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PAGE SIX
HON. TON WATSON URGES PLATFORM
FOR FARMERS.
Mr. Watson was greeted with gen
erous applause by his home people
as he arose to speak. He said:
“In ‘Memoirs of General Dale,’
who was one of the officers in charge
of the Indians that were being re
moved from Alabama and Georgia,
we are told in a most touching way
of the love those red men bore this
beautifub land. ,
“General Dale relates that not only
were the women and children heart
broken with grief at having to give
up their homes, but that the war
riors themselves were utterly unman
ned. Stoical braves who would have
died under torture without a
groan, broke down and cried like
children when the United States sol
diers came to march them off to the
West. General Dale says that after
the Indians had been collected and
started on their long journey, they
would return each night to their
homes, to see them once more. This
was kept up until the camp was
pitched forty miles away.
“In all the wide world the stars
of 1831 looked down upon no sight
more pitiful than that of these chil
dren of the forest, stealing out of
camp at night to walk back twenty,
thirty and forty miles, to get one
last look at the humble cabins which
had been their homes.
“But who need wonder that the
Indians loved this Southern land ?
Where did the smile of God, on Cre
ation’s morning, rest more radiantly
than upon this marvelous clime of
the green field and cloud-topped
mountain, of shadowy forest and ver
dant valley, of dimpled lake and
rushing river?
“The red men loved it —loved it
with all their simple hearts.
‘ ‘ They loved it well enough to fight
for it. They never gave it up until
every battlefield upon which they
could muster an army w r as red with
their blood.
“But they lost their homes, never
theless —why? Because in the sub
tler combat of mind against mind
they were no match for the whites.
The pale face deceived his red broth
er, when the Indians were the strong
est; and when at length the whites
were the stronger, the red men had
to give up their homes.
Farmers Deprived of Birthright.
“Brethren of the South, will you
learn nothing from the past? Have
you no eyes to see what is going on?
Do you not realize that in the war
of wits you are losing ground? Will
vou never understand that national
politics and laws can be so shaped
as to give all the advantage to one
class, or one section? Is it impossi
ble for you to learn that special priv
ilege always lives at the expense of
the unprivileged—is a deadly para
site that will sap the life of the
noblest tree?
“Use your eyes. Look about you.
Sec things as they are. Where is the
bulk of the wealth of the nation?
“In that portion of it which na
ture did the least so Eng
land. How did bleak, barren New
WATSON’S WEEKLY JEFFERSONIAN.
England come to be so rich? She
made the laws to suit herself, and
these laws took the prosperity of
the South and West and gave it to
the capitalists of the East and North.
“Who owns your railroads? The
North. Your mills? The North.
Your banks? The North. Your
mines? The North. There isn’t a
merchant, banker, miner, manufac
turer, farmer or railroader in the
South that doesn’t have to depend on
the North for money. Yet the most
of that money was made in the South
and West. The financial currents
which flow West and South from
New York first flowed into New York
from the South and West. Practi
cally none of that wealth was creat
ed in New York.
Burdens Imposed by Trusts.
“Consider the laws which the man
ufacturers of the North have made
for themselves. These capitalists are
protected from outside competition;
they monopolize the home market,
they form a trust to dictate output
and price, and they sell their goods
abroad cheaper than at home. ‘
“What is the result?
“They are making yearly, a net
profit of $2,800,000,000, which is two
billions more than 8 per cent upon
the money invested.
“Think of it! After allowing
themselves a clear income of 8 per
cent upon their investment, they com
pel the consumer of manufactured
goods to yield to them a yearly tri
bute of two thousand millions of dol
lars!
“Thus every man, woman and
child in America is taxed about $25
e ner year to give special privilege to
the manufacturer. On every family
of five, this is a crushing burden of
$125 per year—and it is nothing
more than shameless, heartless con
fiscation.
“How does this national policy of
special privilege affect the agricultu
ral classes ? It takes everything they
make, excepting anough to live on.
The goose which lays the golden egg
is allowed to live —not because the
specially privileged love the goose,
but because they are fond of golden
eggs.
“The same official reports, which
show that the manufacturing class
has been piling up fabulous wealth
ever since the civil war, prove that
the agricultural classes have simply
made a living. Inasmuch as the South
and West are mainly agricultural,
these two sections feel this cruel in
justice of the law more sensibly than
the others.
Farmer’s Taxes Equals Rockefeller’s.
£
“Under this diabolical svstem of
national taxation, John D. Rockefel
ler, worth his $500,000,000, pays no
greater sum toward the support of
the national government than many
a two-horse farmer pays. Under any
decently fair system of taxation.
