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If President Cleveland had been, at heart,
favorable to the Income Tax, he would have
gone on and enforced the law, in spite of the
five-to-four vote of those nine citizens who
happened to hold' appointments as Judges.
He would have dwelt upon the infamous
manner in which the decision was reached, he
would have held up to universal scorn the cor
rupt judge who sold himself; he would have
issued orders for the collection of that tax;
and the millionaires who escaped taxation
by bribing a federal judge, WOULD HAVE
KNUCKLED DOWN!
The construction which certain federal
judges have placed upon the 14th amendment
is wrong. That amendment was intended to
fix the status of the negro, not to build a City
of Refuge for marauding corporations.
The construction which certain federal
judges place on the words “no person shall
be deprived of his property without due pro
cess of law,” is wrong.
They hold it to mean that it gives them
the authority to act as prophets, and to annul
any statute which in their opinion WILL
prevent corporations from earning net profits.
No judge has the right to act as a prophet;
and no judge has the right to say that corpora
tion property has been confiscated, when it has
been deprived of net profits.
How it was that these two heresies ever
got firmly fixed in the minds of any set of
federal judges, it is impossible to explain.
The law never did promise or guarantee net
profits, to anybody—NEVEß!
The feudal barons who demanded it, and
the English King who yielded it, had no sort
of idea of sanctifying the principle of net
profits when they wrote the clause of The
Great Charter which protected lands, houses,
cattle, moneys, etc., from arbitrary seizures
and confiscations.
Yet these errant federal judges say by their
decisions that the corporations are not 'only
entitled to keep their property, but must be
guaranteed net profits.
DOES ANY OTHER CLASS OF PROP
ERTY, or any other kind of business, ENJOY
THAT BOON?
Certainly not.
From what source, then, do the errant judges
derive the principle that corporation PROF
ITS are sacred?
All of us know that there are periods when,
owing to the laws, taxes, fixed charges, unfa
vorable conditions, etc., almost every kind of
property and business is deprived of net prof
its. We have to endure it, and to do the best
we can, We can’t run to a federal judge and
set aside our taxes on the plea of confiscatory.
But according to the errant federal judges,
corporation property enjoys the Divine Right
to NET PROFITS —no matter whether other
kinds of property and business are being run
at a loss or not.
Whenever this foul and dangerous Heresy
runs up against an Executive who happens to
unite courage, brains and honesty, it is going
to get its vicious life mashed OUT OF ITS
HIDEOUS BODY.
•ent?
The Whiskey Issue in Georgia.
The question of State Prohibition is now
reminding the average member of the Lcgis
ature that
“Life is real, life is earnest
And the grave is not the goal,
Vote it right and vote it promptly,
Else be put into a hole.”
Fortunately, the old Pops know the road.
So far back as 1896, they made a state cam
paign against the Barrooms. Hon. Seaborn
Wright bore our banner, and did it gallantly.
I remember going down to Covington, in
that campaign, to make a speech for Scab
and the Anti-Barroom bill.
Lon Livingston and several others assem-
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
bled themselves together to hear me, and I had
“good attention.”
In the course of the speech, I spoke of the
silly inconsistency of which we Georgians are
guilty when we spend our cash to build church
es and schools for the purpose of making good
men out of our boys, and good husbands for
our daughters, and then attempt to get the
money back by selling some barkeeper the
right to try his hand at making sots out of our
boys and drunkards’ wives out of our girls.
When my eloquent effort was finished, that
day at Covington, and various survivors were
saying soothing things to me, this is what Lon
Livingston said:
“Why, Watson, I was making speeches like
that six years ago.”
His whole expression was one of subdued
disappointment, and Christian resignation. He
had come there to hear a sure-enough speech
and, instead of that, he had been treated to a
weakened re-hash of his own familiar antique
talks!
Still, he would not complain, but would bear
up like a man.
*
In that memorable campaign of 1896, our
Democratic brethren couldn’t get their con
sent to vote with us against the Barrooms.
If my memory is not playing me a mean and
low-down trick, Bishop Candler was one of the
Democratic brethren who fought manfully
against us in our effort to rid the state of Bar
rooms.
The great Methodist leader doubted the
genuineness of any reform which did not come
through the Democratic Party; and conse
quently, the open saloon received the benefit
of his powerful influence in that campaign.
