Watson's weekly Jeffersonian. (Atlanta, Ga.) 1907-1907, August 08, 1907, Page PAGE FOURTEEN, Image 14

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PAGE FOURTEEN THINGS THAT MAKE US TIRED. By Weary Willie. The writer attended some of the meetings of committees and legisla ture while (the pendency of) the Pro hibition bill was pending, and after listening to the feeble remarks of the opposition, and witnessing their still more feeble efforts at filibustering, he was very much in need of repose, and he thereupon jotted down some notes in regard to some things that make us tired. 1. It makes us tired to hear that old bullet riddled gag, that “Prohi hibition does not prohibit,” and “more liquor is sold under prohibi tion than under license,” when we see the liquor dealers fighting tooth and toe-nail the very thing that would help their business by making a greater demand for liquor. 2. It made us tired to hear every speaker for the whiskey side say that he had no interest directly or indi rectly in the liquor business, when we thought that the poor barkeeper and wholesaler had no representa tives at all before the Legislature. 3. It made us tired to hear these whiskey speakers proclaim that it was wholly a matter of conscience with them in speaking for the good of the State against such an iniqui tous measure as Prohibition and see some of these conscientious speakers very active in their filibustering tac tics casting their yea and nay ballot on the prohibition side, to keep the record straight for their constituents. 4. It made us tired to see the whiskey speakers trying to make it an issue between local option and State prohibition, when if the con test were in a county they would be lined up on the same whiskey side of the question and using the same old weather-beaten, wind-shaken ar guments against county prohibition. 5. It made us tired when we lis tened to the old hoary headed gag about prohibition ruining business and the facetious references to Maine and Kansas, when we rememberet that the State of Maine, in the ex treme northeast, with a bleak and wintry inhospitable climate, had three times more money per capita in her savings bank than any other State in the Union; and that the Kansas banks were loaning money to Texa and the Kansas farmers were carry ing their butter and eggs to market in automobiles. 6. It made us tired to hear them argue that Prohibition would kill the cities, depress values, and stop all improvements, when it would simply take the millions upon millions of dollars that are worse than wasted by pouring them down the throats of the people, and distribute them to the grocer, the dry goods merchant, and other merchants and manufac turers for what woild add comfort to the homes and bring happiness to the people. 7. It made us tired to hear the whiskey orators say, “I am just as good a temperance man or prohibi tionist as any of the supporters of the bill,” when if one of them would say, “I am just as good a Democrat as you are, but I vote the Republican ticket when it comes to the polls,” you would say his democracy was not worth a continental. 8. It made us tired to see men from dry counties, whose constituents WATSON’S WEEKLY! JEFFERSONIAN. expected them to work for prohibi tion, and where all the churches of their home town had sent resolutions and requests for them to support the prohibition bill, vote and filibuster with the whiskey gang, when the on ly negro in the Legislature, “The gentleman from Mclntosh,” for the welfare of his race and because some negro churches requested him to do so, voted tor the prohibition bilk This capped the climax. Black is white and white is black. It is enough. We are tired. Give us a rest. A PLEA FOB LITERARY PA TRIOTISM IN THE SOUTH. The day long hoped for when the South should have magazines of its own, comparing favorably with the best northern and eastern publica tions, has at last arrived. It remains to be seen now whether the South has sufficient patriotism to support the three excellent southern maga zines, edited by southern men and published in the South. There are no better literary productions in the country than Uncle Remus’s Maga zine and Tom Watson’s Jeffersonian Magazine, Atlanta, Ga., and the Tay lor-Trotwood Magazine, Nashville, Tenn. Published in the heart of the South, edited from the hearts of southern men, they deserve and should receive the hearty and enthu siastic support of all southern peo ple. We do not argue that the South should draw the line on eastern mag azines, but we do say that if we can take only one or two magazines, they should be our own southern pub lications. Why not! Heretofore when a southern author made a hit with a book or as a magazine writer, he was forthwith gobbled up by some northern or eastern publishing house. We send millions of dollars out of the South every year for books and magazines. Even our school books, hymn books, Bibles and everything we read except our newspapers have come from the North or East. Every attempt to publish the school text books our own children use in the schools has met with rank failure because of a lack of ordinary patriot ism, and, if we must say it, a con siderable lack of common sense, too. How can we expect our country to occupy the place its position and tal ent deserve when every piece of lit erature we place in our children’s hands, every book we read, comes from a section largely out of sym pathy with us and our institutions? Even now a southern author must go North or East to get his book pub lished, in order to receive recognition of southern papers, and the patronage of the southern public! It is a shame, and our lack of common pride and love for our own country and in difference to its interests, are respon sible for it. We have seen in but one daily that reaches us, the Montgomery Adver tiser, any editorial mention of the ap pearance of Uncle Remus’s Magazine, and he is the same Uncle Remus that the East took from us, returned to his own again, and his magazine con tains the same matter that northern publications