’s nest. If
it has taken them forty years to realize
their folly, how long will it take them
to pay us for what they swindled us out
of? Where is my grindstone? It. was
an unshackled nigger that stole it and
the folks that unshackled him ought to
pay for it. BILL ARP.
Sarge tPiunkett.
’ T T takes a powerful good friend to
I tell one of their faults and point out
■ | 1 tiie errors in their methods -it is easy
" I to agree witii one and tickle the ear witn
t. j insincerity.
[ Men are mighty scarce who would g>
; ; out among what is t ailed “organized la
; bor” and do otherwise than agree with
l tin ni ir. aii their conti ntions. True, the re
■ ; are a-plenty of men who openly disagree
’ i witii this “organized labor.” but they do
I I it in bitterness rrid a desire to crush and
I not to correct the evil that attaches to
i ' tin “organized" idea.
' | I am on record as being in favor of
' trades unions, and my faith in the ulti-
■ ; mate su< ccss of these unions lias in no
t | way weakened, but that there are griev
i J ous fa nits in the system of these unions
! .io mat can deny, and wisdom must grow
■ i am.mg them, stripped of prejudice and of
. | l itterner.s before they reach the high
’ I place lor good that my mind has fixed
. ■ for them. Tiie “faults” are not. all to be
> found among unions, cither. 1 would nm.
i.’ pretend to say this, for “capital ’ has
• j .lust as unreasonable and bitter men wnn-
in its ranks as are present among tie
laborers. But I am not supposed to lec-
i tore “capital;” my friendship nor my
. I associations with that side of the ques
i : tion are not so close as to have me risk
' ! Hie making an enemy by pointing out to
■| them any faults that they may have
With “organized labor” I stand so clos-
i ..nd am so entirely friendly that 1 make
bold to point out the essential faults tiial
in them lies in tiie hope that it may b‘
corrected and the sooner tcich that su
cess that I tn< st sincer- ly wish for th-ir
cause. To bluntly arrive at. what t rm .a ,
allow me to give it as my opinion, towil
No organization can ever succeed th.ii
i has in its workings elements to il.'tr.ct
| from our Christian religion or loses to
' ns the practices and traditions* of our
cherished American ideas.
Tiie trend ly trades unions is to l i k
forward to tiie fulfillment of great evo
lutions. So many restless spirits find the
union a place to exploit th*.- ideas ha*, u-
i ed by the broodings of their own dark
. minds til! unionism residves its’i: into a.
! weak '‘tin t step” on the road that leads
■ away from Americanism and. 1 bar me.
I from Christianity. Tints the union be
I comes a thing unstable and only the ini
| tiative to other things that wild men may
i have in mind.
j Trades unions must—and they wi: is
I my belief—resolve themselves into things
so stable as the rock of Gibraltar, ami
upon which tile laboring man can I i i
• and tiie capitalist look with confidem- ,
with not a. faint against Hie religion of
our fathers, nor a detraction from our
church duties and without a loss of tha
■ reverence for tha t bl< - '
■ needed by the laboring man more than
iby the others. A union hall could well
I exist upon every hill in Georgia without
a taint of socialism or a trend toward
arjorchy. and this must be; tiiis is one
of tiie essentials, and it must be most
becoming and politic that no bitterness
nor prejudice could sway these halls,
till “capital” and “labor” would fvei
themselves the friends that they should
be.
The capitalist ts not the'only Individ
ual that 'trades unionism should consider
I in shaping its policy and forming its
I practices. The home and the church and
■ Hie good people who go to make the •.
homes and. churches, they must be con-
I sidered. ami any practice that demorai-
I iz<-s one ot detracts from the other can
: never arrive on that high pinnacle I like
; so well to place ;he union. If a home
| should be impressed that there is noth-
I ing sacred nt our Sabbath by the pia- -
tices of any union, it were better that
[ union had never existed. If the seats of
our churches are made v .id of male a:
I tendance through the policies or prac
tices of any union it were, better tha:
union had never existed.
| Bj- all this I mean to say that as a
| rule trades unions ’nave exerted too mu< ii
energy and watchfulness toward the cap
italist. to Hie neglect of cultivating friend
ly and cooperative action between them
selves and other elements just a.s im
portant as the men of money. The Sab
bath meeting of these unions are not cal -
culated to make the good preachers ami
people wiio 'have tiieir church at he.ui
friendly to the union. A few “loud'
members tainited with ■'ialistic or anar
chistic principles and allowed to Intrude
their doctrines by tiie opportunity the
union gives, is not calculated to elevate
the home and make friends of those wi-c
enough to understand that the "horn ’
means so much to the human f unii... The
truth is. that the tiling foi tmioiiism to
do is to cease looking f. ; trouhi.' .or
evolution and turn their :itleiition to
ward tile cultivation II f"i"n.!iy >• -ii
tionsiiip with that e!. rm nt of pe'iplc who
have and will forever rub' the world -the
l Christians. The firs; st. . towed this
end is to get .your tm thods ami piae
tices in accord with He I'hristian idea,
"liemomber the S.i'obatii < i k< - it
holy." and suppress t .- wii ' 'lend
man among you ;ha. intru i to 'lisgust
the wise ami wh'>so impudence pi.i. .-< him
I at the front among you;- members, mak
ing- the impression, oft. uer than not. that
of such arc the ni-mb-r- of th- mitom
Another drawl.a--k of tin |., -t h I- n
a proneness to drilt into p.ditb A prop
er desire to have a worthy member lifted
to some high station : not to I" c-m
--demned as a sentiment unworthy the
best of men, hut it is my belim tliat
whenever a trades union go. s into politic
il. lowers its dignity and weakens its in
fluence. it not otjly invites a rix.ilr..
among its own members, but it arr.iys
an element from the outsid. against
them. Lite polith ian is a wonderf'il mon.
himself, and the best way to k • on the
good side ot' him is to have nothing to
do with his wrangles as a union. Il
never did catch me in polities to erj out:
"Poor man against tiie rich man." A
different spirit t ( , this should pertnc.ii..
trades unionism— and trades ui <ho
strive to cultivate such a
does it matter whether a man is a bank
er or a. carpent'r? The satm striving to
mak. friend? as a union should apply in
politics as in the things mentioned bi
fore This does not affect the itidepend'-
enee of the individual in these unions- it
might ha'c Hie est. .•; of preventing those
union halls trom being prostituted im >
places of (■le.'tioneeriiig and opportunities
for scattering "bunkum," but that would
be Hu better
The average laboring paper of the times
has Hie wrong idea for the benefiting of
the laborer. If they were half as
i gent in seeking out and printing such
i matter as would create < friendly foeljni-
I between labi>r and capital at they are
I t" make large the irritating tiling- tin ,
, would do a. greater an,] better work. It
: is a very small mind that despisue •».
i man because lie is a capita list, but tie i-*
I arc minds, embittered and educated
■ through irritating literature, that sees
Hie capitalist in no oth r light than as
an enemy. How much bettor, it seems
to mo. would it be to educate these minds
into a, friendly feeling. Not one of us but
W'hat would like to boa capitalist out
selves, and K somelim«s happens that the
j very poorest of men get to lie rich and
they are not any meaner rich than they
were poor. I thought once that old Abe
Lincoln and Horace Greely were the
meanest men the Lord ever made'. I
learned thirty years ago that it was alt
a, mistake about old Horace being so
mean and I threw up my hat for his
election as president. Siflce then 1 have
come to think of Mr Lincoln as a. very
good mid g-eat man- it is all a matt-?;
of education,
SARGE PLUNKETT.