Those who do not want any reform except
ing that which comes through the Democratic
party, have not been over-fed on reform. I
hear of no cases of colic, acute indigestion, or
stall-fed obesity. All that I’ve got to say on
the subject is this:
Those who are willing to wait on either of
the old parties for what reforms they get.
would make the patience of an old fisherman
seem like the restlessness of a prancing horse—
and would make Job appear, by comparison,
to have been too fractious and impatient to lis
ten to good news.
Yes, our good Democratic friends, breth
ren and fellow-sufferers refused to help us
Pops knock the Barrooms out of business in
1896. The thing could have been done at that
time, as well as now. But until the Democrat
ic party got ready to shut the Barrooms,
thousands of citizens who • have never been
thought of in connection with lunatic asylums,
refused to vote against John Barleycorn, al
though they constantly preached and prayed
against him.
In consequence of this highly sensible and
creditable attitude, old John has had eleven
years in which to do his best to ruin our boys,
and to give to our daughters drunken husbands
who break their hearts.
n
God help us all to see the right, to preach
for it, to pray for it, and to vote for it.
I was sorry Bishop Candler, and the thou
sands of good, true men who went astray in the
campaign of 1896, could not obtain their con
sent to drop partisan prejudice and unite with
us to strike fl blow for God and Right and
native land. "
But I bear no malice and hope I’m not nar
row —and since the Bishop would not follow
me in 1896, J’m ready now to follow the Bish
op.
Shall we unite and knock out the Barrooms,
Doctor Candler?
Lead on, Man of God! —I follow.
Casual Comment.
“By J. D. Watson.
Well, Governor J. M. Terrell, the man who
was so gallant at the presentation of the Sil
ver Service to the Battleship Georgia as to
fail to mention the name of the Georgia girl
who deserved the credit for raising the money
has retired to private life, and he is apt to stay
in retirement for many years to come. Later
on we will see what the Railroad Santa Claus
brings him.
Hon. Hoke Smith has been inaugurated Gov
ernor and we are hoping that we soon will see
long needed reforms enacted into laws. Mr.
Smith is helpless unless he has the legislature
with him, so it remains to see what the present
legislature will do.
The time was when legislators made all
kinds of promises to the people at home before
election time, then paid no attention to them
after reaching Atlanta.
But the time has come now when the people
are watching their representatives, and those
who fail to support the measures that will
come before the present legislature will stay
at home next time. The people of Georgia
have awakened to the fact that there must
be some changes in our laws, and if such
changes are not made, there will be some
changes of legislators.
Attorney General Bonaparte has directed
United States attorneys in different parts of
the country to institute at the earliest practica
ble date 188 suits against different railroads
for violation of the Safety Appliance law.
This news will bring joy to the people
throughout the country, especially to those
who have to work or ride on trains.
*
On a complaint from the Dallas, Tex., freight
bureau, the Interstate Commerce Commission
has regulated the coal rates for that city.
At Warrensburg, Mo., the prosecuting at
torney has filed ten suits against different rail
roads for violation of the eight-hour law in
respect to telegraph operators who handle train
orders.
From Washington comes the news that the
Attorney General of Oklahoma Territory has
filed six complaints with the Interstate Com
merce Commission against Western railroads
charging them with levying unjust freight
rates in Oklahoma.
The railroads seem to be having rather a
strenuous time of it these days, and, as the
people come to realize more fully how they
have been imposed upon, they will make times
more strenuous. »»
Philadelphia, June 27. —In the archives of
the Pennsylvania Railroad has been found a
letter from James Buchanan, written when
he was President of the United States, declin
ing an offer of a free pass on the Northern
Central Railroad. The letter came into the
possession of the Pennsylvania Railroad when
that road acquired control of the Northern
Central. It is as follows:
“Washington, March 24, 1859.
“Dear Sir: I return the free ticket which Mr.
Gittings has directed to be forwarded to me
on the Northern Central Railroad, with as
many thanks for his kindness as though I had
accepted it. It has been the practice of my
life not to travel free on any railroad, being
opposed to the whole system of granting such
privileges to individuals not connected with
these roads.
“Yours, very respectfully,
“JAMES BUCHANAN.
“ROBERT S. HOLLIS, Esq.,
“Secretary.”
The above clipping from the Washington
Post is interesting. I wonder how many simi
lar letters have been written by our Presi
dents? There are perhaps few, for most of
them not only take the pass, but a private
.car, and sometimes a private train,
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