would jump at the chance of paying many thousands of dollars for, and which they would then sell to us in the South by the hundreds of thousands. And yet, just because it is published in the South, our peo pie seem more or less indifferent it. Hearst offered Tom Watson $lO,- 000 a year for a few hours’ work each day in New York, but Watson, loving his own country and people, preferred to struggle for recognition here at home. He is publishing a great magazine that is probably not paying its expenses yet, when he could be drawing a princely salary by going East. You may not agree with all he says, but you can but be delighted with the way he says it, and the keen humor and satire he mixes with it. The country papers give half col umns to dreary, stereotyped readv made praises of eastern magazines in return for a dollar-a-year publica tion which exploits the resources, industries, literature and men of an other section and frequently slanders the South —and these same papers never have a word to say about our own splendid southern magazines, Uncle Remus’s, Tom Watson’s and the Taylor-Trotwood. These things ought not so to be.— The Cullman Tribune. ALL CREDIT TO TOM WATSON. To the Editor of The Chronicle: — Once in half a century, perchance, some one is fair enough and just enough, in discussing a movement which has eventuated in great good to the people of the entire country, to bring forward and make conspicu ous the fact that a certain gentleman inaugurated the undertaking at a given time — a number of years ago. I read with pleasure the able speech of Senator Clay and the brief but terse remarks of Senator Bacon, delivered during the debate on the postoffice appropriation bill, as print ed in the Congressional Record of the 25th instant. Both senators paid a graceful and well deserved compliment to a young Georgian who, by a seemingly insig nificant amendment to the postoffice appropriation bill of 1893, rendered high service to that large body of hardworking people who live in the country proper throughout the Union. I believe the facts will interest your readers, and for that reason I have taken the trouble to cull them from the Record: “Mr. Clay: Mr. President, an ex amination of the Congressional Rec ord of February 17, 1893, shows that the postoffice appropriation bill was pending in the House of Represen tatives, and when an item for free delivery service, including existing experimental free delivery offices, of $11,254,643 was reached, Hon. T. E. Watson, who was then a member of the House of Representatives from Georgia, introduced the following amendment: “ ‘For free delivery service, in cluding existing experimental free delivery offices, $11,254,943, of which sum SIO,OOO shall be applied under the direction of the postmaster gen* eral, to experimental free delivery in rural communities other than towns and villages.’ “Further examination of the Con gressional Record shows the follow ing colloquy to have taken place be tween members: “Mr. Holman: *1 reserve a point of order on that amendment.’ “Mr. Watson: ‘This reduces the expenditure provided for in the bill.’ “Mr. Henderson, of North Caro lina: ‘I desire to reserve a point of order. ’ “The Chairman: ‘A point of order has already been reserved.’ “Mr. Watson: ‘Mr. Chairman, the paragraph under consideration pro vides for the expenditure of sll,- 254,943 for free delivery service. My amendment reduces the amount of that expenditure and simply directs that the postmaster general shall ap ply SIO,OOO of the appropriation to experimental free delivery in rural communities.’ “Mr. Loud: ‘That is already pro vided for; the gentleman will accom plish nothing by his amendment’ ‘ ‘Wr. Watson: It is not pro vided for in rural districts other than towns and villages. There is no ex perimental service in rural communi ties other than towns and villages.* “Mr. Buchanan, of New Jersey: ‘You mean “truly rural”!’ “Mr. Watson: Yes, sir; the real country. ’ “Mr. Holman: ‘I think there is some misapprehension as to the law on this subject. I would like to ask the gentleman from North Carolina in charge of this bill what the ex isting law is!’ “Mr. Henderson, of North Caro lina: ‘There is no law on the subject providing for rural free delivery or experiments in that direction. There is a law which provides for experi ments in small towns and villages and 48* of these have free delivery. That condition is preserved in this bill, but no provision is made for rural free delivery.’ “Mr. Watson: ‘The present law provides for an experimental delivery in rural communities; but as I under stand it—and the chairman of the committee, the gentleman from North Carolina, Mr. Henderson, makes the same statement to the house—the law has been construed to mean cities, towns and villages, and there are now in operation experimental free deliveries in certain towns and villages. “ ‘The law expressly provides for rural communities, and it seems to me where the general law make such provision there is no hardship in taking a small amount from the appropriation—only SIO,OO0 —and ap propriating it for experimental free delivery in absolutely rural communi ties; that is to say, in the country, pure and simple, amongst the farm ers, in those neighborhoods where they do not get their mail more than once in every two weeks, and where these persevering people have settled in communities one hundred years old and do not receive a newspaper that is not two weeks behind the times. ’ “Mr. Clay, continuing, said: “The amendment was adopted by a vote of 79 ayes to 41 nays. Mr. Watson introduced his amendment to experiment in the free rural delivery service, carrying SIO,OOO for this pur pose, less than ten years ago, which, from the best information I have been able to obtain, carried the first ap propriation ever made by Congress for rural free delivery. “Mr. Wanamaker had tried what he called free delivery in towns and villages, but the experiment had not been made for free delivery of ooun try mails. Who would have thought that the good work begun by thie