Rockefeller would pay five hundred
thousand times more taxes to the fed
eral government than are paid by
ft farmer who is worth one thousand
dollars. But, under our policy, the
farmer may pay more than Rockefel
ler —the tax not being paid upon in
come, or accumulated wealth, but
upon the amount of manufactured
articles consumed.
“Thus the literal truth is that our
national government does not tax
wealth at all. It allows the rich the
benefit of special privilege which not
only exempts them from national
taxation, but permits them to tax the
unprivileged.
Purpose of Ocala Platform.
“Unjustly treated by the govern
ment under which they live, the ag
ricultural classes have repeatedly
made the effort to organize for their
own salvation.
“Eighteen years ago the represen
tatives of these people met in Flor
ida and put forth what was known
as ‘the Ocala platform.’
“A nobler creed has seldom been,
reduced to writing. I embraced it
then—l love it now.
“What were its leading principles?
“The income tax. The removal of
tariff taxes from the necessaries of
life. Direct election of United States
senators by the people. Abolition
of national banks. Government loans
of money to the people, on good se
curity, at 2 per cent. No industry to
be built up at the expense of another.
Governmental control of railroads;
and, if that proved a failure govern
mental ownership.
“When the Ocala platform was
first proclaimed two of its declara
tions were fiercely assailed.
“Thousands of honest men strong
ly combatted the idea of government
loans at 2 per cent.
“Yet that policy not only has the
sanction of continental Europe, but
of Great Britain also; and we have
seen such statesmen as Gladstone and
Chamberlain and Campbell-Banner
man doing in Ireland precisely what
the farmers of America asked.
“Our own government, to the
amatement of the enlightened states
menship of the world, not only re
fused aid to its depressed agricul
tural class, but shifted the burdens
of taxation so that the heaviest load
would bear on that class; ran up the
expenses of the government to an
unprecedented height; yet exacted so
great a num from the unprivileged
tax payers that a huge surplus was
left unspent in the treasury. To get
rid of this money—taxed mainly out
of the farmers —our government
which refused to consider the farm
er’s request for loans at 2 per cent,
handed over the surplus as a loan
to the national bankers, at no inter
est at all.
“When the farmers first put forth
their demand for loans at 2 per cent
objections were made that the gov
ernment itself could not borrow
money at such a low rate of inter
est. But experience has shown that
the objection was groundless. The
government is now floating bonds at
2 per cent.
“Tn my opinion, the government
could float its bond# at par, on the
tax exemption alone, without any in-
terest whatever. We have so many
rich men ready to quit business and
anxious to put their savings where
they will be safe and untaxed, that
gbvemmewt kng-tenn bonds could
be floated at par, bearing no interest.
If the plan is ever tried, fairly, the
event will show tjiat I am right.
Government Ownership of Railways.
“The other plank in the Ocala
platform which created a storm of
opposition was that which declared
for government ownership of rail
ways in case government control
proved a failure.
“When we recall Mr. Roosevelt’s
position, when we remember Mr.
Bryan’s attitude, we can proudly say
that it took such leaders as Bryan
and Roosevelt eighteen years to
reach the point which the farmers
reached in the Ocala platform. Honor,
everlasting honor, to the Farmers’
Alliance and the Ocala platform.
“That grand movement was the
greatest educator of the masses that
this country has ever known. It made
war upon partisan politics and gave
it a blow from which it never ral
lied. It went far toward reuniting
the divided sections. It brought the
western republican farmer into broth
erly relations with his Southern dem
ocratic brother. It shattered many
a prejudice growing out of the civil
war. It forever buried the bloody
shirt. It ended the business of mak
ing a political living of a war record.
It made it necessary for the ambi
tious politician to read books. It
was the evangel of true Jeffersonian
democracy at a time when there was
none of it in either of the old par
ties.
“It sounded the trumpet of resur
rection, and the principles of our
fathers came forth from their graves,
to live once more in the hearts and
souls of men. God bless the old
Farmers’ Alliance! L stood by its
cradle, in the jute bagging fight in
1888. I shared in the glories of its
zenith of power. I saw its treacher
ous and venal Livingstons and Ma
cunes betraying it to its death. Un
able to save it, I followed its hearse,
and mourned at its grave.
“From that day to this, I have
had a longing that in some other
form, led by some other leaders, it
might come again, and now —thank
God— it is here!
Union Successor of Alliance.
“The Farmers’ Union is but the
reincarnation of the Farmers’ Alli
ance. The new order takes the place
of the old. The prophet dies, but
the word lives. The flag which one
brave standard bearer drops from his
dying hand, another catches up and
carries on.
“And so. under the blessings of
the Most High, the Farmers’ .Union
will march on, march on, until it
plants its victorious banner on the
walls which the Farmers’ Alliance
was not permitted to storm.
“Rome was not built in a day.
‘Try, try again’ is tbe watchword of
all progress, individual or collective,